Yang Kai’s terrifying strength had all but traumatised the Hai Ke Family’s cultivators. Alone, this young man had killed one of the Xu Family’s Elders. Their Hai Ke Family’s strongest master was only about equal in strength to Xu Zhi Shen, so if this young man wanted to deal with their Hai Ke Family, could they resist?
The only solution was to strangle this danger in the cradle, but to everyone’s surprise, Ba Qing Yan just smiled bitterly and slowly shook his head.
“Elder…” The middle-aged man who first made the proposal stared at Ba Qing Yan in shock, wondering what he was thinking. Although Yang Kai’s performance just now was indeed shocking, he was currently breaking through so this was the best moment for them to strike, if they missed this opportunity, the Hai Ke Family would have no way to oppose him in the future.
“Didn’t you see that woman wearing black robes arrange a Spirit Array around him just now?” Ba Qing Yan coldly snorted.
“Do we need to fear some simple Spirit Array?” The middle-aged scoffed lightly.
Ba Qing Yan sneered, “Just now, when Xu Zhi Shen was using the Hundred Mountains Picture, the fallout definitely spread to the spot that woman is standing, yet she, Wu Yi, and Yu Feng weren’t affected in the slightest, so how powerful do you think the Spirit Array she arranged is?”
“Ah!” The middle-aged man exclaimed. Just now, all his focus had been on the battle between Yang Kai and Xu Zhi Shen so he hadn’t really noticed the situation around Yang Yan, but hearing Ba Qing Yan’s words, his eyes immediately shifted to where she was standing. When his eyes landed on Yang Yan, they couldn’t help narrowing as he discovered that she, Wu Yi, and Yu Fend were standing very close to the centre of the battlefield, but at this moment there wasn’t even a speck of dust staining their clothes.
“Is she also a Spirit Array Master?” The middle-aged was startled and murmured, “Wasn’t she just a Saint Grade Artifact Refiner?”
“She’s the Artifact Refiner the family tried to recruit but failed to?” Ba Qing Yan suddenly recalled such an event and shouted, “Zhou Fu, was she the one you tried to solicit last time?”
The man named Zhou Fu walked over while leaking cold sweat and responded quickly, “Yes, Elder Ba, she was the woman I met with last time, but she had refused without the slightest trace of politeness, so I…”
“So you gave up, abandoned your duty, and ruined such a massive opportunity for the family?” Ba Qing Yan glared at him fiercely.
Zhou Fu shuddered and said bitterly, “Please forgive me, Elder Ba, I didn’t know she had such ability at the time, I was only informed she was a Saint Grade Artifact Refiner. If I had known, I…”
“Waste!” Ba Qing Yan scolded.
A Saint Grade Artefact Refiner wasn’t enough for Hai Ke Family to care about, such an Artifact Refiner could be cultivated by them with some effort, but a Grandmaster capable of arranging a Spirit Array capable of blocking the fallout from the Hundred Mountains Picture was someone they couldn’t afford to neglect.
The Hundred Mountains Picture was an Origin Grade artefact, so even if the Spirit Array Yang Yan arranged didn’t have to directly keep off a strike from it, judging from her current unruffled state, it was clear just how high of her attainments in Spirit Arrays was.
Where did Wu Yi find such freaks? One young man was capable of killing Xu Zhi Shen with just a Third Order Saint Realm cultivation and was now about to break through to the Saint King Realm while the other young woman present was not just a Saint Grade Artefact Refiner, but also an extremely skilled Array Master.
Suddenly, Ba Qing Yan felt a tinge of regret, regret that he had shown such a cold attitude towards Wu Yi, even somewhat wishing he could take back his previous words and have Wu Yi return to the family.
If Wu Yi returned to the family, perhaps this young man and woman could also be brought along with her.
If Ba Qing Yan knew that Yang Yan was an Origin Grade Artefact Refiner, perhaps he wouldn’t even hesitate to kneel down and apologize to Wu Yi.
Yang Kai had sunk into a profound state. The reason he dared to break through here was that he did not place the nearby Hai Ke Family cultivators in his eyes. If they understood discretion, they wouldn’t try to cause trouble, but if they dared move against him, Yang Kai didn’t mind educating them about who they could and could not provoke.
Yang Yan setting up a Spirit Array around him and the Hai Ke Family’s impetuous mood did not escape Yang Kai’s eyes, but he ignored all of it to continue immersing in the mysterious sensation that came over him.
Yang Kai’s meridians seemed to swell up and gradually became sore while a powerful vortex suddenly emerged from his body, creating a massive suction that drew all the surrounding World Energy towards him.
Suddenly, the pain in his meridians increased sharply and Yang Kai’s figure twitched, a cry of pain nearly leaking from his lips.
But soon, the pain disappeared and was replaced with an incredibly comfortable sensation. The meridians in his body inflated and became firmer than before as massive amounts of World Energy rushed into his body all on its own.
The wind and clouds suddenly changed and above Dragon Cave Mountain, an unimaginable amount of World Energy crashing down in a rampaging torrent towards Yang Kai, smashing everything within a thousand meters of him to dust.
“Fall back!” Yang Yan’s small face went pale as she swiftly withdrew, not daring to remain in place; Wu Yi and Yu Feng hurriedly followed behind her.
Ba Qing Yan’s jaw dropped as he witnessed the terrifying scene before him. He was secretly rejoicing that he had not allowed anyone from the Hai Ke Family to rush up and try to add insult to injury just now.
If they had done so, even if this young man didn’t attack them, the pressure generated from him breaking through to the next great realm would have been enough to reduce anyone who approached him to ashes.
The other Hai Ke Family cultivators shivered.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that this breakthrough was more shocking than the previous battle.
They never knew that a person’s breakthrough could create such a massive disturbance, even changing the world’s scenery. How was this young man able to withstand such impact?
At that moment, many people even began to secretly curse Yang Kai, hoping his breakthrough would fail and he would die in the process. Comparing themselves with such a person was a big blow to their self-esteem.
The rumbling sounds seemed to pound against people’s hearts as the entire Dragon Cave Mountain shook violently. Every time a torrent of World Energy fell, it was like a sledgehammer struck their chests.
Just watching this scene gave many a sense of unbearable pressure, but the young man who was actually experiencing this breakthrough had nothing but excitement on his face as he opened his mind and body to accept this overwhelming World Baptism.
With each successive wave of World Energy that fell upon him, Yang Kai’s aura grew stronger.
It was like an ancient slumbering deity was awakening, standing proudly against the Heavens and Earth, making it impossible for people to stare directly at him.
Time passed and the gathered power of Heaven, which was obscuring the sky gradually cleared, but the sense of pressure weighing on everyone’s heart did not weaken at all.
Suddenly, the world became clear and bright once more and the momentum from Yang Kai’s body receded, his closed eyes shooting open as they shone with joy.
Saint King Realm!
He had finally arrived at the Saint King Realm, breaking through the limits of Tong Xuan Realm and catching up with the height Great Demon God had once achieved!
It wasn’t until this moment that Yang Kai felt he had completely integrated into the Star Field.
Power that was far more tyrannical than just a moment ago surged through his body and as Yang Kai gently clenched his fists, he could feel an explosive force gather around them. If he were to fight Xu Zhi Shen now, Yang Kai was confident that the old man wouldn’t be able to injure him in the slightest while he could easily break through his four-mountain defense.
In the distance, the cultivators from the Hai Ke Family stared blankly at Dragon Cave Mountain. It was as if this mountain was ravaged by a great storm and it had now become even more desolate than before. The rich World Energy fog that had been collected by the Aura Gathering Spirit Array had all disappeared and even the aura within a thirty kilometer radius of Dragon Cave Mountain had been drained dry.
Ba Qing Yan gulped silently, not daring to underestimate the current Yang Kai.
Yang Yan, Wu Yi, and Yu Feng rushed over. Yang Yan congratulated him excitedly while Wu Yi and Yu Feng did the same; however, Yang Kai could tell there was a slight sorrow in their tone.
After all, these two had publicly announced they would separate from the Hai Ke Family not long ago.
No matter how unfairly the family had treated them, it was still their family, the place where they had grown up. The bonds and sentiment they held dear could not be dismissed so easily.
“Congratulations, little friend. Today has been an eye-opening experience for this old master. Little friend is truly a dragon among men whose future achievements will certainly be boundless!” Ba Qing Yan led a group of people over and began calling out before they even arrived.
Yang Kai turned his head and gave him a passing glance.
Yang Kai didn’t have a good impression of this old man as he had previously persecuted Wu Yi. He was an Elder of Hai Ke Family, and from that perspective had not said anything inappropriate, but afterwards he had several times shown the intention to act against Yang Kai, such as we Xu Zhi Shen had called out for help or when he was trying to break through. Yang Kai had seen everything, and although Ba Qing Ya had each time managed to hold himself back, it wasn’t out of good intentions but simply because he wasn’t certain he could kill Yang Kai.
If Ba Qing Ya had been certain, he would have attacked long ago.
Seeing that Yang Kai was unwilling to respond to him, Ba Qing Yan’s expression became somewhat unsightly as he awkwardly continued, “Little friend is a friend of Wu Yi, so if you have time in the future, please do visit my Hai Ke Family, we will be sure to offer you a suitable welcome.”
“Wu Yi has left the Hai Ke Family, why should I visit your house?” Yang Kai shot him a cold look.
Ba Qing Yan was immediately struck speechless but quickly glanced over at Wu Yi and put on a forced smile, “Wu Yi is somewhat young and speaks before fully considering the consequences of her words. This old master believes she didn’t mean what she said just now about leaving the family, isn’t that right, Wu Yi?”
Wu Yi’s expression became even more forlorn and chose to remain silent
On the other hand, Yu Feng openly snorted and quipped, “Didn’t Elder Ba just say that Wu Yi must return to the family to accept discipline according to the Family Law? I remember you said you would even act personally to drag her back!”
Ba Qing Yan immediately glared menacingly towards Yu Feng!
In order to become friends with Yang Kai, he had no choice but to show consideration to Wu Yi, but that didn’t mean he had to do the same to Yu Feng. Yang Kai clearly disliked him and Wu Yi was ignoring him, so Ba Qing Ya couldn’t help becoming somewhat angry out of shame; now, with Yu Feng pouring oil on the fire, if not for having scruples about Yang Kai’s opinion, Ba Qing Ya would definitely have taught Yu Feng a lesson.
But to Ba Qing Ya’s surprise, Yu Feng, who had always been as timid as a mouse in front of him before, now actually dared to glare back defiantly.
This made Ba Qing Yan feel great shame.
But after thinking about it for a moment, Ba Qing Yan declared, “Little friend has just broken through a Great Realm and should need some time to consolidate his cultivation. This old master will not disturb little friend any longer. If little friend has any need of my Hai Ke Family’s assistance, please do not hesitate to ask, en since Wu Yi and Yu Feng are your friends, they should stay behind to help with any miscellaneous tasks; after all, this place can also be considered my Hai Ke Family’s territory. Wu Yi, Yu Feng, don’t show any negligence with this little friend, understand?”
After hearing Ba Qing Yan’s words, Wu Yi still didn’t respond while Yu Feng coldly snorted; it was the first time he realized that his own Elder could be so shameless, causing him a bit of embarrassment.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, was just sneering. Ba Qing Yan was indeed an old fox, instantly making it appear that Yang Kai was the guest while his Hai Ke Family was the host, all but directly saying that this was their land, and since he was living here, shouldn’t he give them some face?
Ba Qing Yan also knew that he no longer had any prestige in front of these two, so after finishing what he had to say, he didn’t care about their attitudes and simply cupped his fists to Yang Kai before departing.
The man named Wu Ke also wore a complex look filled with envy as he glanced over at Wu Yi and Yang Kai for a moment. He had never expected that immediately after leaving the family, Wu Yi would find herself a powerful backer with seemingly unlimited prospects.
The young women following behind Ba Qing Yan also directed jealous looks towards Wu Yi, many of them turning their heads several times as they left, sending unambiguous looks towards Yang Kai, as if all he needed to do was nod and they would immediately throw themselves at him.
After a long while, only Yang Kai, Yang Yan, Wu Yi, and Yu Feng remained in the now barren Dragon Cave Mountain where neither birds nor beasts could be seen.
Wu Yi’s eyes were slightly red as she wore a forced smile, “Yang Kai, I’ve shown you something unsightly.”
“How can they be like this?” Yu Feng muttered. In the past, the two of them had felt pride in being members of the Hai Ke Family, but after all the events that transpired today, that sense of belonging had been directly destroyed. Wu Yi had even been forced into a position where she had to announce her separation from the family rather than be unjustly brought back by Ba Qing Yan to suffer sanctions under the Family Law. Even if she were to die here though, she had not wanted to see her Elders acting so pitiful and opportunistic.
Her family’s weakness was completely different from what she had imagined.
Yang Kai seemed to know what she was thinking and said lightly, “This world only respects strength, without it, one can only curry favour from others. Just surviving isn’t easy.”
Wu Yi heard these words and thoughtfully looked over at Yang Kai, but the confusion in her beautiful eyes did not abate.
Yu Feng didn’t think too deeply about the subject and instead asked with some worry, “Yang Kai, the Xu Family will never relent now that you’ve killed Xu Zhi Shen. Before today they didn’t understand how strong you were, so they only sent over a few masters, but those that ran away will certainly report what’s happened here so next time the Xu Family will prepare. Shouldn’t we hurry and leave this place?”
Before Yang Kai could respond, Yang Yan chimed in, “There’s no need to leave, just give me enough materials and I’ll arrange a proper Spirit Array here to repel any intruders.”
Yang Kai also didn’t plan on leaving. Even if he hadn’t implicated Wu Yi and Yu Feng today, with such a large Space Spirit Crystal mine beneath Dragon Cave Mountain, there was no way Yang Kai would abandon this place before the Stone Puppet finished clearing it out.
Yang Kai cultivated the Dao of Space and needed a lot of Space Spirit Crystals. There was nowhere else he would find such a rich deposit.
Yang Kai didn’t have a complete understanding of Yang Yan’s abilities with Spirit Arrays, but seeing her shocking performance today, he was quite confident in her skill.
Not to mention, Yang Kai was now a Saint King, and although he didn’t know if he could compete with Origin Returning Realm cultivators, the Xu Family didn’t have such a master anyway so he didn’t care even if they did come in force.
“What materials do you need?” Yang Kai asked.
“Ores and cultivation materials, basically anything besides spirit herbs for Alchemy will be useful.”
“I have some here,” Wu Yi immediately took some items from her Space Ring.
“Me too, but it’s not much nor is it very high grade,” Yu Feng also contributed.
“It’s no problem, just get Yang Kai to purchase them,” Yang Yan grinned. Others didn’t know how rich Yang Kai was, but she was different. The artefacts she refined for him had already been converted into Saint Crystals by Yang Kai and on top of that, he had so many Space Spirit Crystals that raising several tens of thousands of Saint Crystals was a cinch.
“I just broke through and need to consolidate my cultivation. Yu Feng, I’ll have to trouble you to make a trip to Heavenly Fate City,” Yang Kai said while taking out fifty thousand High-Rank Saint Crystals from the Black Book space, storing them in a Universe Bag, and handing it to Yu Feng.
Although he had never seen such a low-grade storage artefact, when Yu Feng swept its content with his Divine Sense, he immediately went pale, “So many Saint Crystals?”
The amount of Saint Crystals he was holding was almost equal to the total income of the entire Hai Ke Family for a year. Yu Feng had never expected Yang Kai to so casually hand him such a shocking amount of wealth and he couldn’t help wondering just where he had acquired all of it in such a short amount of time.
After all, when they picked Yang Kai up, there was only one Space Ring on him and it had already found its way into Wu Yi’s hands.
On the other hand, Yang Kai handing him so many Saint Crystals at once gave Yu Feng a profound sense of responsibility and quickly stated, “Brother Yang can rest assured, I will definitely buy the require materials at the best price available.”
Glancing over at Wu Yi, Yu Feng declared solemnly, “I’ll have to ask you to look after the Young Lady for a while.”
Yang Kai nodded and Yu Feng flew off towards Heavenly Fate City.
Yang Kai felt quite comfortable trusting Yu Feng with this errand. Just a moment ago, he had continuously stood up to his own family’s Elder for Wu Yi. Although his actions could be considered quite simple-minded, they also perfectly showcased the depths of his loyalty.
“Wu Yi, you should first take a rest, your complexion is quite bad,” Yang Kai said to Wu Yi.
Wu Yi nodded gently before walking silently to the cave, accompanied by Yang Yan.
After also returning to the cave, Yang Kai began sorting through his Space Ring and Black Book Space. Everything he could use he handed over to Yang Yan. He had already confirmed her abilities and now that she was about to arrange a grand Spirit Array to protect the cave, the more materials she had the better.
Yang Kai kept the Thunder Attribute Bird Wood that had been formed from the corpse of the Tenth-Order Monster Beast Thunder Luan as he planned to discuss how to best use it with Yang Yan later.
After handling these trivial matters, Yang Kai took out several dozen High-Rank Saint Crystals, placed them around himself, and sat down in the middle of the Seven Coloured Spirit Gathering Flags to consolidate his new Saint King Realm cultivation.
If Yang Kai had only broken through a Minor Realm, consolidating his cultivation wouldn’t be particularly urgent, but breaking through to a new Great Realm was different. Stabilizing his realm was essential for his future cultivation.
And so, the storm surrounding Dragon Cave Mountain came to an end, but a new one was now brewing within the Hai Ke Family.
Wu Yi’s friend surnamed Yang, a Third Order Saint, had killed Xu Zhi Shen, a Third Order Saint King, and robbed him of two high-grade artefacts. On top of that, Wu Yi’s female friend turned out to not only be a Saint Grade Artefact Refiner but also a Spirit Array Grandmaster!
When this news spread to the Hai Ke Family’s leadership, all of them were incredibly shocked.
“Qing Yan, you mean to say that youth named Yang Kai killed that old fox, Xu Zhi Shen? You really saw it with your own eyes?” A long-bearded old man sitting in the middle of the family discussion hall asked with clear disbelief.
This old man was the current Patriarch of Hai Ke Family, Yi En.
It wasn’t that Yi En was unwilling to believe Ba Qing Yan, but the story this time was simply too difficult to imagine. Saying Yang Kai killed a First Order Saint King as a Third Order Saint might have been acceptable, but who was Xu Zhi Shen? He was a Xu Family Elder and one of their most powerful masters. Even if Yi En had taken action personally, he may not have been able to win such a fight, and if he had to face Xu Zhi Shen while the latter was wielding the Hundred Mountains Picture, Yi En would only be able to withdraw.
If it had been anyone else telling such a tale, Yi En would have just laughed it off as a joke, but it was Ba Qing Yan who was speaking.
Not only did Yi En have doubts, all the other Elders and Foreign Elders inside the hall were giving Ba Qing Yan strange looks.
“Old Ba, did you become muddled after cultivating too hard? Convening us here in the middle of the day to talk about such nonsense isn’t funny,” An Elder named Wa Lun sitting nearby chuckled.
“En, Elder Ba, if this is just a joke, I suggest you try something different. This one isn’t funny at all,” A beautiful woman with rich curves said with some dissatisfaction. She was a Hai Ki Family Foreign Elder named Huang Juan.
“Qing Yan, explain the situation carefully. I don’t believe you are one to make up such stories!” Yi En said seriously to Ba Qing Yan.
Ba Qing Yan’s expression remained unchanged. He knew that the words he was speaking sounded ridiculous and if he had been in everyone else’s position and heard them he wouldn’t easily believe them, so he didn’t mind Wa Lun and Huang Juan’s cutting remarks and instead just called out, “Come in.”
More than a dozen people walked into the hall after receiving this summons, most of them from the Hai Ke Family’s younger generation. This group had followed Ba Qing Yan to Dragon Cave Mountain and after entering the hall, bowed respectfully.
The Elders and Foreign Elders present didn’t know what Ba Qing Yan was up to but they held their tongues and waited quietly for whatever was to come next.
“Wu Ke, tell the Patriarch and the Elders present here what you witnessed day. Do not conceal anything, make any slanderous remarks, or add any exaggerations or you will be disciplined in accordance with the Family Law!” Ba Qing Yan said solemnly.
Wu Ke quickly cupped his fists and accepted this task before describing Xu Zhi Shen and the Xu Family’s crusade to Dragon Cave Mountain and the ensuing conflict with Yang Kai. Wu Ke was an eloquent speaker and although none of the Elders besides Ba Qing Yan were present today, from Wu Ke’s speech they had no trouble imagining the scene which had taken place.
When they heard about Wu Yi and Yu Feng choosing to separate from the family in order to protect Yang Kai while openly opposing Ba Qing Yan, the faces of many Elders and Foreign Elders became ugly, many of them calling for the Patriarch to capture them back and subject them to the harshest punishment available under the Family Law to serve as a warning to others.
However, after hearing that Yang Kai had snatched Xu Zhi Shen’s Nether Shadow Soul Silk and instantly erased his Soul Mark from it, forcing the latter to summon six of the Hundred Mountains Picture’s phantom peaks, none of them cared about this minor issue anymore. And when they heard that Yang Kai had managed to burn Xu Zhi Shen to death with his strange black flames even though the latter had the protection of four illusionary mountains and about this young man’s subsequent terrifying breakthrough to the Saint King Realm …
All the Elders and Foreign Elders were dumbfounded, hardly able to believe their ears.
They all already faintly believed this story though, because just now, all of them had felt the disturbance in the local World Energy aura. Dragon Cave Mountain wasn’t too far from here so, naturally, they had noticed this strange phenomenon, but none of them had cared much about it at the time.
Now it seems that disturbance was caused by a single young man breaking through to the Saint King Realm!
Wu Ke finished quickly, and Ba Qing Yan next turned to the other dozen young men and women present and asked, “Did Wu Ke speak even half a lie?”
The dozen people all shook their heads, “No.”
“This matter, did all of you witness it today with your own eyes?”
“Yes, Elder Ba!” The crowd nodded.
“Good, you’re excused,” Ba Qing Yan waved his hand and the dozen or so youths withdrew after saluting.
Many Elders and Foreign Elders in the Hai Ke Family’s discussion hall fell silent.
Any speculations about Ba Qing Yan making all of this up as a joke had now been completely dispelled.
It made no sense for more than a dozen of their clansmen to cooperate with each other to tell such a lie to them, so the only explanation was that they were telling the truth!
“Is there really such a Junior in this world?” Yi En muttered under his breath, clear shock still covering his face as he sighed, “Why was he not born in my Hai Ke Family? If he were…”
Yi En’s thoughts were echoed by many others. If such a powerful young man had been born to the Hai Ke Family, their rise would truly be right around the corner. They wouldn’t have to remain as just a peripheral force attached to Shadow Moon Hall.
Peripheral Force was just a title. It sounded good but carried no real weight. In truth, the Hai Ke Family was simply hanging Shadow Moon Hall’s sign next to their name in exchange for providing them with a certain amount of tribute each year. In return, Shadow Moon Hall didn’t look for trouble with them.
They didn’t receive any benefits from Shadow Moon Hall, and if Shadow Moon Hall wished, they could dissolve this relationship or even the family itself at any time.
“Patriarch, although this Yang Kai wasn’t born into my clan, it’s not necessarily impossible for him to become part of it,” The beautiful woman named Huang Juan who had spoken before suddenly said with a smile.
“Oh? The meaning of Foreign Elder Huang is…” Yi En immediately directed an excited look towards her.
Huang Juan pursed her lips into a smile and said, “Elder Ba just said that in order to shield him, Wu Yi even declared she would leave the family. In my opinion, the relationship between those two may not be so simple. At the very least, Wu Yi seems to have some strong intentions towards that boy.”
Hearing this, everyone’s eyes brightened!
“Foreign Elder Huang is right,” Wa Lun nodded in agreement, a grin appearing on his face, “Wu Yi’s looks are good and her aptitude is one of the best in the family. Regardless of whether that Yang Kai has feelings towards her now, all we have to do is match them together and the situation should progress all on its own. However, before we do anything, we need to find out about the origins of this young man; him being able to kill Xu Zhi Shen with just a Saint Realm cultivation makes it clear he cannot be an unknown person, yes?”
“Do you mean to say he may be the first master of Thunder Typhoon Sect’s younger generation, Fan Tian Zhong? Fan Tian Zhong is said to have the ability to kill enemies above his own realm. En, Wei Gu Chang of Shadow Moon Hall also has such ability along with Heaven Battling Union’s Qu Chang Feng. Could Yang Kai simply be an alias? If it’s not, why haven’t we heard about him before?” Someone asked.
“He is absolutely not any of them! Those geniuses are all already Saint Kings, possibly even having reached the Third Order by now. They are a full Great Realm above this Yang Kai in cultivation, he clearly has nothing to do with them.”
“About his origins, this Elder may know a little something,” An old man with a well-trimmed goatee spoke up, attracting everyone’s attention. After pausing for a moment, he continued, “I heard from one of those little brats that during Wu Yi’s last mining expedition, Yu Feng picked up a stranger from the Starry Sky. Yang Kai should be that person.”
“Picked up?” The group of Elders in the hall were all stunned. Could a young man of such astonishing aptitude simply be picked up?
Yi En expression changed once more as he glanced over towards a certain individual with a smile, “Foreign Elder Chang, when Wu Yi previously set out to mine ore, it was you who accompanied her, correct? What can you tell us about this Yang Kai?”
Chang Qi frowned slightly. He had a good relationship with Wu Yi and often looked out for her as she was growing up. Today, hearing Wu Yi had been forced to leave the family, Chang Qi had become quite disgruntled towards Ba Qing Yan. He didn’t want to comment, but now that the Patriarch had directly asked him, even if he wished to remain silent, he didn’t have a choice.
After all, when Yu Feng picked up Yang Kai, and when Yang Kai emerged from the blood-red crystal, Chang Qi had been present, so he knew better than anyone present about Yang Kai’s origins.
Grumbling to himself for a moment, Chang Qi reluctantly described what had happened at that time.
The looks on the faces present changed once more when they heard about Yang Kai’s bizarre origins, actually emerging from a blood-red crystal.
But soon, Huang Juan let out pleasant laughter, “Since we know his origins, everything is much easier to handle. In the outside world, he may not be an unknown person, but now that he is here on Shadowed Star, it is the same as him not having any family or backing. Although my Hai Ke Family isn’t too strong, it can still be regarded as a sizable force. If we show him favour, he shouldn’t have any reason to refuse, not to mention Dragon Cave Mountain where he lives now belongs to my family.”
“Foreign Elder Huang is right, young people are always reckless and impetuous, but all of them still love beauties. Since he seems to have some ideas about Wu Yi, we just need to push them together,” Immediately, someone else came forward to agree, with many others nodding in approval.
“We cannot!” Suddenly a voice of opposition sounded.
Yi En turned his eyes to the source and asked calmly, “Why does Elder Ba feel this is improper?”
Actually, Yi En had not expected the first one to object would actually be Ba Qing Yan.
However, Ba Qing Yan quickly explained, “First, Yang Kai killed Xu Zhi Shen, and although this clearly demonstrates his great strength and superior combat prowess, if it was not related to the Hundred Mountains Picture, the Xu Family may be able to swallow it, making big things small, and small things nothing, at most demanding some compensation from him so they can save face. But now that the Hundred Mountains Picture has been snatched, even if the Xu Family fears Yang Kai, it is impossible for them to back down. If my family now goes and shows goodwill towards Yang Kai, we will definitely have trouble with the Xu Family.”
“What thing is the Xu Family? My Hai Ke Family has never been afraid of the Xu Family, so what is Elder Ba worrying about?” Elder Wu Lun coldly snorted.
“That’s right, Elder Ba, the Xu Family now doesn’t even have the Hundred Mountains Picture, so we really have no need to fear them, perhaps we can even take this opportunity to annex the Xu Family completely!”
As soon as this remark was made, many people were moved.
The Xu Family’s Hundred Mountains Picture was a huge deterrent, but now that the Xu Family has lost this precious artefact, there was no need to fear them anymore. This was indeed a good chance for the Hai Ke Family to deal with the Xu Family while at the same time pulling Yang Kai closer to themselves.
Instead of rushing to agree though, Yi En frowned slightly and motioned to Ba Qing Yan, “Elder Ba, continue.”
Ba Qing Yan glanced around at the spirited faces of his colleagues who were not itching to immediately crusade against the Xu Family now and sneered, “The Xu Family need not be feared, but what about Shadow Moon Hall?”
Everyone froze up, but upon remembering a certain fact, all of them wore an expression of dread.
“We and the Xu Family are peripheral forces of Shadow Moon Hall. This dispute has nothing to do with Shadow Moon Hall, but that Xie Hong Wen has his eyes on Wu Yi. If we were to arbitrarily match Wu Yi with Yang Kai, do you think Xie Hong Wen will ignore it? A trivial Xie Hong Wen we need not fear, but that little bastard’s father is a genuine Shadow Moon Hall Deacon! A Deacon’s status in Shadow Moon Hall isn’t high, but it is still not a person my Hai Ke Family can provoke.”
“What Elder Ba says is true,” Yi En nodded, “Although that Yang Kai is good, after all, he has no foundation or background, a loner. If trying to befriend him offends Xie Hong Wen, the gains will not make up for the losses. En, this matter needs further consideration. Not only do we need to recruit that Yang Kai, but we need to do so in a way that does not offend Xie Hong Wen. Elder Ba, your methods are meticulous. Return to Dragon Cave Mountain and probe that young man’s intentions and desires and whether we can satisfy them. If he really covets beauty, my Hai Ke Family has many unmarried girls, several of whom are not inferior to Wu Yi. As long as we can gather him, sending him a few unimportant women isn’t an issue.”
“I will carry out Patriarch’s command!” Ba Qing Yan stood up and bowed gently, thinking about something before asking, “Patriarch, what should we do about that Saint Grade Artefact Refiner called Yang Yan? Her Spirit Array accomplishment shouldn’t be bad.”
“Act at your own discretion, Elder Ba. We have need of a good Array Master, but that Yang Yan is still very young, so even if she has some accomplishments in arranging Spirit Arrays, it can’t possibly be too profound. Our main concern now is Yang Kai.”
“Understood.”
Having received the Patriarch’s orders, Ba Qing Yan couldn’t easily object; however, his instincts told him that the Spirit Array arranged by Yang Yan wasn’t so simple and perhaps her value was greater than Yang Kai.
After leaving the discussion hall, Ba Qing Yan didn’t immediately rush to Dragon Cave Mountain. He knew Yang Kai didn’t want to see him right now and if he were to suddenly show up, he would definitely be met with closed doors. Moreover, Yang Kai had just broken through to the Saint King Realm and was probably in secluded retreat to consolidate his cultivation.
[Consolidate his cultivation?] Ba Qing Yan’s eyes brightened as he thought of something. Hurrying to the family’s storeroom, Ba Qing Yan withdrew a jade box from it, and upon opening the jade box, he found a longan sized pill that exuded a soothing fragrance.
Wasn’t what Yang Kai needed the most right now this Saint King Pill? Ba Qing Yan smiled confidently and walked out of the warehouse.
Inside Dragon Cave Mountain, Yang Kai was engaging in meditative cultivation while Yang Yan was organizing her available materials with the help of Wu Yi.
The materials owned by Yang Kai were a real mixed bag with things of varies grades all piled together in massive quantities. When the two women saw this pile, they were both somewhat dumbstruck; however, they were also quite happy, neither of them having imagined Yang Kai had been hoarding so many treasures.
Suddenly, Wu Yi began laughing loudly.
Yang Yan looked over at her with a puzzled expression and asked, “What are you laughing at?”
Wu Yi explained through her giggles, “I’m laughing at how Yang Kai is too sly.”
“Sly? How is he sly?” Yang Yan asked curiously.
“When I picked him up, he only had a single Space Ring on his him, and it was quickly stolen by Yu Feng. When I realized this and saw what a pitiful state he was in, I gave him a few Saint Crystals and pills back, but seeing this now it’s clear he had other Space Rings on him, I just didn’t know where he hid them! If that wasn’t the case, he wouldn’t have had so many Saint Crystals and materials left, yet back then, he showed me a sincere look of thanks, making me think I had done a good deed. Turns out he was playing tricks on me the whole time.”
“En, he really is quite cunning,” Yang Yan nodded, “But those Saint Crystals have nothing to do with him, those are all my credit.”
Wu Yi was puzzled but before she had time to clarify what Yang Yan meant, Yu Feng finally returned from purchasing materials.
“How did it go?” Wu Yi asked.
“It was amazing!” Yu Feng grinned from ear to ear, “Young Lady, you can’t even imagine the kind of joy receiving such supreme treatment is. All those stores I bought materials from treated me like I was their grandfather. The feeling of spending so much money is too awesome, there were even a few beautiful girls secretly sending hot looks!”
Seeing Yu Feng’s loose expression, Wu Yi glared at him and shouted, “Shameful! What I want to know about is the materials we sent you to purchase.”
“Oh, that. I bought them, it’s all here,” Yu Feng said, handing the Space Ring in his hand to Yang Yan.
Yang Yan accepted the ring and swept it with her Divine Sense for a moment before nodding, “Good, with these materials, as long as I have a month, I can arrange a Spirit Array to perfectly protect this mountain. When the time comes, we won’t have to fear anyone!”
Wu Yi and Yu Feng both looked at her with some surprise, but soon, Wu Yi shook her head and turned back to Yu Feng to ask, “What are you holding?”
“This? This was something Young Master Wu Ke brought over and told me to hand to Yang Kai,” Yu Feng explained. When he returned just now, he had seen Wu Ke loitering around outside the cave and went up to ask what he was doing here. As soon as Yu Feng asked though, Wu Ke simply shoved this jade box into his hands and said it was something Elder Ba wished to gift to Yang Kai before he quickly flew away.
“Elder Ba ordered my cousin to deliver this?” Wu Yi’s brow furrowed for a moment, but suddenly remembering something, her eyes fixed on the jade box as she said, “Open it and let me see.”
Yu Feng opened the jade box and a refreshing fragrance immediately filled the cave.
“Saint King Pill?” Wu Yi and Yu Feng both exclaimed at the same time, the former secretly shocked that her stingy family had so readily gifted away the last Saint King Pill they had in storage while the latter was constantly gulping as his eyes filled with avarice.
On the other hand, Yang Yan only took a brief look at the Saint King Pill before going back to her own business.
“Was this really what Elder Ba asked my cousin to deliver?” Wu Yi asked in an uncertain tone.
“En, otherwise where would I have obtained it?”
“It looks like the family intends to forge a friendship with Yang Kai…” Wu Yi muttered and before immediately chuckling, “En, it seems they haven’t gone senile from old age yet. They truly should want to create a friendly relationship with him, but seeing how they sent my cousin and not one of the Elders, they should still be having some scruples about something… Forget it, since they have sent this Saint King Pill, just give it to Yang Kai, he should need this right now.”
If it had been something else, Wu Yi would have told Yu Feng to send it back, but this Saint King Pill was different.
“Ok,” Yu Feng carefully closed the jade box before walking deeper into the cave.
Arriving in front of the stone room where Yang Kai lived, before Yu Feng had time to speak, Yang Kai’s voice came over, “Brother Yu, come in.”
Yu Feng grinned and walked inside, handing over the jade box in his hands before explaining where he had obtained it.
“A Saint King Pill…” Yang Kai looked at the longan sized pill inside the jade box with amusement. As an Alchemist, he naturally knew what the Saint King Pill was for.
After breaking through to the Saint King Realm from the Saint Realm, taking a Saint King Pill would help a cultivator consolidate their foundation and mood. Because this pill only had such effects when crossing this particular Great Realm, it was called the Saint King Pill.
The Saint King Pill was a Saint King Grade Mid-Rank pill, not to high in terms of grade, but refining it required a lot of materials.
Basically, a pill to help stabilize one’s cultivation existed for each Great Realm breakthrough; however, because Yang Kai possessed the Demon Eye of Annihilation and had absorbed the insights and sentiments into the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao of many higher realm cultivators, he had never needed such pills to consolidate his foundation.
While Yang Kai didn’t need this thing, others did, and for many cultivators, this pill was incredibly precious.
The Hai Ke Family delivering him a Saint King Pill was clearly their way of showing goodwill. Yang Kai knew this, and if he had been anyone else, it might have had some effect, but to him, pills were what he needed the least.
Yang Kai himself was a high-grade Alchemist, so if he ever needed pills, he would refine them himself as there was more than enough spirit grasses and spirit medicines in his Black Book space.
Seeing Yu Feng literally drooling at the sight of the Saint King Pill in his hands, Yang Kai closed the jade box again and tossed it over to him, “You eat it.”
“Ah?” Yu Feng was shocked and after fumbling to catch the jade box frantically waved his hands, “I can’t! This is something the family gave to you, it’s extremely precious! Our Hai Ke Family had to specially request an Alchemist to refine a few of these many years ago. When Young Lady broke through to the Saint King Realm, she took one, but as far as I know, this is the last.”
“If you want to eat it, just eat it. I have no need of it,” Yang Kai shrugged casually.
“But I broke through to the Saint King Realm over three years ago, taking this now will only give me some minor benefits,” Yu Feng couldn’t bear to waste this precious treasure.
“Then I’ll just give it to you instead. Whether you eat it or sell it is up to you,” Yang Kai smiled.
“Brother Yang, don’t you want it? I won’t be able to explain to the family if you do this.”
“Didn’t you just leave the family along with Wu Yi? Why would you need to explain anything to them?” Yang Kai gave him a wryly laugh.
Yu Feng froze up for a moment before patted his forehead, “Right…”
As if he had only now remembered he had left the family, Yu Feng’s expression became a little gloomy.
Yang Kai spoke a few words of comfort, “It’s not necessarily a bad thing for you to leave the Hai Ke Family. At the very least, you can rest assured that you’ll get better cultivation conditions here than in the Hai Ke Family.”
Yu Feng politely nodded, “Then I’ll express my thanks in advance for Brother Yang’s kindness. Honestly, it doesn’t matter much to me, but Young Lady, she… haa…”
Yu Feng was obviously more concerned about Wu Yi than himself. On top of that, he didn’t take Yang Kai’s words seriously. He acknowledged Yang Kai’s combat power, but to say he could provide better cultivation conditions than the Hai Ke Family wasn’t something Yu Feng could easily believe.
After Yu Feng left, Yang Kai sank into contemplation for a moment before sending out a Divine Sense Message.
A short time later, the Stone Puppet popped up from underground.
After a few days of hard work, the Stone Puppet had collected a lot of Space Spirit Crystals. Yang Kai let it spit out these Space Spirit Crystals before ordering it to open up a few more stone rooms in the cave.
Wu Yi and Yu Feng were now homeless and could only live here temporarily. It was because of Yang Kai that they had fallen into this awkward position so naturally, he wasn’t going to just abandon them.
The Stone Puppet opened up stone rooms incredibly quickly. On top of that, its thoughts were simple so when it received Yang Kai’s orders, it went all out, completely re-modelling the cave.
One stone room after another was neatly arranged on either side of the main cave tunnel, each of them equal in size and dimension, as if they had all been measured and cut by the most precise of tools.
Soon, there were hundreds of rooms in the cave.
A short time later, when Yang Kai swept the cave with his Divine Sense and saw this, he could only grin wryly before letting the Stone Puppet go back to mining Space Spirit Crystals.
While in retreat to consolidate his Saint King Realm cultivation, Yang Kai was also refining the purple shield artefact that Yang Yan had newly forged for him. Xu Zhi Shen’s Hundred Mountains Picture had caused Yang Kai some difficulties with just six of the phantom mountains being summoned. If all one hundred of the illusionary peaks had been summoned, perhaps the surrounding thousand-kilometre region would have been flattened.
Yang Kai desperately needed a defensive artefact.
After Yang Yan and the others sorted through their cache of materials and emerged from their chamber, they were shocked by the changes the cave had undergone. After just two days, there were now hundreds of stone rooms of equal dimension inside the cave, making Wu Yi and Yu Feng feel like they were in some kind of dreamland!
The two of them thought it was Yang Kai’s handiwork, but neither of them had even noticed when all this work had taken place. Only Yang Yan understood that this was all thanks to the Stone Puppet.
Since there were now many stone rooms, Wu Yi and Yu Feng freely chose one for themselves as their own residence. Yang Yan took out some Saint Crystals and materials to arrange small Aura Gathering Spirit Arrays for them inside their stone rooms to improve the cultivation environment before beginning her work on the mountain’s defensive Spirit Array.
Fortunately, Wu Yi cultivated a Fire Attribute Secret Art, and although she wasn’t versed in Artifact Refining, under Yang Yan’s guidance, it was still possible for her to refine some simple items.
The Stone Puppet was the busiest of all. Shortly after it had been sent Yang Kai to mine Space Spirit Crystals, it was called back by Yang Yan and began spending all day quenching different materials. This was the Stone Puppet’s innate ability and it could complete it both faster and with higher quality than any human could, so why wouldn’t Yang Yan use it?
As a result, Yang Yan saved a great amount of time and energy, allowing her to experience a far more relaxed and enjoyable Artifact Refining process. With the Stone Puppet assisting her, all she needed to do was mold the materials and portray the appropriate Spirit Arrays.
Half a month later, Yang Kai exited his retreat.
As soon as he left his stone room, he immediately realized the great changes that had occurred outside.
Originally it was just him and Yang Yan here, Wu Yi and Yu Feng joined them sometime later, bringing the total occupants of Dragon Cave Mountain to four. Now though, there were at least forty cultivators moving about the cave.
Some were cultivating in the stone rooms, others were running errands, the entire Dragon Cave Mountain had become lively.
What was going on?
Yang Kai was suspicious as he walked out, but everyone he met greeted him with great enthusiasm. Yang Kai soon discovered that he recognized all of these people, even if he didn’t know all of their names.
These people were the cultivators who had been aboard Wu Yi’s Starship as well as the ones who had helped set up the cave for Yang Kai under Yu Feng’s leadership.
“Yang Kai!” Wu Yi’s voice suddenly called out and Yang Kai turned a smile towards her.
After not seeing her for half a month, Wu Yi’s complexion had improved a lot, and the sorrow between her brows had disappeared. She now seemed more youthful and beautiful than before, her whole aura filled with happiness.
“These people are…” Yang Kai asked her curiously.
“They all came here to follow me,” Wu Yi looked at Yang Kai apologetically, “They also announced that they will separate from the family.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai was somewhat taken aback, he hadn’t expected Wu Yi to command such respect. If there were one or two men who decided to follow Wu Yi because they adored her, that would have been one thing, but over forty men and women not even hesitating to separate from the Hai Ke Family could only be a result of Wu Yi’s prestige and charisma, there was no other explanation!
It was not a trivial act to separate from one’s family without authorization, especially if so many left all at once. This was no different than slapping the Hai Ke Family’s face dozens of times! Facing this kind of insult, it was unclear if the Hai Ke Family would stand idly by.
“Sorry, I didn’t know things would turn out like this,” Wu Yi said guiltily. The main reason she had announced she would leave the family was not because she wanted to protect Yang Kai, but rather because the family had treated her too coldly. Wu Yi’s decision leading to more than forty others following her had caught her by surprise, but it was a pleasant one this time.
“If you disapprove, I can lead them away!” Wu Yi saw Yang Kai go silent and thought he might be upset, so she quickly apologized while biting her lip.
“And take them where?” Yang Kai smiled, “Since they’ve come already, let them stay. Moreover, this was your land in the first place.”
“But I already gave it to you,” Wu Yi said with embarrassment, “Since I gave it to you, it’s yours now.”
“Don’t think about it too much, so many people willing to follow you is all thanks to your own skill,” Yang Kai smiled slightly. “In any case, there are so many stone rooms in the cave now so it doesn’t matter if there are a few extra people around.”
“Thank you!” Wu Yi said gratefully.
Yang Kai shook his head and said sincerely, “It is I who should thank you.”
If Wu Yi hadn’t given him Dragon Cave Mountain, Yang Kai would never have discovered the giant Space Spirit Crystal lode here. Although it wasn’t convenient for him to explain to Wu Yi right now, this great favour was something Yang Kai fully intended to repay, so allowing a few dozen people who chose to follow Wu Yi settle here wasn’t even an issue for him. Even if Wu Yi encountered real trouble, Yang Kai would happily face it for her.
“Stop thanking each other in circles,” Yang Yan called out. Yang Kai turned around to see her and although she seemed quite tired, her beautiful eyes were filled with excitement. Yang Yan casually tossed something over to Yang Kai upon making eye contact and said, “This artefact isn’t bad. See if you want to refine it, if not, we should sell it quickly. We’re quite poor now.”
Yang Kai caught this artefact and upon sweeping it with his Divine Sense, he discovered it was Xu Zhi Shen’s Hundred Mountains Picture. Immediately tossing it into his Space Ring, Yang Kai declared, “This thing isn’t for sale.”
During the battle with Xu Zhi Shen, Yang Kai had snatched two artefacts, one was the Nether Shadow Soul Silk and the other was the Hundred Mountains Picture. Yang Kai didn’t have time to investigate these two artefacts carefully, but he knew that the Hundred Mountains Picture was a good treasure. Xu Zhi Shen summoning six phantom mountains had boosted his strength significantly, if he could have summoned more, the strength he would have displayed would only have been stronger.
By the time all one hundred illusionary mountains were summoned, it was likely even Origin Returning Realm masters would have to give way. Yang Kai had never been too interested in offensive artefacts, but he really liked this Hundred Mountains Picture.
“Then give me some more Saint Crystals!” Yang Yan simply held out her small hand and demanded.
“Didn’t I give you fifty thousand Saint Crystal last time to buy materials? And they were all High-Rank Saint Crystals at that. Don’t tell me you’ve run out already, have you?” Yang Kai looked at Yang Yan in surprise. This woman was an expert at making money, but it seemed her ability to spend it wasn’t any worse.
“Do you think it’s easy to arrange a large-scale Spirit Array? Those materials were only enough to arrange the defensive Spirit Array. Now that there are so many people here, all of their stone room needs to have a small Aura Gathering Spirit Array arranged. On top of that, daily cultivating consumes many Saint Crystals.”
Wu Yi quickly interjected, “There’s no need for all this. Everyone here has never enjoyed such rich treatment in the family before. Also, Dragon Cave Mountain’s innate World Energy aura isn’t bad.”
During his recent breakthrough, Yang Kai had absorbed every scrap of World Energy within a thirty-kilometre radius of the cave, but after more than half a month, the ambient aura had basically been restored and faint traces of World Energy mist could now be seen lingering about the peaks.
“There’s no need to be polite with him, you can’t even imagine how much wealth he has,” Yang Yan whispered into Wu Yi’s ear.
Yang Yan knew about the countless Space Spirit Crystals Yang Kai possessed so she was well aware that he wouldn’t care about a few trivial Saint Crystals.
Yang Kai shook his head helplessly before stuffing tens of thousands of High-Rank, Mid-Rank, and Low-Rank Saint Crystals into a Space Ring, leaving only a few thousand pieces for his personal use.
“From now on, Wu Yi should be Dragon Cave Mountain’s treasurer, she can handle anything related to resource distribution. I need to focus on arranging Spirit Arrays so I don’t have time for it. I’ll make a list of things that need to be purchased. If you don’t have enough Saint Crystals, just tell Yang Kai, he’ll get more for you,” Yang Yan tossed the Space Ring stuffed full of Saint Crystals over to Wu Yi.
“Ah?” Wu Yi hesitated for a moment, not having expected Yang Yan to so easily transfer all the Saint Crystals Yang Kai had brought out to her. But soon, Wu Yi understood that Yang Yan was trying to give her something to occupy her attention, lest she suddenly become idle and has her thoughts drift to more unpleasant matters. Realizing this, Wu Yi was quite moved and did not shirk this responsibility, quickly declaring, “You can rest assured, I will see to it that every single Saint Crystal in my hand is used appropriately!”
Wu Yi’s dream had been to lead the Hai Ke Family and she had gained much experience managing matters in the family over the past many years, so handling a trivial forty people would not be an issue.
Yang Kai’s eyes glanced back and forth, understanding Yang Yan’s intentions and quietly giving her a thumbs up.
Yang Yan smiled happily, “My defensive Spirit Array is about to be completed, but Yang Kai, you really need to find a way to earn more Saint Crystals if we want to stay here long term. The current Spirit Array is only enough to secure the surrounding ten-kilometre radius.”
Yang Kai naturally understood the deeper meaning behind Yang Yan’s words. The Space Spirit Crystal lode was extremely important. The Stone Puppet had been mining it for so many days, but it showed no signs of slowing down. No one knew just how large this crystal lode was, but Yang Kai was determined to remain here at least until it was completely cleaned out.
What’s more, Yang Kai intended to remain in this place and use it as a springboard to project his name across the Star Field.
Nodding his head, Yang Kai said, “Don’t worry about Saint Crystals, I’ll find a way to collect more.”
Yang Yan sent him a worried look and reminded him, “Act carefully.”
She thought that Yang Kai might be compelled to sell some of the Space Spirit Crystals, but in truth, he had no such plans.
“By the way, Yang Kai, Elder Ba has come to visit here every day for a few days now, saying he wants to discuss something with you, but you’ve been in retreat, so I’ve always sent him back. You’re out now though and he happens to be outside at this moment,” Wu Yi said with a slight frown.
“Ba Qing Yan? What are your thoughts?” Yang Kai asked Wu Yi, “If you want me to meet him, I’ll meet him, if you don’t, I’ll send him away.”
“I don’t know,” Wu Yi shook her head as her fists clenched and a look of struggle appeared on her face.
“Then I’ll ask you something different, do you want to return to the Hai Ke Family?”
“I don’t!” This time, Wu Yi didn’t hesitate, shaking her head decisively and laughing somewhat self-deprecatingly, “I used to think that although the family was weak, we all shared a common goal and it didn’t matter if we had to gives our lives for that goal, but now… I really don’t want to go back. My parents died long ago, and although the family has been nurturing and raising me, I believe I’ve paid them back for all I’ve received.”
“Understood, I’ll see him then and make sure he won’t bother you in the future.”
“Thank you.” Wu Yi gently nodded.
Ba Qing Yan has come four days in a row now. He knew that Yang Kai was in retreat to consolidate his cultivation, so he had been patiently waiting, but he hadn’t thought that each time he came to Dragon Cave Mountain he wouldn’t even be able to see Yang Kai. With the task assigned to him, Ba Qing Yan couldn’t act arrogantly so his only choice was to quietly wait but seeing his family’s disciples walk in and out each day while staring at him curiously, he truly felt he was losing face.
However, today was different, as after a short wait, a familiar figure suddenly appeared from the cave. Ba Qing Yan smiled happily as he immediately recognized this young man as the one who had killed Xu Zhi Shen. With a great laugh, he cupped his fists and shouted, “Congratulations little friend Yang! Little friend Yang’s aura is deep and steady, it seems you have obtained a great harvest during your recent retreat. En, little friend Yang’s talent is truly astonishing, being able to stabilize your foundation so thoroughly in such a short time. This old man is impressed!”
Yang Kai glanced at him lightly, knowing that this old fox was implying this was all thanks to the Saint King Pill he had provided.
Consolidating one’s cultivation after breaking through to a new Great Realm was not a fast process for an average person, but taking certain pills could drastically shorten the necessary time. Ba Qing Yan had not specifically mentioned the Saint King Pill, but he was flagrantly hinting at it to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai, however, wasn’t even willing to give him a nod regarding this. Forget about the fact that he hadn’t eaten that Saint King Pill, even if he had, it was just a trivial Saint King Grade Mid-Rank pill, how would Yang Kai care about such a paltry commodity?
“If you have something to say, say it, out of consideration for your status as Wu Yi’s former Elder, I will give you thirty breaths of time. Don’t squander them!”
Ba Qing Yan nearly choked when he heard Yang Kai’s words!
He hadn’t expected Yang Kai to not even bother inviting him in to sit down and discuss matters in private. After all the warm regards and flattery Ba Qing Yan had sent out, receiving such a cold response was quite discomforting, causing his face to flush. If it weren’t for the fact that he knew he couldn’t beat him, Ba Qing Yan would have already attacked Yang Kai.
As an old fox though, Ba Qing Yan quickly adjusted his mood and suppressed the anger in his heart, replacing the awkward look on his face with a smile and continuing, “The shocking battle half a month ago really opened this old man’s eyes. This old man had never imagined that a genius like little friend Yang existed in this world. Such awe-inspiring might and talent surely places little friend Yang at least on par with Wei Gu Chang of Shadow Moon Hall, Qu Chang Feng of Heaven Battling Union, and Fang Tianzhong of Thunder Typhoon Sect…”
Yang Kai stared at him coldly, without interrupting his words, only stating bluntly after Ba Qing Yan finished, “You have twenty breaths.”
Ba Qing Yan’s face twitched a few times. This Yang Kai was simply incorrigible. Ba Qing Yan had disregarded his own face to praise him, so couldn’t this brat show a hint of modesty? Even if he refused to act humble, Yang Kai should have at least displayed the arrogance of a young man; after all, flattering a Junior was not something easy for an old man like Ba Qing Yan, it had been many years since he needed to utter such false platitudes.
People often say that those who are young are all wild at heart, but that didn’t seem to apply in this case; it was as if Yang Kai simply didn’t have a rampant side.
As if he suddenly understood a bit about Yang Kai’s temperament, Ba Qing Yan’s expression immediately became serious and he didn’t bother with any more nonsense, directly stated, “My Hai Ke Family intends to betroth a few young girls from our clan to little friend Yang, has little friend Yang ever once gotten married?”
“Not interested!” Yang Kai stated flatly.
“Ah… little friend, it’s like this, you killed Xu Zhi Shen of the Xu Family and robbed him of his Hundred Mountains Picture. Considering all this, it is impossible for the Xu Family to relent. My Hai Ke Family is willing to shelter little friend Yang from this disaster as long as little friend Yang is willing to join our family. My family is willing to hire little friend Yang as the Foreign Elder and provide him with the corresponding treatment!”
“Not interested!”
“Little friend Yang, please listen to this old man’s whole story before making a decision,” Ba Qing Yan secretly grieved in his heart, thinking he should not have accepted this kind of task. He had never met a person as difficult to deal with as Yang Kai, no matter what he said, the only responses he got were indifference or flat out silence.
“Little friend Yang, you have offended the Xu Family and killed Xu Zhi Shen. The next time Xu Family comes, they won’t send just one or two people; for the Hundred Mountains Picture, they may turn out in full force. Without my Hai Ke Family’s shelter, how does your tiny mountain top plan on resisting them? Even if you are not afraid of the Xu Family, what about the young lady beside you? If the city gates are on fire, the innocents inside are the ones who suffer, I believe little friend Yang should understand this concept, right? Now is not the time to act defiantly, if you want to protect yourself and that young lady, allying with my Hai Ke Family is your only hope!”
Ba Qing Yan felt quite bitter. He was putting forward his best offer in an incredibly straightforward manner. If it had been anyone else, how could he have spoken so frankly? He was an old fox with a silver tongue and knew what should be said and what should not be said during a negotiation.
But when facing Yang Kai, Ba Qing Yan had no choice but to flatly list all the conditions the Hai Ke Family was willing to offer, because he found that this young man’s temper was short and his patience even shorter. Perhaps it also had something to do with Wu Yi that Yang Kai’s opinion of the Hai Ke Family was so poor. No matter the case, Ba Qing Yan knew if he turned around and left now, he wouldn’t get another chance.
Presenting his offer so sincerely, Ba Qing Yan secretly thought that as long as Yang Kai wasn’t a fool, he would certainly accept the proposal.
As such, he directed a look of anticipation towards Yang Kai.
“You only have five breaths left!” Yang Kai remained indifferent though, not showing the slightest interest whatsoever.
Ba Qing Yan’s expression cramped up as he cursed in his heart while grinding his teeth, “Little friend, my Hai Ke Family and the Xu Family are both peripheral forces of Shadow Moon Hall. Although there is some friction between us, we are still considered allies. There is an agreement between us to go forward and retreat at once, to live and die together. If not for this, small forces like ours may have already been eaten up by Shadow Moon Hall. Has little friend Yang not considered this?”
These words carried a clear threatening undertone to them, implying that if Yang Kai did not accept the Hai Ke Family’s asylum, once the Xu Family decided to act against him, he might have to face aggression from the Hai Ke Family as well.
Yang Kai nodded indifferently, “You’re all welcome to come together, just see if you’re able to leave the same way!”
Saying so, without waiting for Ba Qing Yan to react, Yang Kai turned around and walked back towards the cave.
Ba Qing Yan was trembling with anger. Although his strength wasn’t too high, he was still an Elder of the Hai Ke Family. He had been ordered to recruit Yang Kai, but how could he have known this little brat would be so uncompromising? Arrogant to the point of disregarding him altogether.
Did he really think so highly of himself? Even if his combat power was unreasonably high, as a single trivial Saint King, did this boy really think he could block the entire Xu Family? He was simply overreaching himself!
“Little friend Yang!” Ba Qing Yan had become exasperated with Yang Kai’s attitude and shouted out coldly, “Dragon Cave Mountain is the property of my Hai Ke Family, outsiders are not welcome here, little friend Yang must find somewhere else to live!”
Yang Kai, who had just arrived at the entrance of the cave, heard this and turned back to glare coldly at Ba Qing Yan.
Ba Qing Yan, however, wasn’t afraid and simply sneered, “I know this place was supposedly given to you by Wu Yi before, but now that Wu Yi has announced she is leaving the family, she has no right to this Dragon Cave Mountain unless she returns to the family to receive discipline from the Family Law! Even if she does though, my Hai Ke Family still cannot accept outsiders loitering on our land. Anyone found doing so will be punished accordingly!”
“Scram!” Yang Kai snorted as he sent out a powerful burst of Spiritual Energy.
Ba Qing Yan let out a pitiful scream as he was sent flying backwards, his face going pale as he vomited a mouthful of blood mid-air. By the time he landed, his expression was filled with fright.
He was a Third-Order Saint King master, but in terms of Soul strength, it was apparent he was vastly inferior to Yang Kai, a newly promoted First Order Saint King, as his Knowledge Sea was currently shaking uncontrollably.
If this boy wanted to take his life right now, how easy would it be?
“I won’t kill you this time because I need you to deliver a message to your Hai Ke Family for me. If you dare try to make trouble for me, I’ll slaughter everyone in your Hai Ke Family down to the chickens and dogs! Wu Yi and her followers are my people now, and Dragon Cave Mountain is mine as well. Without my consent, anyone who sets foot within fifty kilometres of here will be considered my enemy and I will handle them as such!”
“You…” Ba Qing Yan pointed at Yang Kai, his finger shaking, extreme rage filling his heart, almost coughing up blood again, but ultimate not daring to say anything more, summoning his Star Shuttle and swiftly flying away.
Outside the cave, when they heard Ba Qing Yan say that everyone here would be punished, the cultivators who had followed Wu Yi here gave her low-spirited looks. All of them were well aware of the punishments meted out under the Family Law and that it was not something most could bear. Of those who had suffered the Family Law’s punishment, seven out of ten had become cripples, two would directly die, and the last would be permanently bed-ridden, unable to even take care of themselves in the future.
But in the blink of an eye, Ba Qing Yan, the Elder they all feared and respected, had been injured so severely he spat blood and fled, not even daring to bring up the Family Law again.
None of them understood what had just happened, but after a moment of stunned silence, they all directed looks filled with admiration and worship towards Yang Kai. They had all left the family because of the unfair treatment Wu Yi had suffered, including Ba Qing Yan’s intentions to punish her with the Family Law, so now they were all quite happy to see the same Ba Qing Yan suffer a loss.
These low-level cultivators only feared Elder Ba, none of them respected him, so naturally, they didn’t care if he lived or died. The only one they cared about was Wu Yi.
Back inside, Yang Kai found a very dispirited Wu Yi and quickly comforted, “Don’t worry, as long as you don’t want to return to the family, they won’t be able to force you back.”
“I’m not worried about myself, it’s you I’m worried about. Yang Kai, you went too far this time. Although Elder Ba’s words weren’t said in good faith, the agreement between the Hai Ke Family and the Xu Family really does exist. Once the Xu Family openly takes action, even if the Hai Ke Family is unwilling, they will have no choice but to ally themselves with them. On top of that, after how you treated Elder Ba today, I’m afraid the family will only pull closer to the Xu Family.”
“I have a sense of discretion. In any case, this place won’t be seized by others and none of you will be harmed as long as you stay here!”
Yang Kai truly didn’t fear these two small families. He still had nearly a hundred drops of Golden Blood, and if he really found himself ganged up on, after summoning a drop of Golden Blood, he could kill as many Saint Kings as he wanted.
Yang Kai had already verified the power of the Golden Blood and was confident than an ordinary Saint King wouldn’t be able to put up any resistance when facing it; after all, a drop of Golden Blood was equal to three months dedicated cultivation. It was just that the Golden Blood was too precious, so Yang Kai was unwilling to use it unless absolutely necessary.
“That’s right, as long as I’m here, forget about the Xu Family, even if a few Origin Returning Realm masters were to come, they’d have no way to take us,” Yang Yan suddenly interjected.
Yang Kai and Wu Yi both turned surprised looks towards her, neither of them having realized when she had appeared.
Yang Yan smiled mysteriously, “Three days, just wait three days and you’ll see!”
Seeing her confident look, Yang Kai also felt a sense of anticipation. He wanted to know just how powerful the defensive Spirit Array Yang Yan arranged would be after consuming all those precious materials.
Seemingly infected Yang Yan’s confidence, the haze between Wu Yi’s brow was swept away and she became cheerful and lively as well.
Although there were only a few people here on Dragon Cave Mountain, everything was quite stable. The money and materials were under Wu Yi’s management and with the help of her forty subordinates and the Stone Puppet, Yang Yan was quickly able to arrange a grand Spirit Array.
Yang Kai returned to his stone room again only to discover that a new stone door had been added to the entrance. This stone door was thin but incredibly solid, so much so that when closed it, Yang Kai was surprised to find that no sound from the outside could reach him. The stone door seemed to have a sound insulation effect as well as a shielding effect that prevented outside Divine Senses from penetrating it. However, his own Divine Sense was able to extend beyond the stone room if he wanted to see what was happening outside.
This stone door was quite a good piece of work and Yang Kai was certain it had stemmed from Yang Yan’s hand. With this stone door, when he wanted to go into seclusion in the future, it would be much simpler. At least people outside wouldn’t be able to disturb himself when they were passing in and out of the cave and no one would be able to see what he was up to either.
Yang Yan had asked him to find a way to earn some more Saint Crystals, not just to arrange the Spirit Array around Dragon Cave Mountain, but also to supply everyone here with cultivation resources. Although these people didn’t really have anything to do with Yang Kai, they had all left their family to support Wu Yi and were currently helping him out with a number of tasks he didn’t have time to attend to. As such, Yang Kai couldn’t treat them poorly. In the future, they would need Saint Crystals for cultivation while pills and artefacts would all cost money to acquire.
If he wanted to accumulate a large amount of Saint Crystals in a short period of time, selling Space Spirit Crystals was the most efficient method, but it was also the stupidest choice he could make, so naturally, Yang Kai wouldn’t do this.
Once a large number of Space Spirit Crystals flowed out from here, it would surely attract others’ attention.
Since he couldn’t sell Space Spirit Crystals, Yang Kai could only rely on Alchemy.
Yang Kai was a high-grade Alchemist, so he never really needed to worry about money.
There were countless spirit grasses and spirit medicines inside his Black Book Space, so of which he had acquired from the Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce branch warehouse on Rainfall Star, some of which he had collected on the floating continent, and some of which he had seized from others like Gui Che.
The number of spirit grasses and spirit medicines owned by Yang Kai was almost equivalent to the reserves of a medium-sized force, and they were of very high grade, including Origin and Origin King Grade.
Taking out some herbs and his pill furnace, Yang Kai began performing Alchemy in his stone room.
Now that his strength had improved again, he could break through the current bottleneck in his Alchemy level as well. Yang Kai tried refining several Saint King Grade High-Rank pills and found that he could do so without any difficulty. Although the probability of forming Pill Veins wasn’t too high, it still reached about twenty percent.
And with the passage of time, that percentage chance gradually increased, soon becoming twenty-five, then thirty percent…
Yang Kai estimated that he should now be an Origin Grade Low-Rank Alchemist, that is to say, he could successfully refine Origin Grade Low-Rank pills! However, if he forces himself to refine such a pill now, there was a decent chance he would fail and waste a set of Origin Grade materials.
Yang Kai didn’t need to force himself right now and was performing Alchemy right now mainly to earn money. A Saint King Grade High-Rank pill that formed Pill Veins was even more valuable than the ordinary Origin Grade Low-Rank pill, so he there was no need for him to take risks with the precious Origin Grade materials.
Forgetting about sleeping or eating, Yang Kai totally immersed himself in the world of Alchemy, and by performing Alchemy, he was able to further consolidate his new Saint King Realm cultivation.
Saint King Grade pills were refined in an endless stream, with jade bottles soon pilling up all around his stone room.
For other Alchemists, they would need to take some time to restore themselves after such an intense period of Alchemy, but Yang Kai didn’t need to do so. He had an incredible amount of Spiritual Energy and with the constant nurturing of the Six Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, his Divine Sense intensity was on a completely different level to others in the same realm. The rate at which Yang Kai’s Alchemy consumed his Spiritual Energy was basically equivalent to the rate his Soul Warming Lotus would restore it.
Three days later, Yang Kai was still immersed in Alchemy when he suddenly heard Yang Yan called out excitedly, “Start!”
The next moment, the ground shook and some dust fell from the roof of the stone chamber, but soon, everything stabilized again, and a huge cheer rose from outside.
[What happened?] Bewildered, Yang Kai put away his pill furnace, herbs, and refined pills, and went outside to investigate.
Just outside the cave, Yang Kai saw several dozen people standing around cheering, seemingly having encountered something worth celebrating. Even Wu Yi, who had been somewhat depressed these past few days, had a big smile on her face. As for Yang Yan, she was wearing an even more amazing look, standing there triumphantly as if beneath the Heavens only she was supreme. Yu Feng was standing nearby as flattery flowed from his lips like a river, causing Yang Kai to frown deeply, unable to understand how these two could act so shamelessly.
“What’s going on?” Yang Kai walked over to Wu Yi’s side and asked.
“Oh, Yang Yan just finished arranging the defensive Spirit Array,” Wu Yi replied with a smile.
“Finished?” Yang Kai turned to look around but was unable to discover anything out of the ordinary, it could even be said that nothing was different from half a month ago. Despite that, Yang Kai could somehow sense that this place had undergone some kind of change, but what the change was, he couldn’t say.
Yang Kai’s expression immediately became dignified as he discovered that he had still been underestimating Yang Yan’s accomplishments in Spirit Arrays. The defence Spirit Array she had arranged couldn’t even be detected by him.
“Yang Yan, how powerful is this defensive array?” Yang Kai called out to her.
“Would you like to give it a try?” Yang Yan’s beautiful eyes flashed a sly light as she encouraged Yang Kai, “Go on in, I’ll let you clearly understand.”
Yang Kai stared at her for a moment before shaking his head, “If I go in, wouldn’t I lose a lot of face?”
“That’s not certain. Aren’t you very fierce? Can’t you kill Third Order Saint Kings? Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to easily break my Spirit Array,” Yang Yan shook her head, pretending to be mysterious.
Yang Kai just smiled and observed more intently.
Spirit Arrays couldn’t be judged with conventional knowledge. While Yang Kai was indeed capable of killing Third Order Saint King cultivators, once he fell into a profound Spirit Array, he might still have no way to escape.
Although Yang Yan was speaking ambiguously, anyone would be able to see how confident she was, and Yang Kai was certain that once he entered this Spirit Array, all he would be able to do was embarrass himself.
With so many eyes watching, he wasn’t about to do something so foolish.
Seeing Yang Kai go back to observing, Yang Yan spat disdainfully but didn’t pay it much mind. She had enormous self-confidence in the Spirit Array she had arranged. If someone not proficient in Spirit Arrays were to fall into it, no matter how strong they were, they wouldn’t be able to stir up any trouble.
The only thing Yang Yan felt was a pity was that she was a bit short on time and materials, so the Spirit Array she just finished arranging could only be used for defence and had no lethality to it. If she had enough time and materials though, she was confident she could transform the entire Dragon Cave Mountain into a fortress that would slaughter anyone who tried to enter without her permission like helpless lambs.
Yang Kai obviously didn’t understand this type of Spirit Array, but with his experience, he could obviously see how profound it was, so Yang Yan wasn’t worried in this regard.
Yang Kai truly couldn’t see through this Spirit Array. Every time he sent out his Divine Sense, he would feel like he was tossing rocks into the ocean, unable to create any waves, surprising him greatly. It was as if this space was capable of devouring his Divine Sense!
One had to know that Yang Kai’s Soul was far different from that of an ordinary cultivator. Although in terms of cultivation he was just a newly promoted First Order Saint King, the intensity of his Divine Sense was definitely not lower than an average First Order Origin Returning Realm master. If even his Divine Sense was unable to detect anything here, it was obvious how amazing this Spirit Array was.
His complexion became even more dignified upon realizing this and Yang Kai quickly condensed a drop of blood on his fingertip before wiping it across his left eyelid.
Since completely refining Great Demon God’s Demon Eye of Annihilation, Yang Kai had only used it once. It was during the final battle with the Bone Race’s leader back on Tong Xuan Realm. Yang Kai hadn’t expected the next time he would use it would be to spy on Yang Yan’s Spirit Array.
As the Golden Blood dissolved into his pupil, Yang Kai’s left eye suddenly turned a brilliant golden colour and took on a majestic aura which made it seem capable of swallowing Souls. Yang Yan and Wu Yi, who were standing close beside Yang Kai, both shrank back instinctively as they felt a cold chill wash over them.
Using the Demon Eye of Annihilation, Yang Kai was finally able to discover some traces of the Spirit Array.
The Demon Eye of Annihilation was one of Great Demon God’s Divine Abilities and was said to be capable of seeing through all forms of illusion. Yang Yan’s Spirit Array arrangement was indeed brilliant and subtle, but it was not completely traceless.
When Yang Kai swept his eyes around, he could see various hidden energy streams forming a barrier roughly a thousand meters outside the cave. These energy ripples weren’t visible to the naked eye or even the Divine Sense, but it could not escape the perception of the Demon Eye of Annihilation.
Yang Kai felt a dangerous aura coming from those hidden energy ripples!
While Yang Kai could now perceive the existence of the Yang Yan’s Spirit Array, he still had no clue how he would go about opening or bypassing it, astonishing him greatly. His evaluation of Yang Yan immediately rose again as he realized he hadn’t just picked up a treasure, but a priceless treasure!
“Yang Kai, are you going in or not? Hurry up and decide, I also want to know how powerful the Spirit Array is,” Yang Yan saw Yang Kai still not moving and couldn’t help urging him.
Yang Kai dismissed the Demon Eye of Annihilation, smiled, and shook his head, “There’s no need for me to go in, some people to test this Spirit Array’s might are about to deliver themselves.”
Saying so, he turned his gaze towards a certain spot on the horizon.
“Who’s come?” Yang Yan asked curiously.
“It’s the Xu Family’s people!” Wu Yi pretty face sank as she too discovered a group of cultivators rapidly approaching from afar. After seeing the appearance of the leaders, she couldn’t help calling out in alarm, “Xu Family Patriarch Xu Zhi Kun, their five Elders, and four Foreign Elders have all come!”
“Quite the luxurious lineup,” Yang Kai sneered.
Yang Kai has essentially stumbled into this dispute with the Xu Family. It all started when he had gone to Heavenly Fate City to buy and sell a few things. While he was away, Yang Yan had caught the eye of the Xu Family’s waste of a Young Master, leading to a series of events that culminated in the current situation.
However, since they were his enemies now, Yang Kai wasn’t afraid to face them.
“Yang Kai, don’t underestimate these people. Although Xu Zhi Shen’s strength in the Xu Family was good, he wasn’t the strongest. I’ve heard that the Xu Family Patriarch, Xu Zhi Kun, is on the brink of breaking through to the Origin Returning Realm, so he is definitely much stronger than Xu Zhi Shen. Those Elders and Foreign Elders are all also Third Order Saint Kings, facing all of them at once…” Wu Yi warned in a worried tone.
Although she knew that Yang Kai was very strong, a lone tiger could not defeat a pack of wolves. The Xu Family had deployed all of their strongest masters, so they were obviously prepared to fight a decisive battle.
“I’m not underestimating them. The Hai Ke Family’s people have also come, interesting!” Yang Kai stared coldly towards a different direction.
From the direction Yang Kai was staring, another group of people were rapidly flying over. This group’s strength was no less than the Xu Family’s, every member a Saint King with several of them having reached the Third Order.
Wu Yi followed his gaze and her face paled as she muttered, “The Patriarch has also come…”
The two families had clearly reached an agreement to come together. The Xu Family clearly had hostile intent towards Yang Kai, but the intentions of the Hai Ke Family weren’t apparent yet.
Last time, Yang Kai had chased away Ba Qing Yan, causing the Hai Ke Family to lose face. When that happened, Ba Qing Yan had threatened him that the Hai Ke Family would ally themselves with the Xu Family.
If this was really the case, then whether they were members of the Wu Yi’s family or not, Yang Kai wouldn’t show mercy. Yang Kai was thankful to Wu Yi, but he did not have any warm feelings towards the Hai Ke Family at all.
The masters from the two families quickly gathered together and began discussing something, but neither side immediately moved forward.
After a moment, it became apparent the two sides were having some kind of disagreement as their discussion was becoming quite heated. The Xu Family Patriarch Xu Zhi Kun eventually waved his sleeve angrily before leading the Xu Family masters towards Yang Kai’s side while the people from the Hai Ke Family stood in place without moving.
Seeing this, Wu Yi couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief.
She really didn’t know what to do if her former Patriarch and Elders acted against them as well. No matter what had happened, she was once a member of the Hai Ke Family, so seeing her former family’s Elders and Foreign Elders led by the Patriarch arrive here with ill intentions left a bad taste in Wu Yi’s mouth. Fortunately, they seemed to not want to immediately get involved.
This was the best result that Wu Yi could hope for right now.
Even Yu Feng and the couple dozen cultivators visibly relaxed when they saw this scene, as if a great stone had been lifted from their hearts.
“Qing Yan, you know the strength of that Yang Kai the best, what do you think his end will be this time?” Patriarch Yi En of the Hai Ke Family turned to the slightly pale Ba Qing Yan and asked.
A few days ago, Ba Qing Yan had been injured by Yang Kai and returned to the Hai Ke Family. The Elders and Foreign Elder were all surprised when they learned about this. They had been trying to overestimate Yang Kai as much as possible but hadn’t imagined they were actually still underestimating him.
According to Ba Qing Yan’s description, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was no weaker than that of an Origin Returning Realm master. None of them understood how Yang Kai achieved this, but it was just one more example of how this young man wasn’t simple.
Yang Kai’s attitude towards them and their attempt to recruit him had upset the Hai Ke Family greatly, so this time they had joined forces with the Xu Family to find trouble with him. However, Yi En did not make their stance clear and wasn’t willing to immediately send his forces forward. He was content to stand by and watch from the sidelines, allowing the tigers to fight amongst themselves.
Hearing Yi En’s question, Ba Qing Yan looked gloomy and said, “Although he is very strong, I don’t believe he can emerge victorious this time. For the Hundred Mountains Picture, almost all the top masters from the Xu Family have arrived here today. He can probably kill one or two of them, but two fists can’t block four blows. He will definitely die.”
“Good!” Yi En’s eyes flashed, seemingly quite satisfied.
“Patriarch, why don’t we join in now? Since that Yang Kai is certain to die, and his attitude towards my family is extremely bad, there’s no need for us to try to recruit him anymore. Fighting him now will allow us to sell a favour to the Xu Family. We might also have a chance to snatch the Hundred Mountains Picture from Yang Kai when he dies!” Elder Wa Lun asked in a low voice.
“That’s right, Patriarch, the Xu Family has already lost the Hundred Mountains Picture, so if we snatch it now, even if we can’t hold onto it, we can demand a lot of compensation from the Xu Family for it. For the Hundred Mountains Picture, I think the Xu Family will be very generous,” Foreign Elder Huang Juan also added, obviously thinking a good opportunity had been served up to them.
“Patriarch wouldn’t be thinking of waiting for one side to be defeated then reaping the fisherman’s benefits, right?” Someone with more flexible thoughts suddenly asked.
The Hai Ke Family and Xu Family had always been comparable in strength, but with Xu Zhi Shen’s death, and the loss of the Hundred Mountains Picture, the current Xu Family was undoubtedly weaker in compared to the Hai Ke Family.
If Yang Kai could kill a few more of the Xu Family’s Saint King masters, perhaps the Hai Ke Family could wipe them out completely and annex the rest of the Xu Family!
Considering all this, many of the Hai Ke Family’s masters felt their blood begin to boil while at the same time thinking their Patriarch was worthy of his high position, his eyes could clearly see further than their own. They had just wanted to snatch the Hundred Mountains Picture and reap some benefits from the Xu Family, but why bother with that when an even greater opportunity lay before them?
Yi En didn’t pay them any mind though and simply said, “Do all of you only think about immediate benefits?”
“Patriarch means…” Everyone looked at Yi En with suspicion.
Yi En sighed, “Why is my Hai Ke Family just a peripheral force of Shadow Moon Hall? Because we aren’t strong enough and because we don’t have a powerful master of our own, if we had an Origin Returning Realm master, I believe Shadow Moon Hall would have to reconsider our status!”
Many of the Elders and Foreign Elder frowned, wondering what Yi En was implying, but Chang Qi actually wore a thoughtful expression.
“What Patriarch wants to say is, if we recruit this Yang Kai into the family, with his aptitude, we can make him break through to the Origin Returning Realm?”
“Ah? Does Patriarch still want to solicit him? But that little brat is too unruly!” Wa Lun exclaimed, shaking his head, “I think it will be difficult to recruit such a wild junior.”
“That’s right Patriarch, on top of that, he’s only a First Order Saint King now, it will be many decades before he can break through to the Origin Returning Realm, who knows what will happen after such a long time?” Ba Qing Yan also added. He had lost face twice because of Yang Kai, so although he knew he was not Yang Kai’s opponent, he was still unwilling to so easily accept such insults, how could he be in favour of trying to recruit him again?
Yi En shook his head and quickly said, “According to Qing Yan, this time Yang Kai will surely die, but he will definitely be able to pull a few people from the Xu Family down with him. We only need to take action at a critical moment to save his life. If that brat has any common sense, he will understand what he needs to do and submit to family. Once he pledges allegiance to my Hai Ke Family, wouldn’t the Hundred Mountains Picture be ours as well?”
Everyone’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Chang Qi, who had not spoken yet, thought about it for a moment before asking, “Patriarch, what if he refuses to surrender?”
Yi En simply sneered, “He won’t refuse, when forced to choose between life or death, he will definitely pick the former.”
“But Patriarch, by doing that, wouldn’t we heavily offend the Xu Family?” Ba Qing Yan asked with some worry.
“The Xu Family?” Yi En flashed a look of disdain, “So what if we offend the Xu Family? After today, there will be no Xu Family.”
Upon hearing this, everyone Elder Foreign Elder instantly understood what Yi En thought, and couldn’t help taking a breath.
The Patriarch did not just plan to save Yang Kai in his moment of crisis to force him to submit, he also wanted to take this opportunity to destroy the masters of the Xu Family! Yi En wanted Yang Kai, the Hundred Mountains Picture, and the Xu Family.
For a moment, many of the Hai Ke Family masters felt a sense of awe.
“As long as this little brat is willing to surrender, we can dedicate all the clan’s reserves to buy pills for him. With his aptitude, as long as there are enough pills, he should be able to break through to the Origin Returning Realm in less than ten years!” Yi En continued to explain, seemingly able to see a beautiful future stretching out in front of his eyes, his face becoming more youthful and radiant in the process. “Once he breaks through to the Origin Returning Realm, my Hai Ke Family’s status will soar and we will be able to enter Shadow Moon Hall’s inner circle, at that time, how could we not recover our losses?”
Everyone gasped.
They naturally knew the consequences of a cultivator using pills in such a manner. While it would indeed be possible to break through from the Saint King Realm to the Origin Returning Realm within ten years this way, anyone who did so would destroy their foundation, turning even the greatest of geniuses into wastes.
But that didn’t matter to them, Yang Kai was just an outsider, a loner Wu Yi had plucked from the Starry Sky. Even if he was an unparalleled talent, he was not a member of the Hai Ke Family, if he turned into a waste then that was that. As long as he could bring some benefits to their family, what happened to him in the future was of no consequence.
“Patriarch is far-sighted, worthy of our admiration!” Ba Qing Yan bowed deeply. He really admired his Patriarch’s strategy which would kill three birds with one stone. If they succeeded, not only would they be able to preserve their family’s reputation, but also annex the Xu Family and acquiring Yang Kai at the same time. Then, ten years later, their family would rise up and no longer need to struggle for scraps at the bottom of society.
The Elders and Foreign Elders also quickly praised their Patriarch’s wicked scheme. Only Chang Qi and Hao An, who had some interaction with Yang Kai, looked at each other and sighed.
On the other side, under the leadership of Xu Zhi Kun, the Xu Family’s masters had approached to within a couple hundred meters of the cave’s entrance, but as soon as they stepped into the area covered by Yang Array’s Spirit Array, all of them frowned deeply.
At that moment, they collectively felt a sense of anxiety rise in their hearts and began scanning their surroundings, but none of them could detect anything out of the ordinary.
“Patriarch, he’s the one who killed Third Elder!” One of the Saint Kings who had come together with Xu Zhi Kun pointed at Yang Kai distantly.
Xu Zhi Kun’s eyes narrowed as a palpable murderous intent overflowed from his body; sweeping the young man in front of him with his Divine Sense though, Xi Zhi Kun frowned, “Didn’t you say he was just a Third Order Saint? Why does he look like a First Order Saint King then?”
“Ah?” The man who just spoke exclaimed, “But that day…”
“Waste! If you can’t even tell what cultivation your enemy has, what use do you have?” Although Xu Zhi Kun was viciously reproving this man, in his heart he was actually relaxing somewhat.
He had received a report from several of his family’s masters saying that a Third Order Saint Realm boy had killed Xu Zhi Shen and snatched the Hundred Mountains Picture. Obviously, he didn’t believe that to be possible, and now that he found that this little brat was clearly a First Order Saint King, Xu Zhi Shen’s heart calmed greatly.
Because they wanted to take advantage of the conflict between Yang Kai and the Xu Family, Yang Kai’s breakthrough and wounding of Ba Qing Yan had been kept secret by the Hai Ke Family. As a result, Xu Zhi Kun naturally thought that the information he had first received was simply inaccurate.
Although the possibility that this young man had broken through in these past few days existed, the chances of that were too low.
A Third Order Saint killing a Third Order Saint King wasn’t something Xu Zhi Kun was willing to accept, but if Yang Kai had been a First Order Saint King all along, him emerging victorious was barely within the realm of possibility.
Xu Zhi Kun instinctively felt that the cultivators who had escaped at that time and returned to the family has simply been too panicked and failed to notice Yang Kai concealing his cultivation.
“You’re the scoundrel named Yang Kai who hurt my nephew Tian Ze and killed my third brother?” Xu Zhi Kun shouted sharply, “Who gave you the courage to kill my Xu Family’s Elder?”
When Xu Zhi Kun roared, the dozens of cultivators behind Wu Yi wore stern expressions and summoned out their artefacts, raising their vigilance as high as it could go. Even Wu Yi and Yu Feng began to silently condense their Saint Qi, preparing to take action at a moment’s notice.
Yang Kai stepped forward with a sneer on his face and asked back, “Are you the Xu Family’s Patriarch?”
“I am!”
“Before I could go see you, you’ve decided to deliver yourself to me. En, good, since you’ve come, you must be prepared to remain forever.”
The cultivator who had just spoken to Xu Zhi Kun a moment ago shivered and immediately took a few steps back.
He could clearly remember that when Xu Zhi Shen came here last time, this young man had uttered similar words, and the result was that Xu Zhi Shen had really died. These words were enough to bring up that trauma and if it weren’t for his family’s Patriarch, Elders, and Foreign Elders all standing nearby, he would have already run away.
Realizing the unusual behaviour of this man, Xu Zhi Kun glared him coldly and grit his teeth before turning back and shouting, “Bold Junior! Hand over my Xu Family’s Hundred Mountains Picture and cripple your dantian, then this old master will spare your life, otherwise don’t blame this old master for bullying the weak!”
Xu Zhi Kun couldn’t wait to shred Yang Kai’s corpse into ten thousand pieces, so how could he allow him to die so easily? Only after torturing this young man till he begged for death could he comfort his brother’s soul in heaven.
“Enough nonsense, if you want to fight, then fight, father here doesn’t have time to waste on you!” Yang Kai coldly snorted.
“Good good good!” Xu Zhi Kun, seeing Yang Kai still bluffing and blustering, smiled angrily and shouted, “As you wish!”
As soon as his words fell, he leapt forward and charged Yang Kai with amazing momentum. The dozen or so Xu Family Elders and Foreign Elders, all of whom were Third Order Saint Kings, followed close behind Xu Zhi Kun, apparently preparing to kill Yang Kai in a single decisive blow.
No matter what Yang Kai’s true cultivation was, him being able to kill Xu Zhi Shen meant his combat strength was astonishing, so how could Xu Zhi Kun dare despise him? The plan had always been to swarm Yang Kai with all their forces, not giving him any chance to resist.
The Hai Ke Family, who were watching from in the distance, saw the Xu Family all act simultaneously and gawked.
“Isn’t this too shameless?” Wa Lun cried out. Just now Xu Zhi Kun had openly declared he didn’t want to bully the weak, yet in the blink of an eye, he was not just bullying the weak in terms of strength but numbers as well. Apparently the Xu Family’s skin was far thicker than they had imagined.
“Like this, that little brat will have no way to preserve his life, Patriarch, what shall we do?” Huang Juan’s brow furrowed, obviously not optimistic about Yang Kai’s future.
Yi En’s expression also became gloomy. To be honest, he had not expected the Xu Family to launch such a fierce offensive right at the onset of the battle. Now it seemed they wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the situation so he could only sigh and console himself, “If Yang Kai can’t escape this calamity, he’s not worthy soliciting, but… let’s just observe for now. Perhaps he won’t immediately die.”
After hearing this, all the Hai Ke Family masters present turned their attention back to the battle with stunned expressions.
Because they found that even as the dozen or so Xu Family Third Order Saint Kings rushed towards him, Yang Kai actually remained motionless with a clear sneer on his face.
In the next moment, everything within three thousand meters of the cave entrance was suddenly submerged in a thick bank of fog, completely concealing the dozen Xu Family masters as well as Yang Kai.
Dozens of Divine Senses from the Hai Ke Family group were simultaneously released to probe this fog bank, but none of them could even penetrate the outer layer of this fog, much less sense anything inside!
“A Spirit Array?” Yi En exclaimed in shock, his body trembling slightly as the other Elders and Foreign Elders all felt a slight chill wash over them.
The existence of a Spirit Array wasn’t they were worried about, it was the fact that this Spirit Array could completely block their Divine Senses that the Hai Ke Family masters found terrifying. The master who arranged this Spirit Array must have incredibly profound attainments in the field of Spirit Arrays.
Did a profound Array Master actually live here?
As soon as Yang Yan Spirit Array activated, Yang Kai knew that the Xu Family was doomed.
The fog bank completely enveloped the surrounding three thousand meter radius and although his own sight was somewhat obstructed and his Divine Sense was unable to probe the inside situation, Yang Kai could at least still see the Xu Family masters.
On the other hand, the dozen or so Xu Family Third Order Saint King masters all wore blank expression. They were all standing near to each other but seemed to be unable to see one another. Soon, looks of horror-filled their faces as some began flying around like headless flies.
“Yang Kai, the current Spirit Array doesn’t have any offensive ability, if you want to kill them, you have to do it yourself,” Yang Yan’s voice suddenly sounded from the side, eliciting a grin from Yang Kai as he nodded, “Got it.”
As soon as he said so, and a dark cloud of fire burst from his figure and condensed into the shape of a roaring fire dragon before soaring towards the closest Xu Family Elder to Yang Kai.
That Xu Family Elder was still in a dazed state, and although he was being extremely vigilant of his surroundings, he was still unable to notice the fire dragon until it was right on top of him, leaving him only enough time to recklessly push his strength in an attempt to protect himself.
Unfortunately for him, the Saint Qi he sent out was like fuel for the black flames, failing to weaken them in the slightest and instead actually increasing their intensity and momentum. In the next instant, the giant Demonic Flame dragon swallowed its prey whole.
“Black flames…” The Xu Family Elder yelled out in horror before he died.
He had heard from the few cultivators who had fled back to the Xu Family that Xu Zhi Shen had been burned to death by these black flames, and that even the Hundred Mountains Picture was unable to resist their might.
His strength wasn’t as high as Xu Zhi Shen, and he didn’t have a powerful artefact like the Hundred Mountains Picture, so how was he supposed to resist?
In less than a single breath, the Xu Family Elder was burnt to cinders, the Saint King Grade Mid-Rank Artefact Armour on his body not providing any protection at all.
“Fifth Elder, what happened?” Just a few meters away, a middle-aged man shouted. He had heard the Fifth Elder’s cry just now, but when he called out, the Fifth Elder didn’t respond.
A thick sense of unease rose in this middle-aged man’s heart and when he turned around, he suddenly saw a young man standing right in front of him, a deep sneer filled with mockery and disdain upon his face.
“It’s you!” He recognized Yang Kai at a glance, and without thinking, immediately summoned a long whip artefact to his hand and sent out countless strikes towards this young man.
Yang Kai lightly stepped back, but to this middle-aged man’s amazement, that was all it took for him to lose sight of Yang Kai. The countless whip strikes also seemed to sink into the fog, all of them failing to connect with their intended target.
He had instantly exerted his full strength but was unable to even scratch his opponent. The middle-aged man suddenly felt his chest heave and a metallic taste filled his mouth. He wasn’t sure if the cause was the backlash from his failed attack or excessive panic in his heart, but before he was able to stabilize himself, he suddenly felt a great hand filled with burning strength grip his neck. Terror filling him, the middle-aged man felt his body being rapidly consumed by the flames and he only had time to let out one panic filled scream before he too died.
Yang Kai released the dead body from his hand and turned to stare at another nearby Xu Family master before casually strolling over to him.
A few breaths later, another blood-curdling scream rang out.
It was easy. Too easy!
Although Yang Kai believed that with his current strength, he could quickly win a battle against an ordinary Third Order Saint King, it would certainly not be as easy as this. The masters trapped inside Yang Yan’s Spirit Array seemed to be unable to even notice him, so all he needed to do was fly up to them and harvest their lives.
Was this the Spirit Array’s true might? The Spirit Array protecting Nine Heavens Holy Land was worse than trash compared to this.
What exactly was Yang Yan? She is so young, so how could she be both an Origin Grade Artefact Refiner and an Array Master of such astonishing ability?
It was always others who were stunned and amazed by Yang Kai’s skill, but this time it was Yang Kai who was shocked by Yang Yan. And according to Yang Yan, this was just a defensive Spirit Array, one that had been hastily arranged and was still incomplete. If she had completely finished it, would there even be a need for Yang Kai to take action? Wouldn’t all the Xu Family people have died inside the Spirit Array without even realizing what had happened?
This little girl was too terrifying. She was a little timid and didn’t understand how to fight, but her other abilities were beyond outrageous.
Yang Yan must have a profound story behind her, but Yang Kai didn’t have any interest in investigating her, if she wanted to explain one day, she would naturally do so.
Inside the Spirit Array which spans a three thousand meter radius area, the screams of the Xu Family masters rang out one after another, each scream representing the death of another person. Yang Kai strolled casually through the Spirit Array and wherever he passed, fog which could blind both sight and Divine Sense would separate on its own accord, guiding him towards the next enemy.
Yang Kai knew that this was due to Yang Yan assisting him.
The Xu Family Patriarch, Xu Zhi Kun, at this moment, had none of the previous confidence and arrogance left in his eyes. His face was incredibly pale as he swung a long staff in his hand around randomly, fiercely bombarding his surroundings while five of the Xu Family masters gathered tightly around him, not daring to separate by even a step.
But no matter how they attacked the fog, it continued enveloping them without scattering in the slightest.
Although this fog didn’t pose any direct threat to them, the Xu Family masters were still like frightened rabbits, each scream they heard in the distance sending chills up their spines.
In the beginning, they could still hear the calls of many masters as they launched attacks or screamed for help.
But over time, such sounds and screams gradually diminished, eventually disappearing.
An Elder following Xu Zhi Kun kept shouting the names of the other Xu Family masters, but he received no responses.
“They’re all dead… they’re all dead…” The man paled and mumbled repeatedly.
The remaining six masters couldn’t restrain the fear in their hearts as they unconsciously shivered in fright.
Death itself wasn’t terrifying, waiting for death to come was what was terrifying! When they came here, they had brought more than a dozen Third Order Saint Kings. They were the strongest elites of the Xu Family, but now more than half of that group had died without being able to put up any resistance.
The few survivors hadn’t even figured out how the enemy was attacking them.
“I can’t take it anymore! I want to leave!” One of the Xu Family masters snapped under the pressure and while waving the giant machete in his hand madly, he dove into the fog in an attempt to escape.
“Foreign Elder Liu, don’t run!” Xu Zhi Kun shouted as he stretched out his hand and grabbed towards Foreign Elder Liu’s back. Unfortunately, his outstretched hand grabbed only air for with a single step, Foreign Elder Liu’s figure disappeared right before everyone’s eyes.
Xu Zhi Kun’s face became even gloomier as he knew Foreign Elder Liu was certain to suffer a disaster
Before he could even complete this thought, Foreign Elder Liu’s scream echoed from nearby for a moment before it was cut off; apparently Foreign Elder Liu had been instantly killed.
Xu Zhi Kun’s eyes filled with unparalleled resentment and powerlessness. Inside this Spirit Array, he was unable to exert any of his strength. If he had fought Yang Kai face to face like his Third Brother had and ultimately suffered defeat, he would have nothing to say, it would simply mean his skill was inferior to his enemy, but to die like this was completely unacceptable to him.
There was another master from the Xu Family who wanted to rush out like Foreign Elder Liu. Although it had only been about half a cup of tea’s worth of time since they had entered this Spirit Array, it felt like a year has passed and he could simply not bear with it any longer.
But when he heard the forlorn scream of Foreign Elder Liu, he was glad he had hesitated just now; otherwise, he would be following in Foreign Elder Liu’s footsteps right now.
“Everyone stay close!” Xu Zhi Kun, as the head of the family, was quicker to analyze the situation, and after passing through the initial turmoil, he immediately realized several important factors. “This Spirit Array can only trap and mislead us, it has no lethality, so we must not separate from one another! Once we become separated, we will fall into that brat’s evil clutches. Everyone follow me, we will definitely find a way out, I don’t believe this Spirit Array can trap us forever!”
The spirits of the few remaining masters rose as they all nodded and followed after Xu Zhi Kun, making sure to not leave his side.
As the remaining five Xu Family masters rushed to and fro inside the Spirit Array, the couple dozen masters from the Hai Ke Family watched from the distance.
A moment ago, they had all been waiting for Yang Kai to fall into a hopeless situation before they went up and offered to save his life in exchange for his servitude, but how could they have anticipated that after less time than it would take to boil a cup of tea, the situation would undergo such dramatic changes.
Although none of them could see the situation inside the fog bank, they were able to infer what was happening from the screams they heard.
The Xu Family was finished!
Of more than a dozen Third Order Saint Kings, the entire elite of the Xu Family, only four or five possibly remained, but whether these four or five could escape was highly questionable.
The strength of the Hai Ke Family and the Xu Family had always been similar. Now, the Xu Family had no way to handle this strange Spirit Array, so didn’t that mean that if the Hai Ke Family were to fall into it, they would find themselves in the same hopeless situation?
Ba Qing Yan had at some point pulled out a handkerchief and was constantly wiping the sweat on his forehead. The handkerchief was already soaking wet, but he was too distracted to even notice and simply continued wiping himself with it.
The expressions of Wa Lun, Huang Juan, and all the other Elders and Foreign Elders weren’t much better and each of them couldn’t stop themselves from shivering.
None of them had ever imagined that their family’s Dragon Cave Mountain, a trivial piece of land no more than ten thousand meters in radius, would one day turn into the burial ground of all the Xu Family’s masters. Xu Zhi Shen had been killed here less than a month ago, and now more than a dozen Third Order Saint Kings from the Xu Family had died one after another in this place. The Xu Family had all but been destroyed.
Patriarch Yi En’s expression also became pale as he secretly rejoiced, he had not acted rashly and agreed to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Xu Family when they launched their attack against Yang Kai. If he had brought all the Hai Ke Family masters into the strange Spirit Array in front of them, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
It was laughable that a moment ago he had still been thinking about how to reap the benefits from this conflict. The roots of the Xu Family had been wiped out without any need for their help, so what benefit could the Hai Ke Family possibly harvest?
This Spirit Array filled Yi En with envy!
No matter who arranged this Spirit Array, if they could arrange a similar one for the Hai Ke Family, wouldn’t their family’s defence now be as solid as gold?
“Patriarch…” Wa Lun called out in a trembling voice, “What should we do now?”
“Just watch, just watch…” Yi En replied wryly. In any case, his Hai Ke Family had not gone to embarrass Yang Kai directly, and Wu Yi, Yu Feng, and several dozen of their disciples were also on the other side. Yi En was certain Yang Kai wouldn’t come to find trouble with them as long as they didn’t make any aggressive moves, so it didn’t matter if they stayed here to watch. Yi En also wanted to know if any of the Xu Family masters would escape today’s tribulation or if they would wind up completely exterminated.
Inside the fog bank created by the Spirit Array, the last five Xu Family masters were panicking.
They all knew that this Spirit Array only encompassed a three thousand meter radius area, but no matter how they ran about or attacked it, they were still unable to escape.
It was obvious they were constantly moving around in circles!
What made them even more desperate though was they couldn’t use their Star Shuttles and there was no way for them to fly too high. There was some kind of mysterious force permeating this fog that suppressed their ability to fly more than ten meters high.
“Coward! Come out and fight this old master! Is your only skill hiding!?” Xu Zhi Kun roared angrily; his eyes completely bloodshot.
Being led around by the nose inside this fog had caused the irritation in his heart to soar to the point where he only wanted to immediately fight with Yang Kai, regardless of whether he lived or died, anything was better than being trapped in this fog.
“Old dog, do you think you’re worthy to fight against me?” Yang Kai laughed while snickering disdainfully.
To be honest, Yang Yan’s Spirit Array had also deeply shocked Yang Kai and right now he was in a wonderful mood. How could he care about Xu Zhi Kun’s taunts?
“Little friend, I surrender, I surrender! I’m not from the Xu Family, I was only hired by them as a Foreign Elder! Please let me go!” An old man with a yellow complexion shouted through his tears.
Stuck inside this Spirit Array for what seemed like forever, his will had long ago collapsed and understood that staying here meant certain death. Although he knew that his actions here would be despised and he would forever be branded as a coward and traitor, with his life on the line, what did any of that matter?
“Foreign Elder Huo, you…” Xu Zhi Kun’s anxious voice called out, “You disappoint me! My Xu Family has treated you well for so many years yet now, in our hour of need, you dare utter such disgraceful words?”
The Foreign Elder surnamed Huo wore an embarrassed look, but despite that, he still shouted loudly, “Starting today, I am no longer a Foreign Elder of the Xu Family and have nothing to do with the Xu Family! Little friend, please let me go, I can serve you in the future. I am also a Third Order Saint King, my strength isn’t bad. “
“Good, let me consider it!” Yang Kai’s voice rang out.
“You court death!” Xu Zhi Kun roared and violently pounding his long staff towards Foreign Elder Huo. Xu Zhi Kun knew that what he most had to avoid now was disunity. If the five remaining masters held fast together, they would still have a chance of surviving, but if they were to fracture, they would only be picked off one by one by Yang Kai.
For someone like Foreign Elder Huo, who coveted life and feared death, Xu Zhi Kun had not the slightest pity and naturally wanted to immediately kill him.
“Patriarch, don’t force me. This Huo has contributed greatly to the Xu Family these years, now I simply want to leave!” Foreign Elder Huo was obviously no pushover though and quickly fought back against Xu Zhi Kun, hoping to express his loyalty to Yang Kai in hopes the latter would let him go.
The remaining three Xu Family masters froze up, uncertain of what they should do in this situation.
Just as they were hesitating though, Yang Kai’s voice called out again, “Whoever kills Xu Zhi Kun, I will let go!”
As soon as this remark was made, two of the three remaining masters wore ruthless looks and leapt forward, “I will help you, Brother Huo!”
The last person remaining masters was a direct Elder of the Xu Family and naturally wouldn’t be led astray by Yang Kai words, immediately jumping into the fray, teaming up with Xu Zhi Kun against the three Foreign Elders.
Suddenly, the Spirit Array’s fog tumbled as the surviving Xu Family masters split into two camps, summoning their respective artefacts and engaging in a desperate life or death battle.
Yang Kai sneered and calmly left the Spirit Array.
A vomiting sound reached his ear as soon as he left though, and when Yang Kai looked over at the source, he was struck speechless.
Yang Yan clearly couldn’t withstand this brutal killing scene. Although the others couldn’t see the situation inside the fog bank, how could Yang Yan, the one controlling the Spirit Array, not see everything clearly?
Yang Kai didn’t know how long she had been vomited, but Yang Yan’s face right now was ghastly pale, and Wu Yi was next to her, gently patting her back to comfort her.
Seeing Yang Kai step out, Wu Yi shot him a wicked glare, “If you must kill people, can’t you do it a bit more cleanly? Is there any need to create such a disgusting scene?”
“Even this is called disgusting…” Yang Kai didn’t know what to say. He had only swiftly burned a few people to death. What was he supposed to have done? Cut them apart and have their broken limbs and internal organs splash out on the ground? If Yang Yan were to see such a scene, would she even still be able to retain her soul?
“You’re really quite insidious, actually manufacturing an internal conflict between them,” Wu Yi suddenly smiled, revealing an enchanting look that all the nearby men couldn’t help staring at.
Wu Yi didn’t have any affection for the Xu Family, so whether they lived or died didn’t matter to her.
“Those who provoke me never have good ends,” Yang Kai coldly snorted before turning to look at Yang Yan’s face, taking out a pill, and shoving it into her mouth.
“I… don’t care…” Yang Yan swallowed the pill before looking over at Yang Kai weakly, “Hurry up and collect enough materials for me so I can arrange a killing array. I don’t want to control the Spirit Array anymore while you kill people…”
“Got it, Wu Yi, help her inside so she can rest, there’s nothing more for her to do here.”
“En,” Wu Yi nodded, helping Yang Yan walk back towards the cave.
“Brother Yang, how many of them are left inside?” Yu Feng rushed over and asked with excitement while the several dozen cultivators who originally belonging to the Hai Ke Family also turned expectant eyes towards him.
This time, the Xu Family had turned out in full force, so everyone here had thought they would have to fight a desperate battle and all of them had prepared themselves to die here today.
How could they have imagined that before they even had a chance to fight, almost all of the Xu Family’s masters would die? All of them were very excited and profoundly felt that staying here was far more promising than staying in the Hai Ke Family. They were all rejoicing that they had boldly decided to abandon the family and follow Wu Yi.
How could living in the family even be compared to here?
In the family, they all had to pay a certain amount of Saint Crystals to enter cultivation rooms. If they didn’t have enough Saint Crystals, they needed to pay contribution points. Those contribution points could only be obtained by completing tasks for the family.
But here, there were hundreds of stone chambers, each with its own small Aura Gathering Spirit Array. In each of these Aura Gathering Spirit Arrays, there were many Saint Crystals allowing them to cultivate in their own private chambers without any need to worry about resources.
Whether it was in terms of efficiency or speed, these stone rooms were far better than the family’s cultivation rooms.
Each stone room was also equipped with a brilliant isolation Spirit Array that guaranteed that as long as the stone door was closed, no noise or Divine Sense would be able to disturb them.
The future was bright!
On top of everything, there was a large scale Aura Gathering Spirit Array arranged around Dragon Cave Mountain, so as long as enough time passed, the World energy aura here would become richer and more abundant. The several dozen cultivators’ hearts were filled with joy and the lingering fear and regret they had about having to leave the family had completely disappeared, the treatment here was incomparably better than what they could receive in the family.
Now, even if they were driven away, none of them would be willing to leave. All of them were even more determined to stay here and follow Wu Yi for the rest of their lives.
They also understood that Wu Yi had chosen to follow Yang Kai, so them following Wu Yi was equivalent to following Yang Kai.
Of all these people, Yu Feng was the proudest, because it was he who had fished Yang Kai out from the Starry Sky. If he hadn’t accidentally found that blood-red crystal, how could there have been such a scene today?
Hearing Yu Feng’s question, Yang Kai replied casually, “Five.”
As soon as he said this though, a scream rang out from inside the fog.
“Make that four,” Yang Kai corrected.
With the Xu Family’s Patriarch Xu Zhi Kun and the only remaining Xu Family Elder confronting the three former Foreign Elders, neither side could afford to hold back, and soon after the battle began, one of the Foreign Elders, the one surnamed Huo who had first tried to escape, was beheaded.
Such traitorous cowards were exactly the kind of people Yang Kai hated the most, so he felt no pity for him after he died.
However, the strength of this Xu Zhi Kun was truly quite good, much higher than Xu Zhi Shen at least, it was clear that what Wu Yi said about him soon breaking through to the Origin Returning Realm was true. From the looks of it, if Xu Zhi Kun were given another couple of years, he might really make such a breakthrough.
Unfortunately, he would never get that chance.
A moment later, another scream came out. It was the last Xu Family Elder. Although Xu Zhi Kun was strong, he had not yet reached the Origin Returning Realm after all. This last Elder was killed under the combined pressure of the two Foreign Elders.
Xu Zhi Kun was furious and spat a mouthful of Blood Essence from his mouth, causing his strength to rapidly increase and his momentum to soar. Waving his staff wildly, he repeatedly forced back the two Foreign Elders.
Without Yang Yan’s control, the battle inside the fog couldn’t be seen clearly even by Yang Kai and its progress could only be judged by the sounds that rang out. Although his Demon Eye of Annihilation could see through this Spirit Array, Yang Kai did not use it because he didn’t find it necessary.
Moreover, after Yang Yan entered the cave to rest, the fog covering the surrounding three-thousand-meter radius gradually dissipated.
A moment later, when the fog had completely disappeared, Yang Kai, Yu Feng, and the others just happened to witness Xu Zhi Kun knocking down the last remaining Foreign Elder with his staff.
Corpses were spread all around. The Xu Family had brought more than a dozen Third Order Saint Kings, but in the end, only Xu Zhi Kun was left, standing proudly amidst all the blood and gore, one of his arms missing, looking extremely miserable.
Only after a short silence did Xu Zhi Kun realize that the Spirit Array that had been tormenting him this entire time had disappeared. Looking around at the corpses around him, Xu Zhi Kun eyes went red. Turning to Yang Kai, he rushed out and shouted hysterically, “Little bastard, surrender your life!”
A ferocious aura erupted from Xu Zhi Kun, causing Yu Feng, who was standing next to Yang Kai, to pale and stumble backwards a few steps.
Yang Kai remained motionless, pushing his own imposing manner forward to meet Xu Zhi Kun’s. When these two auras collided, it was as if an invisible storm had been stirred up as crackling noises spread through the air. Xu Zhi Kun’s rushing figure suddenly came to a halt, but after spitting another mouthful of Blood Essence, his stagnant figure rushed towards Yang Kai at even greater speed.
“Hmph!” Yang Kai coldly snorted, sending out a burst of Spiritual Energy that instantly tore through Xu Zhi Kun’s Knowledge Sea defences. At the same time, he stepped out and threw a heavy punch.
With a massive eruption of energy, Yang Kai’s punch flew out and struck Xu Zhi Kun’s flying body. The Xu Family’s Patriarch’s figure came to halt mid-air, as if he was blocked by an invisible wall and could no longer move forward.
His face pale, Xu Zhi Kun stared at Yang Kai with wide eyes and growled, “Shadow Moon Hall will not let you off!”
After those words left his lips, Xu Zhi Kun’s body burst open, his blood and flesh scattering through the air in a great explosion.
Outside the cave, stunned silence resounded!
The several dozen cultivators who had followed Wu Yi and the masters from the Hai Ke Family all stared at this terrifying scene.
Although the last time Yang Kai had killed Xu Zhi Shen, they had also watched the whole process and knew Yang Kai was powerful, but now they all discovered that he had become significantly stronger since then.
Even if Xu Zhi Kun had been injured, he was a cultivator close to breaking through to the Origin Returning Realm, but in the end, after overdrawing his vitality and burning his Blood Essence, he was still unable to take a single punch from Yang Kai.
Was this guy a real monster? Yu Feng stared towards Yang Kai’s back and shivered slightly.
Or was it perhaps that cultivators from the outside world were all this incredible? If all cultivators from the outside were like Yang Kai, what had their Shadowed Star cultivators been wasting their time for?
As the crowd stood in shock, Yang Kai walked out calmly and collected the artefacts and Space Rings of the dozen or so fallen masters that were scattered on the ground. Sweeping these rings with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai scoffed disdainfully before tossing them all over to Yu Feng.
“Turn the Saint Crystals and raw materials over to Wu Yi then divide the rest amongst yourselves.”
“Ah?” Yu Feng was startled, “What about you?”
“I don’t need anything.”
Yang Kai really didn’t have any interest in the Xu Family masters’ treasures. Only the Hundred Mountains Picture and artefacts on that level could draw Yang Kai’s attention, but such things were clearly few and far between.
“Many thanks, Brother Yang,” Although Yu Feng was quite startled, he still nodded politely while expressing his gratitude before running back cheerfully to sort through the dozen or so Space Rings with a big grin. The others quickly gathered around and soon began shouting and cheering.
The Xu Family wasn’t very strong, but it was still an established force. Among the dozen or so Space Rings, Patriarch Xu Zhi Kun’s had the most artefacts, pills, and other valuables. There were also around twenty thousand High-Rank Saint Crystals, more than forty thousand Mid-Rank Saint Crystals, and a hundred thousand or so Low-Rank Saint Crystal.
Seeing such wealth, Yu Feng’s eyes went red.
Although he had long known that killing others and plundering their wealth was the fastest way to make money, their Hai Ke Family was among the lowest-level forces, so who could they annoy or kill freely? Seeing this scene today though, Yu Feng immediately realized that this saying was true.
Yu Feng and over a hundred of his brothers had risked their lives out in the Starry Sky for nearly two years to collect a Starship full of ore, but when they returned to the family, they had only received about ten thousand High-Rank Saint Crystals. On top of that, those Saint Crystals had been given to them by Wu Yi from her own pocket.
But today, Yang Kai had spent less than half an hour to kill a dozen or so people and harvested more than their several dozen brother could hope to gain in a lifetime. This huge gap made all of them feel both excited and bitter.
The artifacts and pills weren’t of very high level, mainly Saint Grade while a handful were Saint King Grade; however, these were perfectly suitable for these dozens of people who had chosen to follow Wu Yi.
Most of them were only in the Saint Realm, with just four of five of them having reached the First Order Saint King Realm. Saint Grade artefacts and pills were just right for them.
“King Transformation Pills, ten of them at that!” Yu Feng screamed suddenly, his big hands trembling as he held up a jade bottle.
Upon hearing these words, many people wore excited looks.
Although Yang Kai had never refined a King Transformation Pill, he knew what its function was. Saint King Pills could help consolidate one’s cultivation after they broke through to the Saint King Realm, but King Transformation Pills could increase the chance of one successfully breaking through from the Third Order Saint Realm to the Saint King Realm, thus this Saint King Grade Low-Rank pill was always in high demand.
Many cultivators would become stuck at the peak of a Great Realm and find themselves unable to break through to the next realm. The Third Order Saint Realm was a huge bottleneck, and it could be said that nine and a half out of ten cultivators would encounter difficulties crossing this Great Realm. People like Yang Kai who never encountered bottlenecks were extremely rare.
Yang Kai, however, managed to achieve this with the help of the Demon Eye of Annihilation. Without the Demon Eye of Annihilation, he would have been like any other cultivator that needed to refine certain pills when preparing to break through to a new Great Realm.
This King Transformation Pill could increase the chance of breaking through to the Saint King Realm by thirty percent. It could be said that as long as their aptitude wasn’t terrible, with the help of this pill, a cultivator would have a ninety percent chance of reaching the Saint King Realm.
Of the dozens of people who had chosen to followed Wu Yi, nearly twenty were Third Order Saints, so the value of these King Transformation Pills was self-evident.
The Hai Ke Family also had King Transformation Pills, but those were all reserved for disciples who had good aptitude and were closely tied to the family. The few dozen people who had followed Wu Yi weren’t qualified to even sniff such pills. The nearly twenty cultivators on the edge of a breakthrough had all become stuck at this bottleneck, but if they could refine a King Transformation Pill, becoming Saint King Realm cultivators was almost guaranteed.
Seeing the fierce look his brothers and sisters eyes, Yu Feng’s expression immediately became serious as he stored the jade bottle into his sleeve and quickly shouted, “This will be given to Young Lady; she will come up with a reasonable distribution plan!”
The crowd nodded together without objection.
Seeing this, Yang Kai suddenly felt that he should refine some pills for this group’s cultivation. He had never used pills to assist him with breaking through, but that didn’t mean such pills weren’t useful for others. On top of that, with his current level of skill, refining King Transformation Pills was quite easy.
After having decided so, Yang Kai shot a cold glare towards the distance.
He naturally knew that the people from Hai Ke Family had been standing there without moving. The Hai Ke Family masters had arrived together with the Xu Family forces, but unlike the latter, they had not made any aggressive moves, so Yang Kai didn’t see a reason to deal with them right now.
Perceiving Yang Kai’s eyes landing on them, Ba Qing Yan suddenly trembled and anxiously said, “Patriarch, I forgot to report something. Last time I was here, Yang Kai said that anyone who approaches to within fifty kilometres of the cave will be regarded as an enemy.”
When Yang Kai said this last time, Ba Qing Yan hadn’t taken him seriously; after all, Dragon Cave Mountain belonged to the Hai Ke Family, so wasn’t it Yang Kai who was occupying their land, not the other way around? But now, with the dead Xu Family master as an example, Ba Qing Yan didn’t dare to dismiss Yang Kai’s warning.
If Yang Kai used this as an excuse to attack them, it wasn’t certain if the Hai Ke Family could resist.
“What?” Yi En panicked, “Fifty kilometres?”
Forget fifty kilometres, where they were standing right now was not even five kilometres from the cave.
“Fall back!” Yi En didn’t dare to remain and immediately shouted before hurriedly retreating, the other Elders and Foreign Elders swiftly following behind him.
After retreating to outside the fifty-kilometre zone, the Hai Ke Family masters noticed that Yang Kai didn’t show any intent to pursue them. The group all stopped and stared at each other, all of them feeling somewhat embarrassed that they had panicked and fled like stray dogs from a youth far younger than them.
But now was not the time to think about such things. After seeing the dozen-plus Saint Kings of the Xu Family annihilated, all of them had come to realize how huge Yang Kai’s value was.
Yi En gave Ba Qing Yan a vicious look.
Ba Qing Yan obviously understood that Yi En was blaming him and he quickly took a step forward, cupped his fists, and said, “Patriarch, this time I failed to clearly understand the situation, I never expected Yang Kai to possess such enormous potential or for that woman to have such profound accomplishments in the field of Spirit Arrays. If I had known earlier, I would have stopped Xu Zhi Shen from coming here to seek trouble with them and of course never allowed Wu Yi to separate from the family, leading to this…”
“Enough, it’s useless to say this now,” Yi En waved his hand impatiently.
“Patriarch, are we going to earnestly try to earn his favour now?” Huang Juan asked anxiously, “His potential is too terrifying, and that woman’s skill in arranging Spirit Arrays is too profound, being on good terms with them will be very beneficial to us.”
“En, what Foreign Elder Huang says is right, we should really try to become friends with those two talents while trying to win them over,” Wa Lun nodded in agreement.
“We cannot become friends with them now!” To everyone’s surprise, however, Yi En decisively shook his head.
“Why?” Huang Juan didn’t understand. If they hadn’t witnessed the abilities of this young man and the woman, there really would be no need to become friends with them, but now that they had seen their true skills, how could they be willing to pass up such a good opportunity? Had the Patriarch become muddled?
“Have you all forgotten what Xu Zhi Kun shouted before he died?” Yi En coldly snorted.
Everyone thought back carefully, but before long, they all showed grim expressions.
“Patriarch means Shadow Moon Hall will…” Huang Juan asked hesitantly.
Yi En sneered, “Although my Hai Ke Family and the Xu Family are just the lowest level of attached force and mean nothing to Shadow Moon Hall, since we officially hang Shadow Moon Hall’s name next to ours, this matter concerns their honour. Killing so many masters from the Xu Family, including their Patriarch, is nothing short of slapping Shadow Moon Hall’s face. If they don’t come to manage the situation, how could any family like ours rely on them in the future? Shadow Moon Hall will definitely act. We also must report everything we saw here today to them, otherwise things will become troublesome when they come to investigate.”
“It is as Patriarch says, but by doing so, aren’t we going to offend that young man? Weren’t we trying to recruit him?” Wa Lun asked in a confused tone.
“Recruit him?” Yi En sneered, “Even if we managed to do that, could we make him submit to us? Since we can’t subdue him, what use is there in recruiting him? With his potential and aptitude, plus that woman’s accomplishments in Spirit Arrays, once they are allowed to mature, what room will there be here for my Hai Ke Family? By that time, this place will be surnamed Yang.”
Previously, Yi En had been very interested in Yang Kai and wanted to subdue him, but that was before he had witnessed this young man’s strength and ability and thought with his own years of experience and the power of the Hai Ke Family he could control this youth.
But after seeing the last moment of today’s battle, where Yang Kai had exploded Xu Zhi Kun apart with a single punch, Yi En realized he didn’t have the ability to tame such a person. Since he couldn’t control Yang Kai, there was no need to even think about soliciting him, doing that would only be inviting in a ravenous wolf that would sooner or later swallow the Hai Ke Family, bones and all.
Although Yi En’s attitude towards Yang Kai had changed extremely quickly, becoming completely opposite what it was a moment ago, no one present felt uncomfortable with this and instead admired Yi En’s decisiveness.
The thoughts of one who became Patriarch really weren’t comparable to those of ordinary people.
The Hai Ke Family masters swiftly returned to their manor and immediately sent someone to Heavenly Fate City to report the events of today to the City Lord’s Mansion.
Heavenly Fate City was located within Shadow Moon Hall’s sphere of influence. The city itself was owned by Shadow Moon Hall, so naturally the City Lord’s Mansion was occupied by a master from Shadow Moon Hall.
The one who was sent by the Hai Ke Family to report was Huang Juan.
However, she hadn’t expected that after arriving outside the City Lord’s Mansion, she would be firmly stopped by the guards. These guards all grinned and directed obscene and unscrupulous gazes towards her, making Huang Juan very uncomfortable.
Although Huang Juan wasn’t young anymore, she retained her beauty and now looked like she was only in her thirties. She gave off a mature aura and her figure was equally ripe, with tall twin peaks, a full rounded bottom, long straight legs, a slender and graceful waist, and skin that while jade white had a constant pink hue to it. Such a beautiful woman naturally aroused the guards’ attention.
“Big Brothers, I am an Elder of Hai Ke Family and have something important to report to City Lord Fei Zhi Tu,” Huang Juan forced a smile out while she scolded Yi En like a dog in her mind.
Yi En had sent her here alone to deliver this message precisely because she was a woman. He apparently thought that a beautiful woman would have an easier time dealing with the City Lord.
However, before she even entered the City Lord’s Mansion, she had caught the attention of these Saint Realm guards, causing her to feel both angry and helpless. If this was anywhere else, with Huang Juan’s Third Order Saint King cultivation, she could easily butcher these rude men, but this was the City Lord’s Mansion under Shadow Moon Hall, so unless she didn’t want to live any longer, she couldn’t act out.
“Hai Ke Family?” One man with a face as long as a horse wore a sneer and shook his head, “Never heard of it, do any of you know it?”
Immediately, another guard chimed in, “It’s a small peripheral family under the Sect.”
“A peripheral family,” The horse-faced cultivator nodded casually, “No wonder I’ve never heard of it. So, what does someone from a mere peripheral family need here?”
His attitude couldn’t be any clearer, he didn’t even place Hai Ke Family in his eyes at all, making Huang Juan secretly grit her teeth. But regardless of how she really felt, all she could do was smile and says, “Big brothers, I really need to meet City Lord Fei Zhi Tu, if you could please pass on this request on my behalf, I would be very grateful.”
The horse-faced guard coldly snorted and said, “Sir City Lord is busy with many things, how could he have time to see someone like you? Go back to wherever you came from.”
Shadow Moon Hall had many peripherally attached forces, each one of them was extremely weak and unimportant. Although these guards were only Saint Realm cultivators, they could use their status as Shadow Moon Hall disciples to bluff and bluster about while having eyes higher than the top of their heads, so even if Huang Juan’s cultivation was far higher than their own, they didn’t give her the slightest bit of respect.
Listening to the horse-faced guard say this, Huang Juan grit her teeth even harder for a moment but suddenly flashed an enchanting smile and beckoned to him, “Big brother, can you come a little closer so we can speak?”
Huang Juan could still be regarded as a worldly woman who was proficient in human affairs, how could she not understand how to handle a little brat like this?
“Oh?” The horse-faced guard chuckled indifferently, “Is there something little sister wants to say that’s difficult to discuss in public?”
As he laughed, he shook his head and stepped towards Huang Juan.
After he approached close enough, Huang Juan took a couple Saint Crystals out of her Space Ring and quietly shoved them into his hand, whispering softly, “Big Brother, I hope you can be a bit accommodating.”
The horse-faced guard didn’t even glance down as he silently stuffed the Saint Crystals into his own Space Ring before suddenly grabbing Huang Juan’s small tender hand and rubbing it wantonly, as if he had never held a woman before, an obscene look appearing on his face as he whispered back, “Little sister, it’s not that I don’t want to be accommodating, it’s really just that Sir City Lord has no time to spare…”
Being touched so roughly by this man, Huang Juan’s tender body suddenly trembled and goosebumps popped up all over her skin. She wished she could tear this man’s corpse into ten thousand pieces right now, but she had no choice but to hold back her anger as she took out a big handful of Saint Crystals and gave them to him while continuing to beg, “Please go in and notify Sir City Master, if he refuses to see me, I will have no complaints.”
After receiving so many Saint Crystals, the horse-faced guard finally showed a satisfied smile as he continuing rubbing Huang Juan hand and said, “Good, it seems coming here hasn’t been easy for you, so I’ll especially pass a message along for you, but you shouldn’t get your hopes up, Sir City Lord is very busy.”
“En, I know, many thanks, Big Brother,” Huang Juan exhaled secretly. She was afraid that this bastard would continue taking advantage of her.
Seeing the horse-faced guard walk into the City Lord’s Mansion, Huang Juan stood outside and waited anxiously.
After a short while, the horse-faced guard came out again, this time with a gloomy expression. When Huang Juan saw this, her heart sank as she knew the situation wasn’t good and hurriedly asked, “What did Sir City Lord say?”
The guard, having obtained some benefits from Huang Juan, didn’t shout angrily but just said, “He won’t see you, not only that, he reproved me for wasting his time.”
“En…” Huang Juan sighed, feeling a sense of powerlessness deep in her heart. She had no true relatives in this world and had relied on her own effort to cultivate till the Third Order Saint King realm. It was only a dozen or so years ago that she entered the Hai Ke Family and obtained the status of Foreign Elder. Huang Juan had wanted to use the Hai Ke Family as a springboard to join Shadow Moon Hall. She had been looking forward to one day joining Shadow Moon Hall, but now she realized that in Shadow Moon Hall’s eyes, the Hau Ke Family was nothing. A Foreign Elder like her coming here couldn’t even see the City Lord.
Deep down, she scolded Yi En who had sent her here to the City Lord’s Mansion thousands of times.
Inside the Hai Ke Family, there were several Elders who had ideas about her, and coming here to the City Lord’s Mansion, she had been taken advantage of by someone far weaker than herself. Lacking strength backing made living in this world truly difficult.
Suddenly, Huang Juan felt discouraged and wondered if it was time for her to leave the Hai Ke Family. This family had no future at all, continuing to stay with them would only waste her time.
“Little sister, why don’t you wait here for a few days and if a chance comes up, I can pass a message along for you again?” The horse-faced guard didn’t seem to be satisfied with the advantages he’d gained so far and asked with a grin.
“No need,” Huang Juan’s expression became cold as she turned around and left.
“Can’t appreciate kindness!” The horse-faced guard coldly snorted.
After Huang Juan returned to the Hai Ke Family and Yi En learned she was unable to complete this seemingly simple task, he became furious and scolded her severely before preparing several precious gifts and hurrying off to Heavenly Fate City in person.
Huang Juan felt incredibly aggrieved as she became increasingly disappointed with the Hai Ke Family.
Yang Kai stepped out of his stone room and immediately heard a commotion coming from outside. Walking towards the source of the noise, he soon came to a huge stone room.
This stone room should have been excavated by the Stone Puppet on Yang Yan’s request at some point to be used as a conference room of sorts. At this moment, nearly twenty people were gathered inside, many of them with bloodshot eyes and looks of indignation on their faces as they shouted over one another.
Yu Feng was the loudest of the bunch as he stood on a stone table in the centre of the room and shouted while pointing at one cultivator after another, scolding them viciously as spittle flew from his mouth.
Yang Kai frowned and suddenly felt a little displeased.
He thought that those who followed Wu Yi were making a fuss because of an uneven distribution of resources. If that was the case, Yang Kai wouldn’t want them to remain here any longer. Even if they had followed Wu Yi here, he would still need to expel them. Those who didn’t understand how to compromise and share with their fellow Brothers and Sisters and simply cared about how many benefits they could snatch would only cause instability in the future. But after listening to the shouting for a while, Yang Kai discovered that things weren’t as he had initially thought.
Although this really was an argument about distributing materials, it wasn’t about Saint Crystals or artefacts, but pills.
Specifically, the ten King Transformation Pills that would improve the chances of breaking through to the Saint King Realm!
Most importantly though, no one here was making a fuss because they couldn’t obtain one of the King Transformation Pills, but instead were trying to push these precious King Transformation Pills onto others.
It had been three days since this argument began yet they still weren’t able to come up with a reasonable distribution plan yet. Wu Yi was also standing in the stone room, her pretty face full helplessness but also happiness.
“Damn it, Liu Ping, I remember that you broke through to the Third-Order Saint nine years ago, and now you’ve reached the Peak of this realm, why don’t you want to take one of these King Transformation Pills? Are trying to not give the Young Lady any face? Is that it? If you don’t give the Young Lady and this Yu Feng face, don’t blame father here for punching your face!”
The cultivator named Liu Ping cracked into a grin and said calmly, “Yu Feng, this Liu Ping is almost sixty years old this year, and my aptitude is quite low, what point would there be for me to take a King Transformation Pill? There’s a great possibility that me taking one would simply waste it and still not be able to break through to the Saint King Realm. Instead of wasting this treasure on me, it would be better to give it to Ge Wu Sheng. His aptitude is much better than mine and he’s also a Third-Order Saint. If he obtains one, he can definitely break through.”
Ge Wu Sheng, a middle-aged man in a blue shirt, heard this and shook his head immediately, “I don’t want one, just give me another two years and I’ll be able to break through on my own. There’s no need to waste a King Transformation Pill. Yu Feng, give it to Xiao Ya instead.”
A young woman wearing a beautiful dress quickly waved her hands, “I don’t want it either, I can break through on my own.”
Yu Feng’s forehead filled with blue veins as let fly another flurry of curses, but after some time, still unable to find a solution, he could only look to Wu Yi for help while complaining, “Young Lady, I can’t do this job. All of these bastards keep stubbornly refusing, how am I supposed to divide up these pills like this?”
Wu Yi sighed and was about to say something when she spotted Yang Kai standing at the door with a smile on his face and hurriedly walked over to him.
“These people are very good,” Yang Kai said with sincere admiration. He had wandered about outside for many years and had become accustomed to men and women mistrusting and using each other. Men die for wealth as birds die for food, yet in front of these King Transformation Pills which could help them break through to the Saint King Realm, saving at least one or two years of hard work, none of these people were willing to accept them, all of them insisting their fellow Brothers or Sisters take them. Such a harmonious atmosphere was something Yang Kai had not seen for a long time and if gave him a sense of warmth.
“I’ve let Big Brother Yang see something embarrassing,” Wu Yi blushed, “They’re just a group of people who haven’t seen the world; ten King Transformation Pills actually let them quarrel for three whole days yet we still haven’t been able to decide how to distribute them. Did we disturb Big Brother Yang?”
Having witnessed Yang Kai’s abilities, Wu Yi had changed how she addressed him; on top of that, it was clear she had matured greatly after having made the decision to separate from her family.
“It didn’t disturb me, the Spirit Arrays arranged by Yang Yan are excellent, I didn’t even hear anything until I left my room,” Yang Kai smiled and asked curiously, “Is it difficult to obtain King Transformation Pills?”
Wu Yi nodded, “King Transformation Pills are Saint-King Grade Low-Rank pills and their price isn’t low, at least two thousand High-Rank Saint Crystals per pill. It’s not something an ordinary cultivator can afford. The price is only secondary though, the key is that no one sells them. There are too many people who need this kind of pill and not many Alchemists are capable of refining them. Shadowed Star’s Artefact Refining and Alchemy standard is far below the rest of the Star Field; apparently, the most powerful Artifact Refiner sand Alchemists are only Origin Grade Low-Rank.”
“So low?” Yang Kai was taken aback. If that was the case, wouldn’t it mean that he and Yang Yan stood at the pinnacle of Shadowed Star in their respective fields?
Yang Yan may have even exceeded that peak as last time she had said that with the help of the Stone Puppet, she would be able to raise his purple shield to the Origin Grade Mid-Rank. This meant she was at least an Origin Grade Mid-Rank Artifact Refiner.
“En, it’s that low, as for why that’s the case, I don’t know why. In any case, Alchemists, Artifact Refiners, and even Chart Master and Array Masters grow much slower here on Shadowed Star,” Wu Yi laughed helplessly. She knew Yang Kai came from outside and from his tone, she could infer that this was not the case out there.
After listening to Wu Yi’s words, Yang Kai felt that using Alchemy to earn Saint Crystals was a good idea.
His Alchemy had already reached the pinnacle of Shadowed Star, so what worry would he have about raising enough Saint Crystals? He could even look for those great forces to directly trade pills for precious materials.
Yang Yan’s arrangement of Spirit Arrays was similar to him cultivating the Dao of Space, both burned money at an astonishing rate. Without enough Saint Crystals and supplies, they simply couldn’t continue advancing.
“Why does the Xu Family have ten King Transformation Pills then?” Yang Kai asked. Logically speaking, there shouldn’t be a Saint King Grade Alchemist working for the Xu Family, but without such an Alchemist, King Transformation Pills couldn’t be refined.
“They should have obtained them from Shadow Moon Hall,” Wu Yi explained, “The small families attached to Shadow Moon Hall all have the opportunity to purchase some more precious pills and artefacts from the Sect, but they have to pay an enormous price to do so. The Hai Ke Family acquired some King Transformation Pills this way; en, the Saint King Pill they sent last time was also purchased from Shadow Moon Hall.”
“I see, Yang Kai nodded before tossing two jade bottles over to Wu Yi, “Give them these and tell them not to quarrel.”
“What are these?” Wu Yi asked curiously.
“See for yourself,” Yang Kai smiled lightly.
Wu Yi opened one of the bottles suspiciously and peered inside. In the next instant, her beautiful face changed colour as she exclaimed, “King Transformation Pills? More than twenty of them? And so many of them have formed Pill Veins?”
She was really shocked.
The ten King Transformation Pills obtained from Xu Zhi Kun’s Space Ring were just ordinary pills, but the ones Yang Kai had just given her had a large number which had formed Pill Veins. Wu Yi couldn’t even imagine where Yang Kai was able to obtain these pills.
Ordinary King Transformation Pills could increase the chance of a cultivator being able to break through to the Saint King Realm by thirty percent, so King Transformation Pill that formed Pill Veins would improve upon that even further!
“Big Brother Yang, where did you get these?” When Wu Yi lifted her head and asked, only to realize that Yang Kai was already gone. Immediately, Wu Yi felt a bit dizzy. A single King Transformation Pill was worth more than two thousand High-Rank Saint Crystals, so this bottle along was worth more than forty thousand!
Wu Yi only now realized just how generous Yang Kai was.
Her delicate hands trembling slightly, Wu Yi opened the other jade bottle and once again called out in alarm, “Saint King Pills!”
And many of these Saint King Pills had formed Pill Veins. Wu Yi was absolutely certain that these two bottles of pills were refined by the same Alchemist, but… the percentage which had formed Pill Veins was too astonishing.
From infancy till now, Wu Yi had only ever seen a single pill which formed Pill Veins, and it was just a Spirit Grade High-Rank pill.
Even if Wu Yi had some worldly experience, she still felt like these two jade bottles were as heavy as mountains. King Transformation Pills would allow her brothers and sisters to easily break through to the Saint King Realm while Saint King Pills would help them quickly consolidate their cultivations. Yang Kai had prepared everything for them, all they needed to do now was take these pills.
“Thank you, Big Brother Yang!” Wu Yi shouted loudly before turning around and walking back into the noisy stone room, raising the two jade bottles and happily announcing, “Don’t quarrel, there are enough King Transformation Pills for everyone. Not only that, everyone will receive a Saint King Pill as well!”
The noisy stone room immediately calmed down as nearly twenty pairs of eyes simultaneously stared towards Wu Yi.
Outside the cave, Yang Yan was arranging a new Spirit Array. Aside from a few necessary for cultivation, all the Saint Crystals that Yang Kai handed over to Wu Yi last time had been exchanged for various materials. In her large black robe, Yang Yan busied herself arranging a Killing Array.
“Help me!” Yang Yan called out and Yang Kai immediately walked over to assist her according to her instructions.
After some time, Yang Kai suddenly asked, “Yang Yan, will the Spirit Array you arranged previously have any effect if Origin Returning Realm masters come?”
“Yes!” Yang Yan replied affirmatively, “But it won’t be like last time. Origin Realm cultivators are far more powerful than Saint Kings after all. If a Third Order Origin Returning Realm master comes, the Spirit Array will only be able to trap them for ten breaths.”
Yang Kai nodded in understanding.
Yang Yan’s action suddenly stopped as she turned and looked at Yang Kai seriously, “What are your plans for the future?”
“What do you mean?” Yang Kai asked in confusion.
“Do you plan to stay here long term or leave after the mineral lode down below is mined clean?”
“Of course I plan to stay long term,” Yang Kai replied immediately. He was not familiar with Shadowed Star at all, and now that he had a place to stay, he wouldn’t leave easily.
“That’s good, I also like it here. If we want to stay here long term, I will put my best into arranging powerful Spirit Arrays,” Yang Yan smiled faintly, “If you give me more advanced materials in the future, I can arrange a formation that will completely trap Third Order Origin Returning Realm masters!”
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up and his evaluation of Yang Yan rose even higher.
While the two were talking, Wu Yi rushed out of the cave suddenly, her face somewhat flushed, obviously very excited.
“Finished?” Yang Kai smiled at her.
“En, all of them have now entered secluded retreat. It won’t be long before they can become Saint Kings. Thank you, Big Brother Yang,” Wu Yi nodded, and then said, “I just forgot to tell you something a moment ago.”
“What?”
“Foreign Elder Chang and Foreign Elder Hao sent a messenger over to say that the Patriarch brought a lot of gifts to the City Lord’s Mansion in Heavenly Fate City three days ago.”
“Foreign Elder Chang, Foreign Elder Hao?” Yang Kai frowned but soon recalled these two. Foreign Elder Chang naturally referred to Chang Qi, the one Yang Kai had met back on the Starship. Foreign Elder Hao should refer to Hao An, the one who had come to greet them when the Starship returned to Shadowed Star.
Apparently, the relationship between these two Foreign Elders and Wu Yi was quite good, otherwise, they would not have sent someone to deliver such a letter.
“Foreign Elder Huang Juan also sent someone to deliver a letter say9ing the same thing,” Wu Yi frowned, obviously not understanding why Huang Juan had suddenly decided to help her this time. Also, from what she wrote in the letter, it seemed like Huang Juan planned on leaving the Hai Ke Family and was advising her to leave Dragon Cave Mountain as soon as possible.
Yang Kai wasn’t familiar with Huang Juan, but he didn’t care either way, simply asking, “Did your former Patriarch go to Heavenly Fate City to seek assistance from Shadow Moon Hall?”
“En. Big Brother Yang, what should we do now? Once Shadow Moon Hall learns that you have killed so many of the Xu Family’s masters, they definitely won’t sit idly by and will likely send out Origin Returning Realm masters.”
“Origin Returning Realm!” Yang Kai frowned, to be honest, he didn’t know how his current strength compared to Origin Returning Realm cultivators, but with each new Great Realm crossed, the strength of a cultivator would change dramatically. Right now, Yang Kai could easily kill Third Order Saint Kings, but that didn’t mean he could face a First Order Origin Returning Realm master.
However, Yang Kai soon knit his brow and became suspicious, “Strange, why is your family the one rushing to report this situation, shouldn’t it be the Xu Family doing so?”
Wu Yi thought for a moment before biting her lower lip and saying, “It may be that the Patriarch feels since he can’t control you or drive you away, he needs to rely on the power of Shadow Moon Hall.”
It had to be said that Wu Yi mind was quite sharp; taking what she knew about Yi En’s character, she was quickly able to arrive at the truth of the matter.
Yang Kai nodded, “No need for concern, just continue going about your day like normal, if an Origin Returning Realm master really comes, we can still block them.”
“En,” Wu Yi nodded lightly; although didn’t have much confidence in this matter, since Yang Kai had said so, she wouldn’t raise any objections.
After Wu Yi left, Yang Yan said lightly, “Don’t expect my Spirit Array to kill an Origin Realm masters, without higher-grade materials, the Killing Array I’m arranging won’t have that kind of power.”
“I wasn’t planning on relying on your Spirit Array for that,” Yang Kai grinned. As long as Yang Yan’s Spirit Array could keep an Origin Returning Realm master trapped for a while, and as long as it wasn’t a Third Order Origin Returning Realm master who came, Yang Kai felt he could handle the situation.
Since this concerned the giant Space Spirit Crystal lode, forget about Origin Returning Realm masters, even if an Origin King was to arrive, Yang Kai would still choose to fight. This treasure must not be given away.
Instead of helping Yang Yan continuing arranging the Spirit Array, Yang Kai immediately returned to his stone room to enter retreat. Holding a Space Spirit Crystal in his hand, and drawing energy from it, he began adding to his own Space Force.
The Dao of Space was very esoteric, but also extremely powerful. Yang Kai felt that if he had to fight against Origin Realm masters, using Space Force was his best option.
Previously, Yang Kai had used his comprehension of the Dao of Space to enhance or manipulate his Saint Qi attacks, allowing them to leap across space and strike from otherwise impossible directions, making them difficult to predict or block. This approach could strengthen the power of a Saint Qi attack, but wasn’t really making use of the Dao of Space’s full potential.
If he could use his Space Force directly to attack, Yang Kai believed his combat power would increase greatly and become even more difficult to counter.
Yang Kai didn’t know when people from Shadow Moon Hall would come for him, but it was safe to say that it would be sooner rather than later. As such, Yang Kai dedicated himself to comprehending the Dao of Space while trying to develop his new method of attack.
After refining so many Space Spirit Crystals, Yang Kai’s understanding of the Dao of Space had reached new heights and he could no longer be considered someone with only superficial knowledge of it.
Yang Kai believed that with his current level of comprehension, if he was back on the floating continent, he could easily find his way out.
Tearing Space was a means of escape and couldn’t be used to kill an enemy, but from all his experienced tearing space, Yang Kai was able to conceptualize a method to use this principle to attack. Running many simulations in his Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai refined his hypothesis over and over again until he came up with an initial prototype, his eyes shooting open in the next instant.
Lifting his right hand, Yang Kai made a slicing motion and created a finger-length long thumbnail-sized space crack in front of himself. This space crack overflowed with the aura of The Void and seemed akin to a bottomless hole in space.
However, unlike before when Yang Kai tore space, after this crack appeared, it didn’t remain in place but began slowly moving forward.
Wherever this tear in space passed, everything from air to World Energy was completely swallowed up.
After moving forward about a meter, the tear suddenly closed and disappeared.
Inside his stone room, Yang Kai looked happy.
He didn’t expect that the idea he had come up with on something of a whim, a small moving tear in space, could actually be realized so easily.
Although the space crack was only a finger long, a thumbnail wide, disappeared after travelling less than a meter, and moved quite slowly, Yang Kai believed that as long as he practised hard and strengthened his own ability to manipulate Space Force, he would definitely be able to use this method in combat.
Once the speed of this space crack increased, who could stop it? The tear in space could devour everything, it was not something ordinary cultivators could resist.
His heart roused, Yang Kai immediately began experimenting, creating one finger long space crack after another and pushing them forward. Gradually, the speed of these space cracks increased, along with the distance they could travel before disappearing.
Yang Kai soon forgot the passing of time, completely immersing himself in the study of this new attack method.
Finally, the travelling space cracks managed to reach the stone room’s wall, silently erasing a narrow strip of rock from existence, as if someone had carefully dug out a small strip of the rock wall.
Yang Kai knew, however, that this stone hadn’t really vanished, but had been sent to The Void.
Examining the traces on the stone wall, Yang Kai nodded slightly. This attack could inflict serious injuries if it hit, but it moved far too slowly and could easily be avoided. Also, it wasn’t powerful enough, probably due to the space crack itself being unstable. Yang Kai believed if he could stabilize this space crack enough, he would be able to open a hole straight through the stone wall.
This moving tear in space couldn’t be used in combat in its current form. Any cultivator at the Saint King Realm would be able to use their Saint Qi to interfere with its stability and disperse it, rendering it useless. However, this didn’t dim Yang Kai’s enthusiasm.
Its shape was similar to a wind blade, so after some slight though, Yang Kai decided to name this new method of attack the Space Blade!
Yang Kai could almost foresee that once his Space Blade reached a high level of proficiency, it would be even easier for him to fight and kill opponents above his own realm. The might of this esoteric strength was extremely difficult to block.
Yang Kai studied Space Blade in his stone room for three days straight, and its power greatly increased over that time, but as he was deeply immersed in his work, his brow suddenly frowned, and his face became cold.
He noticed a large number of masters were rapidly approaching the cave, and he was quite familiar with many of their auras; they were the masters from the Hai Ke Family.
Releasing his powerful Divine Sense to probe the situation, Yang Kai’s expression became somewhat dignified. He found that these visitors weren’t just the Hai Ke Family masters, there were even two First-Order Origin Returning Realm masters.
Recalling what Wu Yi said before, Yang Kai immediately realized that these two Origin Returning Realm masters were helpers that Yi En had managed to invite from Shadow Moon Hall.
This old bastard was really ruthless! There wasn’t any kind of irreconcilable grudge between him and the Hai Ke Family; at most, there were some bad feelings about Wu Yi and the others having separated from the family. There wasn’t any spilt blood between them. Yet, the Hai Ke Family had actually moved even faster than the Xu Family to try to oppress him.
At this moment, Yang Kai was already certain Wu Yi’s guess was correct.
His performance had been too intimidating, and with him occupying Dragon Cave Mountain, it made the Hai Ke Family unable to sleep peacefully. Dragon Cave Mountain was part of the Ke Family’s territory and wasn’t far from their main manor, so clearly, they feared Yang Kai would continue to rise up and one day threaten their existence.
Just because of this though, they had decided to exterminate him and everyone else here. Realizing this, Yang Kai coldly snorted and silently decided to not show the Hai Ke Family any kind of mercy regardless of whether they were Wu Yi’s former family. If they dared to challenge him, he would ensure they never leave.
Standing up, Yang Kai opened the stone door to his room and immediately spotted Wu Yi and Yu Feng standing there with nervous expressions.
“Big Brother Yang…” Wu Yi called out, her face somewhat pale.
“I know, make sure no one leaves the cave. These past few days, Yang Yan has improved the Spirit Array greatly, so as long as you don’t go out, they won’t be able to touch you.”
“No, I must face them together with you.” What Yang Kai didn’t expect was that Wu Yi would flatly reject his suggestion. She probably wanted to take this opportunity to make a clean break with the Hai Ke Family.
Yang Kai glanced at her for a moment before nodding gently, “Then don’t act rashly. Even if the situation becomes critical, don’t leave the cave entrance.”
“En,” Wu Yi responded quickly.
Yang Kai then led them to the entrance of the cave where he found Yang Yan was still furiously working on the Spirit Array, apparently not willing to withdraw until the very last moment.
After discovering that Yang Kai had come out, Yang Yan secretly breathed a sigh of relief and her movements became even faster and more fluid.
Inside the cave, the cultivators who had chosen to follow Wu Yi also realized what was happening and ran out one by one to stand solemnly behind Yang Kai and Wu Yi.
“Hmm… how did that little dwarf come? He really sticks out no matter where he goes,” Yang Kai suddenly said with some surprise. Among the group approaching them, like a crane among chickens, was the one Yang Kai had met when he first arrived on Shadowed Star, the incredibly short and equally arrogant, Xie Hong Wen.
At that time, Xie Hong Wen had shown up just after Wu Yi and the others had returned to Shadowed Star and confiscated the precious ore they had mined. Yang Kai also knew that this little dwarf, Xie Hong Wen was interested in Wu Yi and last time had even boldly declared that one day her surname would be Xie. His presence here now should be related to Wu Yi.
Xie Hong Wen may have been short, but he was actually the one leading this group, all the Elders and Foreign Elders of the Hai Ke Family following behind him along with the two First-Order Origin Returning Realm masters who were presumably from Heavenly Fate City’s City Lord’s Mansion.
Listening to Yang Kai’s comments, Wu Yi couldn’t help giggling, but she quickly composed herself, knowing that this was no time to laugh. The masters from the City Lord’s Mansion had come, Xie Hong Wen had also come, it looked like her former family were dead set on eliminating Yang Kai today, causing Wu Yi’s expression to become gloomy.
Just like Yang Kai discovered Xie Hong Wen, Xie Hong Wen discovered him. Glancing over and seeing Wu Yi standing so close to Yang Kai, Xie Hong Wen’s eyes nearly shot flames as he clenched his fists and cursed, “Bitch, always acting like an innocent maiden. Turns out you’re just another slut!”
Knowing Xie Hong Wen was growing irritated, Yi En quickly reminded, “Young Lord Xie, that young man named Yang Kai cannot be underestimated. Although his realm isn’t high, his combat strength is unimaginable, the Xu Family…”
“Enough! Father’s ears will soon go deaf from hearing you say that nonsense over and over again! Now that this Young Lord has come forward though, he will die without a doubt, just stand there and watch!” Xie Hong Wen waved his hand impatiently, interrupting Yi En’s words.
The two Origin Returning Realm masters that were following behind Xie Hong Wen shot disdainful looks towards Yi En, in their minds thinking that small families were really small families. Whenever they encountered a cultivator who could fight above their realm, they were instantly astounded.
Inside Shadow Moon Hall, there were many disciples who could fight above their own realm, any Second-Order Saint Realm disciple there could beat an ordinary Third-Order Saint Elder or Foreign Elder of a small family.
Let alone, this time two Origin Returning Realm masters had come out, so it was certain that this place would soon be razed to the ground.
Yi En let out a sigh but didn’t dare to say anymore, lest he annoy Xie Hong Wen further, but in his heart, he felt quite bitter.
He hadn’t expected to bring Xie Hong Wen here. A few days ago, Yi En had taken a lot of gifts to the City Lord’s Mansion. He had actually managed to see City Lord Fei Zhi Tu and reported what had happened with the Xu Family; however, Fei Zhi Tu didn’t seem to take the matter seriously. If not for Yi En accidentally meeting Xie Hong Wen at that time, he would likely still be waiting for an official response from the City Lord’s Mansion.
Moreover, Xie Hong Wen hadn’t come here to support the Hai Ke Family, nor to uphold justice for the Xu Family, he was simply here for Wu Yi.
Listening to Yi En saying that the woman he had his eye on was now mingling with a man of unknown origins who was just a First-Order Saint King, Xie Hong Wen flew into a rage and immediately brought two masters with him to kill Yang Kai.
Regardless of the process, he had managed to invite some powerhouses to handle the situation, which gave Yi En some psychological balance. Unfortunately, today, Wu Yi was going to die. One shouldn’t look just as the lewd look in Xie Hong Wen’s eyes, it was his personality that was truly twisted and deformed like his figure. Once he found a woman he wanted, he would stop at nothing to obtain her, and anyone who got in his way would suffer unspeakable consequences.
He once spotted the Young Lady of a small family and stated clearly that the next day he would come to her home to bring the bridegroom’s gifts to the family. But in order to escape this fate, this Young Lady went and slept with her favourite man to lose her innocence.
The Young Lady thought that by doing this, she could escape Xie Hong Wen’s poisonous hands, but Xie Hong Wen instead killed that man then brought the Young Lady back to his home, tortured and humiliated her for a month, then stripped her naked and tossed her out into the crowded streets of Heavenly Face City.
The Young Lady could not bear the humiliation and immediately committed suicide, but afraid of what would happen to them, no one dared to remove her body until her corpse had thoroughly rotted.
One month later, the family of that Young Lady was inexplicably destroyed. Although there were no clues to the perpetrators, as long as one had any sense, they would understand that it was Xie Hong Wen’s doing.
It could be said that Xie Hong Wen’s personality had been distorted to an incurable degree.
Yi En didn’t know what kind of fate was waiting for his Hai Ke Family and could only pray that Wu Yi had kept her innocence, unlike that other Young Lady. If she still had her innocence, there might be room to bargain, but if not, Yi En couldn’t even imagine what kind of storm the Hai Ke Family would have to face.
The Elders and Foreign Elders of the Hai Ke Family also didn’t have very good looks on their faces, all of them trembling as they clearly recalled all of Xie Hong Wen’s previous crimes, worrying that they would be implicated because of Wu Yi’s actions.
With the gloomy look on Xie Hong Wen’s face, no one dared breathe loudly.
After arriving in front of the cave though, Xie Hong Wen’s gloomy complexion suddenly dissipated as he stared towards Yang Yan who was still arranging her Spirit Array, his eyes flashing with slight surprise as he let out a wild laugh, “Amazing, there’s another beauty here. Seems taking this trip was the right call.”
Although Yang Yan was wearing a large black robe, her incredible curves were still clearly visible. On top of that, her small, exquisite face perfectly matched Xie Hong Wen’s appetite. His eyes fixed on Yang Yan as his blood began to boil. He wished he could immediately grab Yang Yan and Wu Yi now and leave to have his way with them.
With this in mind, Xie Hong Wen actually rushed out to snatch these two, but he only managed to take a few steps before he was stopped by one of the two Origin Returning Realm masters.
“Young Master, there’s something strange in front of us, it should be a powerful Spirit Array,” The cultivator frowned as he stared at the large open space in front of the cave, his Divine Sense sweeping it repeatedly.
On their way here, Yi En had explained to them how the Xu Family’s dozen Third-Order Saint Kings had been annihilated, but they hadn’t taken his words seriously, thinking that even if a Spirit Array existed, it would have limited power and be unable to stop an Origin Returning Realm master. However, after arriving here, these masters discovered that this Spirit Array was not to be underestimated.
“Something strange?” Xie Hong Wen wasn’t stupid and quickly nodded, “I see. Then this Young Lord won’t rush matters.”
At this moment, Yang Yan had finished her task and swiftly returned to the cave. Hiding behind Yang Kai, her tender body shivered slightly, causing Wu Yi to take her hand and pat it gently.
Xie Hong Wen withdrew his eyes which had been following Yang Yan and instead squinted towards Wu Yi, smiling deviously as he wore a ruthless look upon his face and shouted, “Wu Yi, don’t say this Young Lord didn’t give you a chance. As long as you know your limits and obediently come back with me, this Young Lord won’t haggle over your past indiscretions. If you refuse my kindness though, don’t blame this Young Lord for being ruthless.
Although Wu Yi’s complexion was quite pale, she still managed to shout, “Stop dreaming! If you want me to follow you, you’ll have to kill me first!”
“Good!” Instead of becoming angry, Xie Hong Wen laughed. When he first learned that Wu Yi had gotten together with Yang Kai, he had truly been enraged, but now that he discovered the even more beautiful Yang Yan here, his gloomy mood dissipated greatly. This time, not only could he obtain Wu Yi, he could also acquire this, curvaceous beauty, killing two birds with one stone; naturally Xie Hong Wen was overjoyed.
No longer caring about Wu Yi, he instead turned to Yang Kai and snorted, “Little brat, your courage isn’t small, daring to have ideas about this Young Lord’s woman. No matter who you are, or what backer you have, you must die here today! Obediently kowtow and apologize to your Grandpa a few times and perhaps I will make your death painless. If you can give me that woman too, heh heh, this Young Lord may even spare your worthless life!”
Yang Kai frowned. He had seen plenty of rich second generations, but never had he encountered one as arrogant as Xie Hong Wen. It was almost as if this midget thought that so long as he spoke, others would have to obey him. First, he wanted Wu Yi to surrender to him, then he wanted Yang Kai to kowtow and beg for his life? Who did he think he was?
“Does this idiot only know how to talk big?” Yang Kai turned to ask Wu Yi.
Wu Yi sneered, “His brain is rotten.”
“En, seems so, his brain really must be rotten. It’s probably a mental condition caused by his physical deformity,” Yang Kai nodded seriously.
Seeing his calm and relaxed look, the tension Wu Yi and the rest of the crowd were feeling seemed to abate.
On the other side, when he heard Xie Hong Wen saying he might let Yang Kai off, Yi En hurriedly called out, “Young Lord Xie, this person has no background but still forcefully seized Dragon Cave Mountain from my Hai Ke Family, usurping the roll of host while being just a guest! Please uphold just and put this man to death, Young Lord Xie!”
Since he had decided to strangle Yang Kai to death in the cradle, lest he grow up and threaten the interests of the Hai Ke Family, Yi En would not easily let Yang Kai off. As for Wu Yi, she had already left the family, so whatever fate was in store for her after Xie Hong Wen carried her off was no concern of his.
“Do you want to interfere in this Young Lord’s business?” Xie Hong Wen glanced over at Yi En, causing the latter to flinch and shut his mouth.
Immediately after, Xie Hong Wen yelled towards the cave, “Little brat, your courage isn’t small, not only having ideas about Father’s woman, but daring to occupy another’s territory. It seems you don’t put my Shadow Moon Hall in your eyes! Could it be you don’t know this Hai Ke Family is attached to my Shadow Moon Hall?”
“If you want to fight, just fight, stop spewing nonsense!” Yang Kai was too lazy to talk with him anymore. This dwarf’s head wasn’t normal, so trying to talk to him was just a waste of breath, the result would be the same no matter what.
“Good, this Young Lord will let you understand the consequences of offending are today! You can rest assured; I won’t kill you immediately. That woman is yours, right?” Xie Hong Wen pointed to Yang Yan, “Since you’ve dared lay your hands on this Young Lord’s woman, this Young Lord will seize yours instead! I’ll let you watch as I satisfy her so you know just how inferior you are!”
Saying so, he lightly ordered, “Hong Zhen, capture that boy for me. Fuck, daring to offend me, I must make him suffer.”
The First Order Origin Returning Realm master called Hong Zhen frowned, hesitating for a moment before saying, “Young Lord, there’s a Spirit Array over there!”
“So what if there’s a Spirit Array? Is a trivial Spirit Array enough to stop you? If that’s the case, what use are you?” Xie Hong Wen shouted, “If you’re not enough then both of you go, I don’t believe it some trash Spirit Array can block both of you. Hurry up and grab him, Father here needs to step on his head and piss on his face.”
Hong Zhen’s expression drooped and became gloomy.
A First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator was considered a powerful master on Shadowed Star; after all, the highest realm achievable here was Third Order Origin Returning Realm. But since Hong Zhen’s orders were to protect Xie Hong Wen, so he could not refuse his orders.
The other Origin Realm master glanced over at him and seemed to want to say something, but Hong Zhen waved his hand first and said, “I’ll test it, if I can’t break it, we’ll do it together.”
“Good,” The man nodded.
Hong Zhen walked step by step towards the cave, fully releasing his Divine Sense to scan his surroundings, but the more he searched, the more frightened he became. The space around him was like a quagmire; as soon as his Divine Sense fell into it, it seemingly disappeared. Immediately, Hong Zhen realized he had underestimated the power of this Spirit Array.
It was too late to retreat though as he had clearly entered the Spirit Array’s range, but what stunned him was it seemed the other party had no intention of activating it, making him wonder if it could be opened at all.
It was then that the young First Order Saint King actually started walking over towards him, surprising and delighting Hong Zhen.
“Sister Yang Yan, start the Array,” Wu Yi grabbed Yang Yan’s small hand nervously. Last time, more than a dozen people from the Xu Family were easily killed by Yang Kai because they fell into the Spirit Array, but now he was facing an Origin Returning Realm master, so naturally, Wu Yi was worried.
First Order Origin Returning Realm and First Order Saint King Realm were an entire Great Realm apart. Even if Wu Yi had great confidence in Yang Kai’s strength, she didn’t think he could defeat this Hong Zhen in a head-on confrontation.
Yang Yan shook her head though, “Yang Kai said not to open the Spirit Array right away.”
“Why not?”
“I do not know either.”
However, Yang Yan soon learned why Yang Kai didn’t want her to open the Spirit Array immediately, because Yang Kai actually made the first move, condensing a jet-black Demonic Flame sword and slashing it down towards Hong Zhen.
Yang Kai clearly wanted to test the limits of his combat effectiveness.
“Overconfident brat!” Hong Zhen sneered, pushing his fist forward. However, this seemingly casually thrown punch actually caused the space within a several hundred meters of him to undergo a strange mutation, as if something had been added to it.
Yang Kai’s expression changed greatly. Although he knew there was a huge gap between Third-Order Saint King Realm and First Order Origin Returning Realm, he hadn’t expected the attack of an Origin Returning Realm master to be so weird.
The power behind this fist wasn’t too strong, but when Hong Zhen punched out, Yang Kai felt a strange sensation, as if he was wrapped in an invisible force, causing the speed at which he could circulate his Saint Qi to drop noticeably. At the same time, Yang Kai felt his physical body become more difficult to move and the speed at which his black sword was falling also dropped precipitously.
His strength was instantly suppressed.
What kind of power was this? Yang Kai was startled. He had met a lot of Origin Returning Realm masters, but he had never once fought against one of them. This was the first time.
Yang Kai suddenly discovered that Origin Returning Realm cultivators seemed to posses some special type of power that could suppress those in lower realms, what he didn’t know was whether this power was unique to Hong Zhen or was something all Origin Realm masters could use.
He was eager to know what this power was.
Back in Tong Xuan Realm, if Yang Kai ever encountered some problem with his cultivation, he could speak to Meng Wu Ya or one of the other masters to help him, but out here, there was no one Yang Kai could rely on. If he wanted to comprehend this strange strength, he had to kill an Origin Returning Realm cultivator and absorb their sensibilities about the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao.
While his thoughts churned about quickly, a great wind blade burst forth from Hong Zhen’s fists, shattering Yang Kai’s Demonic Flame sword in an instant.
If his strength wasn’t suppressed, Yang Kai would still be able to dodge this blow, but now that his movements were much slower than usual, he wasn’t able to dodge the approaching wind blade.
There was an extremely violent power contained with this wind blade, and Yang Kai believed that even if his physique was strong, he would definitely be injured if he was hit.
Wu Yi called out in alarm as worry filled her eyes.
“Cheap slut!” Xie Hong Wen scolded once again. Wu Yi’s worrying about Yang Kai upset him greatly and he secretly decided that he would tear off her clothes and devastate her ruthlessly in front of everyone here before tossing her away like a piece of trash so she would know the price for offending him.
On the other hand, Yang Yan expression remained indifferent and she didn’t show any intention of opening the Spirit Array.
*Hong…*
The huge wind blade hit Yang Kai, forcing him back several meters.
“Eh?” Hong Zhen thought Yang Kai was dead for sure, but he quickly found that at some point, this young man had summoned a purple shield in front of him. A purple hue surrounded this shield and the aura it released was quite astonishing. At first glance, it was obviously a very high-grade defensive artefact; his wind blade hadn’t even left a scratch on it.
“An Origin Grade artefact?” Hong Zhen’s eyes lit up, and a look of greed appeared on his face.
With his eyesight, it was easy for him to tell what grade this artefact was, and he also could tell that this artefact hadn’t been completely refined so it shouldn’t have been long since this young man obtained it.
If he could snatch this Origin Grade artefact, his strength would definitely increase.
“Fierce!” Yang Kai glanced at his purple shield before shaking his body a bit and calming the rolling blood in his chest, praising Hong Zhen without hesitation.
“You’re not bad yourself, boy!” Hong Zhen sneered, but on the inside, he was actually quite surprised, because if it was an ordinary First-Order Saint King cultivator, even if they had such a powerful defensive artefact, they would have at least been injured just now. However, it was clear that this young man wasn’t the slightest bit affected; no wonder he was able to fight opponents above his realm and even kill Third Order Saint Kings. From his performance in this exchange, it was clear he had such ability.
In front of the cave, Yang Kai waved his arms a few time and quickly discovered that there seemed to be some kind of invisible threads entangling him, restraining his actions, not only making it difficult to move about, but also impeding the flow of his Saint Qi. This was a very disconcerting feeling that kept him from exerting his full strength and forcing him to summon his purple shield to defend himself against Hong Zhen punch.
Although the purple shield had not been fully refined and couldn’t display all its functions, it was made from the carapace and Monster Core of a Ninth-Order Monster Beast along with various Origin Grade ores, so it was extremely strong and easily able to withstand Hong Zhen’s attack.
“What kind of power is this?” Yang Kai couldn’t detect the power that was suppressing him so he could only ask Hong Zhen.
Hong Zhen laughed, “Ignorant child, you don’t even know what Shi is, yet you dare act so wild?”
“Shi?” Yang Kai frowned, “As in fighting spirit? I have that too.”
Saying so, Yang Kai released his aura and killing intent, but to his disappointment, his Shi is seemed completely different from Hong Zhen. It wasn’t that his will to fight was weak, on the contrary, to objective observers, Yang Kai’s imposing manner was simply earth-shattering. On the contrary, Hong Zhen’s Shi seemed inferior.
But Yang Kai could tell that the Shi Hong Zhen was referring to was something completely different from mere fighting spirit. The two things seemed to have nothing to do with each other. The fighting spirit Yang Kai just sent out couldn’t directly interfere with his opponent, while Hong Zhen’s Shi was able to greatly suppress Yang Kai’s strength.
Was this what it meant to be an Origin Returning Realm master? It was indeed impressive and caused Yang Kai’s eyes to burn, instead of becoming discouraged it only caused his fighting intent to soar.
Shaking his head to dispel his excitement, Yang Kai held up his purple shield towards Hong Zhen and shouted, “Come, let me see what this Shi you speak of is all about!”
Yang Kai dismissed his Demonic Flame sword and put everything he had into his defence.
Although he had only traded blows once, Yang Kai already understood that as it was currently impossible to kill an Origin Returning Realm master. Even if he brought out his Golden Blood it might not necessarily be possible. This power called Shi was too mysterious, but on the other hand, it was absolutely impossible for Hong Zhen to kill him. With his purple shield and ability to tear space, even Third Order Origin Returning Realm masters couldn’t kill Yang Kai.
Looking at Yang Kai’s stance, Hong Zhen immediately understood what this young man wanted to do, infuriating him greatly.
Origin Returning Realm cultivators had the ability to completely suppress those in the Saint King Realm, but this young man who was just a First Order Saint King wanted to use him to study Shi. This was nothing less than a huge insult to Hong Zhen, causing murderous intent to burst from his body as he began mercilessly attacking. Sending wave after wave of wind blades, enough to blot out the sky, Hong Zhen acted as if he wanted to rip apart space itself.
“Ahahaha! shred him to tiny little pieces!” Xie Hong clapped and laughed, completely forgetting about his earlier clamouring of stepping on Yang Kai and urinating on his face.
Wu Yi’s face turned pale, and she could not help screaming, but this only made Xie Hong feel even more excited.
Many cultivators who had followed Wu Yi couldn’t bear to watch so they turned their heads away, thinking that Yang Kai would die for sure under this attack.
Only Yang Yan spat disdainfully while muttering under her breath, “If the artefact I refined can’t even block the attack of a First-Order Origin Realm, after today I won’t ever refine artefacts again.”
The voice was so low that no one heard her, even Wu Yi who was standing right beside her.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
A series of violent explosions rang out and the spot where Yang Kai was standing was immediately filled with flying dirt and stones, blocking him from everyone’s view. Yang Kai was pushed backwards again, smashing into and blowing apart a giant stone, causing him to cough out a mouthful of blood.
The power of the wind blades hadn’t injured Yang Kai at all, but the huge impact had still caused his organs to shift.
Hong Zhen’s eyes narrowed, seemingly not having expected this shield’s defensive ability would be so outstanding. Not waiting for Yang Kai to steady himself, Hong Zhen’s figure flickered and in the blink of an eye arrived in front of Yang Kai, sending out a fist towards the young man’s forehead.
Hong Zhen’s Shi, which was already fettering Yang Kai’s strength, suddenly became stronger, prohibiting Yang Kai from taking any kind of defensive action before Hong Zhen’s attack landed.
Out of desperation, Yang Kai attacked with his half-finished Space Blade.
A space crack swiftly flew towards Hong Zhen’s chest, and although Hong Zhen didn’t know what this attack was, he instinctually perceived danger from them and immediately condensed a thick layer of Saint Qi around himself for protection while still pushing his fist forward.
However, Hong Zhen’s short delay allowed Yang Kai to raise his purple shield once more.
A loud bang rang out and Yang Kai was sent flying again like a paper kite whose strings had been cut.
Hong Zhen’s brow furrowed deeply as he stared down at the spot on his body which had just been attacked. But try as he might, he couldn’t discover anything, and there was no trace of him being injured, so he simply shook his head and wondered why he had suddenly felt danger just now.
Looking back towards Yang Kai, Hong Zhen was speechless.
Although this First Order Saint King youth seemed quite battered, in reality, he hadn’t suffered much damage. All of Hong Zhen’s attacks had been blocked by the purple shield and Yang Kai’s injuries were only some minor traumas caused by being thrown about.
Also, at this moment, not only did this young man not show any signs of fear or intention to escape, he instead wore a look full of interest with a happy smile on his face as he beckoned to Hong Zhen.
“You court death!” Hong Zhen was furious. As an Origin Returning Realm master, being unable to kill a mere Saint King in short order while also suffering provocations again and again made Hong Zhen feel like he was being treated like some kind of entertainment; or a sideshow, further enraging him.
Hong Zhen pushed his Shi out once more to cover Yang Kai, but in the next instant, he showed a look of shock, because, from this young man’s body, an aura similar to his own Shi appeared, and although it was very incredibly light and weak, Hong Zhen was certain this was an embryonic form of Shi. As long as this kid was given enough time, he could definitely form his own Shi!
How could that be? A couple dozen breaths ago this kid was still asking him what Shi was, so how could he achieve such a feat now?
Did he figure all this out from just their brief fight? Considering this, Hong Zhen felt some cold sweat on his back. If this was really the case, then this kid was nothing less than a monster. Even Hong Zhen had taken ten years after breaking through to the Origin Returning Realm to gradually understand the mysteries of Shi, and that was with the guidance and assistance of his Sect Elders. In terms of Shi, Hong Zhen was still just a novice, far from reaching the Minor Accomplishment Stage.
More importantly though, only those who reached the Origin Returning Realm could touch the threshold of Shi. Without reaching the Origin Returning Realm, there was no such thing as Shi.
How did he do it? How did this little brat achieve even a vague understanding of what Shi was?
“Come again!” Yang Kai saw Hong Zhen’s expression fluctuate wildly as he just stood there, so he couldn’t help calling out and urging, “What are you gawking at? Weren’t we going to fight?”
Not only was Yang Kai egging him on, Xie Hong Wen was also constantly clamoring for Hong Zhen to kill Yang Kai.
How could Yang Kai care about him now though? All Yang Kai wanted right now was to have an all-out fight with Hong Zhen now.
If he could figure out this Shi thing, what did it matter if he was beaten up a bit?
Hong Zhen let out a light breath and didn’t rush to attack Yang Kai, instead suddenly turning his head and shouting, “Senior Brother, let’s do this together. His artefact is too powerful, I can’t break his defence alone.”
He didn’t feel the slightest bit embarrassed. If it was anyone else, Hong Zhen wouldn’t have asked his Senior Brother for help, but Yang Kai was just too frightening. If this boy wasn’t beheaded today, once he grows up, he would become a true nightmare.
As such, he didn’t hesitate to ask his Senior Brother for help.
The other Origin Returning Realm who was protecting Xie Hong Wen heard this and couldn’t help showing a look surprise, but he didn’t ask anything and just nodded, “Sure!”
Saying so, he too went forward.
Everyone was stunned!
A First-Order Origin Realm master, while facing a First-Order Saint King, actually asked for help, and the one he asked was also a First Order Origin Realm master…
Yi En felt the world spinning around him. Although he didn’t understand the situation, he was at least able to tell that Yang Kai was truly dangerous and suddenly developed began feeling anxious. He didn’t know whether thoroughly offending Yang Kai this time was a blessing or a curse.
Seeing both Origin Returning Realm masters come towards him, Yang Kai frowned as a hint of disappointment flashed across his face before he swiftly returned to the cave entrance.
He could dance around with One Origin Returning Realm Master, but two of them? Once the fight began, unless he tore space and escaped, Yang Kai was certain he would be killed.
“Start it!” Yang Kai wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, put away his purple shield, and called out to Yang Yan.
“Finally!” Yang Yan nodded, forming a few strange hand seals that quickly activated the Spirit Array outside the cave. Suddenly, the surrounding space rippled slightly before becoming calm once again.
Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother’s faces both became restless, releasing their Divine Senses all around them but to their surprise, were unable to discover anything. Before the Spirit Array was started, they could feel a vague sense of danger, but now that it was active, they couldn’t sense anything, their Divine Senses moving about seemingly unobstructed, but despite all this, they knew that if they fell into the Spirit Array’s range, they were bound to suffer.
“What are you standing around staring at, quickly break this Spirit Array and grab those two women for me!” Xie Hong Wen shouted.
The two Origin Realm masters were helpless, so they summoned their artefacts and began fiercely attacking the open space in front of the cave.
The artefacts these two carried weren’t low quality, both of them Origin Grade Low-Rank. A set of twelve flying knives was used by Hong Zhen, each one of them a Saint King Grade High-Rank artefact on their own, but combined together, their grade was promoted. Forming a straight line, these twelve knives constantly bombarded a specific location of the Spirit Array.
The artefact used by Hong Zhen’s Senior Brother was even more imposing, a great war-hammer that shook the Spirit Array every time it struck.
Ordinarily, the Spirit Array arranged by Yang Yan couldn’t even be detected, but once it was attacked it would reveal some traces. Those who weren’t proficient in Spirit Arrays could only use brute force to break them. About ninety-nine percent of people fell into this category. When such cultivators encountered a Spirit Array, they would attack it until it broke. This method of breaking through an array was both laborious and time-consuming. Sometimes, even if one broke a Spirit Array by force, they would still encounter backlash upon its destruction. Only a few people who understood Spirit Arrays would search for weaknesses and steadily unravel them.
Outside Dragon Cave Mountain, the two First-Order Origin Realm masters fiercely pushed their Saint Qi to bombard the surrounding space in an effort to wear down Yang Yan’s Spirit Array.
Wu Yi clenched her fists nervously as she shouted, “Yang Yan, stop them, quickly.”
Last time, Yang Yan operated the Spirit Array in order to assist Yang Kai in killing the Xu Family’s Saint King Realm masters, and as a result, none of the Xu Family managed to survive. Wu Yi naturally thought Yang Yan could do the same here again.
However, Yang Yan shook her head and said, “If they enter the Spirit Array, I can guarantee they won’t escape, but if they don’t go in, there’s nothing I can do.”
Spirit Arrays had such a disadvantage. Although they were profound and powerful, if others were careful and avoided entering their scope, Spirit Arrays had no way of displaying their might.
“Then what do we do?” Wu Yi panicked.
Yang Yan smiled lightly, “Don’t worry, that Spirit Array is for them to break.”
Yang Kai glanced over at her in surprise, but immediately understood that there was far more to the Spirit Array than meets the eye. Yang Kai was certain that if Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother broke the Spirit Array they were currently attacking, they would immediately charge forward, after which they would find themselves trapped in an even more powerful Spirit Array.
The timidest of them all, Yang Yan, was perfectly at ease at this moment, so how couldn’t Yang Kai see that she had something up her sleeve? What was truly ridiculous was that the two Origin Returning Realm masters had no idea about this and thought they were successfully breaking the Spirit Array apart.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
Hong Zhen’s twelve flying knives and the other Origin Realm master’s war-hammer constantly bombarded the Spirit Array, soon resulting in cracks forming, an indication it was on the verge of collapse.
Xie Hong Wen seemed to be tired of shouting and had decided to just wait expectantly, his eyes moving back and forth between Yang Yan and Wu Yi, the obscene look causing both of them to feel uncomfortable.
Patriarch Yi En and the other Hai Ke Family Elders and Foreign Elders stood side by side, sneering with derision, causing Wu Yi’s stomach to turn.
While the Spirit Array was being attacked, more than a dozen kilometres away, another group was rapidly approaching.
“Hm? Why do I hear sounds of combat?” Among this group, an Origin Realm master muttered in confusion. Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother attacking the Spirit Array had raised quite a ruckus, so even more than a dozen kilometres away others could easily hear the fallout.
“It must have been that boy provoking someone he should not have,” A middle-aged man following behind glanced in the direction of the cave and secretly rejoiced, whiling continuing to maintain a desolate look upon his face as he cried out, “Senior Luo, that little bastard is simply insane, a few days ago he murdered more than ten of my Xu Family’s masters, including our Patriarch and Young Master. My Xu Family has suffered unbearable losses. I beg Senior Luo to seek justice for my Xu Family!”
Luo Qing nodded lightly, “I know, Xu Family’s Patriarch also helped me with some small matters in the past. This time I will help settle this matter for your Xu Family. If that boy understands his limits then so be it, if he does not, I will teach them to him.”
Luo Qing emphasized the words ‘small matters’ to remind everyone here that he would not go all out to help them this time.
“Many thanks, Senior Luo, many thanks, Senior Luo!” Under the leadership of the middle-aged man, a group of people continued to thank Luo Qing.
This group of people were cultivator from Xu Family, who when they heard about the annihilation of their Patriarch, Elders, and Foreign Elders, feared the Xu Family would soon be destroyed. They immediately knew that there was no way for them to seek revenge with their paltry strength, so they instead rushed to Heavenly Fate City for help.
The middle-aged man in the lead was Xu Zhi Bing, the cousin of the Xu Family Patriarch Xu Zhi Kun, and was just a Second-Order Saint King, yet he had managed to invite Luo Qing, an Origin Realm master, to help them this time.
Xu Zhi Bing understood his own worth and knew that with his strength and wealth, it would be impossible to move City Lord Fei Zhi Tu to support them, and the facts had proved him right. Even Patriarch Yi En of the Hai Ke Family, who brought extremely generous gifts with him, could not get Fei Zhi Tu to take him seriously.
How could such a great man bother to meddle in the grievances between small families? If Yi En didn’t happen to meet Xie Hong Wen, he would still be waiting for news from the City Lord’s Mansion.
Xu Zhi Bing didn’t even go to the City Lord’s Mansion, but instead went directly to Luo Qing, because he knew Luo Qing owed Xu Zhi Kun a small favour and wouldn’t be able to just stand idly by.
Sure enough, when Xu Zhi Bing invited Luo Qing, the latter had agreed and quickly led a righteous crusade towards Dragon Cave Mountain, but before they had even arrived, they heard sounds of fighting.
The group sped up and soon reached the cave, looking but forward, Luo Qing was quite startled and immediately flew over to Xie Hong Wen and saluted, “Greetings, Young Lord Xie.”
Xie Hong Wen was busy urging Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother to break through the Spirit Array quickly, so when he heard Luo Qing, he too was quite surprised, “Aren’t you one of Treasure Trove Pavilion’s guards? What are you doing here?”
Luo Qing quickly replied, “Young Lord Xie, I had some friendship with the Xu Family Patriarch who died here, so I have come here today to seek justice from his killer.
Xie Hong Wen nodded, “So you’ve also come here to enforce justice. Nice. You’ve come at just the right time, go over and help Hong Zhen and I’ll see to it your rewarded appropriately. Hmph, those two wastes are really useless, taking so long to break through a simple Spirit Array.”
Although Luo Qing was a guard at Treasure Trove Pavilion, he was also a Shadow Moon Hall disciple, so naturally, he didn’t dare disobey Xie Hong Wen’s words and immediately nodded, “I will respectfully obey Young Lord Xie’s command.”
Saying so, Luo Qing also summoned his own artefact and walked over to join forces with Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother who were still attacking the Spirit Array.
On the other side, Yi En saw Xu Zhi Bing had also brought an Origin Realm helper so he walked over and greeted him with a smile. Xu Zhi Bing greeted him with a few words but was more puzzled about why the Hai Ke Family had brought masters here to deal with Yang Kai. On top of that, Yi En had apparently arrived here even before Xu Zhi Bing had. Although Xu Zhi Bing didn’t understand what was happening, he didn’t ask any questions. The Xu Family was no longer what it used to be. Under the watchful eye of Shadow Moon Hall, the Hai Ke Family would not openly annex the Xu Family. However, slowly encroaching upon their territory and demanding some benefits from them was inevitable. Facing such a neighbour, Xu Zhi Bing could only show humility and hope that Yi En would show some restraint.
Yi En was naturally very happy. Although he felt a little uneasy before, with Xu Zhi Bing bringing another Origin Returning Realm master, Yang Kai’s death was no assured.
This time, Yi En could eliminate Yang Kai while satisfying Xie Hong’s obscene desires, possibly even allowing the Hai Ke Family to soar upwards in the near future. If Xie Hong Wen brought Wu Yi back with him, so long as Yi En used her appropriately, the Hai Ke Family’s status would naturally rise and joining Shadow Moon Hall’s inner circle wouldn’t be just a dream. Yi En just preyed that Xie Hong wouldn’t kill Wu Yi in anger.
While thinking about this bright future though, Hong Zhen’s dissatisfied voice rang out, “What are you doing?”
Hearing this angry shout, everyone turned their heads to the source and suddenly saw a strange scene.
Luo Qing, the Origin Realm master Xu Zhi Bing brought with him, was actually staring dumbly towards the cave entrance, holding his artefact in his hand but not pouring any of his Saint Qi into it. Seeing his appearance, it seemed that he had not attacked the Spirit Array.
Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother both looked disgruntled and immediately rebuked, “If you aren’t going to help then step aside, the two of us will be enough. Hmph, this Spirit Array will soon be broken anyways, whether you help or not is irrelevant!”
Just now, Xie Hong Wen disparaging their strength had caused Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother to feel indignant. At this moment, when the Spirit Array was about to break, they were naturally not willing to share credit with Luo Qing.
“Wait, wait!” Luo Qing suddenly shouted as if he had just discovered something important and with a hint of dread flashing across the depths of his eyes, he quickly went forward to prevent Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother from continuing their attack.
“Luo Qing, we just told you to back down and now what? What are you trying to do?” Hong Zhen shouted furiously.
“What happened?” Xie Hong Wen’s face also darkened.
“Young Lord, this guy not only didn’t help but is actually obstructing us now. His brain must be damaged!” Hong Zhen shouted, “I suspect he’s on the same side as this youth.”
“Is that true?” Xie Hong looked sternly at Luo Qing.
“Young Lord Xie, please listen to me,” Luo Qing was shocked and quickly waved his hands, swiftly walking over to Xie Hong Wen and whispering something in his ear.
No one knew what was said, but Xie Hong Wen’s face expression changed dramatically when he heard it and swiftly asked, “Really?”
“It’s true,” Luo Qing nodded repeatedly before saying in a low voice, “Young Lord Xie, please be patient, I will notify Elder Qian immediately.”
Having said so, without waiting for Xie Hong Wen to react, Luo Qing swiftly took out his communication type artefact and poured his Divine Sense into it.
“Bastard!” Xie Hong knocked Luo Qing’s communication artefact to the ground while sending a gloomy look towards him before shooting a glare towards Yang Kai in the distance.
Hong Zhen and the other Origin Realm master didn’t know what was happening and just looked at each other blankly.
“What are they doing?” Yang Yan tilted her head curiously, muttering somewhat anxiously, “I have to wait for them to break in.”
“They seem to be having some kind of disagreement.” Yang Kai also couldn’t figure out what was happening. He only knew that Luo Qing had been staring at him a moment ago and seemed to recognize him. However, Yang Kai was sure he had never met this person before.
Yang Kai’s memory was quite good, so if he had met this person before, he would definitely have some kind of impression of him.
This sudden change not only confused Yang Kai, but also Yi En. The feeling of crisis in his heart that had all but disappeared a moment ago was now roaring back stronger than ever. Yi En shot a glance over at Xie Hong Wen and actually discovered an extremely ugly look on this reckless evildoer Young Lord’s face, as if he was struggling with a very difficult decision.
Yi En was incredibly frightened. Could it be that this young man named Yang Kai had some kind of incredibly strong background? If that wasn’t the case, how could Xie Hong Wen show such a distressed look? If Yang Kai didn’t have some kind of powerful backer, with Xie Hong Wen’s temper and character, he would definitely not relent, but Yang Kai didn’t seem like someone with any background.
Yi En’s heart was in turmoil.
But soon, Xie Hong Wen made his decision and sternly yelled at Hong Zhen, “Why are you stopping? Did this Young Lord tell you to stop? Continue!”
“Yes!” Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother responded immediately and once again attacked the Spirit Array.
“Young Lord Xie must not!” Luo Qing was shocked and hurriedly tried to intervene.
Xie Hong Wen however just ignored Luo Qing’s words and even kicked him rudely, “Get away!”
Xie Hong Weng’s strength wasn’t high, but in the face of his kick, Luo Qing didn’t dare to evade, allowing himself to be struck before taking a few steps backwards, standing firmly, and hurriedly said, “Young Lord Xie, Elder Qian is on his way. Please wait a moment Young Lord Xie, otherwise, if Elder Qian becomes angry, this disciple will not be able to withstand it!”
“Impudence!” Xie Hong Wen was completely irritated by Luo Qing and glared at him with a sullen expression, “What this Young Lord wants to do cannot be dictated by you, if you dare spout any more nonsense, I’ll have you die too!”
Luo Qing’s expression went cold and he really didn’t open his mouth to speak again. Although he was a Shadow Moon Hall master at the Origin Returning Realm, he didn’t have much of a background, so he opposes fight against Xie Hong Wen.
He could only turn around and yell to Yang Kai, “Friend, hold on for a while, as long as you can resist for a short time everything will be fine.”
Yang Kai frowned, unable to understand what this man was thinking, and soon shouting, “Do we know each other?”
Luo Qing shook his head, “No.”
Yang Kai sneered, “Since we don’t know each other, why would you help me?”
Luo Qing’s expression became awkward, knowing that his actions only made Yang Kai feel suspicious, thinking about it for a moment before saying, “Friend has not met me before, but I have seen you. Elder Qian Tong spread your image throughout Heavenly Fate City to all the shops which are associated with Shadow Moon Hall, we were told that if we meet you, we must treat you well. I am Luo Qing, a guard assigned to Treasure Trove Pavilion, so I have seen friend’s image.”
“Qian Tong?” Yang Kai gawked for a moment, then soon realized what was going on. Qian Tong must have taken notice of him due to his last two transactions. Both times Yang Kai had purchased a large amount of materials while at the same time selling a number of high-quality Saint King Grade artifacts, making him a high priority client.
After all, the highest-level Artifact Refiners on Shadowed Star were just Origin Grade Low-Rank. Saint King Grade High-Rank artefacts were incredibly valuable and there was no need to worry about finding buyers for them.
However, that wasn’t enough to explain this situation. Qian Tong didn’t need to act so prudently if this was all he was concerned about. Yang Kai even felt that these actions had signs of flattery behind them! Qian Tong had even gone so far as to deliberately spread his image throughout Heavenly Fate City to all shops owned by Shadow Moon Hall and instructed them to treat him as a VIP. If this wasn’t flattery, what was?
Yang Kai was a loner, a mere Third-Order Saint, so why would someone of Qian Tong’s status feel the need to flatter him?
Yang Kai wasn’t stupid, and though his mind wasn’t the sharpest out there, after thinking about it for a moment, he understood that Qian Tong wasn’t trying to flatter him, but rather the one who was refining those artefacts.
In other words, he was actually trying to flatter Yang Yan!
However, Qian Tong shouldn’t know about the existence of Yang Yan and probably just assumed there was a powerful Artifact Refining Grandmaster standing behind Yang Kai.
Considering all this, Yang Kai nodded slightly before cupping his fists to Luo Qing and saying, “I appreciate friend’s kind intentions, but there is no need to trouble Senior Qian Tong over this matter, we can handle it ourselves.”
Yang Kai didn’t like owing other favours, even if Qian Tong didn’t have any malicious intentions, if he were to own him a favour, in the future, it would be difficult for Yang Kai to refuse a request. This was especially true since Qian Tong seemed to want to recruit him.
The conversation between these two people was not done in secret so it naturally entered everyone else’s ears. When he heard these words, Xu Zhi Bing fell to the ground limply while the other Xu Family members went pale and began trembling.
Xu Zhi Bing hadn’t expected that taking advantage of a past grace to invite Luo Qing here would result in such a situation. With Yang Kai being related to Elder Qian Tong, what did his trivial Xu Family count for? If Xu Zhi Bing had known this beforehand, he wouldn’t have invited Luo Qing here at all. Although the Patriarch, Elder, and Foreign Elders had all died, the Xu Family still had a lot of members left in it, including many direct descendants, so there was still a chance for them to stage a comeback, but now, that chance had been thoroughly destroyed by him.
It was simply laughable; the other party hadn’t come to destroy them while he could while they had sought revenge when they weren’t capable of doing so! At this moment, Xu Zhi Bing wished to simply commit suicide here on Dragon Cave Mountain.
After learning that Yang Kai and Elder Qian Tong were acquainted, it wasn’t just the Xu Family people who began panicking, everyone from the Hai Ke Family wore equally forlorn looks, with Ba Qing Yan once again wiping his forehead with his soaking wet handkerchief. Yi En’s face was ashen as both his heart and body were spasming non-stop.
He finally understood why he had been feeling so uneasy this whole time, it turns out it was because of this.
He thought that when he boarded Xie Hong Wen’s ship, the Hai Ke Family would experience nothing but smooth sailing, but what was Xie Hong Wen in front of Qian Tong?
The former was just a second-generation ancestor, relying on his father being a Deacon of Shadow Moon Hall to bluff and bluster all day long, but Qian Tong was a genuine Elder of Shadow Moon Hall! Even Xie Hong Wen’s father wouldn’t dare speak loudly in front of Qian Tong, let alone Xie Hong Wen.
[It’s over, it’s all over!] Yi En’s eyes filled with gloom as he struggled to remain standing, his face going from white to blue.
If he had only known, how could he have possibly offended Yang Kai, even having thoughts of killing him as soon as possible? The Hai Ke Family had countless chances to make friends with Yang Kai, but they rejected them at every turn, none of them capable of seeing the bigger picture. Only Wu Yi and Yu Feng were able to make the right choice in this situation.
But those two had already chosen to separate from the Hai Ke Family!
“What are all of you wastes doing? It’s like your parents just died or something,” Xie Hong Wen spat angrily, trampling Yi En and Xu Zhi Bing with his fat feet before stepping on them ruthlessly.
*Kacha…*
At that moment, the Spirit Array outside the cave finally broke.
Xie Hong Wen smiled happily and shouted, “Kill that little brat for me at any cost!”
Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother were stunned for a moment, but soon understood Xie Hong Wen’s idea. In for a penny, in for a pound, he wanted to kill Yang Kai before Elder Qian Tong arrived.
If Yang Kai was alive, they would definitely be punished by Elder Qian Tong and even possibly be expelled from Shadow Moon Hall, but if Yang Kai died, even if they were punished, the consequences wouldn’t be too bad.
After all, the dead had no value, Elder Qian Tong wouldn’t kill two Origin Realm masters for a dead boy, not to mention, if the sky really fell, Xie Hong Wen and his father would be there to hold it up, they were just following orders.
Considering all this, Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother didn’t hesitate to unleash their killing intent and rush towards the cave, staring at Yang Kai as if he was already a dead man.
“You dare!” Luo Qing was shocked. He never expected Xie Hong Wen to be so ruthless and by the time he realized it was too late for him to do anything about it, he could only watch as Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother short forward.
With a sneer on his face, Xie Hong Wen coldly snorted said, “Want to fight with me? Naive!”
Yi En also felt like he had just gotten a second lease on life and showed a pleasant expression. Xie Hong Wen’s approach really surprised him, but it was definitely the result he most wanted to see.
Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother were as fast as lightning, and before they even reached the cave, their powerful Shi burst forth and covered the entire region, obviously intending to kill Yang Kai in one shot!
Yang Kai however just showed them a cold, meaningful grin, causing Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother’s hearts to clench tight.
“Not good, there’s another Spirit Array!” Hong Zhen suddenly saw the woman in black robes form another set of seals and suddenly realized that he and his Senior Brother had fallen into a trap. The two of them tried to retreat, but they were a step too late as a sound rang out that caused his courage to completely break.
“Start!” Yang Yan shouted aloud, and the scenery in front of the cave suddenly changed dramatically. A thick fog bank appeared, blocking everyone’s vision and engulfing Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother in an instant.
Yang Yan next formed a new set of hand seals while sending out her Saint Qi. Shouts and violent energy fluctuations soon erupted from the fog.
The last time the Xu Family came here, Yang Yan’s Spirit Array could only be used for defence, but now, she had added a Killing Array as well.
These Spirit Arrays alone however wouldn’t be able to kill two Origin Returning Realm masters, but if Yang Kai were to enter as well, Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother would definitely suffer.
Luo Qing saw this and suddenly understood why Yang Kai had said such words before. It turned out that he really didn’t need help from him, this profound Spirit Array could completely trap Origin Realm Masters and even wound them.
As for killing these two Origin Returning Realm masters, Luo Qing wasn’t optimistic about Yang Kai’s chances. The Origin Returning Realm and Saint King Realm couldn’t be put on the same level. Even if they were a true genius, it would be impossible for a Saint King to kill an Origin Realm master.
“You can start.” Yang Yan said lightly.
Yang Kai nodded, condensing a new Demonic Flame sword.
But before he could rush into the Spirit Array, a loud voice shouted, “Everyone stop!”
Hearing this voice, Xie Hong Wen shuddered and a look of panic appeared on his face.
Qian Tong had arrived!
Yang Kai also frowned; he hadn’t expected Qian Tong to arrive so quickly. Not even hesitating, Yang Kai dove into the Spirit Array.
The moment his body entered the fog, Yang Kai dispersed the Demonic Flame sword in his hand and replaced it with a drop of Golden Blood. This drop of Golden Blood exuded a shocking vitality that even Yang Yan’s Spirit Array was not able to completely conceal.
Before Qian Tong arrived, Yang Kai had to quickly end this battle. Originally, he did not have such plans because the power Origin Returning Realm masters called Shi had piqued Yang Kai’s interest greatly. Now that there were two Origin Realm masters trapped in this Spirit Array. So long as he could kill them, he would be able to absorb their insights into the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao and perhaps learn about this Shi thing.
Once he was able to comprehend this mysterious force, Yang Kai’s strength would definitely increase. How could he let such a rare opportunity slip through his fingers?
As for how Qian Tong would react, Yang Kai didn’t care, as long as Qian Tong wanted to forge a relationship with the Artifact Refining Grandmaster behind him, he wouldn’t fall out with Yang Kai, not to mention, this time Yang Kai was the one forced to fight back, it wasn’t like he killed these two masters for no reason.
For these reasons, Yang Kai immediately used a drop of Golden Blood, transforming it into a thousand golden blades that he launched towards where Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother were.
These golden blades shot out at extreme speed, but in the next instant, as if they had sunk into a quagmire, their advance rapidly slowed.
Yang Kai knew that this was the two masters’ Shi affecting his attack.
Yang Kai hadn’t expected that the Shi of these two Origin Realm masters would be so difficult to deal with. Although Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother had fallen into Yang Yan’s Spirit Array, that did not prevent their Shi from hindering Yang Kai’s Golden Blood powered attack.
However, this only strengthened Yang Kai’s determination to kill both of them.
Dashing after the storm of golden blades, Yang Kai condensed another Demonic Flame sword and prepared to strike.
Those outside the Spirit Array were shocked when they saw Yang Kai dive into the fog bank, but soon, they heard the screams of Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother and immediately after, a powerful energy fluctuation burst forth, sending a figure flying out from inside the fog.
The one who had been thrown out was, of course, Yang Kai. Currently, he was spitting blood and his body was covered in a number of dazzling golden wounds. His face was extremely pale and the Demonic Flame sword in his hand was greatly distorted as if it would collapse at any moment.
Everyone could see that his chest had sunk in deeply.
“Yang Kai!” Wu Yi’s face turned white as she rushed over to catch Yang Kai. The force of their collision forced her back a dozen steps before she barely managed to stand firm.
Yang Kai spat another mouthful of Golden Blood as he staggered unsteadily. Waving to Wu Yi to indicate he was fine, Yang Kai took out a healing pill and stuffed it into his mouth before sitting down cross-legged and restoring his injuries at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The scene went quiet, with the only sounds coming from the fog bank where Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother were moaning in pain. The two of them hadn’t died! But besides Yang Yan, no one could see their current condition.
“Who dares disobey this old master’s command!?” A figure soon fell from the sky, exuding a terrifying pressure. As this old man’s eyes swept his surroundings, all who fell into his line of sight couldn’t help shivering; even Xie Hong Wen was trembling violently, unable to even speak.
“Elder Qian!” Luo Qing hurried forward and cupped his fists to Qian Tong.
“En, Nephew Yang?” After Qian Tong landed, the first thing he inquired about was Yang Kai’s condition, but before Luo Qing could answer, Qian Tong found Yang Kai who was currently healing. Sweeping him with his Divine Sense, Qian Tong immediately understood that Yang Kai had suffered serious injuries and his old face became even more ferocious, as if he was a volcano about to erupt.
Behind Yang Kai was an Origin Grade Artefact Refiner. Grandmaster Ge Lin of Shadow Moon Hall didn’t have much time left to live, and if a suitable replacement couldn’t be found before his death, Shadow Moon Hall would lose its ability to refine or maintain Origin Grade artefacts, forcing them to request services from other great forces instead.
This wasn’t just about a single Origin Grade Artifact Refiner; it was related to Shadow Moon Hall’s ability to stand in line with other top tier forces. If they needed to depend on others for all their Origin Grade Artifact Refining and maintenance, Shadow Moon Hall would have to pay an unimaginable price.
As such, as soon as Qian Tong received word from Luo Qing about this incident, he had immediately rushed over to see who dared stir up trouble for Yang Kai. He had clearly distributed Yang Kai’s image to everyone of importance in Heavenly Fate City, yet someone still brought people to attack him, what kind of bear hearts and leopard galls these people eat?
Now, seeing Yang Kai injured, he had to step forward, but before he could move more than a single pace, Qian Tong paused once more and stared towards the still active Spirit Array in shock, his eyes narrowing as he called out hoarsely, “A Grandmaster level Spirit Array?”
Qian Tong’s strength was higher than that of Hong Zhen and the other Origin Realm masters present, and his knowledge and experience were also far greater, so at a glance, he was able to see that this Spirit Array could not have been arranged by an ordinary master. Even with his Divine Sense and cultivation, Qian Tong wasn’t able to peer through it.
There were many people surrounding Yang Kai at the cave entrance, all of them staring vigilantly towards Qian Tong. Seeing this, Qian Tong immediately realized that they were very wary of him and understood that now may not be the best time to approach. Considering all this, he quickly shouted, “Nephew Yang, this old master has a Wild Rose Pill on him, its healing effects are quite good. If you’d like, please take it!”
Saying so, Qian Tong tossed a jade bottle over.
He understood that Yang Kai couldn’t answer him, or even respond at the moment, but Qian Tong had to do this in order to make his position clear to everyone.
Sure enough, after listening to his words, Wu Yi, Yang Yan, and the others all relaxed noticeably, with Wu Yi reaching out and taking the jade bottle while saying politely, “Many thanks, Senior.”
As Wu Yi spoke, she showed no emotion on her face, but in her heart great storms were raging.
The Wild Rose Pill was a Saint King Grade High-Rank pill whose main ingredient was the Saint King Grade High-Rank Scarlet Wild Rose. This material wasn’t difficult to find, but it was extremely difficult to refine. An ordinary Origin Grade Low-Rank Alchemist who refined ten furnaces of Wild Rose Pills would be lucky to succeed three times.
The difficulty of refining this healing pill was no less than that of an Origin Grade Low-Rank pill.
How could Qian Tong treat Yang Kai so attentively? What was the relationship between them that even a Wild Rose Pill could be freely gifted? If she hadn’t brought back Yang Kai from Starry Sky personally, and knew that he came from the outside world, Wu Yi would definitely think Yang Kai was the son of some Shadow Moon Hall Elder.
Just as she was about to take out the Wild Rose Pill and feed it to Yang Kai, Yang Kai’s weak voice called out, “No need.”
Naturally Yang Kai wouldn’t use Qian Tong’s pill. Firstly, the healing pill he had just taken was one he had personally refined, and although the grade was slightly worse than the Wild Rose Pill, it was still quite good. On top of that, even without any auxiliary pills to help him, with his incredibly resilient physique, Yang Kai would still be able to quickly recover after a short period of cultivation.
The second, and main reason Yang Kai didn’t take this pill though, was that he wasn’t sure what side Qian Tong would stand on. If he stood in opposition to him, he would soon have to fight again.
Fortunately, Qian Tong had shown goodwill towards him the moment he arrived, raising Yang Kai’s opinion of him. Regardless of his true purpose for showing him favour, Yang Kai didn’t feel any malicious intent from Qian Tong at least.
“What happened, explain everything to me carefully,” Qian Tong’s face became gloomy again as his eyes went from the still trembling Xie Hong Wen to the still active Spirit Array as he asked Luo Qing.
Luo Qing didn’t dare to conceal anything and immediately explained what had happened before Qian Tong arrived.
After hearing that Xie Hong Wen had dared try to kill Yang Kai after being informed of his order, Qian Tong became enraged and immediately slapped Xie Hong Wen in front of everyone’s eyes, sending him tumbling through the air several dozen meters before smashing into the ground.
“Elder Qian…” Xie Hong Wen’s courage completely broke. Several of his teeth fell from this mouth and his cheek swelled up fat, but he didn’t dare issue a single complained and just called out pitifully.
“If your father wasn’t a Deacon, you’d be dead already!” Qian Tong glared over at him coldly.
Hearing this, hatred flashed across the depths of Xie Hong Wen’s eyes but he still quickly kowtowed, “Many thanks, Elder Qian, for showing mercy!”
Since Qian Tong’s words indicated he didn’t intend on killing him, Xie Hong Wen was able to regain his composure and quickly discovered that his clothes were soaked with sweat.
“Don’t hurry to thank me. I won’t kill you, but that doesn’t mean others won’t. Whether you live or die will be up to Nephew Yang!” Qian Tong coldly snorted.
Xie Hong Wen froze up once more. He had never imagined that this little brat he had been looking down upon so arrogantly just a moment ago would now be in control of his life. When he thought about his attitude and approach just before, Xie Hong Wen desperately wanted to cry but was unable to shed any tears.
If his fate landed in the hands of this little brat, was there any way he could survive? Just what kind of origin did he have that would cause Elder Qian Tong to show such favouritism towards him?
Not only was Xie Hong Wen unable to figure this out, everyone from the Xu Family and Hai Ke Family were just as lost. Wu Yi, Yu Feng and all the others on their side were also confused, but although they didn’t understand everything, they did know that they had passed through this crisis and all wore excited smiles.
“Xu Family?” Qian Tong set his sights on Xu Zhi Bing, who had collapsed on the ground, and declared firmly, “From now on, there is no more Xu Family!”
Xu Zhi Bing completely fainted while the other Xu Family cultivators went deathly pale.
They were originally a small family attached to Shadow Moon Hall, so let alone an Elder like Qian Tong, even Xie Hong Wen would be able to destroy their Xu Family if he wanted to.
The Xu Family’s hearts were filled with regret. If they hadn’t tried to seek revenge, they could have at least preserved the last remnants of their foundation and possibly even made a comeback in the future, but after Qian Tong made this declaration, they knew there would not be a Xu Family here ever again.
“Yes, Disciple will see to it!” Luo Qing nodded before turning to the remaining Xu Family cultivators and saying, “Follow me.”
The Xu Family cultivators knew their future would be bleak, but none of them dared to disobey, two of them going forward and picking up the unconscious Xu Zhi Bing before all of them followed behind Luo Qing.
“Hai Ke Family?” Qian Tong turned his head to look at Yi En.
Yi En’s whole body shivered as he hurried went forward and shouted, “Yi En greets Elder Qian. Please show mercy, Elder Qian, Yi En was muddled before, mercy, Elder Qian!”
Qian Tong smiled coldly, “You’ll keep your life for a little while longer. As for how to process you, that will be up to Nephew Yang.”
Revenge was best exacted by oneself. With a single sentence, Qian Tong had destroyed the Xu Family, so if he were to completely destroy the Hai Ke Family now, where would Yang Kai vent his anger? If Yang Kai didn’t have somewhere to vent his anger, how could Qian Tong discuss anything else with him?
Listening to Qian Tong’s words, Yi En’s face went pale, he felt that falling into Yang Kai’s hands would definitely not end well for him.
At this moment, Yang Kai stood up, and although his face was still pale, his Saint Qi aura was at least somewhat stable.
“Stop the Spirit Array,” Yang Kai called out to Yang Yan.
Yang Yan nodded, and in the next moment, the thick fog dispersed, revealing the empty space in front of the cave to everyone’s eyes. After seeing the tragic state of Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother, everyone drew a sharp breath.
Just now, when Yang Kai had been blown out of the fog bank, he had looked seriously injured, so everyone thought that Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother would be fine, but now it was obvious that these two’s injuries were far more serious than Yang Kai’s.
Their bodies were covered with blood, and it could be said that there wasn’t an unscarred placed on them. Hong Zhen had lost and arm while his Senior Brother had lost a leg. The two sat together, their faces pale and filled with dread as they kept glancing around.
With a sigh, Yang Kai knew that he had still underestimated these Origin Returning Realm cultivators. He had thought that by using his Golden Blood and Yang Yan’s Spirit Array, he would be able to kill them, but the moment he launched his attack, he realized that he was wrong.
The power of their Shi was amazing and with their two Shis overlapping, they were able to interfere with Yang Kai’s movements, slow down his attack, and even sense what direction he was attacking from.
Without using his Golden Blood, Yang Kai wouldn’t have even been able to injure them.
Yang Kai had used a drop of Golden Blood, but thanks to their Shis, he was only able to cut off one of their arms and one of their legs; this poor return on investment filled him with annoyance.
A drop of Golden Blood was equivalent to three months of dedicated cultivation, not something he could casually waste.
Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother shouldn’t have much fighting strength at this moment, to the point where any Saint Realm cultivator could easily kill them, but with Qian Tong here, it was naturally impossible for Yang Kai to kill them as, regardless of the circumstances, they all belonged to Shadow Moon Hall.
Shooting Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother a glance laced with regret, Yang Kai walked towards Qian Tong.
“Nephew Yang, this old man is ashamed he arrived late and allowed you to experience something frightening,” Qian Tong welcomed him and said with a look of fear.
While speaking, he was quietly glancing over towards the cave, worried the Origin Grade Artefact Refiner behind Yang Kai would be dissatisfied with his attitude. Qian Tong was extremely annoyed with himself right now, he had tried so many ways to forge a friendly relationship between Yang Kai and Shadow Moon Hall, but this waste, Xie Hong Wen had actually ruined all his previous efforts.
Fortunately, Yang Kai didn’t seem to have suffered any mortal wounds or even too serious injuries. On top of that, the Origin Grade Artifact Refiner behind him had still yet to show themselves, allowing Qian Tong to slightly relax. If the Artifact Refining Grandmaster really became angry with Shadow Moon Hall, he would surely appear personally to speak, but since he hadn’t shown up yet, it was obvious he was incredibly confident in Yang Kai’s ability to handle this situation.
This all only made Qian Tong more certain of his previous conjectures and caused him to act with greater prudence.
It wasn’t surprising that Qian Tong couldn’t see through the truth of this matter though, Yang Yan’s existence was simply too unbelievable. Qian Tong would never be able to imagine that she was the Origin Grade Artifact Refiner he wanted to win over.
“Elder Qian is too serious, Junior wasn’t affected in any major way,” Yang Kai cupped his fists and replied. Qian Tong gave him a good impression, so even if he was showing goodwill with some selfish intentions, that was simply the way of the world. Qian Tong hadn’t plotted against him or used dishonest means to entrap him, and since Yang Kai had to establish a presence on Shadowed Star, forging a friendship with this Shadow Moon Hall Elder wasn’t a bad idea. As such, Yang Kai lowered his posture greatly and assumed the stance of a Junior in front of him, allowing Qian Tong’s heart to calm down further.
“Good, very good,” Qian Tong nodded.
“I’ll return Elder Qian’s Wild Rose Pill back; Junior has some healing pills on him already so I temporarily have no need of it. Elder Qian’s intentions are enough,” Yang Kai said before handing back the Wild Rose Pill.
Qian Tong’s eyes flashed and he immediately understood that Yang Kai was unwilling to owe him a favour, so he didn’t press the issue, retrieving the Wild Rose Pill with a big laugh. In Qian Tong’s opinion, Yang Kai had an Artifact Refining Grandmaster behind him, so he obviously wouldn’t lack good things. How could he care about a trivial healing pill?
“Nephew Yang, I have already settled the issue of the Xu Family, Luo Qing will handle the matter in a way that will surely satisfy you. As for the Hai Ke Family, seeing how they seem to have some relationship with you, I’ll let Nephew Yang deal with them personally,” Qian Tong was an old fox so he naturally knew how to handle such situations. He hadn’t acted too forcefully just now because he had seen many cultivators of the Hai Ke Family standing beside Yang Kai. While he didn’t recognize most of them, Qian Tong had some slight impressions of Wu Yi as she was one of the best disciples of the Hai Ke Family.
Yang Kai nodded to express his thanks before glancing over at Yi En, the latter going pale and unsteadily walked forward and bowed, “My family and I had eyes but failed to see. When Your Excellency arrived, not only did my Hai Ke Family fail to show hospitality, but also committed several serious offences, I request Your Excellency mete out an appropriate punishment!”
Yang Kai coldly snorted, thinking this Yi En was only harming himself by trying to act clever. If he had apologized sincerely and begged for mercy, out of consideration for Wu Yi and her follower’s faces, Yang Kai may have not tried to hold him accountable, but Yi En claiming he had failed to show hospitality was obviously him implying that Yang Kai was a guest on Dragon Cave Mountain while the Hai Ke Family was his host, and a guest embarrassing the host in his home was never appropriate.
Qian Tong could also read the hidden meaning of this old man’s words and couldn’t help sneering before closing his eyes, apparently disinterested in watching this cheep performance.
“Although your Hai Ke Family never acted directly against me, those who dare to threaten and annoy me are not worthy of me showing mercy,” Yang Kai looked at Yi En coldly, causing the latter’s knees to weaken and nearly give out.
“However…” Yang Kai continued, “Your lives mean nothing to me either way, so if you want to survive, ask Wu Yi yourself.”
Yi En gawked for a moment before a surge of joy welled up inside him as he kneeled down and kowtowed, “Many thanks, Your Excellency, for sparing our lives!”
Yi En immediately understood that the Hai Ke Family would not perish today as no one knew Wu Yi’s temperament better than him. As long as he asked, Wu Yi would definitely not kill them; after all, she still had attachments to the family.
“Go away!” Yang Kai shouted impatiently.
“Yes yes yes!” Yi En quickly got up and walked over to Wu Yi’s side, trying to come up with the best way to speak to her.
“Nephew Yang’s forgiving heart is admirable! En, if it was this Elder, he would directly kill them all, death ends all troubles,” Qian Tong commented.
Yang Kai smiled slightly but didn’t say anymore.
It was impossible for him to really kill Yi En in front of Wu Yi. If it was during a battle, then that was another story, but with Yi En not able to put up any resistance, killing him became unimportant. No matter how clever Yi En tried to be, with his current strength, Yang Kai had no reason to fear him.
“Nephew Yang, how do you want to handle this little bastard? No matter what decision you make, this old master will support you unconditionally,” Qian Tong stretched out one of his hands and grabbed the swollen faced Xie Hong Wen before tossing him in front of Yang Kai.
Yang Kai stared down at Xie Hong Wen with an indifferent look.
However, Qian Tong was keenly aware that there was a thick murderous intent flashing in the depths of Yang Kai’s eyes, causing the former to feel somewhat startled. Yang Kai had not revealed any murderous intent towards Yi En just now, but facing Xie Hong Wen, it seemed he really wanted to murder him.
Xie Hong Wen dying wasn’t a big deal, but with his father being a Deacon in Shadow Moon Hall, once Yang Kai killed him, there would still be some trouble.
The subtle expression on Qian Tong’s face was not missed by Yang Kai. If Qian Tong was truly indifferent, Yang Kai wouldn’t hesitate to kill Xie Hong Wen here and now; after all, one should beat a snake to death to avoid future calamity. The performance of the Xu Family these past few days perfectly illustrated this point. But reading the meaning behind Qian Tong’s words and expressions, Yang Kai understood that killing Xie Hong Wen would cause problems even for him.
How powerful could a Deacon be though? Could he even cause problems for an Elder?
Yang Kai quickly realized that Qian Tong wasn’t afraid of Xie Hong Wen’s father, but rather the person behind Xie Hong Wen’s father, similar to how he didn’t want to become friends with Yang Kai, but the powerful Grandmaster Artifact Refiner behind him.
Understanding this, Yang Kai fell into a dilemma.
Xie Hong Wen had brought two Origin Realm masters here to cause trouble, and if not for Yang Yan’s Spirit Array, even if Yang Kai was confident he could still escape, Wu Yi and Yang Yan would have ended up in a terrible situation, this matter couldn’t just be brushed aside.
Seeing Yang Kai’s murderous intent growing stronger by the moment, as if he would strike in the next instant, Qian Tong kicked Xie Hong Wen’s stomach and sent with a rolling while cursing, “You little animal, tarnishing my Shadow Moon Hall’s face wherever you go, do you think just because your father is a Deacon you can act however you please? Do you think this old master doesn’t dare to clean up Shadow Moon Hall’s mess by killing you right now?”
Xie Hong Wen’s face changed greatly as he hurriedly crawled back, latching onto Qian Tong’s thigh and crying, “Elder Qian, please show mercy, disciple knows his wrong! Disciple won’t dare commit such acts again. After today I will certainly return to Shadow Moon Hall to enter secluded penance, please spare my life, Elder Qian!”
Qian Tong quietly glanced over at Yang Kai’s face and found that his murderous intent had not diminished at all, causing him to sigh in his heart knowing that if he couldn’t satisfy him quickly, Xie Hong Wen would definitely die, raising his voice in anger and shouting, “A mere Saint King dares to act so wantonly, thinking himself invincible in the world? It was clearly a mistake to allow you to have two Origin Realm masters as guards, it was definitely them who gave you the courage to dare oppose this old master’s words! Since that’s the case, I’ll kill those two bastards first!”
Saying so, Qian Tong raised his hand and sent out two Saint Qi blades towards Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother who were even now unable to catch their breath.
Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother had managed to escape from the clutches of death just now, and although one had lost an arm, and one had lost a leg, they were simply glad to be alive, but when Qian Tong’s words rang out, by the time they reacted, the former’s strike had already arrived in front of them.
“Elder Qian, mercy!” Hong Zhen was terrified and called out in panic, but by the time his words ended, there was a new hole in his forehead and the forehead of his Senior Brother. As their eyes quickly grew dim, the two Origin Realm masters died.
Xie Hong Wen froze up, a foul smell overflowing from the ground beneath him, his face as pale as paper.
Yang Kai was also dumbfounded.
He hadn’t expected Qian Tong to actually kill these two Origin Realm masters. From Qian Tong’s words just now, Yang Kai had at first thought he was subtly reminding him that Xie Hong Wen’s background was strong and that he should show mercy where possible. Yang Kai had also made up his mind to take a step back and extract some compensation out of Xie Hong Wen in exchange for not killing him, but in the blink of an eye, two Origin Returning Realm masters had actually been killed.
After gawking for a moment, Yang Kai became overjoyed, and quickly used the power of his Demon Eye of Annihilation to stealthily absorb the two remnant Souls into his Knowledge Sea then using the golden light to purify them.
Even after using a drop of Golden Blood and Yang Yan’s profound Spirit Array, Yang Kai had been unable to kill these two, causing him a lot of annoyance as it meant losing a great opportunity to learn about Shi, but now Qian Tong had finished them off for him.
However, Yang Kai soon understood why Qian Tong had acted so decisively. Both Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother had been crippled, so even though they hadn’t died, their futures were incredibly bleak. There was no pill in this world that could completely regenerate broken limbs. By sacrificing these two essentially worthless Origin Realm cultivators, Qian Tong could calm Yang Kai’s anger and save Xie Hong Wen.
And sure enough, after the death of Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother, the haze clouding Yang Kai’s face finally eased, allowing Qian Tong to breathe a sigh of relief. What he didn’t know was that Yang Kai’s expression had relaxed only because he was able to obtain the two remnant Souls of these Origin Realm masters, allowing him to finally learn about Shi.
Lightly coughing while suppressing the joy and excitement in his heart, Yang Kai said lightly, “Since the culprit has suffered a grave punishment already, I’ll let this matter end here. I’ll only advice Young Lord Xie to consider his actions more carefully in the future.”
“Yes yes yes, many thanks Elder Brother, many thanks Elder Qian,” Xie Hong Wen wept as he continued offering his thanks.
“Why haven’t you scrammed yet?” Qian Tong shouted angrily, resulting in Xie Hong Wen quickly standing up and flying off unsteadily, not daring to stay here any longer, afraid he might lose the life he had barely managed to hang onto just now.
After the dispute was resolved, everyone was satisfied.
Yang Kai obtained the Soul remnants from two Origin Returning Realm masters, allowing him to absorb their sentiments of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao while studying Shi. Naturally, he was quite happy. As for Xie Hong Wen, Yang Kai had no choice but to give Qian Tong face. If he had really insisted on killing Xie Hong Wen, Qian Tong would probably have become disgruntled with him, the cost wasn’t worth it.
On the other hand, Qian Tong managed to save Xie Hong Wen and was very satisfied. Although Yang Kai was young, he at least understood how to advance and retreat, an admirable quality.
All in all, it ended with a win-win situation.
“Elder Qian, many thanks for your efforts here. Junior will not forget this,” Yang Kai thanked him with cupped fists. He knew that if Qian Tong hadn’t arrived so quickly, he would definitely have killed everyone here, including Xie Hong Wen, and if Xie Hong Wen died, he wouldn’t have been able to remain here any longer. There was still a lot of Space Spirit Crystals beneath Dragon Cave Mountain, so if for nothing else, Yang Kai had to thank Qian Tong for giving him more time to mine it clean.
“Nephew Yang is too polite,” Qian Tong laughed, “This old master didn’t do anything. On the other hand, Nephew Yang is a true dragon among men, severely wounding Hong Zhen with just a First Order Saint Realm cultivation, Nephew Yang’s future achievements will certainly be limitless.”
“I cannot take credit for this, I was simply relying on the power of this Spirit Array,” Yang Kai smiled lightly.
Qian Tong had a clear understanding of the situation as he had taken quite a few looks at the Spirit Array already. However, because the Spirit Array was currently inactive, Qian Tong couldn’t examine its mysteries at all, shocking him greatly. Now, he guessed that the master behind Yang Kai was not only an Origin Grade Artefact Refiner but also a powerful Array Master.
His guess was, of course, correct, but Qian Tong was completely off about this master’s identity. The artefacts were refined by Yang Yan, and the Spirit Array here was also arranged by her. The master he was looking for was right in front of his eyes, but unfortunately, Qian Tong had no way of knowing this.
“Does Nephew Yang have a place to settle down?” Qian Tong asked, “If not, this old master can recommend you to Shadow Moon Hall. With Nephew Yang’s aptitude, after entering Shadow Moon Hall, you will surely become a Core Disciple. Is Nephew Yang interested?”
Yang Kai, of course, knew what Qian Tong was thinking and immediately shook his head, “No thank you, I quite enjoy living here. Junior is used to living freely and doesn’t understand proper etiquette. If I were to really enter a Sect, I’m afraid I would just end up embarrassing myself.”
Qian Tong smiled faintly and immediately put aside this issue. He knew if he were to continue pestering here, the efforts he just made would be squandered. Instead, Qian Tong made several glances towards the cave while remaining in place, waiting for Yang Kai to invite him inside to sit.
The Origin Grade Artefact Refiner and Array Master behind Yang Kai must currently be resting in the cave, so if Qian Tong could get invited in, he might be lucky enough to meet this man.
Qian Tong didn’t speak, but Yang Kai also remained silent. Right now, Yang Kai was anxious to enter retreat to research this strange thing called Shi, so how could he have to mood to say anything further. The problem was he also didn’t make it clear he wanted Qian Tong to leave.
The two of them both glanced back and forth at one another, the situation quickly growing somewhat awkward.
“Wu Yi greets Elder Qian,” At the critical moment, Wu Yi arrived with Yang Yan and politely offered her greetings, breaking the awkward air.
“Good good good,” Qian Tong smiled and nodded, “Are you a disciple of the Hai Ke Family?”
“Yes, but I have separated from the family and now only follow Senior Brother Yang,” Wu Yi replied softly.
“Very good. Following Nephew Yang will definitely give you a more promising future than remaining in the Hai Ke Family. You have good vision little girl, work hard; it would be best if you can tie down Nephew Yang in body and mind.”
[This damn old fart, spouting off unnecessary nonsense!] Yang Kai cursed to himself.
Wu Yi’s face turned red as she pursed her lips and smiled helplessly, “This Wu Yi’s future is quite limited, not worthy of being joined to Senior Brother Yang.”
She didn’t mean to belittle herself, but after seeing Yang Kai’s abilities, she truly felt that very few women would be worthy of Yang Kai, and she was definitely not one of them. Moreover, she currently wasn’t interested in pursuing matters between men and women. Qian Tong had spoke casually just now, so she responded in kind.
“This is…” Qian Tong then set his sights on Yang Yan. Since she could follow Wu Yi here, her position in Yang Kai’s circle was certainly not low, so Qian Tong would not neglect her.
“This is my Junior Sister,” Yang Kai did not wait for Yang Yan to speak and took the initiative to introduce her as such.
Wu Yi and Yang Yan both turned looks of surprise to him.
“Oh, so she’s Nephew’s Junior Sister, very good.”
“She is a Saint Grade Artefact Refiner,” Yang Kai added specifically.
Qian Tong’s eyes brightened, seemingly very happy, letting out a big laugh as he nodded, “So young yet already a Saint Grade Artefact Refiner, en, it seems Nephew’s Junior Sister’s achievements won’t be lower than your own in the future.”
“Naturally, Junior Sister is truly amazing,” Yang Kai nodded quickly.
“This old master thought the disciples in my Sect were already quite good but seeing your Senior Brother and Junior Sister’s talents today, my eyes have been opened. It’s unfortunate that Nephew Yang and your Junior Sister don’t want to join my Shadow Moon Hall.”
“Afterwards, if we must join a Sect, Shadow Moon Hall will be our first choice.”
Qian Tong laughed and nodded with satisfaction, “Good, this old master will wait for good news from Nephew Yang then!”
Seeing that Yang Kai didn’t intend to welcome him inside, Qian Tong didn’t press the issue, talking about a few other minor things before saying goodbye and flying off.
Before he could go far though, Qian Tong suddenly turned back.
“What else does Elder Qian wish to discuss?” Yang Kai looked at him curiously.
Qian Tong quickly asked, “Does Nephew Yang want to attend the Treasure Trove Pavilion’s upcoming auction?”
“Auction?” Yang Kai frowned. He had never participated in auctions before and currently he didn’t have any interest in doing so. What he wanted to do right now was study Shi. Just as he was about to refuse though, Yang Kai saw Wu Yi and Yang Yan wearing looks of anticipation, so he quickly changed what he was about to say, “When will the auction take place?”
Qian Tong took out a golden invitation from his Space Ring and handed it to Yang Kai, “The time and place are written above. If Nephew Yang has the time to go and see, even if you don’t purchase anything, it will still be a nice way to relax. Naturally, if Nephew Yang has anything good to sell, it will be a good opportunity to earn some Saint Crystals, things often sell for more at auctions after all.”
Yang Kai accepted the invitation but didn’t look at it, simply handing it over to Wu Yi before saying, “If I have time, I’ll attend.”
“Good, when the time comes, this old master will also attend. Nephew Yang can simply report this old master’s name at the event if you need anything,” Qian Tong said before leaving once more.
After Qian Tong had truly left, Yang Kai glanced around and discovered that the Hai Ke Family had disappeared. Yang Kai didn’t know what happened to them, but it was obvious Wu Yi had not embarrassed them.
“Yang Kai, why did you say I was your Junior Sister?” Yang Yan looked at Yang Kai with a puzzled look.
“Let’s go back first,” Yang Kai beckoned to her, not explaining right away.
Outside the cave, Yu Feng and the former Hai Ke Family disciples all stared at Yang Kai with admiration and worship.
Seriously wounding two Origin Realm masters, even with the assistance of a powerful Spirit Array, was not something any ordinary man could accomplish. There were too many outsiders around just now, so all of them could only behave calmly, but now, they were free to reveal their shock and reverence.
“Go back and cultivate,” Yang Kai waved at them before leading Wu Yi and Yang Yan to his own stone room and closing the doors behind him.
Seeing Yang Kai’s solemn appearance, Wu Yi and Yang Yan couldn’t help becoming serious themselves, understanding he had something important to say, otherwise he wouldn’t be showing such a face.
“Aren’t you wondering why Qian Tong is so partial to me?” Yang Kai asked the biggest question the two of them had.
“Yes,” Wu Yi nodded.
“He naturally has a reason for it,” Yang Kai turned his eyes to Yang Yan, “That reason is you!”
Wu Yi asked thoughtfully, “Because of Yang Yan’s Spirit Array abilities?”
Yang Kai shook his head, “Because Yang Yan is an Origin Grade Artefact Refiner!”
“What?” Wu Yi called out in fright. After Wu Yi came here, Yang Yan had never refined any artefacts, spending all her time arranging the Spirit Arrays around the cave, so she was completely unaware that Yang Yan possessed such ability. But now that Yang Kai had explained the situation, Wu Yi immediately understood why Qian Tong showed such an attitude towards Yang Kai.
“Qian Tong knows that there is an Origin Grade Artefact Refiner behind me, but he doesn’t know that person is Yang Yan. He also probably thinks that this imaginary Artifact Refiner is my master!” Yang Kai spoke his guess.
“I see, him treating you favourably is because he wants to forge a friendship with that imaginary master,” Wu Yi nodded.
“Right. I didn’t know that the best Artefact Refiners on Shadowed Star were just Origin Grade Low-Rank. If I had known, I would not have sold those artefacts before. Now it’s too late to try to conceal all of this. Fortunately, Qian Tong doesn’t dare to offend an Artefact Refiner of this level and can only try to win them over, so we’re not in any immediate danger,” Yang Kai said before staring deeply at Yang Yan and saying, “From now on, you can’t publicize the fact that you’re an Origin Grade Artefact Refiner. Your strength is too low, once you’re found out, others will definitely try to capture you!”
Yang Yan muttered, “Even if I tell everyone, none of them will believe me.”
She had worked at the Artefact Refining Pavilion in Heavenly Fate City for a time and was constantly advertising her true Artefact Refiner grade, but no one had ever believed her or provided her with Origin Grade materials to perform Artifact Refining.
“In any case, you can’t say that anymore, otherwise it will be a disaster for us,” Yang Kai said solemnly, “Understood?”
“I understand,” Yang Yan nodded.
Yang Kai was helpless, thinking that he and Yang Yan were total opposites. He wished to conceal his Alchemy skill from the world and looked forward to others underestimating him. Yang Yan, on the other hand, seemed to want everyone to know about her abilities, but in the end, she too was still perfectly fine. The world was a strange place.
“No wonder you specifically told Qian Tong that Yang Yan was a Saint Grade Artifact Refiner and that she was your Junior Sister. So it was like this,” Wu Yi said thoughtfully, understanding Yang Kai’s intentions.
“Yes, with Qian Tong thinking there’s an Origin Grade Artefact Refiner behind me, it’s only normal I have a Junior Sister who is a Saint Grade Artifact Refiner.”
Yang Kai believed that Qian Tong would believe the words he said, and as long as Qian Tong didn’t doubt him, he would be absolutely safe here. With Qian Tong’s protection, incidents like with the Xu Family wouldn’t occur again.
“I see!” Wu Yi nodded.
“If you understand then go about your own business, I must enter retreat,” Yang Kai waved to them.
“Big Brother Yang, about the Treasure Trove Pavilion’s auction…” Wu Yi bit her lip and asked.
“You want to go?” Yang Kai knit his brow.
He hadn’t expected that not only Wu Yi, but even Yang Yan would nod, the two of them seemingly quite looking forward to this event.
“If you want to go then just go.” There was no need for Yang Kai to stop them. In his opinion, this auction would be an eye-opening experience for these two, a chance for them to see the broader world. Wu Yi came from a small family, so even if she had some worldly wisdom, she couldn’t compare to those disciples with great backgrounds. As for Yang Yan, she had seemingly been quite miserable and poor her whole life, so what she had seen was definitely not much, it was only natural for her to take interest in this auction.
“What about you?” Wu Yi asked.
“If I haven’t exited my retreat then I won’t attend, just be careful by yourselves.”
“En,” Wu Yi nodded before leaving with Yang Yan.
Yang Kai closed the stone room, sat down cross-legged, and sank his consciousness into his Knowledge Sea.
Inside his Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar appeared before two masses of pure Spiritual Energy and stared at them excitedly.
This was the first time Yang Kai had managed to collect the remnant Soul of an Origin Returning Realm master. Never before had any Origin Returning Realm master died close enough to him for Yang Kai to do this. As such, Yang Kai had never been able to refine an Origin Realm master’s perceptions of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, causing him to not know much about this new realm or the power called Shi. If it wasn’t for his battle with Hong Zhen today, Yang Kai likely wouldn’t have had an opportunity to learn about Shi for a long time. This mysterious strength held great attraction for him.
Facing an Origin Realm expert had caused Yang Kai some alarm. He had always been fighting against opponents in higher realms than his own. He was able to defeat Immortal Ascension masters when in the True Element Boundary, Saints in the Immortal Ascension Boundary, and Saint Kings in the Saint Realm. Now that he had reached the Saint King Realm, Yang Kai had assumed he would be able to defeat First Order Origin Realm cultivators, but reality turned out far different from how he expected.
The Origin Returning Realm and Saint King Realm were fundamentally different, and it was all due to Shi!
Sitting down cross-legged, Yang Kai drew these two Soul remnants towards himself and carefully began to absorb the insights into the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao contained within them. If the way he absorbed Souls remnants before was like stuffing his face, Yang Kai’s current behaviour was more akin to slowly savouring these two Souls’ taste. This was a rare opportunity, and if he didn’t take full advantage of it, Yang Kai wouldn’t be able to comprehend what this Shi thing was and the next time he faced an Origin Realm masters, he would be unable to resist it.
Time passed by as Yang Kai slowly but steadily absorbed these two Souls, delicately squeezing every essence out of them.
Two days later, when he had finished consuming the two pure Soul remnants, Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes.
He now vaguely understood what Shi was, but due to the strength of Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother not being very high, only First Order Origin Returning Realm, they only had a basic comprehension of Shi and its application. Since Yang Kai’s understanding of Shi was based on these two people’s, naturally it too wasn’t in any way complete.
An Origin Realm Master’s Shi wasn’t something intangible like fighting spirit, imposing manner, or killing intent, things masters honed and developed over years of cultivation and killing and would erupt almost involuntarily during the battle.
However, these invisible auras were a component of Shi.
The Shi of an Origin Realm master was a combination of their fighting intent, Saint Qi, and Spiritual Energy, woven together into a physical phenomenon which could be used directly in combat. A cultivator’s understanding of the Martial Dao and Heavenly Way had to reach a certain height before they could condense Shi.
Shi was invisible, but it had physical presence as well as formidable suppression ability and lethality. Why could Origin Realm masters easily kill Saint Kings? It was because of the absolute suppressive strength of Shi. The reason Yang Kai wasn’t able to kill Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother with a drop of Golden Blood wasn’t because that drop was lacking strength, but rather because the overlapping Shis of those two had greatly impeded the speed of the Golden Blood’s attack. With the Golden Blood blades greatly slowed, the two Origin Realm masters were able to perceive where they would be struck and move to avoid suffering fatal wounds.
If not for this, they would have died.
Comprehending Shi was very difficult. Hong Zhen had broken through to the Origin Returning Realm more than ten years ago but had only just begun to condense his own Shi. His Senior Brother was slightly stronger than him, but not by much.
On top of this, Yang Kai also learned a certain truth. Only after one’s Shi reached the grand accomplishment stage could they attempt to break through to the Origin King Realm!
Even though Qian Tong was already a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master, Yang Kai estimated that his comprehension of Shi had not reached the grand accomplishment stage. This meant that no matter how hard he cultivated or how much he managed to enhance his Saint Qi by, before he completely condensed his own Shi, it would be impossible to advance his cultivation realm again. This was the biggest obstacle obstructing his path and once that could not be crossed easily.
This was probably an important reason why the number of Origin King Realm masters was so low throughout the Heng Luo Star Field. Achieving such a cultivation not only required great strength but a comprehensive improvement in all aspects.
After understanding this, Yang Kai immediately started his own research on Shi. He discarded the dregs in Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother’s comprehension of Shi while inserting his own insights and opinions, doing his best to coalesce his will, Saint Qi, and Spirit Energy.
During his battle against Hong Zhen, Yang Kai had faintly touched upon the mysteries of Shi, but that touch was fleeting and light. Now, no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t recall or replicate the sensation he felt at that time, causing Yang Kai to feel a little annoyed.
Yang Kai tried again and again but always felt something was wrong. Ten days later, Yang Kai gave up his current attempt to study Shi.
He feels that his strength was still a bit too low. If he reached the Second or Third-Order Saint King Realm, the process should become much smoother. After all, this profound force belonged to the Origin Returning Realm. Being able to superficially understand it already was already quite remarkable.
Yang Kai wasn’t one to plow the air, so after considering all this, he immediately got up and decided to wait for his cultivation to improve before trying again. If he could absorb a few more Origin Returning Realm Soul remnants during this time, Yang Kai was sure he could achieve twice the results with half the effort.
Just after opening his stone door, Yang Kai saw Wu Yi run over while shouting happily, “Big Brother Yang, you came out just in time.”
“Why do you seem so excited?” Yang Kai looked at her curiously.
“It’s time for the Treasure Trove Pavilion auction,” Wu Yi answered quickly.
“It’s today?” Yang Kai was surprised, thinking it was a bit too coincidental.
“En,” Wu Yi nodded and leaned closer to Yang Kai, whispering in his ear, “Yang Yan refined an Origin Grade Mid-Rank artefact and an Origin Grade Low-Rank artefact to sell at the auction.”
“Is she insane?” Yang Kai was frightened and exclaimed, “Where is she?”
“I’m here,” Yang Yan’s figure appeared behind him.
“What are you thinking?” Yang Kai looked at her with a stern face, “Didn’t I just tell you not to go around showing off? Are you really worried others won’t have their eyes on you? How could you have forgotten so quickly?”
Yang Yan just grinned though and said, “As long as the three of us don’t say anything, who will know I was the one who refined these artefacts?”
“It will still attract too much attention,” Yang Kai shook his head, “Shadow Star’s best Artefact Refiners are only Origin Grade Low-Rank, how are you going to explain the sudden appearance of an Origin Grade Mid-Rank artefact?”
“Big Brother Yang doesn’t need to worry about that,” Wu Yi smiled slightly, “Although the Artefact Refiners on Shadowed Star don’t have such skill, there are still a number of Origin Grade Mid-Rank and even High-Rank artefacts present, so the appearance of an Origin Grade Mid-Rank artefact won’t cause too much trouble.”
Yang Kai frowned for a moment but soon understood that while the current levels of the Artifact Refiners and Alchemists on Shadowed Star were low, that didn’t mean it was always so. Good artefacts could be kept in storage for thousands or even tens of thousands of years without degrading, and Shadowed Star definitely had such legacy items. There may even be Origin King Grade artefacts somewhere on this Cultivation Star, but if there were, they would definitely be treated as foundational pillars of great Sects, things not easily taken out and used.
Considering all this, Yang Kai’s expression relaxed greatly and nodded, “Although that may be the case, there’s no need to sell artefacts of this grade. Why not keep them for our own use?”
“Where are we going to get Saint Crystals to buy material to enhance the Spirit Array without selling artefacts?” Yang Yan snorted, “We’re dirt poor now; this auction is a rare opportunity to earn some money.”
Yang Kai also suddenly recalled this point. Yang Yan arranging Spirit Arrays was indeed equivalent to burning money, but thanks to her Spirit Array, Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother had been blocked last time, so this matter couldn’t be treated haphazardly, rather it was of utmost priority.
“What artefacts did you refine? Let me see!”
Seeing Yang Kai no longer object, Wu Yi was very excited to quickly took out two offensive artefacts, one was a soft whip while the other was a pair of twin daggers. Yang Kai knew at a glance that these two artefacts were refined using the Ninth-Order Monster Beast Scarlet Tailed Purple Armoured Scorpion’s stinger and pincers. Both sent of potent energy fluctuations and had extremely beautiful designs, ones that were particularly suited for women to use.
Yang Yan was really black-bellied, deliberately refining artefacts like this was almost like asking men to bleed money, wasn’t it? Yang Kai secretly shook his head.
“More importantly, Big Brother Yang, the reason why I support Yang Yan selling these two items is to completely convince Elder Qian Tong that your non-existent master exists! Others won’t know where these artefacts came from, but Elder Qian Tong will definitely think they were refined by your master. Once he thinks so, he will only treat us better in the future,” Wu Yi explained.
Yang Kai nodded slightly, applauding, “Your thoughts are quite meticulous. En, since that’s the case, let’s go.”
Seeing Yang Kai agree, Wu Yi and Yang Yan smiled at each other.
“How long before the auction starts?” Yang Kai suddenly asked.
“Three hours, but that’s okay. I went to Heavenly Fate City to deliver a message to Elder Qian Tong, saying that we will have something to auction, so we only need to deliver the items and Elder Qian will take care of the rest.”
“En, good. Right, Wu Yi, do you know what pill is the most expensive on Shadowed Star?” Yang Kai suddenly asked
Yang Kai asked this question out of nowhere, but Wu Yi still responded promptly with the names of a few precious pills.
“The Strong Cloud Pill which can repair one’s meridians, the Soul Returning Pill that can patch a wounded Soul, and Wild Rose Pill that Elder Qian Tong brought out last time are all quite valuable, but if I had to name the most expensive pills on Shadowed Star, then it would have to be the Origin Condensing Pill and Origin Nirvana Pill. The latter can be said to be nearly priceless because it can help increase the chances a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master breaks through to the Origin King Realm. On Shadowed Star, there is no such master, but there are many stuck at the Third-Order Origin Realm. Those big forces wouldn’t hesitate to exchange several cities for a single Origin Nirvana Pill,” Wu Yi replied, her breath quickening slightly.
“No need to even consider it then,” Yang Kai shook his head decisively.
The Origin Nirvana Pill was an Origin King Low-Rank pill, forget about Yang Kai not having the appropriate materials, even if had the required ingredients, he couldn’t refine such a high-grade pill. The Origin Condensing Pill, on the other hand, could be refined because it was just an Origin Grade Low-Rank pill.
“Big Brother Yang, why do you ask?” Wu Yi looked at Yang Kai curiously.
“It’s nothing, wait here a moment, I’ll be right back,” Yang Kai said before turning around and returning to his stone room.
Although Yang Yan and Wu Yi were confused, they waited patiently, and roughly half an hour later, Yang Kai emerged once more and nodded, “Let’s go.”
The three of them then flew off towards Heavenly Fate City.
After the previous incident where Qian Tong came over and openly displayed his attitude, Yang Kai believed that no one would come to find trouble with Dragon Cave Mountain, so he could go out with peace of mind.
On the other hand, letting Wu Yi and Yang Yan take two Origin Grade artefacts to participate in the auction worried Yang Kai deeply, naturally, he needed to escort them there and back.
Yang Kai also wanted to know what price these two artefacts would sell for. Saint King Grade High-Rank artefacts were worth between thirty thousand and fifty thousand High-Rank Saint Crystals, so an Origin Grade Low-Rank artefact should be sold for between two hundred thousand and three hundred thousand, right? Yang Kai vaguely estimated that after selling these two artefacts, they would be able to purchase enough materials to furnish the cave’s Spirit Array.
Along the way, after listening to Wu Yi and Yang Yan talking non-stop, Yang Kai learned that Treasure Trove Pavilion didn’t belong to Shadow Moon Hall at all.
Treasure Trove Pavilion was its own force, one even more powerful than Shadow Moon Hall!
Treasure Trove Pavilion was similar to Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce in that it focused on conducting business. It had branches all across Shadowed Star and everyone once in a while, it would gather together treasures from all over the world and hold a grand auction.
The location of this auction wasn’t fixed and was instead held in turns all over Shadowed Star. This time, Treasure Trove Pavilion was hosting its auction in Heavenly Fate City.
The Treasure Trove Pavilion auction could be considered a grand event for all of Shadowed Star because, before every auction, Treasure Trove Pavilion would widely publicize a number of the precious objects to be auctioned, sending out pamphlets with exquisite illustrations to draw in expectant crowds.
The Treasure Trove Pavilion auction was attended by all the major powers on Shadowed Star and was a pseudo battle of financial resources and heritage. It was a lively occasion each time it was held, and many Heaven defying treasures had appeared over the years. Once, there was even a defensive artefact of Origin King Grade!
Rumour had it that this artefact was auctioned for over five hundred million High-Rank Saint Crystals plus fifteen flourishing cities!
Even the always calm Yang Kai was shocked by this number. Shadowed Star was too backwater so there were very few artefacts above Origin Grade Low-Rank, resulting in such an outrageous price being possible.
Yang Kai believed that on other Cultivation Stars, even if Origin King Grade artefacts were expensive, it was impossible for them to be sold for such a price.
“An Origin Nirvana Pill also appeared once and was apparently bought by a great Senior from Thunder Typhoon Sect. Unfortunately, after taking that Origin Nirvana Pill, that Senior failed to break through to the Origin King Realm and even had his cultivation realm fall as a result of some kind of backlash. I don’t know if that’s true or not though,” Wu Yi sighed softly.
Yang Kai’s expression remained indifferent. Although he didn’t say anything, he was basically sure that what Wu Yi said was true.
After all, such pills were only auxiliary means. While such pills could help promote the chances of a cultivator breaking through to the next Great realm, and they were thus extremely expensive, they weren’t guarantees of success. If one’s understanding of the Martial Dao and Heavenly Way hadn’t reached the appropriate level, no pill would be able to make them take another step forward.
Conversely, if one’s comprehension of the Martial Dao and Heavenly Way were enough to exceed the bottleneck a cultivator was facing, even if they didn’t take an auxiliary pill, when the time came, they could still break through.
Yang Kai fell into the latter category as his understanding of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao always greatly exceeded his current realm. As such, he had never used pills that helped with breaking through to the next realm, saving him a lot of expense.
That Senior from Sir of Thunder Typhoon Sect had definitely not reached the grand accomplishment stage in the use and comprehension of Shi, as such, that precious Origin Nirvana Pill had essentially gone to waste.
Such a treasure wasn’t something that could be refined on Shadowed Star, so obviously it had been obtained through some other means.
After a cultivator fails to break through a bottleneck, they would inevitably suffer some type of backlash; this could range from strength regression like with that Thunder Typhoon Sect Senior, or in more serious cases, even death was possible.
As such, if a cultivator didn’t have enough confidence in their ability to overcome it, even if they reached a bottleneck, they wouldn’t dare attempt to break through to the next realm.
This kind of result was more difficult to see when a cultivator’s strength was low, which was why such cases basically didn’t exist in Tong Xuan Realm. Even in rare cases where failed breakthroughs occurred, the backlash was generally not strong. However, once one’s strength was high enough, such situations were more common.
In fact, it wasn’t until Yang Kai entered the Star Field that he slowly understood this information.
The group of three, while talking and laughing, quickly arrived at the Treasure Trove Pavilion branch in Heavenly Fate City.
Standing in front of the towering palace, Yang Kai realized just how prestigious this place really was! Treasure Trove Pavilion occupied almost half the street of the most prominent area in Heavenly Fate City. There were people coming and going in front of the building in an endless flow, but that could not distract from the giant plague emblazoned with three golden words that was hung above Treasure Trove Pavilion’s doors.
A vigorous and tyrannical aura overflowed from Treasure Trove Pavilion, secretly stunning Yang Kai.
There were at least a hundred Origin Returning Realm masters inside this building. Fortunately, these people were all here to participate in the auction and were not deliberately targeting anyone, allowing Yang Kai to feel less uncomfortable.
In front of Treasure Trove Pavilion, two First Order Origin Returning Realm masters stood tall, their eyes as sharp as eagles as they observed the passing crowds. Yang Kai and his group of three had only just arrived when one of the guards, wearing a light cyan robe, stepped forward and raised his hand, “Guest, please halt, Treasure Trove Pavilion is about to hold its auction, it will not be open for normal business for the time being. If you wish to buy or sell something, please come back tomorrow!”
“We’re here to attend the auction,” Yang Kai said lightly before turning to Wu Yi.
Yang Kai knew that in order to participate in this level of auction, invitations were necessary. The invitation Qian Tong passed them last time was obviously for this and should currently be in Wu Yi’s hands.
Wu Yi seemed to be immersed in the magnificent of Treasure Trove Pavilion though, never before having had the opportunity to participate in this grade of auction. Her heart was filled with excitement and her face flushed a light shade of red. It wasn’t until Yang Kai looked at her that she suddenly remembered about the invitation and began scrambling to find it in her Space Ring.
“Haha, you think a cat or dog can attend Treasure Trove Pavilion’s auction?” A laugh rang out nearby, one filled with scorn and derision.
Yang Kai frowned and looked towards the source of this voice, wanting to see who it was that was acting so arrogantly. Being ridiculed as stray cats or dogs for no reason naturally made him unhappy.
A young man in white robes soon walked over, his eyes sharp and seemingly possessed a brilliant light. Although his face was smiling, anyone could see the disdain in his eyes. He had a sturdy, handsome figure that perfectly complemented his shimmering eyes, a young man capable of fascinating thousands of women.
What stunned Yang Kai though wasn’t any of this, but the fact that this young man actually had a Third Order Saint King cultivation and that in front of him, Yang Kai felt a faint sense of oppression. This youth’s aura was no less imposing than Xue Yue of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce.
Behind this young man were two masters who despite perfectly restraining their auras, were obviously of higher strength than the Hong Zhen Yang Kai faced before. These two masters wore black robes embroidered with soaring dragons and dancing phoenixes as well as a single large character.
War!
“Heaven Battling Union!” Wu Yi exclaimed, and quickly gave way.
[So he’s from Heaven Battling Union, no wonder he can have such strength despite not being very old,] Yang Kai thought to himself. He wasn’t to Shadowed Star anymore and had naturally heard about Heaven Battling Union as it was one of the biggest forces.
Among the younger generation of Heaven Battling Union, there was one extremely high aptitude genius named Qu Chang Feng. It was also said that he possessed incredibly piercing eyes.
If Yang Kai wasn’t mistaken, this young man should be that Qu Chang Feng, a talent famous across all of Shadowed Star.
Sure enough, after the guard who had stopped Yang Kai saw this young man, he respectfully cupped his fists and greeted, “Young Lord Qu, please enter!”
“En,” Qu Chang Feng nodded faintly then glancing over at Wu Yi and Yang Yan, pausing for a moment before smiling, “Do you two young ladies want to enter Treasure Trove Pavilion?”
Neither Wu Yi nor Yang Yan answered.
Qu Chang Feng continued talking though, “Entry right now is restricted because the auction is about to take place, these two guards won’t allow anyone inside without an invitation, but if you really want to go in, you can come with me, what do you two young ladies think?”
The smile he wore while offering this invitation seemed innocent and harmless, but Yang Yan and Wu Yi weren’t the types of women who would be fooled by such false humility; they naturally understood Qu Chang Feng’s intentions.
“Qu Chang Feng, I haven’t seen you for a few years but you still like showing off your superiority in front of the weak it seems. Do you really think being able to attend this auction is something noteworthy, or is it your Heaven Battling Union that is so great?” A deep voice sounded, and when Qu Chang Feng, who was still offering an invitation to Wu Yi and Yang Yan heard this voice, he couldn’t help frowning bitterly, as if he’d just swallowed a fly, the spring-like smile on his face disappearing in a flash as he turned his sharp eyes in the direction of this voice.
A short distance away, a young man in simple grey robes was walking over. He wasn’t putting on airs like Qu Chang Feng and instead appeared rather plain and unimpressive, but Qu Chang Feng didn’t dare despise him as a serious light flashed across his sharp eyes.
Yang Kai also turned his head to look at this newcomer, wondering who dared act so arrogant in front of Qu Chang Feng.
At first glance, Yang Kai was a little surprised. The clothes this young man wore weren’t anything special, and could even be described as crude, but the aura he gave off was even stronger and forceful than Qu Chang Feng’s; on top of that, this aura was filled with sharpness. Yang Kai even faintly felt a surge of lightning coming from him.
This young man obviously cultivated some kind of Thunder Attribute Secret Art and had already achieved high accomplishments in it. He wasn’t a robust figure, but he was definitely a master. This was because, like Qu Chang Feng, he was also Third Order Saint King!
This young man was also followed by two Origin Returning Realm masters, both dressed in azure robes with a distinctive lightning bolt emblazoned on their chests. This lightning bolt was quite lifelike and radiated a shocking presence.
“I was wondering who it was, turns out it was Brother Fang of Thunder Typhoon Sect. Long time no see! I see you still dress so shabbily, aren’t you afraid your appearance will damage Thunder Typhoon Sect’s face?” Qu Chang Feng chuckled without a smile.
Yang Kai’s brow rose as he immediately understood who this simply-dressed man was.
Fang Tian Zhong of Thunder Typhoon Sect! Like Qu Chang Feng, he was also one of Shadowed Star’s famous young talents, the first genius of Thunder Typhoon Sect’s younger generation.
Geniuses always had extremely high pride and refused to sit on par with others. These two young men were the greatest talents of their respective Sects, so naturally, there was friction between them. Once they encountered one another it would always result in a tit-for-tat mockery match.
The two guards of Treasure Trove Pavilion stood helplessly next to each other. If ordinary people dared act so wildly in front of Treasure Trove Pavilion, they would have already taught them a lesson, but Qu Chang Feng and Fang Tian Zhong weren’t characters they dared to offend.
Even Yang Kai, who was standing nearby, became nothing but a foil.
“What I cultivate is the Martial Dao, what I study is the Heavenly Way. I’m not like you who worries about dressing up and showing off all day long,” Fang Tian Zhong said coldly.
Qu Chang Feng also let out a snort as he pushed his fighting intent towards Fang Tian Zhong. Fang Tian Zhong naturally refused to back down and also released his aura.
As if two storms had suddenly appeared and collided with one another, the atmosphere in front of Treasure Trove Pavilion suddenly descended into chaos and many masters already inside the building who noticed this released their Divine Senses to probe the situation. However, after learning that this was a conflict between Qu Chang Feng and Fang Tian Zhong, all of them quickly took back their Divine Senses and no longer interfered.
Seeing these two geniuses confront each other with no regard to their surroundings, Yang Kai’s eyes grew cold, and his originally good opinion of Fang Tian Zhong shattered. Yang Kai had felt that this guy wasn’t pretentious like Qu Chang Feng, but now that trace of goodwill had completely disappeared.
If the one standing here had been an ordinary First-Order Saint King, they would definitely have gotten caught up in this invisible conflict and even if they hadn’t been injured, they would certainly be quite uncomfortable.
These two obviously didn’t care about him or Wu Yi and Yang Yan, all they wanted was to put the other one down.
When their two imposing manners reached a peak, Yang Kai let out a cold snort and waved his hand casually.
A sound as if something was torn apart resounded and Yang Kai stood in place like a mountain, not a single ruffle apparent on his clothes or hair. Yang Yan and Wu Yi hiding behind him also felt nothing.
“Em?” Qu Chang Feng and Fang Tian Zhong converged their own imposing manners at the same time and turned to look at Yang Kai, both of them showing a tinge of surprise.
Although they had not been aiming their fighting intent towards Yang Kai just now, it was still not something a First-Order Saint King should have been able to resist, but now, this unknown youth had actually easily broken apart their conflict, shocking them slightly.
However, it was just a bit of surprise; in their opinions, Yang Kai’s current cultivation wasn’t worthy of their attention.
“Two Senior Brothers have such a good relationship, whenever you meet you get along so well, it’s really quite enviable,” A clear and sweet laughter like the sound of a silver bell rang out as a young woman stepped forward. Her creamy white skin and tender features, paired with her aura that seemed delicate, caused anyone who laid eyes on her to give birth to the desire to protect and care for her. The woman’s figure, however, was enchanting and her lavender dress perfectly outlined her luscious curves, contrasting and amplifying her graceful bearing.
When she approached, a fragrant scent wafted about, making people feel refreshed while at the same time causing their pulses to race.
Although her words were clearly mockery, neither Fang Tian Zhong nor Qu Chang Feng showed any anger, with the latter even smiling happily as he stared at this young woman with a burning look.
“Su Die greets two Senior Brothers,” The woman elegantly greeted, her face filled with a light blush that made her cheeks seem so soft one couldn’t help wanting to reach out and caress them.
“So it is Junior Sister Yin, it’s been too long since we last met, it makes Elder Brother here sad,” Qu Chang Feng no longer had any interest in Fang Tian Zhong and said with a laugh.
Fang Tian Zhong also nodded slightly to this young woman, offering his greetings.
These three were all geniuses on Shadowed Star, so naturally they knew each other.
“I didn’t expect Junior Sister Yin to come to this auction, it looks like my coming this time was the right decision. Would Junior Sister care to accompany me today? We can sit down and have a nice chat; Senior Brother isn’t talented but recently I have been diligently studying Shi and obtained some slight insights,” Qu Chang Feng enthusiastically invited, an obvious flavour of pride apparent in his last words.
Yang Kai secretly curled his lips when he heard this; he knew how difficult it was to comprehend Shi, and even after absorbing the insights of two Origin Returning Realm masters, he hadn’t been able to grasp anything about this profound type of strength. Qu Chang Feng may have a higher cultivation than Yang Kai, but it was still impossible for him to have comprehended anything of significance about Shi before entering the Origin Returning Realm. Qu Chang Feng saying all this was obviously just an excuse to get close to Yin Su Die.
Yin Su Die was naturally clearer about this than Yang Kai and simply flashed an enchanting smile while saying, “Although Junior Sister also wishes to talk more with Senior Brother Qu, Junior Sister came today as a representative of her Honoured Master. With such an important task at hand, Junior Sister must politely decline Senior Brother Qu’s invitation.”
“Of course. Of course, we both have long futures ahead of us, there’ll be plenty of other opportunities to chat,” Qu Chang Feng smiled freely, not showing any signs of annoyance at Yin Su Die’s rejection. It was clear he had bumped into such resistance from her more than once or twice already and built up a tolerance for it.
The three young talents stood in front of the door for some time, gathering the attention of many people who had come to attend the auction, but with them not entering, all the other Young Masters and Ladies could only stand by and wait.
Compared with these people, Yang Kai found that he, Wu Yi, and Yang Yan all seemed quite shabby. These Young Masters and Ladies were all dressed in exquisite robes, dazzling dresses, or powerful Artifact Armours.
Yang Kai on the other hand just wore plain clothes while Yang Yan was even more out of place, wearing her signature black robe with which she was trying to cover her face, seemingly feeling embarrassed. Wu Yi wasn’t as bad as these two, but she was still just wearing ordinary clothes, unable to compare with the high fashion of those around her.
These three stuck out like chickens among cranes and were obviously also drawing attention from the crowd.
Fortunately, the three talents didn’t continue chatting for long as the auction was about to start. They also wanted to go in early. After the Young Masters and Ladies offered greetings to Fang Tian Zhong’s trio, they quickly filed inside and quickly disappeared.
Before leaving, Fang Tian Zhong shot a brief glance over towards Yang Kai, but didn’t say anything.
It wasn’t until Treasure Trove Pavilion’s calmed down once more that Wu Yi was able to let out a sigh of relief and whispered to Yang Kai, “That woman just now was Yin Su Die of the Coloured Glass Sect. She is a famous character and also the first beauty of Shadowed Star, countless young men are pursuing her.”
“The first beauty?” Yang Kai laughed, “You two aren’t any worse than her, her title is clearly undeserved.”
“How can I compare with her?” Wu Yi blushed. Regardless of whether Yang Kai was behind honest or not, such praise still made her very happy. No woman didn’t care about her appearance, but Wu Yi knew there was a huge difference between her and Yin Su Die, their backgrounds alone weren’t comparable.
“Let’s go in too,” Yang Kai said lightly. He came to the auction today to protect Wu Yi and Yang Yan, but he hadn’t expected to run into so many young geniuses here as well.
Whether it was Qu Chang Feng, Fang Tian Zhong, or Yin Su Die, none of them could be despised. Yang Kai realized he still had a long way to go and that he was far from invincible in this world.
The appearance of these three people reminded Yang Kai that even opponents in the same realm as him mustn’t be underestimated. They were the representatives of their respective Sects, so who knows what kind of profound skills or astonishing treasures they had on them? If they were to fight, who would win and who would lose wasn’t a certainty.
Wu Yi finally found the invitation in her Space Ring and handed it to the guard outside. The guard seemingly didn’t expect that three people like Yang Kai could actually obtain this invitation, but although he was surprised, he didn’t try to embarrass them and quickly ushered them inside.
Entering Treasure Trove Pavilion, the loud bustle of the crowd immediately washed over the trio as countless people gathered in groups, discussing various different topics.
“So this Treasure Trove Pavilion?” Wu Yi’s pretty face was filled with shock as her eyes darted back and forth, filled with curiosity and wonder. It was the first time she had ever entered this place.
The sight which greeted them was a huge circular half-arc hall with a dome roof lined with the most brilliant of light stones, all of which were emitting a soft glow that made the entire interior of Treasure Trove Pavilion no less bright than the outside.
At the lowest level of the hall, rows of seats were neatly arranged. Nearly eighty percent of these seats were already filled while the higher floors still had a large number of people walking back and forth.
At the front centre of the main floor was a high platform at least two meters above ground; it was clearly the stage on which the auctioning items would be presented.
This design allowed everyone participating in the auction to clearly see the items being auctioned.
When Yang Kai arrived here, he first tried to find where Qian Tong was, but he soon discovered that in this place it was very difficult to find a particular individual. If he was a Third Order Origin Returning Realm master, he wouldn’t need to have any scruples and could just search the premises with the help of his Divine Sense. However, in this place where so many masters had gathered, Yang Kai didn’t dare use his Divine Sense at will, lest he cause misunderstandings and draw unnecessary trouble to himself.
Just as Yang Kai was wondering what to do, a figure ran over to him and bowed politely, “Luo Qing greets Young Master Yang, greets the Young Ladies.”
Yang Kai looked over at this newcomer and discovered that he was the same Origin Realm master who had been invited by the Xu Family to deal with him but had recognized Yang Kai in time and reported to Qian Tong.
Grateful to Luo Qing for his efforts back then, Yang Kai politely greeted, “So it is Brother Luo. Where is Elder Qian now?”
“Elder Qian is currently attending to some matters and cannot step away, so he ordered this disciple to wait here for Young Master Yang. Young Master Yang may rest assured that Elder Qian has made all necessary arrangements for you, if you will just follow me.”
“Understood. Lead the way,” Yang Kai nodded.
Since Treasure Trove Pavilion was holding an auction in Heavenly Fate City, and Qian Tong was one of the senior Elders in charge of in Heavenly Fate City, it was normal for him to have many things to deal with, so Yang Kai naturally wouldn’t think much about this.
Follow Luo Qing, the trio went straight up to the third floor. Pushing open the door to a certain room, Luo Qing walked inside and explained, “Young Master Yang, this is the private room Elder Qian arranged for you, is it to your satisfaction?”
Yang Kai entered the room and found that although it was a bit small, it was well furnished with comfortable chairs to sit on and good-quality spirit fruits laid out on a decorative table. A pot of hot spirit tea was brewing and there were two beautiful maidservants standing by. These two maids had bright eyes and slender figures and upon seeing Yang Kai and the two young women enter, they immediately welcomed them.
Yang Kai didn’t know if other private rooms came with maidservants, but he was certain these two had been specially arranged by Qian Tong, because both were wearing Shadow Moon Hall uniforms, indicating their status as disciples.
“Elder Qian’s arrangements are quite attentive, I’m very satisfied,” Yang Kai nodded with a smile.
“Young Master Yang being satisfied is good,” Luo Qing seemed relieved. He had heard about Qian Tong killing Hong Zhen and his Senior Brother in order to become maintain a friendly relationship with Yang Kai, so although he still didn’t know what made Yang Kai worthy of such efforts, having received Qian Tong’s orders Luo Qing dared not show any neglect.
“I beg your pardon Young Master Yang, but Elder Qian instructed this disciple to bring the items you wish to auction off today to him as soon as possible so that Treasure Trove Pavilion can evaluate their starting price and where to position them in today’s lineup.”
“En, understood,” Yang Kai sent a wink to Wu Yi, who immediately took out two beautifully packaged jade boxes from her Space Ring and handed them to Luo Qing. These two jade boxes naturally held the two Origin Grade artifacts Yang Yan had refined.
“This as well,” Yang Kai said as he took out a jade bottle and handed it to Luo Qing.
“Thank you. Please feel free to relax here for the moment, Young Master Yang, the auction should start in about half an hour, this Luo Qing will take his leave first,” Luo Qing bowed and turned around to leave, ordering the two female Shadow Moon Hall disciples to attentively entertain Yang Kai, to which the two girls nodded respectfully.
“Seems we’re in room C13,” Wu Yi walked over and closed the door, instantly blocking out all the noise from outside.
“The Spirit Arrays here are well arranged,” Yang Yan walked around, examining a few places, seemingly quite interested in the Spirit Arrays inside the room. “Others’ Divine Senses won’t be able to penetrate this room, the only downside is that it’s a little far from the auction stage.”
Yang Kai smiled lightly, “This is Treasure Trove Pavilion after all. It probably took Elder Qian a great deal of effort to even get us this private room. Looking at the people who came here today, all of them seem to be powerful characters with famous names.”
As Yang Kai spoke, the two female Shadow Moon Hall disciples couldn’t help smiling even more brightly, as if they were pleased to hear Elder Qian receive such high praise.
“You two don’t need to act restrained, just sit down. We’re not wealthy or influential people, we’re just here to watch the fun this time,” Yang Kai said to the two maids as he saw them acting slightly nervously.
The two women quickly waved their hands frantically, saying they didn’t dare.
Yang Kai did not force them after seeing them refuse, instead sitting down on one of the chairs and pouring himself a cup of tea, tasting it slowly as he waited.
Wu Yi still couldn’t believe what was happening here. She had never imagined she would one day be able to participate in this grade of auction. Let alone her, even Patriarch Yi En of the Hai Ke Family wouldn’t be eligible to attend this auction or even enter Treasure Trove Pavilion at such a time.
But now, she was actually sitting in a private room, enjoying treatment reserved for powerful masters from first-class Sects, making her feel quite complicated in her heart. The gap between people was really too big. Her biggest wish before was to work hard make Yi En look at her with high esteem so that she may later inherit the position of Matriarch and take command of the Hai Ke Family; but now, she no longer had such thoughts.
So what if she became Matriarch? The Matriarch of such a small family wasn’t even worth as much as a common disciple of Shadow Moon Hall. Take for instance the two maids who were current standing nearby, waiting to serve them. Although these two only had Third Order Saint Realm cultivation, if they had arrived at the Hai Ke Family, Yi En would still have to treat them with the utmost respect and courtesy.
This was the insurmountable gap between the great forces and small families.
A few days ago, when Yang Kai was still in retreat, Yi En had come to the cave once more along with many of the family’s Elders and Foreign Elders to request Wu Yi return and assume the position of Patriarch, but Wu Yi had immediately declined. Since she had chosen to separate from the family, she would not go back.
Suddenly feeling something flying towards her, Wu Yi’s eyes quickly shifted to the side and she lifted her hand to catch this object. Upon grasping it, she noticed that it was one of the spirit fruits from the table.
Yang Kai laughed, “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing,” Wu Yi shook her head, picking up another spirit fruit before standing up and giving them to the female disciples of Shadow Moon Hall.
The two girls didn’t refuse this time, thanking Wu Yi politely as they received the fruits in a graceful manner.
The auction wouldn’t start for some time but the atmosphere in the private room was already quite harmonious. The two female disciples of Shadow Moon Hall also seemed to understand that Yang Kai, Wu Yi, and Yang Yan didn’t possess great backgrounds and were quite kind to others; Yang Yan even chatted with them like they were little sisters. Yang Kai couldn’t even get in a word, so he simply picked up the illustrated catalogue on the table and browsed through the items being auctioned today.
At the same time, in a back room of Treasure Trove Pavilion, a black-faced old man with a short goatee spat at Qian Tong with dissatisfaction, “Old Qian, things are about to start, when are those things you want to sell going to arrive?”
Qian Tong glanced towards the door and said hesitantly, “They should be delivered soon, just wait a moment.”
“Wait a moment? Treasure Trove Pavilion has its own rules. If not for the two of us sharing some friendship, do you think I would break those rules and allow you to insert items just moments before the auction starts?”
“Not at all, not at all,” Qian Tong met this rebuke with a smile, but in his heart, he was muttering uncomfortably. Wu Yi had come to him a few days ago and said that they would be bringing some items to auction, but she had not said what these items would be, only that they were artefacts. Out of consideration for Yang Kai’s face, Qian Tong had assured Wu Yi that as long as the items were delivered before the auction he would take care of the rest, but how could he have anticipated the items to not be delivered even now? With no other choice, he could only eloquently persuade, “Brother Yan Pei, just a bit longer, the items will definitely come.”
Yan Pei’s black face became even darker, like the bottom of a pot, and he grumbled for a moment before nodding, “Don’t say that this brother didn’t show you any consideration. Half an incense stick, if your items aren’t delivered in the next half an incense stick, no matter how precious they are, I won’t include them in the auction.”
“I know, I know, I’ll have to trouble Brother Yan Pei with this,” Qian Tong smiled helplessly, Treasure Trove Pavilion really had its own rules so he couldn’t argue any further. Just after he’d reached this agreement though, Qian Tong’s communication artefact vibrated and a Divine Sense Message reached him. It was from Luo Qing, causing Qian Tong to smile and say, “They’re here.”
Saying so, he immediately left the room.
A moment later, holding a jade bottle and two jade boxes, Qian Tong returned.
Yan Pei spat unhappily, “Are these the things you want to auction?”
“They should be,” Qian Tong hadn’t opened the boxes to see what was inside as time was short. He had simply accepted them from Luo Qing and brought them inside.
“Open them so we can have appraise their value and see if they’re even worthy auctioning,” Yan Pei said coldly, waving his hand and summoning in a number of Origin Realm masters who proceeded to circle around the jade boxes and jade bottle which were now laid out on a nearby table.
Seeing Qian Tong still somewhat on edge, Yan Pei sneered, “Brother Qian, don’t tell me you’ve brought some worthless items to be auctioned? If that’s the case, you’d best take them back now.”
“How could that be,” Qian Tong sneered, “Are Saint King Grade High-Rank artefacts not worthy of being auctioned?”
Because it was Wu Yi who had spoken to him earlier, Qian Tong was somewhat lacking in confidence. If Yang Kai had met with him personally, Qian Tong won’t be worrying about anything. Behind Yang Kai was an Artifact Refining Grandmaster, protecting him from the shadows, that was also the reason Qian Tong thought Saint King Grade High-Rank artifacts would be sent because he couldn’t imagine a powerful Artifact Refining Grandmaster intentionally damaging his own face by putting out anything less.
“Saint King Grade High-Rank artefacts…” Yan Pei’s complexion immediately became better but he still said solemnly, “Naturally such items are worth auctioning; but Brother Qian, this is not a precedent, if items arrive this late again even I won’t be able to take responsibility for adding them to the auction, if such things were discovered by others it wouldn’t be easy to explain.”
Although Saint King Grade High-Rank artefacts weren’t too valuable, they could still be considered the most mainstream high even artefacts on Shadowed Star. There weren’t many Origin Grade Artifact Refiners so most Saint Kings and even Origin Realm cultivators would use this grade of artefact. As such, Saint King Grade High-Rank artefacts were easy to sell. Treasure Trove Pavilion had also prepared many such artefacts for this time’s auction, so having two more wouldn’t change things much.
While the two old men were talking though, a cry of surprise rang out from the side.
“What happened?” Yan Pei turned his head and looked over.
“Sir, this is an Origin Grade Low-Rank offensive type artefact!” An Origin Returning Realm master immediately came over and showed the twin daggers inside the jade box to Qian Tong and Yan Pei.
Qian Tong’s eyes narrowed and suddenly felt his heart clench slightly.
Although he had long guessed that the master behind Yang Kai was an Origin Grade Artifact Refiner, he hadn’t expected him to actually bring out this grade of artefact to the auction. If Qian Tong had known, he would have directly bought it from Yang Kai. He had already bought artefacts from Yang Kai twice before, and each time both sides had left happy, but now that this precious Origin Grade artefact was in Treasure Trove Pavilion’s hands, if Qian Tong wanted it, he could only participate in the auction.
Buying this artefact in the auction would obviously be much more expensive than directly purchasing it from Yang Kai, and it wasn’t even a certainty he could obtain it. Those who attended this Treasure Trove Pavilion auction didn’t lack wealth or influence, so it would be a bloody battle to acquire such a good treasure.