“Good, this is the Blood Fusion Pill the Elders gave me, the one that helps us our Demon Blood Temple disciples purify our blood and assist in breaking through bottlenecks! Do you want it?” Deng Ning asked as a dangerous smile appeared on his face. Immediately after, he wound up and hurled the Blood Fusion Pill towards the Flowing Flame Sand Field while laughing wildly, “If you want it, go pick it up for yourselves! If you can, that is!”
He knew that there was no way he could keep this Blood Fusion Pill facing his two fellow Sect Brothers, so he decided to destroy it instead.
“Stop him!” Ye Yang Rong yelled, seemingly making a move to attack Deng Ning but stopping halfway and chasing after the Blood Fusion Pill.
An Zhi’s pulled a similar move and chased after the Blood Fusion Pill at the same time, the two’s goals at this surprisingly consistent.
However, Deng Ning had used his full strength to throw the Blood Fusion Pill, so it flew out extremely fast and in just a blink entered the dark red energy curtain covering the Flowing Flame Sand Field and disappeared. By the time Ye Yang Rong and An When Zhi began chasing after it, it was already too late.
For a time, both of them wore aggrieved looks on their faces before turning around and glaring angrily at Deng Ning. Murderous intent burst out and any trace of benign demeanour these two had a moment ago disappeared as they both wished to shred Deng Ning’s corpse into ten thousand pieces.
The Blood Fusion Pill had been thrown into the Flowing Flame Sand Field, so it was impossible to obtain it now. Even as Third-Order Saint Kings, neither of them had confidence they could enter this Forbidden Zone and survive. The Flowing Flame Sand Field was nothing less than a certain-death trap right now.
The moment Deng Ning threw the Blood Fusion Pill, he turned around and tried to escape; however, Ye Yang Rong soon let out a fierce shot and his body transformed into a blood cloud that rapidly overtook Deng Ning and engulfed him.
Inside this blood cloud, Evil Qi soared to the Heavens and the smell of blood was stifling.
In the next instant, Deng Ning let out a terrified shout, “Demon Blood Body! Since when did you cultivate this skill?”
He seemed to have been shocked by the method Ye Yang Rong displayed and in the next moment, fierce sounds of battle and Deng Ning’s stuffy snorts could be heard coming from the blood cloud.
Ye Yang Rong’s sneering voice soon sounded, “Senior Brother isn’t very talented, he actually began cultivating this skill over three years ago and only recently managed to master it. Now is actually the first time anyone has seen me use it. Junior Brother Deng, let’s see where you run this time!”
After saying so, he shouted, “Junior Brother An, go kill that other bastard then come help me. The Blood Fusion Pill is gone, but as far as I know, Junior Brother Deng also managed to obtain the Demon Blood Thread technique’s cultivation manual. If you want it, you’d best act quickly.”
Originally, when Ye Yang Rong transformed into a blood cloud and enveloped Deng Ning, An Zhi’s expression became heavy. He had never anticipated that his Senior Brother Ye had hidden his skills so deeply, actually not exposing a technique this powerful for three years. Fear had filled An Zhi’s face.
Now that the Blood Fusion Pill was gone, An Zhi had considered withdrawing; after all, even if he teamed up with Ye Yang Rong to kill Deng Ning, he wouldn’t obtain much benefit.
But now that he knew Deng Ning actually had Demon Blood Thread cultivation method on him, he became quite excited, but he still hesitated to act.
How could Ye Yang Rong not understand what An Zhi was worried about though? Realizing this, Ye Yang Rong shouted loudly, “Junior Brother An, Senior Brother’s Demon Blood Body consumes a massive amount of Saint Qi but is still only able to deal with Junior Brother Deng reluctantly, so there’s no need for you to worry I will betray you afterwards. I know Junior Brother An’s means, Senior Brother won’t do anything to embarrass himself.”
An Zhi pondered sullenly for a while before finally making a decision, his fluctuation expression becoming firm as he nodded, “Good, then Junior Brother will join forces with Senior Brother once more!”
Saying so, he turned around and stared at Yang Kai coldly.
At that moment, a flash of red light rushed out from the Flowing Flame Sand Field and disappeared into Yang Kai’s robes, causing An Zhi who saw this scene to frown slightly, “What was that?”
“Nothing,” Yang Kai sighed before asking, “If I were to say I have nothing to do with your Junior Brother and am not a helper he asked to meet here, would you believe me?”
“What do you think?” An Zhi snorted coldly.
“If it was me, I wouldn’t believe it,” Yang Kai said helplessly. Forget about Deng Ning showing a happy expression when he first saw him, as if two of them knew each other, although this was the periphery of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, it was still extremely hot and barren, so Yang Kai just appearing here for no reason was incredibly suspicious. If he wasn’t a helper Deng Ning arranged for earlier, would he have appeared in such a remote place?”
No one was willing to get close to the Flowing Flame Sand Field except for when it was open.
This time, if Ye Yang Rong and An Zhi hadn’t been chasing Deng Ning, how could they have come to this place? Deng Ning also had no way out which was why he decided to come here, hoping he could lose his Senior Brothers here. How could he have known that the Blood Fusion Pill was too tempting to them, causing them to be relentless in their pursuit?
Yang Kai getting involved in this dispute was just bad luck.
“Are you going to kill yourself or do you want me to do it?” An Zhi didn’t put Yang Kai in his eyes at all, glancing over at the battle in the blood cloud nearby as he spoke. He wasn’t in a hurry to fight Yang Kai, as the longer he delayed, and the more intense the other battle became, the better things were for him. If possible, An Zhi hoped that Deng Ning and Ye Yang Rong could both cause heavy losses to each other so he could fish all the advantages for himself.
“What’s the difference?” Yang Kai grinned, not showing any fear.
“There’s a big difference. If you do it yourself, you can die happy, but if you ask me to do it… heh heh.”
“I don’t think there’s a difference.” Yang Kai shook his head slowly, a sneer creeping onto his face as he said lightly, “No matter what, you’ll be the one to die!”
An Zhi gawked for a moment, but upon understanding what Yang Kai said, his expression suddenly became sullen as he spat, “You’re tone isn’t small, no wonder Deng Ning asked you for help. Good, let’s see how you make me die!”
As he spoke, blood seemed to flow out from his body and his originally plain aura took on the scent of iron.
Yang Kai frowned slightly. Although he hadn’t dealt with anyone from Demon Blood Temple before, from what he could sense of Ye Yang Rong and this An Zhi’s auras, he could tell they both cultivated evil Secret Arts. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have possessed such malevolent auras.
When one cultivated this kind of aura to the extreme, simply releasing it when facing an enemy would be enough to intimidate them. Those who had weak wills would also be affected by this Evil Qi and malevolent aura, causing their fighting spirit to dampen, giving its user an edge in combat.
But likewise, this kind of Evil Qi was easily restrained. As long as one had powerful enough Yang Attribute Saint Qi, they could suppress it.
The Unyielding Golden Skeleton in Yang Kai’s body previously stored this kind of evil power, so he was naturally quite familiar with it.
After An Zhi released his aura, he didn’t immediately take action but instead stared at Yang Kai with great interest, as if he was hoping to see this boy cower in fear under the influence of his Evil Qi.
The other party’s cultivation was lower than his own by a Minor realm, so naturally An Zhi had full confidence in suppressing Yang Kai, and once the latter lost the will to resist, he could spend his time torturing him.
Unexpectedly though, after releasing his Evil Qi and projecting his malevolent aura towards this youth, far from showing fear, a look of disdain actually appeared on his face. An Zhi had never encountered anything like this before and it greatly stunned him, pulling a nod from him in the next moment, “Good good good, seems you have some skill after all. I underestimated you.”
As he spoke, he took back his imposing manner and transformed the blood which was leaking from all over his body into a kind of crimson mist. This blood mist twisted and morphed into a giant palm which rapidly thrust towards Yang Kai.
Asura Blood Hand!
This was one of Demon Blood Temple’s Secret Techniques and could only be cultivated by Demon Blood Temple cultivators. Although its power wasn’t overwhelming, the evil aura contained within this blood mist was strange and unpredictable, causing an enemy’s blood to boil if they became contaminated with it, an incredibly painful experience.
All the secret techniques of Demon Blood Temple generally had such an effect, so on Shadowed Star, most people who encountered Demon Blood Temple cultivators would try to avoid fighting them because doing so would generally mean having to suffer quite a bit regardless of if they won or lost.
At the same time as the Asura Blood Hand was launched, An Zhi lifted his hands and shot out ten blood red light darts from his fingers that stealthily followed behind the blood hand to act as a sneak attack.
He didn’t believe he could kill Yang Kai with just a casual blow as, judging from the other party’s performance just now, he wasn’t weak. As such, An Zhi was using this attack as a way to probe Yang Kai’s depths.
As the bloody hand flew towards him, Yang Kai simply punched out, sending out a black flame fist that radiated a scorching hot aura.
The instant the two attacks met, the bloody hand melted like snow under the hot sun. The bloody hand was instantly broken by the black flames, and even its crimson light was smothered by darkness. The blood darts which followed behind this Asura Blood Hand suffered the same fate as they harmlessly impacted on several Grand Heavenly Shields Yang Kai had condensed around himself.
Witnessing this, An Zhi wore a dull look of shock and quickly realized that the combat power of this Second-Order Saint King wasn’t inferior to his in the slightest. Not daring to underestimate his opponent again, An Zhi summoned a blood-red axe into his hand. This axe was oddly shaped, appearing like a cross between a hatchet and a machete. Its whole body was blood red in colour and it gave off a potent Evil aura.
Lifting this axe, An Zhi released his aura completely and slashed out ruthlessly.
A blood red ray blasted out from the axe, morphing into a flying blade that rushed towards Yang Kai. Immediately after, An Zhi slashed again, then again, sending out one blood red blade after another. In an instant, a storm of red blades were ferociously descending upon Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly as he realized that his opponent was going all out. Not intending to underestimate his enemy, Yang Kai directly summoned his purple shield to defend himself.
Although the purple shield’s spirituality had suffered significant damage during his fight with the Artifact Spirit and Yang Kai was unable to summon a sandstorm with it, its defensive strength hadn’t been impacted greatly.
Yang Kai had just summoned his shield when the countless blood blades arrived in front of him, impacting on its surface like a bloody rain, raising an earth-shattering clatter and even forcing Yang Kai to retreat backwards.
When An Zhi saw this though, he didn’t show the slightest joy but instead wore an even more solemn expression. The purple shield his opponent had summoned looked dim and dull, but it was actually capable of blocking his blood blades, so it was obviously a high-quality Origin Grade artifact. Realizing this, An Zhi began swinging his axe even more vigorously.
As he swung his axe, it seemed to have an effect on the already condensed blood blades, causing them to fly in different directions away from the purple shield, spin around mid-air, then head towards Yang Kai from all sides.
“Yuan Control?” Yang Kai frowned, but quickly rejected this idea because it was obvious to him that this An Zhi didn’t understand Yuan Control Mastery. These blood blades being able to change direction should be related to this strange artifact.
Understanding this, Yang Kai let out a light sigh.
He had only been defending himself because he wanted to see what kind of means this Demon Blood Temple disciple would display; after all, he had to continue living on Shadowed Star for the foreseeable future, so the more he knew about the cultivators of the local forces, the better he could prepare himself to face them.
How could he have known that this An Zhi, who was a genuine Third-Order Saint King, would actually have such weak, impure Saint Qi? Although the methods he used were a bit strange, they couldn’t pose any threat to him at all.
Realizing this, Yang Kai lost all interest in probing this enemy and put away his purple shield, exposing his body directly to the countless blood blades.
An Zhi saw this and a pleased expression filled his face. Although he didn’t understand why Yang Kai had given up defending himself, he knew that this was an opportunity he couldn’t afford to miss. As such, he waved his axe fiercely, driving the countless blood blades around Yang Kai to all impact him at once.
Yang Kai stared at him indifferently. The moment the blood blades were about to hit him, Yang Kai condensed Demonic Flame all over his body. These Demonic Flames were extremely hot, and as soon as they appeared, the temperature in the surrounding hundred-metre range shot up dramatically.
The blood blades barely touched the Demonic Flame before burning to ash, none of them even able to cut into this layer of protection.
An Zhi was greatly shocked by this scene, but before he could make his next move, Yang Kai’s figure flickered and appeared directly in front of him. The moment Yang Kai reappeared, the black Demonic Flames around his body welled up and engulfed An Zhi directly.
Calling out in fright, An Zhi tried to fight back as panic filled his mind and voice.
His opponent’s black flames seemed capable of greatly suppressing his malevolent Saint Qi. The moment he was enveloped by his opponent’s black flames, An Zhi lost the ability to exert the majority of his strength, and if it weren’t for the two defensive artifacts he was currently wearing, he estimated he would already be dead.
Was this young man really a Second-Order Saint King? An Zhi’s thoughts became confused. Could it be he was an Origin Returning Realm master in disguise?
While Yang Kai and An Zhi were fighting, Ye Yang Rong and Deng Ning were also engaged in a life or death battle. Deng Ning was still trapped inside Ye Yang Rong’s blood cloud, and even though he was using every method at his disposal, it was only enough to barely protect himself. Unfortunately, he could keep this up for at most an incense stick worth of time. This Senior Brother of his had clearly cultivated his Demon Blood Body to a very high level; he was unable to resist.
While Deng Ning was feeling terrified in his heart, Ye Yang Rong suddenly received some of the power of his blood cloud, greatly relieving the pressure Deng Ning felt. Overjoyed, Deng Ning pushed his strength even harder to try to regain the initiative.
Ye Yang Rong’s voice suddenly spread from the blood clouds at that moment, “Junior Brother An, what are you doing? Quickly kill that brat and come help me!”
Although he heard An Zhi’s shouts, Ye Yang Rong thought that An Zhi was deliberately stalling so that he and Deng Ning would both end up badly injured, but what he didn’t know was that An Zhi simply had no time to reply to him at the moment because he was being completely suppressed by Yang Kai.
Because Ye Yang Rong was suspicious of An Zhi, he didn’t go all out to deal with Deng Ning, preparing to leave some energy to compete with An Zhi for Deng Ning’s valuables.
For a moment, the two battlefields entered into a strange stage. On one side, Ye Yang Rong was unwilling to use his full strength, while on the other side, An Zhi was being overwhelmed to the point where he couldn’t hit back.
But soon, this strange situation came to an end.
An Zhi fought with Yang Kai for less than half a cup of tea’s time before letting out a blood-curdling scream. At that moment, his figure flew out after suffering a heavy blow, coughing up a mouthful of blood, his face completely ashen and his eyes flashing with horror.
As An Zhi flew through the air, Yang Kai’s figure appeared in front of him and delivered a punch to his chest.
An Zhi cried out pitifully as his chest caved in completely and his eyes gradually lost their light. In the next instant, his body exploded into a bloody fog.
On the other side, Ye Yang Rong heard An Zhi’s pitiful cries and was startled. Turning his head, he was just in time to see the tragic scene of An Zhi’s body exploding, pulling a cry of shock from his lips, “How is that possible?”
The shock he felt caused the blood cloud to tremble and Deng Ning took this opportunity to escape, standing aside in an embarrassing condition as he stared at the blood cloud, gasping for breath. Glancing over to the side a moment later, he saw Yang Kai receive his fist and a look of incomprehension, joy, and fear filled his face.
An Zhi had died without a complete corpse and Deng Ning had escaped from his blood cloud, so Ye Yang Rong knew that the situation had taken a turn for the worse. As such, he withdrew his blood cloud and re-condensed his body, knitting his brow as he stared over at Yang Kai silently.
“If you dare move I’ll kill you!” Yang Kai flicked the blood off his fist before raising his eyes and glancing over at Ye Yang Rong lightly, showing an expression a butcher would use when looking at a helpless lamb, causing Ye Yang Rong to shiver as if he had been thrown into an ice cellar.
Although the other party had only made a verbal threat, Ye Yang Rong somehow felt that he really had this ability, so feeling this fear in his heart, he didn’t dare to move.
Opening his mouth, he tried to say something, but before he could, Deng Ning cut him off, cupping his fists to Yang Kai and saying with a forced smile, “This friend, many thanks for rescuing me!”
His expression was sincere, and he was obviously earnest in his thanks; after all, even if he was a disciple of Demon Blood Temple, he still knew how to be grateful to someone who saved his life.
“It has nothing to do with you!” Yang Kai replied indifferently. He didn’t have a good impression of this Deng Ning. After all, when this guy was being chased by his two Senior Brothers, he still flew towards Yang Kai, so it was clear he planned on dragging him into this mess on purpose.
And before, when Ye Yang Rong and An Zhi suspected that Yang Kai was a helper Deng Ning had arranged to meet here, the latter didn’t make any attempt to deny it. If it were any other Second-Order Saint King, how would they still be alive at this moment? He would have been easily killed long ago.
But thinking about it for a moment, if Yang Kai found himself in the same situation as this Deng Ning, he figured he would have done the same thing, so although he didn’t like this Deng Ning’s approach, he didn’t intend to blame him for it. The other party just wanted to save his life, where would he have the time to debate the finer points of morality?
Choking on Yang Kai’s words, Deng Ning’s face filled with embarrassment, but he tactfully didn’t try to explain himself, instead putting on a serious expression and shouted, “Friend, can I ask you to make a move once more? If you help me kill this person, this Deng will generously compensate you afterwards!”
As soon as this remark came out, Ye Yang Rong’s complexion changed greatly. Only now did he realize that this young-looking Second-Order Saint King was really not a helper arranged by Deng Ning, causing his stomach to turn green in a flash.
If he had only known earlier, how could he have let An Zhi find trouble with Yang Kai? It would have been fine to simply let him leave, but such regret was useless now. An Zhi had been killed by this youth who was now eyeing him dangerously. Clearly, after being inexplicably caught up in this dispute, this young man had become annoyed. On top of that, given that this youth had the strength to kill An Zhi in half a cup of tea’s time, if he really worked together with Deng Ning, how could Ye Yang Rong survive?
Ye Yang Rong’s heart pounded as he stared at Yang Kai nervously, secretly worrying about what answer he would give.
To his surprise though, Yang Kai just rolled his eyes before staring at Deng Ning and shaking his head, “I have no interest in intervening in your grudges.”
Ye Yang Rong’s expression finally loosened, thinking he had just escaped death, but Deng Ning quickly followed up, “Friend, we are the Demon Blood Temple disciples. You killed my Senior Brother, so if you let Ye Yang Rong go back, he will definitely expose what has happened here. Once that happens, it will surely be troublesome for you.”
“So you think I should kill all of you to silence the witnesses to the crime?” Yang Kai grinned as he glanced back and forth between Deng Ning and Ye Yang Rong, making both of their hearts jump as they sweat uneasily.
Ye Yang Rong cursed out Deng Ning in his heart viciously, hating the fact that he couldn’t just shut up, but thinking about what this unknown youth had just said, he quickly thought up a plan and spiritedly asked, “Junior Brother Deng, this friend doesn’t seem to be the affable type, why don’t we put aside our internal grudges temporarily and work together to deal with him?”
Deng Ning simply sneered at this offer and refused without thinking, “Sorry, I’m not interested in joining hands with people like you.”
After rejecting Ye Yang Rong’s offer, he turned back to Yang Kai and said, “Silencing the witness to the crime sounds about right, and if friend kills me too, I won’t utter any complaint; after all, if you had not intervened just now, I would have died anyway. But even if I must die here, I refuse to let this bastard feel any better!”
Saying so, he glanced over at Ye Yang Rong and grinned fiercely. Being forced to abandon that Blood Fusion Pill had made Deng Ning lose all restraint.
“You’re insane!” Ye Yang Rong was shocked and tried to retreat.
However, the moment he took a single step back, an intense Divine Sense pressure descended upon him, instantly breaking through his Knowledge Sea’s defence but stopping just before it did any real damage.
Ye Yang Rong began dripping with sweat, knowing that if he moved again, his Knowledge Sea would be attacked again. The strength of the Divine Sense just now wasn’t inferior to that of a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master’s and was not something he could possibly resist.
Immediately, Ye Yang Rong didn’t dare to move as he glanced over at Yang Kai with intense fear, trembling uncontrollably as he stood there stiffly. He couldn’t believe that such a powerful Divine Sense attack had been sent out by this person.
After tearing this person’s Knowledge Sea defences to give him a warning, Yang Kai didn’t rush to kill Ye Yang Rong and instead glanced over a Deng Ning with amusement and asked, “It’s not like I can’t help you, but what reward can you give me?”
Yang Kai understood what it meant to cut weeds and pull out roots better than most. At first, he planned to kill Deng Ning as well, but hearing the latter say he didn’t care if he died as long as Ye Yang Rong did as well improved Yang Kai’s opinion of him slightly.
A man who was truly indifferent about whether he lived or died could be believed.
Asking Deng Ning for some kind of reward was really just an excuse. Yang Kai didn’t want to act for no reason and had only killed An Zhi just now because the other party had attacked him.
As for what Deng Ning could pay him, regardless of whether it was valuable or not, Yang Kai didn’t care.
Surprisingly though, after Yang Kai said this, Deng Ning wore a smile and after thinking about it for a moment, said solemnly, “The Demon Blood Thread technique, I don’t know if this friend is interested?”
“Deng Ning!” Yang Kai couldn’t even answer before Ye Yang Rong roared angrily, his face filled with shock and disbelief, “You dare allow an outsider to study our Sect’s Secret Technique? Do you know what kind of end you’ll have if the Elders ever learned of this?”
Deng Ning turned his head leisurely and smiled coldly at him, “It’s just my Soul being extracted and tormented while my body is refined into meat paste, what’s the big deal?”
His completely uncaring expression caused Ye Yang Rong to be speechless for a while.
Deng Ning shook his head again and sneered, “Besides, Senior Brother Ye, as long as you die here, who will know that I leaked this technique?”
Ye Yang Rong’s face suddenly turned pale, only now realizing the extent of Deng Ning’s hatred for him, even willing to violate Demon Blood Temple’s Sect Laws and use the Demon Blood Thread Secret technique to lure this man into helping him. If the other party really agreed to this deal, Ye Yang Rong knew he would die, so he hurriedly called out to Yang Kai, “This friend, don’t believe Deng Ning, the Demon Blood Thread technique is certainly a powerful Divine Ability, one that only Core Disciples of the temple have the right to cultivate, but you don’t cultivate my Demon Blood Temple’s Secret Arts, so the Demon Blood Thread technique is useless to you. Furthermore, if you obtain this top-level technique, it absolutely won’t be ignored by the Sect. Once news of you possessing it reaches the Elders, you will certainly have no way to escape their pursuit!”
Saying so, a thought crossed Ye Yang Rong’s mind and he suddenly seemed to understand something, his face turning much paler as he stared at Deng Ning and tremblingly said, “This was your plan all along!”
Deng Ning grinned meaningfully as he saw Ye Yang Rong finally understand, no longer trying to cover anything up and instead saying to Yang Kai, “Friend, I don’t know your name, nor your origin, but right now I don’t care, I just want this bastard here to die. Giving you the Demon Blood Thread technique has certain risks for you, but the same is true for me. Once this trade is exposed, I will be the one who endures endless torture, so I will never betray you. About this, you can rest assured.”
This Deng Ning’s mind was quite sharp, he seemed to have noticed from the start that Yang Kai wanted to kill both of them off, so he had used the Demon Blood Thread technique as a way to tie their two fates together.
As long as Yang Kai agreed to this trade, Deng Ning would never be able to betray him, because doing so would be the same as sentencing himself to death. This was a thinly veiled display of goodwill on his part. As for whether the Demon Blood Thread technique was useful to Yang Kai, how could Deng Ning care about that?
Seeing Yang Kai’s hesitant look, Deng Ning steeled his heart and prepared to increase his offer, “If friend is not satisfied, I can…”
“No, that Demon Blood Thread technique will do.” Yang Kai interrupted his words, he also saw through Deng Ning’s intentions, but he didn’t care about such trivial means. As for Deng Ning gambling everything on a single throw of the dice, Yang Kai was completely indifferent.
Seeing Yang Kai nod, Ye Yang Rong’s face went ashen while Deng Ning was overjoyed.
“You start.” Yang Kai suddenly urged Deng Ning.
Deng Ning looked stunned, but thinking Yang Kai would help him, he didn’t ask any questions, pushing his Blood Qi madly before biting his tongue and spitting out a blood mist. This blood mist was like a living creature that twisted and morphed, quickly transforming into a short spear. Deng Ning grabbed the short spear in one hand and rushed towards Ye Yang Rong, his expression stern and determined.
What happened next shocked him. He clearly saw Ye Yang Rong try to avoid his attack, but just as he did, a look of pain appeared on the face of this Senior Brother of his. At the same time, Ye Yang Rong’s Saint Qi seemed to seize up and his body froze in place.
Deng Ning’s short spear easily passed through Ye Yang Rong’s heart and came out his back.
Blood splashed out as a horrified look filled Ye Yang Rong’s face. Holding the bloody short spear in his hand, he seemed to want to pull it out, but his strength slipped away far too quickly. In the blink of an eye, his vitality completely dissipated.
Deng Ning was dumbfounded by this sequence of events and it wasn’t until Ye Yang Rong’s body hit the ground with a loud thud that he awoke from his daze.
Deng Ning was certain that the reason his Senior Brother had not had a chance to fight back against his blow just now was because of this mysterious Second-Order Saint King young man.
Did this youth possess such skill?
Deng Ning didn’t think of himself as weak, but he couldn’t even understand what had happened just now or how he had won this battle so easily. All he knew was that if this youth could allow him to easily defeat his Senior Brother, couldn’t he also kill him just as easily?
Thinking so, cold sweat leaked from Deng Ning’s body and, for some reason, he felt somewhat depressed.
When he saw Yang Kai kill An Zhi, he knew that this youth was probably an elite from some great force, but it wasn’t until now that he understood that this person was a true monster.
Various thoughts crossed his mind, and only after a short silence did Deng Ning turn around, a calm look on his face but fear still flashing across the depths of his eyes, flew down, wore as big a smile as he could, and cupped his fists to Yang Kai, “Friend, many thanks! When I saw you in Flowing Flame Sand Field, I thought there was something extraordinary about you, now it seems I was right!”
Yang Kai nodded lightly and said nothing.
Unable to read Yang Kai’s mood, Deng Ning’s heart clenched up; after all, he didn’t know what kind of temperament this person had. Fearing he would say something to upset Yang Kai, Deng Ning hurriedly remembered their previous agreement and quickly took out a scroll made from some kind of beast skin from his Space Ring and extremely politely handed it over, “This is the Demon Blood Thread technique’s cultivation manual. Because I did not have enough merits though, this is only the first half of the technique; moreover, it is just a copy of the original. I may have copied it, but I guarantee it is no different from the original…”
As he spoke, Deng Ning carefully observed Yang Kai’s expression.
After all, the remuneration he was giving now wasn’t quite the same as what they had previously agreed upon, so he was naturally a bit worried.
Yang Kai stared at him for a moment before silently accepting the scroll; then, without looking at it, tossed it into his Space Ring. To Yang Kai, half the Demon Blood Thread technique was the same as the complete thing; after all, he had no intention to cultivate it so he didn’t care about Deng Ning’s little concealment.
Seeing Yang Kai put away the scroll and not show any intention to question him, Deng Ning couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief.
“Does your Demon Blood Temple allow disciples to make copies of their secret techniques?” Yang Kai asked, looking at Deng Ning with a smile.
Deng Ning chuckled, “Naturally not, but since I was a kid my memory has always been good, so… friend understands.”
Yang Kai nodded.
“May I know friend’s honoured name?” Deng Ning asked solemnly.
Yang Kai frowned, but still reported his name.
Deng Ning nodded and followed up, “This one is Demon Blood Temple disciple Deng Ning, presumably Brother Yang already knows this though. En, Brother Yang may rest assured, what happened here will never be known to a third person. If this Deng reveals it to anyone, may he suffer from heart demon backlash and never break through to the Origin Returning Realm!”
Hearing such a poisonous oath, Yang Kai gave a surprised look. Although this kind of oath may have just been casually spoken, if he really failed to uphold it, it would create a small, invisible flaw in his heart and very well may lead to him suffering from a heart demon when trying to break through in the future.
As such, it could be believed in.
“I’m not worried about that, but you… two of your Sect Brothers died here, won’t that cause you trouble?” Yang Kai glanced over at the nearby corpses.
When Deng Ning heard this, his expression became slightly strange as he stared at Yang Kai strangely before asking tentatively, “Is this the first time Brother Yang has heard of my Demon Blood Temple?”
“What do you mean?” Yang Kai frowned.
Deng Ning didn’t dare act mysterious and quickly said, “It seems this really is the first time Brother Yang has heard about Demon Blood Temple. No wonder. Brother Yang need not worry, it’s nothing important if these two died here. In Demon Blood Temple, brothers killing one another isn’t forbidden; in fact, it’s encouraged. On top of that, there are many disciples in the temple, so no one will notice if one or two die.”
Yang Kai’s eye bulged greatly after hearing this.
Sure enough, the world was wide. Even a Sect that encouraged its disciples to kill one another existed. What’s more, this Sect had actually endured the test of time, which Yang Kai felt was incredible.
Deng Ning seemed to be the chatty type, so even without prompting, he continued, “The Temple basically has a small internal war every five years, and a big one every ten. Each time such a war occurs, rivers of blood flow through the temple and many people die. Because of this, the Sect is quite famous on Shadowed Star.”
“Then why hasn’t your Sect been destroyed?” Yang Kai asked strangely.
“Brother Yang doesn’t mince words…” Deng Ning’s mouth twitched. “Because the Secret Arts of the temple encourage slaughter, these internal fights actually lead to many disciples’ strength increasing. After each war, countless disciples break through to the next realm, so a complete annihilation of the temple’s population has never occurred.”
Smiling reluctantly, Deng Ning patiently explained.
The more Yang Kai heard the harder he found it to believe so he didn’t continue inquiring about it and instead asked, “I assume your Demon Blood Temple is nearby then, yes?”
“Yes.”
“How far is Heavenly Fate City from here?”
“Heavenly Fate City?” Deng Ning heard this name and was quite startled, suddenly realizing something and saying, “It turns out that Brother Yang is a Shadow Moon Hall disciple! No wonder your means are so profound. En, this Ding is deeply impressed.”
Hearing Yang Kai ask about Heavenly Fate City, Deng Ning apparently misunderstood and thought he was a disciple of Shadow Moon Hall. Yang Kai didn’t bother to correct him.
After some small flattery, Deng Ning remarked, “Heavenly Fate City is quite far away from here. If you fly by Star Shuttle, it will take you at least half a year to arrive.”
“So far away!” Yang Kai frowned. He knew that Shadowed Star itself was massive because he had once sent a drop of Golden Blood to circle the star, but even at its ridiculous travel speed it had still taken quite some time. However, taking six months to fly back to Heavenly Fate City from here was something Yang Kai wasn’t willing to do.
Six months was enough time to do many things.
Seeing the expression on Yang Kai’s face, Deng Ning went silent for a moment, but after a brief struggle, he grit his teeth and said, “If you use the Space Array in Demon Blood City about ten thousand kilometres from here, it will save you a lot of time. Demon Blood City’s Space Array isn’t directly connected to Heavenly Fate City’s, but it can teleport you to a place called Bluestone City, which is under the jurisdiction of Grand Fire Temple. From Bluestone City to Heavenly Fate City, it’s only about a month’s journey. Of course, if Brother Yang knows a Core Disciple of Grand Fire Temple who can act as a guarantor, you should be able to use Bluestone City’s Space Array to directly transfer to Heavenly Fate City.”
“Demon Blood City’s Space Array is connected to Bluestone City’s?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
“Yes, because Demon Blood Temple does a lot of trade with Grand Fire Temple, the disciples from the two Sects are quite familiar with one another and often cooperate on excursions or in cultivation,” Deng Ning explained with a smile, inquiring right after, “If Brother Yang wants, you can accompany me to Demon Blood City. This Deng is also a Core Disciple of Demon Blood Temple, so it won’t be a problem to allow you to use the Space Array.”
Hearing what he said, Yang Kai was pleasantly surprised and secretly felt that allowing Deng to live was the right choice as he had some use. On his face though, Yang Kai maintained an indifferent expression as he asked, “What’s the cost of using your Space Array?”
Deng Ning quickly waved his hand, “Brother Yang doesn’t need to worry about that. This time, it was thanks to Brother Yang that I was able to survive. This Deng was worried about how to repay Brother Yang for this grace, but now that there’s an opportunity to do so, what does such a small cost count for? Not to mention, using the Space Array only costs some Saint Crystals, it’s really not a problem. If Brother Yang intends to travel through Demon Blood City, this Deng will be glad to cover the expense.”
Deng Ning thumped his chest as he made this guarantee. It seemed that Yang Kai killing An Zhi and helping him kill Ye Yang Rong had made Deng Ning want to establish a friendly relationship with him, so the offer he made just now was without an pretentiousness.
Yang Kai pondered for a while, knowing that if it wasn’t on orders from a Sect Elder or for some kind of mission, disciples of a Sect wouldn’t be able to use their Space Array for just some Saint Crystals. There were definitely other costs involved, but since the other party had already made the offer, Yang Kai saw no reason to refuse, smiling and nodding, “Then I shall trouble Brother Deng.”
“Brother Yang is too polite!” Deng Ning saw Yang Kai’s attitude towards him change, causing his mood to lift greatly. He felt he was not suffering a loss in this deal. Not only was he able to return this life-saving favour, he had even profited a bit.
“Brother Yang, please wait a moment, I’ll go process that shameless bastard’s body first,” Deng Ning said before hurrying off.
After killing, it was natural to destroy the corpse. This kind of thing was something Yang Kai was also familiar with so he didn’t say much; however, after Deng Ning left, Yang Kai reached into his robes stealthily.
Nestled in his chest was the tiny Artifact Refining Furnace, but now, inside of it was a red pill that radiated a potent Blood Qi.
It was the Blood Fusion Pill that Deng Ning threw into the Flowing Flame Sand Field!
Yang Kai was naturally curious about what these three Saint King brothers from Demon Blood Temple were fighting over, so when Deng Ning threw the Blood Fusion Pill away, Yang Kai immediately let the Artifact Spirit quietly go retrieve it.
No one being able to enter the Flowing Flame Sand Field when it was closed didn’t mean the Artifact Spirit couldn’t. This Artifact Spirit was born from the pure Fire Attribute energy of the Earth Lung Fire Pond and had been absorbing that very energy for tens of thousands of years, so how could it care about the heat of the Flowing Flame Sand Field?
The red streak An Zhi saw flying into Yang Kai’s chest was naturally the Artifact Spirit returning after it succeeded.
Although he hadn’t checked it carefully, just from the intense Blood Qi this Blood Fusion Pill gave off, refining it must have involved something similar to a blood sacrifice. Yang Kai’s theory was supported by the strong evil aura this pill gave off and it was obviously that only Demon Blood Temple disciples would have much use for it. This malevolent aura wouldn’t harm Demon Blood Temple disciples but instead would be helpful to their cultivation.
Yang Kai asking the Artifact Spirit to retrieve it was simply in accordance with his Alchemic curiosity, he had no others thoughts that pure curiosity.
Just as Yang Kai was pondering over this pill, Deng Ning rushed over to Ye Yang Rong’s body. Rather than directly destroying this corpse like Yang Kai imagined, however, Deng Ning sat down cross-legged with a delighted look upon his face. Beside this corpse, Deng Ning formed a series of hand seal and used some kind of secret technique that caused a series of howls and shrieks to ring out while Blood Qi rose sharply.
About half an hour later, Ye Yang Rong’s body had become nothing more than bleached bones while in Deng Ning’s hand there was a red pill similar to the Blood Fusion Pill. Deng Ning stared at this pill with great satisfaction before storing it away in his Space Ring, smiling happily as if he had obtained a treasure before smashing the leftover bones.
He then collected Ye Yang Rong and An Zhi’s Space Rings before walking back over to Yang Kai.
When he saw the strange look on Yang Kai’s face, Deng Ning smiled and explained, “I’ve shown Brother Yang something embarrassing. I won’t lie, for Demon Blood Temple’s disciples, fellow Sect Brothers are also living cultivation materials. It’s another reason why the internal fights never stop.”
Yang Kai stroked his chin and said, “So I destroyed a potential pill like that?”
He had exploded An Zhi’s body, so obviously Deng Ning couldn’t refine the corpse into a pill.
“It’s not important, this Deng is already very satisfied with his current harvest. Although the Sect encourages internal fighting, killing another disciple in the same realm is extremely difficult and dangerous. There are countless disciples who die when they attempt to kill another, so even if Sect encourages it, most won’t easily try to find trouble with others.” Deng Ning didn’t dare bother Yang Kai with the details so he quickly changed the subject, “These are the Space Rings of my two Senior Brothers; there should be some good things in them, but most are probably useless for Brother Yang. However, there are a few hundred thousand Saint Crystals.”
Yang Kai glanced at him and waved, “No need, you can keep those two Space Rings for yourself. Just consider it payment for helping me use your Demon Blood City’s Space Array.”
With Deng Ning’s intentionally reminding him that the things in these Space Rings were useless to him, how could Yang Kai not know what he was thinking? A couple hundred thousand Saint Crystals were nothing to Yang Kai, so he didn’t mind giving them to Deng Ning.
Sure enough, Deng Ning was overjoyed and, after trying to humbly decline a few times, he eventually agreed, happily wearing the two Space Rings on his hand, seemingly not minding if anyone knew he had killed two of his Sect Brothers.
Finished here, Deng Ning and Yang Kai summoned their Star Shuttles and flew towards Demon Blood City.
Along the way, Deng Ning deliberately talked to Yang Kai, trying to probe what his position in Shadow Moon Hall was, but Yang Kai never let anything slip.
It didn’t take much for Yang Kai to change the subject.
After some conversation, Yang Kai finally understood why when he saw Deng Ning in the Flowing Flame Sand Field he felt like he had heard his voice before.
It turned out that both of them had participated in the Treasure Trove Pavilion auction held in Heavenly Fate City before the opening of the Flowing Flame Sand Field. At that time, Deng Ning had bid on behalf of the Demon Blood Sect Elders several times.
When the topic of the grand auction came up, Deng Ning prattled on endlessly about the rare treasures which had appeared with a longing expression upon his face. Little did he know that most of those treasures were things Yang Kai had brought to auction.
Time passed quickly as the two chatted and soon, a magnificent city appeared in Yang Kai’s vision.
Deng Ning took the initiative to introduce Yang Kai and told him that Demon Blood City was located about a thousand kilometre s away from the mountain range where Demon Blood Temple was situated. Although Demon Blood Temple itself was an evil Sect, cultivators from all over Shadowed Star came and went through Demon Blood City, so it appeared very lively on the surface, not any different from other major cities.
The only noticeable difference was that many cultivators walking in the city had malevolent auras about them.
Sure enough, after entering Demon Blood City, Yang Kai noticed many such people, most of them wearing cold, indifferent looks and emitting gloomy auras from their bodies. When anyone else saw these cultivators, they would busy themselves with their own business, doing their best to avoid them.
In Demon Blood City, there were many shops and prosperous businesses. Many other forces had their own industries here, first to facilitate communication with Demon Blood Temple, and second to inquire about news from this region.
Deng Ning took Yang Kai into Demon Blood City and guided him along the wide streets in a familiar way, constantly introducing him to the local sights and customs in a warm and sociable manner.
After walking for half a day, the two arrived at a massive palace.
“We’re here. Demon Blood City’s Space Array is inside,” Deng Ning stopped and pointed to the front.
Yang Kai looked up and found that the defences around here were far tighter than those around the hall where Heavenly Fate City’s Space Array was located. Around the perimeter, there were seven or eight Demon Blood Temple disciples wearing cyan Artifact Armour standing straight like spears, each one of them a Second or Third-Order Saint King. At the same time, from inside the palace, the unconcealed aura of an Origin Returning Realm master could be felt.
“Brother Yang, please wait a moment while I go inform the Elder in charge. When I’ve finished making the arrangements, I’ll come back to welcome Brother Yang,” Deng Ning said politely.
Yang Kai nodded before walking into the palace’s main hall under the eyes of the surrounding Demon Blood Temple disciples.
The seven or eight Demon Blood Temple disciple guarding this place seemed to be curious about the relationship between Deng Ning and Yang Kai, and after Deng Ning walked further inside, they continually glanced at Yang Kai, speculating about his identity.
However, that was all, none of them came up to question him.
About half an hour later, Deng Ning’s figure appeared from the inner hall, but at this moment there was a clearly pained and bitter look upon his face.
Yang Kai saw this and immediately understood that his previous guess was right. It was definitely not a simple matter to allow an outsider to use the Space Array of this Sect. Deng Ning had obviously paid a great price.
Seeing other party go so far, Yang Kai felt a little guilty; after all, just half a day ago, he had been thinking about whether to kill Deng Ning in order to silence all witnesses. Now though, Deng Ning had gone to great lengths to allow him to use this private Space Array. It seemed that making friends with this person from Demon Blood Temple wasn’t such a bad idea.
Yang Kai thought about such things silently.
Walking out of the inner hall, Deng Ning’s expression quickly returned to normal as he let out a big laugh and called out, “I’ve let Brother Yang wait. Please follow me, everything has been handled properly.”
“Alright!” Yang Kai nodded, his attitude much better than before. Since the other party had done him a favour, he secretly decided that if he met this Deng Ning again in the future, he wouldn’t mind helping him out.
Under Deng Ning’s lead, the two entered the inner hall without obstruction. A large circle-array that was essentially the same as Heavenly Fate City’s Space Array stood quietly in the centre of the inner hall. Several grooves at the base of this circular platform were filled with High-Rank Saint Crystals already, indicating that it was ready to be opened at any time.
Additionally, inside this hall, there were three Origin Returning Realm masters standing guard as well as a dozen or so Saint King Realm masters. The three Origin Returning Realm masters each looked like they had good strength, and two of them sat on opposite sides of the hall in meditation, completely ignoring the arrival of Yang Kai and Deng Ning.
One of the Origin Realm masters though, an old man with silver hair, stood beside the central platform, his falcon-like eyes staring at Yang Kai for a moment before he turned to ask Deng Ning, “Martial Nephew Deng, is this the person you wish to guarantee?”
“Yes, Martial Uncle Liu, this is a friend that Martial Nephew made before,” Deng Ning answered quickly and respectfully.
“A friend… heh!” The old man surnamed Liu wore a fierce grin, as if the word ‘friend’ touched one of his nerves, “You’re from Shadow Moon Hall?”
Yang Kai looked indifferent, knowing that this old man surnamed Liu had probably inquired about his information from Deng Ning already, so he didn’t bother denying and simply cupped his fists, “Greetings Senior Liu.”
Seeing Yang Kai understand proper etiquette, the old man surnamed Liu nodded slightly and said, “Although my Demon Blood Temple and Shadow Moon Hall don’t share any kind of relationship, since Martial Nephew Deng is willing to act as a guarantor, it’s permissible for you to use the temple’s Space Array; however, just what kind of ‘friendship’ do you have with Martial Nephew Deng that would make him willing to pay thirty contribution points to allow you to travel to Bluestone City? Those thirty contribution points aren’t something that can be earned without risking one’s life several times.”
Deng Ning’s complexion changed slightly as he quickly glanced over at Yang Kai, but seeing the other party not show any kind of reaction, Deng Ning just laughed and said, “Martial Uncle Liu’s curiosity is well-founded, but it’s actually quite simple. Martial Nephew owes Brother Yang a life-saving grace, so thirty contribution points aren’t worth mentioning.”
“A life-saving grace?” The old man surnamed Liu’s eyes flashed suddenly, a cold light creeping into them as he scoffed, “A Second-Order Saint King saved your life? Is your Third-Order Saint King’s cultivation fake?”
Deng Ning’s complexion turned white, as a lot of sweat began forming on his forehead.
“And as far as I know, you’ve had no chance to make friends with any Shadow Moon Hall disciples besides when you went to Heavenly Fate City to participate in the auction. Heh, could you have met at that time?” The old man surnamed Liu seemed to have a lot of doubts and asked several questions in succession.
Deng Ning didn’t know how to answer for a while.
Yang Kai saw that Deng Ning was being pressured by his Martial Uncle and couldn’t come up with a good explanation, so he stepped in and said, “Senior should not misunderstand. I did not become acquainted with Brother Deng in Heavenly Fate City but rather in the Flowing Flame Sand Field. While inside, I coincidentally saved him once. It had nothing to do with personal strength, Junior very much admires Brother Deng’s strength actually.”
“Flowing Flame Sand Field! You also entered the Flowing Flame Sand Field? Why didn’t you go back with Qian Tong then and instead stuck around here for so long?” The old man surnamed Liu was surprised.
“There were some small reasons that delayed Junior so he failed to return with Elder Qian,” Yang Kai replied lightly.
“Oh?” The old man surnamed Liu smiled meaningfully, “It seems that you had quite a good harvest in the Flowing Flame Sand Field.”
Yang Kai’s brow rose imperceptibly. Although he was vigilant in his heart, he wasn’t too nervous, thinking about it for a moment before saying, “Junior did have some gains, but I’m afraid they wouldn’t be able to enter Senior’s eyes.”
Saying so though, he waved his hand and took out five pigeon-egg-sized Fire Crystal Stones from his Space Ring before quietly delivering them to the old man, “This is Junior’s first meeting with Senior, but he has failed to prepare any appropriate gifts. In place of that, I hope Senior will accept these few small tokens of goodwill.”
When the old man surnamed Liu saw these Fire Crystal Stones, his eyes lit up and he felt that Yang Kai was truly a promising young man. He was making things difficult here to obtain some benefits from Yang Kai in the first place, so with the opposite party understanding his intentions so quickly, it made everything easier. Waving his sleeve, the old man surnamed Liu accepted the five Fire Crystal Stones and a big smile appeared on his face as he nodded, “Good, good, no wonder Martial Nephew Deng made friends with you. It seems you’re a generous and understanding young man with a promising future. Alright, since you are a disciple of Shadow Moon Hall, this old master won’t say anymore. The reason why I asked so much just now was simply in case you were using a false identity to cause trouble. You can proceed now.”
After receiving five Fire Crystal Stones, this old man’s demeanour instantly changed, as if he had become a different person.
“Many thanks, Senior!” Yang Kai cupped his fists politely.
On the other side, Deng Ning saw the old man surnamed Liu finally let go and couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief, carefully reminding in the next moment, “Martial Uncle Liu, make sure to give Brother Yang a temporary token, or else when he arrives in Bluestone City, the disciples of Grand Fire Temple won’t allow him to pass through freely.”
“You think it’s necessary to remind me of this?” The old man surnamed Liu coldly snorted, waving his hand to send out a crimson token to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai caught this token and saw that it had a somewhat gruesome and terrifying head stamped onto it.
The old man surnamed Liu explained, “This is a temporary token of my Demon Blood Temple. It’s proof that you can pass through the Space Array and will allow you to avoid being questioned by Grand Fire Temple. Of course, since it’s just a temporary token, it can only be used for three days, but three days should be enough for you to return to Heavenly Fate City.”
“Junior understands,” Yang Kai nodded.
“Great, step up and I’ll open the array,” The old man surnamed Liu waved at Yang Kai and Yang Kai immediately stood atop the circular platform.
Deng Ning stood aside and cupped his fists with a smile to Yang Kai, “I hope Brother Yang’s journey goes smoothly. If there is an opportunity for Brother Yang to come to Demon Blood City again in the future, don’t hesitate to look for this Deng to share a drink.”
“Sure, if Brother Deng ever comes to Heavenly Fate City, he should come find this Yang. This Yang will definitely do his best to entertain Brother Deng,” Yang Kai replied.
Hearing this, Deng Ning smiled happily, knowing that his efforts had not been in vain. Spending thirty contribution points had really made his heart bleed, but he felt it was all worthwhile to become friends with this person. In the future, he may very well need to seek help from Yang Kai.
After the two finished speaking, the Space Array gave off a dazzling light, and surrounding space immediately warped.
Yang Kai’s vision filled with white light and after a brief moment, he found himself inside another grand hall guarded by several cultivators.
In an instant, several tyrannical Divine Senses landed on Yang Kai and he heard the sound of clothes swishing all around him as several Saint King Realm cultivators vigilantly surrounded him.
Seeing this, Yang Kai didn’t panic and took out the temporary token from Demon Blood Temple and tossed it to the most powerful Origin Returning Realm master present. The man caught it as he remained unmoving.
The Origin Returning Realm master swept his eyes over the token for a moment before knitting his brow, “Someone from Demon Blood Temple!”
Saying so, he tossed the token back and said lightly, “This token is good for three days. If you don’t return here before time is up, this Space Array will not be open to you!”
“Junior understands!” Yang Kai nodded.
The Origin Returning Realm master simply waved his hand and the hostile aura in the room disappeared. The Grand Fire Temple disciples returned to their posts immediately, none of them caring about Yang Kai again.
Yang Kai was pleased with this result and, after leaving the palace, blended into the flowing crowds of Bluestone City.
He had no intention of staying here, and after an hour or so, a blue streak of light flew out from Bluestone City and disappeared across the horizon a moment later.
Yang Kai had gotten directions to Heavenly Fate City from Bluestone City and then set off because he didn’t have any contacts in Grand Fire Temple, so there was no way he could use their Space Array.
Fortunately, it was only one month from Bluestone City to Heavenly Fate City, which was several times closer than from Demon Blood City. This much of a delay was acceptable.
His Star Shuttle was extremely fast, so Yang Kai simply sat cross-legged atop it, controlling its flight easily while starting to inspect his harvest from the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
Since entering the Flowing Flame Sand Field, he had encountered many opportunities and obtained many good things, but how he should go about using all of them was something he hadn’t considered yet.
After some inspection, Yang Kai state of mind fluctuated as even he was somewhat startled by his harvest.
Finished with his harvest from the Flowing Flame Sand Field, Yang Kai began inspecting the Blood Fusion Pill he had just obtained.
After some investigation, Yang Kai was surprised.
This Blood Fusion Pill was truly as he expected; although it contained a strong Blood Qi and vitality, it also contained a massive amount of malevolent energy. If an ordinary cultivator took such a thing, it would cause them serious harm. Only a cultivator who came from a Sect like Demon Blood Temple could use this Blood Fusion Pill to enhance their cultivation.
But to Yang Kai, this kind of Evil Qi was not something that could harm him; after all, he had used and still used a similar type of energy.
After carefully checking the materials of this Blood Fusion Pill, Yang Kai was secretly shocked. Although he failed to recognize all the ingredients, he was able to deduce most of them and found that there were many rare spirit herbs involved. It was clear now why Deng Ning and his fellow Sect Brothers, who were all Third-Order Saint Kings, would fight for this Blood Fusion Pill.
Yang Kai figured that in Demon Blood Temple, the number of pills produced wasn’t large and they would only be awarded to a disciple who have made big contributions to the temple. Deng Ning had obviously obtained many benefits in the Flowing Flame Sand Field and given them to the Elders of Demon Blood Temple in exchange for this Blood Fusion Pill.
Then, at some point, news must have leaked out to Ye Yang Rong and An Zhi.
Shaking his head, Yang Kai no longer bothered himself with such matters; instead, he hesitated for a moment before tossing the Blood Fusion Pill into his mouth and swallowing.
Transforming his Demonic Flame into a pure Yang attribute, Yang Kai quickly refined the Blood Fusion Pill’s medicinal efficacies, sending a wave of cold energy coursing through his veins. However, under the scorching heat of his Demonic Flame, this cold energy was forced out of his body as wisps of black smoke, all of which left via his pores and dissipated into the air.
All that remained was the massive amount of vitality contained in the Blood Fusion Pill that circulated through Yang Kai’s body and merged into his physique.
Not paying attention to the effect of this Blood Fusion Pill, Yang Kai turned to investigate the Demon Blood Thread technique given to him by Deng Ning.
Yang Kai was not planning on cultivating this Demon Blood Temple secret technique and instead just wanted to learn about it in preparation for when he ran into high level members of Demon Blood Temple. When fighting against others, understanding how their skills and techniques worked would give him an advantage.
But after beginning to read this scroll, Yang Kai let out a cry of surprise and soon became completely immersed in studying this secret technique, unable to extricate himself. As he continued investigating this technique, Yang Kai’s expression gradually began to change, sometimes surprised, sometimes frowning, sometimes thoughtful.
…..
One month later, in the skies nearby Heavenly Fate City, a blue streak of light dashed forward and rushed towards Dragon Cave Mountain. A moment later, this azure light arrived at its destination and Yang Kai’s figure appeared.
Looking around Dragon Cave Mountain though, Yang Kai was shocked and surprised, completely forgetting to move.
It had only been about a year since he departed for the Flowing Flame Sand Field, but during this short time, Dragon Cave Mountain had changed dramatically.
From the air, the few peaks that had originally existed here had become completely invisible and were replaced by a beautiful picture of rolling fog and clouds. Among the clouds there was a remarkable World Energy aura, and through them Yang Kai was able to vaguely see the original cave he had sat in meditation in along with some small scattered buildings. Although there were not many of these buildings, they seemed well constructed.
There were also some blurry figures shuttling back and forth inside the fog bank.
[Is this really Dragon Cave Mountain?] Yang Kai suspected that he had taken a wrong turn somewhere and arrived outside the Spirit Peak of some Sect; however, this place was indeed fifty kilometres from Heavenly Fate City. Yang Kai was certain of this because as he passed by the city, he had wondered whether he could drop in to see Qian Tong so the latter would know he was alright.
Although the scene in front of him was not on the level of a grand Sect’s headquarters, Yang Kai couldn’t believe such drastic changes had taken place in just one year.
This change was definitely thanks to Yang Yan! The Aura Gathering Spirit Array she had arranged here earlier was playing its role perfectly and under the exploration of Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, he could tell that all of Dragon Cave Mountain was surrounded by a powerful Spirit Array. As he used his Divine Sense, he frequently encountered obstructions and there were even some places he was unable to probe at all, including the original mountain cave.
Yang Kai’s current Divine Sense was no weaker than that of a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master, yet even he could not see through this barrier. Yang Kai estimated that even the strongest masters on Shadowed Star would not be able to do any better than he did.
[Yang Yan has actually done it!] Yang Kai could not help feeling a bit stunned. Before he went to the Flowing Flame Sand Field, Yang Yan told him she intended to arrange an incredible defensive Spirit Array around all of Dragon Cave Mountain, but how could he have known she would complete it to such a degree in such a short period of time.
Yang Kai also didn’t know whether this Spirit Array had been fully arranged. If it weren’t complete yet, that would only be more frightening.
However, how many of the hundred million Saint Crystals he left behind were left? Arranging such a huge Spirit Array must have consumed an extraordinary amount of material and resources. When he thought of this, Yang Kai’s face could not help twitching.
Just as Yang Kai was exploring this barrier from the outside, from inside it, a few weaker Divine Senses emerged, but they withdrew quickly after contacting Yang Kai.
Immediately, a beam of colourful light radiated from inside Dragon Cave Mountain and opened a kind of passageway through the fog bank right in front of Yang Kai. The view down this passageway was still obscured but it should lead to the centre of Dragon Cave Mountain.
Yang Kai smiled as he understood that those inside had discoverer him; so, without hesitation, he flew inside.
Landing a moment later, the surrounding scene changed dramatically.
For a moment, Yang Kai could not help sighing in admiration. The changes to Dragon Cave Mountain were so great that he barely recognized it.
Before long, several figures rushed over, with Yang Yan, who was still wrapped in her customary black robe, in the lead. Because she was running so fast, her great peaks undulated up and down and her head wrappings flapped in the wind. On her face was a big smile and a look of relief, as if she had just put down a heavy load.
Immediately behind Yang Yan were Wu Yi and Yu Feng.
Chang Qi and Hao An were also present.
Yang Kai even saw Shadow Moon Hall’s First-Order Origin Returning Realm disciple Luo Qing.
Everyone smiled broadly and all of them seemed to be breathing sighs of relief from the bottom of their hearts.
It seemed that Yang Kai not returning even half a year after the Flowing Flame Sand Field had closed had worried them greatly.
Yang Yan worrying about Yang Kai was out of a genuine sense of friendship. If not for Yang Kai taking a chance on her, she might still have been sitting in Heavenly Fate City’s Refining Pavilion claiming to be an Origin Grade Artifact Refiner while only being able to help some untrusting cultivators refine trivial items, unable to use any of her amazing talents. It was not an exaggeration to say that Yang Kai gave her the freedom to display her skills while simultaneously providing her unimaginable funds. The same was true of Wu Yi, Yu Feng and the others from the Hai Ke Family. As for Luo Qing, he should have been ordered to come here by Qian Tong to inquire about Yang Kai.
“You’re back!” Yang Yan ran up to Yang Kai with small steps and looking him over from top to bottom, her pair of beautiful eyes were making sure that he was not missing any limbs, patting his shoulder heartily as she nodded in approval.
Next, Wu Yi, Yu Feng and the others all came up one after another and greeted Yang Kai joyfully.
Yang Kai’s heart warmed, and he suddenly felt a sense of trust and belonging. Since he entered the Star Field, his heart had constantly felt empty, because in this vast Star Field, there was no one who would worry for his safety, care about where he was, or even pay any attention to if he was alive or dead. No one would think about him while he was out or ask him if he was well when he returned, completely different from back in Tong Xuan Realm.
But at this moment, he once again felt such feelings. For a time, it was as if he had returned home and was facing Little Senior Sister, Meng Wuya, Ling Tai Xu, Chu Ling Xiao and the rest of his friends and family.
“I’m back!” Yang Kai said lightly, but his empty heart was warmed and filled greatly even so.
“It’s good that you’ve come back, en, particularly good. During these past few months, everyone was so worried not hearing from you, wondering if something had happened to you outside.” Wu Yi stepped forward and smiled lightly, her beautiful eyes glancing over at Luo Qing next and explaining, “You probably don’t know, but after the Flowing Flame Sand Field closed, Elder Qian ordered some people to remain there to wait for you for half a year, unfortunately, they never saw any trace of you. It wasn’t until recently that they returned to Shadow Moon Hall.”
[Half a year?!] Yang Kai’s brow twitched. Most likely, Shadow Moon Hall’s disciples had left just days before he had come out.
Feeling Qian Tong’s concern, Yang Kai quickly cupped his fists to Luo Qing and said, “Greetings Brother Luo, I must trouble you to express my gratitude to Elder Qian for his concern. After the Flowing Flame Sand Field closed, I had a certain matter that needed to immediately be attended to, so I quickly found a place to enter retreat and only recently came out. It seems not sending any messages back made Elder Qian worry.”
Luo Qing laughed, “Brother Yang doesn’t need to act so distantly. Elder Qian will be incredibly happy as long as he knows you’ve returned safely. Since you are safe now… oh, Brother Yang has broken through to the Second-Order Saint King Realm, amazing! Congratulations!”
As Luo Qing exchanged greetings and pleasantries with Yang Kai, he noticed that the latter’s cultivation had risen a Minor Realm and quickly offered his congratulation as a touch of envy flashed across his face.
Because Luo Qing was an Origin Returning Realm cultivator, he could not enter the Flowing Flame Sand Field this time, causing him some small regrets. He had heard that many of the cultivators who returned safely from the Flowing Flame Sand Field had reaped great harvests and many had achieved breakthroughs in their bottlenecks. Seeing Yang Kai now, it seemed these rumors were true.
Hearing Luo Qing’s words, everyone else also showed a sunny expression.
In truth, all of them are gathered because of Yang Kai, so Yang Kai was the real leader here. Now that Yang Kai cultivation had risen, they would naturally be excited.
After a few more casual words, Luo Qing insisted on departing.
Luo Qing was sent here by Qian Tong and had stayed in case there was any news about Yang Kai. Now that Yang Kai had returned safely, he naturally had to send back word to Elder Qian as quickly as possible to put him at ease.
Yang Kai did not try to stop Luo Qing and simply sent him off politely.
After Luo Qing left, Yang Kai said, “Let’s also go back, the changes here are so extensive, you’ll have to explain everything to me, or I may accidentally touch some Spirit Array in the future.”
Yang Yan smirked, “Naturally I’ll tell you about all them, but you can rest assured that none of the arrays will react to you.”
The group chatted happily as they walked back to the centre of Dragon Cave Mountain.
Yang Yan, Wu Yi, Yu Feng, Chang Qi, and Hao An gathered outside the cave where Yang Kai originally used to meditate at a table that had been specially set up. On top of this table was a circular disk that showed a complete picture of Dragon Cave Mountain in astonishing detail. Every tree, every blade of grass was present. On this disk there were also a few dozen bright and dark spots, some of which were moving, some of which were stationary. These spots represented the people moving about inside Dragon Cave Mountain.
This thing was a combination of Yang Yan’s Artifact Refining and Spirit Array techniques. The Heaven’s Eye Plate was a special artifact with no attack and defense capabilities, it could only be used to monitor the movement around Dragon Cave Mountain.
It was by using this Heaven’s Eye Plate that Yang Yan was able to determine Yang Kai had returned.
Yang Kai seemed like a country bumpkin who had just come to the big city for the first time. He was very curious about this Heaven’s Eye Plate and kept pointing at things and asking about how they related to Dragon Cave Mountain’s current condition. Yang Yan and the others explained to him patiently and after about an hour or so, Yang Kai gained a comprehensive understanding of the current Dragon Cave Mountain.
At the same time, he was truly shocked by the huge changes Dragon Cave Mountain had undergone this past year.
Dragon Cave Mountain now had countless offensive and defensive Spirit Arrays arranged around it. Even if an Origin Returning Realm cultivator broke into this place, they would not be able to easily leave. According to Yang Yan, unless several Third Order Origin Realm masters collaborated, it would be impossible to break through Dragon Cave Mountain’s grand Spirit Array.
But how could a Third Order Origin Returning Realm master suddenly run over to attack Dragon Cave Mountain, much less several of them? No one would waste so much effort for so little gain. Moreover, the Dragon Cave Mountain’s grand Spirit Array was still only in its prototype phase and had yet to be perfected. If there was enough financial support, Yang Yan was confident she could enhance it further.
After understanding the changes of Dragon Cave Mountain, Yang Kai sighed to himself as he once again realized bringing Yang Yan back from Heavenly Fate City was one of the best decisions he had ever made.
She was able to turn this small Dragon Cave Mountain into an inviolable fortress, so if Yang Kai was to ever bring his friends and family out from Tong Xuan Realm and establish a proper Sect, would the role she could play be even bigger?
“However, arranging all of this cost quite a few Saint Crystals,” Wu Yi said while frowning and complaining slightly to Yang Kai, “The hundred million Saint Crystals you gave us before you left have been completely spent, and even the thirty million Saint Crystals brought back by Foreign Elder Chang have been used up. After purchasing so many materials from Shadow Moon Hall though, Dragon Cave Mountain has become Shadow Moon Hall’s most valuable customer.”
“Foreign Elder Chang brought back thirty million Saint Crystals?” Yang Kai raised his brow as he turned to look at Chang Qi, but he quickly remember how Chang Qi acquired so many Saint Crystals, he must have mined all of them from the underground lode in the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
It seems that after Yang Kai left him there, Chang Qi had been mining non-stop until the Flowing Flame Sand Field closed, otherwise he would not have been able to obtain such an amazing amount.
“Junior will have to borrow these Saint Crystals from Foreign Elder Chang for now, but he will surely repay them in the future.”
Chang Qi put on a frown and pretended to be annoyed, “Yang Kai, you saying such things makes it seem like this Chang is an outsider. If you had not brought this old man to find that Saint Crystal Lode, how could he have ever obtained those thirty million Saint Crystals? At least half of these Saint Crystals should belong to you in the first place, not to mention that without you, this old man and Old Hao would not be homeless. So, what if I had so many Saint Crystals? With my strength, it would only bring disaster to myself. I would have no way to protect such a fortune regardless of the circumstances. In the end, I would have to join some other force to protect myself, at which point I would be forced to hand over those Saint Crystals.”
Hao An also echoed, “Indeed, Yang Kai, you accepted this old man and Old Chang before the opening of Flowing Flame Sand Field, giving us brothers a place we can return to and call home. Extending your hand to us when we were at our lowest point is something, we brothers will always be grateful for; it is more than enough. These Saint Crystals are Old Chang’s way of showing his thanks, so do not try to refuse. In any case, we brothers cannot live much longer and have neither children nor family, so what use would we have for so many Saint Crystals anyways? Now, Dragon Cave Mountain has become a famous treasure land that many cultivators without Sects or families dream of entering, yet Old Chang and I were able to join it without any effort, that much is already enough to satisfy us, there’s no need for you to say anymore.”
Yang Kai smiled bitterly, knowing that if he were to try to refuse again it would only have the opposite effect, so he cupped his fists and nodded, “Then I will offer my thanks for two Foreign Elders’ consideration.”
Chang Qi laughed, “Very good. We brothers being able to live out our last years in peace here, dying in a warm bed, is our final wish.”
To this though, Yang Kai shook his head and said, “I’m afraid that your wish won’t be realized for some time. After you break through to the Origin Returning Realm, your lifespan will naturally increase.”
“Origin Returning Realm…” Chang Qi’s eyes lit up, suddenly remembering about the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree, but he soon sighed sadly, “Even if there is that thing, Old Hao and I may not be able to break through.”
“Leave everything up to this Junior. Two Foreign Elders should rest for the next few days and adjust your conditions to their optimum state,” Yang Kai grinned meaningfully.
Chang Qi and Hao An glanced at each other, their hearts unavoidably growing inspired but not saying much as they just silently began looking forward to the future.
With Dragon Cave Mountain’s finances being so tight, Yang Kai naturally would not be stingy, handing over the few million Saint Crystals he had mined in the underground lode to Wu Yi for distribution.
The ordinary Artifact Refining materials he had found in the stone chambers of the Earth Lung Fire Pond were also taken out by Yang Kai and handed over to Yang Yan.
Yang Yan was delighted when she saw these materials and quickly swept all of them into her Space Ring.
With this injection of funds, in the short term, Dragon Cave Mountain would not need to worry about Saint Crystals or materials. If Yang Yan did not continue spending so wantonly, it should be enough to support them for a long time.
Because Yang Kai had just returned from the Flowing Flame Sand Field, even though everyone had much they wanted to discuss, they didn’t want to disturb him for too long so after chatting about Dragon Cave Mountain’s future development issues, everyone departed.
Yang Kai returned to the stone room where he lived.
The original cave of Dragon Cave Mountain had become a Restricted Area now with Yang Yan and the Stone Puppet remodeling it into a massive secluded cave mansion.
There were numerous stone chambers specifically constructed for Yang Kai’s exclusive use. The cultivators from the Hai Ke Family lived in the newly constructed buildings outside, satisfying everyone greatly.
The World Energy aura was naturally strongest inside this cave mansion.
Soon after Yang Kai sat down cross-legged, the nearby ground bulged slightly, and a small head popped out from underground. This head was sharp and angular, and its nose and mouth looked slightly strange. Only its eyes seemed lively and intelligent.
“Stone Puppet!” Yang Kai’s thoughts flashed, and he beckoned to it, causing the Stone Puppet to leap up from its newly dug hole and scramble over, climbing up Yang Kai sit on his shoulder, displaying a kind of innocent affection.
Yang Kai took a closer look at the Stone Puppet and quickly noticed that after not seeing it for a year, this little fellow had also changed a lot.
When it was born, its surface was grey and it looked like an ordinary rock, but now, its surface was a solid crystal-like structure, as if it were wearing an exquisite layer of natural armour.
Yang Kai used his Divine Sense to inspect this armour and was secretly shocked to discover that the Stone Puppet’s skin had become incredibly tough. Even if Yang Kai were to punch this armour with his full strength, it likely wouldn’t break.
Did the Stone Puppet evolve on its own or was this change also thanks to Yang Yan?
Just when Yang Kai was pondering over this matter, the Stone Puppet seemed to remember something, scratched its head before opening its mouth and spitting out a stream of Space Spirit Crystals.
In the blink of an eye, thousands of pieces of Space Spirit Crystal were piled up in a hill in front of Yang Kai.
Yang Kai did not know where the Stone Puppet had stored all these things. Yang Yan had said before that Stone Puppets had a natural ability to store minerals in their stomachs so they could continuously devour and refine more. It was an innate ability.
“These are the last of the Space Spirit Crystals produced by that underground Space Spirit Crystal lode.” A pleasant voice came from the side. Yang Yan had appeared inside the stone chamber at some unknown point.
Yang Kai was not bothered or surprised by her presence as he had sensed her arrival a while ago. Nodding, he put these Space Spirit Crystals into the Black Book Space.
“I took about a third of them for myself, hehe,” Yang Yan came over with a grin and sat cross-legged in front of Yang Kai.
“You have some use for Space Spirit Crystals?”
“Naturally, I have a use for them!” Yang Yan smiled sweetly, trying to be mysterious by not answering directly.
Yang Kai does not pursue the issue. In any case, these Space Spirit Crystals should be enough for him to cultivate his Space Force for some time.
“What did you call me over for? Did you obtain some good things that aren’t convenient to show everyone else?” Yang Yan’s eyes showed a hint of cunning as she speculated.
“Exactly. There are some things I prefer not many to know about,” Yang Kai nodded, but instead of taking out his gains, he stared fixedly at Yang Yan for a moment before abruptly saying, “Yang Yan, I have a question to ask you. Please answer honestly.”
This was the first time she had seen Yang Kai act so seriously, so Yang Yan could not help feeling a bit stunned, but after thinking about it for a moment, she nodded, “Alright.”
“Are you the true master of this body?” Yang Kai narrowed his eyes as he stared deeply into Yang Yan’s, as if he was trying to see into her soul.
Hearing Yang Kai’s question, Yang Yan froze up for a moment before suddenly covering her small mouth as her shoulders trembled, leaning backwards as a peal of delightful laughter spread from her lips.
“What’s so funny?” Yang Kai asked in exasperation.
Yang Yan kept waving her hand to indicate it was nothing, but she completely failed to stop her laughter, tears even gathering in the corners of his eyes.
Yang Kai rolled his eyes and asked again, “Then have you mastered some kind of beauty preserving technique so you appear young but are actually an old woman who has lived for thousands of years?”
This time, Yang Yan acted like a cat whose tail was stepped on, her laughter ceasing and her smile disappearing as her beautiful eyes glared fiercely at Yang Kai, grinding her teeth as she spat, “I can answer definitively that I am not some several-thousand-year-old woman!”
“Makes sense…” Yang Kai gently nodded. If Yang Yan really had lived for thousands of years, her worldly experience couldn’t possibly be so poor. The various behaviours Yang Yan exhibited up until now made her seem like a young, naive girl rather than a long-lived master.
Yang Yan’s expression also became serious, her thoughts unreadable but the look on her face somewhat pale. After a long time, she finally asked, “You want to know if I seized this body, right?”
“En.” Yang Kai nodded frankly. Only a forceful take-over by a powerful master could explain why Yang Yan was so young yet so proficient in Artifact Refining and arranging Spirit Arrays.
One person’s time and energy were limited. Although Yang Kai’s attainments in Alchemy were quite good, he couldn’t afford to put any effort into studying another craftsmanship field unless he gave up his cultivation path.
Yang Yan, however, had great attainments in both Artifact Refining and Spirit Arrays. The artifacts she refined and the Spirit Arrays she arranged so far even exceeded Shadowed Star’s level in terms of subtlety and practicality. How did she accomplish this?
There was no shortage of geniuses in this world, but even if Yang Yan was an extraordinary talent, given her age, it was impossible for her to have reached her current height, prompting Yang Kai to ask this question.
“Have you suspected so for a long time?” Yang Yan looked at Yang Kai and asked.
“Since I learned you were an Array Master I had some suspicions. But you can rest assured, whether you seized this body or not means nothing to me. The one I know is you, as for the previous soul of that body, I don’t care,” Yang Kai said lightly.
Yang Yan laughed bitterly and went silent for a while before saying, “It’s not just you who has had such doubts. Sometimes, I can’t understand who I am either… But I don’t believe I seized this body from another because I can clearly remember all of my experiences from childhood up until now. There are no gaps or inconsistencies in my memories, like a second person’s thoughts suddenly took over at some point, so I don’t think a forced possession took place.”
“Then did you worship a supreme master who taught you about Artifact Refining and Spirit Arrays?” Yang Kai continued asking, not showing any doubt about Yang Yan’s words.
Yang Yan shook her head slowly, biting his red lips lightly as her two little hands fiddled anxiously with her black robes. A look of hesitation and fear appeared on her face for a while before she lifted her eyes and whispered, “If I told you the reason I understand Artifact Refining and Spirit Arrays is because I was born with that knowledge, would you believe it?”
“How is that possible?” Yang Kai looked shocked.
Yang Yan smiled bitterly, “I know that it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. My knowledge really seems to be something I was born with. It’s almost as if my Artifact Refining and Spirit Array skills were sealed into my memories, and as I continue to refine artifacts and arrange Spirit Arrays, those skills are slowly unseal, allowing me to comprehend more profound Artifact Refining techniques and Spirit Arrays. On top of that, sometimes, when I see rare or precious items I have obviously never heard of or encountered before, I am able to recognize them. Do you think it’s strange?”
Yang Kai was dumbfounded.
This wasn’t on the level where it could be merely described as strange. No one was born proficient in Artifact Refining and Spirit Arrays for no reason. There must be some reasons for this, but these reasons may not even be clear to Yang Yan herself.
It was precisely because of these strange circumstances that Yang Yan sometimes felt afraid of herself.
Yang Yan didn’t have any reason to lie to herself, she what she said was probably the truth.
This was something Yang Kai couldn’t help her with. Although he knew that Yang Yan was odd, he had not expected her to be this strange. He did not continue to force this issue though; for Yang Kai, whether Yang Yan’s current self was one that had seized this body, or somehow possessed vast innate knowledge others couldn’t hope to master for a lifetime, that had nothing to do with him. He only knew the current Yang Yan, that was enough for him.
After pondering for a while, Yang Kai asked, “What grade of artifact can you refine now?”
“Origin Grade High-Rank shouldn’t be a problem. As long as I have a lot of materials to practice with, sooner or later I should be able to refine Origin King Grade artifacts.” When speaking about her field of expertise, Yang Yan’s spirits lifted noticeably and a natural look of pride once again filled her face.
“Great, help me enhance this again.” Yang Kai took out the purple shield with a slightly awkward look.
The shields original purple hue had becoming incredibly dim and dull, indicating its spirituality had suffered a great loss.
As soon as Yang Yan saw it, a look of concern appeared on her pretty face. Picking up the shield and stroking it gently, she quickly asked, “Did you run into some kind of intense fire-type Spirit Array? A single strike actually reduced this Origin Grade Mid-Rank defensive artifact to such a state.”
“En, but I was ultimately able to emerge safely.” Yang Kai grinned.
“Good, with the materials you gave me, it should be fine to enhance this to an Origin Grade High-Rank artifact.” Yang Yan said before taking the purple shield into her Space Ring. Brushing her hair behind her ear, she restored her previous cheerful expression as her eyes glowed with joy, asking curiously, “What good things did you obtain on this trip? Please let me see.”
“Alright!” Yang Kai nodded before searching through his Space Ring. There were quite a lot of good things he had obtained from this, and he had called Yang Yan here to show them to her, hoping that she would be able to help him identify some of the things he couldn’t recognize.
Soon, Yang Kai waved his hand and a plate sized fiery red crystal that gave off an intense burning aura appeared between the two.
“This is…” Yang Yan’s two eyes immediately flashed brilliantly as she stared fixedly at this fiery red crystal.
“It should be a Fire Crystal Stone!” Yang Kai stroked his chin. “It’s just that I don’t understand why it’s so big, and the process I went through to obtain it was also quite strange. It wasn’t from a Fire Spirit Beast…”
Yang Kai briefly talked about his experience in that strange mountain valley and how he obtained this huge Fire Crystal Stone, his first big harvest in the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
Yang Yan had been staring at the Fire Crystal Stone while Yang Kai was talking about these things, gently stroking it with her hand.
After Yang Kai finished speaking, Yang Yan nodded, “It should be a Fire Crystal Stone like you said, but this Fire Crystal Stone has a formed a Natural Spirit Array inside of itself, allowing it to create those Fire Spirit Beasts which blocked your path.”
“A naturally formed Spirit Array?” Yang Kai expression changed. He had not checked at the time.
“Yeah, it’s a naturally generated and very profound Spirit Array.” Yang Yan smiled, “This thing is exceptionally good, but using it for Artifact Refining would be wasting the Heaven ‘s precious gifts. Give it to me, it can be used as an Array Core for a powerful Spirit Array.”
“Okay.” Yang Kai nodded, handing the giant Fire Crystal Stone over to Yang Yan freely. In any case, she would be using it to arrange a Spirit Array to protect Dragon Cave Mountain, so the one to benefit in the end would still be him.
“What else?” Yang Yan put the huge Fire Crystal Stone into her Space Ring before returning her beautiful eyes to Yang Kai, seemingly looking forward to what he would bring out next.
“There’s this!” Yang Kai took out a blood-red bead that looked a bit like a grass seed but exuded a strange bloody aura.
“A Blood Sword Grass seed!” Yang Yan saw this thing and her beautiful face instantly lost colour as she exclaimed.
She was able to recognize this seed at a glance.
“Blood Sword Grass… a fitting name,” Yang Kai nodded thoughtfully, recalling what he had experienced after falling into that strange Bewildering Array. When he broke free of that Spirit Array’s constraints and walked out onto the narrow passage, there were many blood red blades of grass growing on either side of the path that seemed to come to life and attacked him.
Those blood-red blades of grass were incredibly hard and sharp. Even with his intrepid physique, Yang Kai didn’t dare let them cut him at will.
“The Flowing Flame Sand Field actually had this kind of thing?” Yang Yan’s face paled.
“Is this thing quite famous?” Yang Kai saw Yang Yan acting so fearful and couldn’t help feeling curious.
“I don’t know if it’s famous or not, but I do know how terrifying it can be. It can grow infinitely as long as it’s supplied with enough flesh and blood. Its power will also continue to increase and when it reaches its limit, it is even capable of slicing through the body of an Origin King.”
“Is it really so frightening?” Yang Kai a touch of fear washing over him as well as a sense of relief.
If Yang Yan’s words were true, then the Blood Sword Grass he encountered shouldn’t have been fully grown, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to escape unharmed.
“This thing had an ominous reputation in ancient times and many large Sects would plant it around Restricted Areas to protect them,” Yang Yan gently pinched the blood-red seed and examined it carefully.
“Unfortunately there’s only one seed, if there were more…” Yang Kai not only wasn’t concerned but instead felt it was a pity.
“Unfortunately?” Yang Yan snickered, “No such thing, a single Blood Sword Grass seed is more than enough as it can multiply on its own. As long as it’s fed enough blood it can grow without limit.”
Yang Kai heard this and his eyes lit up.
“What do you want to do?” Yang Yan seemed to be aware of the dangerous glint in Yang Kai’s eyes and asked hurriedly.
“Nothing,” Yang Kai grinned meaningfully before taking the Blood Sword Grass seed back from Yang Yan and storing it away carefully.
“Let me tell you this first, if you want to plant it, you have to tell me in advance. However, there’s no need to worry too much about it, as long as you don’t feed it fresh blood, it won’t grow bigger or pose any threat.”
“I understand.” Yang Kai nodded before taking out two more things from his Space Ring.
One of the items Yang Kai brought out was a metre-long crystalline bone that was about as thick as a baby’s arm. At first glance it was clear to see that this thing was extraordinary. The second item was a round bead the size of a pigeon egg. This bead was perfectly clear but there seemed to be a tiny green snake swimming about inside it, almost as if it was a living creature.
This little green snake also exuded a Soul fluctuation that while very weak contained an oppressive presence.
As soon as this round bead appeared, a resonant dragon roar came from Yang Kai’s body and at the same time, a different kind of pressure spread out from him.
Yang Yan looked up in amazement as she stared at Yang Kai, but soon her attention was attracted to the bone and round bead in front of her.
Looking closely, her expression changed once more as a series of extremely complex looks flashed across her face; sometimes there was surprise, sometimes there was suspicion, still other times there was shock…
After a long time, she took a deep breath, raised her eyes, and looked straight at Yang Kai.
“Were you able to see what these two things are?” Yang Kai felt that his lips had become a bit dry. Even though these things had been in his Space Ring for quite some time now, after taking them out again, he still could not help feeling a bit excited.
“Your luck is really amazing! You even managed to obtain a piece of Dragon Bone and a Dragon Bead. I really don’t know where you could have found these things inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field,” Yang Yan bit her red lips lightly. It was obvious that she too, was extremely excited, but she was forcefully suppressing her raging emotions.
“It really is a Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead?” Yang Kai looked overjoyed. Although he had suspected as much when he obtained these two things in the underground Saint Crystal lode, when Yang Yan confirmed it, he was still finding it difficult to believe.
“This is indeed a Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead!”
Yang Kai could not help grinning from happiness. Yang Yan also seemed to be happy, as if Yang Kai’s Heaven defying opportunities were her own, accompanying him in his foolish laughter for a time.
A while later, after Yang Yan and Yang Kai calmed down, the former asked, “What are you going to do with them?”
“Can they be refined into an artifact? I happen to be missing an offensive artifact!” Yang Kai already had a plan in mind, so he naturally asked immediately. Yang Kai didn’t care for offensive artifacts, even an Origin Grade High-Rank artifact may not necessarily be able to produce a more powerful attack than he could produce himself; as for Origin King Grade artifacts, with his current strength, he couldn’t properly active them, but now that he had obtained a piece of Dragon Bone and a Dragon Bead, if they could be refined into an offensive artifact, Yang Kai knew his combat effectiveness would rise greatly.
The Hundred Mountains Picture was not bad, but Yang Kai always felt a bit unsatisfied when using it.
“That.. would be difficult…” To Yang Kai’s surprise though, Yang Yan, who always seemed omnipotent in such matters, heard his request, and actually shook her head.
This made Yang Kai, who was looking forward to it, suddenly show a disappointed expression.
“I’m not saying that I can’t refine them into an artifact, but rather that doing so would reduce their value instead of promoting them.”
“What do you mean?” Yang Kai frowned and asked.
“This piece of Dragon Bone is from a True Dragon and has incredible power already within it. From the colour of the Dragon Soul in this Dragon Bead, it and the piece of bone should come from a Wood Attribute True Dragon. I don’t what kind of innate powers are stored inside these two things, but it can be said that they are already superb artifacts as is. If you let me refine them, it would only contaminate their natural auras and impede the flow of their power, reducing their overall might. Of course, if I were an Origin King Grade High-Rank Artifact Refiner, I would not have such concerns. Unfortunately, with my current level of skill, it would be exceedingly difficult to refine these two things perfectly!”
“So what should I do?” Yang Kai’s burning heat seemed to have been doused with a pot of cold water, calming him down in an instant. “Do I have to wait for you to grow into an Origin King Grade High-Rank Artifact Refiner?”
Yang Yan knit her brow and fell silent, seemingly immersed in thought for a while.
Some time later, she looked at Yang Kai and smiled, “Is the Saint Qi in your body Yang Attribute?”
“Not exactly, but it used to be,” Yang Kai shook his head slowly. Now that his Saint Qi had been transformed into the black Demonic Flame, Yang Kai could not quite tell what its attribute was, so he didn’t quite know how to answer Yang Yan’s question.
“Push your Saint Qi so I can see,” Yang Yan asked as her beautiful eyes stared at him.
Yang Kai quickly pushed his Saint Qi while transforming his Demonic Flame into a pure hot nature.
Yang Yan’s eyes lit up when she saw this and smile, “If it’s like this then there’s no problem. It seems your luck is really good, if this Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead had been obtained by another cultivator, they might have had to wait for me to grow into an Origin King Grade High-Rank Artifact Refiner before they could be processed into something useful, but since your Saint Qi is hot in nature, you can just refine it yourself.”
“Refining it myself?” Yang Kai stunned.
“En, refine it yourself. Doing so will result in great benefits, actually. With your current strength, although you can’t fully refine this thing, nor can you exert all of its power, as time passes and your cultivation grows, the power this Dragon Bone will be able to display will increase proportionally. When the time comes, it can even become an artifact connected directly with your Soul and life,” Yang Yan explained with excitement.
“But I’m not an Artifact Refiner, how am I supposed to refine it?” Yang Kai was still confused.
“There’s no need for you to be an Artifact Refiner because it is already a complete artifact that doesn’t require any enhancement. You only need to warm and nourish it. Here, I’ll give you a set of Secret Arts to use.”
“Just like that?” Yang Kai was overjoyed as his mood rose once more.
“Yeah, and you also have a Dragon Bead with a real Dragon Soul, if you can also refine the Dragon Soul and Dragon Bead into the Dragon Bone, hehe… I really can’t imagine what this Dragon Bone will look like at that time,” Yang Yan’s beautiful eyes shimmered brilliantly as a hint of obsession flashed across them. It seemed that she could not wait to see the scene after the Dragon Bone had been refined.
Finished what she had to explain, Yang Yan quickly passed the refinement method to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai listened and took down what Yang Yan said carefully, asking immediately when there was something he did not understand. Yang Yan explained everything patiently.
This refinement method was not difficult, so it only took Yang Kai two hours to memorize it. Now all he needed to do was spend some time to slowly comprehend it after which he could begin refining the Dragon Bone.
After teaching Yang Kai this Secret Art, Yang Yan thought for a while and said, “If you want to speed up things, I can let you borrow my Artifact Refining Furnace. Although my Artifact Refining Furnace is not very good, it will still be able to assist in the refinement process.”
“Artifact Refining Furnace?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows, revealing a weird look, “I have one.”
“You have an Artifact Refining Furnace?” Yang Yan was stunned and quickly asked, “You’re not an Artifact Refiner, so why do you have an Artifact Refining Furnace?”
“En, I obtained it in the Flowing Flame Sand Field; moreover, it’s not an ordinary one,” Yang Kai said while taking out the tiny Artifact Refining Furnace.
When Yang Yan saw this little Artifact Refining Furnace, she did not show too much surprise, only feeling that the strange bird pattern on it was a little unusual. But while she was inspecting the quality of this Artifact Refining Furnace, the strange bird pattern came to life, swam across the surface of the furnace, then leapt off its surface and transformed into the Scarlet Firebird.
Immediately, the temperature in the stone room shot up as a pure Fire Attribute aura filled the air.
“An Artifact Spirit!” Yang Yan called out in alarm, covering her mouth as her beautiful eyes stared fixedly at the Artifact Spirit. Along with great shock, her face also showed nearly obsessive interest.
The Artifact Spirit also seemed to realize Yang Yan’s hot intentions and, after flying a quick circle, landed on Yang Kai’s shoulder. Its three long tail feathers trailed behind its body as it used its pointed beak to comb its wings, occasionally using its small eyes to cautiously observe Yang Yan, excluding its intelligence.
Yang Yan was stunned speechless and her eyes flashed with undisguised longing.
She suddenly realized that it was truly a loss for Yang Kai to not to be an Artifact Refiner.
He had an appropriate Saint Qi attribute and an extremely powerful Soul. On top of that, he had the best assistant in the form of the Stone Puppet and now even possessed an Artifact Refining Furnace with an Artifact Spirit. This Artifact Refining Furnace was also Origin King Grade…
It was so unfair!
When Yang Yan compared her possessions with Yang Kai’s, she suddenly found herself greatly discouraged.
This Artifact Spirit had obviously been conquered by Yang Kai, so even if she wanted this Artifact Refining Furnace, it was out of her reach. Once an Artifact Spirit was subdued, it was impossible for it to surrender to a second person unless the first died.
“With such an Artifact Refining Furnace to assist you, you’ll get twice the results with half the effort when refining the Dragon Bone, Dragon Bead, and Dragon Soul,” Yang Yan said sourly, glaring at Yang Kai with grudge filled eyes.
“Ahem… I actually collected a lot of Artifact Refining Furnaces on this trip, and several of them are even Origin King Grade.”
“Really?” Yang Yan’s spirits immediately lifted.
“En, but they all seem to be a bit damaged,” Yang Kai said while taking out the Artifact Refining Furnaces, he had collected in the Earth Lung Fire Pond, scattering them about the room.
Yang Yan’s jaw dropped and refused to close for quite some time, but after checking these Artifact Refining Furnaces one by one, a look of annoyance filled her face as she shouted, “How is this a ‘bit’ damage? It’s more like they’ve all be scrapped! How could they have been so recklessly burned?”
“Can they still be used?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll try my best to fix them,” Yang Yan waved her hand and put all the Artifact Refining Furnaces into her Space Ring.
Next, Yang Kai took out all his other gains from the Flowing Flame Sand Field one by one and handed all of them over to Yang Yan.
For example, a huge number of Fire Crystal Stones, the Brilliant Fire Crystal Essence, a Flowing Flame Flying Fire, etc.
Yang Kai had collected a total of nine Flowing Flame Flying Fires, so after giving one to Yang Yan, he had eight left. He wanted to know whether refining one of these would enhance the power of his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea.
The ancient map fragment Yang Kai obtained by killing Meng Hong Liang was also given to Yang Yan. As a result, she now had two of these map fragments in her possession, and although this was not enough to form a complete map, putting them together and researching them might yield some results.
The piece of crystal that Yang Kai obtained in the sixth layer which caused him to hallucinate was also recognized by Yang Yan. She said it was a naturally formed treasure called an Illusion Stone. She also received this crystal as it was the best material to arrange an Illusion Array with.
The twenty pieces of bamboo which took Yang Kai half a year to collect were also given to Yang Yan so she could find a way to make use of them.
As for the spirit grasses and spirit medicines Yang Kai collected in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, such as the Emerald Silk Grasses, Purple Fine Jade Fruits, Golden Sun Fruits, and other herbs which could be used for Alchemy. Naturally, he wouldn’t give them to Yang Yan.
Yang Kai kept the Red Candle Fruit, Red Candle Stalk, Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree, Golden Sun Fruit Tree, Ten Thousand Year Incense, and a number of other rare items as he had his own plans for them.
After receiving so many materials, Yang Yan happily left. With her talent and skill, along with so many treasures, she could let loose and refine whatever she wanted. Before leaving though, she handed Yang Kai a big token.
On this token were numerous profound seals and patterns.
With the help of this token, Yang Kai could freely enter and exit his cave mansion as well as open the independent barrier around the cave. Once this barrier was opened, no one in Dragon Cave Mountain would be able to access this cave mansion except for Yang Kai. Even Yang Yan wouldn’t be able to come in unless she broke the Spirit Array.
Yang Kai was very satisfied with this. Yang Yan had obviously taken his privacy into account and had used many methods to create a Restricted Area for him.
Yang Kai had no intention to live in one of the newly built houses outside as this stone mansion was much more in line with his preferences. Perhaps this was because he had once dug his own cave mansion into the walls of the Coiling Dragon Stream back in High Heaven Pavilion. For his own dwelling, Yang Kai quite liked this kind of cave mansion; it was quiet and somewhat lonely, but that just made it well suited to sitting in meditation by himself.
Yang Yan had paid great attention to the layout of this cave mansion. This place had the most barriers and Spirit Arrays of any location in Dragon Cave Mountain and also possessed the most rigorous defence. The World Energy aura here was also the strongest. When Yang Kai first returned and tried to explore Dragon Cave Mountain with his Divine Sense, this cave mansion was one of the locations he couldn’t read anything from.
After Yang Yan left, Yang Kai sat cross-legged in place, lost in thought for a while. He had already noticed that not just Yang Yan, but also Wu Yi, Yu Feng, Chang Qi, Hao An, and the several dozen former Hai Ke Family disciples had come to regard this place as their own home and had put in a great amount of care to build it up.
Yang Kai appreciated such sentiments.
After pondering for a while, he took out his Alchemy furnace, the Emerald Silk Grasses, and some other herbs to refine several Origin Condensing Pills. Perhaps because the trip to the Flowing Flame Sand Field had made him grow a lot, this time it was much easier for Yang Kai to refine the Origin Condensing Pills. Among the ones he refined, more than half had formed Pill Veins.
These Origin Condensing Pills were naturally for Chang Qi and Hao An. Both of them had been stuck at the bottleneck of the Third-Order Saint King Realm for so many years, so with an Origin Condensing Pill, they should be able to break through to the Origin Returning Realm.
However, after he finished refining these pills, Yang Kai didn’t rush to deliver them but instead began to arrange his own cave mansion.
In one of the stone rooms, Yang Kai used a large number of Saint Crystals and even his Myriad Drug Liquid to create a place with an extremely dense World Energy. The aura in the cave mansion was already quite good, and with the addition of these Saint Crystals and the Myriad Drug Liquid, it quickly rose to an incredible level.
Inside this stone room, Yang Kai opened a small medicine garden and carefully took out the Red Candle Stalk, planting it in a diluted pool of Myriad Drug Liquid. He believed that with so much spirit water and World Energy, the Red Candle Stalk, with is extremely tenacious vitality, would not wither.
After this was done, Yang Kai took out the small piece of Red Candle Fruit. Although this small piece of Red Candle Fruit had lost much of its value and could not be restored, Yang Kai still carefully placed it atop the Red Candle Stalk, thinking that since the two were connected to one another, the Red Candle Fruit would be able to maintain and possibly even strengthen its medicinal efficacy.
Yang Kai could not use the Red Candle Fruit now, nor could he use it to refine a pill, but that did not mean he could not need it in the future.
After finishing this, Yang Kai used the token Yang Yan gave him to open all the barriers in this particular stone chamber. A light curtain appeared quickly, then began rippling, causing everything inside the stone room to disappear, concealing all trace of the spirit liquid pool made from diluted Myriad Drug Liquid, the Red Candle Stalk, and the Red Candle Fruit. Even using Divine Sense there was no way to tell anything was here.
There was nothing out of the ordinary about this place now except for an abnormally rich World Energy aura.
Yang Kai nodded with satisfaction, and after completely sealing off this stone room, he moved to the next one to make further arrangements.
In the second stone room, he took out the Ten Thousand Year Incense and incense burner from the sixth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field and placed it the centre of the chamber. In a flash, the whole stone room was filled with a faint yet clear fragrance. As soon as this fragrance reached his nose, Yang Kai suddenly felt calm, as if all his troubles and worries had disappeared Even his Knowledge Sea became calm and peaceful, like an ancient well.
The effects of the Ten Thousand Year Incense were worthy of their reputation. Meditating while inhaling this scent for a long time would undoubtedly be extremely helpful to anyone.
Using the token in his hand, Yang Kai sealed off this second stone room completely as well.
The Ten Thousand Year Incense’s scent could drift about inside the cave mansion for now, but Yang Kai was certain Yang Yan could think up some way to let it permeate throughout Dragon Cave Mountain, allowing all the cultivators who lived here to benefit from it at any time.
Keeping this matter in mind, Yang Kai went to the third stone room.
A moment later, he placed the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree inside the third stone room. In this way, as long as someone entered retreat in this stone room, they could use the mysterious aura released by the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree to spy on the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, assisting them in breaking through their bottlenecks.
With the Origin Condensing Pills and the Ten Thousand Year Incense as auxiliaries, Chang Qi and Hao An may not even be able to take advantage of the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree’s effects.
After finishing all this, Yang Kai walked to an isolate stone room where he found a strange rock full of holes.
This strange stone was the Profound Insect Stone that Yang Kai spent many Saint Crystals to win at the last auction.
After purchasing it, Yang Kai had put his Soul Devouring Insects into it. Yang Yan had said that the Profound Insect Stone was perfectly suited to growing Exotic Insects. Before departing for the Flowing Flame Sand field, Yang Kai had told Yang Yan to not let anyone near this Profound Insect Stone, and sure enough, it was lying quietly in the corner he had left it.
Under the investigation of his Divine Sense, Yang Kai found tens of thousands of tiny Soul Devouring Insects, invisible to the naked eye, sleeping peacefully inside the Profound Insect Stone.
The inside of the Profound Insect Stone also seemed to have been hollowed out greatly.
The Soul Devouring Insects were still growing and evolving, so they were temporarily unavailable to Yang Kai. They would only become active again after the Profound Insect Stones disappeared completely.
The Six Coloured Soul Warming Lotus in Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea was also evolving, so the Soul Devouring Insects didn’t have a place to stay anyways. As such, Yang Kai wasn’t in a hurry to wake them up.
Yang Kai had great expectations for the evolution of the Soul Devouring Insects. He didn’t know what kind of change they would undergo after their evolution. After observing for a while, Yang Kai picked up the Profound Insect Stone and placed it in the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree’s stone room.
Leaving his cave mansion, Yang Kai called over Chang Qi and Hao An and handed each of them an Origin Condensing Pill before telling them to pick a free stone chamber to enter retreat.
Yang Kai believed that it wouldn’t be long before Dragon Cave Mountain had its first two Origin Returning Realm masters.
Although they would only be First-Order, they would still be Origin Realm masters. When Yang Kai went out in the future, the two of them could coordinate with all the profound Spirit Arrays here to ensure Dragon Cave Mountain’s safety.
Over the next few days, Yang Kai kept himself busy. No one knew what he was up to, but soon, all of them were surprised to find that a Golden Sun Fruit Tree had suddenly appeared in Dragon Cave Mountain. Although there was no ripe fruit on this tree, it was no doubt a high-grade Spirit Fruit Tree. In addition to brightening the scenery around Dragon Cave Mountain, it also gave everyone something to look forward to in the future.
Regarding the transplanting of the Golden Sun Fruit Tree, Yang Kai was given a long and harsh lecture by Yang Yan. After listening to her scoldings, Yang Kai realized that he had been far too naive before.
The requirements for the Golden Sun Fruit Tree’s growth environment were extremely harsh. If Yang Kai hadn’t possessed a treasure like his Black Book Space, he would definitely not have been able to take it out of the Flowing Flame Sand Field as it would have already died inside any Space Ring he tried to use. Even though it had now been replanted here, the chances this Golden Sun Fruit Tree would survive was less than thirty percent. Yang Yan spent a lot of effort to arrange a number of Spirit Arrays to gather and transform the surrounding World Energy for it to use, but even so, whether it would be able to live or not was questionable.
However, it was the changes the Blood Sword Grass seed underwent that shocked Yang Kai and Yang Yan the most.
Originally, Yang Yan had taken the Blood Sword Grass seed and found a suitable place to casually plant it. Because she didn’t provide it with any fresh blood or flesh, she didn’t expect it to germinate or grow immediately so she hadn’t paid too much attention to it. As long as some overconfident fool dared to attack Dragon Cave Mountain and was injured or died near this Blood Sword Grass seed, it could absorb the vital energy of those people, break through the ground, and hit the enemy by surprise.
On a whim though, Yang Kai dropped a drop of Golden Blood onto the spot where the Blood Sword Grass seed had been planted.
The result was in the blink of an eye, the Blood Sword Grass seed germinated and rapidly grew, reaching nearly thirty metres in height before stopping. This wasn’t the end though, as all around the primary Blood Sword Grass stalk, a great forest of them also began sprouting. These offshoots weren’t as tall as their parent, but many still reached almost ten metres in height.
In less than half an hour, centred on the position where the Blood Sword Grass seed was planted, a thousand-metre radius had been covered in sword-like grasses. Yang Yan screamed and her beautiful face discoloured when she saw this.
What’s more though was that these Blood Sword Grasses weren’t the same as the ones Yang Kai encountered before. They weren’t blood red anymore but instead had a faint reddish-gold colour to them, making them particularly eye-catching.
This change not only left Yang Yan dumbfounded, but Yang Kai as well.
He hadn’t expected that a single drop of his Golden Blood would cause the Blood Sword Grasses to undergo such a big change. The only reason he had fed it a drop like this was because he thought it might have some small effect.
But instead, it had nearly caused several of the cultivators who had been wandering about nearby to fall into grave danger. Fortunately, Yang Kai was able to rescue these helpless Hai Ke Family cultivators before they were cut down by the Blood Sword Grass.
However, perhaps because it had absorbed a drop of his Golden Blood, these Blood Sword Grasses showed no hostility towards Yang Kai. Even if Yang Kai passed through them, they didn’t react at all.
But except for Yang Kai, any living creature that entered this field would instantly be assailed and their bodies sliced apart. The sharp golden blades of grass seemed to give off a cold light that made any who saw it shudder.
After this unexpected development, Yang Yan adjusted her attitude and immediately arranged a Spirit Array around the Blood Sword Grass region, preparing to turn it into a Restricted Area and even using these Blood Sword Grasses to create a huge trap.
With such a field of Blood Sword Grass, even if an Origin Returning Realm master that broke into it did not die, they would surely be severely injured.
Three days after Yang Kai returned, Shadow Moon Hall’s Qian Tong personally brought Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er to Dragon Cave Mountain to confirm that Yang Kai had really returned safely.
Qian Tong also learned from Wei Gu Chang that in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, Yang Kai had saved his and Dong Xuan’er’s lives, so now, regardless of any other intentions he had towards Yang Kai, just this grace was enough for Qian Tong to be genuinely grateful towards him.
Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er were the most talented disciples of Shadow Moon Hall’s younger generation; if the two of them had fallen in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, the loss would have been immeasurable.
No one asked why Yang Kai only returned so long after the Flowing Flame Sand Field had closed, all of them just vaguely guessing that Yang Kai had run into some other kind of opportunity. In this way, Qian Tong was even more optimistic about Yang Kai and his attitude became friendlier.
On top of that, Dragon Cave Mountain and Shadow Moon Hall were cooperating closely now. Yang Yan and the others had continued to purchase a massive amount of materials from Shadow Moon Hall, allowing Shadow Moon Hall to gain a hefty profit. So, for various reasons, Qian Tong now regarded Dragon Cave Mountain as a partner and ally.
As they chatted, Yang Kai learned from Qian Tong that about the gains and losses the major forces on Shadowed Star had after the opening of the Flowing Flame Field.
More than ten thousand cultivators had originally entered the Flowing Flame Sand Field, but less than seventy percent of them had returned safely. The various forces losing thirty to forty percent of their elite disciples was nothing less than tragic.
Although this kind of loss saddened every force greatly, the harvests brought back by their surviving disciples were enough to make up for the loss. Almost everyone had some gains, and this was especially true of those Sects’ disciples who managed to obtain a piece of the Red Candle Fruit and all of them received rich rewards from their respective Sects.
The appearance of the Red Candle Fruit set out a great storm on Shadowed Star. Several Alchemy Grandmasters from Medicine Pill Sect had frequently run out to visit the various forces which had obtained pieces of this Heaven defying spirit fruit, offering vast amounts of money and even free pill refinements to acquire these Red Candle Fruit pieces.
But no one felt relieved handing over this incredible treasure to another, even if the other party were Medicine Pill Sect, so after running about for half a year, the Alchemy Grandmasters of Medicine Pill Sect could only return in defeat.
This was probably the first time that the major forces on Shadowed Star had refused to give face to the Medicine Pill Sect and this incident caused quite a bit of disturbance for half a year.
There were even several traitors in Shadow Moon Hall who attempted to steal the Red Candle Fruit piece, all of whom were exposed and executed.
The situation in the other Sects which obtained a piece of the Red Candle Fruit was roughly the same, but after half a year, these disturbances gradually subsided. As for how the major Sects decided to deal with those Red Candle Fruit pieces, no one knew.
After talking about this, Yang Kai took the opportunity to ask Qian Tong a lot of questions about the Saint King Realm and how one should cultivate. Qian Tong did not conceal anything and freely shared his cultivation experience with Yang Kai as Wei Gu Chang, Dong Xuan’er, and many of the others listened attentively nearby.
Half a day later, Qian Tong and his party left.
Before leaving, Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er told Yang Kai that after they returned to the Sect, they would enter retreat to break through to the Origin Returning Realm. Both had experienced growth in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, so now was the best time for them to attempt a breakthrough.
Yang Kai knew in his heart that if they were not waiting for news of his safe return, they would have entered retreat long ago and it was only because of their concern for his wellbeing that they had actually missed their best opportunity to break through.
However, despite being aware of the truth, Yang Kai did not bring it up.
Before Dong Xuan’er left, she suddenly wore a mysterious smile, leaned over to Yang Kai, and whispered, “Senior Brother Yang, Big Sister Dai Yuan repeatedly sent messages to me over the past six months asking about your situation. Unfortunately, you had not shown up all this time so I could not give her any exact news. Now that you have returned safely though, I’m sure Big Sister Dai Yuan will feel more at ease.”
“Dai Yuan…” Yang Kai froze for a moment as an extremely ugly face flashed across his thoughts, his expression suddenly becoming weird.
Why would she be so concerned about him? Although the time they had spent together was not long, Yang Kai could feel that with Dai Yuan’s personality, it would be impossible for her to care so much about his wellbeing for no reason. Moreover, when they separated in the fourth layer, Dai Yuan seemed to want to say something to him but had stopped herself, piquing Yang Kai’s interest.
She had also said at that time that she would come to say her thanks personally, and now it seemed she was not just speaking politely.
While Yang Kai was contemplating this issue, Wei Gu Chang could not help chuckling, apparently misunderstanding what was going on and what had happened between Yang Kai and Dai Yuan in the Flowing Flame Sand Field
Yang Kai did not bother trying to explain.
Forget about the fact that there was really nothing between him and Dai Yuan, even if Dai Yuan was an incredibly beautiful woman, Yang Kai wouldn’t have been moved by her.
He had seen many beauties in his life, and since entering the Star Field, only two had always been on his mind, so he didn’t have any thoughts about womanizing.
Dong Xuan’er suddenly bit her lip and whispered softly, “Actually, Big Sister Dai Yuan isn’t what she seems!”
After leaving this perfectly unclear statement behind, Dong Xuan’er hurriedly caught up with Wei Gu Chang who had gone on ahead.
Only Yang Kai remained standing there, having no clue what Dong Xuan’er wanted to say. After not being able to figure anything out for a while, Yang Kai simply shook his head wryly and returned to his cave mansion. Over the next month, Yang Kai refined a large number of pills before calling Yang Yan and Wu Yi over and informing them that he would be entering retreat for a period of time and if it wasn’t something serious, not to disturb him. All other matters regarding Dragon Cave Mountain would be up to them to decide.
As for the pills he had refined, Yang Kai naturally handed them over to the pair to let them distribute. There were a massive number of pills and many of them were designed to assist with cultivation. With these pills to assist them, everyone in Dragon Cave Mountain should be able to quickly increase their strength.
Yang Yan and Wu Yi quickly nodded.
Immediately after they left, Yang Kai entered his stone room and went into secluded retreat.
He had too many things to do, such as seeing if the Flowing Flame Flying Fires could enhance the power of his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, refining the Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead, studying the Demon Blood Thread technique, and consolidating his newly promoted Second-Order Saint King cultivation. Each of these tasks was time-consuming and not something that could be accomplished in just a day or two.
However, in order to refine the Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead, Yang Kai first had to fully refine the Artifact Refining Furnace.
Yang Yan is right, one had to sharpen their tools before going to work. Yang Kai had to thoroughly refine the Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace first, in order to save himself a great deal of time in refining the Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead. Moreover, this Artifact Refining Furnace had an Artifact Spirit, so it could also be used as an offensive artifact.
After carefully sorting out the things he needed to do, Yang Kai got to work.
The first thing he did was to refine the Artifact Refining Furnace.
Although in the Earth Lung Fire Pond, he had subdued the Artifact Spirit, doing so and refining the Artifact Refining Furnace were two different things and could not be confused. However, conquering the Artifact Spirit would help him refine the Artifact Refining Furnace more efficiently.
Taking out the Artifact Refining Furnace and placing it in front of himself, Yang Kai closed his eyes and poured his Saint Qi into it, covering the furnace in his Demonic Flame, allowing his aura to soak into it.
Time passed by slowly, but cultivation knew no years, and in a flash, six months had gone by.
Yang Kai had not once left his stone room since he entered this retreat, and no one knew what he was doing inside.
Even Chang Qi and Hao An, who both successfully broke through to the Origin Realm inside the cave mansion, did not see Yang Kai when they emerged. The two of them had taken an Origin Condensing Pill each, and with the assistance of the Ten Thousand Year Incense and Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree, they broke through without any difficulties, emerging from their respective stone rooms only half a month after they entered.
After their breakthrough to the Origin Returning Realm, Shadow Moon Hall actually sent over some information about the Origin Returning Realm to help them cultivate, causing Chang Qi and Hao An to become overjoyed.
Both had originally belonged to a small family force and obviously didn’t have access to such valuable materials, but taking Yang Kai’s face into consideration, Qian Tong had actually taken the initiative to assist them. Naturally, the two of them were extremely grateful and soon returned to their own houses to enter retreat and study the mysteries of Shi that only Origin Returning Realm cultivators could comprehend.
After half a year, everything in Dragon Cave Mountain remained in good order with Wu Yi handling most of the administrative tasks such as the relationship with Shadow Moon Hall while Yang Yan remained in charge of arranging the various Spirit Arrays and barriers that protected Dragon Cave Mountain, improving its defence once again. As for the cultivators originally from the Hai Ke Family, all of them were immersing themselves in their own cultivation.
If not for Yang Yan needed to continuously perform Artifact Refining and arranging Spirit Arrays to unlock the knowledge in her mind, with Dragon Cave Mountain’s current state, there was not really any need for anyone to do anything other than cultivate.
Over the past six months, Yang Kai had also completely consolidated his cultivation. After refining two drops of Profound Yin Sunflower Water, his realm has risen to the peak of the Second-Order Saint King Realm and now that his foundation was stabilized, as long as he could prepare appropriately, he could attempt to break through to the Third-Order Saint King Realm.
The Artifact Refining Furnace had also been completely refined by him. After refining the Artifact Refining Furnace, the Firebird Artifact Spirit could even freely enter and exit Yang Kai’s body and no longer need to perch on his shoulder as it had before.
This little thing and the Stone Puppet seemed to have an inborn dislike of one another and every time they met they would get into a fight.
For the first time, Yang Kai understood that the Stone Puppet’s combat effectiveness was not to be underestimated. Its natural armour was not afraid of the Artifact Spirit’s intense flames and though it looked lumbering and awkward, once it began fighting, its speed was actually quite astonishing. If not for the Artifact Spirit being able to fly, the Stone Puppet would not have been any less nimble. Regardless of this though, every battle the Stone Puppet and Artifact Spirit fought ended with a tie, neither one able to defeat the other.
During this past half a year, the Artifact Spirit and Stone Puppet fought at least a dozen times, and each time ended with a draw. Yang Kai was naturally too lazy to manage them though and never intervened in their fights. These two eventually seemed to form a bond through these battles and would sometimes get together and seemingly discuss something.
In addition to consolidating his Second-Order Saint King cultivation and refining the Artifact Refining Furnace, Yang Kai also began refining the dragon bone and Dragon Bead. Yang Kai had placed the dragon bone and Dragon Bead into the Artifact Refining Furnace, then took the Artifact Refining Furnace into his body. This way, even if Yang Kai didn’t deliberately refine it, the Artifact Spirit could use Yang Kai’s Saint Qi and its own pure Fire Attribute energy to actuate the Artifact Refining Furnace and continuously refine the dragon bone and Dragon Bead.
However, these two treasures were worthy of being materials from a True Dragon. The Artifact Spirit had been refining them for two months already yet there was not much progress, with only a slight bit of Yang Kai’s aura penetrating them. It seemed that if he wanted to completely refine them this way, it would take at least four or five years. Only if Yang Kai consciously mobilized his Saint Qi in combination with the Artifact Refining Furnace would it be possible to speed up the process.
However, Yang Kai was not in a hurry and instead took this opportunity to learn, studying the Demon Blood Thread technique given to him by Deng Ning.
Originally, Yang Kai had simply wanted this technique to have an excuse to deal with Ye Yang Rong while also making sure that Deng Ning wouldn’t betray him. He did not have any expectations for this secret technique at all, but during the month he used to return to Dragon Cave Mountain, Yang Kai discovered that this Demon Blood Thread was actually an amazing technique and suited his cultivation perfectly.
This greatly shocked Yang Kai.
Demon Blood Temple was an extremely evil force, which put it in opposition to many forces on Shadowed Star. On top of that, it had a small internal war every five years and a big one every ten. The only reason why this Sect had yet to be destroyed was actually thanks to this Demon Blood Thread technique. The Elders and Protectors of Demon Blood Temple all cultivated this mysterious technique and when using it to fight others could often display shocking and unpredictable power. As such, most people intentionally avoided finding trouble with Demon Blood Temple and decided that: ‘so long as they didn’t provoke us, we would do the same’, allowing Demon Blood Temple to endure through the years.
But if one wanted to cultivate this secret technique, they needed to use their own Blood Essence as a foundation.
A cultivator’s Blood Essence was extremely precious, and once used in battle it would severely damage their foundation. It could be said that after using a single drop of Blood Essence, a cultivator would need to spend several months to years to restore themselves. But Demon Blood Temple had created this Demon Blood Thread technique which allowed one to use their Blood Essence in combat without seriously harming themselves.
Once cultivated successfully and used against an enemy, an individual’s combat power would soar because the Demon Blood Thread was condensed from one’s own powerful Blood Essence. On top of that, it would be incredibly flexible to use because it was closely tied to one’s life and vitality, making it like an artifact, yet not one at the same time.
Blood Essence was also precious to Yang Kai and he dared not use it easily, but Golden Blood was something he could spare. Additionally, his Golden Blood contained an immense amount of vitality which made it perfectly suited as a base material to cultivate this Demon Blood Thread.
When Yang Kai realized this, he was barely able to contain his joy, and from that point on he had been thinking about the pros and cons of cultivating this Demon Blood Thread constantly. Only recently had he decided to try it out.
With this secret technique, the more Blood Essence one used, the stronger the Demon Blood Thread they would be able to condense, and the more power it would be able to display!
This secret technique was simply tailored for Yang Kai! How could he just give up on it?
Currently, when he found himself against enemies, Yang Kai mainly relied on his Nine Heavens Divine Skills and his own ability to control Saint Qi. This resulted in a certain lack of variety in his combat abilities though. If he could successfully cultivate the Demon Blood Thread technique though, he could greatly broaden the scope of his offensive and defensive skills.
Successfully cultivating this secret technique would give Yang Kai a big boost in strength. On top of that, the Demon Blood Thread he cultivated would undoubtedly be stronger than the Demon Blood Thread a Demon Blood Temple disciple could produce, because the root of this secret technique was Blood Essence, and his Golden Blood was far stronger than any Demon Blood Temple disciple’s Blood Essence.
Yang Kai had actually spent most of his time during this six-month retreat cultivating the Demon Blood Thread technique and was now showing some signs of reaching he minor accomplishment stage.
Inside the stone room, with a single though, Yang Kai condensed a tiny golden filament at the tip of his finger. This golden filament seemed like a radiant silk thread and could stretch to several tens of metres in length. Under the control of Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, this golden thread flickered back and forth, making a slicing noise as it seemingly cut through the air, like Yang Kai was whirling around a thin golden whip.
Experimenting with the power of this Demon Blood Thread, Yang Kai was quite satisfied; after all, it was something that cost him a drop of Golden Blood to cultivate. On top of that, it was able to display this much power after only partially comprehending the technique, if Yang Kai were to fully master this technique, its power would increase greatly.
This was a single Demon Blood Thread, if Yang Kai was able to cultivate several dozens of them, he could hardly imagine how difficult it would be for his enemies to contend with.
Yang Kai realized that the master who created this Demon Blood Thread was a true genius, thinking up a way to use his own Blood Essence to create a pseudo-artifact. However, the creator of this technique probably never imagined someone like Yang Kai would exist in this world who would be able to condense Demon Blood Threads using his Golden Blood. If given enough time, Yang Kai would surely be able to bring this Demon Blood Thread to a new height.
However, this thing couldn’t really be called a Demon Blood Thread any longer, it was more appropriate to call it a Golden Blood Thread.
Yang Kai grinned and took back this Golden Blood Thread into his body before continuing to cultivate.
During this period, Yang Kai also refined Space Spirit Crystals to enhance his Space Force.
Three more months passed but Yang Kai still showed no signs of exiting his retreat. Thankfully, Dragon Cave Mountain did not need him to do anything, so there was no problem with him remaining in retreat.
On this day, as Yang Kai was cultivating his Golden Blood Thread technique, his expression suddenly changed, and his eyes opened in surprise. Immediately closing his eyes again, Yang Kai sent his consciousness into the Black Book Space where he quickly manifested his Soul Avatar.
After seeing the scene in front of him, what Yang Kai was about to say was swallowed back down his throat and he instead stared dumbfounded at the tree exuding a potent Yang Attribute aura.
This big tree was none other than the Divine Tree which had been taken into the Black Book Space by Yang Kai many years ago.
Some time ago, it had swallowed two drops of Yang Kai’s Golden Blood before falling into a deep sleep to undergo an evolution. Now, three years later, it had woken up and sent Yang Kai a message, resulting in the latter sending his Soul Avatar into the Black Book Space.
The Divine Tree’s new appearance was a little strange though. Yang Kai remembered that it had been a towering tree before its evolution, with dense leaves atop its crown and rich Yang Attribute energy coursing through its body.
But now, after this most recent evolution was completed, it had become several times smaller, only about twenty metres in height or so. All of its branches and leaves now had a dazzling golden light about them, appearing quite eye catching. Among its leaves, there were also some small longan sized fruits. If these fruits were mature, they would surely be a great supplement for people like Yang Kai, but it was obviously they had only just begun budding.
What surprised Yang Kai the most though were not these changes but rather the face which appeared at the centre of the Divine Tree’s trunk.
It was a very strange face, with eyes, a nose, a mouth, but no eyebrows. On top of that, this face was quite large and appeared somewhat wrinkled, like that of an old man
On both sides of its trunk, there were even two forks like arms with branches sticking out that gave the appearance of fingers.
At first glance though, it was obvious that the Divine Tree’s two arms and two hands contained great power.
The Divine Tree’s roots had also transformed into a large number of tentacles which were supporting its huge body, as if it had grown countless long legs. When Yang Kai came in, the Divine Tree seemed to be adapting to its own changes and its tentacles were moving slowly as it walked about the Black Book Space.
After noticing that Yang Kai had come in, it immediately stood still, turned its two huge eyes towards him, and seemingly smiled.
“You…” Yang Kai looked at it in amazement, not knowing what to say for a while.
“There’s no need for concern…” What made Yang Kai even more surprised was that the Divine Tree spoke to him. However, the voice it used was quite loud and somewhat hoarse. It seemed that this was its first time speaking and it was not quite used to it yet.
In the past, the Divine Tree had communicated with Yang Kai exclusively through Divine Sense Messages. This was the first time Yang Kai heard its voice, causing him to stare blankly again for a moment.
After a long pause, the Divine Tree continued, “Although I do not quite understand why I’ve become like this after my evolution, I can feel that it is a good thing. It seems that your Golden Blood has helped me a lot, helping me grow into something different from what I used to be.”
Yang Kai heard this and finally felt a bit relieved, asking with some concern, “Is nothing wrong?”
“Nothing at all, I feel wonderful actually.” The Divine Tree’s voice gradually became clearer, as if after speaking a few words it had begun to master the trick to communicating verbally. As it spoke, it also began slowly walking about the Black Book Space again, “If there is anything wrong, I feel that this place is no longer suitable for me to remain in. It’s quite empty and no longer conducive to my growth.”
Yang Kai was startled for a moment but immediately understood what was going on.
Before the Divine Tree’s latest evolution, it could only be regarded as a sentient World Spirit Treasure, so there was no problem with it remaining inside the Black Book Space. But now, it had evolved into a kind of living unique life-form, resulting in the Black Book Space no longer being appropriate for it to live in. It may be fine for a while, but if it stayed in this space for too long and was no longer able to adapt to the outside world’s principles, and it may result in some unpleasant consequences. Withering away was also not out of the question. If that were to happen, Yang Kai would be at fault.
Considering all this, Yang Kai apologized, “I’ve wronged you all these years. When I brought you out from that Mysterious Small World, I promised that I would find a place for you to settle down, but after so many years, I’ve constantly been running around and failed to find anywhere for you to roam about freely.”
The Divine Tree heard him say this and waved its giant hands slowly, “I know, don’t worry about it.”
“En.” Yang Kai nodded gently before suddenly grinning, “But things are different now. I finally have a place where you can put down roots. If you want, I can let you out now. If I ever leave this place in the future, I can take you with me again at that time, of course, if that’s what you want.”
The Divine Tree stopped in place and turned to Yang Kai with a look of expectation upon its withered face, “I can go out?”
It seems that it missed the sunshine of the outside world after being stuck in the Black Book Space for so long.
“En.” Yang Kai nodded repeatedly.
“Then I’d like to go out. If you ever leave this place, of course I’ll go with you.”
After discussing it properly, Yang Kai immediately walked out of his cave mansion and found it was fairly quiet outside. The several dozen former Hai Ke Family disciples seemed to be cultivating independently and even Chang Qi and Hao An were nowhere to be seen.
Seeing Yang Kai emerge from the cave, many people were surprised but they quickly offered polite greetings.
Although they separated from the Hai Ke Family in order to follow Wu Yi, they all knew who the true master of this place was.
“Where’s Yang Yan?” Yang Kai turned his head and looked around but was not able to find any trace of Yang Yan. Even using his Divine Sense, he couldn’t detect her, or Wu Yi’s presence.
“Lady Yang Yan and Young Lady went to Black Sea City together.” One of the sharper cultivators quickly replied.
“Black Sea City? Why did they go there? What force controls that city?” Yang Kai was surprised.
“Black Sea City is under the jurisdiction of Clear Sky Sect. The two Young Ladies went there to participate in Treasure Trove Pavilion’s auction.”
“Another auction?” Yang Kai raised a brow and showed a puzzled look. The cultivator quickly explained, and after listening to his explanation, Yang Kai realized what was going on. The last time there was an auction, Yang Kai had brought many good things to sell, drawing the attention of Treasure Trove Pavilion’s Yan Pei. As such, before this auction, he had sent Qian Tong a personal invitation to deliver to Yang Kai.
Dragon Cave Mountain also happened to be lacking Saint Crystals to purchase materials, so Yang Yan had taken several artifacts she had recently refined to auction in hopes of raising some funds.
After learning this, Yang Kai frowned. Yang Yan spent Saint Crystals far too quickly. He had brought back millions of Saint Crystal and a massive amount of materials less than a year ago, yet that all seemed to have been exhausted by her already. Yang Kai was not upset about this though as Yang Yan wasn’t wasting any of these Saint Crystals or materials, all of it went into enhancing Dragon Cave Mountain’s protection.
What Yang Kai cared about was that auctioning off artifacts like this was not a good long-term way to raise Saint Crystals.
Yang Yan could take the artifacts she refined to auction once or twice in order to raise some funds, but if this continued, it would only bring them problems. In the same sense, Yang Kai could not take out his refined pills to raise Saint Crystals too frequently. After all, Dragon Cave Mountain did not have a stronger background or protector. Although Shadow Moon Hall had a good relationship with them currently, that was almost exclusively because of Qian Tong’s prestige. This did not guarantee that other factions inside Shadow Moon Hall would not start having ideas about them.
If too many high-end artifacts and pills were to flow out from here, it would certainly attract unwanted attention.
Forget about any others, Yang Kai was certain that Xie Hong Wen’s father had Dragon Cave Mountain under surveillance. Xie Hong Wen had died in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, and although Xie Hong Wen’s father did not know who killed his son, he would certainly not give up investigating. Once he had an excuse, he might come to Dragon Cave Mountain to find trouble.
“When did they leave?” Yang Kai asked again.
“Three days ago. They should be returning any time now. Does Young Master Yang need us to find them? If so, we can set out immediately.”
“No.” Yang Kai waved his hand, “Go about your own business.”
“Yes.” The few people gathered around responded and began to disperse, only to have Yang Kai call out suddenly, “Right, after they come back, tell them not to take artifacts to auction again.”
After issuing this order, Yang Kai soared up into the sky and flew around Dragon Cave Mountain. He had the token given to him by Yang Yan, which not only controlled all the Spirit Arrays and barriers in his cave mansion, but also the ones arranged around Dragon Cave Mountain. With this token, there was nowhere on Dragon Cave Mountain Yang Kai could not go.
Yang Kai saw all sorts of amazing Spirit Arrays arranged by Yang Yan, even one that used the Illusion Stone he brought back as its core. If not for the token Yang Yan had given him, Yang Kai would probably still have stumbled into that Illusion Array and gotten trapped.
Also, the area where the Blood Sword Grass was located had also been concealed inside a profound Bewildering Array, hiding it from anyone outside. However, if anyone were to break into this array, they would surely encounter a vicious attack from the Blood Sword Grass.
There was also an area that seemed bland and unremarkable, but Yang Kai quickly discovered that the huge Fire Crystal Stone had been set up as an Array Core of a giant Spirit Array here.
Although he did not know what kind of Spirit Array had been arranged in this area, Yang Kai knew it was not a place one would want to fall into.
There were many other Spirit Arrays and barriers set up all over the place, causing even Yang Kai, the owner of Dragon Cave Mountain, to feel shocked by how many layers of protection and hidden dangers there were here.
Yang Yan had turned this place into a multi-layered impenetrable fortress! However, Yang Kai knew that she was arranging all these Spirit Arrays mainly to unlock the memories sealed in her mind, so even if this seemed a bit extravagant and wasteful, he didn’t have a problem with it.
As long as Yang Yan continued unlocking her memories, her future Spirit Arrays and barriers would only become stronger.
Yang Kai flew for a while around Dragon Cave Mountain before arriving at a relatively open space where there were no signs of any kind of Spirit Arrays being arranged.
After landing, Yang Kai contacted the Divine Tree inside his Black Book Space before releasing his Divine Sense like a tide.
In the next moment, Spiritual Energy rapidly flooded out from Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea and in a flash of golden light, the twenty-metre-tall Divine Tree suddenly appeared in front of him.
Yang Kai was secretly startled as surprise filled his expression. He found that he had greatly underestimated the Spiritual Energy required to bring the Divine Tree out.
When he first took the Divine Tree into the Black Book Space, he had completely exhausted his Spiritual Energy, drying up his Knowledge Sea entirely. If it were not for the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, his Soul would have suffered severe damage, but even with it, he had to cultivate for quite some time before his strength returned to normal.
Now that his strength far exceeded what it was back then though, Yang Kai thought it would be an easy task to bring out the Divine Tree, but contrary to his expectations, it took almost half of the Spiritual Energy in his Knowledge Sea to accomplish this feat, frightening him somewhat.
But after thinking about it, Yang Kai smiled lightly. His strength had grown greatly over the years, but hadn’t the Divine Tree grown as well? The Spiritual Energy required to bring it out would naturally be far greater than before.
As soon as the Divine Tree appeared, the face on the trunk showed a happy expression, its two eyes slowly sweeping over its new surroundings. After feeling the richness of the World Energy here, it showed a look of comfort on its wrinkled face and seemingly let out a happy sigh, “Wow, amazing. This place is simply amazing.”
Yang Kai knew that this was the Divine Tree’s first contact with the World Energy aura of the Star Field, so naturally it would be happy. Compared to the Mysterious Small World where it had lived before, the difference in aura was like a person on the ground gazing up at the Heavens.
“I’m glad you like it,” Yang Kai chuckled, “I don’t have a specific place for you to stay so you can just walk around by yourself, feel free to go wherever you like, but I have to tell you in advance, there are many places here that are covered in barriers and Spirit Arrays. If you rush into one of those areas, it will likely be dangerous, so be careful where you step.”
“Alright. Don’t worry, I can feel traces of those Spirit Arrays you mentioned and won’t intrude into any of them,” The Divine Tree promised, using its tentacle-like roots to burrow into the ground and, in the blink of an eye, actually took root. Letting out another comfortable sigh, the Divine Tree’s eyes lazily half-squinted.
Yang Kai did not disturb it, simply allowing it to enjoy the feeling of the outside world again.
After a while, Yang Kai suddenly remembered something and asked, “Right, the two drops of Golden Blood I gave you allowed you to evolve. What if you had more?”
The Divine Tree opened its eyes wide and revealed a look of longing, but it quickly said, “Your Golden Blood should be extremely valuable, and although it has helped my growth significantly, I had only just evolved, so swallowing any more of it would only serve to increase my strength somewhat, but I’m not in a hurry to do that. After you have an abundance of Golden Blood, you can spare me a few drops.”
Yang Kai grinned, “Although I don’t have much, it’s not problem to give you a drop right now.”
Saying so, Yang Kai extracted a drop of Golden Blood before flicking his wrist and sending it slowly over to the Divine Tree. The Divine Tree swallowed this drop of Golden Blood and its mouth made a wriggling motion, as if it was savouring the taste.
After a while, the Divine Tree opened its eyes and said, “Okay! I’ll need a few days to adapt to this new environment, you don’t need to wait here with me.”
“Alright.” Yang Kai nodded, told the Divine Tree a few things to watch out for, then departed.
Calling the cultivators of the Hai Ke Family, Yang Kai told them to take good care of the Divine Tree and to inform Yang Yan and Wu Yi about it when they came back so they could make any further arrangements necessary.
After completing all this, Yang Kai entered retreat again.
Whether it was luck or coincidence, a month after the Divine Tree awoke from its slumber, a sound came from the Profound Insect Stone in the stone room next to Yang Kai’s. This big piece of Profound Insect Stone had finally been used up and disappeared, causing the Soul Devouring Insects to awaken. After this long hibernation, the Soul Devouring Insects seemed to have experienced great growth as well. It was nothing less than two blessings descending upon the house.
Inside the cave mansion, Yang Kai sat cross-legged within a stone room, his eyes opened but seemingly empty, his body’s aura tumbling violently as a riotous storm seemingly raged around him.
Not far away, from a hole in the ground, the Stone Puppet stuck its small head out, an uncertain look upon his face. It seemingly did not understand what was happening to Yang Kai. As for the Artifact Spirit, it had already snuck into Yang Kai’s body and disappeared.
After meeting Yang Kai’s two empty eyes, the Stone Puppet seemed to be frightened and shrank back into its hole, fleeing several dozen metres into the ground.
At this moment, if someone were standing in front of Yang Kai and staring into his eyes, they would see seven coloured light flashing across their depths, and if one observed carefully enough, they would discover that this seven coloured light actually took on the form of a lotus bud.
Yang Kai sat perfectly still as time passed by, the seven-coloured glow in the depths of his dull eyes slowly growing stronger.
Gradually, above Yang Kai’s head, a beautiful phantasmal lotus flower appeared, one that emitted dazzling seven coloured light. This lotus rotated slowly while releasing an astonishing Spiritual Energy fluctuation.
As the illusionary lotus continued releasing Spiritual Energy, its multicoloured petals began to gently blossom, as if it was a shy lady ever so slowly removing her robes to reveal her pure self.
The whole process was extremely slow, but Yang Kai himself was unaware of it as his consciousness was completely immersed in his Knowledge Sea, comprehending the profound mysteries that arose from the Soul Warming Lotus’ blossoming.
Yang Kai did not know how much time had passed, but by the time the phantom seven coloured lotus fully bloomed atop his head, it had expanded to almost fill the entire stone room. The moment it finished blossoming, this illusionary lotus shattered into tiny points of light that filled the air like fireflies before immediately being drawn into Yang Kai’s body by some unseen force and disappearing.
Yang Kai’s body shook, and his eyes regained their clarity, but his expression remained tight as he continued sitting in meditation.
When the Soul Devouring Insects finished their evolution half a month ago, Yang Kai had immediately tested out their power and had been greatly satisfied with their performance. Soon after though, the Soul Warming Lotus also completed its evolution to its final seven coloured form!
However, Yang Kai had not imagined that after his Soul Warming Lotus evolved, he would comprehend a mysterious Soul Skill from it!
Although the Soul Warming Lotus was an unparalleled treasure and could infinitely nourish one’s Soul, according to the records Yang Kai had read, it did not allow a cultivator that possessed it to comprehend any kind of Soul Skills. But Yang Kai did not have time to think too much about this as he immediately began comprehending this newly acquired technique.
Now that the Soul Warming Lotus had completed its evolution and he had thoroughly comprehended this new Soul Skill, Yang Kai had a moment to puzzle over this unexpected development.
If it was not the credit of the Soul Warming Lotus, it most likely had something to do with the colourless crystal cube he had acquired in the pool of Soul Cleansing Divine Water. Yang Kai had inadvertently obtained that crystal, after which his Soul Warming Lotus quickly swallowed it, allowing it to begin its process of evolution. Now, that colourless crystal had completely disappeared, and his Soul Warming Lotus had successfully evolved into its seven coloured form.
Yang Kai hypothesised that the Soul Skill he had obtained this time was somehow related to that colourless crystal. Perhaps there was some kind of mysterious force that allowed Yang Kai to acquire this new Divine Ability by chance.
Although he had no way to experiment with this new Soul Skill, Yang Kai could understand that it was an extraordinary ability, one worthy of being called a certain kill strike.
Recently there had been too many happy events. The Divine Tree had woken from its deep sleep, the Soul Devouring Insects had finished their evolution, and now the Soul Warming Lotus had transformed into its ultimate seven coloured form. It was as if all these good things had decided to spring themselves on Yang Kai at once.
Yang Kai had been worrying about where to place the evolved Soul Devouring Insects a few days ago, but now this problem had been solved.
Considering all this, Yang Kai waved his hand and summoned a mass of gray fog to it. This fog twisted about randomly, appearing extremely strange.
Although this fog was difficult to notice, if one observed it closely, they would notice that it was a cloud of small insects that were almost invisible to the naked eye!
Yang Kai’s Soul Devouring Insects were originally invisible to the eye, but after their recent evolution, once they gathered in one place, they formed this gray fog. The lethality of each Soul Devouring Insect had greatly increased, and Yang Kai estimated that they could not easily kill ordinary Saint Kings, and even an Origin Realm master that was infested with them would have trouble quickly purging them.
Yang Kai was naturally not afraid of them at all, however, and after releasing his Divine Sense, he simply wrapped them up and moved them into his Knowledge Sea
The swarm of Soul Devouring Insects traveled straight to island the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus had transformed into in Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea and quickly settled into their new home.
After such a long retreat, Yang Kai had accomplished everything he intended to.
He had refined the Artifact Refining Furnace, begun refining the dragon bone and Dragon Bead, refined the Flowing Flame Flying Fires to enhance the power of his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, and comprehended the Demon Blood Thread technique…
The dragon bone and Dragon Bead refinement was something Yang Kai knew he could not rush and was resigned to wait for it to finish on its own so he could make use of them. As for the Golden Blood Thread he had adapted from Demon Blood Temple’s Demon Blood Thread technique, while he had successfully comprehended it, he was still in the process of cultivating it. Although he had not used it against an enemy yet, Yang Kai knew it was a very powerful technique as the pseudo-artifacts he could refine using his Golden Blood were far more flexible and handier than any weapon.
Of the eight Flowing Flame Flying Fires, Yang Kai refined six. As he had guessed, these Flowing Flame Flying Fires could allow a cultivator to obtain a Mutated Knowledge Sea and enhance the power of his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea.
However, after refining the fifth Flowing Flame Flying Fire, the enhancement Yang Kai received was no longer obvious, so Yang Kai left two, thinking they might come in handy for something else later.
After a year in secluded retreat, Yang Kai’s cultivation realm hadn’t actually changed much, but his combat effectiveness had actually improved significantly, now all he needed was an opportunity to verify the power of his Golden Blood Thread and newly realized Soul Skill.
It was time to go out. Cultivation could not be done by completely cutting oneself off from the outside world. Although doing this could help one quickly enhance their realm, their fighting power would not be able to keep up with their cultivation. Yang Kai’s cultivation path had been filled with fighting, so naturally he understood this simple truth.
Moreover, he now had to exit his retreat because a guest had come to Dragon Cave Mountain a month ago and was currently waiting for him outside. The only reason he had not gone to see them yet was because the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus had just completed its evolution and he needed to spend some time to comprehend the Soul Skill he obtained in the process.
Thinking of who this guest was, Yang Kai frowned slightly, wondering why she had specifically come here looking for him. From the level of friendship they shared, it was strange for her to care so much about his wellbeing.
Even so, Yang Kai got up and left his cave mansion.
A short time later, Yang Kai appeared outside and unscrupulously released his Divine Sense, quickly locating Yang Yan and Wu Yi and sending them a message before flying straight over to one of the open lofts.
A moment later, while Yang Kai was sitting in this loft sipping a spirit tea that Yang Yan and the others had obtained from somewhere, two beautiful young ladies appeared at the entrance. Naturally it was Yang Yan in her signature black robe and Wu Yi in a green dress
The two women were both smiling broadly, as if something good had happened, and after spotting Yang Kai, they hurried over.
“You’ve finally come out,” Yang Yan swept his eyes over Yang Kai but upon not finding any signs that he had become stronger, furrowed her brow slightly.
“En, what happened? Why do both of you seem so happy?” Yang Kai asked again while sipping his tea.
Wu Yi smiled and explained, “Our Dragon Cave Mountain is becoming more and more famous. Many cultivators without Sects or families have been asking to join us. Earlier, not many people would even pass by this place, but over the past few months, more than a dozen would show up every day asking. One day there were as many as thirty people requesting to join us, including one who was an Origin Returning Realm master. Elder Sister Yang Yan and I were discussing whether to found a small Sect here.”
“A small Sect?” Yang Kai shot her a disapproving look, “You’re thinking is too simple. We do not have any powerful masters here, so how could be found a Sect? On top of that, we can only stay here safely because of Qian Tong. If one day Qian Tong were to lose power or fall in battle, do you think Shadow Moon Hall would just sit by and watch us grow stronger right on their doorstep?”
Listening to Yang Kai’s words, the smile on Wu Yi’s face retreated and after hesitating for a while argued, “That shouldn’t be, Elder Qian has an incredibly high position in Shadow Moon Hall, second only to the Sect master.”
“Anything is possible, especially in such a big force. Although things usually proceed in a predictable manner, once something does happen, the fallout is generally quite large, and those who are in power may lose their influence or unexpectedly fall. On top of that, although Qian Tong is good to us, I do not want to constantly depend upon his prestige and shelter behind him, otherwise we’ll find ourselves constantly lacking the initiative. If there is no Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master to assume command, don’t even think about trying to found a Sect here.”
Wu Yi frowned, thought for a moment, but soon nodded, “What you said makes sense, I really wasn’t thinking far enough ahead.”
Yang Kai also had the idea to found a Sect because he wanted to pave the way for his friends and family back on Tong Xuan Realm, but he had no intention to do so any time soon. This idea was proposed by Wu Yi. Yang Yan only thought about Artifact Refining or arranging Spirit Arrays and would not consider such things, but Wu Yi had managed many things for the Hai Ke Family before now and would have such ambitions. However, as someone who had only experienced things in a small family force, her way of thinking was too simple. She had thought that so long as they had Qian Tong’s shelter, Dragon Cave Mountain could be worry free.
“Did you refuse those who came?” Yang Kai asked somewhat nervously.
“Naturally I refused them. You were in retreat, so we didn’t dare make such a big decision,” Wu Yi nodded.
“That’s good,” Yang Kai touched his chin, suddenly raising his head and asking, “Did that Dai Yuan from Coloured Glass Sect say why she wanted to see me?”
After listening to Yang Kai’s question, Wu Yi smiled and gave him an ambiguous look, “I don’t know. She has not spoken much since she arrived here, it seems she does not like communicating with others. I’ve visited her a few times, but she hardly speaks, aside from inquiring about you, that is, hehe…”
Like Wei Gu Chang, it seems Wu Yi had some kind of misunderstanding.
Yang Kai was too lazy to explain and instead just said, “Forget it, I’ll go and see her. If it isn’t something important, she wouldn’t have come here in such a hurry.”
Saying so, Yang Kai went straight out.
Yang Kai wanted to get some information from Wu Yi and Yang Yan so he could prepare himself in advance, but he had not expected that after an entire month, Dai Yuan hadn’t even disclosed her purpose in coming here.
Yang Kai secretly felt a headache coming on. Dai Yuan was not the kind of person to simply visit someone on a whim. Since she had come here, she must have something she wanted to ask of him. If it was just another stranger here to ask him a favour, Yang Kai would refuse to even meet them, but this woman was very close to Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er, and Yang Kai had spent time fighting by her side in the Flowing Flame Sand Field. To simply refuse her outright would be too boorish.
He could only ask her what she wanted and then take things from there.
A moment later, Yang Kai arrived at another exquisite loft about a thousand meters away from the one he had been sitting in. He had checked with his Divine Sense in advance and naturally knew that Dai Yuan was currently staying here. At this moment, Dai Yuan’s aura seemed quite tranquil, probably indicating she was in meditative cultivation.
Yang Kai could only call out, “Sister Dai Yuan, it’s Yang Kai.”
There was a momentary fluctuation in the tranquil aura and then Dai Yuan’s surprised voice called out from the loft, “Junior Brother Yang, please come in. I was just meditating so it is a bit inconvenient for me to welcome you right now. I’ll be down after I finish this last cycle.”
Yang Kai gently nodded and strode in.
This loft was divided into two floors. When Wu Yi and the others built it, they had taken into consideration that anyone who lived here might need to receive guests, so the first floor was set up for entertainment purposes while the second floor was for the owner to cultivate.
Yang Kai entered the first floor of the loft and found a chair to sit down on. If one were to really think about it, this was his site, making Dai Yuan the guest, therefore Yang Kai saw no need to act overly polite.
After waiting quietly for a short time, the sound of footsteps came from the stairs and Dai Yuan walked down from above in a light blue dress, a smile upon her face.
Her dress vividly outlined her perfect figure, emphasizing her rich peaks and slender waist. Looking at her though, Yang Kai could not help a look of pity flashing across his face, because if not for her disfigured face, this woman would definitely be a great beauty. Unfortunately, this one shortcoming destroyed her charms.
Although this look only flashed across the depths of Yang Kai’s eyes for an instant, it was still noticed by Dai Yuan. This woman was both beautiful and intelligent, so how could she not understand what Yang Kai was regretting? In her heart, she felt hurt, but on her face she maintained her warm smile, offering a light apology for making him wait before sitting down on a chair across from Yang Kai. Next, with a wave of her jade white hand, she summoned a plate of delicate spirit fruits and placed them onto the table between them.
“This is the Purple Mist Fruit I picked from Purple Mist Mountain in Coloured Glass Sect. No place on Shadowed Star grows this spirit fruit other than my Coloured Glass Sect. Although it is not comparable to the spirit fruits and spirit medicines which grow in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, this Purple Mist Fruit is of great help to cultivators who wish to purify their Saint Qi. Please have a taste, Junior Brother Yang,” Dai Yuan introduced it with a smile as she wore a look of anticipation.
Yang Kai grinned, “Since Sister Dai Yuan has offered, this Yang will not refuse.”
Although he was muttering to himself that this woman was looking for a favour from him, Yang Kai still picked up one of the small purple fruits and observed it slightly.
This was the first time he had heard of the Purple Mist Fruit, but from its crystal-like appearance and the sweet fragrance it gave off, Yang Kai could tell that this was not something ordinary disciples of Coloured Glass Sect could ever taste. Since Dai Yuan had specially brought it here though, naturally Yang Kai would sample it.
Tossing the little purple fruit into his mouth, he chewed it a few times, releasing a sweet juice which caused his brow to rise.
The taste of this fruit was excellent, and the sweetness seemed to penetrate directly into one’s mind, making anyone who consumed it feel very comfortable.
After swallowing this Purple Mist Fruit into his belly, Yang Kai felt heat spread from his abdomen and spread out to his limbs. Although the purification effect on his Saint Qi was not great, it also wasn’t insignificant.
Yang Kai said nothing as he picked up another Purple Mist Fruit and ate it, eating a third after that before offering some words of praise.
Dai Yuan was very pleased seeing this.
Next, Yang Kai talked happily with Dai Yuan about what happened after they separated in the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
However, what frustrated Yang Kai was that Dai Yuan really seemed intent on just chatting with him, never once mentioning her true purpose in coming here. Regardless of what Yang Kai said, she would have some kind of follow up, allowing the conversation to continue on harmoniously, as if the two were old friends who had not seen each other in years and were now revelling in their long life experiences. Dai Yuan’s pleasant laughter that rang out from time to time made the time pass by quickly.
After two hours, Yang Kai finally could not help it any longer, coughed, and asked, “Did Sister Dai Yuan come to Dragon Cave Mountain for something specific? If you have something you need my help with, please speak clearly. As long as I am able to, I will definitely not refuse.”
Yang Kai did not make too grand of a promise. If it were just some minor matter that wouldn’t cost him much time, he was willing to help her, but if Dai Yuan wanted to ask him to do something dangerous, Yang Kai wasn’t prepared to accept.
He did not want to make too many enemies on Shadowed Star, that Lu Ye from Flowing Cloud Valley was more than enough to give him a headache.
Yang Kai really could not figure out why Lu Ye seemed to have a grudge against him, even going so far as to secretly then openly attack him back in the third layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field. Although Yang Kai cut off one of Lu Ye’s arms with his Space Blade, without killing this strange enemy, Yang Kai could not rest easy.
When Yang Kai asked this question, Dai Yuan immediately fell silent, nibbling her red lips as if hesitating.
Yang Kai did not urge her, instead just sitting and waiting quietly while at the same time raising his wariness. Dai Yuan hesitating like this obviously meant the favour she wanted to ask was not something small.
In fact, Yang Kai was already thinking about what to say to reject her.
Finally, Dai Yuan raised her head, stared into Yang Kai’s eyes with her own, and asked a shocking question, “Junior Brother Yang, are you an Origin Grade Alchemist?”
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed as sharp light flashed across their depths, but he quickly let out a laugh, “Why would Sister Dai Yuan ask such a thing?”
Him being an Origin Grade Alchemist was something that no one on Shadowed Star knew. Even Yang Yan and Wu Yi did not know about it. Yang Kai had told them once, but neither of them had taken him seriously and simply wrote it off as a bad joke.
So how could Dai Yuan know?
There was an Origin Grade Artifact Refiner on Dragon Cave Mountain, which was enough to draw people’s attention, so if not for there being a profound protective Spirit Array here and Qian Tong sheltering them so doggedly, how could Dragon Cave Mountain have remained so tranquil? If news that an Origin Grade Alchemist also resided here were to leak out, it would cause a massive uproar.
“Junior Brother Yang does not need to deny it. Since I’ve made such an assertion, I naturally have enough confidence to back it up.” Dai Yuan smiled slightly, reaching out and brushing her hair loose back behind her ear as she stared at Yang Kai confidently, “But Junior Brother Yang may rest assured, no one other than me knows about this. If Junior Brother Yang does not feel at ease though, you can kill me to silence me. En, I didn’t tell anyone where I was going before I left Coloured Glass Sect and tried my best to conceal my movements along the way, so even if I die here, no one other than the few people here will know anything so you don’t have to worry about Coloured Glass Sect coming to seek revenge.”
Silencing her by killing her was obviously impossible for Yang Kai. If Dai Yuan was an enemy, he wouldn’t care about such things, but there was neither enmity nor resentment between them, so how could he kill her simply for finding out that he was an Origin Grade Alchemist?
Moreover, since she had brought this up on her own, and even proposed silencing the witness to the crime, Dai Yuan had shown enough sincerity.
Yang Kai’s expression became indifferent as he pondered for a while before knitting his brow and asking, “How did you find out?”
“You really are?” Dai Yuan’s eyes remained calm, but a flash of surprise still appeared in their depths as she stared at Yang Kai for a moment.
Yang Kai gawked for a moment before smiling bitterly and cupping his fists, “Sister Dai Yuan is sinister enough, this Yang admits defeat!”
How could he have not understood what had just happened? Dai Yuan’s words had all been a trap! Seeing her act so confidently, Yang Kai thought he had really been exposed and had not imagined that she was simply just suspicious.
Yang Kai estimated that if he had vigorously denied the charge and refused to admit it, Dai Yuan would not have suspected him.
Dai Yuan smiled awkwardly, stood up, and bowed to Yang Kai elegantly before offering an apology, “Forgive me, Junior Brother Yang, I could only use this small deception to confirm my theory. If you feel that to be intolerable, feel free to curse me.”
“There’s no need for that,” Yang Kai shook his head, knowing that Dai Yuan wanted to resolve his grievances, but he was the one who had walked into a trap because he let his guard down, so how could he scold her?
“Many thanks for your magnanimity, Junior Brother Yang,” Dai Yuan expressed her deep gratitude before sitting down once more.
“How did you come to suspect I was an Origin Grade Alchemist?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
“I only knew that you were an Alchemist, but as for what grade you were, I couldn’t be certain,” Dai Yuan looked her head slightly and smiled, seemingly in a good mood.
“That alone is quite strange, though,” Yang Kai looked at her, hoping she could explain further.
“It’s quite simple actually. Because of some special reasons, I am overly sensitive to the medicinal fragrances of pills, and Junior Brother Yang always had a variety of pill fragrances about him, so I knew you were an Alchemist. Even now, you have a light pill fragrance on you. If I were to guess, I would say you refined an Origin Condensing Pill and Jasmine Blood Pill correct? And the refinement should have been about half a year ago or so.”
This time, Yang Kai was truly shocked!
Yang Kai had heard of other people being able to smell the scent of a woman on a man, but he had never heard of someone being capable of smelling a medicinal or pill fragrance on another person. What’s more, Dai Yuan had just said was incredibly accurate. Half a year ago, he really had refined some Origin Condensing Pills and Blood Jasmine Pills. Of course, there were other pills he had refined before then, but perhaps because it was too long ago or the scent had dissipated, Dai Yuan didn’t smell them or didn’t bother mentioning them.
This special ability greatly surprised Yang Kai.
“Of course, if that was all the evidence I had, I wouldn’t have suspected that Junior Brother Yang was an Origin Grade Alchemist. There may have simply been a powerful master here that Junior Brother Yang was around frequently and picked up those pill fragrances from, but…” Dai Yuan smiled mysteriously, “Since I came here one month ago, I didn’t discover any such powerful master. On top of that, the last time you gave the Shadow Moon Hall disciples a few healing pills in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, I noticed that they had only been recently refined so I made a bold guess that Junior Brother Yang was an Alchemist. Those pills were all also of extraordinary quality, so the level of the one who refined them was obviously not low.”
Yang Kai did not try to make any denials.
With Dai Yuan possessing such a peculiar ability, even if he were to deny it, it would be useless. However, at the same time, Yang Kai felt relieved; after all, this ability was probably unique to Dai Yuan so it was impossible for other to use such a method to infer that Yang Kai was an Origin Grade Alchemist.
Dai Yuan also seemed like a trustworthy person, so Yang Kai was not worried she would betray him.
Taking all this into consideration, Yang Kai calmed down and smiled gently, “Does Sister Dai Yuan first confirming my identity as an Alchemist mean you want my help with Alchemy?”
He could only make such a conjecture, as it was the only way to explain everything.
How could he have anticipated that Dai Yuan would shake her head though, “It’s not about Alchemy, but it is related to Alchemy, otherwise I wouldn’t have come here.”
Yang Kai showed a faint smile, “Although I don’t know what it is you want me to do, but there should be others who can help you on Shadowed Star. I will not conceal it from Sister Dai Yuan, I am currently just an Origin Grade Low-Rank Alchemist. Your status in Coloured Glass Sect should not be low; isn’t there an Origin Grade Alchemist in your Sect? Even if Coloured Glass Sect does not have one, couldn’t you ask the Grandmasters from Medicine Pill Sect to take action? I cannot match any of them in terms of Alchemy accomplishments.”
Last time Yang Kai had also learned that there were five Origin Grade Alchemists in Medicine Pill Sect, each of whom was a highly respected master. Besides, Coloured Glass Sect was one of Shadowed Star’s most powerful sects, it was impossible for them to now have at least one Alchemist of this level.
Dai Yuan running over to Dragon Cave Mountain to find him was like going around the sun to reach the moon, raising Yang Kai’s curiosity.
“If that were possible, why would I embarrass myself in front of Junior Brother Yang?” Dai Yuan had a bitter smile on her face, “There is indeed a Grandmaster Xiao in my Sect who is an Origin Grade Alchemist, but there are inconvenient issues with me asking for Grandmaster Xiao’s help.”
“Grandmaster Xiao…” Yang Kai raised his brow as the old kind face of Medicine King’s Valley Xiao Fu Sheng surfaced in his mind. He did not expect that the Grandmaster Alchemist of Coloured Glass Sect would also be surnamed Xiao.
“As for the Grandmasters from Medicine Pill Sect…” Dai Yuan frowned, “Four of them are difficult to ask for the same reason as Grandmaster Xiao. The last one is actually a suitable candidate, but the price to hire them is too high, I don’t have the ability to pay it.”
Yang Kai gave her a stunned look.
This woman’s cultivation and strength were not low, and her means were quite good, so he thought that she must hold a high position in Coloured Glass Sect, but from her words, Yang Kai sensed that things were more complicated than that.
She probably did not have the ability to summon the wind and rain in Coloured Glass Sect as he had previously suspected.
Thinking back on what happened at the mountain valley in the third layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field while waiting for the Red Candle Fruit to mature, the nearby Coloured Glass Sect disciples all clearly saw Dai Yuan, but none of them had gone to greet her. From beginning to end, she had been acting alone while all the other Coloured Glass Sect disciples stuck together with Yin Su Die, their treatment as different as Heaven and Earth… Yang Kai suddenly felt like he had understood something.
“Therefore, I could only look for Junior Brother Yang for help,” Dai Yuan suddenly said while staring at Yang Kai earnestly, her star-like eyes showing a pleading intention.
Yang Kai brow furrowed as he pondered for a while before asking, “Can you tell me what it is you want me to do for you?”
Dai Yuan bit her red lips and embarrassedly said, “Before Junior Brother Yang agrees, telling you is somewhat inconvenient.”
Yang Kai’s face sank as a touch of annoyance filled his expression. This woman came here to ask for his help but refused to tell him what it was she wanted him to do, so even though Yang Kai had a good impression of her, he would not just stupidly agree.
Just as he was about to refuse though, Dai Yuan hurriedly said, “But I can guarantee that it is something Junior Brother Yang can do, and it will not take very much time or effort. If everything goes well, just three days of time will be enough. After it is finished, I will also be sure to compensate Junior Brother Yang.”
Yang Kai naturally didn’t care about whatever compensation she could offer. Dai Yuan already admitted she could not afford to move one of the Grandmasters from Medicine Pill Sect, so how could she have anything good to offer him as payment? However, if whatever it was would only take three days, he could still consider it.
“But…” Dai Yuan looked at Yang Kai cautiously, as if even she didn’t have confidence in persuading him, and weakly said, “If Junior Brother Yang agrees, he will need to accompany me back to Coloured Glass Sect.”
Yang Kai raised his eyes and stared at Dai Yuan, who fell silent and bit her lip, waiting for his reply.
After a moment, Yang Kai smiled calmly and said, “Let me consider this matter. Dragon Cave Mountain has some nice scenery, so if Sister Dai Yuan wishes, she can take a walk around and enjoy it. As for your request, I will give you a reply three days from now.”
Dai Yuan’s eyes dimmed, knowing that Yang Kai had not directly refused her purely out of politeness. How could she have missed the perfunctory tone in his voice though?
Him saying he would reply three days from now was almost as good as him saying no.
Sighing faintly, although she felt quite forlorn, Dai Yuan still squeezed out a smile, “Then Dai Yuan will wait for good news from Junior Brother Yang.”
Having finished their discussion, Yang Kai said goodbye and left.
After Yang Kai left, Dai Yuan turned around and walked back up to the second floor with an anxious look upon her face. She knew that she was acting unreasonably here. Since she had come to ask for a favour, naturally she should make the details of her request clear, but some things were not easy to discuss, making her feel quite troubled.
Dai Yuan even thought about quietly leaving, so as not to make things difficult for Yang Kai; after all, sticking around for three days just to get rejected would only make things awkward for both of them, but strangely, Dai Yuan couldn’t bring herself to leave and decided to wait out these three days.
Perhaps she was still holding out some faint hope in her heart.
Yang Kai left the loft and walked back to the original building he had come from, a slight frown upon his face. Yang Kai had not rejected Dai Yuan on the spot to avoid embarrassing her; if it had been someone else, he would not have bothered acting polite.
Returning to the original loft he had tea in, Yang Kai was surprised to find that Wu Yi and Yang Yan had not left yet, the two of them smiling at the entranceway, seemingly having waited for him to return.
Yang Kai thought that the two women would immediately ask him what had happened, but to his surprise, they simply watched him pass between them silently.
After Yang Kai entered the loft, Yang Yan and Wu Yi followed him inside. Immediately, Yang Yan took out a token identical the one she had given Yang Kai, and after pouring her Saint Qi into it, a ray of light shot out from it and in the next moment, the entire loft seemed to be wrapped by the invisible barrier which not only cut off the sound and sight from the outside, even Divine Sense was blocked.
“What are you doing?” Yang Kai asked in amazement.
Yang Yan walked over with a big grin on her face, sitting in a chair nearby, exchanging a glance with Wu Yi before asking him, “Are you going to agree to her request?”
Yang Kai’s expression now turned to shock. He looked at Yang Yan, then at Wu Yi, then back again. After noticing the twinkle in the eyes of these two women, he immediately understood, “Were you eavesdropping?”
Wu Yi’s face turned red and did not deny the charge, silently admitting her guilt.
Yang Yan, on the other hand, said frankly, “Eavesdropping? Nonsense, I was just testing out the power of a newly researched Spirit Array.”
“What kind of effects does this new Spirit Array of yours have?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.
When he was talking with Dai Yuan just now, he had not noticed anyone trying to eavesdrop on them, but now it seems their entire conversation had been heard by these two. The Spirit Arrays arranged by Yang Yan were simply too mysterious.
“You wouldn’t understand if I explained it to you, it’s better for you to see for yourself,” Yang Yan said before taking a large plate side disc. This disc was made from some unidentifiable black material, but when Yang Kai used his Divine Sense to examine it, he could not help calling out in surprise as he was able to hear Dai Yuan’s sighing coming from it.
However, besides this, there was no other information coming from this disc, so obviously it was connected to a Spirit Array that was monitoring the sounds inside Dai Yuan’s loft.
Yang Kai really didn’t know when Yang Yan had arranged this, but he could guess that she had set it up a long time ago and was simply waiting for some foreign guests to arrive before experimenting with this Spirit Array.
Suddenly, Yang Kai’s complexion changed as he stared at Yang Yan and asked, “Is there something like this in my cave mansion?”
“No!” Yang Yan denied flatly, her small head shaking like a rattle, “Why would I need to arrange something like this in your cave mansion?”
“Good,” Yang Kai nodding in satisfaction before his expression suddenly became strict, “Highly improper! Don’t do this kind of vulgar matter again, if it were to be noticed, it would be a great disgrace!”
Yang Yan and Wu Yi looked at each other before sticking out their tongues playfully.
Yang Kai saw this, rubbed his forehead, and moved the conversation forward, “But since you overheard, you should understand why I didn’t agree to her request, so why does it look like you have a different opinion?”
Yang Kai was full of doubts. According to Wu Yi, since Dai Yuan came here, even if Wu Yi took the initiative to visit her several times, they hadn’t conversed much, but after this brief chat he had, Yang Yan seemed to have taken a deep interest in this matter and was eager for him to agree.
Yang Kai could tell that Yang Yan wanted him to go to Coloured Glass Sect with Dai Yuan, but the two women in front of him didn’t have any kind of friendship with Dai Yuan so there was no need for them to lobby on her behalf.
Yang Yan hearing this, nodded without hesitation, “If it is possible, I want you to agree to her request.”
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Yang Yan fixedly. After a while, he asked, “This isn’t about being sympathetic to her, you must have some reason for this. What are you scheming?”
Yang Yan smiled mysteriously, “It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’m scheming something, but let us talk about the pros and cons of you agreeing to her request first. She said that it would only take three days to complete this matter and that it was within your ability. If what she said is true, then no matter what this matter is, it should not be difficult for you. The only troublesome part will be you needing to take a trip to Coloured Glass Sect.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, without interrupting, motioning her to continue.
Seeing that Yang Kai was still disinterested, Yang Yan wasn’t discouraged and continued, “She said that afterwards, she would compensate you, but with your current net worth, I doubt anything she could offer would be of interest to you.”
“That’s right, therefore there’s no benefit in me doing her a favour, and it’s also not appropriate to run over to someone else’s Sect. If Dai Yuan’s status there was the same as that of Yin Su Die’s, it would not be an issue, but I somehow get the impression that she isn’t very popular within Coloured Glass Sect,” Yang Kai frowned slightly.
Yang Yan smiled, “About her, I was curious, so Wu Yi and I did some digging. Guess what we found?”
“What?” Yang Kai looked at them faintly.
Wu Yi was the one to speak this time, “Just as you guessed, Dai Yuan doesn’t seem to be very popular in Coloured Glass Sect, but that only became the case about ten years ago. Back then, do you know which disciple had the most resounding reputation in Coloured Glass Sect?”
“Dai Yuan?”
“Indeed! Previously, in Coloured Glass Sect, Dai Yuan’s fame exceeded Yin Su Die’s, but for some unknown reason, Dai Yuan suddenly faded from the sight of Coloured Glass Sect’s leaders. Yin Su Die replaced her in that position, allowing her to become the representative of Coloured Glass Sect’s younger generation and enjoy worldwide fame. As for what transpired, we were not able to find out, but the Elders of Coloured Glass Sect seem to have a strange love-hate relationship with Dai Yuan. The cultivation resources and residence she is given aren’t inferior to Yin Su Die’s, but she isn’t being deliberately cultivated by them either, a very strange situation.”
“That really is strange!” Yang Kai was also puzzled. He had not fought with Yin Su Die, but he had seen Dai Yuan fight and felt that she was an elite among Saint Kings. Although she had been oppressed by a disciple from Heaven Battling Union in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, that was because her heart had been disturbed and she was unable to display her full strength. If she were to have fought calmly, Dai Yuan would not have been afraid of that man.
However, there was still a certain gap between her and Qu Chang Feng, Fang Tian Zhong, Wei Gu Chang, and the other geniuses of Shadowed Star, something Yang Kai was able to see clearly.
“If I help her, what do I have to gain or lose? I don’t seem like I’ll lose anything, but it also doesn’t seem like there’s anything to gain,” Yang Kai gave Yang Yan a strange look.
Wu Yi grinned, “It would be enough to not lose anything, but as for what you can gain… Hehe, having someone owe you a favour is a harvest on its own. After all, even if she is not looked upon favourably right now, that doesn’t mean she won’t be in the future, by that time, having the gratitude of a woman like her would be helpful to our future development. On top of that, Big Sister Yang Yan seems to have her own plans.”
Yang Kai could not help turning his eyes to Yang Yan.
Yang Yan gently nodded and asked, “Have you heard of the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain of Coloured Glass Sect?”
Yang Kai shook his head. He was not too familiar with the major forces on Shadowed Star nor their special backgrounds or heritages, but since Yang Yan had specifically mentioned this Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain, it seemed it was a big deal.
“The Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain is treasure naturally formed from Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass and is in the heart of Coloured Glass Sect. Coloured Glass Sect was established because of the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain. Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass is a rare and valuable Artifact Refining material that has self-repairing properties. I need this material, and lots of it!” Yang Yan said seriously.
Yang Kai couldn’t help letting out a hearty laugh, “Even if that’s the case, I can’t help you. Since Coloured Glass Sect was established there because of this Coloured Glass Mountain, it would be impossible for its Elders to give me some of that Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass, right?”
“Naturally, that’s impossible. On top of that, we can’t afford it!” Yang Yan snorted. “You don’t know, Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain is an existence that is famous all over Shadowed Star. Coloured Glass Sect uses it as an Array Core to release Coloured Glass Divine Light which actually as an innate ability to restrain others’ Souls. I have heard that several crises that befell Coloured Glass Sect were resolved by them using Coloured Glass Mountain. Moreover, this mountain is a single massive block, so cutting a piece of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass from it is extremely difficult. Even Coloured Glass Sect is only able to harvest a tiny bit of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass per year, most of which it uses for itself while the rest is sold out for an astonishing price. Even so, all the other great forces go all out to purchase this tiny portion, pushing the price to an outrageous height. We’re currently completely broke, so obviously we can’t afford to buy any from them!”
“We’re completely broke again?” Yang Kai was shocked. He remembered that when he came out last time, he heard from the former Hai Ke Family cultivators that Yang Yan and Wu Yi had gone to auction off some artifacts. Although Yang Kai didn’t know how many Saint Crystals they raised at that time, he was certain it wasn’t a small number. How could they now be broke?
Yang Yan suddenly wore a look of embarrassment on her face as she admitted, “The amount of materials used to arrange Spirit Arrays is too large. You forbid us from continuing to sell artifacts, so we have no source of income.”
“Even if we’re poor, you can’t sell artifacts anymore,” Yang Kai said seriously before letting long sigh, “At least before we become strong enough.”
“I know,” Yang Yan said with a disgruntled and unwillingly look. She had actually refined a hundred and eighty high-grade artifacts and was planning on holding an auction of her own to sell all of them to alleviate their current poverty-stricken situation, but with Yang Kai’s order and Wu Yi’s persuasion, she eventually gave up implementing this crazy plan.
“Tell me more about this Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass.” Yang Kai looked at her with a smile, “What do you actually want to do? How do you want me to ‘acquire’ that Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass right under Coloured Glass Sect’s eyes?”
Yang Yan grinned meaningfully, clapped her hands, and called out, “Xiao Xiao!”
As soon as she called it, a grey figure popped up from underground and stood motionlessly in front of the trio, it’s long hands drooping down as it stared up at Yang Yan innocently.
Naturally, it was Yang Kai’s Stone Puppet!
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up and immediately understood what Yang Yan was thinking.
“Xiao Xiao can see through all the barriers and Spirit Arrays I’ve arranged, so it should easily be able to break into Coloured Glass Sect’s Restricted Areas, I don’t believe that the Spirit Arrays arranged by Coloured Glass Sect could be better than mine. If you bring it into Coloured Glass Sect with you, hehe, carving out Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain will be a cinch.”
When Yang Kai heard Yang Yan’s plan, he could not help feeling a bit of cold sweat drip down his back.
Coloured Glass Sect was doomed! They just had to have a treasure like the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain. They probably thought that Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain was safe under their multiple barriers, and that not even a fly could slip past their watch.
But how could they have anticipated a creature like the stone puppet existed in this world?
As the saying goes, those who do not fear thieves stealing from them should still fear thieves thinking about their treasure. The Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain was constantly being eyed by Yang Yan.
The Stone Puppet had an innate ability to devour rare minerals, and since Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass could be used for Artifact Refining, it would definitely be a delicacy to it. The Stone Puppet could come and go without leaving any trace and it did not give off any life aura, so presumably even a Third Order Origin Returning Realm master wouldn’t be aware of its existence. Wouldn’t it be easy then to release the Stone Puppet and have it harvest some Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass?
Yang Kai could probably leave Coloured Glass Sect with the Stone Puppet without the Elders of Coloured Glass Sect ever even noticing that Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain had been hollowed out.
“I’ve wanted to acquire Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass since long ago, but unfortunately I’ve never had a chance, but now someone has actually come and invited you in. This is simply the best opportunity.” Yang Yan concluded as she stared into Yang Kai’s eyes.
“What do you want to refine with that Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass?” Yang Kai was still hesitant as he frowned and asked. After all, this was nothing short of running over to another person’s Sect and stealing their most precious treasure. Once this incident came to light, an irresolvable grudge would be formed. If what Yang Yan wanted to refine was not something important, Yang Kai didn’t want to take on such a risk.
“I want to refine a very special treasure!” Yang Yan smiled mysteriously but didn’t clarify her intent, simply saying, “It’s inconvenient to say it now, because I’ve not yet fully finished its design, mainly because I don’t have enough Artifact Refining and Spirit Array knowledge, but I can tell you that this thing is also of great use to you and will certainly not disappoint you. When it’s finished, you will definitely be thankful for your choice now.”
“Inconvenient to say, is it?” Yang Kai shook his head bitterly. Today, it seemed all the women around him had contracted an illness which made them refuse to tell him anything, causing him some non-negligible annoyance.
“You have to go to Coloured Glass Sect!”
“I’ll think about it again,” Although Yang Kai was also somewhat eager to give it a try, this was not some trivial matter so careful consideration was still necessary.
“Please please please.” Yang Yan pleaded while pulling out something from her Space Ring and shaking it in front of Yang Kai, “We can also make a stop on our way to look for this. If we are lucky, it might be able to ease our current financial crisis!”
Seeing what she was holding in her hand, Yang Kai couldn’t lean towards agreeing.
“Big Brother Yang, you should agree to Big Sister Yang Yan’s proposal. This time you’ve been in retreat for quite a while, so it would be best to go out and move about to relax. Perhaps you will gain something unexpected from this trip,” Wu Yi also persuaded, but her approach was far more ingenious, emphasising how this would benefit Yang Kai’s cultivation rather than directly pleading like Yang Yan.
In a loft in Dragon Cave Mountain, Dai Yuan sat by the second-floor window and gazed out across the scenery, resting her head on her hand as she breathed lightly.
Dragon Cave Mountain was always quiet and peaceful because there were not many cultivators living here, only a few dozen people. Although each of their cultivations was not very high, they were all extremely hard working and spent most of their time in secluded retreat. Only those who were responsible for maintaining and guarding Dragon Cave Mountain could be seen walking around from time to time.
Today was the day Yang Kai had agreed to give her a response, so Dai Yuan had woken up from her meditation at dawn and sat here uneasily, hoping to see Yang Kai’s figure.
Although she knew that this would likely not turn out how she hoped, she could not bring herself to give up.
The sun had risen, and the warm sunshine had made Dragon Cave Mountain look even more beautiful than normal. This place was indeed a paradise for secluded cultivation, not much worse than Dai Yuan’s Thousand Illusion Peak back in Coloured Glass Sect.
She really could not figure out how these few people had changed a barren mountain into something like this. Dai Yuan had heard that there was no one interested in this land before but now it had become famous as a local cultivation holy land with many people clamouring to join it.
However, the cultivators here did not accept outsiders, nor did they show any intention to grow or develop their forces, they all simply live and cultivated here.
This was a wise approach. After all, this place was inside Shadow Moon Hall’s jurisdiction. If they really tried to establish a force here, Shadow Moon Hall would not just sit back and ignore them.
Considering all this, Dai Yuan laughed lightly. With Yang Kai in charge here, given his intelligence and means, he would certainly not engage in this kind of self-destructive practice, making her worries superfluous.
After indulging in some flights of fancy for a while, Dai Yuan found her mood much calmer, raising her head up to observe the early morning sky. Bringing her gaze back down though, she still saw no trace of the figure she was waiting for.
Dai Yuan sighed, knowing that she was waiting here for nothing; however, she did not have any feelings of resentment or unwillingness and only a slight bitter smile crept onto her face while her heart filled with helplessness. Just as she was preparing to leave though, her expression suddenly changed, and she looked back out the window again.
In that instant, Dai Yuan’s eyes brightened, shock and joy flashing across their depths as she stared down below at the approaching figure.
“Sister Dai Yuan, good morning!” Yang Kai stood outside with a smile on his face and waved up at her.
Dai Yuan was stunned for a while but soon adjusted her expression and gently nodded to Yang Kai, “Good morning to you as well, Junior Brother Yang. Please wait a moment, I’ll be right down!”
Saying so, she quickly turned around and walked down to the first floor of the loft. Although her expression was calm and steady, her swift gait showed her inner tension.
She did not know what kind of answer Yang Kai would give her, but if he was simply planning on rejecting, was it necessary to show up so early in the morning? On the other hand, his perfunctory manner the other day was obvious, so even if Yang Kai refused her, Dai Yuan wouldn’t be surprised.
But if he was here to agree to her request, what had changed? Dai Yuan did not believe she had done anything to convince him at all.
As conflicting thoughts filled her heart, Dai Yuan soon reached the first floor of the loft but after meeting eyes with Yang Kai, she suddenly found herself at a loss for words.
“Sister Dai Yuan, do you have anything to clean up? If not, we should set off!” Yang Kai smiled to her warmly.
“Ah?” Dai Yuan froze for a moment, too startled to respond.
Yang Kai chuckled and continued, “What’s wrong? Didn’t Sister Dai Yuan want me to accompany you back to Coloured Glass Sect? Perhaps Dragon Cave Mountain’s scenery has captivated you and you do not want to leave right away? If so, why not stay a few days longer.”
“No no, it’s not that!” Dai Yuan responded hastily while waving her hands, her eyes filled surprise, “Although the scenery here is quite beautiful and I admire it greatly, it’s just…”
“It’s just that Sister Dai Yuan is wondering why I’m agreeing to go with you?” Yang Kai looked at Dai Yuan with a smile, laying bare her doubts.
Dai Yuan couldn’t help looking a little embarrassed. She originally asked Yang Kai to go with her to Coloured Glass Sect, but now that he had agreed, she was acting suspicious which came off as a bit rude.
“It’s simple actually,” Yang Kai had already prepared an excuse and fluidly said, “After returning from the Flowing Flame Sand Field, I’ve been in secluded and I felt that now was a good time to go out and move around. I have reached a bottleneck in my progress so just remaining in seclusion won’t be of help to me. You are also clear about my origins, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m curious about the various great Sects on Shadowed Star. Now that I have such an opportunity to observe one up close, naturally I don’t want to miss it.”
Hearing this, Dai Yuan’s doubts were easily dispelled, and she smiled warmly, “I understand. My Coloured Glass Sect is not weak on Shadowed Star, but it is also not comparable to Heaven Battling Union or Thunder Typhoon Sect. Another day, when Junior Brother Yang has an opportunity to look at Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect, you will understand that my Coloured Glass Sect is still a bit lacking. However, Junior Brother Yang having reached a bottleneck in his cultivation really emphasizes your amazing aptitude.”
Dai Yuan’s words were completely heartfelt. When she and Yang Kai had traveled together in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, he was just a First-Order Saint King. Although she did not know what happened to him after they separated, obviously Yang Kai had been able to break through. It wasn’t too surprise for him to have reached the Second-Order Saint King Realm, but now, apparently, he had reached the peak of the Second Order.
It seemed that the opportunities Yang Kai obtained in the Flowing Flame Sand Field were not small. How else could his cultivation have grown so fast? Dai Yuan thought secretly.
But when one reached a bottleneck, going out for a walk was the right course of action.
Understanding all this, Dai Yuan smiled and said, “I have nothing to clean up, so we can set out immediately. Coloured Glass Sect isn’t close so even if we make use of a Space Array, the journey will take about a month.”
“That is fine, my main objective for going out is to relax, so time isn’t a problem. Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you, I’m not the only one who will be going with you, Yang Yan will also be joining me. That won’t be a problem, will it?” Yang Kai suddenly asked.
“Sister Yang Yan? Naturally, there’s no problem for her to come.” Dai Yuan heard this and immediately agreed, turning her head, and seeing the black robed Yang Yan standing nearby like a dark yet delicate flower.
Yang Kai took the initiative to explain, “My Junior Sister is very interested in Spirit Arrays so she was hoping to come with me to see some of the grand Spirit Arrays of your noble Sect and try to learn something from them. You understand don’t you, woman are… ahem, I couldn’t convince her otherwise so I can only take her with me.”
Yang Kai originally wanted to say that women never stopped nagging, but just as the words were leaving his mouth he realized he had made a critical mistake and hastily choked them back down, causing Dai Yuan to give him a somewhat accusatory look.
He had forgotten for a moment that Dai Yuan was also a woman.
Yang Yan’s external identity was Yang Kai’s Junior Sister, which Yang Kai had previously mentioned to Qian Tong.
With Dai Yuan easily agreeing, Yang Kai did not hesitate and beckoned to Yang Yan, all three of them summoning their own Star Shuttles and rushing out of Dragon Cave Mountain soon after.
With both Yang Kai and Yang Yan out of Dragon Kai Mountain, Wu Yi was left in charge, but with the token to control all the Spirit Array’s Yang Yan had arranged in advance, Wu Yi shouldn’t have a problem defending this place unless a truly powerful enemy came to attack. But this was unlikely, as Dragon Cave Mountain simply had no great enemies.
Soon, the trio arrived in Heavenly Fate City.
When Dai Yuan came here, she had flown directly from Coloured Glass Sect without using any Space Arrays. Her saying to Yang Kai three days ago that no one knew she had come here was not a lie. In fact, not even Wei Gu Chang or Dong Xuan’er who were in retreat had any idea Dai Yuan had come to Dragon Cave Mountain.
It was because she had flown all the way from Coloured Glass Sect that it took her so long to arrive.
Fortunately, Shadow Moon Hall had good relations with Coloured Glass Sect and Dai Yuan held a certain amount of status, so it was not too difficult for the three of them to use Heavenly Fate City’s Space Array. After paying a certain amount of Saint Crystals, the Space Array was opened to the three of them.
After passing through the Space Array of several cities in succession, Dai Yuan lead Yang Kai and Yang Yan the rest of the way via Star Shuttle.
The trio’s pace was as swift as lightning, but the journey itself was quite dull.
Dai Yuan was not one for conversation in the first place. If she had not been seeking help from Yang Kai, she would not have tried to make friends with him in the Flowing Flame Sand Field. Yang Yan, on the other hand, seemed to be innately timid, afraid of being seen or talking to others, so as a result, these two women remained silent most of the time, only speaking a few words to Yang Kai now and again as they rushed forward.
Realizing this, Yang Kai also turned silent and focused on continuing to cultivate his Golden Blood Threads while secretly urging the power of the Artifact Spirit and the Origin Grade Artifact Refining Furnace to speed up the process of refining the dragon bone and Dragon Bead.
Along the way, he did not waste any time, making full use of every moment.
The more he refined his Golden Blood Threads, the more interested Yang Kai became in Demon Blood Temple’s Demon Blood Thread technique. This Divine Ability seemed to be tailored specifically for him, so it was a shame he had only managed to obtain the first half of it.
However, he had established a relationship with the Demon Blood Temple disciple Deng Ning before, so in the future, he might have an opportunity to obtain the second half of this technique, but that was something to consider only after he became much stronger.
A month quickly passed by as the trio hurried along with their journey being smooth and unremarkable.
On this day, while Yang Kai was sitting on his Star Shuttle, silently refining his Golden Blood Threads, and urging the power of the Artifact Refining Furnace, Dai Yuan, who was leading the way, slowed her Star Shuttle to a stop.
Seeing this, Yang Kai stopped what he was doing and brought his Star Shuttle to a halt as well with Yang Yan following suit. The two of them hovered shoulder to shoulder as they stared towards the distance where they saw the vague outline of a vast mountain range. Yang Kai’s anticipation rose as he knew that Coloured Glass Sect should be situated amongst these mountains.
“We’re almost there, the main entrance to Coloured Glass Sect is just a thousand kilometres ahead. Please follow me,” Dai Yuan turned around and urged, immediately flying her Star Shuttle forward, but instead of travelling in a straight path, Dai Yuan would change directions from time to time, seemingly to avoid some kind of barrier.
Yang Kai wasn’t surprised by this; after all, Coloured Glass Sect was a great force, so it was natural for them to arrange a grand Spirit Array within the surrounding thousand-kilometre radius of their Sect. Only a great Sect would have the financial resources and strength to arrange such a Sect Protecting Array, but when Yang Kai glanced back at Yang Yan, he noticed a trace of disdain on her face. Obviously, she didn’t take this barrier seriously.
Of course, this was only the case for Yang Yan. Although Yang Kai could also notice some subtle energy fluctuations around him, he was not able to see any of this Spirit Array’s finer details, meaning that if he wanted to break it, he could only use brute force.
A thousand kilometres was not far, and after half an incense stick worth of time, the trio arrived at the rolling mountain range Yang Kai had seen before.
Having arrived here, Dai Yuan seemed to become a lot more enthusiastic and began treating Yang Kai as a guest, flying side by side with him, and actively explaining, “This is the Grand Crystal Mountain Range controlled by my Coloured Glass Sect. It stretches across more than a hundred thousand kilometres and has no less than a thousand big and small Spirit Peaks. The various peaks are assigned to Sect Elders and disciples based on their strength and status. Naturally, some of the mountains here are vacant or for other purposes. The heart of Grand Crystal Mountain Range is where the greatest number of Coloured Glass Sect’s disciples congregate to trade or exchange cultivation experiences. It is also there that the Sect or its disciples put up tasks for the others to take on like searching for materials or forming groups to travel together with. It’s normally a lively scene.”
When Dai Yuan talked about these things, a look of longing appeared on her face.
Yang Kai did not show anything on the surface, but from the strange behaviour Dai Yuan was exhibiting, he realized that this woman seemed to have difficulties communicating with others, and was even somewhat envious of their community life.
Perhaps in Coloured Glass Sect, she felt isolated.
Yang Kai felt somewhat sorry for her, but he wisely held his tongue.
Dai Yuan quickly composed herself and smiled, “I live on Thousand Illusion Peak. Although it’s a rather remote peak, it’s calm and peaceful. Thousand Illusion Peak is not very big, but it’s more than large enough for me to live on by myself. On top of that, the World Energy aura is not thin, so it can be regarded as quite a high-grade mountain in the Sect.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly. As Dai Yuan flew forward, he swept his eyes left and right to get a broader view of Coloured Glass Sect’s scenery. Many of the mountains they passed over had traces of activity with Coloured Glass Sect disciples moving to and fro or practising various Martial Skills or techniques. There were many people socializing with one another or comparing notes, bringing a sense of vitality to the mountains, with grand buildings standing proudly among all the peaks, exuding a noble and magnificent atmosphere.
Yang Kai couldn’t help sighing to himself as he felt this scene was worthy of one of Shadowed Star’s great forces. The kind of power and prestige that permeated the air was incomparable to that of Dragon Cave Mountain. Although Dragon Cave Mountain was not bad right now and could be considered a prosperous land, compared to this Grand Crystal Mountain Range it seemed a bit quaint.
If even Coloured Glass Sect had this kind of atmosphere, what would the other, more powerful Sects on Shadowed Star be like?
Yang Kai had not seen Shadow Moon Hall’s headquarters, but he estimated that it wouldn’t be worse than this place.
“I heard that your noble Sect has a famous landmark called the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain and that it is an amazing sight to behold. Where would it be?” Yang Kai asked seemingly casually. Since he was targeting Coloured Glass Mountain, naturally he had to determine its location first. Yang Kai had been observing his surroundings since they arrived, but he had yet to discover anything special about the mountains he had seen, so he concluded that none of them could be Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain.
“Junior Brother Yang actually knows about our Coloured Glass Mountain?” A look of surprise flashed across Dai Yuan’s eyes.
“Sister Dai Yuan must be joking, although this Yang is a newcomer to this place, I’m not completely ignorant. Your noble Sect’s Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain’s reputation is quite resounding, so I have naturally heard a bit about it. I heard that the entire mountain is made from Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass, is that really true?”
Listening to Yang Kai ask about Coloured Glass Mountain, Dai Yuan’s eyes seemed to take on a somewhat complex look but she quickly adjusted her expression and after pondering for a moment, gently nodded and said, “En, my Sect’s Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain is indeed a single giant piece of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass. Its weight and value are simply inestimable. Although Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass is extremely valuable, and everyone knows that my Coloured Glass Sect has such a treasure mountain, all of them find us quite laughable as we cannot even make use of a tiny fraction of its might. On top of that, it is impossible to collect large quantities of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass. Only a small amount of it can be harvested through a special method every dozen year or so.”
This information was basically the same as what Yang Yan had previously told Yang Kai, so Yang Kai was not surprised.
“There’s some kind of special method necessary to collect it?” Yang Kai asked seemingly unintentionally.
An awkward look appeared on Dai Yuan’s face when she heard this question.
Yang Kai laughed and waved his hand, “It seems that I’ve asked something I should not have. En, Sister Dai Yuan can pretend like you never heard me.”
Dai Yuan smiled apologetically, “It’s not that I don’t want to explain, but this method is listed as one of the core secrets of the Sect, so no one can disclose it to outsiders. Once someone leaks this information, they will suffer unimaginable punishment, so I can only ask for Junior Brother Yang’s understanding.”
“It’s fine, it was I who was being indiscreet.”
It seemed that because of this incident, Dai Yuan felt a sense of guilt and after thinking about it, she proposed, “Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain isn’t nearby, but if we take a longer route, we can see it from a distance. If Junior Brother Yang does not mind, how about we make a slight detour?”
Apparently, she wanted to use this as a kind of apology, and Yang Kai actually couldn’t have asked for a better outcome, but on the surface, he maintained a hesitant look and asked, “Is that alright? Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain is the most precious treasure of your noble Sect, if this will cause any trouble for Sister Dai Yuan, then there is no need for us to go. In any case, I was simply curious and felt it would be an eye-opening experience… heh heh.”
As Yang Kai let out a hollow laugh, Yang Yan, who was quietly standing behind him, reached out and pinched his waist, clearly blaming him.
Naturally, this small gesture was not missed by Dai Yuan and after a bit of thought, she turned her beautiful eyes to Yang Yan and said with a smile, “There’s nothing wrong with it, we’ll just be taking a glance at it from a distance. Naturally, my Martial Uncles standing guard there won’t blame us for something so minor. This way, Brother Yang.”
Saying so, Dai Yuan immediately changed direction.
Yang Kai turned his head, glared at Yang Yan, then hurried to keep up. Yang Yan curled her lips meaningfully as an aloof expression appeared on her face.
The group of three had only flown a short distance though before several azure streaks of light soared up to intercept them.
A moment later, these blue lights arrived in front of Yang Kai and the others. Three of them were men while two were woman, all of them with somewhat low cultivations, two Saints and three Transcendents.
This kind of cultivation would be second to none in Tong Xuan Realm, but on Shadowed Star it really did not count for anything.
After seeing Dai Yuan’s face clearly, the five people could not help revealing a trace of surprise before hurriedly cupping their fists and offering polite greetings, “So it is Martial Aunt Dai Yuan, Juniors greet Martial Aunt!”
Martial Aunt… Hearing the way they addressed Dai Yuan, Yang Kai could not help his brow from rising slightly.
But after thinking about it for a bit, he understood.
Although Dai Yuan was a disciple in the younger generation of Coloured Glass Sect, that was only compared with the top masters at the Origin Returning Realm. With her cultivation and status, she was indeed qualified to be addressed as Martial Aunt by these five.
After offering their greetings, the young man who spoke first turned his attention to Yang Kai and Yang Yan. Seeing Yang Yan did not elicit much of a reaction, but Yang Kai’s presence cause a look of surprise to surface on this young man’s face.
“En, are the five of you responsible for guarding this area?” Dai Yuan nodded and asked faintly.
“Reporting to Martial Aunt, the surrounding fifty-kilometre region is our five’s responsibility,” The young man in the lead continued to answer, hesitating for a moment before asking cautiously, “May I ask Martial Aunt, these two are…”
“They are my guests, you don’t need to concern yourselves about them. If the Elders ask, just answer them so.”
“Yes!” The lead young man did not dare to ask anything more and immediately made way.
Dai Yuan also did not say another word and simply lead Yang Kai and Yang Yan away.
After the figures of Dai Yuan, Yang Kai, and Yang Yan disappeared, the five young cultivators exchanged looks of surprise and uncertainty.
“Was that Martial Aunt Dai Yuan who lives on Thousand Illusion Peak?” Asked one of the women who looked around twenty years old and was wearing a light-yellow dress.
“Yes, that was her.”
“I’d heard that she was an astonishing beauty, so how could…”
“Hush!” The lead young man suddenly shot a harsh glare at this young woman before quickly glancing around nervously. After not finding anyone around though, he scolded harshly, “You dare comment on this matter? Are you in a rush to die?”
The woman’s face went pale, as if she suddenly remembered something, fear gripping her heart.
The lead young man let out a forlorn sigh, “All of you only entered the Sect recently so you’ve only heard rumours about certain things, but you need to remember that not everything you hear is true, and that some things cannot be spoken about rashly. Make sure you don’t commit any taboos, otherwise you’ll never be able to lift your head inside the Sect again, understand?”
“En,” All four of the others nodded, their expressions serious.
“However, for Martial Aunt Dai Yuan to actually invite guests here, it certainly is quite unusual,” The young man seemed to say to himself as he shook his head.
Those who occupied Thousand Illusion Peak seldom left the Sect and rarely interacted with others, there were not even rumours about Dai Yuan being close to any of the Sect’s female disciples, much less any males!
Yet now, she had brought back a male friend; naturally, it was suspicious.
Of course, this young man only thought about this matter for a moment before putting it aside. This was not an issue he could stick his nose into. If the Elders were to ask him anything, all he could do was report the truth and leave any follow-up to them.
Thinking so, he waved his hand and continued to lead the other four members of his team on their patrol.
It was a two-hundred-metre-tall hill that was completely grey and barren, with not a single blade of grass or tree on it, as if it was completely composed of dull rocks.
This hill was in a mountain valley, surrounded by several other taller peaks. At first glance, there was nothing noteworthy about it, but when Yang Kai swept it with his Divine Sense, he was shocked to discover that it was like peering into a bottomless sea. The hill which was clearly in front of him seemingly did not exist and could not be probed or detected at all with Divine Sense.
Not only that though, but there was also a strange power that pulsed from this hill that seemed to pull on one’s Soul, giving a frightening feeling that it was being drawn out and swallowed.
As such, after only slightly using his Divine Sense, Yang Kai immediately withdrew it.
Right now, the trio was standing nearly ten kilometres away from this hill, gazing at this most precious treasured mountain of Coloured Glass Sect.
“Is that your noble Sect’s famed Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain?” Yang Kai asked with a slightly puzzled look upon his face.
“En, this is Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain. Hehe, I have shown Brother Yang something embarrassing. Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain is indeed famous across all Shadowed Star, but most of the time it has this appearance and looks completely unremarkable, totally different from in the rumours. As such, whenever someone from outside the Sect sees it, they find themselves disappointed,” Dai Yuan smiled and explained softly.
“It appears like this ‘most of the time’?” Yang Kai narrowed his eyes.
“Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass has many unpredictable and mysterious abilities, so what we see right now is probably just one of the forms of this Coloured Glass Mountain,” Yang Yan, who had almost not spoken since the trio left Dragon Cave Mount, suddenly spoke up here.
Dai Yuan gave her a surprised look and nodded, “It seems that Sister Yang Yan knows a lot about our Coloured Glass Mountain. En, this humble state is just one of its forms. There are times when it will spontaneously emit thousands of dazzling rays of light, making it seem like an exceptionally beautiful object not from this world. Other times, it can change its own size. It’s all very strange.”
“Such things actually happen!?” Yang Kai suddenly became interested.
Yang Yan’s lips curled slightly and didn’t explain further, instead asking casually, “The Spirit Array arranged here is quite amazing. Does it have some kind of suppressive effect?”
Dai Yuan heard this and gently nodded, “Yeah, one of the effects of the Spirit Array here is to suppress Coloured Glass Mountain. While it truly is our Sect’s greatest treasure, we actually cannot completely control it, so our only option is to suppress it here, otherwise, if it underwent some strange change it might just disappear, resulting in us losing it forever.”
Explaining until here, Dai Yuan smiled and said, “En, we can’t stay here any longer. The several Seniors who are responsible for guarding Coloured Glass Mountain have already noticed us, if continue to linger, they may come to question us. It’s best we leave now.”
Yang Kai had also felt that since the three of them stopped here, several Divine Senses belonging to Origin Returning Realm masters had been sweeping them from various directions. However, these Divine Senses were only monitoring them and did not show any signs of acting.
As such, he was not surprised by Dai Yuan’s suggestion.
Dai Yuan turned around and flew off in a different direction than they had come. Yang Kai and Yang Yan followed her, the two of them exchanging a glance with Yang Yan nodding lightly.
It seems she had determined that the Spirit Arrays here would not pose a problem to the Stone Puppet. All they needed to do now was go to Thousand Illusion Peak with Dai Yuan, then find an opportunity to release the Stone Puppet and wait to collect their harvest.
Although Yang Kai didn’t know what Yang Yan wanted to refine with this Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass, or what was so great about this Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass in the first place, seeing Coloured Glass Sect treat that strange hill so seriously, how could he not at least understand that it was incredibly valuable?
Along the way, the trio met a lot of Coloured Glass Sect disciples, but Yang Kai soon noticed something strange. Whenever these Coloured Glass Sect disciples saw Dai Yuan, they would show a myriad of complicated expressions.
Some people showed looks of dread, while others showed looks of panic, still others showed looks of sympathy, and so on…
On top of that, almost every one of these Coloured Glass Sect disciples recognized Dai Yuan.
This point was one that Yang Kai cared about in particular. After all, according to Dai Yuan’s character, she should rarely interact with others, yet her name seemed to resound quite loudly though Coloured Glass Sect and it was obvious that she was well known by these people. From all of this, Yang Kai secretly felt that Dai Yuan’s position in Coloured Glass Sect was much more complicated than he first imagined.
Following Dai Yuan, the trio flew over the Grand Crystal Mountain Range for about half an hour before arriving at a relatively remote peak.
Seeing this three-hundred-metre-tall mountain from afar, Dai Yuan’s tense expression finally relaxed, as if she had returned home after a difficult journey. Pointing to the peak, she enthusiastically introduced it to Yang Kai and Yang Yan, “This is Thousand Illusion Peak, where I live. It’s a bit crude, but I hope Junior Brother Yang and Sister Yang Yan won’t mind.”
“Sister Dai Yuan is too polite,” Yang Kai laughed heartily before following her towards the mountain.
Before arriving at this peak, Yang Kai used his Divine Sense to scan it and quickly discovered that there was no one else present. It seemed that only Dai Yuan lived on this Thousand Illusion Peak, without even any maidservants to help her.
Not long after, the trio landed on a kind of boardwalk that was built on the mountainside of Thousand Illusion Peak. This boardwalk was extremely narrow, allowing only one person to pass through at a time and seemed quite unsteady, the planks it was made from wobbling as if it might collapse at any point.
Yang Kai and Yang Yan obviously would not care about such minor details though and simply enjoyed the scenery as they walked this path.
While this Thousand Illusion Peak was indeed somewhat remote, the scenery here was eye-catching. Beautiful and refreshing like a spring day with lush verdant greenery and moderate temperatures. The World Energy aura was also not thin, even better than Dragon Cave Mountain.
Such a place was only considered a high-grade Spirit Peak in Coloured Glass Sect, so what would the best quality peaks be like?
Yang Kai suddenly couldn’t help remembering the ruins of the ancient sect in the fourth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field. Shouldn’t the World Energy aura there be even denser?
The boardwalk was not very long and after a few twists and turns, the trio came to its end and found themselves facing a stone wall. This stone wall was perfectly smooth, as if someone had used a sharp weapon to cleanly slice it.
Arriving here, Dai Yuan suddenly came to a halt.
Yang Kai looked around suspiciously.
Yang Yan, however, was actually able to see something more and whispered, “There’s a Spirit Array here. You can enter this stone wall by opening the Spirit Array. The layout is quite exquisite so it must have been arranged by a true Array Master.”
Yang Yan didn’t try to conceal her voice so after Dai Yuan heard her, she turned back and smiled, “Sister Yang Yan seems to be very proficient in Spirit Arrays, if you want to, you can study this Spirit Array at will. In any case, my Thousand Illusion Peak doesn’t usually have any visitors, so you need not worry about being disturbed.”
Throughout their journey together, Yang Yan had only taken the initiative to speak twice, and both times it had been related to Spirit Arrays. Naturally, Dai Yuan could tell that Yang Yan was quite interested in this profession, so she allowed Yang Yan to freely study the Spirit Arrays here, which was akin to selling Yang Kai a favour.
Yang Yan did not show anything on her face or make a reply, but Dai Yuan was not bothered by this. Summoning a jade token into her hand in the next moment, Dai Yuan poured her Saint Qi into it before tossing it forward.
A strange scene took place next as the jade token turned into a green light, shot into the smooth stone wall, and disappeared. Immediately, a slight buzzing sound rang out and a platform extended from the smooth stone wall. Beyond this platform a tunnel had appeared leading into the interior of the mountain. This tunnel was lined with glowing stones, so it didn’t appear even the slightest bit dim.
“Junior Brother Yang, Sister Yang Yan, please come inside,” Dai Yuan smiled slightly before flying up and landing on the stone platform.
Seeing this, Yang Kai jumped up as well and peered into the tunnel before him, wondering to himself if he should get Yang Yan to arrange such a Spirit Array for his own cave mansion, but thinking about it a bit, he felt doing so was a bit superfluous and shook his head.
Just as Dai Yuan was about to lead Yang Kai and Yang Yan into the belly of the mountain, she suddenly stopped and looked off into the distance, her expression growing cold, gloomy, and displeased in the next instant.
Seeing this, Yang Kai also looked over to where she was staring and saw an azure streak of light rapidly approaching. Clearly someone was flying over on a Star Shuttle.
Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was incredibly powerful so after a slight investigation, he was able to learn who the owner of this Star Shuttle was, but this only caused a strange expression to appear on his face.
“Junior Brother Yang, Sister Yang Yan, please wait a moment, it seems someone has come looking for me,” Dai Yuan smiled reluctantly while standing in place and quietly waited.
A moment later, the azure streak arrived directly to the front of the stone platform and the person standing atop this Star Shuttle let out a silver bell-like laughter. The one who appeared was an incredibly beautiful young woman with a graceful figure and a pair of beautiful eyes that seemed capable of drawing out the souls of any who gazed into them. She exuded a kind of infinite charm that coupled with her pleasant laughter made it impossible for others not to admire her.
Yin Su Die! The one who had suddenly rushed over had turned out to be the most famous disciple of Coloured Glass Sect, Yin Su Die.
Yang Kai had met this woman a few times, so naturally, he was able to recognize her. Also, inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, he had noticed that there was unpleasantness between her and Dai Yuan. What she had suddenly come here to do though was a complete mystery to him.
Moreover, her timing was too perfect to be a coincidence. Dai Yuan had only just returned to Thousand Illusion Peak when Yin Su Die rushed over.
Yin Su Die’s beautiful eyes glanced around lightly and seemed to contain a kind of innate attraction, causing men to be instinctually drawn to her. After sweeping Yang Kai and Yang Yan for a moment, she turned her attention to Dai Yuan, “Senior Sister, you’ve returned?”
Dai Yuan did not give her any face and bluntly asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Can I not come here?” Yin Su Die covered his mouth and smiled tenderly, “Although this Thousand Illusion Peak is Senior Sister’s residence, it is also part of the Sect’s territory. I am the first Core Disciple of the Sect’s younger generation, so besides a few Restricted Areas, I can naturally go wherever I please. Moreover, Little Sister heard that Senior Sister had just come back so I immediately rushed over to welcome you home. I did not want to delay as that might upset Senior Sister. Could it be Senior Sister does not welcome Little Sister?”
As she spoke like this, a forlorn look appeared on her face, one that could elicit great pity from any who saw it. It was to the point where even if she had committed some great wrong, others would find it impossible to blame her.
[A Beguiling Technique!] Light flashed across Yang Kai’s eyes. It was the first time he learned that this Yin Su Die actually used Beguiling Techniques, and from what he could tell she was quite proficient in them. No wonder she seemed to exude an unusually powerful charm every time he saw her. It turns out it was because she cultivated Beguiling Techniques.
Listening to Yin Su Die saying this, Dai Yuan’s expression sank as she shouted, “You were monitoring me?”
Yin Su Die brushed her hair carelessly and said with a laugh, “How could Senior Sister ask such a thing? Little Sister was only worried about Senior Sister. Last time, Senior Sister went out without saying anything or telling anyone, not even Honoured Master knew about it, so it’s only natural that Little Sister had some people pay attention to Senior Sister’s whereabouts. When I received word that Senior Sister had returned safely a moment ago, I was naturally overjoyed. Not just Little Sister though, Honoured Master was also very happy to hear Senior Sister had returned and even said she wanted to see you as soon as possible.”
“Honoured Master…” Dai Yuan’s face flashed a complex look and seemingly became uninterested in arguing with Yin Su Die anymore, simply asking, “Instead of staying on Hundred Butterfly Peak you actually ran all the way over here for some idle chatter?”
“Must I have some other reason to visit?” Yin Su Die replied lightly, her eyes then suddenly lighting up, as if she remembered something, and quickly said, “That’s right, there is something good I need to share with Senior Sister! Honoured Master has asked Grandmaster Xiao to refine an Origin Condensing Pill, and although the first two furnaces were, unfortunately, failures, Grandmaster Xiao said that the next refinement should have an eighty percent certainty of success. At that time, Little Sister will have to enter retreat to break through to the Origin Returning Realm so I won’t have time to come chat with Senior Sister anymore. If Senior Sister feels lonely, how about letting Little Sister arrange a few maids to accompany you?”
The innocent smile on her face seemed to imply that she was simply thinking about Dai Yuan’s feelings while trying to be a good sister.
But anyone could hear the self-satisfaction and pride in her words.
“An Origin Condensing Pill…” Dai Yuan nodded indifferently, “I must congratulate Junior Sister then.”
“En, it was all thanks to Senior Sister who retrieved several stalks of Emerald Silk Grass from the Flowing Flame Sand Field. If not for those, no Origin Condensing Pills could be refined. Unfortunately, Little Sister wasn’t as lucky and didn’t manage to find a single Emerald Silk Grass!” Saying so, she shook her head and sighed, seemingly quite distraught.
Dai Yuan’s lips suddenly curled into a sneer, not caring at all that the Emerald Silk Grass she worked so hard to find had actually been used on Yin Su Die and instead just said, “Is that all? If so, then Junior Sister should return. Since you are preparing to break through to the Origin Returning Realm, you should, of course, make appropriate preparations, otherwise, if you were to fail, it would surely disappoint Honoured Master’s efforts.”
The smile on Yin Su Die’s face disappeared and was replaced by a cold glower.
She hadn’t even attempted to break through yet but Dai Yuan was actually implying she would fail. Although it was only a few casual words, it was still a rather uncomfortable barb.
“Senior Sister has guests to entertain, so I won’t see you off!” Dai Yuan ignored Yin Su Die’s glare and directly asked her to leave.
However, Yin Su Die didn’t have any intention of just letting things go. Seeing how her nettling of Dai Yuan had no effect, she swept her beautiful eyes around and actually stared at Yang Kai, asking with a smile, “This little brother seems familiar, have we met before?”
Yang Kai wore a startled expression upon being spoken to. He hadn’t expected that just after arriving in Coloured Glass Sect he would actually be dragged into this Senior Sister, Junior Sister dispute, but not caring either way, he grinned and replied, “Yes, I’ve met Sister Yin several times now. This one has long admired Sister Yin, but unfortunately, I am just an unknown man. Sister Yin should not mind me.”
Yin Su Die heard him say this and a smile blossomed on her face as a light giggle escaped her lips, apparently quite satisfied with Yang Kai’s flattery.
Dai Yuan, on the other hand, frowned as she looked at Yang Kai strangely. As for Yang Yan, she simply stood to the side without saying or doing anything, as if she didn’t even exist.
“En, I remember now, you were the one together with Wei Gu Chang at that time. Since when did you come to know Senior Sister though?” Yin Su Die’s voice suddenly became soft and melodious. Others might not have noticed anything, but when Yang Kai heard these words, he felt like the blood in his veins began flowing faster, as if Yin Su Die’s sweet voice was whispering directly into his ear and invisible hands were gently caressing his cheeks.
“I met her in the Flowing Flame Sand Field,” Yang Kai nodded and answered very cooperatively.
“I see, but since Senior Sister invited you here as a guest, it seems your relationship is not simple,” Yin Su Die made a thinly veiled probe, but before Yang Kai even had a chance to respond, she smiled even more charmingly and a strange light flashed across her eyes, one that seemed to penetrate into Yang Kai’s mind. Exhaling an orchid scent, Yin Su Die continued to ask, “If Little Brother doesn’t mind, how about coming to visit my Hundred Butterfly Peak? Although my Hundred Butterfly Peak is not near here, it’s scenery will surely not disappoint.”
Yang Kai’s eyes glazed over for a moment before his face flushed abnormally and he began nodding vigorously, “Sounds amazing, I couldn’t ask for anything more!”
As he spoke these words, the corner of his mouth seemed to leak some drool and a lustful look appeared on his face.
“Yin Su Die!” Dai Yuan suddenly snarled, knowing that Yang Kai should have been affected by her Junior Sister’s Beguiling Technique. Pushing her Saint Qi fiercely, Dai Yuan glared dangerously at Yin Su Die, as if she would attack if the latter didn’t immediately withdraw her technique.
“What’s the matter?” Yin Su Die glanced over innocently at Dai Yuan while continuing to send out an invisible aura filled with ten thousand kinds of charm towards Yang Kai.
At that moment, two jets of hot air spewed from Yang Kai’s nostrils and he dashed forward, arriving in front of Yin Su Die in the blink of an eye. Immediately, both Yin Su Die and Dai Yuan were stunned, and under their astonish gazes, Yang Kai grabbed Yin Su Die’s two jade white hands.
In that instant, Yang Kai gripped these two delicate hands violently.
Seemingly grasping the most important treasure in his life, Yang Kai refused to let go, his eyes exuding a terrible fiery colour as the temperature of his body rose significantly.
Yin Su Die froze up and Dai Yuan was equally dumbfounded!
When Yang Kai rushed over, Dai Yuan and Yin Su Die both wanted to block him, but neither of them were able to, and by the time they had recovered from their initial surprise, Yang Kai had already caught Yin Su Die hands.
Feeling sharp pain from her hands and seeing the madness in the eyes of the boorish man standing in front of her, Yin Su Die became furious and rapidly began condensing her Saint Qi, but in the next moment, she calmed down and with watery eyes, she leaned into Yang Kai and whimpered, “You’re hurting me…”
“Ah?” Yang Kai was shocked, and a look of extreme guilt appeared on his face, but his hands still continued to stubbornly grasp Yin Su Die’s, and no matter how she struggled, she couldn’t free herself. Kneading her delicate and soft hands with an obsessed expression, Yang Kai continued to call out, “There there, it doesn’t hurt anymore, does it? I happen to have time now. How about we go to your Hundred Butterfly Peak now? Your Senior Sister is fine in any case, there’s no need to stay here!”
“Hehe…” Yin Su Die let out a hollow laugh. Although she wished to slap Yang Kai away, she actually strongly suppressed the anger in her heart, the strange light in her eyes growing even stronger as she tried to withdraw from Yang Kai’s eyes.
“Didn’t you just invite me over? What are we waiting for?” Unexpectedly, Yang Kai began urging her even more forcefully, seemingly unable to wait to go back to Hundred Butterfly Peak with her.
Seeing this, Yin Su Die’s complexion changed and she was no longer willing to act patiently, circulating her Saint Qi through her hands, she finally broke free from Yang Kai’s grasp and took advantage of this opportunity to flutter a dozen meters away, hiding her two small hands in her sleeves so others couldn’t see them, but having been clenched in Yang Kai’s grasp for so long, they certainly weren’t in good shape.
Glaring at Yang Kai, who still seemed to be caught in her Beguiling Technique, a cold light flickered across Yin Su Die’s eyes.
However, in a flash, Dai Yuan came between her and Yang Kai and said coldly, “Junior Sister, please leave.”
Yin Su Die clenched her teeth and took a deep breath, her rich capital heaving mesmerizingly before she snorted lightly, “Senior Sister, don’t forget to go pay your respects to Honoured Master, she has been thinking about you since you left. Little Sister will take her leave.”
After she finished speaking, she narrowed her phoenix eyes slightly, glared coldly at Yang Kai for a moment, as if to engrave his appearance into the depths of her soul before stomping her foot and departing atop her Star Shuttle.
Only once she was a good distance away from Thousand Illusion Peak did Yin Su Die take her hands out of her sleeves to check them, a single look causing her beautiful face to grow icy.
Her two beautiful two jade white hands which had just moments ago could be described as flawless now had large ugly bruises on them! She didn’t know where that smelly man had come from, but it was obvious he didn’t know the first thing about showing tender affection. He had actually used so much strength against her. This time she had gone to steal wool but ended up being shorn, even unable to launch a counterattack. It really made Yin Su Die want to scream. Bearing a grudge against Yang Kai in her heart now, she was already thinking about how to seek revenge.
Atop the stone platform on Thousand Illusion Peak, a group of three people stood silently. Yang Yan and Dai Yuan staring at Yang Kai’s back while Yang Kai himself stared in the direction where Yin Su Die disappeared, a look of regret upon his face.
After a while, Yang Kai sighed leisurely and slowly shook his head. Turning around though, he saw the two women staring curiously at him and asked, “What? Are there flowers growing on my face?”
“Weren’t you affected by her Beguiling Technique?” If Dai Yuan couldn’t see through what happened by now, she would have lived in vain all these years. How was Yang Kai’s expression now the slightest bit confused? His eyes couldn’t have been clearer.
“Beguiling Technique?” Yang Kai’s mouth curled into a sneer, “She picked the wrong person to target.”
“Then you…” Dai Yuan’s eyes flashed as she smiled and shook her head, “Your courage isn’t small, actually taking the opportunity to take advantage of her. If she had seen through you, she would definitely not have let you off.”
“Did she see through me though?” Yang Kai chuckled.
“Thank you!” Dai Yuan suddenly expressed her gratitude and sincerely thanked him. She knew that Yang Kai wouldn’t do such a thing if he hadn’t noticed the disagreement between them.
Yang Kai waved his hand and snorted lightly, “There’s no need for you to thank me. She was the one who acted first, I simply fought back!”
Yang Kai wasn’t interested in intervening in the grievances between these two apprentice sisters. This trip was mainly for the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain, helping Dai Yuan was only because Yin Su Die had dared to use her Beguiling Technique on him. If they weren’t in Coloured Glass Sect, Yang Kai also wouldn’t have let her off so easily.
Dai Yuan smiled meaningfully next as she asked, “How was the taste?”
Yang Kai’s cheeks blushed slightly red as he said with a laugh, “Not bad, not bad at all, worthy of Shadowed Star’s famous beauty, her skin was excellently maintained, soft and delicate to the touch.”
Seeing Yang Kai offer a frank admission, Dai Yuan could not stand it for long, snorting dismissively before turning around and leading Yang Kai and Yang Yan into the tunnel.
Once inside, Dai Yuan put out her hand and injected her Saint Qi into a panel on the wall, causing the jade token that had previously disappeared to reappear. Immediately after, the flat stone wall that had opened silently closed.
“Please come with me,” Dai Yuan said lightly as she led Yang Kai and Yang Yan deeper into the mountain.
After moving forward roughly a thousand metres, a large cave appeared, one that was several thousand metres in diameter. It was as if the entire Thousand Illusion Peak had been hollowed out, but what was odd was that this cave didn’t show any signs of artificial excavation. Yang Kai looked around and was surprised to discover that this cave really was naturally formed, and high up above, there were many thick and thin dark red columns that looked like pointed cones. These cones appeared quite threatening and would be quite dangerous should they ever fall.
On the cave floor though, there were similar pointed red columns going up from the ground, making it look as if this cavern was a complex and chaotic stone forest.
“A Natural Spirit Array!” Yang Yan suddenly called out in surprise after she swept her gaze over these red columns, her eyes shining brightly as she began to fidget anxiously.
“Sister Yang Yan’s eyes are truly sharp,” Dai Yuan also stopped and looked back at Yang Yan with admiration, explaining a moment later, “Yes, there is indeed a Natural Spirit Array inside this cave of Thousand Illusion Peak, but it only has some weak bewildering and illusionary effects.”
Yang Yan continued to look around for a while before asking, “Did someone modify this place’s Natural Spirit Array?”
“En, it was the person who previously lived on Thousand Illusion Peak…” As soon as Dai Yuan said this, her eyes became somewhat dull, but this quickly passed and she continued, “That person knew a little bit about Spirit Arrays, so they were able to slightly modify this Natural Spirit Array to not only have a hallucinogenic effect but also some power to resist enemy intrusions.”
“Can I examine it?” Yang Yan asked, seemingly interested in this Natural Spirit Array.
“Nonsense!” Yang Kai shouted immediately, scolding Yang Yan.
This place was Dai Yuan’s private sanctuary, her home, so how could the protective Spirit Array here be examined by an outsider? This was a great taboo.
However, Dai Yuan just smiled lightly and said, “Junior Brother Yang doesn’t need to worry. Since Sister Yang Yan is versed in Spirit Arrays, it is normal for her to be interested in this thing; after all, there aren’t many naturally formed Spirit Arrays. Sister Yang Yan can examine this Spirit Array all she likes. It just so happens that I am not very proficient in Spirit Arrays so since the Senior who lived here passed away, although I lived here later, I am actually unable to control this Spirit Array and only know a safe way to enter and exit it. If Sister Yang Yan can decipher how this Spirit Array functions and teach it to me, I would actually be quite thankful.”
“So that’s how it is!” Yang Kai’s expression cleared up. Since Dai Yuan intended to draw support from Yang Yan’s strength, he did not try to stop her anymore, simply turning to Yang Yan and asking, “Is it possible?”
Yang Yan snorted disdainfully and did not answer, instead just grabbing the edges of her black robe and dashing off into the red columns, her figure soon disappearing.
Yang Kai could only smile bitterly, knowing that his questioning of Yang Yan’s ability had made her angry.
On the other hand, when Dai Yuan saw Yang Yan act with such confidence, she secretly began looking forward to the future.
“Let’s go, don’t worry about her, in any case, we’re already inside your domain, when she’s finished studying this Spirit Array she’ll naturally come out on her own,” Yang Kai smiled helplessly at Dai Yuan.
“Good,” Dai Yuan did not have any objections and continued to lead Yang Kai through the red columns.
Not long after, the two crossed this large cave and entered another passageway through the mountain. Walking a short distance, the pair arrived at a stone chamber.
As soon as he entered this stone room, Yang Kai was shocked by the strong pill and medicinal fragrance in the air. There were also six large and small Alchemy Furnaces placed in various locations.
Seeing this, he suddenly remembered that Dai Yuan was also an Alchemist!
While traversing the Flowing Flame Sand Field, Wei Gu Chang had told him about it and it was also the reason why Dai Yuan recognized the Red Candle Fruit.
However, since she had asked Yang Kai to come here, her Alchemy grade should not be too high. Yang Kai was aware of this, but he knew not to mention it.
“I’ve shown Junior Brother Yang something embarrassing. The things here must not be able to enter Junior Brother’s eyes,” Dai Yuan said with a smile.
“Nonsense, Sister Dai Yuan’s cave mansion is quite spectacular, Dragon Cave Mountain doesn’t have anything comparable,” Yang Kai said with a laugh.
“Junior Brother Yang…” Dai Yuan suddenly called out softly as she stared into his eyes, “Does the outside world really have Origin King Grade Alchemists?”
Yang Kai glanced over at her with some surprise, suddenly discovering that many people on Shadowed Star seemed to be interested in the outside world. He had been asked such questions more than once or twice since arriving on this star.
After thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai nodded, “En, the outside world does have Origin King Grade Alchemists. Although I have never met one myself, I have heard about them. There are also Origin King Grade Artifact Refiners, Origin King Realm masters, and even Star Master powerhouses.”
“Star Masters!” Dai Yuan eyes twinkled, “The legendary cultivators who managed to refine a Star Source and become the master of an entire star?”
“Yeah, but there should be very few of such people. I’ve heard that refining a Star Source is extremely dangerous and most Origin Kings don’t dare attempt it easily as there is a risk they could perish in the attempt.”
“So it’s like that…” Dai Yuan smiled and immediately said cheerfully, “If there is a chance, Dai Yuan would like to ask Junior Brother Yang about the wonders of the outside world. At that time, I hope Junior Brother Yang will not refuse.”
“Sure, when there is time, I will certainly not conceal anything!” Yang Kai agreed refreshed. Although he didn’t know much about the Star Field, he had still spent some time in the outside world, so he knew far more than the natives of Shadowed Star. Speaking about some minor issues would not be a problem.
Dai Yuan did not ask anything more immediately and instead quickly arranged a room for Yang Kai to rest in before asking him to adjust his condition for a few days while she went to see her Honoured Master.
After all, when Dai Yuan left Coloured Glass Sect last time, she didn’t tell anyone, and Yin Su Die had just run over to tell her that her Honoured Master wanted to see her, so naturally Dai Yuan couldn’t keep her waiting for long.
Yang Kai simply waved his hand and let her go.
A short time later, Dai Yuan left Thousand Illusion Peak and disappeared into Grand Crystal Mountain Range.
When he was certain Dai Yuan had left, Yang Kai opened his eyes from his meditation and a sly light flashed across them. Waving his hand, a short figure appeared in front of him.
Naturally, it was the Stone Puppet, who stood there looking at Yang Kai with a stern look, as if waiting for instructions.
“Do you know what to do?” Yang Kai asked.
The Stone Puppet tilted its head for a moment before nodding.
“Good, I’ll tell you the location. Remember, if there is any danger, or any possibility you’ll be discovered, return immediately, don’t alarm anyone!” Yang Kai told him carefully before extending his finger to touch the Stone Puppet’s forehead.
A faint green point of light appeared at Yang Kai’s fingertip which was resting on the Stone Puppet’s head. This green pint of light was formed from Yang Kai’s Divine Sense contained the exact position of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain.
Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain was Coloured Glass Sect’s most precious treasure, so the protective Spirit Arrays around it would undoubtedly be strong, so although Yang Kai was quite confident in the Stone Puppet’s ability to sneak in, there was still a change something would go wrong so he warned it seriously.
He did not want to lose a partner like the Stone Puppet just to steal little Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass.
Since it was born, the Stone Puppet had worked diligently and tirelessly, where else would Yang Kai find such a good assistant?
The green light filled with Yang Kai’s Divine Sense quickly slipped into the Stone Puppet’s head and disappeared. The Stone Puppet stood there innocently for a moment, seemingly digesting the information contained in this Divine Sense package. A short time later, the Stone Puppet’s eyes circled once before its body shook and it burrowed into the ground and silently vanished.
By the time Yang Kai noticed it was gone, the Stone Puppet had already burrowed a thousand metres into the ground, and after a short pause it dashed off in the direction of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain.
The Stone Puppet had an innate talent to move through the earth, so underground there was nothing that could hinder its movements.
After releasing the Stone Puppet, Yang Kai immediately reached out closed the small hole in the ground, erasing any trace of it before continuing to silently meditate.
Thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai still had no idea what Dai Yuan wanted him to do, but with her personality, it should not be something too difficult for him. Even if it was something troublesome, Yang Kai could always refuse. In any case, his primary objective for coming here had already been achieved; all he needed to do was wait for the Stone Puppet to return. After understanding all this, Yang Kai immediately felt at ease.
Three days passed but Yang Kai did not see a trace of Dai Yuan.
Yang Yan, on the other hand, popped up, her eyes glowing with excitement. It seemed that she had profited greatly from studying the Natural Spirit Array in the grand cave. Yang Kai did not ask anything though because he wouldn’t understand even if he did.
With Dai Yuan still not back, Yang Yan simply occupied the room next to Yang Kai’s to rest in.
After waiting for another two days, Dai Yuan finally returned to Thousand Illusion Peak.
However, what Yang Kai found strange was that Dai Yuan seemed exhausted, and the expression on her face was quite dispirited. Her eyes were also slightly puffy and red, making it obvious she had been crying. Even though she forced herself to appear cheerful, it could not completely erase the gloominess between her brows.
Yang Kai did not know what happened to Dai Yuan for her to end up in such a state, but it apparently had something to do with her Honoured Master. After all, Dai Yuan had gone to see her Honoured Master before, only to return five days later in this miserable condition. It was incomprehensible.
After Dai Yuan returned, she first went to Yang Yan to talk. A short time later, she obtained a token from Yang Yan and her mood instantly improved.
Yang Yan had not only deciphered the Natural Spirit Array outside Dai Yuan’s secluded home, but she had also improved its power by thirty percent, increased its functionality, and added a control mechanism. All of this made Dai Yuan extremely happy while at the same time she was shocked by Yang Yan’s prowess with Spirit Arrays. After this incident, her relationship with Yang Yan seemed to become extremely close, as if they were real sisters.
This confused Yang Kai greatly and made him realize that a woman’s thoughts would forever be beyond his understanding. On the road here, the two of them had been like old bottle gourds, not speaking a word to each other for an entire month, but now, because of a single Spirit Array, they were suddenly behaving in an incredibly friendly manner.
Men could not act this way.
After Dai Yuan returned, Yang Kai naturally began to ask her about she wanted his help with, but Dai Yuan still seemed to have some reservations, only asking Yang Kai to wait a few days while she made some preparations. After she finished getting everything ready, she would tell him everything.
Listening to her saying this, Yang Kai no longer forced the issue and waited quietly.
A few days later, Yang Kai was sitting in meditation, cultivating his Golden Blood Threads and using his Saint Qi in conjunction with the Artifact Refining Furnace and Scarlet Firebird in front of him to refine the dragon bone and Dragon Bead.
Although he knew refining the dragon bone and Dragon Bead required a long period of time, if Yang Kai had a spare moment, he would actively urge the power of the Artifact Refining Furnace to speed up the process.
He was very much looking forward to what the dragon bone and Dragon Bead would look like when the refining was finished.
As he was urging his Saint Qi, however, Yang Kai heard a knock at his door. Opening his eyes, Yang Kai slowly retracted his Saint Qi before taking a deep breath to calm his strength. A moment later, he reached out and took the Artifact Refining Furnace back into his body before standing up and walking over to open the stone room’s door.
Dai Yuan stood outside the room, and for some reason seemed to be fidgeting somewhat nervously.
When she felt a residual heat inside the room, she gave Yang Kai a surprised look, instinctively thinking that he was performing Alchemy, but there was no pill or medicinal fragrance in the air, making her somewhat confused.
Setting this puzzle aside, Dai Yuan asked softly, “Can I come in?”
Yang Kai nodded and stepped aside. After Dai Yuan walked in, he closed the door then sat down at the stone table across from Dai Yuan and asked, “Are your preparations complete?”
“En,” Dai Yuan bit her lower lip lightly and nodded.
“Then we should start,” Yang Kai smiled slightly, “But before that, isn’t it about time Sister Dai Yuan tells me what exactly she wants me to help her with?”
“I’ve come here this time to tell you that,” Dai Yuan glanced at him, her eyes exuding a clear and bright light but her cheeks blushing slightly.
This surprised Yang Kai somewhat, making him wonder just what kind of difficulties Dai Yuan wanted to discuss that would cause her to behave this way.
Dai Yuan sat on the edge of her seat, fidgeting nervously as her small hands clenched unconsciously. Only after a long silence did she git her teeth and say, “Actually, I asked Junior Brother Yang to come here to help perform a detoxification on me.”
“Detoxify?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows, a look of surprise appeared on his face, “Is Sister Dai Yuan poisoned? I really could not tell. What kind of poison has Sister Dai Yuan been exposed to, please tell me, perhaps I will know how to refine the appropriate detoxifying pill?”
“There is no pill to detoxify the poison I am suffering from,” Dai Yuan hearing this, shook her head bitterly.
“Oh?” Yang Kai immediately became interested. When Dai Yuan asked him back in Dragon Cave Mountain, she did say that her request was related to Alchemy, and detoxification certainly fell into such a category; however, Dai Yuan had now said that there was no appropriate detoxifying pill for her condition, indicating that whatever poison she afflicted with was quite extraordinary. Naturally, this would raise Yang Kai’s curiosity.
Perhaps because he was an Alchemist, Yang Kai was always interested in learning more about herbs and pills.
“What I am suffering from is Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Toxin!” Dai Yuan admitted with a completely solemn and serious look.
“Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Toxin…” Yang Kai was stunned, “Isn’t Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass your noble Sect’s greatest treasure? I heard that is a profound Artifact Refining material, but I’ve never heard about it being toxic. How did you become poisoned by such a thing?”
Yang Kai was now very curious because what Dai Yuan had just told him was too incredible.
Although he did not know much about Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass, he was certain that this Artifact Refining material itself wasn’t toxic.
“Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass is indeed not toxic,” Dai Yuan smiled bitterly, brushing her hair behind her ear before continuing in a low voice, “But what if someone were to ingest it?”
Yang Kai’s face changed slightly as he stared straight at Dai Yuan, his eyes narrowing.
“Junior Brother Yang does not need to suspect; I have indeed swallowed unprocessed Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass for some time now. Ever since I reached the Saint Realm, I have been taking small amounts of it!” Dai Yuan smiled mirthlessly.
“How could that be?” Yang Kai gawked. This woman had been ingesting an Artifact Refining material for many years, how was that different from courting death? Why would anyone do such a thing? And over such a long period of time at that.
“Naturally there is a reason for this,” Dai Yuan seems to have anticipated Yang Kai would react like this so she didn’t show any surprise and simply continued to explain, “Because my Secret Art is the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art. This cultivation technique was created by the Ancestral Founder of my Coloured Glass Sect explicitly because of the existence of Coloured Glass Mountain. In almost every generation of Coloured Glass Sect’s disciple, there will be someone who cultivates this Secret Art, and for the current generation, that disciple is me. In order to cultivate this Secret Art, one needs to regularly ingest Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass. “
“Heh, such a strange Secret Art, it doesn’t seem like a good thing,” Yang Kai smiled with a facade.
“En, but for the Sect, it is indispensable. Thousand Illusion Peak has always been used as the place where those who cultivate this Secret Art live, hence its name.”
“The last person who lived here also cultivated this Secret Art?” Yang Kai was surprised.
“Exactly. I grew up beside her since childhood, and this Secret Art was also taught to me by her. She should be regarded as my true master.”
“And her ending?” Yang Kai sneered, “I assume it wasn’t good, right?”
Seemingly because of Yang Kai’s question, Dai Yuan recalled something, and her expression immediately dimmed.
Realizing he had been insensitive, Yang Kai wanted to apologize, but just as he was thinking about how he should comfort her, Dai Yuan smiled and said, “That was her fate. Since she chose this path for herself, she should not have any complaints about It. However, before achieving at least the minor accomplishment stage of this Secret Art, no one can unleash its full power, and over time they will build up toxicity in their body. Eventually, it will reach a point where it can no longer be expelled and advancing further will become precarious. This is knowledge I have acquired from my predecessor and my own life experience. Now, if I want to break through to the Origin Returning Realm, I first need Junior Brother Yang’s help to resolve the Coloured Glass Toxin accumulated in my body over the years, otherwise, I will die!”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, somewhat understanding now why she had run millions of kilometres to Dragon Cave Mountain to ask for his help.
However, Dai Yuan had said that before achieving minor accomplishment in this Secret Art, no one could display its full might, something that made Yang Kai realize that the last time he saw Dai Yuan take action, she was not actually using her full strength.
As a number of thoughts flashed across his mind, Yang Kai suddenly seemed to realize something and turned a surprised gaze towards Dai Yuan, “Is your cultivation using this Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art related to the collection of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass?”
Coloured Glass Sect requiring someone from every generation cultivate such a dangerous Secret Art must be for an exceptionally important reason, otherwise it would be too much of a waste.
As for what was most important for Coloured Glass Sect, Yang Kai could only think of collecting the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass!
Hearing Yang Kai’s question, Dai Yuan’s complexion changed, and she quickly waved her hands, “Junior Brother Yang, such things cannot be discussed!”
“Ah, I’m right?” Yang Kai’s expression became strange.
Dai Yuan smiled bitterly but didn’t try to deny it again, nodding dispiritedly as she said, “En, I cultivate Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art precisely because it is a requirement to harvest Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass. I won’t lie to Junior Brother Yang, since the last Senior who lived here passed away, no one from Coloured Glass Sect has been capable of harvesting Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass, and only when I reach the Origin Returning Realm will I be able to. This is one of the Sect’s most closely guarded secrets. What we are discussing here absolutely cannot be said to another soul, otherwise the consequences will be dire.”
“I understand,” Yang Kai nodded hurriedly. His unintentional words had touched upon a great Sect’s core secrets, causing a little cold sweat to drip down his back.
But… Since Dai Yuan was so important to Coloured Glass Sect, why was she essentially ostracized? Shouldn’t she be given the best cultivation resources, cultivation environment, and guidance from the Sect’s Elders?
It seems that there was more to this that he did not know! Yang Kai secretly guessed.
“The last Senior who lived here was a Heaven defying genius. She collected and studied all the experiences and insights the many Seniors who cultivated the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art before her and finally developed a safe way to expel the Coloured Glass Toxin. Once successful, one will not need to fear Coloured Glass Toxin anymore. Reaping the benefits of her efforts, I am extremely grateful to her. Unfortunately, by the time she developed this method, the poison had already permeated her body completely and she could no longer resolve it.
“And this solution, it requires someone like me?” Yang Kai asked.
“En, it must be performed by an Origin Grade Alchemist, and this Alchemist must also posses exquisite skills with the control and fusion of various medicinal efficacies. One of the reasons I looked for Junior Brother Yang was because the pills you refined were all incredibly high-quality products, with a number of them nearly forming Pill Veins. The requirement for skill is absolutely not a problem for you.”
Although he had been praised as so by Dai Yuan, Yang Kai still felt a bit puzzled. Although his control of medicinal efficacies was indeed quite good, the five Origin Grade Alchemists from Medicine Pill Sect could not possibly be bad; after all, they had been practising this craft for hundreds of years at least. So, for Dai Yuan to come seek his help instead of that of Medicine Pill Sect, there must be some other reasons.
He did not rush to ask though because he knew that Dai Yuan would definitely explain to him.
Seeing Yang Kai’s intently listening appearance, Dai Yuan smiled and continued, “If it were simply about finding a qualified Alchemist, it wouldn’t be too difficult. The true problem was with gathering the materials needed for this detoxifying method.”
“Oh? What kind of materials are required?” Yang Kai asked.
“There are many, but the previous Senior who lived here spent many years on this and managed to gather ninety percent of what was required, including the most difficult to find, the Yin Pond. My Senior spent a lot of energy to move this Yin Pond back to Thousand Illusion Peak from the place she discovered it. This was the reason I needed Junior Brother Yang to come here with me, because this Yin Pond cannot be moved again, otherwise, I wouldn’t have troubled you so.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, finally understanding why Dai Yuan had insisted he come with her to Coloured Glass Sect. Yin Ponds were an extremely rare treasure. They only formed in places where there was a high density of Yin Qi gathers, which almost always meant that they formed in dark, gloomy locations. Even if a Yin Pond formed, it was useless for most cultivators, but for those who cultivated cold, evil Secret Arts, Yin Ponds were a cultivation treasure, because the pure Yin Qi contained within it could allow such a cultivator to rapidly increase their strength.
Yang Kai had heard of Yin Ponds before but had never seen one with his own eyes.
“Because Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass cannot be suppressed by any of the five main elements, if one wants to expel Coloured Glass Toxin from their body, they need to use a medium like a Yin Pond. By mixing the medicinal efficacies of a number of precious spirit herbs with the water of a Yin Pond, then pouring that medicinal liquid into my body, I will theoretically be able to expel all the Coloured Glass Toxin,” Dai Yuan explained softly.
Yang Kai nodded while listening. With his Alchemy skills and knowledge, although he did not understand the exact process, he felt that this method should be feasible.
After pondering for a moment, he asked, “Since that Senior had found the necessary materials and even managed to move a Yin Pond back to Thousand Illusion Peak, why did she not try to detoxify herself in the end?”
“Because she still lacks one vital component,” Dai Yuan smiled bitterly, “She was unable to obtain a Blood Invigorating Mushroom!”
“A Blood Invigorating Mushroom?” Yang Kai was shocked, “The Blood Invigorating Mushroom, which is used to refine the Blood Mushroom Pill, which is said to be able to bring one back to life from the brink of death?”
Shock filled Yang Kai’s face, as if he had heard something incredible.
“Yes, the Blood Invigorating Mushroom which is used to refine the Blood Mushroom Pill!” Dai Yuan gently nodded, extending her hand and summoning a delicate wooden box onto her palm. Opening the wooden box, a baby fist sized spirit mushroom appeared before Yang Kai’s eyes. This mushroom was quite misshapen and had a multitude of dark red veins on its surface, like there was fresh blood flowing through them. It exuded a pungent scent which bristled one’s nose.
Yang Kai took it solemnly and gently stroked it with his hand, probing it carefully for a while before nodding, “En, it is indeed a Blood Invigorating Mushroom, and its medicinal age is at least three thousand years, moreover… it seems to have been picked recently. Is it from the Flowing Flame Sand Field?”
“Sure enough, Junior Brother Yang was able to see all its details,” Dai Yuan smiled slightly, “I must give my thanks to Junior Brother Yang for this too. This Blood Invigorating Mushroom was something I obtained in the Flowing Flame Sand Field’s fourth layer.”
Yang Kai expression changed as he thought that Dai Yuan’s luck was quite good. Precious treasures and spirit herbs were incredibly sparse in the fourth layer. Yang Kai had travelled across it twice yet the only things of note he managed to harvest were a few strings of Purple Fine Jade Fruit. On the other hand, Dai Yuan had found this Blood Invigorating Mushroom, and it just so happened to be something she desperately needed. It seemed that after he left, Dai Yuan had spent a lot of effort to find this Blood Invigorating Mushroom. Perhaps searching for this Blood Invigorating Mushroom was the main reason she wanted to travel with him to the fourth layer.
After all, with it, she could finally achieve her greatest wish.
“What are you going to do with this Blood Invigorating Mushroom?” Yang Kai closed the box and returned it to her as he asked.
Dai Yuan silently stroked the wooden box in her hand a few times before sighing, “I won’t lie to Junior Brother Yang. Although this detoxifying method was created by the last Senior who lived here, even she was not certain it would succeed because the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Toxin has already penetrated my entire body. Expelling all of it would damage my foundation and dying in the process is not impossible. This Blood Invigorating Mushroom is meant to guarantee that I can at least survive.”
Yang Kai frowned, “If so, wouldn’t it be better to refine it into the Blood Mushroom Pill?”
“The Blood Mushroom Pill…” Dai Yuan laughed bitterly, “Since Junior Brother Yang is an Alchemist, you should be clear that the Blood Mushroom Pill is an Origin Grade High-Rank pill. Can the Alchemists on Shadowed Star even refine such a thing? If we were in the outside world, Junior Brother Yang’s proposal might be reasonable, unfortunately… or, is Junior Brother Yang an Origin Grade High-Rank Alchemist? “
“No!” Yang Kai shook his head. Right now he was an Origin Grade Low-Rank Alchemist, but if he put all his effort into refining a pill and was not concerned about the loss of herbs, there was some small chance could refine an Origin Grade Mid-Rank pill. Refining an Origin Grade High-Rank pill, however, was impossible, so after pondering the issue for a while, he said, “What I mean is, if you aren’t in a hurry, you may wish to wait for some time. Acting hastily might not be for the best, you may be able to find a safer method in the future or find someone capable of refining the Blood Mushroom Pill!”
He did not dare to say that he would refine it himself. Although Yang Kai felt that within a few years he should be able to become an Origin Grade High-Rank Alchemist, he could not go around making irresponsible guarantees like that.
“I can’t wait,” Dai Yuan shook her head bitterly, “If I could wait, I wouldn’t have sought out Junior Brother Yang so anxiously. Because I cultivate the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art, when the concentration of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Realm in my body reaches a certain point, my cultivation must increase to match it. At most, I can only delay for another six months. Half a year from now, whether I am willing to or not, I must attempt to break through to the Origin Returning Realm. If I succeed, I will have a chance to survive, but if I fail, with my current cultivation, I will not be able to suppress the Coloured Glass Toxin in my body and will die. Although taking the Blood Invigorating Mushroom directly will dramatically reduce its effectiveness and is truly a waste of Heaven’s precious gifts, at present, it is my only option.”
“There’s really no other way?” Yang Kai frowned.
“None!” Dai Yuan smiled gently, “Many thanks for your concern, Junior Brother Yang, but since I have decided to do this, I have already prepared myself. No matter whether this detoxification will succeed or not, I must try. All the Seniors who cultivated the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art before me did not even have such a chance, so I cannot complain.”
Yang Kai sighed softly and ceased tried to dissuade her, instead just nodding, “Since you have already decided, then so be it. Just tell me what you need my help with, I will definitely go all out.”
When Dai Yuan heard this, she was filled with joy and gratitude, “Then I will offer my thanks in advance to Junior Brother Yang. I’ll inform you now about the detoxifying process. Please listen carefully. After we begin, I won’t have the spare energy to respond to any questions you might have.”
“En.”
Then, Dai Yuan began describing the detoxification method to Yang Kai. Of course, this method and its details were formulated by Dai Yuan’s Senior from the Coloured Glass Sect and they improved upon until she died. As Yang Kai listened, he could not help feeling a sense of admiration towards this Coloured Glass Sect Senior as this method was quite ingenious.
However, as she was explaining the various steps involved in this detoxifying method, Dai Yuan’s face was constantly blushing bright red and her eyes would often shift uncomfortably, her voice going from high to low, highlighting her restlessness. Even though she knew that this was not the time to be feeling shy, she couldn’t stop herself, and the innocent yet flustered look that filled her eyes added a unique charm to them.
Yang Kai finally understood why Dai Yuan had been reluctant to tell him the details of her request before now. It turned out that this detoxifying method required quite a bit of intimate physical contact.
Dai Yuan blushing constantly was understandable considering all this. Any woman would have such an expression when facing a man and telling him how to press and inject various medicinal liquids into her body.
After all, if they went through with this, it was inevitable that some awkward moments would occur.
Although Yang Kai had not met Coloured Glass Sect’s Grandmaster Xiao, he was fairly certain that the other party was an old man, otherwise, Dai Yuan wouldn’t have said that asking him was inconvenient.
Among the five Grandmasters of Medicine Pill Sect, four of them were also old men; only one was an old woman.
Compared to having to ask these old men, Dai Yuan would rather choose Yang Kai. Fortunately, Yang Kai was an extraordinary talent that could reluctantly be considered a brave and heroic-looking young man, so Dai Yuan’s feelings of rejection were somewhat weaker. Of course, if it were possible, she would have preferred to ask the female Grandmaster from Medicine Pill Sect; after all, between two females, things would obviously be less troublesome.
However, she could not afford to pay such a big price.
Yang Kai’s musings on the subject almost completely matched with Dai Yuan’s worries. Her becoming an Alchemist in the first place was probably because she wanted to carry out this detoxifying herself.
Unfortunately, she did not have time to raise her Alchemy level high enough. She was currently just a Saint King Grade Alchemist, and that would not be of any use in this situation.
While Dai Yuan’s face showed much embarrassment as she explained, Yang Kai’s face remained indifferent. He did not show any superfluous emotion and simply listened attentively, refusing to miss the slightest detail. Seeing Yang Kai’s performance, Dai Yuan also gradually relaxed and began seeing him as a professional. Currently, her relationship with Yang Kai was somewhat similar to that between a doctor and patient.
With such thinking, Dai Yuan’s expression gradually became tranquil.
Over the next day or so, Yang Kai actively asked questions whenever they came to key points in the process. Dai Yuan naturally understood this and would answer him in detail.
One night later, Dai Yuan finished her explanation and Yang Kai had completely committed the detoxification method to memory and understood what needed to be done.
“Has Junior Brother Yang remembered everything?” Dai Yuan looked at him and asked. Although she hadn’t rested for an entire night, she didn’t show any signs of sleepiness, instead seeming even more energetic than when they had started, probably because she felt some excitement about approaching what would be the most important moment in her entire life so far.
“I’ve remembered it all!” Yang Kai nodded lightly before casting a thoughtful glance at Dai Yuan, pausing for a moment before saying, “Your mood is a bit unstable right now, you should rest and adjust yourself for a bit. How about we begin two days from now?”
Although Dai Yuan couldn’t wait to start right away, since Yang Kai had said so, she was not in a position to object. Nodding her head, she mentioned a few small details with Yang Kai before getting up and returning to her room.
After Dai Yuan left, Yang Kai sat on the stone bed in the room and rubbed his chin for a while. A short time later, he waved his hand and brought out a number of herbs from his Space Ring.
Immediately after, Yang Kai summoned his Alchemy furnace and pushed his Conflagrated Spiritual Energy, wrapping up the different spirit herbs and rapidly condensing the medicinal liquid inside them.
Two days passed by rapidly and when Yang Kai opened his eyes from his meditation and swept his surroundings with his Divine Sense, he discovered Dai Yuan standing outside. After two days of restoration and adjustment, her mood had become tranquil and all traces of joy and sadness had disappeared from her face. There was no urgency in her aura as she stood outside, waiting patiently for Yang Kai to come out.
Yang Kai smiled lightly when he saw that Dai Yuan had adjusted herself appropriately and quickly got up, walked over, and opened the door.
Dai Yuan noticed this movement and raised her eyes to meet Yang Kai’s, smiling lightly as they did.
“Let’s begin!” Yang Kai gestured. Dai Yuan nodded and led the way.
Passing through the massive stone chamber with the Natural Spirit Array, Dai Yuan led Yang Kai to separate tunnel. This tunnel gently spiralled down into the depths of the mountain; stairs were cut into the ground though so it wasn’t difficult to descend. On both sides of this tunnel were numerous luminous stones that gave off a soft radiance.
As Dai Yuan descended these stairs Yang Kai said nothing, but he did release his Divine Sense to investigate down below.
After descending to a certain depth, Yang Kai suddenly felt a cold chill in the air. This kind of cold wasn’t solely the result of low temperatures, but rather a spiritual chill that caused one’s skin to crawl. This phenomenon was a result of highly concentrated Yin Qi.
It seemed that the Yin Pond Dai Yuan mentioned was at the bottom of this tunnel Yang Kai thought to himself.
Naturally, this kind of coldness couldn’t cause any trouble to Yang Kai; even without pushing his Saint Qi, he could easily resist it with his flesh body alone. The same was also true of Dai Yuan. Although her physique wasn’t as powerful as Yang Kai’s, her Third-Order Saint King cultivation wasn’t for show. On top of that, the Yin Pond had been here for many years so presumably Dai Yuan had visited it countless times in preparation for the detoxification and gradually adapted to it.
The further down the pair went, the stronger the feeling of coldness became.
After half an incense stick worth of time, Dai Yuan finally had to circulate her Saint Qi to protect her body, releasing a faint light barrier that surrounded her figure.
Sometime later, bright light appeared before Yang Kai and Dai Yuan and the pair arrived at a large stone room. This stone room was completely empty, but if one looked around, they would notice that a thick, cold aura permeated the air as eerie white wisps floated about randomly.
The stone walls of this chamber were covered in white frost and the temperature here could only be described as frigid.
In the middle of the stone chamber, there is a small pool less than ten metres in diametre out of which plumes of visible Yin Qi wisps were escaping.
Yang Kai’s face changed slightly, “Sister Dai Yuan, is this Yin Pond a thousand-year Yin Pond or a ten-thousand-year Yin Pond?”
Dai Yuan seemed to know what Yang Kai wanted to ask and replied with a smile, “According to my Senior, this Yin Pond is somewhere between five and six thousand years old.”
Yang Kai frowned, “The innate chill in a Yin Pond this old is not something you can withstand, are you sure you want to continue?”
Yin Ponds were categorized by their age. Yang Kai hadn’t heard Dai Yuan describe this Yin Pond in detail, but assuming it wouldn’t be too dangerous for her to immerse herself in it, he hadn’t asked anything. However, such an old Yin Pond would likely turn Dai Yuan into a frozen sculpture the moment she entered it.
Dai Yuan smiled slightly, “Please don’t worry, Junior Brother Yang, I have done plenty of preparations and merged the essence of many Fire Attribute and Yang Attribute herbs into this Yin Pond’s water to temper its cold power. On top of that, I am an Alchemist myself and have cultivated a set of Fire Attribute Secret Arts, so as long I am careful, there shouldn’t be any problems, not to mention… if I don’t continue now, I can only sit waiting for death. If it Junior Brother Yang in my situation, what choice would you make?”
Yang Kai fell silent, knowing that Dai Yuan had been forced into this situation and had no other choice, so he no longer tried to dissuade her.
“Junior Brother Yang may rest assured; I have left a letter in the room where I normally meditate. If something unexpected happens this time and I fall, you can take the letter to my Honoured Master. The letter explains everything we have discussed and are about to attempt. After seeing it, she will not embarrass you. My Honoured Master is Great Elder Gong Ao Fu, if you go to Myriad Crystal Peak, you will be able to find her!”
This conversation which sounded like a last will made Yang Kai feel a little bit uncomfortable, but he still nodded and said, “Understood!”
Dai Yuan smiled and nodded before motioning, “Please follow me.”
A moment later, the two arrived beside the Yin Pond. Yang Kai looked inside and discovered that the water in this pool wasn’t very deep, only about a metre or so in total, but what was noticeable was that it didn’t have the slightest impurity in it and was completely still, allowing one to peer through it as if it didn’t even exist. It seemed like pure, ordinary water, but if someone who cultivated a Yin Attribute Secret Art were to see this stagnant pool, they would undoubtedly be ecstatic and try to obtain it at any cost.
This Yin Pond’s effects on such a cultivator would simply be too great, no less than some top-class precious treasures or rare elixirs.
Looking closer, Yang Kai noticed traces of a Spirit Array arranged around this Yin Pond. It was probably a Spirit Array left by the Senior who moved this Yin Pond here to bind and stabilize it.
Dai Yuan pointed to a place nearby and said, “Please sit here, Junior Brother Yang. This will be the optimum location for us to cooperate.”
“Alright!” Yang Kai nodded, immediately moved to the indicated position, and sat down cross-legged.
“Is there anything left to prepare?” Dai Yuan asked, but seemed to be talking to herself as she turned to stare at the Yin Pond with a somewhat complex look. After a moment, she smiled again and said, “Junior Brother Yang, no matter what happens next, Dai Yuan would like to sincerely thank you. You are the only one who has been willing to help me these past two decades and the only friend I have made during that time.”
Saying so, with a serious look upon her face, she cupped her fists and bowed elegantly to Yang Kai.
Twenty years…
Yang Kai brow twitched slightly. It seems that Dai Yuan’s situation in Coloured Glass Sect was a bit different from what Wu Yi’s previously managed to inquire about. The outward changes may have only happened ten years ago, but they clearly started more than ten years before that.
Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er must have become friends with her before that point so they couldn’t be counted.
Yang Kai waved his hand lightly, “Sister Dai Yuan is too polite. This matter is only a slight effort for me. En, take this bottle of medicinal liquid.”
Saying so, Yang Kai handed her a jade bottle.
“This is…” Dai Yuan took the Jade Bottle and looked at Yang Kai curiously.
“This is a medicinal liquid I concocted myself. Although I can’t refine the Blood Mushroom Pill, if you take this bottle of medicinal liquid together with the Blood Invigorating Mushroom, it can stimulate its efficacies an additional ten or twenty percent. It should have some use for you. At my current Alchemy level, this is the best I can do,” Yang Kai said with some slight regret.
The Blood Invigorating Mushroom was extremely rare, and the Blood Mushroom Pill was very difficult to refine. The value of a Blood Mushroom Pill was definitely not under that of an ordinary Origin King Grade pill, possibly even more so than some, because a Blood Mushroom Pill could bring a cultivator back from the brink of death. This kind of life-saving pill was the most valuable treasure for cultivators who constantly risked their lives.
It was truly a pity he was unable to refine such a pill at his current level and could only use this kind of shoddy method to somewhat stimulate the medicinal effects of the Blood Invigorating Mushroom.
Over the previous two days, Yang Kai had spent much of his time preparing this medicinal liquid.
When Dai Yuan heard his explanation, she wore a look of surprise and unconsciously tightened her grip on the jade bottle. Without even checking its content, she joyfully thanked Yang Kai, “Many thanks for Junior Brother Yang’s efforts. Dai Yuan will certainly live up to your expectations.”
At this moment, she felt that asking Yang Kai for his help was the best decision she could have made, because even if she went to Grandmaster Xiao of her Sect or invited one of the Medicine Pill Sect Elders, they would definitely not have taken the initiative to concoct this bottle of medicinal liquid to help her.
With this bottle of medicinal liquid, her chance of success had instantly increased by at least ten percent, how could Dai Yuan not be happy?
“I’ll be troubling Junior Brother Yang!” Dai Yuan put away the bottle of medical liquid and said solemnly to Yang Kai and before waiting for his response, she spun around and dropped her robes, leaving her in only her undergarments.
Seemingly having prepared for this moment as well, her undergarments were all black and although they outlined her exquisite figure, they were as unrevealing and plain as possible.
That said, a crimson glow still adorned her face. Not willing to remain in such an embarrassing state for a moment longer than necessary, Dai Yuan’s figure flickered as she jumped directly into the Yin Pond.
Without the slightest splash of water, the moment Dai Yuan entered the Yin Pond, she let out a groan as a look of pain flashed across her face. The Yin Pond water also seemed to be stimulated by the invasion of a foreign body and immediately began to roil up, creating a white mist that seemed to come to life and spread towards Dai Yuan.
*Kacha…*
With a crisp crackling sound, a thin layer of ice quickly began forming on Dai Yuan’s tender body; however, Dai Yuan quickly circulated her Secret Art and began releasing a blazing heat from her skin, dispersing this layer of ice.
The white fog, however, did not retreat and instead began spread more and more fiercely towards her. Dai Yuan finally could not bear it any longer and let out a pitiful cry as a multi-coloured light erupted from her body.
This light was incredibly strange. Rather than saying it was a single light halo, it appeared more like tens of thousands of individual rays all being released simultaneously. Yang Kai head suddenly ached and he felt as if his soul had been shaken. His Knowledge Sea also trembled slightly and a kind of invisible pressure descended upon him, making his thoughts become slightly sluggish.
Coloured Glass Divine Light!
Yang Kai was shocked by this but quickly steadied himself and focused his attention on Dai Yuan’s body.
Although he had long heard Yang Yan say that the Coloured Glass Divine Light from Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain had the effect of suppressing Souls, he had never expected that it would actually be so mysterious. This suppression was virtually impossible to guard against.