When they entered the Grand Burial Valley, because they were searching around and exploring, Yang Kai and Yang Yan hadn’t moved very fast and could only travel on foot, but now that they were simply trying to leave, Yang Kai had directly summoned his Star Shuttle, so naturally, they were travelling much faster.
Just as Yang Kai was hurrying along with Yang Yan though, he suddenly came to an abrupt halt and turned his head in a certain direction, letting out a slight expression of surprise.
“What happened?” Yang Yan asked curiously, wondering why Yang Kai had suddenly stopped.
“It’s nothing,” Yang Kai replied faintly, “I just sensed someone from that group we met before, but her condition seems to be a bit off.”
By some kind of coincidence, there was a figure who was rushing towards Yang Kai and Yang Yan’s position hurriedly, and under the pair’s observation, they quickly discovered that it was the young woman named Lu Ying who had been together with Chen Shi Tao.
However, at this moment, she looked quite panicked and her Saint Qi was fluctuating unstably.
Another strange point was that Lu Ying was by herself; Chen Shi Tao of Clear Sky Sect, and Chen Fan Lei and Wang Yu Han of Extreme Path Sect were all nowhere to be seen.
The other party had obviously encountered some kind of trouble. If it had been a stranger, Yang Kai would have immediately left; after all, he had just provoked all of the powerful monsters in the Corpse Cave not long ago, so how could he stupidly remain here?
But the one who was approaching in a state of distress was someone he knew, so Yang Kai could not just pretend like he never saw her. If he were to leave just like this, it would leave a bitter after taste.
On top of that, it was thanks to Chen Shi Tao that he had learned that this was Grand Burial Valley, so however minor it was, he owed her a favour.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai grit his teeth and flew his Star Shuttle down to meet Lu Ying.
Lu Ying was sweeping her eyes over her surrounding as she was fleeing, seemingly looking for something so when she suddenly noticed someone approaching, she could not help feeling a bit startled. However, glancing over and noticing that it was Yang Kai, she showed a joyful expression and the vigilance and panic on her face disappeared and she raced over to meet them.
Before she even got close, she shouted, “Senior Brother Yang!”
“Sister Lu Ying!” Yang Kai returned the greeting as he came to a stop in front of her before asking curiously, “Why are you so flustered?”
“Senior Brother Yang, please help me rescue Senior Sister Chen! She is currently being attacked by a Ninth-Order Monster Beast.”
“A Ninth-Order Monster Beast?” Yang Kai’s face sank, “How could there be Monster Beasts here? And a Ninth-Order one at that.”
Ninth-Order Monster Beasts were equivalent to Human Race Origin Returning Realm masters, but in this strange Grand Burial Valley, such a Monster Beast existing was quite unexpected.
“I don’t know, but it was indeed a Ninth-Order Monster Beast. Senior Sister Chen and the others were trapped by it, but they found a way for me to escape so I could look for help. Senior Brother Yang, I beg you, please come with me before it’s too late.”
“Sister Lu Ying must be joking,” Yang Kai didn’t immediately agree, putting on a frown as he said, “I am just a Second-Order Saint King, even lower than Sister Chen and Brother Wang. If even they were trapped by that Monster Beast, if I come with you, wouldn’t I just be seeking death?”
Hearing this, Lu Ying’s expression went blank as she did not know how to respond.
Just now, she had been incredibly anxious to find help, but with so few people in this Grand Burial Valley, when she finally met Yang Kai, she had immediately asked him for assistance. Now though, after receiving Yang Kai’s reminder, her beautiful face suddenly lost colour.
Lu Ying had experienced firsthand how powerful that Monster Beast was. Even with all four of them together, they had barely been able to resist it, so even if she brought Yang Kai back with her, with his low cultivation, what help could he provide them? Most like he would only wind up as another victim.
For a time, Lu Ying froze up as her thoughts were in complete chaos.
Although Yang Kai did not readily agree, he still asked, “What type of Monster Beast was it? How strong was it exactly?”
Lu Ying replied subconsciously, “It is a Thunder Attribute Monster Beast that has strength equal to a First Order Origin Returning Realm master; however, it was able to use the Thunder Pond where it lives to create a barrier and raise its strength, otherwise Senior Sister Chen and the others wouldn’t have been trapped and would have already escaped. Even if they could not defeat it, running away shouldn’t have been a problem.”
“Thunder Pond?” Before Yang Kai could say anything, Yang Yan’s eyes lit up as she called out in interest.
“En, there is a Thunder Pond here that not many people know of. This time, Senior Sister Chen’s younger brother, Chen Fan Lei, wanted to use that Thunder Pond to break through a bottleneck he was facing with his Secret Art, but that Monster Beast suddenly appeared,” Lu Ying quickly explained.
Yang Kai glanced over at Yang Yan only to have her voice reach his ear, “I want the Thunder Liquid in that Thunder Pond!”
Yang Kai sighed, knowing that this time he would have to take a detour. Without even mentioning that, in the first place, he had not intended to stand by and do nothing. Since Yang Yan was interested in that Thunder Liquid, it was definitely a good treasure she had an important use for.
His objections just now were just Yang Kai’s way of acting cautiously.
Having reached this point, Yang Kai no longer hesitated and said, “Sister Lu Ying should lead the way then. Although this Yang’s strength is not high, since Sister Chen is in danger, I cannot just remain indifferent; however, I cannot promise you anything, only that I will try my best to help.”
“Ah?” Lu Ying’s face turned from worry to happiness when she heard this. From how Yang Kai was speaking just now, she had assumed he was unwilling to get involved, but somehow, in the blink of an eye, his attitude had changed entirely. With great joy, she immediately nodded and led the way.
However, she did not seem to have much faith in Yang Kai’s abilities as along the way, she would release her Divine Sense from time to time, trying to see if there were any other more powerful cultivators nearby.
But to her disappointment, she found no one.
On the way, through a series of questions, Yang Kai also learned that the main purpose of Lu Ying’s group’s visit to Grand Burial Valley this time was the Thunder Pond. Originally, everything had gone according to plan; after finding the Thunder Pond, Chen Fan Lei entered it and began circulating his Secret Art to absorb the Thunder Attribute energy into his body while the other three stood guard. But a few days later, a Silver Night Thunder Beast suddenly rushed out from the depths of the Thunder Pond, causing Chen Fan Lei’s breakthrough to fail. This Silver Night Thunder Beast seemed to possess quite a high level of intelligence as it was able to stimulate an ancient Spirit Array around the Thunder Pond, activating a barrier that trapped their group of four inside. This Monster Beast was obviously intent on killing the four cultivators who had broken into the Thunder Pond it perceived as its domain.
Because Lu Ying had an artifact which was specially designed to help her escape, Chen Shi Tao joined forces with Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei to forcefully tear open a part of the barrier and let her out.
Unfortunately, the barrier that was activated by the Thunder Pond could draw power from it to repair itself, so the other three did not have time to escape and were still trapped inside.
It had been a full day and a night since Lu Ying escaped to find help, so she currently could not tell what the situation was back there.
“After such a long time, I don’t think things are optimistic,” Yang Kai sighed slightly.
“No,” Lu Ying quickly shook her head, “Senior Sister Chen has a powerful defensive artifact, so even if they can’t defeat that Monster Best, holding out for some time shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows.
Lu Ying took the initiative to explain, “Actually, it’s all thanks to Senior Brother Yang. Last time, in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, we collected a lot of Saint Crystals, and after returning, we handed most of them over the Sect. As a reward, the Elders gave all of us some rare artifacts. Senior Sister Chen was given a Nine Palace Heavenly Silk Parasol, an Origin Grade High-Rank defensive artifact. Senior Sister Chen had long ago finished refining it so she can control it with ease. The escape artifact I used was also granted to me by the Elders, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to flee with just my strength.”
“I see!” Hearing this, Yang Kai also relaxed slightly. Since she had an Origin Grade High-Rank’s defensive artifact, Chen Shi Tao should not have any major problems in a short span of time. If this were not the case, the only thing Yang Kai would be able to do when he arrived, would be to collect Chen Shi Tao’s corpse.
The Thunder Pond was not close to the position their group of three met, so it took some time to travel to it.
Yang Kai constantly kept an eye on their surroundings for fear that Corpse Soldiers or Corpse Generals would suddenly emerge to chase him down. After all, he could not be sure those creatures back in the Corpse Cave would simply let him go. Agreeing to rescue Chen Shi Tao involved a certain amount of risk.
When they approached to within ten kilometres of the Thunder Pond, Lu Ying pointed ahead and said with pleasant surprise, “It’s over there, and it looks like Senior Sister Chen and the others are still safe and sound!”
There was no need to remind Yang Kai of this as he could tell there was a disturbance up ahead. In front of them, there was a patch of blue clouds, and among those clouds, there were bolts of lightning flickering back and forth. From time to time, a bolt or two of lightning would crack, carrying with it amazing momentum. With the blue clouds covering the region, even with the glow from the lightning, it was impossible to get a clear picture of what was happening; however, judging from the sounds of battle, it was obvious Chen Shi Tao and the others hadn’t died yet. However, Yang Kai noticed that the three auras inside the cloud bank were somewhat weak, so even though they had managed to endure until now, they were likely approaching their limit.
Seeing this, Yang Kai said without hesitation, “Let’s move.”
In an instant, Yang Kai rushed out a distance of nearly a thousand metres while Lu Ying followed close behind. At the same time, she let out a sweet voice like that of a chirping bird. Each chirp contained information that outsiders couldn’t detect.
When she heard this voice, Chen Shi Tao, who was struggling to support herself beside the Thunder Pond, exclaimed, “It’s Junior Sister Lu Ying! She brought help, so we’re saved.”
Hearing this, Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei’s spirits were roused and they began urging the defensive artifacts in their hands even harder to resist the lightning attacking them.
Thanks to the three of them cooperating, focusing only on defending themselves and not even counterattacking, they had managed to persist until now.
“Senior Sister Chen!” A moment later, Lu Ying’s voice came from outside the barrier.
Chen Shi Tao quickly turned her head and with a joyful voice called out, “Junior Sister Lu Ying, you found help?”
“En, I didn’t fail Senior Sister’s expectations. I brought Senior Brother Yang back with me,” Lu Ying nodded quickly.
“Senior Brother Yang?” Chen Shi Tao was stunned and looked behind Lu Ying to see Yang Kai standing there solemnly, observing the situation without saying a word.
“Little Brother Yang…” Chen Shi Tao did not know whether to laugh or cry, she had never thought that the helper Lu Ying found was actually Yang Kai. Although she recognized him as a man of great destiny, good luck would not help in the current situation. Relying on destiny and luck here would likely just end up with all of them dying.
After learning that the helper Lu Ying had found was Yang Kai, Chen Shi Tao’s mood immediately became somewhat complicated as her lips curled into a bitter smile. Although she was interested in establishing a friendship with Yang Kai so she could invite him to adventure and travel with her in the future, if they could not overcome their current crisis, what point was there in planning for the future?
Yang Kai was only a Second-Order Saint King, so how was he supposed to break the barrier and rescue the three of them?
However, despite all of this, he had still come to help them, so while Chen Shi Tao was disappointed in her heart, she still sent out some words of gratitude. Wang Yu Han of Extreme Path Sect, on the other hand, shouted angrily, “What use is there in bringing him here? The three of us struggled desperately to let you escape yet he was the best you could find? It’s like you’re looking forward to us dying sooner!”
Although he had not cursed directly, his words were nothing short of harsh.
Lu Ying’s small face turned somewhat pale as she directed a guilty and uneasy look towards Wang Yu Han.
Chen Shi Tao’s pretty face also sank though as she harshly rebuked, “Senior Brother Wang, don’t you think you’ve said too much? Did you forget just where we are? Ordinarily, no one will come to this Grand Burial Valley, Junior Sister Lu Ying being able to find and bring back Little Brother Yang is already a stroke of good fortune, what more do you want?”
Chen Shi Tao reprimanding him without any trace of politeness caused Wang Yu Han’s face to become sullen. Although he did not refute her argument, it was obvious he did not agree with her either.
Yang Kai, who was standing outside the barrier, finally shifted his gaze from what he was staring at to Wang Yu Han for a moment before silently turning away again. Although Yang Kai didn’t appreciate Wang Yu Han’s tone or words, he was disinclined to bother with him so he simply ignored him.
What Yang Kai was currently focused on was the barrier and Silver Night Thunder Beast in front of him.
There was no need to wonder why there was a sealing Spirit Array here. The Thunder Pond’s presence here clearly indicated that this was once a Restricted Area of Ancient Yang Sect. It was probably developed for cultivators who cultivated Thunder Attribute Secret Arts or Martial Skills. However, what method the Silver Night Thunder Beast had used to deploy this barrier and trap Chen Shi Tao and her group inside was a mystery.
The Silver Night Thunder Beast was a pure Thunder Attribute Monster Beast, so with control of the local barrier and the Thunder Pond, it occupied a great advantage and was able to display strength far in excess of its own, just as Lu Ying had described.
This Silver Night Thunder Beast’s appearance was quite weird. It had an ox head, deer body, and leopard tail, while sparks of lightning constantly ran across its skin, which itself was covered in a thick layer of extremely tough protective scales.
There were two curved horns extending from its forehead between which sparks of lightning bounced. Every time it swung its giant head, the blue clouds around it seemed to respond by releasing a bolt of lightning towards its horns. After absorbing these bolts of lightning, the Silver Night Thunder Beast would then release a bolt of thunder towards Chen Shi Tao and her companions down below; however, the attack released from its two horns was clearly even stronger than the natural lightning it had pulled down from the sky above.
From time to time, this beast would also open its maw and spit out a ball of thunder. When this thunder ball struck Chen Shi Tao and the others, it would burst into a myriad of lightning snakes that twisted about in unpredictable patterns.
Chen Shi Tao’s trio were currently hiding behind an umbrella giving off strong energy fluctuations that had created a ten-metre diametre light curtain. Across this umbrella’s surface there were flowing runes and glowing lines. It was clearly the Nine Palace Heavenly Silk Parasol Origin Grade High-Rank defensive artifact Lu Ying had told Yang Kai about on their way here.
When any Thunder Attribute attack came into contact with this Nine Palace Heavenly Silk Parasol’s defensive shield, their power would be dramatically reduced.
Yang Kai observed for a moment and immediately knew that if it were not for this defensive artifact, Chen Shi Tao’s trio would have long ago perished.
AlthoughChen Shi Tao was able to intercept most of the attacks from the Silver Night Thunder Beast with this excellent defensive artifact, the trio were still in quite a distressed state. A multi-coloured screen that floated in front of Wang Yu Han was clearly another defensive artifact and he was using it to block any attacks that Chen Shi Tao failed to stop. When any lightning arc hit this screen, it would mysteriously vanish, disappearing to some unknown place.
Lastly, Chen Fan Lei, like the Silver Night Thunder Beast, had arcs of lightning rippling across his body. He was not making any obvious defensive movements but was instead swallowing the scattered lightning into his mouth.
Among the three, he seemed to be the most relaxed. It seemed the scattered lightning was not only unable to hurt him but could even enhance his strength.
This drew Yang Kai’s attention and he quickly speculated that this young man either had some kind of Special Constitution or cultivated a very profound Secret Art as, even now, his eyes were bright and full of energy.
The three of them each stood with their backs to one another to defend against the Silver Night Thunder Beast’s assault, and there didn’t seem to be any immediate risk to their lives, but if this situation dragged on, it would only be a matter of time until Chen Shi Tao and Wang Yu Han’s Saint Qi was exhausted, at which point, all three of them would die. At that point, even if Chen Fan Lei had a Special Constitution or cultivated a profound Secret Art, he would not be spared.
“Little Brother Yang,” Chen Shi Tao shouted out during a break in the Silver Night Thunder Beast’s attacks, “If you have any way means to help us, please hurry, we won’t be able to last much longer!”
She saw that since he arrived, Yang Kai had simply been standing still, neither taking action nor showing any intention to leave, causing her to grow a bit anxious.
However, Yang Kai just said, “Wait a moment.”
Chen Shi Tao’s expression immediately became bitter, but she did not urge him anymore. On the other hand, Wang Yu Han glared at Yang Kai coldly, as if silently telling him to scram if he was not going to help.
Lu Ying entered the battle without any hesitation, but blocked by the barrier, she was only able to attack from the outside in hopes of being able to break it.
Besides Yang Kai, no one else noticed that Yang Yan had secretly begun to crack this Spirit Array. Yang Kai had naturally handed this matter over to Yang Yan, which was why he had not taken action yet.
This barrier was clearly quite extraordinary, and with the Thunder Pond as an energy source, it clearly couldn’t be broken through brute force in a short time, so why would Yang Kai waste his energy trying?
A moment later though, Yang Yan suddenly whispered, “You can begin. It will take me a certain amount of time to crack this barrier completely, it will be quicker if you just attack it directly; but I’ve already removed the connection between the Thunder Pond and the Barrier. Without its energy source, you should be able to destroy now.”
“Good!” Yang Kai nodded and once again summoned his Hundred Mountains Picture, but this time was different from when he rescued Chen Shi Tao previously. As soon as the Hundred Mountains Picture appeared, Yang Kai summoned out twenty phantom peaks, each one bigger than the last; then, under Yang Kai’s urging, these peaks slammed towards the barrier mercilessly.
“Hmph, I was wondering if he had some kind of profound skill, but in the end, he’s still just relying on brute force. Sister Chen, we can’t rely on this little brat, we have to find a way to overcome this crisis on our own!” Seeing Yang Kai use the exact same method as last time, Wang Yu Han couldn’t help snorting disdainfully, “Can’t he see that with this Thunder Pond here as an energy source, trying to break this barrier by force is pointless?”
Chen Shi Tao also couldn’t help frowning slightly as she thought Yang Kai’s actions were indeed a bit rash, but the way Wang Yu Han was speaking also made her quite uncomfortable, so for a moment, her pretty face became complication and she didn’t know how to answer.
As the two of them spoke though, the illusionary mountains smashed onto the barrier, causing it to creak under the impact, but in the next moment, Thunder Attribute Energy welled up to seek the Thunder Pond to replenish the energy of the barrier.
Chen Shi Tao and Wang Yu Han had witnessed this countless times, and it was precisely because of this that they had not wasted their energy attacking the barrier. With the Thunder Pond supplementing any loss the barrier experienced, it was all but impossible for them to break it.
However, to their surprise, this time, for some unknown reason, the Thunder Attribute Energy from the Thunder Pond didn’t flow into the barrier but instead rushed out of it towards a certain direction, failing to supplement the losses it had just suffered.
Looking outside the barrier, Chen Shi Tao and Wang Yu Han spotted a piece of seemingly dead wood that was absorbing the Thunder Attribute Energy and channeling it harmlessly into the earth.
This surprised and delighted them while it also caused them to wonder how this trivial piece of dead wood was able to play such a magical role.
Yang Kai also had no idea what was happening, but he had absolute confidence in Yang Yan. Seeing that this method to divert the Thunder Pond’s energy was effective, Yang Kai spared no effort to urge the power of the Hundred Mountains Picture and continued to smash the barrier.
Yang Kai truly did not want to delay here for long, so he didn’t hold back his strength, causing the power the Hundred Mountains Picture displayed to be several times greater than last time. Seeing this, Chen Shi Tao could not help feeling shocked as she realized that Yang Kai had been concealing much of his strength until now.
With Yang Kai smashing the barrier from the outside, the Silver Night Thunder Beast inside obviously was not going to just sit back and ignore him. Releasing a roar that sounded like a cross between an ox and a tiger, it condensed a bolt of lightning as thick as a human leg atop its two horns and blasted it towards Yang Kai.
“Little Brother Yang, watch out!” Chen Shi Tao shouted hurriedly as she knew just what kind of power this attack contained. Without her Nine Palace Heavenly Silk Parasol, she would not dare to take this attack head on. Yang Kai was only a Second-Order Saint King though, so if he was hit by this attack, he would likely be killed.
What surprised her though was that although Yang Kai heard her warning, he just stood there without moving. Instead, in front of him, a shield that emitted a purple glow suddenly appeared. In a flash of light, a sandstorm appeared from this purple shield.
With a loud crackling, the lightning bolt plunged into this sandstorm and was quickly scattered by the swirling wind and sand, soon disappearing without a trace.
“Origin Grade High-Rank defensive artifact!” Wang Yu Han shouted as a greedy light flashed across his eyes.
He was an Extreme Path Sect disciple and had a Third-Order Saint King cultivation, but so far, he hadn’t been able to obtain a single Origin Grade Mid-Rank or above artifact. Chen Shi Tao had been given her artifact by her Sect’s Elders, but where had this brat surnamed Yang gotten his?
And just from a cursory glance, the defensive power of this purple shield seemed no worse than the Nine Palace Heavenly Silk Parasol.
Comparing these artifacts with his own, Wang Yu Han suddenly thought he was quite poor and unavoidably felt resentful.
While Wang Yu Han was eyeing Yang Kai’s shield artifact, the Silver Night Thunder Beast roared loudly, as if enraged because its attack had failed. Suddenly, it began using only half of its energy to deal with Chen Shi Tao’s group while focusing the other half of its energy on Yang Kai. The two curved horns atop its forehead flashed brilliantly as it opened its great maw and sent out crackling booms of thunder.
This development caused Chen Shi Tao’s trio to rejoice because the pressure they were facing suddenly eased greatly and the almost non-stop attacks that had originally been solely targeted on them were now being split between them and Yang Kai. The three of them exchanged a quick glance and quickly took advantage of the situation; Chen Shi Tao continued using her Nine Palace Heavenly Silk Parasol to defend their group while Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei both summoned their offensive artifacts and began bombarding the barrier.
For a time, the area around the Thunder Pond became quite lively, with assorted burst of Saint Qi exploding and many artifacts displaying great might.
Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei both had some status in Extreme Path Sect, so the artifacts they owned weren’t low quality. While they weren’t qualified to own Origin Grade High-Rank artifacts, both of them had one or two of Origin Grade Low-Rank. Under their combined attacks, the barrier quickly became unstable.
Seeing this, the two knew that they were having an effect and didn’t dare have any reservations, instantly pushing their strength even harder. Even Lu Ying seemed to be encouraged by this and increase the strength of her attacks.
Meanwhile, outside the barrier, protected by his Purple Shield, Yang Kai was naturally unafraid of the Silver Night Thunder Beast’s long range attacks, and after seeing that he had managed to attract the majority of this Monster Beast’s attention, he urged the power of the Hundred Mountains Picture even further, smashing the phantom peaks down with even greater force.
With everyone cooperating from inside and outside, the Thunder Attribute barrier which originally left Chen Shi Tao and her group helpless grew dim within ten breaths and spider web like cracks began to form across its surface. Obviously, it was on the verge of collapsing.
Seeing this, Wang Yu Han knew that it was a good opportunity to show off and immediately summoned a blue long sword into his hands. Holding this sword in front of himself, he bit his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood mist onto it, causing the blue long sword to buzz loudly and take on a radiant glow. It was as if this blue long sword had come to life and was desperately struggling to free itself from Wang Yu Han’s grasp.
After Wang Yu Han sprayed out this blood mist, an abnormal blush flashed across his face. Obviously, the technique he was about to use had cost him a considerable price.
As the long sword cried out, Wang Yu Han’s aura rapidly inflated. Lifting his sword up high, a dazzling glow burst for as he leapt straight towards the barrier.
Wang Yu Han himself was wrapped up in this sword glow and it seemed as if he had almost merged together with it. In an instant, Wang Yu Han reached the barrier and as he slammed into it, countless small lightning arcs exploded forth, seemingly trying to smother the brilliant sword glow.
A cold snort suddenly sounded as a fierce buzzing from the sword glow competed with the crackling lightning arcs, the two completely different forces seemingly falling into a kind of stalemate as an ear piercing grating sound rang out.
This stalemate only lasted a moment though before Wang Yu Han suddenly roared, “Break!”
As soon as he uttered these words, the sword wave surrounding him suddenly inflated and sliced a large hole through the barrier. Thunder Light exploded out in all directions but after a crisp crackling resounded, the barrier surrounding the Thunder Pond was finally completely broken.
Since Yang Kai first took action until now, only about twenty breaths of time had passed.
This result was because Yang Kai didn’t want to waste time here and had gone all out, but it was also because Chen Shi Tao and her companions weren’t ordinary Saint King Realm cultivators. They were the elites of their respective Sects, so whether it was in terms of purity or density, the Saint Qi flowing through their bodies was far greater than that of average cultivators in the same realm.
In addition, the barrier here was only opened by the Silver Night Thunder Beast, and although it was still unknown how it accomplished this, it was obvious that it didn’t understand how to manipulate it, resulting in a failure to use its full might. If it had been able to skillfully manipulate this Thunder Attribute Spirit Array, even if everyone had been working together, breaking it would have been quite difficult.
The moment the barrier was broken, Chen Shi Tao and her brother rushed out of it, neither of them willing to remain where they were a moment longer.
Clearly, they were still feeling some lingering fear.
Wang Yu Han fell from the sky with a laugh, a proud look upon his face, flourishing his blue long sword before assuming an aloof pose, seemingly waiting for others to praise him.
Chen Fan Lei looked at him with admiration and said sincerely, “Senior Brother is amazing!”
Receiving the cooperation of his Junior Brother, Wang Yu Han was naturally quite pleased and even spoke a few humble words while constantly shooting Yang Kai a somewhat provocative gaze.
“Isn’t it a bit premature to be celebrating?” Chen Shi Tao splashed cold water on Wang Yu Han in the next instant though as she stared solemnly towards the extremely angry Silver Night Thunder Beast floating nearby.
It seemed that because the barrier was destroyed, the Silver Night Thunder Beast was releasing an even more ominous Monster Qi and the blue clouds up above were emitting stronger pressure than before.
Wang Yu Han’s face twitched slightly before he spoke confidently, “Junior Sister Chen need not worry, it was only because we were somewhat negligent before that we fell into the trap laid by that thing, causing us to be unable to display our full power. Now that we’ve escaped from that barrier though, naturally we won’t give it any chance to fight back. Junior Brother, join me in testing its might!”
“Yes!” Chen Fan Lei wore an eager look on his face and nodded repeatedly without thinking.
Before Chen Shi Tao could persuade them otherwise, the two Sect Brothers from Extreme Path Sect rushed up.
Yang Kai frowned, but was too lazy to stop them. He had taken this little trip firstly because he owed Chen Shi Tao a favor. To fulfill that, he resolved Lu Ying’s plea for help. Secondly, it was because Yang Yan needed the Thunder Liquid from the Thunder Pond. With debts repaid, as for whether the others lived or died, that was none of his concern.
However, Yang Kai couldn’t help wondering whether this Wang Yu Han simply overconfident or flat out foolish, actually underestimating a Monster Beast equivalent to an Origin Returning Realm master. From Yang Kai’s perspective, it looked like Wang Yu Han was the kind of cultivator who only remained inside his Sect and never experienced any real life or death fights in the outside world.
Such people generally had high cultivations but were ultimately unable to display their strength in real combat, often resulting in them suffering losses or even dying as they couldn’t adapt to situations were rules no longer existed.
Yang Kai thought Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei would definitely suffer a big loss!
To Yang Kai’s surprise though, after recklessly charging the Silver Night Thunder Beast, Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei actually launched a coordinated and efficient campaign. No cultivator without real combat experience could accomplish this.
Wang Yu Han proved himself quite flexible in combat and was able to make rational judgements even while engaged in a dangerous fight, so although he and Chen Fan Lei had no way to easily kill this Silver Night Thunder Beast, they had no trouble fighting with it by taking advantage of their mobility, artifacts, and Martial Skills.
For a time, the Silver Night Thunder Beast was unable to cope with the two of them.
Yang Kai’s brow rose as he realized that these two rushing forward was not just due to recklessness but because of confidence.
After observing anxiously for a while, Chen Shi Tao and Lu Ying’s two pairs of beautiful eyes flashed with fierce light as they too began having thoughts of killing this beast and obtaining its core.
A Ninth-Order Monster Beast’s Monster Core, especially one from this Thunder Attribute Silver Night Thunder Beast, was incredibly valuable. Whether it was used for Alchemy or Artifact Refining, there would be many people who wanted it. On top of that, the materials from this Monster Beast’s body were also good things.
It seemed that because they had previously been trapped and suppressed inside that barrier, Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei were feeling quite indignant, so now that they had escaped, their killing intent towards this Silver Night Thunder Beast was quite strong. The two fellow Sect Brothers cooperated flawlessly, one of them attacking while the other defended and soon showing signs of suppressing the Silver Night Thunder Beast. Without the barrier to rely on, the Silver Night Thunder Beast actually fell into a slight disadvantage in this battle, and if it weren’t for its thick scales, it would likely have already been injured. This development made Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei pleasantly surprised and they began acting even more fiercely.
Yang Kai didn’t pay any attention to the thoughts of these four, instead shoot Yang Yan a slight glance. Yang Yan saw this and nodded lightly, quickly rushing over to the Thunder Pond and taking out a special container. As soon as she began pouring her Saint Qi into this bottle, it began drawing in the Thunder Liquid from the Thunder Pond.
This Thunder Pond was only about a hundred metres or so in diameter, but it was deep enough that one was unable to see its bottom. The liquid it was composed of was also not ordinary water, but instead a kind of liquefied Thunder Attribute energy.
This kind of Thunder Pond could be artificially manufactured as long as there was something that could attract the natural Heavenly Thunder to this place and some powerful Spirit Arrays were set up to trap and condense it into Thunder Attribute energy. With this kind of setup, after a hundred years or so, the embryonic form of a Thunder Pond could be created. If other Thunder Attribute treasures or spirit herbs were added during this time, they would also speed up the formation of the Thunder Pond.
Of course, some Thunder Ponds were naturally produced.
Regardless of their type, Thunder Ponds were quite scarce, but they were of great benefit to cultivators who cultivated Thunder Attribute Secret Arts or Martial Skill. This Thunder Pond in Grand Burial Valley was originally owned by Ancient Yang Sect, and many cultivators knew of its existence, hence why Chen Shi Tao and her group had come here.
But they hadn’t anticipated that a Silver Night Thunder Beast actually lived at the bottom of this Thunder Pond and would suddenly appear while Chen Fan Lei was cultivating. Fortunately, this Silver Night Thunder Beast seemed to have only reached the Ninth-Order recently, otherwise the situation would have been far more dangerous.
Even so, Chen Shi Tao’s group being able to escape this crisis was mostly thanks to Yang Kai’s arrival.
Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei entangling the Silver Night Thunder Beast gave Yang Yan the perfect opportunity to collect Thunder Liquid, so Yang Kai was happy to let them do as they pleased. After gathering up this Thunder Liquid, whether these four stayed here to fight the Silver Night Thunder Beast, Yang Kai couldn’t care less.
He only wanted to escape as far away from this dangerous place as quickly as possible!
The battle up above grew fiercer by the moment and at a certain point, the Silver Night Thunder Beast let out a great roar and released a giant thunder ball from its mouth that exploded between Chen Fan Lei and Wang Yu Han. Although this attack wasn’t able to hurt them, it did force them to focus on defending themselves.
The Silver Night Thunder Beast took advantage of this opportunity to suddenly fall motionless mid-air, lift its huge beast head to the sky, and let out a grand roar filled with unparalleled rage.
As the Thunder Beast roared, it seemed that the blue clouds up above were drawn to it, and under the astonished gazes of everyone present, a great funnel formed high in the sky and drew the surrounding Thunder Attribute Energy into the body of the Silver Night Thunder Beast madly.
In just three breaths of time, the blue clouds that once filled the sky completely disappeared, all of them being sucked into the body of the Silver Night Thunder Beast.
Yang Kai saw this and his eyes couldn’t help but shrink as his hair suddenly stood on end. Although the Silver Night Thunder Beast did not seem to change at all, he now felt a slightly dangerous aura coming from it.
At that moment, Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei, who originally saw the Silver Night Thunder Beast come to a halt, wanted to rush in and land a fatal blow. But before they could even approach it, the Silver Night Thunder Beast suddenly turned its giant eyes towards them while flashing a look of disdain and ridicule on its face.
Suddenly, a terrifying coercion burst from the Silver Night Thunder Beast. After absorbing all the blue clouds just now, it seemed its strength had dramatically increased.
It was not until he felt this sudden increase in pressure that Wang Yu Han finally realized what was happening and exclaimed, “Not good!”
Abruptly turning around, a multi-coloured prism the size of a palm flew out from Wang Yu Han’s body and immediately transformed into a protective shield around him. Chen Fan Lei also realized the situation had become perilous and quickly summoned a powerful looking Battle Armour comprised of Lightning to cover his body.
However, the Silver Night Thunder Beast ignored their attempts to defend themselves and its figure flickered in the next moment, as if transforming into a bolt of lightning that disappeared from sight. In the next instant, both Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei let out pitiful cries as they were swatted from the sky, seemingly having suffered heavy losses.
The multi-coloured barrier protecting Wang Yu Han’s body had shattered while Chen Fan Lei’s Lightning Battle Armour had gone completely dim. Both of their faces had gone pale and they simultaneously coughed up blood. Clearly, they were severely injured.
This change happened in the blink of an eye, and Chen Shi Tao and Lu Ying, who had been standing to the side until now, could not help going pale as they called out in alarm. All thoughts of joining in this battle disappeared from their minds as they each rushed out to rescue their companions and inspect their injuries.
Back up in the sky, the previously disappeared Silver Night Thunder Beast reappeared, but this time its cold gaze was focused on Yang Yan, who was standing beside the Thunder Pond collecting Thunder Liquid. A trace of anger flashed across this beast’s eyes as its body flickered and vanished once more.
Sure enough, after absorbing the blue clouds, its strength had increased significantly.
Yang Yan stood in place, not moving, but with her instincts telling her that danger was approaching, she swiftly activated a protective artifact, creating a red-light barrier around herself. Almost as fast as this barrier formed, however, it was shattered as the Silver Night Thunder Beast appeared before her at a speed so great that she was barely able to see it.
Yang Yan’s face went pale, but she quickly calmed down.
Just as the Silver Night Thunder Beast was about to kill her, Yang Kai suddenly appeared in front of her, his fist wrapped in Demonic Flame as he sent out a punch.
There was a loud bang as a shockwave rippled outwards. Yang Kai couldn’t help being knocked backwards, but as he flew back, he made sure to grab hold of Yang Yan who was still standing in place. The Silver Night Thunder Beast, which had disappeared, also appeared with a low growl. It also seemed a bit unsteady as its huge body backpedalled, its four strong claws seemingly gripping at the air to stabilize itself.
As soon as it stood firm, the Thunder Beast let out a great roar and condensed a huge ball of thunder in its mouth. With a flick of its head, the ball of thunder shot forward towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s expression became solemn as he released a golden thread from his fingertips and instantly transformed it into a giant golden net. Engulfing the thunder ball with his golden net, Yang Kai forcefully cut it to pieces, causing it to explode into hundreds of individual pieces and dissipate.
The re-formed golden thread then shot out of the surging area of thunder and arrived right in front of the Silver Night Thunder Beast, stabbing at it like a spear.
A clinking sound rang out as dazzling sparks burst from the point where the golden thread impacted the Silver Night Thunder Beast. The incredibly sharp gold thread failed to completely penetrate the Silver Night Thunder Beast’s scales, only managing to sink a finger’s length in before it lost its forward momentum.
Yang Kai had seemingly anticipated this result though and stared coldly at the Silver Night Thunder Beast as a lotus flower mysteriously formed in his eyes. This Silver Night Thunder Beast was quite extraordinary and its realm was also higher than Yang Kai’s by a large amount, so Yang Kai decided to end the fight quickly by immediately using one of his trump cards.
When the Silver Night Thunder Beast saw this lotus, it instinctually felt danger and unease flashed across its pupils. It did not dare meet eyes with Yang Kai again and immediately dove into the Thunder Pond, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Ripples spread across the Thunder Pond for a moment before it once again calmed down.
His opponent fleeing without a fight surprised Yang Kai greatly.
However, Yang Kai also could not help feeling relieved. To be honest, he was unwilling to fight a life or death battle with this Silver Night Thunder Beast right now, so the other party retreating on its own was an ideal outcome. Ordinarily, Yang Kai would not have been willing to let this Ninth-Order Thunder Beast leave.
Chen Shi Tao and Lu Ying had only just picked up the injured Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei and glanced over to see the Silver Night Thunder Beast flee in a panicked state. This scene dumbfounded them and caused them to wonder just what Yang Kai had done to scare off this formidable Monster Beast.
Exchanging a glance, the two women could see the suspicion in the other’s eyes.
At that moment, Yang Yan quietly handed Yang Kai a certain object and whispered something softly into his ear.
Hearing what she had to say, Yang Kai cast a thoughtful look towards the pale Wang Yu Han and flashed a meaningful grin. Wang Yu Han happened to cast a glance towards Yang Kai at that moment too, but facing him, he did not show the slightest bit of timidity, instead wearing a rather gloomy look upon his face.
“Little Brother Yang…” Chen Shi Tao walked over towards him while occasionally looking towards the Thunder Pond in surprise, asking after a short pause, “Was that Silver Night Thunder Beast injured?”
“I’m not sure, it just suddenly retreated on its own.”
Chen Shi Tao was stunned and immediately smiled bitterly, “It looks like Little Brother Yang has hidden his abilities quite well. You’re even able to scare off this Silver Night Thunder Beast, it seems this Young Lady has looked down on you.”
“Sister Chen thinks too highly of me, it retreating has nothing to do with me, all the credit belongs to Brother Wang and your little brother. That Monster Beast probably realized it wasn’t their opponent, so it decided to escape while it had the chance.” Yang Kai responded faintly, not trying to take any credit.
“Exactly!” Wang Yu Han shouted out with no trace of politeness, “Obviously, it used some kind of forbidden technique to dramatically increase its strength temporarily but doing so clearly came at a very high cost. On top of that, it only recently reached the Ninth-Order, so it likely wasn’t able to suppress the backlash from its technique and took the initiative to retreat.”
Hearing this, the others present thought about it for a moment but no one raised any objections, implying that they tacitly approved of Wang Yu Han’s guess.
“Brother Wang seems to understand this Monster Beast’s situation quite clearly,” Yang Kai suddenly said with a smile.
“What?” Wang Yu Han frowned.
“Nothing,” Yang Kai waved his hand before turning to Chen Shi Tao, “Sister Chen, since everything here has been settled, I’ll say goodbye first.”
“Where do you want to go?” Chen Shi Tao asked.
“Away from here naturally,” Yang Kai replied casually, but upon seeing Chen Shi Tao’s awkward smile and somewhat disappointed expression, he let out a laugh and explained further, “After we separated last time, my companion and I became lost for a while, but we finally found the right direction to leave, so we shouldn’t have that issue again.”
The last time they parted ways, Yang Kai told Chen Shi Tao that he was going to leave this place, but after so many days had passed, him still being here made it seem like he had lied to her.
Chen Shi Tao did not show any intention to pursue the issue. Glancing around at her companions for a moment, she quickly declared, “We should leave too.”
“But Junior Brother still hasn’t completed his cultivation yet,” Wang Yu Han immediately objected, subconsciously not wanting to act together with Yang Kai. The seemingly offhanded comment Yang Kai had just made had caused Wang Yu Han to become wary and made him wonder if this brat had discovered something.
“Since there is a Ninth-Order Silver Night Thunder Beast here, it is naturally impossible for him to continue cultivating. We were lucky to escape from it this time, but if we continue to linger…”
“That Silver Night Thunder Beast is clearly injured now; with our combined strength, it shouldn’t be a problem to kill it,” Wang Yu Han suggested, clearly still having ideas about the Silver Night Thunder Beast.
Listening to him say this, Chen Shi Tao also felt a bit conflicted, but after a moment of pondering, she turned to Yang Kai and asked, “Little Brother Yang, what do you think? Do you think that if we remain, we can kill that Silver Night Thunder Beast?”
Yang Kai frowned slightly at this question. He could tell that while Chen Shi Tao seemed to be asking for his opinion, she was actually subtly inviting him to act together with them. If Yang Kai agreed to stay, Chen Shi Tao might really decide to stay and deal with the Thunder Beast, after all, she and her team all thought the Silver Night Thunder Beast was suffering from a severe backlash and as long as they could find a way to force it out of the Thunder Pond, they may be able to kill it.
Understanding this, Yang Kai immediately shook his head, “I don’t know if it can be killed, but I believe this isn’t a place to linger for long; after all, something unexpected may happen at any moment. If Sister Chen is willing to trust me, I’d suggest you leave quickly.”
He did not mention anything about the Corpse Cave, so his words came off a bit mysterious.
Wang Yu Han looked displeased upon hearing this and was about to say something when Chen Shi Tao suddenly nodded and said, “Since Little Brother Yang thinks so, let’s depart quickly. Fan Lei, your Secret Art does not necessarily require you to cultivate in this Thunder Pond, correct? Although it might have some lesser effect, it should still be possible for you to make a breakthrough with an appropriate Thunder Attribute pill. Just wait until we return to Black Crow City, I’ll help you buy one.”
She seemed to believe quite strongly in Yang Kai’s judgment.
“Alright,” Chen Fan Lei had no objections and simply agreed with his big sister’s decision.
Chen Shi Tao nodded before turning an elegant smile to Yang Kai, “Since that’s the case, let’s leave this place together, it will allow us to take care of one another along the way.”
It was impossible for Yang Kai to refuse her at this point so he simply nodded, and while Wang Yu Han was reluctant, he alone could not make a decision for everyone so he could only hold his nose and comply.
And so, the group of six people began heading out of Grand Burial Valley together.
Along the way, Chen Shi Tao finally remembered to inquire about Yang Kai’s background. As such, she learned that Yang Kai was not a Shadow Moon Hall disciple, or even the disciple of some big family force, but instead a lone cultivator who lived on a remote hill called Dragon Cave Mountain.
To put it simply, Yang Kai was a cultivator with no backing or support, someone who had to depend entirely on himself to continue advancing. There were many such cultivators in this world, and their path was always quite difficult. Firstly, they did not have any Elders or masters to teach them, so they would inevitably run into problems during their cultivation that they could not solve. Secondly, they often lacked good cultivation environments and resources, resulting in their rate of advancement becoming slow. On top of these issues, if they ever encountered bullying or oppression, they did not have anyone who would help them. So, these kinds of cultivators had grim futures and despite there being a great many of them, those who succeeded were incredibly few, and those who did achieve success were often recruited by major Sects and families.
A lone cultivator being able to reach the Second-Order Saint King Realm like Yang Kai was already quite impressive.
When she learned about this, Chen Shi Tao felt a great sense of admiration towards Yang Kai, but Wang Yu Han only showed disdain. Obviously, from his perspective, while Yang Kai might be able to reach the Third-Order Saint King Realm, it was definitely impossible for him to break through to the Origin Returning Realm.
Not only did Chen Shi Tao admire Yang Kai greatly, her younger brother Chen Fan Lei also became quite interested in him. This young man was very open-minded and good-natured. On top of that, even though he was injured, he still seemed quite energetic and would constantly keep asking Yang Kai about what had happened in the Flowing Flame Sand Field. Yang Kai chose some insignificant stories to tell but even these were listened to by the young man with relish, prompting him to ask even more questions.
The atmosphere was quite harmonious as this group travelled together. The four people from Chen Shi Tao’s group, with the exception of Wang Yu Han who inherently disliked Yang Kai, were relatively easy to get along with.
Half a day later, the group of six finally left Grand Burial Valley. Until now, Yang Kai had not noticed any trace of those special existences from the Corpse Cave, something that made him feel relieved as he concluded that this matter was over, at least for now.
Another day later, a small mountain range appeared in front of the group; and although the World Energy aura here was not too rich, it also was not too thin. Seeing this place, Yang Kai’s brow furrowed slightly and he quickly came to a stop and called out to Chen Shi Tao, cupping his fists as he said, “Friends, although I do not know where you plan on going from here, I believe we’ll have to part ways here. My companion and I have some things to deal with, so we’d like to stay here for a few days.”
“How long do you plan to stay?” Chen Shi Tao’s eyes lit up, “It just so happens we’re also in need of a few days of rest. As I am sure you can see, Fan Lei and Senior Brother Wang haven’t had an opportunity to restore themselves or treat their injuries properly, so resting here for a moment would be a good idea.”
“You want to rest here too?” Yang Kai frowned slightly.
“What’s wrong? Could it be Little Brother Yang doesn’t welcome us?” Chen Shi Tao shot Yang Kai a slight look of rebuke.
“Nonsense, this place isn’t my property, it’s just an unclaimed mountain, naturally everyone can freely rest here.”
“That’s good,” Chen Shi Tao smiled, “And since Little Brother Yang came from Heavenly Fate City, he must intend to return there, correct?”
“En, of course.”
“Hehe, this place isn’t close to Heavenly Fate City. If you fly by Star Shuttle, it will take at least two or three months, and if you encounter something along the way, it may take even longer.”
Yang Kai gave her a thoughtful look and asked, “Does Sister Chen have a suggestion that could save us this time?”
“I do indeed. Little Brother Yang might not know, but five days from here is a city called Black Crow City that has a Space Array which is directly linked to Heavenly Fate City.”
“Is there such a thing?” Yang Kai could not help turning his head to look at Yang Yan, only to find that she had a blank face. Obviously, she didn’t know this either.
“Do you think this Young Lady would deceive you about something so simple?” Chen Shi Tao smiled, “Black Crow City is a neutral city that doesn’t belong to any force, so the Space Array doesn’t have as many usage restrictions as other places. Of course, not everyone can use it, but… Fan Lei seems to know a Senior who is responsible for guarding that Space Array, so it shouldn’t be an issue to let Little Brother Yang use it if he acts as a guarantor. It would just be a matter of having enough Saint Crystals for the transfer fee then.”
“As long as we can use it, Saint Crystals aren’t a problem,” Yang Kai looked at Chen Fan Lei with a happy expression.
Chen Fan Lei grinned in response, “Brother Yang may rest assured, I helped that Senior who guards the Space Array with a small matter so he owes me a favour. It won’t be a problem obtaining his permission regarding this, not to mention, Brother Yang isn’t some unknown person.”
“If that’s the case, I’ll leave this matter to Brother Chen,” Yang Kai quickly thanked him before glancing down at the small hills below, “Then let’s stay here for a few days before continuing on to Black Crow City.”
Chen Shi Tao and her group naturally had no objections and quickly descended to the small mountain range.
Although Chen Shi Tao and Lu Ying weren’t injured in the battle with the Silver Night Thunder Beast, they had consumed a great deal of their Saint Qi and had not had an opportunity to restore themselves until now, so even they needed some time to adjust their condition. As for Chen Fan Lei and Wang Yu Han, they needed to treat their injuries and restore themselves, so the four of them quickly found a small mountain peaks and soon vanished inside it.
Yang Kai and Yang Yan flew to another remote mountain.
After a while, the two arrived at their destination, and Yang Kai immediately used his Saint Qi to open a temporary residence in the hillside.
With Yang Kai’s current cultivation, opening such a cave mansion required little effort, and in just the time it would take a boil a cup of tea, he had carved out a simple hollow.
Entering this cave, Yang Kai’s face became solemn. Yang Yan also seemed to sense something and hurriedly followed him without saying a word.
After making their way inside, Yang Kai suddenly sat down cross-legged down.
“Is there something wrong with Xiao Xiao?” Yang Yan asked anxiously.
After swallowing the Sun’s True Essence, the Stone Puppet had been taken away by Yang Kai, so Yang Yan didn’t know what its current condition was, but she knew that Yang Kai suddenly wanting to rest here must be related to this matter.
“It’s not a major problem yet, but if we continue on like this, the Stone Puppet won’t be able to bear it,” Yang Kai sighed.
“I figured so. Even if you didn’t say anything, I would have asked you to find a spot and stop for a few days to process Xiao Xiao and the Sun’s True Essence,” Yang Yan commented before quickly taking out a few items from her Space Ring and arranging a simple Spirit Array inside the cave mansion.
She didn’t dare take the matter of the Sun’s True Essence lightly, so before letting the Stone Puppet come out, Yang Yan intended to arrange an Isolation Array; otherwise, once this supreme treasure’s aura leaked out, it would likely attract unwanted trouble.
With her mastery of Spirit Arrays, it was quite easy for Yang Yan to arrange a barrier to conceal all their auras. After half a day, the entire cave mansion was enveloped by an invisible barrier that even an Origin Returning Realm master would not be able to see through.
Only after this was completed did Yang Kai wave his hand and release the Stone Puppet from the Black Book Space.
As soon as the Stone Puppet appeared, the temperature in the entire cave mansion shot up. The Stone Puppet itself had become crimson red and the heat radiating from it was distorting the air around it. There were even signs of its body melting.
A look of unbearable pain filled the Stone Puppet’s face and its eyes had become extremely red.
The violent heat of the Sun’s True Essence was not something it could resist. The Stone Puppet even being able to persist until now was all thanks to its innate talents.
Seeing its situation, Yang Kai did not dare to hesitate and immediately took out the Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade Pedestal, causing a profound chill to ripple through the cave mansion and restore the temperature to a somewhat ordinary level.
Yang Kai used his Divine Sense to communicate with the Stone Puppet who, having received these instructions, stood up unsteadily and opened its mouth. A moment later, the Stone Puppet spat the Sun’s True Essence Ice out on top of the Ice Jade Pedestal.
Seeing this, Yang Kai breathed a sigh of relief and beckoned to the Stone Puppet. After it arrived in front of him, Yang Kai began to carefully investigate its condition.
Fortunately for Yang Kai, although the Stone Puppet had suffered some damage, it was not too serious. As long as it rested for a while, it should be able to restore itself to its original condition. This made Yang Kai feel both relieved and optimistic about the Stone Puppet’s future potential.
Using his Divine Sense, Yang Kai told the Stone Puppet to refine the precious ores in its belly to repair itself before he took it back into the Black Book Space.
Previously, in the Corpse Cave, the Stone Puppet had devoured seven or eight hills of Saint Crystals and rare ores. Yang Kai did not know if Saint Crystals would provide the Stone Puppet with any benefits, but those rare ores would definitely be useful to its growth, so Yang Kai naturally would not be stingy with it. He also believed that after absorbing the mineral essence from those ores, the Stone Puppet would be as good as new, if not better.
Obtaining this piece of Sun’s True Essence was far more valuable than obtaining a few more pieces of ore.
Having processed the Stone Puppet, Yang Kai next turned to Yang Yan, “What should we do now? If the Stone Puppet cannot carry it for extended periods of time, how will we take it back to Dragon Cave Mountain with us?”
“It will be fine as long as I refine a special container for it,” Yang Yan seemed to have a plan in mind already and replied lightly.
“What materials do you want?”
“Naturally, I’ll need Ice Attribute materials, and that Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade Pedestal would be best. Relax, I know what kind of vessel will be appropriate, the only problem is that refining it will be a bit troublesome. I’ll need at least ten days to finish.”
“Ten days… En, that shouldn’t be a problem. They won’t be able to heal themselves so easily,” Yang Kai smiled slightly before getting up and setting out. Before he left, he gave the four Space Rings he collected from the Corpse Cave to Yang Yan as he believed the materials inside would meet the requirements for the special container Yang Yan planned to refine.
Not wanting to disturb Yang Yan, Yang Kai walked to the outermost part of the cave mansion and sat down cross-legged.
After thinking for a while, he took out his Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace and used his Divine Sense to inspect it, receiving a pleasant surprise as he did.
Before collecting the Sun’s True Essence, Yang Kai had used his Artifact Spirit to face the Fire Dragon it produced to protect itself; however, the Artifact Spirit had been unable to handle the Sun’s True Essence and was wounded in the fight.
Yang Kai had thought that the situation would be quite troublesome to deal with, but after examining the Artifact Spirit, he discovered that it had fallen into a kind of deep sleep inside the Artifact Refining Furnace. Although it still appeared somewhat weak and injured, it wasn’t as serious as Yang Kai had imagined, and there even seemed to be a trace of the Sun’s True Fire now circulating through its body, as if it was refining and absorbing it.
This Sun’s True Fire was visible to the naked eye and swam through the Artifact Spirit’s body like a tiny fire snake, but no matter how it struggled, it was incapable of escaping and was gradually being assimilated.
It seemed the Artifact Spirit had turned this misfortune into a blessing.
This made Yang Kai overjoyed; after all, in order to gather the Sun’s True Essence this time, both of his little assistants had suffered significant damage, making him quite depressed. Now that he knew that the Artifact Spirit was fine and the Stone Puppet’s injuries were not serious, Yang Kai was able to relax somewhat.
With the Artifact Spirit like this though, it was likely impossible for Yang Kai to use the Artifact Refining Furnace to continue refining the Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead. So instead, he simply sat on the spot, adjusting his breathing while taking inventory of the harvest from this trip.
In addition to the four Space Rings he had tossed to Yang Yan, there was a lot of Saint Crystals and rare minerals currently stored inside the Stone Puppet’s belly. There were also a few Secret Arts and Secret Books along with artifacts that originally belonged to the Ancient Yang Sect that Yang Kai had managed to collect.
It was needless to say that the artifacts would all be left to Yang Yan to handle as many of them would need to be repaired before they could be used. Moreover, Yang Kai did not need other artifacts to enhance his combat effectiveness, so he didn’t concern himself with these things greatly.
As for the Secret Arts and Secret Books, however, Yang Kai was at least interested in browsing through them.
After all, two thousand years ago, the Ancient Yang Sect was a force not inferior to Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect, so the Secret Arts and Secret Books owned by them must not be bad. What’s more, since these were placed in that Secret Cave, they were likely related to the core inheritance of the Ancient Yang Sect.
After a cursory inspection, Yang Kai found himself quite startled.
He found that, as he guessed, these Secret Arts and Secret Books were all profound works. If any of these manuals were to appear in the outside world, they would draw the interest of countless cultivators. Several of the Secret Arts and techniques in this collection were reserved for only the core members of the Ancient Yang Sect and were thus extremely high-grade. Many of these techniques were also quite profound and esoteric, to the point that even Origin Realm masters would be joyful to obtain one.
With Yang Kai’s current abilities and capital, there was no need for him to waste time and energy cultivating these things, but if he were to find some spare time, cultivating one or two sets of secret skills would increase his combat effectiveness and also increase the number of life-saving techniques he had at his disposal.
At the very least, Yang Kai was quite interested in several of these secret manuals.
However, when he remembered that he still had to cultivate his Golden Blood Threads, refine the Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead, cultivate Space Force, and refine the Coloured Glass Bead Dai Yuan had given him, Yang Kai could only set this matter aside for the moment and make a note to revisit these Secret Arts and Secret Books in the future.
Although he had the intention of cultivating many of these texts, reading through some of these Secret Arts and Secret Books still broadened Yang Kai’s knowledge and provided him with some inspiration for his cultivation. In particular, there was a set of Body Tempering Secret Arts that Yang Kai was very much interested in.
It was the first time he had encountered a Secret Art specifically dedicated to tempering one’s physique and refining their body.
The reason why Yang Kai’s physique was so powerful was thanks to his Unyielding Golden Skeleton, which had allowed him to store and use large quantities of Demonic Qi before, giving him some Demon Race physical qualities. On top of that, Yang Kai had various opportunities over the years which allowed him to enhance his physical strength.
However, now that he thought about it, when he first began cultivating and obtained the Unyielding Golden Skeleton, the Tempered Body Record he used should have also been a kind of Body Tempering Secret Art. However, this Secret Art was created by Great Demon God and obviously could not compare with the techniques of the Ancient Yang Sect.
It was not that Great Demon God’s aptitude was poor, but that he had only managed to reach the Saint King Realm before he died and had not been able to truly step out from Tong Xuan Realm. Naturally, a technique he created wouldn’t be a match the millennia-long inheritance of a great Sect.
Yang Kai did not know what grade this Ancient Yang Sect Body Tempering Secret Art was, but after studying it for a time, he concluded that it wasn’t low. In fact, it was quite likely a priceless treasure. With his ability as an Origin Grade Alchemist, Yang Kai could also refine some Body Tempering pills that would presumably allow him to obtain twice the results with half the effort when he did begin cultivating this Secret Art, allowing him to save a great deal of time.
Deciding so, Yang Kai sat cross-legged in place and continued to refine his Golden Blood Threads while occasionally finding some time to review the mysteries of this Body Tempering Secret Art.
In the blink of an eye, eight days passed by.
During this period, the small mountain range remained completely calm, with nothing out of the ordinary happening, but this was not much of a surprise as this place was quite close to Grand Burial Valley so no one would come here usually. If it was a thousand years ago, the situation would definitely be different as many cultivators would be passing through to go treasure hunting in the Grand Burial Valley.
But now, although some would still occasionally dive into Grand Burial Valley, their numbers had decreased sharply, and unless they had some kind of specific purpose, like Chen Shi Tao’s group, only fledgelings who wanted to quickly make their mark on the world or adventurous little brats would come here to try their luck. Most of these people, however, would not return safely after entering the Grand Burial Valley.
On this day, Yang Kai was meditating at the front of the cave mansion when his expression suddenly changed, and he looked up to see a blue streak of light quickly approaching. This person was not trying to conceal their presence at all, so Yang Kai was able to determine it was Chen Shi Tao riding her Star Shuttle.
Slowing the Saint Qi circulating through his body, Yang Kai waiting quietly for her to arrive.
A moment later, Chen Shi Tao floated down from above and landed not far away from Yang Kai, looking at him with a smile.
After a few days of meditation, Chen Shi Tao had apparently completely restored herself. At this moment, her complexion was like that of peach blossom and the shimmering quality of her eyes gave her a unique and enrapturing charm. After she landed, a faint aroma wafted from her body towards Yang Kai, causing his spirit to shake slightly.
“Sister Chen,” Yang Kai greeted her with a polite nod, raising his brow a bit as he commented, “Looking at Sister Chen’s complexion, it seems you’ve recovered completely, yes?”
Chen Shi Tao smiled, “Thank you for worrying, Little Brother Yang. Fortunately, I wasn’t injured, just somewhat exhausted, so after a few days of meditation my Saint Qi and strength had been restored.”
“En, that’s good. Does Sister Chen have something she needs to discuss? Or perhaps you are ready to leave?”
“Not yet,” Chen Shi Tao shook her head slowly, “While Fan Lei’s injuries were not too serious this time, they also were not light, so I’m afraid we’ll need to stay here for a few more days.”
“Oh? Good, I also happen to need a few days to finish a little something here.”
“This Young Lady came here this time specifically to thank Little Brother Yang for assisting us twice. Although the first time there was no risk to our lives, without Little Brother Yang coming to our aid the second time, I’m afraid it would have been difficult for us to leave Grand Burial Valley alive. I will not forget this graciousness. If Little Brother Yang ever needs this Young Lady’s help in the future, just come to Clear Sky Sect to call upon me, I will certainly not refuse!”
When she said these words, her face was serious and sincere.
Yang Kai smiled lightly and waved his hand, “I only helped you out a little bit. You being able to survive was all thanks to your own strength; after all, that Silver Night Thunder Beast took the initiative to retreat after it saw it couldn’t kill you without the help of that barrier.”
“Is that so?” Chen Shi Tao frowned, seemingly a bit puzzled. If that was really the case, the Silver Night Thunder Beast should not have taken the initiative to provoke them. During these past few days of meditation, Chen Shi Tao had been going over their encounter carefully but was still unable to understand why the Silver Night Thunder Beast had suddenly retreated.
Thinking it over though, she felt that it had something to do with Yang Kai, but under her subtle probe, Yang Kai had categorically denied her assumption, making her wonder if the Silver Night Thunder Beast’s retreat really was for the reason he gave.
Yang Kai didn’t intend to discuss this issue further and simply said, “As for your thanks, there’s no need to go so far. When cultivators go out into the world, they will always encounter difficulties, and since we are not strangers, it is only natural for us to support one another. Perhaps next time this Yang will need Sister Chen’s assistance with something.”
On Chen Shi Tao pretty face, a fascinating smile appeared as she narrowed her eyes happily, “Being able to meet Little Brother Yang is really this Young Lady’s good fortune.”
“Because you believe I’m a person of great destiny?” Yang Kai laughed jokingly.
“Hehe…” Chen Shi Tao giggled, “Although I have no way to prove such a thing, this Young Lady has faith in her intuition. If not for me taking advantage of your luck, how could I be standing here with you now, speaking casually like this?”
“Alright. Sure, think whatever you’d like,” Yang Kai shook his head slowly, not trying to argue with her.
“Actually…” Chen Shi Tao began to say something but suddenly hesitated.
Yang Kai immediately knew that she should have something she felt awkward about asking him and immediately assumed the pose of a conscientious listener.
Noticing this, Chen Shi Tao slowly continued, “Actually, this time, this Young Lady came here first to thank you, but second to ask Little Brother Yang if he has any intention to join a Sect?”
“Join a Sect?” Yang Kai raised his brow slightly before smiling, “Could it be that Sister Chen wants to invite me to enter Clear Sky Sect?”
“Talking to smart people like Little Brother Yang really saves a lot of trouble,” Chen Shi Tao smiled and nodded, “I certainly had such an idea; after all, you are a lone cultivator with no Elders to guide you and no Sect to protect you. At present, you might not notice any significant drawbacks, but as your cultivation continues to grow, there will definitely be some situations that Little Brother Yang won’t be able to cope with on your own.”
Yang Kai gently nodded as he knew what she said made sense.
For example, Shi, the unique power Origin Returning Realm master’s possessed, was something Yang Kai had next to no knowledge about. When he had fought against the cultivator brought by Xie Hong Wen to Dragon Cave Mountain, because there were no Elders or Seniors to inform him about Shi, Yang Kai had fallen into a disadvantage during that fight.
After seeing Yang Kai’s thoughtful appearance, Chen Shi Tao became encouraged and hurriedly continued, “And, since you were able to cultivate to the Second-Order Saint King Realm all on your own, obviously your aptitude isn’t low, so entering Clear Sky Sect shouldn’t be difficult. Half a year later, Clear Sky Sect will hold a recruitment open to all of Shadowed Star. At that time, anyone who passes will be allowed to enter the Sect.”
“Of course, when you first enter the Sect, your status and treatment certainly won’t be too high, but given your cultivation state, as long as you complete a few tasks for the Sect, becoming an Inner Disciple won’t be a problem. If Little Brother Yang has any interest in participating in the trial, this Young Lady can give you a participation token.” Saying so, Chen Shi Tao looked at Yang Kai eagerly, seeming to really look forward to him joining her Sect.
After all, Yang Kai’s strength wasn’t low, and once they become fellow Sect disciples, she could openly invite him to travel together with her in the future.
Under her expectant eyes, Yang Kai couldn’t help sighing to himself and not immediately refusing. This made Chen Shi Tao feel like there was a chance of success so she decided to strike while the iron was hot, but Yang Kai quickly cut her off, “I’m afraid I’ll have to decline Sister Chen’s good intentions; temporarily, I have no plans to enter any Sect.”
Chen Shi Tao’s expression drooped at Yang Kai’s surprise answer.
Yang Kai proceeded to explain with a smile, “If I was really alone, I wouldn’t mind entering a Sect, but Sister Chen has seen that I have my own companions.”
“You mean that Sister Yang Yan?”
Yang Kai nodded and said, “Not only her, but there are several dozen as well.”
“Several dozens…” Chen Shi Tao was stunned.
“Yeah, and their cultivations vary greatly. There are a few Origin Returning Realm masters, some Saint King Realm, but also a number who are just Immortal Ascension, Transcendent, and Saint Realm cultivators,” Yang Kai smiled slightly.
“This…” Chen Shi Tao mutter to herself for a moment before smiling, “No wonder you would refuse. Since Little Brother Yang has such concerns, this Young Lady won’t say anymore.”
Although she failed to invite Yang Kai to participate in the trial, causing Chen Shi Tao to be slightly disappointed, since he had such a reason, she wouldn’t try to force the issue. After chatting with Yang Kai for a while, she left to return to the small mountain she had occupied a short distance away.
After she left, Yang Kai smiled slightly, seemingly pondering something before turning his eyes and staring at a certain spot up in the sky and calling out lightly, “Did you see something interesting after looking for so long?”
As soon as he spoke these words, a slight aura fluctuation appeared where Yang Kai was looking at, but in the next moment everything became calm once more, as if nothing had happened.
Yang Kai coldly snorted, “What’s wrong? Since Brother Wang has already come, does he want this Yang to offer an invitation before showing up?”
Listening to Yang Kai address him by name, a ripple suddenly appeared in the sky and a figure soon revealed itself. Staring down somberly at Yang Kai, this newly appeared person asked solemnly, “How did you discover me?”
As he spoke, he took back a cloak-like artifact and stared at Yang Kai, quickly adding, “My Concealing Aura Coat is an Origin Grade High-Rank artifact, it’s impossible for someone like you to notice any flaws.”
“An Origin Grade High-Rank artifact!” Yang Kai raised his brow as he grinned slightly, “Brother Wang actually possess such a good artifact. En, but despite this artifact not being low grade, with your strength, it seems you can’t activate it completely, and this Yang has always been quite sensitive to other peoples’ prying eyes, heh heh!”
“Seems you have some skill!” Wang Yu Han snorted coldly, not showing the slightest embarrassment after having been exposed.
“Shouldn’t Brother Wang be concentrating on recovering right now? Why stealthily stalk her? If I hadn’t realized it was Brother Wang’s aura nearby, I might just have attacked,” Yang Ka smiled faintly.
“Hmph, my injuries are already healed; moreover, I didn’t come here with any malicious intent, I was simply curious,” Wang Yu Han replied bluntly.
“If it was just curiosity, then I suppose it can’t be helped. If Brother Wang has something he’d like to say to me, you might as well say it directly. If I can do something to alleviate some worry for you, I certainly will. If not… Brother Wang need only be patient for a few more days.”
“Why would I need anything from you?” Wang Yu Han’s complexion suddenly sank as he said meaningfully, “But you rejecting Sister Chen’s proposal was a wise move. Although your strength isn’t too low, it’s still not enough to enter a great force like Clear Sky Sect. If you had made an attempt, it would have only disappointed Sister Chen’s good intentions. At that time, it would certainly be awkward to face her.”
“Such matters are my concern; Brother Wang does not need to trouble himself over them. En, if Brother Wang has nothing else to say, please go back, my companion and I simply wish to use the Space Array in Black Crow City, so we will naturally leave when the time comes.”
“That would be for the best!” Wang Yu Han nodded flatly before cupping his fists and turning to leave.
At that time, Yang Kai suddenly called out, “Right, I should remind you that I dislike being spied upon by others. This time I will let the matter go, but if it were to happen again…”
“You’ll what?” Wang Yu Han turned back to Yang Kai and snorted disdainfully.
Yang Kai smiled mysteriously as he released a pulse of Spiritual Energy from his Knowledge Sea to envelope Wang Yu Han.
Wang Yu Han’s face changed greatly as at that moment, he felt the aura of death sudden descend upon him. Just as he was about to fight back though, he discovered that the ominous feeling had disappeared. Meanwhile, Yang Kai was simply standing exactly where he had originally been, looking at him with a smile, as if what just happened had nothing to do with him.
Wang Yu Han’s expression immediately became suspicious as he felt some cold sweat drip down is back, but after a short silence, he turned his head and flew off into the distance.
“Suddenly treating me like a love rival for no reason, how annoying!” Yang Kai muttered to himself.
Yang Kai had long since realized why Wang Yu Han was constantly opposing him and why he had stealthily snuck over to observe him. However, Yang Kai really had no intentions towards Chen Shi Tao; after leaving Black Crow City this time, they might never even meet again, so Wang Yu Han’s worries were completely unnecessary.
Although Yang Kai could tell that Wang Yu Han wasn’t a good thing, there was no need for him to remind Chen Shi Tao; after all, he was disinclined to meddle in such troublesome matters. On top of that, Chen Shi Tao was not some naive young girl who didn’t know how the world worked, so there was no need for him to warn her about something she clearly already knew.
For Yang Kai, as long as he could gain access to Black Crow City’s Space Array, he wasn’t interested in intervening in these matters, but Wang Yu Han spying on him in secret had touched Yang Kai’s nerves, so he had given him a small warning. Although the Soul pressure Yang Kai used just now didn’t appear to do any immediate harm to Wang Yu Han, he had actually planted a kind of Divine Sense mark deep in his opponent’s Knowledge Sea. With this seed of fear laid down, in the future, if they really came to blows, all Yang Kai would need to do is trigger it and Wang Yu Han would degenerate into a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
With the current power of Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, pulling this kind of small trick on a Third-Order Saint King was a simple matter, and unless a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master or someone stronger were to carefully probe Wang Yu Han’s Knowledge Sea, it would be impossible to discover and destroy this Divine Sense seed.
The probability of this happening was minimal though, and Yang Kai wasn’t worried even if it did happen.
After a moment of contemplation, Yang Kai felt that he hadn’t exposed his strength or means a moment ago, so he closed his eyes and nodded with satisfaction before continuing to focus on his own affairs.
Three days later, Chen Fan Lei and the others had finished healing from their wounds and recovering their strength. Yang Yan had also handed a ring-like object to Yang Kai already. This ring had a bitter cold chill about it and one could tell at first glance that cold materials had been used to refine it. Yang Kai even noticed some traces of the Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade’s aura.
Sweeping it with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai found that Sun’s True Essence, which had rendered him helpless to even touch it, was stored inside with multiple layers of barriers surrounding it, gathering Ice Attribute Energy in order to restrain the Sun’s True Fire.
This ring was somewhat similar to a Space Ring, but its capacity was extremely small, only about ten square metres. It was obviously an artifact refined by Yang Yan specifically to store the Sun’s True Essence.
With such a thing, Yang Kai didn’t need to worry about the Sun’s True Essence’s aura being exposed and he could easily transport it from place to place. After investigating this ring slightly, Yang Kai put it away while liberally praising Yang Yan’s skills, declaring that she was unparalleled under the Heavens.
Of course, Yang Yan only shot Yang Kai a disdainful look.
Finished with what they needed to do here, Yang Kai and Yang Yan met up with Chen Shi Tao’s group and learned that they too were ready to depart.
After a brief discussion, the group of six set out for Black Crow City. On the way, Wang Yu Han’s former incessant chatter gave way to silence and he also seemed to intentionally or unintentionally distance himself from Yang Kai, often shooting him strange looks.
Chen Shi Tao and the others seemed to not notice this change and instead busied themselves telling Yang Kai in detail about the situation of Black Crow City.
Through their explanations, Yang Kai learned that because the geographical location of Black Crow City was a bit special, it didn’t fall under the jurisdiction of any single great force. Three mid-sized forces, Extreme Path Sect, Imperial City Sect, and Honoured Oath Pavilion, all had their headquarters roughly the same distance from Black Crow City, and as a result had competed with each other for many years and lost many disciples to gain control over it. However, in the end, no single Sect was able to triumph over the others.
In the end, the three Sects came to some kind of agreement where all of them swore not to interfere with Black Crow City any further.
After this agreement was reached, Black Crow City itself began to rise in strength, with its City Lord recruiting a number of powerful cultivators to guard and protect it. With the help of some nearby mineral lodes, over time, Black Crow City managed to survive even though it was caught between these three Sects.
There were actually many cities like Black Crow City on Shadowed Star, most of them achieving a degree of independence because the local Sects were unable to agree on who would take ownership of it. As a result, these cities would often grow into sizeable forces.
This kind of independent city force was very attractive to lone cultivators, and through some solicitation, these cities would occasionally be able to attract some powerful masters to join them.
These cities were generally referred to as Free Cities, and even if there weren’t a thousand of them on Shadowed Star, there were are least eight hundred. Because these Free Cities didn’t have strict constraints like formal Sects, and their management was relatively loose, the City Lord position would often change hands. Essentially, whoever’s fist was biggest would become the City Lord, so although these Free Cities had some strength, they were never able to form large, cohesive forces. As a result, the surrounding Sects wouldn’t pay much mind to these Free Cities, instead maintaining cooperative relationships with them.
However, there were always exceptions. On Shadowed Star, there were a few Free Cities that weren’t inferior in strength to great Sects. Such cities were often controlled by a single, extremely powerful family or governed by several families that were relatively united with each other. Although infighting was unavoidable, it was restrained to an acceptable range, and once outside enemies invaded, they would band together to repel them.
After thousands of years of prosperity, these super cities obtained status and strength no worse than other great forces on Shadowed Star.
Black Crow City couldn’t be compared to that kind of super city, so even though Chen Fan Lei was only a Saint King Realm disciple of Extreme Path Sect, he has some personal relationships with a Senior responsible for guarding the city’s Space Array. Having once been entrusted by that person with a certain task, that Senior now owed Chen Fan Lei a favour and would have to give him some face. Learning this, Yang Kai calmed down as he understood that gaining access to the Space Array shouldn’t be a problem, unlike back in Demon Blood City.
In general, moving about Shadowed Star was a hassle. Even just being able to use the Space Arrays in each city was a headache.
Fortunately, Yang Kai had good luck and was able to obtain help from others to use these Space Arrays twice.
Yang Kai began wondering if there was some kind of token or pass that would allow him to use any of the Space Arrays on Shadowed Star at will. If there was such a thing, it would undoubtedly make his life more convenient.
Of course, Yang Kai didn’t expect such a convenient item to exist, but after casually mentioning it to Chen Shi Tao, he learned there really was such a thing! This surprised Yang Kai greatly and he hurriedly asked her for more details.
Chen Shi Tao seemed to know what he was thinking so she freely shared everything she knew.
After listening to Chen Shi Tao’s explanation though, Yang Kai could only smile bitterly and shake his head.
Although this kind of access pass existed, and would be recognized and accepted by about eighty percent of the forces on Shadowed Star, obtaining it was akin to trying to ascend to the Heavens. There were two ways to acquire this pass; the first was to perform some kind of meritorious deed that brought great benefit to all of Shadowed Star. While this condition sounded simple, it was essentially impossible to complete.
There were as many forces on Shadowed Star as there were hairs on an ox, and although many of them would cooperate with each other, there was also no end to the conflicts and struggles between them. Something that was beneficial to one party would undoubtedly be detrimental to another. Trying to accomplish something that improved everyone’s lives was nothing short of a fool’s dream.
The second method was actually much simpler than the first method. One simply needed to receive the joint approval of ten first-class Sects. With that, they could get this free entry pass to all of Shadowed Star’s Space Arrays!
Although this second method was simpler, that was only compared to the first method. There were only about twenty first-class Sects on Shadowed Star, so collecting the support of ten of them was basically impossible.
Yang Kai had a fair amount of contact with Shadow Moon Hall, Clear Sky Sect, and Coloured Glass Sect, which were all first-class Sects, but only famous Elders of such Sects could act as guarantors for the pass.
Either of these methods could be used to obtain the pass Yang Kai wanted, but after listening to Chen Shi Tao, he extinguished such thoughts completely as he couldn’t achieve either of them with his current abilities.
Chatting along the way, time passed quickly and five days later, the group of six arrived at the outskirts of Black Crow City. After paying some Saint Crystals, the guards allowed them through the city gates without incident.
After entering the city, Yang Kai looked around and saw many wide and narrow winding roads, all of them lined with many shops on both sides. Although Black Crow City couldn’t be called crowded with people, it was still quite lively and bustling.
“Little Brother Yang, are you planning to stay here for some time or are you anxious to depart?” Chen Shi Tao suddenly looked back at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai thought about it for a moment before replying, “If possible, I naturally want to leave here quickly, as there are still some things I have to attend to.”
After acquiring so many materials and Saint Crystals, and with the Stone Puppet having stolen so much Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass, Yang Yan was naturally eager to continue her Artifact Refining, and from what Yang Kai heard from her it seemed she would be refining a truly shocking treasure this time. As for what she was working on specifically, Yang Yan insisted on keeping it a secret, making Yang Kai helpless.
On top of Yang Yan’s desire to return, the fact that the Stone Puppet and Artifact Spirit were currently wounded left Yang Kai unwilling to remain outside. Only after he returned to Dragon Cave Mountain would he be able to provide his two assistants with a safe environment to recuperate.
Hearing this, Chen Shi Tao’s eyes flashed with some disappointment, but she didn’t insist anymore and said, “Since that’s the case, Fan Lei will go to the Space Array now to see if that Senior is in. If everything goes well, before the night falls, Little Brother Yang should be able to leave.”
Yang Kai naturally had no opinion and simply thanked Chen Fan Lei politely before finding a spot out of the way to wait quietly with Chen Shi Tao and the others.
In the meantime, Chen Shi Tao tried to invite Yang Kai to participate in the Clear Sky Sect recruitment trial once more, but Yang Kai still politely refused. Seeing this, Chen Shi Tao chose not to pester him about the issue and instead began chatting with him about other topics with a smile.
After about an hour, Chen Fan Lei returned.
However, the look on his face was a bit awkward, as if he had failed to accomplish the task he had been assigned.
Upon seeing his expression, Yang Kai couldn’t help clenching his fist slightly, secretly wondering whether the other party was unwilling to bend the rules. If this was the case, then he could only choose to take two or three months to fly back to Dragon Cave Mountain from here.
Chen Shi Tao obviously also had similar speculations and after her little brother arrived, she hurriedly asked, “Fan Lei, did things not go smoothly?”
Chen Fan Lei smiled mirthlessly as a guilty look appeared on his face, shaking his head as he said, “Things really didn’t go smoothly.”
“What happened?” Chen Shi Tao asked.
“The Senior I know just happens to be out of the city. From what I heard from the others, it seems he was assigned some kind of task outside the city.”
“He’s out of the city?” Chen Shi Tao stunned, “How could he be out of the city at this exact moment? Could it be they were just trying to deceive you?”
“No, no!” Chen Fan Lei quickly waved his hand, “I found some others to ask about this matter and confirmed that the Senior I know is indeed on a mission. He just left the city a few days ago and it seems the soonest he’ll return is in three days.”
“Three days…” Chen Shi Tao murmured, turning her head to look at Yang Kai and smiling apologetically, “Little Brother Yang, I’m sorry, it seems that things won’t be as easy as I anticipated.”
“It’s fine, accidents are bound to happen,” Yang Kai replied faintly.
Seeing that Yang Kai didn’t show a displeased look, Chen Shi Tao calmed down and said, “But that Senior will be back in three days at the soonest, can you wait that long? You may rest assured, as soon as that Senior returns, we will definitely arrange for you to leave here.”
“It’s not a problem, even if I have to wait ten days it’s still fine; after all, it’s better than taking two or three months to fly back by Star Shuttle. But Brother Chen, are you certain that Senior won’t be delayed too long? If he doesn’t return for some time, it may not be worth waiting.”
“There’s no need to worry!” Chen Shi Tao smiled brightly, “If that Senior hasn’t returned after three days, we can go to another place, whether it’s Extreme Path Sect’s Gale City or Clear Sky Sect’s Black Sea City, both are only ten to fifteen days from here and both have Space Arrays which are directly connected to Heavenly Fate City. Here we have to rely on my personal connections, but in Gale City or Black Sea City we will have full authority to access the Space Array.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai’s eyes lit up slightly as the last trace of concern faded from his mind, nodding as he agreed to Chen Shi Tao’s proposal.
Since they had decided to wait for three days here, it was necessary to find a place to stay. Fortunately, there were many inns in Black Crow City, while both Chen Shi Tao and Lu Ying were wealthy Young Ladies worth more than a million Saint Crystals each, so the place they chose naturally wasn’t bad.
A short time later, the group of six arrived at a top-level inn called Flying Spirit Palace.
Flying Spirit Palace was a well known establishment in Black Crow City and was among the highest quality lodgings available. Generally, the cultivators who stayed here were either rich or held extremely high status, as a single night would cost three thousand High-Rank Saint Crystals.
This kind of price was quite exorbitant. One had to know that the best rooms at an average inn would only cost hundreds of Saint Crystals a night, making the price of this Flying Spirit Palace over a dozen times higher.
If it weren’t for Yang Kai helping them out twice, one of which could be counted as a life-saving grace, Chen Shi Tao wouldn’t have spent so lavishly. After all, although she had a lot of Saint Crystals now, she had never been one to waste it on frivolous luxuries. This time could only be considered her borrowing Yang Kai’s favour as an excuse to spend somewhat freely.
Although the price was ridiculously high, after seeing their accommodations, everyone felt it was a worthwhile cost.
The reason was simple, every guest staying here was given a separate three-story loft. The first floor was for entertaining guest, the second for meditating, and the third for Alchemy or Artifact Refining.
Each floor was equipped with at least seven or eight different Spirit Arrays that not only shielded against outside Divine Sense intrusions but also provided other types of protection.
On top of that, each loft came with two beautiful young maidservants. These maids were also cultivators, but their cultivations weren’t high, most of them just True Element Boundary or even Separation and Reunion Boundary cultivators; however, all of them had received careful training to greet and entertain guests. Of course, some excessive requests wouldn’t be met.
According to the cultivator who received Chen Shi Tao’s group, Flying Spirit Palace was actually the private industry of the City Lord and several other powerful Elders from the city, so safety was guaranteed as no one would dare come here to make trouble.
The cultivator who welcomed them seemed to unintentionally reveal this news, which was obviously meant as a subtle warning for Yang Kai and the others to not underestimate the background of this inn, or worse, try to stir up trouble themselves.
A group of six people, of course, didn’t need six whole lofts, so Chen Shi Tao only booked three, one she would share with Lu Ying, one that Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei would stay in, and one for Yang Kai and Yang Yan.
After all the arrangements were complete, everyone dispersed to their respective loft.
The loft where Yang Kai and Yang Yan were staying in had an ornate design and a very impactful name, the Floating Snow Moon Pavilion.
Seeing this building, Yang Yan licked her lips happily while Yang Kai held no opinions of it. The two of them quickly chose a room for themselves before sitting in meditation to rest.
An uneventful night passed, and the next day Yang Kai and Yang Yan took advantage of this opportunity to wander around Black Crow City; after all, it was their first time here, so they wanted to see if there were any local special products. If they were lucky, they might even find some useful materials.
A day of shopping with Yang Yan yielded some good results as the pair was able to buy some materials and ores that were difficult to come by in Heavenly Fate City.
The price they paid was naturally not a discounted one like when they purchased from Shadow Moon Hall, but inside Grand Burial Valley, Yang Kai and Yang Yan had obtained quite a few Saint Crystals, so naturally, they wouldn’t care about such small expenses.
By the end of the day, Yang Yan had purchased nearly fifty million Saint Crystals worth of Artifact Refining materials.
Although Yang Kai did not object, he was still shocked to witness this. At the rate Yang Yan was spending, the Saint Crystals they harvested this time may not be able to last very long; however, judging from the materials she purchased, Yang Kai vaguely felt that she really wanted to refine something astonishing.
While panicking slightly inside, Yang Kai was also quite looking forward to what the end result would be.
If not for Yang Kai worrying about drawing unwanted attention, Yang Yan would have continued dragging him around, buying up everything she was interested in. Yang Kai had not failed to notice several people paying attention to them already, quite interested in both him and Yang Yan.
This was not a surprise though, as they were clearly just a young man and woman but had spent tens of millions of Saint Crystal in a single day. This would inevitably cause some people to get ideas about them. Fortunately, these people were only curious at the moment and did not make any moves, simply following them around stealthily.
In the evening, Yang Kai and Yang Yan returned to Flying Spirit Palace, but as soon as they entered the Floating Snow Moon Pavilion, Yang Yan went straight to the third floor and secluded herself in the Artifact Refining Room there.
Helpless, Yang Kai went to the second floor to meditate.
After about two hours though, Yang Kai suddenly opened his eyes and looked outward with a slight frown. Waving his hand, the door was opened silently by a beautiful young girl in a green dress standing outside. She was one of the two maidservants responsible for this Floating Snow Moon Pavilion.
She first greeted Yang Kai elegantly before softly explaining, “Young Lord, you have a guest. Would Young Lord like to meet with them?”
“Who is it?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.
“He said he was your companion and that his surname was Chen!”
“Chen?” Yang Kai was surprised, pondering for a moment before asking, “Is he by himself?”
“Yes,” The maidservant nodded gently.
Yang Kai’s lips curled into a slight smile hearing this and without waiting for the maidservant to ask again, he waved his hand lightly, “I understand, let him wait downstairs for a while, I’ll be down in a moment.”
The maidservant bowed gracefully before turning around and gracefully walking downstairs.
Yang Kai did not get up immediately, but instead sat on the spot, his eyes flashing slightly as his thoughts turned. Only after a moment of contemplation did he stand up and walk out.
On the first floor inside the hospitality room, Chen Fan Lei sat with his back straight like a sword, his well-groomed brow and bright eyes highlighting his face. Although he could not be considered incredibly handsome, he seemed to have been born with a heroic temperament, especially his eyes which always seemed to burst with life.
The two maidservants of this Floating Snow Moon Pavilion seemed quite taken with him and would casually sneak glances at his face from time to time, blushing slightly as they did so.
Chen Fan Lei had apparently noticed this but pretended not to, instead choosing to sit up straight with a serious look upon his face. However, one did not need to look too closely to notice that he was constantly fidgeting, as if he was sitting on pins and needles.
Sometime later, when Yang Kai finally came down from upstairs, Chen Fan Lei felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders and quickly got up, cupped his fists, and said, “Brother Yang, I’ve taken the liberty to pay you a visit but it seems I’ve disturbed your cultivation, I hope Brother Yang won’t take offence.”
Hearing him say this, Yang Kai wore a stunned look but soon smiled warmly and said, “Brother Chen is too polite. I was also just filling the time, so you haven’t disturbed me at all.”
Saying so, he ordered the two maidservants to prepare some tea.
The maidservant in green who had gone upstairs to inform Yang Kai of Chen Fan Lei’s arrival nodded and immediately got to work.
Not long after, not only was tea served, put a platter of exquisite spirit fruits was laid out as well.
Yang Kai didn’t know why Chen Fan Lei had suddenly run over to see him, so he didn’t rashly inquire; however, it seemed Chen Fan Lei didn’t want to explain his purpose directly and instead began talking about random things.
But Yang Kai could clearly feel that Chen Fan Lei was acting very different from usual, and for some reason the presence of the two maidservants seemed to be stressing him. Instead of his usually free and unfettered speech, Chen Fan Lei was now picking his words carefully, even speaking somewhat incoherently at times.
Whenever he would trip over his words, the two maidservants would let out a light giggle, embarrassing Chen Fan Lei even further.
Seeing this, Yang Kai seemed to understand something and lightly instructed the two maidservants, “There’s no need for you to remain here, you may go back and rest. I will call for you if I require your service.”
The two maidservants glanced at each other and, although they were a little disappointed, politely nodded before reluctantly departing, both secretly casting Chen Fan Lei a sincere glance before they left.
Yang Kai saw this and laughed dumbly despite trying not to.
After the two maidservants left and Chen Fan Lei and Yang Kai were alone, the former was obviously relieved, and his usual demeanour was instantly restored. No longer embarrassed or anxious, he began chatting freely with Yang Kai, sometimes laughing joyfully while at other times acting quite seriously as he argued over different topics related to cultivation that he disagreed with Yang Kai over.
This chat lasted for two hours, but even then, Chen Fan Lei showed no signs of saying goodbye or revealing his true intentions, so Yang Kai had no choice but to raise the subject.
[He couldn’t have forgotten why he came here, right?]
At this point, Yang Kai lightly coughed and asked, “Does Brother Chen have some specific purpose for coming to see me this time?”
Hearing this, Chen Fan Lei showed a stunned expression before immediately smacking his forehead.
[He really had forgotten!]
Seeing this, Yang Kai smiled bitterly but remained silent, waiting for him to speak.
“Actually, it’s nothing important, it’s just that Brother Yang rescued us twice in Grand Burial Valley, but after arriving here in Black Crow City, I’ve barely been able to reciprocate the favour, so I thought I should try to entertain Brother Yang.”
“Entertain?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows.
“Yes,” Chen Fan Lei nodded repeatedly, “I’ve heard there is a very interesting place in Black Crow City. This Chen has long been curious about it but has never had an opportunity to patronize it, but now that we are in this situation, I thought I’d invite Brother Yang to accompany me. I wonder if Brother Yang is interested?”
“An interesting place?” Yang Kai suddenly became curious, “What kind of place is it?”
Chen Fan Lei’s face suddenly showed a hint of embarrassment, but that soon disappeared and with a meaningful grin, he said, “Allow this Chen to keep that a secret for now. When we arrive, Brother Yang will naturally understand.”
Yang Kai looked at him with a smile and pondered for a while before nodding, “Sure, since Brother Chen has come to invite me, then I will accompany you. Should we also call Sister Chen and the others?”
“Absolutely not!” Chen Fan Lei’s complexion changed as he waved his hands frantically, “This matter can never be known by her, otherwise she’ll skin me alive! I wouldn’t have come to visit so late at night if it weren’t specifically to avoid her noticing.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai’s thoughts flashed, suddenly guessing what kind of place Chen Fan Lei wanted to go to, but after thinking about it for a moment, he asked, “What about Brother Wang?”
“Senior Brother Wang, he went out during the day and said that he was visiting one of his family Elders here. I do not know when he will return. We don’t have to wait for him.”
Yang Kai gently nodded, “Since that’s the case, let’s go.”
Chen Fan Lei saw Yang Kai agree and his spirits lifted, immediately nodding before leading the way.
Together, the pair left Flying Spirit Palace and quickly blended into the crowds of Black Crow City.
At night, Black Crow City seemed livelier than during the day as even more cultivators were now coming and going. Chen Fan Lei had apparently made preparations before, so he quickly led Yang Kai down a series of roads with great familiarity.
Soon, the pair arrived at a seemingly inconspicuous mansion. At the door of this establishment were two Saint Realm cultivators in black armour holding spears, their eyes coldly glancing around their surroundings.
At first glance, there was nothing special about this place, and it truly seemed to be an ordinary mansion, but when Yang Kai released his Divine Sense to investigate it, he was surprised to find that many barriers had been arranged here and he was actually unable to learn anything about its internal situation.
However, from time to time, some cultivators would swaggeringly enter this building. These cultivators had uneven cultivations, but regardless of their strength, the two guard-like cultivators at the door turned a blind eye to them, without even asking any questions.
This inevitably aroused Yang Kai’s curiosity as he wondered what exactly this place was for it to be so lively.
After arriving here, Chen Fan Lei did not proceed any further, his eyes staring at this mansion seriously, but also with a faint feeling of excitement. Yang Kai clearly noticed that Chen Fan Lei’s temperature had risen slightly, and his pulse had become faster.
Casting him a suspicious glance, Chen Fan Lei simply smiled back at Yang Kai and said, “This is the place, let’s go inside.”
Saying so, just like the cultivators who had entered previously, the two of them walked right inside, the two guards out front not trying to block or interrogate them in the slightest.
Upon entering the mansion and crossing a short black stone path, then turning a few corners, the pair were suddenly greeted by a very lively scene with a strong fragrance of wine and women lingering in the air. Bursts of crisp and sweet laughter echoed about as a wondrous melody played in the background.
There was actually an earthly paradise inside this place!
Yang Kai looked around in amazement and quickly saw an open-air courtyard with countless banquet tables where guests where constantly coming and going while drinking and celebrating. Most notably though was that on the arms of each of these guests were charming young women who were clearly flattering and flirting with them. These women all had different styles and temperaments, and they were all dressed quite diversely as well, some wearing tight-fitting highly exposing dresses while others were dressed up as noble young ladies, but without exception, all of them were great beauties.
This scene stunned Yang Kai as he realized that the ‘interesting place,’ Chen Fan Lei wanted to bring himself was just as he had guessed.
This was clearly similar to the brothels in cities where ordinary mortals lived!
However, this place was countless times bigger than an average brothel, because the people who came and went from here were all cultivators, and the women who accompanied them were also cultivators. At the very least, when Yang Kai used his Divine Sense to sweep the crowd in front of him, he found no one with a cultivation lower than the True Element Boundary. The women, however, did not have very high strength, the strongest being just Immortal Ascension Boundary Third or Fourth Stage.
While it was slightly different for the male guests, no one had a cultivation higher than the Saint Realm, which was only slightly higher than the cultivations of the women accompanying them.
Chen Fan Lei being interested in this kind of place surprised Yang Kai.
Turning his head and glancing at him, Yang Kai could not help feeling dumbstruck once again.
The current Chen Fan Lei seemed like he had lost his soul, his jaw dropped as he stared at the exaggerated scene in front of him, the mere visual impact apparently having been enough to make him lose the ability to think or act. On top of that, his face was now a bright shade of crimson.
Yang Kai shook his head wryly and was just about to wake him up when a young woman suddenly walked over to them. This woman wore a gorgeous formal dress and had a face the colour of peach blossoms. Her beautiful eyes shimmer like stars and her twin peaks were rich and full, contrasting greatly with her slim, graceful waist and long slender legs. Arriving in front of the two young men, this young woman bowed elegantly and spoke, “This Mistress greets two Young Lords.”
After she spoke, she glanced over at Chen Fan Lei lightly, covered her mouth with her hand and tittered sweetly.
However, it was obviously not the first time she had witnessed such a reaction so she didn’t pay him much mind, instead quickly continuing, “Two Young Lords look unfamiliar, could it be this is your first time visiting our Joyous Union Pavilion?”
Yang Kai shot a glance over at Chen Fan Lei and saw that he was still in a daze. Sighing slightly as he realized he couldn’t expect anything from him for a while, Yang Kai gently nodded and replied, “Yeah, we are indeed the first time patrons, but we have long heard rumours of your famous establishment, so as we were passing through Black Crow City, we specially came here to see it for ourselves.”
“So that’s how it is,” The young woman heard these words and nodded lightly, brushing her hair behind her ear in what seemed to be an unintentionally flirtatious manner before smiling and saying, “I hope we have not disappointed two Young Lords’ expectations. If you are satisfied, would you like this Mistress to arrange a private room for you?”
She could tell that Yang Kai and Chen Fan Lei had strong cultivations and knew they would not be content to simply remain in this open square, so she took the initiative to make such a proposal.
Of course, Yang Kai had no objections, nodded, and allowed her to make appropriate arrangements.
The young woman responded with a nod and quickly led the two through the square and into an exquisite loft a slight distance away.
At the same time, in a chamber deep inside the Joyous Union Pavilion, an old man and a young man sat cross-legged across from each other. The old man had a First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivation while the young man was a Third-Order Saint King.
The old man sat calmly as he quietly circulated his Secret Art, not showing the slightest signs of anxiousness; however, the well-dressed young man seemed to be distracted and would frown from time to time, looking outside.
“Yu Han, you need to temper your heart and mind again,” The old man’s eyes did not open but he still spoke authoritatively.
The youth opposite him trembled slightly and showed a look of embarrassment on his face, respectfully nodding as he said, “What Seventh Grandfather said is correct, Yu Han is still too immature.”
The old man smiled slightly and opened his eyes to look at the youth opposite him, “You don’t have to rebuke yourself too harshly; after all, this matter is related to your future, naturally you should act careful about it. Although our Wang Family is not a small family, it is not a big one either. In the current younger generation, you are the most talented and the only one able to join Extreme Path Sect. Now that you have cultivated to the Third-Order Saint King Realm, as long as you have enough opportunity, breaking through to the Origin Returning threshold is not impossible. When that time comes, you and I will be the pillars of our Wang Family. Additionally, your background is also much better than this old master’s, so you will probably be able to go further than this old master in the future.”
“Seventh Grandfather thinks too highly of me. Yu Han was only able to have his current achievements thanks to the family’s great blessings. If I can rise up in the future, I certainly will not bring shame to our Wang Family.”
“Hearing you say so makes me feel reassured. If it were not you but some other clansman who asked this old master for such a favour, I would have immediately refused. Although I was able to become a manger of this Joyous Union Pavilion, you should also know that this place is secretly supported by Imperial City Sect and has the backing of the City Lord. If some kind of accident were to happen here, the consequences would not be something my Wang Family could afford.”
“Yu Han understands, but this time the one I need to deal with is just a Second-Order Saint King and there is no need to confront him directly, just tarnishing his reputation will be enough. There should be no problem.”
“If not for this, how could I have agreed to your request?” The old man snorted before shifting the topic with a chuckle, “Does that woman you fancy truly come from a big force like Clear Sky Sect?”
“Yes!” The youth opposite him nodded as his spirit seemed to rise, immediately following up, “Not only does she come from Clear Sky Sect, she also has extremely high status and possesses a great amount of wealth. At least a million Saint Crystals!”
“A million?” The old man was truly surprised, and a hint of greed flashed across his eyes, “She is just a trivial Third-Order Saint King, how can she possess such wealth?”
“Her luck was incredibly good. When she entered the Flowing Flame Sand Field, she discovered an underground Saint Crystal lode where she spent five months collecting several tens of millions of Saint Crystals. After returning to Clear Sky Sect, most of those were handed over to the Sect, but she was still allowed to keep a portion of them.”
“I see!” The old man’s doubts were cleared instantly, and he nodded, “If that’s the case, then you absolutely cannot let go of her easily. You must do whatever it takes to win over that woman; as long as you can obtain her heart, your future cultivation path will be smooth and you will never need to worry about having enough resources.”
“Yu Han also thinks so, otherwise I would not have had to deal with that little brat surnamed Yang. I know that little brat also has his eyes on Sister Chen, but as long as I can expose him coming to this place, Sister Chen will definitely disdain to see him again.”
“This method is truly good, but are you certain he will come here?” The old man asked again.
The young man smiled and declared, “I cannot say I am absolutely certain, but I am at least eighty percent confident.”
“Let me hear the details then…” The old man asked with interest.
The young man proceeded to explain his scheme, with the old man nodding from time to time, showing his approval.
A moment later, a soft voice suddenly came from outside and the old man’s eyes flashed. After listening to this message, the old man muttered, “They’ve come.”
“Really?” The young man asked joyfully.
“Yes!” The old man looked at the young man with a smile and tossed him something, “Your plan is sound. You can now carry out the next step. You can handle this yourself. This is my manager token. So long as you have it, others here will cooperate with you for most minor matters. “
The young man caught the token and quickly bowed, “Many thanks, Seventh Grandfather!”
…..
In a separate lost inside Joyous Union Pavilion, Yang Kai and Chen Fan Lei had sat down casually while the young woman who had led them here had taken her leave. There was no one else inside this building except Yang Kai and Chen Fan Lei.
There was a pot of spirit tea set on the table, and while Yang Kai didn’t drink a drop, Chen Fan Lei had already poured himself several cups, seemingly wanting to use this spirit tea to extinguish the flames in his body.
While he was drinking this tea, Yang Kai just observed him with a smile.
After a while, Yang Kai suddenly said, “Brother Chen, could this be your first time visiting this kind of place?”
“En…” Chen Fan Lei nodded with a deep look of embarrassment on his face, a moment later suddenly looking up at Yang Kai and asking, “Looking at Brother Yang’s relaxed expression, could it be you’re very experienced with this type of thing?”
“Nonsense!” Yang Kai put on a serious face, “This is also my first time visiting such a place.”
“Haha…” Chen Fan Lei let out a dry laugh, not knowing whether to believe Yang Kai or not.
Yang Kai suddenly stared at Chen Fan Lei solemnly, “Brother Chen should not have wanted to visit this place for no reason. You do not seem like the type who indulges in these kinds of activities. Do you have a specific objective for coming here tonight? Could you explain to me?”
Chen Fan Lei smiled bitterly, “Did Brother Yang see through me?”
“I was simply speculating,” Yang Kai said in a non-committal tone.
“Since that’s the case, this Chen won’t try to act mysterious,” Chen Fan Lei took a breath and calmed himself down greatly before explaining, “Does Brother Yang believe this place is purely for seeking entertainment and pleasure?”
“It’s not?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
“Naturally, it isn’t. If it was just about seeking pleasure, there are plenty of other places to do so in Black Crow City, there’s no need to specifically come here,” Chen Fan Lei said while quickly regaining his normal condition; after all, he was still a Saint King Realm cultivator so he had at least that much mental discipline.
“Oh? Is there something special here that can attract Brother Chen’s attention?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.
“Actually, this is an open secret. Anyone who visits Joyous Union Pavilion should have the same purpose as I. Although there is also a pure entertainment and pleasure seeking business here, there are also a number of specially cultivated women here who had trained in a special Dual Cultivation Technique that is said to be quite helpful for males hoping to break through bottlenecks!”
“A Dual Cultivation Technique used to break through bottlenecks?” Yang Kai’s eyes flashed as immediately understood what Chen Fan Lei wanted to do here.
“Yeah,” Chen Fan Lei nodded lightly, “Last time I was going to take advantage of the Thunder Pond to break through my bottleneck, but unfortunately I was disturbed by that Silver Night Thunder Beast which resulted in my attempt failing. However, I was still able to soak in the Thunder Pond for several days and I can tell that I am just half a step away from breaking through. If I were to rely only on my own hard work, I don’t know how long it will take me to succeed, so I decided to take a chance here. If my luck is good, I will be able to save a lot of time, effort, and pills, and even if I wind up unlucky, it won’t cause any harm and I can simply return to the Sect and continue practicing.”
“So that’s it,” Yang Kai suddenly realized why when Chen Fan Lei first came to his loft and was being observed by those two maidservants he had seemingly felt intense stress. Originally, he wanted to come to this kind of place to try to break through his bottleneck.
“Did Brother Chen learn about this method on his own?” Yang Kai asked seemingly casually.
“No, it was actually Senior Brother Wang who told me about this secret place in Black Crow City when I was discussing with him about how to break through my bottleneck earlier today. I was hoping to come together with Senior Brother Wang but unfortunately he went out and didn’t inform me when he would return, so I could only ask Brother Yang to accompany me as I was too embarrassed to come by myself. I hope Brother Yang won’t blame me,” Chen Fan Lei said apologetically.
Listening to his explanation, Yang Kai’s eyes flashed and he let out a slight chuckle, “Brother Chen asking me to accompany him was out of goodwill, so how could I blame you? Truth be told, I’m also quite interested in this place now.”
“Brother Yang, you…” Chen Fan Lei looked at him in amazement.
Yang Kai grinned, “Brother Chen misunderstands. I am simply interested in this special Dual Cultivation Technique which can help break through bottlenecks. If it turns out to be real, then this Dual Cultivation Technique must be quite amazing. You should know that one of the biggest problem’s we cultivators face is overcoming bottlenecks. Often, a single bottleneck can halt our progress for a lifetime. If this Dual Cultivation Technique is that good, it should be enough to become the core foundation of a great Sect. There would be no need to open this Joyous Union Pavilion in the first place.”
“What Brother Yang means is…” Although Chen Fan Lei was not one for plots of schemes, it didn’t mean he was stupid, so he was able to pick up some clues from what Yang Kai had just said.
“Does this Dual Cultivation Technique used to break through bottlenecks have some kind of hidden danger to it?” Yang Kai looked became serious.
“I don’t know about this, I only heard about this place briefly from Senior Brother Wang and he didn’t mention any risks,” Chen Fan Lei could not help frowning. With Yang Kai’s reminder, he suddenly became vigilant and, after thinking about it for a moment, Chen Fan Lei felt these concerns were reasonable. Wasn’t a Dual Cultivation Technique specifically used to break through bottlenecks a bit too convenient?
“I don’t know if Brother Chen has come into contact with any Dual Cultivation Techniques before, but most of them are actually extremely cruel, gathering Yin to supplement Yang, or gathering Yang to supplement Yin, resulting in one partner benefitting at the other’s expense. Since this Joyous Union Pavilion continues to exist to this day, obviously theses women do not cultivate a gathering Yang to supplement Yin Secret Art, but instead sacrifice their Primordial Yin or foundation to help guests who come here improve their cultivation and break through bottlenecks,” Yang Kai pondered out loud as he began mentioning the characteristics of Dual Cultivation Techniques. In fact, he did not need to say such words as Chen Fan Lei should have heard them before; after all, he wasn’t an inexperienced youth unfamiliar with how the cultivation world worked. Even if he had never seen or read a Dual Cultivation Technique before, he should have at least heard some rumours about them.
Yang Kai had cultivated a very profound Dual Cultivation Technique, so he had the qualification to speak about them.
“If this is the case, there really might be some hidden dangers! After all, if I don’t have a special Secret Art to refine the Primordial Yin or Yuan Qi from others, even if my cultivation increases somewhat and I am able to break through my bottleneck, it will cause my foundation to become unsteady,” Chen Fan Lei said thoughtfully, quickly muttering, “But since it’s like this, why would Senior Brother Wang specifically mention such a place to me? If it were not for him suddenly needing to go out, I even thought he would be the one to bring me here.”
“Perhaps Brother Wang had just mentioned it unintentionally and you misunderstood his intent?” Yang Kai said casually.
“I see!” Chen Fan Lei gently nodded, “That might be the case. En, since there are such hidden dangers with this method, I cannot go through with it anymore. I’d rather spend more time in meditation than ruin my foundation by trying to Dual Cultivate with some woman I don’t know.”
After realizing this, Chen Fan Lei finally restored his usual cleverness and said while standing up, “Brother Yang, let’s go now.”
“Since we’ve already arrived, there’s no need to rush off. If we were to suddenly leave like this, we might even offend this place’s owners,” Yang Kai laughed dumbly.
Chen Fan Lei scratched his head as a look of helplessness appeared on his face. If he had known things would turn out like this, he would not have dragged Yang Kai along with him to this place. Now even leaving had become somewhat troublesome.
“Could it be that we are really going to… have to…” Chen Fan Lei looked at Yang Kai with a mixture of uncertainty and anticipation.
Yang Kai laughed, “That depends on Brother Chen’s intentions. Of course, we should avoid any dual cultivation, but if it’s simply having some fun, it shouldn’t matter too much.”
“Brother Yang must be joking,” Chen Fan Lei blushed brightly.
At this moment, Yang Kai expression suddenly changed as he turned his head to look at the door. A soft knocking soon echoed as the young woman who had led them here earlier softly called out, “Two Young Lords, this Mistress has kept you waiting.”
Saying so, she pushed open the door and walked inside followed by two maidservants, one of whom held a scented wine jug while the other carried a platter of exquisite spirit fruits. After bowing gracefully, the two maids walked up and placed the refreshments onto a small table before bowing and retreating to stand behind the lead young woman.
The young woman then took a seat across from Yang Kai and Chen Fan Lei before asking, “I wonder if the two Young Lords are here to seek pleasure or if they have some special requests?”
“What is the difference between seeking pleasure and special requests?” Yang Kai raised his brow as he asked in a calm and experienced tone, making the young woman not dare to look down on him.
The young woman smiled as her lashes fluttered, exuding a kind of intoxicating charm. Turning her eyes to meet Chen Fan Lei’s, she began explaining, “If two Young Lords simply wish to seek pleasure, there are many Young Ladies with excellent aptitudes and appearances you may freely choose from at our Joyous Union Pavilion. Regardless of cultivation or beauty, our girls are far superior to other places in Black Crow City. Of course, our prices are also not comparable to those places either.”
Yang Kai smiled slightly, “Price is not an issue, as long as you can satisfy us, but I wonder, what is the highest cultivation of the girls in your establishment?”
The young woman smiled lightly, “It seems Young Lord’s vision is quite high. If we are speaking of the girl with the highest cultivation, that would be Hong Yue, she is a Second-Order Saint King!”
“A Second-Order Saint King!” Yang Kai was genuinely stunned and when he looked at Chen Fan Lei, he saw that the other party was also wearing a shocked expression. The two of them had not expected that such a woman would actually exist here; after all, with such a cultivation, it would be easy for her to join some big Sect and obtain far better conditions than in this place.
The young woman continued, “But Lady Hong Yue only acts personally twice a year; after that, no matter the price, she won’t see any guests. On top of that, whether she is willing to attend to a guest is completely up to her, so even if Young Lord offers an incredible price, it may be useless.”
“This Lady Hong Yue seems to have quite an interesting temperament. En, never mind,” Yang Kai waved his hand, “Such troubles are best avoided.”
“Very well,” The young woman seemed relieved upon hearing this and quickly asked, “May I ask if two Young Lords have some other special requests?”
“I heard that your noble establishment has a group of women who specifically cultivate a special Dual Cultivation Technique which is useful for breaking through bottlenecks. Is this true?” Yang Kai asked while looking straight at her.
The young woman gently nodded, “En, we do have such a group of women at Joyous Union Pavilion. Moreover, as long as they are Saint King Realm guests, eight out of ten come here because of this. It seems the same is true for two Young Lords.”
“Yeah, in our recent cultivation, we have indeed encountered some bottlenecks that we are unable to break through, so we came here to inquire about your services.”
“If that is the case, then it is easy to handle. If you do not mind, how about you allow this Mistress to make the appropriate arrangements. I guarantee two Young Lords will be satisfied,” The young woman asked with a smile.
“Sounds good.” Yang Kai gently nodded.
The young woman slowly stood up and walked out to make preparations, but just as she reached the door, she suddenly turned back and said, “Right, two Young Lords, this Mistress must forewarn you, although many guests who visit our establishment use this special Dual Cultivation session to successfully break through their bottlenecks, not everyone can succeed. If the two Young Lords happen to fail to achieve their wishes…”
“Naturally, we understand this, you may rest assured. If we cannot achieve our objectives, it will simply mean our fortune isn’t good enough and we will not hold you responsible.”
The young woman nodded with satisfaction and this time really left.
After she left, Chen Fan Lei looked at Yang Kai suspiciously, wondering why he had specifically asked about the women who cultivated the special Dual Cultivation Technique. However, Yang Kai did not show any intention to explain himself, so Chen Fan Lei could only puzzle over it on his own. Steeling himself, Chen Fan Lei swore to treat this as a simple new experience; if he didn’t actually engage in any dual cultivation, everything should be fine. Relaxing somewhat, he began helping himself to the spirit fruits on the table.
After a while, the young woman returned once again but this time there were more than a dozen beautiful young women accompanying her. The women all had truly outstanding appearances and astonishing figures, but what was most impressive was that all of them were First-Order Saints. This kind of cultivation was much higher than the women Yang Kai and Chen Fan Lei had seen outside earlier.
As these dozen or so women entered the private room, a floral fragrance filled the air, adding to the enchanting atmosphere.
Chen Fan Lei both eyes both glowed as he examined each of these beauties with great enthusiasm, while on the other hand, Yang Kai remained completely indifferent.
The young woman was carefully observing the two of them and although a trace of surprise flashed across her eyes upon seeing Yang Kai’s lack of reaction, she did not say anything and instead just clapped her hands gently.
The group of women who came in left as swiftly as they had come and were replaced by a different group a moment later.
This second batch of women had slightly higher cultivations, each of them a genuine Second-Order Saint.
However, Yang Kai remained indifferent.
The lead young woman was even more surprised now, her brow furrowing slightly as she clapped her hands once more, sending out the second batch of women and replacing them with a third.
“Two Young Lords, are you not satisfied?” After waiting for a while, she saw that Yang Kai still did not show any interest and her pretty face couldn’t help sinking slightly, her voice going cold. This group of women was the highest quality group Joyous Union Pavilion ordinarily had to offer, each of them a Third-Order Saint Realm cultivator. One of these two young men seemed quite interested right from the start, but the other showed next to no reaction, making the lead young woman wonder if he was deliberately trying to cause trouble.
Yang Kai just flashed a light smile though as he ignored the cold eyes staring at him and calmly asked, “Could it be that your noble establishment can only offer this level of service? If so, it would be too disappointing.”
The young woman heard this and snorted, waving her hand to dismiss this third group of women as she clenched her teeth and shot back, “This Young Lord’s vision is truly extraordinary. Joyous Union Pavilion indeed has higher quality girls, but there are very few of them and each one of them is extremely expensive, I wonder if the two Young Lords will be able to afford them.”
“As I said, price is no issue, as long as you can satisfy us,” Yang Kai smiled slightly as he tossed a Space Ring over to the young woman.
The young woman caught this ring and promptly swept its contents with her Divine Sense. After seeing the number of Saint Crystals inside, her beautiful face changed slightly and in the next moment, she smiled brightly, all of her previous annoyance thrown beyond the highest Heavens as she said charmingly, “This Young Lord is a man of great spirit! Since that is the case, this Mistress won’t dare disappoint.”
Saying so, she flipped her delicate little hand, causing the Space Ring to disappear. Judging from her expression, she was obviously very satisfied with the price Yang Kai offered and with a flick of her wrist, she sent out a ray of silver light towards him.
Yang Kai frowned, but did not take any precautions, simply putting his hand out and catching this silver streak. Upon closer investigation, he found that what he caught was a set of extremely thin silver mirrors.
On each of these mirrors’ surfaces a beautiful woman. These women showed various expressions and poses, some of them aloof while others smiling, some of them stood while others sat. These images were incredibly lifelike, as if real people had been sealed inside these mirrors, eliciting great excitement from any man who saw them.
However, Yang Kai soon discovered that the figures on these thin silver mirrors only made a few simple actions before repeating the sequence from the start.
“These girls are the signature specials of our Joyous Union Pavilion. Each one of them still retains their purity and possesses a First-Order Saint King Realm cultivation. If not for Young Lord bringing out so many Saint Crystals at once, this Mistress would not have been able to take responsibility for introducing them. I believe they should satisfy the requirements of two Young Lords, but if not, then this Mistress can only express her deepest regrets.”
“First-Order Saint Kings!” Yang Kai gently nodded but his expression remained faint, not betraying any of his thoughts as he checked through the silver mirrors one by one
The number silver mirrors were indeed not high, only eight in total, but each of these mirrors seemed to be quite a special artifact. Each one was capable of recording several lifelike pictures that perfectly showed off the graceful style and features of these women.
If Yang Kai had simply been seeking pleasure here, each of these beauties would have met his requirements, but he knew that Chen Fan Lei had come here because of Wang Yu Han ‘unintentionally’ mentioning it, so Yang Kai knew there was something afoot.
By now, how could Yang Kai not have understood that Wang Yu Han had malicious intentions towards him? It was just that the schemer’s method this time was clever, allowing him to achieve his objective without acting overtly.
Yang Kai was currently stalling for time, deliberately making things difficult because he wanted to see what Wang Yu Han was up to.
He did not really want to have fun here, so after quickly checking through each of these silver mirrors, he would shake his hand and toss them over to Chen Fan Lei who was currently staring dumbly at him.
After browsing through four of these mirrors, Yang Kai still wore a look of indifference, causing the young woman to feel a little uneasy, but remembering how the other party had paid so much Saint Crystals in advance, she didn’t lose her temper like before and simply decided to quietly wait.
When Yang Kai reached the fifth silver mirror, he planned on just taking a casually glance like before, but in the next instant, his complexion changed greatly as a sharp light flashed across his eyes, even his aura suddenly became unstable as he stared at the beautiful figure presented on the silver mirror in his hand.
The young woman who had been closely observing Yang Kai’s expressions naturally did not miss this change and giggled lightly, “Has Young Lord found a beauty that suits his fancy?”
Yang Kai lifted his gaze as a complex light flashed across his eyes, something that surprised the young woman somewhat, but a moment later, that slight awkwardness disappeared and Yang Kai smiled widely, “En, I have indeed. This woman suits my requirements so perfectly I was taken aback for a moment, causing me to embarrass myself slightly.”
Saying so, Yang Kai tossed the silver mirror he was looking at back.
The young woman caught this mirror and looked at the figure displayed on it, murmuring lightly, “So it’s her. En, Young Lord having a liking for her shows you have exquisite taste.”
“Would it be possible to learn this girl’s name?” Yang Kai seemed to ask casually.
The young woman giggled as she covered her mouth, “Please don’t blame me, Young Lord, it is not that this Mistress doesn’t want to tell you, it’s just that Joyous Union Pavilion has a rule that forbids our girls true names from being disclosed. However, Young Lord You may call her Yue’er!”
“Yue’er!” Yang Kai’s eyes flashed strangely once more before he gently nodded and asked, “Then may I know what attribute the Secret Art she cultivates is?”
This time the young woman frowned and hesitantly said, “Is there a reason Young Lord wishes to know this?”
“Please don’t misunderstand, it’s just that since I’ve come here to take advantage of your special Dual Cultivation Technique to break through my bottleneck, I naturally wish to know what the attribute of my partner’s Secret Art is, otherwise, if there is some kind of conflict with mine, wouldn’t it cause some complications for me?”
“En, Young Lord seems to be quite a cautious person, your concern is indeed reasonable,” The young woman heard this and nodded, not giving any hint as to whether she believed him or not as she smiled and replied, “In that case, informing Young Lord is not an issue. Yue’er’s original Secret Art was of the Ice Attribute, but there is no need to worry about conflicts occurring with Young Lord when you engage in dual cultivation because our establishment’s Dual Cultivation Technique does not draw on any kind of attribute. No matter what attribute of Secret Art Young Lord cultivates, there will be no incompatibility. If there were really such worries, this Mistress would naturally have informed Young Lord in advance. “
“I see!” Yang Kai took a deep breath, as if he had just made a big decision, and nodded firmly, “Good, then I’ll choose her.”
“Understood,” The young woman saw Yang Kai make up his mind and quickly clapped her hands. Immediately after, a maidservant walked into the room and the young woman instructed her, “Take this Young Lord to the Snow and Ice Pavilion!”
The maidservant nodded obediently before leading the way.
Yang Kai glanced over at Chen Fan Lei and grinned, “Brother Chen, please help yourself.”
“Eh… ah…en, good good!” Chen Fan Lei nodded repeatedly.
After leaving the private room, Yang Kai followed the maidservant along a long path. As his figure merged into the night, Yang Kai’s face suddenly sank and his body shivered slightly, seemingly unable to suppress the violent swings in his mood.
He had never imagined that after coming to this place he would see a person from Tong Xuan Realm!
How could he not feel shocked?
Originally, he wasn’t certain it was who he thought it was; after all, the world was wide so there were many people who looked similar; but after learning the other party’s name was Yue’er, that she cultivated an Ice Attribute Secret Art, and that she was a First-Order Saint King, Yang Kai immediately determined that this Yue’er was someone he knew.
It had been almost ten years since he stepped into the Star Field and all this time, he had never met anyone he knew from his homeland, but now, the first person he met was not just someone related to him, but was actually living in this kind of amorous establishment.
Most importantly, however, she should have been with Su Yan! Now that she was here though, where was Su Yan? Yang Kai’s heart pounded with uncertainty as a series of chaotic thoughts crossed his mind. It took him quite a while to finally calm his mood and begin chatting with the maidservant, trying to probe for some more information about this woman named Yue’er.
But whether Joyous Union Pavilion had rules against it, or this maidservant’s position was too low for her to know anything, Yang Kai was unable to extract anything of use from her. In the end, the maidservant could only apologize with a guilty look on her face.
Seeing this, Yang Kai could only sigh softly and hold his questions until he met Yue’er in person.
Not long after, the two arrived in front of an exquisite pavilion that was constructed from some kind of special material that gave off a faint chill.
Here, the maidservant bowed and said, “Young Lord, please enter. This is where Lady Yue’er spends most of her days in meditation. Since she is here today, she should have already been informed that she had a guest so she should be waiting for Young Lord’s arrival.”
“En,” Yang Kai waved his hand and sent the maidservant away before striding into the small palace.
There was no one on the first floor, but Yang Kai’s Divine Sense had already located a person on the second floor. After realizing that this person’s life aura was indeed the same as the one he knew, Yang Kai no longer hesitated and quickly rushed upstairs.
The series of footsteps sounded like a drum, causing the woman on the second floor to tremble with fear and a dangerous light quickly flashed across her beautiful eyes, but soon, she seemed to remember something that caused her face to darken and a bitter smile to appear on her face. She then sat quietly at a small round table and waited expressionlessly.
A moment later, Yang Kai arrived on the second floor and directly opened the door to enter a snow-white room. Everything in this room could be described as pure, and whether it was the curtains or the bedding, everything was white, and together with the slight chill in the air, it gave the illusion that one had just entered a world of ice and snow.
Yang Kai’s eyes landed on the woman sitting nearby and he could tell that she was currently feeling quite uneasy, her head drooping down, not standing up to greet him in any way. A few strands of hair hung down to her chest which gave her an extremely desolate and helpless appearance, eliciting a great sense of pity from any who saw her.
As Yang Kai walked straight towards her, this woman’s tender body trembled slightly, as if she was panicking and a painful expression appeared on her face; however, she remained still without moving.
It wasn’t until Yang Kai arrived right in front of her that she let out a resigned sigh and got up to bow politely, “This mistress greets Honoured Guest. May I ask if Honoured Guest wishes to begin immediately?”
She had apparently been informed about having a patron and she continued to hang her head down from beginning to end, avoiding looking at Yang Kai as if she was afraid of something. Even when she spoke, she shows the slightest intention of making conversation, cutting straight to the point.
Yang Kai did not speak as he simply stared at her silently, causing Yue’er to feel quite uncomfortable, as if everything about her was being seen through, causing her to shiver unconsciously.
However, even after quite some time, her guest did not try to take advantage of her at all, causing Yue’er’s brow to wrinkle slightly. Just as she was about to say something more, a sigh rang across from her and a faintly familiar voice sounded in her ear, “Elder Qian Yue, it’s been a long time!”
Although it was only a soft greeting, when it reached Elder Qian Yue’s ears, her body shivered greatly as she hurriedly raised her head to stare at Yang Kai in disbelief.
Immediately, a look of surprise and confusion bursts flashed across her beautiful eyes, as if recognizing Yang Kai but unsure if she was just imagining things, her thoughts being thrown into complete chaos for a time.
“What? Could it be Elder Qian Yue doesn’t recognize this Yang?” Yang Kai smiled at her lightly.
“Yang Kai!” Qian Yue called out in shock, covering her mouth with her hands as her eyes trembled violently, “It’s really you!”
“In this place, besides me, who else knows you as Elder Qian Yue?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
Qian Yue’s expression became even more complicated as she stared at Yang Kai fixedly, wanting to laugh, wanting to cry, a deep struggle taking place on her face for quite some time before she was finally able to restore her calm, leaving only a touch of fondness in her eyes, as if she had finally met a family member after being separated from them for a very long time. Taking a light breath, she pats on her abundant bosom in relief and finally offered her own greetings, “I never expected to be able to meet you here.”
Yang Kai grinned, “I also didn’t anticipate such a reunion.”
“Right, sit down so we can talk,” Qian Yue regained her composure and offered him a seat.
Yang Kai nodded and sat across from her.
Qian Yue sat down, and as their four eyes met, both of them went silent. Obviously they both had a stomach full of questions, but neither of them immediately began asking them.
Qian Yue’s mood was still a bit unstable and Yang Kai was not much better, as the woman named Yue’er in front of him really turned out to be Elder Qian Yue from Tong Xuan Realm’s Ice Sect!
Yang Kai hadn’t really had much contact with this woman and they could at most be considered unfamiliar acquaintances, but in the past, Qian Yue had helped direct Su Yan’s cultivation and although they weren’t officially Master and Disciple, the relationship they shared was essentially that.
When Meng Wu Ya returned to Tong Xuan Realm with Xia Ning Chang and Su Yan through the Void Corridor belonging to the Central Capital, because he needed to free himself from the Profound Heavenly Seal planted on him by Demon Commander Zhang Yuan, he found it impossible to constantly protect Su Yan, so he had entrusted her to the reclusive Ice Sect.
Later, Yang Kai also arrived in Tong Xuan Realm, and after much searching, he had arrived at the Ice Sect where he met Elder Qian Yue and even fought with her.
At the time, Ice Sect’s entire leadership had been drawn out and, in addition to Qian Yue, Yang Kai vaguely remembered several other Saint Realm Elders. Among them was a person named Qian Hao who was Qian Yue’s older blood-related brother as well as Sect Master Qing Ya, who was a peak Third-Order Saint, one of the top masters who stood at the summit of Tong Xuan Realm’s cultivation world.
Back then, Yang Kai had only been a Transcendent Realm cultivator and had only been able to deal with the several Saint Realm Elders of Ice Sect with the help of his Soul Devouring Insects. In the end, he had forced Sect Master Qing Ya to give way and then spent some time to finally communicate with Su Yan’s Soul, bringing their Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art to the grand accomplishment stage.
Now, less than two decades later, an Elder-class figure that Yang Kai had needed to look up to was currently a destitute traveller who had lost even the freedom to decide her own fate and had degenerated into a Dual Cultivation tool for paying customers to use for breaking through their cultivation bottlenecks. The myriad twists and turns which had resulted in the current situation really made Yang Kai feel somewhat emotional while the same must be even truer for Elder Qian Yue.
As these thoughts flashed across Yang Kai’s mind, his expression suddenly changed as he put on a smile and asked, “I heard that Lady Yue’er has cultivated an Ice Attribute Secret Art. Did you come here from afar? How did you wind up in this place?”
Qian Yue’s brow furrowed slightly as she stared at Yang Kai suspiciously, but after seeing the unusual look in his eyes, she suddenly understood something and replied lightly, “I indeed once cultivated an Ice Attribute Secret Art, but this matter will not have any detriment to Honoured Guest’s request. As for how I came to this place, it is not something Honoured Guest need concern himself with.”
Yang Kai didn’t reveal any signs of discontent and simply smiled lightly, “If that’s the case, then this Yang will not ask any further, I simply thought that before we dual cultivate, some communication would benefit both of us. This Yang would like to have a good discussion with Lady Yue’er to increase our mutual understanding, does Lady Yue’er have any objections?”
“If that is what Honoured Guest requests, this Mistress will naturally cooperate,” Qian Yue still replied indifferently.
Yang Kai gently nodded before launching into a conversation about some trivial matters with Qian Yue, most of which were about some interesting rumours he had heard which actually piqued Qian Yue’s interest. Although her expression remained cold, her beautiful eyes were quite animated and revealed a curious light.
After a long time, Yang Kai’s voice abruptly came to a halt as his expression became serious once more, nodding to Qian Yue slightly, “Alright. The Divine Sense which was monitoring us has withdrawn.”
Qian Yue expression also became serious while some surprise flashed across her eyes at the same time as she said, “Yang Kai, you really are a bit difficult to see through. When you were just a Transcendent, you dared to break into the Ice Sect all alone, and now you’ve come to Joyous Union Pavilion and are actually able to detect the Divine Sense surveillance of those people. How did you accomplish that?”
Any Divine Sense that would be monitoring this place must belong to an Origin Returning Realm master! If not for seeing Yang Kai’s expression which was silently warning her about this, Qian Yue wouldn’t have cooperated with him.
However, Qian Yue could clearly tell that Yang Kai’s cultivation had only reached the Second-Order Saint King Realm, something which greatly surprised her for many reasons.
Yang Kai smiled lightly and explained, “My Divine Sense is a bit stronger than the average cultivator’s.”
“This can’t be described as merely being a bit stronger,” Qian Yue shook her head wryly but didn’t try to dig any deeper, instead asking eagerly, “Why are you here?”
“I wanted to ask you the exact same question,” Yang Kai looked at her seriously.
“It’s a long story,” Qian Yue smiled bitterly, picking up the teapot to pour both of them a cup before sorting out her thoughts and continuing, “Presumably you should know by now why Ice Sect had established itself in that glacial world?
“En, I have a fair understanding. It must have been to guard against the resurgence of the Bone Race,” Yang Kai nodded lightly, his memories of the past surfacing slowly.
“Yeah, but the Bone Race’s reappearance was far more violent than what our Ice Sect anticipated and after many years of decline, we were unable to resist them by relying on just the few Saint Realm masters we possessed! Fortunately, the Seniors of Ice Sect had seized a Star Shuttle during their first conflict with the Bone Race and that Star Shuttle had been passed down from one generation of Sect Master to the next. After Ice Sect was destroyed, Qing Ya knew that she wouldn’t be able to escape with us in tow so we had no choice but to risk entering the Void Corridor nearby and rely on the power of the Star Shuttle to enter the Star Field!”
“En, it’s just as I had inquired about,” Yang Kai took a deep breath, “After entering the Star Field though, how did you wind up here? Where are Sect Master Qing Ya and Su Yan?” Yang Kai asked anxiously.
Qian Yue’s expression dimmed suddenly, and upon seeing this, Yang Kai’s face turned pale as fear and anxiety threatened to overcome him.
Seeing his look, Qian Yue immediately knew that he had misunderstood her and quickly waved her hands, “It’s not what you think. Although I don’t know where they are now, Sect Master Qing Ya and Su Yan are definitely still alive.”
“How can you be so sure?” Yang Kai looked at her suspiciously.
“Because of this,” Qian Yue turned her palm over and summoned two pure and flawless ice crystal beads, each of them only the size of a thumbnail.
As soon as he saw these two ice beads, Yang Kai was startled and his eyes immediately became fixed on one of them in particular, unable to look away. He felt Su Yan’s aura from this ice bead while the other carried Qing Ya’s.
“What are these?” Yang Kai eventually looked up at Qian Yue.
“These are Ice Soul Beads created using one of our Ice Sect’s secret techniques. This bead will only shatter when the person who condensed it falls!” Qian Yue explained softly, “Every Ice Soul Bead corresponds to a specific person. We were also concerned that we would become separated after entering the Star Field, so we condensed several sets of these just in case. I have the others’ Ice Soul Bead in my hands, and they have my Ice Soul Beads in theirs. Since these two Ice Soul Beads haven’t broken, that can only mean they are still alive!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai finally calmed down as a look of pleasant surprise flashed across his eyes.
As long as Su Yan was alive, he could feel at ease. Although he didn’t know where she was right now, there would be a day when they would meet again, of this, Yang Kai was convinced.
After hesitating for a moment, Yang Kai asked, “This Ice Soul Bead, can you give it to me?”
Qian Yue smiled lightly, “Of course; after all, you are little Su Yan’s most beloved person in the world.”
Saying so, she handed over the Ice Soul Bead that belonged to Su Yan. Yang Kai expressed his thanks once more before accepting it.
Staring at the cold bead, Yang Kai couldn’t help reminiscing about Su Yan’s appearance and the smile she showed him all those years ago, a trace of tenderness filling his expression. Yang Kai indulged in this reverie for a moment before very cautiously placing this Ice Soul Bead into his Black Book Space.
After doing this, Yang Kai let out a sigh of relief as his mind and body seemed to relax greatly. The invisible pressure which had been weighing on his heart for so long finally lifted at this moment and the Saint Qi in his body began to involuntarily churn, causing the surrounding World Energy to stir violently.
After learning that Su Yan had not encountered any kind of fatal accident, relieving the stress in his heart, Yang Kai’s aura began to surge and he showed signs of breaking through.
Although Yang Kai hadn’t mentioned the matter about Su Yan to anyone for a long time, and even if he only occasionally had time to think about it, the subtle worry he felt had never left him and had become something of a stumbling block for his process.
Now, feeling Su Yan’s aura once more, this shackle had been released. As long as this Ice Soul Bead still existed, Yang Kai could rest assured that she was still alive, so naturally, he was able to relax. After refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, his cultivation had reached the peak of the Second-Order Saint King Realm, and now that almost two years had passed, he had truly reached the edge of a breakthrough.
Today’s matter was simply a sudden opportunity, and even if it hadn’t happened, Yang Kai estimated that within three to six months he would still be able to break through. Him being in a rush to return to Dragon Cave Mountain was also because he wanted to make preparations for this breakthrough.
The abnormalities in Yang Kai’s aura naturally didn’t escape Qian Yue’s eyes and she couldn’t help looking at him in surprise. A look of delight appeared on her face and Qian Yue was just about to congratulate him when suddenly Yang Kai frowned and forcibly suppressed the roiling of his Saint Qi. A moment later, after his face went a bit red, nothing more happened.
The surrounding World Energy, which had been disturbed by Yang Kai’s surge in aura, quickly settled and returned to normal.
“Why would you give up such an opportunity?” Qian Yue asked with a slight look of pity in her eyes.
Yang Kai smiled and shook his head, “It’s fine, I will have another one sooner or later. Right now, I’d rather learn more about your current situation, like how you wound up separated after entering the Star Field.”
Qian Yue heard this and couldn’t help flashing a bitter smile, nodding after a moment of silence and agreeing, “Alright, your mood is unstable right now so it’s not the best time to break through anyways.”
After collecting her thoughts, Qian Yue began explaining what happened after she and the other Elders of Ice Sect entered the Star Field.
Through Qian Yue’s narration, Yang Kai realized that the initial journey she and the others had through the Star Field was far more dangerous than his own, especially when it came to Starry Sky Storms and vast Asteroid Seas.
In terms of physical strength and Soul cultivation, none of the Ice Sect survivors could match Yang Kai, so after entering the Star Field, they were immediately beset by crisis. If not for Qing Ya and the other Saints doing their utmost to protect her, with Su Yan’s cultivation, she would have quickly fallen.
Even so, two Saint Realm Elders of Ice Sect had failed to withstand the impact of a particularly harsh Starry Sky Storm and fallen, leaving behind only Sect Master Qing Ya, Su Yan, Qian Yue, and Qian Hao.
These four had continued wandering destitute through the Star Field for several years before they stumbled upon a Void Corridor.
Although they had no idea what kind of dangers might lie beyond this Void Corridor, if they gave up this opportunity, they would soon be unable to support themselves.
So, after some discussions, the four dove into the Void Corridor, but this particular Void Corridor seemed to be a little unstable and actually had many internal forks, causing their group to inadvertently be dispersed. After Qian Yue passed through this Void Corridor, she found herself on Shadowed Star.
As for the others, she could not tell where they went.
Yang Kai’s expression became much heavier after hearing this.
If they had simply been separated after passing through the same fork in this Void Corridor, then Sect Master Qing Ya, Elder Qian Hao, and Su Yan must have also arrived on Shadowed Star, but if they had taken different forks, who knows where they could have been sent?
Moreover, Yang Kai was at least ninety percent certain that the other three weren’t on Shadowed Star, because if they were, he would have been able to faintly sense Su Yan’s presence, and as he grew stronger, this link would have become easier to detect.
Yang Kai had used a drop of Golden Blood and circumnavigate all of Shadowed Star, so if Su Yan was really here, he would definitely have been aware of it.
[Void Corridors could have multiple branches!] This concept startled Yang Kai quite a bit, but he soon felt that with the world being so vast, such things should not really be a surprise. He was still just a small Second-Order Saint King, so there were obviously many things he could not understand yet.
The Ice Soul Beads indeed showed that the other three were still alive, but it did not provide any clues as to where in the Star Field they might be.
When Qian Yue arrived on Shadowed Star, she appeared near Black Crow City. At that time, she had just passed through an unstable Void Corridor and been seriously wounded, with almost no power to protect herself. Unfortunately, soon after, she encountered several heinous cultivators who, after seeing her extraordinary appearance, immediately had ill intentions towards her. Fortunately, a nearby Origin Returning Realm master happened to pass by, rescued her, and brought her back to Joyous Union Pavilion.
Since then, Qian Yue had lived in Joyous Union Pavilion and cultivated the Dual Cultivation Technique given to her by the Origin Realm master who saved her.
As time passed, Qian Yue gradually understood what kind of place she had been brought to and what fate would be waiting for her. Fortunately, her cultivation was not low and after quickly reaching the First-Order Saint King Realm, no ordinary person would be able to afford her. Occasionally, several distinguished guests who paid a lot of money had come here, but none of them had selected her, allowing her to retain her freedom until now.
Today though, when she received word that an Honoured Guest would soon be visiting her boudoir and that she would need to give him her innocence, Qian Yue’s heart had been thrown into turmoil, but to her great surprise this VIP actually turned out to be Yang Kai.
While Qian Yue told her story, Yang Kai did not interrupt and simply listened attentively.
It seemed that recalling all her bitter experiences made Qian Yue a bit emotional and she would sometimes wipe a few tears that leaked from her eyes as she spoke. Before, she had been an Elder of Ice Sect, and although her reputation wasn’t resounding, she was still one of the top masters in all of Tong Xuan Realm, but after entering the Star Field, before she could even see any of its wonders, she had encountered several life threatening disasters and when she finally settled down, she had actually been put under house arrest and degenerated into a prostitute.
Her circumstances before and after could only be described as worlds apart.
Yang Kai did not know how to comfort her. In a certain sense, Qian Yue could barely be considered his Elder, but as one’s cultivation rose, they would pile up many different experiences, making it impossible to judge one’s true age from their appearance and demeanor. If Yang Kai tried to comfort her as a peer, it would instead feel more like he was overstepping himself.
After Qian Yue had settled down somewhat, Yang Kai asked, “Do you still remember the scenes of the Star Field you saw before you entered that Void Corridor?”
“I can’t be certain, but I do still have some impressions of the nearby star patterns,” Qian Yue gently nodded.
“Okay…” Yang Kai’s eyes lit up, “Then another day you’ll have to describe those star patterns to me!”
“Naturally, that’s not a problem, but with that alone, how do you plan on determining that location?”
“You don’t have to worry about that, I naturally have my ways. Right, you mentioned just now that there was a restriction placed on you, correct? If it is convenient, can you show it to me?”
“It should be fine for you to examine it, but don’t act rashly. That seal was placed on me by the Origin Returning Realm master who rescued me, one of the managers of this Joyous Union Pavilion. She spends most of her days in a secret room in this compound meditating, so if she is alarmed, the consequences will definitely be dire.”
“En, I understand,” Yang Kai nodded lightly before reaching out and placing two fingers on Qian Yue’s wrist. Injecting a thread of his Saint Qi into her body, Yang Kai began examining the seal placed on her.
As he investigated this restriction, Yang Kai’s expression gradually became dignified.
After some time, Yang Kai withdrew his fingers, revealed a thoughtful expression, and said, “It’s not too vicious a seal, it seems its only purpose is to stop you from running away.”
“En, I tried to escape a few times, but every time she activated this seal, I became too weak to even move. If it were not for me breaking through to the Saint King Realm in the past few years, she wouldn’t have been so forgiving towards me.”
A few years ago, Qian Yue was just a Saint Realm cultivator, but to the Joyous Union Pavilion, the worth of a Saint Realm woman was incomparable to that of a Saint King Realm woman. It was for this reason that even though Qian Yue tried to run away multiple times, she only received a bit of light punishment.
After Qian Yue successfully broke through to the Saint King Realm, she was immediately pushed into becoming a Dual Cultivation partner for rich cultivators.
It was obvious now that the reason that Origin Realm master had rescued Qian Yue at that time was because of it. After all, Qian Yue seemed to be all alone, had decent cultivation, and had her innocence intact. Rescuing and cultivating her was undoubtedly more cost-effective for the Joyous Union Pavilion than training a girl from scratch.
“I’ve told you my story now, but what about yours? What is the situation in Tong Xuan Realm? Did the Bone Race wreak havoc?” Qian Yue sorted out her appearance and asked nervously.
Although she had come to the Star Field, Tong Xuan Realm was still her home and she could not help worrying about it.
Yang Kai smiled lightly, “Don’t worry about the Bone Race, they’ve been annihilated. Tong Xuan Realm was quite prosperous when I left, and the relationship between the Demon Race, Monster Race and Human Race was also much more harmonious after they worked together to defeat a common enemy.”
“The Bone Race has been annihilated?” Qian Yue was shocked to hear this and quickly asked, “How did it happen?”
Yang Kai explained briefly about how all of Tong Xuan Realm’s races banded together to fight the Bone Race. Qian Yue listened with a fascinated look, and after understanding the events of that great battle, Yang Kai also explained to her about his experiences in the Star Field.
Compared with Qian Yue’s experience, Yang Kai’s was far more fantastical but also far more dangerous.
After Yang Kai entered the Star Field, he had quickly been captured and imprisoned in the Power Room of a Starship where his Saint Qi was continuously extracted to replenish its energy reserves. Soon after, the Starship he was aboard was caught in the Chaotic Abyss’ domain eruption and was destroyed, resulting in him being stranded on the strange floating continent with Gui Zu. Eventually escaping from the floating continent, Yang Kai then went to Water Moon Star where he had inexplicably drawn the attention of Xue Yue Third Young Master of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce and taken a perilous journey filled with unexpected twists and turns to Rainfall Star.
After unlocking the Soul Chains, Yang Kai had then escaped from Rainfall Star and been trapped in a deep sleep inside the strange blood-red crystal for several years, eventually drifting all the way to Shadowed Star where he was fished from the Starry Sky by Wu Yi and the others from the Hai Ke Family.
Only after explaining everything up until and including his recent exploration of the Flowing Flame Sand Field did Yang Kai stop.
Of course, Yang Kai intentionally brushed over the strange ‘battle’ he had fought with Xue Yue Third Young Master on that unnamed Dead Star, as well as the fact that Xue Yue was a woman.
After listening to his story, Qian Yue could not help feeling a sense of envy, as well as admiration. What she envied was the free and unconstrained life Yang Kai had while what she admired was how he had crossed so many dangerous roads after entering the Star Field. His original intentions of entering the Star Field to Su Yan also improved Qian Yue’s impression of him greatly and she even felt that Su Yan had not entrusted herself to the wrong person.
On top of that, seeing his concern about Su Yan just now, it was obvious that even after so many years had passed, Su Yan’s weight in his heart had not diminished in the slightest.
After falling silent for a moment though, Qian Yue suddenly smiled meaningfully as she stared at Yang Kai and said, “Seeing you like this, it seems you’ve really led an unrestrained life, you even have the time and mind to come to a place like this!”
Gawking for a moment, Yang Kai quickly understood that she was speaking to uphold justice for Su Yan and quickly waved his hands, “Elder Qian Yue misunderstands, I have a reason for coming here.”
“Of course you have a reason, every man who comes here says the same when he’s asked, but in light of your performance just now, on behalf of Su Yan, I will give you a chance to explain yourself. If you really have some important reasons to come here, then so be it, but if not… hmph, don’t blame this Elder for speaking a few malicious remarks to Su Yan the next time we meet,” Qian Yue said with a faint grin.
Yang Kai’s eyes swam as his heart clenched but he quickly regained his composure and began explaining about Chen Fan Lei inviting him to come here as well as his suspicions about Wang Yu Han’s interference.
Qian Yue was able to become an Elder of Ice Sect, and had also cultivated to the Second-Order Saint Realm on Tong Xuan Realm, so naturally, she was an intelligent woman. After listening to Yang Kai’s explanation, how could she not understand the circumstances surrounding his situation?
After pondering for a while, she nodded, “If it is as you say, you really do have a reason for coming here, but that Wang Yu Han is quite the schemer, the plan he came up with fulfils his objective while allowing him to remain hidden. He’s not someone to be underestimated.”
Yang Kai smiled faintly and said, “If him plotting against me like this is just to discredit me in Chen Shi Tao’s eyes, then so be it, but if he has other malicious intent, heh…”
Although he had guessed what Wang Yu Han’s plan was, Yang Kai didn’t intend to leave here right away. Originally, he had been planning to wait here and force Wang Yu Han to reveal his true intentions, but after seeing Qian Yue’s figure on those silver mirrors, he had naturally pushed the plot along and come to this Snow and Ice Pavilion.
“It seems you’re still as fearless as ever,” Qian Yue muttered absent-mindedly, the scene of Yang Kai breaking into Ice Sect alone and running amok suddenly flashing across her memories. Whether it was at that time or now, Yang Kai’s strength hadn’t been very high, but he dared to do things ordinary people would never even dream of. After pondering for a while, Qian Yue continued, “But since you dare to do this, you must have some degree of confidence, so I won’t try to persuade you otherwise; however, you have to be careful. I don’t want to have to collect the dead body of an old acquaintance I managed to encounter after so long.”
“Rest assured, if I cannot win, I can still escape,” Yang Kai grinned, “However, you have to tell me first, what kind of background does this Joyous Union Pavilion have?”
“Background?” Qian Yue’s brow furrowed slightly, “I don’t know much about the specific situation; after all, since I came here, I haven’t had much contact with outsiders, but occasionally I overheard some gossip from the maidservants. There are three Origin Returning Realm masters who oversee this place, and Joyous Union Pavilion itself seems to be the hidden industry of a Sect called Imperial City Sect. They also seem to have the support of the City Lord here.”
“Imperial City Sect?” Yang Kai froze for a moment, feeling like he had dealt with members of this Sect somewhere before, but even after thinking about it for a while, he was unable to remember.
Since he couldn’t remember though, it shouldn’t have been anything important, so Yang Kai didn’t pay it any mind. Stroking his chin for a moment, he began pondering out loud, “Three Origin Returning Realm masters standing guard here, its not a weak lineup.”
Seeing the strange light flashing across his eyes, Qian Yue beautiful face changed and she hurriedly asked, “What do you want to do?”
Yang Kai waved his hand lightly and smiled, “It’s not what you think. I have no grudge or grievance with this place, so I don’t plan on stirring up trouble, I simply want to take you away from here.”
“Take me away?” A look of joy flashed across Qian Yue’s face; however, her expression quickly dimmed and she said with a bitter smile, “Leading me away from here won’t be easy.”
“Is there some kind of problem?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.
“Naturally there are problems, and not small ones at that! Since you can come to Snow and Ice Pavilion, you must have paid a lot of Saint Crystal, yes? I don’t know where you obtained those Saint Crystals from, but just one night with me already costs so much, so the price to take me away from here must be at least ten times as high. Do you have that many Saint Crystals?” Obviously in her opinion, it was impossible for Yang Kai to have so many Saint Crystal. Just the fee for a night of passion here was already an astronomical figure in Qian Yue’s eyes.
However, Yang Kai just smiled happily and replied, “You don’t need to worry about this, I can take out a trivial few Saint Crystals.”
“A trivial few…” Qian Yue couldn’t help covering her red lips as she stared at Yang Kai in amazement, as if she wanted to confirm it was really him once more. No matter how she thought about it, she wasn’t able to figure out how Yang Kai could possess such great wealth.
“I just don’t know if the Joyous Union Pavilion will let you go. It stands to reason that a woman like you, after receiving an Honoured Guest and losing your Primordial Yin, wouldn’t be too important to Joyous Union Pavilion,” Yang Kai thought out loud, but upon saying these words a hint of embarrassment flashed across his face, “This Yang’s words were too crass, I hope Elder Qian Yue won’t take offence!”
Qian Yue’s pretty face blushed lightly, giving her quite a charming appearance, but she quickly recovered and calmly said, “It’s fine, what you said is true, but do you think that Joyous Union Pavilion’s people won’t be able to see I still have my Primordial Yin? While I still retain it, you wanting to purchase me might be a bit difficult.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help but frown, “That will probably be the case. I’m afraid that Joyous Union Pavilion will use this point to try to raise the price, but that’s fine. There’s nothing that can’t be negotiated in this world, it all depends on whether an appropriate price can be paid. Both you and I are from Tong Xuan Realm, and encountering each other here is nothing short of divine intervention, so no matter what I can’t just leave you here.”
Hearing this, Qian Yue’s face flashed a trace of gratitude and didn’t say anything more; instead, she began looking forward to the future in her heart. If there was a chance for her to leave here, how could she choose to remain? Yang Kai’s arrival today had finally given her a glimmer of hope, and if she missed this opportunity, all that would await her was a destitute life as a product sold to men for dual cultivation.
Following up, Yang Kai asked for more details about Joyous Union Pavilion. Qian Yue naturally told him everything she knew; unfortunately, her limited knowledge wasn’t much help to him.
After an hour or so, Qian Yue summoned a maidservant of Joyous Union Pavilion, and after giving her some instructions, the maidservant showed a shocked expression and directed a complex look towards Yang Kai before quickly leaving.
After the time it would take to boil a cup of tea, the young woman who had dealt with Yang Kai before appeared and looked towards him with a smile, a strange light flashing across her eyes, apparently having heard some information from the maidservant.
Qian Yue personally offered tea before standing beside Yang Kai, a slightly nervous expression on her face.
The young woman took a few sips of the tea before lightly opening her lip and exhaling an orchid scent while asking, “I heard that the Young Lord intends to redeem Yue’er and present her freedom?”
“It is as you heard,” Yang Kai nodded calmly, getting straight to the point, “I am very satisfied with Lady Yue’er, so I want to take her out of here. I wonder if your noble establishment is willing to part with her?”
The young woman giggled and looked at Qian Yue with a hint of surprise in her eyes before saying, “If this Mistress isn’t mistaken, Yue’er’s Primordial Yin is still intact. Since Young Lord has not yet savoured her most precious possession, why do you want to take Yue’er away?”
Yang Kai frowned, “I naturally have my reasons, does your noble establishment insist on inquiring into such matters?”
“Please forgive me, Young Lord, it’s just that there is little precedent for girls from Joyous Union Pavilion to be redeemed. This Mistress has to be a bit cautious.”
A trace of embarrassment appeared on Yang Kai’s face as he seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying, “Since that’s the case, it seems I really should give your noble establishment an explanation. Good, I have indeed not partaken of Lady Yue’er’s innocence, what I am interested in however is her Ice Attribute Secret Art. It has some use for my future cultivation.”
“Her Ice Attribute Secret Art? If that is the case, then this Mistress is even more confused. Those who cultivate such Secret Arts are innumerable, why does Young Lord insist on needing Yue’er specifically?” Saying so, the young woman fixed her beautiful eyes on Yang Kai’s, seemingly wanting to see into the depths of his soul.
Yang Kai chuckled, “There are indeed a lot of cultivators who cultivate Ice Attribute Secret Arts, but those who I feel intimate with are not many. If I said I fell in love with Lady Yue’er at first sight, would you believe it?”
The young woman couldn’t help giggling, and Qian Yue standing beside Yang Kai also showed a high of blush on her face, giving her a shy and embarrassed look.
“Whether you believe it or not, it is the truth. I have nothing to hide,” Yang Kai argued strongly, as if he would go to his death swearing it was the truth.
The young woman’s brow furrowed as she suddenly stood up and walked over to Qian Yue, holding the other’s arm intimately as she smiled elegantly to Yang Kai, “Please don’t be upset, Young Lord. It’s not that this Mistress is trying to make things difficult, it’s just that Yue’er is a disciple Joyous Union Pavilion has cultivated since childhood and invested a great number of resources into. Moreover, this Mistress and Yue’er have a bond of sisterhood, so I am truly reluctant to part with her. I truly hope that she can stay here with me forever.”
“Cultivated since childhood, a bond of sisterhood…” Yang Kai smiled faintly, but the smile on the young woman’s face didn’t diminish as she stared back confidently at him.
If Yang Kai hadn’t known Qian Yue from before and has been aware of her origins, he would likely have been deceived here. This young woman’s ability to talk nonsense was quite astonishing.
Yang Kai’s look suddenly became serious and he waved, “Name your price. Since you haven’t directly refused, there’s obviously room for negotiation. Give me a number and I will see if it can bear it. As long as we can reach an agreement, this transaction can be completed.”
The young woman curled her lips before turning and returning to her seat, saying lightly, “Since Young Lord wants to get straight to business, this Mistress won’t delay any further. Indeed, our Joyous Union Pavilion has precedents for girls being redeemed, but there has never been a Saint King girl among them. If Young Lord wishes to set such a precedent, the price you will have to pay will not be small.”
“Go on,” Yang Kai looked at her lightly.
The young woman’s brows furrowed slightly as she glanced over at Qian Yue and said, “If Yue’er had lost her Primordial Yin, it would be a different matter entirely, but since she still retains her innocence, her price will naturally be higher. “
“Haven’t you made a mistake?” Yang Kai sneered suddenly, “I already paid quite a few Saint Crystals for tonight, so in principle, Lady Yue’er’s Primordial Yin already belongs to me, yet you actually want to take it as a chip to bargain with?”
“There is indeed some truth to that,” The young woman pursed her lips and smiled, “But does Young Lord really wish to claim Yue’er’s Primordial Yin? If not then it must be taken into account. However, if Young Lord wishes to unite with Yue’er now, this Mistress won’t interfere. When your dual cultivation sessions finishes, we can discuss this matter again. How about it?”
She seemed to understand that Yang Kai wouldn’t do this, so she fully intended to take advantage of this point.
Yang Kai’s face went cold, while Qian Yue’s expression also became quite bitter. Being forced to watch others bargaining back and forth over her like she was some kind of item for sale, even discussing the matter of her purity like it was a selling feature, caused Qian Yue’s face to turn sour.
Listening to this young woman’s words, if he were to take Qian Yue’s Primordial Yin right now, the price to redeem her would undoubtedly be much lower. Just as Yang Kai and Qian Yue had previously concluded, but how could Yang Kai possibly do this?
In this situation, Yang Kai could do nothing but hold his nose and accept it! This caused him to feel quite depressed in his heart.
With a cold face, he continued, “I cannot accept your proposal, so your demand is reasonable.”
When the young woman saw him compromise, she immediately smiled happily and said, “Without even mentioning the resources Yue’er has consumed for her cultivation so far, just the Dual Cultivation Technique she has cultivated is a core secret of our Joyous Union Pavilion. Since Young Lord has plans to redeem her, I believe there is a need to discuss how to deal with this particular problem, yes? Or could it be possible that Young Lord intends to purchase our Dual Cultivation Technique as well?”
Yang Kai’s face changed slightly, suddenly recognizing that he had ignored this problem, but he quickly realized something and immediately retorted, “Surely you must be joking. Although this Dual Cultivation Technique is indeed your noble establishment’s core secret, as far as I know, there should be many hidden dangers with using it, correct?”
Hearing this, the young woman shot a cold glare towards Qian Yue, seemingly believing she had revealed something she should not have.
Yang Kai quickly interjected though, “You may rest assured, Lady Yue’er did not tell me anything about your Dual Cultivation Technique, I simply know that there is no Secret Art which is so convenient in this world. The Dual Cultivation Technique of your noble establishment is indeed quite unique, but it must surely have its drawbacks as well.”
The look on the young woman’s face became a bit complicated, but she didn’t try to deny Yang Kai’s assertion, simply nodding a moment later and saying, “Being able to see through this point, Young Lord is also a person of great insight it seems. En, our Joyous Union Pavilion’s Dual Cultivation Technique does have hidden dangers, but this kind of thing is not a secret. Many people know about it and even the guests who come here for this service are aware.”
“Oh?” It was Yang Kai’s turn to be surprised this time, “Could you explain a bit more?”
“Certainly. In any case, if you go outside to inquire a bit, you will be able to learn of it anyway. The hidden dangers of using our Dual Cultivation Technique to break through a bottleneck is that your cultivation will never again increase.”
“I see!” Yang Kai gently nodded, “Since they know about this danger, why come here to break through a bottleneck in the first place?”
“Because the customers who feel they have no hope of breaking through in their lifetime naturally don’t care about such detriments. If they come here, perhaps they can advance another step. If it were Young Lord in their place, and you were unable to break through your bottleneck even after hundreds of years, and you learned our Joyous Union Pavilion might provide that opportunity, how would you choose?”
Yang Kai thought for a moment before nodding in agreement, “I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to resist such temptation.”
“That’s right. Our Dual Cultivation Technique does indeed have hidden dangers, but it is still a rare and powerful Secret Art. Young Lord wants to redeem Yue’er, and Yue’er knows how to cultivate this Dual Cultivation Technique, so who could say for certain that Young Lord doesn’t have ideas about this Secret Art?”
“You’re well aware of the truth, so why try to press me over this?” Yang Kai coldly snorted, “I’m not stupid enough to destroy my great future with a mere dual cultivation session.”
The young woman laughed lightly, “I am certainly not pressing Young Lord, it is simply necessary for this Mistress to remind Young Lord about this point. However, if Young Lord still insists on taking Yue’er away, there is room for negotiation.”
“I’d like to hear the details!” Yang Kai raised his brow.
“If Yue’er had cultivated the most core principles of our Dual Cultivation Technique, even if Young Lord offered an extraordinary price, this Mistress would not dare to let her go. Fortunately, Yue’er has not been cultivating this technique for very long and has not studied its core concepts yet. As such, some accommodations can be made. This Mistress has two proposals for Young Lord to consider.”
With that said, she looked to Yang Kai and waited until he signaled her to continue before stating casually, “The first proposal is very simple, Yue’er simply needs to abolish her Dual Cultivation Technique.”
As soon as this was said, Qian Yue’s face turned pale and her tender body shivered.
Yang Kai could not help but frown. Although this Dual Cultivation Technique was something Qian Yue had been forced to cultivate after coming to Joyous Union Pavilion, she had nevertheless incorporated it into her cultivation. If it were to be abolished, it would affect her negatively. If her luck was good, it would simply cause some damage to her foundation which could be restored with enough time and resources, but if she was unlucky, it may leave her permanently crippled.
Naturally, Yang Kai immediately shook his head, “This option is unacceptable, tell me about the second one.”
The young woman seemed to have expected this and continued with a smile, “The second option is, Young Lord simply must pay a bit more.”
“Enough to cover the expense of the first parts of Yue’er Dual Cultivation Technique, right?” Yang Kai asked pointedly.
“That is indeed what this Mistress is proposing. Does Young Lord have any issue with this option?”
“Your proposal is reasonable, so I have no problems with it,” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
The young woman’s expression filled with happiness as she nodded, “Young Lord is really a straightforward person. But if it is like this, the price Young Lord must pay will not be small.”
“What kind of price does your noble establishment want then?” Yang Kai stared at her fixedly.
The young woman frowned slightly and thought for a moment before reporting a number.
Qian Yue’s tender body shook noticeably as she stood beside Yang Kai, her eyes flashing a trace of despair. The price was shockingly high. From Qian Yue’s meager understanding of Shadowed Star, she knew that such an amount of Saint Crystals would be enough to buy an excellent Origin Grade artifact. Even if she were to spend the rest of her life saving, she may not necessarily be able to accumulate such a sum.
Yang Kai’s calm and indifferent expression also gave way to one of frustration as he hesitantly stroked his chin.
Seeing this, the young woman smiled slightly, “Young Lord, there’s no point in trying to bargain this price down. Since this Mistress has reported such a number, you can rest assured that it is in line with our Joyous Union Pavilion’s policies and not something I can simply change at will. If you cannot afford the price, please give up.”
Her last sentence was spoken quite bluntly, as if she had already determined that Yang Kai was strong in will but weak in strength. She was not prepared to waste any more time with him.
Yang Kai let out a sigh and said, “Such a huge amount of Saint Crystals really makes things difficult for me.”
The young woman sneered but did not say anything further.
Quickly advancing the conversation though, Yang Kai continued, “Would your noble establishment be willing to accept some items as collateral?”
“Collateral?” The young woman’s brow rose slightly.
“Yes. artifacts, pills, materials, or other valuables,” Yang Kai replied, “These items are all important for this Yang, so I can only offer them as collateral. After returning home, I will raise enough Saint Crystals and return to redeem them. After all, no one simply carries such a large amount of Saint Crystals with them.”
“What Young Lord says makes sense, but it also depends on what you are willing to put up as collateral. If Young Lord were to simply toss out a few random items but never return, wouldn’t my Joyous Union Pavilion wind up suffering a loss?”
“You need not worry about this point, since I must offer something as collateral, they will definitely be important treasures, it is impossible for me to not return to redeem them.” Saying so, Yang Kai wore a look of struggle for a moment before waving his hand and taking out two jade bottles, two artifacts, and a Space Ring. Placing these items on the table between them, Yang Kai pushed them towards the young woman and said lightly, “Please see for yourself if this will be enough.”
The young woman gave Yang Kai a suspicious look but quickly nodded. Picking up the Space Ring first, she swept its contents with her Divine Sense. After discovering that there were some Saint Crystals in it, she put this ring back down without any change in expression; after all, the number of Saint Crystals in this ring was far lower than the price she had just quoted.
Next picking up one of the jade bottles, she opened it and took a sniff. In the next instant, her beautiful face changed slightly, and she quickly poured a pill out of the bottle onto her palm and began carefully inspecting it. After a moment, she showed a trace of surprise and muttered, “An Origin Grade Low-Rank Fire Cloud Pill, and its quality is extremely high. Which Alchemy Grandmaster refined this?”
Yang Kai wore a neutral expression, showing no intention to answer her.
The young woman’s expression immediately became more dignified than before, because in order to obtain such a bottle of Origin Grade Low-Rank pills, it was necessary to have a strong connection with an Alchemy Grandmaster and possess extraordinary status and wealth. Realizing this, she no longer dared look down on Yang Kai.
After all, Imperial City Sect, which was Joyous Union Pavilion’s secret backer was only a mid-rank Sect and they possessed no such Grandmaster.
Checking the other pill bottle, the young woman found it also contained Origin Grade Low-Rank pills, allowing her to affirm the speculation in her heart. These two pill bottles were incredibly valuable, not something that could be purchased simply by possessing enough Saint Crystals.
The two artifacts, on the other hand, were not as impressive, just ordinary Saint King Grade High-Rank artifacts. However, they were still worth a fair number of Saint Crystals.
“These two bottles are treasures I had to expend great effort to obtain and are very useful for my future cultivation, so you may rest assured I will come back for them,” Yang Kai said with a slight smile to the young woman.
The young woman nodded slowly; all of her previous suspicions being swept aside. In truth, these two bottles of pills were treasures that even ordinary Origin Realm masters might not necessarily be able to possess. A Second Order Saint King having them clearly indicated he had extraordinary connections and means.
What she did not know was that these pills were things Yang Kai had refined himself.
Seeing her fall into contemplation, Yang Kai did not say anything further, simply casting a glance of reassurance to Qian Yue. He could tell that this young woman was very interested in the offer he had made and shouldn’t try to put forward any kind of excessive request, so as soon as this transaction was completed, he would immediately take Qian Yue away from Black Crow City and never return.
As for the pills and artifacts he just handed over, how could Yang Kai care about such insignificant things?
The reason Yang Kai had not just taken out the number of Saint Crystals this young woman had asked for was simply out of an abundance of caution. Casually taking out such an astonishing amount of wealth would undoubtedly draw unwanted attention.
Having witnessed this entire process, Qian Yue could not help but smile.
After a long time, the young woman seemed to have made a decision and lifted her head to smile at Yang Kai, but just as she was about to speak, a look of surprise appeared on her face and she quickly took out a communication artifact and apologized, “Forgive me Young Lord, please wait a moment.”
Yang Kai smiled and nodded, indicating he did not mind.
The young woman poured her Divine Sense into this communication artifact and seemed to be communicating with someone, her expression fluctuating greatly as the conversation continued.
A moment later, she put away this communication artifact with a confused look before turning to Yang Kai and flashing an awkward expression.
Seeing this look, Yang Kai’s heart sank as he suddenly had a bad premonition.
Sure enough, the young woman smiled apologetically and said, “Young Lord, I’m afraid this deal cannot be completed!”
“Can’t be completed?” Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed in annoyance as he asked coldly, “Is this offer not enough?”
“Not at all!” The young woman shook her head helplessly, “It’s just that this Mistress suddenly received orders from above saying that Yue’er cannot be redeemed. As for the specific reason, I’m afraid I cannot say anything more!”
When Qian Yue heard this, her tender body couldn’t help trembling slightly and her face went pale. She had just seen hope of freedom yet now it had been mercilessly taken away.
Yang Kai’s face was turned ugly and he directed a cold glare at the young woman opposite him, but upon seeing the look of embarrassment on her face, he quickly understood that this was not her doing, so becoming angry with her was useless. Taking a deep breath, he asked thoughtfully, “Did the message you received say that Lady Yue’er cannot be redeemed or that no one can be redeemed?”
“Is there a difference?” The young woman asked in surprise.
“Just answer the question.” Yang Kai snorted.
It seemed that because she had suddenly reneged on their agreement this young woman felt somewhat embarrassed, so after pondering for a moment, she replied, “Only Yue’er’s name was mentioned. As for the others, nothing else was said.”
“Is that so!” Yang Kai sneered deeply, a light flashing across his eyes before he continued, “I believe that there is no such thing in this world as a deal that cannot be reached, only prices that cannot be paid. If I were to pay another pill, do you think there’d be room to negotiate?”
Having said this, Yang Kai took out an exquisite jade bottle, held it tightly as a pained look appeared on his face for a moment before solemnly handing it to the young woman.
The young woman however just smiled helplessly, “Young Lord, please don’t make things difficult for this Mistress. Since the managers have already made a decision, this matter is really no longer within my ability to negotiate.”
“Whether you can negotiate this matter or not, please take a look at this pill first. If you really aren’t able to conclude this deal, I hope you can at least contact the person who sent you the message just now and ask him what price I need to pay.”
A trace of surprise flashed across this young woman’s eyes as she said with some astonishment, “It seems that Yue’er is truly important to Young Lord. It is definitely Yue’er’s blessing to be so appreciated by Young Lord.”
When she glanced over at Qian Yue again, she couldn’t help revealing a look of jealousy. Yang insisting on redeeming Qian Yue like this clearly showed how much value she had to him. For a woman who lived in this kind of place, such care was undoubtedly extremely enviable.
As a fellow woman, she could naturally empathize with this.
So instead of refusing Yang Kai again, she opened the small jade bottle and glanced inside. After seeing just what was inside, the casual expression on her face disappeared and was replaced with one of great shock.
There was only one pill in this bottle, and it was round, white, and flawless. It exuded a very pleasant aura, and after sniffing it lightly, the young woman felt her mood quickly become calm.
Immediately after, this young woman shot an amazed look at Yang Kai, and seeing him smiling faintly at her, she didn’t dare to act carelessly, pouring out the pill inside this bottle and examining it carefully.
After a long time, she put the pill back into its bottle and let out a light sigh before turning an unusual look towards Yang Kai, “Although this Mistress doesn’t know much about pills, would I be correct in assuming this is an Extinguishing Demons Pill?”
“It seems your knowledge is quite good, it is indeed an Extinguishing Demons Pill!” Yang Kai nodded as his face twitched slightly as if he was distressed.
“This is one of the best auxiliary pills for Saint King Realm cultivators who are attempting to break through to the Origin Returning Realm. It can even drive out heart demons. Although it is not as rare as the Origin Condensing Pill, its value is comparable. Young Lord, are you sure you want to use this treasure as collateral?”
Yang Kai shook his head, “It’s not collateral, it’s a bargaining chip, if you allow me to redeem Yue’er, this Extinguishing Demons Pill will belong to your Joyous Union Pavilion!”
“A bargaining chip?” A look of joy flashed across the young woman’s face upon hearing this. Gritting her teeth, she declared, “Young Lord, please wait a moment while I contact the managers to see if they are willing to release Yue’er. To be honest, if it were up to me, this deal would have long ago been completed, it’s just…”
She smiled bitterly as she realized just how rare and valuable this Extinguishing Demons Pill was. Not daring to neglect, she quickly took out her communication artifact and poured her Divine Sense into it.
While she was conversing with this unknown party, Yang Kai’s eyes flashed and he released a thread of his Divine Sense quietly to begin sweeping Joyous Union Pavilion. A moment later, besides a few places where there were particularly powerful Spirit Arrays and where there seemed to be Origin Realm masters sitting in meditation, Yang Kai had probed the entire Joyous Union Pavilion.
Not long afterwards, he obtained the information he wanted, and realizing his suspicions were correct, he snickered to himself before quietly withdrawing his Divine Sense, never once exposing anything on his face.
Glancing over at the young woman opposite him, Yang Kai saw her arguing strongly with the party on the other end, her expression quite stern. Obviously, she was unwilling to give up this Extinguishing Demons Pill.
This was only reasonable though. An Extinguishing Demons Pill’s usefulness was very much dependent on the situation. If a small heart demon appeared when a cultivator was trying to break through, there would be no need for this Extinguishing Demons Pill, but if they had a profound heart demon, this kind of pill would be invaluable.
Having such a pill could greatly affect the success or failure of a cultivator breaking through.
The Extinguishing Demons Pill Yang Kai had put out was also something he had refined; he had prepared it for Chang Qi and Hao An when the two of them were attempting to break through to the Origin Returning Realm, but these two already had the Ten Thousand Year Incense Yang Kai brought back from the Flowing Flame Sand Field so they didn’t face any influence from heart demons in the end.
As such, Yang Kai had saved this Extinguishing Demons Pill, and now it happened to come in handy.
Yang Kai also had a number of Origin Condensing Pills on him, but he wasn’t foolish enough to bring these out. Origin Condensing Pills and Extinguishing Demons Pills were supposedly of equal value, but in reality the former was rarer and more precious.
While the young woman continued to converse through her communication artifact, Yang Kai put on an anxious expression. He had to take Qian Yue away from here. It would be best if this deal could be concluded successfully, but if it couldn’t, he could only use more forceful means, subduing this young woman and then immediately fleeing with Qian Yue.
Of course, if the situation devolved to such a point, he would be unable to remain in Black Crow City, so Yang Kai would only use this method as a last resort. He didn’t want to fall out with Joyous Union Pavilion; after all, strong dragons don’t oppose local snakes. Not to mention, he was only a Second-Order Saint King while there were three Origin Realm masters guarding Joyous Union Pavilion. This establishment also seemed to be supported by the local City Lord, so it was definitely not a place to be casually provoked.
With a plan in mind, Yang Kai’s expression became indifferent as he secretly sent a message to Qian Yue, telling her to quietly prepare herself.
Some time later, with an annoyed and somewhat dejected look on her face, the young woman put away her communication artifact and turned an apologetic look to Yang Kai as she slowly shook her head, “This Mistress is really helpless. I don’t know why, but the managers insist that Yue’er cannot be redeemed. Please give up, Young Lord.”
Yang Kai slowly got up and nodded, “Good, since that’s the case, then I won’t embarrass you any further. Just rest here for a while!”
Saying so, he flashed a fierce grin at the young woman.
The young woman’s heart clenched but before she could react, a powerful pressure burst through her Knowledge Sea’s defenses, causing her to suddenly become dizzy.
At the same time, she saw that the young man opposite her flicker and re-appear in front of her, his big hand reaching out towards her. The young woman was thoroughly shocked and wanted to resist, but immediately discovered she was unable to circulate her Saint Qi at all.
She was also a Second-Order Saint King, but when facing Yang Kai, an opponent who was supposedly at the same level, she was unable to fight back at all.
In the next instant, a scalding hot force poured into her body and quickly moved to form an ingenious seal which made it impossible for her to use any of her strength.
The tender body of the young woman went limp as she became unable to even lift her fingers. Only her mouth was still able to move and she hastily called out, “Young Lord, what is the meaning of this? If you dare act unruly in Joyous Union Pavilion, you won’t have a good end!”
Yang Kai grinned before snapping his fingers, causing the young woman to lose the ability to speak as well before he leisurely said, “I’ll be taking her away with me, but I’ll be leaving these items here as agreed, so your noble establishment won’t suffer any kind of loss and instead will be making a big profit. As for your managers… I suggest you check carefully with them after you regain your freedom, perhaps you’ll find a little fool who was intentionally interfering with our transaction. En, after a thorough investigation, I’m certain you won’t be punished.”
The young woman looked at Yang Kai in surprise, not knowing what he was trying to reveal by saying these words.
She wanted to ask for more details, but she was unable to open her mouth, so she could only watch the figures of Yang Kai and Qian Yue disappear from her field of vision. Feeling quite anxious, she forcibly urged a secret technique she had practiced to shatter one of her earrings.
The moment the young woman’s earring burst, Yang Kai immediately noticed and his face changed greatly, shouting under this breath, “Let’s go!”
Saying so, he grabbed Qian Yue’s waist and tried to quickly escape from this place.
“You want to go?” Suddenly, a tender voice with a hint of coldness rang out through the air, “You dare act dissolute in my Joyous Union Pavilion? Don’t even think of leaving!”
As these words fell, an invisible force suddenly enveloped Yang Kai, making him feel as if the surrounding space had solidified, his body which had just leapt up into the air falling down in the next moment.
“Shi!” Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed. It was not the first time he had experienced this power so he was able to recognize it instantly.
After landing, Yang Kai immediately moved to put Qian Yue savely behind him and looked towards a certain spot. On the other side of his vision stood a beautiful middle-aged woman in a light blue dress that tightly wrapped around her enchanting figure; a stark contrast to the cold gloomy look on her pretty face.
Seeing this middle-aged beauty, Qian Yue’s face changed drastically as she exclaimed, “Manager Lian!”
Hearing Qian Yue’s shout, Yang Kai’s face sank as he felt the situation had become quite troublesome.
When Yang Kai was talking with Qian Yue earlier, he learned that the one who had saved her, brought her back to Joyous Union Pavilion, and taught her this place’s Dual Cultivation Technique was this Manager Lian, a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master and the most powerful cultivator among the three Origin Realm managers of Joyous Union Pavilion.
Below this woman were two other managers who were at the First-Order Origin Returning Realm.
If it had been one of the two First-Order Origin Returning Realm managers who had blocked his path, Yang Kai would still have confidence in being able to escape with Qian Yue, but facing this Manager Lian, he was far less certain. After all, the difference in their cultivation was an entire Great Realm and, if Yang Kai got tied down here for even a moment, the other two Origin Realm masters would certainly catch-up quickly. At that point, facing three Origin Returning Realm masters alone, and needing to protect Qian Yue at the same time, the result was easy to imagine.
After the last incident in the Corpse Cave, Yang Kai didn’t dare to rashly try to escape by tearing space while bringing along another person.
As various thoughts crossed Yang Kai’s mind, Manager Lian shot a cold glare at Qian Yue and snorted angrily, “Yue’er, your courage isn’t small, actually daring to try to flee here with an outsider. It seems your last punishment wasn’t harsh enough for you to learn!”
Saying so, her Divine Sense pulsed and Qian Yue, who was being protected behind Yang Kai, suddenly let out a cry of pain and her tender body fell to the ground, sweat dripping from her pale face.
Yang Kai’s expression became sullen, but he did not act rashly as he saw that this Manager Lian had simply activated the seal placed on Qian Yue to restrain her rather than take her life.
After a while, Qian Yue’s cries gradually weakened and Manager Lian finally turned her attention from Qian Yue to Yang Kai. A disdainful sneer flashing across her face as she scoffed, “I was wondering who had eaten a bear’s heart and leopard’s gall to gain the courage to dare try to make trouble in my Joyous Union Pavilion, but it turns out to be just a little Saint King Realm brat. Who gave you such nerve? Do you know what the consequences will be?”
Yang Kai’s face remained indifferent as he helped Qian Yue up off the ground. Sweeping her with his Divine Sense, he quickly confirmed that she hadn’t suffered any serious injuries and his expression softened a little. Turning his attention to the beautiful middle-aged woman before him, Yang Kai said lightly, “Manager Lian I presume? I was not trying to escape with her, I had reached a deal with your noble establishment to redeem her. Could it be that after providing payment I cannot take the woman I settled on and leave here? Could it be your noble establishment not only deals in prostitution but also in murdering and robbing?”
“Bold!” The beautiful middle-aged woman’s face went ice cold as she waved her hand and sent out a ray of white light towards Yang Kai.
In response, Yang Kai let out a loud roar as black flames burst from his fist and, while fiercely pushing his Saint Qi, sent out a flurry of punches.
Fist shadows visible to the naked eye blasted out, each one containing searing hot energy as they flew to intercept Manager Lian’s attack.
A great rumbling rang out and a blinding explosion of light filled the surrounding darkness of night. The countless fist shadows all collapsed but Manager Lian’s attack also dissipated halfway and was completely dispersed.
Yang Kai remained standing in place, his figure not retreating a single step while Manager Lian’s eyes flashed with a trace of surprise as she stared at the young man in front of her. Although she had not exerted herself fully in the previous attack, she had still used at least thirty percent of her strength, so Yang Kai being able to resist her with ease, even under the influence of her Shi, greatly surprised her.
Forgetting the fact that this young man was just a Second-Order Saint King, even if he had been a peak Saint King it would normally be impossible to accomplish this. Manager Lian had thought that she would at least be able to punish Yang Kai for his brazen words.
Although her blow failed to produce the desired effect, given her status and identity, she was unable to strike a second time, so all she could do was stare at Yang Kai in amazement and uncertainty.
From this brief exchange it was obvious to her that Yang Kai was not an ordinary cultivator, rather he was likely an elite among the elite. Having such strength while only being a Second-Order Saint King meant that this young man’s background was not low. Before she could figure out Yang Kai’s origins, it would be unwise to act rashly lest she provoke a powerful enemy for Joyous Union Pavilion.
The noise from this conflict had naturally alarmed the entire Joyous Union Pavilion.
A moment later, two other First-Order Origin Returning Realm masters rushed to the scene from separate locations. After seeing the scene before them, they were both greatly surprised and quickly gathered around Manager Lian to inquire about the situation.
On the other side, a young man rushed out directly to Yang Kai and asked in a stunned voice, “Brother Yang, what happened?”
Naturally, it was Chen Fan Lei! But looking at the state of his clothes and his still neat and tidy appearance, it was clear he had not yet achieved ‘good things’ before rushing over to see what all the commotion was about.
Yang Kai gave him a wry smile and whispered, “It’s a bit inconvenient to explain right now, I’ll tell you later.”
“Oh,” Chen Fan Lei no longer asked anything, but instead quietly glanced over to the other side. After only a brief glance, his heart sank; never had he imagined that his first time entering this kind of pleasure-seeking establishment he would be involved in so much trouble.
The three Origin Returning Realm master managers of Joyous Union Pavilion had all gathered and were staring at Yang Kai, none of them quite knowing how to proceed while from all directions, countless guards of Joyous Union Pavilion had surrounded this place, making for a lively scene.
Chen Fan Lei felt tightness in his chest and was in the midst of a deep regret. He felt he really should not have come to this damned place today and gotten into this mess for no apparent reason.
After a short discussion, the three Origin Returning Realm masters seemed to have reached some kind of decision, with Manager Lian taking the initiative to speak to Yang Kai, “You just said you have already redeemed Yue’er, but who was it you made this deal with?”
“Manager Lian, it was I!” The young woman who had been negotiating with Yang Kai suddenly called out.
The seal Yang Kai put on her was not very strong and was only meant to buy him some time, so after a short while she had broken it and regained her freedom. After freeing herself, she hurried over to this place and upon hearing Manager Lian’s question, she did not dare conceal anything and answered immediately.
“Xiao Qing… Are you alright? Did he attack you?” Manager Lian saw that something had happened to this young woman and asked coldly.
“This maid has not been affected greatly, this Young Lord did not act with malicious intent,” The young woman actually put in a good word for Yang Kai, obviously because she was still quite impressed by the offer Yang Kai had just made.
“Even if that’s the case, daring to cause trouble in my Joyous Union Pavilion, he’s clearly looking down on us,” Another old man in azure robes coldly snorted as he turned a bad look towards Yang Kai.
“Manager Wang is correct. Such an incident cannot just be overlooked, but for the time being, tell me about this transaction that boy over there mentioned,” Manager Lian turned to the young woman and asked.
The young woman took a moment to collect her thoughts before carefully explaining the twists and turns that had taken place in her negotiations with Yang Kai. As she narrated this series of events, the three Joyous Union Pavilion managers each showed varying expressions.
When Manager Lian heard the extraordinary price Yang Kai had offered to redeem Qian Yue, she was naturally quite shocked. Although she was still annoyed by Yang Kai’s previous actions, the coldness on her face undoubtedly dissipated a lot.
On the other hand, Manager Wang appeared to think of something, and he seemingly unintentionally shot a glance towards a nearby building, an angry glare flashing across his eyes.
The last Origin Returning Realm manager simply stood by with an indifferent look upon his face.
After the young woman finished speaking, Manager Lian nodded lightly, “Good, according to our establishment’s rules, since this boy was willing to pay such a big price, there was no reason not to agree! You also have the right to complete such a deal. Manager Wang, Manager Xu, which one of you insisted on keeping Yue’er, is there any deep meaning behind this move?”
“This has nothing to do with me, I was in secluded cultivation the whole time,” Manager Xu, who still retained his indifferent expression, shook his head slowly.
Hearing this, Manager Lian set her sights on the old man surnamed Wang.
This man wore a helpless look and was just about to speak when Yang Kai suddenly grinned and cut in, “Perhaps Manager Wang doesn’t know the circumstances of this matter.”
“What do you mean?” The beautiful middle-aged woman asked coldly.
“Get out here!” Yang Kai suddenly snorted as a Golden Thread shot out from this hand and pierced towards a nearby loft. This Golden Thread flew extremely fast, as if it could leap across space, and in the next instant, a panic filled scream rang out from the targeted building. There was a burst of Saint Qi, but this faded as quickly as it had appeared.
Yang Kai flicked his wrist, and the Golden Thread flew back again, but now, there was a male cultivator that had been tied up at its end and was currently struggling to break free.
“Little brat, you dare!” Seeing this, Manger Wang shouted severely and swiftly raised his hand to attack Yang Kai.
“If you dare to move, I’ll crush him to death!” Yang Kai sneered as the Golden Thread suddenly radiated an extremely dangerous aura.
Manager Wang’s face changed and he didn’t dare act rashly; however, the glare he directed at Yang Kai was still filled with incredible hate, as if he wished to skin him alive.
The Golden Thread flew back leisurely, bringing its captured prey with it.
Manager Lian also showed an astonished look on her face. With her Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivation, she had naturally seen what just happened. The cultivator hiding in the nearby loft was a genuine Third-Order Saint King, but facing the assault of this Second-Order Saint King boy in front of her, the other party only managed to resist for a breath of time before he had been captured.
Possessing such extraordinary combat strength, just where did this young man come from? Moreover, the Golden Thread in his hand was also very strange. It seemed like an artifact, but also not, and the aura it revealed made it difficult to not pay attention to.
Manager Lian’s expression grew cloudy as she secretly felt that it was not a good idea to provoke this young man. He likely had an extraordinarily strong background, something far superior to Imperial City Sect.
“Senior Brother Wang!” After Yang Kai captured this man, Chen Fan Lei could not help shouting, staring at the other person in surprise, “Senior Brother Wang, why are you here? Didn’t you have somewhere to go today?”
Wang Yu Han’s expression was incredibly ugly, and he was in no mood to answer Chen Fan Lei’s question, instead turning his attention to the old man surnamed Wang nearby. Opening his mouth, it seemed Wang Yu Han wanted to ask for help, but he was unable to say anything, causing a look of extreme unwillingness to fill his face.
“Also surnamed Wang…” The beautiful middle-aged woman’s eyes flashed, as if she realized something. Turning to the old man surnamed Wang with a smile, she asked, “Manager Wang, how are you and this boy related?”
The old man surnamed Wang wore a bitter look but he still replied honestly, “I’ve shown Manager Lian something embarrassing. This boy is one of my descendants and is currently a disciple of Extreme Path Sect. He happened to be visiting Black Crow City and came to visit this old man!”
“Came to visit?” The middle-aged beauty nodded slightly. “It’s good that he is so filial, but… it seems visiting isn’t the only reason he came here. Why is Manager Wang’s manager token in this boy’s possession?”
As she said this, she suddenly waved her hand and an invisible suction force appeared, pulling a token Wang Yu Han had in his sleeve over to her. It was the token Manager Wang had given Wang Yu Han before.
The old man surnamed Wang’s complexion instantly filled with resentment.
He did not know that Wang Yu Han would act so stupidly, actually daring to use his manager token to impersonate him and order the young woman called Xiao Qing to block a profitable transaction for Joyous Union Pavilion. If he had known this would happen, how could he have so easily handed Wang Yu Han this token?
Manager Wang had not wanted to personally intervene in the matters of his juniors, so he had made an exception and given his grand-nephew some extra authority to handle things himself.
But now that something like this had happened, and it had even alarmed this beautiful middle-aged woman, the situation was not going to end well.
Facing the middle-aged beauty’s question, the old man surnamed Wang did not know how to answer and could only remain silent. Manager Lian was a worldly woman, so after a little thought she had a fairly good idea of what was happening, but this only caused her expression to grow colder. Sending a Divine Sense Message to Manager Wang, she scolded, “I don’t care what kind of grievance your descendant has with that boy, but allowing an outsider to interfere in Joyous Union Pavilion’s business, and even hindering such a high-level transaction, you should know what the consequences of this will be!”
Manager Wang’s heart sank as his expression grew even more bitter.
The beautiful middle-aged woman snorted and continued with another Divine Sense Message, “Seeing how everything has already happened, it would be inappropriate for me to continue rebuking you in front of outsiders. The price this boy has offered is not low, so as long as he still wants to take Yue’er away, this deal can still be done! Manager Wang, this time your punishment will be a year’s worth of salary, do you have any opinion?”
“I wouldn’t dare, I will abide by whatever Manager Lian decides!” The old man surnamed Wang heard this and finally relaxed somewhat.
“Moreover, don’t let your descendant ever set foot into Joyous Union Pavilion again, otherwise don’t blame this Mistress for being acting impolitely!” The middle-aged beauty issued another warning and received a prompt nod from Manager Wang.
This Divine Sense exchange was naturally not missed by Yang Kai, and although he did not know what exactly these two were discussing, considering the current situation, it seemed things weren’t going to be too bad. Seeing that there was still plenty of room to manoeuvre, Yang Kai’s expression immediately relaxed.
After a moment, the middle-aged beauty finished dealing with Manager Wang and turned her eyes to Yang Kai, a light smile forming at the corner of her lips, “Boy, although the price you offered was quite attractive, enough to redeem Yue’er, it’s still the case that before the deal was completed you tried to force your way out with her and even took action against Xiao Qing. It seems you don’t take this Mistress or my noble establishment seriously.”
Yang Kai’s expression flashed as he broke into a grin and cupped his fists, “Junior’s previous actions were indeed reckless, I can only hope that several Seniors will be broadminded. Ms Xiao Qing, I also apologize for raising my hand against you.”
With his shrewdness, how could Yang Kai not see that the previous obstruction was all due to Wang Yu Han severely overstepping his authority? The beautiful middle-aged woman was obviously very satisfied with the price he offered, so now the only trouble was how to compensate for the damage Yang Kai had done to Joyous Union Pavilion’s face. After all, there were currently many guests who had come here seeking pleasure who had been attracted by this disturbance and were now observing curiously.
If Manager Lian really let him go just like that, her dignity and the dignity of the other managers would be completely lost. The other party needed a way to de-escalate the situation and to preserve face, so Yang Kai was naturally willing to cooperate with them.
Seeing him being so cooperative, the smile on the middle-aged beauty’s face became thirty percent brighter, but she still turned her head to look at the young woman named Xiao Qing and asked solemnly, “Xiao Qing, what do you think? No matter what he says, this boy attacked you just now. If you want me to teach him a lesson, just say the word and guarantee he won’t feel better.”
The young woman glanced over Yang Kai before replying in a low voice, “Although this Young Lord indeed acted against me just now, he did not cause any harm and only slightly restricted my freedom. Manager Lian can decide how to process this matter.”
“Good!” The middle-aged beauty nodded in satisfaction, pondered for a while, then turned to Yang Kai, “The transaction you discussed is still valid, but the content of the deal must be modified.”
“Modified?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
“En, I won’t ask you to pay a greater price, so as to avoid others saying I am using my strength to bully you, and since you are so determined to take Yue’er away with you, obviously you truly love her. So, I won’t try to come between such a happy couple, but the items you used as collateral will now become the chips for this transaction. You need not try to redeem them anymore. This will suffice as the penalty for your actions just now. After this deal is completed, Yue’er and my Joyous Union Pavilion will no longer have any involvement with one another, and my Joyous Union Pavilion will not seek trouble with you in the future!” The beautiful woman stared at Yang Kai with a smile. Obviously, the two bottles of Origin Grade pills he had used as collateral were of great interest to her.
“This…” Yang Kai immediately wore an awkward and hesitant expression.
“What? Do you want to disagree?” The beautiful woman’s face went cold. “If so, then this deal will be invalidated, Yue’er will remain, and we’ll need to have a little chat about the disrespect you’ve shown my noble establishment.”
Yang Kai’s face twitched before he put on a forced smile and declared firmly, “Senior must be joking, this Junior is very satisfied with Senior’s proposal, how could I dare disagree? Such being the case, everything will be done in accordance with Senior’s will, but before that, this Junior has a small another request!”
Seeing Yang Kai really agree, a happy light flashed across the depths of the beautiful woman’s eyes, but she still wore a sullen look as she snapped, “Boy, don’t reach out for a yard after taking an inch.”
“For Senior, this request will only take a slight effort,” Yang Kai responded calmly.
“Very well, but let me warn you, if you have some kind of excessive request, you need not open your mouth.”
Yang Kai laughed lightly, “This Junior simply wants to request Senior lift the seal on Lady Yue’er.”
“If that is all, then I can accommodate you!” The beautiful woman nodded lightly. After all, the seal on Qian Yue’s body was planted by her, so how could lifting it be any trouble? “Yue’er, come here!”
Qian Yue looked at Yang Kai subconsciously but upon seeing him nod to her, she slowly walked over to Manager Lian.
Yang Kai stood by and calmly waited.
Strictly speaking, Yang Kai could break a seal a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm created, but it would take him a fair amount of time and energy. Also, while he was breaking this seal, he would need to have some close physical contact with Qian Yue, which would undoubtedly be awkward for both of them. Now that an opportunity to have it lifted had appeared, Yang Kai was naturally going to take advantage of it. Judging from his performance just now, the people from Joyous Union Pavilion probably felt they had won a huge advantage just now so Manager Lian had agreed to this request quite easily.
Lifting the seal did not take long and after just a half cup of tea’s time, Qian Yue returned with a happy face. Seeing the questioning look in Yang Kai’s eyes, she nodded quickly to indicate that the seal had been completely lifted.
“Good, this matter ends here! Boy, take Yue’er and quickly leave. Be kind to her, if you dare make her do anything dangerous in the future, I will certainly not let you off!” The middle-aged beauty gestured towards the exit.
Yang Kai did not know how much sincerity was behind her last words, but he figured she was just trying to create some goodwill. In any case, a few words did not cost her anything.
Bringing Qian Yue and Chen Fan Lei with him, Yang Kai took his leave.
Wang Yu Han also wanted to go, but under the watchful eyes of Manager Lian, he did not dare to move, only able to turn to his Senior with a pleading look on his face.
Manager Wang was completely furious now, however, and was unable to even protect himself, so how could he have the leisure to care about Wang Yu Han?
After Yang Kai and his group left, the beautiful woman coldly snorted and ordered, “Manager Wang, bring your descendant and come with me. We need to have a thorough discussion of this time’s matter.”
In front of outsiders, it was inconvenient for her to rip this old man surnamed Wang’s face. However, she still needed to hold him accountable.
Manager Wang wore a bitter look but still nodded compliantly, glaring at Wang Yu Han fiercely before following after the middle-aged beauty.
Back at Flying Spirit Palace, Yang Kai and his group quickly returned to the Floating Snow Moon Pavilion.
Along the way, Chen Fan Lei kept looking at Qian Yue curiously. He really wanted to know how Yang Kai and him, who had gone out for a little fun, had wound up actually bringing a woman back. And from what he had heard just now in Joyous Union Pavilion, it seemed that in order to bring back this woman, Yang Kai had paid a huge price.
Was there something special about this woman? Chen Fan Lei was very puzzled.
Yang Kai had no intention of giving him an explanation, and Qian Yue only followed Yang Kai silently, enjoying her newly regained freedom while secretly feeling shocked at Yang Kai’s growth and wealth.
When she first met Yang Kai, his cultivation had been several steps lower than her own, but now, he had surpassed her. Moreover, back at Joyous Union Pavilion, he had taken Manager Lian’s attack and come out unscathed, so he was undoubtedly among the strongest Saint Kings out there.
As for the price to redeem her, Qian Yue did not even dare to think about it.
Yang Kai had left Tong Xuan Realm and entered the Star Field later than she had, so how did he manage to achieve such astonishing growth in strength and accumulate so much wealth in such a short period of time? Qian Yue felt truly shocked.
As soon as the trio arrived at Floating Snow Moon Pavilion, they saw Chen Shi Tao and Lu Ying chatting on the first floor under Yang Yan’s hospitality, but from Yang Yan’s stiff expression, it was obvious she wasn’t good at handling such matters, so when Yang Kai returned, her eyes lit up and she quickly called out, “You’re back? Sister Chen and Sister Lu Ying have been waiting for you for more than an hour here.”
“Is something wrong?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.
“It’s nothing, it was just that Fan Lei wasn’t in his room, so I came here to look for him as it seemed he had come here to see Little Brother Yang a while ago. Oh, who is she?” Chen Shi Tao suddenly saw Qian Yue and asked with a confused expression.
Facing Chen Shi Tao’s enquiry, Yang Kai only vaguely explained that Qian Yue was an old acquaintance. Even if she had her doubts, Chen Shi Tao wasn’t silly enough to interrogate him further.
On the other hand, Yang Yan’s pair of beautiful eyes stared at Qian Yue thoughtfully.
Chen Shi Tao and the others may not be clear about Yang Kai’s origins, but Yang Yan was.
Yang Kai had come from the outside world, and wasn’t even a native of Shadowed Star, yet now he had said this woman was actually an old acquaintance. Did that mean that this First-Order Saint King woman also came from the outside world?
Little did she expect that Qian Yue not only came from the outside world but even from the same place as Yang Kai.
After the host and guests were seated, Chen Shi Tao immediately began to ask Chen Fan Lei where he had gone and why he was out so late. Chen Fan Lei’s face turned bright red and he immediately turned to Yang Kai for help, really not sure how to explain himself.
He couldn’t exactly tell his big sister that while feeling bored tonight, he had decided to come over and invite Yang Kai to a brothel. If he were to really tell the truth, receiving a reprimand would be unavoidable.
Seeing Chen Fan Lei clam up so awkwardly, Chen Shi Tao seemed to guess something and turned to look at Yang Kai with a smile, “Little Brother Yang, where did you and Fan Lei go tonight? And why is there a somewhat obscene scent lingering about you?”
Yang Kai glanced over at Chen Fan Lei, saw him silently begging him not to say anything, and smiled bitterly, “Brother Chen, if none of the twists and turns of tonight had happened, staying silent would be fine, but after such a big commotion, trying to hide things is probably impossible. You should just tell the truth.”
Hearing this, Chen Fan Lei’s head immediately drooped.
After hesitating for a while, he gritted his teeth and explained what happened tonight.
After hearing that they really had gone to a pleasure house, Chen Shi Tao’s pretty face froze over, but once she learned about all the twists and turns her little brother and Yang Kai experienced, as well as how Wang Yu Han had been creating trouble from the shadows she couldn’t help feeling startled. After learning about the hidden dangers of the Dual Cultivation Technique of Joyous Union Pavilion from Yang Kai, her beautiful face lost all colour and she hurriedly asked, “Fan Lei, you didn’t really…”
Chen Fan Lei waved his hands frantically, “No, no! Thanks to Brother Yang’s warning, I only had a little talk about life with that girl, besides that, nothing else happened.”
Hearing this, Lu Ying couldn’t stop herself from giggling and even Chen Shi Tao, who was still quite annoyed and worried, had a hard time stifling her laughter.
Entering such an establishment and paying a great sum of money yet not actually engaging in the act and instead discussing life with the young woman accompanying him, it was likely only Chen Fan Lei had ever done such a thing. The girl who accompanied Chen Fan Lei was probably completely confused even now.
However, hearing that events had played out like this, Chen Shi Tao was finally able to relax.
After pondering for a while, her beautiful eyes flashed as she said, “So in short, the reason Fan Lei decided to go to that kind of place was that Wang Yu Han’s unintentionally mentioned it? And you brought Little Brother Yang along just to give you a bit more courage?”
“I don’t know if he had mentioned it unintentionally, but Wang Yu Han arriving at Joyous Union Pavilion in advance and targeting and obstructing me at every turn is definitely true,” Yang Kai said lightly.
Chen Shi Tao’s face changed slightly as she thought out loud, “Wang Yu Han should have a good understanding of Fan Lei’s character, and also know what kind of effect his words would have. It seems that his ultimate goal was Little Brother Yang, while Fan Lei was just a pawn. How hateful, to deal with Little Brother Yang, he didn’t even care about ruining Fan Lei’s future! What kind of Senior Brother is he? If he had really succeeded, wouldn’t Fan Lei have been unable to advance a single step further?”
Wang Yu Han’s actions this time had touched Chen Shi Tao’s reverse scale, causing her to become livid as a cold light flashed across her eyes.
“Fan Lei, don’t have any dealings with him in the future. After returning to Extreme Path Sect, you must also report this matter to your Master.”
“Ah, I still have to tell Master about going to Joyous Union Pavilion…” Chen Fan Lei hesitated suddenly.
“Naturally you must explain everything to him! Or what, you don’t want to? If you don’t want to, I’ll come with you to Extreme Path Sect and tell him myself!” Chen Shi Tao narrowed her eyes as she glared at her little brother.
Chen Fan Lei didn’t dare to refuse and could only helplessly nod.
After this incident came to light, even if Wang Yu Han wasn’t expelled from Extreme Path Sect, a heavy punishment would be unavoidable; however, the former was far more likely.
Chen Shi Tao remained angry for a while before suddenly remembering something, shedding her annoyed expression, and bowing to Yang Kai elegantly, “This time it was fortunate Little Brother Yang was around, otherwise, that bastard’s plot might have succeeded. This Young Lady offers her sincerest thanks.”
Yang Kai simply waved his hand and said, “It was likely I who implicated Brother Chen in this matter, it’s not his fault! En, since things have reached this point, there’s nothing more to say about this incident, but I should inform Sister Chen about a certain matter.”
“What matter? Please speak freely Little Brother Yang.”
Yang Kai flipped his hand and suddenly a piece of dried up dead wood appeared on his palm. This piece of wood was completely black and did not have any distinctive smell or aura to it, as if it was just an ordinary piece of dead wood one could find anywhere.
“Does Sister Chen know what this thing is?” Yang Kai asked.
“This is…” Chen Shi Tao frowned as she observed this piece of dead wood hesitantly, as if she recognized it but couldn’t put a name to it.
“Huh, isn’t this Beast Attracting Incense?” Chen Fan Lei called out in surprise.
“It seems that Brother Chen recognizes this, so you should also know where it came from, yes?” Yang Kai looked at him.
“En, I used this kind of thing with Senior Brother Wang before to lure out Monster Beasts that were good at concealing themselves. It is quite useful actually. As long as one burns a small portion of it, it can attract any nearby Monster Beasts. It’s odourless and we cultivators can’t detect any aura from it though,” Chen Fan Lei explained, “It turns out Brother Yang also has this kind of Beast Attracting Incense on him. Oh, it looks like it’s already been burnt slightly, where did Brother Yang obtain it?”
“I picked it up in Grand Burial Valley, next to the Thunder Pond!” Yang Kai smiled slightly.
Chen Fan Lei wore an expression of surprise, but Chen Shi Tao’s eyes flashed a thoughtful light, her expression soon changing to one of shock as she stared at Yang Kai.
“Actually, this thing wasn’t found by me, but by Yang Yan. When she was collecting the Thunder Liquid, she accidentally discovered it. If it wasn’t for Yang Yan having a broad knowledge of strange items, she might have missed it!” Yang Kai handed the Beast Attracting Incense over to Chen Shi Tao before turning to Chen Fan Lei and asking, “Brother Chen, it’s not that I wish to come off overly suspicious and pessimistic, but I have to ask whether your Senior Brother Wang visited that Thunder Pond before?”
“Little Brother Yang’s meaning is…” Chen Shi Tao narrowed her eyes sharply.
“Since Sister Chen already understands, why bother asking?” Yang Kai smiled faintly.
Chen Shi Tao gently nodded before turning to her little brother. “Fan Lei, has Wang Yu Han been to that Thunder Pond before?”
“En, he has. A few years ago, he accompanied another Senior Brother there. That Senior Brother also cultivated the same Secret Art as I and at that time wanted to use the Thunder Pond to achieve a breakthrough. It was because of that previous experience that Senior Brother Wang proposed we go there for my breakthrough,” Chen Fan Lei scratched his head in confusion, “Why? What’s the problem?”
Chen Shi Tao ground her teeth in anger as she muttered in a cold voice, “It seems falling into distress at the Thunder Pond this time was something Wang Yu Han plotted from the beginning.”
“It can’t be,” Chen Fan Lei exclaimed, “Why should Senior Brother Wang do that? If Brother Yang hadn’t arrived in time, he would probably have lost his life!”
Chen Shi Tao shook her head, “I don’t know the specific situation, but if I were to guess, when Wang Yu Han went to the Thunder Pond a few years ago, he should have discovered that Silver Night Thunder Beast as a peak Eighth-Order Monster Beast. You must have noticed that Silver Night Thunder Beast had only reached the Ninth-Order recently. This was something Wang Yu Han didn’t anticipate, which caused us to fall into such a dangerous situation! As for why he did all this…”
“Probably to create a dangerous situation he could take advantage of to play the hero rescuing a beauty and win her heart,” Yang Kai chuckled, finishing off what Chen Shi Tao didn’t say.
Chen Shi Tao’s face turned red before shooting a glare towards Yang Kai, but she didn’t try to deny his assertion, obviously agreeing with his guess.
Hearing all this, Chen Fan Lei wore a look of pure shock, murmuring out loud, “How could Senior Brother Wang do this?”
The danger at the Thunder Pond, the incident at Joyous Union Pavilion, all of it had been the result of Wang Yu Han’s scheming, something that Chen Fan Lei found difficult to accept for a while.
“Fan Lei, you have too little experience in the real world and aren’t able to recognize the true nature of others, so it’s understandable you were deceived. However, in the future, you must think more deeply about such matters. This time you were fortunate enough to meet a noble person like Little Brother Yang, but next time, your luck might not be so good,” Chen Shi Tao warned her naive little brother sincerely.
Chen Fan Lei nodded subconsciously.
While Chen Shi Tao educated Chen Fan Lei, Yang Kai kept silent. In fact, he had not planned on exposing this Beast Attracting Incense at first; after all, Wang Yu Han taking such actions were simply because he was desperate to pursue this beauty, so it wasn’t as if he had malicious intentions.
But what happened tonight had made Yang Kai extremely unhappy, so he wasn’t going to be polite with Wang Yu Han anymore.
Yang Kai didn’t mind trampling over this petty and narrow-minded man.
With something like this having happened, Chen Shi Tao didn’t have the mood to stay any longer, so she took Lu Ying and Chen Fan Lei and left Floating Snow Moon Pavilion to return to their own loft, preparing to thoroughly discipline Chen Fan Lei.
After they left, Yang Kai turned to Qian Yue and said, “Have a rest here for now, it will be two days before we leave.”
He then introduced Yang Yan and Qian Yue to each other. After learning that Qian Yue was actually from the same Star as Yang Kai, Yang Yan was also taken aback and became quite curious about the circumstances behind this situation. When facing Chen Shi Tao, Yang Yan’s attitude was neither hot nor cold, but when facing Qian Yue, a woman she had just met, she was actually quite friendly and enthusiastically invited her back to her room.
Qian Yue happened to want to ask about Yang Kai’s situation as well, so she naturally didn’t refuse.
Exhausted from all the unexpected twists and turns he had to deal with tonight, Yang Kai retired to his room alone to rest.
For the next two days, Yang Kai stayed inside the Floating Snow Moon Pavilion, spending his time meditating while, whereas, the relationship between Qian Yue and Yang Yan seemed to become much more harmonious.
It wasn’t until mid-day of the third day that one of the maidservants of Flying Spirit Palace came to report that Chen Shi Tao and the others had come to see him. Yang Kai heard this and immediately sent a Divine Sense Message to Qian Yue and Yang Yan, gathering with them before proceeding downstairs.
Chen Shi Tao brought good news. The Origin Returning Realm Senior who Chen Fan Lei knew had returned from his mission and when Chen Fan Lei went to ask him this morning about using the Space Array, the other party had readily agreed. Now that Black Crow City’s Space Array was open to them, Yang Kai could travel to Heavenly Fate City at any time.
Moreover, all the expenses accrued by Yang Kai and his group to use the Space Array were paid for by Chen Fan Lei.
Yang Kai was not surprised by this; after all, the Chen Family brother and sister both had a deep sense of gratitude towards him, so a few trivial Saint Crystals were nothing to them. Yang Kai kindly accepted their generosity before he, Yang Yan, and Qian Yue followed Chen Shi Tao to the Black Crow City Space Array.
The Space Array of any city had many layers of protection around it and was overseen by numerous experts, Black Crow City was naturally no exception.
Upon entering the hall where the Space Array was located, Yang Kai immediately noticed that there were at least four Origin Returning Realm masters concealing themselves nearby. Beside the Space Array, a middle-aged man dressed in scholarly robes stood waiting, who, upon seeing Chen Fan Lei, smiled and nodded lightly. Apparently, the relationship between these two was quite good.
Yang Kai immediately understood that this middle-aged scholar was the Senior Chen Shi Tao had mentioned.
Leading Yang Kai and his group over, Chen Fan Lei greeted the middle-aged man before hurriedly saying with a smile, “Brother Yang, it seems everything has been prepared.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Brother Chen!” Yang Kai cupped his fists politely before walking over to the Space Array with him.
Chen Fan Lei pointed to the middle-aged man and introduced him, “This is Senior Jiang Wen Jie. Being able to use the Space Array so easily this time is all thanks to Senior Jiang’s assistance.”
“Many thanks, Senior Jiang.” Yang Kai gently nodded to the middle-aged man.
The other party looked Yang Kai up and down and smiled slightly, “Sure enough, a heroic young man. Nephew Yang looks quite young but like Nephew Chen, is already a Second-Order Saint King. It seems a promising future awaits you.”
Jiang Wen Jie only said this out of consideration for Chen Fan Lei’s face. Yang Kai didn’t have a deep relationship with this Senior, but receiving such praise, he still acted humble.
Immediately, Jiang Wen Jie ordered people to open the Space Array, and after Yang Kai said goodbye to the Chen sister and brother, he led Yang Yan and Qian Yue onto the platform.
In the next moment, the Space Array began to glow and Space Force fluctuations appeared. Just as the figures of Yang Kai’s group of three began to blur though, Jiang Wen Jie suddenly looked at Yang Kai and mouthed something silently.
A ray of light flashed across Yang Kai’s eyes, but it was too late for him to ask anything as a slight dizziness overcame him.
On a Space Array platform hundreds of thousands of kilometres away from Black Crow City, Yang Kai and his group appeared.
Yang Kai had cultivated Space Force, so this long-distance teleportation did not affect him greatly. He could even use this transmission to gain some small insight into the Dao of Space.
However, neither Yang Yan nor Qian Yue could ignore the side-effects of such a teleportation and felt quite dizzy after emerging from The Void. After circulating their Saint Qi a bit though, this fit of discomfort eased.
Sweeping her eyes over their surroundings, Yang Yan’s expression quickly became puzzled while Qian Yue called out in surprise, “Is this Heavenly Fate City? Why is there no one here?”
“This isn’t Heavenly Fate City!” Yang Kai said in a solemn tone, finally understanding what Jiang Wen Jie’s last minute warning to be careful meant.
Looking around, although they were indeed in a grand hall with a Space Array platform beneath their feet, everything seemed quite run down and clearly did not match with the Heavenly Fate City hall in their memory. This place was clearly a deserted ruin!
“Correct, this is not Heavenly Fate City!” An eerie voice suddenly called out from nearby. Qian Yue and Yang Yan were startled and simultaneously turned their heads in the direction the voice came from. There, a familiar person, wearing a look of self-satisfaction upon his face, was strolling over towards their group. However, when this man’s eyes landed on Yang Kai, a look of deep hatred and anger replaced his smug expression.
Seeing this man’s face, Yang Kai understood everything and grinning towards him said, “Brother Wang, we meet again! The world is far too small!”
Wang Yu Han laughed loudly, “I’ve been waiting for you, this is the place I specifically chose for your grave. I hope Brother Yang is satisfied.”
“En, not bad at all, this place is a good spot to make a grave, but whether it will be mine or yours is still uncertain!” Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed as he coldly snorted and shouted, “Manager Wang, since you’ve come as well, stop hiding and come out.”
As he spoke, Yang Kai turned to look at a certain spot in these ruins.
An old man with a dark expression on his face slowly appeared from behind the crumbled walls, followed closely by several other Saint King Realm cultivators, all of them glaring at Yang Kai menacingly while occasionally shooting obscene looks towards Qian Yue.
Seeing this situation, Qian Yue’s face went pale. How could she not understand that these people had been waiting here in ambush for them? Although she did not know much about the specific course of events, she vaguely guessed that these people had somehow meddled with the Space Array they just used.
“Young kids really know how to boast, completely ignorant of how high the Heavens are!” The old man surnamed Wang coldly snorted.
Wang Yu Han laughed wildly as he glared fiercely, “Yang Kai, I bet you didn’t think things would end up like this, but it’s far too late to regret now.”
“Regret? You think far too highly of yourself,” Yang Kai shot him a look of indifference. Not seeing any of the fear he had expected, Wang Yu Han could not help feeling surprised. He thought for sure Yang Kai would break down in a panic, maybe even get down on his knees and beg for mercy, that way he could torture and humiliate him to vent his anger. How could Wang Yu Han have anticipated that even in this situation, it would not cause the slightest bit of change in Yang Kai’s demeanor?
Although Yang Kai knew that Wang Yu Han would not be willing to simply let these matters drop, he hadn’t expected to be redirected to this abandoned city via the Black Crow City Space Array.
Yang Kai had thought that with his group of three teleporting directly from Black Crow City to Heavenly Fate City, even if Wang Yu Han wanted to retaliate against him, he wouldn’t have any opportunity to do so, not that Yang Kai was afraid of him in the first place.
Yang Kai had not expected that his group would be sent here, nor did he expect that this old man surnamed Wang’s status was great enough that he could get the authorities of Black Crow City to cooperate with him. Jiang Wen Jie must have known something like this would happen so he had given Yang Kai a warning at the last moment as a way of giving face to Chen Fan Lei. As for whether Yang Kai and his group lived or died, he probably did not care; after all, there was no friendship between them.
“Wasting time here will just cause more problems later. Go!” Manager Wang saw Yang Kai acting so calmly and inexplicably felt a hint of discomfort in his heart, decisively waving his hand as he shouted, “This little brat is a bit unusual, I’ll deal with him personally, you lot take care of the two women behind him. That Yue’er still has her innocence and has cultivated Joyous Union Pavilion’s special Dual Cultivation Technique, she will be of great benefit to several of you, as for the other girl…”
“I want her!” Wang Yu Han smiled coldly.
“Good, Young Master Wang will have her!” The several Saint Kings behind Manager Wang nodded in agreement before turning their wicked gazes towards Qian Yue, causing her to feel both fearful and angry.
“Since you all court death, I’ll fulfill your wishes!” Yang Kai shouted as he pushed his Saint Qi, condensing a layer of black flame around his body, turning himself into a human fireball as a strange aura pulsed from him.
Immediately after, Yang Kai formed a black sword in his hand and, with a single swing, sent out a powerful sword wave towards the enemy.
“Daring to show off with mere paltry tricks!” The old man surnamed Wang saw Yang Kai dared to take the initiative and flew into a rage, shouting angrily as an invisible power suddenly spread out from his body.
Under the influence of this force, the sword wave which Yang Kai shot off immediately slowed down, as if it had sunk into a quagmire, even some scraping sounds could be heard as it tried to advance through this thickened space.
Although Manager Wang was just a First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator, he had been immersed in this cultivation realm for many years and had piled up some understanding of the application of Shi. He wanted to use this opportunity to swiftly suppress Yang Kai’s arrogance.
Seeing this, Wang Yu Han and the several other Saint Kings looked overjoyed and were just about to act when suddenly, the black sword wave distorted and transformed into a number of lifelike serpents. These snakes immediately regained their full speed and rushed out towards these Saint Kings.
“Yuan Control Mastery!” The old man surnamed Wang’s eyes bulged as he shouted in surprise, immediately increasing the power he was putting into his Shi by thirty percent.
At the same time, Wang Yu Han and the others quickly assumed a defensive stance.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
With a series of explosions, the blocked black snakes burst apart and Demonic Flames splashed about. Although these flames were unable to cause any harm, they still left all of the enemy Saint Kings in quite a distressed state, many of them wearing terrified looks on their faces now.
Manager Wang had also gone pale!
Taking his status into consideration, and having received a request from Wang Yu Han, Manager Wang had not immediately taken action to kill Yang Kai and was only planning on constraining him slightly, allowing his grand nephew to obtain his revenge personally. How could Manager Wang have anticipated that this brief moment of carelessness had resulted in his grand nephew suffering such a big loss?
Yuan Control Mastery was an extremely profound ability, not something Saint King Realm cultivators were supposed to be able to use at all. Only when one reached the Origin Realm and gained comprehension of Shi would they be able to display Yuan Control Mastery.
But today, Manager Wang had witnessed a mere Second-Order Saint King break this convention; how could he not be shocked?
On top of that, the black flames this little brat used were quite unusual. When Manager Wang used his Divine Sense to investigate these black flames, he felt an aura from them that frightened him greatly and realized that being contaminated with them would lead to very bad consequences.
He did not dare underestimate Yang Kai again and quickly strengthened his Shi, suppressing Yang Kai and his group. Yang Yan and Qian Yue, who were standing behind Yang Kai, both let out a gasp as they felt invisible shackles lock them in place, making it impossible for them to move or even circulate their Saint Qi.
Facing the full might of an Origin Realm master, Yang Kai was naturally affected and his body froze in place. At the same time, a barrage of attacks was rapidly approaching as Wang Yu Han and the other Saint Kings had taken advantage of this opening to act. These Martial Skills and artifact attacks each contained frightening power and seemed intent on killing Yang Kai on the spot.
As long as Yang Kai died, the two women behind him would pose no threat.
With this wave of attacks closing in, Yang Kai’s thoughts made the Purple Shield appear in his hand. The shield’s two attributes burst out and, in a flash, a small sandstorm formed around Yang Kai’s trio, completely shielding their bodies!
A loud noise rang out as the wave of attacks impacted the sandstorm, but none of them were able to penetrate its defences and they were all quickly swallowed up and disappeared.
Seeing this, Wang Yu Han’s expression went cold. In Grand Burial Valley, he had seen Yang Kai use this Origin Grade High-Rank shield artifact and realized how extraordinary it was, but now that he had personally attacked it, he further understood how outstanding its defensive capabilities were.
With such a defensive artifact, as long as the cultivator wielding it didn’t run out of Saint Qi, it would be impossible for the few Saint Kings here to break through its defences. It could be said that wrapped in this sandstorm, Yang Kai and his companions were invincible.
“Excellent!” The old man surnamed Wang’s eyes flashed as a look of greed filled his face, excitedly declaring, “This old master wants that artifact!”
As he spoke, he condensed a huge palm from his Saint Qi and stretched out his hand to grab towards the spot where Yang Kai stood, its five fingers appearing as imposing as mountains, like it could grasp the entire world.
At the same time, an almost imperceptible golden light suddenly flew out from the sandstorm and quickly transformed into several golden threads that began cutting through the air.
The huge Saint Qi palm condensed by Manager Wang lasted less than a breath before it was chopped to pieces by these Golden Threads, disappearing along with them in the next instant.
Before Wang Yu Han and the Saint Kings beside him could react though, these Golden Threads reappeared in front of them and wove together to form a massive net that threatened to engulf them.
“Be careful!” The old man surnamed Wang hurriedly warned as he concentrated his Shi towards these golden threads.
But to his horror, these golden threads seemed completely unaffected by his Shi and instead began cutting it apart before it could completely condense.
“Impossible!” Manager Wang’s expression changed dramatically, suddenly seeming to remember something in the next moment and called out in horror, “Demon Blood Thread! This is the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique of Demon Blood Temple! You’re from Demon Blood Temple?!”
He finally remembered the origin of this golden thread, but according to what he knew, the Demon Blood Thread was not golden, instead it should have been blood red.
The Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique was famous across all Shadowed Star as it was one of the few techniques that could cut through Shi.
“Whether I’m from Demon Blood Temple or not doesn’t matter!” Yang Kai’s figure hidden in the sandstorm called out indifferently. Flicking his finger, which was connected to his Golden Thread, he swiftly captured the several enemy Saint King Realm cultivators together with Wang Yu Han.
At the same time, Yang Kai sent out a faint signal with his Divine Sense, seemingly issuing a vague command.
Wang Yu Han and the others were all at least Second-Order Saint Kings and their strengths were certainly not weak, but seeing the look of panic on Manager Wang’s face, they knew that this Golden Thread was extremely dangerous so each of them immediately put all their strength into defending themselves, with two of them even using secret techniques in order to avoid getting caught.
But to their shock, before they could fully act, a sudden and sharp pain radiated from their Knowledge Seas, disrupting their concentration and movements for a moment and causing them to fail in fully condensing their Saint Qi or activating their artifacts. The result was them only being able to watch as the Golden Thread net enveloped them.
A loud slicing sound rang out as the Golden Threads flickered back and forth before they were swiftly retrieved by Yang Kai.
However, the several Saint King Realm cultivators, Wang Yu Han included, stood motionless, their eyes filled with terror, as if they had just witnessed something impossible.
“Yu Han!” The old man surnamed Wang cried out in alarm.
“Seventh Grandfa…” Wang Yu Han opened his mouth to respond, a look of desperation on his face, but before he could finish his sentence, his body was suddenly torn apart and turned into a pile of minced meat and fresh blood.
The other Saint Kings shared the same fate as Wang Yu Han, all of them shattering like broken mirrors, their wounds all extremely clean and smooth, as if they had been cut by an incredibly sharp weapon.
With just one blow, every Saint King Realm cultivator here had fallen.
The scene was terrifying, and a rich bloody smell quickly filled the air.
The old man surnamed Wang stood in place, staring at the spot where Wang Yu Han had been killed, his eyes flashing with rage as he saw the neatly severed limbs and shredded flesh.
He simply could not accept this scene.
The opponent was just a Second-Order Saint King, so how was he able to kill so many cultivations at or above his realm in an instant? This made Manager Wang wonder if he was seeing some kind of illusion as he simply couldn’t believe his eyes. After staring for a while at this though, he grit his teeth and turned his gaze towards Yang Kai, “Boy, you dare kill my grand nephew! Speak, what kind of dirty trick did you use?!”
“Dirty trick?” Yang Kai sneered as he waved his hand to disperse the sandstorm shielding him, revealing himself again. Shooting a disdainful glance over at the old man, he said lightly, “When you die, you’ll understand.”
“Ignorant child, you think you can kill this old master?!” The old man surnamed Wang roared angrily, his Saint Qi bursting out as a thick murderous intent condensed around him. Obviously, Wang Yu Han’s death had thoroughly enraged him.
As soon as he spoke these words, a yellow bell appeared in Manager Wang’s hand. This yellow bell was small enough to fit in one’s palm and looked quite unremarkable, but when Yang Kai saw it his eyes shrank, and he didn’t dare underestimate it.
The other party was a genuine First-Order Origin Realm master, but in order to deal with him, a Second-Order Saint King, he had actually summoned such a powerful artifact. Although part of the reason for Manager Wang doing this was rage, it was also clear that he realized he had to go all out.
Just as Yang Kai raised his guard against this strange yellow bell, Manager Wang flicked his wrist and the bell rang, its sound penetrating directly into Yang Kai’s ears. Yang Kai felt his heart beat violently and the speed of the blood flowing through his veins rapidly sped up.
“This old master has never used this Soul Burying Bell against a Saint King before, so you should feel honoured to die by it!” Manager Wang grit his teeth and shook his hand gently, continuing to ring the yellow bell.
Every time the bell’s sound rang in Yang Kai’s ear, his heartbeat accelerated. This ringing was quite strange and irregular, and after the second ring Yang Kai could already feel a sharp pain in his chest, as if his heart was about to burst.
Yang Kai’s complexion changed as he immediately realized that no Origin Returning Realm master should be underestimated. This old man surnamed Wang was not young, and although age did not have much relation to cultivation, over a long life one would naturally gain more and better methods of killing their opponents.
Urging his Saint Qi, Yang Kai forcibly suppressed the pain in his heart while simultaneously summoning his Hundred Mountains Picture. In the next instant, sending a phantom peak smashing towards Manager Wang’s head.
A rumbling sound rang out, but the old man surnamed Wang completely disregarded this phantom peak, not even trying to dodge it as it approached. Opening his mouth, Manager Wang spat out a black flag that quickly flew up and expanded to over a dozen metres in length and formed a cover above his head. When the illusionary mountain smashed down, a multitude of eerie shadow-like figures rushed out of the black flag and intercepted it, preventing the mountain from reaching its target.
“Boy, use whatever means you have at your disposal! Today, this old master will let you die convinced!” The old man surnamed Wang clamoured wildly as he glared hatefully towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai sneered repeatedly, “Old dog, haven’t you made a mistake? It’s not just me fighting you!”
“You want to count on those two little girls…” Manager Wang glanced over at Qian Yue and Yang Yan disdainfully, but before he could finish speaking, his face changed dramatically as he saw Yang Yan actually take out an exquisite looking miniature pagoda and toss it up into the sky, allowing it to gently float mid-air.
This pagoda had seven levels to it and each one exuded a different colour. Each of the seven layers of the pagoda began rotating as it floated, each one revolving at a different speed, creating a strange resonant melody that resounded through the air.
This melody was extremely beautiful and sounded as if many different instruments were playing together, creating a harmonious ensemble. This mixed rhythm spread out a mysterious force that dispelled the pain in Yang Kai’s chest and even covered the dissonant sound of the Soul Burying Bell.
“A sound artifact!” Manager Wang stared at this scene in disbelief, his eyes twitching unconsciously.
His Shi had been broken by Yang Kai’s Golden Blood Thread, and the power of his Soul Burying Bell had been neutralized by this seven-layered pagoda, making Manager Wang suddenly feel as if his enemy had been specially put together to restrain him, causing his anger to erupt as well as a tinge of worry to sprout in his heart.
Yang Kai quickly charged, the Demonic Flame sword in his hands cleaving down as he laughed carefreely, “Old dog, just because Wang Yu Han thought of me as his love rival, you actually want to put me to death! Your care as an Elder is truly awe-inspiring! Since you have come to threaten me, don’t dream of leaving!”
“Too arrogant!” The old man surnamed Wang did not put this sword strike in his eyes at all, pushing his Saint Qi as he thrust his palm out to intercept it.
In the next moment though, Manager Wang suddenly felt a sharp pain in his Knowledge Sea, as if something was tearing at it, causing his face to pale and a sense of panic to spread through his heart.
But before he could investigate the situation inside his Knowledge Sea, another blade-like attack sliced towards his head, and he was forced to once again stretch out his palm to intercept it.
The accident in his Knowledge Sea drew so much of his attention that he did not bother investigating this incoming attack, but when Manager Wang’s hand contacted this black blade, he realized it was nothing like the previous sword wave.
Feeling a deep sense of crisis, the old man surnamed Wang tried to pull his hand back but was a moment too late. The black blade-like attack was like the sharpest of weapons and sliced through the palm of his hand as easily as a hot knife through butter, proceeding without any hindrance all the way to his shoulder.
Half of his arm vanished, as if it had been swallowed into the abdomen of some invisible beast, never to be seen again.
The loss of half his arm terrified Manager Wang and he hurriedly retreated several steps before turning to stare at Yang Kai with surprise and anger, clear shock apparent on his face. He was an Origin Returning Realm master, yet in a battle with a Second-Order Saint King, he had actually been seriously injured. If he told this story to anyone else, they would never have believed him.
Quickly condensing his Saint Qi at the severed section of his arm to prevent his blood from flowing out, the old man surnamed Wang took out a pill from his Space Ring and tossed it into his mouth all while keeping a watchful and somewhat fearful eye on Yang Kai. Since this boy could hurt him, he could also kill him!
Only now did Manager Wang have a moment to investigate the anomalies occurring inside his Knowledge Sea. If it wasn’t for the sharp pain in his Soul a moment ago, he would have been able to notice the strangeness of this boy’s last attack, so it was urgent to figure out what was happening to his Knowledge Sea.
After a brief investigation though, the old man surnamed Wang went pale and called out in shock, “Soul Devouring Insects? How is that possible?”
Under his investigation, he discovered that countless tiny insects had, at some point, infested his Knowledge Sea. These insects were so small they were invisible to the naked eye and at the moment they were actually lying dormant, seemingly waiting for orders before launching an attack.
The changes in his Knowledge Sea just now were obviously because these Soul Devouring Insects had begun consuming his Spiritual Energy!
Could the reason his Saint King Realm subordinates had been cut apart so easily by Yang Kai’s golden thread net have something to do with these Soul Devouring Insects as well? After understanding this point, Manager Wang felt cold sweat drip down his forehead. He had heard about Soul Devouring Insects before, but although they had quite an ominous reputation, ordinarily, he wouldn’t place them in his eyes, because with his Origin Realm strength, he should be fully capable of expelling them.
However, these Soul Devouring Insects were obviously different, some kind of mutated or evolved species. When Manager Wang tried to use his Divine Sense to drive them out, they remained completely unaffected, still burrowed deep into his Knowledge Sea, turning into a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment. If he wanted to purge them completely, Manager Wang estimated it would take him at least two days of focused meditation!
Realizing this, the old man surnamed Wang suddenly began contemplating retreating.
His Shi and Soul Burying Bell were restrained and he had been seriously injured. On top of that, these Soul Devouring Insects had infested his Knowledge Sea and were just waiting for an opportunity to strike. If he didn’t withdraw now, he might never be able to, that black blade-like attack which cut through his arm frightened him terribly.
“Even able to recognize my Soul Devouring Insects, Old Dog, it seems your knowledge is quite broad! However, your luck has run out. Your Shi is useless against me, so this Young Master is truly your ultimate nemesis!” Yang Kai laughed sarcastically, waving his hand as he spoke, sending out a series of Space Blades that tore through space as they slashed forward. If someone were to probe these attacks with their Divine Sense, they would actually discover that they were composed of nothingness, as if they didn’t even really exist.
In an instant, more than a dozen pitch-black Space Blades silently shot towards the old man surnamed Wang.
Manager Wang’s eyes twitched and his complexion turned extremely ugly as he shouted, “Boy, don’t get too cocky!”
At the same time, he suddenly soared up into the sky and a mass of black mist burst from his body, covering a several dozen metre radius, this strange skill completely concealing his figure.
However, after the dozen or so Space Blades hacked through this black mist, leaving a series of wide, clear passages in their wake, The old man surnamed Wang’s voice cried out as he hurriedly tried to dodge.
“Old Dog, use whatever means you have at your disposal! Today, this Young Master will let you die convinced!” Yang Kai grinned mockingly as he began taunting his opponent, disrupting his concentration while unleashing a flurry of Space Blades towards him.
Manager Wang nearly coughed up blood when he heard Yang Kai’s words as they were exactly the ones he had spoken not long ago; however, the situation had completely reversed since then.
Feeling like he had slapped his own face, Manager Wang’s face turned a deep shade of crimson from both anger and embarrassment. At the same time, his expression filled with unwillingness, as he was forced to continue dodging Yang Kai’s Space Blades, unable to even argue back much less counterattack. When his arm had been severed by these black blade-like attacks, Manager Wang was unable to see the attribute of this attack, but now he had some speculations.
After all, the Space Force fluctuations emanating from the Space Blades was quite obvious. Manager Wang wasn’t a fool, so how could he not detect this?
The old man surnamed Wang was genuinely shocked! He never knew that on Shadowed Star someone had actually cultivated the Dao of Space to the point where they could condense a blade of Space Force and use it in combat with an enemy from a distance.
Even Elder Mo Xiao Sheng from Heaven Battling Union couldn’t do this! It was rumored that Elder Mo was proficient in the Dao of Space and many great forces would need to seek his assistance to repair their Space Arrays when they became damaged or malfunctioned, but even Elder Mo’s use of Space Force was not on the same level as that of this rampant young man.
The other party not only possessed Soul Devouring Insects capable of threatening him, he had also mastered this profound and mysterious skill! Manager Wang no longer dared underestimate Yang Kai and instead considered him an opponent of equal strength.
The stream of Space Blades seemed inexhaustible and each one fierce and unstoppable, cutting through and swallowing anything in their path as easily as crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood, making dodging the only action Manager Wang could take.
“Old Dog, do you only know how to flee?” Yang Kai snorted and after releasing a few more Space Blades, a lotus flower illusion suddenly appeared in his eyes as he shouted lowly, “Blossoming Lotus!”
While desperately dodging all of the Space Blades, Manager Wang’s figure suddenly came to an abrupt halt. Even if his gaze wasn’t meeting Yang Kai’s at this moment, a lotus bud still appeared in his vision and in an instant, the entire world seemed to disappear, leaving only the radiant seven coloured bud.
In the next moment, the old man surnamed Wang felt the Spiritual Energy in his Knowledge Sea madly draining towards the strange lotus bud, a phenomenon he was completely incapable of controlling.
As the Spiritual Energy of his Knowledge Sea was consumed, the lotus bud actually began to quickly blossom.
Although he didn’t understand what mysteries this blossoming lotus bud held, the old man surnamed Wang knew that he mustn’t allow it to fully bloom, otherwise the consequences would be dire.
With a great shout, Manager Wang bit his tongue and forcibly withdrew his attention from the blossoming lotus, causing his Knowledge Sea to tumble violently.
*Hong…*
A loud explosion resounded from the depths of Manager Wang’s Soul and his face instantly went pale white. Coughing up a mouthful of blood, his body staggered and he instantly felt several dozen years older.
Manager Wang had used some Secret Technique to burst the lotus bud, but doing so had clearly caused great damage to his own Soul.
Qian Yue was dumbstruck as she stood to the side and observed this battle, her eyes flashing brilliantly as her expression was filled with both joy and shock.
When she first noticed that they had fallen into an ambush, Qian Yue thought that all hope was lost, but how could she have imagined that the enemies she felt were impossible to defeat were actually easily routed and killed off by Yang Kai? Even Manager Wang wasn’t Yang Kai’s opponent.
If Qian Yue didn’t know Manager Wang, she might have thought that he was just another Saint King Realm cultivator, but she was well aware that he was a genuine Origin Returning Realm master. When she saw him, she was also trembling and talking carefully, but now, Manager Wang was panicking like a stray dog, no longer holding the swag of a former senior expert.
For a time, Qian Yue felt quite complex in her heart, staring at Yang Kai in something of a daze while thinking that Su Yan’s vision was really profound. When she had first met Yang Kai, she had looked down on and despised him greatly, but it seemed that Su Yan was the one who really stood high and saw far.
At this moment, she finally relaxed and took the opportunity to glance over at Yang Yan, but what she found was that the other party’s expression was completely indifferent, as if she hadn’t felt any tension at all. Qian Yue now realized that, from the start, Yang Yan had complete confidence in Yang Kai’s ability to win.
“Seems Origin Returning Realm masters really aren’t much!” Yang Kai sneered sarcastically, “In all honesty, I have no interest in Chen Shi Tao at all, nor did I have any intention to get in Wang Yu Han’s way, it was all your grand nephew’s petty insecurity that brought about his own destruction, even implicating his Elder in the process. If I were you, after acting so stupidly, I would get it over with and just kill myself. Why bother struggling to maintain your worthless existence?”
After listening to sarcastic ridicule, Manager Wang felt immense regret and annoyance. If what this boy said was really true, what was the point in coming here in the first place? To be humiliated and then die?
At this moment, Manager Wang wished he could drag Wang Yu Han back from hell so he could kill him a dozen times over. Although he continued wearing a fierce look on his face, in truth, he was already beginning to weaken.
He realized that even if he was in his peak state, he couldn’t defeat this strange boy. If he did not find an opportunity to escape soon, he might really never be able to leave here again.
A ruthless light flashed across Manager Wang’s eyes as he lifted his hand and pointed a hand sign towards the giant black flag he was using to resist the Hundred Mountains Picture, causing an unstable energy fluctuation to burst out from it. In the next instant, a loud explosion rang out as countless illusory phantoms flew out uncontrollably.
This artifact actually had the power to self destruct!
Yang Kai was shocked by this unexpected development and quickly withdrew the Hundred Mountains Picture before once again summoning his Purple Shield in front of Qian Yue and Yang Yan to protect them from the explosion fallout.
By the time Yang Kai finished this, he suddenly discovered that the old man surnamed Wang was already a thousand metres away.
[To think he is really trying to flee!]
Yang Kai coldly snorted as he unfurled his Wind and Thunder Wings, his figure flickering and disappearing in a storm of wind and thunder.
So far, he had not killed an Origin Returning Realm cultivator, so with such a rare opportunity in front of him, how could he possibly miss it? Moreover, after observing the various methods used by this old man surnamed Wang, it was obvious the other party’s understanding of Shi was quite deep. As long as Yang Kai could kill him and absorb his remnant Soul along with his understanding of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, it would be possible to begin comprehending Shi, preparing him for his eventual breakthrough to the Origin Returning Realm.
Although Manager Wang’s cultivation was higher than Yang Kai’s, he was still quite heavily injured, so with the assistance of his Wind and Thunder Wings, Yang Kai was able to move much faster.
Yang Kai was quickly closing the thousand-metre gap between himself and Manager Wang, but just as he was about to catch up, Yang Kai felt a shocking energy fluctuation rapidly approaching from behind. In the next instant, a stream of light shot past him and impacted the old man surnamed Wang’s back.
A pitiful scream rang out before Manager Wang fell to the ground, struggling for only a moment before lying still.
Yang Kai raised his brow as he looked back in surprise only to see Yang Yan in her black robe holding up a crossbow-like artifact.
Yang Kai recognized this artifact as one of the prizes he had looted in the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
He had obtained it from a cultivator from the Xie Family. The other party had used this artifact to sneak attack him but had ultimately failed to kill Yang Kai. In the end, Yang Kai had ended the Xie Family cultivator’s life. This artifact’s power was quite impressive, but the cost to use it was equally high, even requiring a blood sacrifice from its wielder, a truly evil artifact. As such, Yang Kai had not paid much attention to this crossbow after obtaining it and had simply tossed it into his Space Ring.
Now it seems that Yang Yan had improved and enhanced it, allowing her to use it against enemies in combat.
The old man surnamed Wang dying like this saved Yang Kai some trouble so he didn’t mind either way. Immediately walking over the body, Yang Kai urged the power of his Demon Eye of Annihilation and soon, Manager Wang’s Soul remnant was sucked into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea and purified. Finished with this, Yang Kai removed Manager Wang’s Space Ring before turning around and returning to Yang Yan and Qian Yue.
Inside the abandoned hall, Qian Yue stared at Yang Kai, as if she was having trouble recognizing him.
After Yang Yan used the crossbow artifact, she had nearly collapsed, and her face had gone quite pale. It seemed even after her special refinement and improvement, the cost of using this artifact was still quite high.
“Let’s rest here for a while before setting out again, there should be no further ambushes,” Yang Kai said before handing Yang Yan a bottle of pills then walking over to the Space Array.
He wanted to completely destroy this Space Array to ensure that any further arrangements his opponents might have made couldn’t be implemented, and to ensure that no clues about what happened here were left behind.
Taking advantage of this time, Yang Yan quickly adjusted her breathing while Qian Yue went to clean up the remains of the other fallen Saint King Realm cultivators.
While Yang Yan sat in meditation, both Yang Kai and Qian Yue finished their respective work and Qian Yue handed over the Space Rings she had collected to Yang Kai, the look of shock still lingering on her face, as if she was unable to believe the scene she had just witnessed, even now.
Yang Kai glanced at her and naturally understood what she was thinking. Waving his hand lightly, he said, “Keep those Space Rings for yourself, there’s probably nothing good inside them, but there are probably some resources which will be suitable for you to use. Don’t reject, when you reach Dragon Cave Mountain, you’ll understand what true riches look like and how worthless these things are.”
Qian Yue froze for a moment, but eventually did not object, simply happily replying, “Then I’ll look forward to it.”
She really could not help anticipating arriving at Dragon Cave Mountain now. Since wandering about destitute through the Star Field and arriving at Joyous Union Pavilion, Qian Yue had never met anyone she knew or found a place to rely on. She felt like a rootless tree, a river without a source, suffering through each day.
But now, Yang Kai had appeared in front of her, allowing her to find a pillar of support for her weary heart and giving her hope for the future. Although Yang Kai was her Junior, this Junior had now exceeded her cultivation, so depending on him a little was not something to feel embarrassed about.
While waiting for Yang Yan to restore herself, Yang Kai sat down and began reviewing his gains and losses from this battle.
This was not the first time Yang Kai had battled an Origin Returning Realm master, but it was his first time killing such a cultivator. If not for the interference from his Soul Devouring Insects and his mastery of the Dao of Space, however, Yang Kai estimated he would not have been Manager Wang’s opponent.
Nevertheless, this battle allowed him to understand that his Golden Blood Thread could cut apart Shi, a pleasant surprise. When Deng Ning of Demon Blood Temple handed him the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique, he had not mentioned anything about this particular ability.
Facing this old man surnamed Wang, a First-Order Origin Returning Realm master, Yang Kai had to go all out, so what about a master at the Second-Order or Third-Order?
Yang Kai suddenly realized that his cultivation realm was still too low. After returning to Dragon Cave Mountain, he decided to enter retreat to break through to the next realm. Only when his cultivation reached the Origin Returning Realm would he not have to fear anyone on Shadowed Star.
Half a day later, Yang Yan had restored herself sufficiently, so Yang Kai summoned his Star Shuttle and left this deserted city with the two women.
After flying for two days, the trio arrived at a small town and Yang Kai flew down to ask for directions. After learning that this place was only half a month away from Heavenly Fate City, he finally relaxed.
He was really afraid that the deserted city was actually farther away from Heavenly Fate City than Black Crow City, but it seemed his luck was good and Wang Yu Han had chosen to set up this ambush in the same direction as Heavenly Fate City.
On top of that, they had arrived inside Shadow Moon Hall’s territory, so with his friendship with Qian Tong, Wei Gu Chang, and Dong Xuan’er, they were basically safe.
Along the way, Yang Kai remained silent as he was immersed in planning what to do in the future, while Yang Yan and Qian Yue chatted a bit from time to time. Like this, half a month passed by and the group of three arrived at Dragon Cave Mountain. As soon as she saw this place, Qian Yue fell in love with it.
Although Dragon Cave Mountain was not as grand and imposing as the foundations of a great Sect, it had its own unique style. The mountains and rivers here were all incredibly beautiful, making it seem like an untouched paradise.
After letting Yang Yan help Qian Yue settle in, Yang Kai went to see the Divine Tree and learned that it was currently in good spirits. On top of that, the Golden Sun Fruit Tree Yang Kai had transplanted was now doing well, its vitality slowly growing stronger with no possibility of it perishing anymore.
After giving the Divine Tree a drop of Golden Blood, Yang Kai immediately announced he was entering retreat.
Inside his cave mansion, Yang Kai played with a small, crystal-clear bead in his hand as tenderness filled his eyes.
This bead was Su Yan’s Ice Soul Bead. As long as this bead remained intact, the person who condensed it was certainly still alive. Although he did not know where Su Yan was right now, as long as this Ice Soul Bead remained, it meant she was still fine.
Feeling Su Yan’s aura gently wafting from this bead made Yang Kai feel nostalgic.
After watching it for a long time, Yang Kai smiled warmly, held it tightly, closed his eyes, and silently cultivated, attempting to break through.
Back in Joyous Union Pavilion, Yang Kai had touched the threshold of the Third-Order Saint King Realm, but at that time, he was too anxious to hear news about Su Yan, so he had firmly suppressed his breakthrough. Now that he had returned to Dragon Cave Mountain, his first order of business was to attempt a breakthrough again.
The Ten Thousand Year Incense burned in the background, its mellow and calming fragrance filling the air. The place where Yang Kai chose to meditate was also right beside the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree, and with his thorough comprehension of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, this breakthrough posed no problem to him.
With just a trivial ten days worth of effort, and without the assistance of any pills or Saint Crystals, Yang Kai successfully broke through to the Third-Order Saint King Realm.
His breakthrough did not cause any spectacular scene as the cave mansion was completely isolated by powerful Spirit Arrays, so not even the other residents of Dragon Cave Mountain knew Yang Kai had made a breakthrough.
After taking another month or so to consolidate his cultivation, Yang Kai began taking inventory of his harvest from his latest trip.
With a thought, Yang Kai summoned another bead into the palm of his hand. This bead was different from Su Yan’s Ice Soul Bead, it had an inconspicuous grey appearance. It was the Coloured Glass Bead Dai Yuan had given him.
As Dai Yuan cultivated her Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art, taking a small amount of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass into her body, she was able to condense this bead which was equivalent to the Monster Core of a Monster Beast. It was extremely valuable.
Dai Yuan had said that if he could refine this Coloured Glass Bead, he might be able to comprehend the mysteries of Coloured Glass Divine Light!
Coloured Glass Divine Light had the incredible ability to suppress others’ Souls and it was very difficult to guard against. Yang Kai had even suffered a small loss to this Coloured Glass Divine Light, so he had a deep interest in it. If he could really achieve what Dai Yuan said, it would give him another powerful card to use in battle.
Moreover, Coloured Glass Divine Light shared some similarities with his Demon Eye of Annihilation; both had the function of suppressing other’s Souls, so if he was able to combine the two of them, Yang Kai couldn’t say what kind of mutation would happen.
After quietly contemplating for a while, Yang Kai decided to put aside this Coloured Glass Bead for now and instead take out his Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace.
Inside the Corpse Cave, in order to collect the Sun’s True Essence, the Firebird Artifact Spirit had suffered some injuries, but Yang Kai had learned afterwards that this had actually been a blessing in disguise because the Artifact Spirit had ingested a wisp of Sun’s True Fire and was assimilating it inside the Artifact Refining Furnace.
Now, more than a month had passed, yet the Firebird showed no signs of awakening as it was still refining that wisp of Sun’s True Fire. However, when he observed it, Yang Kai discovered that the wisp of Sun’s True Fire had diminished greatly while the Artifact Spirit’s aura had become significantly more powerful.
Yang Kai immediately understood that the Artifact Spirit had truly obtained huge benefits from that incident.
Leaving it alone, Yang Kai put away the Artifact Refining Furnace.
Next, Yang Kai checked on the Stone Puppet. The Stone Puppet was the same as the Artifact Spirit. Some time ago, when the Stone Puppet spat out the Sun’s True Essence, Yang Kai had told it to absorb as much mineral essence as it needed to repair itself, but upon seeing it now, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a bit surprised.
The Stone Puppet’s injuries were now completely healed, and after being released by Yang Kai, its pair of eyes sparkled somewhat, its spirituality having obviously increased greatly.
However, what shocked Yang Kai the most was that the Stone Puppet’s body now seemed to contain an extremely intense Fire Attribute Energy. Even with his powerful Divine Sense, Yang Kai was unable to probe this Fire Attribute Energy as it was burnt the moment it tried to make contact with it.
Sun’s True Fire!
Unexpectedly, the Stone Puppet had absorbed some Sun’s True Fire! And it had finished refining this Sun’s True Fire even before the Fire Attribute Artifact Spirit. This was a bit of a pleasant surprise and made Yang Kai realize just how powerful the Stone Puppet’s innate talent was. Even the Artifact Spirit born from pure Fire Attribute Energy could not compare to it.
The Stone Puppet had an innate ability to quench and refine minerals, and now it seemed that the Sun’s True Fire was no exception, in the future this pure Fire Attribute Energy would only become purer and more potent.
Unfortunately, Yang Kai had yet to find another Blood Essence Stone; after all, there was another Stone Puppet in his Black Book Space, but without a Blood Essence Stone, that Stone Puppet couldn’t be hatched from its black shell.
After confirming that the Stone Puppet was alright, and even gained some unexpected advantages, Yang Kai sent it a Divine Sense command.
The Stone Puppet opened its mouth a moment later and began spitting out a massive amount of refined ores, soon creating a massive hill in front of Yang Kai.
These items were all from the Corpse Cave and had been swallowed by the Stone Puppet. At that time, Yang Kai and Yang Yan had been busy trying to collect the Sun’s True Essence, so they hadn’t had any time to deal with the mountains of materials and Saint Crystals lying around. Therefore, they had let the Stone Puppet handle this matter.
There had been seven or eight hills of various ores and a few more of pure Saint Crystals, so although the Stone Puppet only had time to swallow about half of them, they still added up to an amazing amount.
Some of the ores had their essence absorbed by the Stone Puppet to strengthen it and make up for the damage caused by the Sun’s True Fire, but the vast majority was now piled up in front of Yang Kai.
Up until now, Yang Kai had too many things on his mind, so he wasn’t able to take inventory of this harvest, but since they had been piled up out in the open, Yang Kai figured these materials weren’t as high in quality or rarity as the ores he had found in the four Space Rings atop the Ice Jade Pedestal. Sweeping them with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai confirmed his speculations.
However, he did not need to worry about such things as all these minerals would be handed over to Yang Yan to process.
While preparing to stuff these ores into Space Rings, Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly landed on one of the hills of materials. He reached out, and picked up a fist-sized, perfectly round, flawless and pure white object.
Staring at this sphere in amazement, Yang Kai soon had a thought and a look of surprise filled his eyes. Circulating his Secret Art, he noticed the huge amount of pure energy flowing from the sphere in his hand into his body and his expression turned strange, glancing over at the Stone Puppet in amazement and asking, “You can even purify this kind of thing?”
The Stone Puppet looked at him with a tilted head and did not say a word.
Yang Kai smiled slightly, knowing that it might not be able to express its thoughts; after all, the Stone Puppet’s sapience was limited.
Taking out the token Yang Yan gave him to control the cave mansion’s arrays, Yang Kai poured his Divine Sense into it and sent out a message.
A moment later, the barrier around the cave mansion was opened from the outside and Yang Yan walked in quickly, asking curiously, “Didn’t you say you were going to enter retreat? Why suddenly call me over?”
“Look at this!” Yang Kai said as he tossed the white sphere in his hand over to her. Catching it, Yang Yan looked at him suspiciously for a moment before taking a closer look at the sphere.
Soon after, Yang Yan’s beautiful eyes widened as a look of pleasant surprise filled her face, as if she had just discovered something incredible. Quickly turning to Yang Kai, she eagerly asked, “Where did you get this thing? Are there any more?”
Yang Kai simply pointed his finger to a hill in front of him.
Yang Yan turned her head in the direction he pointed and was immediately dumbstruck as she saw many similar spheres lying in that hill.
After a few breaths, Yang Yan let out a cry of joy as she rushed over to the hill and began stuffing everything into her own Space Ring.
“Leave me a few,” Yang Kai stared at her with a depressed expression.
“What do you want them for?” Yang Yan snorted as her small hand covered her Space Ring, hiding it from view.
“Cultivation. You can see what these things are formed from, right? I just finished breaking through so using these things will help better consolidate my realm,” Yang Kai said while his face twitched slightly.
“Of course I can see what this is! These things should have been condensed by Xiao Xiao, right?” Yang Yan picked up the Stone Puppet and kissed it repeatedly, causing Yang Kai to wear a dumbfounded look while the Stone Puppet wore a helpless one.
“I didn’t expect that Xiao Xiao could even purify and compress Saint Crystals. This is perfect! One of the worries I had has been solved, hehe!” Yang Yan stared at the Stone Puppet with her beautiful eyes, seemingly wishing she could kiss it a few more times.
“Can Stone Puppets even purify and compress Saint Crystals? Did you know about this before?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
Yang Yan shook her head, “I tried before, but Xiao Xiao didn’t have this ability then. Stone Puppets have an innate ability to absorb and temper various ores and mineral essences, refining them into their bodies to strengthen themselves. Xiao Xiao being able to do this now might have something to do with it absorbing some of the Sun’s True Essence, although I’m not completely sure.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai gently nodded, the Sun’s True Essence was said to be the source essence extracted from a Sun Star. The Stone Puppet had refined a little Sun’s True Fire, so it wasn’t surprising that its abilities had undergone some changes.
However, being able to purify and compress Saint Crystals, transforming their essence into the shape of a ball was quite a sensational development.
Throughout the Star Field, the highest quality Saint Crystal known so far was High-Rank Saint Crystal, but the existence of this sphere completely went against that norm, creating a brand-new precedent.
The energy contained in this sphere was both denser and purer than an equivalent-sized piece of High-Rank Saint Crystal. Yang Kai had only absorbed a small part of it, but he estimated that the energy contained inside this sphere was five to six times greater than High-Rank Saint Crystal.
That was not to say that the value of this sphere was only that of five or six High-Rank Saint Crystals of equivalent size; in fact, its value was far greater than this.
In theory, the exchange ratio between High-Rank Saint Crystal, Mid-Rank Saint Crystal, and Low-Rank Saint Crystal was one to ten, but every cultivator knew that in truth, the higher the rank of Saint Crystal, the greater its value was.
With higher quality Saint Crystals, a cultivator would be better able to impact their bottlenecks, restore their Saint Qi, or restore themselves while meditating. At a critical moment, such an advantage may even mean the difference between life and death.
Although the energy contained in this sphere was only equivalent to the sum of five or six High-Rank Saint Crystals of equal size, if it were to be circulated in large quantities, it would likely be valued at ten or even twenty High-Rank Saint Crystals.
Of course, that was only assuming a massive amount of them entered the market. If this sphere were to be auctioned off as a single treasure, it could likely sell for 100,000 High-Rank Saint Crystals or more.
After all, rare things were always more expensive.
Of course, Yang Kai didn’t have any intention of releasing these things into the market. From Yang Yan’s reaction just now, this Saint Crystal sphere which had unintentionally been compressed by the Stone Puppet was of great use to her.
Most likely, this was related to whatever secret project she had been working on. Yang Kai did not ask any questions though. Since Yang Yan had said she wanted to give him a surprise, he decided to patiently wait until she was ready to reveal it to him.
After confirming that these spheres were something the Stone Puppet had created after refining the Sun’s True Fire, Yang Kai set the matter aside and asked Yang Yan about Qian Yue. Apparently, since coming here, Qian Yue had quickly gotten close to the other residents and Wu Yi had provided her with a lot of cultivation resources and a good cultivation environment. Right now, she was also in secluded retreat.
After about the time it would take to boil a cup of tea, Yang Yan happily walked out of Yang Kai’s cave mansion, taking with her not only the strange Saint Crystal spheres and all of the various ores, but even the Stone Puppet as well.
According to her, even if Yang Kai had not called her over, she would have come looking for him to ask for the Stone Puppet’s help. With the Stone Puppet beside her, the efficiency of her Artifact Refining would greatly increase, which was essential to bringing her grand plan to fruition.
After Yang Yan left, Yang Kai opened the cave mansion barrier again while touching the special Space Ring Yang Yan had refined for him with a smile on his face. There were only two things inside this ring, the Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade Pedestal and the Sun’s True Essence; however, these two things were without a doubt the most valuable and precious treasures he had obtained on this trip. If any news were to leak of their existence, it would create a stir across all of Shadowed Star.
Pondering for a while, Yang Kai’s expression became dignified as he took out a certain ancient book.
This ancient book had also been obtained from the Corpse Cave and had once belonged to the Ancient Yang Sect. At first, there were too many of these ancient books and Yang Kai did not have time to investigate them carefully. Later, while Yang Yan was refining the special Space Ring to store the Sun’s True Essence, Yang Kai casually browsed through these ancient books and this one in particular had caught his attention.
Because this ancient book was not some ordinary Secret Art, but rather one that was specifically for Body Tempering.
Yang Kai’s physical body was already much stronger than average cultivators in the same realm, but this was a result of various opportunities he had come across over the years rather than intentional cultivation. Secret Arts specifically for Body Tempering and Soul Cultivation were extremely rare, and even if some were occasionally widely circulated outside, they were generally trash that couldn’t enter the eyes of truly powerful masters. Yang Kai naturally looked down on these generic methods as well.
Yang Kai had never expected that in the underground Corpse Cave of the Ancient Yang Sect he would obtain this Five Elements Indestructible Sword Tempering Art.
When Yang Kai first saw it, he thought that this Secret Book was an art related to swordsmanship, but after careful investigation, he learned it was actually a Body Tempering Secret Art.
Yang Kai had a rough understanding of this Secret Art from the last time he browsed through and knew it was extremely profound and mysterious. If this Five Elements Indestructible Sword Tempering Art worked as described, once someone cultivated it to the extreme, they would be able to obtain a near immortal and indestructible physique; moreover, even at the minor accomplishment stage, one would be able to use their vitality and Blood Qi to condense Five Elements Profound Heavenly Sword Qi, which had incredible offensive and defensive power.
Reading about this Secret Art’s possibilities made Yang Kai excited, but the requirements to cultivate it were also extremely high.
The physical strength of anyone who wished to cultivate this Secret Art had to already be at least twice as high as an average cultivator in the same realm just to withstand the pain involved in the tempering process. This condition was no problem for Yang Kai.
Secondly, one needed to possess extremely strong vitality because cultivating this Secret Art would cause a great deal of harm to oneself. If one did not possess tenacious vitality, not only would they fail to cultivate this Secret Art, they may end up losing their life in the process. Yang Kai felt that this requirement would also not be an issue for him. Although he did not dare claim he had the strongest vitality of any cultivator in the Star Field, with the astonishing restorative power of his Golden Blood, he was confident that only a few people could surpass him in this aspect.
Thirdly, to cultivate the Five Elements Indestructible Sword Tempering Art, one needed to obtain extremely high-rank precious treasures from the five basic elements. By absorbing and refining the energy contained in these precious treasures, they would continuously temper their flesh and wash their marrow. After many years of repeated accumulation, one would eventually reach the pinnacle of the Five Elements Indestructible Sword Tempering Art.
What kind of precious treasures were required was only vaguely described in the Five Elements Indestructible Sword Tempering Art’s ancient book, but essentially, the minimum requirement would be something equivalent to a Tenth-Order Monster Beast’s Monster Core.
This requirement alone basically made it impossible for anyone on Shadowed Star to cultivate this Secret Art; after all, Tenth-Order Monster Beasts were equivalent to Origin King Realm masters, and there were no such things on Shadowed Star.
Yang Kai currently had two treasures he was certain met these criteria: The Sun’s True Essence and the Profound Yin Sunflower Water. The Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade Pedestal also met the appropriate conditions, but if he were to really begin cultivating this Secret Art, Yang Kai wasn’t prepared to use the Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade Pedestal as he had other important uses for it.