Even surrounded by his bone shields, Ke Luo was extremely nervous.
Han Fei’s figure flashed and appeared directly before him, slashing her ice crystal sword to create a light barrier engulfing him.
When she attacked, Li Rong also acted.
The leader of the Ancient Demon Clan swung her pair of jade fists repeatedly, smashing Ke Luo’s bones shields as easily as one would crush dry weeds and smash rotten wood, opening up a path to him and slamming her fist down.
An astonishing destructive force suddenly surrounded her fist as she punched forward.
Ke Luo’s face changed greatly and was just about to defend himself when Zhang Yuan’s black halberd stabbed towards him from behind. Unable to deflect both attacks, he could only hurriedly avoid Zhang Yuan’s strike while meeting Li Rong’s head-on.
*Hong…*
The earth shook and a deafening sound spread out; Ke Luo’s just reformed flesh body seemed to be incapable of bearing such a violent blow and began to show cracks.
Chu Ling Xiao’s Demon Sealing Chain wrapped around his body at that moment and further restricted his movements.
The other masters seized this opening and rushed in together, exerting their full strength to wantonly bombard Ke Luo’s figure.
Ke Luo was immediately thrust into a dangerous situation, the cracks on his flesh rapidly expanding and pieces of it soon blowing off entirely, exposing his skeleton, the root of his existence, to the enemies surrounding him.
*Kacha…*
His skeleton was unable to bear the ten masters endless storm of attacks and soon too began to crack.
Ke Luo was finished!
This time he had truly reached a dead end.
He had counted on his Bone Race’s Blood Pond Flesh Forest to wipe out the top Tong Xuan Realm masters, but at the last minute this plan was destroyed by Yang Kai; now, Ke Luo didn’t dare use this forbidden technique, and subsequently was no longer a match for these ten masters.
All his various means had been restrained, and he no longer had any hope of victory.
Ke Luo’s green eyes flashed with annoyance, anger, and unwillingness, all kinds of intertwined emotions. Zhang Yuan’s long halberd directly penetrated his head, puncturing his eyes.
As his flesh and blood flew apart, Ke Luo suddenly came to a halt.
The next moment, as if he was violently dismembered, his entire physique exploded, bones and all, scattering in all directions.
An illusory ethereal figure suddenly emerged from Ke Luo’s head the moment before it exploded, shrank down into a ball of faint light, and quickly flew away.
“His Soul is trying to flee!” Meng Wu Ya shouted.
With his body completely destroyed, Ke Luo’s Soul decisively escaped, striving only to survive.
No matter how powerful it was, a pure Soul could not remain in the world for very long unless it was placed inside a specially refined artifact designed to store a Soul, otherwise, the only option was for it to find a compatible body to occupy.
Old Demon was a perfect example of this.
If Ke Luo was allowed to escape and he found the right body, with the strangeness of the Bone Race, it wasn’t impossible for him to stage a comeback.
How could the ten masters possible give him such an opportunity? All of them had long been guarding against this possibility.
Just as Meng Wu Ya’s voice fell, ten Divine Sense attacks crashed towards Ke Luo’s escaping Soul.
The next moment, Ke Luo’s pitiful screams resounded and his Soul Avatar came to a halt mid-air, his semi-transparent face filled with terrible wrath as a dangerous aura pulsed from his form.
Feeling the strangeness of his state, the ten masters didn’t dare act rashly, instead using their Spiritual Energy to surround Ke Luo and prevented him from continuing to flee.
Battles between Souls were far too dangerous. One wrong move could result in injuring one’s own Soul, and naturally, none of them could bear such a cost.
All the masters were worried about Ke Luo lashing out in one last desperate attack and dragging them down with him.
If they truly forced Ke Luo into a hopeless situation and he detonated his Soul right on top of them, none of them would emerge unscathed.
“Don’t force me, or we’ll all perish together here!” Ke Luo hysterically screamed, the dangerous aura radiating from his Soul Avatar became more and more dangerous, seemingly like it was on the verge of exploding.
The ten masters couldn’t help but frown, feeling the situation had become a bit tricky.
“Ke Luo!” Yang Kai’s voice suddenly sounded.
Hearing this shout, Ke Luo turned his gaze towards Yang Kai, but in the next instant, he realized that the situation was bad. The moment he saw the golden eye, a huge suction force enveloped him and pulled his Soul Avatar in.
Regardless of how Ke Luo tried to break free, he could not. In fact, the more he struggled, the faster he was drawn in.
*Xiu…*
In a flash, the ten masters felt the Ke Luo’s incredibly volatile Soul get directly sucked into Yang Kai’s left eye, all of them hearing the unwilling echo of Ke Luo’s voice as it happened.
Everyone was stunned.
Before anyone even had time to ask Yang Kai about the situation, he had closed his eyes and sat down cross-legged.
Inside his Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar appeared and faced the terrified Ke Luo who was gazing about in fear. Feeling the burning hot temperature of the world around him, Ke Luo couldn’t help screaming, “A mutated Knowledge Sea? You actually have an attributed Spiritual Energy?”
With his eyesight, Ke Luo could naturally see how extraordinary Yang Kai Knowledge Sea was.
This was a Soul filled with blazing flames.
Even if one considered an entire Star Field, there were very few people would possess a mutated Knowledge Sea. Ke Luo had never expected to find such an individual in this backwater world.
“Right here, right now, I’ll extinguish your Soul!” Yang Kai didn’t speak any nonsense, condensing the full strength of his Knowledge Sea the moment his Soul Avatar appeared and burning Ke Luo’s Soul Avatar.
At the same time, the Demon Eye of Annihilation reappeared inside his Knowledge Sea, and from it, a golden beam of light shot forth.
Ke Luo screamed and struggled, but was ultimately powerless to resist. Faced with the Conflagrated Knowledge Sea’s flames and the Demon Eye’s Golden Light, his consciousness and lifetime worth of experiences were quickly purified, leaving behind only a pure mass of Spiritual Energy.
Yang Kai reached out and drew in this mass of Spiritual Energy. Feeling its intensity, his expression changed greatly.
Worthy of a master on the verge of breaking through to the Saint King Realm, Ke Luo’s remnant Spiritual Energy was far more powerful than any Yang Kai had ever absorbed before.
Floating above Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea was a large number of pure energy masses.
These were remnant Souls Yang Kai had inadvertently absorbed during the previous fight.
As long as someone died nearby him, their remnant Soul would be drawn into his Knowledge Sea regardless of whether Yang Kai intended it to be or not.
However, thanks to this, he had managed to obtain an unimaginable amount of benefits.
Yang Kai didn’t rush to return his consciousness to his body. In any case, the overall situation had been decided. The Bone Race had been stamped out and all that remained was to clean up the battlefield and count the casualties.
Yang Kai began to absorb the countless masses of energy.
These energy masses mostly belonged to Transcendent Realm cultivators, but there was no shortage of those which came from Saints either.
Inside each of these masses of energy were the comprehensive insights into the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao of that particular cultivator.
Yang Kai absorbed what was useful and discarded the rest, transforming all of it into his own strength.
Gradually, a kind of ethereal door appeared before him, and as he opened this door, Yang Kai caught a glimpse of a wider world behind it.
His heart and mind shook violently and his Knowledge Sea began to churn as a frightening energy fluctuation immediately erupted from his body.
Outside, everyone who was sitting in meditation felt Yang Kai’s change and opened their eyes in shock, quickly turning their attention towards him.
A moment later, Li Rong’s tender body trembled as she exclaimed, “Master is about to break through!”
Meng Wu Ya expression stiffened, “So fast?”
Previously he had inquired to Li Rong about when Yang began undergoing True Qi Sanctification and learned that it had only been about a year since the process had started.
According to his estimations, even with Yang Kai’s outstanding aptitude, it would still take two or three years of hard work after his True Qi underwent Sanctification before he could spy on the mysteries of the Saint Realm.
When that time came, whether he could make a breakthrough or not would be up to fate.
But now, after only a single year, Yang Kai had already begun to break through.
He would soon become a Saint Realm master.
Meng Wu Ya was somewhat unable to accept the scene in front of his eyes, staring towards Yang Kai as if he was seeing some kind of monster, muttering something under his breath, a look of shock mixed with a trace of jealousy covering his face.
He believed himself to be a rare genius, but compared with Yang Kai, he couldn’t help feeling inferior.
“It really looks like he’s about to break through,” Chu Ling Xiao smiled and nodded, his old face showing a gratified look, “It seems that he harvested much during this battle. En, we should clear the area to ensure we do not bother him.”
Saying so, the two of them took the initiative to withdraw.
The Demon Race and Monster Race masters also fell back, and after everyone else had left, Li Rong and Han Fei also stepped back.
They still did not feel relieved leaving the Demon and Monster Race masters nearby; although everyone had just been collaborating to deal with the Bone Race, now that the threat that bound them together was gone, no one could guarantee that they wouldn’t take this opportunity to kill Yang Kai to prevent him from fully maturing.
As such, Li Rong and Han Fei remained vigilant.
After some time, from all directions, many masters from the Three Clans returned. They had been chasing down the last remnants of the Bone Race, pursing every one of them relentlessly, ensuring that none of these Starry Sky invaders remained, eliminating any possibility for them to rise again.
After half a day, everyone who was still alive had gradually returned, and the Three Clans began to assess their casualties.
When the results came out, everyone’s heart grew heavy. When the Three Clans masters had set out, there were just over a thousand of them in total, but after this great war ended, only about five hundred remained.
Nearly half of Tong Xuan Realm’s top masters had perished here, including many Saints.
Although this war had secured the future of the world, rooting out a fatal catastrophe, each of the three races had suffered a serious decline in strength, with the Demon Race having taken the worst hit. In the battle with Ke Luo, two Demon Generals had fallen. This kind of loss was something even Zhang Yuan was unable to withstand. Together with the surviving Xue Li and Meng Ge, all three of them were both worried and depressed.
The most sorrowful aspect of the aftermath though was that those who had died had been stripped of all their flesh and blood, leaving behind only bleached bones. No one could even identify which skeleton belonged to who.
The Three Clans jointly collected the remains of the dead and buried them on Water Spirit Temple’s main island while consoling one another.
The surviving masters paid homage to their fallen brethren for their contributions in this war.
One day later, the sky suddenly clouded over and a terrifying pressure began to condense.
“Yang Kai’s about to break through!” On the island down below, Meng Wu Ya’s eyes lit up as he shouted excitedly.
“Let’s go take a look,” Chu Ling Xiao said and flew straight over, the various masters from the Monster Race and Demon Race following close behind.
The masters of the Human Race who heard the news were also filled with curiosity and rushed over to watch.
A few years ago, no one had heard the name Yang Kai, but after a mere decade, he had become famous throughout the Tong Xuan Realm.
At the age of 30, he was about to break through to the Saint Realm. This kind of cultivation was enough for the entire world to pay attention to him.
What’s more, Yang Kai’s status was not low, and during this time’s battle against the Bone Race, he had taken on the role of commander.
No one dared look down on him.
Everyone believed that from today on, his name would echo across the entire world, becoming the topic of discussion of commoners and experts alike as the most dazzling talent in history!
His future achievements would definitely be higher than anyone else’s.
When the Human, Demon, and Monster Race experts arrived, the Ancient Demon Clan’s clansmen, led by Li Rong and Han Fei, had already cordoned off a ten-kilometre radius around Yang Kai, forbidding anyone from approaching any closer.
Everyone could only settle for watching from a distance.
After clearly seeing Yang Kai’s current condition though, all of them changed continence.
The violent World Energy storm that seemed capable of tearing the earth asunder was repeatedly slamming down and smashing into Yang Kai’s body.
The clothes on his upper body had already been shredded, revealing his solid figure.
He remained sitting in a cross-legged position, not circulating a trace of his Qi, relying solely on the strength of his physique to endure the World Energy baptism.
The energy of Heaven and Earth that fell was not wasted by him in the slightest, every last drop of it sucked into his body and transformed into his own strength.
His flesh shivered and tensed, fully demonstrating its formidability, shocking everyone who saw it.
Everyone present could feel that his flesh body was rapidly becoming more powerful and was already comparable to even the strongest of defensive artifacts.
The masters from the three races were dumbstruck.
“Brother Meng, when you broke through to the Saint Realm…” Chu Ling Xiao whispered, “How much of the World Energy baptism were you able to endure?”
“Half,” Meng Wu Ya replied in a low voice, “I could not withstand anymore.”
“I was slightly worse than Brother Meng then,” Chu Ling Xiao breathed a light breath and silently compared his own performance to the one Yang Kai was showing right now, causing him to let out a sigh.
Zhang Yuan’s face was constantly twitching, secretly thinking to himself that he really had to build a better relationship with Yang Kai.
This time, two Demon Generals had fallen, causing his Demon Race’s total strength to drop precipitously. If he failed to grasp the opportunity in front of him, the Demon Race’s very future would become very uncertain.
The potential of the young man who was breaking through right now far surpassed any of the forces or races present.
In the past, Zhang Yuan couldn’t understand why top-level masters like Li Rong and Han Fei expressed such unwavering loyalty to Yang Kai, who was but a mere Transcendent at the time. Even considering his relationship with Great Demon God, that shouldn’t have been the case.
This was nothing short of demeaning themselves. With their strength, they could easily stand on their own; with none in this world that could take advantage of them.
However, at this moment, Zhang Yuan finally understood: Li Rong and Han Fei simply had greater vision than he did.
Because this young man could give the Ancient Demon Clan a grander, and farther future than any other.
Just as everyone was recovering from their initial shock, Yang Kai suddenly took an action which astounded them once again.
Under that unbearable pressure, in a state where the world itself was battering his body, Yang Kai suddenly stood up, directed a cold look towards the sky, and immediately flew up, soaring into the very heart of the World Energy baptism.
In the blink of an eye, his figure disappeared into the violent storm clouds filled with World Energy high up in the sky.
“This…” Everyone was dumbstruck, their jaws all going slack.
Simply withstanding the World Energy baptism was already a difficult task, but if one were to directly break into the World Energy storm, the pressure they would need to bear would increase exponentially.
If one acted carelessly, they would end up dying a pitiful death.
Everyone close to Yang Kai couldn’t help wearing a nervous look, worried that his reckless actions would lead to unbearable consequences.
But in the next moment, high up in the sky, a strange phenomenon suddenly occurred.
The seemingly unstoppable swirling storm of power, as if something was hindering it, suddenly came to a stop and the massive storm none dared to approach actually began rotating in reverse, as if there was a powerful vortex at its centre pulling it in the opposite direction.
The speed of the rotation grew faster and faster and the devastating power of the storm rapidly began to reduce.
Or rather, it was being absorbed.
After the time it would take to boil a cup of tea, the World Energy storm disappeared entirely and at what was once its centre, Yang Kai’s figure was revealed, a faint look of disappointment upon his face.
“This little brat…” Meng Wu Ya laughed helplessly, “He’s too rash.”
“There is actually someone who can enter the centre of a World Energy storm to withstand its baptism. Holy Master Yang is truly an astonishing man!”
“Congratulations Elder Brother Cu, Soaring Heaven Sect has produced an exceptional character, all of us are deeply envious.”
“Many congratulate to Great Elder Xu Hui as well, with this Holy Master, your Holy Land will surely become even more magnificent in the future.”
A series of compliments echoed, causing Xu Hui’s smile to stretch from one ear to the other.
After this battle, and witnessing Yang Kai’s breakthrough, everyone present realized just how great Yang Kai’s personal strength was.
Those who didn’t care much about him as a single cultivator were forced to re-examine their evaluations of him and correct their attitudes.
Yang Kai slowly walked down from the sky.
The Three Clans’ masters all congratulated him sincerely.
Yang Kai cupped his fists, “Many thanks to all of you as well for your efforts in this great war. I believe that future generations will not forget the sacrifices made today and will forever remember them in gratitude.”
On many people’s face, a look of glory and fulfilment rose.
“Holy Master Yang…” Dragon Phoenix Palace’s Palace Master Chen Zhou suddenly walked up and hesitantly spoke, “Can this Chen ask you something?”
Since the beginning of the battle with the Bone Race, many doubts had filled his heart which he no choice but to temporarily suppress, but now that he had a chance, he certainly wished to clear them up.
Yang Kai glanced over at him and knew what he wanted to ask, nodding as he said, “Can Palace Master Chen wait a moment? I too have some things I need to discuss with you, but before that, I wish to speak with Sir Demon Commander first.”
“Good, this Chen will be waiting,” Chen Zhou’s shoulders trembled, faintly realizing the truth of the matter.
“Does Holy Master Yang have something to say to me?” Zhang Yuan turned a somewhat puzzled look towards Yang Kai.
“Let’s step away for a moment,” Yang Kai said before beckoning to Li Rong, “You come too.”
Li Rong and Han Fei both exchanged a confused glance, neither of them knowing what Yang Kai wanted to do, but quickly following after him.
The other masters remained where they were, enjoying the aftertaste of victory while chaotically discussing what to do next.
“What matter does Holy Master Yang wish to discuss with this Senior?” Zhang Yuan asked Yang Kai after they had walked a fair distance away, unable to hold back his curiosity any longer.
Yang Kai took out a new set of robes from the Black Book Space and dressed himself before saying, “Gou Qiong and Ba He died, I hope Demon Commander can restrain his grief.”
Zhang Yuan gawked for a moment before letting out a helpless laugh, “They died a worthy death, many thanks for Holy Master Yang’s consideration.”
“En, I wanted to tell you that although I had the idea to use the Demon Eye of Annihilation to restrain Ke Luo from the beginning, without him showing himself to me, I had no way to act, rendering me powerless to prevent Gou Qiong and Ba He’s deaths.”
“Holy Master Yang need not pay it any mind, I understand your difficulties,” Zhang Yuan nodded lightly.
“That’s good,” Yang Kai smiled before continuing, “Now that your Demon Land has lost two Demon Generals and your overall strength has dropped, what are you planning on doing?”
“What do you mean?” Zhang Yuan frowned, coldly snorting, “If you’re mean to imply that the other two races might take this opportunity to invade my Demon Land, you are mistaken. As long as this Senior still breathes, none should have any ideas about my Demon Land!”
“You misunderstand me,” Yang Kai shook his head, “I just wanted to ask you if you were interested in finding another Demon General to fill the vacant position?”
“Finding another Demon General?” Zhang Yuan brow furrowed for a moment before suddenly understanding, turning his eyes to Li Rong and asking, “You mean this lady?”
“Naturally. Li Rong belongs to the Demon Race, and her strength is not worse than your own, is there any problem with her becoming a Demon General?”
“Of course there’s no problem, but… is Holy Master Yang willing to part with her? Is this lady willing to go to my Demon Land?” Zhang Yuan smiled deeply as he stared at Yang Kai deeply, seemingly wanting to peer into his heart and understand what his true intentions were.
Li Rong becoming a Demon General truly wasn’t an issue; in fact, with her strength, she was already qualified to compete for the position of Demon Commander, but Yang Kai suddenly proposing this inevitably elicited a hint of caution from Zhang Yuan.
He thought Yang Kai was having ideas about seizing the Demon Land.
“I refuse!” Li Rong decisively cut in.
Yang Kai raised his hand to stop her though and said, “Listen to everything I have to say first before you decide. En, soon after this, I’ll be leaving this place.”
“Leaving?” Zhang Yuan, Li Rong, and Han Fei all asked simultaneously.
“Wherever Master goes, we will go,” Li Rong declared firmly.
Yang Kai pointed his figure towards the sky, “I must go to the Starry Sky, so I can’t take you together with me.”
“The Starry Sky?” Zhang Yuan paled, “What do you intend to do by travelling to the Starry Sky? That place is filled with crisis upon crisis! You’ve only just broken through to the Saint Realm, and if you go there you won’t even have the ability to protect yourself.”
“That’s right, Master, if you really must go, take me with you,” Li Rong hurriedly stated.
“Me as well!” Han Fei quickly chimed in.
Yang Kai however just slowly shook his head, “I’ll be going alone. More than a decade ago, when I came to Tong Xuan Realm, I was only an Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivator and didn’t have the strength to protect myself, but I persisted. If I hadn’t come here at that time but instead stayed back in my old world, I definitely wouldn’t have my current strength. When the people from this side invaded my homeland, I might have degenerated into a slave with no ability to resist, but because I came here that year, when crisis befell my home, I was able to defuse it and even bring my friends and family here to settle near Nine Heavens Holy Land while guaranteeing their safety and livelihood. The present situation is the same as it was ten years ago.”
“How is it the same?” Zhang Yuan was puzzled.
“Great Demon God sealed this world and concealed it from the rest of the of Starry Sky’s view, but now that the seal has been lifted. Perhaps, one day, there will be a master at the Saint King Realm or higher that arrives here. At that time, how will we resist them?”
Zhang Yuan paled as he instantly recalled the chilling images he had seen from Great Demon God’s memories.
Thousands of years ago, Great Demon God had been here to resist the Starry Sky invaders, but if that situation were to repeat itself now, with the current level of Tong Xuan Realm’s masters, all of them would really be reduced to slaves in an instant.
Just killing Ke Luo had cost two Demon Generals their lives, and Ke Luo’s cultivation was only close to the Saint King Realm, not actually having achieved it.
If a true Saint King Realm powerhouse came, no one would be able to stop them.
Zhang Yuan somewhat understood Yang Kai’s meaning.
“By going to the Starry Sky, perhaps I can find a way out of this crisis, so even if a strong enemy invades, we’ll at least be able to protect ourselves. Of course, this is only a possibility, no one can guarantee what the future holds,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders.
The current situation really was quite similar to his previous experiences over the past decade.
In short, it wasn’t wrong to plan ahead.
“So… Holy Master Yang, out of consideration for the future safety of the world, plans to venture out into the Starry Sky?” Zhang Yuan stared at him strangely for a moment before grinning meaningfully, “Were you always a man of such high-minded ideals and righteousness?”
Although he had not had much contact with Yang Kai and had only known him for a short time, Zhang Yuan thought he had a fairly good understanding of the youth in front of him. As Demon Commander, Zhang Yuan’s eyes were naturally far sharper than ordinary people’s.
He thought that Yang Kai so desperately wanting to go to the Starry Sky had nothing to do with what he had just said, but rather something else.
Yang Kai laughed and nodded, “There really is a more important reason for my decision, but that’s my personal business is not something to be disclosed so easily. I can only guarantee you that I have no ill intentions towards the Demon Land.”
“I believe you!” Zhang Yuan gently nodded before glancing over at Li Rong, a hint of anticipation appearing on his face.
If Yang Kai really left Tong Xuan Realm, he wouldn’t necessarily be unable to accept Li Rong as a new Demon General. The Ancient Demon Clan was an extremely strong force and each of its leaders was a powerful expert in their own right, if they joined the Demon Land, it would certainly be reassuring.
Most importantly, he may be able to persuade the Ancient Demon Clan to truly integrate into the Demon Race while Yang Kai was away.
Zhang Yuan was naturally tempted.
“Li Rong, you are a member of the Demon Race. The Demon Land’s environment is far more suitable for you cultivation, and going there will allow your clansmen to grow faster. En, if one day, I can return, and you are still willing to follow me, I will definitely bring you to experience the wider world,” Yang Kai suddenly wore a nostalgic look, “More than a decade ago, I said the same words to the people of the Great Han Dynasty.”
Li Rong and Han Fei’s beautiful eyes brightened.
“Master, are you really not bring us together with you?” Li Rong made one last attempt.
Yang Kai shook his head.
The Starry Sky was too vast and dangerous, and he had no idea what his destination was or even which direction he should even go, how could he bring others along with him?
“Then my Ancient Demon Clan will calmly await good news from Master!” Li Rong nodded heavily, no longer saying anymore. She knew that since Yang Kai had made a decision, it would be useless to try to change his mind, “Before then, my family will temporarily reside in the Demon Land. I don’t know if Sir Demon Commander is willing to accept us.”
“This Senior will gladly welcome you!” Zhang Yuan smiled heartily.
After returning back to the place where the Three Clans’ masters had gathered, a brief discussion and celebration were held before everyone began to split up.
Every force here had come from a different place, and after some time, most of them had split off and headed back to their respective bases. This time, every force had suffered huge losses, so most of them couldn’t wait to return to their Sects to rest and recover.
After ten days, Yang Kai separated from Xu Hui, telling him, Li Rong, and the others that he needed to visit Dragon Phoenix Palace for a short time and for them to return to the Holy Land first.
Xu Hui nodded and took the lead.
“Let’s go,” Yang Kai said to Chen Zhou after the masters from Nine Heavens Holy Land and the Ancient Demon Clan departed.
Chen Zhou wore a somewhat cautious, somewhat puzzled look upon his face, but he didn’t dare ask anything right now and simply lead the way.
After a while, Yang Kai suddenly said, “Does Palace Master Chen want to ask about the Dragon Emperor’s matters?”
Chen Zhou was startled for an instant but his expression quickly became solemn as he cupped his fists and said, “If it is convenient, could Holy Master Yang please explain?”
During the war with the Bone Race, the Dragon Emperor had reappeared, but Sun Yu, the recognized inheritor of the Dragon Emperor’s legacy, had not come to the battlefield.
And after the great Golden Dragon disappeared, Yang Kai was the one who appeared.
Also, when Yang Kai returned from breaking through to the Saint Realm, Cheng Zhou had seen the vivid Golden Dragon Tattoo on his back!
This series of events had gradually allowed Chen Zhou to come to a vague understanding of the truth of the matter, but he was still not certain of his speculations.
Naturally, he wished to ask Yang Kai directly about this matter.
“I suppose it is time I gave you a proper explanation,” Yang Kai gently nodded, his face also turning serious, “Before that, I must apologize to Palace Master Chen and your noble Sect, until now, I have been deceiving you.”
Chen Zhou’s body shook, his face revealing a look that seemed to say ‘it really is so’.
“Sun Yu is not the Dragon Emperor’s successor, I am.”
“Ah?” Elder Xiao Ling was stunned as he directed a look of shock towards Yang Kai.
“That year, when the inheritance in Dragon Valley opened, it was not because of Sun Yu, but rather because I had accidentally entered it. Sun Yu just happened to be present at the time and was caught up in the Dragon Emperor’s inheritance. For two years, I stayed with him in the depths of Dragon Valley.”
“I didn’t know much about Dragon Phoenix Palace back then, but with Sun Yu there, I was able to ask him about various things while directing his cultivation while convenient.”
“Then Sun Yu being able to make such huge strides in his cultivation during those two years was completely because of his relationship with Holy Master Yang?” Chen Zhou was shocked and suddenly realized why after Sun Yu had exited from Dragon Valley, the progress of his cultivation had been somewhat unsatisfactory; although it was quite a bit faster than an average person, it was far from what one who had succeeded the Dragon Emperor should have.
“That’s half right. It was also thanks to his hard work,” Yang Kai denied.
“After that, when Frozen Nether Cave Heaven attacked…”
“It was also I who secretly resolved the issue,” Yang Kai admitted frankly.
“No wonder Dragon Emperor… Sun Yu worshipped and admired Holy Master Yang so greatly. It was for such a reason,” Xiao Ling suddenly understood, “Both I and Great Elder Ling Jian were suspicious about when he had made friends with a character like Holy Master Yang, now everything makes sense.”
“However, there is a point I am still not clear about,” Chen Zhou frowned, “Since Holy Master Yang is the Dragon Emperor’s true inheritor, why would you try to conceal this fact?”
Just what kind of identity was the Dragon Emperor? Sun Yu had reached the sky in a single bound and become the highest-ranking person in all of Dragon Phoenix Palace simply by receiving this title, so Chen Zhou really couldn’t understand why Yang Kai would want to conceal his own existence and instead let Sun Yu attract everyone’s attention.
With some embarrassment on his face, Yang Kai explained, “Mainly because I had just become the new Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land. You should have heard that at that time, Nine Heavens Holy Land was suffering from a number of worries, so before all of those issues could be tidied up, I truly had no ability to handle other matters. En, the most important point though was that I was not a member of Dragon Phoenix Palace, I didn’t know how you would react if I had come out and told you that I had obtained Dragon Phoenix Palace’s core inheritance. Perhaps it would have let to more troubles.”
“All of this is my responsibility and has nothing to do with Sun Yu. I was the one who told him to help me conceal this matter.”
Yang Kai chose not to conceal anything and honestly explained the reasons behind his actions.
Chen Zhou, Xiao Ling, and the other masters from Dragon Phoenix Palace all look around at each other with somewhat complicated expressions.
Sometime later, Chen Zhou finally let out a laugh, “Holy Master Yang willingly informing us of the truth at this moment is more than enough. En, there’s just one thing this Chen doesn’t quite understand. How was it that Holy Master Yang was able to open the Dragon Emperor’s inheritance? Is there some special reason?”
“En, because I have cultivated the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art.”
Chen Zhou’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Yang Kai briefly told them the story of what happened in the Inheritance Heaven’s Cave that year, causing the masters from Dragon Phoenix Palace to show looks of excitement as they listened with rapt attention.
“It is the inheritance left behind by the previous Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress! No wonder Holy Master Yang was able to open the array inside Dragon Valley, everything makes sense now!” Chen Zhou nearly danced with joy, “In other words, Holy Master Yang is by no means an outsider.”
“Yes yes, strictly speaking, Holy Master Yang should be considered my Dragon Phoenix Palace’s person!” Xiao Ling also said enthusiastically.
Yang Kai encouraging good relations between Nine Heavens Holy Land and Dragon Phoenix Palace was all because of this connection. At this moment, Chen Zhou and Xiao Ling finally understood everything.
“Right, what about the Phoenix Empress?” Chen Zhou suddenly remembered, “Since Holy Master Yang has cultivated the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art, there must be a Phoenix Empress as well! Where is she? Why have I never met her?”
“She is no longer in Tong Xuan Realm,” Yang Kai’s expression suddenly became low-spirited, “She went to the Starry Sky.”
“The Starry Sky…” Chen Zhou stared dumbfounded.
“Soon, I am going to depart to search for her, and I don’t know when I will be back; as such, I wish to take the Phoenix Empress inheritance from Phoenix Nest with me so that when I do find her, I can pass it to her it.”
“Take it away?” Chen Zhou parroted, “Can that inheritance be taken away?”
Yang Kai shook his head, “I’m not sure, I just wish to try… Of course, only if Palace Master Chen agrees.”
“There’s no problem, but the difficulty of what you wish to do is quite high. The inheritance has been hidden inside the Phoenix Nest for thousands of years, no one knows what or where it is… Well, it can’t hurt to try.”
“Many thanks,” Yang Kai nodded sincerely.
After confirming that Yang Kai was the real Dragon Emperor, Chen Zhou and Xiao Ling’s attitude suddenly became more respectful. Yang Kai asked them not to blame Sun Yu and they easily agreed, saying they would not take this matter to heart. For the entire Dragon Phoenix Palace, as long as the identity of the Dragon Emperor was inherited by someone, everyone in the Sect would stand on their side. As for who it was that gained the inheritance, it mattered little.
What’s more, Yang Kai obtaining the status of Dragon Emperor was a matter that was determined long ago.
The two of them also pledged that although Sun Yu was not the real Dragon Emperor, they would not mistreat him in the future and that the Sect would continue to pour their resources into him.
Sun Yu’s current aptitude was already far beyond that of an ordinary cultivator, so regardless of his identity, he was worth the training.
After more than a month, the group arrived at Dragon Phoenix Palace.
All of Dragon Phoenix Palace came forward to welcome them.
Sun Yu had long ago received word that they would be arriving and had led a group of people outside Dragon Phoenix Palace to congratulate Chen Zhou and the others on their triumphant return as well as to welcome Yang Kai.
Chen Zhou hosted a grand banquet and the entire Sect was filled with drink and merriment.
After three rounds of drinking, Yang Kai pulled Sun Yu aside and told him about everything.
Sun Yu became slightly nervous and asked, “Senior Yang, although I can now have peace of mind, afterwards, will Palace Master and the others bear a grudge towards me?”
“How could they?” Yang Kai laughed, “Cultivate diligently, even if you aren’t the Dragon Emperor, you are still the Sect’s future hope, Palace Master Chen and the others won’t mistreat you.”
“Really?”
Yang Kai nodded.
“That’s good,” Sun Yu smiled carefreely, the great psychological burden he had been carrying these past few years finally lifting from his shoulders. Every day he spent shouldering the false identity of Dragon Emperor caused him great worry, fearing he would slip up and be discovered. Now though, he could finally relax and hold his head up high.
The Phoenix Nest was a world of Ice and Snow, with frigid air blowing through the forest that was covered in a layer of pure white fog, creating a kind of illusory fairyland.
The inheritance belonging to the Phoenix Empress was hidden somewhere inside this forest and for thousands of years, no one had managed to obtain it.
Only some disciples who cultivated Ice or Cold Attribute Secret Arts would regularly come to the Phoenix Nest to take advantage of the natural environment to cultivate.
Frozen Nether Cave Heaven had previously acted against Dragon Phoenix Palace mainly to seize the Phoenix Nest from them.
Yang Kai sat cross-legged in a certain place inside Phoenix Nest, his Saint Qi keeping the icy wind from affecting his body.
After breaking through to the Saint Realm, Yang Kai could feel an extraordinary energy circulating through this place, which left a layer of frost clinging to his hair and clothes, seemingly capable of affecting both the physical and spiritual world.
If Su Yan could come to this place, she would likely need only circulate the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art to absorb all the Ice Attribute Energy throughout the entire Phoenix Nest.
However, she couldn’t come here.
Yang Kai constantly released his Divine Sense into the surroundings, trying to communicate with this ice domain and have it accept him.
After all, Yang Kai had no idea when he would be able to return from this trip to the Starry Sky. If he could take away the Phoenix Empress Inheritance that resided here and was lucky enough to find Su Yan, he could directly pass it to her to help her improve her cultivation.
However, Yang Kai wasn’t even certain this was possible.
The intense ice-cold power exerted by this place was completely incompatible with the Yang Qi he has cultivated within his body.
He could try his best but this wasn’t something that could be forced.
Time passed by and Yang Kai had sat inside the Phoenix Nest for half a month without making any progress.
But that did not mean he didn’t have any gains. Yang Kai had taken advantage of the situation to consolidate his recent breakthrough to the Saint Realm.
Just after breaking through to a new Great Realm was the time one most needed to avoid advancing recklessly.
The Cold Qi in the environment forced Yang Kai to resist it with his own hot Saint Qi, allowing him to continuously circulate the energy within his body while experiencing the difference between his previous True Qi and current Saint Qi.
Yang Kai had reaped a great harvest from this experience and did not mind it continuing, instead splitting his attention between communicating with the Phoenix Empress Inheritance and stabilizing his Saint Realm cultivation, allowing his Saint Qi to become purer and denser.
This period of time gave Yang Kai an opportunity to lay down a solid foundation, enabling the strength within his body to slowly grow stronger as he comprehended the mysteries of the Saint Realm.
During this process, the Golden Dragon Tattoo swam vigorously across his back while interacting with the energy contained inside the Phoenix Nest, seemingly obtaining some special form of nourishment from it. Over time, it became more and more excited, as if it wanted to leap out from Yang Kai’s body and blend directly with the ice-cold strength in the surrounding air.
The Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress were the twin pillars of Dragon Phoenix Palace, the two were inextricably linked.
The Golden Dragon Tattoo contained a massive amount of energy and was the ultimate inheritance of the Dragon Emperor. It being able to elicit a reaction from the Phoenix Nest was only natural.
Another half a month later, the Phoenix Nest still showed no signs of movement.
During this time, Yang Kai had constantly been releasing his Divine Sense into the surrounding, trying to understand the mysteries of the Phoenix Nest.
But ultimately, he had failed.
After spending an entire month on this without any gains, Yang Kai could only reluctantly give up.
He concluded that he was unable to take the Phoenix Empress Inheritance from here.
Just as he opened his eyes and prepared to leave though, the ice-cold strength inside the Phoenix Nest suddenly underwent some unusual changes, seemingly coordinating with the Golden Dragon Tattoo on Yang Kai’s back and establishing a kind of subtle connection between them.
Yang Kai’s trembled, and recalling his movements just now, he quickly calmed his breathing and stopped circulating any of the strength within his body, allowing the Golden Dragon Tattoo to act completely freely.
The subtle connection became clearer and clearer, and Yang Kai’s expression grew brighter, as if he had understood something.
The huge icy strength within Phoenix Nest gathered towards a certain spot not far away from Yang Kai’s current position.
Gradually, the layer of frost and fog which had covered Phoenix Nest for thousands of years began to condense into a single small spot directly in front of Yang Kai, forming a cloud of astonishingly rich Ice Attribute Strength.
It seemed that all the ice-cold strength had gathered here now.
An Ice Phoenix phantom soon appeared in front of Yang Kai.
It was a gorgeous, pure-white, crystal-clear, flawless image, that exuded the nobles of auras, as if it was aloof of the mortal world.
It reminded Yang Kai greatly of Su Yan.
Their two auras were so similar it was almost as if they had been carved from the same mould.
Hu Jiao’er had once commented that Su Yan was like an ice fairy. This evaluation was not an exaggeration, anyone who saw Su Yan’s first impression would be similar to this; only when facing Yang Kai would her icy demeanour soften and melt.
A tremendous heat burst out, one seeming hot enough to burn down the entire world.
At the same time, a resounding dragon roar echoed throughout the Heavens and the Earth while the Ice Phoenix phantom lifted its head up high and released a piercing phoenix cry towards the sky above.
Yang Kai stretched out his hand and gazed at it gently, just as if he was seeing Su Yan.
He sent out his most sincere invitation to the Ice Phoenix phantom at that moment.
The Ice Phoenix stared at him as if it possessed its own sentience, peering into Yang Kai’s eyes straight to his heart and understanding the importance she had to him.
Understanding his sincerity, she responded.
Her luminous body shattered into a million brilliant points of light that swept towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai didn’t move, allowing this rush of cold energy flood into his body, a thick layer of frost instantly condensing on his skin in the process.
The influx of ice and cold attribute energy had instantly caused his body temperature to plunge.
Yang Kai’s Saint Qi unconsciously began to riot, trying to resist this invasion of Cold Qi, but he quickly suppressed it, withdrawing all of it into his dantian.
In an instant, Yang Kai’s teeth began chattering and his lips turned purple as signs of frostbite appeared all over his body.
The massive amount of Ice Attribute Energy continued to flow in, and only after quite some time did the Cold Qi in the surroundings completely disappear.
Yang Kai’s tight and trembling body suddenly relaxed at this moment as the unbearable chill he had just been feeling vanished.
There seemed to be something more inside his body now, swimming across the surface of his skin, giving him an icy cool feeling that shook his spirit.
Untying his robes and lowering his head, Yang Kai saw both a dragon and a phoenix tattoo, frolicking and chasing one another.
Contained within these two tattoos was an unimaginable amount of power.
Yang Kai smiled with satisfaction and no small amount of surprise.
He had come here just to try his luck, never having imagined he would actually succeed; this result had far exceeded his expectations.
The Phoenix Empress’ Inheritance had really responded to his invitation and entered his body.
Closing his eyes, Yang Kai felt the Phoenix Empress’ aura and sensed its intentions of using his body to temporarily take shelter.
Till the end, it was a foreign entity, so despite the massive amount of energy it contained, Yang Kai was unable to access it, the only thing he could do was carry it for Su Yan for the time being.
After carefully confirming that the Ice Phoenix Tattoo would not adversely affect him in any way, Yang Kai got up and strode out of the Phoenix Nest.
The sun shone in, unsealing the Phoenix Nest.
The world of ice and snow which had existed for thousands of years finally began melting today.
After spending some time in Dragon Phoenix Palace to inform Chen Zhou about the Phoenix Nest’s situation, Yang Kai bid him farewell, summoned out his Star Shuttle, and headed back to Nine Heavens Holy Land.
When he arrived at the Holy Land, Xu Hui and the others had long since returned.
The entire Holy Land was still immersed in a jubilant mood.
Yang Kai summoned his friends and family and informed them about his plans to travel to the Starry Sky.
But to Yang Kai’s surprise, none of them showed many reactions after hearing the news, as if they all already knew.
Yang Kai turned to Li Rong and figured that she should have told them beforehand, allowing them to psychologically prepare themselves.
“Have you decided?” Meng Wu Ya asked calmly.
“En,” Yang Kai nodded gently.
“If you’ve decided, there’s no need to say anything more. Just concentrate on taking care of yourself out there. Don’t worry about here, this old master will look after it for you,” Meng Wu Ya nodded back.
“I’ll leave it to Treasurer Meng,” Yang Kai nodded sincerely. With Meng Wu Ya’s commitment, he could feel at ease even if he left.
Nine Heavens Holy Land was on a steady path now and didn’t require the Holy Master’s presence, the only thing Yang Kai had to worry about was his friends and relatives living in the former War Spirit Temple site, but as long as Meng Wu Ya was here, none would dare bully them.
“You head out first. Perhaps sometime later, this old master will follow suit; if that happens, I’ll definitely go looking for you,” Meng Wu Ya smiled.
“I’ll be waiting.”
Suddenly, a burst of sobs came from nearby as Dong Su Zhu’s eyes became red and puffy, an imploring look upon her face, clearly saying she didn’t want Yang Kai to go.
More than a decade ago, Yang Kai had left the Central Capital and she had lost all contact with him.
It wasn’t until very recently that their family had finally reunited.
Dong Su Zhu hadn’t even had enough time to sit down and have a long chat with her son before Yang Kai had decided to embark on a new journey, this time heading out in the vast Starry Sky.
How could she be willing?
The Yang Family Fourth Master wore the face of iron, but the tears threatening to fall from the corners of his eyes gave away his true thoughts.
Yang Kai’s heart filled with guilt and was just about to try comforting them when Yang Ying Feng spoke first, “Go. Father supports your decisions and believes in you!”
Yang Kai’s shoulders trembled as he nodded strongly.
The Yang Family Fourth Master’s words greatly relieved Yang Kai. Now he could finally put down all his burdens and focus on the matters he wanted to accomplish.
“Before you go, you should go talk with Ning Chang,” Meng Wu Ya sighed slightly, “She has refused to leave her room for the last half-month.”
“I know.”
It was late at night, and the pale moon hung in the night sky, sending down pure gentle rays.
Yang Kai walked into the Holy Master Court just in time to see An Ling’er walk out. Upon seeing Yang Kai, An Ling’er couldn’t help letting out a giggle as she stepped aside, allowing him to pass, with a mischievous look on her face.
Yang Kai stared at her briefly before continuing towards Xia Ning Chang’s room.
Outside the door, Du Wan and the other five Grandmasters had gathered together and were constantly calling out, each one speaking words of persuasion, trying to tempt Xia Ning Chang out.
However, there was no movement from inside the room.
“Grandmasters, good evening,” Yang Kai coughed lightly to attract their attention.
In the darkness, five pairs of eyes simultaneously turned towards him, disgruntled looks upon their faces.
“You little brat…” Chang Bao fat body trembled as he immediately took advantage of his seniority to reprimand, “You really don’t know how blessed you are! Little Xia having a liking for you is simply more than you deserve, yet you actually dare make her sad, you really know how to anger this old master!”
Outside Xia Ning Chang’s room, the fat Chang Bao interrogated Yang Kai, his spit flying all over the place as he loudly scolded.
“Xia girl hasn’t left her room for half a month now, even refusing to perform Alchemy, and it’s all your fault!” Hong Fang also said unceremoniously.
Kong Ruo Yu coldly snorted and continued, “As a man, it is your responsibility to make your woman feel safe and secure, not cause her grief. As Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land, you’re fine, but in this area, you have a long way to go.”
Even Du Wan, who had the best relationship with Yang Kai, solemnly said, “Hurry up and think about how to comfort her.”
At this moment, the five Grandmasters seemed to be firmly standing on Xia Ning Chang’s side, vigorously protecting her while blaming Yang Kai.
Yang Kai froze up like a wooden chicken.
He hadn’t anticipated that the relationship between Little Senior Sister and the five Grandmasters would become so close.
He clearly remembered when the five Grandmasters first came to the Holy Land and were willing to put down their pride just to ask him to allow them to study the Alchemic Way with him.
Back then, he had received much respect from these five Grandmasters.
But now, it seemed Xia Ning Chang’s status far surpassed his own in the minds of the five Grandmasters.
“Uh…” Yang Kai opened his mouth but before he could say anything to defend himself was cut off by Hong Fang.
Hong Fang squinted with displeasure towards him and snorted, “Boy, I heard you insisted on going to the Starry Sky to chase a woman, yes? What kind of woman can compare with Xia girl?”
“That’s right, Little Xia is already the best girl in the world. Don’t try to eat from the pot with your bowl already full.”
“Xia girl is kind, gentle, understanding, pure, innocent, and cute; it really makes one wonder how she could take a liking to a little bastard like you?”
Facing a second round of reprimands, Yang Kai was again struck speechless.
“Xia girl, don’t be sad!” Kong Ruo Yu suddenly turned to the door and shouted, “You don’t need to care about such an indecisive man, another day this old lady will introduce you to a fine young man, although he may not be as good as Yang Kai, he is still a dragon among men.”
Yang Kai’s face instantly went black as he said flatly, “Old Kong, if you don’t want that person to have an ‘accident’, it would be best if he never appeared in the Holy Land.”
Kong Ruo Yu stared back at him defiantly, “What? So you’re allowed to act half-hearted but Xia girl can’t even make her own choice?”
“That’s not what I meant…” Yang Kai felt a headache coming on as he was unable to explain clearly, wondering just what these five Grandmasters had taken to cause them to interfere in the love of a man and woman.
*Zhiya…*
The door suddenly opened and in the darkness, Xia Ning Chang appeared in front of everyone, her pair of beautiful eyes shining brightly without the slightest trace of impurities.
However, everyone could tell that her eyes were a little red and swollen.
“Don’t say such bad things about Junior Brother…” Xia Ning Chang spoke in a voice as quiet as a mosquito as she turned to stare at Yang Kai faintly, biting her thin lip as she said, “The one Junior Brother is going to find is Senior Sister Su Yan. Senior Sister is a very good person.”
“Ha, you’ve finally decided to come out great aunt,” Chang Bao sighed as he wiped the sweat from his forehead while hurriedly asking if Xia Ning Chang was alright.
“Junior Brother, come inside so we can talk!” Xia Ning Chang pulled Yang Kai into her room.
Yang Kai turned around as they walked in and somehow squeezed out a smile, “Five Grandmasters also rest early!”
Before they could reply, the door was quickly closed.
“This smelly brat…” Hong Fang snorted before letting out a helpless laugh.
“Good, Yang Kai should be fine on his own from here on out,” Du Wan chuckled, “We should also retire.”
The Grandmasters were all seasoned people and naturally understood the pain in Xia Ning Chang’s heart. Them harshly reprimanding Yang Kai just now was mostly to arouse Xia Ning Chang’s sympathy and force her to come out.
Any issues young people had just needed them to open their hearts and discuss to resolve.
Inside the room, after the five Grandmasters drifted away, Yang Kai stared towards Xia Ning Chang with a look of apology.
“I am going to find Su Yan, I came here tonight to tell you,” he said.
“I know!” Xia Ning Chang gently nodded, “I won’t stop you, I’m just a bit reluctant to part.”
Saying so, her crystal clear eyes became misty and she plunged herself into Yang Kai’s arms, burying her head in his chest.
Tears began to wet Yang Kai’s clothes as Xia Ning Chang’s voice came out, “You don’t need to worry about here, just find Su Yan and bring her back.”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded heavily, embracing the beautiful woman tightly, feeling the softness and heat of her body. Yang Kai surprisingly felt not the slightest hint of arousal, only a sense of reluctance and guilt.
Xia Ning Chang seemed to sense his concerns and softly whispered, “You don’t have to feel guilty because I know that if Master had taken me to the Starry Sky, you would also search for me, right?”
“Of course!” Yang Kai tightened his embrace, feeling especially gratified for Little Senior Sister’s understanding.
“I also believe that you will find her,” Xia Ning Chang suddenly raised her head and stared at him with her beautiful crescent-shaped eyes.
“Why?”
“Because you already found us once!” Xia Ning Chang declared firmly, “This time you will certainly not fail. If two people are destined to be together, no matter how far apart they are, no matter how much time passes by, they will inevitably reunite. I used to think so, and now I believe so because in my most hopeless and isolated moment, you…” Speaking until here, Xia Ning Chang’s voice became incredibly quiet, as if she was ashamed to even say her next words.
“What about me?” Yang Kai stared at her intently, a strange smile forming on his lips.
Xia Ning Chang’s face flushed with embarrassment, her eyes sinking slightly as her delicate hands gripped Yang Kai’s clothes and whispered in a nearly inaudible voice, “You appeared like a hero.”
As soon as she spoke these words, Little Senior Sister’s cheeks blushed bright red and her heart began racing, causing her tender body to heat up even further.
She was not the kind of person who would easily reveal their inner thoughts, especially the ones close to her heart. Speaking her true feelings just now was already her limit.
She suddenly recalled the time they traveled together to the Nine Yin Mountain Valley in order to obtain the Nine Yin Yuan Condensing Dew, when she and Yang Kai had suffered an ambush.
Inside that mountain valley, when she fell into mortal danger, Yang Kai had stood tall in front of her, becoming battered and bloody all to protect her.
At that time, his back wasn’t nearly as broad as it was now, even seeming a bit weak and unreliable, but he still stood a firm as a mountain, shielding her from the wind and rain.
From that point on, his figure had quietly been imprinted into her heart, greatly moving her heartstrings.
Every time she thought about to that scene, Xia Ning Chang’s heart filled with a warm sweetness.
After that, for ten years she had been separated from Yang Kai, and as she followed her Master east and west, she had met no shortage of talented young men, heirs of big Sects and families, many of whom expressed their admiration to her without any disguise.
However, she had always remained indifferent, her heart never moving for any of these men.
She was waiting.
And finally, after many years, she achieved her wish.
When her Master had been trapped, unable to escape, and she had been plunged into the depths of desperation and helplessness, that same figure from her memories appeared in front of her again, breaking open the dark clouds that blinded her to all hope and showering her in endless light.
At that moment, she felt that even if she were to immediately die, it would be worth it, such was the excitement and joy that filled her heart.
Today, he was leaving, and what she needed to do was wait.
Waiting calmly and expectantly. Xia Ning Chang felt that she was not lacking in patience. Even if the seas dried up and the mountains crumbled to dust, she would continue to wait.
Suddenly, her body felt light and Xia Ning Chang couldn’t help but shout tenderly. By the time she reacted, she found that she had already been lifted up by Yang Kai’s.
His arms were strong and powerful, making her feel comfortable and safe, as if she was afloat in the most peaceful of harbours, all her weariness and anxiety melting away.
“Junior Brother, what are you doing?” Xia Ning Chang called out tenderly as she noticed that Yang Kai was staring at her with a meaningful smile and walking step by step towards her bed.
Under his soft gaze, Xia Ning Chang felt like she was melting like snow in the early spring.
She was faintly aware of what was happening and her heart began pounding fiercely. Her breathing quickened and an astonishing amount of heat rose from her tender body.
Yang Kai still just smiled meaningfully, causing Xia Ning Chang to involuntarily close her beautiful eyes, bite her lip and tuck her head into his chest, not daring to face him.
Feeling a softness on her back, Xia Ning Chang found herself lying on the bed, the bright moonlight pouring down onto her from the nearby open window.
Yang Kai sat on the edge of the bed and stared at this beautiful scene, his hands gently brushing Little Senior Sister’s hair.
“Little Senior Sister, do you remember that time in High Heaven Pavilion when I went out on a mission and returned at night to find you lying in my bed, fast asleep?” Yang Kai asked suddenly.
Xia Ning Chang opened his eyes slightly and whispered, “That was so long ago, I don’t remember.”
How could she not remember? She was clearly just too ashamed to admit it.
On that day, she had come to deliver a message to Yang Kai. Back then, the two of them weren’t familiar with each other and had never even exchanged greetings before. She had waited inside his small wooden house but Yang Kai never came back.
While she was waiting, she had at some point fallen asleep.
When she awoke, she found Yang Kai standing by the bed, staring at her with an infatuated gaze.
Xia Ning Chang didn’t know when he had come back, but she could still clearly remember that Yang Kai’s eyes at the time contained no obscenity, only admiration.
It seemed like he was unable to bear to wake her from her rest.
“That time was almost exactly the same as right now,” Yang Kai’s voice was soft and his eyes filled with love, “The gentle moonlight shining down on you, the sapphire gem on your forehead reflecting their radiance. At that time, Junior Brother was startled by your beauty. Junior Brother was very envious back then, wondering which lucky man you would choose to be with in the future. How could I have known that lucky man would be me?”
His sincere words filled with tender affection were like a sharp sword which pierced through Little Senior Sister’s defences, causing her to become lost in their honeyed sweetness, unable to extricate herself from this blissful happiness.
Her eyes blurred, and her delicate ears become bright red, a pink flush dying her neck as her heart beats rapidly, a burning flame bursting from her body as she directed a look of anticipation towards Yang Kai, reaching up and wrapping her delicate arms around his neck and gently pulling him towards her.
Her defences broke and she fell to the enemy’s hands in an instant.
Inside the room, atop the soft bed, Xia Ning Chang had fallen into an intoxicated state.
Yang Kai didn’t hadn’t acted aggressively, instead whispering sweet words filled with tender feelings and allowing her to lower all her defences on her own. This made her feel as if she was floating on clouds, fluttering in the wind, her soft body unconsciously swaying to and fro, hot breath leaking from her lips.
Her beautiful eyes became blurred and an immense look of satisfaction appeared on her innocent face.
Yang Kai leaned down and kissed her brow, then the tip of her nose, his movements cautious to the extreme, like he was handling the finest work of art.
Meeting his eyes, her small and delicate ears dyed bright red, Xia Ning Chang softly whispered, “Junior Brother… Before you leave, remember my appearance well.”
Yang Kai was startled for a moment but soon gently nodded.
It had been more than a decade since he had met Xia Ning Chang, but in all that time he had never truly seen his Little Senior Sister’s visage.
At all times, Little Senior Sister would wear her veil, making it impossible for anyone to gaze upon her face.
In the beginning, Yang Kai was also curious about what she looked like, but as time passed, he found himself not caring at all.
Whether she possessed beauty that could destroy a country or a completely ordinary appearance, Little Senior Sister would always be Little Senior Sister, an irreplaceable existence.
She had the purest pair of eyes in the world. That was enough.
Yang Kai had never thought that before his departure, Xia Ning Chang would actually take the initiative to show him. Naturally, he wouldn’t refuse.
In the next moment, Xia Ning Chang gently removed her veil and revealed to him her immaculate appearance.
A gentle breeze blew in from the window, lifting her veil and carrying it to the other side of the bed.
Xia Ning Chang closed her eyes, somewhat nervously lifting her head, allowing Yang Kai to gaze upon her unobstructed face.
Yang Kai stared carefully, his body trembling with shock as a strong light flashed across his eyes.
Even though he had mentally prepared himself, the moment he laid eyes on Xia Ning Chang’s true portrait, he couldn’t help feeling a bit overwhelmed.
The appearance of Little Senior Sister wasn’t the most beautiful Yang Kai had seen. After all, she could be said to be as beautiful as Su Yan or Shan Qing Luo. However, there was something more to her appearance that made it unique on its own.
Su Yan had a noble coldness to her while Shan Qing Luo exuded seductiveness meanwhile; Little Senior Sister gave off a pure, holy temperament.
It was as if more than two decades of life had not left a single trace of dust upon her body or soul.
A delicate porcelain nose, with lightly blushing cheeks and two petal-like lips. No trace of cosmetics adorned or was necessary for her tender, snow-white skin which glistened like the finest jade.
Each one of these facets was similar to those of other great beauties, exquisite and flawless.
But when these pure, pristine features were combined together, an unexpected result occurred.
Her sacredness and innocence intertwined, causing Yang Kai to feel as if the beautiful young woman before him was inviolable and aloof from the mortal world.
Yang Kai had travelled far and wide for many years and seen no shortage of beautiful women, but none had ever given him as intense an impact from their image alone as Xia Ning Chang.
The moment he saw her true appearance, Yang Kai’s heart was filled with an impulse that was difficult to suppress.
He wished he could embrace Xia Ning Chang so tightly that their bodies became one so she could never leave his side again.
As this thought washed over him, Yang Kai had to force himself to take a deep breath and firmly suppress it, his expression turning solemn.
He was not a man without self-restraint; on the contrary, he was quite adept at controlling his actions and emotions.
Yet he still had such thoughts.
Yang Kai didn’t know just how intense of a reaction other men would have if they were to see Xia Ning Chang’s face.
“Master said long ago… I mustn’t expose my face easily, so I have been wearing a veil all these years,” Xia Ning Chang whispered softly, her cheeks blushing bright red under Yang Kai’s intense gaze, clearly somewhat embarrassed still.
“Treasurer Meng was right,” Yang Kai nodded repeatedly while brushing his hand through Xia Ning Chang’s silky hair, leaning in even closer to her as he softly said, “I think most men who see will you have one of two thoughts.”
“What two thoughts?” Xia Ning Chang was dreadfully ashamed but couldn’t repress her curiosity and asked.
“Protect or violate!”
Protect her innocence and keep her ignorant of worldly affairs, or dye her purity in their own colour, forever destroying her sacredness. Any man would feel a great sense of accomplishment from either of these acts.
The combination of these contradictory ideas would undoubtedly bring a great deal of unnecessary trouble to Xia Ning Chang.
“Then Junior Brother, what about you?” Xia Ning Chang suddenly found her courage and stared directly into Yang Kai’s eyes. Asking about her beloved’s true thoughts was a matter of great concern!
She couldn’t care less about anyone else’s thoughts, all she wanted to know was what Yang Kai felt.
“Me?” Yang Kai grinned evilly, “Junior Brother is part of the majority.”
Saying so, he leaned over all the way and lightly kissed Little Senior Sister’s red lips.
“Em…” Xia Ning Chang’s tender body suddenly tensed up as her beautiful eyes opened wide. It was like her Soul had received a devastating attack, causing her to lose all control over her body, immobilizing her to the point where she couldn’t even think straight, much less talk.
However, all that was soon overwhelmed by great happiness and satisfaction.
She slowly closed her eyes and enjoyed this long-awaited, intoxicating moment, her heart beating as strongly as a drum in her tight chest.
As Yang Kai gently kissed her, his hands reached out and slipped inside Little Senior Sister’s dress, finding their way to her two flawless peaks and gently began kneading them, indulging in their astonishing elasticity and dream-like softness, feeling the incredible heat that rose from them as he pinched and massaged their jade tips.
Little Senior Sister’s panting became even fiercer as a tingling sensation flooded her chest every time Yang Kai’s strong hands caressed her supple flesh.
This tingling did not cause her any kind of discomfort, but instead stimulated her nerves and sent shocks through her soul, filling her with feelings of comfort and bliss.
She couldn’t help wanting time to freeze in this moment and never flow on.
*Cila…*
As her clothes were untied, Xia Ning Chang’s tender body trembled.
With the many times she had been ‘asleep’ around Yang Kai and Su Yan, she knew all about the matters between men and women, and exactly what came next after her dress had been removed.
Her clothes became disordered and her breathing became short.
Under the pale moonlight, Little Senior Sister’s exquisite figure shimmered like the finest jade. Yang Kai took his time gazing at this divine creation, engraving everything about it into the deepest depths of his soul.
He continued to kiss and caress, plucking at Xia Ning Chang’s taut heartstrings.
He was determined to leave Little Senior Sister with the most perfect, most unforgettable night of her life.
With his departure on the horizon, this was the only thing he could do for his Little Senior Sister. Therefore he refused to leave behind any kind of unpleasantness or regrets for her.
The sheets gradually grew wet as Little Senior Sister lost all ability to think for herself, her desires unconsciously leaking from her lips in between her gasps and moans, her tender body writhing back and forth as her skin glowed a pinkish hue from top to bottom.
Yang Kai gathered his strength and began his assault on the enemy’s last line of defence.
His gentle movements soon growing vigorous.
The entire Holy Master Court seemed to be shrouded in an aura of spring, the breath of life filling the air as flowers blossomed one after another…
Outside the Holy Master Court, a pretty shadow quietly stood, a pair of beautiful eyes filled with complex emotions staring forward.
Another shadow slowly approached. It was An Ling’er who was carrying a small lantern with her, but the previous shadow remained unaware of her arrival until An Ling’er lightly coughed, waking her from her stupor and causing her to jump like a frightened rabbit, her pretty face immediately blushing bright red.
“Ms Qiu, are you still not resting at such a late hour?” An Ling’er looked at Qiu Yi Meng suspiciously, not knowing why she was standing here.
“Oh… I was about to rest,” Qiu Yi Meng stealthily shot a glance in the direction of the Holy Master Court and hurriedly replied.
“Do you have something you need to discuss with Holy Master?” An Ling’er quickly saw some clues from her behaviour and smiled thoughtfully, “If there is any matter you need to see him for, you should go on in. You’re not an outsider, after all. He shouldn’t be asleep yet.”
“N… no…” Qiu Yi Meng quickly waved her hands, “I… I didn’t come here for him… I just… came here to see the stars!”
“To look at the stars?” An Ling’er looked up at the sky for a moment before letting out a giggle, “It’s a bright moon tonight, there aren’t many stars to see.”
Qiu Yi Meng’s pretty face blushed an even brighter shade of red.
“Holy Master will probably be leaving tomorrow, and there’s no way to know how long it will be before he returns. If you miss this opportunity, I don’t know when the next one will appear. What is there to hesitate about, Ms. Qiu?” An Ling’er had seemingly seen through Qiu Yi Meng’s hearts and couldn’t help giving her a little push.
“I really didn’t come here for him,” Qiu Yi Meng spoke with embarrassment.
An Ling’er continued to smile meaningfully and was just about to say something when suddenly a strange sound reached her ear, causing her brow to wrinkle as she concentrated her hearing.
Qiu Yi Meng also took notice and cupped her ear in an attempt to identify the sound.
A moment later, the faces of the two women became crimson red as they exchanged an flustered glance.
“Ahem…” An Ling’er lightly coughed, “The night wind is nice, so I’ll accompany Ms. Qiu here to see the stars.”
An Ling’er was too embarrassed to return back to the Holy Master Court so she took the initiative to sit down at a nearby table and looked up at the sky.
Qiu Yi Meng nodded and quickly sat down next to her.
The two young ladies didn’t say a word, allowing them to hear the violent beating of their own hearts as well as the intermittent sounds coming from behind them that seemed to penetrate straight into the ears, making them feel incredibly uncomfortable and involuntarily clamp their legs together while their bodies squirmed gently.
“Hehe… such wonderful weather today,” An Ling’er spoke some meaningless words.
“Indeed,” Qiu Yi Meng absent-mindedly nodded and agreed.
The muffled sounds grew clearer and louder with each passing moment, causing the two young women to feel as if a flame had been lit in their lower abdomens while the cold night wind blowing past their slender legs sent chills up their spines. The mixture of hot and cold made them feel as if their bodies had suddenly become far more sensitive than before.
“I really couldn’t have imagined it!” An Ling’er suddenly declared with a speechless look upon her face.
“Couldn’t imagine what?” Qiu Yi Meng turned to her and asked.
“That always quiet, reserved girl, calling out so intensely…”
“Hehe…” Qiu Yi Meng didn’t know how to respond.
“Aren’t you going in?” An Ling’er bit her red lips and suddenly asked, “Now is the perfect time, nothing would need to be said.”
“Ah…” Qiu Yi Meng was shocked and blushed bashfully, “How could that be alright?”
“What need is there to be embarrassed now? If I were you, I’d rush in right now and teach him a lesson!” An Ling’er needled, anxious to stir up trouble.
“No way!” Qiu Yi Meng waved her hands frantically, “I couldn’t possibly do that.”
Acting like a jealous beggar, pleading for the love of another, Qiu Yi Meng couldn’t bring herself to act so shamefully.
“Don’t be afraid, I’ll fully support you. If you pass by this village there won’t be another with the same store after it,” An Ling’er continued to be whisper devilish temptations.
Qiu Yi Meng seemed to be wavering, but after carefully thinking for a moment, she suddenly shook her head, stood up and declared, “I’ll wait for him to return. When he comes back next time… I won’t let him off! Goodnight, Ms An. I’ll be heading back first to rest.”
“Ah, hey, don’t just leave me here…” An Ling’er raised her hands to stop Qiu Yi Meng but the latter had already disappeared.
All alone now, heavy breathing and stimulating moans floated into An Ling’er’s ears, causing her to bite her lip hard and shrink her body up, covering her ears with her hands as she cursed under her breath, cursing Yang Kai to never be able to go forth into battle again and for tonight to be the last meal he ever eats…
The next day, Yang Kai and Xia Ning Chang walked out of the Holy Master Court, side by side.
Outside, there were many people standing around, the leaders of the all the forces from the Great Han Dynasty, the Yang Family brothers and Elders, the leaders and Elders of the Holy Land, the Ancient Demon Clan’s Great Commanders, thirty or so Saint Grade Alchemists, The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep Li Rui and Di Yao…
All of them seemed to have been waiting for Yang Kai to appear.
Seeing him coming out from inside, everyone’s vision instantly fixed onto the pair, meaningful grins appearing on all their faces.
Xia Ning Chang’s face could not have been redder as she quickly hid behind Yang Kai’s back, her walking posture somewhat unnatural.
No matter who it was, they could see that Xia Ning Chang was practically glowing now and that there was a glamorous aura about her that was not there before, as if she had received a great moisturizing from something.
Everyone was a seasoned master here and was well aware of what had transpired.
Yang Kai let out a great laugh and cupped his fists said, “Why has everyone gathered here so suddenly?”
“To see you off!” Old Man Li took a step forward and said, “You said you would be leaving today.”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded, “Many thanks to all of you.”
“No need for superfluous words. Be careful out there, if the matters may not be, return as soon as possible!” Old Man Li said concisely.
“Junior will bear that in mind,” Yang Kai sincerely nodded.
Yang Ying Feng and Dong Su Zhu both walked up, the latter repeatedly cautioning her son about various things, to which Yang Kai promised to heed her warnings one by one.
“Little brat, you must come back safely. Ning Chang, more than anyone here, does not wish for anything to happen to you,” Meng Wu Ya lowered his voice and whispered into Yang Kai’s ear.
“I know,” Yang Kai solemnly promised, “I won’t make Little Senior Sister sad.”
“I wish you success,” Meng Wu Ya took a deep breath and declared.
Hearing the goodbyes from all friends and family, as well as their well wishes and words of concern, Yang Kai felt warmth from the bottom of his heart.
Entrusting the Holy Land to the various Elders and then bidding farewell to Li Rong and the others again, Yang Kai finished arranging everything he had to then gently kissed Little Senior Sister on her forehead and whispered his eternal love for her into her ear before he summoned out his Star Shuttle and disappeared in a blue streak of light.
He was embarking on a new journey.
Everyone waved goodbye to him in front of the Holy Master Court.
Waiting until Yang Kai’s figure disappeared, Yu Ying let out a faint sigh and comforted, “Ling’er, don’t cry. Holy Master will definitely come back.”
“Who’s crying?” An Ling’er wore a genuinely confused look.
“Why are your eyes so red then?” Yu Ying laughed lightly, thinking she was too embarrassed to admit the truth.
“My eyes are red because…” An Ling’er opened her mouth and began to explain but thinking about what happened last night, she really couldn’t bring herself to continue.
Glancing over at the innocent-looking veiled girl who had tears streaming down her face, An Ling’er silently expressed her deepest admirations!
Last night, she had spent the entire night outside the Holy Master Court staring at the stars…
The spirit and strength of those two were simply astonishing, but what was most shocking was that even though Ms Xia had clearly not slept a wink, she seemed to be the very picture of health and radiance.
For the life of her, An Ling’er couldn’t understand why.
A few days after Yang Kai set out, the Ancient Demon Clan also left Nine Heavens Holy Land and went to the Demon Land under the leadership of Li Rong and the other Great Commanders in accordance with her previous agreement with Zhang Yuan.
Old Demon followed suit!
After all, he too belonged to the Demon Race now, and only in the Demon Land could he have the best possible cultivation environment. On top of that, he was a peculiar case where it was all but certain that in less than twenty years he would reach the Third Order Saint Realm and become another Demon General.
The Hu Sisters also left from the former War Spirit Temple site and travelled to Twin Spirit Pavilion for further study.
Meng Wu Ya settled down in Nine Heavens Holy Land, becoming its grand protector.
Inside the former domain of War Spirit Temple, the Great Han cultivators made use of the abundant resources from Nine Heavens Holy Land to diligently cultivate themselves.
The nearly thirty Saint Grade Alchemists now essentially regarded Nine Heavens Holy Land as the headquarters of the Alchemist Guild, none of them showing any willingness to leave because Old Man Li had announced that from now on he and his apprentice would stop roaming the world and settle in the Holy Land.
Old Man Li also became the honorary Chief Alchemist of Nine Heavens Holy Land.
With Old Man Li and Xia Ning Chang both there, how could the other Saint Grade Alchemists bear to leave? All of them continuously found one excuse or another to stay behind.
In an instant, Nine Heavens Holy Land became the most powerful and influential force in the world, completely eclipsing any other Sect or Family.
Everyone entered a period of stable prosperity.
…..
The Starry Sky was vast and endless.
Amidst the cold, dark, Star Field, Yang Kai’s Star Shuttle soared forward.
He had come to the Starry Sky from the Void Corridor above Ice Sect’s former site because Ice Sect’s Sect Master, Qing Ya, had come to the Starry Sky with Su Yan from there, so he had hoped to discover some clues by following their trail.
Unfortunately, he failed to discover anything.
He didn’t know where he should go or whether he would be able to encounter any other living beings, the only thing he was certain of was that there were others out here amongst the vast Starry Sky.
The Bone Race had managed to find Tong Xuan Realm many thousands of years ago.
Yang Kai hoped that one day, as long as he kept going, he would be able to discover some traces of life.
The Star Shuttle’s blue hue flashed through the endless Starry Sky, its thin protective shield tightly covering Yang Kai and blocking out the destructive power of the Starry Sky.
Without this Star Shuttle, Yang Kai wouldn’t have been able to travel too far into the Starry Sky as he would have to constantly consume his own strength to resist the omnipresent Starry Sky pressure.
The strength he needed to consume to operate the Star Shuttle was definitely a lot smaller than the alternative!
Yang Kai didn’t know how long he had drifted through the Starry Sky, but his First Order Saint Realm cultivation had long ago been consolidated, so he had begun to spend his idle time cultivating while operating his Star Shuttle.
So far, he had not made any special discoveries.
His experience was actually quite similar to that of Great Demon God’s initial foray into the Starry Sky, encountering Starry Sky Storms and Asteroid Seas.
However, he had yet to encounter any trace of life.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling somewhat dispirited, wondering if continuing this blind exploration would ever yield any results.
Perhaps he would become lost in this Star Field forever and die all alone of old age.
But despite these negative thoughts, he was not prepared to retreat because Su Yan was still somewhere out here in this Star Field.
One day, while he was idle, Yang Kai took out the Demon Mystic Tome and quietly began examining it while allowing the Star Shuttle to simply fly forward.
Since obtaining this Demon Mystic Tome, his life had undergone unimaginable changes, and Yang Kai knew that all his current achievements were inextricably linked to this Demon Mystic Tome.
From this ancient book, he had obtained the Unyielding Golden Skeleton, the Demon Eye of Annihilation, and the inheritance of Great Demon God.
Great Demon God had seemingly arranged a set path for his successor’s life before he died.
But now, Yang Kai had finally embarked on Great Demon God’s greatest unfulfilled adventure, exploring the Starry Sky.
From this moment on, he had leapt out of the arrangements made by Great Demon God and flown off into the beyond.
Yang Kai firmly believed that in the near future, he would exceed Great Demon God and accomplish what he had failed to do in the past, fulfilling the ritual of disciple surpassing master.
“Em…” During his contemplations, Yang Kai suddenly discovered something and knit his brow as he stared at the Demon Mystic Tome.
He found that from all directions, light from the surrounding stars was transforming into thing rays of energy and being drawn into the interior of the Demon Mystic Tome.
At the same time, the Divine Tree which still resided inside the Demon Mystic Tome sent him a Divine Sense Message.
Receiving this message, Yang Kai nodded in response, “I’ll come in immediately.”
Saying so, Yang Kai sent his Soul Avatar into the Demon Mystic Tome and was greeted by the scene of numerous rays of starlight drifting towards a certain location.
Unexpectedly, these rays destination was the two mysterious pitch-black round stones.
These two pitch-black round stones were the source of much confusion for Yang Kai; to this day he still didn’t even know what they were.
They had extracted the essence of a large number of precious ores and their surfaces had developed patterns which resembled human meridians. They had also begun to rhythmically pulse.
It was like they were somehow alive!
At this moment, the ambient energy in the Starry Sky was being absorbed by the two pitch-black round stones.
After absorbing the power of the stars, the lines on their surfaces became both clearer and more distinct while the pulsing sensation they gave off also gradually increased.
“I think they really are alive,” The Divine Tree suddenly said; it had stayed in the Demon Mystic Tome this whole time and had been able to carefully observe the two pitch-black round stones, thus giving it a better understanding of them than Yang Kai. “They give off feeling very similar to the Shimmering Moon Grass!”
“You mean, they are also World Spirit Treasures?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows.
“I’m not sure. Do you want to cut them apart and find out?” Divine Tree proposed.
“There’s still no need for that, if they really are World Spirit Treasures, it would be too wasteful to cut them open,” Yang Kai shook his head, “In any case, it seems they’re still undergoing changes so just continue to monitor them for now. If something out of place happens, tell me immediately.”
“Got it,” The Divine Tree responded.
Regardless of what these objects really were, Yang Kai believed that as long as he waited patiently, he would eventually discover the truth.
As such, Yang Kai didn’t rush to take back the Demon Mystic Tome and instead left it out so it could absorb more Starry Sky energy to satisfy the two pitch-black round stones.
Yang Kai continued forward.
One day, in front of him, another energy storm appeared, this one extremely vast in scope.
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled, circulating his Saint Qi quietly and preparing to resist the oncoming danger.
Since he stepped into the Starry Sky, this kind of situation had become commonplace. Unlike when he broke through to the Transcendent Realm and had barely survived the Starry Sky Storm, his physique and strength were much higher and he was now able to essentially ignore them.
When the storm hit, Yang Kai maintained his Star Shuttle’s calm and leisurely forward pace.
Countless big and small asteroids which had been caught up in the storm added to its destructive power.
Suddenly, a certain asteroid caught Yang Kai’s eyes and he swiftly flew over it. After carefully scrutinizing it for a while, his body began to tremble as a look of excitement flashed across his face.
Standing atop this asteroid, Yang Kai’s expression brightened as he began sweeping his eyes over his surroundings.
Everywhere he looked, he saw traces left behind by other cultivators!
In other words, on its surface, this asteroid had trace of life!
Yang Kai was overwhelmed with excitement. When he began his journey, he was completely blind, with no idea where he should be heading. However, now that he had finally found a clue, it was only natural for his spirits to rise.
His gaze became sharp and firm, no longer containing any of the gloom they just had as he began to carefully investigate these traces.
This asteroid was a large as a mountain and had many smaller asteroids floating about it nearby. Clearly, these asteroids had come from some Asteroid Sea somewhere and had been brought here under the influence of the Starry Sky storm.
There were many pits and ridges on this huge asteroid which were not naturally formed; instead, they seemed to be left behind by sharp cuts and strong impacts, many of them similar to marks that would be made by sword slashes.
Someone had fought here!
Yang Kai clearly understood this and, inferring from the traces left behind, this fight had not taken place long ago, somewhere between a few days and a few months before. Otherwise, these traces would have been smoothed out or erased by the violent Starry Sky Storm already.
Yang Kai could almost picture the scene of this battle, but what surprised him the most was that the strength of those who fought here didn’t seem too high.
This knowledge allowed him to further relax; he had been worried that the first people he would encounter out here would be powerful masters.
Staring out beyond the Starry Sky Storm, Yang Kai attempted to peer deeper into the Starry Sky, immediately afterwards engaging his Star Shuttle to quickly fly in the opposite direction the storm was moving.
The Starry Sky Storm had come from that direction, which meant that whoever it was that had found on this asteroid might still be over there somewhere.
Although the chances were small, it was worth a try.
Yang Kai flew forward, releasing his Divine Sense to its maximum extent, not missing a single asteroid that passed by him.
From these asteroids, he really discovered some additional clues, and from these signs, he determined that he was indeed getting closer and closer to the people he was tracking.
Yang Kai pushed his Star Shuttle even faster.
After searching around in the darkness for an unknown amount of time, a bright light appeared in Yang Kai’s eyes.
In front of Yang Kai, a new piece of this vast Star Field entered his view.
The sector of the Star Field was filled with countless beautiful shining stars that seemed to exude a rich aura. It was as if he had arrived at a different side of the Star Field, this one filled with warmth and life while the previous one contained nothing but dark silence, the two diametrically opposite one another.
Innumerable large and small stars had been born in this Star Field since ancient times, each of them in motion, forming a myriad of patterns as they seemingly rotated around some central point.
Colourful rays of light filled this section of the Star Field.
Some of these stars burned extremely brightly, emitting a rich, scalding hot strength. Yang Kai had no doubt that the power contained in these stars was enough to force anyone to draw back without even getting close.
Anyone who did approach too close would certainly be reduced to ash.
This burning power poured into Yang Kai’s body and gave him an incredible sense of satisfaction and comfort; it was the purest Yang Attribute strength.
Other stars appeared extremely cold, like they were entirely composed of the most profound ice, sending out a deep chill that created a visible domain several thousand times greater in radius than the stars themselves.
This domain seemed to be filled with a chill capable of freezing the entire universe.
Still, other stars were deep green in colour and appeared very different from the others nearby. With great rounded tops, they seemed closer to umbrellas in shape than anything else, almost like gigantic trees which exuded rich Wood Attribute Strength.
They were like massive trees standing proudly in the Starry Sky.
Yang Kai was dazzled by this sight and couldn’t help staring around blankly.
He had finally seen with his own eyes the splendours of this Star Field.
The unquantifiable amount of energy being released from these different stars gathered together in this place and filled this stretch of Star Field with an incomparably rich aura.
Any Holy Land or Paradise in Tong Xuan Realm would be completely insignificant compared to this place.
Cultivating here for a year would be equivalent to cultivating anywhere else for several tens of years.
Yang Kai’s pores involuntarily opened and as he closed his eyes, greedily absorbing the surrounding World Energy and causing his physique to shiver while his expression filled with happiness.
Yang Kai even felt an urge to enter secluded retreat here. Although he knew that this idea was somewhat impractical, he really couldn’t bear to give up on the rich World Energy here.
As he was immersed in such thoughts, his Divine Sense, which he had constantly been releasing, suddenly noticed signs of someone entering the range of his detection.
Yang Kai’s swiftly withdraw his Divine Sense and opened his eyes, turning his gaze towards the direction he had sensed the disturbance with a look of pleasant surprise.
He had discovered another party, while they had discovered him; Yang Kai could tell this because the moment he took back his Divine Sense, he senses two other Divine Senses which weren’t inferior to his own reach out.
Two people! Moreover, their gap in cultivation levels was not too far. They were only around the Second Or Third-Order Saint Realm.
In this vast Star Field, two people he had casually bumped into actually turned out to be Saint Realm cultivators. Yang Kai couldn’t help letting out a meaningful sigh, but the other side’s cultivation also made him feel relieved because even if these two people harboured hostile intentions, he would at least have the strength to resist.
Without hesitation, Yang Kai steered his Star Shuttle towards these two strangers and flew over to them.
After finally bumping into two people, Yang Kai naturally wouldn’t miss this opportunity to inquire about some information. It would be best if he could find the location of someplace nearby where people gathered and lived.
To his surprise, when he began approaching these two, the other party seemed to also be flying quickly towards him.
This discovery made Yang Kai feel slightly vigilant.
With their cultivation realms, they should have already noticed his strength, and if they had ill intentions, this is exactly the course of action they would take.
Yang Kai didn’t withdraw though and instead just raised his vigilance while continuing to approach this unknown party because he urgently needed to obtain directions.
A moment later, a blue light appeared in front of Yang Kai, similar to the light of his own Star Shuttle.
Yang Kai came to a halt and stared towards the blue light which had stopped in front of him, in the next moment seeing two pairs of bright, beautiful eyes staring back at him.
It was only now that Yang Kai discovered that the ones who had entered the range of his Divine Sense were actually a pair of young women.
Both of them were dressed in matching white robes and shared the same refined temperament and good looks. The pair had graceful figures and rich curves which were emphasized by their tight clothes. On their chests, over their hearts, was a sword symbol, indicating they belonged to the same force.
The two of them were riding a single Star Shuttle.
After sweeping his eyes over them once, Yang Kai secretly nodded, confirming that what the Bone Race leader Ke Luo had told him was true. In the Star Field, Star Shuttles weren’t rare. This fast flight type artifact was clearly quite common.
However, the young women’s Star Shuttle was obviously significantly higher grade than his. Both the materials it was refined from and the energy fluctuations it gave off were vastly superior to Yang Kai’s Star Shuttle.
[So, Star Shuttles came in all kinds of different grades!] Yang Kai secretly thought to himself, putting on his best harmless to humans and animals appearance as he nodded to the two young women and greeted, “Hello!”
The woman standing in front gently nodded back, her pretty face staring at Yang Kai with a hint of caution; however, seeing that Yang Kai’s cultivation was far lower than theirs, she wasn’t in any way flustered.
On the other hand, the woman who stood behind her, who appeared to be a bit younger, was curiously examining Yang Kai, sweeping her eyes over him unscrupulously.
“Elder Sister, is he one of that side’s people?” The little beauty whispered, “Why haven’t I seen him before?”
“His cultivation is too low, he shouldn’t be one of them,” The big beauty standing in front of her shook her head slowly, “But be careful.”
“En,” The little beauty nodded repeatedly.
“Hello,” The big beauty in front returned Yang Kai’s greeting before continuing, “We have no malicious intent, we simply wanted to ask you for a favour, so please don’t be too anxious.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai raised his brow and smiled, “I’m not anxious, in fact, I also wanted to ask for your help.”
“You also want help from us?” The big beauty frowned slightly.
“En,” Yang Kai maintained his smile, “Since everyone has their own needs, why don’t we help each other? Of course, only within the limits of our respective abilities without forcing the other against their will.”
Yang Kai was loathing to be in other’s debt so the opposite party’s words were really a blessing to him.
The big beauty turned her head and whispered something to the little beauty behind her, a moment later turning around and nodding, “Agreed.”
“You go first, what do you want my help with?” Yang Kai took the initiative to offer as he was currently in a very good mood.
“Can you let us copy your Star Chart?” The big beauty asked.
“Star Chart?” Yang Kai heard these words and was confused, “What’s a Star Chart?”
“What else could a Star Chart be but a Star Chart?” The big beauty’s brow wrinkled, thinking that Yang Kai’s words were somewhat muddled, “You don’t have a Star Chart?”
Yang Kai shook his head.
“Who are you trying to fool?” The little beauty standing at the back of the Star Shuttle shouted, “How could you come here without a Star Chart? Don’t think that because we’re women you can bully us so easily.”
Letting out a cute snort, she glared back at Yang Kai and waved her small fist threateningly, seemingly having determined that Yang Kai was lying to them.
“I’m not trying to bully you,” Yang Kai was astonished.
“Hmph, you don’t have the skill to bully us anyways, you’d best be careful not to anger me or I’ll beat you up, snatch your Star Chart, and leave you here to fend for yourself,” The little girl snorted.
“He Miao!” The big beauty scolded lightly.
The little beauty simply grinned, “Elder Sister, he looks suspicious and is obviously spouting a bunch of lies; maybe he really is one of those people and is just here to delay us.”
Listening to her say this, the big beauty’s expression became even more vigilant as she stared deeply at Yang Kai and said, “I don’t care if you are one of their people or not, I only want your Star Chart right now. I’ll buy it from you! Is ten Low-Rank Saint Crystals enough?”
Saying so, the bracelet on her wrist flashed and ten shimmering Saint Crystals appeared in her hand.
“Elder Sister, we don’t have many Saint Crystals left,” The little beauty exclaimed, her pretty eyes filled with a look of anxiety, as if these ten Low-Rank Saint Crystals were her most precious treasure.
Yang Kai looked calm on the surface but in his heart was shocked.
Not because the other party had so easily brought out ten pieces of Saint Crystal, but because of the bracelet worn by the big beauty.
If he was not mistaken, that bracelet should be a storage artifact!
In Tong Xuan Realm, Universe Bags were the common type of storage artifacts.
Only the Great Commanders of the Ancient Demon Clan possessed Space Rings which were refined by Great Demon God from some three leftover pieces of soulstone.
The value of these three rings was many times greater than that of a Universe Bag.
However, the first person Yang Kai had met out in the Star Field actually had a bracelet type storage artifact, and without a doubt the value of this bracelet was no less than the rings of the Ancient Demon Clan, perhaps even greater.
Could it be that in this vast Star Field, storage artifacts were common just like Star Shuttles?
Yang Kai quietly examined the little beauty’s wrist but didn’t discover a similar bracelet; instead, on her figure, he found a ring which gave off the same energy fluctuations as the big beauty’s bracelet.
Sure enough, she too had a higher grade storage artifact than a Universe Bag.
However, what puzzled Yang Kai was the material these storage artifacts were refined from was not soul stone, but some other unknown ore.
“What are you staring at? Acting all sneaky is really quite hateful,” He Miao noticed Yang Kai’s eyes staring and mistakenly thought he was harbouring improper thoughts, causing her to call him out on it.
“Sorry,” Yang Kai took back his gaze and shook his head, “I really don’t know what a Star Chart is, I’ve never heard of it before.”
“Never heard of it?” This time even the big beauty showed a look of distrust, a hint of anger even appearing on her pretty face.
“Elder Sister, don’t talk nonsense with him, if we linger here too long our whereabouts might be exposed. Just snatch his Star Chart quickly so we can leave here. He’s just a First Order Saint, he’s not our opponent.”
The look on the big beauty’s face began to waver, but she did not immediately take action, seemingly still hesitant.
She was obviously not someone who easily resorted to violence.
“Wait!” Yang Kai raised his hand and said, “Shouldn’t you at least explain to me what a Star Chart is? I really haven’t heard of it.”
Seeing the serious look on Yang Kai’s face, the big beauty couldn’t help grumbling under her breath.
Although Yang Kai’s words were too unbelievable, going this far for such a ridiculous lie was simply unthinkable; on top of that, she didn’t notice any unusual Soul fluctuations while he was speaking just now.
“Where are you from?” The big beauty asked hesitantly.
“Can I not say?” Yang Kai frowned, he had come to the Star Field alone to first find Su Yan and second to find a way forward for Tong Xuan Realm.
Compared with the vast Star Field, Tong Xuan Realm was too underdeveloped, if its location was exposed, it may very well draw the covetous eyes of some powerful master.
Therefore, Yang Kai didn’t want to mention Tong Xuan Realm’s name if possible.
“I can only say I am from a very small and remote place,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders.
“A lower world?” The big beauty’s delicate brow rose slightly, somewhat believing Yang Kai’s words. Only those from lower worlds wouldn’t know what a Star Chart was.
“En,” Yang Kai took advantage of her words.
“If you don’t mind, can you let me see your Star Shuttle?” The big beauty asked.
“Sure, why not?” Yang Kai smiled, using his Divine Sense to send the Star Shuttle under his feet over to the big beauty.
Yang Kai remained standing where he was.
Although their contact was very short and only a few words had been exchanged, making it impossible for Yang Kai to completely grasp the nature of these two women, he believed they weren’t unreasonable people. If they were, with the outward disparity in their cultivations, they wouldn’t have bothered talking to him and simply attacked straight away.
From their perspective, there wouldn’t have been a need for words.
The big beauty gently lifted her hand and received the Star Shuttle, the two sisters observing Yang Kai’s flight type artifact for only a moment before their eyes widened with shock.
Both pairs of beautiful eyes shifted to Yang Kai and flashed an amazed light.
Yang Kai looked himself over but didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, not understanding why these two young women were staring at him so awkwardly.
“Elder Sister, this person doesn’t have the protection of a Star Shuttle and didn’t even summon a defensive artifact, so why is he fine under the pressure from the Starry Sky? Isn’t he just a First Order Saint?” He Miao whispered her doubts.
“He also isn’t circulating his Saint Qi…” The big beauty was also quite shocked, “Is his physique simply that powerful?”
“Could he be hiding his cultivation? Is he actually a Saint King Realm master or higher?” He Miao thought of a possibility, her pretty face going pale as she spoke them out.
“It doesn’t seem like it…”
The two sisters whispered back and forth, concealing their voices from Yang Kai, who after a while couldn’t bear it anymore and called out, “Are you finished yet?”
The big beauty was startled and only then remembered that she was holding onto Yang Kai’s Star Shuttle. Quickly releasing her Divine Sense, she began to inspect the inside of the Star Shuttle but soon after shook her head with a look of disappointment.
After returning the Star Shuttle to Yang Kai, the big beauty wore a confused look and asked, “How did you manage to arrive here without a Star Chart?”
“In a nearby Asteroid Sea I discovered some traces of life and after following them, I ended up here,” Yang Kai explained.
“Your courage is quite big!” The big beauty couldn’t help expressing some admiration, “Your luck is also quite good, to think you actually managed to travel all the way out here with a damaged Star Shuttle.”
“Damaged?” Yang Kai was stunned, “It’s quite easy to use, how is it damaged?”
“You don’t know about Star Charts, so I can’t really explain it to you,” The big beauty faintly sighed.
“En,” Yang Kai didn’t force the issue and just let out a chuckle, “It seems you’re willing to believe me. En, even though I wasn’t able to assist you, I suppose it’s my turn to ask you for help.”
The big beauty however just shook her head, “If you want us to give you directions, I’m afraid we’ll have to disappoint you, we can’t help you.”
She seemed to understand what Yang Kai wanted help with and spoke in advance.
Yang Kai’s expression sank.
“Because we’ve been lost here for a long time,” The big beauty said slightly awkwardly.
“That’s why we asked you for your Star Chart,” The little beauty, He Miao, interjected, “With a proper Star Chart, we would be able to leave this place. How could we have known that inside your Star Shuttle there was no Star Chart at all.”
“You’re also lost?” Yang Kai suddenly wanted to laugh. He had gone through untold hardships to arrive here from Tong Xuan Realm, and when he finally met two living people and felt his luck had finally turned for the better, it turned out that the two of them were actually no different from him.
However, listening to these two’s words, Yang Kai was still able to obtain some useful information.
A Star Chart was probably a kind of map cultivators used to navigate the Starry Sky or the Star Field, and the storage location for these Star Charts was definitely inside one’s Star Shuttle.
Yang Kai suddenly recalled that when he was refining the Star Shuttle, he had seen a vast Starry Sky inside the Star Shuttle, as if it had been reduced countless times over and placed inside it.
“En, we also became lost, what’s so funny about it?” The big beauty saw the corners of Yang Kai’s lips curl upwards and became somewhat angry out of shame.
Yang Kai quickly adjusted his expression and asked, “How did you become lost?”
“The Star Chart in our Star Shuttle was damaged, so we can’t find the appropriate direction to go. This is a fatal problem for any cultivator flying through the Star Field. If our Star Chart had become damaged somewhere else, we might still be able to find our way back, but in this place, it’s different.”
“Why is it different here?”
“Looking at your ignorant expression, you really don’t know anything about the Star Field,” The big beauty muttered somewhat impatiently, apparently not prepared to explain any further to Yang Kai, instead just stretching out her jade finger, condensing a wisp of white light and sending it over to him.
“Look over it yourself, I’ve included some basic common sense things in it. I hope you find a way out, so goodbye.” Saying so, she activated her Star Shuttle and flew away.
He Miao, who stood behind her Elder Sister, made a face towards Yang Kai just before the two sisters disappeared into the distance.
Yang Kai shook his head wryly but didn’t try to stop them.
Since they were also lost, there wasn’t any point in asking them for directions.
Absorbing the white light he received from the big beauty into his Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai began examining it.
This wisp of light was a package of Spiritual Energy which carried some information inside it, but there wasn’t much.
However, to the current Yang Kai, this little bit of information was still extremely precious.
Among this information were details about the role of Star Charts. As Yang Kai had guessed, a Star Chart was indeed a road map to guide cultivators flying through the Starry Sky.
When a cultivator wanted to fly from one world to another, crossing an incredibly vast distance, they would purchase an appropriate Star Chart. Each Star Chart was different as they were manufactured from the Spiritual Energy of experts in this field.
These purchased Star Charts could be stored inside one’s Star Shuttle, and a cultivator only needed to circulate their Qi and Spiritual Energy to activate it, allowing their Star Shuttle to safely follow the route depicted in the Star Chart, avoiding many potential dangers. With a proper Star Chart, there wasn’t even any need for a cultivator to manual change steer their Star Shuttle, as it would simply move forward automatically according to the laid out route.
The Star Chart inside a Star Shuttle could be replaced, and erased.
These were just some of the wondrous uses a Star Chart had.
Yang Kai immediately realized the importance of Star Charts and understood why the two sisters had wanted to copy his.
However, Yang Kai had only inadvertently obtained his Star Shuttle and it was unknown how long it had been drifting through the Starry Sky. Even if it had a Star Chart at one point, it had long ago disappeared.
The miniaturized version of the Star Field stored inside his Star Shuttle was also quite badly damaged, so it was likely impossible for it to store a new Star Chart.
This was why the two sisters had said that his Star Shuttle was damaged.
In addition to the information the big beauty had passed him about Star Charts and Star Shuttles, she also explained to him his current location.
The Chaotic Abyss!
This piece of information greatly stunned Yang Kai. This incredibly beautiful stretch of the Starry Sky, where Yang Kai had even seriously thought about entering retreat to cultivate, was one of the Star Fields most dangerous restricted areas, the Chaotic Abyss!
The massive, beautiful stars in this region not only exuded massive amounts of energy, they also created a twisted and chaotic domain that confused one’s senses, causing cultivators to easily become lost. Worse off, it was extremely difficult to leave this chaotic field, causing many who inadvertently entered to become trapped inside forever.
After examining all the information he received, Yang Kai’s face sank.
He had unwittingly found himself inside one of the Star Field’s Restricted Areas.
Even masters at the Saint King Realm didn’t dare set foot into this place. All half-decent Star Charts’ plotted routes were well away from here.
The brilliant beautiful stars nearby which pulsed blazing hot and frigid cold energy also hid some kind of immense danger.
The dangers of this place were not just limited to its disorienting effects, but also far more terrifying things. The information the big beauty passed over to Yang Kai via that Divine Sense package didn’t explain what these dangers were, but from the way it was described to him, Yang Kai understood that any of these dangers was enough to reap his life.
Worst of all, Yang Kai once again found himself in a state of helplessness, not knowing where he should go from here.
After absorbing the information left by the other party, Yang Kai remained in place for a while to ponder his next move before starting up his Star Shuttle again and flying off, seeking a way out.
Yang Kai was not willing to just give up; he had only just arrived in the vast Star Field and hadn’t even seen its real splendours yet.
As time passed, Yang Kai would randomly pick a direction and then fly towards it at maximum speed, not trying to conserve his energy at all.
But it seemed that despite Yang Kai’s best efforts, no matter how long he flew for, he would always find himself still in the middle of the countless beautiful stars.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling like he was flying in one giant circle!
The chaotic domain here affected Yang Kai’s ability to judge his position and confused his sense of direction, constantly leading him astray despite him being certain he was heading the right way.
Amidst the shimmering Starry Sky, Yang Kai soon lost track of how long he had been wandering aimlessly.
Perhaps it had been a month or two; perhaps it had been half a year, with nothing to use as a reference, it was impossible to tell.
Yang Kai’s cultivation had been growing steadily all this time, the incredibly rich energy surrounding him quickly bringing him to the point where he could begin breaking through to the Second Order Saint Realm. His strength had improved far faster than he had ever imagined possible.
This fact was the one thing that comforted his heart.
Yang Kai even secretly feel that staying here wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be and that, as long as he continued to look for it, he would eventually find a way out.
Yang Kai sat on his Star Shuttle, allowing it to fly forward on its own while he silently cultivated.
His expression was as calm as the surface of a lake, without the slightest hint of nervousness. In any case, since he couldn’t find a way out, for the time being, he might as well take advantage of this opportunity to improve his strength. He believed that even throughout the entire Star Field, such an astounding cultivation environment was extremely rare.
Yang Kai felt that as long as his strength reached a certain height, he would be able to break out of this chaotic domain.
Suddenly, two weak Soul fluctuations and life auras suddenly appeared inside the range of his perception.
It was the two sisters he had met before!
Yang Kai opened his eyes and wrinkled his brow slightly.
He hadn’t expected to see them again; it seemed like they too had not found a way out of the Chaotic Abyss.
Right now, they appeared to be resting on a huge asteroid, not continuing to fly forward and instead allowing the asteroid to carry them about aimlessly.
These two were the only living beings Yang Kai had come across this entire time, and they were caught up in the same situation as he was, so he couldn’t help feeling a subtle sense of affinity with them.
After thinking about it for a moment, he flew his Star Shuttle over to the asteroid where they were.
Shortly after, Yang Kai landed on the asteroid and looked around. Although he didn’t see the sisters’ figures, he did find a cave entrance at a certain place not far away.
[Are they hiding inside?] Yang Kai frowned.
Walking over to the cave, Yang Kai leaned over and shouted inside, “Are you in there?”
“Come inside to talk!” The voice of Elder Sister came from within. They had also felt his life aura and knew it was Yang Kai, so they judged there was no need to act overly cautious.
Yang Kai jumped down into the cave, following a winding and twisting path until he arrived deep inside and discovered two figures sitting cross-legged, snuggling together.
At this moment, the moods of the two young women seemed particularly low. Yang Kai also felt that the younger sister named He Miao was quite depressed, as if she was despairing that they had become lost in this Chaotic Abyss.
“We meet again,” The Elder Sister gently nodded to Yang Kai.
“It seems so,” Yang Kai smiled, though this wasn’t exactly something to feel happy about, “Why are you two hiding here? Did you encounter some kind of danger?”
“There’s no immediate danger, we just don’t want to waste our physical strength and Saint Qi. Didn’t you notice that by staying here, there’s no need to expend Saint Qi to guard against the Starry Sky’s power?”
Hearing her words, Yang Kai suddenly understood and noticed that the pressure which filled the Starry Sky really couldn’t invade this place, so staying here was comparatively more relaxed.
“We used up all our Saint Crystals and pills, so we can only hide here,” The younger sister He Miao added, her voice no longer as sharp and energetic as before.
“Used up?” Yang Kai was shocked.
“We’ve been lost here for a long time,” The Elder Sister explained, “If we ventured out now and still can’t find a way out, once our strength is exhausted, we’ll only be able to wait for death.”
“You’re situation’s really quite miserable…” Yang Kai understood their troubles and sympathised.
“Why are you taking pleasure in our misfortune…” He Miao sniffled, her voice filled with bitterness.
“I am?” Yang Kai was stunned.
“Yeah!”
“… If you say so. Anyways, what do you plan on doing now? Just keep hiding?”
”What else are we supposed to do?” The Elder Sister gave Yang Kai and complicated look, “We aren’t like you, and our bodies aren’t intrepid enough to withstand the power of the Starry Sky without using up our Saint Qi.”
Yang Kai let out an awkward laugh, not knowing what to say.
In the darkness, He Miao’s beautiful eyes suddenly lit up, “That’s right, you aren’t afraid of the power of the Starry Sky, which means you don’t need to use up Saint Crystals or pills to supplement your strength! Do you have any extra Saint Crystals or pills? Could you sell us…? En, lend us some?”
Her face filled with a look of expectation, seemingly having discovered a source of hope in the midst of her despair, her pretty eyes silently appealing to Yang Kai.
The Elder Sister was woken up by her younger sister’s words, also showing a look of anticipation.
“I don’t have any Saint Crystals,” Yang Kai shook his head.
The two sisters frowned at the same time, both of them believing that Yang Kai was a stingy man who didn’t know how properly treat women.
“But I have Crystal Stones, I also have a few pills,” Yang Kai followed up.
“Crystal Stones? Low grade Crystal Stones?” The Elder Sister was startled but quickly nodded, “Crystal Stones are alright as well, it’s better than nothing.”
“Would you please lend us some?” He Miao asked pitifully.
“Giving you some shouldn’t be a problem,” Yang Kai didn’t hesitate, in any case, he didn’t need to worry about expending his strength in this region of the Starry Sky as he could just recover by absorbing the energy around him.
“Great! You’re really a good person!” He Miao celebrated as a look of joy filled her face.
“But what can you give me in return?” Yang Kai asked.
He Miao’s joyful expression went stiff and the Elder Sister asked with some vigilance, “What do you want?”
In the darkness, Yang Kai swept his eyes over the two sisters as he contemplated what to ask for.
He really didn’t know what these two sisters had on them right now that could make up for his loss.
“Forget it,” The Elder Sister’s face suddenly became gloomy, her attitude also taking a turn for the worse as she coldly declared, “Just pretend we never asked, we’d rather stay here.”
“Smelly man!” He Miao also snorted as she stared angrily towards Yang Kai, a look of revulsion appearing on her face, “Be careful we sisters don’t join together to beat you up!”
They had obviously misunderstood Yang Kai’s intentions, thinking he was trying to take advantage of them.
Yang Kai shook his head and laughed helplessly, taking out some Crystal Stones and pills from the Demon Mystic Tome and setting them down, “Just think of it as a gift.”
He didn’t take out too many Crystal Stones and the pills he gave them were only Spirit Grade, even though he didn’t lack Saint Pills.
After all, he had only just met these two women and didn’t share any friendship with them, if he really took out a bunch of Saint Pills or too many Crystal Stones, it might cause them to covet his belongings, leading to an unnecessary fight.
He had to act prudently.
Yang Kai’s actions caught the two sisters off guard, not knowing why this bad man had suddenly become so generous.
The coldness on the Elder Sister’s face receded as she offered some words of apology, “If there is an opportunity, we’ll pay you back ten times over.”
“En, I wish you good luck,” Yang Kai replied casually, “I’m going to continue searching for a way out, so I won’t bother you further.”
Saying so, he turned around and walked towards the cave’s exit.
Just as he was about the leave the cave, the voice of the Elder Sister came from behind him, “We are disciples of Sword Union, my name is He Zao, and my sister is He Miao!”
“I’ll remember, I hope we meet again under better circumstances,” Yang Kai replied.
After Yang Kai left, He Zao and He Miao sat somewhat dazed inside the cave, He Miao commenting after a while, “He’s a strange person. Not even telling us his name, he doesn’t understand etiquette at all.”
“At the very least he’s not a bad guy,” He Zao looked at Crystal Stones and pills in front of them, a touch of gratitude appearing on her face.
“He really must be from a remote place, these Crystal Stones and pills are so low-grade they won’t allow us to recover much strength,” He Miao snorted as she evaluated what Yang Kai had left behind.
“We should be grateful he left us anything at all. With these, we can at least explore the area for another month or two without worrying about running out of strength. Although there’s not much hope, we can’t just give up. Master may be out there looking for us, if she can bring some people here to search, we may survive after all.”
“Elder Sister, I miss Master already. In the future, I won’t ever come near this damned place.”
“If this time we weren’t pursued by those Purple Star people, we never would have fallen into this situation, much less find ourselves so deep inside Chaotic Abyss.”
“Are those Purple Star people chasing us still? It doesn’t seem like they’d be willing to let us off.”
“It’s quite possible, after all, that thing is still in our hands. Hateful, how did news about it leak out?”
“There’s definitely a traitor inside the Union,” He Miao categorically said.
“No matter the case, right now, we just need to focus on surviving.”
As the two sisters spoke, they carefully collected the Crystal Stones and pills.
Ordinarily, they wouldn’t even spare such low-level resources a second glance, but right now they represented their last hope, so they dared not waste them.
After recovering their strength to its peak, the two sisters left the cave and headed off in a different direction from Yang Kai, clinging to the slim hope of finding a way out.
Amidst the Starry Sky, Yang Kai continued wandering about.
It had been some time since he had separated from He Zao and He Miao, but he had not made any progress finding a way out.
One day, as Yang Kai was drifting aimlessly once again, three auras suddenly appeared to his rear. These auras were fierce and contained a thick aggressive intent, causing Yang Kai to suddenly feel as if there were needles pricking his skin.
It wasn’t He Zao and He Miao!
From what Yang Kai could infer, the three people approaching him from behind were all Third Order Saints!
Their auras made Yang Kai feel quite unhappy as well as a little vigilant, as if he wasn’t being followed by three people but three bloodthirsty beasts.
[Avoid or wait?] The two contradictory thoughts flashed across Yang Kai’s mind, but he quickly decided on the latter, bringing his Star Shuttle to a halt.
The other three had obviously discovered him, otherwise, they wouldn’t be acting so obviously. If he was to try to avoid them now, it would only result in them chasing him down.
Yang Kai wasn’t sure that his Star Shuttle was fast enough for him to outrun them.
Most importantly though, was that he had finally met a second group of people, presenting him with an opportunity to escape this situation. If he could obtain a copy of their Star Chart, it would naturally be best.
He Zao had said that as long as one had a proper Star Chart, they would have a chance to leave this Chaotic Abyss, and although that chance wasn’t great, it was still worth a try.
Facing three Third Order Saints, Yang Kai estimated that even if it really turned into a fight, with his current strength, if he went all out, it shouldn’t be too dangerous.
As such, he was not afraid.
Three streaks of blue light rushed across the Starry Sky, drawing long cyan trails behind them as they rapidly closed in on Yang Kai’s position.
Shortly after, in a flash of light, three figures appeared in front of Yang Kai.
Each of these three people had their own Star Shuttle, unlike He Zao and He Miao, who were sharing one. This demonstrated that whoever these three were, they had significant financial resources.
There were two men and one woman. One of the men was tall and strong with a stoic look while the other man was thin and short, a cynical smile adorning his face. The thin man was playing with a silver-coloured dagger in his hand as a cold light flashed across his eyes from time to time, staring towards Yang Kai with obvious ill intentions.
As for the woman, she possessed an enchanting figure and a pair of lustrous eyes that she used to examine Yang Kai with great intensity, a look of interest soon surfacing on her face.
When they appeared, Yang Kai knew that his concerns were correct.
Not everyone out here was as reasonable as the two sisters, He Zao and He Miao. At first glance, it was obvious that these three weren’t good things; if he didn’t act appropriately, the consequences would be bad.
“Little brat, where are you from?” The burly man stared at Yang Kai coldly and asked in a commanding voice. From his tone and demeanour it was obvious he was completely indifferent to Yang Kai’s existence, as if he could freely control whether he lived or died.
“From a lower world,” Yang Kai carefully considered his words as he replied, “I’ve been lost here for a long time, unable to find my way out. If it’s convenient, can I borrow your Star Chart to make a copy?”
These were the words He Zao had said to him before, and although he didn’t know how to copy a Star Chart, Yang Kai figured it wouldn’t be difficult to figure it out once he got hold of a Star Shuttle with one.
“Copy our Star Chart?” The man grinned deviously at these words before nodding mockingly, “Fine, but you have to answer my question honestly first.”
“What do you want to know?” Yang Kai didn’t display any joy on his face because he could feel that this person wasn’t being earnest with him.
As soon as the burly man had agreed to his request, the thin man nearby had stretched out his tongue and licked the dagger in his hand, his eyes flashing a barely concealed killing intent.
Yang Kai figured that the moment he answered this question, the skinny man would immediately attack. The other party had never even considered allowing him to borrow their Star Chart.
“You said you’ve been lost here for a long time, yes? Did you ever meet a pair of girls? En, they would have been wearing white robes with a sword-shaped symbol embroidered on their chests.”
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed, immediately understanding that he was asking about He Zao and He Miao.
In his mind, a flash of light went off as he suddenly remembered that the first time he met the pair of sisters, He Miao had mentioned something about him being sent by ‘those people’, obviously they were being pursued by someone.
Could it be that the three people in front of him were the ones chasing them?
Yang Kai’s brief contemplation revealed a slight flaw which the burly man’s eyes didn’t miss, causing him to approach closer and shout, “You’ve met them, right?”
“Why are you looking for them?” Yang Kai didn’t answer right away.
“Boy, that’s not something you need to know, just answer my question and you’ll receive some benefits. Of course, if you are unwilling to answer, I don’t mind forcing you to cooperate,” The skinny man laughed maliciously, staring at Yang Kai like a vicious snake.
With denying at this point being meaningless. Yang Kai simply nodded, “Yes, I’ve met them.”
“When did you meet them, and where are they now?” The burly man eagerly asked, as if He Zao and He Miao were incredibly important to them.
“I don’t know the exact time, probably about a month ago, they were resting on an asteroid. I stopped to ask them for direction,” Yang Kai put on an honest expression.
“A month ago? What kind of asteroid was it? Where was it located?”
Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders, “I can’t remember!”
“Waste!” The burly man shouted, anger spreading across his face.
A cold light flashed across the depths of Yang Kai’s eyes.
“Liu Shan, why bother getting angry at him…” The enchanting woman smiled and said, putting on an inviting expression as she stepped forward, swaying her hips rhythmically, emphasizing her wondrous curves, “A little fellow like him who lost his way here, what more could he possibly know? At the very least, we can be sure that those two sluts are still here.”
Saying so, she turned to look at Yang Kai and called out, “Little boy, you don’t need to be afraid, Elder Sister just wants to ask you a few things. Were those two also lost when you met them?”
When he heard her voice, it was like an invisible hand was stroking his heart, causing Yang Kai’s blood to boil and his primitive instincts to flare up.
A Seduction Technique!
Yang Kai’s heart grew even colder as he suppressed the imbalance in his body while putting on a slightly dazed look and replying, “Yes, they were also lost, I heard them say that their Star Chart was damaged.”
Yang Kai’s performance made the beautiful woman quite satisfied and caused her to shoot a triumphant look towards the big man named Liu Shan; however, the big man seemed to deeply disdain this woman’s methods while simultaneously looking down on Yang Kai even further, believe that this youth had too easily fallen for this beauty’s little tricks.
“Haha, it’s good that they’re lost!” The skinny man cackled.
“Kill him, since he doesn’t know where those two sluts are, he’s of no use to us,” Liu Shan waved impatiently.
A cold aura suddenly burst from the skinny man, seemingly quite eager to attack Yang Kai.
“No need to be so anxious!” The beautiful woman quickly interceded.
“You want him? Don’t forget that we’re still in the middle of a mission, after we finish up here, you can have as many men as you like,” Liu Shan calmly stated.
“What about if I wanted you??” The beautiful woman threw a wink towards Liu Shan.
“Stop, I don’t want to have anything to do with you, I quite enjoy the feeling of being alive.” Liu Shan coldly snorted, not feeling the slightest bit of temptation.
“Then don’t kill him, a young Saint Realm man isn’t something easily obtained, isn’t it too wasteful to just kill him?” The beautiful woman narrowed her eyes next and seriously remarked, “Moreover, we’ve just obtained some important intelligence, shouldn’t we hurry back and report to the higher-ups? Could it be that you want to continue exploring this place? Do you think it’ll be easy to located two people in this vast region?”
Liu Shan hesitated for a while before nodding, “Fine, this time we’ll go along with you, we truly should go back and report about this!” He didn’t seem to want to annoy this beautiful woman and thus finally compromised.
“Little boy, come along with Elder Sister. Elder Sister will protect you, as long as you stay with me, no one will hurt you,” The beautiful woman eagerly beckoned to Yang Kai.
“Thank you,” Yang Kai’s mouth curled into a grin as he continued, “I actually want to work with you; the truth is I have a grudge with those two sluts.”
“Oh? What kind of grudge?” The beautiful woman stared at him with interest, even Liu Shan and the skinny man were somewhat curious.
“They apparently used up all their Saint Crystals and pills, so they robbed me of mine,” Yang Kai said with an angry look.
The beautiful woman covered her mouth as if she was appalled while Liu Shan and the skinny man swept Yang Kai quickly with their Divine Senses and confirmed that he didn’t have any storage artifacts on his body.
They knew what kind of cultivations He Zao and He Miao had. Yang Kai, as a First Order Saint, would certainly not be their opponent.
Therefore, Yang Kai’s remarks didn’t arouse any suspicions.
“Wait until we find them, then we’ll let you dispose of them,” The beautiful woman took Yang Kai’s arm into her own as she exhaled a hot breath into his ear, her luscious chest tightly wrapping Yang Kai’s elbow as her tender body pressed up against him.
“Really?” Yang Kai said in a pleasantly surprised voice as an obscene look appeared on his face.
“Really, when the times comes, we’ll torture them together!” The beautiful woman smiled and nodded, “I most enjoy handling this kind of thing.”
The skinny man put on a mocking look as he sneered, “Of course, the premise is that you live until then. Kid, if I were you, I’d choose to be killed right now rather than going back together with her.”
“Liu Sha, even if you don’t speak, no one will mistake you for a mute,” The beautiful woman glared wickedly towards the skinny man.
Liu Sha shrugged his shoulders and obediently shut up.
“Is it dangerous to go back with you?” Yang Kai turned to look at the beautiful woman, a cheap look on his face, as if he didn’t know how to write the word dead, boldly pressing his arm up against her full chest as he did.
At such a close distance, as long as he unleashed his full strength, this beautiful woman would have no hope of living, but he decided against acting rashly. Although he felt that these three weren’t the slightest bit trustworthy, they should at least be able to lead him out of the Chaotic Abyss.
This was what Yang Kai most wanted right now, so he held back his urge to attack.
“How could that be?” The beautiful woman smiled enchantingly, “Not only will there not be any danger, but Elder Sister will also give you an unforgettable experience.”
“Then I’ll eagerly wait,” Yang Kai nodded.
Yang Kai didn’t know what business these three had with He Zao and He Miao, but he could still infer from their conversations that they were quite wary of the hidden dangers in the Chaotic Abyss.
So after obtaining some reliable news, they couldn’t wait to leave here, go back, and report what they had learned.
No matter where they went, so long as he followed them, Yang Kai felt that he would be able to leave this Star Field Restricted Area that had trapped him for so long.
After leaving here, he just had to find a suitable opportunity to get rid of these three.
Yang Kai behaved very cooperatively, remaining silent the whole time, causing the three people to gradually lower their vigilance towards him.
Of course, with him being only a First-Order Saint, the three of them had not been very wary of him to begin with.
Along the way, their words inadvertently revealed some more information, letting Yang Kai know that they belong to a force called Purple Star, the burly man was named Liu Shan, the small snake-like man, Liu Sha, and the beautiful woman, Bi Ya.
These three’s Star Shuttles were higher quality than Yang Kai’s and had much higher speeds than his own.
Perceiving this, Yang Kai secretly felt fortunate that he had not chosen to avoid them earlier, because even if he had tried to run away, he wouldn’t have been able to escape their pursuit.
After a few days of flying, Yang Kai finally couldn’t help but turn to the beautiful woman and asked, “Where are we going now?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll know soon enough,” Bi Ya giggled, not answering Yang Kai’s question.
Liu Sha shot a profound look towards Yang Kai at that moment, a meaningful grin appearing on his face.
“Look, we’ve arrived,” Bi Ya suddenly pointed to the front, her beautiful eyes lighting up.
Looking in the direction she pointed, Yang Kai’s eyes shrank and he nearly called out in alarm.
Amidst the cold, dark, the Starry Sky was a giant beast-like figure that was rapidly speeding towards them. This beast was nearly a thousand meters in length and had a spectacular appearance.
Although this beast was massive, it was also silent as well as remarkably fast.
When they saw this huge figure, Liu Shan, Liu Sha, and Bi Ya couldn’t help but reveal a relaxed look, like they had returned home and felt a sense of security.
Every moment they remained inside the Chaotic Abyss they had been extremely on edge.
“An ominous beast?” Yang Kai brow wrinkled as he whispered under his breath. Releasing his Divine Sense though, he quickly discovered that this beast-like figure didn’t exude any vitality, and instead had a regular kind of energy fluctuation similar to an artifact’s.
“Ominous beast?” Bi Ya looked at Yang Kai with amazement, covering her mouth with her hand in the next moment and laughing, “Little brother is so cute, how could that possibly be a beast? That’s my Purple Star’s Saint King High-Rank Starship!”
“Starship?” Yang Kai was dumbfounded, but suddenly recalled the giant broken ship he had seen in the Restricted Area beneath the Demon Capital.
Liu Shan also shot Yang Kai a curious look before slowly shaking his head and snorting disdainfully.
Yang Kai’s outburst just now revealed that he had really come from a lower world as only those from such backwater places wouldn’t know that this large artifact was a Starship.
Before now, Liu Shan hadn’t determined whether Yang Kai was telling the truth or not, nor did he intend to because he felt he would be dead soon enough, but now, Liu Shan was certain this youth really came from a lower world.
As they got closer, Yang Kai got a clear look at what he had mistaken for a beast.
A bronze ship a length exceeding one thousand meters with some similarities to the broken ship he had seen beneath the Demon Capital. The only noticeable difference was the ship in front of him was a bit bigger.
Had the Bone Race arrived in Tong Xuan Realm thousands of years ago on a ship like this?
Yang Kai was at a loss for words and couldn’t speak for quite some time.
He also realized that he probably wouldn’t be able to carry out his original plans anymore.
He had thought these three would be leaving the Chaotic Abyss aboard their Star Shuttles, so he had not hesitated to follow along with them in order to find a way out; but now, facing this massive ship, Yang Kai discovered that he had greatly misjudged his choices.
If he entered this great ship with them, he would definitely become a turtle hiding in its shell.
Inside this ship, there would no doubt be at least one master at the Saint King Realm!
Just as he was thinking hard about how to get out of this situation, Liu Shan suddenly took out compass-like artifact from his storage artifact.
The compass lit up as Liu Shan poured his Divine Sense into it, seemingly communicating with someone.
A moment later, he put away this compass-like artifact and with a creaking sound, a gate at the bottom of the giant ship slowly opened.
“Let’s go!” Liu Shan waved and dashed into the gate, quickly followed by Liu Sha and Bi Ya.
At the same time, the three of them brought Yang Kai into the gate and arrived inside the great ship.
After the three men stepped into the bronze ship, the gate automatically closed.
Yang Kai was dazzled, as if he was a country bumpkin who had just come to the big city, staring curiously at everything around him.
In his heart though, Yang Kai felt a deep bitterness because the instant he had stepped on board this great ship, he had felt many powerful life auras all around him.
Most of these auras belonged to Saint Realm cultivators, while two or three of them were far stronger than that, giving Yang Kai an incredibly strong sense of oppression.
It was as if these auras alone could destroy his will to resist.
Saint King Realm!
This giant bronze ship really had masters at the Saint King Realm aboard.
“Liu Shan, you’re late,” A Third-Order Saint who walked over shouted impatiently.
“We had to the long way around, but we also found some important news.”
“Oh?” The man frowned, “What news?”
“Those two little sluts really did enter the Chaotic Abyss, and their Star Shuttle was damaged in the previous battle, causing their Star Chart to fail. They’re currently lost somewhere inside this place.”
“Where did you learn that from? How credible is it?” The man’s eyes flashed curiously.
“This little brat told us that he met those two sisters, and that his Crystal Stones and pills were robbed by them. I suspect those two sluts won’t be able to last much longer,” Liu Shan pointed to Yang Kai and said.
It was only then that the man noticed Yang Kai’s existence, looking him up and down at him before nodding lightly, “Very good, as long as they’re still inside the Chaotic Abyss, they won’t be able to escape our grasp. This news must be reported to Senior quickly so he can decide our course of action!”
“That’s what I was just about to do, do you want to come?” Liu Shan asked.
“En, let’s go!”
Saying so, the two walked side by side towards the inner depths of the great ship.
“This lady won’t accompany you, I want to take him back to have a rest,” Bi Ya smiled and once again linked arms with Yang Kai before heading in the other direction.
Liu Shan frowned but didn’t try to stop her, simply calling out, “Don’t go too crazy.”
“I know, I have a sense of discretion,” Bi Ya smiled tenderly.
Bi Ya walked through the corridors swiftly and easily, obviously she was very familiar with the inner structure of this great ship. She was also familiar with the cultivators coming and going along the road. None of these cultivators had a cultivation below the Transcendent Realm, with Saint Realm cultivators making up the majority.
However, whenever these people saw Bi Ya, they all avoided here like they would a poisonous snake, each of them wearing a nervous look, waiting for her to leave before they finally relaxed.
When they looked at Yang Kai, who was being held by Bi Ya, all of these bystanders wore sympathetic looks on their faces mixed with a little mockery.
Noticing this, Yang Kai felt increasingly uncomfortable.
He could almost predict what this beautiful woman was intending to do with him, and from the surrounding cultivators’ demeanors, he could infer that if she were to really carry out her plans, he would end up very miserable.
[This cheap slut!] Yang Kai cursed in his heart while maintaining a composed look upon his face, his thoughts turning over rapidly as he constantly observed the route they were travelling, memorizing it as best he could while searching for any way out of this mess.
After a while, Bi Ya came to a room with Yang Kai and opened the door. Bi Ya stepped inside first and then beckoned invitingly to Yang Kai, “Come in.”
Yang Kai walked in docilely and looked around to find that this was Bi Ya’s residence. The whole room was filled with a touch of fragrance, the aroma wasn’t strong but just right. The room was embellished with hues of pink everywhere, giving it a warm and comfortable feeling, causing anyone who entered to unconsciously relax and lower their guard.
There was a small incense burner in the centre of the room which was emitting an unknown scent. When Yang Kai inhaled a wisp of this scent though, his body involuntarily had some subtle reaction, his blood flow becoming faster as his more base instincts flaring up.
His clear eyes gradually became clouded with a layer of red.
Near his ear, there seemed to be an entrancing whisper that was constantly trying to entice his soul, causing his breathing to become heavy.
Before Yang Kai knew it, Bi Ya had changed out of her robes into a thin seductive dress, her pair of sensuous eyes flashing a lustrous light as her jade hands reached out and caressed his chest, her face blushing a faint reddish hue, further enhancing her seductive charms.
She gazed at Yang Kai satisfactorily, taking the initiative to paste her hot tender body onto his, causing her proud elastic peaks to greatly deform against his chest as a burst of beguiling moans leaked from her throat.
Gently, she pulled Yang Kai over towards her fragrant bed.
“What are you doing?” Yang Kai breathed raggedly, putting on the look of a young man without the slightest hint of ‘experience’.
“Hehe…” Bi Ya seemed to be very satisfied with Yang Kai’s reaction. The expression of an ignorant boy had always been her favourite. She most enjoyed destroying young men’s intellects, transforming them into beasts who only obeyed their desires; she felt a rush of satisfaction from this act.
Bi Ya stepped closer to Yang Kai, pushing him back further, exhaling an orchid scent, “This is Elder Sister’s private room, no one will come in, anything you want to do, we can do.”
Her breathing had also become heavy and her tender body was swaying enchantingly as the two delicate tips of her milk-white peaks became hard and brushed against Yang Kai’s chest, bringing him an indescribably pleasant sensation.
At this moment, Bi Ya seemed to have transformed into the very embodiment of men’s desires.
Yang Kai fell onto the bed in the next step and Bi Ya took the initiative to mount him, unceremoniously beginning to help him undress.
Yang Kai constantly let out audible gulps, as if he had fallen into her land of warmth and tenderness, not asking any questions and instead stretching out his two big hands towards the hanging fruits in front of him and grasping them tightly.
Bi Ya’s enchanting body trembled lightly as a seductive moan leaked from her lips, shooting Yang Kai a slightly rebuking glance as she whispered to him, “Be gentle, if you’re too rough I’ll break.”
[This slut!] Yang Kai’s cursed silently in his heart, but deep down, he too was becoming excited. The feeling he had while massaging Bi Ya’s amazingly soft yet elastic peaks almost made him lose the ability to think, the burning heat he felt on the palms of his hand threatening to destroy all his mental defenses.
Bi Ya also seemed like she was becoming excited, but Yang Kai was keenly aware that the strength in her body was beginning to subtly circulate in a strange pattern.
Her aura was slowly transforming, causing her to appear more and more charming, making her seem truly irresistible to any man she pinned beneath her.
This beautiful woman was like a ripe peach, her exposed skin glowing a faint pinkish hue, highlighting her body’s allure, tempting one to grab hold of her and never let go.
Such a woman had a deadly appeal to all men.
Yang Kai’s eyes became even redder and his pupils dilated. Seemingly unable to control his own body, his two big hands rhythmically kneading her plump chest.
It was as if he had fallen into a trance.
After quietly observing for a while, Bi Ya’s beautiful eyes revealed a self-satisfied look.
She knew that that young man under her had been completely conquered by her charms and she could now do whatever she wanted with him.
She had taken countless men like this. Once they became entranced, she would absorb all of these men’s Blood Essence to enhance her own strength.
The men she played with often became dried up corpses afterwards which she could discard at will.
Although she had played with a great many men before, Saint Realm cultivators were still quite difficult to obtain. Anyone who had cultivated to this realm would generally not sit still and let her do as she pleased.
It was for this reason that she particularly loved gullible men like Yang Kai. She especially appreciated how he had a rugged look to him, which was just to her appetite.
After confirming that Yang Kai had fallen under her spell, Bi Ya giggled happily as she lightly brushed her hand across her lips, seemingly wiping them in preparation to eat the meal in front of her.
Slipping off her clothes, Bi Ya exposed her jade white body to the air before reaching down with her delicate hands and gently grabbing hold of Yang Kai’s rising dragon.
Calling out in surprise, Bi Ya’s beautiful eyes flashed as whispered suggestively, “Your qualifications aren’t small.”
She was incredibly pleased as she shifted her body slight in preparation to descend onto her prey.
A crystal clear viscous liquid dripped down her legs, leaving behind a glistening sheen.
Just as she was about to begin her feast though, her brow furrowed deeply and a look of anger and dissatisfaction appeared on her face as she glared towards her door.
The moment Bi Ya shifted her eyes, Yang Kai’s dull eyes narrowed slightly and he quietly dispersed the strength he had secretly condensed.
From the corridor outside, a rush of footsteps resounded and immediately after, the door was pushed open, with Liu Shan and Liu Sha bursting in.
The two of them stared at Bi Ya and Yang Kai, both of whom were still maintaining an ambiguous position atop the bed without showing any intention to hide. Liu Sha even whistled frivolously as he unscrupulously swept his eyes over Bi Ya’s beautiful figure.
“We’re heading out,” Liu Shan said bluntly.
“Now?” Bi Ya asked bitterly, “Didn’t we just get back?”
“It’s Senior’s orders. If you have any complaints, you can take them to him,” Liu Shan replied indifferently, “You have ten breaths to get ready!”
Saying so, he turned around and left, from beginning to end not paying any attention to Bi Ya’s naked figure, as if her near-perfect body wasn’t the least bit attractive to him.
Bi Ya looked down at Yang Kai who was lying beneath her, without the slightest ability to resist and ground her teeth, disappointment and anger filling her expression, a moment later shooting a deathly glare towards Liu Sha and snapping, “What are you looking at? Keep looking and I’ll dig out your eyes!”
Liu Sha grinned tauntingly, “Why didn’t you say this to Liu Shan? He also looked.”
“He wasn’t dissolute; you, on the other hand, have nothing but obscene thoughts in your head, you waste of a man! Now get out!” Bi Ya waved her hand and slammed the door shut.
Outside the door, Liu Sha rubbed his nose and muttered unhappily, “So what if one more man stares at you, what’s the big deal?”
Saying so, Liu Sha then let out a mocking laugh, “Being interrupted at the critical moment would drive anyone crazy, Liu Shan. You really did a good job.”
“I just delivered Senior’s orders,” Liu Shan coldly snorted.
Inside her room, Bi Ya ground her teeth as she quickly dressed herself and moment later rushed out of the room.
The footsteps of this group of three gradually drifted away.
After confirming that they had really left, Yang Kai’s ‘intoxicated’ expression became gloomy as he sat up from the bed.
If Liu Shan had come even a breath later, he would have already taken action.
Bi Ya had thought he had completely submitted to her and had let her guard down entirely. At such a close distance, Yang Kai was confident he could have killed her in a single strike.
As for what to do after killing her, Yang Kai hadn’t thought that far.
He only knew that he could never have physical contact with this promiscuous woman. The aura that she sent out just now when she had been in oestrous was far too dangerous.
That aura of hers was no doubt of a predator ready to swallow him whole.
The Star Field was truly filled with wonders, but also contained great danger.
Fixing his clothes, Yang Kai sat on the bed and began to think.
Now that Bi Ya was gone, no one was watching him, and he considered taking this opportunity to escape from the ship, but how exactly to open this Starship’s exit, Yang Kai wasn’t sure, so acting rashly now would definitely not be to his advantage.
Just as he was contemplating his next move, the door was opened again.
Standing in the entrance was a middle-aged man who was giving Yang Kai a strange look.
This man had a Second-Order Saint Realm cultivation, a rather low level for the cultivators aboard this great ship. Yang Kai didn’t even put such a cultivation in his eyes now.
“Little brat, your luck is good,” The middle-aged man suddenly said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Yang Kai feigned ignorance.
“You don’t have to, now get out,” The man waved at him.
Yang Kai frowned, but didn’t refuse, standing up and walking out of the room before silently following the middle-aged man through the ship’s corridors.
“Where are you taking me?” Yang Kai couldn’t help but ask.
“Wherever I take you, you just need to follow. Why ask so much nonsense?” The middle-aged man frowned and coldly snorted, “Normally, useless visitors like you should be killed directly.”
Hearing this man’s dismissive words, Yang Kai’s eyes flashed a cold light.
“But Senior Bi Ya wasn’t willing to see you die just like that, so she told me to arrange a good place for you for the time being. When she comes back, she’ll come for you,” The middle-aged man explained casually.
Yang Kai took a soft breath and knew that for the time being, he wouldn’t be in any danger.
As long as Bi Ya still wanted something from him, she wouldn’t let others kill him off just like that.
Following the middle-aged man, Yang Kai continued to move forward, and after a stick of incense worth of time later the two of them arrived at a large room.
As soon as he entered this room, Yang Kai felt rich energy in the air. The energy aura in this chamber had become almost dense enough to see.
This room was at the bottom of the big ship. Once he got there, Yang Kai looked around curiously.
Yang Kai didn’t know what this large room was for, but he could see that a giant Spirit Array had been engraved on its floor and walls that had offshoots that seemed to lead to every other section of the ship.
On top of that, rows upon rows of the highest quality Saint Crystals were arranged all over the room. Each of these Saint Crystals was as big as a washbasin and contained an incredibly rich amount of pure energy.
The energy from these Saint Crystals was being extracted by the Spirit Array and sent along its engraved paths to places unknown.
In addition, in the centre of this room, there was a big open space where a large number of cultivators with varying cultivation levels were sitting down cross-legged.
Most of these cultivators were Transcendents, but there were also several Saints among them.
The hands and feet of these cultivators were bound by the shackles that were attached to the floor of the room, so all of them could only move within a very narrow range.
The shackles binding these cultivators gave off a strange energy fluctuation that seemed to have some kind of restraining effect.
Yang Kai’s heart sank as he realized the situation was not good.
Because he found that these shackled cultivators each had weak auras and pale complexions. The power from their bodies was silently leaking out and all of them showed signs of overdraft.
Some of these cultivators even appeared to have unstable internal energy fluctuations, as if their cultivation realm had fallen.
“Where is this place?” Yang Kai asked dully.
“The Starship’s power room,” The middle-aged man replied casually, “Your task is simple. Just sit over there and we’ll take care of the rest.”
Not waiting for Yang Kai to ask anything more, the middle-aged man turned to the side and said, “Ke Meng, I’ve brought you a new recruit!”
A figure suddenly appeared in front of Yang Kai and looked him over, showing a satisfied grin in the next moment, “His cultivation level is good, where did you find him?”
The middle-aged man shrugged his shoulders, “Senior Bi Ya brought him back from outside.”
“Senior Bi Ya?” The man named Ke Meng frowned before showing a meaningful smile, “And she was willing to send him to the power room?”
“Senior Bi Ya went out to perform a task, so there’s no one to look after him right now. Therefore, I wanted to keep him in the power room. You’d best take care and not let him die.”
Ke Meng smiled evilly, revealing a set of jagged teeth like those of a beast, “I can’t guarantee anything. There was a guy with bad luck who expired just now. You know the situation here; it’s not exactly something I have complete control over.”
The middle-aged man frowned, seemingly aware of Ke Meng’s difficulties, nodding as he said, “Try your best, otherwise when Senior Bi Ya returns next time, if he really ends up dead, she’ll definitely be angry.”
Ke Meng’s face changed and a deep sense of dread flashed across his eyes. It seemed he was quite afraid of that woman, hesitating for a moment before nodding, “Good, I’ll portion him some more Saint Crystals so that he doesn’t grow too weak.”
“That would be for the best!” The middle-aged man said with satisfaction, glancing over at Yang Kai for a moment before turning around and leaving.
The middle-aged man who led Yang Kai to the power room spoke a few more words to the cultivator named Ke Meng before leaving.
As the two talked, Yang Kai said nothing and just silently observed his surroundings, his obedient performance satisfying Ke Meng very much.
“Little brat, come with me!” Ke Meng beckoned to Yang Kai and led him over to the centre of the power room.
A short time later, the two came to a slot on the floor.
This slot was already occupied by another cultivator who had both his hands and feet shackled to the floor, forcing him to sit cross-legged. However, at this time, it was clear that this man had already died as he showed no signs of vitality.
Before dying though, it seemed as though he had suffered an immense amount of pain. His eyes bulged round and his mouth was agape, the veins on his neck clearly visible.
Obviously, he had suffered unimaginable torture, his body little more than flesh and bones now, his skin pale without the slightest trace of colour or blood.
“Someone, come and throw this corpse out,” Ke Meng shouted to the side.
Immediately after he shouted, a cultivator rushed over, unchained the corpse, and carried it off.
Ke Meng sneered as the turned to Yang Kai, “Little brat, sit here obediently and I won’t make you suffer much; after all, you’re Senior Bi Ya person and I don’t want to make her unhappy. As long as you cooperate, it’ll be to both of our advantages.”
Yang Kai gently nodded.
Ke Meng laughed, “That’s for the best. En, sit down here.”
Saying so, he pointed to the spot the dead man was just occupying.
Yang Kai sat down honestly and allowed Ke Meng to shackle both his hands and feet.
There were many Saint Realm masters concealing themselves inside this Starship power room, and Yang Kai could even feel an aura that belonged to a Saint King Realm powerhouse nearby.
Facing this kind of lineup, he didn’t dare act rashly.
After the shackles were attached though, Yang Kai’s expression changed dramatically.
He instantly discovered that these shackles were madly absorbing the Saint Qi from his body and feeding it into the Starship itself. Together with the energy of the huge Saint Crystals spread throughout this room, they were supplying the power that let the Starship move.
Yang Kai finally understood why so many cultivators were shackled in this place.
It also explained why the cultivators who were bound here all had weak and sluggish auras.
With their strength being so forcefully extracted like this, no matter who it was, they wouldn’t be able to maintain themselves for too long. Those who were stronger and had greater reserves could last longer while those who were weaker were at risk of dying on the spot from the excessive consumption.
The cultivator who was sitting where he was just now had probably died this way.
“Don’t worry!” Ke Meng squatted down in front of Yang Kai and patted his shoulder, “The Starship is basically powered by the Saint Crystals here.”
As he said so, he pointed to the huge array of Saint Crystals nearby. “You guys are just here as backups, so there’s nothing to worry about. En, these are for you. Don’t think about it too much, just absorb them when you need to.”
The ring on Ke Meng’s hand flashed as he took out more than a dozen fist-sized Saint Crystals and set them down in front of Yang Kai.
These Saint Crystals contained a lot of energy, and although they couldn’t be compared with the giant ones arranged next to him, they were still quite good.
“What if I run out?” Yang Kai picked up a piece of Saint Crystal and held it in the palm of his hand.
“When you run out, call me and I’ll give you a few more. You belong to Senior Bi Ya, so naturally, I won’t be too stingy with you!” Ke Meng smiled deeply.
If that slut Bi Ya came back and found that this little brat was too weak for her to enjoy, Ke Meng knew he would be punished harshly.
“Good!” Yang Kai no longer said anything more and closed his eyes directly, circulating his Secret Art to absorb the power inside the Saint Crystal in order to supplement his own loss.
Ke Meng stood up and nodded with satisfaction before leaving to attend to his own affairs.
After he left, Yang Kai opened his eyes and secretly glanced around.
There were at least fifty cultivators imprisoned inside this power room, each of them was already extensively weakened, some of them even gasping for breath as if they could die at any moment. As Yang Kai was observing, he suddenly discovered that many pairs of eyes were staring at him, like a pack of hungry wolves, each of them revealing a greedy look.
These gazes belonged to the cultivators who were imprisoned here, and obviously, they weren’t interested in Yang Kai but rather in the dozen pieces of Saint Crystal that Ke Meng had given him!
The shackles chaining them to the floor were constantly extracting the energy from their bodies, and the only way to supplement this loss was for them to refine Saint Crystals; however, none of them had received such favourable treatment from Ke Meng.
In this situation, Saint Crystals were equivalent to one’s life.
Yang Kai immediately understood why these cultivators would have such a reaction.
Quickly, Yang Kai placed the dozen pieces of Saint Crystal between his legs, obscuring them from those prying eyes.
Closing his eyes and monitoring the speed at which the shackles were extracting his strength, Yang Kai gradually calmed down.
He found that the rate of extraction wasn’t very fast and could easily be supplemented with the Saint Crystals he had received. Yang Kai estimated that he could absorb energy from these Saint Crystals much faster than the shackles were draining his strength away, meaning there was no threat to his life and he could even take this opportunity to improve his cultivation.
But faintly, he still felt like things weren’t as simple as they seemed; after all, there were so many people here with hopeless expressions on their faces, so Yang Kai decided to act prudently for now.
“Friend, friend…” A quiet voice suddenly called out to him.
Initially, Yang Kai didn’t pay it any mind, but this voice kept calling out, seemingly unwilling to give up until it got a response. Yang Kai couldn’t help frowning as he turned towards the source of the sound.
Although there wasn’t much light in this room, he still managed to see a square-faced youth seated to his right showing him a friendly smile.
That smile even had some traces of flattery in it.
Yang Kai’s mouth twitched, already guessing what this ‘friend’ wanted, staring back at him indifferently as he asked, “Are you talking to me?”
“Yes,” The young man nodded quickly, flashing a pearly white smile in the darkness as he said, “My name is Shen Tu. How could I address this friend?”
“Why do you want to know?”
The young man still maintained a sunny smile, seemingly not minding Yang Kai’s indifference, continuing to speak in a familiar tone, “We’re all victims sharing the same fate here, which makes us friends. Is there any need for such vigilance?”
“I don’t like making friends with strangers,” Yang Kai shook his head.
“Don’t say this,” Shen Tu pressed on, a wry grin appearing on his face, “As the saying goes, first time strangers, second time friends, third time brothers. What harm is there in chatting, we’re not strangers after all.”
Yang Kai closed his eyes decisively, no longer paying any attention to this youth.
Shen Tu wore a bitter face as he continued whispering, “Hey, don’t ignore me, we’re stuck here, in any case. Chatting a bit will help relieve our boredom.”
“Rest assured, I’m not trying to get my hands on your Saint Crystals, those idiots who chained me here can’t hurt me, even if these things drained my strength for a hundred years it wouldn’t be enough to kill me.”
“Look, I’m really not interested in those Saint Crystals. See, take a look at me, I’m sure you can tell that my life aura is still strong, nothing like those half-dead people over there.”
Shen Tu kept on chattering while Yang Kai ignored him, the cycle repeating itself ad infinitum, one refusing to give up while the other refused to acknowledge.
“Right, I just heard that man say you were caught by a woman named Bi Ya, yes? Hey, brother, your luck is really quite astonishing, astonishingly bad that is. Of all the people you could be caught by, it was actually that cheap slut. I urge you, whatever she wants you to do, absolutely don’t agree. Her name is famous across the entire Star Field, and whoever goes to bed with her will not have a good end. Your strength will be sucked dry by her, causing you to die the most miserable of deaths.”
He attempted to draw Yang Kai’s attention with this topic, awakening him to his impending crisis.
However, Yang Kai remained unmoved.
“Brother, I haven’t gotten your name yet, have I? Let’s make friends. After we get out of here, I can promise being my friend will have many advantages. I can let you enjoy wealth, food, Saint Crystals, artifacts, beauties, whatever your heart desires.”
Yang Kai’s eyes which had been shut tight suddenly opened upon hearing these words.
Shen Tu saw this and immediately grinned, thinking he had finally found something Yang Kai was interested in, but just as he was about to continue his persuasion campaign, something suddenly flew over to him.
Shen Tu quickly reached out and grabbed this object, and after noticing what it was, he directed a happy and gratefully looked towards Yang Kai, “Brother, thank you very much, you’re a good man.”
He hadn’t expected that Yang Kai would actually send him a piece of Saint Crystal on his own!
This, of course, was his goal in showing goodwill towards Yang Kai.
Although every day Ke Meng would distribute some Saint Crystals to the cultivators who were shackled here, allowing them to supplement the strength which was being sapped from them, the amount of Saint Crystal simply couldn’t fully make up for the loss.
Shen Tu hadn’t been caught too long ago, and his cultivation wasn’t low, so he was still alive and kicking; however, if this situation were to continue for an extended period of time, there was no guarantee he would be able to survive.
Just now, Yang Kai had received a dozen pieces of Saint Crystal, and Ke Meng had explicitly said that if he exhausted them, all he had to do was ask for more. Shen Tu, who was sitting next to Yang Kai, naturally heard this and immediately came up with this little plan.
Before now, with all the status and wealth he possessed, Shen Tu hadn’t ever imagined that a trivial piece of Low-Rank Saint Crystal would ever be able to make him happy.
Right now, this piece of Low-Rank Saint Crystal seemed even more attractive than the greatest of beauties.
“Brother, could you give me another piece? In any case, you have so much, you won’t be able to use all of them up for a while,” Shen Tu shamelessly begged, a slightly unsatisfied look appearing on his face.
Hearing this though, Yang Kai just shot him a strange grin.
Shen Tu didn’t understand what this grin was about, but in the next instant, he actually witnessed Yang Kai calling out in surprise.
Ke Meng quickly appeared and rushed over to Yang Kai, asking in a disgruntled tone, “What is it? Kid, did you forget what I just said to you? I told you to sit here quietly.”
“When I wasn’t paying attention, he stole a piece of Saint Crystal from me!” Yang Kai pointed indignantly towards Shen Tu.
Ke Meng glanced over in the direction Yang Kai was pointing and saw Shen Tu tightly gripping the piece of Low-Rank Saint Crystal, as if it was the most precious of treasures.
The smile on Shen Tu’s face suddenly froze up.
Inside the Starship power room, the young man who called himself Shen Tu wore a dumbfounded look, seemingly never having expected Yang Kai would frame him by planting stolen goods.
Immediately, he opened his mouth to defend himself, but when he saw the Saint Crystal in his hand, Shen Tu suddenly knew that anything he said would be useless.
With yellow mud smeared on his pants, no one would believe him if he said it wasn’t shit.
Understanding all this, he ignored Ke Meng’s fierce gaze as well as Yang Kai’s sinister behaviour and decisively closed his eyes while tightly gripping the Saint Crystal in his hands, madly circulating his Secret Art to refine the energy within it.
In that instant, he was like a starving beggar who was only concerned about having a last meal before he died.
This time it was Yang Kai’s turn to stare dumbfounded.
“Boy, you dare cause trouble on my watch? Your courage isn’t small!” Ke Meng sneered, rushing over to Shen Tu and thoroughly beating him.
He used a very heavy hand and the words he spat clearly indicated he didn’t care whether Shen Tu lived or died.
However, Yang Kai was keenly aware that Ke Meng was avoiding any critical damage to Shen Tu and was only causing him a great deal of non-lethal pain.
Obviously, he didn’t want to kill any of the cultivators here powering the Starship.
Ke Meng sneered as he continued dishing out this beating, insults and curses flying from his lips the whole time.
Shen Tu didn’t say anything or even attempt to resist, his face distorting in pain but still focusing all his attention on refining the piece of Saint Crystal, seemingly vowing not to surrender until he had absorbed every last bit of energy from it.
Yang Kai’s expression became thoughtful as his impression of Shen Tu underwent some subtle changes.
This guy’s performance a moment ago had thoroughly disgusted Yang Kai, but now it was undeniable that this youth had great fortitude and strength of spirit.
After a while, Ke Meng stopped his attack and after delivering a quick reprimand, turned around and left.
He didn’t take away the Saint Crystal held by Shen Tu, as if he was tacitly approving of him owning it; however, the price Shen Tu had paid for this piece of Saint Crystal was high, Ke Meng had beaten him black and blue, breaking his nose and causing blood to spill from his mouth.
Gazing at Ke Meng’s back which was disappearing into the darkness, Shen Tu wiped his mouth and a cold light flashed across his eyes.
Glancing over at Yang Kai next, he lightly sneered.
The piece of Saint Crystal in his hand, because of his unrestrained absorption just now, had lost much of its energy and grown dim.
A few breaths later, this piece of Saint Crystal directly turned into dust, which slid from Shen Tu’s palms.
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes slightly at this sight.
The energy contained within that Saint Crystal was quite vast, so Shen Tu being able to refine it completely in such a short period of time fully illustrated that the Secret Art he cultivated wasn’t simple.
Yang Kai casually threw another piece of Saint Crystal over to him.
This time, Shen Tu didn’t pick it up, instead just directing a cold stare towards Yang Kai, clear vigilance upon his face as he smirked, “Trying to use the same trick twice? You think I’m a fool?”
Yang Kai did not pay attention to him, closed his eyes, and began meditating.
Shen Tu stared at him for a while but soon became bored and decided to no longer waste his energy on this person, turning away and ignoring the piece of Saint Crystal at his feet.
Time passed slowly.
The next day, Ke Meng distributed two pieces of Saint Crystal to each of the shackled cultivators, Yang Kai included.
After Shen Tu received these two pieces of Saint Crystal, he immediately began refining them, supplementing the excessive consumption of the previous day.
A short time later, the two Saint Crystals shattered.
Shen Tu let out a sigh, a half-full feeling filling his heart as he licked his lips. At that moment, he took another glance towards the piece of Saint Crystal that Yang Kai had thrown over to him yesterday and inevitably became somewhat tempted.
He desperately wanted to take it, but he was worried that Yang Kai would once again call Ke Meng; struggling between his fears and desires, he couldn’t help cursing Yang Kai for his shamelessness.
Shutting his eyes after a moment, he did his best to ignore this piece of forbidden fruit.
This pattern continued for several days.
As more and more time passed, Shen Tu felt that the strength in his body was becoming weaker and weaker. His Saint Qi was constantly being siphoned away and he couldn’t obtain enough resources to make up for the loss. Soon he couldn’t even maintain his healthy condition and gradually began looking like all the others around him.
His image formed a sharp contrast with the nearby Yang Kai.
In addition to the dozen or so pieces of Saint Crystal that Ke Meng had first given to Yang Kai, he also got two more pieces each day. During this time, Yang Kai had also deliberately asked Ke Meng for some more.
Of the Saint Crystal’s he obtained, Yang Kai used less than half to maintain a balance with his consumption while the rest were quietly hidden by him inside the Demon Mystic Tome in case of emergencies.
Ke Meng never rejected his requests; it seemed that because of Yang Kai’s ‘special’ relationship with Bi Ya, Ke Meng didn’t want to make things difficult for him. Not only did Ke Meng supply Yang Kai with a generous amount of Saint Crystals whenever he asked, he even provided a couple of Saint Pills which helped Yang Kai maintain his physical strength and spirit in case Bi Ya suddenly returned.
Seeing this every day caused Shen Tu’s eyes to go red with envy. The look he gave Yang Kai was also quite disdainful now. In his mind, the latter was a gigolo who was depending on a woman to eat.
A few more days later, Shen Tu’s condition deteriorated.
He felt that if he couldn’t obtain more resources soon, his current realm would be in danger of falling.
When he realized just how critical the situation was, Shen Tu couldn’t bother worrying anymore and, after refining his daily supply of two Saint Crystals, finally reached out and took the one Yang Kai had tossed over to him.
After picking this piece of Saint Crystal up, Shen Tu carefully observed Yang Kai’s reaction, but what surprised him was that even after he finished refining it, Yang Kai didn’t say a word, much less try to frame him like he had the first time.
Just as Shen Tu’s tense expression finally relaxed, another piece of Saint Crystal flew over and landed in front of him.
Shen Tu frowned, reaching out to take it while shooting Yang Kai a questioning look and whispering, “What are you up to?”
“Nothing much. In any case, I have a lot of Saint Crystals, more than I can use up,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders.
Shen Tu’s mouth twitched as he sneered, “Even if you give this to me, I won’t thank you. I’ve already suffered a loss at your hands, this just makes us even.”
“If I wanted someone to be grateful to me, there are many other choices here, there’s no need for me to intentionally give these to you.”
“Then what do you want?” Shen Tu looked at Yang Kai vigilantly.
One bite from a snake would cause ten years of fear towards ropes, Shen Tu obviously did not trust Yang Kai.
“An ally!” Yang Kai whispered lightly.
“An ally?” Shen Tu’s eyes narrowed and after waiting a moment to make sure no one was paying attention to them, he meaningfully said, “You have some dangerous ideas.”
“And you don’t?”
Shen Tu was at a loss for words and remained silent.
“I set you up before because you wouldn’t shut up, I didn’t want to have anything to do with such a boisterous person, but right now you’re the only one who is even slightly energetic. You’re the only one I can work with.”
“Oh? What a great honour for me,” Shen Tu snickered, “But even you have some kind of idea, it won’t necessarily work.”
“One step at a time. It’s better than just sitting here, waiting for death.”
Shen Tu’s eyes flashed as a grin formed on his face, silently observing Yang Kai for a while before once again putting on a carefree look, rubbing his nose as he said, “If you can give me a piece of Saint Crystal every day, I’ll consider our previous grievances settled.”
“Deal!” Yang Kai nodded generously.
Shen Tu chuckled, “I suddenly found that you’re quite pleasing to the eye.”
Saying so, he quietly stuffed his newly acquired Saint Crystal into his sleeve, preparing to use it tomorrow. With his current cultivation, he only needed three pieces of Saint Crystal each day to maintain his strength every day, which was also why Ke Meng only gave him two, it was to prevent him from having enough energy to consider making trouble.
“Let me re-introduce myself, my name is Shen Tu.”
“Yang Kai!”
The two exchanged a glance and grinned.
Bi Ya had gone out to perform some kind of task and it was uncertain when she would return, but Yang Kai estimated that once she did, his luck would run out, so he had to make some preparations before that happened.
However, inside this power room, basically everyone had become weak and useless. Just as Yang Kai had said, besides Shen Tu, who had some trace of vitality, everyone else was like a walking corpse without even the spare strength to talk to him.
Yang Kai knew he wouldn’t be able to obtain the information he wanted from those people.
Regardless of Shen Tu’s personality or whether he would be useful when the time came, right now he was the only suitable candidate to work with.
“How much do you know about this ship?” Yang Kai quietly released his Divine Sense to communicate with Shen Tu.
“How much do you know?” Shen Tu asked.
“I only know that there is a master at the Saint King Realm in command and that it belongs to a force called Purple Star.”
“Then I know more than you,” Shen Tu grinned, “They didn’t hesitate to deploy a Saint King Grade High-Rank Starship to this crisis-filled Chaotic Abyss for two women, so there’s no doubt those two have something they desperately want.”
“I’ve met those two women,” Yang Kai interrupted him.
“You’ve met them?” Shen Tu’s eyes flashed.
“En, a Second Order Saint and a Third Order Saint from a force called Sword Union. But what could they possibly have on them that would make Purple Star go this far to catch them?”
“I don’t know,” Shen Tu also looked confused, “Damn it, I just accidentally bumped into them outside the Chaotic Abyss and ended up being caught. When this father gets out of here, I swear one day I’ll destroy their entire Purple Star.”
Yang Kai shot him a surprised look.
“This is my one lifelong wish!” Shen Tu added.
“What about the other people in here?”
“They should all be from forces hostile to Purple Star. After being captured, they were placed in this power room and used until they expired from exhaustion! All forces act like this, therefore one needs to be careful not to be easily captured, otherwise their ending will be very pitiful. Some who are captured are sent to dangerous places to serve as miners or to gather medicinal herbs… The feeling of not being in control of one’s own life is even worse than those imprisoned here.”
Shen Tu’s expression was quite miserable when he spoke these words, as if he had suffered such experiences before, once again stunning Yang Kai.
After saying so though, he shot Yang Kai a look of sympathy, “But the most pitiful one is definitely you, actually catching that the woman Bi Ya’s eye, hahaha!”
Seeing Shen Tu taking pleasure in his misfortune, Yang Kai was rendered speechless.
As he spoke with the young man named Shen Tu, Yang Kai managed to inquire about many things he wanted to know.
Gradually, he came to understand some common sense of the Starry Sky.
The Star Field he was in right now was called the Heng Luo Star Field, and although it was extremely large and contained countless stars, it was actually only one of many Star Fields in the vast Starry Sky.
Heng Luo Star Field had several massive forces which dominated over all the others.
Sword Union and Purple Star were both such forces; in addition to them, there was Heng Luo Chamber Of Commerce, Galaxy Ridge, and Abandoned Lair which acted as the rulers of the Star Field.
Beneath these top-level forces, there were countless other forces of varying sizes.
The strength of a force greatly depended on whether or not it could build and deploy Starships.
Forces that were able to operate Starships, which were essentially extremely large artifacts, were considered to be strong, because construction and maintenance of a Starship was a massive expenditure.
From how many giant pieces of Saint Crystal were arranged inside this power room, Yang Kai could easily tell how energy intensive it was to operate this ultra-large artifact.
An average small force wouldn’t be able to afford such consumption.
“These big forces all occupy a number of Cultivation Stars, two or three on the low end, seven or eight at the high end, each one is different,” Shen Tu was clearly more informed about the Star Field than Yang Kai, and seeing how the latter seemed to be ignorant of even these basic facts, he patiently explained.
“Cultivation Stars?” Yang Kai frowned.
“Stars that are suitable for cultivators to inhabit,” Shen Tu explained, “The Star Field is indeed vast and contains a countless number of stars, but for various reasons, most of them aren’t suitable for long term living. Stars that can support life are called Cultivation Stars.”
“Got it,” Yang Kai nodded lightly, indicating he understood.
“However, those stars that aren’t suitable to permanently occupy aren’t worthless. Some of those stars are rich in rare ores while some of them have environments suitable for raising precious spirit grasses and medicines, such stars are respectively called Ore Stars and Medicine Stars. The big forces occupy many Ore Stars and Medicine Stars, allowing them to obtain massive amounts of resources to help develop themselves. Of course, there are many Death Stars out there too, stars covered in Death Qi without ores, herbs, or even World Energy.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling shocked.
In Tong Xuan Realm, major influences would fight over even small pieces of land, but in this vast Star Field, there were actually some forces who could rule over multiple stars.
Before now, this was something Yang Kai couldn’t even conceive of.
Tong Xuan Realm simply had no way to compare to the massive Star Field.
“Each Cultivation Star has its own Star Master. The Star Master is the highest authority on his or her Cultivation Star. If you or I can one day reach such a height, we’ll have made it in life,” Shen Tu smiled widely towards Yang Kai, a glimmer of yearning in his eyes.
“What is the cultivation of a Star Master like?”
“Unfathomable. For example, a Saint King High-Rank Starship like this one could be destroyed by any Star Master with a wave of their hand!” Shen Tu replied solemnly.
Yang Kai was speechless for a while.
Although Shen Tu didn’t tell him clearly what kind of cultivation realm these Star Masters had reached, Yang Kai could tell that it was definitely beyond the Saint King Realm.
Above the Saint King Realm, there was a higher realm!
“Take a look outside,” Shen Tu suddenly whispered.
Yang Kai followed his vision and saw the beautiful stars outside the Starship.
The power room was located at the bottom of the Starship and was directly responsible for adjusting the Starship direction and speed, so it was necessary to be able to see outside from here.
All around there were transparent windows manufactured from some unknown material that allowed one to see out in all directions.
“What do you think of these stars?” Shen Tu asked.
“The World Energy they contain is beyond imagination!” Yang Kai replied sincerely. While he was wandering about the Chaotic Abyss, he had often marvelled at the energy contained in these stars.
“Indeed, throughout the entire Heng Luo Star Field, no Cultivation Star can match this place. All the forces in the Star Field are very keen to develop the stars within the Chaotic Abyss. Whether it’s the blazing hot or frigid cold stars, both are extremely suitable for certain cultivators with the appropriate attribute strength. Cultivating on or even nearby these stars will yield unimaginable benefits to these cultivators.”
“But I heard that it is very dangerous here, even being labelled as one of the Star Field’s most famous Restricted Areas. The overlapping energy fields emitted by these stars create a kind of chaotic domain that causes one to lose their sense of direction.”
“En, because these stars contain too much energy, they produce that chaotic domain, causing anyone who enters here to easily become lost. For this reason, the Chaotic Abyss has always been one of the Star Field’s Restricted Areas and no one has successfully developed it, let alone laid claim to these stars.”
“Then this Starship…”
“You don’t have to worry about that, the Star Chart carried aboard any Starship is of the highest grade. There is also a Chart Master on board who is well versed in drawing Star Charts, so the Starship won’t lose its direction here. It’s only because of this reason that they dared to enter this region. Star Shuttles are different, once affected by the chaotic energy flow here, the Star Chart inside a Star Shuttle can easily be destroyed, which is why no one dares enter this place with only a Star Shuttle.”
“If that’s all though, can this place really be considered one of the Star Field’s Restricted Areas? Is there some other danger here too?” Yang Kai immediately noticed something odd.
“There are indeed some more,” Shen Tu nodded heavily, his expression becoming dignified, “But as to what these dangers are, no one can say clearly, because anyone who falls prey to those dangers never returns alive.”
Yang Kai’s look changed greatly, his thoughts turning sharply, suddenly letting out a sigh, “If things are as you say, then whatever it is those sisters have on them is something Purple Star desperately wants, otherwise they wouldn’t take such a big risk.”
Shen Tu narrowed his eyes and thought about it for a moment, soon nodding in agreement, “I hadn’t really thought about it before, but you’re right, what kind of treasure could possibly cause Purple Star to send a Saint King High-Rank Starship into the Chaotic Abyss?”
Even after wracking his brain for some time, Shen Tu couldn’t come up with an answer.
Just then, from a corner of the power room, a voice suddenly called out in alarm, “Senior Bi Ya and her team are back!”
Yang Kai and Shen Tu looked at each other before turning their gazes outside the ship’s hull.
Sure enough, they soon saw two blue lights speeding towards the ship.
“Seems your good days are at an end,” Shen Tu looked at Yang Kai with some sympathy, “What do you want to do? Now that that slut is back, she definitely won’t let you off. Let me say first, what she wants is you. I can’t do anything about that or help you in any way.”
“Not necessarily!” Yang Kai’s eyes brightened as he stared towards the two approaching blue lights, seemingly having discovered something interesting.
“What do you mean?” Shen Tu asked in confusion, not understanding why Yang Kai didn’t seem worried at all.
“When they left, there were three of them, but now that they’re back there’s only two… It seems they ran into something unexpected,” Yang Kai whispered.
Shen Tu took another look and sure enough, there were only two blue lights approaching.
A moment later, two figures appeared beside the Starship.
“Only Senior Bi Ya and Senior Liu Shan returned, Senior Liu Sha isn’t with them!” The voice of a concerned cultivator exclaimed, “And it seems Senior Bi Ya and Senior Liu Shan have been injured.”
“What’s happened?” Ke Meng walked out from the shadows and asked with a stern face.
“I don’t know, my subordinates are asking,” The first man said, pouring his Divine Sense into the compass-like artifact in his hand, seemingly communicating with someone.
Outside of Starship, Liu Shan also took out a similar artifact.
Yang Kai suddenly understood that this artifact should be used for long-distance communication. The last time he was brought back by Liu Shan and the others, he had seen Liu Shan do the same.
Looking out the window of the power room, Yang Kai saw that Liu Shan and Bi Ya had many scars on their bodies and their clothes were stained in blood. It appeared they had barely managed to escape with their lives. Bi Ya’s beauty was completely ruined as she now appeared haggard and dishevelled, her once pretty face filled with fear and alarm, from time to time glancing over her shoulder, as if someone was chasing after them.
“Ha! It’s really as you guessed,” Shen Tu wore a smug smile, taking great pleasure in this pair’s misfortune, “They got what they deserved, daring to rush into the Chaotic Abyss only to suffer a big loss.”
“They seem to have been injured in a fight with other cultivators, the situation doesn’t seem to be as simple as you think,” Yang Kai said thoughtfully.
“Eh…”
“Those sisters I met only had a Second Order and Third Order Saint Realm cultivation, they certainly wouldn’t be Liu Shan’s group’s opponent, but now this side is the one that was forced to escape with dead and wounded…”
“There are others inside the Chaotic Abyss?” Shen Tu immediately understood, “Moreover there’s definitely at least one master at the Saint King Realm!”
“The Sword Union’s people!” Yang Kai stated.
“Haha, then we’re in for a good show. Since the Sword Union has also sent forces to the Chaotic Abyss, there will definitely be a big fight. When that happens, we’ll have a chance to escape,” Shen Tu’s eyes flashed brilliantly.
“We’ll soon find out,” Yang Kai was also secretly looking forward to this. If something big didn’t happen soon to disrupt the situation, he would have to once again deal with Bi Ya.
Yang Kai really didn’t want to die beneath such a woman.
As such, he couldn’t wait for the situation to become as chaotic as possible.
“It’s Sword Union, Sword Union’s Starship is here too!” The cultivator that had been communicating with Liu Shan shouted, confirming Yang Kai and Shen Tu’s suspicions.
“What?” Ke Meng’s expression changed, “Their courage is big!”
As soon as he spoke, he realized that another Starship had been detected nearby, causing his look to sink.
During this time, the cultivator that had been speaking with Liu Shan opened the door to the Starship and let him and Bi Ya inside.
“Where are the Sword Union forces?” Shen Tu stretched out his neck and scanned their surroundings, but upon finding nothing at all, he was inevitably disappointed.
“If I were Sword Union, I would immediately leave the Chaotic Abyss after picking up those two sisters instead of chasing after this Purple Star Starship!” Yang Kai said calmly.
Shen Tu glanced over at Yang Kai and thought for a moment before nodding, “What you say makes sense. Whatever it is those two sisters obtained must be extraordinary, as long as the retrieve it, Sword Union wouldn’t have any reason to stay here and fight with Purple Star… Your way of thinking is really somewhat different from ordinary people.”
Just from Liu Shan and Bi Ya’s return, and the state they were in, Yang Kai was able to infer what had transpired and what was likely to happen next, Shen Tu had to admit that such insight and analytical skill were beyond him.
At this moment, he sincerely admired Yang Kai.
“Shen Tu, the people placed in this power room are here mainly to provide an auxiliary boost to the Starship when it executes intense actions, right?” Yang Kai suddenly asked.
“En, that’s right, why do you ask?”
“I suddenly had a bad premonition,” Yang Kai stared at him deeply.
Shen Tu’s face changed and his mouth twitched, “Don’t frighten me like that. What kind of bad premonition did you have?”
Yang Kai shook his head and didn’t answer.
The two of them suddenly fell silent and began quietly observing their surroundings, raising their vigilance as they closely watched Ke Meng’s movements.
After the time it would take to burn a stick of incense, Ke Meng’s communication artifact suddenly flickered and he quickly poured his Divine Sense into it to receive whatever message was sent.
A moment later, Ke Meng put away this artifact and in a loud, commanding voice, shouted, “Increase speed, we’re going after Sword Union’s Starship. We cannot let them escape!”
When this order came out, both Yang Kai and Shen Tu went pale.
“Congratulations, you were right again, I’m also having a bad promotion now,” Shen Tu said sarcastically before indignantly shouting, “You and your damn mouth!”
In the next instant, alarms began sounding throughout the huge Saint King Grade Starship and its speed suddenly shot up, flying forward towards a certain direction in the Starry Sky.
At the same time, the suction force from the shackles binding Yang Kai and Shen Tu increased greatly, madly draining them of their strength.
This suction force was now twice as strong as before, doubling the burden on their bodies.
Shen Tu couldn’t help letting out a groan as his body shivered unconsciously. Even Yang Kai felt a sharp ache throughout his body. No matter how he circulated his Secret Art, he was unable to stop the outflow of his strength.
The cultivators who were imprisoned in the power room usually only provided a temporary boost to the Starship’s operations while most of the energy was supplied by the giant pieces of Saint Crystal; however, once this massive artifact began making rapid manoeuvres, it’s energy requirements would drastically increase. This was nothing short of a disaster for the people like Shen Tu and Yang Kai.
The power in their bodies was being drawn out more and more intensely.
Ke Meng shuttled through the power room as he issued one command after another, his expression fierce.
Because of the indiscriminate extraction of power by the shackles, the cultivators who were bound in the power room began to rapidly expire.
Only moments after the Starship began accelerating, in all directions, tragic screams rang out. All at once, imprisoned cultivators at the end of their ropes began collapsing to the ground, dead.
They really couldn’t bear this kind of torture anymore as the last vestiges of their strength were sucked clean from their bodies.
Shen Tu became frightened as a deep look of bitterness spread across his face. He knew that in his current state he wouldn’t last long. If the strength in his body really continued to be drained like this, even if he didn’t die, his cultivation realm would inevitably fall.
Although he was cursing violently in his heart, that long wouldn’t change his destiny.
Sneaking a glance over at Yang Kai, Shen Tu couldn’t help showing a confused expression for a moment.
He found that although Yang Kai’s expression was painful, and the strength in his body really was flowing out, the intensity of the energy fluctuations coming from him didn’t show any sign of weakening, almost as if his body was constantly maintaining his level of Saint Qi.
This greatly puzzled Shen Tu, wondering just what was going on with Yang Kai.
“Sir, five people have already died,” A cultivator suddenly came up to Ke Meng and reported.
Ke Meng gawked, like he had only just remembered about this, shooting the chained up cultivators on the ground a cold glance before snorting, “Useless wastes, give them some Saint Crystals!”
“Yes!” The cultivator saluted and quickly walked over to still-living prisoners and dropped three pieces of Saint Crystal in front of each of them.
All the pairs of gloomy eyes suddenly lit up as everyone reached out hastily to pick up the Saint Crystals in front of them and began extracting the energy within them to supplement their rapid consumption.
Shen Tu also did the same. His Secret Art was clearly quite high grade as it took him less than half a cup of tea’s worth of time to absorb all the energy in the three Saint Crystals.
Having finally obtained some extra energy, his complexion became much better.
The Saint King High-Rank Starship continued advancing through the Starry Sky at a speed far beyond what a Star Shuttle was capable of.
Sitting in the power room, Yang Kai only managed to catch a glimpse of an asteroid shoot past the windows and disappear into the distance. The Starship’s hull was incredibly strong and could easily shrug off minor obstacles in the Starry Sky. Small asteroids it ran into were smashed into oblivion while the Starship itself remained unaffected.
After about half a day, Ke Meng’s expression suddenly brightened as he shouted, “Sword Union dogs, we’ve finally caught up to you! Let’s see where you can run now!”
Hearing this, Shen Tu and Yang Kai simultaneously turned their eyes towards the front window.
Up ahead, a huge ship that was basically the same shape as the Starship they were riding was sailing through the Starry Sky, a giant sword-shaped emblem emblazoned on its hull.
This symbol was exactly the same as the one Yang Kai had seen on He Zao and He Miao’s clothes.
It was a Sword Union Starship!
“Hahahaha, have a taste of my Purple Star Starship’s power!” Ke Meng’s entire personality seemed to have transformed, a bloodthirsty aura pulsing from his body as he quickly issued a series of orders.
With a loud bang, the entire Starship shook violently and a number of dazzling beams of light suddenly shot out from its hull.
These beams of light were thick and fast, seemingly able to break through the shackles of space, soaring through the Starry Sky and closing in on the Sword Union Starship.
All the asteroids blocking these light beams’ path were instantly vaporized.
As Yang Kai observed these beams of light, his complexion turned ashen.
Even sitting inside the power room, he could feel the destructive power each of these beams of light possessed.
He had no doubt that each one of these beams of light could level a mountain or evaporate a lake.
This was a true Heaven shaking, Earth destroying power.
If he were to be hit by one of those beams, Yang Kai estimated that even if he used all his strength, he would still be reduced to dust.
At that moment, he couldn’t help sympathizing with Sword Union’s Starship.
However, what happened next greatly stemmed from his expectations. Just as the light beams were about to hit the Sword Union Starship, a seemingly thin barrier suddenly appeared and surrounded its hull in five coloured light.
This barrier of light trembled under the impact of the light beams, sending out many ripples that spread towards the depths of the Starry Sky.
A moment later, aside from shaking a bit, Sword Union’s Starship emerged from this bombardment unscathed.
The look of excitement on Ke Meng’s face turned gloomy, he hadn’t thought that the sneak attack he had just made would be so easily blocked by the other side.
Shouting once more, the ship trembled again and a second volley of light beams short forth.
“Fuck!” Shen Tu cursed as his face turned pale. All the energy he had just absorbed had been sucked away again, so he quickly turned to Yang Kai and shouted, “Yang Kai, save me!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai turned a blank look towards him and finally came back to his senses.
Just now he had all of his attention attracted by the powerful beams of light so he hadn’t taken any notice of the changes inside himself or his surroundings.
When Shen Tu shouted, he suddenly realized that the neatly arranged Saint Crystals inside the power room had dimmed noticeably after those two shots were fired. On top of that, many of the cultivators around him had also fallen.
At the same time, all the Saint Qi in his meridians and flesh had been sucked clean by the shackles on his hands and feet.
[Those two rounds of divine light must require a massive amount of energy to produce,] Yang Kai quickly understood what had happened.
The two light beam volleys not only drained a lot of energy from the Saint Crystals in the power room but also put an unimaginable load on the cultivators who were bound here.
After the two shots, of the fifty or sixty cultivators imprisoned in the power room, more than half had died, their vitality drained and their souls scattered in the wind.
Those that were still alive were gasping for breath, barely managing to maintain their feeble existences. As long as those beams of light were fired once more, they would all certainly die.
Only Shen Tu, who was nearby Yang Kai, was barely better off.
Yang Kai quickly burst a drop of Yang Liquid in his dantian, filling his body and meridians again before throwing a few of the Saint Crystals he had previous hidden away over to Shen Tu.
Shen Tu’s eyes brightened and immediately reached out to catch these Saint Crystals and madly began refining them, his complexion gradually becoming rosy again.
“Those bastards dare fight back?” Ke Meng shouted again.
It seemed like because of Purple Star’s had aggressively opened fire, Sword Union responded in kind.
Beams of light shot out from the other side as a defensive energy shield was raised around Purple Star’s Starship.
With a loud bang, the Starship shook violently.
Shen Tu’s face went pale again as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
He didn’t even have the spare energy to curse, as whether the Starship sent out that light beam attack or activated its defensive shield, both siphoned a massive amount of energy from him. Every action the two Starships took placed an unbearable burden on Shen Tu and the other prisoners.
“Fire again, I want them blow to smithereens!” Ke Meng shouted hysterically like a madman.
“Sir, the crystal cannons cannot be used again! If we do, the Saint Crystals won’t be able to provide sufficient energy to operate the ship!” A nearby cultivator warned.
Ke Meng’s brow furrowed deeply, his hot-tempered mood finally calming down.
He finally remembered this problem.
At this moment, the communication artifact in his hand flashed again and Ke Meng quickly poured his Divine Sense into it. After a brief exchange, a fierce grin appeared on his face as he waved his hand, “Open the hatch! Today we’ll let these Sword Union dogs experience our true strength!”
“Yes!”
The next moment, the Starship’s hatch was opened, and one after another, Purple Star’s cultivators flew out, summoning various artifacts and quickly charging towards Sword Union’s Starship.
The artifacts the Purple Star cultivators summoned were all different kinds of Star Shuttles, shaped like chariots, flying swords, and various other dazzling designs, showcasing how unique the Starry Sky was.
From Sword Union Starship, a large number of people also suddenly emerged and met the Purple Star attackers head-on without fear, instantly setting off a great battle.
Amidst the Starry Sky, streaks of light flew about as the cultivators from both sides traded Martial Skills and artifact attacks.
Both the Purple Star and Sword Union forces pulsed with thick murderous intent, their eyes dyed red as they engaged in a desperate struggle.
In the tangled melee, low grade artifacts and Star Shuttles were struck and shattered directly.
Fragments of these burning artifacts shot out like the most luminous of fireworks, filling the sky with a thrilling beauty, then fading just as fast, becoming pieces of trash that were lost forever in the Chaotic Abyss.
In this chaotic battlefield, there were many Saint Realm masters while Transcendents were as common and weak as ants.
There were even a few figures that gave off shockingly powerful auras that could only belong to Saint King Realm powerhouses. Each of these masters displayed earth-shattering abilities and could easily slaughter the weak cultivators around them. Everywhere they flew, many enemy cultivators would fall, their bodies shattered and their souls erased.
Both sides suffered huge losses over the course of this short battle.
Neither side wanted to show weakness or easily admit defeat, so a continuous stream of reinforcements from their respective Starships poured out to join the battlefield.
For a moment, the fight entered a fragile stalemate.
In the Star Field, both Sword Union and Purple Star were first-class forces, each of them managing at least five Cultivation Stars along with countless Ore and Medicine Stars. The number of resources they controlled was simply unimaginable, allowing their many cultivators to grow and develop rapidly.
Their leaders could not care less about such losses.
Yang Kai was stunned speechless for a long time.
He was thoroughly shocked.
He was still astounded by the power of light beams the Starships had shot out a moment ago; he had never dreamed such incredible things existed in this vast Star Field.
Since coming to the Star Field, everything he had seen and heard about far exceeded his imagination.
He suddenly realized that the Star Field was a far more exciting place than he had anticipated, his eyes filling with light as his blood began to boil.
He neither panicked nor had any intention to withdraw because of these fantastical sights, but instead was more and more looking forward to this adventure.
Because only in such a wondrous place, could he live a more exciting life.
“Yang Kai, Yang Kai!” Shen Tu’s voice called out again.
Yang Kai turned his head back to look at him.
With an extremely bitter look upon his face, Shen Tu bit his cracked lips and asked, “Can you give me some more Saint Crystal? I can’t hold on much longer.”
At this moment, his strength was almost completely depleted, a true lamp without oil.
Yang Kai said nothing and directly threw him five or six pieces of Saint Crystal.
“Thanks!” Shen Tu’s face filled with gratitude as he sincerely thanked Yang Kai before quickly refining these crystals.
Yang Kai also calmed down finally and began scanning his surroundings with cold eyes, listening to the footsteps coming and going throughout the ship as well as observing the various energy fluctuations around him, his eyes slowly flashing a dangerous light.
A short time later, Shen Tu let out a heavy sigh of relief and said, “The suction finally slowed down. Fuck, if they had fired the crystal cannons even once more I would have died on the spot. That was far too dangerous.”
Saying so, he shot a grateful look towards Yang Kai, “Thanks are not enough for this kindness, I will remember this gratitude.”
“Shen Tu, what’s your real cultivation?” Yang Kai shot him a look and whispered.
Shen Tu raised his brow slightly, seemingly wanting to ask him what he was talking about, but soon grinned instead and asked, “You noticed?”
“I’d have to be blind not to have seen that much!” Yang Kai face became serious.
The fluctuations coming from Shen Tu’s body made him appear to be a First-Order Saint, the same as Yang Kai.
But in the crisis just now, when Shen Tu was frantically absorbing the pieces of Saint Crystal, unusual energy fluctuation had appeared in his aura.
From this, Yang Kai judged that he was hiding his true cultivation.
Being able to hide his true strength in the middle of this Purple Star Starship was not something just anyone could do, this Shen Tu was clearly not simple!
“Third-Order Saint Realm!” Shen Tu suddenly looked serious and whispered back.
Yang Kai nodded, knowing he shouldn’t be lying.
“Why do you ask?” Shen Tu looked at Yang Kai curiously.
“Nothing much, but if you have this kind of strength, we can probably do something. Right now there aren’t many aboard this Starship, and almost all the masters have gone outside to fight. Even this power room’s defences are far lighter than before,” Yang Kai said meaningfully.
Originally, there had been a Saint King Realm master guarding the power room from the dark, but after the battle outside broke out, the aura of that Saint King Realm master had disappeared. Yang Kai figured that he should have been gone out to fight and that right now, the number of Purple Star cultivators guarding the power room had been reduced by more than half. On top of that, now, besides Ke Meng, who was a Third Order Saint, the rest were just First or Second Order Saints numbering less than ten in total, all of whom were seated at various nodes of the giant Spirit Array that was keeping the Starship running.
“What do you want to do? Don’t act rashly, these shackles are forged from Qi Scattering Stone. Anyone chained by them won’t be able to use their full strength,” Shen Tu’s face changed greatly, suddenly understanding what Yang Kai was planning.
“Then we just need someone to unlock them for us,” Yang Kai grinned, his face suddenly became pale and his life aura becoming faint.
He then shot a meaningful glance towards Shen Tu.
Shen Tu wore a bitter and hesitant look on his face, but after a moment, he grit his teeth and muttered, “Forget it, in any case, my life was saved by you, I’ll play along with your insane idea.”
Saying so, he began shouting loudly.
Ke Meng, who was monitoring the various functions inside the power room, heard his cries and his expression turned cold, shooting a sharp glance over towards Shen Tu and Yang Kai and letting out a slightly surprised grunt, “You two haven’t died yet?”
This was really somewhat unexpected.
During the battle between the two Starships a moment ago, nearly all of the cultivators imprisoned in the power room had used up all their strength and perished.
Shen Tu and Yang Kai still clinging to life was no small surprise to Ke Meng.
“My vitality has always been strong, but he’s on the verge of dying!” Shen Tu continued to yell, “Isn’t this guy the one Bi Ya wants? If you just let him die like this, won’t it cause you trouble?”
Ke Meng frowned as he stared deeply at Yang Kai. After sweeping him with his Divine Sense, Ke Meng noticed Yang Kai’s vanishing vitality and impatiently grumbled, “So troublesome, why did he have to have one last breath instead of just dying directly?”
Saying so, he quickly came over to Yang Kai.
When he was commanding the Starship’s actions just now, he didn’t consider the side effects at all, and had naturally not paid any attention to Yang Kai’s situation.
But now that he had calmed down and thought carefully, if Yang Kai really happened to die, Bi Ya would likely vent her anger on him.
That wasn’t a responsibility he could afford.
So went up to Yang Kai and took out the key for his shackles before unlocking them, releasing him from their effects.
At this moment, he had completely let his guard down.
After all, Yang Kai’s current appearance couldn’t have been weaker; what’s more, Ke Meng was a Third Order Saint so he didn’t have much wariness towards the First Order Saint Yang Kai in the first place.
This self-confidence backfired against him severely.
The moment the shackles were unlocked, Yang Kai suddenly bit his own finger and drew some blood.
He then rapidly wiped his cut finger across his left eye.
The golden blood dripped into his left eye, causing it to change from its original black and white to pure gold in colour.
Yang Kai swiftly raised his head towards Ke Meng.
Four eyes suddenly met, and Ke Meng’s look became absent-minded as he stared into the golden eye filled with overwhelming majesty. At that moment, Ke Meng felt a soul gripping terror as well as a crushing sense of inferiority, as if before this eye he was the lowliest of beings.
An invisible vortex formed from the golden eye that produced an astonishing suction force that tore at Ke Meng’s Soul, nearly frightening him out of his wits.
His face draining of all colour, Ke Meng cried out strangely and went all out to resist this suction force.
Yang Kai instantly displayed his Demon God Transformation, filling his body with rich evil energy, drastically changing his temperament, and causing the temperature inside the power room to drop precipitously.
A cruel and malevolent aura burst out and filled the air.
Yang Kai body slammed Ke Meng’s chest, unleashing the full might of his intrepid physique, knocking him into the nearby wall and pouncing towards him.
Blood splashed out as punches and palms rained down on Ke Meng’s back, causing his clothes to explode into dust in an instant.
Ke Meng wasn’t weak, but in a moment of defencelessness, under Yang Kai’s wanton bombardment, he was unable to summon any of his profound artifacts or display any of his polished Martial Skills, only becoming more and more muddleheaded as he suffered under the unceasing blows.
In the blink of an eye, Ke Meng’s body burst into a bloody fog that spattered red all across the power room in a thrilling explosion.
An ethereal figure, exactly the same as Ke Meng, stood in his original position.
Naturally it was Ke Meng’s Soul Avatar.
Even until now, he didn’t seem to have reacted to what had happened to him, just staring there blankly at Yang Kai.
From Yang Kai’s golden eye, an even more powerful suction force appeared, drawing Ke Meng’s Soul Avatar into the former’s Knowledge Sea.
Yang Kai’s eyes swept over the blood fog rapidly and in the next instant, his hand reached out and snatched the key to the shackles before tossing it over to Shen Tu.
“Open it yourself!” Yang Kai said before disappearing in a gust of wind. The next moment, tragic and chaotic cries rang out all over the power room.
Shen Tu shook violently, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.
He simply couldn’t believe what he had just seen.
When he first realized Yang Kai’s intentions, Shen Tu decided to accompany him despite thinking the later was insane, not even asking what Yang Kai’s exact plan was. Originally, Shen Tu thought Yang Kai was going to leave here temporarily and look for an opportunity to act.
As for whether Yang Kai would come back to help him escape, Shen Tu hadn’t thought much about it; after all, Yang Kai had already saved his life a couple of times now, asking for anything more would be ungrateful.
How was Shen Tu supposed to know this guy was even crazier than he had thought, actually daring to launch a sneak attack the moment he was freed?
However, what was most surprising to Shen Tu was that Ke Meng, a Third-Order Saint, had actually been killed so easily by Yang Kai.
How did he do it? How could he have done it?
Shen Tu held the key thrown to him by Yang Kai in his hand while staring dumbfounded at the bloody fog lingering in front of him, his heart tumbling and turning.
If it had been him who fought Ke Meng just now, who would win and who would lose was a tossup, so how did Yang Kai, a First-Order Saint, butcher him so easily?
Even if Ke Meng had his guard down at that moment, he shouldn’t have lost all ability to fight back given his cultivation realm and strength.
Everything happened so suddenly that Shen Tu was completely caught off guard.
He remained in place, too shocked to even move, forgetting all about his current situation, even forgetting to free himself from his shackles.
It was only now that he realized that Yang Kai was an extremely dangerous guy. If Yang Kai was able to kill Ke Meng in an instant, that meant he himself wouldn’t present much more of a challenge.
Shen Tu nearly gasped in alarm.
“Are you coming or not?” Yang Kai’s low voice called out.
Shen Tu suddenly returned to his senses and quickly used the key to unlock his shackles. In the next instant, numerous bolts of lightning suddenly spread from his body, each one distinct and lifelike, making it seems as though he was wrapped in a million lightning snakes.
These vivid lightning bolts wandered around his body before shooting outwards in every direction, lighting up the entire power room.
Shen Tu let out a hearty laugh, “Brother, your performance just now was outstanding. I deeply admire you!”
After letting out this laugh, Shen Tu’s figure suddenly vanished and, in the next moment, reappeared next to a First-Order Saint Purple Star cultivator.
This Purple Star cultivator was trying to sneak attack Yang Kai, but Shen Tu had easily captured him.
Violent thunder began to surge and the cultivator trembled fiercely as a massive amount of lightning poured into his body and soul, causing him to instantly lose all ability to resist.
A burnt smell filled the air as black smoke emerged from the top of the cultivator’s head. After Shen Tu let this man go, his charred body collapsed to the ground dead.
The power room was the heart of the entire Starship, therefore it was normally heavily guarded, with at least one Saint King Realm personally watching over it to ensure no accidents occurred.
But at this moment, it seemed that Purple Star was completely focused on Sword Union, so the various masters who would normally be stationed here had all been deployed as reinforcements, leaving behind only Ke Meng to oversee the situation.
Ke Meng was the first to die, and under Shen Tu and Yang Kai’s rapid and unexpected assault, the other Purple Star cultivators quickly fell.
Relying on his immense physical strength and the element of surprise, Yang Kai swiftly killed five cultivators and, after returning to the power room, discovered that only Shen Tu and him were still alive. The Purple Star cultivators who had realized the situation was dire and tried to run away had all been struck down by Shen Tu’s lightning.
“I’m finally free, hahaha!” Shen Tu shouted joyously, like a wild beast that had at last escaped from its cage.
“Where to next? You’re more familiar with this place than me, you lead the way,” Yang Kai said to him indifferently.
“No need to rush, let’s deliver Purple Star a big gift before we leave,” Shen Tu suddenly grinned menacingly.
Dashing to the middle of the power room, he sat quickly sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.
Releasing his Divine Sense, Shen Tu connected the power in his body to that of the central Spirit Array.
Yang Kai stared at him curiously but didn’t try to stop him, simply waiting and watching.
After spending so many days inside this power room, Yang Kai had also acquired a certain understanding of how this giant Starship artifact worked and knew what role the Spirit Array Shen Tu was currently operating played.
This was the central control interface for the Starship.
Shen Tu obviously wanted to make this Saint King High-Rank Starship take some kind of action.
The lines of the giant Spirit Array lit up and the Starship, which was parked somewhere in the Starry Sky, slowly re-oriented itself and came to a stop a moment later.
“Heh heh, I’ll let you all know today that this Shen Tu isn’t someone good to bully!” Shen Tu’s eyes shot open and a violent light flashed across them as he poured his strength into the giant Spirit Array beneath him.
In the next instant, the Starship trembled.
A massive beam of light, filled with destructive energy, shot out from the Starship and flew straight towards the chaotic battlefield.
At the same time, Yang Kai keenly felt the energy in the Saint Crystals placed around the power room drastically reduce, their original radiant glow fading rapidly and becoming dim.
The beam of divine light surged forward, causing all the cultivators from both Sword Union and Purple Star who were in the middle of their battle to come to a halt. Seeing the approaching earth-destroying beam, all of them became panic-stricken, screamed out in alarm, and pushed their flight type artifacts to their limit in an attempt to escape.
It was too late for a lot of them, the speed of the beam of light was so fast that before any of these cultivators could even blink, it was upon them.
The entire world suddenly fell silent.
The intense sounds of battle had all disappeared and those fortunate enough to have been outside the light beam’s range stared at the scene before them as if the apocalypse had just descended, none of them able to speak, or even open their mouths to breath.
The beam of light passed through the battlefield and soared off into the distance.
All that was left behind was an empty void, clear of even dust.
Only a moment ago, that space was filled with cultivators who were each displaying their own Divine Abilities and waving their artifacts in a desperate battle! But now, everything was gone.
It was as if they had never existed.
At least a hundred people were directly wiped away by the beam of light.
Inside the power room, Shen Tu laughed wildly, extremely satisfied with himself.
Yang Kai frowned slightly, thinking that Shen Tu’s act of vengeance had unjustly involved many of the Sword Union cultivators, but he chose to not say anything at this moment.
He didn’t have any friendship with Sword Union, and even He Zao and He Miao were just casual acquaintances he had met by chance.
“Done venting? If so, we need to leave quickly,” Yang Kai muttered, “Your little stunt will no doubt cause all those masters to return here immediately.”
“Ah, you’re right!” Shen Tu suddenly realized the implications of what he had done and hurriedly jumped up from the Spirit Array control centre before rushing out of the power room together with Yang Kai.
Inside the Purple Star Starship, there was only a handful of cultivators left, and because of the sudden firing of the crystal cannons, they had all become alarmed and were rushing towards the power room.
Shen Tu seemed to have a good understanding of the structure of this Starship and led Yang Kai through a series of more remote corridors.
Along the road, unexpectedly, they didn’t encounter any trouble.
“Where are we going? Is this the way to the Starship’s exit?” Yang Kai followed behind Shen Tu for a while before suddenly asking with a calm expression.
Although he was not too familiar with this place, he also had his own instincts and intuition and they were telling him that Shen Tu was actually leading him in a giant circle through the Starship rather than immediately heading to the hatch.
“The exit?” Shen Tu continued forward while concealing his aura, only glancing back briefly to ask, “Do you have an accurate Star Chart?”
Yang Kai shook his head.
“How do you plan on leaving without a Star Chart?” Shen Tu chuckled, “Do you have a Star Shuttle?”
“Yes!” Yang Kai nodded, “But I heard that my Star Shuttle is broken and can’t store a Star Chart anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter, we just need to grab a certain individual and let him take us out,” Shen Tu said lightly.
“Who? If you’re just looking to capture someone, there’s a Second-Order Saint a few dozen meters to our left, you can just grab him,” Yang Kai proposed.
Shen Tu shook his head, “He’s no good, even if we catch him, we won’t be able to leave the Chaotic Abyss. You should know that it’s very easy to get lost in the Chaotic Abyss, my goal is not just to escape from this Starship.”
Yang Kai expression changed, suddenly understanding, “You want to catch the Chart Master on this Starship?”
“It really is much easier talking with a smart person,” Shen Tu grinned, “I’m looking for that guy right now.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“I have a general idea where he is, but whether or not we can find him there is up to luck.”
Yang Kai didn’t say anything more and simply followed behind Shen Tu quietly.
From his previous conversations with Shen Tu, Yang Kai had learned that Chart Masters were people who specialized in creating the Star Charts that cultivators used to accurately navigate the vast Star Field.
The Star Chart created by skilled Chart Masters would allow cultivators to avoid many potential dangers of the Starry Sky and smoothly reach their desired destination. As long as the Star Chart was extremely accurate, it didn’t matter how far one had to fly, they would arrive without error.
Essentially, the Star Charts produced by every Chart Master would be different; poor quality Star Charts were cheaper while more accurate ones sold at much higher prices.
The most expensive of Star Charts could cost tens to hundreds of thousands of Saint Crystals while the cheapest ones could be acquired for a few dozen Saint Crystals.
Outstanding Chart Masters were always sought after by big forces, and their status was highly respected. Regardless of their personal strength, wherever skilled Chart Masters went, they would be treated as honoured guests.
Starships often had a Chart Master standing by because they would often change their direction of travel and destination. When such a course change was made, a Chart Master was needed to map out an appropriate route.
Becoming a Chart Master was many times more difficult than becoming an Alchemist or Artifact Refiners, because the basic required of a Chart Master was that they understand the makeup of the entire Star Field, including the location of innumerable stars and the distance between them.
Chart Masters were the rarest existences in the entire Star Field, with any particular master only passing their knowledge down to a single successor rather than multiple disciples.
Because the nurturing of any Chart Master required dedicated and painstaking teaching from a current master.
This was an extremely time-consuming matter, so even the most excellent Chart Masters would only accept one or two apprentices because they would not be able to teach any more than that.
The foundations of creating Star Charts were all held tightly by famous Chart Master, it was basically their legacy and inheritance, not something they would easily pass to outsiders.
All sorts of information about the Chart Master flashed through Yang Kai’s mind, causing him to realize that this profession was quite daunting.
Inside a luxurious room aboard the Purple Star Starship, a short, sallow-skinned old man held a communication type artifact in front of himself and poured his Divine Sense into it, trying to contact Ke Meng in the power room, but no matter who he tried to reach, he received no response.
“What happened?” The old man wiped the sweat from his forehead and stomped his foot.
After a moment of hesitation, he hurriedly opened his door and prepared to go down to the power room personally to see the situation.
But just as he opened the door, he saw two youths emitting clear malicious intention flying towards his direction.
The old man didn’t think too much about this though and simply called out to the two youths, “You two, come here!”
Shen Tu, who was leading the way, let out a cry of surprise and said, “It’s this old man, he’s the Chart Master on this Starship! I saw him go in and out of the power room some time ago!”
Yang Kai nodded lightly and followed after Shen Tu, quickly arriving beside the old man.
“What’s going on in the power room, why isn’t Ke Meng responding to this old master’s call?” The old man roared angrily.
Shen Tu just grinned back at him, revealing a gloomy smile as he said, “Ke Meng is dead, so of course he won’t respond to your messages!”
The old man’s expression filled with surprise at these words and suddenly realized that something wasn’t right. Just as he was about to turn back and return to his room, a lightning snake appeared from Shen Tu’s body and quickly wrapped around the old man’s body, binding him tightly.
The powerful lightning arc caused the old man’s body to go stiff and numb.
“Carry him!” Shen Tu looked around and saw that no one else as nearby before he turned towards a certain direction and sped off.
Yang Kai’s face became cold as he grabbed the old man tied up in the lightning rope and faintly said, “If you want to live, you’d better cooperate, or I’ll kill you!”
Although the Chart Master of this Purple Star Starship wasn’t young, his strength wasn’t very high, only reaching the Third Order Transcendent Realm, so it was easy for Shen Tu, and Yang Kai to capture him.
Ordinary Chart Masters didn’t possess high cultivations because they dedicated most of their time and energy to studying the mysteries of the Starry Sky and producing Star Charts.
This also caused them to not have any self-protection ability when they fell into danger.
“Who are you?” The old man asked sternly.
“Who we are is none of your concern. So long as you take us out of the Chaotic Abyss, everything will be fine, once we leave this place, we will naturally let you go, I promise you!” Shen Tu spun around and said flatly.
“Good, I’ll lead you away, but you must take me to the Starship’s power room first, otherwise we’ll all end up dead!” The old man hurriedly shouted.
Shen Tu sneered, “Do you think we’re idiots? We just managed to escape from the power room, and now that place is filled with Purple Star’s masters, are we supposed to go there and meekly accept death?”
“You don’t understand, naturally I have a good reason for insisting on going to the power room, this has nothing to do with you letting yourselves get caught!” The old man said desperately, “If you don’t take me there now, not only will we three die, even this Starship will be destroyed.”
“What do I care if this Starship can’t be saved?” Shen Tu’s snickered, taking pleasure in Purple Star’s misfortune.
“How can I convince you… There is a huge danger brewing outside that will soon sweep across the entire Chaotic Abyss, if we don’t act quickly, no one here will survive.”
Shen Tu came to a halt and turned back towards the old man, “What do you mean? Speak clearly.”
“Just look outside for yourself!” The old man didn’t answer but instead gestured towards the outside.
Shen Tu and Yang Kai both exchanged a glance and felt that this old man wasn’t simply being an alarmist, the two of them casting their eyes through one of the windows in the corridor in the next moment.
Outside, it was the same scene of massive and beautiful stars, but right now, the incredibly rich World Energy field seemed to have taken on a hazy quality, appearing somewhat like an illusory fog.
The powerful domains produced by the various stars also seemed to be fluctuating as well.
All the cultivators from Sword Union and Purple Star, who were originally heavily engaged in a battle to the death, had ceased all combat and were instead fleeing with all haste towards their respective Starships.
“What happened? They’re all returning now,” Shen Tu expression changed greatly, “It couldn’t be because of the crystal cannon barrage I just shot, right?”
Yang Kai looked at him faintly but said nothing.
Shen Tu seemed somewhat embarrassed and shrugged, “I didn’t expect things to turn out like this, I just wanted to vent some of my anger…”
“I don’t think it has anything to do with what you did. If it was, the Sword Union cultivators wouldn’t also be retreating but instead chasing after them; but right now, both sides are withdrawing. They should be aware of the coming danger,” Yang Kai turned his attention to the old man in his hand and quickly asked, “What is this danger?”
“A domain eruption! You can’t feel it from inside here, but all of those people are coming back because they sensed the drastic change in the energy domains of the Chaotic Abyss’ stars. None of them dares stay outside now, they should only want to return to their ships as quickly as possible to flee from here. If they’re too late, even if they hide inside this Starship, they won’t be safe!”
“A domain eruption?” Shen Tu’s face sank.
“The Chaotic Abyss’ greatest danger!” The old man explained hurriedly, “Do you think that the chaotic and disorienting energy fields here simply cause one to lose their sense of direction? You’re very wrong, the stars in the Chaotic Abyss contain unimaginable World Energy, and once the World Energy in the surrounding space reaches a state of saturation, exceeding the limit of what this region can withstand, the delicate balance they normally maintain collapses and all that energy explodes. As for what happens next, I’m sure you can both imagine, yes?”
Yang Kai and Shen Tu both gasped and went deathly pale.
“Can’t you understand!?” The old man yelled, his spit flying out, showing not the slightest awareness of being a prisoner.
“Do you understand?” Shen Tu asked quietly.
“Nonsense! This old master is a Chart Master. If this old master doesn’t understand what’s happening, who would?” The old man shouted and scolded Shen Tu.
“Since you saw this coming, why didn’t you stop the two sides from fighting? Isn’t it because of their fight that the balance between the fields was broken?” Yang Kai shot him a cold glare.
The old man quickly averted his eyes and awkwardly said, “I only noticed after they started fighting. This old master’s Stargazing Technique isn’t omnipotent, how could I have known things would become so dangerous so quickly?”
“Stargazing Technique?” Yang Kai’s brow rose.
“The technique’s Chart Masters use to study the mysteries of the Starry Sky. I’ll explain to you some other time, but right now, what should we do? This old guy doesn’t look like he’s lying,” Shen Tu hesitated.
If what this old man was saying was true, then all the effort he and Yang Kai had put into silently catching this old man was for nothing, once the Chaotic Abyss’s domain eruption occurred, there would be nowhere for them to run or hide.
As long as they stayed inside the Starship, they would at least have another layer of protection.
This was a Saint King High-Rank Starship after all!
However, with all of Purple Star’s surviving masters about to return to the Starship, staying here wasn’t exactly a good plan either.
“Your thoughts are quite sharp, aren’t they? You make the decision,” Shen Tu said to Yang Kai with an expectant gaze, seemingly hoping he would have some brilliant way out of this mess.
“What’s the status of this Chart Master in Purple Star?” Yang Kai asked suddenly.
“His position is extremely high!” Shen Tu looked towards the old man, “Grandmaster Wu Suo’s ability to create Star Charts ranks among the top three in all of Purple Star and is someone that the other major forces have constantly tried to win over.”
“Do you know this old master?” The old man looked at Shen Tu with clear surprise.
“I’ve heard of you,” Shen Tu grinned.
“Let’s go to the power room,” Yang Kai quickly said.
Shen Tu’s expression cramped and seemed to hesitate, but after carefully thinking about it for a while, he nodded and said, “Agreed, if what he said is true, going outside is no different from courting death.”
“Let’s go!” Yang Kai lifted up the Chart Master called Wu Suo and headed back to the power room.
The corridor outside the power room was overcrowded, with the cultivators who were outside just now battling and the ones who had stayed behind in the Starship all gathered around, wondering who it was that fired the crystal cannons a moment ago, not only killing many of their enemies but also many of their own people as well.
They were all enraged because, if their luck had been a bit worse, they might have been killed just now.
However, after seeing the situation in the power room, their anger suddenly froze up.
There was no one living inside the power room, Ke Meng and the dozen other Saint Realm cultivators had been killed by some unknown enemy.
Inside the power room, a middle-aged man in fine robes with his hands folded behind his back glared around with an angry expression, his pair of sharp eyes soon landing on two pairs of opened shackles, causing him to let out a gloomy snort, “Wastes!”
With his eyesight, it was natural for him to see how Ke Meng had died, and although he didn’t know exactly what had transpired, he could make a fairly accurate guess.
One of the cultivators who had been locked up in those shackles had launched a sneak attack, butchered Ke Meng, snatched the key, released his companion, and then swept through the power room. After killing everyone, these two rats had taken control of the Starship, then shot that crystal cannon barrage, causing the Purple Star cultivators to suffer great losses.
[Ke Meng, that waste, his death isn’t worthy pitying!]
The middle-aged man was infuriated.
Just as he was about to order his subordinates to search the ship for the escapees, a loud voice suddenly resounded outside the power room, “Who are you! Release Grandmaster Wu Suo immediately, or else!”
The middle-aged man’s eyes became gloomy as he looked up.
A cynical and arrogant voice soon echoed, “Make way, make way! Clear a path and don’t get any funny ideas, the moment you try anything, Grandmaster Wu Suo dies!”
A moment later, a group of three figures strolled into the power room.
Two strange youths walked in, one of them wearing a self-important look upon his face while the other wore an indifferent expression while tightly grasping Wu Suo’s shoulder, his Divine Sense and Saint Qi both covering the latter, ready to strike at any moment.
The middle-aged man’s eyes shrank as he shouted, “You dare come back?”
Although he had never met or even seen Yang Kai or Shen Tu, the middle-aged man was certain these two were the rats who had escaped from the power room and fired the crystal cannons, killing several dozen Purple Star cultivators in the process.
Glaring at them, the middle-aged man’s wrath soared towards the Heavens and he couldn’t wait to palm them to death to vent the rage in his heart.
Seeing the middle-aged man’s nearly materialized murderous intent, Shen Tu couldn’t help his neck from shrinking somewhat but he still maintained his aloof grin and snickered, “We didn’t want to come back.”
No fool would return back to the cage they had just fled from if it wasn’t the only option available to them. Shen Tu would have already escaped this place together with Yang Kai with Wu Suo.
“Grandmaster, you can rest assured. With me here, no one will dare to hurt you,” The middle-aged man turned to Wu Suo and comforted down.
“If any of you tried to make a move, I’ll immediately kill him!” Yang Kai’s Saint Qi and Divine Sense were already locked onto Wu Suo as he stared around indifferently.
“Little brat, you dare!” The middle-aged man’s face changed again, a faint hesitation appearing in his expression, clearly worried about harming the innocent while punishing evil.
On the contrary, Wu Suo, who was the one actually clutched by Yang Kai, waved his hands and hurriedly said, “Gui Che, put aside your grievances. I finally persuaded these two to bring me to the power room so there’s no time to waste. What’s most important now is for us to leave here as quickly as possible.”
Hearing him say this, Lu Gui Chen’s expression also became dignified, “The outside fields seemed to have undergone some kind of change. Grandmaster, what exactly is happening?”
“The energy fields are going to erupt, hurry up and steer the Starship away from here!” Wu Suo shouted before turning to Yang Kai, “Boy, if you want to live, take me to the control array.”
Yang Kai nodded and followed his instructions, bringing Wu Suo to a corner of the power room.
Shen Tu followed, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.
The Purple Star cultivators also began taking action under the command of Lu Gui Chen, starting up the Starship.
Over on Yang Kai’s side, he kept Wu Suo firmly under his control.
A Star Chart suddenly appeared in front of Yang Kai, a giant, beautiful, three-dimensional representation of the Star Field shrunk down countless times.
This massive Star Chart was stored inside the Starship actually came from the same source as the Star Charts stored inside Star Shuttles, but it was far more comprehensive.
Wu Suo immediately immersed his consciousness into this giant Star Chart.
He was the Starship’s Chart Master and was responsible for setting the Starship’s course. He could find the safest and fastest escape route for the Starship in the shortest amount of time.
Shortly after, on the giant Star Field map, a bright line was drawn by Wu Suo, the beginning of which was where the Starship currently was, and the endpoint where the Starship needed to go.
If no accidents occurred, the Starship would follow this route and sail out of the Chaotic Abyss.
After completing all this, Wu Suo let out a long breath and nodded to Lu Gui Chen.
Lu Gui Chen nodded back and quickly ordered the Starship to set sail.
“Three Saint King Realm masters, the pressure sure is big,” Shen Tu stood next to Yang Kai and silently observed Purple Star’s lineup.
Inside the power room, in addition to Lu Gui Chen, there were another two Saint King masters as well as many Saints.
He and Yang Kai were like lost sheep in the middle of a pack of wolves, surrounded on all sides. The slightest carelessness would spell their doom. It was only thanks to Wu Suo’s great status that the Purple Star cultivators didn’t dare act rashly.
“Do you have any ingenious plan for after this?” Shen Tu glanced over at Yang Kai.
“Nope, just taking things one step at a time and waiting until we leave the Chaotic Abyss to think about it,” Yang Kai shook his head.
Shen Tu sighed faintly, only feeling that his luck was the worst. He had only been flying close to the Chaotic Abyss when he was suddenly caught by the crew of this Starship and now he actually had to pass through this life or death crisis.
“How did these two people come in?” On the other side, Lu Gui Chen gloomily asked.
Liu Shan, who was standing next to him, grinned and said, “The weaker one was brought back by Bi Ya.”
“Bi Ya?” Lu Gui Chen’s gaze crossed the crowd and accurately landed on an enchanting woman, his eyes flashing in the next instant as a cold flash of Spiritual Energy rushed out of his forehead.
Amongst the crowd, Bi Ya screamed miserably and held her head, experiencing an unimaginably painful sensation, causing her clothes to instantly become soaked in sweat, exposing her exquisite curves for all to see.
Unfortunately, none of the Purple Star cultivators were able to appreciate this beautiful picture as they were all too anxious, none of them daring to even breathe heavily because they knew how terrifying Lu Gui Chen was when he was angry.
“I’ll spare your life for now, but once this crisis is averted, I’ll settle accounts with you!” Lu Gui Chen coldly snorted.
Bi Ya was filled with fear as her tender body shivered, quickly bowing her head, “Many thanks for Senior’s mercy, this subordinate will surely make reparations for this sin!”
Saying so, her beautiful eyes landed on Yang Kai, a burning hatred flashing across them!
She hadn’t expected that this seemingly insignificant young man would actually cause her so much trouble. If she had known this was going to happen, even if she had ten times the courage she wouldn’t have dared to bring Yang Kai back to Starship. She would have simply killed him back in the Chaotic Abyss.
She hated Yang Kai deeply and couldn’t wait to peel his skin and torture him brutally.
“Senior, the Saint Crystals don’t have enough energy,” Suddenly, one of the Purple Star cultivators reported.
Lu Gui Chen once again shot a cold glare towards Yang Kai and Shen Tu.
Shen Tu shrugged his shoulders indifferently, “That’s right, I shot that crystal cannon barrage, what are you staring at me for? If you have time to stare at me you might as well replace the Saint Crystals instead.”
The energy required to fire the crystal cannons was enormous, Ke Meng had used them twice before he perished and with Shen Tu firing them once more, it had nearly drained all the energy from the Saint Crystals inside the power room.
Now, if the Starship wanted to escape the Chaotic Abyss at full speed, the energy remaining in these Saint Crystals would obviously not be enough.
“It’s too late to replace them,” Lu Gui Chen took a deep breath and shouted, “All those above the Second Order Saint Realm are to provide power to the Starship.”
Many cultivators in the surrounding wore bitter and unwilling expression, but seeing the look in Lu Gui Chen’s eyes, they didn’t dare object, obediently sitting down in the place where Yang Kai and Shen Tu had formerly been imprisoned, grabbing the shackles and attaching them to themselves, allowing them to draw out their Saint Qi to supplement the energy of the Saint Crystals.
In an instant, sixty Saint Realm cultivators shivered, their hearts filling with remorse.
These cultivators continuously stuffed pills into their mouths while tightly gripping Saint Crystals in their hands to supplement their consumption.
Shen Tu grinned as he watched these Purple Star cultivators forced to bear the same pain and suffering they had subjected him to.
With sixty Saints now providing energy to it, the speed of the Starship increased dramatically.
However, in the next moment, a deafening humming sound rang out, and the Starship’s speed plummeted. Not only that, but some kind of massive, invisible force appeared and latched onto the Starship, making it impossible to move forward.
Under the influence of this invisible force, the Starship began to fly backwards at an increasing rate.
“It’s too late! It’s too late!” Wu Suo’s face went ashen as his body shook like a leaf in a storm, muttering unconsciously, “It’s all over.”
As soon as these words came out, the entire Starship seemed to lose control and began tumbling through the Starry Sky, knocking everyone off their feet and sending them smashing into the power room walls.
“Look outside!” Someone suddenly screamed.
Everyone turned their eyes to the window.
Yang Kai’s eyes shrank and a sense of terror he was unable to suppress spread from the depths of his heart.
Outside, the unimaginable energy lingering around the massive stars was erupting, sending out visible ripples of light that were rapidly spreading across the entire Chaotic Abyss. .
The energy fields centred on these massive stars were all bursting, creating a chaotic chain reaction of explosions.
At the very centre of Chaotic Abyss though, there was a massive black hole that seemed to be capable of swallowing everything around it.
The Saint King-class High-Rank Starship, with everyone still on board it, was actually being drawn towards this black hole which now seemed like the giant maw of a great ominous beast ready to swallow them whole.
In front of this horrifying display of force, whether it was the Transcendents, Saints, or even Saint Kings, all of them realized in this moment their own insignificance.
Before this black hole, no one could guarantee they could survive.
Lu Gui Chen shouted out and tried to direct the Purple Star cultivators to stabilize the Starship, but it was all to no avail.
“It turns out that this is the true danger of the Chaotic Abyss,” At the critical moment, Shen Tu suddenly said to Yang Kai, “No wonder no one knows about this. After witnessing it, is there any other option other than to wait for death?”
“Wait for death?” Yang Kai glanced over at him and coldly snorted, “I won’t sit here waiting to die.”
“Heh heh, you’re not the only one. Hey… Isn’t that Sword Union’s Starship?” Shen Tu pointed outside the window and shouted.
Yang Kai looked in the direction he pointed and was struck speechless.
Purple Star’s Starship was being sucked into the black hole, unable to resist, and it appeared that Sword Union’s Starship was not fairing any better. This Starship was flying erratically, seemingly completely out of control.
As the Sword Union Starship tumbled and rolled, the seemingly solid materials that made up its hull were being continuously being peeled off and sinking into the black hole.
Yang Kai estimated that the Starship he was on was experiencing a similar fate.
The two Starships had originally fled in different directions, but neither of them had succeeded in escaping and were now both being drawn back.
If things continued on the way they were, the two Starships would likely collide before they were swallowed up by the black hole.
Such a disaster would absolutely bring about total destruction.
“Brother, best of luck to you, I hope you can survive this calamity,” Shen Tu said with a dignified look before he immediately sat down cross-legged. In the next moment, lightning arcs surged around him, wrapping him up in a kind of cocoon.
He had clearly noticed that the situation was critical and was attempting to withstand the coming collision by putting up his strongest defensive stance.
Yang Kai didn’t bother with him and even cast aside Wu Suo who was supposed to be his safety charm.
At this moment, the Purple Star cultivators had no time to attend to anything else as they were all feeling the threat of death. In this chaotic scene, no one would care about him.
Yang Kai’s expression became dignified as he watched Sword Union Starship’s rapidly approach.
The distance between the two Starships was getting closer and closer, just as they were about to collide, Yang Kai fully pushed his Saint Qi.
Yang Kai summoned his Silver-Leaf Saint Grade High-Rank artifact and transformed it into a defensive light halo tightly wrapped around his body while simultaneously displaying his Nine Heavens Divine Skills to their fullest extent.
Grand Heavenly Shields appeared all around Yang Kai, covering him in layers of overlapping protection.
Inside the Purple Star Starship, Yang Kai didn’t even try to conserve his Saint Qi, condensing one Grand Heavenly Shield after another, forming at least one hundred of them.
Of the Yang Liquid stored in his dantian, he had instantly consumed more than twenty drops.
He had then used his Demon God Transformation, filling his body with a malevolent aura and summoning his invisible Demon Crests in order to further enhance his vitality and physical defence.
He had done everything he could, and could now only meet fate head-on.
A Heaven shaking crash filled Yang Kai’s ears in the next moment, nearly deafening him while he simultaneously felt the Saint King Grade High-Rank Starship instantly tear apart and shatter into tiny pieces.
Screams filled the air as many powerful life auras all of a sudden vanished. The moment the two Starships had collided, the Purple Star cultivators had clearly suffered serious casualties.
Yang Kai felt like he was stuck on a small boat in the middle of the sea while a great storm whirled around him, his life in constant danger.
The Grand Heavenly Shields which he had erected for his protection rapidly began to crack and shatter, and within just two short breaths, all one hundred of them had been destroyed.
Out of the corner of his eye, Yang Kai saw the Chart Master, Wu Suo, get ripped apart by the tidal forces and burst into a bloody fog, not even leaving behind any bones.
Yang Kai felt his own body being crushed and pulled apart all at once, as if the forces around him were trying to grind even his bones to dust.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
The fragments of the two Starships whipped about in all directions at frightening speed, each of them carrying with them shocking and deadly force. Yang Kai soon felt something strike his head after which he immediately lost consciousness.
Inside the Chaotic Abyss, the two Saint King-Grade High-Rank Starships which collided broke up into millions of pieces of debris which, along with all the surviving Sword Union and Purple Star cultivators, were swallowed up by the huge black hole, leaving no trace they ever existed behind.
After a long time, the Chaotic Abyss’ turbulent energy fields gradually stabilized and became regular again; the huge black hole that had opened up in the Starry Sky also slowly disappeared.
When everything was over, the Chaotic Abyss became so calm that no one would have been able to imagine that just a short while ago, two giant Starships and hundreds of cultivators had fought a desperate battle here.
……
When Yang Kai woke up and opened his eyes, he looked up and saw a strange seven coloured sky. It was a beautiful yet otherworldly sight.
He tried to turn his eyes down to see confirm his condition, but he quickly discovered that even such simple movements were beyond his current ability. His entire body was in a state of paralysis where he couldn’t feel anything of it at all.
Circulating his Saint Qi, Yang Kai slowly began to move his hands and feet, allowing his blood flow to pick up and relieve his paralysis.
Gradually, Yang Kai began to feel pain from all over his body, as if he had been hit by a series of mountains from all directions, causing him to grimace in pain.
Suddenly remembering everything he had experienced just before passing out, Yang Kai let out a deep sigh, feeling extremely thankful to even be alive right now.
It was only then that he realized that he wasn’t being supported by anything and was falling down at an extremely fast speed.
Pushing his aching body, he somehow managed to turn himself over and see what he was falling towards.
As he turned over, Yang Kai saw pieces of the two Starships as well as a number of cultivators falling along with him. Some of these bodies had vitality, some did not, and there was also no shortage of broken limbs and chunks of flesh spread around as well.
Down below him, Yang Kai saw a continent.
But this continent was very different from any he had seen before, it was actually just floating mid-air, without anything supporting or holding it in place.
The size of this continent wasn’t small. Seeing it from several kilometres up, Yang Kai estimated that it was as big as the entire Great Han Dynasty.
The continent was lush and verdant, beautiful and refreshing like a spring day.
[What is this?] Yang Kai frowned.
He knew almost nothing about the Star Field, and what little he did know he had learned while chatting with Shen Tu in the power room over the past few days.
However, what he did know was that this floating continent was definitely not a star in the Chaotic Abyss.
Because he had seen the local stars in the Chaotic Abyss and none of them looked anything remotely like the continent below him.
The Purple Star Starship was in the Chaotic Abyss, collided with the Sword Union Starship, shattered into pieces, and was then swallowed by a massive black hole, so how did Yang Kai suddenly arrive at this floating continent?
Thinking about it, Yang Kai guessed that the massive black hole may have been something similar to a Void Corridor entrance and had transported him here.
However, this place didn’t look anything like a Mysterious Small World and much more closely resembled the Chaotic Abyss.
All around the huge floating continent, in every direction, was a seven coloured sky, and the air here was filled with incomparably rich World Energy that caused one to unconsciously feel relaxed and happy.
It was as if the rich World Energy that circulated through the Chaotic Abyss all gathered here.
Yang Kai pondered over these issues while simply letting himself continue to fall down, but a moment later, he quickly realized that his situation wasn’t good.
If he survived that disaster, some of the Purple Star masters must have as well.
During his brief moment of contemplation, others had also begun waking up around him, and sweeping his surroundings, Yang Kai quickly spotted Bi Ya.
Yang Kai swiftly hid behind a big piece of Starship debris and began looking for Shen Tu.
To his regret though, Yang Kai didn’t find any trace of Shen Tu, and couldn’t even be sure if he had survived the previous disaster or not.
In the sky, many people began flying about, waking up their comrades while rescuing those who were still alive but badly injured.
These people also spotted some of their enemies who were still passed out and subsequently let them sleep forever.
In some places, small-scale battles had broken out.
With the cultivators from Purple Star and Sword Union all in the same place. Naturally, they wouldn’t just let each other off.
Yang Kai took the opportunity to sneak away and try to find somewhere in this strange place to hide.
How could he have expected that just as he began moving, an angry and sullen shout would reach his ear, “Little bastard where are you trying to run!”
Afters Bi Ya opened her eyes, the first person she searched for was none other than Yang Kai.
Because of Yang Kai, she had been punished by Lu Gui Chen and suffered a Divine Sense attack that nearly left a permanent injury on her Soul. Naturally, she hated Yang Kai to death.
When Yang Kai moved, she had noticed him.
As she shouted, she summoned a Dragon Bone Whip into her luscious jade hand. This Dragon Bone Whip was clearly a high-grade artifact and immediately soared through the air like a great Azure Dragon, slamming towards Yang Kai’s head.
Yang Kai was uninterested in dealing with her and simply sent out a casual palm strike towards her Dragon Bone Whip, using the resulting impact to further accelerate himself and fly away
“Hmph!” A cold snort suddenly resounded next to him, causing Yang Kai to pale. Quickly glancing to his side, Yang Kai met eyes with the Saint King Realm master named Lu Gui Chen who had at some point appeared beside him.
He stared at Yang Kai indifferently, as if he was observing an ant, and then reached out his hand, calmly and easily grasping towards him.
His movements weren’t fast by any means, but Yang Kai found that in front of him, he was actually unable to muster any kind of resistance, as if the other side only needed a single thought to destroy him.
Yang Kai became panic-stricken.
The next moment, Lu Gui Chen seized Yang Kai’s neck and coldly asked, “Grandmaster Wu Suo?”
Before the Starship accident, the closest one to Grandmaster Wu Suo was Yang Kai. It was because of this that Lu Gui Chen had sought out Yang Kai personally; otherwise, how could someone of his status and strength possibly lower himself to perform such a menial task?
“Dead!”
Despite having already suspected as much, Lu Gui Chen’s expression still became gloomy upon hearing Yang Kai’s answer.
Now that their Purple Star cultivators had arrived in this strange place, the only hope they had of escape was their Chart Master, because only Chart Masters had detailed knowledge about the Star Field, making Wu Suo the most likely candidate to find a way to leave wherever they were now.
Having learned what he wanted to know, he instantly lost all interest in Yang Kai and casually tossed him over to Bi Ya.
“If there are any problems again, deal with it yourself!” Lu Gui Chen coldly snorted.
“Senior can rest assured, I will definitely drain every last drop of his vitality and let him die without a burial!” Bi Ya gnashed her teeth, her beautiful face twisting with madness like a venomous snake.
Saying so, her beautiful eyes filled with hostility as they glared towards Yang Kai, as if she couldn’t wait to start tormenting him.
Yang Kai face filled with bitterness but he didn’t say a word.
Yang Kai didn’t know what kind of method Lu Gui Chen has used on him, but right now he couldn’t use any of his Saint Qi. Without his cultivation, no matter how sturdy his physique was, he definitely wasn’t Bi Ya’s opponent.
It wasn’t until now that Yang Kai clearly comprehended the huge gap between the Saint King Realm and the Saint Realm. On top of that, he figured that Lu Gui Chen shouldn’t be an ordinary Saint King Realm expert, clearly, he had very high attainments in this realm otherwise it would have been impossible for Lu Gui Chen to so easily suppress him.
Bi Ya grabbed Yang Kai and no longer paid any attention to the anything else around her, simply flying down towards the floating continent below.
Taking a deep breath, she inhaled the air of this continent and felt a sense of joy and relief from just having survived that terrifying disaster. Her full peaks heaved in an exaggerated matter. Her dress was also unconventional one with a wide opening in front, revealing a large amount of her jade white skin as well as her deep and inviting valley.
“How about we discuss this?” Yang Kai suddenly spoke.
“Little brat, don’t waste your breath”, Bi Ya smiled coldly, “No matter what, today you won’t escape, I’ll definitely eat you up.”
Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders and gestured to the front, “Sword Union also has a number of survivors who will soon arrive here, if you encounter them a fight is inevitable, I’ll help you kill them and in exchange, you don’t take advantage of me, how about it?”
“When did I ever take advantage of you?” Bi Ya seemed to become angry out of shame before she swept her eyes up and down him, sneering disdainfully, “Besides, who can a little First-Order Saint like you kill? You really overestimate yourself.”
“I was able to kill Ke Meng,” Yang Kai said lightly.
Bi Ya’s jaw dropped slightly as she stared at him with some shock, “Wasn’t Ke Meng just being too careless?”
She had obviously thought that Ke Meng was killed by Yang Kai because he was caught off guard, not because Yang Kai possessed greater strength.
“No matter what you say, I won’t believe you anyway. This Great Aunt has never been deceived by a man before, you are the first!” Bi Ya snorted, “So when the situation here stabilizes, Elder Sister will take good care of you, I’ll certainly not disappoint!”
Watching her clenching her teeth, Yang Kai noted that Bi Ya seemed to be the extremely vengeful type, much to his misfortune.
Yang Kai shook his head and stopped talking to her, instead focusing on examining his own condition.
After some investigation, Yang Kai was surprised to find that he had not received any serious injuries.
Because he had fused with the Unyielding Golden Skeleton of Great Demon God, his bones were abnormally sturdy. His skeleton hadn’t received any damage just now, but his five viscera and six organs had received some shocks and he had many bruises and scars from various impacts.
These were all minor injuries and with Yang Kai’s current regenerative and restorative abilities, even without taking any healing medicines, he would recover within half a day.
The real trouble was the seal Lu Gui Chen had placed on him. All the Saint Qi within his meridians had been locked in place and couldn’t be used. On the other hand, his Spiritual Energy had not been affected, probably because Lu Gui Chen had felt that Yang Kai’s strength was too low to warrant such serious treatment.
This gave Yang Kai a glimmer of hope.
With his Spiritual Energy accessible, he could still find a way out of this mess.
He wasn’t afraid of Bi Ya, it was only Saint King Realm masters like Lu Gui Chen he had to worry about.
When he had seen it from above, Yang Kai knew that the area of this continent wasn’t too big, and if he wasn’t able to somehow disappear without a trace, it wouldn’t be long before he would be tracked down.
Yang Kai hesitated as he weighed his options.
For the time being, he immersed his consciousness into his Knowledge Sea.
As soon as he entered his Knowledge Sea though, Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar frowned.
Because he found that inside his Knowledge Sea there were around fifty new Spiritual Energy masses, each of which contained varying amounts of energy.
Yang Kai was startled.
But he soon realized that these Spiritual Energy masses were the remnant Souls from the cultivators who had died during the previous disaster.
The Demon Eye of Annihilation not only wipe out other people’s Souls, but could also draw in the remnant Souls left behind when others died nearby Yang Kai. These remnant Souls must have been pulled into his Knowledge Sea by Demon Eye of Annihilation while he was unconscious.
This was a truly unexpected harvest.
Lacking time right now, Yang Kai didn’t perform a thorough inspection of these remnant Souls suspended above his Knowledge Sea and only gave them a rough check.
Most of these Spiritual Energy masses belonged to Saint Realm cultivators, but among them, Yang Kai actually found one that had belonged to a Saint King.
Yang Kai paled slightly.
Even some masters in the Saint King Realm had failed to survive that disaster, fully illustrating how terrifying the collision between the two Starships was, as well as how deadly that black hole had been.
Everyone who was still alive now should rejoice that their luck was not as bad as this Saint King Realm master.
In order to avoid arousing Bi Ya’s suspicions, after performing a cursory examination, Yang Kai took back his consciousness from his Knowledge Sea. Those groups of Spiritual Energy could wait until later when he found a safe opportunity to absorb.
The insights into the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao of a Saint King Realm cultivator was something Yang Kai was looking forward to very much, wondering just what kind of improvements they would bring to him.
When he opened his eyes again, just as he had expected, Yang Kai found that battles had broken out all around him.
The Purple Star and Star Union cultivators fought one another in groups of three or four, the previous disaster not even giving them pause, instead only fueling the anger that pushed them to slaughter the enemy they saw as responsible for their ill fate!
Lu Gui Chen was locked in combat with a beautiful mature woman who possessed a noble and graceful aura; however, despite her temperate appearance, her strength was extraordinary, not inferior to Lu Gui Chen’s at all. The short sword in her hand gave off an incomparably sharp aura and every time she swung it, swift rays of light would rush towards Lu Gui Chen, flying in a myriad of formations and patterns. Clearly, her level of swordsmanship was not low.
Lu Gui Chen didn’t dare have the slightest negligence while fighting this beautiful woman, wearing golden armour of light on his body and grasping a short spear in his hands. The short spear exuded a potent energy fluctuation as it gave off golden rays, meeting the incoming sword waves blow for blow.
The two masters fought high up in the sky, the fallout from their battle covering a wide area that all the Purple Star and Sword Union cultivators stayed well clear of for fear of being affected.
Yang Kai’s eyes swept across the battlefield, trying to find some kind of opportunity, a moment later opening his mouth to say to Bi Ya, “The fight has already started, don’t you need to help?”
Bi Ya shot him a look over at him and giggled, “Do you want to find a chance to escape?”
“My cultivation has been sealed, how am I supposed to escape? You can rest assured, if you go out to fight, I’ll wait here patiently for you. I’m also quite interested in what a woman like you tastes like.”
“Is that so?” Bi Ya’s face suddenly glowed somewhat radiantly, becoming more beautiful as her red lips twittered and her twin peaks trembled lightly, putting on full display their amazing elasticity.
However, she put away her smiling face as quickly as she had worn it and glared at Yang Kai coldly, “Don’t even dream about it, I’ll never give you the slightest chance, I’d rather sit here watching than let you escape.”
“Why?” Yang Kai shook his head slowly, feeling frustrated.
Bi Ya had made up her mind to not relax her surveillance of him, leaving truly helpless.
Just then, two white streaks suddenly flew past, seemingly chasing a Purple Star cultivator together, but when they passed by Yang Kai and Bi Ya, they let out a startled cry.
Immediately, the two figures came to a halt and stared blankly at Yang Kai.
The older woman showed a surprised look, “How is it you?”
“It’s you two?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
These two women were the first people he had met after coming to the Star Field, He Zao and He Miao of Sword Union.
Seeing them, Yang Kai’s mouth curled up slightly, suddenly thinking that the situation wasn’t as bad as he had imagined.
“Since you’re here… that must mean that Sword Union’s forces found you, yes?” Yang Kai seemed to ask casually.
“En,” He Miao nodded heavily, smiling happily, “Soon after we separated from you, master arrived with the others and found us, but the Purple Star people were simply too hateful. They refused to give up and chased us all the way here, finally causing all of us to fall into misfortune, yet even now, they still want to keep fighting.”
“Why are you here?” He Zao was clearly much more mature and had quickly noticed that something was wrong.
Yang Kai was standing beside a Purple Star cultivator, and although he didn’t seem to have been exposed to any ill-treatment, his strength was clearly sealed.
He had obviously been captured by the other side.
On top of that, while they were speaking, this Purple Star woman was quietly circulating her strength, preparing herself to act at a moment’s notice.
“It’s a long story…” Yang Kai coughed awkwardly.
“You couldn’t be this loose woman’s… boy toy?” He Miao covered her small mouth as she showed a look of incredible shock on her cute face along with no small amount of disdain and loathing.
Yang Kai was stunned, not having expected even He Miao to recognize Bi Ya; it seems when Shen Tu had said that Bi Ya was a famous celebrity, he had not been exaggerating.
“Little girl, it seems you weren’t educated properly!” Bi Ya eyes flashed coldly, obviously angry that He Miao had called her a loose woman, “Didn’t your parents ever teach you to treat others with politeness and courtesy?”
“Hmph, who doesn’t know you in this Star Field? Aren’t you embarrassed to even speak about proper education? Do you have anything of that sort?” He Miao shot back, waving the glowing long sword in her hand as she shouted tenderly, “Elder Sister, there’s no need to speak any nonsense with her, let’s go!”
He Zao said nothing and simply gently nodded, sending Yang Kai a stealthy wink before she and her younger sister shot gathered their strength and rushed over.
Before the two sisters had even arrived, a bone-chilling Sword Qi like the frigid north wind descended upon the area, causing the surrounding earth to crack and sword marks to appear.
Bi Ya snorted, wielding her Dragon Bone Whip once more, causing the Azure Dragon phantom to reappear and soar towards the pair of sisters, blades of wind flying out from its body, seemingly trying to slice through He Zao and He Miao’s necks.
Instantly, the three figures became entangled.
Taking this opportunity, Yang Kai scurried away.
Bi Ya was only a Third-Order Saint, the same as He Zao, and although He Miao was slightly worse off, only a Second-Order Saint, with the two sisters working together, Bi Ya would obviously not be their opponent.
Therefore, Yang Kai wasn’t worried about He Zao and He Miao’s safety. Right now, the most important thing for Yang Kai to do was to withdraw.
His speed was extremely fast; although his Saint Qi was sealed, Yang Kai’s physique was incredibly strong, so it only took him a few short breaths to escape from the chaotic battlefield and find a well-hidden location. Once he was safe, he sat down cross-legged. While maintaining his vigilance of the surrounding, Yang Kai tried his best to circulate the Saint Qi in his body to break the seal Lu Gui Chen had planted on him.
The battle between Purple Star and Sword Union continued, both sides seemingly baring bitter hatred towards each other, neither of them willing to show weakness.
Cultivators from both sides continued to fall, littering the ground with fresh corpses.
Yang Kai sat and watched, and fortunately. During this time, no one came to find trouble with him.
Suddenly, when his gaze wandered over to a particular location, a strange look appeared on his face.
Over there was an old man in a blue robe with messy grey hair seemingly searching for something.
This old man was indifferent to everything around him, his complete attention focused on the various pieces of Starship debris around him. From time to time, he would pick up a piece of the broken Starship from the ground, knock it with his hand and nod lightly, his ring flashing in the next instant and the piece of debris disappearing inside.
A short time later, he had collected several dozen pieces of Starship; these fragments varied in size but were all manufactured from good quality materials.
What could be preserved in that disaster and at least the materials of the Saint King High-Rank are tempered.
While he was picking up the Starship pieces, he would sometimes mutter to himself and let out a laugh, seemingly very satisfied.
Such a strange person casually shuttling through the chaotic battlefield naturally drew many people’s attention.
But what surprised Yang Kai the most was that neither the Purple Star or Sword Union cultivators were able to approach this old man.
No matter who it was, before they could get close to him, they would be guided away by some kind of invisible force. Noticing this, the cultivators who went to find trouble with him quickly realized that this old man wasn’t someone they could easily provoke, causing them to hastily withdraw and not dare to approach him again.
And so, the old man was able to leisurely stroll about and collect the various Starship fragments.
Eventually, the strange old man finally caught the attention of the two forces’ real masters.
Lu Gui Chen and the mature beauty from Sword Union who were fighting high up in the sky simultaneously retreated, opening up some distance between them as they continued to stare at one another; however, they were also paying close attention to the old man down below.
The strange old man gave Lu Gui Chen and the beautiful woman from Sword Union an unusual feeling which caused them to become very concerned, so both of them had ceased their battle and were now silently paying attention to him instead.
“Yue Xi, you and I are old acquaintances, we both know neither of us is capable of easily defeating the other. Why not end our little battle here for today? I think that whether it is your or my people, they are in need of some rest to recover,” Lu Gui Chen waved his hand and addressed the mature beauty from Sword Union.
The beautiful woman named Yue Xi thought about it for a moment before gently nodding, “Good!”
“I knew you’d be reasonable,” Lu Gui Chen laughed, putting away his golden light armour and storing his short spear, knitting his brow in the next moment, “Yue Xi, I have a certain issue I need to discuss with you.”
“If you need to put out a fart just get it over with,” Yue Xi’s pretty face wore a look of impatience as she crudely spat.
Lu Gui Chen curled his lips, not minding her attitude, and stuck out a finger, saying, “Is this old man from your Sword Union? How come I’ve never seen him before?”
When he asked this, Yue Xi’s expression suddenly became weird and she asked back, “Isn’t he one of your people?”
Lu Gui Chen brow furrowed and he slowly shook his head.
The two people stared at one another for a moment before their eyes brightened, simultaneously saying, “He’s a native of this place?”
As soon as their voices fell, both of their figures transformed into streaks of light as they shot towards the old man who was still carefreely sifting through the Starship debris.
Where this place was and what kind of dangers existed here, neither Lu Gui Chen nor Yue Xi knew.
However, all of a sudden, right before their eyes, a native of this world had appeared!
Both of them naturally thought that whoever was able to grab this old man first would be able to monopolize the information he had, giving them an advantage over the other side. In this unknown place, information was the key to survival. This much was obvious to everyone.
So, without even saying a word, the two of them had taken action.
Two auras belonging to Saint King Realm masters spread out and competed with one another, sending out much stronger shockwaves than when they had been fighting just now, both of them obviously going all out.
Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi had indeed known each other for many years and were aware that their strengths were roughly equal, so when they rushed over to seize this old man, neither of them was willing to compromise in the slightest.
The old man had just picked up a piece of Starship debris and hadn’t had time to put it into his Space Ring when the two of them both reaching out and grabbing one of his arms, their auras pressing down on him, causing him to stiffen up, like he was too scared to even move.
However, in the next instant, his expression became strange and a look of interest flashed across his face. Even facing the suppression and fallout from the battle between these two Saint King Realm masters, he calmly and leisurely placed the Starship piece he had just picked up into his Space Ring.
This strange action immediately caused Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi to stare, both of them realizing that their situation was not good.
Being able to act so carefreely and completely ignore their confrontation either meant that this old man was a madman, or a master powerful enough to not put them in his eyes.
The latter possibility was much greater.
So Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi both immediately let go and tried to withdraw from this strange old man.
However, just as they attempted to escape, a powerful force emerged from the old man’s body, solidifying the area around him, trapping Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi in place.
The next moment, the two masters felt the Saint Qi in their bodies rapidly being drained away and pouring into the old man.
The two were horrified and Yue Xi even let out a panic-stricken scream.
As their strength passed, the old man’s face became more and more rosy, seemingly receiving great nourishment, even his white hair gradually became darker and glossier.
The old man flashed the two people a faint grin.
Suddenly, a terrifying aura burst from the old man’s body, and as it rapidly spread out, everyone couldn’t help stopping whatever it was they were doing and trembling in fear.
Near everyone’s ear, a burst of cries and howls resounded as a frigid wind wrapped around their bodies. From simply revealing his aura, this old man had let everyone present feel like they had been plunged into the deepest depths of purgatory and were experiencing a kind of spiritual torture that made them wonder if death wouldn’t be preferable.
“You two little things seem to look down on others a bit too much. En, this old master hasn’t bumped into such a lively and entertaining scene for many years, so this time I’ll spare your lives, but if you dare make such a mistake again, I’ll extinguish your souls!” Saying so, the old man sneered and shook his body lightly, sending out an incomparably powerful burst of power.
Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi both screamed and flew backwards like broken paper baskets. Both of them spat blood as they tumbled through the air, their complexion paling as their auras became feeble.
Simply being thrown off by this old man had nearly caused them to die on the spot.
When they finally managed to stand firm, both of them stared at the old man with utter horror.
Yang Kai’s eyes also nearly popped out of their sockets, hardly able to believe what he had just witnessed.
He had personally experienced how strong Lu Gui Chen was. When Yang Kai had faced him, he didn’t even have the ability to resist.
Lu Gui Chen was at least a Second-Order Saint King, possibly even a Third Order Saint King powerhouse.
Yet such a master, in front of this strange old man, was no better than a three-year-old child.
[What kind of cultivation does this old man possess?] Yang Kai couldn’t even imagine it.
“En, right, it’s rare that so many visitors come here. Let your people settle down. The more that dies, the more deserted this place becomes,” The old man thought for a moment before suddenly saying.
Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi both gawked at him for an instant before nodding quickly, “We will obey Senior’s instructions!”
After witnessing the astonishing strength of this old man, they didn’t dare disobey him again, because they knew that if this old man wanted to, he could easily kill everyone here in a flash.
His strength was not something they were capable of resisting.
“En, those who already died can’t be wasted, best to collect them,” The old man seemed to mutter to himself before waving his hand and summoning out a jet black flag which gave off a cold, gloomy aura. On this flag, there seemed to be countless faintly visible hum and beast figures. Each of these figures was clearly a Soul-Spirit Body, each one of which was extremely powerful.
They were all bound and shackled inside this flag and had seemingly lost their own consciousnesses, turning into bloodthirsty and vengeful spectres.
The big flag fluttered in the wind, sending out piercing cries and howls that rang throughout the world.
The semi-transparent Soul Avatars of the recently fallen cultivators suddenly appeared and were seemingly caught up in some kind of suction force which dragged them towards the flag.
A breath later, the dark flag drew in the Soul Avatars of some thirty or forty cultivators.
Just as if a stone had been thrown into the calm lake, the surface of the dark flag rippled, and the resentful spectres which were sealed within it suddenly began madly competing for these new Soul Avatars.
The sound of crunching and chewing lingered in the air, grating at the minds of those still living.
In the blink of an eye, the dozens of Soul Avatars belonging to the Purple Star and Sword Union cultivators were devoured and disappeared, as if they had never even existed.
The gloomy aura of the jet black flag became even heavier as a result.
“If anyone dares stir up trouble, I’ll collect all of you like this!” The old man wore a sinister grin as he swept his eyes over the crowd before putting away his dark flag.
Everyone went completely pale and none dared to respond.
After seeing the scene just now, who among them would have the courage to make trouble? Having their Soul devoured by evil spirits after they fell, this was more terrifying than simply dying.
Everyone immediately became well-behaved and restrained their strength.
“Find a place to settle down by yourselves then familiarize yourself with the environment. En, I’ll tell you now, there are no dangers here, but there are plenty of precious resources and World Energy. It’s a perfect place to cultivate. The fifty-kilometre radius around that mountain over there is off-limits, that’s where this old master lives. Anyone who dares to approach it… you should know the consequences!” The old man pointed to a mountain not far away and spoke at length, as if he hadn’t spoken for many years and couldn’t stop himself once he got started. After he finished, he drifted away and, before anyone even realized it, he had disappeared without a trace.
For a long time after he left, no one dared to move, all of them standing in place, the hearts in their chests pounding loudly as many of them gulped unceasingly.
Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi glanced at each other across a long distance and for a while were speechless.
Soon after though, the two of them sat down and took out some healing pills and Saint Crystals to begin restoring themselves.
After an hour, the two of them stood up one after the other.
It was only after they saw their respective leaders stand up that the surviving cultivators from Purple Star and Sword Union dared to breathe out and gather around them.
“Yang Kai, Yang Kai…” Hearing his name called out from afar, Yang Kai stuck his head up and saw a slightly pale He Miao beckoning to him.
Yang Kai stood up and walked towards them.
A dozen meters or so away, Bi Ya ground her teeth and stared at him with obvious hatred, but she didn’t dare try to block his way.
The old man had said that whoever dared to cause trouble would have their Soul Avatar fed to his dark flag, Bi Ya didn’t dare annoy do anything that might annoy him.
“Many thanks,” Yang Kai arrived at He Zao and He Miao’s side and sincerely thanked them.
If, a moment ago, they hadn’t diverted Bi Ya’s attention, he wouldn’t have had a chance to escape and hide until the strange old man had shown up and displayed his invincible might.
“No need for that,” He Zao shook her head, “It’s what we owe you.”
“Who is the old fogey? He nearly scared me to death,” He Miao patted her milk-white bosom and muttered, her face still covered in fear.
“Master should have some idea,” He Zao said thoughtfully as she glanced over at the beautiful woman name Yue Xi, “In any case, since he has spoken, those people from Purple Star won’t dare act unreasonably again so, for the time being, we’re safe. Yang Kai, was your strength sealed?”
“En, it was something that Lu Gui Chen did,” Yang Kai nodded.
“Come with me, I’ll take you to see Master and ask her to help unlock that seal.”
“I’ll have to ask that of you two,” Yang Kai’s expression brightened.
“No need to be so polite,” He Miao smiled, finally seeming to restore her spirits a bit, “Before, if you hadn’t given me and Elder Sister those restorative items, we wouldn’t have been able to insist until Master saved us, we owe you our lives.”
“A minor matter,” Yang Kai faintly nodded, neither warmly nor coldly, displaying an attitude of a passerby who had simply done a bit of charity.
He followed He Zao and He Miao over to where the people from Sword Union had gathered and soon arrived in front of the mature beauty named Yue Xi.
Yue Xi of Sword Union was a middle-aged beauty with an abundant set of peaks, graceful waist, and shapely, slender legs. The white dress she wore complimented her looks perfectly and was adorned with the unique sword-shaped symbol of Sword Union atop her right chest. From top to bottom, her tender exuded a mature and dignified temperament.
The two sisters, He Zao and He Miao, led Yang Kai over to her and greeted her respectfully.
Yue Xi’s face still looked pale, and her white robes were stained red in many places. Hearing the two sisters call out to her, she simply nodded lightly before turning a suspicious look towards Yang Kai and asking with some slight vigilance, “What did you lead this Purple Star person over for?”
She had never met Yang Kai, so naturally, she assumed that Yang Kai was a cultivator from Purple Star’s side.
“Master, he’s not a disciple of Purple Star,” He Miao stepped up and held Yue Xi’s arm before pointing back at Yang Kai with a smile, “He was the one who gave Elder Sister and me those Crystal Stones and Pills inside the Chaotic Abyss. He’s called Yang Kai.”
“Him?” Yue Xi’s delicate brow rose slightly, seemingly somewhat surprised.
When she found He Zao and He Miao inside the Chaotic Abyss, she had heard the two sisters mention the bitter experience they had been through and she knew that if Yang Kai had not provided them with some restorative resources, the two sisters would have been too weak to carry on.
However, she still had some doubts about Yang Kai’s origins.
How could a little First-Order Saint run out to the Chaotic Abyss for no reason at all? Did he really have such boldness and skill?
Thinking so in her heart, Yue Xi didn’t show anything on her face, instead just saying lightly, “Young man, thank you for the care you showed my two disciples.”
“Senior is too polite,” Yang Kai nodded faintly, “It was just a little effort.”
“En. Before, you gave He Zao and He Miao some help in their time of need, so I’ll send you a thousand pieces of Saint Crystal as a thank you,” Yue Xi said so before motioning to a nearby Sword Union cultivator. When this cultivator came over and looked over Yang Kai, he couldn’t help asking, “Friend, where is your Space Ring?”
Yang Kai was stunned for a moment before he shook his head, “I don’t have such a thing.”
The cultivator turned to Yue Xi somewhat awkwardly. If Yang Kai didn’t have a Space Ring, he couldn’t hand over a thousand pieces of Saint Crystal.
Yue Xi frowned and said, “Give him your Space Ring, it’s nothing expensive in any case.”
“Yes,” The cultivator nodded reluctantly before he began taking out all of his belongings from his Space Ring and handing them over to one of his companions. After a while, he took the Space Ring off his hand and passed it to Yang Kai, “There are exactly one thousand pieces of Saint Crystal left inside, you can count it yourself.”
“I didn’t come here to ask for a reward,” Yang Kai said with a strange look.
He somehow sensed that this Yue Xi was eager to send him away, as if she was afraid of him sticking around.
He didn’t know why this was.
“What do you want?” Yue Xi frowned, her face showing a slightly disgruntled look.
The cultivator that handed over the Space Ring also grinned and encouraged, “Friend, a thousand pieces of Saint Crystal isn’t a small amount, I’m also delivering you a storage artifact, shouldn’t you be content?”
“I said I didn’t come here seeking payment,” Yang Kai also frowned, suddenly realizing that the other party seemed to think he was up to some kind of scheme and was using this favour as an excuse to get close.
This made him very upset.
“Master, it’s like this,” He Zao walked up and said, “Lu Gui Chen placed a seal on him so he currently can’t use his strength. We brought him here to ask for your help removing this seal.”
“You’re not able to use your strength?” Yue Xi looked at Yang Kai with surprise, using her Divine Sense in the next instant to confirm what He Zao had said and nodding, “I’ll have a look.”
Saying so, she stretched out her hand towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai didn’t move. Although the other person had some misunderstandings about him that made him a little unhappy, right now, lifting the seal on his strength was more important.
For this reason, he was willing to cooperate.
Yue Xi’s finger pointed towards Yang Kai’s forehead and a stream of energy flowed from its tip into him.
He didn’t know what, but Yang Kai suddenly felt a comfortable sensation. Everywhere this stream of energy passed became relaxed and his spirit also couldn’t help becoming calm.
The next moment, Yang Kai’s expression changed greatly, as if he had been struck by lightning, his body trembling as he hurriedly retreated several steps to avoid Yue Xi’s finger while directing a gloomy look towards her.
This woman… while sending her strength into him a moment ago was secretly trying to use her Divine Sense to break into his Knowledge Sea.
If he hadn’t responded quickly enough, his Knowledge Sea’s defences would have been breached and Yang Kai estimated that all the secrets in his Knowledge Sea would have been exposed to her.
Inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, there was the Six Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, as well as his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea and the Demon Eye of Annihilation which had been integrated into his being. Normally, he could perfectly conceal all of these things, but once someone peeked into his Knowledge Sea, he wouldn’t be able to hide them.
Regardless of what Yue Xi’s true purpose was, her actions had already violated Yang Kai’s bottom line.
So he immediately avoided her.
Yue Xi’s pretty face flashed with surprise, seemingly not having anticipated Yang Kai’s senses to be so sharp, even able to detect her silent probing.
“Yang Kai, what happened?” He Miao saw Yang Kai’s expression and hastily inquired.
“It’s nothing, Senior’s cultivation is too high, so when her strength entered my body I couldn’t quite bear it,” Yang Kai explained casually. He didn’t tell the truth because doing so didn’t have any advantage for him.
Yue Xi was startled but quickly said with a smile, “I was careless just now, causing you some discomfort.”
“Master, can the seal in his body be unlocked?” He Zao asked with some concern.
Yue Xi shook her head and bitterly said, “If it was before, I could easily remove it, but I was injured just now by that old man, so there’s nothing I can do about the seal in his body for the time being.”
He Zao and He Miao suddenly showed disappointed looks, turning apologetic looks in the next moment towards Yang Kai.
“It’s fine if you can’t remove it,” Yang Kai said without any disappointment, reaching out and accepting the Space Ring from the nearby cultivator’s hand before cupping his fists to Yue Xi, “In any case, many thanks for Senior’s good intention and generous gift.”
Finished what he had to say, he turned around and left.
“Yang Kai, don’t be so anxious to leave. When Master recovers in a few days she will be able to help you,” He Miao shouted innocently, but didn’t get any response, causing her to frown slightly and mutter, “Why does he seem a little angry?”
“This boy is very suspicious,” The cultivator beside Yue Xi stared at Yang Kai’s receding back and said, “According to what two Junior Sisters said, he should have been wandering around the Chaotic Abyss, so how did he end up together with Purple Star? Him appearing here clearly means he was aboard Purple Star’s Starship. On top of that, he’s just a small First-Order Saint Realm cultivator, so why would Lu Gui Chen bother sealing his strength?”
“What are you trying to say?” He Zao glanced over at this man.
The cultivator smiled and said, “Isn’t it possible two Junior Sisters were deceived by him? Maybe he was originally a Purple Star cultivator and just pretended to meet you in the Chaotic Abyss to gather information about your whereabouts. I remember you two saying you actually ran into him twice, right?”
“What about it?” He Zao frowned deeply.
“Nothing much. Junior Sister shouldn’t be angry, I just wanted to wake you up to such a possibility. You have been cultivating beside Master most of your life and haven’t seen much of the outside world. The outside world is a much messier place than you imagine,” The man explained with a smile, seemingly just casually making a point.
“Elder Sister, could he really be a Purple Star person?” Hearing her Senior Brother talk like this, He Miao also became a bit suspicious.
“It doesn’t seem likely,” He Zao slowly shook her head. The two sisters had met Yang Kai twice before yet both times he hadn’t asked them about anything of importance and the second time he had even sent them a number of Crystal Stones and pills for free.
If he really was a Purple Star cultivator, there would have been no need for him to do any of this, all he would have needed to do was send word to Lu Gui Chen and the two sisters would definitely not have been able to hide until their Master had arrived.
It was for these reasons she didn’t believe her Senior Brother’s speculations.
“There’s nothing to lose by acting cautiously,” Yue Xi said.
“Master…” He Zao tuned a strange look to Yue Xi and wanted to say something but hesitated to speak.
“What do you want to say?”
“No, it’s nothing, Master should rest first,” He Zao swallowed down her words.
She originally wanted to ask her master if she really couldn’t lift the seal on Yang Kai’s body, but she just couldn’t bring herself to.
Looking at Yang Kai’s lonely figure, He Zao’s heart felt bitter.
Strictly speaking, Yang Kai had saved both her and her sister’s life, that wasn’t a favour a single Space Ring and a thousand pieces of Saint Crystal could offset.
Letting out a slight sigh, He Zao gave her sister and wink and the two of them quietly left.
After the two sisters had walked away, Yue Xi, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, suddenly opened her eyes and said to the cultivator beside her, “Wei Wu, pay attention to that youth’s movements. Don’t let He Zao or He Miao get too close to him, try to avoid having them make contact if possible.”
Wei Wu eyes lit up and he quickly cupped his fists.
Yue Xi’s beautiful eyes flashed as she whispered under her breath, “What was all of that about?”
The moment her Divine Sense stabbed into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, she had suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of fear, but because Yang Kai had shut off his Knowledge Sea so quickly, Yue Xi was unable to obtain any significant information about him.
She didn’t know what kind of secrets were hidden inside his Knowledge Sea.
However, his origins were even more worrisome now, so Yue Xi had to act cautiously, lest he deceives her two young disciples.
She understood her disciples’ character best. They were kind, open-hearted, and upright.
That youth had saved their lives, so they were definitely thinking about how to repay him, if she didn’t handle this matter well, it would definitely lead to problems.
Once Yang Kai had moved far away from the Sword Union group, he found a quiet place to sit down.
He felt that he should try to avoid approaching Yue Xi. This beautiful woman was far too overbearing.
With the Purple Star cultivators not daring stir up trouble, Yang Kai estimated that in the short run, he would be safe.
When his mind and body relaxed, he finally felt the true richness of this floating continent’s World Energy aura. Even though he wasn’t able to circulate his Saint Qi or Secret Art, the surrounding World Energy still flowed towards his body and penetrated into his skin, integrating itself into his physique and giving him a refreshing feeling.