This mass of Spiritual Energy was concealed so well that even with Yang Kai’s incredibly powerful Divine Sense, he wasn’t able to notice its approach. If not for the unexpected appearance of the Form Revealing Bead, this attack would surely have succeeded.
The moment he sensed this Spiritual Energy attack, Yang Kai countered.
What surprised him though was that the other party’s Divine Sense was no weaker than his own. After the invisible collision between their two Divine Senses, Yang Kai had actually suffered a slight loss.
After this incident, Lu Ye immediately took back his Divine Sense and pretended he hadn’t done anything while Yang Kai’s cough had actually attracted everyone’s attention.
After Qu Chang Feng began expelling people though, Lu Ye’s expression became gloomy. With many other cultivators being driven away, he also chose to leave; after all, he was the only one from Flowing Cloud Valley to arrive, and since he was alone, Qu Chang Feng would surely not tolerate his presence. If he didn’t leave, it would only cause problems for himself.
[Something is up with that guy!]Yang Kai knew that if not for him fortunately obtaining the Soul Warming Lotus many years ago, he wouldn’t have such a powerful Soul. But how many Soul Warming Lotuses could there be in this world? Even if there was another Soul Warming Lotus, it was impossible for it to be in the hands of a cultivator like Lu Ye.
Yet this Lu Ye’s Soul cultivation was truly no weaker than his own, a very strange phenomenon.
Flowing Cloud Valley wasn’t a very powerful force, only second class by Shadowed Star’s standards. It was impossible for such a Sect to have a Secret Art which could temper one’s Soul so profoundly, so how was Lu Ye able to cultivate his Spiritual Energy to such a degree?
Previously, in the stalactite cave, Yang Kai hadn’t noticed anything special about this Lu Ye. He was just an ordinary Third-Order Saint King cultivator. Later, when everyone was soaking in the Soul Cleansing Divine Water, Lu Ye had entered too, but he definitely did not obtain enough benefits to explain such a dramatic change.
Acquiring such a powerful enemy for no apparent reason made Yang Kai feel extremely depressed, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand how he had offended the other party.
Yang Kai swore to find a chance to kill Lu Ye as quickly as possible. Regardless of whether the other person was misunderstanding something or simply bore a grudge against him, having such an enemy always staring at him made Yang Kai unable to relax.
After mulling over these thoughts in his mind, Yang Kai quickly made his decision. Exhaling softly, he no longer thought about Lu Ye and once again closed his eyes to continue meditating. After the second red sun rose, the fruit aroma in the air had become more intense and its efficacy had also become much stronger. All the remaining cultivators refused to waste this rare opportunity and all focused on silently meditating.
Yang Kai continued immersing himself in his understanding of Saint Qi control. He knew that the Red Candle Fruit’s fragrance would not linger for long, only until it fully matured, so he didn’t intend on using this short time to study the esoteric Dao of Space. As long as he could comprehend how to fully control his Saint Qi in the next two or three days, this little trip would definitely be worthwhile.
Yang Kai didn’t know what other people chose to comprehend, but he felt his choice was for the best.
When the second red sun rose to the mid-day position and no longer moved, the mountain valley filled with another layer of red energy. The cultivators who had witnessed this situation twice already did not panic, but that didn’t mean they weren’t excited, most of them barely able to maintain straight faces.
The emergence of this dark red energy meant that the third red sun was about to rise, and the Three Suns Grand Risings Phenomenon would be completed. This also meant that the Red Candle Fruit was fully mature!
Many cultivators became anxious and this excitement prevented them from continuing to meditate and peacefully comprehend the various profound concepts they were studying. Instead, they opened their eyes and began paying even closer attention to everything in the mountain valley.
The dark red energy began to converge, and the earth trembled lightly. Soon, a great burst of energy erupted. At the same time, the fruity aroma in the air became even richer.
The third red sun then appeared in front of everyone’s eyes and slowly began rising up into the sky.
Rustling sounds echoed all around and Saint Qi fluctuations began appearing as some people seemed eager to rush into the valley.
Li You Nan of Medicine Pill Sect saw this and rubbed his forehead in frustration. Unable to care about keeping up appearances, he shouted loudly, “You must not act rashly! The Three Suns Grand Risings is not finished, and the Red Candle Fruit has yet to surface. No one may fight yet! Once anything interferes with the maturing of the Red Candle Fruit, dying ten thousand times won’t be enough of an apologize!”
He was the most knowledgeable about the Red Candle Fruit’s maturation process, so naturally, he had the responsibility to remind everyone.
At the same time, Li You Nan was cursing in his heart. If he wasn’t worried about these people being unable to hold back and really starting a fight, disturbing the maturing of the Red Candle Fruit, he wouldn’t have said anything. In fact, it would have been best if these people had killed each other off completely. After they all died, his Medicine Pill Sect would be able to monopolize this Heavenly spirit fruit.
After listening to Li You Nan’s words, many people gave him a cold glare; however, they maintained their heightened vigilance and continued to secretly condense their Saint Qi.
Atop Shadow Moon Hall’s hill, Wei Gu Chang observed the situation for a moment and concluded that there was still some time left before closing his eyes again and continuing his meditation, not displaying any outwards signs of anxiety.
With the passage of time, the atmosphere around the small mountain valley became tenser and tenser. By the time the third red sun had risen halfway up into the sky, many cultivators who were still meditating were finally unable to hold back and got up to pay closer attention to the movements of this red sun. Not only ordinary cultivators, but even the famous rising stars like Wei Gu Chang, Qu Chang Feng, Fang Tian Zhong, Yin Su Die, Tang Yong, and Qu Ming Hai were the same…
No one could continue to maintain the same indifference as before, all of them carefully tracking the height of the red sun while whispering quietly to the people around them, solemn and serious expressions upon their faces.
“Junior Brother Yang is still immersed in his comprehension!” Dai Yuan eyes flashed with a look of astonishment as she glanced over at Yang Kai’s still sitting figure and noticed that his Saint Qi was fluctuating fiercely.
Yang Kai appearing like this clearly indicated that he had arrived at a critical juncture in his comprehension and couldn’t even be bothered to pay attention to the maturing of the Red Candle Fruit.
“It seems Brother Yang’s harvest this time hasn’t been small,” Wei Gu Chang smiled bitterly as he felt some envy towards Yang Kai. He had also been immersed in meditation for the past day or two, but because he had been keeping track of the Red Candle Fruit’s situation from time to time, he hadn’t been able to comprehend anything of significance and only managed to obtain some minor insights. Although he still obtained some benefits, it was far from what Yang Kai grasped.
“That person is also still meditating!” Dong Xuan’er cast his eyes onto another mountain top. On the other end of her gaze was the stern-faced man from Star Emperor Sect who, just like Yang Kai, was sitting cross-legged, his look as tranquil as an ancient well with only his Saint Qi tumbling violently.
“Perhaps this is the gap between us and them,” Wei Gu Chang muttered to himself. He had long been acknowledged as a great genius, Shadow Moon Hall’s most dazzling star, on par with Fang Tian Zhong, Qu Chang Feng and the other leaders of the younger generation, so he had never felt he was inferior to any others.
However, after witnessing the various methods Yang Kai had displayed, he became acutely aware of his shortcomings. Now, in addition to Yang Kai, a disciple from Star Emperor Sect had emerged. Wei Gu Chang inexplicably felt a sense of crisis wash over him.
He knew that if he didn’t work hard, the future Shadowed Star might not have a place for him!
All around the mountain valley, dozens of cultivators were standing atop their own hills, paying attention to the third red sun, so the actions of Yang Kai and the Star Emperor Sect disciple were very eye-catching.
None cared much about Yang Kai. No one knew his origins, but a mere First-Order Saint King couldn’t enter these elite’s eyes.
But the stern-faced man from Star Emperor Sect continuing his meditation actually allowed everyone to secretly breathe a sigh of relief, all of them hoping he would continue his comprehension until the ownership of the Red Candle Fruit had been settled.
Everyone here now truly understood the meaning of the saying ‘a day felt like a year’.
Since the third red sun appeared, it seemed to be moving slower than a crawling turtle as it rose into the sky, making everyone wish they could rush forward and help push it up.
This situation continued for a whole day until finally, the third red sun rose to the mid-day position and joined the other two red suns, completing the Three Suns Grand Risings Phenomenon. These three red suns seemed to form some kind of resonance with each other, causing a brilliant red light to burst forth and illuminate the entire third layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field. This bright flash blinded all the cultivators who remained in the third layer for a moment and forced them to close their eyes.
A great pulse of energy was released high up in the sky in the next moment, and when the brilliant red light finally dimmed and everyone opened their eyes again, they were shocked by what they saw!
Because the three red suns had actually merged together to form a single giant red sun. This red sun was rapidly rotating and each time it did, it was drawing in an unprecedented amount of energy.
The surrounding World Energy aura became incomparably rich and turbulent all of a sudden.
All of this World Energy gathered together here and was madly pouring into the red sun as if it were a bottomless pit.
Atop Medicine Pill Sect’s mountain, Li You Nan trembled, his eyes going wide as he stared at the scene in front of himself, unable to control his excitement!
It was exactly the same as was recorded in the ancient records, with no differences whatsoever; it truly was a maturing Red Candle Fruit!
After an incense stick worth of time, the World Energy in the entire third layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field had been consumed, making the surrounding several hundred kilometres a dead zone!
The giant red sun also seemed to have become more solid, hanging in the sky like a real little sun.
Suddenly, it stopped rotating, going from an extremely fast motion to complete stillness.
“Not good!” Li You Nan saw this and immediately began leaking cold sweat. Li You Nan hurriedly summoned out a shield-type artefact which he transformed into a protective barrier around the mountain occupied by Medicine Pill Sect, covering them in a solid defensive shield.
The moment Li You Nan acted, the other disciples of Medicine Pill Sect also took out their defensive artefacts to protect themselves. Obviously, they had prepared beforehand for this, otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to act so swiftly.
Medicine Pill Sect’s actions drew the attention of all the other cultivators present, many of them wondering why they seemed to be in such a panic.
Although they didn’t understand everything, everyone realized the situation wasn’t good. Li You Nan clearly hadn’t told them something about what was about to happen, and whatever was about to occur was clearly dangerous. Why else would Medicine Pill Sect suddenly behave this way?
There was no need to remind anyone as all the cultivators who saw Li You Nan’s actions also began summoning their defensive artefacts.
Atop Shadow Moon Hall’s hill, Wei Gu Chang snorted coldly before pushing his Saint Qi. A black light curtain immediately covered the hill, one that seemed to have streaks of red lightning flashing across its surface.
Dong Xuan’er also took out a token-like object and poured her Saint Qi into it, transforming it into a stream of light that circled their group.
Dai Yuan summoned her cloth-like artefact once more and shrouded the hill in a protective pink cloud.
The only one who didn’t move was Yang Kai as he seemed to still be deeply immersed in his own comprehension. He didn’t need to take any action though as Wei Gu Chang and the others were there to guard him.
The disciple from Star Emperor Sect didn’t have such luxury though. He had been alone on his mountain top from the start, so after he noticed the strange behaviour of everyone around him, he immediately opened his eyes and stared up indifferently towards the red sun in the sky.
At that moment, thousands of crimson light beams shot out from the red sun in all directions.
These crimson light beams were powerful and extremely fast, in the blink of an eye arriving in front of everyone and battering their defences with a seemingly endless barrage.
Everyone immediately understood why the people from Medicine Pill Sect had assumed a strong defensive stance.
As for the stern-faced man from Star Emperor Sect’s expression became even more solemn as he witnessed this outburst and swiftly punched forward. His fist seemed to contain some kind of profound principle that shook the Heavens and Earth, intercepting and destroying all the red light beams which were approaching him.
Seeing this, Wei Gu Chang, who had secretly been paying attention to this man, couldn’t help paling slightly.
Although this punch had seemed calm and relaxed, anyone who witnessed it could tell just how tyrannical this Star Emperor Sect disciple’s strength was.
The tens of thousands of crimson light beams ended as quickly as they began, all of them disappearing in a flash. Because everyone had made some preparations beforehand, all but a few who hadn’t taken action swiftly enough were safe and sound.
Seeing this, Li You Nan couldn’t help showing a look of disappointment, knowing that his actions just now were a bit too overt and had caused everyone else to become vigilant as well. If he had been a bit more discrete, the number of injured wouldn’t be limited to those few people.
But soon, Li You Nan laughed bitterly, because all the cultivators present were currently glaring at him, apparently blaming him for not explaining the situation clearly and trying to take advantage of this situation to plot against them. It was a truly sinister act.
Li You Nan paid them no mind though. He had already explained all sorts of things about the Red Candle Fruit’s maturation process, including the Three Suns Grand Risings Phenomenon, so concealing some things to benefit himself was only natural.
He believed that these people wouldn’t be stupid enough to condemn him for such a trivial matter.
Sure enough, everyone just glared at him and said nothing more. In fact, no one had any time to question him because after the tens of thousands of crimson light beams faded, the great red sun high up in the sky suddenly crashed down towards the mountain valley.
In just ten short breaths, the red sun fell somewhere in the mountain valley and it disappeared without a trace.
“Get ready!” Dai Yuan suddenly whispered as she lifted her hand and collected her pink cloud artefact, her beautiful eyes staring fixedly towards the mountain valley below.
“Should we wake up Senior Brother Yang?” Dong Xuan’er nibbled her red lips as she glanced over at Yang Kai hesitantly.
Yang Kai’s Saint Qi had been in a turbulent state this whole time so none of them had gone to disturb him for fear of interrupting his perception, but now that the Red Candle Fruit was about to appear, Dong Xuan’er didn’t know if they should wake him so he did not miss this great event.
Wei Gu Chang frowned slightly but soon shook his head, “No, Brother Yang definitely knows what’s going on outside. If he is willing to participate in this scramble, he will definitely act. We shouldn’t bother him.”
Dong Xuan’er nodded slightly.
Wei Gu Chang’s words had only just ended when a loud cracking sound suddenly echoed from the mountain valley, as if the earth was splitting apart. Everyone standing on the nearby hills also nearly fell as the ground beneath their feet trembled.
An intense wave of red energy spread out from the cracks below the mountain valley, filling it with a brilliant light that made it impossible to see the situation inside.
But faintly, at the place where the red sun just fell, something seemed to slowly be rising, showing a dark crimson light.
This light was like that of a candle in the wind, seemingly on the verge of being snuffed out, but no matter how the wind howled and rain poured, it remained constant.
A moment later, under the focused gazes of everyone present, this candle-like light finally surfaced.
Naturally, it was a fist-sized dark red crystal-like spirit fruit which looked both delicate and delicious. Its shape was quite strange, almost like the flame of a candle, and it clear there was incredibly pure energy residing within it that seemed to be gently stirring.
“Red Candle Fruit!” Seeing this, Li You Nan couldn’t help but shout.
Before he could even finish his words, a ribbon-like artefact shot out from one of the surrounding mountain tops. This ribbon was incredibly smart and flexible, just like a real woman’s arm. It shot out tens of metres in an instant and was rapidly closing in on the Heaven defying Red Candle Fruit.
Yin Su Die had acted! After waiting for several days, she finally couldn’t hold back anymore and actually made the first attempt to snatch it up.
Almost at the same time, a thunderbolt suddenly struck from a different location and with a crackling sound struck the ribbon artefact, shifting its aim and causing it to grasp nothing but air.
Yin Su Die shouted tenderly as she bit her thin red lips lightly and glared poutingly towards Fang Tian Zhong, stomping her foot in anger, “Senior Brother Fang!”
Fang Tian Zhong’s expression remained indifferent as he continued sending out bolts of lightning, blocking all the other attempts made by the surrounding cultivators to snatch the Red Candle Fruit, ignoring the coquettishness cries of Yin Su Die.
A look of annoyance flashed across this Heaven’s blessed female from Coloured Glass Sect as bitterness filled her heart, but she couldn’t afford to waste any more time on Fang Tian Zhong and instead concentrated on manipulating her ribbon-like artefact to join the scramble.
From a dozen different hills, dozens of cultivators all took action at once as they tried to seize this mature Red Candle Fruit; at this moment, almost all of the rising stars on the Shadowed Star were putting forth their best methods.
In an instant, the light of the Martial Skills and artefact filled the air with a brilliant glow, swiftly turning the mountain valley into a heated battlefield.
However, no matter who it was, they were using a measure of discretion, none of them daring to damage the Red Candle Fruit, all of them trying to avoid their battle affecting it in any way.
On the one hand, they needed to stop others from robbing the Red Candle Fruit, but on the other hand, they needed to work hard to snatch it for themselves. Each force’s cultivators had seemingly divided up these roles beforehand and were now working hard to achieve their objectives.
The forces with smaller numbers undoubtedly had it more difficult, as that was the case with Shadow Moon Hall.
Although Dai Yuan had come here together with Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er, she was acting alone and didn’t have any intention of cooperating with them, because everyone knew that this Heaven defying fruit was not something they could ultimately possess. Even if they were to win ownership of it here, it would eventually be turned over to their Sect who would then determine who it belonged to.
Dai Yuan and Dong Xuan’er had a very good personal relationship, but that still paled in comparison to their respective Sect’s interests. They didn’t dare to assist one another; not interfering with one another was the best they could do.
After removing Dai Yuan, that left just Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er to represent Shadow Moon Hall. One of them blocked while the other tried to snatch.
As for the stern-faced man from Star Emperor Sect, every attack he launched was filled with shocking might that astonished everyone around, forcing them to pay a significant amount of attention to him.
This man had probably only left Star Emperor Mountain for the first time for life experience and did not understand the concept of the tall tree drawing the most wind. Soon, he couldn’t help frowning because whenever he took action, there would be at least ten others from all directions trying to block him while no one else received such treatment.
It seemed that everyone had reached a consensus that he, above all others, must be stopped, while everyone else would compete independently using their respective means.
This cause the pressure Star Emperor Sect’s stern-faced disciple faced to multiply. No matter how amazing his strength was, he couldn’t compete with so many elites on the scene.
Seemingly becoming angry out of shame, this stern-faced man coldly snorted, stamped his foot, and sent out a shocking energy fluctuation that caused the ground all around him to tremble violently.
The cultivators from the dozen or so other forces who were competing for the Red Candle Fruit couldn’t help turning their gazes towards this stern-faced man and staring in shock as they watched him slowly send out a punch which released a massive beam of energy!
“Not good, stop him, he’s gone mad!” Li You Nan yelled again in horror, his clothes instantly becoming drenched in sweat as his face paled.
This stern-faced man’s punch was actually directed straight towards the Red Candle Fruit. If such an attack were to really hit it, this supreme spirit fruit would be smashed into dust and instantly vanish.
How could Li You Nan not panic? As he spoke, he sent out a storm of fists to try to block this Star Emperor Sect disciple’s attack.
The others present didn’t need him to remind them and took swift action.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
Violent explosions rang out as the huge energy column was greatly weakened by the various attacks it suffered, but what was more astonishing was the fact that it had not been destroyed and it soon reached the Red Candle Fruit.
With a look of despair upon his face, Li You Nan nearly collapsed to the ground. Thinking the Red Candle Fruit was about to be destroyed felt as if a blade was being pierced through his heart.
Although the power of the energy beam had been significantly weakened, it had still not been completely dispersed, and under everyone’s horrified gaze, it struck the Red Candle Fruit, making everyone feel as if they were the ones being hit.
*Xiu…*
The Red Candle Fruit, which has not been affected by the fighting so far, under the impact of this energy blast, flew straight out of the mountain valley.
To everyone’s surprise, this seemingly fragile, thin, and soft spirit fruit was completely unscathed by this blow.
Everyone was overjoyed and immediately used their movement skills to rush out of the mountain valley, signalling the start of an even more dangerous battle.
Just now, as the Red Candle Fruit sat in the mountain valley and red energy filled the air, everyone had stood atop their individual mountains while trying to snatch it. There had not been any direct confrontation yet, but now that the Red Candle Fruit had left the mountain valley, the situation had become far more chaotic with all the elite disciples from the various Sects struggling against one another.
Atop Shadow Moon Hall’s hill, Wei Gu Chang glanced over at Yang Kai and saw that he still showed no signs of opening his eyes, causing him to feel somewhat distressed.
While wondering if he should let Dong Xuan’er stay here and protect Yang Kai, the latter suddenly said, “You three go, don’t worry about me!”
Hearing this, Wei Gu Chang smiled happily and nodded before rushing off together with Dong Xuan’er and Dai Yuan. As long as Yang Kai wasn’t completely immersed in his meditation, there was no need to worry that he would suffer a sneak attack.
After Wei Gu Chang and the others left, Yang Kai opened his eyes happily, a brilliant and joyful light flashing across their depths.
He had made clear the vague thoughts he was contemplating at the last moment before the Red Candle Fruit matured. Although he felt that his control over Saint Qi had risen to a new level, now was not an appropriate time to verify his gains.
Casting his eyes a few hundred metres away, even Yang Kai, who had experienced many great storms, couldn’t help furrowing his brow at the scene he saw.
Several dozen Third-Order Saint King elite cultivators were desperately unleashing their Martial Skills and pushing their artefacts as they fought in groups of three to five against one another. All of them acted ruthlessly, without the slightest hint of mercy. Although the scene was extremely hot, every force had at least one or two people paying attention to the situation of the Red Candle Fruit.
What was strange was that since the Red Candle Fruit had been blasted away from the mountain valley by the Star Emperor Sect disciple, it hadn’t fallen to the ground. Whenever it seemed it was about to fall into the hands of a certain cultivator, there would always be some subtle energy fluctuations that swept it aside, allowing it to continue flying through the air.
The performance of the stern-faced man from Star Emperor Sect was particularly eye-catching in this scuffle. Fang Tian Zhong, Wei Gu Chang, and Qu Chang Feng had formed a kind of temporary alliance and were cooperating to block him from seizing the Red Candle Fruit, but this stern-faced man was able to display incredible power, confronting three people on his own without falling into a disadvantage. Although this wasn’t quite a life or death fight, it was still amazing to be able to fight against these three rising stars all by himself.
Yang Kai watched secretly and immediately realised that this man who came from Star Emperor Sect was not affable.
After observing the situation for a moment, Yang Kai knew that if nothing unexpected happened, the Red Candle Fruit’s ownership wouldn’t be decided for some time. At least a few people would first need to die before everyone really put forward their best after which there was a chance for things to be decided.
But who would be the ultimate winner was impossible to tell.
Yang Kai wasn’t uninterested in the Red Candle Fruit; after all, this was an Origin King Grade High-Rank spirit fruit, something even he had never encountered before. Using it in Alchemy would definitely be of great benefit to the growth of his Alchemy skills, and after being refined into a pill, it really might be able to help a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator break through to the Origin King Realm, such a spirit fruit in the hands of a suitable master may be able to create four or five Origin Kings.
Unfortunately, this battle was simply too chaotic.
Yang Kai estimated that even if he were to participate, he didn’t have more than a one in ten chance of obtaining the Red Candle Fruit. For such uncertain benefits, it simply wasn’t worth acting.
What’s more, this thing was currently a hot potato that only one of a few true elites could take away. If the Red Candle Fruit fell into his hands, someone without a stronger backer, it would only lead to disaster!
Therefore, he had already made up his mind not to fight for the Red Candle Fruit. It was because of this that he had focused all of his attention on his comprehension just now.
However… Although he didn’t intend to join the competition for the Red Candle Fruit, it didn’t mean Yang Kai had no other plans.
Glancing down at the mountain valley filled with red energy, Yang Kai grinned and while everyone’s attention was attracted by the Red Candle Fruit, silently slipped into the cloud of red mist and disappeared.
The Red Candle Fruit was indeed rare and precious, but the plant which gave birth to it was also a great treasure.
The root of the Red Candle Fruit was called the Red Candle Stalk, and if it was planted in a place with rich World Energy, it could absorb that aura and produce a spirit fruit similar to the Red Candle Fruit.
Of course, the fruit produced this way wasn’t a genuine Red Candle Fruit and did not possess the magical ability to help an Origin Returning Realm cultivator break through to the Origin King Realm, but it did have the ability to help a cultivator temper their body.
What Yang Kai was after was precisely this ability.
The benefits of a more powerful physique were self-evident. Yang Kai’s body was countless times stronger than that of an average cultivator in the same realm. Even ordinary Low-Ranked Origin Realm cultivators couldn’t compare with him in terms of pure physical strength.
With the improvement of his own strength, and as he encountered stronger and stronger cultivators, Yang Kai found that the strength of his physique was now somewhat hindering him. He had suffered a number of injuries in these past few days which was enough to raise some alarm.
Moreover, when tearing space, he needed a strong physical body otherwise he wouldn’t be able to resist the strain of traversing The Void.
If he could obtain the Red Candle Stalk and consume the spirit fruits it produced from time to time to temper his body further, he could solve this issue. As long as he was given enough time, he could raise the intensity of his physique to new heights.
At that time, when fighting against others and tearing space, he would become much more relaxed.
He couldn’t use the Red Candle Fruit for the time being, and he believed that with his own ability, and in conjunction with everything he currently possessed, breaking through to the Origin King Realm shouldn’t be a problem; all that he was lacking was the accumulation of time. However, the Red Candle Stalk was something he needed right now, so instead of participating in the competition for the Red Candle Fruit, he focused on stealthily taking away the Red Candle Stalk.
Yang Kai plans seemed just right, but it turned out that someone else had the same idea and had acted first.
When Yang Kai snuck into the mountain valley in order to search for the Red Candle Stalk amidst this bank of red mist, he immediately discovered a blurry figure happily collecting something into his Space Ring.
Who this person was, Yang Kai didn’t know, but he was certain that what they had just taken away was the Red Candle Stalk.
Staying behind and collecting the Red Candle Stalk at such a time indicated that person had a deep understanding of the Red Candle Fruit. Dai Yuan was currently fighting outside and so was Li You Nan of Medicine Pill Sect, so it was impossible for it to be one of them.
The most likely candidate was one of the other Medicine Pill Sect disciples, most likely instructed by Li You Nan long ago to remain behind in order to obtain this treasure.
Just as Yang Kai found this man, he too found Yang Kai. In shock, this man pushed his Saint Qi violently, but before he could launch an attack, a loud sound rang out and after a short, pitiful scream, the valley fell silent.
As a bloody scent spread, Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed and he immediately summoned his Wind and Thunder Wings as he soared forward towards the figure that had taken away the Red Candle Stalk, snatched his Space Ring, and then swiftly withdrew.
Yang Kai’s actions were extremely fast, but in that brief moment of contact, he saw a creepy scene.
The one who had taken away the Red Candle Stalk was indeed a disciple of Medicine Pill Sect, but at this moment he had an arm through his chest, one that was holding his still beating heart.
Moreover, this arm was very unusual and looked extremely dry, like a piece of dead wood, and it was sucking the blood essence out of this unfortunately Medicine Pill Sect disciple. Before Yang Kai stepped back, he clearly saw the body of this Medicine Pill Sect disciple wither and turn into a dry corpse.
There was a third person here!
No matter who this third person was, any cultivator that could launch such a perfect sneak attack on a Third-Order Saint King and instantly kill them couldn’t only be described as extraordinary.
Almost as soon as he snatched the Space Ring, the other party’s hand also touched it, but they only managed to grab empty space, causing them to call out in surprise.
*Pu…*
The sound of something bursting echoed, and in front of Yang Kai, the body of the Medicine Pill Sect disciple exploded, leaving nothing behind. The third person who had killed him disappeared strangely, seemingly completely blending into the surrounding environment.
In this mountain valley filled with red energy, with vision that has been incredibly limited, one could barely see anything a metre in front of them.
Yang Kai released his Spiritual energy without hesitation, creating a web of Divine Sense threads all around him, without letting off a single spot, but what startled him was that this third person seemed to have truly disappeared. Even with Yang Kai’s powerful Divine Sense, he couldn’t find a single trace of the other party.
However, Yang Kai knew that this man had not left. Since he had come here, he must have been after the Red Candle Stalk, and since that was now in Yang Kai’s hands, if the other party wanted it, he would certainly come to him.
Suddenly, a single thread of Divine Sense that Yang Kai had spread out sent back some slightly inconsistent sensations. In normal times, Yang Kai would not pay this any mind, but right now, it was enough to cause his hair to stand on end. Quickly turning around, Yang Kai condensed his Demonic Flame onto his fist and sent out a fierce punch towards the seemingly empty space.
*Hong…*
With a loud boom, the Demonic Flames wrapped around Yang Kai’s fist struck something and were instantly scattered, sending Yang Kai flying backwards.
At the same time though, in the originally empty space, a faint figure strangely appeared, and while Yang Kai was forced back, the sound of bones breaking echoed and the figure which revealed itself let out an annoyed grunt.
“It’s you!” Yang Kai shouted as he steadied himself, instantly recognising the man who had just attacked him.
It was Flowing Cloud Valley’s Lu Ye who had left some time ago!
Yang Kai had seen Lu Ye leave the mountain valley and rapidly withdraw from this region but it now seemed the other party had used some profound method to secretly return and had actually gone completely unnoticed by anyone. After the Red Candle Fruit matured, Lu Ye had snuck into the mountain valley to target the Red Candle Stalk just like Yang Kai.
There was no need to even think about who had killed that Medicine Pill Sect disciple.
While Yang Kai shocked by his opponent’s means, Lu Ye also seemed a little puzzled. The faint figure didn’t disappear this time and instead stood within the red mist, observing Yang Kai. After a while, he said, “You’re a bit strange!”
Yang Kai sneered, “You’re also not normal!”
Lu Ye never thought that a First-Order Saint King could survive his sneak attack, much less fight him on even terms without suffering any real harm. Yang Kai also didn’t expect that this Lu Ye had such amazing concealment abilities, it was simply amazing. If not for Yang Kai’s Divine Sense being far stronger than an ordinary cultivator’s, he would definitely have been killed just like that Medicine Pill Sect disciple.
At this moment, both of them became a little wary of the other and also more determined to kill one another.
“I haven’t offended Flowing Cloud Valley or you, so why are you targeting me?” Yang Kai asked the question which had been plaguing him. Although he didn’t fear Lu Ye, such an enemy appearing for no apparent reason greatly confused Yang Kai.
“Hmph, Flowing Cloud Valley indeed!” Lu Ye coldly snorted, a hint of disdain apparent in his tone, only confusing Yang Kai further, but before he could ask anything, Lu Ye simply stated, “You have only yourself to blame for taking that which does not belong to you! If not for that transgression, I wouldn’t mind taking you in, you’re much better material than those wastes outside.”
Yang Kai frowned, feeling that this man’s tone was higher than the Heavens. Lu Ye gave him an impression fundamentally different from the one Dai Yuan previously described, as if they were two completely different people.
Moreover, Yang Kai still couldn’t figure out why this Lu Ye was so fixated on him. In the Flowing Flame Sand Field, Yang Kai had obtained many good things, a few of which weren’t lower in value than the Red Candle Fruit itself, some of them possibly even above it, but this man didn’t even show interest in competing for the Red Candle Fruit. Obviously, he didn’t care about his Heaven defying spirit fruit, so what was it that Yang Kai possessed that would continually draw Lu Ye’s attention?
Regardless of what the truth was, Yang Kai didn’t plan to ask anymore, because even if he did, the other party would not answer him. Now, in this misty red mountain valley, between him and Lu Ye, there could only be a battle.
*Chi Chi…*
A slight sound came from behind him, causing Yang Kai’s hair to stand on end. Even though had been on full alert, with Lu Ye’s nearly undetectable methods, it wasn’t until the layer of Demonic Flame he had put up around him was impacted that Yang Kai realised he was being attacked. The moment he felt the attack, Yang Kai turned his head in the direction of the sound.
However, all he could see was a fuzzy figure which had mysteriously appeared behind him as well as a withered arm that like a sword was being stabbed towards him.
Condensing his Demonic Flames, Yang Kai swung a Profound Heavenly Sword towards the withered arm and shattered it along with the blurry figure it was attached to, his sword collapsing in the process.
“Your Saint Qi is quite interesting. Such power is something really unimaginable for a mere Saint King!” Lu Ye’s voice came from behind again, with a hint of mockery. Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed and turning around again, he saw the same blurry figure from before, as if it hadn’t even moved and the withered arm which had struck him a moment ago was a completely different entity.
[What kind of skill was this?]
Yang Kai was shocked and didn’t dare act carelessly. Just as he was about to take the initiative to launch an attack, in all directions, there suddenly appeared multiple blurry figures. These figures were all identical, as if they had been made from the same mould, and in the next instant, all of them sent out powerful attacks towards Yang Kai.
Each attack felt like a real Martial Skill, none of them seeming like illusions.
Yang Kai’s face changed slightly, and he immediately summoned his purple shield to protect himself while at the same time condensing another Demonic Flame sword and chopping towards his surroundings.
*Chi chi chi…*
Wherever Yang Kai’s sword waves passed, the blurry figures would disappear together with their attacks, but the number of these figures didn’t seem to decrease at all as they struck towards him in an endless stream. This made Yang Kai frustrated.
He had never encountered such a strange method and he wasn’t able to find a way to break through it immediately, but after fighting for a while, Yang Kai noticed something was wrong.
Each of the vague figures possessed Lu Ye’s aura but nothing else, as if they were shadows of his body or some type of indistinct clone.
Cutting down several approaching figures, Yang Kai opened up a gap in this endless wave of attacks, bit his finger, and quickly smeared Golden Blood over his left eye.
The Demon Eye of Annihilation appeared, and an invisible majesty spread out. Yang Kai’s vision in his left eye was no longer hazy and in an instant, he was able to see everything within the red mist, the dim surroundings becoming crystal clear at this moment.
These figures were indeed Lu Ye, there was no doubt about it, but under the Demon Eye of Annihilation’s ability to see through all illusions, these vague figures all gave off a slight red glow.
Only one figure in the distance remained unchanged!
Yang Kai’s eyes instantly fixed at this particular figure. If he wasn’t mistaken, this was Lu Ye’s true body while all the others were some kind of illusion or fabrication.
“Oh, some kind of innate ability?” A look of surprise appeared on Lu Ye’s face as he stared towards Yang Kai’s left eye as if he had discovered something extraordinary, a look of greed soon appearing filling his expression.
Based on his knowledge and experience, it was easy for him to see that the change in Yang Kai’s left eye wasn’t due to some kind of Secret Art or technique, but rather an inborn ability. Such innate Divine Abilities were incredibly rare and even he had never possessed one.
The golden pupil gave off a kind of awe-inspiring air that drew one’s consciousness in, and after staring into it for but a moment, Lu Ye felt that his Soul and Knowledge Sea were becoming turbulent, like they were about to be drawn out from his very body. Startled, he quickly steadied his mind and suppressed the roiling of his Knowledge Sea.
While Lu Ye’s felt a sense of fright from this experience, his greed also became stronger. If he could seize Yang Kai’s left eye, it would increase his own strength greatly.
He really hadn’t expected that this First-Order Saint King could bring him so many surprises.
This boy’s eye seemed to be able to see through all forms of illusion, so there was no way for him to implement his original plan. After considering the situation for a moment, Lu Ye dismissed his remaining shadows and transformed them into a series of streams that flowed back into his body.
The next moment, a potent Spiritual Energy wave burst from Lu Ye’s side, turning into a sharp thorn and piercing directly towards Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea.
Yang Kai felt a sharp pain the moment his Knowledge Sea’s defences were about to be broken and didn’t dare to have any reservations, fully pushing his Spiritual Energy to block his opponent’s attack.
Although he managed to defend himself, Yang Kai still felt a little dizzy and it was obviously that his Soul had suffered some small wounds.
It seemed that earlier, when the Red Candle Fruit was maturing, Lu Ye had not used his full strength to attack him. On top of that, this guy seemed to have even stronger Soul cultivation than Yang Kai!
Feeling slightly dizzy, Yang Kai knew that his situation had become precarious and quickly slashed out with his sword, sending out a wave of Demonic Flames to break through the red mist and cut through the surrounding air.
Within the red mist, a thick evil Qi and malevolent aura rumbled as Lu Ye let out a wicked laughter that echoed in Yang Kai’s ears. He wanted to take advantage of Yang Kai’s momentary opening to capture him, after which he could slowly dig up all of his secrets.
But obviously, Yang Kai wasn’t going to just sit back and let himself get caught, so he immediately transformed his Demonic Flames into a large number of black light beams and fired them off like arrows from a bow towards a certain spot in the red mist.
“Yuan Control Mastery!” Lu Ye’s face sank as he called out in shock.
Yang Kai’s performance had continuously amazed him. This kid’s natural talent and aptitude were nothing short of astonishing. He possessed innate abilities, Saint Qi, and Spiritual Energy far more powerful than those of ordinary people. Now it seemed he was even able to exhibit Yuan Control Mastery, which greatly shocked Lu Ye.
Although Yang Kai’s Yuan Control Mastery seemed a bit rough, as if he had only just comprehended it, this still wasn’t a skill that Saint Kings should be able to master. Only when one’s cultivation reached the Origin Returning Realm and he or she began to understand Shi would they possibly be able to achieve Yuan Control Mastery.
Even then, Origin Realm cultivators who could transform and manipulate their Saint Qi through Yuan Control Mastery were extremely rare, each one of them a shocking talent that held unlimited potential.
The so-called Yuan Control Mastery Lu Ye spoke of was the result of Yang Kai’s painstaking meditation these past few days.
Previously, his use of Saint Qi was based on Martial Skills he had learned or simply by using his Saint Qi as a blunt instrument, but whether he was able to hit or damage his opponent like this would greatly depend on how his target reacted and how strong their defensive abilities were.
However, in the days before the Red Candle Fruit matured, Yang Kai was able reach a new level of control over his Saint Qi, one that required not only a deep understand of Saint Qi but also a powerful enough Soul to mould it. Without meeting both these criteria, Yuan Control Mastery would be nothing but a dream.
Superb Divine Sense strength, which was one of the foundations of Yuan Control Mastery, was naturally not something difficult for Yang Kai. In this fight against Lu Ye, Yang Kai also had the intention to experiment with what he had comprehended these past few days, and the results had really given him a pleasant surprise.
The black fireballs had transformed into sharp arrows under Yang Kai’s control and pierced straight through the red mist coving the mountain valley, breaking it apart and allowing the thick malevolent aura in his surroundings disperse, reducing the pressure he felt greatly.
Yang Kai grinned as the sound of wind and thunder behind him whirled up and before Lu Ye could react, Yang Kai charged in front of him and chopped down with his Demonic Flame sword.
Lu Ye had already witnessed the terrifying power of these Demonic Flames, and although he was confident he wouldn’t be directly burned to death by them, he still thought it best to avoid contact with them as much as possible. His strange wicked laughter came to an abrupt halt as he swiftly withdrew. At the same time, he formed a series of strange hand signs that and condensed a giant red palm above his head that he smashed down towards Yang Kai.
Lu Ye could also use Yuan Control Mastery, and it was apparent that his proficiency with it wasn’t inferior to that of Yang Kai who had just realised this Divine Ability, perhaps even above it.
The moment the red palm appeared, it was as if the surrounding space had been blocked, making it difficult to breathe and stiffening Yang Kai’s movements significantly.
Yang Kai grunted as he madly pushed the Saint Qi in his body, breaking free of this suppression and sending out a palm of his own.
Another giant hand appeared in the sky. The Nine Heavens Divine Skills Heaven Covering Hand met Lu Ye’s red palm head-on, causing an explosion that made the entire mountain valley tremble.
Taking this opportunity, Yang Kai advanced even further, waving his Demonic Flame long sword through the air as he used his Yuan Control Mastery to transform more of his Demonic Flame s into various attacks that flew towards Lu Ye.
Yang Kai realised that Lu Ye had stronger Soul cultivation than him, but his strength was still limited. As long as Yang Kai remained alert enough, Lu Ye’s Divine Sense wouldn’t pose too much of a threat. On top of that, Lu Ye’s Saint Qi wasn’t as pure or vigorous as Yang Kai’s, while the difference in their physical strengths was even further apart.
That was why Yang Kai chose to enter a melee, as this was his biggest advantage!
The other reason Yang Kai chose this course of action was in order to prevent Lu Ye from escaping. Yang Kai poured his Saint Qi into his purple shield, causing it to emit a brown glow and a moment later create a large-scale sandstorm that engulfed the entire mountain valley!
This was one of the hidden powers of his purple shield, one that Yang Kai was using for the first time.
The purple shield was refined from the carapace of the Scarlet Tailed Purple Armoured Scorpion, and Yang Yan had incorporated the Ninth-Order Monster Beast’s Monster Core into it, allowing it to use some of the Scarlet Tailed Purple Armoured Scorpion’s own Divine Abilities from before it died.
This sandstorm was an ability that came with this shield!
Sand and dust whirled about as Yang Kai’s figure drifted from place to place in an impossible to read pattern. Submerged in this violent sandstorm, Lu Ye had to divert part of his focus to resist this strange attack, finding the position of host and guest suddenly reversed by Yang Kai and slowly being suppressed.
Lu Ye quickly became annoyed. He had never expected that, after finally regaining his freedom from a few tens of thousands of years of imprisonment, the first enemy he bumped into would be so strange and powerful, making it impossible for him easily kill.
This made him feel like he had lost a great deal of face and made him become angry out of shame.
The two of them were just about equally proficient in Yuan Control Mastery as well. Yang Kai’s Yuan Control Mastery was rough because he had only just comprehended it while Lu Ye’s was unsteady because the Saint Qi in this current body wasn’t dense and pure enough. On top of that, in a frontal clash, his Saint Qi was falling greatly behind Yang Kai’s Demonic Flame in terms of destructive power.
Inferior in terms of Saint Qi, unable to suppress him in terms of Spiritual Energy, and with a weaker physical body, Lu Ye quickly found himself on the losing end of this battle.
Yang Kai didn’t say a word as he was focusing entirely on suppressing his opponent. The Demonic Flame sword in his hand caused some damage to Lu Ye from time to time, but what made Yang Kai depressed was that even his seemingly unstoppable Demonic Flame was unable to contaminate his opponent. A strange flash of blue light Yang Kai couldn’t identify would appear from Lu Ye’s body and actually extinguish the Demonic Flames which would normally have burnt him, reducing the damage Yang Kai could deal this way to mere flesh wounds.
Since he had made up his mind to kill this inexplicable enemy though, Yang Kai was naturally not planning to hold back.
He hadn’t used his Space Force yet though.
His self-created Space Blade wasn’t perfected yet so the best time to use it would be when he found a decisive opening. If he failed to hit his opponent and as a result caused Lu Ye to become more vigilant, it would severely reduce this trump card’s effectiveness.
Yang Kai was constantly searching for a suitable opportunity to surprise Lu Ye, thinking at as long as he could successfully hit him with his Space Blade, he could seriously injure him if not kill him outright!
Unsurprisingly though, Yang Kai so thoroughly suppressing him aroused great anger from Lu Ye, and after suffering a series of injuries, he roared, “Brat, you court death!”
Saying so, Lu Ye suddenly spat out a puff of black blood. The smell of this blood was extremely pungent, making one want to vomit, but the power it contained was even more terrifying. Obviously it was Lu Ye’s Blood Essence.
This Blood Essence transformed into a blood mist before rapidly condensing into a strange short rod in Lu Ye’s hand.
This short rod was only about two palms in length and could be easily gripped within one’s hand. It looked completely ordinary and inconspicuous, but when it appeared, Yang Kai’s heart clenched and an inexplicable sense of crisis well up inside him.
Yang Kai rarely felt this way, but whenever he did, it meant that he was facing incredible danger.
A fierce grin appeared on Lu Ye’s face as he madly poured his Saint Qi into this black short rod and a moment later, the entire world inexplicably went dark.
It was as if all the surrounding light was being absorbed by this short rod, making it impossible for Yang Kai to see anything around him and even rendering his Demon Eye of Annihilation useless.
The sandstorm which had been filling the mountain valley was suddenly interrupted, the dust drifting down the ground as all the howling winds abruptly came to a stop.
Yang Kai’s face changed greatly. At this moment, he realised that he could barely circulate the Saint Qi in his body regardless of how hard he pushed it. It was also impossible for him to draw out Spiritual Energy from his Knowledge Sea, as if it had been sealed off somehow.
In the darkness, Yang Kai instinctually sensed something approaching him, a kind of death aura that could extinguish anything it touched, sending chills down his spine.
[It can’t be resisted! It can’t be blocked!]At this moment, all kinds of thoughts flashed across Yang Kai’s mind and he quickly determined that neither his Saint Qi nor Spiritual Energy could block this strange attack, not that he could access either of those under his currently suppressed state. He also couldn’t escape as most of his strength was being cut off, much less tear space.
Swiftly making a decision, Yang Kai condensed a drop of Golden Blood at his fingertip, sending out a sensational wave of vitality into the surroundings. He then shot out this drop of Golden Blood towards the deepest part of the darkness.
When the Golden Blood’s surging vitality and black death aura collided with one another, there was surprisingly not a single sound, only an explosion of golden and black light which filled the mountain valley. For a time, these two forces actually perfectly counterbalanced one another.
“How is that possible?” Lu Ye’s face finally changed. Although he had been suppressed by Yang Kai previously, he wasn’t panicked because he had not yet gone all out. But now that he had used such a powerful artefact with complete determination to kill Yang Kai, he firmly believed that this boy wouldn’t be able to resist.
However, to his great surprise, when he sent out this trump card, the scene of hashed meat and splatter blood did not appear and instead, an astonishing explosion of vitality had come out and managed to block his attack.
[This boy has to be killed as soon as possible!] Such thoughts flashed through Lu Ye’s mind as his expression became fierce.With just a First-Order Saint King Realm cultivation, this boy could fight evenly with him. If he were to be allowed to truly mature, wouldn’t he become an invincible existence? Lu Ye’s tens of thousands of years of experience had taught him that such dangers must absolutely be snuffed out while in the cradle.
At this moment, he regarded Yang Kai as a thorn in his side, one that needed to be eliminated as quickly as possible.
A ruthless light flashed across Lu Ye’s eyes as he spat out another mouthful of Blood Essence, causing the black light which was competing against the golden radiance to rapidly grow in intensity. The golden light was quickly suppressed and was on the verge of collapsing, after which the death aura would swiftly engulf Yang Kai.
In response, Yang Kai flicked his wrist and set out another drop of Golden Blood, causing the golden light of vitality to instantly grow strong again and pierce though the darkness.
“Ah…” Lu Ye let out a cry of shock as the dark shroud he had condensed was torn apart and the light of day reappeared.
In the mountain valley, both Yang Kai and Lu Ye stood in place, but at this moment Lu Ye’s body was shivering and his face was extremely pale, seemingly having suffered serious injuries to his foundation.
On the other hand, although Yang Kai’s expression was extremely ugly, it wasn’t hard to see that he was both unharmed and full of energy.
Through the red mist, Yang Kai glared at Lu Ye with eyes as cold as an ancient snow-capped mountain.
Lu Ye couldn’t help feeling startled!
A jet black blade-like attack suddenly flew towards him, and before Lu Ye could react, it was upon him.
Lu Ye panicked and hurriedly twisted his body to avoid his vitals from being hit, but a moment later, a slight stinging sensation came from his left arm.
Turning his head to look, Lu Ye’s soul nearly leapt out of his body as he found that one of his arms had actually be cut off by the attack just now.
What kind of attack was that? Why hadn’t he noticed it sooner? It didn’t seem to ripple with any kind of aura at all, so why was it so powerful?
What frightened Lu Ye even more though was that the wound on his arm and his fallen severed limb obviously didn’t match up. A sliver was missing which made it impossible to simply re-attach his arm. Lu Ye couldn’t understand what had happened.
While Lu Ye was in this state of panic, Yang Kai’s murderous intent soared and he was clearly preparing to take advantage of this opportunity to settle things once and for all, but before he could act, Lu Ye’s figure flickered, transformed into a red light, and quickly vanished.
Yang Kai didn’t know what kind of secret technique Lu Ye used, but by the time he found him again with his Divine Sense, this mysterious enemy was already five kilometres away.
In the Flame Sand Field, where flying was impossible, to traverse five kilometres in an instant was incredible. Whatever secret technique Lu Ye used it was extremely profound, and apparently wasn’t exhausted yet as his aura quickly traversed another three kilometres.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling shocked by the seemingly endless methods Lu Ye displayed while a sense of dread also filled his heart.
He even made use of his Space Blade but still couldn’t cut down this enemy, allowing him to escape. Moreover, Yang Kai didn’t know what kind of artefact that strange black rod was, but just a casual wave of it had forced him to use two drops of Golden Blood to resist.
Origin Grade artefacts didn’t have such power, so the only explanation was that the short black rod Lu Ye used was an Origin King Grade artefact!
Did Flowing Cloud Valley have an Origin King Grade artefact? And how could it possibly have been carried by Lu Ye?
Although Yang Kai didn’t know why Flowing Cloud Valley would make such a decision, he had already made up his mind that he needed to kill Lu Ye while the latter was weakened. If he waited for Lu Ye to recovery, trying to kill him would only become more difficult.
With this in mind, Yang Kai was about to use his Wind and Thunder Wings to pursue Lu Ye when countless yells suddenly reached his ears, each one of them seemingly containing shock and panic.
Naturally these voices were from the elite disciples who were vying for the Red Candle Fruit.
Qu Chang Feng’s voice was filled with wrath while Fang Tian Zhong was shouting for someone or something to stop. Wei Gu Chang was calling out in alarm while Yin Su Die’s sweet voice was filled with shock. Apparently, some kind of serious accident had happened.
Immediately after that, Yang Kai heard a small bang, as if something had broken apart, and a red light actually shot straight from the battlefield towards the spot in the mountain valley where he was standing.
Yang Kai didn’t think much about it and simply reached out to grab whatever it was that was flying towards him because he felt this red streak of light was full of energy but not some kind of attack.
Instantly, Yang Kai felt warmth in his hand and a strong fruity fragrance lingered about his nostrils.
Yang Kai frowned and carefully observed the object he grasped, exclaiming in the next moment, “Red Candle Fruit?”
He hadn’t expected that after giving up any idea of competing for the Red Candle Fruit, this Heaven defying spirit fruit that everyone else was fighting over would simply fall from the sky into his hand.
Of course, the Red Candle Fruit in his hand wasn’t whole and looked as if it had been cut by some kind of weapon. Yang Kai was currently holding about a sixth of the entire Red Candle Fruit.
The tender flesh was exposed to the air and the rich fruity aroma was continuously wafting from it, causing Yang Kai to freeze in place for a while.
A moment later though, Yang Kai returned to his senses and quickly released his Divine Sense to track the movements of the others nearby, but after a quick check, he let out a sigh of relief. He found that these elite disciples were still fighting over the Red Candle Fruit at this moment. Though they weren’t trying to obtain the complete spirit fruit but the scattered pieces of it.
“You dare…” Qu Chang Feng roared angrily, but before he could finish what he was trying to say, he was struck by an attack and closed his mouth. Immediately after, the stern-faced man from Star Emperor Sect withdrew from the battle and in front of everyone’s angry gazes, calmly departed, disappearing soon after.
No one even thought of trying to make him stay. On the one hand, there were still other pieces of the Red Candle Fruit which had not been divided up, and on the other hand, this person was simply too strong, not someone one or two of them could defeat. Now that things had reached this point, who would try to take on such a thankless job? Everyone currently had their eyes set on the cut-up pieces of fruit.
And so, another chaotic scramble began.
Seeing this scene, Yang Kai’s heart relaxed. Seeing the Red Candle Fruit’s medicinal efficacy quickly leaking though, Yang Kai once again felt aggrieved and began rummaging through his Space Ring.
This Heaven defying spirit fruit couldn’t be stored in an ordinary jade box, if one wanted to truly maintain its medicinal effects, they needed to use a wooden box.
Fortunately, Yang Kai’s Space Ring had some good Wood Attribute materials and he soon found a piece of Azure Spirit Wood. Using his Saint Qi, Yang Kai fashioned a simple wooden box and then placed the piece of Red Candle Fruit inside it, allowing him to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
If he had known that this would happen, he would have prepared some good quality wooden boxes in advance so he wouldn’t have been so flustered.
Although the wooden box made from Azure Spirit Wood was decent, if the piece of Red Candle Fruit was left in it for too long, its medicinal efficacies would still leak out. Yang Kai needed to find some time to more permanently solve this problem.
But at the moment, he didn’t have time to do so and could only take some stopgap measures.
Unfortunately, after such a delay, his plan to chase down Lu Ye had to be abandoned, because the other party had already escaped from the range of his Divine Sense and it would not be impossible to find where he was hiding.
Outside of the mountain valley, the ownerless pieces of Red Candle Fruit were tossed about in a chaotic fight for some time before they were eventually divided up.
The few who managed to obtain pieces of Red Candle Fruit wore happy smiles while those who didn’t stamped their feet and beat their chests in indignation or sighed constantly as dangerous light flashed across the depths of their eyes. The ones who were worst off, were the eight fresh corpses which littered the battlefield. These corpses were each extremely miserable in appearance and it was impossible to tell just who had killed them in that tangled melee.
The scene had been so chaotic just now, with all kinds of artefact attacks and Martial Skills being tossed about. Everyone was going all out and had no time to pay attention to the situation of others, so although some forces had suffered losses and could still see their dead comrades in front of them, unable to determine who exactly was the one at fault, no one dared take any reckless actions. Those who had suffered losses simply had to choke down their broken teeth while stifling the bitterness in their hearts.
After everyone who had managed to obtain a piece of Red Candle Fruit stuffed it into their Space Ring, as if by prior agreement, they simultaneously rushed over to the mountain valley.
Apparently, they had seen a piece of the Red Candle Fruit fly over to this side and it wasn’t until now that they found time to search for it.
However, the red mist in the mountain valley was quick thick, making it basically impossible to search for anything by sight. As such, everyone began releasing their Divine Sense, but this soon led to one Divine Sense bumping into another, causing muffled snorts to ring out. Soon, everyone began limiting the range they released their over Divine Sense to avoid further conflict.
After searching for half a day, the red mist in the mountain valley had gradually dispersed, but no one was able to find the piece of Red Candle Fruit that had landed here, and everyone was now turning suspicious eyes towards everyone else. They all felt that apart from their own allies, everyone from every other force might have obtained the last piece of Red Candle Fruit and was simply feigning innocence.
Yang Kai couldn’t help cheering. He had still been thinking about how to leave the mountain valley after suddenly obtaining this piece of Red Candle Fruit, but with the red mist steadily clearing up it solved this problem for him. Now that everyone had come down and was searching through the valley, he could easily fish in the muddy waters.
Dai Yuan glanced over at Yang Kai secretly and frowned.
She recalled that Yang Kai was still immersed in his meditation while everyone else was vying for the Red Candle Fruit, so if a piece of it had flown over here, he was the most likely to have obtained it.
However, she didn’t have any conclusive evidence and it was impossible for her to think of betraying Yang Kai now, so she quickly took back her gaze and pretended as if nothing had happened.
Dai Yuan wasn’t the only one to have such doubts about Yang Kai, but no one could determine the truth of the matter, so although some wanted to question Yang Kai, knowing he was together with Wei Gu Chang, no one dared to make rash accusations.
“Ahem, everyone …” Li You Nan of Medicine Pill Sect, with a bitter smile on his face, suddenly stood up, cupped his fists and called out, “Please listen to what I have to say.”
Everyone looked at him. The great forces which had obtained pieces of the Red Candle Fruit wore vigilant expressions while those who hadn’t were completely indifferent; however, all of them wanted to know what Li You Nan was going to say now, so the scene quickly fell silent.
“The Red Candle Fruit is unlike other spirit fruits and cannot be kept in a jade box, and now that it has been cut into several pieces by that bastard, the pieces absolutely cannot be placed into ordinary jade boxes. If they are, the medicinal efficacies of these pieces will quickly leak out and I’m afraid that before you can even leave the Flowing Flame Sand Field, these pieces will have lost all their value and turned into ordinary trash.”
“They can’t be stored in a jade box?” Qu Chang Feng’s face changed slightly as he quickly pulled out a jade box from his Space Ring.
When this jade box appeared, many people suddenly showed greedy looks on their faces as they stared at Qu Chang Feng.
It seemed that being the favoured son of Heaven Battling Union really had good luck. In that chaotic snatching battle, Qu Chang Feng had actually managed to obtain a piece of the Red Candle Fruit.
Fang Tian Zhong, Yin Su Die, and a rough-looking brawny man also wore solemn looks as they all directed their eyes towards Li You Nan intently.
“If it cannot be stored inside a jade box, I assume you know what kind of vessel should be used, correct?” Qu Chang Feng asked politely.
Li You Nan showed a contented expression and nodded lightly, “This Li naturally knows.”
“Please enlighten us, Brother Li!” Fang Tian Zhong slightly cupped his fists.
Li You Nan grinned meaningfully and returned the courtesy, “I wouldn’t dare call it enlightenment, it is only that this Li has studied Alchemy since childhood and knows a little more about pharmacology than average. En, although I don’t mind sharing my knowledge with everyone, in the recent struggle, this Li’s Junior Brothers were seriously injured and some nearly died. As to who’s poisonous hand it was that dealt such blows, this Li has a fairly good idea, but let’s not bring such things up now…”
As he said so, he swept his eyes around, putting on a pompous act.
Everyone present knew what kind of scheme he was up to.
The several elites from Medicine Pill Sect hadn’t obtained anything in this competition, so Li You Nan clearly wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to gain some benefits, otherwise, he wouldn’t be making such a fuss about the injuries his Junior Brothers suffered.
In normal times, no one would dare wound a disciple of Medicine Pill Sect, but just now, in the scramble for the Red Candle Fruit, no one cared which Sect anyone else belonged to. Besides, none of the Medicine Pill Sect disciples had actually died down there and only some of them suffered some small wounds.
What’s more, eight elite disciples had fallen during this struggle, so compared to them, the cultivators from Medicine Pill Sect’s luck was already quite good.
Although they scoffed in their hearts though, no one said anything at this time.
Fang Tian Zhong frowned slightly, but in line with his usual forthright behaviour, he quickly declared, “If Brother Li is willing to inform this Fang of the proper storage method, after the Flowing Flame Sand Field closes, Thunder Typhoon Sect will pay a million Saint Crystals as compensation!”
“A million… heh heh,” Li You Nan chuckled as he turned to look at Fang Tian Zhong and said, “Brother Fang thinks this piece of Red Candle Fruit is only worth one million? If so, then this Li will take his leave!”
“Five million!” Fang Tian Zhong’s look remained unchanged while he directly increased the price he offered by five times.
Li You Nan’s lifted foot dropped as he felt slightly tempted.
This time, his Medicine Pill Sect had failed to snatch the Red Candle Fruit, but if he could collect five million Saint Crystals from each great force that obtained a piece of the Red Candle Fruit, it would still be a great harvest.
What’s more, these cut up pieces of Red Candle Fruit weren’t really Heaven defying treasures anymore.
So at this moment, he was debating whether he should continue trying to raise the price.
While he was thinking though, over on Coloured Glass Sect’s side, Yin Su Die suddenly cast her beautiful eyes towards Dai Yuan and then her red lips wriggled a few times, seemingly saying something to Dai Yuan.
Dai Yuan’s brow furrowed and a look of displeasure appeared on her face, but she still answered back promptly.
The next moment, Yin Su Die’s coquettish face filled with a happy expression as she giggled lightly, “I wish several Senior Brothers good luck in your negotiations, little sister will say goodbye first.”
Saying so, she quickly left together with the other elites from Coloured Glass Sect.
The crowd was stunned, because just now, Yin Su Die had relied on her ribbon-like artefact to snatch a piece of the Red Candle Fruit, yet she had suddenly decided to leave without even obtaining the proper method of preserving it.
But soon, everyone realised what had happened.
Besides Li You Nan, an elite disciple of Medicine Pill Sect, there was also Dai Yuan who was familiar with the handling of spirit herbs! It seemed that Yin Su Die had learned some information from Dai Yuan, allowing her to leave so freely.
Holding such a precious treasure, Yin Su Die naturally didn’t dare to remain in this dangerous place for long.
Immediately, several people began staring at Dai Yuan with burning eyes as they wondered how to obtain the method of preserving the Red Candle Fruit from her.
Seeing this, Li You Nan knew that if he continued to bargain, those five million Saint Crystals would slip through his fingers. In his disgruntled mood just now, he had forgotten about the existence of Dai Yuan, and although this woman was from Coloured Glass Sect, due to some special reasons, she was extremely well versed in spirit herbs and Alchemy so she definitely knew how to properly store the Red Candle Fruit. Pushing down his annoyance, Li You Nan hurriedly nodded to Fang Tian Zhong, “Good, five million. I’ll take Brother Fang at his word!”
Fang Tian Zhong gently nodded, not showing any intention of going back on his word. Li You Nan quickly sent him a few words, after which Fang Tian Zhong thought for a moment before he silently led the rest of Thunder Typhoon Sect’s group away.
On the other side, Qu Chang Feng and the brawny man hesitated for a moment before also communicating with Li You Nan, both of them soon departing with looks of satisfaction on their faces.
“Let’s go too,” Wei Gu Chang grinned. He had also obtained a piece of the Red Candle Fruit. Although Shadow Moon Hall only had two disciples on the scene, him and Dong Xuan’er, their luck had actually been quite good. Originally Wei Gu Chang didn’t have any hope of obtaining anything in this struggle, but when that Star Emperor Sect disciple cut apart the Red Candle Fruit, he was actually close by and had immediately snatched a piece. The entire incident went off smoothly and simply, far easier than everyone else who had to literally kill others to obtain their pieces.
It was as if the bad luck he had been carrying since entering the third layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field had suddenly disappeared.
With Dai Yuan and Dong Xuan’er sharing a close relationship, obtaining the method of preserving this piece of fruit wouldn’t be an issue so there was no need for him to bother with Li You Nan.
“Brother Wei, please wait a moment!” Li You Nan saw that Wei Gu Chang intended to leave and hurriedly called out to him.
“What’s wrong? Does Brother Li have some advice?” Wei Gu Chang halted his steps and glanced back with a cold look on his face, secretly condensing his strength as he prepared to take action at any moment.
Seeing Wei Gu Chang look like he was preparing for a fight, Li You Nan immediately realised that the other party had misunderstood his intentions and quickly waved his hands, “Brother Wei doesn’t have to be so nervous. Although this Li and Brother Wei haven’t had many dealings in the past, this Li is not an underhanded person, Brother Wei should know this much.”
Hearing this, Wei Gu Chang slightly relaxed the vigilance on his face and gently nodded, “Brother Li’s manner, this Wei naturally knows, but… heh heh, this place is really not one to remain at for long.”
Saying so, he swept his eyes around seemingly unintentionally. All around, there were cultivators who had gained nothing in this scramble for the Red Candle Fruit, and many of them were staring at Wei Gu Chang, seemingly considering whether or not to act against him.
Seeing this, Li You Nan called out loudly, “Everyone shouldn’t act hastily. If the Red Candle Fruit was still whole, it would be worth fighting over, but now it has been cut into several pieces and Brother Wei has only obtained one portion. Provoking a powerful enemy for something so uncertain is not something anyone here should desire, right?”
Li You Nan speaking up for Wei Gu Chang, dispersing the surrounding danger for him, was something Wei Gu Chang found odd.
“Brother Li, I’ll only ask you this, can that piece of Red Candle Fruit’s medicinal efficacies allow an Origin Returning Realm master to break through to the Origin King Realm?” A young man in a white robe frowned and asked. Atop this youth’s chest was an embroidered white cloud.
This was the sigil of Floating Mist Palace.
“Brother Tang asks a good question,” Li You Nan nodded, “But unfortunately, this Li cannot give a clear answer, because this Red Candle Fruit is something this Li has only ever heard about; this is the first time I have seen it. I believe that even my Sect’s Elders cannot give a precise answer; however, the Red Candle Fruit by itself only provides a possibility to make an Origin Returning Realm master breakthrough, so now that it has been split into several parts, that possibility… I assume this Li doesn’t need to explain any more. Brother Tang should also understand.”
The Floating Mist Palace youth surnamed Tang frowned for a moment before nodding, “I see, goodbye!”
Having said so, he immediately left with the disciples of Floating Mist Palace.
The other cultivators saw Tang Yong of Floating Mist Palace give up on seizing the Red Candle Fruit and after sighing also chose to leave.
Soon, only those from Medicine Pill Sect and Shadow Moon Hall remained in the mountain valley.
Wei Gu Chang looked at Li You Nan with a smile. From beginning to end, he hadn’t said anything, but his expression said enough. He didn’t believe that Li You Nan would help him for no reason, he definitely had some ulterior motive; however, since the other said wasn’t saying anything, Wei Gu Chang wasn’t stupid enough to bring it up himself.
“Now can we have a decent chat, Brother Wei?” Li You Nan looked at Wei Gu Chang with a sense of contentment on his face, seemingly thinking he was quite skilful to be able to send everyone away with just a few words.
“If Brother Li has something to say, please don’t hesitate,” Wei Gu Chang nodded slightly.
“This Li would simply like to ask if Brother Wei has any intention to sell that piece of Red Candle Fruit?” Li You Nan got straight to the point.
“Sell it?” Wei Gu Chang’s eyes narrowed, “Does Brother Li want to buy it?”
“Exactly,” Li You Nan nodded sincerely.
Wei Gu Chang grinned meaningfully, “Didn’t Brother Li just say that this piece of Red Candle Fruit didn’t have nearly as much value as its complete form? I wonder why Brother Li wants to buy such a thing?”
Li You Nan shook his head and said calmly, “Even if the value of this Red Candle Fruit piece is not longer as great as before, it is still part of a Heaven defying spirit fruit that one may not see in ten thousand years. My Medicine Pill Sect has been studying various spirit grasses and spirit medicines for many millennia but now that such a rare opportunity has presented itself, if this Li does not make every effort to seize it, when I return to Medicine Pill Sect, the Elders will surely punish me. If I can buy this piece of Red Candle Fruit from Brother Wei and bring it back to the Sect so the Elders can study it, perhaps it will allow our level of Alchemy to surge. Of course, if Brother Wei is willing to sell this piece of Red Candle Fruit to me, this Li can guarantee that not only will we provide Shadow Moon Hall with enough Saint Crystals as compensation, on behalf of Medicine Pill Sect I can also guarantee that the Elders of the Sect will refine five pills for you for free!”
Wei Gu Chang originally had no intention of agreeing to the transaction, but after hearing the last condition, his expression changed greatly, and he couldn’t immediately refuse.
After all, the effects of the Red Candle Fruit were only rumours, no one knew if they were true. And now, there was even a chance that after being cut apart it was completely useless, but being able to obtain five pills from the Elders of Medicine Pill Sect was a truly valuable opportunity.
These years, the five Elders of Medicine Pill Sect rarely performed Alchemy, and each time they did they charged an enormous price.
Weighing the two options, Wei Gu Chang found it a bit difficult to decide.
But soon, he said, “Brother Li, even if this Wei doesn’t say it, you must know that this is not something I can decide on my own. If you are really intent on buying this piece of Red Candle Fruit for Medicine Pill Sect, I suggest you wait until after the Flowing Flame Sand Field closes to let the Elders of your Medicine Pill Sect come to Shadow Moon Hall to discuss it in person. Anything the two of us say here is irrelevant.”
“Naturally I understand this,” Li You Nan saw that Wei Gu Chang wasn’t flatly refusing and sense that there was room for discussion, so he smiled happily and said, “Since that is the case, after the Flowing Flame Sand Field closes, I’m certain my Sect’s Elders will soon pay your Sect a visit.”
“That would be for the best,” Wei Gu Chang nodded with satisfaction. “If Brother Li doesn’t have anything else to say, this Wei will take his leave first.”
“En, very good!” Li You Nan smiled and withdrew.
After everyone else had left, Li You Nan’s smile gradually receded as he looked towards a certain spot in the mountain valley where a withered body that seemed to have died innumerable years ago lay.
This was, without a doubt, the Junior Brother he had sent to collect the Red Candle Stalk earlier, but now this Junior Brother had clearly suffered a vicious attack and died a miserable death. Worse though, his Space Ring was missing.
Li You Nan’s expression became quite gloomy, but he didn’t mention the matter of this Junior Brother and instead suddenly declared, “Let’s go, we must return to the Sect!”
“Ah? Senior Brother Li, you want to return now? But there’s still two or three months left before the Flowing Flame Sand Field closes,” A female disciple turned to Li You Nan and said with surprise.
“There’s no need for us to remain, the second layer Treasure Area had been completely dug through and the third layer is filled with crisis. I’m afraid that everything good has already been found, so what we must do now report to the Sect about the Red Candle so the Elders can make preparations to visit those Sects to purchase those Red Candle Fruit pieces.”
“En.”
Li You Nan sneered lightly, “Even if the Red Candle Fruit pieces were taken by them, in the end, they will need to ask our Medicine Pill Sect to help them use them. Regarding this kind of treasure, besides our Medicine Pill Sect, no one else knows much about it, so they definitely won’t use it rashly, leaving us an opportunity.”
After hearing what he said, the Medicine Pill Sect disciples who were upset about not being able to seize any benefits here threw away their depressed looks and began smiling broadly again, seemingly rejoicing in their Sect’s power and influence.
A hundred kilometres away from the mountain valley, in a desolate but well-hidden place.
A group of four came to a stop. Naturally, it was Wei Gu Chang, Yang Kai, Dai Yuan, and Dong Xuan’er. After leaving the mountain valley, Wei Gu Chang had been monitoring their surroundings with his Divine Sense constantly, maintaining the highest degree of vigilance he could as they travelled a full hundred kilometres without detecting any signs of pursuit before finally relaxing.
From beginning to end, Dong Xuan’er, Dai Yuan, and Yang Kai had all said nothing and hurried along in silence.
It was only here that Wei Gu Chang stopped, rubbed his Space Ring unconsciously, turned back, and asked, “Brother Yang, what are your plans?”
Instead of Dai Yuan, he first asked Yang Kai, and Yang Kai immediately understood that Wei Gu Chang suspected that he had obtained a piece of the Red Candle Fruit. It was because the two of them were in the same situation now that he was asking.
Of course, Yang Kai didn’t reveal anything in his words or actions. Although he had a favourable impression of Wei Gu Chang, the Red Candle Fruit was too important so acting cautiously was for the best.
Thinking for a while, Yang Kai responded, “I have no definite plans, but I think I’ll try venturing further into the third layer to see if I can find something good.”
“Brother Yang plans to go even deeper?” Wei Gu Chang’s face changed slightly as he felt this idea was quite strange. According to this thought, if Yang Kai really obtained the last piece of the Red Candle Fruit, he would not want to take unnecessary risks like continuing further into the third layer, but Yang Kai actually said he had such intentions.
Not only did Wei Gu Chang find this strange, Dong Xuan’er and Dai Yuan also showed weird expressions.
Yang Kai saw this and knew what they were thinking in their hearts. Maintaining a composed look on his face, he simply said, “No one has ever entered the third layer Flame Area. Even the Heaven defying Red Candle Fruit appeared here, so perhaps further inside there are even better things.”
When Wei Gu Chang heard him say this, most of the suspicions in his heart disappeared and he thought that perhaps Yang Kai hadn’t obtained that last piece of the Red Candle Fruit, allowing him to act so uninhibitedly. Nodding slightly, he said, “Since Brother Yang has made such a decision, this Wei won’t say anymore. I’ll simply wish Brother Yang good luck and fortune! Xuan’er and I won’t remain here any longer, we will be leaving the Flowing Flame Sand Field as soon as possible.”
Wei Gu Chang’s choice didn’t surprise Yang Kai at all. The appearance of the Red Candle Fruit was too big of an incident, and anyone who had a piece of it on them wouldn’t be able to feel relaxed. Wei Gu Chang intended to bring it out from this place quickly and hand it over to the Elders of Shadow Moon Hall. Not only was Wei Gu Chang thinking so, Yang Kai assumed Fang Tian Zhong, Qu Chang Feng, Yin Su Die, and that brawny looking male were also planning on doing so. They wouldn’t even think of entrusting this task to others and would definitely take their pieces of Red Candle Fruit out of the Flowing Flame Sand Field personally.
This was also good news for Yang Kai. With the elites of these Sects leaving, there would naturally be far fewer people left in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, meaning he would face less competition from now on.
“Good, Brother Wei and Sister Xuan’er must surely be careful along the way,” Yang Kai nodded slightly.
Wei Gu Chang nodded before turning to Dai Yuan and asking, “Junior Sister Dai Yuan, how about you?”
“Me?” Dai Yuan smiled, “I didn’t obtain anything good since I came in, so naturally I’m not in a hurry to leave. I want to remain here and see if I can come across some good fortune in the coming days.”
“Since that’s the case, be sure to remain safe,” Wei Gu Chang would certainly not try to persuade Dai Yuan to leave with them.
Dong Xuan’er stepped forward and spoke a few more words to Dai Yuan before leaving together with Wei Gu Chang, both of them hurrying towards the outskirts of the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
After the opening of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, one could leave at any point they liked, but ordinarily, no one would do so. After all, even if one’s strength was low, as long as they could find some Fire Spirit Beasts in the first layer Flame Area and kill them, they could harvest some Fire Crystal Stones.
However, the appearance of the Red Candle Fruit this time forced the young geniuses from the most powerful Sects on Shadowed Star to leave in advance, an extremely rare event.
After the figures of Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er disappeared from view, Dai Yuan quietly turned to Yang Kai.
Like Wei Gu Chang, she suspected that Yang Kai had obtained the last piece of the Red Candle Fruit, but now that he had actually chosen to remain here and even travel deeper inside, she wasn’t so sure of her guess.
While thinking about it, she saw Yang Kai suddenly turn to her and say, “Since things here have ended, I’ll be taking my leave. I hope Ms. Dai Yuan is blessed with good fortune in the days to come.”
“Wait!” Dai Yuan called out anxiously; she had never expected that Yang Kai would try to part ways with her so abruptly.
“What’s wrong?” Yang Kai held no ill will or disgust towards Dai Yuan. Although this woman’s face was unsightly, she was intelligent and pure of heart. During their brief time together, Yang Kai’s impression of her was quite good, but he didn’t know why after he made his intentions to leave so clear she had actually asked for him to stop.
Dai Yuan bit her red lips and a hint of hesitation flashed across her face before she said, “Junior Brother Yang, I also want to continue deeper into the third layer. I wonder if we can go together?”
“You want to travel together with me?” Yang Kai was stunned.
Although he didn’t know much about Dai Yuan, from the first time he met her, he could tell that she was a woman who liked to act alone, possibly as a result of her appearance. As such, Yang Kai had never thought that she would ask to accompany him.
This request made Yang Kai feel a bit awkward.
The reason he wanted to continue deeper into the third layer was to find a suitable place to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, so travelling together with Dai Yuan would interfere with his plans.
Seeing Yang Kai’s hesitant appearance, Dai Yuan also seemed a bit embarrassed, knowing that her proposal had put him in a difficult position; however, her instincts were telling her not to miss this opportunity to travel alone with Yang Kai.
What’s more, she really did want to venture deeper into the third layer. The third layer was very different from the first and second layers, and Dai Yuan wasn’t completely confident she could traverse safely on her own. If she went together with Yang Kai though, the two of them could at least look out for one another, increasing their odds of survival.
Therefore, even if she was embarrassed, Dai Yuan still gazed at Yang Kai with a sincere look while secretly praying that he wouldn’t simply reject her.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she was so anxious, she hadn’t asked anyone for anything in so long, it had always been her making her own decision regarding what she would do or where she would go. She had made up her mind to rely only on herself, but this time, she had to break her own rules.
After a while, Yang Kai’s furrowed brow loosened and with a smile, he nodded, “Alright, sure.”
Hearing this, Dai Yuan also smiled happily as gratitude flashed across her beautiful eyes.
“However, I must make some things clear,” Yang Kai’s expression became serious, “By now, I believe Ms Dai Yuan understands the situation of this third layer. If we really encounter some kind of trap or other danger I cannot handle, the two of us can only try to find our own solutions. If Ms Dai Yuan, unfortunately, falls here, don’t blame me for not helping.”
“Naturally,” Dai Yuan gently nodded, “If we really encounter inescapable fatal danger, it can only be said that this Dai Yuan’s luck is too bad.”
“En,” Seeing her readily agree, Yang Kai was satisfied and said, “One more thing, the reason I want to continue deeper into the third layer is that I have something I must do. When the time comes, I’ll have to separate from you, so we won’t be able to travel together until Flowing Flame Sand Field closes.”
Dai Yuan showed a hint of surprise, but quickly responded, “Does Junior Brother Yang want to use this environment to cultivate some secret technique?”
It was only natural for her to think like this because a similar environment to this place could not be found outside. Yang Kai needing to handle something here was naturally related to cultivation.
“That’s right,” Yang Kai nodded, “If you don’t have any objections, then we can go together.”
“Of course I have no objections,” Dai Yuan agreed. The two points mentioned by Yang Kai weren’t anything unreasonable so there was no reason for her to refuse.
“That being the case, I’ll have to ask Ms Dai Yuan to take care of me in the coming days,” Yang Kai grinned.
“It is this Dai Yuan who must thank Junior Brother Yang for his hospitality.”
After deciding, Yang Kai took out his Yuan Magnetic Compass, checked his directions, then headed deeper into the third layer together with Dai Yuan.
The heat of the third layer was fierce, and Yang Kai needed to constantly push his Saint Qi to resist the invasion of the ambient fire poison. Dai Yuan actually had it easier as her clothes seemed to be some kind of Artefact Armour, so she only needed to slightly activate it in order to create a faint blue halo around her body that would keep the surrounding heat and fire poison away from her.
Along the way, Dai Yuan was continuously shocked. Although from the first time she saw Yang Kai she knew that he had only been using his Saint Qi to resist the surrounding environment and was not wearing any Artefact Armour, witnessing it was still quite startling.
She didn’t know how much Saint Qi Yang Kai had squandered by acting this way, but even after so long he didn’t show the slightest fatigue.
Dai Yuan really wanted to know just how much Saint Qi Yang Kai had stored in his body that could allow him to spend so care-freely.
Fortunately, after walking for a day, Yang Kai proposed that they stop to restore themselves, making Dai Yuan feel he was at least somewhat normal.
Using Saint Qi in this manner yet not requiring a break to restore oneself would have truly been strange. Even though Dai Yuan was only slightly activating her Artefact Armour, she had lost a lot of strength, so even if Yang Kai hadn’t proposed a break, she would have taken the initiative to suggest one.
The two of them quickly found a quiet place and each found a suitable spot to sit in meditation.
Of course, Yang Kai didn’t need to meditate to restore himself. The Saint Qi he was using to resist the heat and fire poison was like a drop in the bucket to him, what he really needed was some time to properly process the Red Candle Fruit piece he had obtained.
Although in the mountain valley he had hastily crafted a Wood Attribute box to preserve the Red Candle Fruit piece, his work at the time had been rushed and somewhat rough so it could not completely ensure that the medicinal efficacies wouldn’t slowly leak. Yang Kai took this opportunity to re-process it.
Two hours later, after handling it properly, Yang Kai left the Red Candle Fruit in his Black Book Space before getting up and walking over towards the spot where Dai Yuan was meditating.
Not long after, Yang Kai arrived in front of Dai Yuan. After this short break to restore herself, Dai Yuan’s condition had improved noticeably. When Yang Kai came over, she opened her eyes as she had detected him. However, instead of saying anything, a hesitant expression appeared on her face, making Yang Kai curious.
“Junior Brother Yang, my restoration pills have been used up, do you have any to spare? I can pay Saint Crystals for them.” As Dai Yuan spoke, a faint twinkle flashed across the depths of her beautiful eyes.
Yang Kai didn’t mind. Although at first, he found it strange that Dai Yuan had used up all her restorative pills, after thinking about it, he realised that she hadn’t anticipated entering the third layer where her consumption had dramatically increased.
Not suspecting anything, Yang Kai immediately took out a bottle of pills from his Space Ring and tossed it over with a light smile, “Don’t bother with the Saint Crystals, it’s just one bottle of pills.”
Dai Yuan caught it and with a look of gratitude nodded, “Then Dai Yuan will thank Junior Brother Yang for his generosity.”
“Alright, let’s continue forward,” Yang Kai said before taking the lead.
After Yang Kai turned around and started walking, Dai Yuan quickly opened the bottle of pills, glanced inside, and after seeing the contents, her tender body couldn’t help trembling as a look of elation filled her face.
When she raised her head and stared at Yang Kai’s back, her beautiful eyes flashed with excitement and enthusiasm. Immediately putting away these pills, without saying a word, she quickly followed after him.
The third layer Flame Area was indeed many times more precarious than the first layer. Although the environments of the two were similar, the dangers lurking in each couldn’t be compared.
When Yang Kai traversed the first layer, with the exception of the strange mountain valley where he was besieged by an unending stream of Fire Spirit Beasts that took some effort to solve, he had basically been able to wander about freely and hadn’t even needed to protect himself with his Saint Qi before he reached the second layer.
However, in the third layer, Yang Kai had to constantly push his Saint Qi to resist the ambient heat and fire poison. Not only that, but the strength of the Fire Spirit Beasts here was also far greater, with Seventh-Order and Eighth-Order ones constantly appearing from the cracks in the ground. Additionally, there were all sorts of strange barriers and Spirit Arrays.
The Fire Spirit Beasts didn’t pose too much threat to Yang Kai and Dai Yuan. As long as their numbers weren’t too large, the two of them could kill these beasts and harvest their Fire Crystal Stones.
However, after witnessing the ancient Spirit Array Wei Gu Chang and his group had fallen into, Yang Kai had been extremely vigilant of any place that seemed dangerous and did not easily dare to enter them. Once Yang Kai discovered such a place, if he could avoid it, he did, if he couldn’t, he would use his Demon Eye of Annihilation secretly to see through its risks.
Along the way, Yang Kai was constantly on guard.
Had it not been for his Divine Eye of Annihilation, this incredible Divine Ability which could see through all illusions, these past few days, he and Dai Yuan would have fallen into at least five ancient Spirit Arrays. These Spirit Arrays were extremely well concealed and were not something Saint King Realm cultivators could handle. If he had fallen into any of these formations, Yang Kai estimated that his fate would be quite miserable.
Because Yang Kai was secretly using his Demon Eye of Annihilation and had brought Dai Yuan safely through these dangerous places, this woman from Coloured Glass Sect hadn’t noticed anything and instead found herself doubting whether this third layer Flame Area was a bit unworthy of its reputation.
Unaware of the surrounding crisis, she simply followed behind Yang Kai in a relaxed manner.
Unfortunately, although the Demon Eye of Annihilation was one of Great Demon God’s supreme Divine Abilities, Yang Kai had only obtained and refined it for his own use after the fact, so it wasn’t omnipotent.
As such, Yang Kai and Dai Yuan fell into an ancient Spirit Array that even Yang Kai failed to notice eventually. When this formation was activated, the surrounding environment changed dramatically, the originally extremely hot area suddenly becoming bitter cold with icy winds howling around them and stinging snow whirling about the sky.
It was the complete opposite of their former environment.
Sharp icicles immediately stabbed towards the pair from all directions and dragons condensed from the harsh winds began appearing in their surroundings, spitting frigid breath filled with wind blades from their mouths. Dealing with this sudden barrage of attacks was quite difficult.
Fortunately, since Yang Kai and Dai Yuan were both Alchemists, one of them originally cultivating a Yang Attribute Secret Art while the other cultivated a Fire Attribute Secret Art, the pair’s Saint Qi was useful in resisting this particular Spirit Array’s attacks.
Even so, it took the two of them three days to break this formation and escape.
In the process, Dai Yuan suffered some injuries, and if Yang Kai had not rescued her at the critical moment, her wounds would have been significantly more serious. In such a place, where just moving about was dangerous, receiving grievous wounds was basically a death sentence.
After this incident, Dai Yuan no longer dared to underestimate the dangers of this third layer and even more carefully followed behind Yang Kai.
Yang Kai had also been injured, but compared with his restorative abilities, such minor wounds weren’t even worth thinking about. After escaping from the ancient Spirit Array, Yang Kai immediately brought Dai Yuan to find a small mountain where he opened up a hidden cave. The two hid inside this cave and, like wounded beasts, silently licked their wounds.
Only three days later did Dai Yuan recover from her injuries and the two set out again.
The various means Yang Kai demonstrated along the way, along with the combat effectiveness he displayed made Dai Yuan thoroughly understand that this First-Order Saint King was completely different from any other she had ever encountered. His true fighting strength wasn’t under hers in the slightest and he possessed many methods that left her in awe, and these were just the methods he was willing to show her.
No wonder the proud Wei Gu Chang was so polite towards him, he likely was aware of just how extraordinary Yang Kai’s abilities were.
Along the way, the pair encountered a number of extremely rare Fire Attribute spirit grasses and spirit medicines.
Whenever they found such a spirit herb, Dai Yuan would volunteer to collect it, displaying excellent harvesting skills and always preserving them in the most optimum way.
He didn’t know why it was so, but Yang Kai discovered that this woman seemed to be very interested in these herbs. After picking each one, she would begin rambling on and on about these spirit herbs’ properties, growing requirements, and uses in pills. She would also talk about condensing medicinal liquids, Alchemy techniques, and auxiliary Spirit Arrays freely, discussing all of these secrets as if she couldn’t wait to share them.
During this time, Yang Kai kept silent and only listened quietly.
Normally, he too would be interested in conversing with Dai Yuan about Alchemy. He could see that this woman was actually knowledgeable in the Alchemic Way, and although she wasn’t on his level, there was no harm in discussing such things with her.
Unfortunately, at this moment, Yang Kai’s mind was entirely focused on refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water and he wasn’t in the mood for idle chatter, so he simply brushed off the opportunity to have an Alchemy exchange with this woman.
Yang Kai’s silence made Dai Yuan feel a little disappointed inside and she even began to doubt whether her previous conjecture was correct. If this wasn’t the case, how could Yang Kai say nothing about these spirit grasses and spirit medicines nor show any excitement?
She even deliberately made some mistakes in her descriptions of these herbs, but Yang Kai never showed any intention to correct her, depressing her further.
Dai Yuan naturally didn’t try to take sole possession of the spirit grasses and spirit medicines she picked. She was well aware that without Yang Kai, it would have been impossible for her to arrive here, so whenever she divided up the harvest, she always took the smaller portion while giving the larger part to Yang Kai.
Regarding this, Yang Kai didn’t try to refuse. He didn’t have a deep relationship with Dai Yuan and was only cooperating with her to penetrate the third layer, so he saw no reason to reject these small benefits.
After the pair travelled ten days into the third layer, Dai Yuan began having difficulty continuing.
The intense heat in the air felt as if someone was constantly launching a Fire Attribute attack towards her tender body. Even with the protection of her Artefact Armour and her pink cloud artefact, Dai Yuan couldn’t help sweating profusely, causing her soaking wet robes to tightly cling to her body, exposing her mesmerising curves.
If not for the pink cloud camouflaging her figure, at this moment, her appearance would be quite indecent. Fortunately, it was only her and Yang Kai in this place, and Yang Kai was always walking in front, never showing any intention of turning his gaze back to her.
Every step forward consumed a tremendous amount of Dai Yuan’s strength and she couldn’t help trembling somewhat as a layer of black Qi lingered about her body.
This black Qi was the fire poison which permeated the Flowing Flame Sand Field. Dai Yuan couldn’t completely resist the fire poison here anymore and was slowly but surely being invaded by it, gradually worsening her situation.
At this point, thoughts of withdrawing began crossing Dai Yuan’s mind and she was beginning to regret travelling this deep into the third layer.
However, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. She and Yang Kai had been traversing the third layer for more than ten days already; even if she wanted to retreat now, she wasn’t certain she could do so safely. She was now riding a tiger.
She could only stand firm and continue following behind Yang Kai without saying a word.
Although Yang Kai wasn’t in as poor a state as Dai Yuan, he was also by no means comfortable at this moment. His skin felt as if it was constantly being burned and the waves of heat and fire poison which were constantly pressing down onto him made it feel like he was being crushed by a wave of fire.
If it weren’t for his huge reserves of Saint Qi, Yang Kai would have constantly needed to find a place to restore himself.
As he led the way forward, Yang Kai was constantly using his Divine Sense to monitor Dai Yuan’s movements, so he was well aware of her difficult appearance, but he didn’t rush to help her either.
The environment here was extremely harsh, but by continuing to persist, one could use it to temper the purity and density of their Saint Qi, which was of great benefit to any cultivator.
Helping Dai Yuan to withstand the heat and fire poison here wouldn’t be difficult for Yang Kai, but if by doing so he made her lose an opportunity to become stronger, it would do her more harm than good.
As the pair travelled deeper and deeper, their speed continued to decrease, soon slowing to a virtual crawl as the environment around them became even harsher.
Yang Kai’s eyes gradually showed some excitement though because what he needed now was an extremely hot environment, so the worse things got, the better.
After observing his surrounding carefully, Yang Kai secretly estimated that as long as he continued forward another five days, he would be able to find a place where he could begin refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water.
The only troublesome thing now was what he should do with the woman following behind him.
Yang Kai hadn’t expected that after travelling this far, he had still not found a suitable place to separate from Dai Yuan and abandoning her now would be tantamount to killing her.
It seemed that now his best option would be to find an appropriate place nearby for Dai Yuan to stay while he refined the Profound Yin Sunflower Water. As long as the place he found was safe enough, it shouldn’t be a problem for Dai Yuan to stay there until the Flowing Flame When Sand Field closed and she was sent out by the World Principles here.
Just as Yang Kai was thinking like this, a weak shout suddenly came from Dai Yuan behind him. Yang Kai swept her with his Divine Sense and his complexion changed greatly, his body flickering to arrive by her side in the next instant.
This woman was truly an arrow at the end of its flight; the Saint Qi in her body had completely dried up to the point where she couldn’t even activate the protective effects of her Artefact Armour. The moment her Artefact Armour’s aura failed, a wave of heat had rushed in and overwhelmed her.
If Yang Kai hadn’t acted swiftly enough just now, Dai Yuan would have been instantly incinerated.
Dai Yuan couldn’t hold out any longer, and after Yang Kai picked her up, her beautiful eyes only blinked weakly before she fainted without a word.
She had overexerted herself to such an extent!
Yang Kai couldn’t help letting out a wry laugh. He hadn’t examined Dai Yuan’s condition too carefully before, thinking that since she was still persisting, she hadn’t been pushed to her limit, so he kept walking forward.
If he had known her situation was this dire, he would have acted a while ago.
Dai Yuan’s body was incredibly soft and had an amazing elasticity to it. A seductive aroma also wafted from her body and, having fainted, the pink cloud artefact she was using to shield herself had also disappeared, exposing her soaking wet figure to Yang Kai’s eyes, causing him to feel a different kind of heat.
If not for the issues with her face, this woman would absolutely be a great source of calamity!
Shaking his head slowly, Yang Kai pushed his Saint Qi to form a defensive cover, protecting Dai Yuan’s body as he carried her and continued deeper into the third layer.
….…
Dai Yuan woke up slowly, but before she had even opened her eyes, she felt an incredible World Energy aura surrounding her body. Her body’s Saint Qi, which had originally been depleted, seemed to have been greatly restored at this moment and there was a fresh, pleasant scent with a hint of medicinal fragrance that was drifting past her nose.
“Purple Fine Jade Fruit!” Dai Yuan’s heart jumped. From this medicinal fragrance alone, she was immediately able to determine the source of the aroma. Opening her eyes quickly, she began taking in her surroundings.
Her beautiful eyes were immediately attracted to a bunch of purple, grape-like spirit fruits that were hanging from a kind of vine wrapped around a nearby tree. On this vine, there were actually several bunches of purple grapes, all of them sending out a rich fragrance.
“They’re not mature yet…” Dai Yuan showed a little disappointment. Purple Fine Jade Fruits were a genuine Origin King Grade Low-Rank spirit fruit. If they were mature, they would be giving off a rich purple light and look like of exquisite pieces of amethyst. Whether they were used in Alchemy or eaten directly, they were of great benefit to cultivators.
The rarest thing about this spirit fruit though was that it grew in clusters just like ordinary grapes.
So the moment she smelled this aroma, Dai Yuan immediately awakened; after all, this was a very rare treasure.
Taking a closer look, Dai Yuan suddenly found that there were traces of some grape clusters having been picked recently. After thinking about it, Dai Yuan immediately understood that it these had been harvest by Yang Kai. Thinking so, she also remembered how she had suddenly passed out.
Turning her head, Dai Yuan found Yang Kai standing not far from herself; however, for some reason she couldn’t understand, his expression seemed a little gloomy. He seemed to be quite disgruntled, and his brow was furrowed deeply, as if he was deep in thought, not even having realised she had woken up.
“Junior Brother Yang!” Dai Yuan slowly got up and called out.
“You’re awake,” Yang Kai turned his head and the gloomy look on his face converged a lot; however, his brow didn’t fully relax.
“Where is this…” Dai Yuan looked around suspiciously at her lush and verdant surroundings while breathing in the beautiful and refreshing spring-like air. In the distance, she could see a seemingly unending mountain range whose peaks towered up into the clouds. These clouds, however, weren’t ordinary clouds but were extremely rich and condensed World Energy. Just looking at it made one thing that they were standing on the site of a great Sect.
Dai Yuan was incredibly startled. The place where her Coloured Glass Sect was based was also a great paradise, but compared to the environment she was now seeing, it was completely inferior.
If a force was really to set up its foundation here, when its disciples cultivated, just how great of an advantage from this land would they acquire?
Was there really such a paradise in this world? Looking at the mountains, there seemed to be no trace of human activity, which meant that this place was essentially untouched.
Only when Dai Yuan looked up did she realised that the sky was still covered with a layer of red light that blocked out the sun, moon, and stars, a fact which made her feel somewhat puzzled.
“There’s no need to suspect, we’re still inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field,” Yang Kai said softly.
Dai Yuan frowned and seemed to understand something, asking, “Did we return back to the second layer?”
“Second layer?” Yang Kai glanced at her for a moment before a smile spread across his face as he shook his head, “No, this is the fourth layer!”
“What?” Dai Yuan called out in alarm, “The fourth layer?”
“Yup, the fourth layer Treasure Area!” Yang Kai’s said in a much more solemn tone.
“Ah…” Dai Yuan couldn’t help covering her delicate mouth. After recovering from her initial shock, her beautiful eyes trembled violently and she unconsciously murmured, “There really is a fourth layer Treasure Area…”
Yang Kai tilted his head and asked, “Did you know there was such a place?”
Dai Yuan gawked before shaking her head, “I didn’t, but I had some suspicions. Since there was a first layer Flame Area and a second layer Treasure Area, then after the third layer Flame Area, perhaps there would be a fourth layer Treasure Area. This situation just confirms my previous thoughts.”
Yang Kai heard her say this and simply nodded lightly.
Not only did Dai Yuan have such suspicions before, he also had them, but when Yang Kai really set foot here, his mood became extremely complicated.
Unlike Dai Yuan’s excitement and joy, as if she had just discovered a brand-new horizon, Yang Kai actually felt disappointed after his initial surprise.
Because he failed to obtain the environment he wanted most!
After Dai Yuan passed out a few days ago, Yang Kai had carried her as he continued forward, but just as the hot environment around him was about to meet his requirements, he stepped straight through the barrier separating the third layer and the fourth layer.
At first, Yang Kai also felt that arriving at such a good place wasn’t such a bad thing and began searching around for treasures; after all, he wasn’t in too much of a rush to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water.
But he was soon very disappointed because precious treasures and spirit herbs seemed to be extremely rare in the fourth layer; after searching for several days, the only thing of note he found was the Purple Fine Jade Fruit that had two ripe clusters.
This in turn made him feel enraged, as if he had been tricked or deceived.
Failing to find the environment he was looking for and with precious treasures being so sparse here, it would be strange if Yang Kai was feeling happy.
The only thing that pleased him was that after arriving here, he could finally part ways with Dai Yuan. Making up his mind, Yang Kai said, “Ms. Dai Yuan, I’ve checked the surrounding area over the past few days, there doesn’t seem to be any trace of Monster Beasts or Spirit Arrays, so it is quite safe.”
Dai Yuan paused for a moment, took in what he said, then smiled lightly, “Does Junior Brother Yang want to act alone?”
“En,” Having his thoughts seen though, Yang Kai didn’t try to avoid the subject.
“Is that so…” Dai Yuan gently nodded, “Alright, then I’ll stay here and search for spirit herbs. Since this place is so safe, Dai Yuan won’t trouble Junior Brother Yang any further.”
“Don’t mention it. En, then I will part ways with Ms. Dai Yuan here, I hope you find what you’re looking for,” Yang Kai said before walking off.
It wouldn’t be long before the Flowing Flame Sand Field closed, so he had to pick up his pace.
Just after he set out though, Dai Yuan suddenly shouted, “Junior Brother Yang!”
“Is there something else?” Yang Kai asked back.
Dai Yuan bit her lip before saying with a slight smile, “In the future, Dai Yuan would like to pay you a visit to properly express her gratitude, would Junior Brother Yang be willing to welcome me?”
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed for a moment before it relaxed and he calmly nodded, “Naturally, you can ask Wei Gu Chang about how to find me.”
“Good,” Seeing Yang Kai agree, Dai Yuan smiled and seemingly relaxed.
“That’s right.” Yang Kai suddenly remembered something and added, “Although the disciples from the great Sects should have all left already so none of them should be trying to reach this fourth layer, you should still be careful of that guy from Star Emperor Sect, I feel he might come here.”
“That man…” The image of the stern-faced man floated up in Dai Yuan’s mind and she said lightly, “If it’s that person, there’s nothing to worry about. The people from Star Emperor Sect never take the initiative to cause trouble. As long as I don’t disturb him, he shouldn’t concern himself with me.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly and said no more, his image flickering for a few moments before disappearing from Dai Yuan’s view as it plunged into the rolling mountains.
“Why does he want to go deeper?” Dai Yuan waited until Yang Kai had left before mumbling to herself thoughtfully, “It seems that the secret technique Junior Brother Yang wants to cultivate is quite extraordinary.”
With her intelligence, Dai Yuan was naturally able to see that Yang Kai wanted to travel deeper to see if there was a fifth layer Flame Area. Even the third layer’s environment had failed to meet his requirements so he could only pin his hopes on there being a fifth layer.
Standing in place for a while, Dai Yuan couldn’t help smiling bitterly.
She had always felt that she was quite talented, and even if she couldn’t quite match up to Fang Tian Zhong, Qu Chang Feng, or the other young rising stars, she was still far stronger than an ordinary Third-Order Saint King. But now, compared with Yang Kai, she finally realised she had been sitting in a well staring up at the sky.
In this world, there actually existed such astonishing geniuses.
There was also the man from Star Emperor Sect who was an extraordinary existence. During the fight to snatch the Red Candle Fruit, Dai Yuan had felt frightened every time that stern-faced man acted, his combat effectiveness was simply terrifying.
Dai Yuan really wondered which one of these two would be stronger if they were to compete.
Across the rolling mountains, Yang Kai raced forward like a bolt of lightning. Although he was still suppressed by an inexplicable World Principle here and could not fly, without Dai Yuan slowing him down, he was able to use his Wind and Thunder Wings to dramatically increase his pace.
He didn’t have any intention to remain in the fourth layer. Although he knew that there might be some rare spirit grasses and spirit medicines here, it would be too time-consuming to find them.
Yang Kai wanted to quickly see if there was a fifth layer Flame Area. If there was, his primary objective for coming here could be achieved.
The mountain range here was enormous, and as Yang Kai raced through them, he could feel that the World Energy aura here was rich to an incredible degree, denser than any other Cultivation Star he had ever visited before, even faintly comparable to that of the hidden floating continent.
Clouds drifted between the mountain peaks like giant snow-white cotton balls.
Comparing this place to Dragon Cave Mountain, it was like the difference between Heaven and Earth.
Yang Kai’s eyes couldn’t help flashing with shock and desire, secretly thinking that if not for the Flowing Flame Sand Field being one of the Forbidden Zones of the Shadowed Star, this mountain range alone would be enough for all the great Sects on the star to fight a bloody war for.
Which of these great Sects wasn’t located on a cultivation paradise? Each of their headquarters would be established above a large-scale Earth Vein. Only such an Earth Vein could ensure a steady stream of World Energy for disciples to rapidly cultivate and allow a Sect to endure for thousands of years.
For example, as far as Yang Kai knew, beneath Nine Heavens Holy Land’s nine peaks in Tong Xuan Realm, there was a large Earth Vein which allowed its ambient World Energy aura to be so rich.
Soaring Heaven Sect was the same. Beneath its one hundred and eight peaks lay a vast Earth Vein.
The Ancestral Founder of any Sect would not choose to set down roots in a place devoid of World Energy. The first condition for choosing where to establish a Sect would be the existence of an Earth Vein, and the higher the quality it was, the better.
The rolling mountains Yang Kai was currently traversing would definitely be an ideal place to establish a Sect. As long as one allowed disciples of their Sect to cultivate in this paradise, they would grow far faster than ordinary cultivators.
Yang Kai was certain there was more than one peak-level Earth Vein running below this mountain range.
Unfortunately, this was inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, a place on accessible once every several hundred years for half a year, no one could establish a Sect here as no one could remain here for an extended period of time.
This reality made Yang Kai sigh with regret.
Although he was currently all alone, he had many friends and relatives back in Tong Xuan Realm. If one day he could go back and bring them out into the Star Field, this mountain range would be an excellent place to settle down. Of course, he would first need to have enough strength to protect this place, otherwise, it would only draw the calamity of extermination to him.
Shaking his head, Yang Kai put aside such thoughts from his mind and concentrated on rushing forward.
The mountains here were pristine and untouched, without even any birds or beasts. It seemed that in this fourth layer, the only living creature was Yang Kai.
Also, as he expected, even if there were spirit grasses and spirit medicines in this place, they were extremely rare, because as he ran forward, he never encountered any spirit herbs or even caught a whiff of medicinal fragrance in the air.
Ten days after Yang Kai entered this mountain range, as he was continuing to hurry along, he suddenly came to a stop, frowned, and listened carefully, his expression changing greatly a moment later.
He actually heard some loud noises coming from somewhere up ahead.
Had someone else arrived here even before him? A certain stern-faced man’s image flashed across Yang Kai’s mind as he secretly guessed whether he had entered this place.
The sounds Yang Kai heard didn’t seem to be a result of battle, but rather someone constantly bombarding something. The violent energy fluctuation which spread out from up ahead carried great momentum with him even across a great distance.
Yang Kai immediately became curious. Since he entered this mountain range ten days ago, he hadn’t encountered anything of note, so someone in front of him making such wild movements naturally drew his attention.
Concealing his aura, Yang Kai quietly proceeded forward to see what was going on.
Although Yang Kai didn’t cultivate any kind of concealment technique, his Divine Sense was extremely powerful so as long as he shielded himself from outside perceptions with it, assuming the cultivation of a different party wasn’t too high, they shouldn’t be able to discover him.
As he quietly crept closer towards the source of the sound, Yang Kai was able to feel how terrifying the strength of this person was.
After advancing about ten kilometres, Yang Kai’s steps came to a halt as he stared towards the front with a look of shock.
A thousand meters in front of him, the disciple from Star Emperor Sect stood straight like a sword with a stern look upon his face. It was without a doubt the man who cut the Red Candle Fruit into several portions in front of everyone’s eye and at this moment, an astonishing Saint Qi aura was pulsing from his body. Yang Kai didn’t know what secret technique he used to do it, but this stern-faced man’s body was currently suspended a meter or so above the ground and his muscular frame was shaking slightly, his face extremely red as he madly poured his Saint Qi into a silver spear that he was stabbing fiercely towards the space in front of him.
However, what surprised Yang Kai weren’t the shocking methods this man was using.
While his methods were truly good, his silver spear seemed to multiply every time he stabbed it forward, each spear image carrying with it the power and momentum of a true flood dragon. If he were to face such a violent storm of attacks, Yang Kai had to admit that he could only try to dodge, otherwise, he would suffer no simple flesh wound.
But the space in front of this man seemed to have an invisible barrier, one that was completely blocking all the giant silver spear strikes. In the air, only faint ripples could be seen as they constantly spread out, neutralising all of these spear attacks with ease.
[Barrier! No, a Sect Defending Array!] Yang Kai heart jumped.
He had once served as the Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land, and when Nine Heavens Holy Land was being besieged by powerful enemies, he had personally opened the Sect Defending Array which protected the nine peaks, so at this moment it was easy for him to tell what exactly he was looking at.
There was actually a Sect Defending Array in this wild mountain range where there were neither insects nor birds! And this Sect Defending Array was incredibly powerful. No matter how the stern-faced man from Star Emperor Sect attacked it, this barrier remained completely motionless and showed no signs of being damaged.
Yang Kai was startled.
The Flowing Flame Sand Field had existed for at least tens of thousands of years, and since it came into being, no one had stepped into its third layer and lived. The same was obviously true for the fourth layer and fifth layer, which could only mean that this Sect Defending Array had remained here, in this state, for at least a few tens of thousands of years.
If this Sect Defending Array’s defensive capabilities were still this strong after tens of thousands of years, it was difficult to image just how powerful it would have been all those eons ago.
Why was there a Sect Defending Array here though? This kind of thing was generally arranged by a Sect with massive human and financial resources.
Yang Kai’s gaze left the Star Emperor Sect disciple’s back and looked further ahead, his eyes narrowing as soon as they did.
Among the distant mountains, there were even denser white clouds and countless Spirit Mountains that were being shielded by this Sect Defending Array. Although Yang Kai wasn’t able to clearly see these peaks or their surroundings, he could see faint outlines of seemingly grand buildings and magnificent palaces through the rolling fog.
However, after looking more carefully, Yang Kai found that there was nothing there aside from this, only a continuous sea of clouds out of which the corners of some buildings would occasionally peak.
[There really was a Sect here!]
Just as Yang Kai was lamenting that this place could not be used to establish the foundation of a Sect, he discovered a Sect already existed amongst these rolling mountains, filling his heart with amazement.
Who could build a Sect in such a place though? What kind of people lived inside?
However, after thinking about it, Yang Kai vaguely felt something was wrong. This disciple from Star Emperor Sect was raising such a ruckus, so if there were anyone inside, they wouldn’t just stand by and watch.
It seemed that no one was occupying the Sect, it was just a ruin!
After understanding this point, Yang Kai’s heart clenched.
If this was truly an ancient Sect ruin and judging from the vague jade palaces that could occasionally be seen, a fairly intact one, if one could enter, they may be able to find countless treasures.
Anyone who could establish a Sect in this kind of place, and arrange such a profound Sect Defending Array, was not some obscure existence, how could there not be many wondrous treasures left inside?
“Who’s there?” A low shout suddenly rang in Yang Kai’s ears, waking him from his daze and at the same time shaking his Knowledge Sea, as if it had been struck by a sharp sword.
Yang Kai’s expression became cold and he quickly urged his Spiritual Energy to resist this attack that was trying to break open his Knowledge Sea’s defence. At the same time, his figure flickered and he disappeared from where he was standing, appearing again several dozen meters away in the next instant.
“Hmm?” The stern-faced man from Star Emperor Sect had stopped his attacks at some point and fallen to the ground, still holding his silver spear as he stared at Yang Kai in amazement.
Yang Kai laughed bitterly to himself, knowing that because he became a bit excited just now after discovering these Sect ruins, he had revealed himself.
Now that he had been discovered, Yang Kai didn’t bother trying to conceal himself and stepped out boldly. In any case, he didn’t have any malicious intentions towards this guy so there was no need for him to feel embarrassed.
“It’s you!” The Star Emperor Sect disciple called out in surprise. He had seen Yang Kai twice so far, once in the stalactite cave, and once during the Red Candle Fruit incident, but from beginning to end he had not realised just how deeply Yang Kai had hidden his strength. The Divine Sense attack he had just used was resolved by the other party with ease, demonstrating just how strong he was.
This made the stern-faced man re-examine Yang Kai, trying to see if he had hidden his cultivation realm.
However, what shocked the stern-faced man was that no matter how he probed, he couldn’t detect any trace of Yang Kai concealing his cultivation. It seemed that the other party really was just a First-Order Saint King.
After realising this though, he didn’t delve into it any deeper. He came from Star Emperor Sect, and was a rarely seen genius, so even if Yang Kai really was hiding his cultivation, he wouldn’t fear him, not to mention that this person might have cultivated some special concealing technique or be wearing a strange artefact that gave the illusion of him being a First Order Saint King.
He didn’t want to believe that Yang Kai really was just a First Order Saint King.
“Friend shouldn’t misunderstand!” Yang Kai knit his brow, “I simply heard some noise coming from here and came to take a look.”
Yang Kai explaining himself wasn’t because he was afraid of this stern-faced man, but rather because this man seemed like someone not to be provoked easily. Yang Kai was unwilling to get into a fight with him over some small misunderstanding.
To his surprise though, the other party just gently nodded, the vigilance on his face relaxing significantly, without showing any aggressive intent. This man even withdrew his silver spear.
Without asking anything else, the stern-faced man suddenly inquired, “What’s your name?”
Yang Kai hesitated for a moment before reporting his name.
“Leng Qing!” The other party responded in kind.
Yang Kai frowned inadvertently. He didn’t believe that the other party would try to learn his name for no reason. This man had never said a word when facing Fang Tian Zhong, Qu Chang Feng, or anyone else, he was the type of Heaven blessed genius that wouldn’t put anyone in his eyes; however, he had actually introduced himself here, causing Yang Kai to become slightly vigilant.
Taking another glance towards the Sect Defending Array as well as the indistinct buildings inside, Yang Kai’s brow furrowed even deeper.
Sure enough, just as he was worried, the man named Leng Qing asked, “Are you interested in joining forces to break this Sect Defending Array?”
“Sorry, I’m not interested!” Yang Kai shook his head without hesitation.
Leng Qing was somewhat startled, seemingly not having thought someone in this world would actually reject his proposal. On top of that, was there really someone who could be so indifferent facing this kind of Sect ruins?
After his thoughts turned for a moment, Leng Qing said lightly, “Do you think the two of us have no chance of breaking this Shield Array?”
“Exactly, I don’t think there’s much hope, so I don’t want to waste my energy,” Yang Kai nodded frankly. When this guy had been attacking earlier, Yang Kai had also observed the Sect Defending Array’s response and fully realised how extraordinary it was. Additionally, this was just the outermost layer of this defensive array. Leng Qing’s fierce attacks just now hadn’t even been able to shake this barrier so Yang Kai didn’t believe him joining the effort would make a difference.
Of course, if he didn’t hesitate to use ten or twenty drops of Golden Blood all at once to create a massive explosion, it might be possible to break this kind of barrier.
But so, what if they could break this first layer?
Yang Kai was well aware that beyond this outer layer there were definitely more, and the further one penetrated, the more dangers they would encounter. Yang Kai wasn’t confident he could overcome all these barriers and even if he could, he didn’t want to spend the time doing so.
A Sect Defending Array that had remained intact for tens of thousands of years was not something to trifle with.
That was why he flatly rejected Leng Qing’s proposal without any hesitation.
“Why do you think I can’t break it?” What surprised Yang Kai though, was that this man who always wore an indifferent expression suddenly seemed to be annoyed when Yang Kai spoke so bluntly, a dangerous aura even slowly welling up from his body.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed, and he said coldly, “If you think you can break it open, feel free to do so. I’ll take my leave.”
Saying so, he turned around and left, a moment later disappearing into the forest.
Leng Qing stared at the disappearing back of Yang Kai, his expression somewhat tight. He didn’t know why, but this cultivator named Yang Kai didn’t seem anxious or fearful in the slightest when facing him. On top of that, Yang Kai gave him a somewhat dangerous feeling. Although this feeling only appeared for a moment, it was enough to put Leng Qing on alert.
This feeling only appeared when he was confronting truly powerful people; did that mean this Yang Kai had the ability to wound him?
Shaking his head, Leng Qing no longer thought about this matter and simply made a note to himself to ask the old monsters back on Star Emperor Mountain about if there was some powerful master in this world that could cultivate such a strange disciple.
After Yang Kai ran out twenty kilometres or so, he heard a loud rumbling sound from behind him. Apparently, the man named Leng Qing was attacking the Sect Defending Array again.
If others were willing to engage in such fruitless activities, Yang Kai wouldn’t stop them; in any case, the two of them had nothing to do with one another.
Originally, Yang Kai had reminded Dai Yuan to be careful if she encountered this cultivator called Leng Qing, but now it seems those worries were superfluous. As long as Leng Qing was attacking the Sect Defending Array here, it would basically consume all his remaining time. Dai Yuan on the other hand, who was searching for spirit herbs, wouldn’t stupidly come over and disturb Leng Qing.
Because of the obstruction of this Sect Defending Array, Yang Kai had to make a long detour. Occasionally glancing inside it, Yang Kai confirmed that all he could see were some blurry traces of buildings among the many Spirit Peaks.
Ten days later, Yang Kai was still able to feel the existence of the Sect Defending Array, filling his heart with shock.
The range cover by this Sect Defending Array had to at least be several thousand kilometres, which meant that this entire region was the extent of this ancient sect. It was conceivable just how astonishing this Sect had been tens of thousands of years ago and just how many disciples belonged to it.”
However, such a massive Sect was now completely empty, an extremely strange matter.
Along the way, Yang Kai didn’t have any gains, but after ten days, he finally managed to circumvent the area covered by the Sect Defending Array.
At the same time, on the horizon, Yang Kai spotted a faint red glow.
When these rays of light reached his eyes, Yang Kai’s spirits lifted greatly, and he couldn’t stop himself from grinning.
His guess had been right, at the deepest depths of this fourth layer there really was a fifty layer!
And that fifth layer was another Flame Area.
Yang Kai really couldn’t figure out what this Flowing Flame Sand Field was. After the passing through the first layer Flame Area, there was a treasure area, then another flame area, and so on and so forth. Thinking about it, if one were to look down from high above, they would probably see the Flowing Flame Sand Field as three broad, distinct, concentric flaming rings someone had tossed onto the ground.
Thinking so, Yang Kai’s heart jumped.
If this was really the case, then there should also be a sixth layer.
After gawking for a moment, Yang Kai couldn’t help chuckling. He hadn’t even reached the fifth layer yet, much less traversed it, yet he was already wondering about a sixth layer.
If possible, Yang Kai wanted to investigate his hypothesis, but the time he had left was somewhat short.
The further one went into the Flowing Flame Sand Field, the less space there was to move around in, and after just two days, Yang Kai found himself standing in front of the bright red barrier to the fifth layer.
Even before he entered it, Yang Kai could feel the oppressive heat in front of him and understood that it was incomparable to that of the third layer.
Yang Kai was delighted and, with a dignified expression, pushed his Saint Qi to form a protective cover over his body before stepping forward.
In just one step, Yang Kai seemed to have stepped into another world. Inside this place, fierce heatwaves crashed towards him from all directions. The Fire Attribute energy here was so dense it actually condensed into a physical substance, winding around Yang Kai’s body like a million tiny snakes.
In an instant, Yang Kai felt a stinging pain all over his skin. His entire body seemed to be on fire, and even the Saint Qi he was using to guard himself seemed to show signs of boiling.
Yang Kai’s complexion changed, and he hurriedly condensed a layer of Demonic Flame around himself.
However, even his Demonic Flames couldn’t completely resist the invasion of the ambient heat and the tiny snake-like fire auras fiercely fought against it, taking Yang Kai’s body as a battlefield, one side trying to invade, the other trying to block. An extremely fierce struggle ensued.
The Saint Qi in his meridians was literally flooding out of his pores, shocking Yang Kai greatly. Quickly pulling out two High-Rank Saint Crystals, Yang Kai held one in each hand and began rapidly absorbing energy from them.
With this rate of consumption, if he didn’t constantly supplement himself, the Saint Qi inside his body would soon run dry, and once it was exhausted, he would have to burst a drop of Golden Blood, transforming it back into Saint Qi.
On this trip to the Flowing Flame Sand Field, Yang Kai had used several drops of Golden Blood, and realising its great power, he naturally didn’t want to waste it if there was another option.
Lifting his foot, Yang Kai stepped forward again, increasing his output of Saint Qi as he proceeded deeper into the fifth layer. The Saint Crystals in his hand were constantly being changed, and in just half a day, he had consumed over ten thousand of them, transforming them all into dust.
Only his intrepid physique could support such unscrupulous absorption of Saint Crystal energy, other cultivators with weaker physical bodies and meridians would have exploded themselves with such reckless actions.
His previously prepared restorative pills finally came in handy at this moment.
Yang Kai even used his Myriad Drug Liquid which had long sat idle in his Black Book Space.
Although this kind of consumption was extremely terrifying, Yang Kai wasn’t panicked at all. Even if he somehow ended up exhausting all of his Golden Blood, he could borrow power from the Divine Tree. The Divine Tree was still sleeping right now though as it was in the process of evolving, so unless absolutely necessary, Yang Kai didn’t want to disturb it.
A day later, Yang Kai was forced to stop.
Although the farther one went, the hotter the environment became and the more helpful it would be for him with refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, he had all but reached his limit. If he ventured any further, even he would be in danger.
Yang Kai furrowed his brow for a while and was just about to find a nearby place to start refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water when he heard a rumbling sound and felt the earth shudder violently.
Yang Kai’s face sank and, standing perfectly still, he ignored the damage he would suffer by doing so and released his Divine Sense to investigate his surroundings.
When Yang Kai extended his Divine Sense beyond his body, it was immediately distorted by the extreme temperatures, and although he only spread it out for a moment, his Divine Sense was still burned slightly.
This made Yang Kai’s expression contort in pain, but fortunately his Divine Sense was extremely powerful and with the Soul Warming Lotus constantly nourishing his Soul, this bit of damage could be ignored.
During his brief investigation, Yang Kai was able to locate a certain landmark several thousand meters away from his current position. Looking over in that direction, all he could see was a horrifying red eruption of heat coming from the ground. This burst of heat soared up into the sky like a soaring dragon and seemed as if it would burst through the red curtain covering the sky, but the Flowing Flame Sand Field’s barrier seemed able to perfectly disperse this wave of heat, scattering it evenly across its surface at the moment of impact.
An extremely pure Fire Attribute energy was being released from the place where the heat wave had appeared, and it wasn’t long before it swept across Yang Kai’s position. At once, the sand and stones in the fifth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field were blown away by this heat shockwave.
Yang Kai’s heart clenched as he stood in place and waited until this eruption finally subsided before arduously heading over towards its source.
After two full hours, Yang Kai managed to traverse the thousand-meter distance and found himself staring at a huge pit, his expression filled with doubt and uncertainty.
This was a massive hole in the ground, and standing at its edge and looking down, all Yang Kai was able to see was dark red lava that seemed to be flowing about like water. At this moment, while still roiling, had no semblance of its previous explosive ferocity. The Fire Attribute aura which escaped from the depths of this hole was quickly mixing with the air of the fifth layer and strengthening its ambient heat little by little.
Occasionally, some gravel would fall into this pit and disintegrate upon contact with the lava, making it clear just how terrifyingly hot it was.
It looked like a volcanic crater, but it was clearly not a volcano, because this giant hole was on flat ground and no magma was erupting from it.
Moreover, Yang Kai was keenly aware that there seemed to be countless tunnels extending out in all directions beneath this pit. Every now and then, one could even hear what sounded like regular breathing coming from down below.
The gears in Yang Kai’s mind started to turn and he soon blurted out a name, “Earth Lung Fire Pond?”
After speaking, Yang Kai was instantly stunned, seemingly unable to believe what he was looking at.
An Earth Lung Fire Pond was an extremely rare subterranean fire vein and it was the most prized geographical formation for Artifact Refiners. When an Artifact Refiner was engaged in their craft, they could take advantage of this underground fire vein’s extreme heat to help them temper and purify materials, saving them a great deal of time and energy.
However, there were very few Sects that could possess an Earth Lung Fire Pond. Yang Kai had not had much contact with many Sects on Shadowed Star and naturally didn’t know much about their secrets or heritage but he was fairly certain that on this star, there were absolutely not more than three Sects which possessed an Earth Lung Fire Pond for Artifact Refining.
One of the most recognizable characteristics of an Earth Lung Fire Pond was the faint breathing sound it gave off, as if it were a pair of lungs contracting and releasing air, making it easy for Yang Kai to recognize it at a glance.
Judging from the purity of the Fire Attribute aura being released from the Earth Lung Fire Pond in front of me, it was definitely of the highest quality. Any Artifact Refiner who worked here would be able to completely display their skills and maximize their efficiency, refining artifacts they wouldn’t usually be able to while greatly enhancing their final product’s might.
Many thoughts flashed across Yang Kai’s mind as he stared down in pleasant surprise.
Although he couldn’t take this Earth Lung Fire Pond away with him, it was without a doubt the best place for him to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water. He hadn’t been expecting to come across such a perfectly location. Originally, Yang Kai was planning to simply find a nearby spot where the heat was especially high to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, but now he decided to take at what was down below here first.
Although it was dangerous to dive into such a place, the great the danger, the greater the reward. If a cultivator wanted to advance, they couldn’t fear danger.
Considering all this, Yang Kai’s expression became firm but he also didn’t dare act recklessly. Pushing his Demonic Flames to their maximum, Yang Kai also took out his purple shield and used it to create a purple light halo and a miniature sandstorm around his body.
He didn’t stop here though. Yang Kai freely spend his Saint Qi to condense several dozen Grand Heavenly Shields around his body as well.
Only after completing these preparations did he take a deep breath and jump into the pit.
Mid-air, Yang Kai’s expression turned extremely solemn as he swiftly glanced around. Finding a good foothold in a certain potion, his figure flickered and he quickly descended to reach a rocky outcropping. Identifying another foothold, Yang Kai leapt out, repeating this process again and again as he descended into the giant hole.
*Chi chi chi…*
The lava down below was very unstable, and it bubbled up and burst from time to time, sputtering molten rock across the walls of the pit.
The lava here was much more powerful than the lava in the ancient Spirit Array Wei Gu Chang had previously fallen into.
Several spurts of lava slammed into Yang Kai, shattering his Grand Heavenly Shields on contacted. In the blink of an eye, the several dozen barriers he had put up around himself had been completely destroyed.
The sandstorm which formed the next layer of protection around Yang Kai was somewhat successful in sweeping aside these bits of lava while those that still managed to make it through were blocked by the layer of Demonic Flames around Yang Kai’s body. Seeing this, it allowed him to put down his worries and concentrate on finding appropriate footholds.
As he descended, Yang Kai continuously replenished his destroyed Grand Heavenly Shields.
About thirty breaths of time later, Yang Kai’s eyes brightened, and his figure flickered to the side, leaping directly into a hole in the rock wall.
As soon as he entered this cave, Yang Kai felt the heat around him decrease dramatically, as if it was being blocked by the invisible barrier. This phenomenon immediately drew Yang Kai’s curiosity.
Turning around and looking out, Yang Kai gawked in shock.
Because he saw countless caves on the opposite wall, all of which seemed to be roughly the same as the one he had entered and were obviously not naturally generated because numbers had been engraved at their mouths.
These caves turned out to be artificially opened.
With a little thought, Yang Kai immediately understood what all of this was about and quickly began investigating the cave he had entered.
This cave was quite deep, running at least a hundred meters into the rock. After walking down this long, straight passage, Yang Kai came to a spacious stone room.
The walls were adorned with strange lighting stones that despite having been here for countless years were still emitting soft light, making this stone room quite bright.
With these lights for illumination, Yang Kai began looking around this stone room while putting away his purple shield and dispelling his Demonic Flames.
The floor of this stone chamber was smooth and flat, and there was a massive Spirit Array engraved onto its surface. This Spirit Array still seemed to be intact and was conducting heat from outside towards the centre of the room.
In the centre of the stone room stood a huge tripod furnace that was engraved with coiling dragons and soaring phoenixes but otherwise seemed somewhat plain in design. At first glance, it was obvious that this furnace was quite old and after being baked with such intense heat for so many years, was bright red and exuded an extremely hot aura.
Yang Kai inspected it and soon determined that this furnace was actually an Origin Grade Low-Rank Artifact Refining Furnace.
Yang Yan used to use an Artifact Refining Furnace to quench materials, but since the birth of the Stone Puppet, she no longer needed to use it. Only occasionally, while refining high grade artifacts, she would use her furnace for the final shaping and adjustments.
Sure enough, when he saw such an Artifact Refining Furnace, Yang Kai showed a look of comprehension.
When he saw so many openings in the stone walls across from him, Yang Kai had a guess in mind, and now that he had seen the situation inside this stone room, it confirmed his guess.
This Earth Lung Fire Pond was really a place where a great Sect’s Artifact Refiner performed Artifact Refining.
It wasn’t surprising that such a treasure land would be occupied by a Sect’s Artifact Refiners. The caves cut into the walls must have been created for Artifact Refiners to use.
And the unknown ancient Spirit Array drawn on the stone chamber’s floor must have been designed to extract the extreme heat from the Earth Lung Fire Pond for Artifact Refiners to use.
[Amazing!] Yang Kai was speechless. The methods and means needed to create such an elaborate setup inside this Earth Lung Fire Pond was not something ordinary people could achieve. Without a doubt, an Origin King Realm master was involved in setting this up.The only regret Yang Kai had was that the Origin Grade Low-Rank Artifact Refining Furnace here had been damaged quite severely, with many parts of it having melted or warped. It seemed that it was unable to endure being heated so recklessly for so many years.
On the other hand, the reason the Spirit Array here was able to run for tens of thousands of years was definitely because the Earth Lung Fire Pond was constantly supplying it with energy.
Understanding this, Yang Kai turned his head to look around, his eyes soon landing on a stone table of sorts in the corner of the room. Although Yang Kai didn’t know much about Spirit Arrays, after being together with Yang Yan for so long, he had at least gained some general knowledge.
This stone table should be the control center for this stone room’s Spirit Array.
Walking over to the stone table, Yang Kai poured his Saint Qi into it and sure enough, the along with a loud rumbling, the Spirit Array went dim and ceased functioning, no longer drawing in heat from the Earth Lung Fire Pond.
Yang Kai waited until the Artifact Refining Furnace had cooled down a bit before walking up and probing it more carefully.
However, after a quick inspection, Yang Kai was as disappointed as he expected to be.
After it cooled down, this Artifact Refining Furnace actually broke into pieces with just a light tap. Moreover, whatever material that was being quenched inside of it had already become useless slag.
This wasn’t surprising though. After being exposed to such high temperatures for so many years, even the most precious of materials would turn into scrap. If the Origin Grade Low-Rank Artifact Refining Furnace itself had been destroyed, how could the materials it was being used to quench have possibly endured?
But this was just one stone room. There were many others just outside.
Thinking that after stumbling into a treasures trove he couldn’t just walk out empty handed, Yang Kai began investigating the stone chambers one by one.
It took two days to explore at least three hundred stone chambers, but apart from obtaining some Artifact Refining tools and materials which were stored in these stone chambers, Yang Kai actually didn’t obtain much of note as all of the Artifact Refining Furnaces were essentially damaged beyond repair.
Gill: Bet you guys are hungry for more chapters ey.
13 Chapters this week!!!
In terms of Artifact Refining materials, Yang Kai had collected a ton.
Of the hundreds of stone chambers, not all were as empty as the one Yang Kai initially searched. Some of them contained large stacks of ores and materials used in Artifact Refining. There were also some unusual materials which had been preserved all these years without suffering any damage.
And the quantity of all of them was massive.
With hundreds of stone rooms, even if only one-tenth of them contained items, that was not a sum to be underestimated.
Yang Kai was only dissatisfied because the harvest was somewhat different from his expectations, at least, the harvest did not yield anything precious.
However, after searching through these stone chambers, Yang Kai noticed an interesting pattern. The deeper he went, the purer and more intense the fire aura gathered in each room.
This was easy to understand though, as naturally, the further down one went, the closer one would get to the source of the Earth Lung Fire Pond. When Yang Kai began refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, he would obviously need to pick a chamber as far down as possible.
Two days later, Yang Kai finally reached the deepest part of Earth Lung Fire Pond, where only two unexplored chambers remained.
These two artificial caves were built at an impressive depth and at first glance, were clearly meant for the Sect’s finest Artifact Refiners. The two entrances to these caves weren’t opposite of one another but instead, placed side by side. The openings both seemed empty, without significant difference to those above. But after searching through so many of these chambers, Yang Kai knew that without carefully exploring them, he wouldn’t be able to tell if there was something of value inside.
Hoping for some more gains, Yang Kai randomly chose the cave on the left and leapt inside like an arrow released from its string.
The next moment, Yang Kai appeared inside the long straight cave and after stabilizing his stance, began walking inside.
Surprisingly, this tunnel seemed to be a few thousand meters long. Yang Kai walked for quite a while, yet still did not reach the end. While surprised by this development, it also raised his expectations. Sure enough, this cave was built for the best Artifact Refiners in this Sect as it was clearly constructed differently. All that remained was to see if there was anything good left inside.
After walking a couple thousand meters deeper, Yang Kai suddenly saw a touch of soft white light illuminating up ahead. This light couldn’t be described as brilliant but instead gentle. It seemed to have some soul calming effects to it. When Yang Kai saw this white light, he couldn’t help but relaxing.
Picking up his pace again, Yang Kai rushed forward and soon arrived inside a huge stone room.
This stone chamber was more than ten times larger than any of the hundreds of stone chambers he had explored over the past two days and even though he was quite deep underground at the moment, Yang Kai felt the air here was still clean and clear, without the slightest stagnant taste. All in all, it was incomparable to the other stone rooms.
All of the other stone chambers, to varying degrees, had a gloomy, depressing air about them.
Around this stone room were eight fist-sized white orbs that were emitting the soft white light. Just basking in these lights was able to soothe one’s soul and quiet one’s mind.
Yang Kai raised his brow as he glanced around at these eight orbs before scanning the rest of the room.
However, after probing this stone chamber, Yang Kai let out a disappointed sigh. With how grand and magnificent this stone chamber was, Yang Kai had expected there to be many treasures inside.
How could he have known though that this stone room was like most of the others, completely empty. Except for the huge Artifact Refining Furnace at the centre.
The Spirit Array engraved in this stone room was still running, extracting the purest Fire Attribute energy from the Earth Lung Fire Pond to heat this huge furnace unceasingly for tens of thousands of years.
When Yang Kai’s eyes landed on this Artifact Refining Furnace though, they immediately lit up and a grin appeared on his face.
He found that this Artifact Refining Furnace was still intact, completely undamaged!
He had previously found hundreds of Artifact Refining Furnaces in those stone rooms, but every single one of them had been transformed into scrap after being baked for tens of thousands of years.
There were even a number of Origin King Grade furnaces among them, which made Yang Kai particularly distressed.
But now, he had found an intact Artifact Refining Furnace here. No matter how it had survived all these years, what was certain was that this Artifact Refining Furnace’s grade was not low, at least Origin King Grade.
Only this grade of Artifact Refining Furnace had any chance of surviving all these years.
While Yang Kai rejoiced, he quickly began searching for the control panel for the stone room’s Spirit Array.
Unlike other stone chambers though, which only had one stone table serving as a control terminal for this Spirit Array. There were four such tables in this stone chamber. It took Yang Kai some time to completely shut down this Spirit Array completely.
Yang Kai hadn’t cultivated an Ice or Cold Attribute Secret Art, nor did he have an artifact with such an attribute, so he could only wait for the temperature in this Artifact Refining Furnace to naturally fall.
About a day later, the crimson halo surrounding the Artifact Refining Furnace gradually dispersed, and although it still looked hot, with Yang Kai strength, he was not afraid.
Quickly walking over to the Artifact Refining Furnace, Yang Kai swept it with his Divine Sense and found that it was as exactly as he expected. This Artifact Refining Furnace was really Origin King Grade, but the quality was so high he couldn’t judge its exact rank. From what he could see, it shouldn’t be any lower than Origin King Grade Mid-Rank. The Artifact Refining Furnace itself was about five meters tall and had a three leg, two handle design, but unlike all the previous Artifact Refining Furnaces Yang Kai had previously come across, instead of dragon and phoenix patterns, a strange bird was the only design emblazoned on its surface.
Yang Kai stared at this Artifact Refining Furnace for a while but couldn’t identify what this strange bird was. It looked somewhat like a phoenix, but also somewhat like a crane. It had a long beak, powerful claws, and three long tail-feathers that seemed both elegant and beautiful. All of this bird features were exquisitely defined and incredibly lifelike, almost as if it could leap out from the surface of this Artifact Refining Furnace at any moment.
Examining it carefully, Yang Kai reviewed all the information he had read in the ancient books in Zong Ao’s library, trying to identify what strange Monster Beast it was supposed to be, but when his eyes landed on this strange bird’s eyes, his brow furrowed.
For an instant, Yang Kai felt as if this strange bird was staring back at him.
However, when he looked closer, Yang Kai found that this strange bird was exactly the same as before, without a trace of vitality, which confused him.
But having sensed something a moment ago, Yang Kai didn’t dare act sloppily. Who knew if there was something unusual about this Artifact Refining Furnace? Intensifying his Divine Sense output, Yang Kai carefully inspected the interior of this Artifact Refining Furnace and quickly determined that there was nothing else but a pool of burnt materials within it, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief.
This Artifact Refining Furnace was an amazing find, not something to be missed. Alchemy couldn’t be performed in such a massive furnace, and since he obtained his Conflagration Knowledge Sea, he rarely used his Saint Qi to perform Alchemy. After his Saint Qi had transformed into Demonic Flame, he had completely ceased using his Qi to perform Alchemy.
However, this thing could be brought back for Yang Yan to use. Although she had the Stone Puppet and didn’t need to worry about quenching materials, the later steps in the refining process such as forging and engraving still required a good Artifact Refining Furnace.
Yang Yan had helped him a lot, going all out to arrange powerful Spirit Arrays and refine artifacts. The two of them also shared secrets like the Stone Puppet and Space Spirit Crystal lode, so even if this Artifact Refining Furnace was of Origin King Grade, Yang Kai would not be stingy with it.
Having made a decision, Yang Kai released his Divine Sense to wrap up this huge Artifact Refining Furnace in preparation to move it into his Space Ring.
At that moment though, an unexpected change occurred. The Artifact Refining Furnace, which had almost completely cooled down by now, suddenly began shaking and a mass of astonishingly hot flames burst out from it. These flames immediately began incinerating Yang Kai’s Divine Sense.
Yang Kai was incredibly shocked by this development and hurriedly took back his Divine Sense, but even so, he suffered a loss with almost half of the Divine Sense threads he had released being burnt to ash.
As his face paled, Yang Kai’s heart filled with astonishment!
His Divine Sense was composed of Conflagrated Spiritual Energy and was extremely hot. Even before discovering this Earth Lung Fire Pond, when he was probing the fifth layer, his Divine Sense hadn’t been destroyed this fast. Yet, the flames coming from this furnace were able to instantly incinerate it. Didn’t this mean that the flames coming from this furnace were countless times more powerful than those in the fifth layer?
Moreover, the flames that appeared seem both nimble and agile. After repulsing Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, they instantly vanished, as if everything just now had been some kind of illusion.
Yang Kai naturally knew this wasn’t some kind of hallucination though. With the splitting headache he currently felt, how could everything have simply been an illusion?
Before Yang Kai could even begin trying to figure out what had just happened, the strange bird carved onto the surface of the Artifact Refining Furnace came to life, its elegant body flew out from the Artifact Refining Furnace and transformed into a beautiful Scarlet Firebird. An astonishing heat fiercely radiated from this strange bird and after flying a small circle around the furnace, it dove straight towards Yang Kai.
With an expression that was a mix of shock and pain, Yang Kai exclaimed, “Artifact Spirit!”
Yang Kai immediately understood why the flames just now had seemed so nimble. He also realized that it wasn’t just his imagination that the bird was spying on him a moment ago, it actually was! Yang Kai hadn’t been able to detect it because this Firebird didn’t have a physical form.
It was an Artifact Spirit, an Artifact Spirit born from this Artifact Refining Furnace. Yang Kai didn’t know if it had originally existed together with this furnace or if it had slowly formed after being exposed to the burning heat of the Earth Lung Fire Pond for tens of thousands of years.
But remember that this was an Artifact Spirit of an Origin King Grade artifact, Yang Kai’s heart sank.
Yang Kai had fought many people and had seen various high-end and low-end artifacts, but never had he encountered an artifact with such a powerful Artifact Spirit.
Artifact Spirits were extremely rare existences to begin with.
Firstly, the conditions for them to be born were very harsh and it required a great amount of luck. Secondly, it took a long time for them to form. Any artifact with an Artifact Spirit was at least a thousand years old.
Once an artefact had an Artefact Spirit, the power it could display would dramatically increase.
Because of this, some cultivators had developed amazing methods to artificially create Artefact Spirits with Monster Beast spirits. After hunting down a powerful Monster Beast, they would use a secret method to extract its Soul from its body then seal it into an artefact. Then, with enough time and effort, it was possible to slowly transform this soul into an Artefact Spirit.
This method was extremely bloody and cruel, and the sacrificial process was incredibly inhumane. The Monster Beast spirit sealed inside the artefact would experience unimaginable torture during the process so even if the process ultimately succeeded, the artefact would inevitably become malevolent. However, there was still a massive gap between this kind of artificial Artefact Spirit and one which was created naturally. Although an artificial Artefact Spirit could still enhance the power of an artefact, it wouldn’t be so astonishing.
The success rate for this method was quite low and it consumed a large amount of time and resources, so no one except those who cultivated evil Secret Arts and had immense patience would try to artificially create an Artefact Spirit, not to mention that very few even knew how to.
The Artefact Spirit Yang Kai encountered this time was an orthodox existence, it wasn’t an evil artificial Artefact Spirit created by some cultivator. It lacked a malevolent aura, so it was clear that this Artefact Refining Furnace had given birth to it through a series of chance coincidences.
Although this Artefact Refining Furnace wasn’t an artefact used for battle, it was also not low-grade. The presence from this strange bird Artefact Spirit pressured Yang Kai greatly.
Seeing it dive towards him, Yang Kai’s entire field of vision was filled with fiery red, as if the entire stone chamber had been filled with an incomparably hot fire aura and nothing else could be seen.
Yang Kai could only silently hope that this spirit had only been born a short time ago and had not achieved true sentience.
As he quickly retreated, Yang Kai summoned his purple shield and madly poured his Saint Qi into it, creating a violent sandstorm around his body for protection.
However, as soon as this sandstorm appeared, the Scarlet Firebird spread its wings and whipped up an intense gust mixed with numerous scorching hot blades of flame that immediately broke open the sandstorm barrier.
The fierce wind fanned the intense flames, multiplying its power. This Firebird’s strength was dreadful and caused Yang Kai’s breathing to cease and his heart to clench. A Demonic Flame sword appeared in his hand and he slashed the air in front of him.
*Peng peng peng…*
A series of loud explosions rang out as the red hot blades were struck by the jet black sword, the two mutually annihilating each other, but the number of flame blades was unlimited while the sword waves Yang Kai could send out were not, so he quickly found himself at a disadvantage.
A casual strike from this Scarlet Firebird held such incredible might!
Yang Kai waved his hand and summoned the Hundred Mountains Picture, drawing out one of the peaks from inside it before sending it crashing towards the red storm of blades.
A look of disdain and ridicule flashed across the eyes of the Scarlet Firebird, and it beat its wings once more. The flame blades which had not yet been destroyed transformed into tiny fire snakes that flew around the Hundred Mountains Picture peak before continuing towards Yang Kai.
After seeing this kind of human-like expression, Yang Kai felt his heart sink as he cursed to himself.
This Artefact Spirit had not only achieved sentience, but its intelligence and cognizance had also reached quite a high level. Otherwise, how could it have shown such a look?
What’s more, since this spirit was born from an Artefact Refining Furnace, it was inherently proficient in Fire Attribute laws and methods. It was unwise to fight against it in this small stone chamber.
Yang Kai instantly decided to withdraw.
At the same time as he sent out a bunch of black fireballs, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense moved and he used his Yuan Control Mastery to shape these fireballs into a series of snake-like attacks to counter the Firebird’s onslaught.
The red and black snakes collided with one another, constantly biting and devouring each other, seemingly forming a kind of deadlock.
Taking this opportunity, Yang Kai retreated. He didn’t want to fight in this space against such an Artefact Spirit.
However, the Firebird’s thoughts were extremely sharp and it realized what Yang Kai wanted to do at a glance. Cocking its head back, the Firebird spat out a basin sized fireball and that contained a massive amount of Fire Attribute energy, causing Yang Kai’s heart to jump.
If he were to be hit by this fireball he would be seriously injured, if not dead, so Yang Kai hurriedly dodged.
The strange bird seemed to have known that Yang Kai would take such actions and the look of disdain on its face grew even thicker. The fireball flew past Yang Kai and burst apart at the entrance to the room; however, instead of the Fire Attribute energy dissipating, it transformed into a red-light curtain that sealed up the exit.
Yang Kai’s face sank!
The Scarlet Firebird unexpectedly wanted to trap him here.
Under normal circumstances, this kind of simple barrier wouldn’t be able to bar Yang Kai’s path, and with some slight effort, he could break through it. However, with the Artefact Spirit eyeing him covetously, how could Yang Kai have the time to break through this red light curtain?
Once he tried, it would only leave him vulnerable to the Artefact Spirit’s attacks.
“Damn bird, you brought this on yourself!” Yang Kai’s face filled with wrath, no longer thinking about retreating and instead fiercely pushing the Demonic Flames rumbling outside his body, transforming himself into a giant black fireball. The black flames seemed capable of burning everything in existence, even the light which touched it, making it basically impossible to see Yang Kai’s true face anymore.
Seeing Yang Kai become enraged, the look of mockery on the strange bird’s face disappeared as it seemed to realize it had made a mistake. The person in front of it was not some soft persimmon that could casually be pinched, and forcing him to remain wasn’t a wise choice.
However, it was just an Artefact Spirit. Although it had achieved a high degree of sentience, it wouldn’t think about such things too deeply. With a loud screech, it sent out an invisible attack that tore through Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea defences and directly impacted his Soul.
Inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, the water and flames tumbled chaotically. Yang Kai cursed loudly as he desperately suppressed the abnormal condition of his Knowledge Sea while simultaneously waving his hands to fill the stone chamber with black flames. The Demonic Flames poured out from Yang Kai’s body and soon occupied half of the room as they resisted the pure fire aura coming from the Scarlet Firebird.
The situation inside the stone room suddenly became quite strange, with half of it near the entrance filled with opaque pitch-black darkness while the other half was a sea of blisteringly hot red fire.
The two energies collided fiercely at the urging of Yang Kai and the Scarlet Firebird.
The entire stone chamber shook under the fierce collisions of energy, with the ground, ceiling, and stone walls constantly flickering with light as its defensive arrangements blocked the various explosive shockwaves.
Fortunately, this place was designed for the most outstanding Artefact Refiner of a great Sect to refine, so it had been equipped with numerous protective Spirit Arrays. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for a plain stone room to withstand the fallout from Yang Kai and the Artefact Spirit’s battle.
The black and red light continued to collide, both refusing to yield to the other.
Yang Kai’s expression was dignified, and the elegant body of the Scarlet Firebird was constantly twisting, a series of strange noises constantly escaping from its mouth.
This confrontation lasted an incense stick worth of time before the stone chamber returned to its former appearance. Yang Kai and the Artefact Spirit stared at each other from across the distance, both realizing that a frontal collision like this was pointless.
Yang Kai couldn’t have imagined that a trivial Artefact Spirit could actually fight him evenly! Yang Kai knew his own strength better than anyone; even if he were to encounter a First-Order Origin Returning Realm master, if the opponent was the slightest bit careless, he was confident he could severely injure them. As for whether he could kill such a master, that would depend more on his opponent’s means.
However, this Artefact Spirit was not inferior to him.
This was just an Artefact Spirit without a master, which meant it couldn’t even exert its full strength. If this Artefact Spirit was controlled by a master, Yang Kai was certain he wouldn’t be its opponent.
An Artefact Spirit wasn’t a true entity, it was an existence tied to an artefact and only through it could it display its completely might.
He was struggling so hard to fight a handicapped opponent, if he were to be facing this Firebird’s true power…
Just as Yang Kai was thinking so, his face suddenly changed, and his expression grew far more solemn. Not even hesitating, Yang Kai condensed over a hundred Grand Heavenly Shields in front of himself while at the same time summoning his purple shield.
The Artefact Spirit was showing a wild and violent appearance, and the Artefact Refining Furnace, which had silently been sitting at the centre of the stone chamber, was also humming audibly. Immediately, the Artefact Refining Furnace flew up into the air and began rapidly spinning, shooting out clusters of red hot flames that shot into the Firebird’s body.
Suddenly, the Firebird’s aura increased dramatically, and an oppressive feeling spread out from it.
Yang Kai’s face instantly went pale as he exclaimed, “Shi!”
This Artefact Spirit actually understood how to use Shi that only Origin Returning Realm masters could comprehend.
Didn’t Qian Tong say that Shi couldn’t exist inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field? Once a cultivator who had comprehended Shi entered the Flowing Flame Sand field, they would instantly be incinerated. It was for this reason that no Origin Returning Realm master could enter this place and why for all previous openings of this Forbidden Zone only Saint Kings had entered.
But when this strange bird used Shi, nothing happened to it.
Quickly, however, Yang Kai noticed that this power was only similar to Shi, and wasn’t Shi itself. This Firebird had manipulated the rich fire aura inside this stone room and taken advantage of the surrounding World Energy to display this profound method.
Worthy of a Fire Attribute Artefact Spirit, this Firebird was truly skilled at manipulating Fire Attribute World Principles, shocking Yang Kai greatly.
This was the second time Yang Kai had fallen into this kind of strange field. The last time was when he fought against Xie Hong Wen’s Origin Returning Realm guard outside Dragon Cave Mountain.
However, his opponent’s Shi back then was incomparable to the one he was currently facing. The last time Yang Kai was wrapped in Shi, although his actions became somewhat sluggish, he didn’t feel too much pressure.
Currently, Yang Kai felt extremely heavy and his bones were making creaking sounds as his legs threatened to give out. Even something as simple as moving his fingers was nearly impossible.
There seemed to be an invisible set of chains wrapped around him, locking him firmly in place, rendering him unable to move.
Even his Divine Sense and Saint Qi were locked firmly inside his body, making it impossible for Yang Kai to gather any strength!
Seeing that Yang Kai had been easily trapped, the Firebird once again showed a proud and disdainful expression, opening its mouth to spit out a sharp flame blade that pierced straight towards Yang Kai with unstoppable might.
Evidently it wanted to use this opportunity to take Yang Kai’s life.
*Kacha…*
The hundred-plus Grand Heavenly Shields in front of Yang Kai shattered and the purple shield was only able to block this attacks momentum for a moment before its light faded, its spirituality severely damaged, and it was knocked aside.
In the blink of an eye, the blade of flame arrived in front of Yang Kai and was on the verge of reaping his life.
Just then, a dark blade-like attack flew out of from Yang Kai, one that seemed to be silently tearing space apart without emitting the slightest energy fluctuation, making it all but impossible to detect.
Space Blade!
Yang Kai understood that with just Spiritual Energy and Saint Qi methods, he wouldn’t be able to compete with this Artefact Spirit that actually understood how to use its own Artefact Refining Furnace, something that came as a great shock to him.
The Artefact Spirit by itself was extremely difficult to deal with, but now that it was using the furnace that gave birth to it, it became even fiercer. Fighting with it like this was tantamount to courting death!
So Yang Kai had used his trump card without hesitation.
Yang Kai was quite confident in his Space Blade. Although the Artefact Spirit’s methods were extraordinary, and it was inherently proficient in the use of Fire Attribute principles, Space Force was also a powerful and rarely seen method. Regarding the Dao of Space, Yang Kai knew he had not yet achieved a grand accomplishment in his comprehension, but using it to deal with this Artefact Spirit shouldn’t be an issue.
Sure enough, when the Space Blade met the flame blade, it began to warp and twist as it destabilized under the powerful Fire Attribute aura and it soon disappeared, but before it did, it swallowed the flame blade and exiled it to The Void.
Yang Kai had managed to avert this crisis.
Without waiting for the Artefact Spirit to attack again, Yang Kai sent out several more Space Blades, half of them flying towards the Artefact Spirit while the other half circled around his body. The suppression holding down Yang Kai was instantly cut by this Space Blades and he regained his freedom of movement.
The moment he was able to use his Saint Qi again, Yang Kai leapt back and waved his hands, releasing a long Space Blade towards the red light curtain that was blocking the stone chamber’s entrance, opening a crack in it large enough for him to safely pass through.
The next moment, Yang Kai’s figure flickered and rushed into the several-thousand-metre long tunnel as the angry cries of the Artefact Spirit came from behind him.
His opponent had obviously been forced back by the Space Blade for a moment and had no time to care about the retreating Yang Kai.
Yang Kai didn’t expect his Space Blades to be able to kill the Artefact Spirit. The Fire Attribute energy his opponent was able to control was both pure and dense, not something that could be completely consumed by Yang Kai’s current Space Blade. Being able to take the Firebird by surprise and create an opportunity to escape was enough to satisfy Yang Kai for now.
Yang Kai’s current plan was to leave this Earth Lung Fire Pond as quickly as possible and find another place to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water. Then, after his strength had improved, he could come to settle this score, if there was still time.
Unsurprisingly, Yang Kai had only run less than a thousand metres away before the Firebird overcame all of his Space Blades and a blisteringly hot aura appeared behind him.
Yang Kai increased his pace but when he looked back, his face couldn’t help paling.
At the end of the tunnel, the Artefact Spirit had transformed into a ball of red light and was chasing after him, obviously reluctant to let him escape.
The entire passage filled with extreme heat. The Firebird had yet to even reach Yang Kai yet the walls around him were already beginning to warp under the rich fire aura.
Yang Kai pushed his speed even higher, but compared with this naturally born Artefact Spirit, he still fell a bit short. The exit of this tunnel back into the Earth Lung Fire Pond was getting closer, but the distance between himself and the Artefact Spirit was shrinking too quickly. Yang Kai’s eyes flashed a savage light, but just as he was about to turn around and hit the Artefact Spirit again, a strange cry rang out behind him.
This cry clearly contained unwillingness and anger, and at the same time, the Fire Attribute aura which had permeated the entire passage quickly receded like an ocean wave.
Yang Kai was surprised and quickly turned back, a look of shock soon filling his face. Stopping in place, he stared at the scene behind him with interest.
At a position just over a hundred metres behind him, Yang Kai saw the Firebird struggling in place as a number of energy chains appeared on its body. The engraved runes on these chains were clearly a type of restriction that were tightly wrapped around the Firebird, binding it in place.
The Firebird only let out a few more cries before the chains suddenly shrank around its body.
The unwillingness in the Firebird’s eyes grew more intense but in the next instant, its body exploded and the red glow filling the tunnel disappeared.
[Was it destroyed?] Yang Kai frowned, but thinking about it for a moment, he quickly denied such a possibility before releasing his Divine Sense to investigate the stone room.Sure enough, inside the stone room, the originally hovering Artefact Refining Furnace had fallen to the ground again and returned to the quiet state Yang Kai had first seen it in. The strange bird pattern on this Artefact Refining Furnace’s surface still existed, but unlike before, it now seemed to have become irritable and was constantly swimming about, seemingly trying to escape the Artefact Refining Furnace again but unable to do so.
Yang Kai quickly calmed down and wore a grin.
It turned out that this thing couldn’t get too far from the Artefact Refining Furnace, and once it tried to, it would forcefully be taken back. This wasn’t too surprising though, after all, the Firebird was the Artefact Spirit of this Artefact Refining Furnace, so the two were strongly connected.
After confirming that the Artefact Spirit had no way to pursue him further, Yang Kai breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
The battle just now had been one of the most dangerous Yang Kai had fought. Even when facing the Origin Returning Realm master brought by Xie Hong Wen last time, he was able to handle the situation with ease without worry about his life; after all, he had Yang Yan’s Spirit Array to fall back on at the time.
However, this time, forced by that Artefact Spirit to fight in that stone room, Yang Kai had used all of his methods with the exception of his Demon Eye of Annihilation yet was still forced to flee in distress.
Yang Kai had barely been able to escape with his life from this Artefact Spirit, so if it had been another Saint King, they probably would have died on the spot.
Standing in the passage for a while, Yang Kai silently pondered. Since the Artefact Spirit couldn’t chase him outside the stone room, there was no need for him to leave the Earth Lung Fire Pond. This was a rare treasure land. The environment outside in the fifth layer was quite good, but compared to this place, it was completely incomparable.
But there was no way Yang Kai would be able to use this stone room, so he could only try his luck with the other chamber next door.
Yang Kai didn’t believe that there was an Artefact Spirit there too. It was a stroke of Heavenly fortune for such a thing to be born, so it should be absolutely impossible for there to be a second one here.
If by some chance there was a second Artefact Spirit though, Yang Kai would only be able to give up on this bottom level and use one of the stone chambers up above.
Thinking so, Yang Kai turned around and walked back out to the Earth Lung Fire Pond, a moment later diving into the right stone cave.
Just like the previous passageway, this one was a few thousand metres long, and at its end was a magnificent stone chamber.
Although Yang Kai didn’t think there would be a second Artefact Spirit, he also didn’t dare act carelessly. Standing at the entrance to this stone chamber, Yang Kai investigated the inside carefully, only relaxing after he discovered that the Origin King Grade Artefact Refining Furnace located at the centre of the chamber was scrapped.
If even the Artefact Refining Furnace had been ruined, there would naturally be no Artefact Spirit.
When Yang Kai’s gaze swept across some Artefact Refining materials rich in aura stacked to the side of the chamber, his eyes brightened and he rushed inside to carefully check them.
Sure enough, there were blessings after a disaster. Yang Kai hadn’t expected that in this last stone room there would be so many stored Artefact Refining materials.
And the grades of these materials was very high, all of them at least Origin Grade while the majority were actually Origin King Grade. All kinds of rare ores and materials from each of the five elements were present along with numerous Monster Beast materials arranged in a dazzling display.
Of course, although there were many materials here, some of them could no longer be used because they had been stored here for too long.
Yang Kai picked out the materials which were still useful while discarding the ones that couldn’t be used. Smiling with satisfaction, he then continued to examine this stone room.
The layout here was almost identical to the stone room on the left. At the centre of the chamber was an Artefact Refining Furnace that was several metres tall along with a number of white orbs which were exuding the soft soothing light.
However, there were less of these light orbs in this room, only four rather than the eight. It seems that the owner of this stone room wasn’t as highly ranked as the owner of the stone room on the left.
Yang Kai didn’t dwell on this though and quickly walked over to the four stone tables, pouring his Saint Qi into them to close the stone room’s Spirit Array.
After waiting for a long time, the ruined Artefact Refining Furnace finally cooled enough for Yang Kai to stuff it into his Space Ring.
Although this Artefact Refining Furnace was greatly damaged, it was originally Origin King Grade, so if he took it back and let Yang Yan take a look at it, perhaps it could be repaired. Even if it couldn’t, taking it with him wasn’t any extra effort.
Yang Kai had also collected several other damaged Origin King Grade Artefact Refining Furnaces before.
After receiving the Artefact Refining Furnace, an empty space appeared in the centre of the stone room. This empty space was engraved with an independent Spirit Array that, although small, was extremely complex. Yang Kai wasn’t proficient in Spirit Arrays, but after entering and exiting several hundred of these stone chambers and deactivating so many normal arrays, he had gained a basic understanding of how these Spirit Arrays drew in and converted the pure Fire Attribute energy from the Earth Lung Fire Pond and channelled it into the Artefact Refining Furnaces.
Moreover, the four stone tables nearby had an added control effect. Depending on the number of stone tables activated, the rate and intensity of the power being extracted from the Earth Lung Fire Pond would change proportionally.
In other words, activating four of the stone tables at once would have a completely different effect from only activating a single one.
This design made Yang Kai very satisfied and he felt that the master who had arranged these Spirit Arrays really possessed extraordinary methods.
After having delayed things so long, Yang Kai wasn’t going to waste any more time, quickly arriving at the spot originally occupied by the Artefact Refining Furnace and sitting down cross-legged.
A day later, Yang Kai opened his eyes.
Meditating for a day allowed him to adjust his condition to its optimal level. Immediately, he waved his hands and a number of delicate jade bottles and rare herbs appeared around him, all of them possessing rich and vigorous auras.
These things were the auxiliary materials that were required to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water. Zong Ao told Yang Kai about these things, and since his time on Rainfall Star he had managed to collect all of them.
After all, although these materials were also rare and precious, Yang Kai had harvested a lot of herbs on the floating continent and later searched through Rainfall Star’s Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce branch warehouse for the rest, so it hadn’t been any trouble.
Zong Ao had said that it was best to reach the Origin Realm before attempting to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water because only with such cultivation could they withstand the pain from the refining process.
Yang Kai chose to start refining it in the Saint King Realm though, because of his self-confidence.
Whether it was in terms of physique, Soul, or Saint Qi, Yang Kai estimated that he was no worse than any ordinary Origin Returning Realm master, the only shortcoming he might have was being unable to comprehend Shi. On top of that though, his tenacity and endurance weren’t comparable to an average cultivator’s, otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to integrate Great Demon God’s Unyielding Golden Skeleton into his body when he was so weak, or realize the profound Unyielding Will Martial Skill.
As such, Yang Kai wasn’t worried about his cultivation being too low, his only consideration now was how to get the most benefits out of refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water.
Zong Ao had said that this thing could greatly improve the cultivation of a cultivator without any harmful side-effects. Yang Kai felt that his current First-Order Saint King cultivation was too low, and if he could improve it quickly it would increase his safety and ability to survive.
He wasn’t worried about damaging his foundation, state of mind, or comprehension of the Martial Dao and Heavenly Way.
His physique was abnormally strong, so even if his cultivation realm soared this time, it wouldn’t cause him any physical harm or create any difficulties in his later cultivation. There was also no need to worry about his mental stability. After absorbing so many Soul remnants from various cultivators, Yang Kai’s state of mind was no longer on the level of a Saint King Realm cultivator. Similarly, his understanding of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao far exceeded others in his realm.
Now that everything was prepared, Yang Kai naturally wasn’t going to delay any further.
Although he had carefully prepared everything beforehand, Yang Kai still inspected all the materials that were placed around him to make sure one last time there were no omissions before nodding lightly. After thinking about it, he also took out a few Golden Sun Fruits and set them down nearby.
He had obtained these Golden Sun Fruits together with Dai Yuan in the Flowing Flame Sand Field and each of them contained a large quantity of potent Yang Attribute energy, which would be perfectly suited for use at this time.
When everything was ready, Yang Kai’s expression became solemn and he sent his Saint Qi into a nearby stone table. After this stone pier absorbed his Saint Qi, its surface flashed and the Spirit Array engraved in the room, which had been stopped for some time, began rumbling again.
After a while, pure Fire Attribute energy was drawn from the Earth Lung Fire Pond and poured into the spot where Yang Kai was sitting.
The fire and aura condensed into a tangible substance that immediately wrapped around Yang Kai, rushing into his body like a great flood in the next instant. Yang Kai’s expression remained unchanged as he ignored the surge of pain he felt, not only not trying to resist, but instead opening all of his body’s pores and allowing this fire aura easier access.
Soon, all of Yang Kai’s clothes were reduced to ash, exposing his intrepid body and solid muscles. His skin was releasing a golden glow and its surface was beginning to crack, allowing golden blood to flow out. These ruptures were quickly restored under the effects of the Golden Blood before cracking again, forming a cycle of destruction and repair.
Yang Kai stretched out his hand and a jade bottle which had been placed on the ground flew into it. Opening the bottle immediately, Yang Kai poured the crimson red pill inside it into his mouth before closing his eyes to refine its efficacies.
After an hour, the effects were fully absorbed and were filling every bit of Yang Kai’s physique. He then took out a dark red spirit grass and stuffed it into his mouth.
Different pills, different herbs, and even the Golden Sun Fruits were ingested by Yang Kai one after another.
The entire process lasted for three days and three nights.
Each time he took one of these materials, the heat pulsing from Yang Kai’s body increased in intensity, quickly reaching a point which would terrify any ordinary person.
Every strain of Yang Kai’s muscles were spasming and his face had become terribly fierce, his eyes completely red as if he wanted to bite someone to death. Although his appearance was miserable, Yang Kai’s powerful Soul cultivation allowed him to maintain his sobriety, which at this point he couldn’t tell if it was a blessing or a curse.
In this lucid state, Yang Kai could clearly felt the efficacies of the pills and herbs he had taken colliding and mixing in his meridians and physique, inducing some incredible changes as they did. It currently felt like millions of ants were rioting about inside his body, creating a kind of torment no Saint King Realm cultivator could possibly bear.
No wonder Zong Ao had repeatedly warned Yang Kai to not act hastily and try to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water before reaching the Origin Returning Realm. [That old guy really wasn’t spouting nonsense.]
The pain he was experiencing right now would be too much for an ordinary Origin Returning Realm master, and this was just the beginning. If not for his Golden Blood’s incredible restorative ability, at this moment he would have to give up, otherwise, if he continued, his body would literally explode.
All the pills and herbs Yang Kai used were either Yang or Fire Attribute, and coupled with the natural Fire Attribute energy of this place, his body had accumulated an unimaginable amount of burning power and was bearing torment difficult to imagine.
Yang Kai’s eyes opened again, and with a wave of his trembling hand, sent his Saint Qi into a second stone table.
*Hu…*
With a low rumble, the Spirit Array in the stone chamber began operating faster, and the Fire Attribute energy being extracted from the Earth Lung Fire Pond increased exponentially.
This time, Yang Kai couldn’t bear it anymore and had to release a series of miserable howls to help stabilize his mood.
Not daring to delay, Yang Kai pushed his Saint Qi fiercely to forcefully refine and fuse the various medicinal efficacies into every part of his physique.
It was only three days later that Yang Kai finished merging all the violent medicinal efficacies in his body and suppressed them into his meridians.
Immediately, with a dignified expression, Yang Kai took out a special bottle and stared at it for a moment before opening it resolutely and extracting a single drop of crystal-like liquid from it with a light jolt.
The moment this drop of liquid flew out, the stone chamber, which was akin to an extremely hot furnace, was suddenly filled with a deep chill.
It was obvious to the naked eye that the space surrounding this drop of liquid had been completely cleared of all burning aura, the dense Fire Attribute energy unable to even approach it closer than one metre. What was even stranger though was that after being extracted by Yang Kai, this drop of liquid simply floated mid-air in front of him.
Profound Yin Sunflower Water!
This was a treasure that could elicit greed from an Origin King Realm master and Yang Kai actually had twenty drops of it.
Seeing this drop of Profound Yin Sunflower Water, Yang Kai couldn’t help thinking of that enchantress Xue Yue! At that time, that woman had deadly appeal to both men and women, and had been poisoned by this Profound Yin Sunflower Water. It had taken Yang Kai extraordinary effort to awaken her.
However, if it weren’t for the fetters of the Soul Chains, Yang Kai wouldn’t have cared about whether she had lived or died; after all, far from being friends, the two of them could be considered enemies.
When Yang Kai left Rainfall Star, he had also been chased down by people from Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce.
Slowly shaking his head to dispel these thoughts, Yang Kai no longer dallied and directly swallowed this drop of Profound Yin Sunflower Water.
A frigid sensation instantly spread from Yang Kai’s mouth, not only showing signs of freezing his physical body but even his Knowledge Sea. At that moment, an extreme heat erupted from Yang Kai’s body to swiftly dispel this icy cold chill.
But the energy contained in this drop of Profound Yin Sunflower Water was truly terrifying. As soon as the initial cold had been dispersed, an even stronger chill began diffusing through Yang Kai’s body.
The next moment, endless scorching power burst out.
These two hot and cold forces took Yang Kai’s body as a battlefield and collided with one another, neither of them dispersing the other but instead undergoing some profound and mysterious changes.
Yang Kai’s solemn expression collapsed immediately and a series of muffled roars escaped from deep in his throat while veins bulged across his skin, giving him a terrifying appearance.
Ha Li Ka, President of Rainfall Star’s Heng Lou Chamber of Commerce’s branch and a peak Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master had been injured by this Profound Yin Sunflower Water and forced to cut off his own arm to save his life. If Yang Kai had not taken so many Yang and Fire Attribute pills and spirit herbs to accumulate a terrifying scorching power inside his body, this drop of Profound Yin Sunflower Water would have killed him the instant he swallowed it.
The first difficulty in refining Profound Yin Sunflower Water was to suppress enough burning power inside one’s body. If one’s physique wasn’t strong enough and their Soul wasn’t tough enough, it would be impossible for them to even temporarily store this kind of hot energy in their meridians, much less move on to the next step of the refining.
The second difficulty was the situation Yang Kai was enduring right now. He had to remain awake and alert to maximize the fusion of the hot and cold powers rampaging inside his body.
If he was unable to pass this hurdle, at best he would suffer crippling injuries, while at worse his body would be completely destroyed.
Inside the stone chamber, Yang Kai’s bestial roars continued to resound and his condition was extremely difficult to even understand. Sometimes his whole body was cold like profound ice, the air around him filled with frost and his skin a dark blue, then in the next moment, his skin would be red hot and releasing steam as if he was a cooked crab.
As he withstood this alternating extreme hot and cold, Yang Kai was pleasantly surprised to find that his cultivation was growing at a horrifying speed. Not only was his cultivation realm increasing, but the Demonic Flame in his body also seemed to be undergoing some subtle changes.
Yang Kai’s Demonic Flames were themselves a strange coexistence of hot and cold forces. It was a unique Saint Qi that only belonged to him. The situation in his body created by refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water actually mimicked the properties of the Demonic Flame perfectly and was gradually causing some changes in the Saint Qi in his body. Not only had Yang Kai not anticipated such a development, Zong Ao likely hadn’t either.
In the fifth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, inside a stone chamber at the bottom of an unoccupied Earth Lung Fire Pond, a pale Yang Kai sat calmly.
Although he was exhausted and about to collapse, Yang Kai’s expression still had traces of joy and excitement mixed into it, and the Saint Qi fluctuations emanating from his body clearly indicated he had obtained a substantial improvement in his cultivation.
It had been more than a month since he began refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, but it was not until yesterday that he finally finished.
He hadn’t expected that it would take such a long time and that there would be so many unexpected developments during the refining process.
The cold power contained in the Profound Yin Sunflower Water was far too powerful, and the spirit grasses and spirit medicines he had taken before, coupled with the Fire Attribute energy drawn in by the stone chamber’s Spirit Array with two stone tables activated, still couldn’t suppress it. As the hot and cold forces in his body became unbalanced, as a last resort, Yang Kai had activated the third stone table control to dramatically increase the amount of Fire Attribute energy being channelled into the stone room.
This attempt to balance the power of the Profound Yin Sunflower Water with the power of the Earth Lung Fire Pond had backfired though. When Yang Kai activated the third control table, the cold power of the Profound Yin Sunflower Water was completely suppressed, and the burning power began running rampant in his body.
Unable to back down, Yang Kai took a second drop of Profound Yin Sunflower Water but was aggrieved to discover that the initial imbalance appeared again.
In the end, Yang Kai had to activate all four of the stone tables allowing the Spirit Array to extract the maximum amount of Fire Attribute energy from the Earth Lung Fire Pond. Fortunately, this just barely managed to balance the cold and hot forces in his body.
However, doing this increased the risk and suffering Yang Kai had to endure exponentially, and during this past month, he had constantly wandered the line between life and death, nearly falling over its edge several times.
His strong body and powerful Soul played crucial roles at the critical moment. Yang Kai had to use his pure Golden Blood several times to repair his wounds, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to survive and been killed by the rampant hot and cold energies.
Although it had been an incredibly dangerous and painful experience, the final result was actually quite different from Yang Kai’s expectations.
Zong Ao had praised the Profound Yin Sunflower Water to Heavens so, naturally, Yang Kai believed it to be extremely powerful and was hoping to use this refining to directly break through to the Third-Order Saint King Realm and possibly even touch the threshold of the Origin Returning Realm, but currently, his cultivation was only Second-Order Saint King.
Two drops of Profound Yin Sunflower Water, so many rare spirit herbs, pills, and all the power of the Earth Lung Fire Pond, yet he had only broken through one Minor Realm.
Nevertheless, despite his cultivation not increasing much, Yang Kai had gained something else.
Pondering for a moment, Yang Kai opened his hand and a dark Demonic Flame appeared atop his palm like a burning fireball. The Demonic Flame looked the same as before, but it was no longer fluctuating between hot and cold, good and evil aura. Anyone who swept it with their Divine Sense would not just think it was a strange, somewhat malevolent looking ball of fire, without even any kind of temperature.
However, with a single thought, Yang Kai transformed this indistinct Demonic Flame into one that emitted a bitter cold aura. With a crackling, the entire stone room filled with frost. The walls of this massive room also began to freeze over with seemingly everlasting ice, causing the protective Spirit Arrays to activate automatically and resist this spreading chill.
Yang Kai’s thoughts changed again, and the icy chill instantly disappeared and was replaced by a blistering heat. The frost that had diffused before disappeared in the blink of an eye and a raging inferno took its place. The protective Spirit Arrays in this stone room couldn’t respond to this dramatic change fast enough and many cracking sounds rang out.
Yang Kai showed a look of satisfaction as he gently clenched his fists, causing the black ball of Demonic Flame to disappear.
He also noticed that after refining two drops of Profound Yin Sunflower Water, the main reason why his cultivation didn’t improve too dramatically was that his Demonic Flame had absorbed most of the energy.
When the Profound Yin Sunflower Water and the various hot forces reached a balance in his body, logically speaking, these two conflicting forces should have led to massive growth in his cultivation, but the strange Demonic Flame, which itself was an amalgamation of hot and cold energy was actually able to accept the efficacies of the Profound Yin Sunflower Water and the Fire Attribute energy to strengthen itself.
The Demonic Flame only recently came into existence, and up until a month ago, it had been a coexistence of cold and hot energy. Although this simultaneously hot and cold energy was unpredictable and incomprehensible, Yang Kai was unable to manipulate its state at all.
But now, Yang Kai could achieve fine control of its properties. The power of his Demonic Flame had greatly improved and his ability to manipulate it had also increased dramatically.
In the future, when Yang Kai faced enemies, if he wanted his Saint Qi to be cold it would be cold, then if he wanted it to be hot it would be hot. This ability to control the properties of his Demonic Flame provided a greater boost in combat efficiency than a simple increase in his own power.
Overall, Yang Kai was very satisfied with this refining. From the moment the Demonic Flame came into existence, Yang Kai knew that this exotic power had great growth potential.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to figure out how to enhance his Demonic Flame and there was no one who could help guide him.
This opportunity was a coincidence that allowed him to find a way forward.
As long as he could create a balance of hot and cold energies, Yang Kai could allow his Demonic Flame to absorb them and promote its growth.
It seemed that the remaining Profound Yin Sunflower Water wasn’t useless after all, Yang Kai thought secretly.
He was still thinking about what he was going to do with so many Profound Yin Sunflower Water drops. Selling them wasn’t an option. Everyone would know he had such a treasure and there would be no end in troubles. But allowing the Profound Yin Sunflower Water to simply collect dust would be nothing short of wasting Heaven’s precious gifts.
Now, Yang Kai had a plan.
As long as he could collect a large number of Yang and Fire Attribute herbs, he could refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water two or three more times to further strengthen his Demonic Flame.
Of course, this was all just an idea, and Yang Kai didn’t even know whether he could realize it.
If not for the fact that time was running out, Yang Kai would be willing to refine some more Profound Yin Sunflower Water here to experiment. Unfortunately, more than five months had passed since he first entered the Flowing Flame Sand Field, so there wasn’t much time left until the six-month deadline. He could only put this idea on hold for a while and try to verify it later.
Yang Kai was afraid that he would never again find such a good refining environment like the Earth Lung Fire Pond here; after all, the next time the Flowing Flame Sand Field opened would likely be hundreds of years from now.
After sitting in meditation for a day, Yang Kai had fully restored himself, got up, walked around the room to collect the four soft glowing orbs embedded in the walls, and tossed them into his Space Ring.
These light orbs were not ordinary objects, so Yang Kai planned to take them back and place them around his residence. Not only could these things calm one’s mood, but they could also optimize one’s environment, so he didn’t plan on leaving them behind.
After making sure that he had thoroughly cleaned out anything of value in the stone chamber, Yang Kai left and walked down the long tunnel.
Soon, Yang Kai walked out of the passage and stood at the entrance to the cave. Staring out this entrance, his lips couldn’t help curling into a grin.
More than a month ago, he had suffered a big loss to that Artifact Spirit, and if he hadn’t cultivated Space Force, he would have died on the spot. Now that his cultivation had risen a Minor Realm and he had obtained the ability to manipulate his Demonic Flame’s temperature, he definitely planned on settling the score.
If Yang Kai said he wasn’t interested in owning an Artifact Refining Furnace with an Artifact Spirit, it would be a lie. If possible, he would naturally want to subdue the other party.
But that Artifact Spirit was not an existence to be taken lightly. Even if Yang Kai was more confident now, he knew that it wouldn’t be easy to defeat it. On top of that, he needed to obtain victory swiftly because he had no idea when the Flowing Flame Sand Field would close. It wouldn’t be good if he was heavily engaged with that Artifact Spirit then suddenly transported outside the Flowing Flame Sand Field by the World Principles here.
After hesitating for a moment, Yang Kai’s figure flickered as he rushed directly towards the other cave.
In mid-air, the extreme heat from the Earth Lung Fire Pond below wrapped around Yang Kai and the tangible Fire Attribute energy tried to incinerate his body. Yang Kai immediately condensed a layer of Demonic Flame around his body that emitted a profound chill, and although resisting the ambient heat couldn’t be considered easy, it was also not particularly difficult.
Yang Kai smiled happily as he realized that his Demonic Flame had truly become more powerful. The last time he rushed though the Earth Lung Fire Pond, he had to act extremely carefully, but now he could traverse it with just a bit of effort.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai arrived at the left cave and stepped inside.
The several-thousand-metre-long passage was quickly crossed by Yang Kai and from beginning to end, the Artifact Spirit was completely unresponsive, but when Yang Kai’s figure appeared in the stone room again, the Artifact Refining Furnace in the middle of the chamber suddenly began humming though and its surface glowed bright red. In the next instant, the Scarlet Firebird let out a piercing cry and its lithe body leapt off the surface of the furnace.
The temperature of the entire stone chamber rose sharply, and the air took on a red hue.
This Artifact Spirit was obviously bearing a grudge. The last time it had allowed Yang Kai to escape, which had been frustrating it for the past month, but now that it saw Yang Kai appearing before it again, it immediately felt like it was being provoked and was preparing to teach this impudent human a lesson.
This was also in line with Yang Kai’s intentions. His muscles tightened and the ice-cold Demonic Flame layer around his body welled up to resist his opponent’s hot aura. Waving his hand, Yang Kai condensed a Heaven Punishing Spear and hurled it towards the Scarlet Firebird.
The Scarlet Firebird screamed in anger, seemingly annoyed that it was being underestimated, releasing a large swath of fire from its beak that it sent towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai sneered, not showing any intention to dodge. His Heaven Punishing Spear swiftly broke through the wave of flames while transforming into a black dragon. Opening its mouth, this black dragon spat out a jet of ice-cold black flame, resisting the burning hot aura before it.
After several battles, Yang Kai had gained some experience with his Yuan Control Mastery and could now easily manipulate his Saint Qi and transform it into various kinds of attacks.
Yang Kai had to admit that obtaining enlightenment about Yuan Control Mastery with the help of the Red Candle Fruit was extremely helpful in battle. This alone improved his combat power by at least twenty percent.
Yuan Control Mastery was an excellent method, but it put a significant load on one’s Divine Sense, so not every cultivator could comprehend it or use it, only those with more powerful Souls could become proficient in it.
The transformation of the Heaven Punishing Spear clearly surprised the Firebird and seeing the cold flames from the black dragon withstand its heatwave clearly enraged it. With a flap of its wings, it released a barrage of flames that quickly bypassed the black dragon and struck towards the place where Yang Kai stood.
Wind and thunder force surged behind Yang Kai and a pair of delicate transparent wings manifested. With a flicker of these wings, Yang Kai’s figure disappeared, causing the barrage of flames to hit nothing but air.
Without waiting for the Firebird to launch another attack, Yang Kai released a dozen Space Blades!
Since he was planning to fight a quick and decisive battle, Yang Kai naturally had no intention of probing his enemy and immediately used his trump card.
His Space Blade, which was capable of devouring almost anything, flew out quickly and elicited a look of dread from the human-like eyes of the Firebird. Last time, it had suffered a small loss at the hands of Yang Kai’s Space Blade, and understanding the strangeness of this attack, it naturally didn’t try to face it head-on, beating its wings quickly as it transformed into a streak of light and dodged to the side. Before it could completely rematerialize though, Yang Kai rapidly approached and sent a punch out towards it.
With his cold flames protecting his body, Yang Kai no longer feared the burning heat of the Artifact Spirit; after all, this Artifact Spirit had been born as a result of an accumulation of Fire Attribute energy from the Earth Lung Fire Pond over a few tens of thousands of years. Since Yang Kai didn’t fear its source, naturally he didn’t fear it either.
The Artifact Spirit’s response was also extremely quick. Seemingly aware that its situation wasn’t good, it quickly solidified the air, stopping Yang Kai’s fist in place only half a meter away from it.
The Artifact Spirit had used its supreme mastery of Fire Attribute principles to display a Shi-like power again.
*Pa pa pa…*
There was a burst of explosions in the air, and the intensity of the Fire Attribute aura in the stone chamber instantly rose several levels. Yang Kai instantly pushed his Saint Qi to its maximum, releasing a frigid aura from his body that quickly broke through the imprisonment of the Artifact Spirit and restored his freedom.
The last time he was bound by the Artifact Spirit’s power, Yang Kai had to use his Space Force to cut it off, but this time, just using his cold flames was enough. The reason for this was obviously because the cold energy conflicted greatly with the Fire Attribute principles the Firebird used to immobilize him.
Grinning, Yang Kai flicked his wrist, and before the Firebird could fully manifest its body, a black spear blasted towards it.
The Artifact Spirit’s body had just fully appeared when it was penetrated by the black spear, causing it to release a piercing cry. Its two small eyes immediately filled with anger and panic. It seemed to not understand why, after disappearing for only just over a month, this human it was easily able to defeat suddenly had the ability to fight with it on even ground.
This Artifact Spirit didn’t have a physical body so even if it was penetrated by a Heaven Punishing Spear, its life wasn’t in any danger, but the ice-cold energy contained in this Heaven Punishing Spear made the Artifact Spirit quite uncomfortable and also caused its figure to fluctuate. Only after wriggling about for a while did it finally manage to restore its original appearance.
Yang Kai’s move completely angered the Artifact Spirit. With its body shaking, it condensed a large number of feathers out of pure fire aura and shot them towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s leisurely expression instantly became serious as he realized the horrifying killing power behind these flame feathers. He didn’t dare to hesitate. Condensing numerous Grand Heavenly Shields, Yang Kai also summoned a dozen peaks from the Hundred Mountains Picture to protect himself.
With a thunderous boom, the Grand Heavenly Shields were all crushed and the phantom peaks from the Hundred Mountains Picture were also severely damaged, disappearing in the next instant. Yang Kai hurriedly took back the Hundred Mountains Picture and then used his Wind and Thunder Wings to boost up his speed to evade.
The stone room shook violently under this impact and the surrounding protective Spirit Arrays once again activated, preventing the chamber from being completely destroyed but still suffering significant damage under the bombardment of the flame feathers.
After releasing these flame feathers, the Artifact Spirit’s body shrank and its expression looked a little tired.
Obviously, these flame feathers weren’t an ordinary attack and had most likely been condensed from the Artifact Spirit’s very essence.
The flame feathers which had missed their mark, however, didn’t disappear and instead changed direction and chased after Yang Kai like dazzling crimson daggers, clearly wanting to ruthlessly pierce him through.
When Yang Kai realized he couldn’t escape, a dignified look appeared on his face and he abruptly came to a halt, turned around, and silently stared at the flame feathers rushing towards him.
When these feathers closed to within ten meters of his position, Yang Kai suddenly stretched out his hands, as if he was trying to grab the air itself, and then ripped them left and right like he was tearing something.
A large Void crack was torn open by Yang Kai, like the great maw of a beast, and welcomed the flame feathers.
Seeing this, Artifact Spirit cried out and the flame feathers nimbly returned to their owner.
Apparently, it also knew that it couldn’t let its flame feathers enter this Void crack. Once inside, it would likely never be able to recall them. In the blink of an eye, all the remaining flame feathers had reintegrated into the Artifact Spirit’s body, restoring it to its full size once more.
But at that moment, Yang Kai’s figured flickered, reappearing close by and slamming his palm down. At the same time, in the air, a huge black palm print appeared, one which seemed capable of covering the entire world.
Heaven Covering Hand!
The Artifact Spirit couldn’t evade this strike and, as its two small eyes stared at the giant palm print, it was forced to push the Fire Attribute energy in its body to in an attempt to forcefully withstand this blow.
In the next instant, the Heaven Covering Hand impacted the Artifact Spirit.
A deafening bang resounded as cold and hot forces collided inside the stone room, sending out intense shockwaves that caused the chamber to shake violently. The heatwave and black dragon which were still locked in combat not far away were struck by this shockwave and immediately scattered into light particles, disappearing from existence.
After everything calmed down again, the Artifact Spirit hovered in the air while Yang Kai stood several dozen meters away, staring at it coldly.
The Artifact Spirit’s physical appearance didn’t seem to have changed much, but its red glow was now obviously much dimmer than just now. Clearly it had suffered damage under Yang Kai’s attacks a moment ago.
“I don’t know what level your sentience has reached or if you can understand me, but if you are willing to surrender without a fight, I can spare your life. If you refuse, I can only act ruthlessly. If you choose the latter, you’ll have to suffer a lot and it will likely result in severe damage to your foundation!” Yang Kai said faintly.
This Artifact Spirit had indeed achieved a high degree of sentience, but Yang Kai wasn’t sure if it was capable of understanding his words; after all, this guy had been tethered to an Artifact Refining Furnace for tens of thousands of years and may not have ever interacted with other living things.
What surprised Yang Kai, however, was that after he had said this, rage flashed across the small eyes of the Artifact Spirit.
It really could understand him!
The next moment, an angry cry came from its mouth, and the Artifact Refining Furnace, which had been silently sitting in the centre of the stone room, buzzed loudly. The Artifact Refining Furnace then became red hot in an instant and a wave of heat suddenly shot out from it and poured into the Firebird’s body.
The Artifact Spirit, which had originally been slightly injured, was supplemented by the furnace that gave birth to it and suddenly recovered, it’s body growing even larger than before as it hovered over-top Yang Kai’s head, its wings spread out broadly, covering half of Yang Kai’s vision.
As this was happening, Yang Kai just watched quietly, without any intention of interfering. Not only did he not attempt to stop the Artifact Spirit, a hint of pity flashed across his eyes.
In the end, an Artifact Spirit was just an Artifact Spirit. Although it had achieved sentience, its battle experience was far less than Yang Kai’s.
Yang Kai was waiting for this moment.
After battling the Artifact Spirit last time, Yang Kai understood that this Artifact Refining Furnace was unusual, and relying on it, the Artifact Spirit could instantly supplement and strengthen itself. However, there was definitely a limit to this, and it was impossible for it to supplement the consumption of the Artifact Spirit endlessly.
Therefore, Yang Kai had fought violently at the beginning in an attempt to force the Artifact Spirit to use the reserves stored inside the Artifact Refining Furnace. If it hadn’t resorted to using the Fire Attribute energy stored in the Artifact Refining Furnace, Yang Kai would have no way of carrying out the next part of his strategy.
Now that it was using the Artifact Refining Furnace though, how much Fire Attribute energy would still be left inside it? From the corner of Yang Kai’s eyes, he secretly glanced towards the huge Origin King Grade furnace.
After its body became huge, the Artifact Spirit regained its proud expression and its small eyes filled with disdain.
However, before it could show off its power, Yang Kai disappeared from where he was standing and when his figure reappeared, it was already standing beside the furnace.
Immediately, under the horrified gaze of the Artifact Spirit, a ball of Demonic Flame emerged from Yang Kai’s palm and shot fiercely towards the Artifact Refining Furnace.
In an instant, the Artifact Refining Furnace was wrapped in Demonic Flame, after which Yang Kai ferociously pushed his Saint Qi as he poured his strength into the furnace.
The ice-cold flames exerted their full power at this moment and in the blink of an eye, the massive Artifact Refining Furnace’s surface began to freeze and frigid black energy continuously spread toward its interior.
Up above, the Artifact Spirit seemed to suffer severe damage, its massive red body suddenly trembling violently as a hue of cold, black light emerged from its figure.
It now knew what Yang Kai was trying to do.
The Artifact Refining Furnace was the vessel that gave birth to it. It was the Artifact Spirit of this Artifact Refining Furnace, so once the Artifact Refining Furnace received an attack or was damaged, there was no way it would remain unharmed.
It could be said that Yang Kai didn’t need to confront it at all, he only needed to deal with the Artifact Refining Furnace. This was probably the greatest sadness of an Artifact Spirit. No matter how powerful an existence it was, it could never fully control or display its own strength.
The Artifact Spirit warped and distorted. Yang Kai’s actions had made it enraged, but the chill that spread from inside its body also made it extremely frightened.
Not daring to hesitate, the Firebird opened its mouth and released a powerful heat blast to attack Yang Kai. It didn’t expect this blow to kill Yang Kai, it only wanted to drive him away from the Artifact Refining Furnace so he could no longer attack its vessel.
Yang Kai was also quick shocked at this moment. He discovered that this Artifact Refining Furnace contained an intense Fire Attribute energy that made freezing it quickly impossible.
Even as the heat blast struck towards him, Yang Kai didn’t dare to move; after all, his intentions had been exposed. This Artifact Spirit’s intelligence was quite high, so once he left the Artifact Refining Furnace, it would be extremely difficult to approach it again.
Staring at the blistering-hot blast, Yang Kai’s expression became solemn as he stretched out his other hand and fiercely tore open a Void crack.
This Void crack was twice as large as the previous one Yang Kai had opened.
The heat blast arrived in front of Yang Kai at that moment and poured into The Void, becoming exiled forever and failing to bring any harm to Yang Kai at all.
However, the Void crack Yang Kai opened immediately began to destabilize. Although Yang Kai’s understanding of the Dao of Space and his ability to manipulate Space Force had improved greatly, he was still a fair distance away from reaching the grand accomplishment stage. Forcibly ripping open a Void crack to confront an enemy was a measure of last resort. When this Void crack was struck by the pure fire aura contained in the heatwave fired by the Artifact Spirit, it instantly warped and appeared to be on the verge of collapsing.
Yang Kai’s face sank. Leaving one hand on the Void crack, trying to maintain its stability and stalling for as much time as possible, he used his other hand to desperately pour his ice-cold Saint Qi into the Artifact Refining Furnace.
Like a dam had burst, Yang Kai’s Saint Qi flooded out of his body, causing the black frost on the surface of the Artifact Refining Furnace to rapidly expand.
The Artifact Spirit could see that the Void crack Yang Kai opened was crumbling and a look of joy flashed across its small eyes; however, when it glanced over at Yang Kai desperately trying to seal the Artifact Refining Furnace in ice, panic once again filled its face and it poured even more energy into its heat blast.
It seemed to realize that after this battle, either it would be frozen or Yang Kai would be incinerated, so it held nothing back.
The battle in the stone chamber instantly reached a deadlock. As the heat blast continued pouring out from the Artifact Spirit’s mouth, the surrounding space became extremely hot, but at the spot where Yang Kai stood, the unstable Void crack intercepted and devoured this blast. At the same time, crackling sounds came from the Artifact Refining Furnace behind Yang Kai as a layer of black ice gradually spread across its surface and cold energy seeped into its insides. Although this process wasn’t fast, it wasn’t slow either.
As time passed, the Void crack warped further and became more and more unstable.
Eventually, under the pressure of the Artifact Spirit’s heat blast, the Void crack collapsed, exposing the figure of Yang Kai behind it.
Seeing this, the Artifact Spirit showed a look of pleasant surprise. Without the strange black crack that could devour its heat blast, it had full confidence to incinerate Yang Kai in one shot.
A cruel and violent light flashed across its eyes and the Artifact Spirit opened its mouth wider, concentrating an intense ball of red light that caused shocking waves of heat to spread across the shaking stone room.
Seeing that it was about to shoot this blast, the solemn look on Yang Kai’s face suddenly morphed into a grin as it gave a faint glance towards the Artifact Spirit before letting out a hearty laugh.
Along with his laughter, there was a sudden cracking noise as the huge Artifact Refining Furnace became completely encased in a layer of ice that blocked even the slightest bit of aura from leaking out.
The moment this layer of ice finished forming, the Artifact Spirit acted as if it had been struck by lightning, its huge body seemingly losing all strength. As it fell from the sky, the mass of Fire Attribute energy it had condensed in its mouth exploded, causing a backlash that blasted apart its entire head.
However, this explosion didn’t kill the Artifact Spirit since it did not possess a true physical body. It was inherently proficient in Fire Attribute principles, so such a backlash wasn’t capable of taking its life.
Nevertheless, although it didn’t lose its life, the Artifact Spirit’s massive body quickly shrank down and, after landing, it had returned to its original size. On top of that, its newly reborn head was quite dim and it had difficulty standing up; obviously, it had been severely weakened.
It stood there silently, staring at Yang Kai with hatred and resentment, it’s two small eyes shifting back and forth, its thoughts at this moment a complete mystery.
Suddenly, it spread its wings and transformed into a streak of red light that rushed towards the Artifact Refining Furnace.
It wanted to return to the vessel it was born from.
Naturally, Yang Kai wasn’t about to let it succeed. After carefully plotting against it and finally managing to obtain a decisive advantage over this Artifact Spirit, if he allowed it to return to the vessel, all his efforts would have been in vain.
Jet black Demonic Flames poured out from Yang Kai’s body and swiftly gathered into fireballs that floated around him. Under the guidance of Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, these strange black fireballs circled slowly as they released an astonishing cold aura.
Tracking the rushing red light with his eyes, Yang Kai flicked his wrist and sent out one of the ice-cold black fireballs to intercept it.
Whether it was because it hadn’t yet recovered its strength or because its foundation had been damaged, the Artifact Spirit didn’t even attempt to avoid this black fireball and was hit by it directly.
With a loud blast, alternating hot and cold impact waves spread out fiercely and the Artifact Spirit’s body manifested once again, tumbling through the air before directly slamming into the stone walls, its red glow dimming significantly once more.
Struggling back up, the Artifact Spirit transformed into a red streak again and shot out.
Yang Kai coldly snorted and sent out another ball of cold flame.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
Inside the stone chamber, the Artifact Spirit suffered almost inhumane torture. Each time it was hit by the cold flames, its body dimmed, and after seven or eight times, it even began having difficulty maintaining its form. Its two wings had shortened dramatically, and its signature three long tail-feathers had also disappeared.
With its container frozen, and having suffered a severe battering, the once-mighty Artifact Spirit’s mood became anxious as it lost all ability to fight back against Yang Kai, degenerating into a sandbag to be beaten.
However, this fellow was remarkably tough. It had been corroded many times by the cold flames but was still intact and its spirituality had not been lost. This secretly startled Yang Kai and also strengthened his idea of subduing it.
This time, if he had not successfully removed the firewood from under the pot by cutting off the Artifact Spirit from the Artifact Refining Furnace, with the strength and resilience this Firebird displayed, Yang Kai knew there would have been no way he could conquer it. But with its vessel now under Yang Kai’s control, if he still couldn’t subdue it, it would be too much of a waste.
After being easily knocked off again, the Artifact Spirit stood up tenaciously and let out a low, miserable sounding chirp from its mouth.
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes, his expression neither happy nor sad as he indifferently spoke, “Since you’ve achieved sentience, why don’t we talk this over? I don’t want to destroy you, and I’m willing to let you keep your life, but you must submit to me!”
The Artifact Spirit cried out repeatedly, its two small eyes glaring at Yang Kai angrily.
Yang Kai just chuckled, “You’d best think about it carefully. In any case, I don’t need to subdue you, I can just destroy you here and erase your existence. It wasn’t easy for you to be born, as for how long hard you needed to endure to do so, you understand far better than I do, so why not accept my proposal?”
“Naturally, submitting to me isn’t necessarily a bad thing for you. As far as I know, Artifact Spirits like you should have strong growth potential. I’ll bring you out of this place and will even find ways to help you grow.” Yang Kai understood that hard and soft selling went hand in hand. When dealing with highly sentient races, a big stick and candied fruit was the surest way to succeed, let alone dealing with an Artifact Spirit.
Sure enough, the Artifact Spirit, which had been utterly opposed to the idea at first, heard Yang Kai’s last words and it’s small eyes slowly began turning, seemingly thinking over the pros and cons of this deal while trying to evaluate if Yang Kai was just trying to deceive it.
Seeing a chance of success, Yang Kai struck while the iron was hot and said enticingly, “You’ve been stuck here for tens of thousands of years and the Earth Lung Fire Pond is the source of your birth, so presumably it can’t help you grow any further. If you refuse to follow me, you’ll be stuck here for who knows how long. The next time someone comes here though… heh, they may not be as accommodating as I.”
After saying so, Yang Kai’s voice sank, “I’ve made my offer, whether you submit or perish is up to you. Just know that I have little patience and time, so when I get up to leave here, if you haven’t made a decision yet, you won’t have another opportunity.”
Saying so, Yang Kai sat down cross-legged down next to the Artifact Refining Furnace. After delivering such an ultimatum, Yang Kai believed this Artifact Spirit would make the smart choice, all he had to do now was wait.
The Artifact Spirit stood in the corner of the stone room, its eyes shifting back and forth between Yang Kai and the Artifact Refining Furnace which was sealed in black ice, its expression changing constantly as it weighed its options.
The stone room suddenly became quiet. Yang Kai didn’t try to urge the Artifact Spirit further as he believed that after suffering so much and with the damage to its strength, it wouldn’t dare try to overtake him again and would remain where it stood.
Half a day passed by before Yang Kai opened his eyes once more, glanced over at the Artifact Spirit coldly, and stood up.
This time, without waiting for Yang Kai to say anything, the Artifact Spirit let out a crisp cry.
Although Yang Kai couldn’t tell what it meant exactly, he could still figure out its intentions and nodded, “I mean what I say. As long as you are willing to follow me, I will definitely help you grow and evolve. En, right, I forget to tell you, I have another companion like you that, after many years managed to obtain sentience, a Divine Tree, but right now it’s in a deep sleep as it evolves. You’ll be able to meet it in the future and communicate with it, and at that time you’ll be able to know what kind of person I am.”
The Artifact Spirit once again tweeted, but this time it had a docile tone to it.
Yang Kai grinned and said, “Good, since you’re willing, let go of your Soul’s defences so I can place a restriction on you. You can rest assured that this won’t harm you, it’s just a little method to protect against contingencies.”
The Artifact Spirit hesitated for quite some time before finally releasing its Soul’s defences.
Yang Kai immediately sent a burst of Spiritual Energy into its soul.
Great Heavenly Attraction from the Nine Heavens Divine Skills was a special Soul Skill that allowed one to take control of another’s Soul Brand. Although the Nine Heavens Divine Skills were only a set of Martial Skills from Tong Xuan Realm, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was incredibly powerful so he didn’t fear suffering backlash after using it on this Artifact Spirit.
Soon, everything was in order, and Yang Kai retrieved the Artifact Spirit’s Soul Brand and sealed it inside his own Knowledge Sea.
This way, he could control the Artifact Spirit’s life or death, and once it revealed any sign of treachery, Yang Kai could immediately terminate it.
After losing its Soul Brand, the Artifact Spirit wore an unhappy look, flapping its wings and crying out constantly towards Yang Kai. Yang Kai knew it was in a bad mood but he didn’t care. Waving his hand, he melted the layer of ice surrounding the Artifact Refining Furnace. Now that he had subdued the Artifact Spirit, there was naturally no reason to continue freezing this furnace. Although freezing this Artifact Refining Furnace wouldn’t deal any significant damage to the Artifact Spirit, it still had some impact.
Seeing that its vessel was no longer under threat, the Artifact Spirit’s annoyance and anger dulled significantly, but it was still behaving a bit unruly.
Yang Kai thought about it for a moment before stretching out his finger and forcing out a drop of Golden Blood, turning to the Artifact Spirit and asking, “Do you want this?”
Last time, the Divine Tree had swallowed two drops of his Golden Blood and immediately fell into a deep slumber to evolve which it had yet to awaken from. His Golden Blood being helpful to the Divine Tree Yang Kai could understand; after all, each drop of Golden Blood contained a massive amount of vitality.
Whether it would be of interest to the Artifact Spirit though was uncertain. If it did though, it would definitely make things easier in the future.
To Yang Kai’s surprise, the Golden Blood’s rich vitality, which he thought wouldn’t be of much use to the Artifact Spirit was apparently quite attractive to it. After seeing this drop of Golden Blood, the Artifact Spirit’s eyes lit up and it transformed into a streak of red light that immediately rushed over towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai instinctively condensed his Saint Qi, but after realizing that the Artifact Spirit wasn’t emitting any malicious intent, he relaxed his vigilance.
The stream of red light flew past Yang Kai’s hands, taking the drop of Golden Blood along with it. A moment later, the Artifact Spirit reappeared nearby and its dim body which had clearly suffered much damage began restoring itself at a speed visible to the naked eye, soon after seemingly recovering quite significantly.
Yang Kai was stunned!
He had taken out a drop of Golden Blood because it was the most precious treasure he had on him that he was willing to part with. He had only done so as an experiment and hadn’t expected it to really be of great help to the Artifact Spirit.
But thinking about it again, Yang Kai quickly understood. Although this Artifact Spirit didn’t have a physical form and its vessel was an inanimate artifact, since it had obtained sentience, it couldn’t be considered an ordinary Artifact Spirit. As long as the relationship between itself and its vessel could be severed and it could find a suitable body, it could become a true living being.
Since it could obtain true physical existence, of course the Golden Blood would have some effect on it.
However, after swallowing the drop of Golden Blood, the Artifact Spirit didn’t experience much change and showed no signs of becoming stronger, only its foundation and essence recovering somewhat. At this point it tilted its head slightly to Yang Kai, putting on a flattering and begging expression, seemingly wanting to obtain another drop of Golden Blood from Yang Kai.
Yang Kai couldn’t help laughing as he realized that the Artifact Spirit he had subdued this time had indeed achieved a high level of intelligence. However, this wasn’t that surprising as this Artifact Spirit had existed for tens of thousands of years. If it hadn’t, he wouldn’t have struggled with it so much.
“I don’t have any more Golden Blood, but I do have this,” Yang Kai said as he took out a bean-sized Fire Crystal Stone and tossed it over.
His Golden Blood was too precious, so naturally, it was impossible for Yang Kai to satisfy the appetite of this Artifact Spirit, instead deciding to give it a Fire Crystal Stone he obtained from a Sixth-Order Fire Spirit Beast. Currently, Yang Kai’s Space Ring contained many of these things so parting with one or two wasn’t an issue.
When the Artifact Spirit saw the Fire Crystal Stone, it turned into a flare and wrapped up the crimson stone. When it re-materialized, the Fire Crystal Stone was gone.
Smacking its beak a few times, the Artifact Spirit seemed a little dissatisfied.
Anyone who had eaten a great delicacy and then ate some ordinary tea snacks would behave like this.
“Alright. That’s enough for now. Go back to your container, I need to leave this place.” Yang Kai wasn’t going to give it any more benefits right now. He had yet to completely conquer this Artifact Spirit, and it was only because he had control of its Soul Brand that it was obeying him, unlike the Divine Tree which Yang Kai wouldn’t hesitate to help.
Listening to Yang Kai’s instructions, the Artifact Spirit didn’t immediately obey but instead let out a loud cry before turning into a ball of flame and circling around the four stone control tables inside the stone room.
Yang Kai frowned for a moment but quickly understood its meaning through his special connection with the Artifact Spirit, hesitantly asking, “You want me to activate the Spirit Array?”
The Artifact Spirit circled once more before floating down in front of him, seemingly indicating Yang Kai was right.
“Alright,” Yang Kai didn’t hesitate, reaching out and injecting his Saint Qi into the four stone tables and opening up the stone chamber’s aura channelling Spirit Array to its maximum. In the next instant, a steady stream of pure Fire Attribute Energy from the Earth Lung Fire Pond was extracted and poured into the Artifact Refining Furnace.
The Artifact Spirit’s figure flashed and it swiftly dove down into the ground, not explaining what it was trying to do.
Yang Kai wasn’t worried it would run away though. Forget about the fact that he had its Soul Brand, its vessel was still here.
A moment later, Yang Kai’s face changed and he stared intently towards the Artifact Refining Furnace. He didn’t know what the Artifact Spirit had done but the pure Fire Attribute energy suddenly became several times fiercer, causing the various protective Spirit Arrays around the stone room to creak under the pressure.
All of the Fire Attribute energy was drawn into the Artifact Refining Furnace, causing it to shake unsteadily, as if it might explode at any time.
At the same time, ancient runes and energy chains began appearing on the surface of the furnace.
Yang Kai stared fixedly.
He had seen these energy chains once before, they were the shackles which had appeared a month ago when the Artifact Spirit had chased him out of the stone chamber. At that time, these energy chains had shattered and retrieved the Artifact Spirit’s body, which had allowed Yang Kai to escape safely.
Now that they had appeared before his eyes again, Yang Kai immediately understood what was happening.
It turned out that this Artifact Refining Furnace had been locked in place in this stone room with a kind of powerful Spirit Array.
[Does this mean that this Artifact Spirit was born tens of thousands of years ago?] The original owner of this Artifact Refining Furnace locking it in place here must have been so that the Artifact Spirit didn’t try to carry it out from this stone chamber. If this hadn’t been done, with the Artifact Spirit’s ability, it would certainly be able to bring the Artifact Refining Furnace out of this Earth Lung Fire Pond and not been trapped here all alone for tens of thousands of years.After thinking about it, Yang Kai laughed bitterly. It seemed that if he wanted to take this Artifact Refining Furnace with him, he first had to destroy this Spirit Array.
The Artifact Spirit must not have the ability to unlock these chains, otherwise, it would have escaped from here long ago.
Yang Kai silently grumbled that he hadn’t gotten any help from this Artifact Spirit yet and was instead being put to work for it.
A red light flashed from the ground and the Artifact Spirit appeared again, screeching at the chains binding the Artifact Refining Furnace. Yang Kai knew what it wanted to say and didn’t hesitate to use his cold flames to bombard these energy chains.
Although this Spirit Array was exquisitely arranged and was also quite solid, in the end, it was just an inanimate formation.
Half a day later, the energy chains finally broke apart under the constant hammering of Yang Kai’s black flames.
Seeing this, the Artifact Spirit, who had been standing beside him, let out a cry filled with infinite joy before plunging into the Artifact Refining Furnace.
The vessel and the Artifact Spirit merged into one at this time and the intense fire aura it radiated made Yang Kai pale.
Only now did he understand that because of these energy chains, the Artifact Spirit had been unable to display its full strength. If it had, who won and who lost in their last fight might have been different.
Fortunately, this restriction had given him an opportunity to subdue the Artifact Spirit. At this point, Yang Kai said a silent thanks to the original owner of this Artifact Refining Furnace.
Just as he was getting over his initial surprise, Yang Kai watched the massive Artifact Refining Furnace slowly lift up into the air before rapidly revolving and shrinking down.
Soon, the huge Artifact Refining Furnace became small enough to fit in the palm of Yang Kai’s hand.
A light flashed and the Artifact Refining Furnace flew to Yang Kai. Then, from the furnace, a crimson-red figure shot out.
Yang Kai took a soft breath before taking the small furnace in front of him and putting it into his Space Ring.
He did not put the Artifact Refining Furnace into his Black Book Space because there were too many precious things inside it. This Artifact Spirit didn’t look like an obedient fellow so if Yang Kai admitted it into his Black Book Space, he couldn’t be sure if it would stay away from his valuables.
After receiving the Artifact Refining Furnace, Yang Kai also took down the eight light orbs embedded in the stone wall and threw them into his Space Ring before leaving the stone room.
There was no need to remain here anymore. Every stone room in this Earth Lung Fire Pond had been cleaned out by Yang Kai and everything of value now belonged to him.
It would be a waste of time to stay any longer.
Soon, Yang Kai came to the entrance of the cave and looked up, barely able to see the top of the pit.
He was a few thousand metres down from the surface and the molten lava in the Earth Lung Fire Pond would erupt from time to time, so it would be a bit troublesome and possibly dangerous to climb all the way back up.
After thinking about it though, Yang Kai’s eyes lit up and he took out the Artifact Refining Furnace again.
He remembered that the Artifact Spirit was able to fly just now, and although it had only been flying around the stone room, that should mean it wasn’t bound by the unique World Principles of this place.
After some communication, Yang Kai was overjoyed to learn the Artifact Spirit could fly out directly, so he no longer hesitated and had it carry him out.
A moment later, somewhere amidst the fifth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, a red light burst from the ground, and below this red light was Yang Kai with his hand covered in ice-cold black flame, grasping the Artifact Spirit’s claws.
As soon as it rushed out of the Earth Lung Fire Pond, the Artifact Spirit let out a loud, piercing cry, as if it had just gained a new life, spreading its wings and soaring up into the sky.
But a moment later, after reaching a height of ten metres or so, the Artifact Spirit came to an abrupt halt, staggered, fell to the ground, and face-planted.
Yang Kai saw this and immediately understood that the Artifact Spirit wasn’t free from this place’s World Principle restrictions, but was only less affected by them, allowing it to fly, just not very high.
Yang Kai wanted to take the Artifact Spirit back into his Space Ring, but after it finally gained its freedom, it was unwilling to be restrained any more. Instead, it transformed into a miniature Firebird and stood on Yang Kai’s shoulder, using its pointed beak to comb his hair, putting on a determined display of flattery. No matter how Yang Kai tried to persuade it, it refused to return to the Artifact Refining Furnace.
Yang Kai didn’t want to waste time arguing with it so he simply let it be. He couldn’t put the Artifact Refining Furnace into his Space Ring though, otherwise, the Artifact Spirit would be forced to return to its vessel, so instead, Yang Kai stored it into his sleeve before slowly taking a look at his surroundings.
The fifth layer was still the same as it was a month ago, visible waves of heat and unbearable fire poison everywhere with dark reddish hues as far as the eye could see.
However, Yang Kai found that it was now much easier for him to resist the harsh environment here.
His strength had increased, and his cultivation had improved by a Minor Realm, but the biggest reason Yang Kai was able to resist the environment here was that his control over his Demonic Flame had grown remarkably.
More than a month ago, Yang Kai was unable to manipulate the properties of his Demonic Flame, so although it was both dense and potent, using it to resist the environment of the fifth layer was quite laborious. Today though, Yang Kai could determine whether his Demonic Flame was hot or cold, transforming it with a single thought. With the ice-cold flames protecting his body, he was no longer afraid of the fierce heatwaves and fire poison around him and was able to keep all of it at least half a metre away from himself.
Standing in place, Yang Kai pondered for a while, but after understanding what was happening, he couldn’t help feeling jubilant.
Moreover, his worries about time seemed to be unnecessary. Even after refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, the Flowing Flame Sand Field hadn’t closed. Calculating it though, the closing should be within a few days.
With several days of time left, Yang Kai naturally had no interest in returning to the fourth layer and instead wanted to continue deeper to see if there really was a sixth layer!
If there was, he wondered what kind of scene it would be.
If the power of his Demonic Flame hadn’t improved so dramatically, Yang Kai would definitely not try to reach the sixth layer. Before, when he came here, it had been impossible for him to continue forward, but now that he had his ice-cold flames to guard his body, Yang Kai was confident he could explore further.
No one had explored past the Flowing Flame Sand Field’s third layer barrier for tens of thousands of years, and each subsequent layer had been filled with amazing wealth and opportunities.
The Red Candle Fruit had appeared in the third layer, and the huge ancient Sect ruin had appeared in the fourth layer. Unfortunately, Yang Kai didn’t have the ability to access that Sect ruin so he could only stare at it from afar and sigh. The fifth layer had an Earth Lung Fire Pond as well as an Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace that had formed an Artifact Spirit. If there really was a sixth layer, there would no doubt be some good things there.
Making up his mind, Yang Kai no longer hesitated. Time was precious now as the Flowing Flame Sand Field would soon close. Taking out his Yuan Magnetic Compass from his Space Ring, Yang Kai determined his direction before setting off.
With his cold flames protecting him, it was truly quite easy for Yang Kai to walk through the fifth layer, and the excessive consumption of Saint Qi he experienced before did not happen again.
Yang Kai also constantly used his Demon Eye of Annihilation to avoid invisible barriers and dangerous Spirit Arrays.
Along the way, Yang Kai didn’t encounter any danger at all though, and even the Artifact Spirit remained docile, only occasionally flying out for a moment before quickly returning and squatting on Yang Kai’s shoulder.
It seemed that it also knew that this place had its hazards so it didn’t dare run about freely.
For three days, Yang Kai walked through the fifth layer. If it weren’t for the Yuan Magnetic Compass though, he would have quickly become lost in this scorching world.
On this day, while Yang Kai was walking, the Artifact Spirit crouched on his shoulders suddenly stood up and let out a series of rapid cries, its two small eyes staring forward with extreme alert.
Yang Kai was surprised by this development and quickly stopped before using his Demon Eye of Annihilation to sweep the area. However, upon not discovering anything wrong, his expression couldn’t help but sink.
He knew that in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, there were some Spirit Arrays which were arranged so exquisitely that even his Demon Eye of Annihilation couldn’t see through them. Now, it seems he was in front of one such Spirit Array.
However, this Spirit Array was actually first discovered by the Artifact Spirit, which came as a surprise to Yang Kai.
This Artifact Spirit was born from an Artifact Refining Furnace, so in theory, it shouldn’t know much about barriers or Spirit Arrays, so how had it discovered something was wrong? Yang Kai turned his head and looked at it somewhat suspiciously, but the Artifact Spirit still kept tweeting, seemingly wanting to convey a warning to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai frowned, but after a moment, his expression suddenly dropped, “You mean, we’re already inside the formation?”
The Artifact Spirit no longer spoke, its silence giving Yang Kai his answer.
“That can’t be,” Yang Kai’s face changed. All along the way, he had been extremely cautious and never entered any place that seemed remotely dangerous. He only took routes that he thought were extremely safe, but if what the Artifact Spirit was saying was true, he had most likely stumbled into some kind of Spirit Array completely without knowing it.
Turning around, Yang Kai couldn’t find anything special about his surroundings. This place was like any other, an extremely harsh dark red wasteland.
There wasn’t even a dangerous aura in the air.
This might be a type of Bewildering Array or Illusion Array! Yang Kai didn’t think the Artifact Spirit would be making such a fuss for no reason, so he could only think of such a possibility, but when had he fallen into this Spirit Array?
On top of that, if even the Demon Eye of Annihilation couldn’t see any flaws in this Spirit Array, how was he supposed to escape from it?
If this was really the case, Yang Kai could only wait for the Flowing Flame Sand Field to close and allow the World Principles to teleport him out. Fortunately, that would happen within a few days, so Yang Kai wasn’t particularly worried.
While preparing to sit down cross-legged and wait out the remaining time though, the Artifact Spirit on his shoulder suddenly let out a cry and transformed into a red streak of light that shot out towards a certain direction.
Yang Kai frowned but didn’t force it to return because he was faintly aware that it had discovered something.
So he decided to wait and see.
What was strange though was the Artifact Spirit disappeared from Yang Kai’s sight after about a thousand metres; however, from time to time he could still hear its cries and, judging from them, Yang Kai knew it hadn’t gone far from his current position.
Yang Kai suddenly felt relieved.
A short time later, a fierce burst of Fire Attribute energy occurred and in the next instant, the entire world seemed to distort. After these distortions appeared, Yang Kai was able to see some flaws in this Spirit Array with his Demon Eye of Annihilation.
The Artifact Spirit hadn’t been making a fuss for no reason, they really had stepped into an Illusion Array, but as for when that happened, Yang Kai didn’t know. The various distortions around him were obviously not normal and were obviously the result of some kind of mirage.
As the Fire Attribute energy fluctuations became more and more violent, the distortions also became more obvious. The harsh surroundings began to crack and the earth and the sky took on the appearance of a broken mirror.
Not long after, with a loud cracking sound, the world around Yang Kai suddenly shattered and turned into scattered points of light.
At the same time, the harsh environment Yang Kai was standing in disappeared completely and was replaced by an extremely lush and beautiful landscape filled with rich World Energy aura.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but gawk, subconsciously thinking that this might be another Illusion Array.
But when he looked back, his brow couldn’t help furrowing.
About ten kilometres behind him there was a red light curtain beyond which a dark red scorched landscape filled with swirling fire auras lay.
That was clearly the fifth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field!
Thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai suddenly had a thought.
Had he actually walked out of the fifth layer and arrived in the sixth layer?
The place where he was currently standing was the clearly the sixth layer he had hypothesized existed. Yang Kai could tell because the World Energy aura here was significantly richer than around the rolling mountains of the fourth layer’s Sect ruin.
Yang Kai didn’t know when he set foot into the sixth layer, but he surmised that the moment he did, he had been enveloped in the Illusion Array, making him believe he was still traversing the fifth layer.
The mirages around him having been dispelled indicated that the Illusion Array had been broken.
Yang Kai turned his head again and sure enough, a red flash of light was flying straight towards him. A moment later, the Artifact Spirit’s body reappeared, but now it had a fist-sized, hexagonal crystal in its mouth.
At first glance, Yang Kai realized that this crystal was a bit abnormal, because he couldn’t tell what colour it was. Saying it was completely pure and colourless seemed right, but saying that it was a brilliant purple or red also seemed appropriate, an incredibly strange phenomenon.
Just as he was preparing to probe this crystal more carefully, Yang Kai’s heart suddenly clenched tightly as he witnessed a burst of black Qi erupt from it, transform into innumerable evil spirits, and rush towards him.
Yang Kai was shocked and quickly waved his hand to condense countless balls of Demonic Flame to intercept these terrifying spirits.
Strangely though, these evil spirits, which seemed so imposing actually shattered as easily as the moonlight reflected on a pond. The moment the Demonic Flames passed through this wave of spirits, they all howled miserably and disappeared. At the same time, a series of angry chirps sounded in Yang Kai’s ear.
Yang Kai froze up and stared in front of himself only to see the Artifact Spirit still holding the strange crystal, its wings fluttering greatly as it flew about, constantly chirping as if yelling at Yang Kai.
Just now, Yang Kai suddenly attacking had startled it.
Yang Kai ignored the Firebird and instead knit his brow tightly.
He also noticed at this moment that the evil spirits from just now weren’t real. In other words, everything had been an illusion, because when that swarm had appeared, his Demon Eye of Annihilation had allowed him to perceive their true form.
[Did this strange crystal have the ability to create such realistic illusions?] Yang Kai thought in surprise.Yang Kai’s Soul was extremely powerful, so this crystal that could easily make him fall into an illusion was naturally not something ordinary and it most likely was related to the Illusion Array he had just now been trapped inside.
This thing may very well have been the Array Core of that Spirit Array. With the Artifact Spirit removing it from wherever it had been, the previous Illusion Array had been broken. The more Yang Kai thought about it, the more convinced he became and the greater his interest in this crystal grew. After steadying his mind, he once again began examining it.
However, this time, no black Qi poured out of it. Instead, Yang Kai felt as if his Knowledge Sea became unstable and great dizziness overcame him. For a moment, Yang Kai felt as if his body had become weightless and the Heavens and Earth had been inverted.
Startled, Yang Kai quickly took back his gaze and closed his eyes, taking quite a while to finally re-adjust himself.
No longer daring to spy on this strange crystal at will, Yang Kai beckoned to the Artifact Spirit, let it bring the crystal over, then tossed it into his Space Ring, planning on first going back before studying it further.
The Artifact Spirit saw that Yang Kai had finally returned to normal and no longer made a fuss, flying back and landing on Yang Kai’s shoulder before combing its feathers elegantly.
Yang Kai began examining the sixth layer carefully.
Just a brief glance left him stunned.
This was because he found that this sixth stage was incredibly small, only a few dozen kilometres across. With the barrier to the fifth stage Flame Area surrounding it, Yang Kai was capable of seeing the entire sixth stage at a glance.
In this sixth stage, the World Energy was incredibly thick, and a few kilometres away from where Yang Kai was standing, there was a noticeable green bamboo forest. These bamboos were quite slender and swayed freely in the wind.
There seemed to be a loft of some sort in the very centre of this bamboo forest, one that must have existed for countless years but even now showed no signs of decay.
The entire sixth stage was wrapped around by the fifth stage, but it wasn’t even slightly affected by the blistering heat.
Yang Kai stared at the green bamboo forest and the delicate loft fixedly.
Although he had encountered a huge Sect ruin in the fourth layer and realized that this Flowing Flame Sand Field was inhabited long ago, it was still a surprise for Yang Kai to find such a loft here.
The World Energy here was richer than at the site of that Sect ruin, so the loft which was built here was obviously not the home of someone ordinary. Most likely, it had belonged to a very high-level figure of that Sect.
What’s more, this person was likely female, because the environment here was filled with a sense of elegance that male cultivators wouldn’t care about.
Taking a deep breath, Yang Kai kept his Demon Eye of Annihilation open and slowly walked over to the loft.
Since he had already arrived here, he wouldn’t hold himself back. Yang Kai wanted to see if there was anything good left inside this loft while also examining this green bamboo forest. Any bamboo that grew here must not be ordinary.
Originally, Yang Kai was worried that there would be barriers everywhere, with powerful Spirit Arrays hidden all over the place, but after easily walking a few laps around the green bamboo forest, he didn’t encounter any such dangers, surprising him greatly. Was he just being paranoid?
Regardless, Yang Kai didn’t dare drop his guard. Standing at the edge of the green bamboo forest, he condensed a Demonic Flame sword in his hand while staring at the thumb-or-so thick, several-metre tall bamboo in front of him, then chopped towards it.
Each of these bamboos was emerald green and gave off a powerful vitality, clearly indicating that they weren’t just ordinary bamboo. All of these bamboos could be regarded as good material for Artifact Refining. There were at least several thousand bamboos in this forest so, naturally, Yang Kai planned on cutting some down and bringing them back for Yang Yan to refine some artifacts from.
After swinging his sword though, something unexpected happened. The place where the bamboo was chopped remained completely unharmed, without even a scratch.
Yang Kai saw this and was startled, quickly realizing that he had greatly underestimated these green bamboos, but at the same time he became overjoyed. Since these green bamboos were so tough, they would obviously be excellent Artifact Refining materials.
Thinking so, Yang Kai began chopping vigorously with his sword.
Half an hour later, Yang Kai stood with a dark look upon his face as he stared at the green bamboo in front of him.
During this half an hour, he had used almost all the means he could think of but still failed to cut down a single bamboo. Even after using a few dozen Space Blades, he had only left a tiny, almost negligible notch in it.
Judging from this rate of progress, it would be impossible for Yang Kai to cut down a single one of these green bamboos without spending at least ten days of effort.
How could Yang Kai waste so much time here? Staring at the bamboo in front of him for a moment, he let out a long sigh and gave up on cutting it down, instead turning and walking towards the loft.
Yang Kai was more interested in seeing if there were any gains to be had in this loft.
A moment later, Yang Kai arrived in front of this loft, but instead of rushing inside, he simply stood there and observed this several tens of thousands of year-old building.
It was indeed of a different construction style from current lofts, but these differences were quite minor. Yang Kai couldn’t figure out what material it was constructed from, but it was extremely well preserved, the front door not even having any dust on it.
This loft had three stories, each one about five metres in height with a dome-shaped roof.
Yang Kai hesitated for a while, before turning to look at the Artifact Spirit standing on his shoulder. The Artifact Spirit was staring at the loft with its small pair of eyes, as if also interested to see what was inside, but upon noticing Yang Kai’s vision land on it, it seeming felt a sense of crisis and its body quickly flickered and disappeared into the Artifact Refining Furnace in his sleeve.
[Damn useless bird!] Yang Kai cursed to himself. He had been planning on letting the Artifact Spirit scout out the situation, but how could he have known that this fellow would realize his intent and immediately hide in its vessel.However, Yang Kai didn’t intend on forcing it; after all, he had completely relied on it to escape the previous Illusion Array and gained the strange crystal with its help.
Shaking his head slowly, Yang Kai stepped forward, reached out, and slowly opened the door to the loft.
With a slight creak, the door opened.
Yang Kai wore a dignified look upon his face as he vigilantly condensed his Saint Qi.
But even when the door was completely opened, Yang Kai didn’t feel the slightest sense of danger. Instead, there was a light, relaxing aroma wafting about this loft, one that seemed to refresh all his senses when he inhaled it.
Looking towards the source of this fragrance, Yang Kai knit his brow and walked over to discover a small incense burner.
This incense burner had a similar appearance to the shrunken Artifact Refining Furnace in his sleeve and its grade was clearly not low. It was sending out a vigorous aura that made it apparent it was an Origin King Grade Low-Rank artifact; however, from how it was refined, it was clear it had no combat power and was just a simple furnishing.
A trivial decoration was actually an Origin King Grade Low-Rank artifact. This loft was indeed amazing.
What surprised Yang Kai wasn’t this small incense burner, but the thumb-sized piece of incense inside it. This purple sandalwood-like incense was clearly extraordinary, and the invisible scent wafting from it was equally so. Yang Kai couldn’t detect the incense in the air, but from the aroma he smelled, he could tell it was very helpful to a cultivator’s cultivation. It should allow any cultivator to quickly enter their most perfect meditative state.
“Ten Thousand Year Incense?” Yang Kai thought for a while before blurting out a name in excitement.
Although he hadn’t recognized what this purple sandalwood incense was at first, after observing it for a while, Yang Kai was able to make an educated guess. If it really was Ten Thousand Year Incense, then it was an incredible treasure.
Ten Thousand Year Incense could literally burn for tens of thousands of years, and clearly this thumb-sized Ten Thousand Year Incense had been burning for such a length of time. Just from this fact alone, it was clear how incredible this it was, probably the highest grade of Ten Thousand Year Incense.
Ten Thousand Year Incense wasn’t naturally generated, but rather something artificially refined. The raw materials required to refine it were astonishing, with parts of over a dozen species of Tenth-Order Monster Beast as the core ingredients. The rarest of all these materials was the heart of a beast called the Seven Coloured Elk.
The Seven Coloured Elk was an extinct ancient Monster Beast. It was born as an Eighth-Order Monster Beast and would grow to become a Tenth-Order as an adult. It was not only rare in quantity but also amazing in strength. The seven-coloured radiance it could emit from its body was capable of penetrating any form of defence, so even if an Origin King Realm master were to meet a Seven Coloured Elk, they would have no choice but to give way.
If one wanted to kill a Seven Coloured Elk, they needed to gather at least five Second-Order Origin Kings.
After removing a Seven Coloured Elk’s heart, one had to use it within ten days, otherwise, its aroma would completely dissipate.
It was for these reasons that Ten Thousand Year Incense was so rare. This thing not only had the effect Yang Kai originally perceived of helping a cultivator enter a perfect meditative state, inhaling it while cultivating also allowed a cultivator’s chance of obtaining enlightenment and could also help clear their mind and eliminate heart demons.
When a cultivator broke through to a new Great Realm, not only would they require a certain degree of comprehension of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, they would also need to face any heart demons they possessed. These heart demons were usually pains or regrets a cultivator hid deep in their heart. While normally these heart demons could be suppressed, during a breakthrough, they would silently emerge and would often affect a cultivator’s chance of breaking through.
It wasn’t uncommon for a cultivator to die tragically or suffer crippling injuries under the influence of a heart demon.
Yang Kai hadn’t encountered any heart demons during his cultivation because he didn’t have many regrets or hidden pains. Only the separation from his beloved woman for so long made him feel some sorrow and guilt, but he also firmly believed that they would one day be reunited, so this didn’t cause him any difficulties when breaking through.
However, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t one day take on such a heart demon, and once he tried to break through to the next Great Realm, the consequences would be dire.
Now that he had obtained such a piece of Ten Thousand Year Incense, this issue could be easily solved.
Yang Kai was able to recognize this Ten Thousand Year Incense because it was a product related to Alchemy, one that needed to be refined by an Alchemist.
Yang Kai was overjoyed, and quickly put this small incense burner and the piece of Ten Thousand Year Incense into his Space Ring, nodding with satisfaction as he did so. This Ten Thousand Year Incense alone was enough to make it worth venturing into this loft.
When he raised his head again, Yang Kai suddenly found that there was a painting of a figure hung on the wall behind the incense burner. This painting only showed its subject’s back, but it was clearly the profile of a woman. This woman had a slender, exquisite figure and was dressed in long white robes, like an inviolable goddess.
Yang Kai only glanced at this figure but couldn’t help feeling a deep sense of reverence, immediately circulating his Secret Art to resist the impulse to kneel down.
Looking more closely, Yang Kai’s brow furrowed.
He found that the back of the woman in this painting seemed vaguely familiar, as if he had seen her before somewhere.
Moreover, after dispelling the impulse to worship this woman, the picture suddenly appeared quite bland, as if it was an ordinary painting without any special features.
Shaking his head slightly, Yang Kai carefully checked the picture with his Divine Sense and determined that there was nothing out of the ordinary with it before taking back his vision.
He was certain that the woman in this picture was either the owner of this loft or had a strong connection with its owner, otherwise, a painting of her back wouldn’t have appeared here.
Yang Kai didn’t plan on taking this picture away though. He had obtained the Ten Thousand Year Incense, so he was already quite satisfied; there was no need for him to also take a picture of a stranger’s back.
Looking around once more, Yang Kai found nothing else of note.
On the first floor of this loft, it seemed only the Ten Thousand Year Incense lit inside the incense burner and the strange picture existed.
Yang Kai quickly found a staircase leading to the second floor and proceeded up it.
After ascending the stairs, Yang Kai easily reached the second floor.
What he saw here though stunned him.
The second floor was actually a woman’s boudoir. Although there wasn’t much inside the room, Yang Kai could still infer from the furnishings that this was indeed where a woman lived.
One bed, one table, one chair, and a meditation mat atop the bed. Other than this, there was nothing else.
Glancing around the room, Yang Kai’s eyes soon landed on the meditation mat. The owner of this loft apparently lived here, and this mat she used was not something ordinary.
Thinking so, Yang Kai stepped forward and reached out to pick up the mat.
But to his surprise, the moment his finger touched it, it disintegrated into a pile of dust.
It turns out it really was just an ordinary mat, one that was unable to withstand the erosion of so many years. Seeing this, Yang Kai gawked for a moment before suddenly letting out wry laughter. After gaining so many good things one after another, it seemed that he’d become a bit greedy, not even willing to let off someone else’s meditation mat.
After searching the second floor for a while, Yang Kai determined that there was really nothing good here before turning around and walking over to the stairway to the third floor.
During his exploration of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, he had already achieved great results, and after experiencing the accident with the meditation mat just now, his mood had also calmed down greatly. Even if there was nothing on the third floor, he wouldn’t care too much.
Thinking so, Yang Kai quickly ascended the stairs to the third floor.
To his surprise, there actually was something on this third floor.
Looking at it, it seemed to be some kind of token floating mid-air!
Yang Kai went stiff the moment he saw this token, quickly searching through his Black Book Space in the next instant.
After a moment, another token appeared in his hand. This token was almost identical to the one floating in front of him. Both tokens were made of some material that was neither metal nor wood and had no designs or embellishments. Only a large ‘Emperor’ character appeared on it.
From the token in his hand, Yang Kai felt a powerful coercion, one that made the heart of anyone who saw it race while simultaneously making one wish to prostrate themselves before it.
“Star Emperor Token!” Yang Kai’s face became solemn as he instantly recognized this token.
Star Emperor Tokens were rumoured to have been created by the Starry Sky Emperor many aeons ago. Gui Zu once told Yang Kai that there were ten Star Emperor Tokens in total, but no one knew where all of them where. Additionally, each Star Emperor Token sealed a Divine Ability of the Starry Sky Emperor, and by using this Divine Ability, one could easily kill an Origin King Realm master.
The Star Emperor Token Yang Kai had on him was given to him by Gui Zu. Yang Kai had brought Gui Zu out from the floating continent, ending his two-thousand-year imprisonment there. At the time, Gui Zu had acted unpredictably, making no distinctions between good and evil, but at the last moment, for some reason Yang Kai still didn’t comprehend, Gui Zu had actually given him this Star Emperor Token.
Perhaps it was Gui Zu’s way of rewarding Yang Kai for saving his life.
At that time, Gui Zu told him that when he encountered true danger, he could infuse his Saint Qi into this token to use the Star Emperor’s sealed Divine Ability.
Of course, even if he were to use the Star Emperor’s Divine Ability to kill a powerful enemy, with Yang Kai’s current cultivation, there was basically no chance he would survive the ensuing backlash; after all, the Divine Ability of the Star Emperor Token was far too powerful, once Yang Kai used it, it would quite possibly destroy him in the process.
Since obtaining this Star Emperor Token, Yang Kai had been hiding it in his Black Book Space, never intending on using it.
On the one hand, it was too dangerous to use. On the other hand, Yang Kai had yet to encounter a calamity he couldn’t resolve, so there was no need to use it.
Yang Kai never imagined that in this loft in the sixth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, he would find a second Star Emperor Token!
However, Yang Kai quickly found that something was wrong, because the Star Emperor Token suspended in mid-air in front of him didn’t seem the same as the one in his hand. The aura coming from it, although majestic, didn’t give off any feeling of danger.
Someone had used the Divine Ability sealed inside this Star Emperor Token! In other words, this token didn’t have the Star Emperor’s killing strike anymore.
Yang Kai figured this must be the case, but the fact that this Star Emperor Token hadn’t been destroyed after it was used was also quite surprising to him.
No matter what, with a Star Emperor Token in front of him, Yang Kai obviously wasn’t going to just ignore it. When he was about to reach out and take it though, a faint layer of light rippled from it.
Yang Kai’s face changed when he noticed the murderous intent contained in this light halo and pushed his Saint Qi hard to retreat. However, although Yang Kai’s speed was great, the light ripples were faster, and they quickly reached him.
Yang Kai face was ashen. Even if this Star Emperor Token had already been used, it seems it couldn’t just be touched at will.
Just when Yang Kai thought he was doomed, the intact Star Emperor Token in his hand also released a faint light ripple that cancelled out the approaching one, causing both to disappear.
The second Star Emperor Token, which had been suspended in the middle of the third floor of the loft, seemed to lose its support and fell to the ground, making a clinking sound as it bounced a few times before coming to a stop.
Still quite frightened, Yang Kai clenched his own token tightly as cold sweat seeped from his forehead.
He hadn’t expected such a change to happen. If he hadn’t happened to be holding his own Star Emperor Token, he would at least have been heavily injured just now. The strange power that was contained in that faint light halo wasn’t something he was currently capable of resisting.
After taking a moment to calm his breathing, Yang Kai walked forward slowly.
At this moment, the world suddenly seemed to shake, and Yang Kai felt that something in the surrounding space had changed. There was a faint repulsive force coming from all directions, seemingly rejecting his very presence.
At the same time, a slim, illusionary jade white hand appearing from the sky and seeming tried to grab Yang Kai.
This jade white hand clearly belonged to a woman, but it was surprisingly large, almost covering the entire floor, and it completely ignored the loft itself as it descended directly on top of Yang Kai’s head.
Yang Kai’s face changed greatly, instantaneously understanding that it was time for the Flowing Flame Sand Field to close, which was why the surrounding space had become turbulent.
Yang Kai figured that this scene was happening in front of all the cultivators still inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field. This jade white hand had clearly appeared to remove all of them from this place.
Yang Kai’s conjecture wasn’t wrong. From the first layer to the fourth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, the same illusionary jade white hand reached out from the void and easily scooped up all the cultivators who were resting, walking, or even fighting, transforming into a brilliant flash of light that soon disappeared together with the cultivators.
The next moment, outside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, figures strangely appeared and the Elders of the major Sects who had been waiting outside joyfully went forward to meet them.
On the third floor of the loft, Yang Kai fiercely pushed his Saint Qi and sent out his own palm to meet this jade white hand.
Naturally, though, his Heaven Covering Hand failed to even stall this illusionary jade white hand. Yang Kai raced forward at that instant, sending out a dozen Space Blades to block this jade white hand for just a moment.
Taking advantage of this hard-won time, Yang Kai quickly grabbed the Star Emperor Token on the ground before calmly standing in place, not intending to resist any further.
However, when the jade white hand grabbed Yang Kai, and space around him began to distort and teleport him out, the two Star Emperor Tokens in his hand glowed, forming a light blue protective cover.
The jade white hand disappeared, but Yang Kai was still standing in the third floor of the loft with a confused look on his face.
Soon, the distorted space returned to normal and even the feeling of rejection disappeared.
It was as if Yang Kai had been forgotten as he stood there alone.
It took him a while to react, but when he did, a happy smile appeared on his face.
Yang Kai was certain that the phenomenon just now was a signal that the Flowing Flame Sand Field had closed, and that the teleportation power just now had somehow been blocked by the two Star Emperor Tokens, meaning he was now the only one left here.
He was happy that he now had a lot more time to use, but what worried him was whether he would face any danger when trying to leave.
After all, when the Flowing Flame Sand Field opened, the danger of the Flame Areas was reduced many times, but now that it was closed, the Flame Areas would become certain death zones. If Yang Kai wanted to leave, he would have to pass through all six layers by himself.
However, there was no point considering such things now, it was a coincidence that he had been left behind so thinking about how to take advantage of the situation at hand was his first priority.
Yang Kai didn’t dare take back the two Star Emperor Tokens as he had no idea what would happen if he did. For now, all he could do was store them in his sleeve.
Inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field first layer Flame Area, Yang Kai took leisurely strides as a pale blue light halo radiating from his chest. This light halo dispelled all threats around him. Even the intense heat and fire poison of the Flame Area was unable to penetrate it, making it possible for Yang Kai to remain safe here even without using Saint Qi to protect his body.
It has been more than half a year since the Flowing Flame Sand Field closed, and during this period, Yang Kai had spent most of his time in the sixth layer.
It wasn’t that he was searching for treasures though, as he had already taken away everything of value from the loft.
The reason he stayed there was just to cut down a few of the green bamboos.
His original plan was to cut a handful of these bamboos and then leave, but they had turned out far more tenacious than he expected. Even using his Space Blade, it had taken him a full twenty days to cut down a thumb thick bamboo.
However, using his Space Blade for twenty days straight wasn’t a waste of time, as Yang Kai quickly discovered that his mastery of the Space Blade had greatly improved, along with its power and stability.
Pleasantly surprised, Yang Kai no longer cared about how much time cutting these bamboos took.
For the next six months, Yang Kai had taken this bamboo forest as his training ground and fought against them with all his might. Still, after all that time, he only managed to cut down twenty bamboo stalks. If not for him worrying that delaying longer would worry Yang Yan and Wu Yi, Yang Kai wouldn’t have minded staying longer though.
And so, one month ago, Yang Kai had set off towards the outside of the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
During this period, Yang Kai had kept the two Star Emperor Tokens on his person, not daring to store them away for a moment. After the Flowing Flame Sand Field completely closed, the dangers inside really increased dramatically. The second and fourth layer Treasure Areas didn’t experience much change, but the third and fifth layer Flame Areas had their ambient heat and fire poison concentration increase ten-fold.
Yang Kai quickly concluded that even his cold black flames couldn’t resist such scorching heat. Fortunately, the Star Emperor Tokens created a layer of protection that allowed him to travel about freely.
He didn’t know why the Star Emperor Tokens could restrain the Flame Area environment, but Yang Kai vaguely felt that this Flowing Flame Sand Field should have something to do with the legendary Starry Sky Emperor. Otherwise, a second, used Star Emperor Token wouldn’t have appeared in the loft in the sixth layer.
At this time, if someone were to enter this place, it would indeed be a death sentence, so it was no wonder that cultivators on Shadowed Star would only enter when the heat weakened and conditions became relatively safe.
Currently, not far in front of Yang Kai, there was a kind of dark red energy curtain that contained a sensational heat. Anyone who approached this energy curtain would undoubtedly be burnt to ash in a flash.
When Yang Kai saw this dark red energy curtain though, not only was he not frightened, his expressed filled with joy as he raced towards it, as if he didn’t know how to write the word ‘death’.
However, just as Yang Kai reached the energy curtain, it seemed to sense something and a gap split open, allowing him to pass through it with ease.
After Yang Kai passed through, this gap in the curtain closed.
Outside the red energy curtain, Yang Kai was greeted by a completely different scenery. Although the surrounding aura was still filled with heat and the ground at his feet was still dry and cracked, the overall view was much different from the Flame Area.
He had finally come out. The Flowing Flame Sand Field was truly enormous. Yang Kai had used his Wind and Thunder Wings continuously along the way, but it had still taken him an entire month to travel from the innermost to the outermost layer.
Yang Kai estimated that this Flowing Flame Sand Field was at least a couple hundred thousand kilometres in radius. No one ever knew just how big it was before because no one had ever gone deeper than the second layer, making it impossible to speculate.
As soon as he walked out, Yang Kai put the two Star Emperor Tokens he had kept in his chest pocket back into the Black Book Space.
In the next moment though, Yang Kai frowned as he didn’t know where it was now. Although the Yuan Magnetic Compass could determine which direction he had to walk inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field. It only pointed towards its centre, meaning if one walked in the opposite direction it pointed they could leave.
As such, Yang Kai couldn’t judge where he was using it anymore.
However, thinking that no matter what, he was somewhere on Shadowed Star, Yang Kai calmed down, but just as he was about to use his Divine Sense to explore his surroundings, his brow furrowed again as he glanced over in a certain direction.
Not far from where Yang Kai was standing, he saw a figure flying towards him, and when their eyes met, this stranger showed an expression of shock.
It had been six months since the closing of the Flowing Flame Sand Field and every big and small Sect had long ago departed, so this newcomer hadn’t expected to encounter living people here.
But in the next instant, this man quickly waved his hand, as if he recognized Yang Kai.
Yang Kai was also extremely surprised.
If the other party recognized him, how could he not recognize them?
Although he didn’t know the name of this guy, Yang Kai had indeed seen him once. It was back when the Flowing Flame Sand Field had just opened and Yang Kai first entered. The man who was flying over was actually the same one who had invited him to travel together back then.
At that time, two people had been transported inside nearby Yang Kai, one belonging to Shadow Moon Hall while the other was this cultivator.
Yang Kai had refused his invitation.
Seeing Yang Kai at this moment, this man showed a joyful look and immediately adjusted his heading to rush straight towards Yang Kai, but before he could approach, his expression changed greatly and he abruptly came to a halt.
Another figure quickly crossed this cultivator and stopped in front of him.
Immediately after, another figure appeared behind this man, these two clearly attempting to intercept this person.
The man’s face couldn’t help but sink and he glanced over at Yang Kai seemingly unintentionally, appearing like he wanted to say something but ultimately remaining silent.
The two newcomers saw they had successfully blocked this man and released sighs of relief. They also secretly used their Divine Senses to investigate Yang Kai but upon seeing he was just a Second-Order Saint King, neither of them paid him much mind.
The taller of the two cultivators chuckled as he looked at that man he had intercepted with clear malicious intent and said “Junior Brother Deng, I was wondering why you decided to run towards this Flowing Flame Sand Field. Turns out you had a helper here, but why would you think a mere Second-Order Saint King would be able to help you resist us?”
The other cultivator, who was wearing purple robes, sneered and added, “It seems that Junior Brother Deng Ning has been riding high lately and become somewhat muddled. Otherwise, why would he rush to such an out of the way place? There’s no need for Senior Brother Ye to try to reason with him.”
Deng Ning, who was caught in the middle of these two, wore a dull expression on his face and made no attempt to acknowledge or deny these two’s speculations, instead just asking, “Ye Yang Rong, An Zhi, for a trivial Blood Fusion Pill, are you really willing to discard all our brotherly sentiments from the past and act so ruthlessly?”
The tall cultivator named Ye Yang Rong sneered, “Brotherhood? In Demon Blood Temple, such a thing is nothing but an illusion. Senior Brother here doesn’t expect any such feelings from you either. As for the Blood Fusion Pill… Junior Brother Deng should understand his own situation. Hand over that pill and out of consideration for our relationship as ‘brothers’, I won’t make things too difficult for you.”
“Oh, really?” Deng Ning chuckled sarcastically, “Aren’t you just afraid that I’ll desperately fight back? Don’t think that you two alone can easily kill me. Even if I die, I can still drag at least one of you down with me.”
Hearing this, Ye Yang Rong and An Zhi’s faces both sank, revealing a hint of hesitation, apparently knowing that Deng Ning’s words weren’t an empty threat.
An Zhi frowned and converged some of his murderous intent before attempting persuasion, “Junior Brother Deng, you obtained many good things inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field last time, and because of that harvest the Elders rewarded you with that Blood Fusion Pill, but as far as I know, that wasn’t all you obtained, was it? The Sect also allowed you free access to the skills and technique library and granted you a powerful artifact, so why make such a fuss over a mere pill? We don’t want any of your other treasures, as long as you hand over that pill, it will be enough. Senior Brother Ye and I can even each compensate you thirty thousand Saint Crystals for it.”
He thought that if he gave Deng Ning a way to de-escalate, the other party would compromise; after all, it wasn’t cost-effective to lose one’s life for a pill, but how could he have anticipated that after hearing this offer, Deng Ning would simply scoff, “Thirty thousand? As a Demon Blood Temple disciple could you be ignorant of the value of a Blood Fusion Pill? Do you think a mere thirty thousand Saint Crystals would be enough to make up for my loss? Don’t even think about it.”
An Zhi’s face went cold, and he was about to say something again but Deng Ning cut him off first, “Senior Brother An, don’t blame Junior Brother for not reminding you about just what kind of person Senior Brother Ye is. Everyone here knows there’s only one Blood Fusion Pill, so even if I handed it over to you, how are you going to decide who gets it? If you really believe whatever promises Senior Brother Ye gave you, I think your future is actually more worrying than mine.”
As soon as these words came out, An Zhi’s expression immediately became ugly. Of course he had thought about this, but he was now riding a tiger and could only join forces with Ye Yang Rong to snatch the Blood Fusion Pill first.
How to allocate it after grabbing it could be thought about later.
Seeing An Zhi’s expression change, Ye Yang Rong quickly called out, “Junior Brother An, don’t believe his words, you and I are allies now. Whoever grabs the Blood Fusion Pill is who it will belong to. If Senior Brother here happens to have better luck and obtains it, Senior Brother guarantees he will compensate you appropriately.”
Hearing this, An Zhi’s brow relaxed slightly as he forced out a smile and said, “If Junior Brother has better luck, he will do the same for Senior Brother.”
These two had clear ulterior motives, but at the moment they had still agreed to cooperate.
Seeing that his plan to sow discord among these two had failed, Deng Ning grumbled to himself before reaching out to his Space Ring and extracting a crimson pill containing the amazing Blood Qi from it.
“Blood Fusion Pill!” Upon seeing this pill, Ye Yang Rong and An Zhi both stared at it covetously, as if this pill was a superb treasure for them.