Huang Juan had lived here for several years and could barely be regarded as a half-native, so she knew where the Space Array was located. With her and Lin Yun’er, Yang Kai managed to arrive at the palace housing the Space Array without any effort.
The Space Array of Sea Side City was open to anyone as long as they could pay enough Saint Crystals, but there weren’t many destinations that could be reached from it.
After some consideration, Yang Kai chose Black Crow City as his next destination.
It was not that Black Crow City was the closest option to Flowing Flame Sand Field, but rather that Yang Kai had been to this city once before and knew that it was close to Clear Sky Sect. As long as he could reach Black Crow City, he could use his connections with Clear Sky Sect to easily teleport to the city closest to the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
This was a somewhat convoluted plan, but it was also the most efficient.
After paying a total of 600,000 Saint Crystals, Yang Kai and his party of three stood atop the Space Array, and when the light flashed, the three had disappeared without a trace.
Yang Kai had once visited Black Crow City together with Chen Shi Tao, Lu Ying and a few others. In this city, Yang Kai had found Qian Yue and gotten into a fight with Joyous Union Pavilion while trying to redeem her.
Yang Kai had no intention to linger in this city though, so after asking for directions, he took Huang Juan and Lin Yun’er and flew off in a certain direction.
Three days later, in front of another city several times larger than Black Crow City, Yang Kai landed.
“Sect Master, why did we come here?” Huang Juan looked at the three large characters above the huge city gate with a dazed expression.
“I have some acquaintances in this city, so it will be more convenient to transfer to our final destination from here,” Yang Kai explained faintly before glancing towards Huang Juan’s back where Lin Yun’er was sleeping with a big smile on her face.
Although this little girl had not exerted any strenuous effort during this three-day journey, she was naturally quite exhausted.
This couldn’t be helped as it was the first time since she was born that she had left Sea Side City. After leaving that day, she was simply curious about everything around her.
The rapid speed at which they flew also caused her to cheer happily, and when she saw a field of wildflowers she couldn’t help dancing amongst them before discovering birds and butterflies and chasing after them, hoping to catch and hold them in her tiny hands.
Such excitement was followed by fatigue, so she was currently sleeping soundly.
“Let’s go,” Yang Kai beckoned before leading the way towards the city.
Black Sea City! This city was adjacent to Clear Sky Sect’s headquarters and played essentially the same role as Heavenly Fate City did to Shadow Moon Hall. Naturally, Black Sea City was completely controlled by Clear Sky Sect.
Chen Shi Tao had invited Yang Kai to be a guest here many times, but he had never had a chance before, so this was his first visit.
Not long after, Yang Kai arrived at Black Sea City’s City Lord’s Mansion.
This City Lord’s Mansion could be regarded as one of the signature features of Black Sea City. It was a magnificent and majestic palace that was guarded by numerous guards wearing matching black leather armour and holding identical silver spears, each one showing a stern, imposing expression.
As Yang Kai and his group of three approached, these guards all focused their attention on them as one of them, who seemed to be their leader, called out, “Halt! This is Black Sea City’s City Lord’s Mansion, random passersby may not approach!”
This person had a Third-Order Saint King cultivation and immediately blocked Yang Kai’s path with a vigilant look.
Yang Kai smiled and cupped his fists slightly, “Hello friends, this one’s name is Yang Kai and I’ve come to discuss a matter with your City Lord, could you inform him of my arrival?”
“You’ve come to see Sir City Lord?” The man frowned, his expression a little impatient. Everyone who came here was looking to see the City Lord so it wasn’t a surprise that this was also Yang Kai’s purpose; however, just because someone came to see the City Lord, did that mean the City Lord would see them? If this guard were to report this matter without first clarifying this person’s identity, he would certainly be punished.
However, Yang Kai was clearly an Origin Realm master, so this guard did not dare act negligently. If it had been someone with lower strength, on the other hand, he would have already been driven away.
“Do you know Sir City Lord?” The man asked.
“Uh… No, I don’t,” Yang Kai shook his head honestly.
“You don’t know Sir City Lord?” The man’s face filled with astonishment.
“But I do know your Sect Master Gu Zhen,” Yang Kai added.
“You know the Sect Master?” This time this man was completely taken aback, the impatience on his face quickly receding and being replaced with one of shock. The Sect Master was essentially in secluded retreat all year round and not someone a random individual could see. Even this guard leader had never met face to face with the Sect Master, yet this man named Yang Kai claimed to know the Sect Master. Could he just be making things up?
“Yeah. I also know your Great Elder Mo Yu.”
The man could not help drawing in a sharp breath as he looked Yang Kai over once again, as if trying to re-examine him. Being able to know both the Sect Master and the Great Elder meant that this young man named Yang Kai must have a very high status, so why had he never even seen or heard of him before?
Although the guard leader felt quite puzzled, he didn’t dare to delay any more. The impatience on his face had already been discarded and he respectfully cupped his fists, “Please wait here for a moment while I report this matter to Sir City Lord. “
“En,” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
After the guard leader entered the City Lord’s Mansion, within a half a cup of tea’s time, a petite figure suddenly raced out and appeared in front of Yang Kai.
After seeing Yang Kai’s face, the person who had leapt out could not help pointing and saying, “Ah, it’s really you, Yang Kai! Why are you here?”
“Sister Lu Ying?” Yang Kai was also a little surprised. He had not expected that the first person to greet him from this City Lord’s Mansion would be Lu Ying and what’s more, Chen Shi Tao, who she seemed inseparable from, was not here.
But since he had met an acquaintance here, things were easier to handle. Yang Kai was still thinking about how to prove his identity to the City Lord he had never met before.
“I was just passing through and wanted to borrow the city’s Space Array, but why is Sister Lu Ying here? Where’s Sister Chen?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
“Senior Sister Chen has been in retreat since returning from the Emperor Garden. As for why I’m here, hehe… Black Sea City’s City Lord is my father,” Lu Ying replied with a grin.
Yang Kai was stunned. He had not expected Lu Ying’s status to be so high. Usually, she would follow behind Chen Shi Tao, as if she were a little sister or subordinate of some kind, so Yang Kai had thought she was just an ordinary disciple of Clear Sky Sect with decent aptitude. Now, however, it seemed her background was actually quite big; since Lu Ying’s father could become the City Lord of Black Sea City, he was definitely a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master.
“Dissolute!” As the two were talking, a majestic voice boomed from within the City Lord’s Mansion. Immediately after, a middle-aged man with a solemn expression appeared and scolded, “Sect Master Yang is a Sect Master, how can you speak to him with such disrespect?”
This person was obviously Lu Ying’s father, the City Lord of Black Sea City.
Hearing her father’s reprimand, Lu Ying could not help spitting out her tongue playfully.
Yang Kai chuckled and said, “Sir City Lord need not be so serious. I have known Sister Lu Ying for a long time now and we are friends from the same generation. That relationship didn’t just disappear after this Yang founded a small sect.”
Hearing this, the middle-aged man’s eyes lit up, seemingly very satisfied with Yang Kai’s humility and demeanour, but he still shook his head and said, “That may be, but courtesy must be observed! Ying’er, greet Sect Master Yang properly.”
As soon as Lu Ying heard this, her lips formed into a pout, but she did not dare disobey her father’s command, so she saluted Yang Kai again with an unhappy expression.
Yang Kai was also helpless. Although he had only spoken a few words with this City Lord, he could see that this man had a relatively rigid personality.
After Lu Ying bowed, the middle-aged man also cupped his fists and said, “Greeting, Sect Master Yang. This one’s name is Lu Xuan and I have the honour of serving as Black Sea City’s City Lord.”
“Sir City Lord is too polite, this one has arrived here unannounced so I hope Sir City Lord will not take offence,” Yang Kai hurriedly replied.
“Sect Master Yang is too serious, you visiting Black Sea City is this City Lord’s honour. Please come inside first, this Lu has already sent a message to the Sect Master and Great Elder, but it will take the two of them about half an hour to arrive, so I’m afraid I must ask Sect Master Yang to wait a moment.”
“It’s fine,” Yang Kai lightly nodded, not finding this situation the slightest bit odd. He had saved Gu Zhen and Mo Yu in the Emperor Garden, so the two of them coming here to see him after receiving word he was here was not unexpected.
Once inside, Yang Kai found the atmosphere within the City Lord’s Mansion to be extremely lively.
Seeing the appearance of Yang Kai and his group, Lu Xuan arranged rooms where they could bathe and change their clothes. Yang Kai naturally did not decline this offer. It didn’t matter much to him what his appearance was, but allowing Lin Yun’er and Huang Juan to continue looking so dishevelled and downtrodden was really not appropriate.
Yang Kai only took a short time to refresh himself, but Gu Zhen and Mo Yu had already arrived before he was finished. After meeting once more in the main hall of the mansion, an enthusiastic exchange of greetings took place once again.
After a while, the host and guests were seated, with Lu Xuan having already prepared a lavish banquet. Exquisite dishes and spirit fruits were presented one after another, causing Lin Yun’er, who had never experienced this kind of life before, to swiftly move her hands to gobble up everything in sight.
The frankness of this little girl’s performance was not frowned upon, instead becoming a point of interest. Lu Ying sat next to Lin Yun’er and kept serving her various delicacies, apparently quite taken with this little girl.
On the contrary, Huang Juan was acting extremely cautiously. She had never thought that one day she would be able to sit at the same table with the senior leadership of Clear Sky Sect. After all, she had been so poor that she could not even scrape together five thousand Saint Crystals to buy a Hundred Spirits Pill a few days ago, yet now she had essentially been reborn.
She deeply understood that being able to receive such treatment was completely because of Yang Kai, so her feelings were understandably somewhat complex for a while.
A few hours later, the sky turned dark and the banquet wound down. Lin Yun’er, who was now filled to the brim with food and drink, was taken to rest by Huang Juan, leaving behind just Yang Kai and the leaders of Clear Sky Sect.
“Sister Chen also returned safely?” Yang Kai took a sip of some fragrant spirit tea and asked with concern.
“Thanks to Sect Master Yang, all three of us managed to come back unscathed,” Gu Zhen replied gratefully. This trip to the Emperor Garden was indeed filled with crisis, the most dangerous of which was the one where they had met Yang Kai. If not for Yang Kai arriving to rescue them at that critical moment, Gu Zhen and Mo Yu might have survived but Chen Shi Tao, who had the lowest strength of the group, would not have escaped unharmed.
However, after coming back, Chen Shi Tao had immediately entered a state of retreat. She had some gains in the Emperor Garden and had only recently broken through to the Origin Realm without even condensing her Shi yet, so she didn’t dare delay any longer, which was also why she had not exited to see Yang Kai this time.
“That’s great news.” After learning about Chen Shi Tao’s current situation, Yang Kai felt relieved.
“So what brings Sect Master Yang here?” Mo Yu asked Yang Kai curiously.
“The usual bad luck!” Yang Kai smiled wryly before giving a brief explanation of how he arrived in Black Sea City while Gu Zhen and Mo Yu nodded repeatedly.
Regarding this issue, Mo Yu and Gu Zhen actually had better luck than Yang Kai and emerged from the Emperor Garden relatively close to Clear Sky Sect, so they had no difficulty returning on their own.
“This expedition to the Emperor Garden was filled with unexpected surprises. With it opening to the entire Star Field, my Shadowed Star suffered heavy losses,” Gu Zhen sighed deeply.
“Oh? Which great forces suffered losses?” Yang Kai suddenly became interested.
“We’ve yet to get a full tally of the losses, but according to the news this old master managed to obtain since returning, it seems the Great Elder and Temple Master of Demon Blood Temple fell inside the Emperor Garden.”
Yang Kai gently nodded, his expression remaining perfectly calm.
The two Demon Blood Temple leaders were killed by him, so he wasn’t surprised by this news.
Gu Zhen and the others didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary with Yang Kai’s reaction and simply assumed this pair from Demon Blood Temple had fallen at the hands of a different Cultivation Star’s masters inside the Emperor Garden. Without any pause, they continued, “Besides them, Thunder Typhoon Sect’s Great Elder Cheng Peng Xuan also fell. Mo Xiao Sheng of Heaven Battling Union suffered heavy losses but managed to escape. Gong Xing He of Coloured Glass Sect also failed to return. All of the other great forces seemed to have suffered losses as well. My Clear Sky Sect being able to return unharmed is a stroke of good fortune.”
“Even Cheng Peng Xuan and Gong Xing He died?” Yang Kai was shocked.
“En, although the news has not yet spread, that much is certain,” Gu Zhen nodded sincerely. Yang Kai didn’t doubt this information because he knew that each of these great forces would place spies amongst the others, allowing them to gain some information that was not publicly known.
“What about Shadow Moon Hall? Are Qian Tong, Fei Zhi Tu, and Wei Gu Chang alright?” Yang Kai asked nervously.
“Sect Master Yang doesn’t need to worry, those three are all fine,” Mo Yu smiled lightly, “Old Ghost Qian is really quite shrewd; he seems to have insisted that they remain outside the Emperor Garden’s main palace during this trip.”
“So that’s how it is,” Yang Kai couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief while secretly feeling impressed with Qian Tong’s intuition. Qian Tong was by no means timid and Yang Kai estimated that if not for Wei Gu Chang being with them, he and Fei Zhi Tu would certainly not have missed the opportunity to dive deep into the Emperor Garden’s main palace. However, since Wei Gu Chang was with them, the two old men must have decided to not take unnecessary risks.
It was precisely because of this caution that Qian Tong and the others from Shadow Moon Hall managed to avoid taking any losses though. Even masters like Cheng Peng Xuan and Gong Xing He had fallen inside, so no matter how strong Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu were, it was conceivable they might have suffered similar fates had they acted recklessly.
Although the opening of the Emperor Garden had resulted in many people obtaining great gains, it had also caused many Sects to suffer heavy losses. Before entering, no one would have thought that this trip to the Emperor Garden would be so dangerous.
If they had known about the risks earlier, perhaps there would have been fewer people rushing to enter the Emperor Garden.
“Compared with other Cultivation Stars, my Shadowed Star still has a noticeable disparity. Because of the suppression of the World Principles here, no one can spy on the mysteries of the Origin King Realm and all of us are only able to linger at the peak of the Origin Realm. In the end, we lack the guidance of an Origin King Realm master and our artifacts and pills are also inferior in grade and quality to those outsiders. Fighting with foreign masters under such circumstances is like trying to battle with an arm tied behind our backs,” Gu Zhen sighed in exasperation.
“Indeed, if only an Origin King Realm master could have risen on my Shadowed Star, this situation might not have happened,” Mo Yu nodded in agreement.
“Even so, how could it be that easy to break through to the Origin King Realm?” Lu Xuan wore a sad look and shook his head slowly, “In these past ten thousand years, no Origin King Realm master has appeared on Shadowed Star. The last time the Flowing Flame Sand Field opened, that Red Candle Fruit appeared, but although Old Ghost Tang from Floating Mist Palace obtained a piece of it and swallowed it, he apparently didn’t gain anything, completely wasting that good piece of spirit fruit.”
“Not just Old Ghost Tang, Coloured Glass Sect also obtained a piece of Red Candle Fruit which Gong Xing He swallowed and refined, but he too didn’t see any gains, otherwise he wouldn’t have fallen this time.”
“Actually, making a breakthrough to the Origin King Realm isn’t impossible,” Mo Yu seemed to say thoughtfully, “On Shadowed Star, we may be suppressed by the World Principles, but as long as we can leave Shadowed Star and go to another Cultivation Star that does not have such suppressions, we will have a chance to break through.”
Hearing this, Gu Zhen and Lu Xuan all were inspired.
Yang Kai glanced around at the three of them and couldn’t help laughing, “Three Seniors, there’s no reason to use such indirect language, if you have something to say, just say it directly.”
With Yang Kai being so straightforward, Mo Yu and the others couldn’t help feeling slightly embarrassed; even so, after a brief pause, Mo Yu lightly coughed and asked, “It’s like this, Yang Kai, we would like to know if your noble Sect plans to use its Origin King Grade Starship’s to conduct a long-distance voyage?”
[I knew it!]
Yang Kai smiled knowingly. Hearing these three old men muse on and on about the Origin King Realm, he was naturally able to guess what they were trying to imply. Now, after making a slight probe, it turned out exactly as Yang Kai suspected.
These three apparently intended to request he grant them passage on his Origin King Grade Starship to leave Shadowed Star and go to another Cultivation Star to spy on the mysteries of the Origin King Realm.
This was simply how humans are.
“And if I were to say I have such plans…?” Yang Kai smiled slightly.
All three of the old men’s expressions lit up as they could barely contain their excitement.
“Not only do I have this idea, but I might implement it soon,” Yang Kai added to everyone’s surprise.
“Is that true?” Mo Yu stood up, with Gu Zhen and Lu Xuan showing equal excitement.
“It is,” Yang Kai nodded seriously.
“Excellent! Excellent!” Mo Yu muttered twice before suddenly rubbing his big hands together and directing a look filled with expectation towards Yang Kai, “Sect Master Yang, since things have gotten to this point, this Mo won’t beat around the bush any further; dare to ask, how many people can travel aboard your Starship?”
“Several dozen people should be fine.”
Mo Yu’s eyes lit up as he grit his teeth and quickly said, “Could you grant my Clear Sky Sect two… no, one of those spots?”
On the other side, Gu Zhen and Lu Xuan also looked over expectantly, with Gu Zhen quickly adding, “Of course, we won’t occupy this precious spot for nothing. We can pay an appropriate price.”
“Is one enough?” Yang Kai asked them with some surprise.
“It is,” Gu Zhen nodded sincerely, “If possible, we certainly hope that more of us can leave Shadowed Star, but if all of Clear Sky Sect’s masters were to suddenly depart, there will be no one left to assume command, not to mention, breaking through to the Origin King Realm will obviously not be a simple matter, so having a quota to try for will be enough.”
“If that’s all, then I can agree,” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
Hearing this, the trio from Clear Sky Sect were overjoyed. As for who this quota would be given to, that was something for Clear Sky Sect to figure out, Yang Kai did not need to concern himself with it.
Afterwards, Yang Kai told them that when he finalized plans to use the Starship to leave Shadowed Star, he would inform them, so for now, they should just wait patiently. The three old men had no objections.
After a night’s rest, Yang Kai said his goodbyes to the Clear Sky Sect masters and brought Huang Juan and Lin Yun’er away.
Although Gu Zhen and the others wanted him to stay a while longer, they also understood that Yang Kai had just come out from the Emperor Garden and must have many things to attend to, so they didn’t try to stop him, instead just personally seeing him off from Black Sea City’s Space Array.
Yang Kai’s next destination was Demon Blood City!
Demon Blood City was a city controlled by Demon Blood Temple, and it was very close to the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
When Yang Kai first came out from the Flowing Flame Sand Field, he had encountered a Demon Blood Temple disciple named Deng Ning whom he obtained the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique from. Later, Deng Ning brought him to Demon Blood City to use its Space Array.
This plan was not wrong, but before departing, Gu Zhen had warned Yang Kai to act carefully as Demon Blood City was currently in a state of upheaval.
After arriving, Yang Kai discovered that Demon Blood City was in chaos.
When Yang Kai and his group of three teleported to Demon Blood City’s Space Array, they immediately noticed that the city seemed to be a little turbulent and that many people were currently fighting.
This couldn’t be helped though as the Great Elder of and Temple Master of Demon Blood Temple had both fallen in the Emperor Garden. Now that no one was currently in control of the temple, the various Elders were naturally fighting for the right to take over.
On top of that, Demon Blood Temple was a strange great force that encouraged infighting, so for this reason, all of Demon Blood Temple had become chaotic at this moment, with Demon Blood City following suit.
Even the hall where the Space Array was located was unguarded. All of Demon Blood Temple’s disciples were caught up in this internal strife so the city itself had become something akin to a battlefield.
After arriving in Demon Blood City, Yang Kai released his Divine Sense and quickly grasped the situation inside the city. Not discovering anything he felt warranted his concern, he simply wrapped Huang Juan and Lin Yun’er in his Saint Qi and flew towards the city’s edge.
Some people tried to block their path, but all of them were quickly subdued by Yang Kai.
With his current strength, even if he encountered a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm Master, he wouldn’t feel any concern, let alone these stray cats and dogs.
Soon, the disciples of Demon Blood Temple realized how tyrannical Yang Kai’s strength was and no one dared to court death by trying to stop him again. What’s more, Yang Kai seemed to just be passing through, so who would bother trying to stop him? Wouldn’t that be self-defeating?
As such, less than a dozen breaths later, Yang Kai’s group left Demon Blood City and flew straight towards the Flowing Flame Sand Field which was some hundred thousand kilometres away.
One day later, Yang Kai landed at a beautiful palace somewhere outside the Flowing Flame Sand Field and walked inside.
This was the first time Yang Kai had entered this palace. Naturally, this place belonged to High Heaven Sect and there was a Space Array specially arranged here by Yang Yan to make it convenient for the disciples of High Heaven Sect to pass in and out.
After all, the Flowing Flame Sand Field was simply too vast, and if they had to rely solely on flying, it would take at least a day or two to reach High Heaven Sect’s headquarters from this point. With this dedicated Space Array, however, the disciples could come and go freely and quickly.
At this moment, there were only two High Heaven Sect disciples inside the palace on guard duty. The cultivation of these two were not worth mentioning, only Third-Order Saints. Such strength was nothing special on Shadowed Star, but High Heaven Sect’s name was extremely loud right now and no one dared provoke it, so there was no need to worry about security issues here. Moreover, there was a powerful Spirit Array arranged by Yang Yan around this palace, one strong enough to stop anyone who wanted to invade High Heaven Sect via the Space Array. At the very least, it would provide enough time for the disciples on guard duty to retreat and destroy the Space Array.
With the Space Array outside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, Yang Kai easily reached High Heaven Sect’s headquarters.
When they appeared in the palace on the other side, several disciples on guard duty instantly assumed a defensive posture, but after seeing that it was Yang Kai, they became overjoyed and bowed quickly.
“Have Yang Yan and Elder Ye come back?” Yang Kai asked hurriedly.
“Reporting to Sect Master, Vice Sect Master Yang and Great Elder Ye returned five days ago,” A disciple who seemed brighter than the others replied quickly.
Yang Kai couldn’t help heaving a sigh of relief. Although he didn’t think Yang Yan or Ye Xi Yun would have encountered any problems, he had always been a bit on edge until he was able to confirm their condition. Now that he knew they had returned safely, Yang Kai was naturally able to put down his worries.
“However, when they returned, it seemed Vice Sect Master Yang had fallen into a coma and had to be carried by Great Elder Ye,” The disciple added carefully.
“What?” Yang Kai was shocked and quickly asked a few more questions; unfortunately, the disciples didn’t know what caused Yang Yan to fall unconscious or whether she had suffered any serious injuries.
“I understand, continue with your duties here,” Yang Kai had no choice but to leave this place and quickly head for Hundred Flowers Peak where Yang Yan lived before.
On the way there, they ran into Wu Yi and Qian Yue who had received word of Yang Kai’s return.
The anxiety on the faces of the two women was obvious, so they wasted no time calling out after seeing Yang Kai.
“I heard about the situation, do you know how Yang Yan was injured? Is it serious?” Yang Kai flew over to them and asked.
Both women shook their heads with Qian Yue explaining, “Since they returned, Great Elder has not appeared in front of anyone, so we were unable to learn anything more.”
“Understood, I’ll go see them myself.” Yang Kai frowned.
“They’re not on Hundred Flowers Peak now,” Wu Yi quickly stopped Yang Kai from flying off.
“Then where are they?” Yang Kai asked.
“The sixth layer…”
“Sixth layer!” Yang Kai frowned even more. Naturally, he understood what she was referring to when she said the sixth layer. It was the centre of the Flowing Flame Sand Field where the small bamboo forest and loft were situated. It was also the former residence of the Great Emperor on Shadowed Star, but why would Ye Xi Yun bring Yang Yan there? Could the Great Emperor really have awoken?
An uneasy feeling suddenly surged in Yang Kai’s heart.
Standing on the spot for a long while, Yang Kai finally took a deep breath and said, “I’ll go take a look. By the way, Wu Yi, you remember Foreign Elder Huang right? This time I met her by chance on the way back and invited her to join High Heaven Sect. She is now one of us so make the proper arrangements.”
“Yes!” Wu Yi nodded quickly. She obviously saw Huang Juan just now, but concerned about Yang Yan’s safety, she hadn’t found time to greet her yet. Now, after hearing Yang Kai’s instructions, she would naturally have a chance to do so.
In the next instant, Yang Kai’s figure flickered and disappeared, heading straight towards the sixth layer.
High Heaven Sect was located in the fourth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, and was separated from the sixth layer by a Flame Area which was far more powerful than the outer fourth layer; however, Yang Kai had a Star Emperor Token to protect himself from these dangers so there was nothing for him to worry about.
It took only half a day for Yang Kai to arrive in front of the loft in the centre of the sixth layer.
As if knowing that Yang Kai would arrive sooner or later, Ye Xi Yun was already waiting for him. After seeing Yang Kai, a complex look flashed across her beautiful eyes before she said, “Subordinate greets Sect Master.”
“Is Yang Yan inside?” Yang Kai asked as he walked inward.
Before he could go far though, Ye Xi Yun actually moved and blocked Yang Kai’s path forward, as if trying to stop him from entering the loft.
“What are your intentions here?” Yang Kai narrowed his eyes, staring deeply at Ye Xi Yun with a somewhat gloomy look upon his face.
“Please forgive me, Sect Master, but Madam gave me strict instructions to not allow anyone to see her now,” Ye Xi Yun replied while maintaining a tranquil expression.
“Not even me?” Yang Kai frowned.
“Yes!” Ye Xi Yun nodded slightly, “Subordinate is only executing Madam’s orders and requests Sect Master not to embarrass me.”
“Embarrass you?” Yang Kai failed to stifle his laughter, “Interesting… I simply want to see her, how could that embarrass you? It’s not that I’ve never met with her before.”
“Sect Master, please forgive me!” Ye Xi Yun stubbornly refused to back down.
Yang Kai frowned as he stared at her indifferently for a moment before asking in a solemn tone, “Since Yang Yan was able to give you such an order, can I assume she is unharmed? If that’s the case, why did the disciples on guard duty say she was in a coma when she returned with you?”
“En, Madam is indeed in a coma, but she is unharmed. It’s just…”
“Just what?”
Ye Xi Yun fell silent, her look becoming somewhat awkward.
After observing Ye Xi Yun’s demeanour and behaviour all this time, Yang Kai had a faint guess and narrowed his eyes, “I’ll only ask one question then, and I hope Great Elder can reply truthfully without concealing anything.”
“Please ask, Sect Master,” Ye Xi Yun raised her head and brushed her hair back behind her ear.
“Is the one who is inside the loft behind you the Yang Yan I know, or… your Madam?”
“Both,” A wry smile appeared on Ye Xi Yun’s face.
“I understand,” Yang Kai gently nodded, a look of understanding flashing across his face, “Since that’s the case, it must be related to waking the Great Emperor, I understand.”
Yang Yan had said that after the Emperor Garden officially opened, the Great Emperor would awaken. At that time, Yang Kai had felt somewhat puzzled and suspicious, but he didn’t inquire carefully, perhaps subconsciously afraid to ask about the specific process, worried the answer he received would not be the one he wanted to hear.
In his heart, he had already guessed what would happen.
Today, his speculations had obviously been confirmed.
Since the Great Emperor’s true body had awakened, naturally Yang Yan, as a Soul Clone, could no longer exist independently. The two had been merged into one, which was why Ye Xi Yun gave him such an answer.
“Sect Master is an intelligent person so you should understand what the situation is now,” Ye Xi Yun said indifferently.
“En, I just want to know, what will happen to Yang Yan?”
“She is Madam and Madam is she, therefore nothing will happen to her.”
Yang Kai gently nodded; matters here weren’t so bad he couldn’t accept them. Although the result was not ideal, it also wasn’t the worst-case scenario.
Considering all this, Yang Kai closed his eyes and released his Divine Sense towards the loft to see how Yang Yan was doing at this moment. Ye Xi Yun opened her mouth seeing this but ultimately didn’t try to stop him.
Yang Kai’s Divine Sense easily penetrated the loft and soon found Yang Yan inside a room on the third floor. She was lying quietly on a bamboo bed at the moment, motionless, as if in a deep sleep.
Her appearance was no different from the Yang Yan in his memories, but her temperament had undergone an astonishing change.
The moment Yang Kai’s Divine Sense swept over her, he felt a deep sense of terror, as if he were an ant that had unwittingly spied upon a slumbering dragon!
In that instant, Yang Kai’s very Soul shuddered and an inexplicable sense of crisis surged up from the bottom of his heart.
The next moment, a tearing pain filled his head and Yang Kai’s eyes shot open, his body stumbling backwards involuntarily as his face went extremely pale.
“Sect Master, are you okay,” Ye Xi Yun’s beautiful face paled slightly as she called out.
“I’m fine!” Yang Kai waved his hand, his expression still full of lingering fear; was this the majesty of the Great Emperor? Even in a comatose state, no one was allowed to violate it. Yang Kai had experienced this personally.
If she had been awake, just what kind of power and prestige would she radiate?
Yang Kai’s state of mind fluctuated for a moment before his eyes shined with a colour of yearning.
After a while though, his mood returned to normal and after rubbing his forehead for a moment, Yang Kai asked, “Did she say when she will wake up?”
“Madam said that she had fallen into a deep sleep for too long, over ten thousand years, so waking up will also be a very long process. Only when her Soul and body fully integrate will she be able to awaken, something that could take ten, twenty, dozens, or even a hundred years. Subordinate is also uncertain.”
“So long,” Yang Kai frowned slightly.
“Yes,” Ye Xi Yun nodded lightly, “Madam told me before departing to do everything in my power to assist Sect Master, so if Sect Master has any instructions, please do not hesitate to give them; subordinate will surely act with all haste.”
“Yang Yan ordered…” Yang Kai mused, finally understanding why Ye Xi Yun was now referring to herself as his subordinate as she had never done so before. It turns out there was this kind of reason.
“There’s nothing for you to do. For the time being, you can just remain here to take care of Yang Yan.”
“Yes, Subordinate will live up to Sect Master’s trust, please depart freely then!” Ye Xi Yun gave a slight bow.
Saying so, she pointed towards the exit.
Feeling the words he was about to say get caught in his throat, Yang Kai simply walked off with an angry snort.
In any case, he had determined that Yang Yan was not in any danger, and although her Soul Clone had not been integrated with the Great Emperor’s true body, her memories and emotions would not be erased and would instead be inherited by the current slumbering body.
That was enough.
Yang Kai may not have the qualifications to have an equal dialogue with the Great Emperor right now, but one day, as long as he could stand at her height, he could once again interact with Yang Yan as he always had!
A burst of ambition arose in Yang Kai’s heart.
After returning to High Heaven Sect, nothing much changed; however, the arrival of Huang Juan made Wu Yi, Chang Qi, Hao An, and the other former Hai Ke Family disciples quite happy. Lin Yun’er also quickly won the unanimous affection of all of High Heaven Sect’s members.
This little girl’s presence brought a kind of joy and laughter to the Sect’s headquarters, and after a brief time familiarizing herself with her new environment, Lin Yun’er fell deeply in love with this beautiful place. Everyone here treated her extremely well, as if she was a family member, allowing Lin Yun’er to feel a long-lost sense of warmth, gradually allowing her to let down her guard.
She could often be seen wearing beautiful new clothes, running and jumping all over the Sect with seemingly endless enthusiasm.
Huang Juan, on the other hand, was always in a state of exhaustion chasing after her.
Inside First Heavenly Palace, Yang Kai’s private residence.
Inside a cultivation room, Yang Kai closed his eyes and meditated. He had been in this state for half a month now. When he used his Divine Sense to spy on Yang Yan in the small loft, he had suffered a small wound to his Soul from the invisible Emperor Pressure she naturally released.
This kind of wound wouldn’t cause any problems with day to day life, but if he were to encounter a strong enemy, it would definitely affect his combat strength somewhat.
As such, after Yang Kai returned to the Sect, his first order of business was to recover!
Fortunately, the problem was not serious, so Yang Kai only needed half a month to deal with it properly.
The next thing to do was take account of his gains from the Emperor Garden.
Yang Kai reached out, touched his Space Ring, and in a flash of light, a massive number of herbs appeared in front of him. These herbs were naturally collected in the hidden mountain valley together with the women from Ice Heart Valley.
At that time, Yang Kai did not have time to deal with them properly, so he simply placed them into his Space Ring. Now that he was free, he naturally had to organize and process these herbs, otherwise, their medicinal efficacies would be lost.
As an Alchemist, Yang Kai obviously understood how to properly preserve spirit grasses and spirit medicines, so he took out various boxes refined from different materials from his Space Ring and carefully began storing the various herbs according to their unique characteristics. Those that were suited to preservation in jade were loaded into jade boxes while those that needed Wood Attribute containers were thusly placed. Many herbs had special storage requirements, but this could not baffle Yang Kai.
After finishing up this process, Yang Kai put away all the boxes with a smile on his face.
There were hundreds of spirit herbs, and although they varied in grade greatly, each one was invaluable; after all, these spirit grasses and spirit medicines had all grown inside the hidden mountain valley for at least ten thousand years, meaning their medicinal ages were at least this high as well.
Pills refined from such herbs would have far greater medicinal efficacies than ones refined from ordinary spirit grasses and medicines. Additionally, they would allow Yang Kai to promote his Alchemy technique.
Along with the herbs he had collected from the floating continent when he first entered the Star Field, Yang Kai felt like he had enough materials to support him becoming an Origin King Grade Alchemist, after which, he would still likely have an abundance of materials he could use to practice his skills.
The next thing Yang Kai took out was the Alchemy Furnace he found in the hidden cave mansion of the mountain valley.
This was the Alchemy Furnace the mountain valley’s owner had used when he was alive and was naturally Origin King Grade, an extremely rare and precious treasure.
Yang Kai now had two high-grade furnaces. One was the Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace which was the root of the Firebird Artifact Spirit, and the other was the Alchemy Furnace in front of him, but regardless of which one it was, they were not something that would be commonly seen.
If an Artifact Refiner or Alchemist had a good furnace, they could save a lot of time when performing Artifact Refining or Alchemy and could refine better quality artifacts and pills. There was a saying that, to produce fine work, one must first sharpen their tools; this saying had great truth to it.
Unfortunately, Artifact Refining Furnaces and Alchemy Furnaces were far more difficult to refine than ordinary artifacts, so Artifact Refining Furnaces and Alchemy Furnaces were far more valuable and expensive than other artifacts in the same grade.
The young Third-Order Origin Returning Realm female leader from Ice Heart Valley also knew of the value of this pill furnace, but because she had many of her own thoughts and concerns, she still chose to give it to Yang Kai in exchange for a larger allocation of pills.
This choice was not a loss for her, but it was a profit for Yang Kai.
Yang Kai could refine various high-grade pills, and even refining pills which formed Pill Veins was not a difficult task for him, but an Origin King Grade Alchemy Furnace was still something he hadn’t expected to get his hands on so easily.
This pill furnace was slightly less than a metre tall and had a simple appearance while giving off an ancient feel. Its entire body was a dark purple shade and had a tripod design. There were two large words emblazoned on the furnace’s lip which Yang Kai had not initially checked, but now that he was carefully examining it, he could see the two words were ‘Purple Origin.’
This was obviously the name of this Alchemy Furnace.
Purple Origin, not a bad name.
With this Alchemy Furnace to assist him, refining pills would be easier and their quality would also be higher in the future.
Alchemy Furnaces were different from other artifacts in that one did not need to spend a long time refining them. One only needed to leave their Soul Brand on an Alchemy Furnace to make it their own. However, this Purple Origin Furnace had a master previously, so Yang Kai had to first erase the previous mark before leaving his own.
This was not difficult as the owner of that hidden mountain valley had been dead for ten thousand years, so the mark he had left on it was now extremely weak. Yang Kai easily erased this remnant mark and then took just a few days to leave his own on the Purple Origin Furnace, claiming it as his own.
After playing with the furnace happily for a while, Yang Kai put it away. Since he was not planning on performing Alchemy any time soon, he naturally had no reason to keep it out.
Immediately after, Yang Kai took out another treasure.
What he held now was a pill! This was not one of the pills Yang Kai obtained together with the young woman from Ice Heart Valley, but rather the one he snatched out of the Purple Origin Furnace.
When he discovered this Purple Origin Furnace, Yang Kai had scanned the interior with his Divine Sense and noticed that there was a pill inside. According to the posture that the skeleton assumed before dying, it was apparent that the mountain valley’s owner had spent his last moments refining this pill.
Fortunately, that Grandmaster had succeeded.
But before Yang Kai had time to investigate carefully, the young woman from Ice Heart Valley had joined him inside the hidden cave mansion, so Yang Kai had to quickly hide it from her and did not know what kind of pill it was to this day.
If it was just an ordinary pill, no matter what the quality it was, the internal medicinal efficacies must have dispersed after ten thousand years and it could no longer be used, rendering it a scrapped pill.
Only pills that formed Pill Veins could keep their medicinal efficacies intact over an extended period. Pill Veins were like shackles that firmly restrained a pill’s medicinal properties inside of it.
At that time, the pills split between Yang Kai and the young woman from Ice Heart Valley in the hidden cave mansion all had Pill Veins. Such pills were rare, however, while most of the ones they found had turned into waste.
As for whether the pill inside the Purple Origin Furnace actually formed Pill Veins, Yang Kai wasn’t sure, but that didn’t dampen his anticipation; after all, this was a pill that an Alchemy Grandmaster had exhausted the last of his life force to refine.
But the moment Yang Kai looked at the pill in his hand, his complexion changed dramatically as he immediately revealed a look of ecstasy and cried out, “Pill Clouds?”
He never expected that the pill he fished out of the Purple Origin Furnace would have formed Pill Clouds!
On the surface of this pill, there was a layer of dense, swirling clouds, as if a mass of seven coloured clouds had been shrunk down innumerable times and wrapped around it, giving it an incredibly beautiful look.
There was no doubt these were Pill Clouds! Yang Kai was stunned and checked several times to make sure he wasn’t imagining things.
Pills that formed Pill Clouds weren’t something Yang Kai had never seen before; he had even swallowed one and refined another personally.
The first pill that formed Pill Clouds he swallowed had allowed his Five-Coloured Soul Warming Lotus to evolve into its Six Coloured form and dramatically improved his strength.
The pill he refined, on the other hand, was a Burning Flame Pill used to save Xue Yue’s life.
The one he ingested was found in an Ancient Ruin on the seabed of Tong Xuan Realm while the one he refined had been done on Rainfall Star.
Yang Kai deeply understood the difficulty of refining a pill that formed Pill Clouds! This was not something ordinary masters could achieve. Currently, the probability Yang Kai could refine a pill that formed Pill Veins was actually quite high, on average about twenty to thirty percent, but after so many years refining pills, only that single Burning Flame Pill had ever formed Pill Clouds.
That pill had been refined under extreme conditions by cornering himself to break through his limits and had nearly exhausted him to death.
Judging from the other pills obtained inside the hidden cave mansion, Yang Kai also knew that the owner had been an extraordinary Alchemy Grandmaster when they were alive, otherwise they would not have produced so many pills that formed Pill Veins.
Yang Kai originally thought that the pill this Grandmaster had exhausted his remaining life essence to refine had formed Pill Veins, but now he discovered that the truth of the matter was far more shocking than he expected.
This Grandmaster refined a pill that formed Pill Clouds!
And judging from the medicinal efficacies and energy fluctuations that emanated from this pill, it was undoubtedly an Origin King Grade pill.
[The Grandmaster was truly extraordinary!] Yang Kai was secretly praised.
Any Origin King Grade pill was already incredibly valuable, let alone an Origin King Grade pill that had formed Pill Clouds.
On top of that, this pill was already at least ten thousand years old!
Yang Kai took a deep breath to calm his raging emotions. The value of such a pill could no longer be judged with common sense. Even Yang Kai, who prided himself on his ability to remain composed, suddenly found his face twitching unconsciously as his hands refused to stop shaking.
Once a pill formed Pill Veins, as long as it was stored properly, it would retain its medicinal efficacies indefinitely and would also have twice the potency of an ordinary pill. However, if a pill formed Pill Clouds, not only would its effects be at least four times that of an ordinary pill upon refinement, as time passed, the layer of Pill Clouds would continuously absorb the surrounding World Energy to nourish the pill, increasing its potency over time.
The longer the time such a pill was left untaken, the greater its potency would be.
The pill that Yang Kai took at that time allowed his Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus to evolve precisely because of the vast amount of energy it had accumulated over thousands of years. When Yang Kai had taken that pill, he had nearly exploded and died because of the flood of energy; fortunately, his Soul Warming Lotus had absorbed most of the medicinal efficacies in the end.
However, when compared with the one in front of him, that pill was simply trash. Not to mention, the vast gap in the two pills’ grades, just the number of years it had been left to absorb World Energy was unmatched.
What kind of concept was ten thousand years?
Suddenly, Yang Kai felt that his mind could not keep up with the situation somewhat. His luck was simply too good, being able to obtain this Heaven-defying pill.
Everything he had obtained in that hidden mountain valley was instantly eclipsed by this Origin King Grade pill in front of him.
After feeling shock and excitement, Yang Kai wore a bitter smile.
Just how astonishing was the amount of medicinal energy contained within this pill? Regardless of what purpose it had, it was basically impossible for Yang Kai to take it with his current cultivation realm.
Swallowing this thing haphazardly would only result in a single outcome: death by explosion!
Even an Origin King Realm master may not be able to withstand the immense medicinal energy contained within this pill.
Considering all this, Yang Kai’s excitement gradually calmed down. The most urgent thing right now was for him to figure out what this pill’s purpose was.
Squinting at this pill, Yang Kai found that its interior was crystal clear and had some kind of translucent wisp of energy flowing through it, like a fine hair that was freely swimming about like a living creature.
[Impossible…] Yang Kai was thoroughly shocked once more.
It seemed this pill was about to achieve sentience!
The thin, gossamer-like existence was obviously formed after years of accumulation. If this pill was given some more time, perhaps it really could achieve sentience and become a completely different kind of life form.
A sentient pill was just a theory, not even the stuff of legends. Yang Kai had not expected that he would be able to witness poof of such an outlandish theory one day.
Unfortunately, since it had fallen into his hands, it was destined to only fulfil its original role with no possibility of it truly obtaining sentience.
Half an hour later, Yang Kai let out a helpless, somewhat defeated sigh.
Even with his knowledge and experience in Alchemy, he was unable to identify the pill he was holding and could only vaguely judge through its medicinal fragrance that it was used for cultivation.
Was this a type of pill that had been lost to history? Yang Kai frowned as he secretly guessed. If that was the case, it would be understandable that he didn’t recognize it; after all, the pills refined by Alchemists over ten thousand years ago were definitely different from those that were refined now.
Since Yang Kai did not recognize it, and he wasn’t in a hurry to take it, he simply stored away this Origin King Grade pill, planning to study it further when he had the chance.
In any case, he would not be using such a pill carelessly, so there was plenty of time for him to figure out what it was later.
Considering all this, Yang Kai took out another item and began studying it.
This time, it was the finger bone.
Regarding his trip to the Emperor Garden this time, the gains Yang Kai obtained from the hidden mountain valley alone were tremendous. There were thousands of herbs with medicinal ages exceeding ten thousand years, several dozen high-grade pills that had formed Pill Veins, an Origin King Grade Alchemy Furnace, and an Origin King Grade pill that formed Pill Clouds; each of these items was extremely valuable.
This finger bone was also something Yang Kai obtained from the hidden mountain valley and it was the only part of the valley owner’s remains that remained after his death.
Yang Kai had only meant to show his respect to the Alchemy Grandmaster whose Alchemy Furnace he was inheriting by burying his remains, but that simple act had accidentally led him to discover this piece of finger bone which, despite all the years of weathering, had not degraded in the slightest. It was truly a reward for a good deed.
Yang Kai did not know what kind of secrets were hidden in this finger bone, so he could only start by studying it.
Holding the finger bone, Yang Kai carefully observed it and discovered that, although it was over ten thousand years old, it still felt like warm, white jade that was pure and flawless, like it had been specially refined using some kind of profound Secret Technique while its original owner was alive.
Realizing this, Yang Kai immediately became excited.
He had never seen a cultivator treat a part of their body as an artifact before, but since they had done so, it must have been for an incredibly important reason. Perhaps this finger bone really did hide some great secret.
Condensing his Saint Qi, Yang Kai tried pouring his strength into the finger bone, but to his great disappointment, it did not accept his Saint Qi and showed no visible changes at all.
After a few failed attempts, Yang Kai figured that Saint Qi was not the answer to unlocking this finger bone’s secrets.
Since it did not respond to Saint Qi then, what about Divine Sense?
Thinking so, Yang Kai quickly mobilized his Spiritual Energy a vast, mist-like Divine Sense enveloped the finger bone and in the next moment.
Divine Sense Manifestation!
Only when a cultivator’s Spiritual Energy reached a certain standard would their normally invisible Divine Sense undergo this magical transformation and become an existence which was visible to the naked eye.
Yang Kai’s Soul had been nourished by the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus for decades now, so even if he did not deliberately cultivate his Soul, his Knowledge Sea, Spiritual Energy, and Divine Sense was constantly being enhanced. As such, although his cultivation was still just First-Order Origin Returning Realm, the strength of Divine Sense was just about able to meet the standard to undergo manifestation!
This was something that even ordinary Origin King Realm masters could not do, and Yang Kai had every right to be proud of!
Moreover, he possessed a rare Conflagrated Knowledge Sea that gave his Spiritual Energy a burning hot attribute, resulting in his Divine Sense Manifestation possessing a fiery red colour.
This time, Yang Kai’s guess was right; the finger bone had not accepted his Saint Qi, but it had an immediate reaction to his Divine Sense.
When the fiery red Divine Sense wrapped it, a dazzling white light burst out from the finger bone. Immediately, an astonishing suction force was transmitted from the finger bone, wanting to pull Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, and his consciousness by extension, into itself.
Yang Kai remained calm, however. Although he did not know what to expect next, he did not sense any danger from this suction force and also felt like he could resist it and even take back his Divine Sense if he wanted to.
Realising this, Yang Kai did not put up a fight and simply allowed his Divine Sense to sink into the finger bone.
In an instant, Yang Kai seemed to have arrived in another world.
Under the investigation of his Divine Sense, Yang Kai discovered that other than a vast grey void, there were only an enormous number of mysterious glowing runes swimming around him like fish.
“This is…” Yang Kai looked around in astonishment.
He could feel an emission of some kind of Spiritual Energy from each and every one of these runes. They were produced by a kind of advanced form of Divine Sense Manifestation. This was proof that these runes were condensed from the Divine Sense of that unknown Alchemy Grandmaster.
Unexpectedly, that Grandmaster not only possessed extremely high attainments in the Alchemic Way, but also had a profound cultivation. Being able to condense such runes with their Divine Sense indicated that the Alchemy Grandmaster was at least a Third-Order Origin King before dying!
After sensing the arrival of Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, the mysterious runes seemed to come alive and rushed towards his Soul Avatar, instantly blending with his Divine Sense.
Yang Kai’s body shivered and his eyes went blank, but he did not try to stop the runes from mixing into his Divine Sense and instead began studying them to uncover whatever secrets they held.
At first, Yang Kai was completely confused by what he learned, but as time passed and more runes merged with his Divine Sense, he gradually began to comprehend the inheritance left behind in the finger bone.
After condensing and combining these runes, then deciphering them, what Yang Kai was left with was an Alchemic Record that had been passed down from ancient times!
The True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture!
Yang Kai had read many different Alchemic Records, such as the True Alchemic Way he had obtained in Medicine King’s Valley which had started him down the path of Alchemy.
But no Alchemic Record or manual he had ever seen could compare to this True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture. The knowledge of Alchemy techniques contained in the True Alchemic Way and the Spirit Arrays to be used in Alchemy were all like child’s play in front of this True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture.
This Alchemic Record was not created by the owner of the mountain valley, but rather was obtained by them from some ancient ruin. It was with this True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture that the owner of the hidden mountain valley managed to bring his Alchemy technique to a pinnacle and become the most famous Alchemy Grandmaster of their time.
Realizing that their time of death was approaching though, this Grandmaster was unable to bear the thought of this wondrous Alchemic Record being buried along with him, but also couldn’t stand the idea of some ignorant Junior obtaining it and ruining its reputation, so he used the last of his Spiritual energy to transform his finger bone and record everything about the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture in it.
He refined his finger bone into a semi-artifact with a Secret Technique so that it would not degrade with the passing of time.
This way, even after he died, the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture would be inherited in this special way.
If some ignorant treasure-seeking Junior found his remains, they would ignore it and thus miss out on the opportunity to obtain the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture.
Fortunately, Yang Kai had the idea of burying this Alchemy Grandmaster, resulting in him obtaining this finger bone and the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture contained within it.
After seeing the personal insights left behind by the Alchemy Grandmaster, Yang Kai felt quite surprised and thought that his luck was astounding, but soon he set aside these distracting thoughts and immersed himself in the vast ocean of Alchemy knowledge now flooding his mind.
Although the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture came from ancient times, long before the age the mountain valley owner lived through, what Yang Kai obtained was not its orthodox version as it also contained the unique comprehensions, teachings, and theories of the mountain valley owner, making it even more valuable than the original True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture.
It could be said that the mountain valley owner had integrated his life’s Alchemy experience into the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture.
Yang Kai quickly became fascinated by this Alchemic Record, finding many answers to the unsolvable problems he had encountered in Alchemy contained inside it.
Although Yang Kai had an exceptional aptitude in terms of the Alchemic Way, he had essentially been groping his way forward on his own from when he first set foot on this path until now, with very few people ever giving him any kind of formal instruction in this field. Back in Tong Xuan Realm, Yang Kai could occasionally ask for help from The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep, Li Rui, but since he entered the Star Field, he had only himself to rely upon.
What’s more, Yang Kai didn’t dare to expose his proficiency in Alchemy at will.
As such, with the improvement of his strength, he faintly realized that his Alchemy technique and understanding of Alchemy had reached a kind of bottleneck. This was not his limit by any means and as long as he continued to work hard, he would eventually be able to break through it.
However, to achieve this, it might’ve taken him ten years, twenty years, or possibly even longer.
Now, things were different. With the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture, Yang Kai had essentially obtained a master who could teach him about Alchemy anywhere, anytime.
In just a moment, Yang Kai felt his comprehension of Alchemy become slightly more profound.
Yang Kai became more and more obsessed with this True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture and soon became lost in it, unable to perceive the passage of time, constantly absorbing the Alchemic knowledge contained within it.
Only after half a month passed did Yang Kai let out a long sigh and retract his Divine Sense from the finger bone with a look of exhaustion.
Using his Divine Sense at such intensity for an entire half a month had thoroughly exhausted him.
However, Yang Kai’s eyes still shined brightly, revealing extreme excitement and brilliance.
Yang Kai was unable to fully comprehend the entirety of the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture in just half a month’s worth of effort; in fact, he had only been able to browse through its contents roughly. Even so, his gains had been so massive that it was difficult to comprehend. If he could one day thoroughly understand the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture, his Alchemy technique would surely reach an unprecedented height.
“Only after pills obtain a level of spirituality can they be called Spirit Pills?” Yang Kai murmured while stroking his chin, a thoughtful look upon his face.
There were many different ideas and methods contained inside the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture, all of which had given him numerous inspirations. The concept of pill spirituality alone resulted in a qualitative leap in his comprehension of Alchemy.
After pondering carefully for a while, Yang Kai slowly shook his head and set his musings aside.
Yang Kai was not in a hurry, and the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture could be studied carefully in the future; however, the Origin King Grade Spirit Pill which had formed Pill Clouds was now identified by Yang Kai.
The True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture not only contained all kinds of wondrous ideas, but also the life experience of the mountain valley owner and many pill recipes that had long been lost.
All of this knowledge was extremely precious, especially the lost recipes.
Through these pill recipes and descriptions, Yang Kai had vaguely understood what this Spirit Pill was and what its purpose was.
Yang Kai took out the Origin King Grade Spirit Pill again and placed it on the palm of his hand, observing it for a moment before a look of excitement filled his face.
If his analysis was correct, judging from the colour and scent of this Spirit Pill as well as the various medicinal energy traces inside of it, this Spirit Pill should be a Dragon Flame Purple Marrow Pill!
Just a Theory! A Martial Peak Theory!
This was actually a precious Dragon Flame Purple Marrow Pill! Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling excited once more.
This Dragon Flame Purple Marrow Pill was an Origin King Grade Low-Rank Spirit Pill, and the materials needed to refine it were numerous, reaching as many as sixty in total. However, its role was very straightforward and simple for cultivators.
Improving one’s strength!
Once a cultivator broke through to the Origin King Realm, it became very difficult to cultivate. The World Energy produced in an ordinary Earth Vein or High-Rank Saint Crystals couldn’t meet the requirements of Origin King Realm cultivators, so in previous ages, Dragon Flame Purple Marrow Pills were a means that Origin King Realm masters relied upon to enhance their cultivations.
Refining and absorbing medicinal efficacies from pills were helpful to the growth of a cultivator’s cultivation, but this method had its advantages and disadvantages compared to ordinary meditative cultivation.
The positive effects were that as long as one had enough pills, the speed they could increase their strength would be fast, far more so than meditative cultivation at least.
The negatives were that strength gained in this way was somewhat unstable, and if one took too many pills, it would cause a certain unhealthy load on the cultivator’s body.
As such, no cultivator’s growth depended entirely on using such pills. Even if they used pills to cultivate, they would only do so occasionally and not as their primary method.
Yang Kai had barely ever taken pills to cultivate, so his foundation was extremely solid and his Saint Qi was incredibly dense and pure.
Understanding the purpose of this Origin King Grade Spirit Pill, Yang Kai suddenly felt somewhat emotional!
This was a Spirit Pill designed specifically to increase the strength of an Origin King Realm master. On top of that, the mountain valley master had managed to refine such a pill with Pill Clouds, after which it had experienced at least ten thousand years of accumulation, so Yang Kai couldn’t even begin to estimate how amazing the medicinal energies inside of it were.
Yang Kai could only vaguely guess that if he had the ability to take this pill and refine it safely, his strength would very likely reach the Origin King Realm in a single bound!
This was an extremely terrifying growth rate that saved him countless years of hard work.
However, this was just a guess and Yang Kai had enough self-awareness to understand that he could not withstand refining this Spirit Pill right now.
With some reluctance, Yang Kai put away the Dragon Flame Purple Marrow Pill again before dispelling the gloom in his heart, quieting his mood, and taking out two different items from his Space Ring.
One was a blood-red stone the size of a heart while the other was a pitch-black round stone.
Two strange stones.
One was the Blood Essence Stone he had accidentally obtained in the Emperor Garden while the other was the second Stone Puppet embryo that Yang Kai had held onto for many years.
Yang Kai had two Stone Puppet embryos, both of which he acquired in Tong Xuan Realm. When he first came to Shadowed Star, one of the stone embryos merged with the Blood Essence Stone and hatched the Stone Puppet that Yang Yan named Xiao Xiao.
Although the other stone embryo had also reached maturity, it had not been able to hatch because Yang Kai could not find another Blood Essence Stone to serve as its heart.
Only after this trip to the Emperor Garden did Yang Kai accomplish this.
Yang Yan had been very envious of Yang Kai’s Stone Puppet, so Yang Kai had always wanted to hatch this second Stone Puppet and give it to her.
Unfortunately, Yang Kai didn’t know if Yang Yan needed it anymore given her current situation, so he couldn’t help smiling somewhat bitterly. Nevertheless, whether Yang Yan wanted it or not in the end, it was more important to let the Blood Essence Stone and the stone embryo merge right now.
Thinking about it this way, Yang Kai put the two strange stones together.
Strangely enough, the stone embryo which had been completely unresponsive inside the Black Book Space immediately sent out countless black threads the moment it came into contact with the Blood Essence Stone, wrapping up the latter tightly.
In the blink of an eye, the two stones became closely linked together; however, it appeared it would take quite some time before they fully merged.
This scene surprised Yang Kai, but after thinking about it for a moment, he sent out a Divine Sense Message silently.
Shortly after, the Stone Puppet Xiao Xiao appeared in front of him mysteriously, staring up at Yang Kai with a pair of clear and innocent eyes.
“Can I leave this in your care?” Yang Kai pointed to the partially fused black and red stones in front of him and asked.
Although the Stone Puppet’s intelligence wasn’t very high, he could still understand Yang Kai’s commands to a certain extent, so after looking in the direction Yang Kai pointed, his eyes suddenly widened and filled with joy and excitement.
Obviously, it could feel that a companion of its own was being bred in the partially fused black and red stones.
Nodding repeatedly, the stone puppet wore a look of clear desire.
“Good, take it with you, remember to report if any changes happen,” Yang Kai gave a light command, after which the Stone Puppet immediately picked up the fusing stones and disappeared in a flash.
Yang Kai estimated that it wouldn’t be long before a second Stone Puppet would be born, something he was looking forward to.
The next item to check was Demon Blood Temple’s glamorous Temple Master’s Space Ring.
That woman and Jin Shi both fell inside the Emperor Garden on the ice road. Jin Shi’s Space Ring had been banished to The Void as a result of Yang Kai’s Space-Force-infused Shi and could no longer be retrieved, so only Demon Blood Temple’s Temple Master’s ring remained.
However, as the leader of a great force, this woman’s wealth was naturally astonishing.
Yang Kai stretched out his hand and wiped it over her Space Ring before pouring out everything which was inside.
There were at least tens of millions of Saint Crystals, artifacts of various grades, hundreds of jade bottles containing pills, and some materials used for Alchemy and Artifact Refining.
The wide variety of treasures was simply dazzling and somewhat dizzying to see.
Yang Kai’s brow couldn’t help furrowing slightly; although most of the things here couldn’t even enter his eyes, it was still a vast amount of wealth, so he began to patiently organize it into what was useful to him and what wasn’t. He would keep what he needed while using the rest to fill High Heaven Sect’s storehouses.
Although the number of people in the Sect was still small, because High Heaven Sect’s headquarters was almost completely isolated from the outside world, they had to be self-sufficient in terms of cultivation resources. Even if most of these things couldn’t cause Yang Kai to give them a second glance, they were still incredibly precious to the Sect’s disciples.
This kind of sorting didn’t take Yang Kai too long to complete.
“Hm? This is…” Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly flashed as he picked up a certain animal skin book with a curious expression.
This animal skin book had also been placed inside the Space Ring of Demon Blood Temple’s gorgeous Temple Master. Yang Kai hadn’t taken notice of it at the beginning and only came across it as he was finishing up taking inventory.
The animal skin book wasn’t very big, but the pages were all dyed red, as if they had been soaked in blood, and a scent of iron was still wafted from it.
[This couldn’t be…]
Suddenly, Yang Kai’s heart jumped as he quickly opened this book. When he saw the words written at the top of the first page, he gawked for a moment before bursting into laughter.
It really was a case of wearing out iron shoes while seeking one’s feet.
What was recorded in this animal skin book was the complete Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique!
Since Yang Kai obtained the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique from Deng Ning, he had been diligently cultivating it and it had provided him with a huge boost in strength, becoming one of the methods he relied upon most heavily.
Although the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique was very difficult for Demon Blood Temple cultivators to practice, this Secret Technique was almost tailor-made for Yang Kai.
Yang Kai was uniquely suited to cultivating this Secret Technique, far more so than anyone from Demon Blood Temple because he possessed his pure Golden Blood!
Unfortunately, what Yang Kai obtained from Deng Ning was only the first half of this Secret Technique!
After successfully cultivating his Golden Blood Thread, Yang Kai instinctually felt that there should be more flexibility to this Secret Technique, and his guess was confirmed after seeing Demon Blood Temple’s Temple Master in action.
Sadly, Yang Kai had no idea how to obtain the second half of the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique.
But now, to his surprise and glee, he had found what he was looking for in the Space Ring of Demon Blood Temple’s Temple Master.
It wasn’t actually that surprising when Yang Kai thought about it. Demon Blood Temple was in a constant state of internal strife and even advocated murdering fellow Sect members. Since that beautiful woman had managed to become the Temple Master of Demon Blood Temple, she naturally would have carried all her treasures on her as that was the safest place for them; unfortunately for her, they ended up as Yang Kai’s spoils after she died.
Yang Kai was ecstatic and immediately began studying this book carefully, soon confirming that it not only included the first half of the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique but also the second half, explaining the more advanced methods of manipulating the Demon Blood Thread.
There was also the method to refine Blood Fusion Pills!
The Blood Fusion Pill was a special type of pill created by Demon Blood Temple which could increase the vital essence of a cultivator. Everyone that cultivated the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique was eager to obtain this kind of pill because stronger vitality meant they could condense a stronger Demon Blood Thread.
Deng Ning had been rewarded with the first half of the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique and a single Blood Fusion Pill for the merits he brought back from the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
It was as if he had received a supreme treasure.
After all, the Blood Fusion Pill was normally for the exclusive use of Demon Blood Temple’s top Elders and its Temple Master; lower disciples essentially would never even see such a treasure.
Yang Kai carefully studied the refining method of the Blood Fusion Pill for a moment, but after understanding it in its entirety, he immediately lost interest.
This could not be helped as it was truly an evil refinement method, actually requiring the collection of large quantities of fresh blood, preferably human blood!
If Yang Kai wanted to increase his vitality, he had a far simpler option, taking drops of the Life Revitalizing Jade Cream. During this trip to the Emperor Garden, he obtained a large quantity of pure Life Revitalizing Jade Cream, so how could he even place this Blood Fusion Pill recipe in his eyes?
However, the advanced manipulation methods contained in the second half of the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique manual were of great interest to Yang Kai; after all, his Golden Blood Thread’s current abilities were somewhat limited, so if he could learn to control them more delicately, the role they would play in the future would be greater.
After studying this manual for a time but not obtaining any significant gain, Yang Kai set it aside for the time being, not feeling a significant rush to cultivate.
Next, he took out the stone tablet which he had collected after the Stone Monument engraved with the profound Artifact Refining Method exploded during his battle with Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce.
When she saw the stone tablet at that time, Xue Yue’s expression had changed dramatically and she had even gone so far as to beg Yang Kai to give it to her. After a brief negotiation, Yang Kai had intended to comply; after all, he didn’t know what value this stone tablet held, but before he could complete his agreement with Xue Yue, the Emperor Garden suddenly closed and sent him to the Limitless Ocean.
Yang Kai imagined that Xue Yue was furiously stomping her foot in frustration even now.
In all honesty, Yang Kai was also quite curious about this stone tablet that Xue Yue attached so much importance to, so after taking it out, he planned to study it.
The stone tablet wasn’t very big, only about the size of a palm, and there had been no signs of it being hidden inside the Stone Monument. In fact, if it was not for the fierce fight that caused the Stone Monument to break, this stone tablet might never have been found.
All in all, it was just a huge coincidence.
What was more coincidental though was that it flew straight over towards Yang Kai, allowing him to obtain it with ease.
Regardless of what it was, Xue Yue had determined it was useless to any Origin Realm cultivator and was only of worth to Origin Kings at a glance, a fact that only further piqued Yang Kai’s curiosity.
After half a month, the doors of First Heavenly Palace suddenly opened and Yang Kai stepped out with a calm expression.
After half a month of research, he finally figured out what mysteries were hidden inside this stone tablet.
Star Refining Art! This was not a Secret Art, nor was it a Martial Skill, but rather a Secret Technique that allowed a cultivator to refine a Star Source!
When he figured this out, Yang Kai was taken aback, never having expected the stone tablet to contain such an incredible secret.
Refining a Star Source was extremely difficult and only Origin King Realm masters were qualified to even attempt it. Once one successfully refined the Star Source of a Cultivation Star though, they would become that Cultivation Star’s Star Master!
Yang Kai learned of the powers of a Star Master soon after entering the Star Field. The Star Field itself was incredibly vast, but there were very few Star Masters. The reasons for this were quite simple: First, it required extremely high cultivation. Second, there were significant risks involved.
A Star Source was the core essence of a Cultivation Star, so refining it meant linking one’s destiny to that star, sharing both benefits and risks. If one managed to succeed, they would naturally gain unimaginable benefits, but if they failed, the only possible result was death.
Throughout the ages, innumerable masters wanted to conquer Cultivation Stars and refine their Star Sources. Each of these masters was a shocking character, geniuses among geniuses, masters among masters.
However, those who successfully managed to refine Star Sources and become Star Masters were a rarity!
It was difficult to imagine just how many powerhouses had fallen in the process of refining a Cultivation Star’s Star Source.
Of the Star Field’s super forces, Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce was the one Yang Kai was most familiar with and he was aware that it controlled some seven or eight Cultivation Stars while also possessing more than a dozen Origin King Realm masters, but for Star Masters, it only possessed one!
None of the others dared to refine a Star Source.
After all, this was no different from trying to balance oneself on a knife’s edge. If they managed to succeed, it would be a glorious feat that earned them the admiration of the entire Star Field, but the slightest mistake in the process would result in death and disgrace. These powerful Origin King Realm masters would not dare treat their lives so casually.
No wonder Xue Yue said that this stone tablet was useless for Origin Realm masters and was only useful for Origin Kings.
Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce was a super force in the Star Field and had several masters capable of becoming Star Masters, so it had a method for refining Star Sources; however, their method was no doubt vastly inferior to the Star Refining Art recorded in the stone tablet.
The Star Refining Art could be considered the highest-grade Secret Technique possibly for refining Star Sources.
Xue Yue entering the Emperor Garden this time was entirely to acquire the Star Refining Art. Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce’s President Ai Ou’s cultivation had been stuck at the peak of the Second-Order Origin King Realm for many years and he was unable to make any further progress, but if he could refine a Star Source, he would easily break through his current bottleneck and reach the Third-Order.
It was unknown how Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce learned that such a powerful Secret Technique resided inside the Emperor Garden, but they apparently had enough confidence to have Xue Yue personally lead a group of elites in search of it. If this was not the case, how could Xue Yue have engaged in such a risky venture considering Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce’s wealth and resources?
Unfortunately for her, when the Star Refining Art finally appeared, Xue Yue had failed to acquire it.
Yang Kai did not recognize the three ancient words engraved on the stone tablet, but Xue Yue did, which explained why she was so willing to compromise at the time.
It would be a long time before Yang Kai could make use of this Star Refining Art; without even mentioning his lacking cultivation realm, even if he was strong enough, he wouldn’t dare try to refine a Star Source without complete assurance.
As such, after studying it for a while, Yang Kai simply put it away.
Outside First Heavenly Palace, before Yang Kai could even take a few steps, he encountered several High Heaven Sect disciples. After seeing Yang Kai, these disciples hurriedly bowed, “Greetings, Sect Master!”
“En, is everything well in the Sect?” Yang Kai asked casually.
“Reporting to Sect Master, there have been no changes in the Sect since Sect Master entered retreat. All disciples are currently cultivating diligently and Great Elder has returned from the sixth layer.”
“Oh? She’s back?” Yang Kai was a little surprised at first but soon understood. Yang Yan would likely be asleep for at least ten more years, so there was no point in Ye Xi Yun remaining there the entire time. It was only natural to return to High Heaven Sect under the circumstances.
After all, she was instructed by Yang Yan to assist Yang Kai with all her strength, and how was she supposed to do so if she simply remained in the sixth layer? To say nothing of how inconvenient it was to simply meet like that, even communication across the fifth layer Flame Area was extremely difficult.
“Alright!” Yang Kai nodded lightly before ordering, “Tell Huang Juan to bring Lin Yun’er and meet me at the Great Elder’s residence.”
“Yes!” Although the few disciples did not know why Yang Kai wanted to see Huang Juan and Lin Yun’er, they didn’t ask any questions and immediately went about their assigned task.
Hundred Flowers Peak, where Yang Yan and Ye Xi Yun lived before.
Although the flowers here were still blooming in all their beauty, Hundred Flowers Peak now only had Ye Xi Yun living on it. When Yang Kai arrived, he found Ye Xi Yun sitting outside the stone pavilion as if she was lost in thought, so much so that she didn’t even notice him at first.
It was not until Yang Kai gave a light cough that Ye Xi Yun suddenly woke from her reverie up, looked up, and said lightly, “So Sect Master has come, subordinate greets Sect Master.”
Saying so, she elegantly got up.
“There’s no need to be too polite,” Yang Kai waved his hand before walking over and sitting opposite her. Pouring himself a cup of fragrant tea and taking a sip, Yang Kai asked casually, “How is Yang Yan?”
“En, Madam is fine, but she will continue to sleep for some time. Sect Master need not worry about her.”
“That’s good,” Yang Kai nodded lightly before suddenly asking, “What does Great Elder plan to do from now on?”
Ye Xi Yun glanced at him suspiciously for a moment before brushing her hair behind her ear and replying, “What is Sect Master referring to?”
“Why must Great Elder ask something she already knows the answer to? You remain here only because of the Great Emperor’s existence. I don’t know why you are so devoted to the Great Emperor but I’d like to confirm if you plan on simply waiting here until she awakens.”
“That’s right,” Ye Xi Yun gently nodded, “Is there any problem with that?”
“There’s no problem,” Yang Kai smiled lightly, “I was only wondering if Great Elder is willing to idle here instead of trying to take a step further beyond the Origin Returning Realm?”
“A step further?” Ye Xi Yun’s eyes shrank slightly as they flashed a strange brilliance, “If Sect Master has something to say, why speak in riddles to this subordinate?”
“You’re still my Senior, please stop referring to yourself as a subordinate, it’s disconcerting,” Yang Kai’s mouth twitched, “Alright, it’s like this. The current High Heaven Sect does not need to worry about being attacked as its defences are nigh impregnable. As long as the disciples don’t go out, they won’t be at risk. On top of that, there are plenty of cultivation resources here for everyone to use, so I was planning on leaving this place.”
“Leaving this place?” Ye Xi Yun frowned slightly, not understanding what Yang Kai was talking about.
“On a long-distance voyage away from Shadowed Star!” Yang Kai stared at her.
Ye Xi Yun could not help sitting up, “Sect Master means…”
“I just wanted to ask if you wish to leave with me!” Yang Kai grinned, “You should have reached the limit of the Origin Realm, no? The reason you have not yet broken through to the next realm is simply because of the suppression of Shadowed Star’s World Principles. If you were to free yourself from these shackles though, with your strength and aptitude, breaking through to the Origin King Realm should not be difficult. What’s more, we now have the ability to fulfil these conditions, so what does Great Elder think?”
“Leave this place…” Ye Xi Yun’s beautiful eyes filled with anticipation, but they soon regained their tranquillity as she turned to Yang Kai and asked, “Will Sect Master return here?”
“Of course I will return,” Yang Kai nodded, “To be honest with you, my desire to leave is primarily to find some people. After I find them, I will come back. Although the Star Field is big, wanting to find a place to stay and establish a home is not easy, so I have no plans to abandon High Heaven Sect.”
“So that’s it!” Ye Xi Yun said with some relief, “Although Sect Master’s offer is tempting, please forgive this subordinate for refusing.”
“Can you tell me your reason?” Yang Kai looked at her with a smile.
“Madam is still asleep, so I can’t leave. Besides, if Sect Master and I both leave at the same time, there will be no one here who can preside over the overall situation if something happens in the Sect.”
“Yeah, as I thought.” Yang Kai nodded lightly, seemingly knowing this was the response he would get.
Ye Xi Yun rolled her eyes and said in amazement, “Sect Master making this offer yet knowing my response must mean you weren’t really asking me to accompany you, yes?”
“Heh heh…” Yang Kai chuckled, “The choice is yours, whether you decide to go or not. I will not try to convince you. After all…”
Yang Kai did not continue as his expression suddenly turned solemn. With a serious tone, he spoke up once again, “Thank you.”
Being able to resist the temptation of reaching the Origin King Realm and insisting on staying to defend High Heaven Sect while Yang Kai was away, Ye Xi Yun was deserving of his sincere gratitude.
Both understood the other’s unspoken meaning here, so Ye Xi Yun didn’t make any attempt to deny it and simply nodded lightly.
Suddenly, she looked over in a certain direction and asked softly, “Did Sect Master call those two?”
Yang Kai released his Divine Sense and soon nodded, “Yes.”
The two Ye Xi Yun spoke of were naturally Huang Juan and Lin Yun’er. The little girl was being led by Huang Juan, but when she saw such a large field of beautiful flowers, Lin Yun’er’s wild instincts took over and she rushed into the garden.
Huang Juan was shocked and quickly ran to catch Lin Yun’er before half-dragging her over to the stone pavilion.
Caught like this, Lin Yun’er looked unhappy as her mouth pursed into a flat line.
“Greetings Sect Master, greetings Great Elder,” Huang Juan saluted while quietly observing Ye Xi Yun. It had been some time now since Huang Juan had arrived at High Heaven Sect, so she knew who the Great Elder was, but it wasn’t until she received Yang Kai’s summon today that she had the honour of actually meeting Ye Xi Yun.
“Sit down!” Yang Kai motioned before beckoning to Lin Yun’er in a friendly manner.
The little girl, however, just narrowed her eyes slightly before hiding herself in Huang Juan’s embrace, shooting Yang Kai a vigilant look every now and then, causing the latter to become speechless for a while.
“Have you gotten used to living here yet?” Yang Kai turned to Huang Juan and asked.
“Many thanks for your concern, Sect Master, subordinate and Yun’er are doing well here.”
“Great, if you lack for anything just tell Wu Yi, she will take care of everything. Remember, you’re not outsiders here, so do not hesitate.”
“Many thanks, Sect Master,” Huang Juan said with a moved look.
“Right, this is an Origin Condensing Pill, take it and enter retreat for a while and you should be able to break through to the Origin Returning Realm. Remember to use one of the cultivation rooms in Rising Dragon Hall for your breakthrough; the Ten Thousand Year Incense and Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree are placed there and can help you overcome heart demons while sensing the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, which will greatly improve your odds of success.”
“Yes.” Huang Juan responded, taking the Origin Condensing Pill from Yang Kai’s hand and carefully storing it while trying to control the surging emotions she felt in her heart.
Two months ago, she had been rushing about, struggling just to make enough to maintain her livelihood yet unable to even afford a Hundred Spirits Pill; but now, not only was she living in the beautiful cultivation paradise known as High Heaven Sect, but she also didn’t need to worry about cultivation resources and even had access to supreme treasures like the Ten Thousand Year Incense and Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree which could assist her in breaking through to the next realm.
The difference between the two positions was as wide as the gap between Heaven and Earth. Huang Juan still could not believe that this was now her everyday life, and the gratitude she felt towards Yang Kai grew even stronger. After all, if Yang Kai hadn’t brought her back, her and Lin Yun’er’s future was something she didn’t even want to imagine.
“Did Sect Master summon this subordinate for some specific reason today?” Huang Juan looked at Yang Kai respectfully.
Yang Kai smiled slightly but did not answer, instead turning to glance at Ye Xi Yun.
Since Huang Juan brought Lin Yun’er here, Ye Xi Yun had been observing this little girl, her powerful Divine Sense silently sweeping over Lin Yun’er’s body while seemingly aware of something, her beautiful eyes bursting with both astonishment and surprise.
“Has Great Elder noticed it?” After waiting for a while, Yang Kai asked.
Ye Xi Yun gently nodded before turning to Lin Yun’er and beckoning, “Little girl, come over.”
Strangely enough, although Ye Xi Yun had a serious and meticulous look upon her face, Lin Yun’er wasn’t afraid of her at all, and upon hearing her summon, Lin Yun’er only hesitated for a moment before walking over to Ye Xi Yun and standing tall.
“Don’t be afraid,” Ye Xi Yun flashed a beautiful smile before stretching out her jade white hand to hold Lin Yun’er’s wrist and gently sending her Saint Qi into the little girl’s body to inspect her more carefully.
As time passed, the expression on Ye Xi Yun’s face became even more shocked.
After a long time, she took a deep breath, let go of Lin Yun’er, and revealed a look of pure amazement.
By now, Huang Juan was completely on edge as she stood nearby, watching Ye Xi Yun nervously while wondering if she had found something wrong. Since Yang Kai had told her about Lin Yun’er’s strange condition that day, Huang Juan had also paid more attention and found that, just as Yang Kai said, Lin Yun’er’s tiny body actually contained a brute strength which should have been impossible for her age and size.
What’s more, this was pure physical strength.
Huang Juan was worried Lin Yun’er had some kind of strange disease! After coming to High Heaven Sect, she had asked a few of the Elders, but none could give her a clear explanation, so seeing Ye Xi Yun now wear such a thoughtful expression, Huang Juan immediately pinned her hopes on her.
After all, it was rumoured that this Great Elder was once the Sect Master of Star Emperor Mountain, so there was no question that she was incredibly knowledgeable. However, it was a mystery why such a woman had suddenly left Star Emperor Mountain to live a life of seclusion or why she had suddenly decided to join High Heaven Sect.
“Great Elder, Yun’er, is she…” Seeing Ye Xi Yun remain silent, Huang Juan became even more nervous.
“Don’t worry,” Ye Xi Yun comforted her and said lightly, “This little girl is perfectly fine, but her physique seems to be a little strange.”
“A Special Constitution?” Yang Kai’s eyes lit up.
“En, there isn’t any other logical explanation for why the vital essence in her body is so strong; however, I don’t know what kind of Special Constitution she possesses. I’ll have to consult some ancient books first,” Ye Xi Yun frowned slightly.
Yang Kai gently nodded as Ye Xi Yun’s opinion coincided with his own judgment.
He had also guessed that Lin Yun’er possessed a Special Constitution. Although Special Constitutions were rare and hard to come across, it did not mean they did not exist in this world.
Yang Kai had met several Special Constitution possessors. The Sacred Spirit Medicine Body of Little Senior Sister Xia Ning Chang, the Poison Widow Body of Beguiling Demon Queen Shan Qing Luo, and the Dragon Marrow Phoenix Body of Xue Yue all belonged to the category of Special Constitutions.
Special Constitutions were an innate gift and granted their possessor all kinds of incredible effects.
For example, Xia Ning Chang’s Sacred Spirit Medicine Body allowed her unmatched aptitude and ability in Alchemy. To her, Alchemy was basically an instinct that did not require others to teach her about. On top of that, she could use Alchemy to enhance her cultivation.
As for what kind of physique Lin Yun’er possessed, that was unknown for the moment, but seeing how it seemed to grant her immense physical strength, it should be one related to battle.
Yang Kai could not help looking at her as if she was a giant piece of uncut jade!
The little girl was so young and her body was so thin, yet she already possessed such incredible force, so if she were to fully mature, it was likely even the strongest from the Monster Race would be nothing compared to her in a contest of strength.
“Great Elder, if you have nothing else to attend to in the meantime, why not accept the little girl as a disciple? Not only will you have a way to relieve your loneliness, but there will also be someone to give you filial piety in the future, killing two birds with one stone,” Yang Kai suddenly said with a smile.
Ye Xi Yun glanced over at him and said faintly, “So this is what Sect Master had been planning all along by introducing this little girl to me.”
Yang Kai grinned meaningfully and openly admitted, “Great Elder is also aware of the Sect’s current situation. Other than you, no one else has the qualifications to teach her. This little girl possesses a Special Constitution, so if others were to instruct her they would only delay or impede her progress. Only Great Elder would have the necessary skill to avoid such a mishap.”
Hearing what Yang Kai said, Huang Juan’s eyes lit up and she immediately began pleading as well.
Although she could not bear the thought of separating from Lin Yun’er, she was also aware of her limits. Lin Yun’er cultivating under her guidance would naturally result in vastly inferior results compared to the little girl studying under Ye Xi Yun. Considering Lin Yun’er’s future, Huang Juan felt she could tolerate a short separation.
What’s more, the Great Elder lived in High Heaven Sect, so she and Lin Yun’er would still have many opportunities to meet in the future.
Huang Juan and Yang Kai singing the same tune caused Ye Xi Yun to smile bitterly, rubbing her forehead gently as she said, “If I were to flatly refuse, wouldn’t that be too unreasonable?”
“Subordinate would not dare think so, if Great Elder has difficulties then Subordinate will naturally withdraw her request,” Huang Juan said hurriedly.
“Ha…” Ye Xi Yun sighed, “It’s not that this Queen doesn’t want to accept her as a disciple, it’s just that before I figure out exactly what this little girl’s Special Constitution is, even I would not feel confident formally instructing her; however, just providing a little guidance shouldn’t be an issue.”
Huang Juan was immediately overjoyed.
“But everything will depend on her own will,” Ye Xi Yun smiled slightly before turning to Lin Yun’er and asking her gently, “Yun’er, are you willing to cultivate under this Queen’s direction?”
“Yes,” Unexpectedly, Lin Yun’er replied crisply without even a moment of hesitation.
Ye Xi Yun was slightly startled by this and could not help asking curiously, “Why?”
“Because you should be very fierce.” Lin Yun’er tilted her head and replied.
Yang Kai and the others could not help but laugh. Although this little girl was ignorant of worldly affairs, she possessed her own intuition and was able to instinctively understand who here had the highest cultivation.
Ye Xi Yun put on a dignified expression and quickly said, “It will be very hard to follow this Queen. If you don’t cultivate well, this Queen may hit and scold you, do you understand?”
“Yun’er will cultivate well so she won’t need beating or scolding.”
“Good.” Ye Xi Yun nodded with satisfaction, “Then from today, you will stay here on Hundred Flowers Peak.”
Seeing Ye Xi Yun accept, Huang Juan’s eyes filled with excitement and she offered her sincere thanks.
Ye Xi Yun simply waved her hand and said, “I’m simply going to give her a little advice regarding her cultivation, not formally accepting her as a disciple. Please remember this.”
“Subordinate will remember, Yun’er being able to receive Great Elder’s advice is already a great blessing, it doesn’t matter whether she has the status of a disciple or not.”
“En, as long as you can have such a mentality. Also, you need not move to Hundred Flowers Peak, I will let Yun’er come visit you,” Ye Xi Yun exhorted before immediately turning to Yang Kai, “Sect Master, please return if there’s nothing else.”
[Another eviction order…]
Yang Kai’s expression became a bit depressed as he scratched his nose and stood up. Not wanting to disturb Huang Juan who was giving Lin Yun’er a tearful reminder of things she needed to pay attention to, he left on his own.
Five days later, outside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, inside the palace housing High Heaven Sect’s Space Array, a light flashed and Yang Kai appeared. Without saying anything to the disciples on guard duty, Yang Kai simply summoned his Star Shuttle and flew off towards the horizon.
Now that matters in High Heaven Sect had been settled, and Yang Kai had no worries inside or outside the Sect, he needed to prepare for his impending long-distance voyage.
Twenty to thirty years had passed since he entered the Star Field and just thinking about everyone back on Tong Xuan Realm was enough to stimulate his worries and desires. Now that he had an Origin King Grade Starship in High Heaven Sect, Yang Kai felt that it was time for a trip back home.
Of course, he also wanted to look for Su Yan and Shan Qing Luo if possible.
Many people were out there waiting for him, so he could not just remain on Shadowed Star forever.
But before setting off, he needed to procure some cultivation resources; after all, this voyage would not be a matter of just one or two years. High Heaven Sect did not have any contact with the outside world and was not self-sufficient in terms of various cultivation resources, so before leaving, Yang Kai wanted to make sure the Sect disciples and Elders had plenty of reserves on hand.
Saint Crystals were the least of his worries as there was a massive Saint Crystal lode in the second layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field that would be enough to supply the Sect’s needs for thousands of years; however, there was a noticeable lack of pills available.
Although Yang Kai was an Alchemist, he could not refine so many pills in short order, so his only recourse was to purchase some and stockpile them.
Based on this consideration, Yang Kai did not choose to use Space Arrays to hurry along and instead used his Star Shuttle to fly from city to city, purchasing various pills and herbs as he went.
The direction he chose to head was towards Shadow Moon Hall!
For this long-distance voyage, Yang Kai certainly wanted to invite Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu. The two of them had made their desire to set sail with him known long ago, Yang Kai hadn’t picked a departure date until recently, so he had not been able to give them a positive answer.
Now that even Clear Sky Sect had obtained a travel quota, Yang Kai would certainly not forget Shadow Moon Hall; after all, Qian Tong had taken care of him in many ways since arriving on Shadowed Star and his friendship with Fei Zhi Tu was also not shallow.
If Yang Kai were to just leave without informing them, that would be too unreasonable.
—
At the same time, on a vast plain in Shadowed Star’s east, a massive city stood that stretched thousands of kilometres in every direction. At the centre of this city, there were many beautiful, enormous palaces arranged close together.
This was the headquarters of Heaven Battling Union, Heaven Battling City.
Inside one palace at the centre of the city, two people were discussing important matters, one of them was an old man with a youthful complexion while the other was a burly middle-aged man.
If Yang Kai were here, he would recognize the old man as Heaven Battling Union’s Great Elder Mo Xiao Sheng, a fellow cultivator of the Dao of Space.
At this moment though, this prestigious Great Elder was respectfully addressing the middle-aged man.
The identity of this man was easy to discern just from this, Heaven Battling Union’s Union Master, Qu Zheng!
Qu Zheng, like Mo Xiao Sheng, was a master at the peak of the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm, but he had been in retreat these past years to try to comprehend the mysteries of the Origin King Realm and thus rarely showed himself. Mo Xiao Sheng mostly handled all of the Union’s day-to-day matters.
This situation was quite common on Shadowed Star.
Because of the constraints of the World Principles here, the limit any cultivator could achieve was the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm, but all masters who reached this level would naturally not be content with the status quo and would strive to achieve the legendary Origin King Realm.
No one had succeeded, but that didn’t hinder these masters’ determination and enthusiasm to explore greater heights in the Martial Dao and Heavenly Way.
When the Emperor Garden opened, Qu Zheng had also entered, but the trip had not been very rewarding. At this time, what was being discussed with Mo Xiao Sheng was an after-action report on the Emperor Garden.
Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps from outside the hall and a disciple’s voice called out, “Reporting to Union Master and Great Elder, Thunder Typhoon Sect’s Fang Peng is here to request a meeting.”
“That Old Ghost Fang?” Qu Zheng frowned as he muttered with displeasure, “That old dog dared to come to my Heaven Battling City? Does he not put this Qu in his eyes?”
Mo Xiao Sheng also showed a look of suspicion. One had to know that Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect were the two giants of Shadowed Star. Although they weren’t blood enemies, they did have some small skirmishes between them with several disciples from both forces perishing at the other’s hands each year.
However, showing up at the other force’s headquarters was nothing short of a great taboo!
Moreover, Fang Peng’s identity was extraordinary: he was none other than the Sect Master of Thunder Typhoon Sect, making his status equivalent to Qu Zheng’s.
With his high status and sensitive identity, arriving at Heaven Battling City unannounced was likely to cause friction and possibly even disputes between the two giants. At worst, it might result in an all-out war, so after hearing the disciple’s report, Qu Zheng couldn’t help becoming angry.
“Union Master, please calm yourself,” Although Mo Xiao Sheng also had many doubts, his wit was sharper than Qu Zheng’s, and he hurriedly said. “Fang Peng must have something important to discuss with Union master since he dares to arrive in Heaven Battling City. If that’s the case, you might as well hear what he has to say; it won’t be too late to decide how to respond afterwards.”
Hearing this proposal, Qu Zheng felt it was somewhat reasonable; moreover, as this place’s master, he wasn’t afraid of a lone Fang Peng, so he nodded lightly after he pondered for a moment, “Very well, then we’ll act per Great Elder’s intention, but if that old dog really came here to provoke my Heaven Battling Union… Hmph! This old master will let him know what the price of overconfidence is!”
Just after these words were spoken, a loud laugh came from outside the hall, and a hearty voice called out, “I’ve not seen you for many years, but it seems Brother Qu’s temper is as short as ever.”
At the same time this voice sounded, a figure appeared outside the hall. The Heaven Battling Union disciple was thoroughly shocked by this person’s appearance and hurriedly tried to block him, but he was easily kicked aside and unable to get up. Immediately after, the uninvited guest walked into the hall directly, wearing a carefree smile, without the slightest trace of politeness, as if this place was his own private courtyard.
Qu Zheng’s expression turned gloomy as Mo Xiao Sheng frowned, a clear look of displeasure appearing on both their faces.
The man who walked in was Fang Peng, the Sect Master of Thunder Typhoon Sect, but neither of the two seated inside had expected that this guy would be so thick-skinned.
After entering the hall, Fang Peng found a place to sit down for himself before turning to Qu Zheng and saying, “Brother Qu, I’m a guest from afar, so why don’t I see tea being served? Is Heaven Battling Union really so stingy?”
“Hmph, if it were someone else who had arrived, this Qu would definitely welcome them, but you… we have no tea for the likes of you,” Qu Zheng snorted coldly.
Fang Peng just curled his lips, not bothering to dwell on this seemingly irrelevant topic.
“Old Ghost Fang, instead of taking care of your Thunder Typhoon Sect you’ve run tens of thousands of kilometres to my Heaven Battling City. Why?” Qu Zheng got straight to the point, “Cheng Peng Xuan fell in the Emperor Garden, so if you leave Thunder Typhoon Sect rashly, aren’t you afraid someone will take the opportunity to stir up trouble?”
“Who would dare?” Immediately after Qu Zheng’s mentioned Cheng Peng Xuan falling, Fang Peng’s face became gloomy and he coldly snorted, “Although Great Elder Cheng’s demise is unfortunate, my Thunder Typhoon Sect is no pushover; who would dare court death by challenging us?”
“Your courage isn’t small,” Qu Zheng sneered, his eyes faintly flashing, “If this old master were to make you remain here forever, I think your Thunder Typhoon Sect would be nothing more than a flock of chickens waiting to be slaughtered.”
“Make me remain here?” Fang Peng pointed to himself with a grin, “Don’t try to boast shamelessly, Brother Qu! If you have such confidence, you are welcome to try burying this Fang in Heaven Battling City.”
Hearing this taunt, a dangerous light flickered across Qu Zheng’s eyes as if he really wanted to take action.
This couldn’t be helped though, since Thunder Typhoon Sect would likely collapse if Fang Peng was beheaded here, leaving only Heaven Battling Union to lord over Shadowed Star.
However, Fang Peng remained utterly calm and relaxed, as if he had something to rely on, causing Qu Zheng some confusion and stopping him from acting ruthlessly.
Mo Xiao Sheng also felt confused. Although Fang Peng’s strength was indeed exceptional, since he had entered the heart of Heaven Battling City, his life was no longer his to control. This old dog couldn’t have lost his mind and taken the initiative to deliver his head, could he?
“En, enough nonsense,” After a long, silent stalemate, Fang Peng waved his hand and said, “Truth be told, this Fang daring to come to Heaven Battling Union alone this time was simply because he was ordered to.”
“Ordered?” Qu Zheng and Mo Xiao Sheng were both startled, “To do what and by who?”
Fang Peng was Thunder Typhoon Sect’s Sect Master, who could order him to do anything? Both of these men’s hearts clenched when they realised the answer to this question.
“Who do you think?” Fang Peng squinted at them.
Exchanging a glance, both Qu Zheng and Mo Xiao Sheng turned severe, and only after a long silence did Qu Zheng hesitantly ask, “Could it be them?”
“En, it’s them. Who else could order this Fang into action personally?” Fang Peng grinned meaningfully, “Or do you think this old master would willingly come here to die? While this old master may not be young, he still hasn’t lived nearly enough. How could I waltz right into this tiger’s den without something to take advantage of?”
Although his words weren’t pleasant to the ear, Qu Zheng and Mo Xiao Sheng could only look at each other and suppress the murderous intent in their hearts.
Since the other party had come here under ‘their’ orders, they could not do anything to him. Although Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect were the two giants of Shadowed Star, their strength was insignificant compared with that side.
Thousands of years ago, the Ancient Yang Sect was comparable to Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect, but because it had offended that side, it had been uprooted overnight, showing just how terrifying their power was.
Usually, their people were completely indifferent to worldly affairs, so why would they suddenly order Fang Peng to contact Heaven Battling Union at this time?
“Brother Fang, if you have something to say then get to the point, you and I know that while Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect can lord over Shadowed Star, we still fall short of their power. Since they’ve begun to move, the Heaven Battling Union and I naturally won’t just stand by,” Qu Zheng took a deep breath and his attitude became much more easygoing.
“Brother Qu really understands what must be done!” Fang Peng laughed before he too assumed a solemn expression, “That little brat from High Heaven Sect has left the Flowing Flame Sand Field.”
Qu Zheng was taken aback, and quickly reacted, “You mean that boy called Yang Kai?”
“Indeed!” Fang Peng nodded lightly, “And from his movements, it seems he wants to go to Shadow Moon Hall!”
“Shadow Moon Hall?” Qu Zheng frowned, “What does this have to do with us?”
“Why does Brother Qu try to play dumb?” Fang Peng sneered, “Although High Heaven Sect is nothing of importance itself, since it is located inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, no one can pose any threat to it. If it’s given enough time to develop, will Shadowed Star still have a place for you and me?”
“Brother Fang’s meaning is to strangle this danger in its cradle?”
“Exactly!” Fang Peng nodded sincerely, “If he had remained hidden inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, I’m afraid no one would have any way to deal with him, but since he’s decided to come out on his own, he no longer gets to decide whether he lives or dies.”
“That being said, I heard that this boy’s strength and means are extraordinary. No average person would be able to do anything to him.”
“So what? No matter how great his strength might be, he’s still a boy who just broke through to the Origin Returning Realm. You and I have countless masters at our disposal, could it be that you think we have no way to take him?”
“En,” Qu Zheng nodded lightly, feeling like he had been making a bit too much of a fuss, but he still suspiciously asked, “But what does any of this have to do with ‘them?’”
“A great deal!” Fang Peng grinned meaningfully, “High Heaven Sect has an Origin King Grade Starship. Hasn’t Brother Qu heard?”
“This Qu has heard such rumours, but is it truly an Origin King Grade Starship?” Qu Zheng was a little sceptical.
“Whether or not it is real, you might as well ask Elder Mo. Elder Mo has seen it with his own eyes.”
Qu Zheng shot a look over at Mo Xiao Sheng who nodded solemnly and said, “En, there’s no doubt that it is an Origin King Grade Starship; however, I have no idea how they made it or where they found it.”
“It doesn’t matter where they got it. The key is that as long as we can obtain that Starship, we can leave the Shadowed Star and go to another Cultivation Star to break through to the Origin King Realm!”
As soon as this statement came out, both Mo Xiao Sheng and Qu Zheng’s eyes lit up with desire.
The Origin King Realm was something they always dreamed of reaching but could never achieve; however, with an Origin King Grade Starship, it might just be possible.
“Presumably, Brother Qu understands what this means, moreover… Ye Xi Yun has joined High Heaven Sect and currently holds the status of Great Elder. Do you think that side will just let High Heaven Sect off?” Fang Peng grinned deviously.
“So that’s how it is!” Qu Zheng nodded lightly, finally comprehending the whole picture. Whether it was because of that Origin King Grade Starship or Ye Xi Yun, it was impossible for ‘them’ to sit by and watch High Heaven Sect develop. That side would definitely be looking for any opportunity to wipe High Heaven Sect out.
And their Sect Master Yang Kai’s little outing was one such opportunity!
“Is this matter to be undertaken by just our two forces?” Qu Zheng asked.
“For the time being, but that side seems to be sending people as well.”
“Hmph, manipulative bastards.” Qu Zheng snorted coldly. It was almost inevitable that that Origin King Grade Starship would fall into their hands if High Heaven Sect was really eliminated. At that time, Thunder Typhoon Sect and Heaven Battling Union would only get some leftover soup to drink.
“Their fist is bigger, after all.” Fang Peng smiled helplessly, “I’ve delivered their message, but as for the specifics, that is for you and me to discuss. Because this is related to that Starship and Ye Xi Yun, we can’t just kill Yang Kai but must capture him alive instead to use as a bargaining chip to force High Heaven Sect to surrender.”
Yang Kai knew nothing about Fang Pang and Qu Zheng’s conspiracy. At this moment, he was still flying in the direction of Shadow Moon Hall, stopping by each city he came across, buying up pills and herbs like crazy.
The number of Saint Crystals in his Space Ring shrank at an extreme speed, but the number of cultivation resources increased at the same time.
His harvest was massive.
Three months later, Yang Kai stood mid-air, looking towards a city not far away.
Heavenly Fate City!
Glancing to the side, Yang Kai saw a small devastated mountain: Dragon Cave Mountain, which sat just fifty kilometres from Heavenly Fate City!
This small ruined mountain was Yang Kai’s first stopover on Shadowed Star and was where he had made many friends and enemies, and grown to his current height. It was a pity that this unique small mountain range managed by Wu Yi, Yang Yan and all the others had been destroyed in that great battle.
Only a little time had passed, but when Yang Kai looked at the desolate Dragon Cave Mountain, it almost felt like he could see his rapid growth over the past decade.
After a brief silence, Yang Kai slowly shook his head, collected his mood, and flew straight to Heavenly Fate City.
He had flown all the way here from the Flowing Flame Sand Field, and although it had taken him three full months, he hadn’t wasted his time on the road. Although cultivating on the move was impossible, studying the various gains he had from the Emperor Garden wasn’t an issue.
Yang Kai had fully grasped the second half of the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique now, so all that remained was for him to take the time to experiment and enhance his control over his Golden Blood Threads to increase their battle power.
He had also studied the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture from time to time, obtaining new harvests each time he did.
These three months had been quite fulfilling.
In front of the majestic City Lord’s Mansion, Yang Kai was stopped by the cultivators on guard. After taking a good look at Yang Kai though, the lead guard suddenly paled and solemnly cupped his fists, “Heavenly Fate City’s Chen Qi greets Sect Master Yang.”
“Oh? You recognise me?” Yang Kai smiled and looked at this man with some surprise.
The man called Chen Qi scratched his head and respectfully said, “When Sect Master Yang raised a big fuss in Heavenly Fate City, this Chen was able to see Sect Master Yang from a distance, so…”
“So that’s how it is,” Yang Kai gently nodded. Since this man knew him, that made things easier, “Is City Lord Fei here? I want to discuss something with him.”
Saying so, Yang Kai prepared to walk inside.
Chen Qi quickly stood in front of him though and wore an awkward expression as he said, “Reporting to Sect Master Yang. Sir City Lord is not in the city right now.”
“Not here?” Yang Kai was stunned. Unexpectedly, after travelling a few million kilometres, one of the people Yang Kai had come to see was out, causing him to feel somewhat depressed. After collecting himself, Yang Kai asked, “What about Elder Qian?”
“Elder Qian is not here either,” Chen Qi’s look became even more embarrassed.
“Uh…Where did they go?” Yang Kai was speechless. It hadn’t been long since the Emperor Garden had closed, yet these two old men hadn’t even bothered checking their gains before leaving once more.
“Great Elder and Sir City Lord went to Fallen Emperor Mountain together,” Chen Qi replied quickly.
“Why would they go to Fallen Emperor Mountain?” Yang Kai frowned.
Chen Qi asked back, “Hasn’t Sect Master Yang heard about Fallen Emperor Mountain’s mutation?”
“Mutation?” Yang Kai suddenly became interested.
Half an hour later, Yang Kai left Heavenly Fate City, summoned his Star Shuttle, and set out in the direction of Fallen Emperor Mountain.
From Chen Qi, he had learned something quite shocking.
The ruins of a large number of secluded homes and cave mansions of ancient cultivators had appeared in Fallen Emperor Mountain, and there was even a rumour that the ruins of a great Sect had been discovered! This news was simply unbelievable. After the news spread, it immediately attracted a large number of Shadowed Star cultivators who wanted to explore and treasure hunt.
Moreover, this was no mere rumour; it was all confirmed fact.
Some people had already managed to obtain Heaven defying Secret Arts and Secret Techniques from these ruins, along with other valuable artifacts and treasures.
It was even said that an Origin King Grade artifact had appeared.
Of course, this last point may have been an exaggeration. Regardless of which Cultivation Star one was on, Origin King Grade artifacts were rare treasures because too few Artifact Refiners were capable of refining such masterpieces.
But it was undeniable that Fallen Emperor Mountain had become the focus of attention for all of Shadowed Star.
Yang Kai had been to Fallen Emperor Mountain once before when he had joined Fei Zhi Tu’s group to rescue Qian Tong. The reason why this mountain range was called Fallen Emperor Mountain was precisely because of rumours that the Starry Sky Great Emperor had fallen there.
The omnipresent Emperor Pressure in Fallen Emperor Mountain added to the credibility of this rumour.
The deeper one went, the stronger the Emperor Pressure became!
Before the Emperor Garden manifested, Shadowed Star’s cultivators that had recently broken through to the Origin Returning Realm would enter Fallen Emperor Mountain to make use of the Emperor Pressure to condense their Shi.
Unfortunately, no cultivator could enter the depths of Fallen Emperor Mountain because none could bear the intensity of the Emperor Pressure there.
However, after the Emperor Garden appeared, the Emperor Pressure that pervaded Fallen Emperor Mountain disappeared.
The reason for this was obviously due to the Emperor Garden.
The Emperor Garden originally existed many thousands of metres below Fallen Emperor Mountain, which allowed Emperor Pressure to cover this mountain range. But when the Emperor Garden rose into the sky, the Emperor Pressure emitted by it no longer affected Fallen Emperor Mountain.
No one had ever been able to travel deep into Fallen Emperor Mountain before, so many couldn’t resist the temptation to explore.
Initially, just a few cultivators who were curious about what was inside Fallen Emperor Mountain had banded together to explore its depths, but some kind of falling out occurred after they discovered an ancient cave mansion and obtained many benefits, leading to word of the existence of treasures leaking out.
If it weren’t for an unequal distribution that led to infighting and even killing, news of this discovery probably wouldn’t have spread as quickly.
Previously, all of Shadowed Star’s cultivators were paying attention to the Emperor Garden’s movements, so no one paid much heed to the changes of Fallen Emperor Mountain.
But now, the world’s attention had shifted from the Emperor Garden to Fallen Emperor Mountain.
This focus only became more pronounced when word spread of a large number of secluded homes and cave mansions of ancient cultivators and even Sect ruins being discovered. Now, countless cultivators from all over Shadowed Star were rushing to Fallen Emperor Mountain.
This happened three or four months ago. Yang Kai had already left High Heaven Sect on a purchasing spree while immersing himself in the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture and Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique, so he had naturally not received word about this strange phenomenon.
It was only after arriving in Heavenly Fate City that he came to learn of this news.
Of course, Yang Kai was quite interested in these secluded homes, cave mansions and Sect ruins. Now that he knew of them, he didn’t mind taking a trip there to find Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu, saving him from wasting time just waiting in Heavenly Fate City for them to return.
After obtaining some relevant information, Yang Kai flew straight to Fallen Emperor Mountain.
Along the way, Yang Kai noticed that many cultivators were also travelling in the same direction as him, rushing towards Fallen Emperor Mountain. Apparently, the news of hidden treasures being found wasn’t groundless; otherwise, it would have been impossible to attract so many people.
Yang Kai naturally remembered the location of Fallen Emperor Mountain as it wasn’t too far away from Heavenly Fate City.
Ten days later, a streak of light arrived outside Fallen Emperor Mountain and came to a halt. When this light dissipated, Yang Kai’s figure appeared.
Looking at the countless cultivators down below, Yang Kai couldn’t help wrinkling his brow.
He hadn’t expected it to be so lively outside Fallen Emperor Mountain.
A rough estimate put the number of cultivators in the mountain range’s periphery at several tens of thousands with widely varying cultivations.
There were cultivators at the True Element Boundary, Immortal Ascension Boundary, Transcendent Realm, Saint Realm, etc.
There were even some Separation and Reunion Boundary cultivators who had yet to even reach the True Element Boundary.
[What are they doing here?] Yang Kai observed with consternation. With such strength and cultivation, rushing into such a dangerous place was courting death.
But after thinking about it carefully, Yang Kai suddenly understood.
Since they had chosen the path of cultivation, these people weren’t afraid of taking risks. Yang Kai had also passed through these Great Realms and deeply understood that the more dangerous the place, the higher the benefit it was hiding and the more those benefits could help a cultivator grow.
If these cultivators were lucky enough to find an unclaimed secluded home or cave mansion of some ancient cultivator, perhaps they would never have to worry about cultivation resources for the rest of their lives.
And now that there was no trace of Emperor Pressure remaining in Fallen Emperor Mountain, it could be said that even ordinary mortals who hadn’t begun to cultivate could enter without worrying about their safety.
Fallen Emperor Mountain was also different from other mountain ranges because the omnipresent Emperor Pressure that shrouded it in the past had made it impossible for any kind of creature to live inside. As such, there was no need for cultivators entering to worry about encountering vicious or powerful Monster Beasts.
The only thing one needed to care about was other cultivators.
Killing people and plundering their treasures was something that happened frequently, but as long as one didn’t venture too deep into the mountains, the risk of this happening wasn’t too high.
Various thoughts flashed across Yang Kai’s mind as he quickly came to an understanding of why these seemingly weak cultivators had gathered here.
Not only that, some cultivators didn’t even seem like they were planning to enter Fallen Emperor Mountain and were here to take advantage of this opportunity to do some business instead. In this crowded place, countless stalls and pop up shops had appeared, selling a dazzling array of goods and services.
The business at some stalls seemed to be pretty good, with many people gathering around and bargaining with the stall owners, making for a lively market atmosphere.
Seeing this, Yang Kai failed to stifle his laughter.
In the end, he didn’t need to care too much about other people’s affairs. This trip to Fallen Emperor Mountain was just a coincidental opportunity. What Yang Kai had to do now was see if he could find Qian Tong or Fei Zhi Tu while casually exploring.
If he had some gains, he would be happy, but if not, he wouldn’t care.
Considering all this, Yang Kai descended to the ground.
Just after he collected his Star Shuttle, several cultivators rushed over to him, all of them wearing flattering smiles as they greeted Yang Kai with cupped fists from afar.
Yang Kai frowned, not knowing what these people were up to, but he wasn’t about to just attack random people, so he stood in place and looked at them faintly while asking, “Do you have something you want to discuss with me?”
“Extreme Heaven Sect’s Wu Chang greets this friend,” One of the more astute looking cultivators quickly introduced himself.
Others followed suit.
Interestingly, these cultivators were all just Saint Kings.
After listening to their self-introductions, Yang Kai raised his brow as he discovered that these people all belonged to different forces, some of which even seemed to have grudges between them.
This left Yang Kai a little at a loss, wondering what they wanted from him.
“It’s like this, Friend,” The man named Wu Chang took the lead, putting on a friendly smile that felt entirely fake to Yang Kai but made the others present scowl somewhat unhappily. “From the looks of it, Friend came alone to enter the depths of Fallen Emperor Mountain to treasure hunt, yes?”
“Indeed!” Yang Kai gently nodded, “So what?”
Wu Chang chuckled, “Friend doesn’t need to be so vigilant, this one has no malicious intentions and simply wishes to invite you and to enter with him.”
“With you?” Yang Kai frowned.
“Exactly,” Wu Chang nodded quickly before stretching out his hand and pointing in a specific direction. “Friend must be able to tell that this Wu is nothing more than a Second-Order Saint King, and although such cultivation is not low, it is also not high. In fact, the disciples of Extreme Heaven Sect currently here do not have an Origin Realm master to assume command, so if we were to encounter a powerful enemy while exploring the Fallen Emperor Mountain…”
Although he didn’t finish his words, Yang Kai still understood why this man extended an invitation. Looking in the direction this Wu Chang was pointing, Yang Kai noticed a group of cultivators wearing similar robes, about a dozen or so in total and all of them Saint Kings. There was no trace of an Origin Realm master in sight.
It seemed that Extreme Heaven Sect wasn’t a very powerful force.
“You want me to protect your safety?” Yang Kai asked.
“Talking with someone smart makes things so much easier. Rather than just protection, this Wu would rather call it cooperation, it all depends on whether this friend is willing or not,” Wu Chang nodded quickly.
“Is there a difference?” Yang Kai was surprised.
“Naturally there is a difference,” Wu Chang saw that Yang Kai seemed a bit interested and hurriedly struck while the iron was hot. “If Friend just protects my Extreme Heaven Sect, we will simply pay Friend a satisfactory price, but whatever we discover in Fallen Emperor Mountain will then belong exclusively to my Extreme Heaven Sect. If we cooperate, however, friend and I can discuss the terms of how to distribute the treasures we find. Of course, this Wu would earnestly like to cooperate with this friend.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, finally figuring out why the other party was acting so enthusiastic. It turned out that this Wu Chang’s Sect lacked any powerful masters, and since Yang Kai hadn’t bothered to conceal his cultivation, even if Wu Chang was just a Saint King, it wasn’t hard to realise Yang Kai was an Origin Realm master.
“The same goes for all of you?” Yang Kai swept his eyes over the others gathered around him.
These cultivators nodded quickly, one-by-one introducing their own families or Sects.
“I understand,” Yang Kai chuckled before asking meaningfully, “Aren’t you worried I’ll go back on my word and silence the witnesses if we discover something truly good?”
Hearing this, Wu Chang and the others present went somewhat stiff, their expressions becoming uncomfortable, but soon, Wu Chang composed himself and said, “Friend must be joking.”
“Whether I’m joking or not, since I can enter the Fallen Emperor Mountain to explore on my own, why would I bother cooperating with you and be forced to share the profits?” Yang Kai sneered. He wasn’t so idle or bored to help these people. The only reason he even bothered talking to these people was because he had only just arrived and was hoping to gleam so information from them about Fallen Emperor Mountain’s current situation.
“En… it’s like this, Friend. The ancient secluded homes and cave mansions in Fallen Emperor Mountain are all extremely well hidden. Many cannot even be found with Divine Sense, so if there are more people to search, there is a higher chance to discover opportunities. Moreover, most of the barriers protecting these secluded homes and cave mansions cannot be opened by individuals and instead require the cooperation of many, which is why most people choose to form groups to explore. There are very few who decide to enter all on their own.”
“From what you said, I guess it does make sense,” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
Wu Chang and the others were overjoyed hearing this, but just as they were about to continue pressing their advantage, Yang Kai waved his hand and said, “But I only just arrived here and don’t plan on immediately diving in, so you’d all best look for someone else to cooperate with.”
Saying so, Yang Kai left.
He never had any intention to cooperate with these people.
Although Wu Chang and the others were unwilling, they were unable to continue blocking Yang Kai, so they turned their attention back to their surroundings instead, hoping to spot other lone Origin Realm masters they could win over.
After getting rid of those few people, Yang Kai didn’t rush to enter Fallen Emperor Mountain but instead walked around the random stalls while taking out his communication artifact and pouring his Divine Sense into it.
Unfortunately, there was no response, so Yang Kai could only shake his head and put it away.
It seemed that Qian Tong was too far away. Otherwise, he would have been able to make contact.
Yang Kai wasn’t actually investigating these stalls for treasures. There were a lot of goods at these stalls, and many of them weren’t bad in terms of quality, but how could these things possibly enter Yang Kai’s eyes? Moreover, who would be willing to display any kind of real treasure here? After obtaining something precious, anyone’s first thought would be to hide it from public view.
It could be said that the items on sale here were all just common goods.
Of course, some people couldn’t judge the real value of things and treated treasures like garbage, but such instances were scarce.
Yang Kai continued to wander around since he wanted to gather information. At the very least, he could get a rough understanding of the situation inside Fallen Emperor Mountain through the conversations of the cultivators around him.
There were countless people here, so it wasn’t tricky for Yang Kai to glean some valuable news.
The ancient Sect ruins actually existed! Apparently, it was located at the innermost part of Fallen Emperor Mountain. Now, many masters had already rushed there; however, the Sect Defending Array of that ruin seemed quite sturdy, so it probably wouldn’t be easy to break through in short order. As such, the masters who first discovered it were at a loss and could only wait for more people to arrive so they could join forces to crack it.
If Yang Yan were here, with her abilities, breaking through that Sect Defending Array wouldn’t be any trouble at all, but unfortunately, she had already fused with the Great Emperor’s true body and was now still in a state of deep sleep.
Thinking of Yang Yan, Yang Kai sighed unconsciously.
This woman was the closest friend Yang Kai had made since he arrived on Shadowed Star. She had followed him through many ups and downs, sharing joys and sorrows, but how could Yang Kai have known her actual life experiences would be so astonishing?
Just as he was reminiscing, Yang Kai’s eyes flashed lightly before he collected himself and walked off towards a sparsely crowded place.
After a while, he suddenly turned around with a smile on his face and called out, “Friend, why are you following behind this Yang so stealthily? How about you come out and show yourself?”
A surprised outburst rang out before a figure strangely appeared not far away, its eyes sweeping over Yang Kai in shock as it called out, “You can actually see through this Jiang’s concealment technique?”
Yang Kai snorted as he swept his Divine Sense across his opponent and found that this man was a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator who appeared to be about fifty years old with slightly greying hair and a short stature. This older man’s Saint Qi also seemed somewhat obscure.
Although this old man was one Minor Realm higher than him, Yang Kai showed no signs of fear at all.
He had killed a few of the cultivators at the Third-Order Origin Realm before, so why would he fear a mere Second-Order old man? Moreover, looking at the other person’s expression, it seemed that there was no malice contained in it, so Yang Kai didn’t plan an act before he understood this old man’s true intentions.
“Don’t take offence, Little Brother. This Jiang had no ill intentions,” The cultivator surnamed Jiang quickly expressed his attitude; after all, it was something of a taboo to follow after someone secretly. Although Yang Kai’s cultivation was lower than this old man’s, this place was currently a great mixing pot of dragons and snakes, so he didn’t want to stir up any unnecessary conflict with Yang Kai only to benefit others.
“I can see that,” Yang Kai smiled lightly, not seeming to pay it any mind, “But I still want to know why you were following me.”
“Hehe, then this old man will be succinct with Little Brother.” Although this man looked far older than Yang Kai, since both of them were Origin Realm cultivators and were unfamiliar with one another, he didn’t dare assume an air of seniority. “En, if Little Brother doesn’t mind, may this old man inquire as to what attribute Saint Qi you cultivate?”
“What attribute?” Yang Kai frowned, his face growing solemn, “Why should I tell you?”
“If it’s convenient, would little brother mind indulging this old man? This old man is searching for a companion who cultivates a specific attribute of Secret Art. Of course, if Little Brother is unwilling, then just pretend this old man never asked. This Jiang can always search for others to cooperate with,” The man surnamed Jiang asked sincerely.
Yang Kai frowned and pondered for a moment before saying, “See for yourself.”
Saying so, he stretched out his hand and released a dark Demonic Flame atop his palm which gave off a scorching heat.
The cultivator surnamed Jiang saw this and his face lit up, “Fire Attribute, finally!”
“Hm?” Yang Kai frowned, “You were looking for a cultivator that specifically cultivates Fire Attribute Saint Qi?”
“Indeed!” The expression of the cultivator surnamed Jiang turned serious again, “This old man has already spoken to more than a dozen people, but none of them could meet my requirements. If Little Brother doesn’t mind, can we move elsewhere to discuss the situation in detail?”
Saying so, he looked at Yang Kai eagerly.
Seeing Yang Kai hesitating though, the old man surnamed Jiang grit his teeth and quietly sent a Divine Sense Message to Yang Kai.
“Oh? Is there such a good deal?” Yang Kai asked in surprise before nodding immediately, “In that case, please lead the way, Brother Jiang.”
“Please, please!” Jiang Shan saw Yang Kai agree and was overjoyed, hurriedly turning and walking off in a certain direction.
Yang Kai followed him away from the crowds and towards a more and more deserted area; however, having complete confidence in his strength, Yang Kai wasn’t worried this old man was up to anything nefarious.
After a while, the two arrived at a small slope about ten kilometres away, where three other people were sitting cross-legged in meditation, seemingly adjusting their breathing.
Yang Kai was surprised and quickly swept this group with his Divine Sense, immediately discovering that these three were all Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators comparable to the old man whose name he now knew was Jiang Shan.
Of these three people, two were men while one was a woman. One of the men appeared similar to Jiang Shan, about fifty or sixty years old, while the other man and the woman looked much younger. Of this younger-looking pair, the man had a wild look about him as well as burly muscles while the woman had a delicate appearance with an impressive pair of jade peaks and a thin, enchanting figure.
From how the younger-looking man and woman were meditating close to each other, it seemed that they were husband and wife. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have appeared so intimate; however, their appearances gave a strong sense of visual conflict, like a beautiful woman and a burly beast.
Perceiving someone had arrived, the three cultivators opened their eyes at the same time. When they saw that Jiang Shan had brought someone back with him, they all began examining Yang Kai.
“Brother Jiang, what took you so long? This old master thought something happened to you,” The old man meditating in the back asked impatiently.
“Haha, a minor matter, it just took more time to find a suitable candidate than I anticipated; fortunately, this old man managed to find this little brother,” Jiang Shan explained.
It truly was hard to find a suitable candidate. What he was looking for was someone who cultivated Fire Attribute Saint Qi and had an appropriate level of strength. If he found someone who was too strong, he wouldn’t be able to control the situation, but if he found someone too weak, they wouldn’t be of any help.
As such, a First or Second-Order Origin Realm cultivator was the best choice.
What’s more, most of the cultivators who arrived outside Fallen Emperor Mountain were now appearing in groups, so it had been hard to find a lone cultivator. Jiang Shan had wandered for two or three days and asked ten people in total, but only Yang Kai met his requirements.
“A First-Order Origin Realm brat?” The wild-looking brawny man coldly snorted, “With his low strength, won’t it be more difficult to break open the barrier? If this boy drags our heels, wouldn’t we have wasted a lot of time?”
Although he was just a Second-Order Origin Realm master, barely any higher than Yang Kai, this burly man’s tone was quite condescending.
But Yang Kai just smiled lightly and paid it no mind.
Jiang Shan quickly spoke up, “First-Order is fine, although this little brother’s cultivation is slightly lower, he only needs to take enough pills to supplement his Saint Qi when the time comes. Moreover, cracking the Spirit Array isn’t difficult. As long as we have the right number of people with the appropriate attributes, it will simply be a matter of time; there’s no requirement for individual strength.”
“If Brother Jiang says so,” The brawny man didn’t continue to haggle over the issue.
“Good. Old Jiang, shouldn’t we head out now that everyone is here? Although you said that place is quite remote and it’s unlikely to be discovered, with so many people pouring into Fallen Emperor Mountain, it’s probably best if we move quickly,” The elegant woman opened her lips lightly and said in a crisp, pleasant-sounding voice that still retained a hint of immaturity. If one were to simply listen to her voice, they would have difficulty thinking she was an Origin Realm master.
“Sister Yi is right, now that everyone is here, we should go.” Jiang Shan didn’t object, simply beckoning to everyone as he summoned his Star Shuttle and flew towards the depths of Fallen Emperor Mountain.
The other four exchange a glance before hurrying to keep up.
Along the way, everyone introduced themselves; after all, they were about to collaborate, so it wasn’t a good idea to know nothing about one another. Of course, no one went into too much detail about their origins. Yang Kai only learned that besides Jiang Shan, the other old man was He Wei, the burly man was called Chen Li, and the elegant lady was Yi Lin.
Yang Kai opted only to give his surname when asked.
After all, his current reputation on Shadowed Star was quite loud, so if he reported his full name, these people would have some questions. But since he only gave his surname, no one cared too much.
The reason Jiang Shan gathered five people to enter Fallen Emperor Mountain was because he accidentally discovered the hidden cave mansion of an ancient cultivator a few days ago. Unfortunately, a powerful Spirit Array was guarding this cave mansion that, even after several days of effort, he was unable to crack. As such, his only recourse was to exit Fallen Emperor Mountain and look for helpers.
Fortunately, he had dabbled in Spirit Arrays during his long life and, although he had failed to crack the protective array outright, he had been able to associate it with a specific Spirit Array he had read about in some ancient books called the Five Elements Scattering Array.
This Spirit Array had very distinct strong points and weak points. Its strong point was it provided excellent camouflage and was incredibly difficult for individuals to crack; however, as long as one could gather five cultivators that had Saint Qi of the Five Elements, they would be able to work together to break it.
If this Spirit Array had been in peak condition, then five Origin King Realm masters would need to be assembled to destroy it; however, after more than ten thousand years of neglect, its power had significantly reduced, and five Origin Realm masters were all that was needed.
After leaving Fallen Emperor Mountain, Jiang Shan found three suitable candidates, with Yang Kai being the last one.
Jiang Shan had mentioned the ancient cultivator’s hidden cave mansion to Yang Kai at that time, which was why Yang Kai had bothered following him.
In any case, Yang Kai had to enter the depths of Fallen Emperor Mountain, so this diversion was technically along the way for him. If he managed to obtain some benefits that would be best, if not, it didn’t matter, so Yang Kai’s enthusiasm was far lower than the other four.
“Let’s get the unpleasant business out of the way first.” After Jiang Shan finished explaining about the ancient cave mansion and the Five Elements Scattering Array, he wore a solemn look and said, “When the barrier is broken, if there really is a hidden cave mansion, this old man wants forty percent of whatever we find while the remaining sixty will be shared amongst everyone else equally.”
“Forty percent?” Hearing Jiang Shan’s words, He Wei raised his brow, but after a moment of thought, he nodded, “Good, Brother Jiang’s distribution is fair, this old man has no objections!”
Chen Li and Yi Lin naturally had no objections either.
Although the five of them were acting together, the ancient cave mansion was discovered by Jiang Shan, and he had also provided the method to crack its protective barrier while the rest of them were simply contributing some strength. Jiang Shen monopolising forty percent of the rewards wasn’t unjust.
Yang Kai rarely went out exploring with others, but he still understood such basic distribution etiquette. Ordinarily, Jiang Shan declaring he wanted half of the gains wouldn’t be considered taking the lion’s share, so now that he only wanted forty percent, everyone was naturally quite satisfied.
“What if there isn’t a way to evenly distribute the gains we find?” Yang Kai asked.
“If there aren’t enough gains to be distributed, we will naturally convert them to Saint Crystals or auction them off on the spot, the highest price winning the treasure while the rest receive some Saint Crystals,” Yi Lin looked at Yang Kai with a smile, “Little Brother, you must rarely go out treasure hunting with strangers, yes?”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded with slight embarrassment as he vaguely realised that such rules must be reasonably standard things that everyone knew.
“No wonder!” Yi Lin giggled.
Jiang Shan also smiled kindly, “Judging from Little Brother Yang having reached the First-Order Origin Returning Realm at such a young age, you must come from some famous force, so it’s only natural that you don’t know of such rules.”
“Hmph, flowers grown in a greenhouse can’t stand up to wind and rain. Little Boy, don’t you dare screw things up for us when the time comes,” Chen Li seemed to look down on Yang Kai’s strength and distrust him quite a bit.
Saying so, he turned his attention back to Yi Lin and ignored Yang Kai.
Yang Kai simply scratched his cheek awkwardly and remained silent.
After experiencing so many ups and downs on his life’s journey, overcoming innumerable hardships to reach his current strength, he was now being treated as a greenhouse flower by strangers, but no matter how he tried, he knew he wouldn’t be able to explain, nor was he interested in doing so. All of them had just met and would only be working together once before going their separate ways, thus explaining anything was meaningless.
The group of five continued on their way. At first, they would encounter all kinds of cultivators near the outskirts of Fallen Emperor Mountain; however, after these people sensed the energy fluctuations emanating from this group of five, all of them quickly avoided them.
This wasn’t surprising as a group of five Origin Realm masters was not one to be trifled with. Who knows what kind of temperament these five had? Wouldn’t it be courting death if they had wicked personalities or were easily angered?
However, as time passed and the group dove deeper and deeper into the mountain range, fewer cultivators could be seen until there were not any in sight.
Fallen Emperor Mountain was massive, and although there were now tens of thousands of people exploring this place, once they dispersed, there was rarely a chance of encountering others.
Just one day after Yang Kai entered Fallen Emperor Mountain, a team of several dozen people suddenly descended to the periphery.
A strong sense of oppression radiated from this group and the noisy crowd around Fallen Emperor Mountain’s periphery suddenly fell silent as everyone turned to look at these newcomers.
Among this large group, two people stood out as leaders. One was a middle-aged man in a blue robe who appeared both burly and sturdy while the other was wearing green robes and didn’t seem as visually imposing, but whose aura was not inferior to the blue-robed man.
After sweeping the surrounding hundred-kilometre radius with his Divine Sense, the blue-robed man frowned and muttered, “He’s not here.”
The man in the green robe smiled lightly as he took out a communication artifact and poured his Divine Sense into it, seemingly contacting someone. After putting away the artifact, he said, “Brother Qu, that little brat seems to have entered Fallen Emperor Mountain a day ago.”
“He went inside?” The blue-robed man frowned, his eyes gleaming brightly in the next moment as he slowly nodded, “Fine, this matter cannot be delayed so we should enter as well.”
“Good, I didn’t expect Fallen Emperor Mountain to experience such a great change, but it makes things more convenient for us to act; otherwise we would need to take the trouble to conceal our whereabouts and movements,” The man in the green robes grinned.
The group of several dozen only remained on the outskirts for a moment before they directly rushed into Fallen Emperor Mountain and disappeared.
After they left, the tens of thousands of cultivators on the outside of Fallen Emperor Mountain gasped.
“Heaven Battling Union’s Union Master Qu Zheng and Thunder Typhoon Sect’s Sect Master Fang Peng! Why did they come here together? Weren’t they rivals?” Someone exclaimed, apparently recognising the identities of the previous two.
“What’s so strange about that? Fallen Emperor Mountain is now rich with opportunities and many treasures are waiting to be excavated. Those two forming a temporary alliance to reap more benefits isn’t unprecedented.”
“What Friend says makes sense, but for so many masters from those two forces to suddenly run over, it seems the Sect Defending Array of the ancient Sect ruins is about to be broken.”
“Then why are we still hesitating? We need to hurry up and follow them!” A man said enthusiastically, quickly putting away his storefront and rushing into Fallen Emperor Mountain behind the Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect group.
These two giants would undoubtedly be eating meat, but there should still be some soup leftover for others to drink. Opportunities and risks always coexisted, so as long as one was careful, they may be able to take advantage of this situation to reap some unexpected harvests.
On Fallen Emperor Mountain Range, in front of a particular mountain, Yang Kai and his group of five people finally came to a stop after three straight days of flying.
This was already considerably far into Fallen Emperor Mountain. Before the Emperor Garden appeared, no creature was able to set foot into this place because prolonged exposure to the overwhelming ambient Emperor Pressure would grind them to dust.
However, after the Emperor Garden appeared, the Emperor Pressure which pervaded Fallen Emperor Mountain disappeared, making it possible to explore these previously desolate regions.
The group of five managed to arrive here without any kind of incident along the way.
“Here?” He Wei glanced around with a deep frown on his face while the others wore similarly confused looks.
Although the World Energy in this place was quite abundant, none of their Divine Senses could detect the slightest trace of a Spirit Array barrier, let alone the cave mansion of an ancient cultivator.
“Yes, it’s here,” Jiang Shan said with confidence and a smile on his face, “If not for this Jiang having gotten into a scuffle here that led to some unusual energy fluctuations, I might not have been able to discover anything either. It was a lucky coincidence.”
“Old Jiang, enough with the suspense, where’s the ancient cave mansion hidden?” Chen Li asked with a mixture of impatience and eagerness.
“It’s right in front of you,” Jiang Shan smiled lightly, “Brother Chen might as well attack this spot at will to see some clues.”
“Oh?” Chen Li raised his eyebrows and looked in the direction Jiang Shan was pointing, but all he could see was a smooth rock wall. Even using his powerful Second-Order Origin Returning Realm Divine sense, he was unable to detect anything out of place.
However, since the other party was so confident, he likely wasn’t lying, so Chen Li didn’t hesitate and immediately sent out a punch.
Saint Qi surged forward as the fist pressure condensed to the point where it was visible to the naked eye. A golden fist shadow flew out of and blasted directly towards the rock wall.
Chen Li’s Saint Qi actually had a Gold Attribute, making its sharpness and might unmatched.
Yang Kai raised his brows as he watched while gently nodding. Although he didn’t know which great force this Chen Li came from, from the density and purity of his Saint Qi, it was apparent this burly man was a fair bit stronger than an average Second-Order Origin Realm cultivator.
Yi Lin stood to the side with a bright smile, obviously satisfied with her husband’s strength and imposing manner.
A fantastic scene happened next. Just as the fist shadow was about to hit the rock wall, a series of ripples suddenly appeared in the air. It seemed that there was an invisible layer blocking this region, and when the threatening fist shadow struck it, it just sank into this invisible wall like a stone being thrown into the ocean, creating no noticeable effect before swiftly vanishing.
However, in the next moment, the golden fist shadow which had just disappeared strangely reappeared and flew straight back towards Chen Li.
This sudden change caused the burly man to cry out in surprise as he hurriedly dodged.
*Hong…*
With a series of booming sounds, the golden fist shadow flew out a few thousand meters as it burst through rocks and trees.
“This thing can actually reflect attacks?” He Wei called out in surprise, his eyes flashing a brilliant light.
“Yes, this is one of the Five Elements Scattering Array’s strong points and why this old man had no choice but to search for help to crack it!” Jiang Shan gently nodded.
Although Chen Li embarrassed himself slightly just now, he did not become irritated and instead just said, “This Spirit Array is a bit interesting. Old Jiang, tell me, how do we crack it?”
Jiang Shan chuckled, “This old man doesn’t have any great talent, but he does know how to crack this particular Spirit Array. As long as everyone works together, it should not be a problem.”
Hearing what he said, the crowd gathered around quickly.
The look on Jiang Shan’s face became serious as he began explaining how they needed to cooperate to crack this Spirit Array.
Everyone present was an Origin Realm master, and although none of them was a top-level expert, they each had some experience with such Spirit Arrays after cultivating for so many years. After listening to Jiang Shan’s remarks, everyone nodded lightly, indicating they understood what needed to be done.
“Alright, since you now understand the cracking method, we should first restore ourselves to our peak state.”
No one had any objections and immediately sat down cross-legged to supplement their Saint Qi consumption with some Saint Crystals.
After about half a day, everyone opened their eyes and exchanged looks filled with expectation.
“By the way, Little Friend Yang, do you have pills on you which can quickly replenish your Saint Qi?” Jiang Shan asked somewhat anxiously. Although he had vaguely guessed that Yang Kai’s background wasn’t shallow, this was a matter of great importance, so he didn’t dare act carelessly.
“En, Old Jiang need not worry,” Yang Kai replied lightly.
With the massive reserves of Saint Qi stored in his body, Yang Kai did not need to take any kind of pills to restore himself. Even if his Saint Qi was exhausted, he only needed to burst a drop of Golden Blood, and he would instantly be back at full strength.
Throughout Yang Kai’s life as a cultivator, he had very rarely run into the problem of Saint Qi exhaustion.
“Very good. You should all keep some restorative pills where you can easily reach them as well. Although the Five Elements Scattering Array isn’t difficult to crack, it has high requirements for the continuous output of Saint Qi. This is an ancient cave mansion so none of us should underestimate it.”
“We are well aware of such things. Stop wasting time Old Jiang, let’s get started,” Chen Li urged.
“Good, take your place and follow the plan this old man laid out,” Jiang Shan said seriously before rushing over to a specific spot.
The other four also rushed to their assigned positions, soon forming a kind of star-shaped pattern with each of them at one of its points, equidistant from one another, as if they had measured the spacing with a ruler.
“Everyone, begin!” Jiang Shan yelled as he immediately poured his Saint Qi into the space in front of him.
The others didn’t lag behind. After seeing Jiang Shan act, all four of them also sent their Saint Qi out into the space in front of themselves.
In an instant, the five energy fluctuations with entirely different attributes appeared, and although these fluctuations weren’t too overpowering, they were steady and continuous.
Among them, the Saint Qi of Yang Kai was naturally Fire Attribute. Although the Secret Art he cultivated was technically Yang Attribute, with the improvement of his strength and the transformation of the Saint Qi in his body, his Demonic Flame could now be transformed into a pure Fire Attribute strength.
Of course, the nature of his Demonic Flame could freely change between hot and cold, making it difficult to classify or resist.
Chen Li, who had taken action once before, naturally possessed the Gold Attribute, Yi Lin possessed the Water Attribute, Jiang Shan the Wood Attribute, and He Wei the Earth Attribute.
The five elements gathered together, and five different colours of Saint Qi poured into the air. Strangely though, this Saint Qi did not dissipate but instead began collecting towards a central position, as if there was some kind of invisible well pulling it in.
The Five Elements Scattering Array was both strong and weak. It could rebound all forms of attack and at its peak could even resist the bombardment of an Origin King Realm master. One needed to make use of all five elements to crack it safely.
If one wanted to rely on brute force, they would need to be at least a Third-Order Origin King with a powerful artifact or Secret Technique.
However, the Five Elements Scattering Array in front of the group was over ten thousand years old and was no longer in peak condition.
Even so, it wasn’t something that could be broken by ordinary means.
As the group of five continued pouring their Saint Qi into the Spirit Array, they didn’t encounter any kind of backlash for a couple reasons. First, they weren’t technically attacking the barrier, and second, everyone was observing Jiang Shan and adjusting their Saint Qi output to match his. If anyone used just slightly more or slightly less, this cracking method wouldn’t work since a balance between the five elements needed to be maintained. Once this balance was broken, the Spirit Array would immediately reflect their Saint Qi towards them.
Things were somewhat tricky in the beginning, but Jiang Shan let out a sigh of relief and relaxed after seeing the other four adjust their Saint Qi appropriately. This was a collaboration between five strangers where if any of them failed to play their role, all of them would be affected, so how could he not feel somewhat anxious?
Seeing that things were going smoothly, Jiang Shan slowly began increasing his output of Saint Qi.
The others naturally followed suit, not daring to show the slightest neglect.
Time passed slowly, and the surrounding forest was so quiet one could hear a leaf drop. Soon, the Saint Qi flowing from each of the five people gradually flooded the central space and began intertwining, mutually reinforcing and restraining one another in a kind of endless cycle.
And with the flow of Saint Qi, a hole vaguely began to appear in the originally smooth, mirror-like rock wall.
It was the entrance to the ancient cave mansion!
Five pairs of eyes lit up when they saw this scene.
However, this entrance was still quite illusory and seemed like it would disappear at any moment. Everyone knew that this was because the Spirit Array hadn’t been broken yet, so they immediately took out restorative pills and stuffed them into their mouths to replenish themselves as they continued to pour their Saint Qi into the space before them.
Yang Kai was no exception. His current cultivation was just First-Order Origin Returning Realm, so to not stand out, he casually took a few pills and pretended to restore himself.
In the blink of an eye, another two hours passed.
All five were now sweating profusely after having to output their Saint Qi for such a long time continuously. No cultivator can afford to do this even with good pills to supplement their Saint Qi as there was simply no way for restoration to keep up with their consumption.
However, the entrance of the cave mansion had still yet to fully reveal itself. Although it was now much clearer than before, the protective Spirit Array here was still far from being broken.
Realising this, everyone’s expressions became quite difficult.
“Everyone, the situation doesn’t look promising,” Yi Lin exclaimed first.
“Boy, you better be able to hold on, if you drop out now, father here won’t let you off!” The burly Chen Li turned his head and shouted at Yang Kai. He saw Yang Kai looking somewhat unsteady and clearly feared that his Saint Qi would not be able to last, causing them to fall short here.
“It’s not a problem!” Yang Kai said lightly.
Jiang Shan frowned as he also glanced over at Yang Kai with some worry, secretly regretting looking for a First-Order Origin Returning Realm like Yang Kai. At that time, he had miscalculated the power of this Five Elements Scattering Array and thought that merely gathering five appropriately attributed cultivators could crack it. How could he have known it would take so long to break this Spirit Array though? Even worse, it seemed they would need to keep this up for at least a few more hours.
Sustaining this kind of output for such a long time would be difficult even for him, not to mention Yang Kai, who was a Minor Realm weaker than everyone else.
Jiang Shan secretly felt anxious about Yang Kai, worrying that he would be unable to last till the moment the Spirit Array was broken.
However, they were all now riding a tiger. Five people’s worth of Saint Qi was now condensed at the centre of this Spirit Array, so once they tried to withdraw, the consequences would likely be unbearable.
Especially considering this Spirit Array could reflect attacks. Once such a massive amount of Saint Qi rebounded, all of them were at risk of death.
Jiang Shan immediately began to frown.
“You need not worry, although this Yang’s cultivation is slightly lower, I don’t believe I have less Saint Qi than the rest of you. Just concentrate on yourselves.” Seeing everyone on edge as they observed him, how could Yang Kai not understand what they were thinking? As such, he immediately offered some reassurances.
“Bold words!” Chen Li snorted coldly, but soon grinned, “But I appreciate them!”
“If you say so, then good!” Jiang Shan also relaxed before his eyes flashed a determined light and he grit his teeth, “Since Little Brother Yang has so much confidence in himself, this old man will increase his Saint Qi output again, be sure to keep up!”
Saying so, he snorted and began pouring out a much larger amount of Saint Qi from his hands, obviously intending to finish this task in one fell swoop.
He had incorrectly estimated the sturdiness of this Five Elements Scattering Array before and didn’t expect it would take so long to crack. Now, if he wanted to end this troublesome situation as quickly as possible, he had to increase his output of Saint Qi to saturate the Spirit Array and break it down.
Seeing this, everyone naturally didn’t object and one after another increased their output of Saint Qi as well.
The same was true for Yang Kai.
In an instant, the five elements Saint Qi being poured into Spirit Array increased dramatically, and the rate of convergence at its centre became twice as fast as before.
Seeing that Yang Kai hadn’t exaggerated his strength and was able to keep up with everyone’s pace, the other four couldn’t help putting down their last worries. Jiang Shan was even more appreciative and gave him a slight nod.
However, the pleasant mood didn’t last long. Even with the incredible influx of five elements Saint Qi, the Spirit Array in front of the group still showed no signs of breaking.
Everyone soon became anxious.
After a moment, Jiang Shan suddenly bit the tip of his tongue and sprayed out a mist of blood from his mouth, his pale face suddenly becoming much ruddier.
Clearly, he had used some kind of Secret Technique to enhance his strength.
He Wei, Chen Li, and Yi Lin also used their own methods, either taking precious pills they had been reluctant to use or using powerful Secret Techniques that caused damaging side-effects to maintain the output of their Saint Qi.
Only Yang Kai remained the same. He appeared somewhat pale and unsteady, but the Saint Qi flowing from his body was not weakened as a result.
The other four couldn’t help but look at him with some admiration. None of them could understand how a mere First-Order Origin Returning Realm youth possessed so much Saint Qi.
The nervous and uneasy atmosphere gradually spread as everyone began regretting rushing to this place and trusting Jiang Shan’s words. Now, such regrets were not helpful.
Seeing that even if he exhausted himself, there might not be enough Saint Qi to crack the Spirit Array here, He Wei’s eyes gave off a sharp glint as he suddenly shouted, “Everyone, it seems we cannot crack this Five Elements Scattering Array with our strength. This old man has a family and wife waiting at home, so he will be taking his leave. I wish the rest of you the best of luck!”
Everyone’s face changed drastically!
Jiang Shan even opened his mouth and shouted, “Brother He, what are you thinking?”
“You dare!” Chen Li also shouted sharply.
However, the old man surnamed He turned a deaf ear to their calls and fiercely pushed his Saint Qi as he assumed a retreating posture, clearly intending to escape.
If he continued to remain, only death awaited, so instead of lingering, He Wei decided to escape promptly and hope he could survive.
Of course, he also had to guard against the Spirit Array’s violent rebound after giving up.
However, the first person to flee should have more time to escape, while the others would bear the brunt of the rebound as they would need to protect themselves as well.
In this group of five, besides Chen Li and Yi Lin who were husband and wife, everyone was a stranger who had only temporarily joined forces to break through this Spirit Array. There was no friendship between them at all, so how could they care about other’s lives more than their own?
Even husbands and wives would flee when disaster struck, let alone five strangers who barely knew one another.
This small alliance was broken the moment the old man surnamed He uttered these words!
While the others were shocked, they quickly understood He Wei’s plan and also began making preparations to escape.
But in the next moment, everyone’s expression changed dramatically, including Yang Kai who had up until this point been hiding his strength.
None of them could move! There was some kind of strange force literally holding them in place. Not only that, but the Saint Qi they were pouring out of their bodies into the Spirit Array continued to do so despite their efforts to stop it.
The energy of the five elements continued to intertwine, seemingly generating a huge suction force from its rotation that not only fixed everyone in place but also continuously swallowed the power in their bodies.
Before now, everyone had taken the initiative to output their Saint Qi, so they hadn’t noticed this phenomenon; but now that they were trying to escape, they immediately discovered this frightening reality.
“What’s happening?” He Wei paled in horror as he struggled violently but was still unable to move, his expression paling as an ominous feeling came over him.
“Old Jiang, what’s the meaning of this?” Chen Li’s temper was the hottest, so when he noticed something had gone wrong, he immediately began accusing Jiang Shan, apparently thinking this old man had lured them into some kind of trap.
Not only did Chen Li think so, even Yang Kai also had such thoughts as he narrowed his eyes towards Jiang Shan, only to see that the old man’s face also pale and filled with panic.
Clearly, Jiang Shan was also caught off guard by this sudden accident.
“This old man doesn’t know!” Jiang Shan declared in a wronged tone.
“You don’t know?” Chen Li obviously did not believe him and continued to roar, “You discovered this place, brought all of us here, and provided the method to crack this Spirit Array! Now that we’re in this mess, you dare say you don’t know what’s happening? Didn’t you set up this trap beforehand and wait for us to jump in?”
“Hmph, Brother Chen’s accusations are unfounded! This old man can barely protect himself right now, what good would setting up a trap like this do me?” Although Jiang Shan was mild-tempered, being slandered so by Chen Li forced out a sharp rebuttal from his lips.
“I don’t care what you say! No matter what, this is all your fault! If you don’t find a way out of this for us, even if this Chen dies he won’t let you off!”
“Stop quarrelling!” Yang Kai shouted firmly, “Is there any point in arguing now? I believe Old Jiang didn’t intend for this to happen!”
“You believe him?” Chen Li sneered, “Who knows if you and this old bastard are working together?”
Yang Kai glanced at him coldly but didn’t bother trying to convince him any further. This man was a simple-minded muscle brain, so now that he was trapped and in imminent danger, continuing to quarrel with him would only make the situation worse rather than better.
“Old Jiang, does the Five Elements Scattering Array have this kind of property?” Yang Kai frowned and looked at Jiang Shan.
“No!” Jiang Shan shook his head decisively, “The Five Elements Scattering Array is simply a protective Spirit Array; apart from its ability to reflect all types of attacks, it doesn’t have any independent killing effects, it shouldn’t be able to exhibit this kind of behaviour unless….”
“Unless what?” Yang Kai narrowed his eyes.
“Unless this Spirit Array has been transformed into a different type of Spirit Array!” Jiang Shan secretly guessed and began carefully going over his knowledge of Spirit Arrays.
Since he was able to find the way to crack the Five Elements Scattering Array, obviously he had dabbled in the field of Spirit Arrays, so even if he was far inferior to Yang Yan, Jiang Shan was still far more knowledgeable than the other four present.
After thinking about it for a moment, Jiang Shan’s complexion changed again as he called out in alarm, “Is this the Five Elements Devouring Array?”
“Five Elements Devouring Array?” Yi Lin muttered as she asked curiously, “It’s only one word different from that Five Elements Scattering Array, is there anything to worry about?”
“Haha…” Jiang Shan gave a wry smile, “Although it is only one word different, its power and effects are vastly different. Sister Yi can also see our current situation. Once this Spirit Array has been activated, it will not stop until it drains all of the Saint Qi in our bodies as well as our vitality.”
“What?” Everyone paled greatly as they fell into shocked silence.
“This cave mansion’s master is truly insidious,” Jiang Shan’s expression became gloomy as he spat bitterly, “He actually used a Five Elements Scattering Array to conceal a Five Elements Devouring Array. This old man was too careless.”
“What meaning is there in saying all this now? Father doesn’t want to die here!” Chen Li roared as he desperately pushed his Saint Qi, trying to free himself from the constraints of the Spirit Array in front of him, but no matter how hard he tried, there was no effect. On the contrary, it only caused him to grow more panicked.
“Don’t struggle recklessly. Once one is trapped by the Five Elements Devouring Array, it’s like falling into a quagmire, the more you struggle, the faster your Saint Qi will be drained,” Jiang Shan hurriedly shouted.
“Then what should we do?” Yi Lin’s beautiful face went white as she hurriedly tried to calm her husband’s rampage.
Jiang Shan smiled bitterly but remained speechless.
“Could it be that we can only wait here to die?” He Wei muttered in exasperation.
“This old man is truly sorry,” Jiang Shan wore a look of guilt. He thought he was bringing everyone here to treasure hunt and had even settled on a generous distribution plan for the benefits, but instead, he had put all of them in life-threatening danger. Now, not only could they not escape, they could only sit here waiting to die.
“There’s really… no solution at all? Brother Jiang, you know the most about Spirit Arrays here, please try to think up a way,” The beautiful woman begged.
Jiang Shan didn’t even have the heart to meet her eyes, obviously unable to save the situation with his skills.
While he had dabbled in Spirit Arrays, wanting to crack the double-layered Spirit Arrays in front of him in this situation was something he wasn’t capable of doing.
Only if his knowledge of Spirit Arrays was as profound as someone like Yang Yan could he accomplish this seemingly impossible feat.
Yang Kai also looked depressed. Although the Saint Qi reserves in his body were enormous, as long as this Spirit Array remained, he could only remain stranded here with no hope of escape.
Yang Kai cultivation of the Dao of Space should be useful in this situation though. He just needed to find the right moment to tear space and he may be able to escape, as such, compared to the other four, Yang Kai was relatively calm.
However, there was also a significant risk to this option. Once the Void Crack he tore encountered too strong of an impact, it was very likely to become unstable or even collapse. Moving through an unstable Void Crack was dangerous even for Yang Kai.
This would be his last resort.
The five people were facing grave danger together, but they had no solution at all; they could only stand on the spot and wait to die. A kind of deep despair shrouded everyone’s heart, causing them to become panicked.
But a moment later, He Wei suddenly cried out in surprise, as if something had changed again.
Accompanied by his exclaiming, the whirlpool of energy in front of them which was composed of the intertwining five elements energy suddenly accelerated again, and the entrance to the cave mansion in the rock face became clear, as if it had stabilised and could be entered or exited at will.
The Five Elements Scattering Array seemed to be on the verge of breaking!
In this desperate situation, this discovery made everyone excited, but in the next moment, they all cried out in panic.
Along with the increased rotational speed of the energy vortex, an incredible suction force also appeared, draining out the remaining strength of the group of five as if a dam had burst, entirely beyond their control.
At a rate visible to the naked eye, everyone became unsteady, with one or two of them even turning as pale as paper. Even Yang Kai was not feeling very good at this moment because he felt the Saint Qi in his body rapidly depleting.
The amount which had already been drawn out was almost equivalent to the sum total of what a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator would possess.
Fortunately, Yang Kai had a vast reserve of Saint Qi, so he was not worried about his life; however, the story was different for Jiang Shan and the other four. The last remnants of Saint Qi in each of their bodies were rapidly drained away, and now their vitality was being stripped.
All four of them began to dry up as streams of red noticeably started leaking out of all their orifices only to be swiftly sucked into the swirling vortex in front of them.
Naturally, this red energy was their life force, the basis for their lives!
Their bodies shrivelled at a terrifying speed and their faces became as dry as tree bark, as if hundreds or thousands of years were passing in the blink of an eye. Even the hair of these four turned grey, then white.
Silently, in just ten breaths of time, the four Second-Order Origin Returning Realm masters had been doomed to death, their auras flickering out entirely.
At this moment, the Five Elements Scattering Array seemed to be just about saturated and turned into a mass of energy that struck towards the cave mansion entrance.
However, without the assistance of the other four, Yang Kai alone could not maintain the balance of the five elements.
Once this balance was broken entirely, all the energy contained within the Five Elements Scattering Array would surely explode.
That combined vitality of the four Second-Order Origin Returning Realms, as well as all their Saint Qi reserves, was something even Yang Kai couldn’t guarantee he would survive being hit by. Even if he did not die, he would inevitably suffer severe injuries.
Nevertheless, he would most likely die!
Was he going to fall short here? Unwillingness flashed in Yang Kai’s eyes. The five of them had joined forces to hunt for treasures, but now the other four had died in front of him. Although all of them had only just met and did not share any kind of friendship, for their endeavour to fail here when they were so close to success would make all of their deaths worthless.
Yang Kai did not feel any kind of sympathy for their encounter. Cultivators were all like this, living their lives accompanied by enormous risks, even inexplicably falling, but still, he was not willing to just give up here.
It was impossible to maintain the balance of the five elements on his own though.
Was his only option to tear space and try to run away?
As this thought flashed across his mind, Yang Kai prepared to condense his Space Force to tear space, but in the next instant, his eyes suddenly flashed as he thought of something. Immediately suppressing his Space Force, Yang Kai stuck out his hand and summoned five balls of different coloured light onto his palm.
Five Elements Indestructible Sword Qi!
The Five Elements Indestructible Sword Tempering Art was a Body Tempering Secret Art with extremely high requirements for cultivation. Not only would a cultivator already need a physique far more intrepid than average, they would also need an incredibly powerful Divine Sense and supreme treasures from all five elements.
Yang Kai had spent a lot of time and effort to collect five supreme treasures of the appropriate elements and had only begun cultivating this Secret Art.
The Five Elements Indestructible Sword Qi in his hand was the result of that cultivation, but because he had only been cultivating it for a short time, his Five Elements Indestructible Sword Qi wasn’t powerful enough to be used against powerful enemies yet.
However, it may be helpful to his current situation.
Sun’s True Essence, Profound Yin Sunflower Water, Thunder Wood, Profound Gold, Divine Nullification Sand, which one was not a heaven-defying treasure? These were rare items that could not be found elsewhere on Shadowed Star so the Five Elements Indestructible Sword Qi condensed from them, even if weak in power, would still be quite high in quality.
Moreover, this Five Element Indestructible Sword Qi belonged exclusively to Yang Kai, so there was no need to worry about them being balanced properly like when the group of five had been using their Saint Qi just now.
The Five Elements Scattering Array in front of Yang Kai was almost broken now, so it should not take much more energy to destroy it.
Perhaps his Five Elements Indestructible Sword Qi could act as the last grain of rice to tip the scale!
Thinking so, Yang Kai immediately waved his hand and transformed the five balls of light into five different coloured short swords that then flew off into the air to the positions where the five people had stood just now before quickly merging into the swirling, terrifying mass of energy.
After doing all of this, Yang Kai did not hesitate to immediately tear space and dive into The Void.
A loud noise and huge impact pounded him from behind.
The Void Crack was instantly destroyed, and at the same time,Yang Kai crossed the fifty-kilometre distance Yang Kai was thrown out from The Void just fifty kilometres away, his face filled with a look of lingering fear.
He had not escaped too far; after all, he had done everything within his power and could only entrust his fate to the Heavens, so there was no point in trying to escape any further.
A fiery pain filled his back. Although he had run quickly just now, the impact which hit him was still quite intense. Using his Divine Sense, Yang Kai could tell that his back was bloody and filled with deep wounds.
This kind of injury was not light, but fortunately, Yang Kai had an excellent physique and his Golden Blood had incredible restorative properties so it shouldn’t be difficult for him to recover.
Circulating his Saint Qi, Yang Kai staunched the blood flowing away from his wounds before he flew back across the fifty-kilometre gap he just crossed.
The explosion just now had been quite intense, so if there was anyone nearby, they would highly likely have been alerted and come to investigate. Yang Kai did not want to end up being robbed of his gains at the last moment after investing so much effort.
The fifty-kilometre distance was crossed by Yang Kai in just a few breaths, and when he returned to his original position, he could not help showing a joyful look.
He had succeeded.
Although the rock wall and the area in front of it was now a smouldering mess, the bodies of Jiang Shan and the others had disappeared, and random leftover energy fluctuations were rampaging about, a hole leading deeper into the mountain was now visible.
The ancient cultivator’s cave mansion!
Yang Kai did not hesitate to dive into the cave.
Of course, he didn’t relax his vigilance and was constantly using his Divine Sense to investigate his surroundings, but this cave mansion didn’t seem to have any additional dangers other than the one at its entrance, so Yang Kai was able to move about essentially without hindrance.
Soon, a dozen or so stone chambers appeared in front of Yang Kai.
Not hesitating at all, Yang Kai directly entered the leftmost stone chamber to explore.
After a few breaths, Yang Kai darted out of the stone room and rushed into the second, immediately after which he moved to the third.
After inspecting more than a dozen stone chambers, all Yang Kai gained was a few bottles of pills whose content was now nothing but slag.
[Am I going to end up leaving empty-handed?] Yang Kai’s mood was somewhat gloomy. If that were the case, then Jiang Shan and the others would have died in vain, and his expectations would be for nothing.
This wasn’t impossible, after all, not every ancient cave mansion contained treasure. Sometimes others had gotten to the good things inside first, and sometimes there was nothing good inside to begin with.
With only one room left, Yang Kai wrinkled his nose and stepped inside.
The next moment, however, his eyes lit up and he instantly rushed over to a stone table with a big grin on his face.
There were two things on this stone table. One was an artifact shaped like a short arrow, but Yang Kai could not identify what material it was made of. This arrow also had two pure white jade stones in its shaft, giving it a somewhat unusual appearance.
This arrow-shaped artifact didn’t emit any kind of strong energy fluctuation, but after Yang Kai picked it up, he couldn’t help frowning because he was unable to determine its grade.
Logically speaking, since the barrier in front of this ancient cave mansion was so powerful, the cultivation of its owner should not have been low, so why was there such a strange artifact here?
Before he could inspect this arrow further, Yang Kai suddenly raised his head and looked towards a particular direction as his expression sank.
Although he had assumed the huge explosion just now would attract the attention of nearby cultivators, he had not anticipated someone would arrive so quickly.
Two hundred kilometres away, a cultivator’s aura had appeared and it was now speeding over towards Yang Kai’s location.
Perceiving this, Yang Kai naturally discarded any thoughts of remaining here, stuffed the short arrow and the jade box which was still on the stone table into his Space Ring, then hurried away.
After about a cup of tea worth of time, a group of three people appeared in front of the ancient cave mansion. All three of these cultivators were Origin Realm masters and from their matching robes, it was clear they belonged to the same Sect. Everyone’s eyes lit up when they saw the open cave mansion and immediately rushed inside.
However, after checking around, the three of them could not help showing looks of disappointment.
There were originally only two things here, the short arrow and the jade box, so after Yang Kai took those two things away, there was nothing for these three newcomers to gain.
These three were obviously unwilling to give up just like that, so they performed a thorough search of the stone chambers, but they ultimately found nothing.
By this time, Yang Kai was already a thousand kilometres away.
In terms of speed, he was no worse than any Origin Realm master, especially after summoning his Wind and Thunder Wings which provided him with a giant boost in this regard.
In an out-of-the-way, naturally formed cave, Yang Kai sat down cross-legged and released his powerful Divine Sense across a wide area. After confirming that there was no one else within a thousand kilometres of his location, he then took out his harvest and prepared to examine it more carefully.
Yang Kai had checked the short arrow before, so he was more curious about what was inside the jade box.
This jade box was made from a strange material that could block Divine Sense from penetrating it, so obviously its grade was not low. Yang Kai took it out of his Space Ring and with a flick of his wrist opened its lid.
Vigorous and pure energy suddenly rushed out from the jade box, causing Yang Kai’s eyes to brighten. Unconsciously taking a deep breath, he suddenly felt refreshed.
Looking inside, Yang Kai found that the jade box contained only two hexagonal-shaped pure white, flawless crystals, each one about the size of a fingernail. However, when he used his Divine Sense to investigate these two crystals, he was shocked by the amount of energy they contained.
“What is this?” Yang Kai muttered to himself as he gently pinched one of the crystals and brought it up to his eyes to look more carefully.
This crystal looked a bit like Saint Crystal, but its grade was clearly far superior. Even the Saint Crystal Sources condensed by the Stone Puppet could not compare to these hexagonal crystals.
The two were not even on the same level.
The energy stored inside this crystal seemed to have gone beyond the scope of Saint Crystals.
Yang Kai was thoroughly shocked.
He was widely travelled and had encountered a wealth of opportunities over the years, allowing him to see countless treasures. He had even seen several Origin King Grade artifacts, so there weren’t many things which could arouse his interest now.
However, these two fingernail-sized crystals in front of him were one of them.
Yang Kai examined the crystals for a long time but was still unable to determine what exactly it was, only that the amount of energy contained within each was incredibly dense, pure and could be directly absorbed into his body without any unique kind of refinement method, instantly supplementing his Saint Qi. Yang Kai only absorbed a small amount of energy from this crystal for a moment, but that was all it took to completely restore all the Saint Qi he had consumed just now.
Despite that, the small crystal did not change in the slightest, as if the energy stored inside it was inexhaustible.
Of course, that was impossible and it was more accurate to say that, compared to how much energy this crystal stored inside itself, the amount Yang Kai absorbed was just a tiny fraction, so any change was negligible.
High-Rank Saint Crystals and even Saint Crystal Sources were completely dwarfed in every respect by these two crystals.
[What amazing treasure!] Yang Kai grinned and laughed happily.
Although he never had to worry about exhausting his Saint Qi reserves or running out of Saint Qi in the midst of battle, these two crystals were still undoubtedly helpful to him.
At the very least, there was no longer a need for him to deliberately look for a place with rich World Energy during future breakthroughs.
As long as he had these two pieces of crystal, Yang Kai could make a breakthrough anywhere without worrying about running short of World Energy.
However, this kind of treasure was something Yang Kai naturally felt reluctant to use. After all, besides supplementing the World Energy aura during a breakthrough, perhaps it had some other, more significant use.
After inspecting the two crystals a bit longer, Yang Kai solemnly put them back into the jade box and stored it away carefully.
Next, he began a detailed investigation of the short arrow.
This short arrow was clearly an artifact, but its shape was a bit peculiar. It was only about as long as a forearm and it was engraved with the words ‘Feather Spirit’, which was obviously the artifact’s name.
This Feather Spirit Arrow had two pieces of flawless white jade inlaid on its shaft.
However, this artifact gave off no discernible energy fluctuations.
This was very strange. Since it was an artifact, it must have a grade, and as long as it had a grade, it would surely give off some kind of energy fluctuation which would allow people to classify it.
However, this Feather Spirit Arrow seemed to deviate from this common sense. It looked quite inconspicuous, Yang Kai was unable to notice anything special about it even when scanning it with his Divine Sense, as if it were just some kind of worthless decorative item.
But since this Feather Spirit Arrow had been stored together with the two hexagonal crystals that contained massive amounts of pure energy, it naturally could not be something ordinary; it was just that Yang Kai was unable to immediately identify it.
After thinking about it for a while, Yang Kai circulated his Saint Qi and began pouring it into the Feather Spirit Arrow slowly.
When one was experimenting with the power of a new artifact, this was generally the first step.
The Feather Spirit Arrow smoothly accepted Yang Kai’s Saint Qi, and as he continued this process, the pure white jade inlaid in its shaft slowly began turning black.
If one looked closely, they would even notice a trace of fiery red in this black hue, as well as an extremely hot aura.
It was similar in colour to Yang Kai’s Demonic Flame!
Yang Kai brow furrowed and while paying close attention to the changes of the jade, he began pouring even more Saint Qi into the Feather Spirit Arrow.
After about an hour, Yang Kai stopped his output of Saint Qi and stared closely at the Feather Spirit Arrow.
The arrow no longer seemed dead and was instead exuding a shocking energy fluctuation that was in no way inferior to that of an Origin Grade High-Rank artifact, possibly even somewhat greater.
The energy fluctuations of this strange artifact increased as more Saint Qi was infused into it!
Moreover, Origin Grade High-Rank was far from its limit.
The limiting factor seemed to be Yang Kai’s cultivation. The Saint Qi he poured into it only capable of producing an Origin Grade High-Rank aura.
The amount of Saint Qi he had poured in this arrow over the past hour was also quite astonishing.
If it were an ordinary Origin Returning Realm master, it would have been impossible to replicate this in such a short time. Only Yang Kai, with his massive reserves of Saint Qi, could continuously fill up this arrow without any adverse consequences.
Yang Kai estimated that the amount of Saint Qi he had poured into this Feather Spirit Arrow was equivalent to an average Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master’s entire reserve!
In other words, if any other Origin Returning Realm cultivator obtained this Feather Spirit Arrow, even if they were a Third-Order master, they would need to consume all of their strength to fill it.
If it were a First or Second-Order Origin Realm cultivator, they would probably need to repeat this filling process multiple times before they could saturate one of the jades inlaid in the arrow shaft.
Yang Kai was stunned speechless.
Soon though, he cast his gaze onto the jades inlaid in the Feather Spirit Arrow.
There were a total of two jades in this artifact’s shaft which should be able to store Saint Qi.
Considering this, Yang Kai continued pouring out his Saint Qi.
After another hour, the second jade in the Feather Spirit Arrow also reached saturation, confirming Yang Kai’s guess.
Taking a light breath, Yang Kai’s face filled with joy. Although he did not know how powerful this Feather Spirit Arrow was, it was undoubtedly an incredible artifact. If it was used well, it could be treated as one of his trump cards.
Moreover, even though it had not been refined by him, it could still absorb his Saint Qi. It could be seen that this Feather Spirit Arrow either had no owner before, or it had been too long and the brand its owner left inside of it had dispersed entirely.
Now, all Yang Kai needed to do was take some time to refine it and it would belong to him.
Thinking so, Yang Kai did not hesitate. Holding the Feather Spirit Arrow in both hands, he began to pour his Divine Sense into it, trying to carve his aura and mark into it.
The sun sank and the moon rose as time passed by.
After half a month, Yang Kai stood up, and with a slight thought, the Feather Spirit Arrow turned into a stream of light and disappeared into his body.
The refining process had gone even more smoothly than expected. Yang Kai did not know if it was because this artifact was from ancient times and was somewhat different from modern artifacts, but it had taken significantly less time than he anticipated to refine it.
After he finished this refinement, Yang Kai gained some insight into the power and usage restrictions of this Feather Spirit Arrow.
Strictly speaking, this Feather Spirit Arrow’s power was enormous. The two strange jades inlaid in its shaft could store a massive amount of Saint Qi and compress it into an imposing attack.
When encountering a powerful enemy, one only needed to activate the internal Spirit Array to release this attack, and even a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master would suffer significantly if they were struck by it.
Its power was immense, but there were naturally drawbacks.
Because there were only two jades on the Feather Spirit Arrow, even if it were fully charged, it could only be used twice!
After two uses, the energy inside the jades would be exhausted and you would first need to charge it up if you wanted to use it again.
Even with Yang Kai’s strength, it took him an hour to fill a single piece of jade, so this Feather Spirit Arrow could only be used twice in a battle.
Despite this limitation, this Feather Spirit Arrow was an incredibly powerful artifact, one Yang Kai was quite satisfied with.
There was nothing perfect in this world. The power of this Feather Spirit Arrow was scary enough, so how could it possibly be used endlessly?
Yang Kai wanted to test the power of the Feather Spirit Arrow, but there was no suitable target here, so he had no choice but to set this matter aside. After walking out of the natural cave, Yang Kai picked a direction at will and flew off.
For the next few days, Yang Kai wandered around Fallen Emperor Mountain.
Now that he knew that rumours about the existence of ancient secluded homes and cave mansions weren’t groundless and he had some gains, he planned to continue treasure hunting; after all, one could never have too many good things.
Unfortunately, maybe because there were too many cultivators pouring into this place, even if Yang Kai found something over the next few days, he wasn’t able to reap any kind of harvest as others had thoroughly ransacked these secluded homes and cave mansions.
Murder and robbery were also common, with sneak attacks and counterattacks happening everywhere Yang Kai went.
On this day, Yang Kai took out his communication artifact as usual and poured his Divine Sense into it.
Although treasure hunting in Fallen Emperor Mountain was important, Yang Kai did not forget his original intention, so he would take out this communication artifact and try to contact Qian Tong now and then.
However, even until now, Yang Kai had not been able to reach either Qian Tong or Fei Zhi Tu.
This time though, things were different. After pouring his Divine Sense into this communication artifact, Yang Kai suddenly felt a different Divine Sense fluctuation coming from it and hurriedly checked it.
A moment later, Yang Kai flew off in a certain direction after putting the artifact away.
Somewhere, ten thousand kilometres away, countless Origin Returning Realm masters had gathered and were staring towards a set of palaces and pavilions surrounding a specific mountain up ahead.
An Ancient Sect Ruin!
Although there were many cultivators enthusiastically searching for secluded homes and cave mansions outside to gain something, the great forces that were well-informed had sent most of their masters to this spot.
After all, the temptation of an Ancient Sect Ruin was simply too high. Who would not want to enter such a place to search for treasures?
At this moment, masters from various great forces had all gathered here in a display of power that was even more imposing than when the Emperor Garden had opened.
When the Emperor Garden opened, the number of cultivators who could enter was limited due to the small supply of Emperor Jades, but this time was different. There was no danger in Fallen Emperor Mountain and anyone could penetrate its depths, so as long as a cultivator received word of this event, they had hurried over to join the fun.
And so, they gathered around this Ancient Sect Ruins, a gathering that consisted far more than just those from the great forces.
Many cultivators from small families and sects were also here, hoping to drink some soup after the masters harvested the meat, but none of them dared get too close for fear they would be attacked or even killed; after all, they weren’t qualified to stand on equal footing with the masters from the great forces.
At this moment, at least a few hundred Origin Returning Realm masters from various great forces were bombarding the Sect Defending Array in front of themselves. Different Secret Techniques and artifact attacks released brilliant flashes of light as they tore through the air and impacted the invisible barrier, creating numerous ripples across its surfaces. However, the Sect Defending Array that protected this Ancient Sect Ruin was extremely powerful, so even after almost twenty days of continuous bombardment, it was still barring everyone’s path, preventing them from intruding.
However, the Shadowed Star masters’ efforts weren’t in vain. After such a long period of time, the Sect Defending Array had clearly become less stable and it was clear it wouldn’t be long before it broke.
While most people were focused on attacking this Spirit Array, there were also some masters who had formed teams to expel others who had heard the news and come to try their luck. These teams were composed of cultivators from different Sects in order to guarantee that the interests of their respective forces were maintained. These masters forbid anyone not associated with them from approaching and trying to fish in troubled waters; after all, they had expended a great deal of time and energy breaking the protective barrier and weren’t about to allow others to just pick up a bargain at the last moment.
If anyone didn’t understand discretion, they would be killed without mercy!
Many who didn’t know the whole story had died tragically at the hands of these people. Others who came later learned from these unfortunate souls’ mistakes, as well as their broken corpses, and took the initiative to remain on the periphery, not daring to rush forward.
Although these Ancient Sect Ruins were very tempting, one first needed their life in order to reap any gains.
Those who didn’t have powerful backgrounds could only wait ten kilometres away and look on anxiously. Envy was inevitable, and all these cultivators naturally wanted to participate in this grand event, but unfortunately, their respective Sects’ statuses weren’t high, nor were their personal strengths, so they could only stand back and grumble amongst themselves.
“Tsk, seems like this is a truly grand occasion. Nearly all of Shadowed Star’s great Sects and masters have arrived.” A burly, bald man shook his head as he stood among the crowd of onlookers. Although he was offering words of admiration, everyone was able to hear the disgruntled tone in his voice.
“Countryside hick!” Hearing what this man said, another old man in plain robes who was standing not far away snorted coldly, “Do you think Shadowed Star only has this many masters? Those big Sects have all sent out less than half of their true powerhouses and news about this place is still spreading, so there are obviously others still on their way here.”
“Old Dog, are you trying to pick a fight? Father here was just speaking his mind, why don’t you just mind your own damn business?” The burly bald-headed man snapped back harshly. He had truly just been venting but now that he was being openly refuted he couldn’t help becoming somewhat angry.
The old man in plain robes just glanced at the burly man faintly and sneered, not showing any interest in arguing with him.
Seeing this contemptuous look made the burly bald-headed man even angrier and with a fierce look upon his face he was just about to attack the old man when suddenly, a flash of light crossed his eyes and a young man strangely appeared in front of him.
This young man had a stalwart look to him and wore a light blue outfit, giving him a competent air.
The burly bald-headed man was taken aback for a moment but after staring at this young for a moment, doubt flashed across his eyes as he vaguely felt that this young man was familiar, but he was unable to remember where he had seen him before immediately.
“There are so many people here…” The young man looked around and muttered in a somewhat surprised tone.
The burly bald-headed man casually answered, “Of course there are lots of people here, they’re all expecting to go in and find something good. Where is this friend from?”
When the young man heard this question, he turned his head, smiled, and said, “I came from the outside region. I just heard news about this place and decided to come check it out. En, I’ll be going on ahead.”
Saying so, he flew up and rushed forward.
“Little friend, wait!” The old man in plain robes who had been bickering with the burly bald-headed man called out hurriedly, trying to block this youth, but he was too late as the other party was already a thousand metres away, moving at an astonishing speed.
“That boy is doomed!” The old man shook his head slightly with a look of regret. He saw that this young man was truly young and his cultivation wasn’t weak, but since he dared rush towards the Sect Defending Array, he would certainly be killed on the spot.
“Not necessarily, he might be able to join that crowd,” The burly bald-headed man’s eyes lit up as he finally remembered where he had seen that youth before.
A while ago, someone caused a huge uproar in Heavenly Fate City, and at that time, this burly bald-headed man just happened to be staying there. As such, he had seen the young man who was the root of all the ruckus and later learned that the youth was actually Yang Kai, the master of Dragon Cave Mountain. After that incident, not only had Yang Kai not suffered in any way, he still roamed about freely without the slightest of worries.
Today, Yang Kai was already High Heaven Sect’s Sect Master, the enigmatic character who had conquered the Flowing Flame Sand Field!
“What do you mean?” The old man looked over suspiciously at the burly bald-headed man, “There are many who want to try to enter and fish in troubled waters, but everyone who dared do so died, and their fresh corpses are still strewn all over the place. Why do you think that boy can pass safely?”
“Heh heh, just watch. If he can pass, old man, you must apologize to Father here,” The burly bald-headed man declared confidently.
“And if he’s killed?” The old man narrowed his eyes.
“Father here will kneel down and lick your shoes!” The burly bald-headed man shouted loudly.
When he said this, everyone nearby directed an interested look towards him; even the old man couldn’t help doing a double-take.
These stakes were really quite amazing! As the saying goes, a person’s face was like the bark of a tree, losing it was more serious than simply being killed, so why was this burly man so confident?
“Fine. This old master will take that bet,” The old man was also a decisive character and agreed after just a moment of hesitation. He didn’t believe that the great forces that were attacking the Sect Defending Array all this time would be willing to let some random young man strut in and join them.
For a time, all the cultivators around focused their attention on Yang Kai, wondering whether he would be able to pass the blockade of the great forces’ masters safely.
Yang Kai also quickly discovered that something was wrong.
Although he contacted Qian Tong through his communication artifact and knew the general situation here, he hadn’t expected it to be so complicated.
Not long after he started his approach, a group of seven or eight Origin Realm masters flew out from around the Sect Defending Array towards him, all of them wearing different robes, indicating they did not belong to a single great force.
There were three uniforms, however, that Yang Kai recognized.
Heaven Battling Union, Thunder Typhoon Sect, and Floating Mist Palace!
Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect, needless to say, were the two giants of Shadowed Star while Floating Mist Palace was also a first-class Sect, at least on par with Shadow Moon Hall and Coloured Glass Sect.
Although Yang Kai couldn’t tell where the others came from just by their uniforms, each of the approaching masters was at least a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator.
These people stopped about a thousand meters away and stared towards Yang Kai indifferently. Immediately, one of the old men in a grey robe stepped forward without saying a word, pointed his finger, summoned a fiery red long sword, and shot it towards Yang Kai.
The speed of this sword was quite extraordinary.
Yang Kai’s complexion changed as he felt the murderous intent coming from his opponent’s move and immediately summoned his Purple Shield to protect himself.
*Hong…*
The sword collided with the Purple Shield and a violent energy wave burst forth. Flaming light completely engulfed Yang Kai in the next instant, causing him to disappear from sight.
The grey-robed old man sneered, waved his hand and summoned the fiery red sword back to himself before casting an indifferent look towards the spot where Yang Kai once stood.
He thought that Yang Kai was dead; after all, from what he could tell, Yang Kai was just a First-Order Origin Returning Realm boy and could not possibly block his blow.
But soon, the old man frowned before letting out a surprised mutter.
Ahead of him, after the light faded, Yang Kai’s figure appeared again, his Purple Shield still blocking his front, seemingly not having suffered any injuries. His face, however, was icy.
As soon as he arrived here, he was attacked by a stranger, and it was an attack that contained clear murderous intent, so Yang Kai’s mood wasn’t good.
“What is Your Excellency doing?” Yang Kai glared towards the grey-clothed old man coldly.
“What is this old master doing?” The grey-clothed old man snorted, “All trespassers are to be killed without mercy, what else do you think I’m doing?”
Yang Kai frowned as he glanced around at the broken corpses down below, vaguely figuring out the situation.
After the grey-clothed old man failed to achieve anything with his first blow, he felt he had lost a lot of face and was just about to attack again when suddenly a loud shout rang out from behind “Wait!”
Hearing this call, the grey-clothed old man didn’t make any follow-up movements and instead put on a flattering look and turned around to face the white-haired old man who just spoke, “What advice does Brother Liang have?”
The other party didn’t answer immediately but instead stared at Yang Kai with interest, a slight grin soon appearing on his face as he asked loudly, “Dare I ask, is Little Brother High Heaven Sect’s Sect Master Yang Kai?”
Yang Kai shifted his gaze to this old man and nodded, “Yeah, I am Yang Kai.”
“What, this boy is High Heaven Sect’s Sect Master?” The grey-clothed old man who attacked Yang Kai just now called out in alarm.
Instantly, he regretted his hasty actions just now.
Regardless of what Yang Kai’s personal cultivation was, the High Heaven Sect he controlled today could not be underestimated by anyone. Forget about the fact that High Heaven Sect possessed an extraordinarily powerful Origin King Grade Starship, it was even rumoured that Yang Kai’s combat power was astonishing. The grey-clothed old man couldn’t help feeling a chill up his spine just thinking about this.
It was rumoured that when he was just a Third-Order Saint King, Yang Kai had killed numerous Origin Returning Realm masters, and now that he had also reached the Origin Returning Realm, his strength likely was not inferior to any Third-Order Origin Realm master.
This old man was just a Second-Order Origin Realm master, so if he were to really engage in a fight here, it was likely he would be the one to fall.
The grey-clothed old man was naturally frightened and could not help shivering slightly as he secretly thanked Elder Liang for stopping him in time; otherwise, he might have made a tragic mistake.
What’s more, almost every great force on Shadowed Star was actively trying to befriend High Heaven Sect; unfortunately, there was no easy way to contact this reclusive Sect.
The grey-clothed old man’s Sect also had such intentions, but now that he had suddenly attacked Yang Kai with intent to kill, it was inevitable that the other party’s opinion of him would be terrible.
Considering all this, the grey-clothed old man became extremely anxious.
“It really is Sect Master Yang,” The old man smiled lightly before cupping his fists and saying, “Please excuse this one’s lack of courtesy, I am Heaven Battling Union’s Third Elder Liang Yong!”
[Heaven Battling Union?] Yang Kai frowned. Although he didn’t have a good impression of this great force and even had some friction with it, since the other party had displayed proper etiquette, Yang Kai reciprocated in kind, “Yang Kai greets Elder Liang.”
“En, perfect,” The smile on Liang Yong’s face became more and more kind, but Yang Kai always felt that this smile was somehow strange; unfortunately, he couldn’t tell why. Before he could figure anything out, Liang Yong pointed to someone next to him and spoke, “This is Thunder Typhoon Sect’s Vice Sect Master Si Tu Hong, Sect Master Yang must have heard of him.”
“I have indeed!” Yang Kai nodded lightly. Si Tu Hong and Liang Yong’s names were indeed among those he had heard of as they were both Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters on Shadowed Star as well as famous figures in their own right; however, today was the first time he had seen either of them in person.
Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect had a number of grievances between them. Although they weren’t as incompatible as fire and water, they were by no means friendly with one another, so how had they suddenly decided to join forces? Yang Kai felt the situation was somewhat strange, but when he looked over at the Sect Defending Array, he quickly understood.
There are no eternal enemies, only eternal benefits. This scene was the best illustration of this saying.
“Please excuse us, Sect Master Yang, it’s not that we intentionally wanted to intercept you, but I’m sure you can see what the current situation is. Several dozen of Shadowed Star’s great forces have joined forces to break through this Sect Defending Array in order to explore the ruins inside, so our guard around the periphery must be somewhat tight so no one can trespass without permission. I ask Sect Master Yang to forgive Brother Yu for his earlier disrespect, Brother Yu was simply following orders,” Liang Yong spoke again, explaining the situation with the man who had just attacked Yang Kai.
Yang Kai smiled faintly and said, “It’s fine, I haven’t suffered any harm, so we can just consider this matter finished.”
Liang Yong laughed loudly, “Sect Master Yang is indeed magnanimous, this Liang offers his sincere thanks.”
The old man surnamed Yu also hurriedly apologised.
“Elder Liang, is no one allowed to enter here now?” Yang Kai asked uncomfortably; after all, Fallen Emperor Mountain was originally an ownerless stretch of land so the Ancient Sect Ruins inside should also be accessible to everyone. Now that the great forces had designated it as their private territory and were killing all trespassers without mercy, of course, Yang Kai would feel somewhat uncomfortable.
However, since several dozen great forces had joined forces here, Yang Kai couldn’t raise any objections that would violate public anger.
“Yes, we here had reached such an agreement since half a month ago,” Liang Yong gently nodded. “The seven of us here were sent to enforce this order.”
“So that’s how it is,” Yang Kai nodded, expressing his understanding.
Suddenly, however, Liang Yong smiled lightly and said, “But it’s not that no one is allowed to enter. As long as they can obtain the permission of the seven gathered here, anyone is eligible to participate in this grand event!”
“Oh? So how should I go about obtaining your permission?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
“En, that might be a bit difficult,” Liang Yong put on an awkward look as he rubbed his temples and said, “It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Sect Defending Array is about to be broken, and anyone who wants to participate in this event must first pay the appropriate price. Otherwise, wouldn’t it be unfair to the others here who had been contributing all this time?”
There was some truth to this statement. There were hundreds of Origin Returning Realm masters who had been bombarding the Sect Defending Array for half a month now and were extremely eager to enter inside to look around. So close to success, how could they just allow an outsider who didn’t provide any assistance during this process to reap the same benefits? If someone tried to do this, there would be plenty of others who would disagree.
“What kind of price?” Yang Kai pondered for a moment before asking, “Elder Liang might as well name a price. I’ll see if I can bear it.”
Liang Yong just laughed though, “Sect Master Yang need not act so estranged. If someone else had come, we would definitely have them pay a high price, but since Sect Master Yang is High Heaven Sect’s Sect Master, then… there’s no need for such trifles. High Heaven Sect is also considered a great force famous across Shadowed Star, so it too is eligible to participate in this event. What’s more, Sect Master Yang came here alone so it’s not a problem for this old master to bend the rules and allow Sect Master Yang to go in.”
Yang Kai wore a look of surprise as he tilted his head and asked, “Won’t doing this cause things to be awkward for Elder Liang?”
Yang Kai was somewhat at a loss. He didn’t understand why the other party was acting so accommodating. Yang Kai didn’t have any friendship with Heaven Battling Union, and in fact had a number of grievances with them, so there was no reason for Liang Yong to give him any face.
Liang Yong chuckled and said, “This old master can’t say the final word here, this is simply my own opinion. Whether or not Sect Master Yang may pass will depend on what everyone else has to say.”
Saying so, Liang Yong turned his gaze to the other six masters beside him.
For a moment, these Origin Returning Realm masters exchanged awkward glances with one another, but it wasn’t long before Vice Sect Master Si Tu Hong of Thunder Typhoon Sect spoke up while nodding his head, “If it is just Sect Master Yang, this old master has no problem allowing him to pass.”
Since the representatives of Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect agreed, what else could anyone say? They were originally here following Liang Yong and Si Tu Hong’s lead, so everyone else immediately nodded in agreement.
“Since that’s the case, this Yang must offer his thanks,” Yang Kai cupped his fists before swiftly flying past this group of seven towards the Sect Defending Array.
“Sect Master Yang, since you’ve come, please assist us in breaking through this barrier. The sooner we break through it, the sooner we can reap the benefits it is protecting,” Liang Yong shouted from behind, but Yang Kai was already a few thousand meters away, so there was no way to know if he heard him or not.
After this shout, Liang Yong turned to look at Si Tu Hong and flashed a knowing grin.
This was really a case of wearing out iron shoes while seeking one’s feet.
They had obtained news a while ago that Yang Kai had headed to Heavenly Fate City, but after tracking him all the way there, they found that he had come to Fallen Emperor Mountain. Later, after hearing about the change in Fallen Emperor Mountain, the masters of the two great forces also gathered here.
Just as they were worried about being unable to find Yang Kai’s trail, he had actually delivered himself to them.
There was now no path to Heaven or road to Hell for this boy. Since he had come to court death, he couldn’t blame others for obliging.
However, this was not a place where they could take action. There were too many people here and Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect had to take into account their face and reputation, so for now, the best option would be to let this little brat in first. As long as this boy entered these Ancient Sect Ruins, they could lead him to a secluded place and deal with him quietly.
Even if Yang Kai didn’t have intentions of joining them, Liang Yong would have taken the initiative to invite him in. Si Tu Hong had the same objective, so he didn’t raise any objections, simply finding an excuse to allow Yang Kai to pass safely.
On the other hand, Yang Kai understood that nothing in life came without paying an appropriate price. He didn’t know what kind of scheme Liang Yong and the others were up to, but with full confidence in his skills, Yang Kai didn’t care.
In an instant, he had arrived in front of the Sect Defending Array and quickly flew over to a certain position.
In the direction he flew, Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu were using their artifacts to bombard the Sect Defending Array, the light curtain in front of them rippling noticeably each time they attacked.
“Elder Qian, City Lord Fei!” Yang Kai landed and called out.
The two couldn’t help turning their heads upon hearing someone call out to them, and when they saw Yang Kai, Qian Tong couldn’t help grinning, “Yang Kai, did you also catch wind of this and come to investigate?”
“En, by coincidence. I went to Heavenly Fate City to find you but didn’t expect either of you to be there.”
“To find us? For what?”
“A small matter, nothing too important. We can discuss it after we finish up the matter at hand,” Yang Kai laughed.
“Sure. However, why did those people from Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect let you in? It’s a bit strange, anyone who dared try to approach until now was killed.”
“I don’t know,” Yang Kai shrugged.
“Since you’re here, you should help out. This Sect Defending Array is quite amazing, many times stronger than your Dragon Cave Mountain’s Mountain Defending Array, at least,” Fei Zhi Tu interrupted.
“En.”
The three of them no longer spoke and instead turned their focus to attacking the barrier in front of them.
The artifact used by Fei Zhi Tu was the Blue Jade Bowl he relied upon the most. He had caused it to expand to a few dozen meters in diameter and release a hail of blue light beams towards the Spirit Array, causing quite the effect.
Qian Tong, on the other hand, used a short-sword-like artifact. After pouring his Saint Qi into the blade, a dragon roar sounded from it and it transformed into a several-dozen-metre long green dragon that used its tail and claws to batter the Spirit Array loudly.
Yang Kai observed from the side with some admiration. Whether it was Fei Zhi Tu or Qian Tong, both were worthy of their status as famous masters of Shadowed Star. Both of their Saint Qis were pure and powerful. In fact, judging just from the quality of their Saint Qi alone, both of them should have the qualifications to break through to the Origin King Realm.
However, if one wanted to break through to the Origin King Realm, they first needed to condense their Shi to the grand accomplishment stage.
This requirement was enough to cause ninety-nine percent of Origin Returning Realm masters to fall short. Yang Kai didn’t know whether Fei Zhi Tu and Qian Tong had such achievements with their Shi.
Yang Kai had no intention to just observe though and soon raised his hand to send out more than a dozen Golden Threads.
He currently only had two offensive artifacts, one was the Verdant Dragon Bone Sword and the other was the Feather Spirit Arrow he obtained half a month ago and hadn’t yet had a chance to test out. However, neither of these two artifacts could be used casually.
The Dragon Bone Sword, needless to say, had the Remnant Soul wisp of a True Dragon and was extraordinarily eye-catching to use. The Feather Spirit Arrow, on the other hand, was something of a consumable artifact and could only launch two attacks before needing to be re-charged with Saint Qi, not a suitable artifact to use for this task.
As such, Yang Kai could only resort to using his Golden Blood Thread Secret Technique.
Fortunately, as he was travelling the past few months, Yang Kai had been studying the second half of the Golden Blood Thread Secret Technique and was now eager to try out its power. The Sect Defending Array in front of him happened to provide a good practice target.
The dozen or so Golden Threads each released a dazzling golden radiance as well as a shocking vital aura.
As soon as Yang Kai released these Golden Threads, Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu raised their brows and slowed down their movements to observe.
“Old Fei, why do I feel like Yang Kai’s move is somewhat similar to Demon Blood Temple’s Secret Technique, the Demon Blood Thread?” Qian Tong asked suspiciously. He had dealt with several Elders of Demon Blood Temple over the years and understood the strange and mighty power of the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique, so it was only natural for him to see some clues from Yang Kai’s Golden Blood Threads.
“It’s more than similar, it’s like the two techniques are carved from the same mould,” Fei Zhi Tu was also shocked. “But their former Temple Master spent her entire life to cultivate two Demon Blood Threads while the other Elders like Jin Shi only have one. The number Yang Kai has is… a bit too high, isn’t it?”
More than a dozen, what kind of concept was this? Although Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu had not cultivated the Demon Blood Thread, they also knew about its requirements. They knew it was based on condensing one’s vital essence into a type of hybrid artifact and Secret Technique. As such, even if those from Demon Blood Temple were quite strong, they couldn’t cultivate many of these Demon Blood Threads.
Demon Blood Temple’s Temple Master cultivated her Demon Blood Threads by using a vicious Secret Technique that gathered Yang to supplement Yin, essentially harvesting the vital essence of strong men on a large scale. Still, even she was only able to produce two Demon Blood Threads. How much vital essence would Yang Kai need to condense a dozen then? And looking at his complexion, there were obviously no signs that his vitality was deficient, instead, it seemed to be stronger than most.
This was a strange situation.
Could it be it wasn’t the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique and simply looked like it?
Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu couldn’t figure out no matter how they thought about it.
The two of them also didn’t know that a dozen Golden Blood Threads wasn’t Yang Kai’s limit. In fact, Yang Kai had already condensed several dozen Golden Blood Threads in his body, each of which was transformed from a drop of pure Golden Blood.
With the pure Life Revitalizing Jade Cream, Yang Kai no longer needed to worry about having a shortage of pure Golden Blood, so he spared no effort to condense new Golden Blood Threads.
After the dozen or so Golden Blood Threads appeared, they did not immediately attack the Sect Defending Array. Instead, they began twisting and intertwining, as if they had their own spirituality, gradually combining into a single strand that after trembling slightly transformed into a five-metre-long golden spear.
Golden light radiated from this spear together with an astonishing pressure before it suddenly struck towards the Sect Defending Array.
*Hong…*
There was a loud noise as the tip of the golden spear hit the Sect Defending Array. The light curtain suddenly reacted like a thick bubble filled with air, sinking deeply, causing the eyes of Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu to bulge in shock as they watched from the sideline.
The two of them had been participating in attacking the Sect Defending Array here for half a month, so they were very familiar with the sturdiness of this barrier. Seeing how it reacted to Yang Kai’s golden spear, they were able to infer just how powerful this attack was.
Such power was enough to cause even them to shiver.
However, the Sect Defending Array was also mighty, and no matter how Yang Kai thrust his golden spear, he still couldn’t break it open. Instead, after deflating to a certain extent, the light curtain violently rebounded, not only restoring its original form but also sending the golden spear condensed from a dozen Golden Blood Threads hurtling backwards.
Yang Kai’s expression remained as tranquil as an ancient well though as he used his Divine Sense to manipulate the spear. Breaking the spear down into its original Golden Blood Threads, Yang Kai wove them together again in a different configuration to create a golden axe. This axe descended from the sky towards the barrier again in the next moment, carrying with it a Heaven-destroying power.
Manipulating the Golden Blood Threads to undergo such transformations was the essence of what was recorded in the second half of the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique.
Yang Kai quickly became excited and forgot about his surroundings completely, immersing himself completely in controlling his Golden Blood Threads, transforming them into various forms as he tested each one’s might with the Sect Defending Array again and again.
This kind of Golden Blood Thread manipulation could not be fully displayed with just two threads; only when a cultivator condensed a certain number of them would they be able to bring out this technique’s full might.
Yang Kai didn’t know what kind of cultivation the Senior who created the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique possessed, but ever since Shadowed Star’s World Principles began acting as shackles, no one from Demon Blood Temple had truly been capable of properly displaying it.
Even the glamorous Temple Master had barely been able to cultivate two Demon Blood Threads over the course of her entire life, so how could she display such magical transformations? However, it wasn’t like she was completely incapable of using this technique. At least on the ice road, Yang Kai had seen her transform her two Demon Blood Threads into blood snakes that resembled living creatures.
This was one of the other transformations described in the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique, and although Yang Kai knew how to cultivate it, he currently didn’t meet the requirements for it.
That was because this transformation required the Soul and Monster Core of a powerful Monster Beast to complete.
Yang Kai was currently focusing on transforming his Golden Blood Threads into different kinds of weapons.
At first, Yang Kai wasn’t very proficient in using this technique, but as time passed, and he continued displaying various transformations, he became more and more skilled at manipulating his Golden Blood Threads.
Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu were also amazed as they watched from nearby, neither of them going to disturb Yang Kai rashly as they could tell from his expression that he was immersed in his own practice and comprehension of this Secret Technique.
This was a good thing, so how could they interfere?
The Sect Defending Array of the Ancient Sect Ruins in Fallen Emperor Mountain was bombarded by hundreds of Origin Returning Realm masters for half a month and was already beginning to falter, so two days after Yang Kai joined, it was teetering on the brink of collapsing.
A light cracking sound suddenly rang out, and though it was faint, every cultivator in the vicinity clearly heard it.
Turning in the direction of the source of the sound, everyone saw a tiny crack appear on the Sect Defending Array’s light curtain.
In an instant, everyone became excited and filled with joy.
Although it was only a small crack, one that was nearly negligible, it showed that the Sect Defending Array here had reached its limit and as long as they tried for just a while longer, they should be able to break it open.
Without any orders from anyone, after a moment of silence, everyone attacked the light curtain even more forcefully.
*Kacha…*
Soon, cracking sounds rang out from various places. Like sparks setting a dry prairie field on fire, innumerable spider-web like cracks began propagating across the entire Sect Defending Array, centred on the cracks that first appeared.
A violent pressure slowly spread out from a certain location, causing all of the attacking masters to turn their heads and stare in that direction.
What they saw was a cultivator wearing blue robes slowly rising up into the sky, like an ancient god ascending from the earth, releasing an unparalleled might as he held his hands up high, lifting up a dazzling ball of light like the sun that gave off energy fluctuations which caused everyone to pale.
For a time, the blue-robed cultivator became the focus of everyone’s attention.
“Qu Zheng’s Great Sun Radiant Seal really lives up to its reputation,” Fei Zhi Tu looked over and muttered, a tinge of fear lacing his voice.
“That’s Heaven Battling Union’s Union Master Qu Zheng?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.
“En,” Qian Tong was gently nodded as a touch of dread flashed across his face, “He’s one of Shadowed Star’s top masters. Although this old master is also a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator like him, if we were to really fight, I’d estimate my odds of winning are less than twenty percent!”
Cultivators in the same realm could have wide gaps in strength which were often the result of the differences in their Secret Arts, Secret Techniques, and artifacts they mastered.
So even if they were both Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters, Qian Tong didn’t dare say he was on par with Qu Zheng.
Yang Kai was an extreme example of this, as although he was just a First-Order Origin Realm cultivator, no ordinary cultivator in his realm could put up any kind of resistance against him.
As they spoke, Qu Zheng had already flown to a height of several thousand metres, his expression extremely solemn as he gently threw the ball of light in his hand downward.
As if it had no weight, the ball of light began to slowly descend towards the ground.
[So slow?] Yang Kai frowned. If this was really the so-called Great Sun Radiant Seal’s power, its reputation wasn’t justified; after all, with such a slow speed, how could it cause any threat? Would any opponent simply stand there waiting to be hit?
However, since both Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu were extremely wary of this Secret Technique, things must be different from what Yang Kai was imagining.
Thinking so, Yang Kai watched more intently.
A moment later, an abnormal change occurred.
The Great Sun Radiant Seal, which had been falling slowly, suddenly disappeared from everyone’s vision, and when it reappeared, it was already on top of the Defending Array.
It seemed to have crossed a few thousand metres in an instant.
Yang Kai paled as he exclaimed, “The power of Space?”
But soon, he shook his head and denied his suspicion. If this Secret Technique really made use of ‘Space’, he would have felt some residual fluctuations; after all, in terms of his attainments in the Dao of Space, Yang Kai didn’t feel he was inferior to anyone. Even Heaven Battling Union’s Great Elder Mo Xiao Sheng, who was also proficient in the Dao of Space, could not compare to him.
Rather than using the power of Space, this Great Sun Radiant Seal was simply too fast, it’s previous slowness a mere illusion.
Possessing both power and speed, this Secret Technique mastered by Qu Zheng was truly really extraordinary. If Yang Kai were to take such a blow head-on, even if he didn’t die he would certainly be grievously wounded.
All kinds of thoughts flashed through Yang Kai’s mind as the Great Sun Radiant Seal made contact with the light curtain before exploding silently, the energy contained within this light ball bursting out in a brilliant explosion so bright that everyone nearby had to shield their eyes.
Although there was no sound, the energy fluctuations that erupted at this time were extremely terrifying. A wave of wind and World Energy centred on the point of contact spread out, uprooting trees and sending rocks flying together with numerous unlucky cultivators. Even some of the weaker cultivators who were simply observing from ten kilometres away were blown away by this explosion.
*Kacha…*
As if lightning had struck, a violent, crackly sound resounded before the world fell silent again.
When the light dissipated and everyone opened their eyes again, they found that the Sect Defending Array’s light curtain had disappeared and the mountains and forest hidden within were exposed along with the Ancient Sect Ruins.
Qu Zheng stood mid-air with an expression of pride on his face.
Although the Sect Defending Array was broken thanks to the contributions of everyone present, in the end, he was the one to deliver the final blow, allowing him to enjoy the looks of adoration and worship from the crowd.
From all directions, countless words of flattery, praising Qu Zheng’s incredible might and unparalleled strength rang out.
“Good, good, now that this array has been broken, it’s time to go in and take a look. Everyone, this old master will be going on ahead!” Qu Zheng cupped his fists quickly before immediately flying forward, many of the Heaven Battling Union masters naturally following closely behind.
Immediately, Thunder Typhoon Sect’s group also rushed in.
After the masters from the two giants left, the numerous Origin Returning Realm masters who were present also rushed inside, each of them flying off in a different direction towards the depths of this Ancient Sect Ruin, all of them hoping to reap some valuable gains.
They had worked hard here for the past half a month, so now was the time to collect their reward; no one wanted to fall behind.
Yang Kai, Fei Zhi Tu, and Qian Tong were also among this crowd, their Divine Senses sweeping their surroundings for a moment before Qian Tong pointed in one direction and said, “That way!”
This Ancient Sect Ruins was located inside Fallen Emperor Mountain Range and covered a vast area. Yang Kai estimated that this Sect was not inferior to High Heaven Sect in size, and the aura inside its territory was also vibrant. Even if it was not quite as good as the current High Heaven Sect, it wasn’t far off.
Many great forces would likely struggle over this place in the future!
With such a good environment, those great forces would certainly not surrender it easily. If any power could claim this land as their headquarters, the benefits it brought to the future development of their force were immense.
Yang Kai already had High Heaven Sect, so he wasn’t concerned about this issue, but Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu were both filled with enthusiasm and had considered this idea.
Although Shadow Moon Hall’s headquarters was situated on an excellent piece of land, it was incredibly inferior to this place. Shadow Moon Hall was also only a few days away, so if they could move their Sect here, their disciples would be able to grow faster.
Even if they did not move their main headquarters to this location, it was entirely feasible to turn this place into a sub-headquarters.
As such, Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu were both excited, but thinking about the hardships and hindrances that would likely occur because of this place’s discovery, their enthusiasm died down significantly.
Such a cultivation paradise would not be ignored by Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect, so in all likelihood, Shadow Moon Hall would not have any chance to lay claim to it.
The trio travelled deeper into the interior of this Ancient Sect Ruin and saw many grand palaces and pavilions which, despite being left idle for over ten thousand years, were still in almost pristine condition.
In their field of vision, many cultivators were already searching through these palaces, coming in and out, obviously exploring.
Yang Kai, Qian Tong, and Fei Zhi Tu exchanged a glance before immediately dispersing, each of them travelling to a different region to explore independently.
In the current situation, it was naturally more efficient to split up and search. Although the risk would increase a little, the three were not timid by any means so how could they act so restrained? There was not even a need for discussion before they made this decision.
After a while, Yang Kai walked out of a palace with a calm expression.
He had not gained anything. Although the palace was well-preserved, there was nothing of value inside.
This was also normal, and Yang Kai had expected it.
When he and the others were exploring High Heaven Sect for the first time, they had also not found much treasure left behind, so now Yang Kai was mentally prepared for this experience.
The cultivators who belonged to this ancient Sect may have taken away all their prized possessions before disaster befell them, so finding anything of worth remaining here was really a matter of luck.
Without pausing, Yang Kai quickly entered another palace.
At the same time, somewhere inside the Ancient Sect Ruins, a group of Origin Returning Realm masters gathered together led by a man in green robes and a man in blue robes. These two people were naturally Heaven Battling Union’s Union Master Qu Zheng and Thunder Typhoon Sect’s Sect Master Fang Peng.
At this moment, Qu Zheng held a communication artifact in his hand and poured his Divine Sense into it. After a while, he raised his head and said, “That little brat is ten kilometres west of here. Brother Fang, should we act now?”
Fang Peng pondered for a moment before asking, “Are Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu with him?”
“It seems they separated,” Qu Zheng replied, “But it doesn’t matter even if they are together. Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu wouldn’t even be able to block us for a moment.”
“Even if that’s true, those two belong to Shadow Moon Hall, if we really did something to them, Shadow Moon Hall would…” Fang Peng seemed a little hesitant.
“What thing is Shadow Moon Hall? Star Emperor Mountain is intervening in this matter personally. If Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu know what’s good for them, they would gladly back down, and if they don’t, hmph, Shadowed Star won’t mind another Sect disappearing.”
“Fair enough,” Fang Peng sneered, feeling that he was a bit too cautious.
“Father, since that kid has such a good relationship with Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu, shouldn’t we capture them so we can force him to act cautiously, lest innocents are hurt?” From the crowd, a brave and heroic-looking young man with piercing eyes proposed. This young man was holding a folding fan and had his hair tied up with golden threads which emphasised his white skin, giving him a free and unrestrained appearance.
If Yang Kai was here, he would definitely recognise this young man as Heaven Battling Union’s Young Union Master Qu Chang Feng, a famous rising star on Shadowed Star.
Yang Kai had a bad impression of Heaven Battling Union, and the primary reason for this was Qu Chang Feng. This young man’s playboy style was quite repugnant, and he had even tried to kill Yang Kai inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field once.
Yang Kai naturally would not have a good impression of him.
“Oh?” Qu Zheng raised his brow, “Why should we try to capture Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu? Those two old dogs are Third-Order Origin Realm cultivators, two Minor Realms higher than that little brat. Wouldn’t targeting them be more trouble than simply targeting him?”
Fang Peng and others also turned to look at Qu Chang Feng, somewhat puzzled by his proposal.
Qu Chang Feng just chuckled though as he snapped his folding fan open and fanned himself lightly, “Although that might be the case, as far as I know, that boy seems to be able to use Space Force. We may have a lot of manpower with us, but if we can’t thoroughly block him from fleeing, he may still be able to escape.”
“That little brat uses Space Force? Where did he learn that from?” Qu Zheng and Fang Peng both looked surprised.
“I accidentally heard Great Elder speak of it. Father might as well ask Great Elder about this; he should know more than I,” Qu Chang Feng didn’t explain much and instead turned his eyes towards an old man among the crowd, Heaven Battling Union’s Great Elder Mo Xiao Sheng.
Suddenly becoming the focus of attention, Mo Xiao Sheng stepped forward and said with a solemn expression, “Exactly, it is as the Young Union Master said. That Yang Kai does indeed have some attainment in the Dao of Space. This Elder witnessed him use it during the battle on Dragon Cave Mountain that day! Others may not have been able to notice, but the truth couldn’t be hidden from this Elder’s eyes as he also cultivates Space Force.”
“He actually cultivates Space Force?” Qu Zheng frowned as he asked with surprise. As the Master of Heaven Battling Union, Qu Zheng understood how difficult it was for someone to comprehend the Dao of Space.
This had nothing to do with cultivation aptitude, the Dao of Space was an esoteric field that was extremely difficult even to begin comprehending and even harder to cultivate afterwards. Great Elder Mo Xiao Sheng wouldn’t have even been able to touch upon this field if he had not had a fortuitous encounter many years ago, but even after all this time, his accomplishments in the Dao of Space were still extremely shallow with no way to seemingly go any further as well.
“Great Elder, in your opinion, what kind of mastery does that little brat have of the Dao of Space?”
“He only used Space Force once in front of this Elder that day, so it’s not easy to judge, but he should be on par with this old master,” Mo Xiao Sheng’s mouth twitched slightly. Although he was very unwilling to acknowledge Yang Kai’s accomplishments in this field as equal to his own, Mo Xiao Sheng had no other choice. Yang Kai suddenly disappearing from in front of him that day was clearly the result of using Space Force, a feat he could only match, not best.
It was precisely because of his comprehension of the Dao of Space that Mo Xiao Sheng could occupy the position of Heaven Battling Union’s Great Elder. Otherwise, just considering the density and purity of his Saint Qi, along with the degree to which he had condensed his Shi, there were several other Elders in the Union who were superior to him.
This point showed just how profound and mysterious the Dao of Space was.
“If that’s the case, this might be a little difficult,” Qu Zheng frowned. From what he knew about the Great Elder’s means, Qu Zheng understood just how difficult it was to capture a cultivator who cultivated Space Force alive.
Yang Kai was a trivial First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator who no one here put in their eyes, but knowing what they did now, none of them had complete confidence that they could capture him.
Anyone who could use Space Force had an unmatched advantage in speed and mobility, which made their ability to escape and outrun pursuers extremely high.
“That said, if we capture Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu, we really could add a layer of shackles to him,” Fang Peng pondered.
“Yes. Elder Liang, go monitor Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu. If you have an opportunity, capture them,” Qu Zheng ordered lightly, “If Shadow Moon Hall makes a fuss I’ll handle them.”
“Yes!” The Elder named Liang Yong, who let Yang Kai pass through before, immediately set off.
“Father, I have a presumptuous request!” Qu Chang Feng put away his folding fan and cupped his fists respectfully.
“Let’s hear it!” Qu Zheng doted on his son greatly so he would not dismiss him out of hand in front of so many people.
“If we really block off all of Yang Kai’s paths of retreat, please let me fight him!” Qu Chang Feng said solemnly.
“You?”
“Yes! During that battle on Battle of Dragon Cave Mountain, that boy made a big name for himself and is now being touted as the strongest of the younger generation. There are even rumours on Shadowed Star saying that his strength is not inferior to that of a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master. I, on the other hand, think this is nothing but an exaggeration, so I wish to challenge him and prove who the true leader of this generation is,” Qu Chang Feng declared proudly. After finishing saying so, he even turned his head to look at another young man who was wearing simple robes and asked with a smile, “Brother Tian Zhong, what do you think?”
This young man was none other than Fang Tian Zhong, another famous rising star whose status equalled Qu Chang Feng. During this joint operation between Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect, both these extraordinary youths had tagged along.
With his arms still folded, Fang Tian Zhong heard Qu Chang Feng’s question and only raised his brow slightly before replying indifferently, “It’s all nothing but unwarranted rumours. How outsiders evaluate him has nothing to do with this Fang.”
“Really? Then why were you so eager to join this little hunt? Didn’t you want to see with your own eyes what Yang Kai’s strength was like and whether there was any disparity with yours?” Qu Chang Feng snickered and needled him with no trace of politeness, “This Qu is a man of action and came here simply to fight him. Since Brother Tian Zhong has no interest, this Qu will take the lead.”
“Do as you like!” Fang Tian Zhong snorted indifferently.
“Good, then it’s decided. Have our people monitor Yang Kai’s movements. When he enters a place where there are no outsiders, we will act. This mission was assigned to us by Star Emperor Mountain, so failure is not an option,” Qu Zheng was a decisive man so seeing that negotiations here were finished, he waved his hands and gave the command.
As for his son’s challenge to Yang Kai, he would not stop it. It was a good thing for his son to desire to compete.
Yang Kai was completely oblivious to these machinations and had no idea so many were monitoring and plotting against him at this moment.
Although this Ancient Sect Ruin was quite vast, there were many cultivators now combing it, and since Yang Kai did not want to stir up unnecessary conflict, he had purposefully chosen more remote locations to explore.
After a few days, Yang Kai had some gains; artifacts, pills, Secret Arts, Secret Techniques, and more.
However, compared to his trip to the Emperor Garden, this kind of harvest could only be described as pitiful, not giving Yang Kai the slightest satisfaction.
Still, it was better than nothing.
One day though, after entering the depths of a particular palace, he did not leave for several days. The Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect cultivators who had been monitoring his activities were at a loss seeing this, not understanding what Yang Kai had found or encountered.
Inside that palace, in a certain hidden underground room, Yang Kai was sitting cross-legged, circulating his Secret Art to absorb the nearby World Energy greedily.
In this hidden secret room, the World Energy aura was so dense it was visible to the naked eye, and there were even wisps of white silk threads lingering about. As Yang Kai breathed in, these pure white silk threads seemed to be attracted to him and quickly poured into his body.
As time passed, the number of these silk threads slowly decreased.
Pure Spirit Qi!
Yang Kai had never expected to have such an encounter in this place.
It was rumoured that there was a unique form of World Energy that could be directly absorbed by cultivators without the need to refine it with a Secret Art, instantly enhancing the cultivation realm and strength of the cultivator.
This was Pure Spirit Qi, and it had an indescribable effect on any cultivator, providing countless times more benefits than cultivating in the highest quality Earth Vein.
But Pure Spirit Qi was extremely rare and difficult to find. Even if it did manage to form in this world, it would quickly disperse and simply become part of the ambient World Energy unless it was specially stored.
This Ancient Sect Ruin was located above an excellent quality Earth Vein, and occasionally one or two strands of Pure Spirit Qi would be formed from it. This secret underground room was equipped with many profound Spirit Arrays that Yang Kai could not decipher, but there was a good chance they were explicitly designed to trap and preserve this Pure Spirit Qi.
One or two years of accumulation would not result in anything noticeable, and even the gathering of a hundred, or a thousand years would still be quite thin.
However, the accumulation of ten thousand years was quite shocking.
When Yang Kai opened the door of this room, he almost thought he saw an illusion as the Pure Spirit Qi inside had become so dense it was nearly solidified and tangible.
This unexpected discovery greatly excited Yang Kai, and after figuring out that this was really the rumoured Pure Spirit Qi, how could he hesitate? Closing the door to this secret room, Yang Kai immediately sat down and began to absorb everything he could.
Generally speaking, this kind of secret room where Pure Spirit Qi was being accumulated would only be opened once every few hundred years and was not meant for general cultivation. After all, although Pure Spirit Qi was extremely rare and valuable, it was simply too potent to increase one’s strength with.
It was mainly used to allow a cultivator who had encountered a bottleneck to break through.
Good steel was required to forge a quality blade.
When a cultivator broke through, the stronger the surrounding World Energy, the easier time they would have, and with Pure Spirit Qi as a catalyst, any cultivator could increase their chances and reduce the risk of breaking through.
But right now, this precious existence was being inhaled, strengthening his cultivation little by little. It was not an exaggeration to say that so much potent Pure Spirit Qi was enough to support the breakthrough of hundreds of cultivators.
It only took Yang Kai three days to absorb seventy percent of the Pure Spirit Qi in this room.
His own Saint Qi had become more and more powerful, and his realm had risen steadily to the peak of the First-Order Origin Realm!
However, at this moment, Yang Kai vaguely felt a layer of shackles impeding his progress, a bottleneck of sorts.
If it were any other cultivator, once they encountered this kind of impediment, they would need to calm their mind and spend time comprehending the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, spending a great deal of time to break through this bottleneck.
But Yang Kai was different. He had absorbed the Soul Remnants of many cultivators in realms higher than his own, so his comprehension of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao far exceeded his own realm. All he lacked at this moment was a certain degree of mental tempering.
Yet as long as he was willing, Yang Kai could still force himself to break through and arrive at the Second-Order Origin Returning Realm!
Yang Kai was not so eager for quick success though.
It hadn’t been long since he broke through to the First-Order Origin Returning Realm. Although Yang Kai had successfully condensed his Shi with the help of the Emperor Pressure emanating from the Emperor Garden, if he were to break through again so quickly, it would very likely cause some hidden dangers.
So, after pondering for a moment, Yang Kai decided against refining the remaining Pure Spirit Qi; nevertheless, just leaving it here would be too wasteful. After considering for a while, Yang Kai took out his communication artifact and poured his Divine Sense into it, wanting to contact Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu.
He planned to let the two of them absorb the remaining Pure Spirit Qi.
But to Yang Kai’s disappointment, Qian Tong did not respond!
This was somewhat strange. Although this Ancient Sect Ruin was not small, it wasn’t so big that these communication artifacts couldn’t reach each other. What happened to Qian Tong? Why did he respond to his message?
This development was not too surprising, though. Since this was the ruins of an Ancient Sect, there would no doubt be some locations that were isolated from the outside world. Perhaps Qian Tong was current inside some kind of shielded building.
Unable to contact Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu, and unable to bear just leaving this valuable Pure Spirit Qi behind, Yang Kai scratched his head for a while, uncertain of what to do.
However, after a while, his eyes lit up as he thought of an idea. Waving his hand, a fiery red light flew out of his body, spread its wings out, and transformed into a strange-looking bird.
Firebird Artifact Spirit!
Although it had no physical form, it possessed a high degree of sentience, so it shouldn’t be a problem for it to absorb the Pure Spirit Qi here; after all, it was even capable of refining the Sun’s True Fire.
Sure enough, after the Firebird flew out, it immediately cried out happily, opened its beak wide, and began sucking away the Pure Spirit Qi like a great whale.
The number of pure white silk threads of Pure Spirit Qi decreased at a rate visible to the naked eye.
…..
Outside the palace, more than twenty Origin Returning Realm masters from Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect had gathered.
This place was quiet and remote, making it a perfect location for them to act without worrying about being seen by outsiders.
Although using such a luxurious lineup to deal with a First-Order Origin Returning Realm felt like overkill, since the other party was skilled in the use of Space Force, Qu Zheng and Fang Peng did not dare act carelessly.
Now there is only one problem, one that left them all at a loss.
Yang Kai would not come out!
They were regularly using their Divine Senses to explore the inside of the palace, but they couldn’t detect his aura. However, according to a report from a master from Heaven Battling Union, he had seen Yang Kai enter this palace with his own eyes.
“Brother Qu, the little brat hasn’t run, has he?” Fang Peng asked impatiently.
“Brother Fang wouldn’t be questioning how this Qu handles his subordinates?” Qu Zheng asked in annoyance; he too wished he could rush inside and personally drag Yang Kai out.
“This Fang didn’t have such intentions, but Brother Qu also knows that little brat cultivates Space Force. Perhaps he noticed someone was watching him and quietly escaped,” Fang Peng frowned.
“Brother Fang’s worries too much. Although Deacon Jia is only a Second-Order Origin Realm cultivator, he has a unique concealment technique. If he wants to conceal himself to monitor someone, forget this little brat, even this Union Master is not certain he would notice. Since Deacon Jia said that brat is inside, he is definitely inside.”
“Subordinate is willing to use his head as a guarantee that the little brat is still inside this palace!” A dozen metres away, an old man with a white goatee quickly declared with complete confidence.
“Fine. If that’s the case, then we’ll continue to wait, but with so many of us gathered here now, that little brat must have noticed already. Perhaps he does not dare to come out,” Fang Peng snickered.
“That is no longer a matter he can decide,” Qu Zheng sneered.
Just as these words were spoken, a life aura appeared inside the palace, causing everyone’s eyes to light up. Using their Divine Senses to investigate, they quickly confirmed this life aura belonged to Yang Kai.
Soon, Yang Kai’s figure appeared from the main entrance of the palace, his brow furrowed slightly as if he was surprised, but he did not show any signs of anxiety as he stepped forward.
“He came out!” Fang Peng muttered in a low voice.
“Finally, at last!” Qu Zheng sneered, his eyes flashing a cold light, “It saves this Union Master from having to go in and drag him out.”
Yang Kai strode forward, his hands crossed behind his back calmly, the surprise on his face already replaced with extreme indifference. Not only did he not panic, but he did not even show any intention of trying to avoid the crowd outside, stepping out and glancing around as he grinned, “Quite a number.”
“Yang Kai!” Qu Chang Feng snapped his folding fan closed as he called out with a grin, “You’ve made this Young Master wait!”
“Heaven Battling Union, Thunder Typhoon Sect…” Yang Kai nodded lightly, with a smile on his face, “Good, good, so many of you waiting here must be to kill me, yes?”
“You think we need so many people to kill you? Yang Kai, don’t act so arrogant, you’re not qualified,” Qu Chang Feng laughed.
“Really? Then why are so many of you gathered here?”
“To prevent you from running away.”
“So that’s how it is!” A look of understanding appeared on Yang Kai’s face, “I was wondering why Elder Liang had been so accommodating before, so it was all to prepare for this moment. En, this is a good place to silence witnesses. Can I ask why? Although there are some grievances between us, they are far from warranting such a dramatic response, right?”
“Do you think this Young Master will tell you?” Qu Chang Feng smiled contemptuously.
“It doesn’t matter if you talk or not, I can guess. It’s all for the Starship, right?” Yang Kai coldly snorted.
The only thing that could move Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect to dispatch so many people for him was the Origin King Grade Starship.
This wasn’t just an ordinary Starship; it was also hope for all the masters on Shadowed Star to break through to the Origin King Realm.
Yang Kai frowned slightly as he secretly blamed himself for underestimating the allure of his Starship. He had not considered just how much turbulence the appearance of an Origin King Grade Starship would bring to Shadowed Star, but seeing this scene, he finally understood.
“Seems you’re not completely ignorant!” Qu Chang Feng did not try to deny it. Although Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect had indeed been ordered by Star Emperor Mountain to work together and seize Yang Kai this time, when all was said and done, this really was all about the Origin King Grade Starship.
Outside the palace, nearly thirty Origin Realm masters from Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect surrounded Yang Kai in an airtight formation with the leaders of the two great forces assuming personal command of the situation.
Although they had not taken any offensive action yet, various Shi were spread out over the surrounding few thousand metres, locking down the entire region. It was not an exaggeration to say that even trying to move a step inside this range would be difficult.
“Yang Kai, seeing how you are also the master of a Sect, if you are willing to surrender without a fight and waste your cultivation, this Young Master may be inclined to ask his honoured father and Sect Master Fang to give you a chance to survive!” Qu Chang Feng shouted while lightly fanning himself.
“Give me a chance to survive?” Yang Kai snickered without showing the slightest signs of panic, “What is this? Does Young Master Qu think that I’ve been backed into a corner here? That my only option is death? Are you all so confident you can force me to remain here?”
“It’s not confidence,” Qu Chang Feng slowly shook his head. “It’s simply a fact! Do you still believe you can flee from this place safely? Open your eyes and look how many of us there are here.”
“Do you think just having a few more people would help?” Yang Kai curled his lips.
“Hehe, if what you’re relying on is your Space Force, you should understand that you’re not the only one here who understands this power,” Qu Chang Feng sneered, “If you plan on using your Space Force to escape, this Young Master advises you to throw away that idea so as not to waste our time.”
Yang Kai’s expression darkened as he glanced around the crowd, his eyes quickly landing on Mo Xiao Sheng.
He had heard many times that the Great Elder of Heaven Battling Union cultivated Space Force, and although he had not seen it with his own eyes, there was no way so many rumours were all just false. Even now, this old man was watching him vigilantly, his Saint Qi locked onto him, apparently guarding against him using his Space Force to escape.
“What’s wrong? Has this Young Master exposed your plan?” Seeing Yang Kai hesitate, Qu Chang Feng laughed, thinking that he had hit upon Yang Kai’s weakness.
Yang Kai simply ignored him though and instead turned his gaze to Qu Zheng and Fang Peng, taking a light breath before narrowing his eyes and asking, “Do you two really want to do this?”
“Now that things have gotten to this point, is there any point in asking such nonsense? Waste your cultivation and we’ll let you keep your life!” Qu Zheng said indifferently in an unquestionable tone.
The order from Star Emperor Mountain was to capture Yang Kai alive so they could use him to force High Heaven Sect to surrender the Origin King Grade Starship. From the beginning, Qu Zheng and the others had no intention to kill Yang Kai. They had brought so many people simply to ensure they caught him.
“Haha,” Yang Kai grinned, “I had thought our two sides had not reached the point where all-out conflict was the only option, but since you two insist on compelling me, I hope you are able to bear this Yang’s anger!”
“Shameless boasting!” Qu Chang Feng shouted, “I’ll give you ten breaths of time to consider. After ten breaths, this Young Master will personally force you to submit!”
“There’s nothing to consider,” Yang Kai slowly shook his head, a sneer appearing on his face, “Young Master Qu, you should stop thinking so highly of yourself, because the truth is, you’re nothing!”
“Impudence!” Qu Chang Feng had never suffered such an insult. His suave posture was replaced by a ferocious visage, like a poisonous snake that had its tail stomped on and was now baring its fangs.
“From the first time I saw you, I felt you weren’t pleasing to the eye, but as long as you didn’t provoke me, I was disinclined to deal with you. Since you want to die, I’ll grant your request!” Yang Kai declared as he shot a sharp, aggressive look towards Qu Chang Feng.
The audience was shocked!
They had seen boldness before, but never like this.
Surrounded by nearly thirty Origin Returning Realm masters, this young man named Yang Kai not only did not flinch, he instead threatened Qu Chang Feng’s life in front of all of them. Was there something wrong with his head?
Didn’t Yang Kai see that he had already lost?
Even Qu Zheng and Fang Peng, who had incredible mental discipline, could not help feeling stunned as they secretly began wondering if Yang Kai had gone mad from the pressure.
But in the next moment, the expressions of these two changed dramatically as Yang Kai’s left eye flashed a golden light. From this golden light, a lotus bud appeared, flickered for an instant, then vanished.
Even Qu Zheng and Fang Peng, under the influence of that golden light, felt their thoughts become slightly confused.
By the time they recovered, cold sweat had appeared on their backs, but before they could collect themselves, a pitiful scream filled their ears. Looking towards the source of the sound, they saw Qu Chang Feng, who was acting arrogant just a moment ago, now holding his head and shouting, as if he was suffering from some kind of unbearable torture, red blood oozing from all seven of his orifices.
“Chang Feng!” Qu Zheng’s complexion changed drastically as he called out in panic and immediately rushed towards his son.
But before he could do anything, a loud bang resounded.
A gorgeous blood-red flower blossomed in that instant as Qu Chang Feng’s entire head burst apart. Blood sprayed out like a fountain from where his head once was before raining down and dying the surrounding earth red.
“Impossible!” Fang Peng could not help exclaiming in shock.
The Other Origin Returning Realm masters also stared at this scene with a mixture of shock and horror.
There was no sign of Yang Kai acting at all, yet Qu Chang Feng had now died inexplicably and in such a miserable manner.
Spiritual Energy! The only way one could kill without showing any physical signs was with Spiritual Energy. A moment ago, no matter who it was, as long as they were staring at Yang Kai they could feel their consciousness being disrupted with the appearance of that golden light.
There was also that indistinct lotus bud.
[How strong was his Spiritual Energy?] To kill a cultivator in the same realm in an instant, such a powerful Soul or strange Secret Technique, neither Qu Zheng nor Fang Peng had ever heard of anything like it.
If that Secret Technique had been targeting them just now… Many of the gathered masters could not help having such thoughts and feeling a chill shoot up their back, their hearts instantly beating fast.
“Father!” Fang Tian Zhong also turned pale as he gritted his teeth and called out to Fang Peng anxiously.
Both he and Qu Chang Feng were famous leaders of Shadowed Star’s younger generation, and although Qu Chang Feng’s daily conduct was somewhat disgraceful in Fang Tian Zhong’s opinion, the former’s skills were real. Fang Tian Zhong and he had fought for many years, each time their battle ending in a draw. In truth, the reason he had come here this time was just as Qu Chang Feng had said, to see whether Yang Kai was actually strong or weak.
But never had Fang Tian Zhong expected to witness such a scene.
Since Yang Kai could kill Qu Chang Feng in an instant, he could certainly do the same to him!
There was no longer any need to verify who was stronger or weaker, with such strength, even if Fang Tian Zhong and Qu Chang Feng joined forces they wouldn’t be able to defeat Yang Kai. Fang Tian Zhong’s heart trembled as his face filled with unwillingness.
He possessed an incredible background and even better aptitude. He had enjoyed the best cultivation resources and environment since he was born. He had already established his fame from a young age, and few among his generation were even worthy of his attention.
He had the capital to support his pride.
He could not even imagine what kind of opportunity Yang Kai had that led to him obtaining such terrifying combat power.
The tragic death of Qu Chang Feng had caused Fang Tian Zhong’s pride to be ground to dust and had left an indelible psychological shadow in his heart.
“Tian Zhong, withdraw. This is not a place you can intervene in!” Fang Peng frowned and ordered in a deep voice.
Qu Chang Feng’s fate was a harsh lesson, one he didn’t want his son to repeat.
“Yes!” Fang Tian Zhong gritted his teeth and shook his figure before retreating a thousand metres.
“Brother Qu!” Fang Peng called out to Qu Zheng.
Qu Zheng remained utterly stunned.
It seemed he had not yet recovered from the scene of his son’s tragic death, merely standing there blankly, his face filled with shock and disbelief.
“Not bad. Not bad at all. No one has decided to run,” Yang Kai smiled lightly. The golden light in his left eye had receded and a carefree expression appeared on his face, as if killing Qu Chang Feng had not required any effort for him, “Worthy of the two giants of Shadowed Star, your mental fortitude is commendable. Don’t worry, there’s no need to rush. None of you will be escaping here today.”
Saying so, Yang Kai pointed towards someone on his left, a cruel sneer appearing on his face, “You’re next!”
“Me?” The person pointed to by Yang Kai was a middle-aged woman whose beauty was only so-so but whose figure was quite alluring. She wore a water-blue dress and possessed a kind of mature charm.
Her strength was also not low, Second-Order Origin Returning Realm.
This middle-aged woman’s tender body could not help shivering when she was pointed at by Yang Kai, as if she had just received a death sentence. Her elegant face quickly wore an ugly, panicked expression as she could not help glancing over at Qu Zheng in fear, as if she wanted to seek protection.
But Qu Zheng still stood there dumbly, not paying any attention to her. Seeing how she could not count on her leader, the middle-aged woman gritted her teeth and shouted, “You want to take my life? Let us see if you have the ability!”
Everyone present suspected that Yang Kai killing Qu Chang Feng so easily was a result of him using a sneak attack, but this middle-aged woman’s strength was not only higher than Qu Chang Feng’s by a Minor Realm, she was also highly vigilant of Yang Kai now.
Saying so, this woman pushed her Saint Qi and quickly condensed a thin blue light curtain around herself, forming a solid barrier that made it look as if she was surrounded by some kind of bubble from a distance.
Not finished yet, this middle-aged woman hurriedly summoned a gauze-like artifact which after pouring her Saint Qi into immediately transformed into a second blue light curtain in front of her.
“Pointless struggling!” Yang Kai sneered as he summoned out a small arrow which fit in the palm of his hand.
Feather Spirit Arrow!
This strange artifact was something Yang Kai had only just obtained.
Yang Kai didn’t know how powerful this artifact was, but he estimated that it wasn’t low, so now was a good chance to experiment.
Facing the middle-aged woman, Yang Kai gently pointed the Feather Spirit Arrow forward, his movements looking calm and relaxed.
A shocking energy fluctuation burst out from the Feather Spirit Arrow in that instant as one of the jades inlaid in its shaft lit up and sent tiny glowing runes flowing across its length. As these runes flashed, they condensed into an illusionary arrow which suddenly shot out towards the middle-aged woman.
This illusionary arrow was pitch black in colour and its entire body seemed to be comprised of burning hot energy.
The Feather Spirit Arrow had been charged by Yang Kai’s own Saint Qi, so now that he was using its power, its characteristics were the same as his Demonic Flame.
The heat radiating from the illusionary arrow was so great it even distorted the surrounding space.
When Yang Kai attacked, the middle-aged woman immediately had a bad omen.
The black arrow shooting towards her was comparable to the full-powered strike of a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator!
[That’s not possible!] Even with the help of an artifact, a cultivator couldn’t produce an attack far beyond their own cultivation. The short black arrow had far exceeded the understanding of the middle-aged woman.
Could it be an Origin King Grade artifact? With such a thought, the middle-aged woman’s beautiful face changed colour, and she could not help letting out a panicked scream.
“Be careful!”
“Junior Sister Zhou, quickly dodge!”
Shouts came from all directions, clearly indicating that this woman from Heaven Battling Union, Zhou Ya, was quite popular. Seeing her in a life-threatening crisis at this moment, many called out towards her.
Some were even racing over towards Zhou Ya, wanting to help her.
How was Zhou Ya supposed to hide though? After sensing the immense power of this black arrow, she realised her situation was grave, but the speed of the black arrow was incredible, giving her no chance to avoid it.
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the pitch-black arrow arrived at the first blue light curtain Zhou Ya had erected using her blue gauze artifact.
Silently, this protective artifact she had often relied on in the past was instantly pierced, not playing any role at all. The black arrow was like a hot knife piercing butter, crushing dry weeds, and smashing rotten wood as it flew forward, easily piercing the second Saint Qi defence Zhou Ya had around her body.
*Xiu…*
A black streak of light shot out behind the middle-aged woman and disappeared in the next instant.
The masters who had rushed over to try to rescue Zhou Ya came to a halt as they stared towards her chest in utter shock and horror.
Zhou Ya also seemed to realise something was wrong and following her companions’ gazes looked down, her face going ashen in the next instant.
She saw a hole as big as a rice bowl that ran straight through her chest. At the top of the hole, her still-beating heart was even vaguely seen.
Strangely though, there was no blood flowing out of the wound.
“Union Master… Save me!” Zhou Ya’s expression collapsed as she stretched out her hand towards where Qu Zheng was standing, seemingly trying to grab hold of her own life.
However, her struggles were in vain.
The moment her words fell, black Demonic Flames flared up from her wound, followed by a short, terrified scream, then silence as Zhou Ya was quickly reduced to ash!
Gasps rang out from all around.
Yang Kai killing Qu Chang Feng in an instant just now was largely because he had launched a clever sneak attack, but Zhou Ya’s instant death was something he accomplished in a frontal clash. What’s more, he had even given his Zhou Ya a warning and allowed her to ready her defences before he struck.
Even so, it was an instant kill!
No one dared to despise Yang Kai any longer, their expressions all becoming solemn as fear flashed across their eyes.
With a First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivation, being able to kill a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master in a breath was a situation too difficult to believe. Perhaps their Union Master could accomplish this if he used his full strength, but did that mean this boy’s strength was already comparable to Qu Zheng’s?
On top of that, what was that short arrow-like artifact? Why was it so powerful?
Outside the palace, there was no sound as almost everyone was fully immersed in their shock.
Yang Kai nodded in satisfaction. Although he knew that the Feather Spirit Arrow was incredibly powerful, he had not expected it to be this strong. It was just a pity that its usage came with such significant restrictions, needing to be charged up first and even then it could only be used twice in combat.
“Why are you all just standing there gawking? Do you want to let him pick us off one by one? He’s just one person, what are you so afraid of? He’s just relying on the power of his artifact!” Fang Peng suddenly shouted out before sneering, “If this old master isn’t mistaken, the methods he used just now can only be used a few times in quick succession. Is just this enough to destroy your courage? Surround him, this old master wants to see if he really has three heads and six arms!”
Old ginger was truly spicier than young ginger, in the end. As Thunder Typhoon Sect’s Sect Master, Fang Peng’s vision and insight were far sharper than an ordinary cultivator’s. Although he knew little about Yang Kai’s Blossoming Lotus Secret Technique and his Feather Spirit Arrow, Fang Peng was still able to see through their respective weaknesses.
Needless to say, the Feather Spirit Arrow could only be used twice in battle.
As for the Blossoming Lotus Secret Technique, even with Yang Kai’s vast Spiritual Energy, using it was very taxing.
Even at his peak, after using the Blossoming Lotus three or four times, Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea would dry up.
The biggest reason Yang Kai used such powerful methods right from the start to kill two enemies was to deter others! There were too many enemies here for him to face, and although he was not afraid of them, if he couldn’t at least dampen their momentum, he would find himself in a troublesome spot.
The quick deaths of Qu Chang Feng and the middle-aged woman could put a great deal of psychological pressure on his opponents. In a duel between masters, aside from cultivation and methods, mindset also played a big factor in deciding who the victor was.
If one’s mental state was unstable, they would not be able to display their full strength.
Yang Kai’s plan had been half-successful, but it fell short at the last moment as Fang Peng exposed him to everyone.
These few words shook everyone out of their daze.
Hearing Fang Peng’s shout, everyone quickly came to their senses and carefully thought about what they just witnessed. No matter how strong a person was, they always had limits, let alone Yang Kai, who was just a First-Order Origin Returning Realm boy.
If he really had invincible strength, why choose to kill Qu Chang Feng and Zhou Ya? One of these two was a First-Order Origin Realm cultivator while the other was just a Second-Order.
If his strength was truly Heaven-defying, why not kill Qu Zheng and Fang Peng directly?
By only picking the soft persimmons, Yang Kai had exposed that he was just putting up a front.
Realising this, the crowd’s scattered momentum once again condensed and their fear disappeared, all using their artifacts and Secret Techniques one after another to bombard Yang Kai.
In an instant, colourful rays of light shot towards the spot where Yang Kai stood, causing the surrounding atmosphere to become extremely chaotic.
Facing attacks from more than twenty Origin Returning Realm masters, Yang Kai’s expression turned ugly as he hurriedly summoned his Purple Shield and activated its sandstorm ability to protect himself.
At the same time, the Firebird Artifact Spirit flew with a loud cry, opened its mouth wide, and sprayed out several washbasin-sized fireballs towards the attackers.
Not finished yet, Yang Kai summoned several dozen Golden Blood Threads and, under the guidance of his powerful Divine Sense, each one clashed with an incoming attack.
The battle instantly became heated instantly.
Yang Kai was at a severe disadvantage, and it was not long before his several dozen flailing Golden Blood Threads began to dim. Although the Artifact Spirit Firebird possessed great power two fists couldn’t block four strikes, and its body was quickly struck, scattered, then forced to re-condense, the cycle repeating over and over again.
The sandstorm guarding Yang Kai was scattered at an alarming rate, almost unable to maintain its shape and soon exposed his figure to the outside world.
Yang Kai grit his teeth and desperately tried to hold on in this extremely unfavourable situation.
Fang Peng stood aside, not in a hurry to make a move, just looking at Yang Kai’s awkward posture while laughing loudly, “Boy, it’s too late to regret now. This old master can spare your life, but some suffering is inevitable now. Who asked you to kill Young Master Qu?”
These words were laced with great meaning, as Fang Peng was taking pleasure in his partner’s misfortune. Qu Chang Feng had died tragically at Yang Kai’s hands, something Fang Peng was happy to see. Although he was temporarily cooperating with Heaven Battling Union, there were still a lot of grudges between the two forces. With Qu Chang Feng dying, Heaven Battling Union lost one of its most powerful youths, which was bound to be detrimental to its future development.
If things went well, when the next generation fully matured, no one would be able to compete with his son, Fang Tian Zhong.
*Boom boom boom!*
The spot where Yang Kai stood was impacted by several artifacts and Secret Techniques, causing a wide gap to form in the sandstorm created by the Purple Shield, exposing his figure.
At that moment, Heaven Battling Union’s Great Elder Mo Xiao Sheng’s figure appeared strangely in that spot with impeccable timing.
Like Yang Kai, he too had cultivated Space Force, so his actions were both quick and silent.
Pushing out his palm lightly, Mo Xiang Sheng’s hand passed through the gap in the sandstorm towards Yang Kai, potent Saint Qi surging from it.
With a cold snort, Yang Kai pushed out his own palm towards this attack, and when the two palms met, a burst of Saint Qi erupted.
A muffled bang rang out as Mo Xiao Sheng was sent several tens of metres backwards while Yang Kai’s figure also shook violently, exposing more flaws in his defence.
Facing a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master, the Great Elder of Heaven Battling Union no less, Yang Kai was able to pull off a draw, a reality that thoroughly shocked Mo Xiao Sheng.
However, although his sneak attack did not hurt Yang Kai, his goal had been achieved. Yang Kai had been thrown off balance and exposed many openings.
Everyone present was an Origin Returning Realm master, and their eyesight was naturally first-class, so none of them had missed the opportunity created by Mo Xiao Sheng, immediately pushing their Saint Qi even harder as they attacked Yang Kai.
*Hualala…*
The sandstorm completely dispersed, and the Purple Shield re-appeared, its glow severely diminished, indicating its spirituality had been greatly damaged. Yang Kai’s body was then completely submerged in countless attacks.
Although the Purple Shield was an Origin Grade High-Rank artifact and had strong defensive strength, it could not withstand the attacks of so many masters. Since Yang Kai summoned it until now, it had only managed to last ten breaths of time.
Fang Peng frowned though and quickly released his Divine Sense to investigate the situation.
He did not want Yang Kai to die like this. If Yang Kai died, High Heaven Sect would never compromise, and there would be no way to force them to hand over the Origin King Grade Starship.
However, his worries were unnecessary. Even after such an attack, Yang Kai’s life had not been extinguished and only his aura had become somewhat chaotic.
This was only to be expected though. If Yang Kai was capable of taking such an attack head-on and still remain unharmed, Fang Peng would need to consider whether he should be withdrawing.
When the light and dust dispersed, Yang Kai’s embarrassing appearance was revealed, and everyone’s spirits rose!
How mighty and domineering Yang Kai was just now? He had not placed anyone in his eyes and even killed two Origin Returning Realm masters in a flash, but now it seemed that was all he was worth…
The crowd flashed happy expressions as they assumed Yang Kai had exhausted his bag of tricks.
*Dida dida…*
A soft sound reached everyone’s ears as blood dripped from Yang Kai’s body, but strangely, his blood was golden in colour and exuded an amazing amount of vitality.
Standing in place, Yang Kai’s eyes were as sharp as a blade with cold light overflowing from them.
Obviously, he had become truly enraged.
“Boy, it seems this is the extent of your ability! You should refrain from shamelessly boasting in the future! Young people who do not know the immensity of Heaven and Earth always have to suffer a bit to see the reality. I advise you to surrender now without a fight!” Fang Peng laughed loudly, the muscles on his face twitching slightly as he did, but no one noticed.
Although he made light of Yang Kai, he was actually quite shocked in his heart.
[This little brat is a monster!] A trivial First-Order Origin Realm cultivator was able to withstand the indiscriminate bombardment of more than twenty Origin Returning Realm masters. Although he had only managed to resist for ten breaths, that was already enough to be called a miracle.
Even Fang Peng did not dare say he could do this. Did that mean the strength of this boy was comparable to his own then?
Moreover, Fang Peng had heard that Yang Kai was just a Third-Order Saint when he first arrived on Shadowed Star, yet after just ten years, he had now broken through to the Origin Returning Realm!
This rate of growth was astonishing.
No cultivator on Shadowed Star could achieve such terrifying growth in such a short period of time.
No cultivator could have such terrible combat power compared to their realm!
When Fang Peng looked at Yang Kai, it was as if he saw infinite possibilities and hope, hope to break through to the Origin King Realm!
This boy could not be allowed to grow anymore. He was already so terrifying with such low cultivation, so if he were really allowed to fully mature, who on Shadowed Star could possibly oppose him?
Today, Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect had thoroughly offended him, and if he had the opportunity in the future, he would definitely return it back a hundredfold. From the look in his eyes, Fang Peng could tell that Yang Kai was not one to easily forget his grudges.
[This boy must die!]
Fang Peng’s heart filled with murderous intent and dread as he secretly decided to kill Yang Kai once the task assigned by Star Emperor Mountain this time was completed. As long as this boy was alive, Fang Peng would have trouble just sleeping and eating.
“He’s already an arrow at the end of its flight, capture him!” Fang Peng shouted decisively. A long delay led to many problems, so he didn’t plan on hesitating.
When these words fell, half of the Origin Returning Realm masters rushed towards Yang Kai while the other half remained in place to prevent him from escaping.
In a blink, more than a dozen masters had approached to within ten metres of Yang Kai. At that moment though, the frustrated, hate-filled expression on Yang Kai’s face, as if he was incapable of fighting back any longer, suddenly transformed into a grin and he roared out in a furious voice.
“There was a path to the Heavens but you refused to take it, no gate to Hell but you still charged in. Since that’s the case, I will send you to the underworld myself!”
As he spoke, Yang Kai took out a wooden token the size of a palm. This wooden token had several complicated and subtle patterns carved onto it and radiated a mysterious power and brilliant, blinding light that.
“Not good!” Someone exclaimed, hurriedly wanting to withdraw.
But it was too late. The brilliant light which was being emitted by the wooden token suddenly spread to the surroundings and the dozen or so Origin Returning Realm masters near Yang Kai were engulfed in the next instant.
In the blink of an eye, these dozen Origin Returning Realm masters found themselves in a different world.
White clouds filled the sky as lush grass and trees surrounded them.
Everyone was stunned, with blank expressions filling their faces, unable to comprehend what their situation was.
At the same time, Fang Peng and the dozen or so Origin Returning Realm masters who did not move were also shocked as they stared blankly towards the scene in front of them.
In that instant, Yang Kai and a dozen of their companions had disappeared together without a trace. When the white light enveloped them, everyone seemed to disappear into thin air.
This was truly strange.
However, in the place where Yang Kai originally stood, there were some odd energy fluctuations.
An old man wearing Thunder Typhoon Sect robes and possessing a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivation frowned, as if he had noticed something, and raised his hand to attack. However, this attack only flew out a short distance before it was blocked by a thin invisible barrier.
“A Spirit Array!” The old man’s eyes bulged as he exclaimed in shock.
“Why is there a Spirit Array here?” Fang Peng’s expression was also ugly to the extreme. They had just driven Yang Kai into a corner and were on the verge of capturing him, but now this unexpected development had occurred.
Yang Kai and a dozen or so cultivators from their side were trapped inside this Spirit Array! People outside of the Spirit Array could not see them at all and were also blocked from entering it, so even if they wanted to rush in to assist their companions, they couldn’t.
But how could there be Spirit Array here?
If it had been here all along, it should have been triggered long ago, and it was even more impossible for it to suddenly activate at this critical moment. Could it be that Yang Kai was aware of it, gained control of it, and had been planning to use it when a crisis broke out?
This was also highly unlikely!
“Sect Master, this Spirit Array shouldn’t have been arranged here,” The old man seemed to have studied Spirit Arrays and was able to see some clues.
“It wasn’t arranged here?” Fang Peng frowned and looked at him, “Elder Zou, what do you mean? If this Spirit Array was not arranged here to begin with, are you saying that brat Yang Kai suddenly just arranged it?”
“It should be so,” Elder Zou gently nodded.
Fang Peng coldly snorted and said, “Although this old master doesn’t know much about Spirit Arrays, he at least knows that such a powerful Spirit Array cannot be easily arranged. Let’s not talk about all the auxiliary tools required to do this, just the amount of time required should be far greater than the instant that boy was provided, so how could he have instantly arranged a Spirit Array?”
“Sect Master, I believe the answer lies with that wooden token that boy took out,” Elder Zou said thoughtfully, “If this old master is correct, then that wooden token is very likely to be a long lost, legendary Array Plate!”
“Array Plate?” Fang Peng’s eyes narrowed, apparently having heard about Array Plates at some point. Staring at the old man surnamed Zou in amazement, he could not help asking, “Are you sure it was such a thing?”
“Besides this, this old master cannot think of another suitable reason to explain why this boy was able to instantly arrange such a Spirit Array. That wooden token was most likely an Array Plate with a Spirit Array sealed inside of it. Moreover, it is an extremely powerful Spirit Array.”
“How could he possibly have such a thing?” Fang Peng’s face went pale, “Can you crack this array?”
Elder Zou hesitated for a moment before answering, “If this old man was given two days, he would be able to crack it. Just now, this old man probed this Spirit Array slightly and discovered that it was quite powerful, so… two days is the fastest.”
“Two days…” Fang Peng smiled bitterly.
Such a long time was enough for spilt blood to go cold.
“It doesn’t matter what Spirit Array it is; we can just destroy it!” An angry shout suddenly rang out, causing Fang Peng’s look to shake. Turning his head, Fang Peng discovered that the speaker was Qu Zheng, but at this moment, Heaven Battling Union’s Union Master’s eyes were completely bloodshot and an extremely violent aura was pulsating from his body.
The pain of losing a son had obviously infuriated him!
“Ahem, Brother Qu, please restrain your grief!” Fang Peng put on a sorrowful expression and comforted while celebrating in his heart. No matter what kind of trouble Yang Kai caused him, it was nothing compared to Qu Zheng’s pain of having to bury his son.
However, since the two forces were now working together, Fang Peng had to at least keep up appearances, otherwise Qu Zheng would likely turn his anger on him.
“A mere Spirit Array is enough to block you?” Qu Zheng ground his teeth and shouted with a ferocious expression, “Break this damn thing and drag that little brat out for me! He and I are absolutely irreconcilable! This old master will rip his corpse into ten thousand pieces!”
“Brother Qu, calm yourself,” Fang Peng was taken aback, and quickly repeated, “You must stay calm.”
“You dare to stop me?” Qu Zheng glared at Fang Peng, “Whoever dares try to stop me will be this Qu’s enemy. This Qu will not let anyone off!”
Fang Peng frowned in displeasure as he said, “That boy truly deserves death. It is just as Brother Qu says, just as you cannot tolerate him, neither can this old master!”
“In that case, help this Qu break this Spirit Array, Brother Fang.”
“This Spirit Array definitely needs to be broken and that boy dragged out, but… Brother Qu, before we complete our task, that boy cannot die. Don’t forget who gave us this task, if Brother Qu kills that boy out of anger and causes us to fall short of success, I believe Brother Qu should understand the consequences.”
Qu Zheng shivered slightly when he heard these words and finally regained some of his composure, casting a glance towards a certain person among the crowd while revealing a look of dread before muttering, “What Brother Fang said is correct, this Qu was not thinking just now.”
“Good, as long as you understand,” Fang Peng breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was eager for Qu Zheng to kill Yang Kai and implicate Heaven Battling Union, his Thunder Typhoon Sect would not escape unpunished if such a thing happened. He had to dissuade Qu Zheng using both emotion and logic, and fortunately Qu Zheng had not yet reached a point where he couldn’t be reasoned with.
“But… after this matter is finished, that little brat must be handed over to this Qu. I want him to taste the most brutal torture this world has ever known!” Qu Zheng grit his teeth and shouted sternly.
“Certainly, after this matter is over, whether that boy lives or dies will be up to Brother Qu to decide,” Fang Peng nodded before shouting, “Stop standing around! Quickly break open this Spirit Array and capture that boy!”
“Yes!” The remaining dozen or so Origin Returning Realm masters simultaneously shouted before hurriedly summoning their respective artifacts and releasing their Secret Techniques towards the invisible barrier in front of them. Even Fang Tian Zhong, who had been observing from a thousand metres away, ran over and contributed his strength.
While these people attacked the Spirit Array from the outside, the dozen or so Origin Returning Realm masters who had been caught by Yang Kai looked around the inside the Spirit Array created by the Array Plate, confused.
A moment ago, they were attacking Yang Kai, but now they had suddenly come to this strange place, so they were at a bit of a loss. On top of that, after looking around, each of them realized they were no longer close to each other, all of them spread out somewhat.
“Brother Si Tu, what is this place?” Elder Liang Yong of Heaven Battling Union turned his head and asked someone not far away, Vice Sect Master Si Tu Hong of Thunder Typhoon Sect.
Before, it had been the two of them who let Yang Kai pass and join up with Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu.
“I don’t know, but it looks like we’re trapped in some kind of Spirit Array.”
“Spirit Array!” Liang Yong’s face changed slightly, “What about Yang Kai?”
“What do you think?” Si Tu Hong answered with a question of his own.
Liang Yong’s heart clenched before sinking considerably.
It wasn’t surprising that Liang Yong was panicked. Yang Kai managed to withstand the concentrated bombardment of so many people on his own, so now that he had a Spirit Array to support him, wouldn’t he be even more difficult to handle?
Moreover, Liang Yong was unable to find where Yang Kai was even when using his Divine Sense. In this weird place, it seemed that there were only his companions and himself, no one else.
Liang Yong naturally didn’t believe that this Spirit Array was just meant to trap them; Yang Kai would definitely have an additional hand to play.
“Everyone, gather together, don’t disperse.” Liang Yong suddenly yelled. He couldn’t find any trace of Yang Kai, but that didn’t matter. As long as he and his dozen or so companions stuck together and watched each other’s backs, they should be able to hold out until their allies outside broke this Spirit Array. If they spread out and allowed Yang Kai to defeat them one by one though, it was very likely they would be completely wiped out.
Yang Kai’s profound methods had left a deep impression on him.
Hearing Liang Yong’s call, everyone recovered their senses and quickly moved closer to where he was.
But at that moment, the change occurred.
The pure white, flawless clouds which were originally floating high up in the sky began dropping down at a frightening speed.
Although no one understood what was special about these white clouds, none of them dared allow them to approach unchallenged, instantly using their Movement Skills to avoid them while summoning their artifacts to attack.
However, the white clouds seemed to be completely intangible, so even if they were attacked, they only became slightly scattered and would soon reform.
“What the hell are those!” A middle-aged man shouted impatiently as he poured his Saint Qi into a long dagger-like artifact he was holding and slashed out fiercely, wanting to split apart the white clouds which were descending upon him.
This middle-aged man had a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivation and possessed great strength. The dagger he was wielding was an Origin Grade Mid-Rank artifact he had obtained accidentally in a mysterious cave many years ago and now regarded it as his most precious treasure. This dagger had helped him kill powerful enemies many times and was the artifact he most relied upon.
A shocking wave burst forth from the dagger and smoothly bisected the white cloud in front of the middle-aged man, allowing him to sneer and leap forward to pass through the opening he had made with a flicker.
But just as his figure was about to emerge from this split white cloud, the cloud which had been split in half quickly converged and immediately wrapped around him.
A startled shout rang out.
Immediately, the white clouds within a twenty-metre radius actually began to gather together and transform into a majestic lion.
This lion was more than seven metres tall, its entire body yellowish-brown in colour. Lifting its head up high, the lion let out a deafening roar as shocking energy fluctuations burst from its body.
At the same time, the abdomen of this giant lion visibly bulged, as if something was struggling inside of it, wanting to burst out.
Obviously, it was the middle-aged man who had been engulfed by the white clouds just now.
However, there was nothing he could do. The lion’s stomach swelled and shrank repeatedly as a shocking burst of energy pulsed from it, but soon, a crunching sound rang out, almost as if something was being crushed and ground down.
The movement inside the lion’s abdomen also stopped abruptly while the life aura of the middle-aged man was quickly dispersing.
“A Great Desert Lion?” Liang Yong exclaimed with a shocked expression on his face.
He was able to recognize what kind of Monster Beast this lion was at a glance, but it was a little different from a real Monster Beast. It didn’t emit any Monster Qi, but its form was definitely that of a Great Desert Lion. What’s more, the aura radiating from it was comparable to a fully matured Great Desert Lion!
A mature Great Desert Lion was a peak Ninth-Order Monster Beast, and in terms of combat capabilities, it was completely capable of overwhelming a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm human cultivator and could even win against ordinary Third-Orders.
As soon as Liang Yong’s words rang out, all the other surrounding white clouds began transforming and soon, massive and varied Monster Beasts began appearing all around the dozen or so remaining masters.
Giant Horn Rhinoceros, Deep Sea Flood Dragon, Profound Black Tiger, Roaring Moon Wolf, Ironback Centipede, Golden Poison Toad…
There were many different Monster Beasts here, each one belonging to an extremely fierce species.
Regardless of what type of Monster Beast it was, the weakest was Eighth-Order and there was no lack of those at the Ninth-Order; however, all of them were slightly different from orthodox Monster Beasts. Not only were they massive in size, but they also pulsed with astonishing energy.
As soon as these Monster Beasts took shape, they searched for the nearest target and began madly attacking the Origin Returning Realm masters.
There were so many Monster Beasts that everyone was instantly separated and forced to fight against at least three or four enemies.
The dozen or so Origin Realm masters from Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect quickly began letting out panic-filled screams. Although their cultivations weren’t low and their strength wasn’t weak, caught inside this strange Spirit Array and besieged by so many powerful Monster Beasts, they instantly found themselves at a massive disadvantage.
Yet what truly made them desperate was that these Monster Beasts seemed to be immortal. Even if they are cut to pieces, they would soon reform, making them incredibly difficult to deal with.
The first casualty appeared less than a half cup of tea’s worth of time after the battle began. No one was able to tell if the first to die was from Thunder Typhoon Sect or Heaven Battling Union, but in a moment of distraction, this man was struck by a giant horned lizard and tossed up into the air.
Before this man could land, a dark green dragon several dozen metres in length flew over from his side, opened its mouth, bared its giant fangs, and viciously bit down onto him.
The man’s protective layer of Saint Qi flashed violently but was ultimately unable to resist the force of the Deep Sea Flood Dragon’s bite.
*Ka…*
With a loud cracking sound, the layer of protective Saint Qi shattered and the man’s body was directly bitten in half. Blood splashed out all over the battlefield as the man died a truly miserable death.
The terrified scream this man released just before his death sent chills up his remaining companion’s spines. They were all struggling desperately, barely able to protect themselves and now their morale had taken a hit, causing their situations to instantly worsen
“Yang Kai, is hiding in the dark all you’re capable of? Get out here and fight this old master head-on!” Liang Yong angrily shouted.
Yang Kai’s hearty laughter rang out immediately, “Elder Liang, don’t try to irritate me, I’ll come out when the time is right, but in the meantime… Heh heh, you should all have a taste of this Spectral Cloud Array’s power. En, I’m looking forward to how many of you I can send to your graves!”
The voice was vague and seemed to be coming from close by but also from far away, making it impossible for Liang Yong to locate Yang Kai’s position. For a time, his face was ashen and desperate to the extreme.
But from Yang Kai’s words, he finally knew what this damned Spirit Array was.
Spectral Cloud Array! Liang Yong was not proficient in Spirit Arrays, and he didn’t know about the mysteries of this particular one, some others in his group couldn’t help exclaiming, “Spectral Cloud Array, it’s actually the Spectral Cloud Array, impossible! This Spirit Array was lost long ago and is impossible for anyone to arrange today!”
“Oh, this friend seems to be a bit more knowledgeable and has dabbled in Spirit Arrays. En, at the current level of Shadowed Star, no one can arrange a Spectral Cloud Array, but mine was not arranged by any living cultivator.”
“Does that mean…” The man’s expression changed drastically as he quickly understood.
No one currently being able to arrange it did not mean that no one from ancient times couldn’t.
The difficulty of arranging the Spectral Cloud Array lay with the white clouds which were in fact real clouds. A cultivator who wished to arrange a Spectral Cloud Array needed the incredible Divine Ability to reach the sky, refine the clouds, and seal the Soul Core and Essence of powerful Monster Beasts into them.
Currently, the strongest cultivators on Shadowed Star were only Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters. Who among them had the ability to refine the clouds in the sky?
Only an Origin King could possibly accomplish such a feat.
After this refinement was finished, these clouds could transform into Cloud Beasts which were capable of displaying the strength of the Monster Beast Soul which was sealed into them. Because they were simply condensed from clouds though, they were extremely difficult to destroy as they could quickly coalesce and re-form even if they were scattered to pieces.
The Array Plate of the Spectral Cloud Array was a treasure Yang Kai obtained when he entered the depths of the Emperor Garden the first time.
After refining and warming it in his body for so long, Yang Kai had only used it once, when he dove into the Emperor Garden for the second time and hunted the Seven Coloured Elk Variant.
That Seven Coloured Elk Variant’s speed was simply too great, and Yang Kai had no other way to constrain it than using this Spirit Array.
Apart from then, he had not used this Array Plate again.
However, being besieged by so many people this time was an excellent opportunity to display the power of the Array Plate.
Previously, when he, Fei Zhi Tu, and the others had fallen into the Spectral Cloud Array, they had barely been able to protect themselves, which showed just how powerful this Spirit Array was. Moreover, at that time, the Spectral Cloud Array was not being controlled by anyone and was simply attacking them autonomously, only able to display about twenty to thirty percent of its might.
Now that this Spirit Array was being controlled by Yang Kai, although he didn’t dare say he could exert one hundred percent of its power, seventy to eighty percent was entirely possible.
With his extremely powerful Divine Sense, it wasn’t difficult for Yang Kai to control the powerful Cloud Beasts. If his Divine Sense had been strong enough, he could have controlled more Cloud Beasts and killed those trapped within even more easily.
Hidden from view, Yang Kai Divine Sense flickered about, controlling each Cloud Beasts to attack the enemy, showing no mercy.
Now that he had torn face with Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect, Yang Kai certainly wouldn’t have any scruples when dealing with them.
He didn’t want to stir up trouble, but he was forced to do so. Since the other party wanted to deal with him, they should be prepared for the consequences.
More than a dozen Origin Returning Realm Masters were by no means a weak force, but they were now divided by all the Cloud Beasts, unable to group up to mount a proper defence.
As long as there was enough time, these Cloud Beasts killing all of these masters was inevitable.
However, Yang Kai suddenly frowned and turned to look at a certain position.
As the owner of the Spectral Cloud Array’s Array Plate, he could naturally perceive that the people outside were attacking that place fiercely at this moment, and they were not sparing any effort. It was likely that it wouldn’t be long before this Spirit Array was broken.
This wasn’t a result Yang Kai was willing to see.
After grumbling for a moment, Yang Kai waved his hand slightly and the Firebird Artifact Spirit flew out again, stretching its wings as a monstrous heat wave burst from its body.
“Go!” Yang Kai gave a light command, sending the Firebird out with orders to find opportunities to kill the enemy.
Yang Kai wasn’t finished though and quickly stretched out his hand again, this time summoning a green long sword into it. This long sword had no blade edge and looked extremely strange, especially the longan sized bead which was embedded in its hilt that seemed to have a tiny snake swimming about inside of it.
Verdant Dragon Bone Sword.
Saint Qi madly poured into it and the Dragon Bone Sword began releasing a terrifying majesty. In the next moment, a giant dark-green dragon appeared in front of Yang Kai, opening its mouth and letting out a loud dragon roar. Without even needing Yang Kai’s careful manipulation, it shook its head and waved its tail before rushing towards the nearest enemy.