“Why should I tell you about my relationship with him? Elder Cui, aren’t you sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong?” Luo Lan looked at the other party with disgust.
The man surnamed Cui snickered lowly, “If you don’t want to say, don’t. Why get so upset?”
After saying so, he turned to Yang Kai and said in a pointed tone, “Boy, the Severed World is very dangerous. Be careful not to die inside.”
Yang Kai squinted at him, his expression cold, not intending to make a response.
This attitude made the man surnamed Cui quite annoyed. Luo Lan slapping his face in public was one thing; after all, Luo Lan and he were both Sword Union Elders and their strength was even, but Yang Kai was just a trivial Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator, yet he dared act so arrogantly. This man surnamed Cui wanted to find an excuse to attack.
However, before he could even say anything to Yang Kai, a cold snort rang out from nearby, “What a farce, if your Sword Union has internal disputes, just solve them quickly by yourselves. Why put them on display here? Or do you want this old master to referee a fight between you two? The winner stays and the loser can scram!”
The man who spoke wore deep-purple robes and had a sturdy face, his expression calm and composed as an oppressive aura lingered about his body.
The man surnamed Cui and Luo Lan heard this voice and both their faces changed slightly.
Luo Lan let out a peal of light laughter as she said, “We’ve shown Senior Ni something embarrassing. This Mistress did not have such intentions.”
The man surnamed Cui also smiled politely and said, “Senior Ni need not pay it any mind, I was simply making a joke with Elder Luo.”
“Hmph!” Senior Ni coldly snorted, not putting Luo Lan or the man surnamed Cui in his eyes at all as he snapped, “Since that’s the case, then be quiet and don’t disturb this old master!”
Luo Lan and man surnamed Cui both looked embarrassed but didn’t say anything more, the man surnamed Cui simply shooting Yang Kai a cold glare, as if wanting to remember his appearance.
Just after arriving here, he had already become the target of an Origin King Realm for no apparent reason, a fact that caused Yang Kai’s mood to sink.
“That guy’s name is Cui Hong, an Elder of my Sword Union and a life and death friend of Li Ming Hai. Both are members of the Vice Union Master’s faction. When you enter the Severed World, you must be careful not to leave my side. He wouldn’t dare attack me head-on, but he’ll have no qualms about attacking you,” Luo Lan’s voice quietly reached Yang Kai’s ears and explained to him.
Yang Kai nodded imperceptibly before asking quietly, “Who is that Senior Ni? Both of you seemed quite wary of him.”
“His name is Ni Guang and he belongs to Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce,” Luo Lan replied, “He’s a Second-Order Origin King, so why wouldn’t Cui Hong and I fear him?”
“So that’s how it is!” Yang Kai understood and glanced over towards Ni Guang.
When Yang Kai did so though, his eyes happened to meet with those of another person standing next to Ni Guang.
Yang Kai was instantly startled.
The owner of this other pair of eyes was smiling towards him meaningfully, staring at Yang Kai quite enthusiastically.
Yang Kai’s expression filled with bitterness and he almost couldn’t stop himself from cursing, quickly turning his eyes away, lowering his head, half covering his face with his hands while silently chanting to himself, ‘you can’t see me, you can’t see me, you can’t see me…’
This was obviously a pitiful attempt at self-deception…
After he and Luo Lan arrived here, Yang Kai hadn’t paid too much attention to the cultivators who had arrived earlier, and only now did he realize that an old acquaintance of his was next to Ni Guang.
With a face like jade and an all but perfect body, white skin that would make any woman jealous and an enchanting smile that could make any female, and even many males, entranced with just a single glance.
Hold a folding fan in a suave manner, no matter what kind of young talent they were, they would definitely feel inferior in front of him, as if he was born to stand above them all!
Simply synonymous with perfection!
This ‘young man’… if it wasn’t Third Young Master Xue Yue, who would it be?
The last time Yang Kai met Xue Yue was in the Emperor Garden, where they had ended up fighting. Fortunately, with the closure of the Emperor Garden, Yang Kai managed to escape from her entanglement, but he never expected to meet her again outside this Severed World.
However, it actually wasn’t too surprising once Yang Kai thought about it. The Severed World was filled with both opportunity and risk, and although its existence was only known to a few masters, Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce was one of the major forces in the Star Field, so they were obviously aware of it.
This time, a master like Ni Guang had been dispatched, so it was understandable that Xue Yue had also come for life experience.
Instantaneously, all kinds of thoughts flashed through Yang Kai’s mind, allowing him to understand the current situation.
Soon, he let out a sigh, raised his head, and stared directly into Xue Yue’s eyes, grinning at her widely, exhibiting a pose of a dead pig not fearing boiling water.
Xue Yue was stunned, as if never expecting Yang Kai would act so boldly. Even with Ni Guang by her side, this bastard still dared to stare back at her, causing her to be a little annoyed and send Yang Kai a vicious look, showing a variety of enchanting styles.
Showing such a posture when she had the outward appearance of a handsome man, however, seemed a bit improper, and those who didn’t know the truth and saw this would definitely think that there was something ‘special’ about Xue Yue’s preferences. But Yang Kai knew her details quite intimately, so seeing her make such a defeated expression only caused him to smile even more happily.
Yang Kai’s relationship with Xue Yue was complicated, to say the least.
While they could be loosely classified as enemies, it hadn’t reached the point where they wanted each other dead. Rather, it was Yang Kai who had learned Xue Yue’s greatest secret and Xue Yue who wanted to eliminate him to remove that threat.
However, Xue Yue never truly tried to silence the witness to the crime, and even if she dispatched some people to chase Yang Kai on Rainfall Star, she hadn’t acted ruthlessly, only sending two cultivators she knew Yang Kai would be able to kill.
In another sense, they could be considered friends, but there was a barrier between their hearts that made it all but impossible for them to truly weather wind and rain together.
Xue Yue essentially felt that Yang Kai had taken advantage of her many times and was so angry she wanted to teach him a harsh lesson so he would be obedient to her, but Yang Kai had also risked his life to save hers, earning her gratitude. The two opposing feelings in her heart left Xue Yue in quite an awkward and frustrating dilemma.
Yang Kai was equally confused about how to deal with his relationship with Xue Yue.
If she was just an ordinary woman, that would be one thing, but she was actually the successor that Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce’s President Ai Ou had set his hopes on. Perhaps Xue Yue would become President of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce in the future, but if her identity as a woman was exposed, that would make it almost impossible for her to assume that position!
This was a secret she had to hide at all costs!
This obvious eye contact was naturally not missed by the Origin Kings nearby, with Luo Lan turning an amazed look to Yang Kai and asking quietly, “Do you know that young man? Do you know who he is?”
“I know, of course I know,” Yang Kai nodded.
Luo Lan said in astonishment, “You actually have such a wide range of contacts?”
Luo Lan had also only heard of the famous Third Young Master Xue Yue, but never seen him. Being able to recognize Xue Yue at a glance was entirely because of Ni Guang’s seemingly humble attitude towards Xue Yue.
In Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, Ni Guang was a Senior who had almost unlimited authority, so what other Third-Order Origin Returning Realm besides Xue Yue could he possibly act respectfully towards?
Ordinary Origin Returning Realm masters didn’t even have the qualifications to meet Ni Guang in person, much less stand beside him as an equal.
Moreover, Xue Yue’s appearance was exactly as the rumours had stated, stunning enough to fascinate any sentient being, man, woman, old, or young! Even a master like Luo Lan couldn’t help stealing a few more glances at ‘him’ after seeing Xue Yue.
“Are you friends?” Luo Lan asked again.
“Ahaha…” Yang Kai didn’t know how to answer this question, so he hesitated for a moment before saying. “I have some entanglements with him.”
“Entanglements…” Luo Lan’s heart sank, subconsciously thinking that there might be some hatred between Yang Kai and Xue Yue. If that was the case, his situation was certainly not good.
While the two were whispering here, Ni Guang and Xue Yue seemed to be talking about something as well, and after communicating for a moment, Ni Guang turned an interested look towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai had a bitter taste in his mouth, not knowing what Xue Yue had said to Ni Guang. If she had spoken some malicious remarks about him behind his back, there was a chance Ni Guang might act against him.
Thinking so, Yang Kai secretly told Luo Lan to immediately flee as soon as she saw something was wrong and give up on the Severed World.
How could Luo Lan dare disagree? At this moment she deeply regretted dragging Yang Kai here. If she had come alone, although the risk she faced later would definitely have greatly increased, at least she wouldn’t have to worry about just entering. She didn’t fear Cui Hong, but Ni Guang was different, as his Second-Order Origin King cultivation was enough for Luo Lan to withdraw voluntarily.
The conversation between Ni Guang and Xue Yue also seemed to come to an end, and the Second-Order Origin King Realm master was now staring at Yang Kai with piercing eyes, as if he wanted to see through him and into his thoughts.
Yang Kai felt immense pressure but continued to stare at Xue Yue without speaking.
Xue Yue just smiled innocently, opened her folding fan and waved it gently, completely acting the part of an elegant Young Lord.
During her many confrontations with Yang Kai, it was rare that she was able to see his defeated expression, so, even if she was borrowing Ni Guang’s might in order to suppress him, Xue Yue couldn’t help feeling happy!
“Young man, do you want to travel together with this old master?” Ni Guang suddenly asked.
As soon as this statement came out, the scattered Origin Kings nearby all wore startled looks and stared towards Yang Kai with strange and scrutinizing expressions.
None of them knew why Ni Guang would suddenly invite a mere Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator to join him, and one that had come here with Luo Lan from Sword Union at that.
This blatant act of poaching caused everyone to feel some confusion.
If Yang Kai was comparable to Ni Guang in strength, it would be understandable for him to want to form an alliance to explore the Severed World together.
But Yang Kai was nothing more than a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm boy, so what could Ni Guang possibly see in him that is worthy of his attention?
Yang Kai didn’t expect things to develop like this, thinking that the most likely scenario was Xue Yue bad-mouthing him to Ni Guang so that the latter would teach him a lesson. When Ni Guang sent out this invitation though, Yang Kai was not just taken aback, he was also quite suspicious, glancing over at Xue Yue and wondering what she was up to.
Xue Yue smiled triumphantly, still waving her fan as if she was simply enjoying the scenery, the expression on her face completely unreadable.
[Hateful woman!] Yang Kai cursed secretly in his heart.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai turned to Ni Guang, cupped his fists, and said, “Junior is moved by Senior’s kindness, but Junior’s strength is low, so he is afraid if he were to travel together with Senior, he would only become a burden.”
“Haha,” Ni Guang smiled lightly. “Seems you have some self-awareness, but… Since this old master has invited you, naturally he has the confidence to protect you, or are you questioning this old master’s strength and methods?”
Yang Kai frowned while Luo Lan’s face also changed slightly, silently urging Yang Kai to pay more attention to his words.
Yang Kai smiled hesitantly and continued to argue, “Senior has great strength and superb cultivation, Junior doesn’t dare doubt that, but… Junior came here today with Senior Luo, so…”
“A true man should act decisively and not quibble about such minor issues!” Ni Guang snorted coldly, seemingly dissatisfied with Yang Kai continuing to make excuses, taking a deep look at him, and declaring, “In that case, you and Elder Luo can join hands with this old master, what do you think?”
Instead of Yang Kai, Ni Guang’s last words were directed at Luo Lan.
Luo Lan was startled as hesitation and struggle flashed across her face, but she quickly composed herself, smiled, and replied, “Since Senior Ni has offered so kindly, it would be impolite for this Mistress to refuse.”
Saying so, she cast a meaningful glance towards Yang Kai before flying over towards Ni Guang first.
With Luo Lan agreeing already, Yang Kai was out of reasons to object so he could only sigh and chase after her.
Soon after, the pair arrived in front of Ni Guang and Xue Yue, forming a small group.
Among everyone present, originally, only Ni Guang had brought an Origin Returning Realm Junior, while the other Origin Kings came alone. Now that Luo Lan and Yang Kai had joined them, there were now four people in Ni Guang’s group.
If one only counted numbers, this group overwhelmed all others present, but… whether the two Origin Realm Juniors would be more help or hindrance was unclear.
After inviting Luo Lan and Yang Kai, Ni Guang seemed to lose interest in speaking and simply stood in the void, closing his eyes and resting.
After Luo Lan came over, she could not help acting somewhat cautious; after all, her cultivation was lower than Ni Guang’s and she belonged to a different great force, so she was somewhat uncomfortable.
Yang Kai was even less pleased and simply remained sullenly silent.
Xue Yue closed her folding fan and flashed a smile, “Brother Yang, who would have expected that we would meet once more, I didn’t expect to see you here, it must be fate.”
“What do you want?” Yang Kai glared at her and spat with no trace of politeness, “Let me say this first, I have no interest in crossing dragons and swords with other men, so don’t get close to me!”
Luo Lan’s head whipped back and her beautiful eyes flashed a strange light as she glanced back and forth between Yang Kai and Xue Yue, unable to hide her shock.
Even Ni Guang, who had just closed his eyes and calmed his mind, opened them wide once again, his expression turning into an extremely strange one.
“You…” Xue Yue didn’t think that Yang Kai would speak such shameless words as soon as he came over, causing her face to go completely red as she trembled in anger, “What… what nonsense crossing dragons and swords!?”
“Hmph!” Yang Kai snorted through his nostrils, putting on a haughty appearance, “What it means, you know in your heart.”
The ambiguity of his words made Xue Yue even more helpless. Coupled with Luo Lan and Ni Guang’s awkward gazes, Xue Yue could not control her emotions for a moment and blushed all the way to her neck.
“Ha… haha…” Luo Lan did not know what to say so she just let out some forced laughter, as if wanting to ease the embarrassment but only succeeding in making things more embarrassing for Xue Yue.
“You… if you dare to speak impertinently again, I’ll kill you!” Xue Yue ground her teeth and put on a look of absolute anger towards Yang Kai, as if trying to clarify her stance.
“Are you willing?” Yang Kai sneered, looking directly into Xue Yue’s eyes.
Xue Yue was speechless, her teeth grinding even harder as her Saint Qi began showing signs of welling up.
Ni Guang’s eyes narrowed and he let out a slight snicker, “Young man, your courage isn’t small, actually daring to speak such nonsense in front of this old master. No wonder Third Young Master has an interest in you, but… the nonsense stops here, no more trying to stir up trouble just to prove a point.”
Yang Kai grinned and shrugged his shoulders.
Since Ni Guang had given him such a warning, he could only comply. In fact, Yang Kai was only angry that Xue Yue had made things difficult for him and was trying to get some revenge.
After speaking, Ni Guang closed his eyes again, as if nothing happened just now.
On the contrary, uncertainty flashed across Luo Lan’s eyes as she stared at Yang Kai and Xue Yue for a while, as if trying to figure out if there really was some unspeakable secret between them.
Did the famous Xue Yue Third Young Master really like men and not women? Why else would he have looked so guilty just now? What exactly had transpired between these two shocking talents?
Just thinking about it for a moment caused Luo Lan’s face to blush…
“Come here!” Xue Yue suddenly spat out a breath, the blush on her face receding like a tide before she coldly called Yang Kai out and flew away.
She obviously wanted to find a more private location to talk with Yang Kai, lest he say something even more embarrassing.
Yang Kai frowned and wanted to ignore Xue Yue, but thinking about what kind of reaction Ni Guang might have, he sighed and followed after her.
“Young people are always ignorant and arrogant, Elder Luo doesn’t need to pay them any mind,” After the two left, Ni Guang suddenly muttered.
“Haha, it is as Senior Ni says,” Luo Lan gave a light laugh.
Thirty kilometres or so away from the entrance, Xue Yue stopped and turned to look back, her beautiful eyes flashing a complicated light. After Yang Kai came over, she immediately shouted, “Why are you acting like this!”
“Why are you doing this?” Yang Kai asked back.
“What’s wrong with me doing this?” Xue Yue grit her teeth.
“You could have just pretended to not see me and then nothing would have happened. Why drag me over to follow you?” Yang Kai spat; his stomach full of grievances.
“Don’t you know how dangerous the Severed World is? Even Origin Kings cannot guarantee their safety there. I asked Uncle Ni to let you join us to protect your safety! You really don’t know how to appreciate other people’s kindness!” Xue Yue snapped angrily, almost spitting in Yang Kai’s face.
Hearing this though, Yang Kai just smiled slyly as he stared at Xue Yue’s face.
“What?” Xue Yue began feeling somewhat anxious being stared at so aggressively and could not help taking two steps back.
“Didn’t you want to kill me? Since when do you care so much about my safety?” Yang Kai smiled and said, “I know your secret, so wouldn’t it be perfect for you if I died? That way, your secret will never be exposed. You are paying so much attention to me now though, it’s almost as if you’ve fallen for me. Is that what this is all about, Beautiful?”
Xue Yue heard this, curled her lips into a grin, and snickered, “Stop projecting your delusions onto me, just who do you think you are? Why would I, Xue Yue, ever be interested in a shameless guy like you?”
Yang Kai furrowed his brow hearing this and began stroking his chin, as if he was lost in thought. Seeing this caused Xue Yue’s heart to clench because she thought she had wounded his self-esteem, instantly becoming a bit regretful.
However, in the next instant, Yang Kai suddenly said earnestly, “Aren’t women supposed to have special feelings for their first man? Am I wrong?”
“Who is whose first man!?” Xue Yue ground her teeth hard as she spat angrily.
“Although there hasn’t been much progress between you and me, at the very least, we’ve been intimate, with no barriers between…” Before Yang Kai could finish his thought though, his expression changed, and he reached out to grasp towards the void in front of him.
Suddenly, a burst of Saint Qi erupted as Xue Yue’s hand was caught by Yang Kai’s in a tight grip.
With a loud bang, Yang Kai’s body shook slightly, but he did not retreat, instead taking the opportunity to clasp Xue Yue’s little hand and twist her around before using his free arm to lock her neck, holding her firmly in place.
Xue Yue still wanted to struggle, but Yang Kai had moved too fast for her to react.
In an instant, Xue Yue was subdued!
Her face changed slightly as she whispered, “When did you become so strong?”
“Don’t look down on others too much, Beautiful,” Yang Kai said while whispering into her ear, “Moreover, isn’t wanting to fight the moment we meet growing tiresome for you too?”
“Let go!” Xue Yue bit her thin lip lightly.
The hot breath on her ear made it feel like lightning was coursing through her veins, and the intense heat pressing against her back involuntarily made Xue Yue recall all the ‘intimacy’ she had shared with Yang Kai on that Dead Star so many years ago.
Naturally, whenever she thought about that time, full of unbridled contact…
“Let me go!” Xue Yue struggled, but found that she could not escape from Yang Kai’s grip at all, her voice couldn’t help lowering to a whisper, “If someone sees this, how do you plan to explain?”
Yang Kai stared at her red earlobes and laughed frivolously, “Your mouth says no, but your body is still quite honest!”
These ambiguous words only made Xue Yue feel even more embarrassed. Taking a deep breath and trying to sound as calm as possible, she said, “Don’t make trouble. Can you let go now? I promise I won’t act against you again.”
Yang Kai thought for a moment before nodding, “Good.”
Xue Yue’s attack just now did not carry any murderous intent. Obviously, she did not want his life, only to shut him up, so Yang Kai didn’t take it to heart.
Having reached an agreement, Yang Kai released Xue Yue’s hands.
The moment she regained her freedom, Xue Yue instantly opened a dozen metre distance between her and Yang Kai before turning around and glowering at him, wishing she could eat his flesh and drink his blood.
After a while though, she adjusted her somewhat messy clothes and calmed her mood.
“Tell me, what is your real goal here?” Yang Kai’s expression turned extremely serious, completely different from the lawless and obscene one he was just wearing.
Seeing this, Xue Yue had some trouble adapting…
“You didn’t ask that Ni Guang to invite me along for no reason, what do you want?”
“I said it was for your own good, don’t you believe me?” Xue Yue raised her brow.
“So you really do like me…” Yang Kai said deeply.
“Shameless!”
Yang Kai laughed loudly, “Just kidding, don’t be so serious.”
Xue Yue had to take a few deep breaths this time to regain her calm, “In the Emperor Garden, we never got to finish our transaction, or have you forgotten?”
“Deal?” Yang Kai frowned, “What deal?”
“You really forgot?” Xue Yue looked at him and sneered dismissively, “So that’s how it is, it looks like you were too busy flirting with that enchantress from Monster Emperor Star and completely forgot about what I said.”
Yang Kai grinned as he said, “Is that jealousy I hear…”
“Don’t flatter yourself!” Xue Yue yelled angrily.
“However, how did you know that she came from Monster Emperor Star? Did you investigate her later?” Yang Kai tilted his head and looked at her.
“Did I even need to?” Xue Yue raised her chin slightly and coldly snorted, “Where else but Monster Emperor Star could you find that kind of shameless enchantress?”
“Seems you did inquire about her…” Yang Kai muttered to himself. “Forget it, enough about that. I remember the deal you mentioned.”
“Took you long enough, where is it now then?”
“You mean the Stone Tablet which came out of the Stone Monument?”
“Yes!”
Yang Kai frowned slightly. Naturally, he remembered the scene from that time and about the transaction between himself and Xue Yue. Xue Yue had said at the time that as long as he handed over the stone tablet, the grievances between her and Yang Kai would be wiped clean and she would never trouble him again.
At that time, Yang Kai had also agreed, but before he could hand the stone tablet over to Xue Yue, the Emperor Garden closed without warning, resulting in them being unable to complete the exchange.
Later, Yang Kai learned that what was hidden in the stone tablet was the shocking Star Refining Art Secret Technique!
This was a supreme Secret Technique which allowed one to refine a Star Source, thus becoming a Star Master. Little Senior Sister Xia Ning Chang had been able to refine Tong Xuan Realm’s Star Source at the Saint King Realm for two reasons, one was because Tong Xuan Realm had grown incredibly weak and second because of the Star Refining Art.
If either of these two factors had been missing, with Xia Ning Chang’s cultivation at the time, she would not have been able to successfully refine Tong Xuan Realm’s Star Source and become its Star Master.
This was undoubtedly a Secret Technique that could shake the very foundation of the Star Field and set off a massive, bloody war. Its value was simply immeasurable.
Knowing nothing about the Star Refining Art, Yang Kai had not had any qualms about exchanging it for his peace of mind, but now that he did, it was, of course, impossible for him to hand it over easily, even if the other party was Xue Yue.
The relationship between the two of them was still somewhat unclear, so how could Yang Kai just give her such an incredible Secret Technique casually?
“Do you know what is recorded on that stone tablet?” Yang Kai asked seriously.
“I don’t know!” Xue Yue shook her head.
“You don’t know but you still want it?”
“Although I do not know what is recorded on it, I know it is the key to allowing my father to break through to the Third-Order Origin King! So, I have to obtain it!”
“President Ai Ou?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
Xue Yue’s father was naturally President Ai Ou of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce. Yang Kai had heard about this famous character before but had never met him. Currently, what Yang Kai knew was that Ai Ou was a Second-Order Origin King that had been unable to break through to the Third-Order for many years. Even so, with the backing of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, Ai Ou was not an existence that could be underestimated.
“Yes, so I hope you can give me that stone tablet so I can give it to my father!” Xue Yue looked at Yang Kai sincerely.
“How can you be so certain of what is recorded on it? Why are you confident that your father can break through to the Third-Order after obtaining it? You don’t even know what it is.”
Xue Yue smiled and said, “My Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce has a glorious inheritance stretching back over ten thousand years, so we possess some information that is not known to the public. This is something you should understand.”
Yang Kai nodded as he pondered to himself.
In a sense, Xue Yue was right. The Star Refining Art may really be the key to Ai Ou’s breakthrough to the Third Order; after all, with the identity and heritage of Ai Ou, a veteran Origin King, and the Star Refining Art, it would not be impossible for him to refine a Star Source, and once he succeeded, he would surely be able to successfully break through after receiving the blessings from that Star Source.
Of course, there would be some unavoidable risks involved in this process, risks that could result in his very Soul being extinguished.
After understanding this though, Yang Kai was also secretly surprised by the information held by Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce. The Star Refining Art was sealed in a Stone Monument deep inside the Emperor Garden, and before the Stone Monument was smashed, Yang Kai had not noticed anything out of the ordinary about it, but it seemed Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce knew about it in advance.
“I hope you can give me that thing!” Xue Yue looked at Yang Kai sincerely, “Even if it’s just a copy, it doesn’t matter. That stone tablet recorded some kind of Secret Technique or Secret Art, right? If that is the case, I don’t need the original stone tablet ontology, a copy will be enough.”
“I need to think about this,” Yang Kai thought for a while before saying.
“No problem,” Xue Yue readily agreed. “But before you make a decision, you’ll have to act together with me.”
Yang Kai chuckled, “With Ni Guang watching, I think it’s impossible for me to get away from you.”
“Who knows, your strongest talent is definitely escaping from trouble, so if I’m not careful, you’ll certainly try to flee,” Xue Yue snorted softly, “That’s why I let Uncle Ni invite you.”
This was Xue Yue’s main purpose in having Ni Guang invite Yang Kai to travel with them! When she saw Yang Kai arrive, Xue Yue knew that it was the perfect opportunity for her to finish the business between them.
“Since we have reached an agreement, let’s go back. The entrance to that place will open soon. Once we enter, do not run around aimlessly,” Yue Xue warned sternly.
“Understood.”
Soon after, the pair returned to the vicinity of the entrance again. Ni Guang still had his eyes closed while Luo Lan also stood aside and waited quietly. Seeing the two reappear, Luo Lan just gently nodded and did not ask anything.
“Xue Yue,” Yang Kai suddenly approached Xue Yue and called out softly.
“What do you want?” Xue Yue asked slightly nervously, frowning as she asked, “Can you not get so close?”
Yang Kai glanced at her strangely before asking, “Who are the people here. Do you know?”
Xue Yue said, “Some I know, some I don’t.”
“Then that person… do you know who he is?” Yang Kai said while glancing towards a certain direction.
Xue Yue quietly glanced over in the direction Yang Kai had looked and found an Origin King Realm master covered in thick black Qi with his face completely concealed. The black Qi around this man was like a living creature, twisting and churning in indistinct patterns, giving off an uncomfortable aura that made those nearby shudder.
“I’ve never seen or heard of him,” Xue Yue shivered involuntarily, and whispered back, “Why? Is there something wrong with him?”
“I don’t know if I’m thinking too much, but I’ve felt like he was paying attention to me for a while now,” Yang Kai frowned.
Xue Yue was stunned. Naturally, she didn’t think Yang Kai was imagining things. Yang Kai’s strength was not weak, and if someone was spying on him, he would definitely sense something, so since he had said so, it was very likely the master wrapped in black Qi was paying attention to him.
As if to confirm Yang Kai’s statement, when Xue Yue secretly stole a glance towards the other party, from the thick black Qi a strange, grating cackle rang out.
Xue Yue’s face turned pale.
“This person… is very dangerous. Don’t provoke him,” Ni Guang suddenly opened his eyes and whispered in a serious tone.
“Uncle Ni, what is his background?” Xue Yue asked.
“I don’t know,” Ni Guang shook his head, “Of all the Origin Kings I know and know of, none of them are similar to this person, but… this old master can tell he is very strong, possibly not weaker than me.”
“So, he’s also a Second-Order Origin King?”
“I can’t say for certain if he is a Second-Order, only if I fought with him would I be able to confirm it,” Ni Guang said slowly, “Regardless, don’t provoke him. This person’s aura is filled with cold, evil energy, so he must have cultivated some kind of demonic Secret Art.”
“I understand,” Xue Yue nodded obediently.
Next, in order to prevent Yang Kai from provoking someone who he shouldn’t, Xue Yue carefully introduced him to the origins and identities of the Origin Kings present. There were more than ten people present and Xue Yue knew eight of them. The rest she was not certain about but was able to make some guesses.
Yang Kai made sure to remember the appearances and identities of these masters in mind, in case of emergencies.
Outside the entrance, everyone continued to wait quietly.
From time to time, a new Origin King would rush over, find an open spot, and close their eyes to rest.
About three days later, a bright stream of purple light, which was particularly eye-catching, suddenly appeared from the distant Starry Sky.
When this purple light appeared, Ni Guang suddenly opened his eyes and stared deeply towards it, a slight frown appearing on his face as he coldly muttered, “That old dog also came…”
He seemed to know the identity of this person at a glance.
“Oh well, since he’s come, we can get started,” Ni Guang muttered again.
The aura which radiated from this purple stream of light was extremely powerful, not at all under Ni Guang’s, so it was apparent that whoever had arrived was a master at the Second-Order Origin King Realm. Aware of this, the faces of the First-Order Origin Kings who had already arrived changed slightly. Only the figure wrapped in black Qi let out a strange laugh, not caring at all about this new arrival.
Soon, the purple light arrived nearby and came to a stop before rapidly dissipating, revealing two figures.
Both of these two had a similar body shape, strong and burly, as if they had been carved from the same mould. On top of that, they both shared the same long purple hair which draped down over their shoulders, giving them a free and unrestrained appearance.
The two looked like brothers.
However, if one looked closely, they would realize this was not the case, because the cultivation gap between the two was quite large. One of them was a Second-Order Origin King while the other was just a Third-Order Origin Realm cultivator, the same as Xue Yue and Yang Kai.
After these two appeared, their eyes swept around the crowd and soon fixed on the pair from Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce.
Ni Guang and the Second-Order Origin King master exchanged looks…
Xue Yue’s gaze collided with the Third-Order Origin Realm cultivator…
Neither side showed weakness, not even flinching, their expressions remaining calm.
“Hahaha!” A loud burst of laughter sounded soon after as the purple-haired Second-Order Origin King boldly called out, “It seems this old master has come a little late and made everyone wait.”
“No one was waiting for you, Zi Long. Stop flattering yourself!” Ni Guang sneered.
“Oh, I thought Brother Ni would have wished I had come here sooner,” Zi Long grinned meaningfully.
“Even without you, this entrance can be opened, it would only take a few more people,” Ni Guang said lightly, “But since you are here, there’s no point in waiting any longer.”
“En. In that case, let’s proceed,” Zi Long smiled.
Hearing the conversation between the two, Yang Kai immediately realized who this man was.
The purple-haired Second-Order Origin King was none other than the Sect Master of Purple Star, Zi Long!
Realizing this, Yang Kai also understood that the Third-Order Origin Realm cultivator beside him was Purple Star’s Young Master, Zi Dong.
Yang Kai was not surprised that Zi Dong was here, because Gu Jian Xin had mentioned that Zi Dong and Xue Yue could be placed on equal footing with him, which meant Gu Jian Xin had acknowledged Zi Dong’s strength.
These three young ‘men’ were the most famous talents in the entire Star Field! Because the three of them represented the three different super forces and were considered future successors to them.
Under these three, there were also many other famous rising stars.
Such as the disciple of Senior Wu Dao, Xu Bin Bai, Shan Qing Luo of Monster Emperor Star and the heirs to the several Monster Race Tribal Lords; however, none had reputations as loud as these three.
It was undeniable that the future of the Star Field would be dominated by these people.
Yang Kai didn’t know if there was some kind of grievances between Zi Dong and Xue Yue, or if it was just the competitive spirit of the younger generation, but as soon as these two met, both of them seemed eager to fight one another, creating some tension in the air.
But now was not a good time for such things.
The arrival of Zi Long allowed the entrance to be opened, so with Ni Guang and Zi Long taking charge, all of the gathered Origin Kings began preparing.
After a brief discussion, the Origin Kings on the scene scattered around, each assuming a position near the entrance, waiting intently.
“Then… shall we begin?” Zi Long cast his gaze over to Ni Guang and asked inquisitively.
Ni Guang nodded lightly, and in the next moment, a majestic Saint Qi burst out of his body as he formed a complex series of signs with his hands before pushing his hands forward.
A beam of energy visible to the naked eye shot out from his palms and poured into the white circular entrance.
Zi Long let out a hearty laugh and also began pouring his Saint Qi into the entrance.
The other Origin Kings present followed suit one after another, even the man wrapped in black Qi who had yet to reveal his face, and appeared incredibly suspicious, did not slack off and cooperated with everyone else in this act.
Soon, a humming sound rang out from the white entrance and the Void Cracks which had originally been freely flowing about seemed to be restrained by an invisible power, freezing in place.
As for the entrance itself, it seemed to have become a bottomless pit, devouring all the Saint Qi poured into it by the many Origin Kings present without showing any signs of stopping.
Among all the people present, only Yang Kai, Xue Yue, and Zi Dong, who were Origin Realm cultivators, did not participate and simply watched from the sidelines.
This was not a surprise though, as they were still incomparable to true Origin Kings no matter how good their aptitude was, or how profound their heritage was. What they could contribute to this kind of forceful opening of the entrance to the Severed World was like a drop of water in the ocean, so instead of wasting their energy, it was better for them to retain their strength to deal with any possible dangers they faced after entering the Severed World.
Time passed slowly.
The expressions of each Origin King became difficult as they continued to pour their Saint Qi into the entrance, causing them a great deal of consumption.
Fortunately, they had prepared a lot of pills to restore their Saint Qi in advance and were taking them regularly to supplement their losses.
The difference in cultivation also became apparent.
For First-Order Origin Kings such as Luo Lan and Cui Hong, their faces now had fine beads of sweat dripping down them and their bodies were trembling slightly. Only the Second-Order masters such as Ni Guang and Zi Long were able to retain a calm image.
More and more Void Cracks became fixed at the entrance, and with the infusion of Saint Qi, the unstable fluctuations of these Void Crack gradually dissipated, leaving behind only stable Void Cracks.
Seeing this, Yang Kai realized how everyone would enter the Severed World.
Soon after, Yang Kai’s conjectures were proven correct. When the number of stable Void Cracks reached a certain number around the primary white entrance, Ni Guang suddenly shouted, “Good!”
As soon as these words fell, all the Origin Kings stopped pouring in their Saint Qi into the void, picked one of the stable Void Cracks, and dashed inside.
After someone passed through one of the stabilized Void Cracks, the Void Crack started to destabilize and begin flitting about again.
Ni Guang and Luo Lan stood side by side, beckoned to Yang Kai and Xue Yue, and after converging together, released their Saint Qi and rushed towards the biggest Void Crack.
From a short distance away, a purple streak of light flew past and Zi Long’s laughter rang out, “Brother Ni, this old master will be going on ahead. Make sure you don’t die inside!”
As soon as these words came out, Zi Long took Zi Dong and disappeared into one of the entrances.
Ni Guang coldly snorted and rushed into the largest Void Crack.
Suddenly, the surrounding space became silent and empty.
After everyone disappeared, the entrances began to warp and distort, with more and more Void Cracks constantly emerging, turning the temporarily stable region into one filled with even more danger than before. It was conceivable that even if just as many Origin Kings gathered here, they would be unable to open the entrance again.
If one wanted to enter this place, they could only wait for the next opportunity, and when that would be was completely unknown.
After Yang Kai followed Luo Lan into the Void Crack, he felt a sense of weightlessness, as if he was falling towards an endless abyss and his Soul felt a great deal of pressure. These were all telltale signs of a substantial spatial transmission.
Yang Kai could perceive that Luo Lan was working hard to resist the pressure coming at her from all directions, but such a transmission was really nothing to him; after all, he was proficient in Space Force. So he had long adapted to this kind of Space Force pressure.
The entire transmission process was extremely fast, almost feeling like a single flash before Yang Kai’s eyes were greeted by a completely different world’s scenery.
The sky was dim, and chaotic energy fluctuations abounded. There was no sun, nor moon, nor stars. The land was dry and desolate, without a single blade of grass and only dried up, cracked ravines.
The place where everyone appeared was in midair, so as soon as they entered, they immediately descended to the ground.
Yang Kai turned his head around and found that Ni Guang, Xue Yue, and Luo Lan were all there.
However, no one else seemed to be around.
This was also easy to understand; after all, each group entered this place through different Void Cracks, and for each Void Crack, there would naturally be a different teleportation location.
Circulating their Saint Qi, the four descended lightly, with Ni Guang and Luo Lan both showing relieved expressions.
“Fortunately, we didn’t appear somewhere dangerous,” Luo Lan said softly while Ni Guang nodded in agreement, feeling their luck was already quite good.
It was not always a smooth process for Origin Kings to enter the Severed World. Without even mentioning the many crises that could not be resolved by Origin Kings in this place, it was even said that there were dangers one could encounter upon entering this place that would pose a threat to ordinary Origin Kings.
Other than encountering an extremely powerful Monster Beast, it was entirely possible to fall as soon as one entered this place.
There were many Ninth-Order Monster Beasts here, with a few Tenth-Order Monster Beasts as well. There were even rumours about legendary Eleventh-Order and Twelfth-Order Monster Beasts existing here…
But luck seemed to be on their side for now.
After landing, Yang Kai noticed that this place was quite different from the Star Field.
The World Principles here seemed to be extremely powerful, and while his Saint Qi and Spiritual Energy did not seem to be affected… his Shi was quite heavily suppressed.
Trying to release his Shi, Yang Kai found that it was less than half as powerful as normal.
Perceiving his movements, Xue Yue said to the side, “Don’t bother, everyone is like this. Not only our Shi, but even Uncle Ni’s Domain is suppressed here. The World Principles here are powerful and profound, having a strong impact on both Shi and Domain.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly; his expression slightly relaxed.
Ni Guang looked around and released his Divine Sense. Only after confirming that there was nothing that could threaten him nearby, he turned his head to Luo Lan and said, “Elder Luo, what are you planning to do next?”
Luo Lan was startled and asked suspiciously, “Senior Ni means…”
Ni Guang pondered for a while before saying, “Let me be blunt, the reason this old master invited you was because Third Young Master wanted the young man accompanying us. As for Elder Luo, you were not part of this consideration. Before we entered this place, this old master did not have anything to say, but now that we are inside, this old master would like to clarify if you intend to act together with us or alone? Let me say this first though, this young man must accompany this old master.”
Although he did not know why Xue Yue insisted on having Yang Kai come with them, he knew that Xue Yue never did anything without a purpose.
Since Xue Yue wanted to keep Yang Kai close, she must have a good reason.
Seeing Luo Lan sink in contemplation, Ni Guang said, “If you come with this old master, it will be much safer for you, but this old master won’t guarantee you will gain any benefits. If you separate from this old master, although the risks will be higher, if you can obtain some rare opportunity here, it will be worthwhile.”
What Ni Guang meant was that even if they found something good here, he would not give anything to Luo Lan unless she contributed enough strength to help obtain it.
“I understand,” Luo Lan nodded, “But… I still want to travel with you; after all, Yang Kai was brought here by me, so this Mistress cannot just abandon him here.”
She did not dare act alone without Yang Kai.
Before learning that Yang Kai was proficient in Space Force, Luo Lan had not even planned on coming to the Severed World. She had received word of this place’s opening some time ago, but since she could not guarantee her own safety, she had not thought about entering.
Her coming here was a decision she made almost entirely based on knowing Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space.
As such, she did not want to be separated from Yang Kai.
Seeing her make this choice, Ni Guang didn’t show any change in expression, “If that is the case, we’ll go together. Just curious, Elder Luo: What is the main goal of your trip?”
Luo Lan glanced over at Yang Kai, pursed her lips, and smiled, “I have no special goal in mind, I simply planned to explore at will.”
She did not dare to say she was after a Shocking Void Beast, otherwise, with Ni Guang’s shrewdness, he would definitely be able to infer something.
The group of four people decided to find a nearby place to adjust their breathing after some discussions; after all, the process of opening the entrance to the Severed World had caused both Ni Guang and Luo Lan to consume a great deal of their Saint Qi just now. In a place like this, which was filled with crisis, they needed to maintain their peak condition in order to cope with whatever they may encounter next.
Fortunately, there was not any obvious danger nearby, so Ni Guang simply led the group to the bottom of a ravine to conceal themselves.
The ravines here were quite deep and narrow, spreading out in all directions like a series of long canyons. After flying down and looking up, only a faint light could be seen, indicating they were at least a couple thousand metres below the surface.
At the bottom of the ravine, a chilly wind gusted continuously.
Yang Kai and Xue Yue were still at full strength, and although they were not Origin Kings, their strength wasn’t weak, so they were responsible for standing guard.
Ni Guang and Luo Lan each chose a location not far apart, took some pills, and sat down cross-legged to meditate.
Yang Kai guarded Luo Lan while Xue Yue guarded Ni Guang, each side performing their own duties.
The world seemed silent, with only the noise of the blustering wind echoing through the gully adding to the eerie stillness.
Xue Yue glanced around from time to time, seeming a little nervous.
Regardless of how high her cultivation was or how strong she was, she was still a woman. So, in such a gloomy environment, she instinctually became more vigilant.
Yang Kai wore an indifferent look as he simply closed his eyes and released his Divine Sense to monitor the surroundings to avoid any accidents.
Time passed slowly, and after an unknown period, Yang Kai suddenly opened his eyes…
He found himself lying on a bed, one that was wooden and quite uncomfortable. Looking up, he saw a simple roof which had holes in it and was leaking air everywhere. Turning around, the furnishings in this house were extremely sparse, with only a simple table and a chair, nothing else.
The scene felt quite familiar. Yang Kai could not help showing some doubt on his face as his mind felt hazy, making it impossible for him to think straight.
He instinctively felt that something was wrong, as if he had forgotten something important, and tried hard to remember, but this only caused a sharp pain in his head.
He could not even remember what he was doing before.
Shaking his head, Yang Kai got up from the simple wooden bed before opening the door and walking out. Standing in front of the small house, he took a look around…
Memories suddenly flooded back to him like a tide, and Yang Kai immediately recalled that he was currently a Trial Disciple of High Heaven Pavilion, but because he had been here for almost three years yet failed to meet the requirements of the Sect to become a formal disciple, he could only do odd jobs to earn a living while doing his best to cultivate at the same time.
There was a broom outside the house, and at this moment, the sky was not yet bright. It seemed to be the darkest hour before dawn.
Yang Kai could not help chuckling before stepping forward, picking up the broom, and beginning his day’s work.
The Sect had various roads which lead from the Contribution Hall, to the Training Hall, the Martial Skills Hall, and so on. All of which had the shadow of Yang Kai’s busy figure. All the roads were cleaned by him as he was the lowest-level disciple of High Heaven Pavilion, little more than a labourer.
As the sun rose and the day became light, many of Yang Kai’s fellow brothers gathered around, ready to challenge him.
In the end, a Junior Brother who only had a Fourth Stage Tempered Body cultivation won the right to challenge him, proceeded to trounce Yang Kai, then left.
Lying on the ground, breathing heavily, feeling his weakness and physical pain, Yang Kai slowly clenched his fists.
Subconsciously, his gaze shifted towards a big tree not far away.
Atop the big tree, there was a figure standing quietly, her face difficult to see because it was covered by a thin veil. Her figure was slim and there was a small sapphire which adorned her brow, giving her a pure and flawless appearance.
Yang Kai looked at her quietly, inexplicably feeling that this woman was incredibly important to him, but unable to understand why he felt this way.
Their eyes only met for a moment before the veiled woman’s body flickered and disappeared.
The disappearance of this woman caused Yang Kai to feel a little pain in his heart, as if it was being gripped by a strong hand, making it difficult for him to breath. Yang Kai shook his head and picked himself up off the ground with difficulty, collected his broom off the ground, then step by step returned to his little cabin.
In the end, he failed to meet the Sect’s requirements before the time limit and ultimately failed to become a true disciple of High Heaven Pavilion…
Having been expelled from High Heaven Pavilion, Yang Kai quietly packed up his things into a small sack then descended the mountain road he had walked countless times before.
Standing in front of the mountain gate, Yang Kai looked back at the plaque engraved with the three words ‘High Heaven Pavilion’ and paused, as his thoughts fluttered.
He was only fifteen years old now, but his future had already been lost.
At the base of the mountain, a group of Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters were walking over, headed by a certain person holding a sword in her hand, her temperament as cold and clear as ice jade. She was like an ice fairy, exquisite and unblemished. She wore a pure white dress which was unstained by even the slightest bit of dust and was like the bright moon around which the stars gathered. Standing in the middle of her group, which was laughing and chatting, she soon arrived near Yang Kai.
Perceiving his abnormal state, the lead woman stopped, turned to Yang Kai, and lightly opened her lips, “Junior Brother, are you descending the mountain?”
Yang Kai turned his head and looked towards the source of the voice, but after seeing the other person’s face, he could not help feeling startled and blurting out, “Su Yan…”
As soon as he spoke this name though, Yang Kai became startled. Although he had been in High Heaven Pavilion for three years now and was familiar with this Eldest Senior Sister, even witnessing her heroic posture many times, the two of them had never exchanged a single word.
After all, the Eldest Senior Sister of High Heaven Pavilion was a lofty, aloof existence while Yang Kai was just a Trial Disciple, there was too much of a difference in strength and identity between them to simply casually chat.
He did not know why he would suddenly call out the other party’s name, and with such familiarity, as if he had called it countless times. It was as if he had done so in a state of dream-like reverie.
Su Yan’s brow furrowed, but her expression did not change much; however, the few Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters who were accompanying her, who were all not weak, immediately cast contemptuous eyes towards Yang Kai.
One of the more hot-tempered Senior Brothers even coldly snorted and without the slightest trace of politeness snapped, “Eldest Senior Sister’s name is not one you are qualified to call out!”
As soon as these words fell, a palm slapped towards Yang Kai.
A residual palm wind blew past him as Yang Kai was lifted up and thrown through the air, tumbling a few times before hitting the ground, blood overflowing from his mouth, his clothes covered in dust, making him look quite dishevelled.
Yang Kai was indifferent to the physical pain though and continued to frown as he fell to the ground, as if he had fallen into deep thought.
He did not understand why things were like this, all so familiar yet at the same time completely unfamiliar to him…
A fragrant wind brushed past Yang Kai’s nose in the next second as he saw a pair of jade feet land not far away. Looking up, he could see the beautiful and awe-inspiring image of Su Yan standing before him, like an immortal fairy.
“Eldest Senior Sister, don’t bother with him!” The Senior Brother who hit Yang Kai before coldly snorted with an unhappy look on his face.
Su Yan did not respond to him though and instead stretched out her hand to Yang Kai, as if she wanted to help him up.
Yang Kai hesitated for a moment before reaching out, taking Su Yan’s palm gently, and picking himself up.
The Senior Brother who already had a low opinion of Yang Kai now wore a twisted face as he glared at him with clear rage and hatred. Never had he expected that he had allowed Yang Kai to touch Eldest Senior Sister’s hand because of a simple beating.
Yang Kai stood dumbly on the spot while Su Yan stretched out her hand and patted the dust off his body, the seemingly eternal coldness on her face giving way to a slight warmth.
This gentle appearance stunned Yang Kai into a kind of trance.
“The outside world is extremely dangerous. After Junior Brother descends the mountain, he should set off as early as possible and be careful on the road. The sooner you depart, the earlier you will return,” Su Yan exhorted lightly before taking a deep look at Yang Kai then turning around and continuing on towards High Heaven Pavilion.
Yang Kai just stood in place and watched her leave, his heart feeling inexplicably empty as her figure slowly faded.
From the distance, the ridicule of the Senior Brother who had hit Yang Kai drifted over vaguely, “Eldest Senior Sister, that guy is just a Trial Disciple who was expelled from Sect and will never return, there’s no need to worry about him…”
“Is that so…” Su Yan’s voice sounded lightly. “He should be back.”
The beautiful woman’s figure continued into the distance until it finally disappeared.
Yang Kai’s gaze turned towards a different spot next, and in a remote corner, he saw another familiar Senior Sister wearing a green dress and a white veil covering her face standing there quietly.
A sudden gust of wind blew past at that moment, moving her veil and allowing Yang Kai to see her red lips moving slightly, as if she was saying something to him.
However, they were too far apart and Yang Kai was unable to hear what she said clearly. Before he could ask though, this Senior Sister disappeared.
In the end… all he ever learned about this Senior Sister was her name.
Xia Ning Chang!
For some reason, this was a name he felt he would remember for the rest of his life.
Yang Kai picked up his bag which had fallen to the ground, turned around, and strode away.
Yang Kai did not take part in the Yang Family Inheritance War in the Central Capital because he wasn’t strong enough and was unable to win over any support. Even participating would have been pointless.
His Eldest Brother Yang Wei successfully became the next candidate for Yang Family Patriarch with his own extraordinary strength and prestige, earning him the hopes of the family and their vigorous training.
Time flew by and soon, Yang Kai turned eighteen.
His father, Yang Ying Feng, and his mother, Dong Su Zhu, arranged a marriage for him. The other party was a woman from his mother’s family, and they were considered a good match.
Yang Kai did not have much choice in the matter of course. His persistent pursuit of the Martial Dao had yielded almost no gains, and as a member of the Yang Family, he had to at least contribute something to the Yang Family by leaving behind descendants.
He married the woman smoothly and fathered a few children.
During the day, he would work hard in one of the Yang Family’s businesses and at night he would return to his home and spend a pleasant time with his family. His wife and children were always obedient and respectful to him.
He lived a very happy family life.
But… somewhere in Yang Kai’s heart, he could not help feeling something was wrong.
He felt that his life shouldn’t be like this, that he should have had some kind of Heaven defying opportunity which set him on a completely different path.
He tried to dispel such absurd thoughts but found that, like wine, the longer they fermented, the stronger they became, not dispersing but instead threatening to burst out at any moment.
In addition, Yang Kai would occasionally see faces of people he was certain he never met before. There were men, women, old, and young among these people, all of whom he felt remarkably familiar with and could even call out their names.
Old Demon, Ling Tai Xu, Chu Ling Xiao, Fei Yu, Li Wan, Fei Jian, Cang Yan, Li Rong, Han Fei, Xue Yue, Wu Yi, Ye Xi Yun, Dai Yuan, Qian Tong…
These people were entrenched in Yang Kai’s subconscious mind, each of them seemingly calling out to him, constantly trying to tell him something, but Yang Kai was never able to hear what it was they were saying.
The days passed without surprise or danger, and Yang Kai soon entered the twilight years of his life…
At the age of seventy, with a house full of children and grandchildren, his parents having passed away long ago, everything around Yang Kai seemed to have changed. The only thing that remained constant was the strange faces which kept appearing in his dreams.
These faces were getting clearer and clearer, and their faint voices were now almost audible.
Soon, a serious illness overcame Yang Kai and severely damaged his vitality.
Lying on his bed, Yang Kai could hear loud cries coming from outside the room from his children and grandchildren, making him realize he had little time left.
The wife who had accompanied him all his life had also lost her beautiful face by now and was just an ordinary old woman, but in these last moments, she still remained by his side, taking care of him diligently.
[This life… was pretty good, right?] Yang Kai thought feebly, looking at his wife beside his bed with muddy eyes, the long years having turned her hair grey.
Yang Kai managed to squeeze out a smile at her after seeing this.
But to Yang Kai’s surprise, his wife who had always been deferential to him in the past, at this moment, only wore a cold expression on her face as she glared at him.
“You…” Yang Kai opened his mouth as he tried to speak.
The other party cut in though with a crisp and sweet voice, which should not belong to that of an old woman but rather a young one, “Finally, I’ll be free! I have been dragged down by you for an entire lifetime, but at long last, I can be liberated!”
“You… why would you say that?” Yang Kai looked at her sadly, his eyes full of pain and disappointment.
“Then what should I say?” The other party sneered, “Do you think I should be thankful to you? If it were not for your Yang Family’s overbearing strength, how could I have been forced to marry you all those years ago? You are just an ordinary, mediocre man, Yang Kai. If you were not born into the Yang Family, you wouldn’t even be as good as an ordinary mortal! Even so, you not only wasted your life but mine as well!”
“Is this what you truly feel in your heart?”
“Yes! Disappointed?” The other party sneered, her smile cruel like she wanted to pierce a sharp knife into Yang Kai’s heart.
Yang Kai, however, just chuckled and closed his eyes.
The old woman sitting by the bed smiled even colder.
At that moment though, Yang Kai suddenly muttered, “I am not delusional. To be honest, you did well these past few decades, but… I know, this is all just an illusion.”
“What?” The old woman’s face changed drastically as she stood up and stared at Yang Kai incredulously, “Do you know what you are saying?”
“At this time, you want to tear face with me and deliver a devastating blow to my mind at the moment I am most satisfied in order to plunge me into despair, right?” Yang Kai opened his eyes again, the murkiness in them having disappeared and been replaced with a sharp light. Sneering, he retorted, “Even those who are crying outside must be planning to rush in here soon and laugh at me as they watch me die, yes?”
“How could you…” The old woman’s complexion went blue.
“Why wouldn’t I have figured it out? I became aware of the truth more than thirty years ago, remembering everything that I should remember!”
“Since you knew, why did you still cooperate?” The old woman’s face turned grim.
“Haha…” Yang Kai smiled, sat up straight from the bed, and said, “Because I have never experienced this kind of life, and since you gave me an opportunity, I wanted to take advantage of it. This was a perfect way to hone my state of mind, after all.”
The familiar yet unfamiliar faces which kept flashing across Yang Kai’s mind, and the words they kept trying to convey to him, had finally made him remember everything all those years ago and allowed him to realize he had been caught in an elaborate illusion.
Yang Kai was shocked at that time!
He did not know when he had been ambushed, as he hadn’t noticed the presence of any enemies. He remembered that he was standing guard over Luo Lan and Ni Guang with Xue Yue, but there were no threats around them at that time.
The entire situation was too strange.
This only proved that this mysterious enemy had such powerful Spiritual Energy that it was able to invade his Knowledge Sea without his knowing and tamper with his memories, affecting his very thoughts and making him forget what he should remember. Everything about his life had been twisted and changed, almost beyond recognition.
When he realized this, Yang Kai did not rush to act.
For one thing, he did not know who the enemy was and taking action rashly might have unintended consequences. Secondly, as he said, this kind of life was something he had never experienced before, and it was indeed quite a wonderful experience. Of course… if his ‘wife’ who had accompanied him throughout his life had continued to play her part and had sent him off peacefully, that would have been for the best.
But at the last moment, she wanted to destroy Yang Kai’s rare and precious experience in order to plunge him into desperation.
In the end, a person will always have only one life.
Living a second, alternative life was nothing but an extravagant dream. As for the matter of reincarnation, that was an elusive and ethereal concept. Even if reincarnation was real, who could reincarnate with the memories of their previous life, or even guarantee they would be human again in their next?
Yang Kai, however, was able to experience something almost equivalent to that, although it was only for a short seventy years…
When his voice fell, the crying children and grandchildren outside also stopped their meaningless play and instead began letting out eerie howls which could terrify any who heard them.
The old woman sneered, “You think you can just sit back and relax after having seen through the illusion? You think too highly of yourself. If you had revealed it earlier, you might have been able to escape from this place, but after so much time has passed, it is now impossible for you to free yourself! Your Soul will forever be trapped here!”
“Really?” Yang Kai’s expression remained unchanged for a moment before he smirked, “It looks like you can’t attack me directly and have to rely on manipulating my memories to influence me, right?”
With her abilities and their limitations so easily exposed, the old woman’s expression darkened noticeably.
After all, if she could directly attack, judging from the current situation, the old woman would not just stand by. In fact, it was her putting on a strong act and screaming that betrayed her lack of confidence.
“We should put an end to this now, but… I still must thank you. The experiences this life has given me have tempered my mind greatly, and I am much more confident about breaking through to the Origin King Realm now,” Yang Kai smiled lightly.
Yang Kai’s problem was that his strength had improved too quickly. Since he began cultivating until now, it had taken him less than forty years to reach the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm. But Great strength had to be matched with a strong mind and experience, otherwise, there was a great chance one would experience a dissonance in their cultivation.
This was Yang Kai’s greatest shortcoming.
But this time’s experience had made up for this deficiency, and no matter how much time or how little time had passed outside, in his mind, seventy years had passed, giving him the necessary psychological accumulation he needed to break through to the next realm.
He really wanted to thank this unknown party for giving him such an opportunity.
This alone was enough to make this trip to the Severed World worthwhile. Even if he obtained no gains during the following period here, it did not matter.
Yang Kai now intended to find a place to break through to the Origin King Realm after leaving the Severed World and already had one destination in mind.
He had great confidence in his ability to break through to the Origin King Realm, and with this experience, it was now almost a matter of course.
As soon as Yang Kai spoke these words of thanks, the anxious-looking old woman suddenly distorted greatly, changing into an ominous black entity that screamed and howled as it lunged at Yang Kai.
At the same time, a massive amount of black Qi flowed in from outside the room and rushed towards Yang Kai like a tide.
Yang Kai just snorted coldly, closed his eyes, then opened them again as he activated his Demon Eye of Annihilation.
The Demon Eye of Annihilation had the profound ability to see through all illusions.
As soon as the demon eye appeared, everything around Yang Kai began to collapse like a shattered mirror, beginning with the room, then the Yang Family Mansion, then the entire world.
The black shadows that rushed towards Yang Kai did not harm him at all. As he had suspected, these black shadows had no direct means of attack and could only target the negative emotions in one’s heart, causing them to fall into illusions.
The black shadows passed through Yang Kai’s body and disappeared.
In the next moment, the illusion was broken.
Yang Kai returned to the real world.
Before he could react though, a gust of cold wind hit him from behind so he hurriedly rolled forward to avoid the attack. Jumping to his feet and fixing his stance, Yang Kai turned back to confront his attacker.
What he saw was a kind of black shadow similar to the one in the illusion, but this mass of black shadows had the outline of a human, only lacking facial features but possessing arms and legs.
It seemed that the previous illusions were all caused by this black shadow.
And at this moment, it seemed this black shadow had suffered great damage. After all, it had used some kind of strange Secret Technique to drag Yang Kai into that illusion, so once the illusion broke it was inevitable it suffered a backlash.
Releasing a terrifying roar, the shadow pounced towards Yang Kai again.
Yang Kai waved his hand and sent out a Golden Blood Thread, cutting towards his opponent. But unexpectedly, the Golden Blood Thread did not affect the shadow, passing through it directly without causing any effective damage.
Yang Kai frowned, pushed his Saint Qi, and sent out a Heaven Covering Hand.
The huge palm covered the black shadow’s body but also failed to affect it in any way.
After only a brief delay, the shadow rushed forward again.
“The Golden Blood Thread is useless, as is Saint Qi Secret Techniques, it seems… only Spiritual Energy attacks are useful against you,” Yang Kai sneered as he stood in place without moving and a lotus bud appeared in his left eye.
Blossoming Lotus Secret Technique! Yang Kai’s most powerful Soul attack method.
In the face of such a weird shadow, he did not dare experiment anymore and immediately used his trump card.
The lotus pattern was fleeting, and in the next moment, it appeared around the black shadow’s body. The lotus bud began to bloom slowly, using the black shadows’ own power as a source of energy!
The black shadow suddenly stopped in place less than a meter from Yang Kai and collapsed to the ground, howling constantly.
By the time the lotus flower fully bloomed, the black shadow had already disappeared, leaving behind only a black lotus in its place which immediately collapsed and scattered to the wind.
Only now did Yang Kai have the time to investigate the situation of the others in his group.
Luo Lan was the closest to him, and when Yang Kai turned his head and looked towards her, he saw another human-shaped black shadow standing behind this First-Order Origin King. This black shadow was the same as the one he had eliminated just now and also strangely had no face.
At this moment, the black shadow was standing right behind Luo Lan and from its head, a tendril was protruding and had attached itself to the back of Luo Lan’s head.
A malevolent aura radiated from the black shadow’s body which was clearly affecting Luo Lan’s mind and pulling her Soul into an illusion.
Yang Kai didn’t know what kind of illusion Luo Lan was seeing, but her tender body was constantly trembling, and her complexion was fluctuating rapidly. Beads of sweat were dripping down her forehead and her breathing had become somewhat erratic.
“There’s more than one of these things?!” Yang Kai was startled.
He thought that the enemy that attacked him and Luo Lan was the same entity, but now that he had a chance to observe the situation, he realized there were more than one of these strange creatures.
Glancing over towards Xue Yue and Ni Guang in the distance, Yang Kai discovered that their situation was the same as Luo Lan’s, black, faceless, human-like shadows lurking behind them, manipulating them through some kind of illusion.
Clearly, no one had noticed when these shadows attacked, because even Ni Guang had been affected.
Looking at them like this, Yang Kai was certain they were in similar situations to the one he was in earlier.
The whipping winds at the bottom of the ravine suddenly carried over several howling voices at that moment.
Yang Kai felt a chill hearing these voices and upon turning his head around, his complexion could not help paling.
Stunned, Yang Kai discovered that, in all directions, countless humanoid shadows were appearing from the cracks in the earth. As soon as these shadows manifested, they turned their faceless faces towards Yang Kai, and even though they lacked eyes, he could not help feeling as he was being stared at menacingly.
“There are so many of them!” Yang Kai’s expression truly changed now.
Without hesitating, he rushed towards Luo Lan, gathered his Spiritual Energy into a spike, and struck the black shadow behind her back.
Yang Kai’s Spiritual Energy was incredibly powerful, not inferior to that of a master like Ni Guang’s, so just this attack was enough to damage the black shadow which was attacking Luo Lan. Shaking violently, the shadow dimmed greatly, as if it had suffered a serious injury.
With one more strike from his Divine Sense, Yang Kai was able to completely dislodge the black shadow which let out a miserable cry before dissipating.
Yang Kai calmed down after seeing this, realizing that these black shadows were not powerful and could easily be destroyed.
The problem, however, was there were too many of them.
Once the black shadow was extinguished, Luo Lan let out a cough as she finally broke free of the illusion, opened her eyes, and saw Yang Kai close at hand. Her eyes still showed some confusion though, indicating she was still suffering some aftereffects of the illusion.
Yang Kai quickly shouted at her, “Senior Luo, wake up quickly if you don’t want to die. Use your Spiritual Energy to deal with them.”
“Them?” Luo Lan frowned slightly, “Who?”
There was no need for Yang Kai to answer as, at that moment, many howling shadows rushed towards Luo Lan and Yang Kai.
Luo Lan let out a strange cry seeing this and finally reacted, stretching out her hand and summoning a hiltless dagger which released a radiating light from its blade. Under her control, the dagger flickered back and forth, cutting down any black shadow it impacted and scattering it to the wind.
When all was said and done, she was still an Origin King and this dazzling dagger was obviously a powerful Soul type artifact. Driven by her Spiritual Energy, it was the nemesis of these dark shadows.
Upon seeing this, Yang Kai composed himself and shouted, “Hold them back while I wake up Senior Ni and Xue Yue!”
“Hurry!” Cold sweat dripped from Luo Lan’s forehead as she urged. Even though she had only fought against these dark shadows for a short while, she already sensed how difficult it would be to withstand an attack from such a dense horde of them!
Luo Lan fought as she retreated towards the location where Ni Guang and Xue Yue were together with Yang Kai. As for the black shadows blocking the way, they were all defeated by Yang Kai’s Spiritual Energy.
Although he didn’t have a Soul type artifact like Luo Lan, his Soul cultivation was extremely strong, so he didn’t have trouble clearing out a few of the black shadows.
Soon, Yang Kai arrived by Ni Guang’s side and sent a spike of his Spiritual Energy into the black humanoid figure attacking the latter.
After two strikes, Ni Guang was freed!
The moment the black shadow was defeated, Ni Guang opened his eyes suddenly and a terrible pressure burst from his body.
Standing up sharply, he shouted, “Evil creature, you dare try to disturb this old master’s mind? Damn, it almost succeeded too!”
Looking at his momentum, Yang Kai realized he was in much better condition than Luo Lan. At the very least, even if Ni Guang had been caught off guard, he realized the true nature of his situation. The reason he had not been able to wake himself up must have been because he didn’t have a way to break the illusion he was trapped inside of.
After receiving Yang Kai’s help, he immediately regained control of himself.
With a flick of his sleeve, Ni Guang sent out a powerful shockwave in all directions.
“Senior Ni, these things aren’t affected by Saint Qi or artifacts, they can only be damaged by Spiritual Energy attacks!” Yang Kai quickly informed him.
“So that’s how it is!” Ni Guang quickly understood and immediately opened his mouth to spit out a small round bead. As soon as this bead appeared, it released a burst of light that, while bright, was also extremely gentle, bathing the surrounding area in a warm glow like sunlight.
With the round bead as the centre, a ten-meter radius became a pure region.
All the black shadows that rushed into the light barrier distorted and while screaming, quickly faded into nothingness.
It was like watching snowflakes falling into a hot fire, evaporating without a trace in the blink of an eye!
Seeing this, Yang Kai felt relieved and hurried over to Xue Yue’s side and repeated the same process as before, killing the black shadow attacking her.
Xue Yue’s situation was undoubtedly the worst of the four. Although she was the Young Master of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce and possessed Heaven defying aptitude, reaching the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm at a very young age, her foundation and life experiences were incomparable to the other three present.
When Luo Lan was rescued by Yang Kai, although she was somewhat confused for a moment, she quickly composed herself and realized what her situation was.
On the contrary, Xue Yue remained in an unconscious state after being rescued by Yang Kai.
However, the expression on her face was extremely strange. There was a smile at the corner of her lips, and her whole body seemed to be extremely relaxed, as if she was experiencing something incredibly pleasant in whatever fantasy world she was trapped.
“Xue Yue!” Yang Kai put his hands on her shoulders and shook her while shouting.
After calling her name two or three times, Xue Yue frowned and opened her eyes, showing a somewhat displeased expression, but the moment she saw Yang Kai standing in front of her, she suddenly smiled and lifted her hand to brush her hair back behind her ear. This was a common gesture for a woman but performing the act when she had the outward appearance of a man was really a bit disturbing. Fortunately, only Yang Kai saw this as Ni Guang and Luo Lan were both busy dealing with the black shadows.
Xue Yue suddenly asked softly, “Did you wake?”
“Huh, why would I be the one waking up?” Yang Kai was confused but quickly shouted sharply, “You’re the one who should wake up quickly!”
“Me?” Xue Yue looked at Yang Kai blankly, her beautiful eyes filled with happiness and sweetness gradually becoming sober. After taking a moment to recover her wits, she began to look around.
At a glance, Xue Yue understood everything, and an obvious look of disappointment filled her face, as if she wished she had not woken up from the illusion just now.
“There are too many of these things. We can’t kill them all, so it’s best if we escape!” When Ni Guang saw Yang Kai successfully awaken Xue Yue, he hurriedly yelled and while speaking, he threw the round bead that was emitting soft light into the sky while chasing after it and shouting, “Follow me!”
“You go first, this Mistress will bring up the rear!” Luo Lan declared valiantly as she took the initiative to defend their retreat.
Yang Kai nodded, stretched out his hand to grab Xue Yue’s arm, and flew upwards together with her as Luo Lan followed behind.
The group of four people flew at an extremely fast speed trying to escape from this strange place.
But, the black shadows below chased after them, and from the many ravines nearby, more and more of them constantly poured out, each of them howling madly as they sent out a disturbing energy fluctuation similar to a Spiritual Energy attack. These attacks were invisible and intangible, and although one or two of them were not very powerful, with so many black shadows gathered together, the Soul Fluctuations they gave off shook the Knowledge Seas of the escaping four, threatening to drag them down in the bottomless abyss again.
However, under the power of Ni Guang and Luo Lan’s artifacts, the black shadows were unable to approach too close and were killed one after another.
Suddenly, Luo Lan, who was responsible for bringing up the rear, called out in alarm, “What is…”
In the next moment, she screamed out loudly, “Run!”
There was clear panic in her voice, as if she had just witnessed something terrifying.
Yang Kai stole a quick glance back across his shoulder and was shocked by what he saw.
The countless black shadows below had begun to fuse together while pursuing them. Like black raindrops all falling towards a single spot, in the blink of an eye, they merged together to form a single massive black shadow that continued to grow at a rapid pace as more and more of the smaller black shadows melted with it.
It was as if a pitch-black night sky had formed below them, giving off an incredibly strong sense of oppression.
After only three breaths, an enormous black shadow had taken shape.
As soon as the huge black shadow took shape, it extended two long arms from below like massive whips that flew fiercely through the air like bolts of black lightning.
Feeling the terrifying power contained in these two attacks, Luo Lan’s beautiful face paled, and without hesitation, she bit the tip of her tongue and spat out a mouthful of her Blood Essence towards her dagger before throwing it out in a powerful strike.
A silent collision occurred as the two black arms were temporarily stopped while Luo Lan’s dagger was sent flying.
The attacks that the black shadow could send out after its fusion were countless times stronger than those of its smaller, individual forms!
Soul type artifacts were driven by a cultivator’s Divine Sense, and although their power was immense, if they took damage, it would also damage the user’s Soul. Therefore, when her dagger was knocked through the air, Luo Lan’s pretty face went white and she could not help coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Even with her strong First-Order Origin King cultivation, it only took a single exchange for her to be injured.
At this moment, everyone clearly realized the power of these strange shadows.
Fortunately, the group of four had already managed to rush to the top of the ravine and flew high up into the sky. Not daring to remain, they continued to escape higher.
From the depths of the ravine, a terrifying roar sounded at that moment and two massive pitch black arms shot out and transformed into giant claws that grabbed towards the fleeing four.
However, it seemed that their reach wasn’t long enough, and the two giant claws only managed to catch the air a couple of dozen metres below Luo Lan, who was the closest to the ground.
The next moment, the two giant palms slowly retracted and the howling which had filled everyone’s ears until now gradually subsided, the entire world becoming peaceful again.
Ni Guang, who was leading the way, slowed down and finally came to a halt while staring down thoughtfully.
“These things… don’t seem to be capable of chasing after us,” Yang Kai also noticed the situation.
“It would seem so,” Ni Guang nodded, agreeing with Yang Kai’s assessment, “But it’s better not to make assumptions, we’d best leave here first.”
The other three nodded quickly and followed after Ni Guang.
A quarter of an hour later, the group of four settled down in a safe place again, and although their surroundings were still a deserted plain, at least there were no crisscrossing ravines. After confirming that there was no danger around them, the four stopped to rest and recover.
The crisis seemed to be resolved, but even now, everyone felt some lingering fear.
The attack they encountered this time was simply too unpredictable. Before entering the underground ravine, everyone had surveyed the surrounding area and even with two Origin Kings present they still had not been able to avoid being attacked, a truly shocking reality.
“Elder Luo, how are your injuries?” Ni Guang looked at the pale Luo Lan and asked.
“It’s fine, it only slightly damaged my Soul,” Luo Lan frowned and replied.
“That’s good,” Ni Guang felt relieved. He thought that with his cultivation at the Second-Order Origin King Realm, even if it would not be smooth sailing in this Severed World, it was impossible he would face a fatal threat, but after this experience, he didn’t dare think so anymore.
If it were not Yang Kai helping him break free, he didn’t know how long he would have been trapped in that illusion. Perhaps he wouldn’t have ever awoken, and his body would slowly have rotted away, leading to his death.
“Uncle Ni, what were those things?” Xue Yue asked with some lingering fear. The various things she experienced in the illusion before had felt completely real, and even after being awakened by Yang Kai, she still failed to adapt to the real world for some time.
“I don’t know, I’ve never heard of anything like them existing in the Severed World. Does Elder Luo know anything?” Ni Guang shook his head and turned to Luo Lan to ask.
“This Mistress doesn’t know much about the Severed World, but she is certain she has never heard of such strange creatures.”
“It seems that everyone who encountered these things died, so no information about them ever became known,” Ni Guang pondered thoughtfully, “But that’s not a surprise. Judging from the previous situation, those things are extremely proficient at concealing themselves; even this old master was unable to detect their existence. Fortunately, it seems they can only survive in that dark underground environment. As long as we don’t go underground, we should not encounter them again, and… we don’t seem to have been delayed by much. Inside that illusion, this old master felt like he lived many years, but judging from the condition of our bodies, I’d say only an hour or two has passed. The method those creatures possess is truly terrifying!”
Hearing what he said, the other three nodded slightly.
“Elder Luo, you should heal your injuries first, once you’ve recovered, we’ll set out again,” Ni Guang turned and said to Luo Lan.
“Then I shall be troubling you. This Mistress will try to be as fast as possible,” Luo Lan said gratefully.
She did not have any kind of friendship with Ni Guang, so, Ni Guang expressing his willingness to wait for her to recover at this time made her feel grateful. This also verified Ni Guang’s character and confirmed he was a good candidate to cooperate with.
Ni Guang was stronger than her, so cooperating with him was naturally in Luo Lan’s interest.
However, this may also have been related to her being willing to cover their retreat just now. Ni Guang’s attitude towards her had obviously become more amicable than it had been when they first set out.
Luo Lan’s luck was quite good. She had brought Yang Kai here to the Severed World because she wanted to rely on his achievements in the Dao of Space to make exploring this place safer, but as a result, she was also able to obtain cooperation from Ni Guang. If not for Yang Kai, Ni Guang wouldn’t have ever invited her to act together.
Taking out some healing pills, Luo Lan sat down and began to tend to the wound on her Soul.
As for Yang Kai, he was currently gazing towards a spot not far away.
He felt that somewhere in the sky over there, was a faint Space Force fluctuation. He could even infer from these energy fluctuations that there was a hidden Void Crack at that location!
It seemed that Luo Lan was right, this Severed World was filled with hidden danger with many Void Cracks floating about that were invisible to the naked eye.
If someone were to rush through rashly, there was a good chance they would be split in half by these The Void Cracks.
“What are you looking at?” Xue Yue suddenly leaned over and asked softly.
He did not know if he was imagining things, but Yang Kai felt that Xue Yue’s attitude towards him had changed slightly since earlier. Before, Xue Yue had only paid attention to him because of their strange entanglement, causing her attitude to be somewhat bitter and sweet at the same time.
But now, her gaze contained a gentleness that had not been there before. Even when they were escaping just now, Xue Yue held onto Yang Kai’s arm tightly and looked completely at ease.
“Nothing,” Yang Kai shook his head, “What happened to you? What did you experience in that illusion just now? With your mental fortitude, it should not have affected you so deeply, right?”
Yang Kai had only asked casually, but to his surprise, Xue Yue turned bright red, as if she was remembering something embarrassing, and snorted loudly, “None of your business!”
Yang Kai nearly choked seeing this and could not help sneering, “Forget it, just pretend I never asked. It definitely must have been nothing good.”
Xue Yue grit her teeth and glared at him, causing Yang Kai to immediately become uncomfortable and quickly look around for something to divert his attention.
It was then that he noticed that Ni Guang had taken out an animal skin map and was frowning as he stared at it. As if looking for something, he would release his Divine Sense from time to time while comparing his observations of the surrounding terrain with the map.
There did not seem to be any clear markings on the map, mostly just a series of intersecting lines as well as some specific locations marked with different symbols.
“Your chamber of commerce possesses a map of this place?” Yang Kai looked surprised.
Xue Yue grinned and said, “What’s so strange about that? It is not the first time that people from our chamber of commerce have come to this place, so having a map or two is nothing to fuss about. However, the Severed World is too big and it’s impossible to grasp its complete layout. Uncle Ni only has a map detailing a small portion of this place.”
“So that’s how it is,” Yang Kai nodded, “In that case, do you have a clear destination for this trip?”
“En, we planned to go to a medicine valley where there are spirit medicines and herbs that aren’t present in the Star Field. Legend has it that there are even herbs which are beyond the Origin King Grade and can bring back the dead, rejuvenate and prolong a person’s life, and some that can even increase the strength of a person directly…”
Listening to her talk, Yang Kai could not help staring at Xue Yue strangely.
“What?” Xue Yue asked suspiciously.
“You really don’t have any guard up against me at all. It’s not like you,” Yang Kai smiled. Although they were in a cooperative relationship right now, what Xue Yue revealed was undoubtedly extremely important information that should be kept confidential.
She was not the type of woman with a big chest but no brains, otherwise, she would never have been able to become the Young Master of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce.
Her revealing so much to him for no apparent reason really surprised Yang Kai.
Hearing what he said, Xue Yue gawked for a moment before seeming to realize something and immediately turning her gaze aside and sneering, “What’s wrong with telling you? With Uncle Ni here, can you even snatch anything from us?”
The tone of her voice clearly indicated she wanted to move past this, so Yang Kai did not ask anymore.
However, upon thinking about it, Yang Kai realized that Luo Lan’s actions this time were a bit too rash. Ni Guang dared to enter this place because he had confidence in his tyrannical strength and because he had prepared thoroughly while Luo Lan, on the other hand, seemed to have simply come on a whim together with Yang Kai and didn’t understand much about the Severed World.
…..
In the underground ravine where Yang Kai and the others had just been, an hour after they left, a figure fell from the sky and landed nearby.
His whole body was wrapped in a black Qi, exuding an evil and violent aura. It was none other than the Origin King who had been paying attention to Yang Kai outside before.
After this person landed, he glanced around and, after taking a deep breath, began to cackle wickedly, “Very good, he had been here recently. Yang Boy, this is truly unexpected. Who could have imagined you’d grow to this level after not seeing you for only a few dozen years.”
If Yang Kai heard this, he would definitely be shocked since this unknown Origin King actually seemed to know him, and know him quite well at that.
“Oh…” The strange Origin King stopped suddenly, as if he had just discovered something, and turned towards the underground ravine, using his Divine Sense to survey it. After a while, he let out a burst of wicked laughter and muttered to himself, “There’s actually such a thing here. Although I do not know what you are, you’re useful to this old master.”
Saying so, he jumped directly into the ravine.
As soon as he landed, countless small black shadows sprang out from the crevices lining the ground in all directions and leapt towards him like starving beasts.
This man wasn’t afraid though and instead excitedly shouted, “Haha, good, good. Come!”
Saying so, he summoned a large black flag that immediately released a series of wailing howls. These howls drowned out the scattered cries of the dark shadows and from the flag, numerous twisted, phantom-like human faces appeared.
Forming a series of seals with his hands, the strange master poured his Saint Qi into the black flag and shouted, “Go!”
In the next moment, the black flag turned into a giant black curtain that shrouded the surrounding region and, as if they had encountered their nemesis, the small black shadows were easily suppressed and swallowed up.
As the black flag swallowed up these black shadows, the aura it emitted became stronger and stronger while the darkness became deeper and deeper.
It seemed capable of swallowing everything in existence, even light.
The horrible suction force of the black flag obviously made the black shadows panic and soon they began to merge together, just like when Yang Kai and the others fled, in an attempt to fight off the black flag’s influence.
Seeing this scene, the Origin King wrapped in black Qi wasn’t afraid and instead became exhilarated, calling out, “You even have such a skill, good, good, good. This King’s Ten Thousand Soul Banner is going to have a feast today, kahahaha!”
As he laughed, he stretched out his hand and the black curtain twisted and condensed into a massive, terrifying human-shaped face. This face, however, had countless eyes and radiated an ominous and powerful light.
In addition, blood seemed to be overflowing from this face as he released violent and feral roars.
As the strange mouth opened, it continued to grow until it spread across and the entire face’s surface while at the same time, a vague human-shaped phantom appeared behind it.
The massive black shadow formed by the fusion of countless small shadows naturally didn’t sit there waiting to die and quickly lashed out with its two black whip-like hands in an attempt to block the advance of the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
A huge cloud of dust and debris was kicked up from the intense shockwaves of the exchange, shaking the ravine and the surrounding earth.
However, it was all in vain.
The Ten Thousand Soul Banner did not fear the huge black shadow’s attacks at all and simply charged forward and bit down on it before raising its head up like a bird which had caught its prey and attempted to swallow it whole.
Vaguely, a scream came out from inside the face.
The terrifying face of the Ten Thousand Soul Banner flashed a look of satisfaction at that moment and its countless eyes shined with excitement.
*Ge…*
It even vividly belched.
The moment the huge black shadow was swallowed, the remaining fish that slipped through the net fled into the surrounding crevices, not daring to appear again. They seemed to have noticed that this Ten Thousand Soul Banner was their natural enemy, and they were unable to resist it!
Upon seeing this, the Origin King, who was still wrapped in black Qi, stretched out his hand somewhat unconsciously and summoned the Ten Thousand Soul Banner back to him.
On the surface, the Ten Thousand Soul Banner had not changed much compared to before, but the potency of the wicked aura it exuded was obviously greater.
“Heh heh heh…” The Origin King cackled lightly as he examined his artifact, nodding repeatedly, “Not bad, not bad. I just came in and already had such a harvest, worthy of the famed Severed World. This King is very much looking forward to what comes next!”
Clearly a bit disturbed in the mind, after talking to himself for some time, the Origin King put away his Ten Thousand Soul Banner and with a loud laugh wrapped his black Qi around himself tightly and rushed out of the ravine, chasing in the direction Yang Kai and his group had left.
Elsewhere in the Severed World, Sword Union’s Elder Cui Hong was desperately urging his artifact to fight off a Monster Beast that was nearly a hundred metres in length and resembled a winged snake.
His luck had been quite poor. Just after entering the Severed World, he had accidentally entered the territory of this Monster Beast, and when he was discovered, a fight broke out.
The greatest danger in the Severed World was the invisible Void Cracks scattered about irregularly and undetectable to both sight and Divine Sense. Even an Origin King Realm who touched such a Void Crack would not escape unharmed.
The second most dangerous thing, however, was the Monster Beasts that lived here.
The Monster Beasts here had almost all inherited the bloodlines of ancient variant species, and affected by the strong World Principles, they had all grown incredibly powerful. Even if similar Monster Beasts existed in the Star Field, the ones in the Severed World would generally be at least thirty percent stronger.
The one Cui Hong encountered was a genuine Tenth-Order Monster Beast, and from the looks of it, it had obviously inherited the bloodline of the Flying Feathered Python, but as time had passed and the World Principles had changed, this Monster Beast’s bloodline had diluted, and it was no longer able to display the full might of its glorious ancestors. If it had, Cui Hong would have died upon meeting it.
However, it was none-the-less a Tenth-Order Monster Beast, meaning it was equivalent to an Origin King in strength. A rare existence.
Fortunately, this Monster Beast did not seem to have broken through to its current level long ago, and as a Sword Union Elder, Cui Hong’s Artifact Armour and artifacts were all extremely high grade, so, he did not suffer much damage over the course of his battle and instead gained the upper hand by relying on various Secret Techniques.
This winged python was over a hundred metres in length, bat-like wings on its back and a long, sharp tongue in its mouth. It flew about in an extremely flexible manner, dodging around Cui Hong while ejecting its tongue like a steel whip from time to time, bombarding Cui Hong and causing him significant difficulties each time it landed a hit.
After a full three hours of fierce fighting, in exchange for taking a rather serious injury, Cui Hong managed to behead the winged python.
Standing in place, breathing heavily, his whole body stained red with blood, Cui Hong cursed angrily. After a short rest, he used what little strength he had left to collect the winged snake’s body into his Space Ring.
At this moment, he did not have the time to properly process the corpse and could only wait until after leaving the Severed World to deal with it slowly. The value of the corpse of a Tenth-Order Monster Beast was almost unimaginable, especially its Monster Core which had a huge attraction to Origin Kings.
When a cultivator reached the Origin King Realm, it became extremely difficult to break through because of the limitations placed on them by the Star Field’s Principles. If a cultivator wished to stride upwards, besides tortuous cultivation for an extended time while comprehending the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, only rare treasures and powerful pills could enhance their strength.
An Origin King being unable to break through a single Minor Realm for centuries or even millennia was a very common occurrence.
Because of this, throughout the entire Star Field, Third-Order Origin Kings were extremely rare and almost all of them were old monsters who had long secluded themselves from the world…
After resting on the spot for a while, Cui Hong immediately left, afraid the smell of blood would attract other Monster Beasts. In his current state, he couldn’t fight another intense battle like just now.
In another place, Zi Long, the Sect Master of Purple Star, was bringing Zi Dong through the Severed World. He seemed to have a very clear goal and did not stop at any point along the way.
Their luck was also good, and they had not encountered any real danger since entering this place, so they proceeded with peace of mind.
“Father, does this Severed World really host an Immortal Tree?” Zi Dong, who was following Zi Long, suddenly asked.
Hearing the words ‘Immortal Tree’, Zi Long’s calm eyes suddenly burst with dazzling light and his long purple hair blew up even in the absence of wind. Nodding slightly, he replied, “Although your father cannot say for certain, the probability is at least eighty percent. After all, word of the Immoral Tree’s existence was sent back by your Grand Uncle. Two thousand years ago, your Grand Uncle once caught a glimpse of something very similar to the legendary Immoral Tree but when he attempted to obtain it, he was seriously injured by the Monster Beast that was guarding it and was forced to flee, ultimately dying from his wounds.”
Zi Dong’s face changed slightly as he whispered, “If I recall correctly, Grand Uncle was supposed to be a Second-Order Origin King, but he was still seriously injured by the guardian Monster Beast? What kind of Monster Beast was it?”
“A Divine Bird… an Ancient Peacock!” Zi Long took a deep breath.
“A Divine Bird!” Zi Dong couldn’t help paling slightly.
As long as a Monster Beast was classified as a Divine species, it was clear it was not to be provoked lightly. Every Divine beast had Heaven destroying and Earth-shattering means, as well as a vicious personality. If such a Monster Beast broke into the Star Field, it would likely destroy countless Cultivation Stars and become a disaster for the entire Star Field.
Zi Long then quickly followed up, “In the Star Field, the name ‘Three Great Divine Waters’ is widely known; one is Life Revitalizing Jade Cream, one is the Soul Cleansing Divine Water, and one is Immortal Source Liquid! Among these three, the Soul Cleansing Divine Water does occasionally appear, but not often, only once every few hundred or thousand years. As for the Life Revitalizing Jade Cream and Immortal Source Liquid, both are things of legend, lost to history, or at least your father here has never met anyone who succeeded in obtaining either of them. Each of the Three Great Divine Waters has its own unique effects which make them precious treasures that cultivators dream of. The Soul Cleansing Divine Water can wash the Soul, purifying and condensing one’s Spiritual Energy, the Life Revitalizing Jade Cream can enhance a cultivator’s physique and vitality, a single drop allowing a person to be reborn. However, neither of these two compare to the Immortal Source Liquid.”
“Father, does the Immortal Source Liquid have some kind of relation with the Immortal Tree?” Zi Dong asked curiously.
“Haha, naturally they are related,” Zi Long, as the master of one of the Star Field’s biggest forces, was normally a dignified man, but he became quite amiable when facing his son; after all, Zi Dong had never failed to live up to his expectations and was the successor he put his hopes on.
“Please enlighten me, Father!” Zi Dong put on a respectful look and showed an appearance of humility.
Zi Long pondered for a while before he continued, “En, the Immortal Source Liquid is the dew formed by the accumulation of essence over countless years on the leaves of the Immortal Tree. For the Immortal Source Liquid, regrowing lost limbs is simply a waste, it is a natural miracle elixir that can even bring people back to life!”
“Resurrecting the dead!?” Zi Dong looked shocked, “If just the trivial dew can have such a miraculous effect, then the Immortal Tree itself…”
“Hmph, if one can obtain the Immortal Tree and refine it, they can obtain an immortal and indestructible body, with longevity equal to the Heavens!”
“What?” Zi Dong was truly shocked when he heard this. Even as Purple Star’s Young Master, he could not help feeling astonished and would have dismissed it as nonsense if it weren’t his father who said it.
“If I can have an endless lifespan, your father will be able to achieve something no one has before. When that time comes, I will surpass the Origin King Realm and get a glimpse of the mysteries of the Great Emperor’s realm!” When Zi Long said this, his entire figure seemed to radiate excitement and fanaticism.
Zi Dong stared at his father in a daze, not having seen such an expression on his face for many, many years. One could only imagine how powerful the Immortal Tree’s temptation was to his father.
“Father, does only our Purple Star know about this?” Zi Dong asked again.
“No!” Zi Long shook his head, a look of frustration appearing on his face, “I’m not certain about others, but Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce must know about the existence of the Immortal Tree, because two thousand years ago, you Grand Uncle came here with the previous President of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce. That’s why that old fart Ni Guang came this time. He must be aiming for the Immortal Tree as well.”
Zi Dong frowned and asked suspiciously, “If that’s the case, why didn’t father bring more masters along?”
Zi Long smiled lightly, “This kind of information can’t be known by too many people; after all, there is only one Immortal Tree. Even if gathering more people leads to successfully obtaining it, who will claim ownership in the end? In front of such a supreme treasure, one can only believe in themselves, all others…. are enemies.”
Zi Dong pondered thoughtfully before nodding, “This child understands.”
“En, you are still young and the road ahead of you is still long. Father’s purpose in bringing you here this time was to hone your will and expose you to some true dangers, which will be of great benefit to your future growth. I hope you don’t disappoint me.”
“This child will do his best!” Zi Dong quickly declared.
As the Sect Master of Purple Star, Zi Long had countless children, but Zi Dong was the one he liked the most. Among his countless children, only Zi Dong stood out and was thus the only one who received his nurturing.
Zi Dong also understood this well, so he had not dared to slack on his cultivation all these years.
Entering the Severed World this time was truly dangerous, but it was also a good test. As long as he passed this test, his position in Purple Star would become unshakable.
Zi Dong came to clench his fist secretly as he swore to perform well this time.
…..
At the same time, somewhere far away, Yang Kai and a group of four headed by Ni Guang were advancing through the Severed World.
They did not encounter much danger on their journey, but also did not gain many benefits, making the Severed World seem to not live up its reputation.
However, Ni Guang had taken out something that caught Yang Kai’s eye.
It was an artifact that resembled a communication artifact but was somewhat different because it had a pointer on it. Ni Guang had taken it out two hours ago and had yet to put it away, moving it from side to side as they travelled.
As he moved it around, the pointer would occasionally undergo some subtle changes, and each time it did, Ni Guang would slightly change direction.
Luo Lan was confused and wondered what kind of magical effect this artifact had, secretly guessing that Ni Guang was somehow using it to avoid dangers, but since this was related to another’s methods, she knew better than to ask and had to keep her curiosity to herself.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, was surprised because he noticed that this artifact was able to detect the location of some hidden Void Cracks.
Whenever the pointer on the artifact pointed towards a certain spot, Yang Kai would be able to sense some obscure Space Force fluctuations from that direction and Ni Guang would always avoid it in advance.
This was obviously a special artifact that was refined to cope with the Severed World’s environment, and whoever refined it had most likely also cultivated the Dao of Space!
Yang Kai was certain of his guess; after all, Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce was a massive super force so the number of talented people it possessed was immense. It was only natural to assume that some of these talents had cultivated Space Force.
However, Yang Kai also inferred from the sensitivity of this artifact that the person who refined it was far less accomplished in the Dao of Space than he was.
Because this artifact was not able to detect all the hidden Void Cracks in their surrounding!
There were some Void Cracks that the group passed within a few dozen metres, which Yang Kai was able to perceive clearly. Obviously, the artifact had given no response to these Void Cracks. When such occurrences happened, Yang Kai was put on the edge, for fear that Ni Guang would inadvertently run into one.
Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened along the way so there was no need for Yang Kai to reveal his secrets to warn Ni Guang to change their route.
Sometimes, there would be traces of tears in the air that were clearly Void Cracks which were visible to the naked eye.
These tears were like rips in the sky, permanent features, adding to the dangerous atmosphere of the Severed World.
And as the group forward, whether it was the visible Void Cracks or the ones that were hidden, their number was clearly increasing.
Yang Kai and the others even saw a few massive, sky crossing cracks that gave off terrifying fluctuations, making it impossible to determine what lay beyond it.
When he saw such Void Cracks, Yang Kai became quite eager to explore.
He clearly felt that this huge Void Crack very possibly had what he needed: Space Spirit Crystals bred from The Void itself. It also seemed to contain the insights he longed for regarding the Dao of Space. Either way, Yang Kai felt strongly that if he were to rush into it, he would definitely gain greatly.
Unfortunately, he was currently acting together with Ni Guang and the others, so he did not dare leave the team rashly. He could only pass by this Void Crack for now. In any case, in the Severed World, there were many opportunities like this, so he was not in a hurry.
“Hm…” Ni Guang, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped, turned his head to look in a certain direction, and called out in surprise.
Following his line of sight, the other three in the group soon saw a person lying on the ground about a thousand metres away.
“That’s…” Luo Lan whispered, “His clothes seem familiar, was it someone who came in with us before?”
“It seems so,” Ni Guang said solemnly, scanning the figure with his Divine Sense carefully before his face slightly changed. “But it seems he’s already dead.”
Luo Lan’s pretty face went pale hearing this. Among the cultivators who entered the Severed World before, besides Yang Kai, Xue Yue, and Zi Dong, the rest were all Origin Kings, none of them weaker than herself.
However, after just a few hours, they came across a dead body here.
It was hard to imagine what kind of attack this man suffered. With his powerful Origin King cultivation, he died here, and there were also no signs of struggle in the surroundings, as if there hadn’t been a fight at all. In order words, this man had been attacked by something so powerful that he had died without being able to resist.
If it had been her instead, Luo Lan imagined that her fate might not have been any better.
She began to rejoice that her luck had been so good.
“Should we investigate?” Xue Yue pondered for a moment before pointing in the direction of the corpse, “There seems to be something next to his body.”
Even without her reminder, everyone had noticed that there was indeed something besides the body of this fallen Origin King. It was a small cockscomb-like flower that was growing straight up from the ground, and even from a thousand metres away, everyone could smell its fragrant scent.
This aura was calming and refreshing, causing everyone’s tight nerves to relax slightly.
“What kind of spirit herb is that? Do any of you know?” Ni Guang turned his head and asked.
Luo Lan shook her head wryly while Xue Yue also indicated she did not know. In fact, even Yang Kai, who was an Origin King Grade Alchemist, was ignorant.
He had never seen this kind of spirit flower before. He had obtained the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture from the Emperor Garden, which not only recorded countless lost pill recipes, but also details about innumerable exotic flowers and plants. It was almost a comprehensive record of all herbs in existence, so in terms of pure knowledge, Yang Kai was confident no one in the Star Field was better than him.
However, Yang Kai had not seen anything like this flower in the many records of the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture.
Ni Guang frowned and after hesitating for a moment said, “I’ll go take a look, all of you stand here and don’t move.”
Confident in his great strength, he did not want to give up the opportunity in front of him, and regardless of what spirit flower this was, just the corpse of the Origin King next to it was a treasure trove. If he could obtain the other party’s Space Ring, it would be a good harvest.
“Do you want this Mistress to accompany you?” Luo Lan asked.
Ni Guang glanced at her and nodded, “Then, you should be careful.”
“This Mistress certainly will be,” Luo Lan responded with a smile before slowly approaching the spirit flower together with Ni Guang.
Yang Kai and Xue Yue stood back, paying attention to the movement ahead.
The two crossed the thousand-metre distance quickly, but to everyone’s surprise, even after Ni Guang and Luo Lan arrived next to the corpse, there were no signs of danger.
Ni Guang looked puzzled and scanned the corpse below him, soon whispering solemnly, “This person was attacked from behind by something and killed instantly. There are two bite marks on the back of his neck, similar to those of some snake-type Monster Beast, a venomous one at that!”
Luo Lan nodded as she also noticed this, because this corpse was lying face down and the back of his neck was clearly exposed.
It was conceivable that this person had been bitten in the back of the neck by something unsuspectingly, then fell to the ground, dying immediately, resulting in this kind of defenceless posture.
Obviously, the venom which entered him from his neck was something even an Origin King couldn’t resist.
“Elder Luo, please take this corpse with you, I’ll pick the spirit flower,” Ni Guang ordered.
“Understood,” Luo Lan nodded before proceeding with caution. Instead of touching the corpse with her hands directly, she used her Saint Qi to wrap it up before quickly retreating backwards.
Luo Lan acted carefully and swiftly, not daring to remain close while unaware of what dangers were lurking about.
While Luo Lan wrapped the Origin King Realm master’s body in her Saint Qi and retreated back, Ni Guang reached out to pick the cockscomb-like spirit flower.
However, the moment his hand touched the flower, a sudden change occurred.
From behind Ni Guang, the originally flat ground bulged up and a flat, triangular snake head shot out like lightning towards the back of his neck.
The entire process was dizzyingly fast and came with no prior warning signs. When the snake head drilled out from the ground and struck Ni Guang, Yue Xue’s beautiful face paled and she called out in alarm, “Uncle Ni, be careful.”
But before she could even finish her words, the snake head had bitten Ni Guang’s neck.
Xue Yue’s expression changed dramatically!
Seeing this scene, how could she not understand how the previous Origin King had died here? Obviously, like Ni Guang, the moment his attention was attracted to the cockscomb-like spirit flower, this snake-type Monster Beast had seized the opportunity to launch a fatal attack.
She was worried about if Ni Guang was safe; after all, he too had been focusing on the spirit flower at this moment.
However, Ni Guang was Ni Guang after all. Without even mentioning his powerful cultivation, just knowing that this place held hidden danger, how could he not be prepared? When he was preparing to pluck the spirit flower, he had maintained a high level of vigilance against accidents, especially paying attention to protecting the back of his neck, so this sneak attack was doomed to fail.
*Ding…*
A clinking sound rang out as a spark of light appeared on Ni Guang’s neck. Receiving this blow, Ni Guang’s whole body seemed to be hit by a strong force and he was knocked forward.
Releasing a low yell, while mid-air, Ni Guang forcibly twisted his body, waved his hand, and sent out a palm behind himself while using his other hand to grab the spirit flower.
The backhand blow of a Second-Order Origin King was not to be underestimated and a fierce strength slammed into the head of the snake that struck him in the next instant, rendering it unable to attack again.
However, when Ni Guang finally managed to grab hold of the spirit flower, his expression suddenly changed, “This is…”
He felt a different tactile sensation from this spirit flower, one that did not resemble that of a plant but rather something cold and slippery, just like a living creature.
Realizing this, he decisively let go!
At that moment, the spirit flower, which had been giving off a pleasant fragrance all along, suddenly flickered and released a green light that pierced towards Ni Guang’s palm.
Immediately, the surrounding air was filled with flying sand and rocks, while Ni Guang’s cold snorts and the hissing sounds of a snake rang out.
Soon after, Ni Guang leapt out of the engagement zone and stood mid-air, his expression extremely solemn.
When Yang Kai and the others looked over, they were all surprised.
As the dust gradually settled, they were finally able to clearly understand what this trap had been all about.
Where the cockscomb-like spirit flower had previously stood, there was now a ten-metre long snake as thick as a baby’s arm, constantly coughing up blood.
There was no discernible aura coming from this snake’s body, and if one wasn’t looking at it with their own eyes, they wouldn’t have been able to realize it existed. What’s more, there was a cockscomb-like protrusion on its tail.
The spirit flower that everyone had seen before was surprisingly the tip of this snake’s tail, the only part of itself it had revealed while its main body remained buried underground.
Anyone who attempted to pluck the ‘spirit flower’ would be attacked by it.
“Tail Crown Snake?” Ni Guang’s eyes lit up as he called out the name of this Monster Beast.
He had extensive personal knowledge and was a high-ranking member of the Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce. Thus, he had access to many ancient books, otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to identify this supposedly long-extinct Monster Beast.
“Tail Crown Snake?” Luo Lan frowned as she somewhat admiringly looked at Ni Guang, “This Mistress has never heard of such a beast, so it seems there are many long-forgotten existences in this Severed World.”
None of them could identify what the dark shadows they encountered before in the underground ravine were and simply figured they were existences similar to Yin Souls, but this was completely different. The other three present had never even heard of the Tail Crown Snake before.
The Severed World seemed like a vast, unexplored world to them.
Ni Guang smiled, “Don’t worry, while the Tail Crown Snake is dangerous, it’s not very strong. Its greatest advantages are its concealment and sneak attack abilities. Since its sneak attack has failed, it’s nothing more than prey for this old master.”
Saying so, he rushed straight at the Tail Crown Snake.
He did not use any powerful methods and instead simply approached the Tail Crown Snake and fought it barehanded.
Yang Kai observed silently and soon concluded that this Monster Beast only had Ninth-Order strength. At such a level, it was no match for Ni Guang, even if it possessed an ancient bloodline. From the time it leapt from the ground, trying to bite Ni Guang’s neck, until it was caught by him, the Tail Crown Snake only managed to struggle for about ten breaths. Once Ni Guang caught it, he flicked it fiercely, like a long whip, while pouring his powerful Saint Qi into its body.
Cracking sounds rang out from the Tail Crown Snake as it straightened out and then slumped to the ground, dead.
Ni Guang stretched out his forefinger and condensed his Saint Qi into a blade before cutting into the belly of the snake. Plucking out a small, pearl-sized snake gall, Ni Guang unceremoniously popped it into his mouth before chewing and swallowing then letting out a cheerful laugh.
It was unclear what kind of magical effects Tail Crown Snake’s gall had, but from how happy Ni Guang looked, it was probably of great benefit to him.
After finishing all this, Ni Guang left the body of Tail Crown Snake to the side and said lightly, “This Monster Beast doesn’t have a Monster Core so its most valuable part is its gall. In ancient times, cultivators who repeatedly consumed such snake galls were supposedly able to gain protection against all kinds of poisons. Unfortunately, there is only one here, but… better than nothing.”
Saying so, he then came over to Luo Lan’s side and examined the corpse, sighing a moment later, “So it was Tong Lei!”
He was obviously referring to the dead man in front of him.
“Senior Ni knows him?” Luo Lan asked.
Ni Guang nodded lightly, “We’ve met before. In the past, the two of us made a few transactions, but that was many years ago. I did not expect that he would be killed by a mere Ninth-Order Monster Beast. In this place, it seems even the slightest negligence can be fatal.”
In the outside world, how could an Origin King die from the attack of a Ninth-Order Monster Beast? Ninth-Order Monster Beasts were only equivalent to Origin Realm cultivators, so once an Origin King released their Domain, ordinary Ninth-Order Monster Beasts would not even be able to get close to them, but in this Severed World, even Ninth-Order Monster Beast couldn’t be taken lightly.
“Xue Yue, collect his ring,” Ni Guang ordered lightly.
Xue Yue nodded, bent down, and took the Space Ring from this Tong Lei’s hand, not even checking its content before storing it away.
Neither Yang Kai nor Luo Lan said anything.
Yang Kai’s strength was low and he did not contribute anything this time, so he was not qualified to receive any of the spoils. As for Luo Lan, Ni Guang had warned her earlier that even if she followed them, he would not guarantee she received any gains, so she had no right to accuse him of being unfair here.
“Let’s go, everyone must be extra careful from now on. Don’t approach anything that seems out of place carelessly,” Ni Guang exhorted and turned around to leave.
“Please wait a moment,” Yang Kai suddenly seemed to think of something and quickly released a Golden Blood Thread from his fingertip towards the corpse of the Tail Crown Snake.
The three others stopped and watched this scene curiously, wondering what Yang Kai was going to do.
They saw the Golden Blood Thread instantly submerge into the Tail Crown Snake’s body, and then, accompanied by some faint squirming movements, the Tail Crown Snake’s corpse was rapidly sucked dry, and its physique withered, leaving behind nothing but an empty skin.
After a short while, the Golden Blood Thread, which radiated a golden and red light, returned to Yang Kai’s hand.
Ni Guang looked at the Golden Blood Thread in Yang Kai’s hand thoughtfully and asked, “Kid, is that a Secret Technique… or an artifact?”
He felt strange and conflicting fluctuations from the Golden Blood Thread, and while it gave the appearance of an artifact, it also exuded a strong vitality which made it seem like a living thing, quite a strange combination.
“It’s something between a Secret Technique and an artifact,” Yang Kai smiled slightly and explained casually.
His Golden Blood Threads were condensed from the essence of his own Golden Blood, so strictly speaking, it was a type of Secret Technique, but it also had the characteristics of an artifact that could be refined and reused repeatedly, so it was difficult to classify.
“Strange!” Ni Guang slowly shook his head. He had lived for many years but had never seen such a weird Secret Technique. However, the world was vast, so it didn’t surprise him that much. In any case, it did not seem to pose any threat to him so there was no need to worry. After thinking about it for a moment, he asked again, “This thing can swallow the physical essence of the Tail Crown Snake, right? Does it undergo some kind of change after doing so?”
“En,” Yang Kai grinned before sending a command with his Divine Sense that caused the Golden Blood Thread floating above his palm to distort and transform into a Tail Crown Snake.
The Tail Crown Snake transformed from the Golden Blood Thread was exactly the same as the one that everyone had seen before, the only difference being its colour. The true Tail Crown Snake was a light brown colour while the one in front of Yang Kai was golden red, the two colours seemingly blending with one another.
“It can assume the form of the beast it absorbed?” Ni Guang’s eyes flashed, “Could it be that your Secret Technique is now equivalent to that Tail Crown Snake?”
“Almost,” Yang Kai nodded before recalling his Golden Blood Thread.
This was one of the Golden Blood Thread’s transformation techniques, the Blood Beast!
A Golden Blood Thread could swallow the essence of a Monster Beast and then transform into its appearance before its death while retaining all its abilities. The Blood Beast was a very powerful Secret Technique.
The cultivator who created the Golden Blood Thread Secret Technique was a true genius. Unfortunately, neither that cultivator nor the cultivators of Demon Blood Temple who carried his Secret Technique forward were able to condense that much Blood Essence in their bodies. Even the beautiful female Religion Master from Demon Blood Temple was only able to condense two Demon Blood Threads after spending a lifetime gathering Yang to supplement Yin to make up for her vital essence.
For this reason, it was difficult for the original version of Yang Kai’s Golden Blood Thread Secret Technique, the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique, to exert its full power in the hands of Demon Blood Temple, especially the myriad transformations technique that required a massive amount of Blood Essence to support it. No one from Demon Blood Temple was capable of meeting this requirement.
It could be said that the cultivator who created this Secret Technique only managed to envision a grand theory but was unable to perfect its practical use.
Yang Kai was different though; this Secret Technique was practically tailor-made for him! In a sense, as long as the amount of pure Golden Blood in Yang Kai’s body was large enough, he could infinitely use the Golden Blood Thread Secret Technique, a reality probably beyond even the technique’s creator’s wildest dreams.
As for the Blood Beast Secret Technique, so far, Yang Kai had only condensed two, namely the two Thunder Flame Flying Lizards of Mi Tian on Monster Emperor Star. Thunder Flame Flying Lizards were nothing more than Ninth-Order Monster Beasts, and for the current Yang Kai, they weren’t able to play much of a role, so when he fought, he never used them.
Only when the number of Blood Beasts reached a certain number could they show any use.
One or two Ninth-Order Blood Beasts would certainly not pose a threat to an Origin King, but if there were several dozen, or even hundreds of them… Even an Origin King would have to give way.
Ninth-Order Monster Beasts were hard to find, and Yang Kai had never paid too much attention to condensing Blood Beasts; however, in this Severed World, he felt like this objective might be easily achieved. This place was a paradise for high-level Monster Beasts, each of them also containing ancient bloodlines. It was truly the best place to condense Blood Beasts.
As such, Yang Kai did not bother concealing his cards and directly used a Golden Blood Thread to condense a Blood Beast.
In any case, this was not his strongest method, so even if it was exposed, it didn’t matter.
Seeing that Yang Kai had finished his business, Ni Guang nodded again without saying much, took out his artifact for detecting Void Cracks, and set off again.
The Severed World was filled with crisis, but also with opportunities.
There were many extinct spirits flowers and grasses here, as well as countless ancient Monster Beasts that had long ago disappeared from the Star Field. All of these extinct species thrived under the special World Principles of the Severed World.
Although there were two Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators, which lowered the overall combat strength of their team, Yang Kai’s group of four was undoubtedly quite powerful.
As they travelled towards the medicine valley, the group of four would have some occasional harvests.
Just as Yang Kai expected, they encountered all kinds of high-end Monster Beasts, and although it wasn’t the extent that Ninth-Order Monster Beasts were everywhere, Yang Kai had not seen a beast below Eighth-Order since entering.
The group of four even encountered two Tenth-Order Monster Beasts, both of which exuded extremely powerful auras. One of them even made Ni Guang afraid, so they could only avoid it, not daring to provoke it. But the other one had the worst of luck and was killed by their group.
Whenever a Monster Beast was killed, its valuable parts such as its Monster Core, galls, claws, and teeth were all taken away by Ni Guang and Xue Yue. After all, the materials of a Ninth-Order or Tenth-Order Monster Beast were extremely valuable, so it would be strange if they simply let them off. Luo Lan was also allocated some Monster Beast materials as trophies.
Yang Kai asked for nothing and was instead satisfied with using his Golden Blood Threads to swallow the physical essence of these slain Monster Beasts and condense more Blood Beasts.
In just a few days, Yang Kai’s Blood Beast Army had grown to over a dozen in number, and even a Tenth-Order Steel-Flame Ghost Spider Monster Beast was among them, which the group of four had killed together!
This Monster Beast’s defences were extremely powerful, and his body was constantly surrounded by a pale white aura that burned anything it approached, even Origin Realm cultivators. If it were not for Ni Guang being with them, the other three would not have been able to kill this fearsome creature on their own.
This was undoubtedly Yang Kai’s greatest gain amongst his Blood Beasts.
In addition to the Steel-Flame Ghost Spider, Yang Kai also managed to refine Blood Beasts modelled after a Silent Vermillion Bird, Star King Turtle, Eight-Eyed Demon Toad, Purple-Thunderbolt Sky Leopard… all kinds of ancient Monster Beasts with peculiar and powerful bloodlines were now his to command.
On the surface, it looked as if Yang Kai obtained nothing, but on a fundamental level, he was the one who gained the most.
Because what he obtained was an enhancement to his own strength, while the others obtained nothing but treasures that needed to be processed before becoming useful to them.
After a few days of travelling together, both Ni Guang and Luo Lan also started to show some shock.
They quickly discovered that the Golden Blood Threads Yang Kai possessed seemed to be inexhaustible. When Yang Kai first processed the Tail Crown Snake’s corpse, Ni Guang did not care too much as one Blood Beast wasn’t worthy of his concern.
But the number of Blood Beasts Yang Kai had collected was now enough for him to take note of.
If these dozens or so Blood Beasts were all set upon him, even he would have a headache dealing with them.
And from the looks of it, this was far from Yang Kai’s limit.
It was hard for Ni Guang to imagine what it would be like when Yang Kai had collected a truly large number of these strange Blood Beasts.
He finally started to pay serious attention to Yang Kai!
Along the way, he occasionally used his Divine Sense to communicate with Xue Yue, wanting to probe Yang Kai’s details and inquire if it would be possible to recruit him into Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce.
Unfortunately, Xue Yue did not know much about Yang Kai personally, so she was unable to give any definite answers; however, she too had the idea of recruiting Yang Kai for quite some time.
A few days later, the number of Blood Beasts Yang Kai had under his command had reached twenty, and a real Blood Beast Army had begun to take shape. Now, whenever the group of four encountered a Monster Beast, there was not even any need for Ni Guang and the others to act. After Yang Kai’s Blood Beast Army was dispatched, any enemy was soon beaten to death, creating a kind of snowball effect.
On this day, Ni Guang, who was still leading the way, suddenly stopped, frowned, and looked around while expanding his Divine Sense.
“Uncle Ni, what happened?” Xue Yue also looked around but found no signs of danger so she could not help asking.
“Someone’s approaching.” Ni Guang’s eyes suddenly flashed as he turned his gaze towards a certain direction, quickly saying, “And they are moving fast.”
Hearing this, the others could not help wearing serious expressions as they also turned their eyes.
Soon, Yang Kai and Luo Lan also noticed signs of movement. On the distant horizon, there was indeed the aura of a living person approaching rapidly, and judging from the other’s aura fluctuations, it was obviously an Origin King. What’s more, there wasn’t just one person, but two!
Not long after, two streaks of light appeared in everyone’s eyes.
Whether it was intentional or unintentional, the direction these two people were travelling was going to take them directly towards where Yang Kai and his group had stopped.
It was not long before the distance between the two sides narrowed.
At that time, Ni Guang recognized the identities of these two and said with a cold expression, “Hmph, it’s actually those two bastards!”
“It’s actually them!” Luo Lan also could not help furrowing her brow, seemingly quite wary of those who were approaching.
Yang Kai also frowned secretly. Before entering, Xue Yue had introduced him to the Origin Kings who were present at the time, so he also recognized the origins of these two ‘guests’ at this moment.
Of these two people, one was an old man while the other was a middle-aged man, but neither of them was anything good.
The old man’s name was Kong Fa, an Elder from Galaxy Ridge.
Galaxy Ridge was considered a great force in the Star Field, but like another great force, Abandoned Lair, it had a notorious reputation! These two great forces were essentially gangs of bandits who committed all kinds of evil acts, comprised of criminal cultivators who had escaped from their original Cultivation Stars and had desperately sought refuge with them.
The favourite activity of these two forces was to wander the Star Field, and when they encountered a lone Starship, plunder it.
They were the bandits of the Star Field! Whether it was Sword Union, Purple Star, or Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, all had suffered great losses to these two evil forces over the years. Many of these forces’ Starships had disappeared mysteriously over the millennia, their crews and supplies never to be seen again.
Although there was not much evidence that these two evil forces were responsible, everyone understood that only these lawless bandits would dare take such unscrupulous actions.
The people of Galaxy Ridge and Abandoned Lair were universally hated by the rest of the Star Field.
Robbing Starships was not the worst of it though. These two evil forces even occasionally dispatched groups of people to Cultivation Stars that did not have Origin Kings protecting them to loot cultivation resources and cultivators, bringing them back to their headquarters for enslavement and wanton abuse.
It was not an exaggeration to say that Galaxy Ridge and Abandoned Lair were plagues of the Star Field!
However, because their forces were not weak, it was impossible to eradicate them.
Before entering the Severed World, Xue Yue had warned Yang Kai that this Kong Fa from Galaxy Ridge was not anything good, and if he ever encountered him alone in the future, he had to be careful.
This old man normally wore a friendly, harmless smile, but was in fact renowned for his extreme cruelty.
The middle-aged man travelling with Kong Fa was another famous criminal in the Star Field: Xu Wei from Abandoned Lair. In Abandoned Lair, he was an Elder-level figure.
Rumour had it that Xu Wei used to be a cultivator from Purple Star, but for some unknown reason, he had betrayed them and joined Abandoned Lair.
When Xu Wei rebelled, he apparently slaughtered all the people under his command, leaving no survivors.
This incident had rocked all of Purple Star, and Purple Star even dispatched its masters to hunt him down, but Xu Wei actually managed to break through their siege with his powerful cultivation and escaped to Abandoned Lair.
This incident caused Purple Star’s face to fall sharply.
Many years later, he had established himself in Abandoned Lair and been promoted to the position of Elder!
These two were similarly notorious and heinous figures, but that still did not explain why they were travelling together, let alone why they would fly towards the direction of Ni Guang.
After recognizing these two, Ni Guang not only did not panic, but instead sneered viciously, “Good, it was not appropriate for this old master to act rashly outside, but, since they’ve willingly delivered themselves to die, this old master will oblige! Elder Luo, when the time comes, hold down one of them. This old master will kill the other, then come to assist you.”
“Of course!” Luo Lan’s pretty face became ice-cold, “My Sword Union has many grudges with these two as well. Since we have met them here, there’s no reason to let them go.”
“You two should withdraw and focus only on protecting yourselves!” Ni Guang commanded Yang Kai and Xue Yue.
Yang Kai and Xue Yue nodded at the same time and prepared to evacuate.
A battle between four Origin Kings was about to break out, an earth-shattering event that Yang Kai had no interest in being drawn into.
Just when Yang Kai and Xue Yue were about to withdraw quietly though, Kong Fa, who was flying over, shouted, “Is that Senior Ni of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce?”
He obviously recognized Ni Guang, but even so, he didn’t try to avoid him, instead taking the initiative to greet him. This scene was very unusual because both Kong Fa and Xu Wei’s past actions included spilling much blood from Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce. Under normal circumstances, encountering Ni Guang would prompt them to immediately escape, so how could they suddenly call out to him and even rush over on their own?
Ni Guang froze for a moment and frowned slightly, thinking about whether the other party was plotting something. Silently signalling Luo Lan to act cautiously, he coldly snorted and called out, “You’re right, I’m Ni Guang!”
Kong Fa suddenly became overjoyed and immediately shouted, “Wonderful! If Senior Ni can offer his assistance, this Kong will certainly offer generous compensation in the future!”
“Assistance?” Ni Guang was stunned, but suddenly realizing something, his eyes shrank, and he turned his gaze to what was behind Kong Fa and Xu Wei. The next moment, his expression paled, and he called out in alarm, “Not good!”
He finally understood what had happened to Kong Fa and Xu Wei, and why they still dared to approach despite knowing he was here.
These two were being chased by a group of ancient beasts!
It was also at this moment that Yang Kai and the others noticed what was happening.
Since the appearance of Kong Fa and Xu Wei, they had not made any particularly alarming moves, but from the looks of it, they were quite dishevelled, as if they had just gone through a tough battle. The two of them were even slightly injured.
At first, Yang Kai was quite puzzled, wondering what could cause two Origin Kings to suffer such injuries, but when Kong Fa called out for help, Yang Kai finally noticed a strange multi-coloured light flashing about three kilometres behind the pair. This light was quite dazzling, and it was impossible to discover its true form at first glance, but as it drew closer, Yang Kai realized that it turned out to be a large swarm of butterfly-like insects.
The fluttering of their multi-coloured wings made their movements quite difficult to discern, and every time they flapped their wings, it was as if they teleported a short distance, slowly but surely shortening the distance between them and Kong Fa and Xu Wei.
From Yang Kai’s group’s perspective, Kong Fa and Xu Wei were being pursued by at least a thousand or so of these butterfly-like insects.
“What are those?” Luo Lan’s pretty face paled. Although she did not know what these strange butterflies were, she could tell from how distressed Kong Fa and Xu Wei were, that these insects weren’t to be provoked easily.
“Illusionary Void Butterflies!” Ni Guang replied quickly, “They are Exotic Ancient Insects that are born proficient in Space Force, their bodies are stronger than steel and they are extremely ferocious. Once they find prey, they swarm like locusts and never…”
Before he could finish his words, a broader region behind Kong Fa and Xu Wei filled with multi-coloured light as more and more Illusionary Void Butterflies appeared.
From the looks of it, there were several thousands, possibly several tens of thousands of them…
At least tens of thousands of Illusionary Void Butterfly were swiftly flying toward this side, a terrifying scene to behold. Every time these butterflies flapped their wings, the surrounding space would ripple slightly, as if it was being disturbed.
“Run!” Ni Guang shouted before promptly wrapping his Saint Qi around Xue Yue, turning in the opposite direction, and flew off.
He was different from Luo Lan in that he had done a lot of preparation before entering the Severed World, and thus knew about the existence of the Illusionary Void Butterflies. Knowing that these ferocious and unrelenting insects were chasing after Kong Fa and Xu Wei, Ni Guang did not hesitate to run.
Seeing Ni Guang behave like this, Yang Kai and Luo Lan deeply understood how serious the matter was and immediately used their own Movement Skills to flee.
Luo Lan was an Origin King Realm so her escaping speed was naturally not slow, and although Yang Kai’s cultivation was lower, he had unique advantages when it came to speed. In terms of physical strength and Saint Qi purity, Yang Kai was far above ordinary Origin Realm cultivators, so his pace was no slower than Luo Lan’s.
“Senior Ni!” Kong Fa shouted from the rear, “I hope that Senior Ni can help this Kong and Brother Xu escape this calamity!”
Ni Guang was furious when he heard this and as he fled shouted back without even looking, “Scram! If you dare to follow this old master, I’ll kill you!”
He had a stomach full of grievances encountering this kind of disaster through no fault of his own. What’s worse, the guilty party was now shamelessly chasing after him, clamouring on and on about helping them. If it were not for Ni Guang also dreading these Illusionary Void Butterflies, he would certainly turn around and kill Kong Fa.
This was undoubtedly a good chance to kill Kong Fa.
“Does Senior Ni insist on being so unkind?” Kong Fa’s voice suddenly became cold.
“This old master does not need to show you any kindness!” Ni Guang coldly snorted.
Kong Fa grinned strangely hearing this and said, “Since Senior Ni is so unkind, don’t blame this Kong and Brother Xu for being impolite.”
Saying so, he and Xu Wei exchanged a glance before each condensing their Saint Qi and releasing an attack towards Ni Guang.
Powerful fluctuations filled the air as two bright lights flashed across the sky like meteors, bombarding the path in front of Ni Guang. Facing this situation, Ni Guang had no choice but to slow down and alter his path, turning his head at the same time and angrily cursing, “Two bastards, this old master will remember this!”
“Despicable! Shameless!” Luo Lan also cursed.
These two Origin Kings belonged to the most hated forces in the Star Field and were now determined to drag Ni Guang and Luo Lan into this muddy water because that was the only way they could reduce the pressure these tens of thousands of Illusionary Void Butterflies gave them.
The short diversion allowed Kong Fa and Xu Wei to pull much closer, along with the Illusionary Void Butterflies behind them.
While continuing to curse, Ni Guang did not dare to remain or even fight back, simply continuing to flee forward with Xue Yue.
Yang Kai’s face also became gloomy as he realized that they had run into a difficult situation this time. Judging from how things were progressing, it was almost inevitable that Ni Guang and Luo Lan would become entangled with these Illusionary Void Butterflies, and from what Yang Kai could tell about the power these ancient Monster Beasts, he and Xue Yue would definitely be thrown into danger.
What’s more, there were also two insidious and cunning foxes, Kong Fa and Xu Wei, who were eager to stir up trouble, making the situation even more dangerous.
“Senior Ni, why act like this? Wouldn’t it be better to first join hands and take care of these Monster Beasts before discussing what to do next?” Seeing that his little trick had worked, Kong Fa put on a look of desperate entreaty and once again proposed cooperating with Ni Guang.
Ni Guang did not respond, his face extremely sullen, only sparing a moment to glance over at Xue Yue with a little worry. With his powerful Second-Order Origin King cultivation, he was not actually too worried about these Illusionary Void Butterflies. Even if he were to be surrounded by them, he had about eighty percent confidence he could escape, but with Xue Yue, the situation was different.
Realizing this, he quickly sent a Divine Sense Message to Xue Yue, “If we become separated, you must protect yourself well!”
Xue Yue nodded imperceptibly.
At that moment, Kong Fa and Xu Wei used their Secret Techniques again to further delay Ni Guang and Luo Lan. In order to draw in these two Origin King Realm helpers, both Kong Fa and Xu Wei used their full strength to launch their strongest attacks.
After Ni Guang and Luo Lan fended off these attacks, Kong Fa and Xu Wei were less than three hundred metres away with the swarm of Illusionary Void Butterfly not far behind.
“This old master swears, one day, he will grind you two bastards into dust!” Ni Guang saw that he could no longer escape, waved his hand, pushed Xue Yue out, turned, and roared.
“Why are you so angry, Senior Ni? We should be discussing how to overcome this calamity before us,” Kong Fa continued to call out, only to change complexion greatly in the next moment when he saw Ni Guang actually attack him.
Kong Fa let out a panicked cry as he stretched out his hand and summoned a blood-red shield for protection.
*Hong…*
There was a great explosion as the violent attack hit the shield. The shield flashed brightly, and although Ni Guang’s actions had been hasty, the impact of his strike had sent Kong Fa flying backwards.
With a horrified look in his eyes, Kong Fa fell directly into the encirclement of the Illusionary Void Butterflies.
The multi-coloured swarm of butterflies soon engulfed the area, completely shrouding Kong Fa. Only the strange screams and violent energy fluctuations which came from the swarm served as proof Kong Fa had not died.
Soon after, a figure shot into the sky as Kong Fa managed to escape.
However, in the few breaths of time he had been trapped, Kong Fa had suffered serious injuries and was covered in blood. Half of his nose had been sheared off and there were now pits in his face, as if something had melted parts of it away, giving him a terrifying appearance and illustrating just how dangerous these Illusionary Void Butterflies were.
Countless Illusionary Void Butterflies swarmed forward, their multi-coloured halos filling the sky as they ruthlessly pursued their prey.
Kong Fa reaped what he had sown and was instantly put into a bad situation while Ni Guang and Luo Lan, who had been dragged into this mess by him, also had nervous expressions, both summoning their defensive artifacts and mobilizing their Secret Techniques one after another to fiercely bombard the surrounding Illusionary Void Butterflies.
*Ding ding dang dang…*
The Origin King Realm masters’ attacks hitting the Illusionary Void Butterflies created clinking metallic sounds, as if they had struck some kind of metal. Swaths of Illusionary Void Butterflies fell from the sky to their death, but they were soon replaced by even more of their companions, forming an air-tight encirclement around them.
Xu Wei’s situation was not any better.
The four Origin Kings could only fight independently, striving to protect themselves.
As for Xue Yue, who had been forewarned by Ni Guang, she joined up with Yang Kai at this moment. She knew that in this scenario, only by joining hands with Yang Kai would she have a chance to survive.
A bracelet shaped artifact exuding a powerful energy fluctuation appeared in Xue Yue’s hand, and once she poured her Saint Qi into it, it rapidly transformed into two bracelets, then four, then eight. Soon there were hundreds of bracelets filling the sky.
This was obviously an Origin King Grade artifact!
With Xue Yue’s status and talent, it was only natural for her to have an Origin King Grade artifact. It would be strange if she did not possess one.
Unfortunately, because her cultivation was too low, even if she had an Origin King Grade artifact, it was only an Origin King Grade Low-Rank.
Under the urging of her Saint Qi, the phantom bracelets flickered before shooting off like arrows from a bow and the Illusionary Void Butterflies that were flying towards Yang Kai and Xue Yue at that moment were knocked flying.
Xue Yue frowned after her first attack failed to have the desired effect, muttering to herself, “These things have such strong defences!”
Origin King Grade artifacts were extremely powerful, and Xue Yue was not an ordinary cultivator. Her personal strength was extraordinary, but even this attack from her was unable to kill all the Illusionary Void Butterflies, which only showed how terrifying their resilience was.
At the same time Xue Yue took action, Yang Kai did as well.
With a single thought, more than twenty Golden Blood Threads exuding a golden red light shot out and transformed into the appearance of Blood Beasts.
Thunder-Flame Flying Lizard, Tail Crown Snake, Steel-Flame Ghost Spider, Silent Vermillion Bird, Star King Turtle, Eight-Eyed Demon Toad, Purple-Thunderbolt Sky Leopard, and many more. These Blood Beasts spread out as soon as they appeared, surrounding Yang Kai and Xue Yue in a strong protective circle. Soon, under the control of Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, they used their own methods to attack to deal with the surrounding Illusionary Void Butterflies.
Blood Beasts inherited most of the abilities of these Monster Beasts they were condensed from, and although their actions were a bit dull compared to their living counterparts, they were undoubtedly an excellent boost at this time.
As soon as the twenty or so Blood Beasts of different sizes were dispatched, they immediately formed a solid defence, greatly reducing the pressure Yang Kai and Xue Yue were facing.
*Weng weng weng…*
The sound of fluttering Illusionary Void Butterfly wings was endless, and not only did they not seem to fear death, but they also seemed driven by some primal instinct to kill living creatures that weren’t part of their swarm.
The Blood Beasts, which exuded a strong Blood Qi, instantly became the most attractive targets for the Illusionary Void Butterflies.
As such, Yang Kai and Xue Yue, who were in the middle position, were temporarily safe.
Seeing this, Xue Yue could not help relaxing slightly and focused her attention on attacking, using her artifact to kill the surrounding Illusionary Void Butterflies.
Yang Kai was not idle either, using the dozens of remaining Golden Blood Threads to slash through the air, cutting one Illusionary Void Butterfly in half after another.
However, as time passed, he found that their situation was not improving. The four Origin Kings were still fighting on their own, surrounded by countless Illusionary Void Butterflies, and the corpses of Illusionary Void Butterflies had already formed a thick layer on the ground.
Yang Kai frowned deeply.
The situation around him made him realize that it was impossible to kill these Illusionary Void Butterflies completely, and if they continued to fight like this, everyone would eventually exhaust their strength and become food for these ancient insects.
On top of that, Yang Kai’s Blood Beasts had also taken damage. Although they were all transformed from his Golden Blood Threads and were not real living creatures, as the Illusionary Void Butterflies continued to attack, they wore down their energy and the vitality fluctuations emanating from the Blood Beasts were growing weaker and weaker.
“Xue Yue, we have to leave this place,” Yang Kai whispered to Xue Yue beside him.
“But Uncle Ni…” Xue Yue hesitantly looked towards Ni Guang but was unable to even see his figure as he was entirely wrapped in a multi-coloured cloud. Only the violent energy fluctuations radiating from there served as proof Ni Guang was still fighting.
“Senior Ni’s cultivation is profound, you don’t need to worry about him. As long as we can escape, he should be fine,” Yang Kai comforted.
“Then are you sure we can escape from here?” Xue Yue asked, turning her head.
Yang Kai quickly said, “Even if I’m not, we have to try. In any case, it’s better than just sitting here waiting to die.”
Hearing him say this, Xue Yue nodded, grit her teeth, and agreed, “Fine, I’ll follow you!”
She had received Ni Guang’s warning in advance and had a foreboding feeling at the time that this would happen, so she didn’t hesitate much.
“Then come with me,” Yang Kai declared solemnly, his thoughts flashing as he ordered the Blood Beasts to focus their attacks on a particular spot, instantly opening a gap in the Illusionary Void Butterflies besieging them.
“Go!” Yang Kai shouted in a low voice as his figure flickered and he pulled Xue Yue’s arm while rushing out from the gap.
In the next moment, the twenty or so Blood Beasts twisted and returned to their golden and red Golden Blood Threads before disappearing into Yang Kai’s body.
Suddenly losing their targets, the Illusionary Void Butterflies seemed to be taken aback for a moment, but soon they began flapping their wings and chasing after Yang Kai and Xue Yue.
At this time, Yang Kai did not have the liberty to conceal his strength anymore and pushed his Space Force, allowing him to race forward at an impressive speed.
Using his Space Force, his speed suddenly increased, and Xue Yue was stunned for a moment as she realized what moving as swiftly as the wind really meant.
But soon, Yang Kai frowned because he discovered that his Space Force was greatly restricted in this Severed World.
This damned place was filled with Void Cracks, causing the ambient space to be unstable. In addition, the Illusionary Void Butterflies interfered with the surrounding space when they moved, hindering his use of Space Force.
This discovery made Yang Kai’s face sink, but what made him truly angry was that after he escaped from the encirclement, someone else chased after him.
It was Elder Xu Wei from Abandoned Lair!
Xu Wei also seemed exhausted at the moment and was being chased by countless Illusionary Void Butterflies, but he didn’t pay any of this mind and instead desperately pursued Yang Kai and Xue Yue. Even if he was attacked by the butterflies, he did not try to fight back and instead focused on dodging.
“What’s he trying to do?” Xue Yue faintly realized what was wrong.
Yang Kai coldly snorted, “He wants to overtake us then use us as bait while he runs away!”
There was a saying that when being chased by an invincible enemy, what matters most was not being the fastest among your companions, but instead not being the slowest!
Although Yang Kai and Xue Yue were not Xu Wei’s companions, he clearly intended to use them to his advantage. As long as he could use Yang Kai and Xue Yue to delay the Illusionary Void Butterflies chasing him, he would have a good chance to escape from these annoying ancient insects.
On the other hand, even though Ni Guang had discovered what Xu Wei was trying to do, he was unable to stop him. At this moment, Ni Guang had to focus on defending himself so he could only roar furiously towards Xu Wei’s back.
“Despicable and shameless!” After understanding Xu Wei’s intentions, Xue Yue ground her teeth and shouted, a fierce look filling her face.
Yang Kai, however, just sneered, “One’s actions will always be judged by the Heavens. If he wants to plot against us, he’ll need to have the ability first.”
Contrary to the others, Yang Kai was not concerned with Xu Wei’s actions.
In just a few breaths, Yang Kai and Xue Yue had rushed out several dozen kilometres, with Ni Guang and the others having long disappeared from their field of vision. Only a large swarm of Illusionary Void Butterflies and Xu Wei were following behind.
Xu Wei was also being pursued by more Illusionary Void Butterflies.
While fleeing, Yang Kai constantly scanned his surroundings with his Divine Sense.
Soon, he found what he was looking for and rushed towards a certain direction with Xue Yue.
In that direction, there was a Void Crack that was invisible to the naked eye and Yang Kai believed that Xu Wei would not be able to sense it even if he released his Divine Sense.
As long as he followed them closely, there was a chance Xu Wei would hit this hidden Void Crack and even if he didn’t die, he would certainly be wounded!
Yang Kai deliberately brought Xue Yue extremely close to the invisible Void Crack to interfere with Xu Wei’s judgment.
However, what Yang Kai had not anticipated was that the countless Illusionary Void Butterflies chasing them could also sense the existence of this Void Crack and flew around it.
This scene naturally was not missed by the pursuing Xu Wei.
Xu Wei was still an Origin King with extremely rich experience and a cautious personality. Although he could not detect the Void Crack himself, he could infer its existence from the behaviour of the Illusionary Void Butterflies.
As such, he followed the path the Illusionary Void Butterflies took and managed to avoid the Void Crack unscathed!
Yang Kai almost could not stop himself from cursing, never having imagined that Xu Wei would actually be saved by the Illusionary Void Butterflies in this situation.
As time passed, both the Illusionary Void Butterflies and Xu Wei behind them drew closer and closer, and the situation seemed to be verging on Yang Kai and Xue Yue being surrounded again.
By now, Xu Wei had relaxed a lot, because the Illusionary Void Butterflies, which had been chasing him and Kong Fa had now been dispersed into several smaller groups. At this moment, there were not many chasing behind him.
With his means, if he were to fight hard, he might even have a chance to kill off all the Illusionary Void Butterflies chasing him.
However, if he did that, he would consume a great deal of his strength and would likely suffer injuries. In this Severed World, he had to always maintain his peak condition to cope with possible dangers, so this was only an option of last resort.
As such, he came up with the idea of sacrificing Yang Kai and Xue Yue.
The speed of these two young men surprised him a bit, but when he recalled Xue Yue’s identity, he was not too concerned. He thought that the speed of Yang Kai and Xue Yue being so fast was all thanks to Xue Yue. Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce’s Young Master certainly had to cultivate some incredible Secret Techniques.
But… that was all it was.
Looking at the two figures that were only a few kilometres ahead of him, Xu Wei’s eyes flashed a vicious light.
Immediately, he activated a Secret Technique by forming a series of mysterious seals with his hands.
In the next moment, Xu Wei’s body suddenly released a brilliant red light and a kind of blood mist burst from his pores. The moment this light appeared, Xu Wei’s speed suddenly increased to an incredible level.
The short distance of a few kilometres was closed in an instant and Xu Wei easily overtook Yang Kai and Xue Yue.
This was not the end of his plot though as Xu Wei condensed his Saint Qi and sent a palm towards Yang Kai and Xue Yue behind him.
There was no murderous intent in this palm because he didn’t want to take the lives of these two, instead planning on wounding them so they would be caught by the Illusionary Void Butterflies and delay them for him.
“Damn!” Xue Yue shouted angrily as she threw out her artifact to meet Xu Wei’s attack.
*Hong…*
With a loud bang, and a fierce energy explosion, a shockwave struck Yang Kai and Xue Yue, forcing them to reduce their speed in order to stabilize themselves.
“Haha!” Xu Wei laughed wildly as he looked back at Yang Kai and Xue Yue jokingly, “Little brats, don’t die too easily!”
At this moment, he wore a victorious and treacherous grin on his face.
“You want to run?” Yang Kai’s expression became cold as his eyes fixed onto Xu Wei’s, his left eye suddenly becoming golden as a lotus bud appeared in its pupil!
Yang Kai held a deep animosity towards Xu Wei for trying to use him as bait to escape, so he certainly was not going to let him just go. Taking advantage of Xu Wei’s overconfidence, the moment he relaxed, Yang Kai used his Blossoming Lotus Secret Technique.
This was not the end though, as Yang Kai flicked his wrist and summoned out his Verdant Dragon Bone Sword. Together with a loud dragon roar, a giant dark green dragon appeared and pounced towards Xu Wei while spitting out a stream of extremely toxic and corrosive poison.
Xu Wei’s grin instantly stiffened on his face and his eyes shrank.
He never expected Yang Kai to launch such a fierce attack towards him, a genuine Origin King.
The next instant, Xu Wei noticed a stream of pure Spiritual Energy bombard his Knowledge Sea’s defences, and despite the difference in cultivation, the barrier around Xu Wei’s Knowledge Sea was instantly cracked open, a strange rotating lotus bud appeared inside it, and immediately began to bloom.
Instantly, Xu Wei’s head felt like it was being split apart and he could not help screaming as he hurriedly tried to stabilize his Soul by focusing the power of Knowledge Sea to suppress and expel this strange lotus flower.
Fortunately for him, his cultivation was not weak, and although he was caught completely off guard by Yang Kai and suffered an initial blow, once he mobilized the power of his Knowledge Sea, the slowly blooming lotus was quickly suppressed.
However, if he wanted to destroy or expel it, Xu Wei knew he would need to expend considerable effort.
Yet Xu Wei could not focus solely on the anomaly in his Knowledge Sea because the giant dark green dragon was about to crash into him, its giant maw wide open, ready to tear him apart. In front of the giant dragon, he seemed as small as an ant.
Seeing that the dragon was about to swallow him whole, Xu Wei grit his teeth and the crimson light surrounding his body glowed even brighter, allowing his speed to jump once more so he could dodge the dragon’s dangerous blow.
When he appeared again, he was already ten kilometres away, but his face was slightly pale, and his breathing was ragged.
First, he had been forced to flee with Kong Fa for a long time, then he fought with countless Illusionary Void Butterflies. After that, he used a Secret Technique that caused great consumption twice and suffered an attack from Yang Kai’s Blossoming Lotus Secret Technique…
Even if Xu Wei was an Origin King, such intense consumption had pushed his limits.
Turning back, he glared at Yang Kai and Xue Yue, who were now engulfed by the Illusionary Void Butterflies, and roared, “Boy, you’d best pray you die here. Otherwise, this King will make you regret being born in this world!”
As an Origin King Realm, being sneak attacked by a junior at the Origin Realm was a great shame. Fortunately, no one was here to witness the scene, so he was able to preserve his face. After leaving this threat though, Xu Wei immediately escaped.
Xu Wei did not think Yang Kai and Xue Yue would be able to survive against so many Illusionary Void Butterflies!
Even if it was him, under the current circumstances, he was not sure he would be able to escape with his life; if this wasn’t the case, he wouldn’t have made such an effort to entrap these two juniors.
“Hmph!” Yang Kai coldly snorted before coming to a stop and not moving.
Being delayed by Xu Wei, he and Xue Yue now had no chance of escape.
The number of Illusionary Void Butterflies surrounding them was twice as large as before; after all, once Xu Wei had disappeared, the Illusionary Void Butterflies which were attacking him had changed targets.
The twenty Blood Beasts were released by Yang Kai once again to form a shield for him and Xue Yue while also attracting the attention of the Illusionary Void Butterflies. The giant dark green dragon also joined this lineup.
On the other hand, Xue Yue, who stood beside Yang Kai, wore a solemn expression on her face as sweat dripped down her forehead. Constantly using her Origin King grade artifact consumed a great deal of her Saint Qi, but she had no intention of simply giving up, popping pills into her mouth to restore herself as she continued to kill the enemy.
Even her Xie Zhi Symbiotic Monster Spirit was summoned.
This Symbiotic Monster Spirit was extremely powerful, not inferior to Xue Yue herself. In the Emperor Garden many years ago, Xue Yue had once used this Symbiotic Monster Spirit to compete with Shan Qing Luo’s Heavenly Moon Demon Spider evenly, so its strength was unquestionable.
Even so, this was undoubtedly a losing battle. The Blood Beasts continued to grow dimmer and were seemingly at risk of collapsing at any time, forcing Yang Kai to contract the defense circles repeatedly.
“Why aren’t you worried?” Xue Yue suddenly turned her head to look at Yang Kai and asked with an anxious expression while continuing to move her hands to launch powerful Secret Techniques to kill the Illusionary Void Butterflies in order to relieve pressure on the Blood Beasts.
It was not until this point that she noticed that Yang Kai still had a calm and relaxed expression, completely unlike what one should look like when facing a dead end.
“Why should I be worried?” Yang Kai chuckled while asking rhetorically, controlling his Golden Blood Threads to harvest the lives of numerous Illusionary Void Butterflies at once.
“Aren’t you afraid of death?” Xue Yue seemed to be affected by his demeanor and also became somewhat calmer.
“Nonsense!” Yang Kai spat disdainfully, “Who isn’t afraid of death? But… there’s a saying that dying on a bed of flowers is the best way to go!”
Xue Yue was taken aback for a moment before she glared at Yang Kai and spat, “Even now, you have the mood to joke?”
Yang Kai laughed dryly but did not respond.
Although their current situation appeared extremely dangerous, it was actually quite simple for him to resolve. He had at least two ways to get escape from these Illusionary Void Butterflies.
The easiest was to enter the Sealed World Bead together with Xue Yue. Once the two of them disappeared, the Illusionary Void Butterflies would simply leave.
Alternatively, he could simply tear space and escape!
Although space here was somewhat chaotic and interfered with Yang Kai’s use of Space Force, it would not be a problem to cross one or two hundred kilometres.
Both methods were highly effective, and Yang Kai had full confidence he could succeed.
However, in both cases, he would expose some of his own cards, especially the Sealed World Bead, which was a whole independent world. This kind of treasure was too incredible, and Yang Kai did not dare to expose it in front of Xue Yue.
After all, she was the Young Master of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, and their relationship was not close enough for Yang Kai to be sharing such secrets with her.
As such, he was debating how to suffer the least losses before acting.
“Yang Kai…” Xue Yue suddenly called out to him again.
“What?” Yang Kai turned his head and looked at her, feeling that the tone of her voice seemed somewhat strange at the moment.
“Have you always hated me?” Xue Yue asked, her gaze darting back and forth, seemingly afraid to meet eyes with Yang Kai.
“Why would I hate you?” Yang Kai was stunned.
“Because I sent people to chase after and kill you… Also, I said some harsh words to you and tried to suppress you!” Xue Yue said softly.
“Haha!” Yang Kai laughed loudly.
“What are you laughing at?” Xue Yue frowned and stared at Yang Kai with displeasure. She wanted to have a serious talk with Yang Kai, but the other party acted so crass, causing her to feel like she was being mocked.
Yang Kai looked at her jokingly, grinned, and said, “The Young Master of the Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce is so sentimental. Women will be women in the end!”
This sentence seemed to have hit a nerve as Xue Yue ground her teeth and screamed, “So what if I’m a woman? I was born a woman and never wanted to be a man! It has always been like this! After so many years, who even considers what I want or how I feel?”
As she screamed, she grabbed something on her chest and ripped it off.
In a brilliant flash of light, the Xue Yue standing in front of Yang Kai instantly changed appearance.
Now, she no longer looked like an extraordinarily brave and heroic man and had instead become a woman with world-destroying beauty. Long hair cascaded down her back and two great peaks towered beneath her robes. Her crystal-like eyes glared towards Yang Kai furiously as she ground her teeth in frustration.
Coupled with the male robes she wore, Xue Yue now gave off a completely different kind of temptation.
Yang Kai gawked for a moment before scratching his nose in amazement, “I was only making a casual remark, why did you have such an intense reaction?”
Xue Yue simply continued to glare, the light of love and hate that had become somewhat familiar to Yang Kai flashing across her eyes.
“Ha…” Yang Kai looked helpless, “Is it okay for you to be like this? If anyone saw you, it would not be good for your Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce. If someone learned about your Special Constitution, they might try to abduct you.”
Xue Yue’s Special Constitution had great temptation, even to Origin Kings. The Dragon Marrow Phoenix Body was something that many could only dream of, and any man who was able to claim Xue Yue’s Primordial Yin would obtain a massive boost in strength without any hidden dangers.
Xue Yue’s Primordial Yin could be said to be the greatest cultivation treasure and had an unimaginable temptation to those Origin Kings who had been unable to increase their strength despite countless years of self-torture.
Even if she had the identity of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce’s Young Master, there would always be some people who would be willing to take risks to obtain her.
There was never a lack of crazed people in this world.
Xue Yue sneered as she brushed her hair back behind her ear amorously, squinted at Yang Kai, and said leisurely, “Who else is here besides you and me? Besides, you already know I am a woman and you have known about my Special Constitution for a long time, yet you’ve never tried to make a move based on it! What’s wrong? Is this Young Master… Young Lady, not attractive to you at all?”
“What are you talking about?” Yang Kai’s expression suddenly became unnatural. Although he was well versed in the affairs between men and women, he still felt that certain women were impossible to understand.
In such a place and in such an environment, Xue Yue was even asking him if he thought she wasn’t attractive, a question he simply didn’t know how to answer.
“A shameless man like you actually knows how to feel shy?” Xue Yue also blushed but continued taunting Yang Kai none-the-less, “I really didn’t know that you had such thin face. When we were on that Dead Star, didn’t you simply know no shame?”
“That was an accident alright?” Yang Kai glared at her, “That happened so many years ago, why bring it up now? Didn’t we agree we should just forget about it altogether?”
“Who agreed to it? I’ll never be able to forget!” Xue Yue’s chest heaved as a wave of anger overcame her and she recklessly killed a big swath of Illusionary Void Butterflies on the spot.
“Fine, what do you want then?” Yang Kai looked down at her frustratedly, “Stop acting so confusing and just make it clear.”
“What do I want?!” Xue Yue ground her teeth and shouted, “What do you think I want!? What can I even do!?”
In a near hysteria, she screamed three times in succession, as if trying to release all the grievances in her heart at once.
Xue Yue’s unreasonable appearance angered Yang Kai.
Staring at her coldly for a moment, Yang Kai suddenly snorted and took a step towards her position with a fierce glow in his eyes, causing Xue Yue’s face to flicker with fear.
The next moment, Yang Kai stretched out his hands, seized Xue Yue’s soft, tender body, and under her stunned and terrified gaze, leaned over and forcefully kissed her luscious lips. At the same time, Yang Kai’s hands wantonly groped her body, his movements were extremely rough, without showing the slightest bit of tender affection.
“It hurts, you bastard!” Xue Yue exclaimed hurriedly as she pulled her lips away and tried to shove him off, but no matter how hard she pushed Yang Kai, she was unable to free herself, making her feel like she was trying to move a towering mountain.
But along with the pain, another strange feeling spread throughout her body…
Something between a groan and a moan leaked from her lips as Xue Yue’s struggling weakened and her body went limp.
The surrounding Illusionary Void Butterflies flapped their wings, creating a light humming sound and a glittering multi-coloured backdrop to the twos’ intimate activity.
The Blood Beasts fought and killed the enemy while the giant dark green dragon roared loudly…
Only after a long time did their lips finally separate.
Yang Kai shoved Xue Yue away, only giving her a passing glance as if she were some used pair of shoes to be abandoned.
Xue Yue’s cheeks were bright red, as was her white neck, and her body seemed to have lost all strength. After leaving Yang Kai’s arms, she staggered slightly, and her eyes darted back and forth, no longer carrying the same aggressive light from before.
“Satisfied?” Yang Kai snorted.
“You…” Xue Yue opened her mouth but did not know what to say.
“Damn it, what’s wrong with you!?” Yang Kai yelled angrily, “Pestering me endlessly with all this nonsense, just what is it you’re trying to achieve!?”
Xue Yue’s face instantly became aggrieved and her eyes became moist, as if she was about to cry, but she quickly adjusted her mood after taking a deep breath, then she grit her teeth and spat, “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you!? Hmph, in any case, I got what I wanted.”
“This is what you wanted?” Yang Kai looked at her sarcastically.
“What of it?” Xue Yue bit her red lips, “In this world, aside from my father and several of the chambers of commerce’s Elders, the only one who knows I am a woman is you. I don’t want to die before experiencing what it’s like to actually be a woman!”
“So, you thought we were going to die,” Yang Kai suddenly understood why this woman was acting so madly.
“En, you said that dying on a bed of flowers was the best way to go, so what does it matter if I act like this?” Xue Yue let out a peal of sweet laughter, “At least if I die here, I’ll die a woman, fulfilling one small wish of mine.”
“Sure enough, you’ve gone completely mad,” Yang Kai shook his head slightly.
Xue Yue snorted lightly as she turned away, “Think what you want.”
After saying so, Xue Yue seemed to relax a lot and became much more energetic, even her face filled with dazzling brilliance.
“Let me say this first: Everything I’ve done today was because you forced me to, I won’t take any responsibility,” Yang Kai pointed at Xue Yue and declared shamelessly.
“Who wants you to take responsibility?” Xue Yue pouted, “I know you have women, and more than one at that, but… as the saying goes, a wife is inferior to a concubine, so a concubine might as well steal…”
“Seems you know more than you let on,” Yang Kai chuckled before sighing and staring at Xue Yue solemnly. “It has not been easy for you.”
Xue Yue pursed her lips, “As long as you know.”
Saying so, she actively leaned towards Yang Kai and stretched out her jade white hand towards him.
Yang Kai held her hand in his and said with a smile, “What’s wrong? Are you planning on travelling to the Yellow Spring together with me?”
“The situation is what it is. If you have any other methods to get us out of this, you should use them now, otherwise, your women will become widows. In any case, I do not have the strength to fight anymore,” Xue Yue said indifferently, seemingly psychologically prepared for death.
Yang Kai nodded, stretched out his free hand, and wrapped it around Xue Yue’s waist.
Seeing his confident look, Xue Yue’s eyes could not help flashing.
She was truly prepared to die here, but from the looks of it, Yang Kai still had something up his sleeve, so she was looking forward to seeing what he would do next.
Yang Kai chuckled and was about to use his Space Force to flee together with Xue Yue when he suddenly remembered something.
Pausing for a moment, he summoned out a certain item.
It was an artifact that looked like a bracelet, but it appeared quite old and plain, with many mysterious runes carved onto its surface.
Staring at this bracelet, Yang Kai swept his eyes across the Illusionary Void Butterflies surrounding them and raised his brow as he poured his Saint Qi into it.
In the next instant, the bracelet radiated a faint light, and the runes began flowing it as a mysterious force propagated outwards!
An incredible scene happened next. When the strange energy fluctuations swept out, the Illusionary Void Butterflies that had been besieging the Blood Beasts without the slightest fear of death suddenly seemed to be paralyzed with terror and fell to the ground.
Look at the situation, it was obvious that this strange bracelet had an incredible suppressive effect on these Illusionary Void Butterflies.
“What is this?” Xue Yue looked at Yang Kai’s bracelet in surprise.
Yang Kai did not reply immediately and instead continued pouring his Saint Qi into the bracelet.
Another wave of energy surged out and more Illusionary Void Butterflies fell down. In a short time, half of the Illusionary Void Butterflies which had surrounded the pair in an impenetrable swarm had lost the ability to move while the rest had fled quite a distance in terror.
“This thing can actually be used like this,” Yang Kai also wore a look of surprise.
“What is it?” Xue Yue asked again, looking at the bracelet in amazement. Even using her Divine Sense, she was unable to see what grade this artifact was.
“The Insect Enslavement Bracelet!” Yang Kai replied casually, “Someone told me that it could restrain all kinds of Exotic Insects. I only tried using it as an experiment, but I didn’t expect it to be this effective.”
The Insect Enslavement Bracelet was an Emperor Artifact, the primary one of the Insect Emperor. Numerous kinds of brutal Exotic Insects were sealed inside. After Yang Kai killed the Insect Emperor, the Insect Enslavement Bracelet had become his trophy, but because his cultivation was too low, Yang Kai didn’t dare to refine it, so it had been gathering dust inside his Space Ring until now.
Yang Yan told him that this Insect Enslavement Bracelet was a powerful treasure that the Insect Emperor had relied upon to become famous in the past. The aura it emitted had a natural suppressive effect on Exotic Insects and from the current situation, it was also effective against these Illusionary Void Butterflies.
Although Yang Kai had not yet refined the Insect Enslavement Bracelet and could only slightly inspire its effects by pouring his Saint Qi into it, the Insect Enslavement Bracelet was still able to immobilize these Illusionary Void Butterflies!
The power of an Emperor Artifact was easy to see.
However, Yang Kai could not exert all of this bracelet’s power, limiting what he could do to the Illusionary Void Butterflies. They instinctively feared the aura coming from the Insect Enslavement Bracelet and lost the ability to act or desire to attack, but none of them had truly died.
The ground was now covered in a thick layer of Illusionary Void Butterflies, many of whom were struggling, but none who were able to fly. More Illusionary Void Butterflies had fled to a safe distance, but they did not disperse, instead just creating a large encirclement.
Yang Kai laughed when he saw this, waved his hand, and took back his battle-weary Blood Beast Army and Dragon Bone Sword. Holding up the Insect Enslavement Bracelet, Yang Kai continuously poured his Saint Qi into it while walking slowly outwards together with Xue Yue.
Wherever he went, the Illusionary Void Butterflies would retreat from, always keeping a certain distance with him. Once, when the distance was shortened, the Illusionary Void Butterflies fell from the sky, unable to fly and pursue them again until he moved a certain distance away.
Xue Yue wore a look of pleasant surprise. Although she was ready to die just now, no one would just accept death when there was a chance to live, especially after she was finally able to express herself to Yang Kai, giving her hope once again for a happier future.
In this manner, the pair travelled a couple hundred kilometres without encountering any difficulties; however, the swarm of Illusionary Void Butterflies never dissipated and continued to surround Yang Kai and Xue Yue.
“These annoying bugs,” Yang Kai frowned, realizing how difficult it was to deal with Ancient Exotic Insects.
“Why don’t we just kill them all?” Xue Yue suggested, in any case, with the Insect Enslavement Bracelet’s suppression, these Illusionary Void Butterflies now posed no threat to her and Yang Kai so it would only take them some time to slowly eliminate them all.
“Too troublesome,” Yang Kai shook his head and looked around before fixing his eyes on a certain spot and pointing, “Let’s head there!”
Saying so, he brought Xue Yue over towards a certain spot.
“Hey… what are you trying to do?” Xue Yue was shocked because up ahead of them was a giant Void Crack. This Void Crack was visible to the naked eye and more than a thousand metres long, exuding a terrifying aura.
And the direction Yang Kai was heading was straight towards this Void Crack, as if he had no intention of avoiding it.
“What’s wrong? Just now, with teary eyes, you wanted to go to the Yellow Spring together with me. Are you afraid now?” Yang Kai looked at her with a grin, “If you’re scared, you still have time to leave.”
Xue Yue bit her red lips and snapped, “Who’s afraid? Don’t try to test my intentions!”
Saying so, she pushed her Saint Qi and dragged Yang Kai over to the Void Crack.
Yang Kai remained unmoved, letting her do what she wanted.
The pair approached the crack at an amazingly fast speed, but as soon as they got close, Yang Kai could clearly feel Xue Yue’s tension rising; after all, there was a massive Void Crack in front of her and no one knew what would happen if they broke into it or even if they could find their way back once inside.
Just as they were about to enter the Void Crack, Xue Yue turned her head and glanced at Yang Kai, as if wanting to make a final inquiry.
Failing to read anything from Yang Kai’s face, however, she grit her teeth and dragged him into the crack.
A light flashed and the pair disappeared.
The Illusionary Void Butterflies trailing behind began circling the area, and after confirming that there was no more prey for them here, they slowly flew off.
All around, there was nothing but chaos and emptiness, as if she had fallen into an endless abyss. Xue Yue was unable to help but squeeze Yang Kai’s hand tightly, her whole body clinging tightly to him, seeking a sense of security.
She had never had such a bizarre experience. Void Cracks were regarded by Origin Kings as terrifying existences, but this time, she had taken the initiative to rush into one.
She did not know what Yang Kai had to rely on, but under the circumstances, she could only take a leap of faith that this rude bastard who had assaulted her insensitively, would not put her in danger.
Yang Kai really did not let her down. Drifting through the endless darkness, Yang Kai showed no fear and instead just patted her hand.
Aware of Yang Kai’s comfort, Xue Yue’s mood immediately relaxed.
“What should we do now?” Xue Yue asked.
Turning around, she wanted to look for the entrance they had just stepped through, but she quickly discovered it was nowhere to be seen. Void Cracks were unpredictable, and the space here was not necessarily connected to the entrance they just went through. The entrance they just stepped through might be a few tens of thousands of kilometres away already, possibly even further, so naturally, it was impossible for them to simply go back the way they came.
“Don’t worry,” Yang Kai’s tone carried with it a rare gentleness as he spoke and laughed, “Just leave everything here to me.”
Xue Yue gently nodded. Yang Kai’s words seemed to be a reassuring magic, allowing her to relax in both body and mind.
“Such rich Space Force fluctuations… En… there should be something extraordinary here. It seems I should have entered a long time ago,” Yang Kai released his Divine Sense and checked his surroundings, seeming a little annoyed.
With a serious expression, he spread out his Space Force and felt the unique fluctuations in The Void around him, thoroughly enjoying the sensation.
This experience was of great benefit to his cultivation of the Dao of Space, and he certainly did not want to miss it.
After a while, he turned his gaze towards a certain spot and said, “Follow me.”
Saying so, he pulled Xue Yue along as he flew towards that direction.
Inside the Void, there was nothing but chaos, almost as if the world itself didn’t exist. There was not anything living here, nor any aura, nothing, a complete emptiness that far exceeded that of even a Dead Star.
Xue Yue could not feel anything at all except for the touch and temperature coming from Yang Kai’s hand, which she held onto tightly, afraid she would become separated from him.
In this damned place, even the passage of time seemed to have become extremely slow, but once Xue Yue stabilized her mind, she began to enjoy it.
Holding a man’s hand while crossing through a perilous journey. That man keeping away all dangers in front of her, allowing her to follow behind him with peace of mind, was a luxurious experience she had never had before.
As Third Young Master Xue Yue, the future successor of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, she would be the one to charge ahead and bear all obstacles under normal circumstances! She needed to establish prestige in front of her subordinates to firmly establish her position in Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce while hiding her gender, her voice, and even her mannerisms; an extremely exhausting way to live.
But here, she could put all of that aside and simply enjoy the feeling of being taken care of.
Yang Kai had said that it had not been easy for her, and perhaps he had simply said it casually, without thinking deeply, but these few words touched the softest part of Xue Yue’s heart, almost causing her to shed tears.
At this moment, her heart was warm, and she only hoped that this time would continue forever.
By now, if she still could not see that Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space, she wouldn’t have been worthy of her status as the Young Master of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce.
However, she did not comment on it. A smart woman knew when to speak and when to remain silent.
She did not know how long it was, but while Xue Yue was still immersed in the atmosphere that warmed her heart, a few faint points of light suddenly appeared up ahead. These lights were quite dim, like distant stars.
“Haha!” Yang Kai laughed, feeling extremely happy, “As I thought, there are Space Spirit Crystals here! Luo Lan didn’t lie to me!”
Xue Yue was stunned for a moment before asking, “Those are Space Spirit Crystals? You entered this place because you wanted to find Space Spirit Crystals?”
“En!” Yang Kai nodded, speeding up.
The stars seemed to be quite dim and far away, but it only took Yang Kai half a stick of incense to reach them.
The light might have been faint, but in The Void, where there was nothing but emptiness, it was the only source of illumination.
Looking closer, each of these Space Spirit Crystals was about the size of a fist and had a hexagonal shape. They were crystal clear but seemed to have numerous streaks inside of them out of which obvious Space Force fluctuations flowed.
“They’re quite different from the ones I’ve seen before,” Yang Kai was quite surprised and did not rush to collect these few Space Spirit Crystals, but instead observed them with interest. These few Space Spirit Crystals in front of him were indeed vastly different from the ones he had seen before whether it was their form, or the energy fluctuations coming from inside them. The fine streaks, which almost looked like cracks, were of particular note as Yang Kai had never seen such a feature in other Space Spirit Crystals.
“Of course they’re different,” Xue Yue glanced at him as if she knew something.
“Why do you say so?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
“These are true Space Spirit Crystals which have formed by pure Space Force, while the Space Spirit Crystals in the outside world are always found as auxiliary materials in different mineral lodes. Space Spirit Crystals mined in the outside world contain many impurities, and although they are still Space Spirit Crystals, they are incomparable to these in terms of quality and grade,” Xue Yue reached out and grabbed a piece of Space Spirit Crystal. The whole process was extremely easy, as if these Space Spirit Crystal were simply discarded here at will by someone. There was no difficulty in obtaining them. Pointing at the faint streaks inside the crystal, Xue Yue continued, “Look at this, the power contained inside of it is strong enough to affect its internal space. If one refines these using a special Secret Technique, once this Space Spirit Crystal is detonated, it would be powerful enough to cause space to collapse across a wide area. At that time, no matter who’s involved, I’m afraid they would suffer greatly.”
“Space Spirit Crystals can even be used like that?” Yang Kai suddenly became interested as he turned to look at Xue Yue thoughtfully, “Does your chamber of commerce have such a Secret Technique?”
“It should,” Xue Yue nodded, “I have heard of it before, but I have never actually seen such a Secret Technique.”
While she was talking, she handed the Space Spirit Crystal to Yang Kai and said, “Moreover, a Space Ring refined from this kind of Space Spirit Crystal will have a massive internal space, far superior to an ordinary Space Ring, but… I suspect no Artifact Refiner would dare refine such a Space Ring. No one would treat their life so lightly.”
While they spoke, the four Space Spirit Crystals in this place were collected by Yang Kai.
Probing one of them slightly, Yang Kai found that the Space Force contained in these Space Spirit Crystals was far beyond what he imagined. If he could collect just twenty of these crystals, it would be enough for him to arrange a Cross-Cultivation Star Space Array, and the distance that array could cover would definitely be farther than those he arranged before.
“This kind of Space Spirit Crystal can’t be stored inside a Space Ring, so how are you planning on storing them?” Xue Yue asked while looking at Yang Kai.
There was no need for her to remind him as Yang Kai had also discovered this problem.
He had just tried to put the Space Spirit Crystal into his Space Ring but found that it was impossible. The power contained in this Space Spirit Crystal seemed to interfere with his Space Ring.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai tried the Sealed World Bead.
The next moment, the Space Spirit Crystals were thrown into the Sealed World Bead!
Yang Kai could not help breathing a sigh of relief. The Sealed World Bead was an extremely high tier existence; after all, it was an Emperor Artifact and sealed an entire world with its own World Principles, so it had no difficulty accepting these Space Spirit Crystals.
Xue Yue was surprised for a moment before she laughed lightly, “It looks like you still have a lot of secrets on you.”
“Are you more interested in me now?” Yang Kai asked.
“Don’t flatter yourself!” Xue Yue snorted at him.
“I have many secrets, en… I’ll tell you what I can, when I can,” Yang Kai’s expression became serious and he said quickly.
Xue Yue slowly shook her head, “I don’t need to know this, I just want to have someone who can treat me as a real woman, that’s enough.”
Hearing her say this with complete sincerity, Yang Kai looked at her for a while before smiling slightly, taking her hand again, and flying forward.
After an hour, in The Void, a few more stars appeared up ahead…
Repeating this process, a few days later, the number of Space Spirit Crystals that had entered Yang Kai’s pocket had reached almost a hundred. This Void Crack seemed to be a breeding ground for Space Spirit Crystals with its extremely rich Space Force.
Xue Yue had been silently following Yang Kai, helping him to collect Space Spirit Crystals without any complaints.
The dangers of the outside Severed World seemed to have become extremely remote to the two of them, as if they had entered their own world that was separate from all others.
On this day, Yang Kai was leading Xue Yue to continue searching for Space Spirit Crystal when Xue Yue suddenly called out, “Yang Kai, look over there!”
“What’s wrong?” Yang Kai stopped and turned his head in the direction Xue Yue indicated, but with just a single glance, his eyes bulged, and he called out in shock, “So many?”
In that direction, like there was a bright moon on a starless night, a dense collection of shimmering lights filled The Void, guiding them towards it.
After staying here for several days, Yang Kai naturally knew that each of these lights represented a Space Spirit Crystal bred from this place.
He had harvested about a hundred pieces up until now and was quite satisfied with that, but now, he realized that he had been far too conservative with his expectations.
This dense collection of lights numbered far more than a hundred.
A quick glance was enough to tell that there were hundreds, if not thousands!
“Hahaha!” Yang Kai could not help laughing as he dragged Xue Yue into his arms, hugged her, and planted a kiss on her face.
Being treated so roughly stunned Xue Yue for a moment before she bit her red lips and wiped her cheeks, angrily declaring, “You vulgar man!”
Yang Kai did not respond and simply dragged her over towards the cluster of lights as quick as lightning.
In the boundless void, a collection of Space Spirit Crystals had come together to form a spiral shape at the centre of which had a terrifying Space Force fluctuation.
Yang Kai and Xue Yue stood next to the massive Spatial Helix made up of countless Space Spirit Crystals, their expressions extremely solemn.
They had discovered that many Space Spirit Crystals here before, and the two of them had rushed over enthusiastically, but Yang Kai realized that something was off after they arrived.
There was nothing odd about the Space Spirit Crystals themselves, but he could not tell what force had drawn them together like this and caused them to assume this strange spiral formation!
Even Xue Yue, who was not proficient in Space Force, could feel the dangerous aura emanating from the centre of this spiral, as if it was a bottomless abyss that could swallow everything in existence.
They currently stood inside The Void, but the very centre of this spiral was a unique existence which could even swallow that.
“Yang Kai…” Xue Yue whispered in Yang Kai’s ear. “I’m worried.”
“Naturally, I am too,” Yang Kai comforted her. This was a kind of instinctive fear, no one could underestimate the power emanating from this helix, “But… this thing seems to be of great use to me. “
“What do you plan to do?” Xue Yue looked at him in amazement.
Yang Kai frowned and thought for a while before he patted Xue Yue’s hand and said, “Help me collect these Space Spirit Crystals first.”
Xue Yue took a deep look at him, her beautiful eyes flashing brilliantly, as if she could look directly into Yang Kai’s heart and understand his thoughts, a moment later nodding lightly, “En.”
As she spoke, she flew out and began collecting the scattered Space Spirit Crystals that did not belong to the helix.
Yang Kai stood in place, staring at the centre of the spiral, his expression extremely solemn.
After some time, he released his Divine Sense and probed towards the centre of the helix.
He wanted to probe what kind of mysteries were hidden in this helix, but when his Divine Sense contacted it, Yang Kai was shocked to discover that there was an astonishing and terrifying attractive force emanating from it.
This attraction was stronger than anything Yang Kai had ever experienced before, and his Divine Sense was instantly captured and drawn in by it.
Not only that, but his body which was standing far away also seemed to be grasped by an invisible hand that directly pulled him in. By the time Yang Kai reappeared, he was already in the centre of the helix.
“Yang Kai!” Xue Yue was shocked and hurriedly called out.
However, she did not get any response from Yang Kai.
From where she stood, she could see Yang Kai standing at the centre of the helix motionless, as if he had lost all awareness of the outside world and had no way to respond.
Xue Yue called out several times, but Yang Kai never responded.
She immediately knew Yang Kai must have encountered some kind of incident and did not dare to do anything rash. She could only stand on the spot, anxiously watching while secretly praying he was safe.
…..
Revolving, endless revolving, Yang Kai felt that his body and Soul were being torn apart, a kind of unbearable pain that made him want to open his mouth and shout, but try as he might, he was unable to move, much less make a sound.
As he was being pulled in by the helix, all Yang Kai could feel was the violent rotation. This feeling was like being caught in a violent vortex that he could only passively endure, unable to put up any form of resistance.
His Knowledge Sea tumbling, Yang Kai felt extremely dizzy, as if his Soul were being drawn out of his body by this rotating power.
Since he began cultivating, Yang Kai had rarely encountered situations that put him completely at a loss. Facing any crisis, he had always been able to quickly formulate reasonable countermeasures to resolve the dangers he encountered.
But this time, he found that he was powerless.
As he was drawn in by the helix, his mind was also thrown into chaos and he quickly discovered that his Knowledge Sea was rapidly drying up. Scanning the inside of his body, Yang Kai saw that even his intrepid physique was slowly beginning to be torn apart.
He desperately pushed his Saint Qi and his Spiritual Energy to try to resist the strange power of the helix.
Nothing worked! Despite his best efforts, Yang Kai still felt like he was falling into a quagmire, and the more he struggled, the deeper he sank.
In less than a dozen breaths of time, his Knowledge Sea had dried up!
With his Soul taking damage, Yang Kai felt a splitting headache.
Inside his Knowledge Sea, the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus played a vital role at this moment. When Yang Kai Knowledge Sea was exhausted, it immediately began to nourish his Soul and repair the damaged places.
The feedback and nourishment from the Soul Warming Lotus allowed Yang Kai’s head to clear for a moment.
It was at that moment that he suddenly noticed that there was another force inside the helix which was destroying his physical body and Soul.
Space Force!
This gave him a sudden epiphany into the mysteries of the Dao of Space.
Yang Kai was overjoyed and quickly endured the unbearable pain to immerse himself in this enlightenment.
He immediately gained some traces of understanding!
Feeling these gains, Yang Kai resolutely gave up his resistance and simply allowed the helix to throw his Soul and body into its spiralling torrent!
Suddenly, a different vision appeared before his eyes!
At this moment, it was as if his Soul had been drawn out of his body and spread out across a vast region, invisible but omnipresent.
He could clearly see his body still standing quietly in the centre of the helix, the countless Space Spirit Crystals emitting a faint light around him, and Xue Yue standing nearby, constantly calling out to him.
Her beautiful face, which could charm all living beings in existence, was now filled with anxiety, her beautiful eyes filled with panic as her face turned pale.
Yang Kai tried to send his Divine Sense to her, but Xue Yue did not notice at all and just continued to call out.
Yang Kai suddenly stopped because he knew that his Soul hadn’t truly left his body and it was only because of some strange resonance he had with the Space Force here that he was seeing from this perspective. Fundamentally, it was impossible in his state to communicate with Xue Yue.
With no other choice, Yang Kai returned his attention to the helix.
From this perspective, he was able to see more and comprehend more.
After a short while, he began condensing his Space Force and releasing it along the lines of the helix’s spiralling force.
Instantly, the pressure was greatly reduced! Whether it was his Soul or body, Yang Kai suddenly felt his situation was much more endurable.
He suddenly understood.
This spiralling force was a profound Space Force, countless times more complex than what he had currently comprehended, and because of this massive gap in quality, any resistance he put up was futile and would only increase the pain he felt.
Only by following the helix’s trajectory and comprehending its mysteries could Yang Kai enhance his understanding. This was like trying to drink an ocean in order to escape from it, a seemingly impossible task, but although he had only just begun, Yang Kai could feel some results, so if he were to persevere, he would eventually be able to reach enlightenment and escape.
After understanding this, Yang Kai did not hesitate anymore and began to push his Space Force wildly, trying to match the movements of the helix’s rotation.
This was an extremely difficult process, as well as one that was extremely time-consuming.
Numerous cracks began to appear in Yang Kai’s flesh, and his golden blood overflowed from his wounds, but it did not fly off. Instead, it squirmed like a living thing, repairing his wounds.
Yang Kai’s extremely tough physical body played a vital role at this time, allowing him to persist for much longer than an average cultivator would have been able to.
As time passed little by little, Yang Kai became completely immersed in this wonderful perception, completely forgetting everything around him.
The Space Force emanating from his body did not weaken over time and instead became stronger and more refined as it resonated with the helix’s movements more and more perfectly.
Yang Kai did not feel much pressure anymore.
His Space Force and the helix’s force began to overlap, and that rotation now had minimal impact on him.
Finally, the two forces overlapped perfectly!
The moment this happened, the entire Void seemed to resonate for a moment.
Yang Kai suddenly felt an extremely strange sensation, as if he had become a part of the massive helix, the two merging into one.
The surrounding lights blossomed in a dazzling display, and all the surrounding Space Spirit Crystals suddenly burst apart under the strange confluence of Yang Kai and the helix’s Space Force occurred.
The bursting Space Spirit Crystals did not collapse The Void but instead transformed into a pure type of energy that rushed towards the helix’s centre.
This energy condensed into countless dense, pitch-black lines.
And at the centre of the spiral was precisely where Yang Kai’s body was.
These black streaks of energy formed from the energy of the exploded Space Spirit Crystals all rushed into Yang Kai’s body and then disappeared.
The dazzling light gradually dissipated and the entire void returned to darkness, with no light to be seen and even the helix’s spiral force vanishing.
Only now did Yang Kai, who had been frozen in place for so long, have an opportunity to carefully examine his body.
After probing himself with his Divine Sense, he could not help frowning.
He found that his physical state was somewhat strange now, with black lines flitting across his figure. When these black lines appeared, they made it seem as if part of his body was missing, but after they moved on, the parts of his body that seemed to have disappeared would appear again, unharmed.
One’s physique naturally did not disappear for no reason, so this phenomenon was obviously the result of a visual disturbance caused by the extremely powerful Space Force flowing through Yang Kai’s body, causing his vision and Divine Sense to be unable to sense it.
Even Yang Kai himself could not stop this strange interference. Perhaps he would have to fully familiarize himself with this new power before he could stabilize his condition.
However, despite the strangeness of his state, Yang Kai was feeling better than ever. This time, through a series of accidents, he had managed to absorb almost all the spatial helix’s power and several thousand true Space Spirit Crystals worth of Space Force, causing his comprehension of the Dao of Space to soar to an incredible height.
Yang Kai joyously immersed himself in the changes he had just undergone.
The more he comprehended, the more he realized how superficial his previous understanding of the Dao of Space was, and the more he discovered just how terrifying the methods he could display would be if he continued to enhance his comprehension of the Dao of Space.
He was thoroughly shocked.
Unfortunately, now was not the best time for this. At this moment, Yang Kai felt as if he had the keys to a rich treasure trove, and that treasure trove was actually his body.
But he did not have time to check and handle his treasures!
Focusing himself, Yang Kai swept his surroundings looking for Xue Yue.
He had not forgotten that there was another person who was worried about him in this place, constantly calling his name and relying on him.
However, when he looked around, Yang Kai could not help frowning because there were no signs of Xue Yue anywhere.
Even spreading out his Divine Sense, Yang Kai was unable to locate Xue Yue.
[Where did she go?] Yang Kai frowned. He did not think Xue Yue had abandoned him when he fell into danger. Although he had not had much contact with Xue Yue, and didn’t know much about her, from the brief period he had spent with her, he could tell she wasn’t such a person.
On top of that, she would be like a headless fly in this Void Crack without any understanding of Space Force. Even if she spent thousands of years wandering about, there was no guarantee she would be able to escape.
Therefore, it was impossible that she had simply left on her own.
[Did she encounter some kind of danger?] Yang Kai’s heart clenched as he thought up a possibility; but in this Void Crack, what dangers could there be? Although this was a literal chaotic emptiness outside the Severed World, the two of them had not encountered any dangers during their entire time here.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai began taking action. No matter what, finding Xue Yue was the priority.
Taking a single step forward, Yang Kai travelled a hundred kilometres, his expression calm and composed, each step he took resonating with the surrounding space.
Previously, Yang Kai would need to tear space to travel a hundred kilometres in an instant, and although he recently learned to cross short distances in the blink of any eye with the increase in his comprehension of the Dao of Space, he could only leap across ten kilometres or so at a time, a truly insignificant distance.
Yet now, he was easily able to flicker across a hundred kilometres in one step, and this was far from his current limit.
While he was moving, Yang Kai began digesting the power and understanding he had obtained after swallowing the power of the helix, dramatically improving his comprehension and application of his Space Force.
If he was right, even if Xue Yue had left, she couldn’t have run far; after all, even if she wanted to run away, she wouldn’t be able to in this damned place.
Therefore, Yang Kai focused on searching the surrounding region.
Sure enough, half a stick of incense worth of time later, Yang Kai found Xue Yue’s figure!
However, at this moment, she was in quite a distressed state as she ran through the empty void, her long hair dishevelled and blood leaking from the corners of her mouth.
Behind her was a thirty-metre-long Monster Beast that somewhat resembled a seal. This Monster Beast’s body was fat and swollen, with a wide tail it flapped lightly as it followed after Xue Yue in an unhurried manner, letting out loud, piercing cries from time to time.
When he saw this Monster Beast, Yang Kai’s eyes shrank, and a look of astonishment appeared on his face.
Because he clearly felt Space Force fluctuations coming from it!
Every movement this Monster Beast made resonated with the surrounding space, as if the space around it was what was moving it forward. Despite it seeming to flounder about awkwardly, it was easily able to follow Xue Yue, who was fleeing desperately.
In other words, it did not want to kill Xue Yue immediately, but was instead teasing her like a cat would a mouse, taking pleasure in chasing her.
Just as Yang Kai saw Xue Yue, this Monster Beast opened its stubby mouth and spurt out a burst of energy that was visible to the naked eye.
This mass of energy rapidly condensed into a sharp blade that easily cut across space and directly struck towards Xue Yue.
Perceiving the terrifying danger approaching from behind her, Xue Yue’s beautiful face changed colour and she quickly bit her tongue and spat out a mouthful of Blood Essence to forcefully summon her Xie Zhi Symbiotic Monster Spirit above her head. The Xie Zhi’s illusionary body was covered in dense black fur and a single long horn jutted out from its forehead, giving it an imposing image. As soon as it appeared, it roared and rushed towards the rear.
Her Xie Zhi Symbiotic Monster Spirit was comparable to Xue Yue in terms of combat power, so an average Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator would certainly not be its opponent.
But this phantom Xie Zhi was easily bisected by the Space Force blade.
With a miserable howl, the illusionary Xie Zhi vanished.
As for its host, Xue Yue was also severely injured. Opening her mouth, she coughed up another mouthful of blood as her tender body faltered and her escaping speed slowed dramatically.
Xue Yue did not dare to look back as her beautiful eyes grew dim.
At that moment, a figure fell from the sky and took her into his arms.
Struggling, Xue Yue managed to lift her head and immediately saw Yang Kai’s face before her. Even in the darkness, she felt that this face exuded endless light, as if it was a bright star guiding her on the dim road ahead.
“You finally came!” Xue Yue squeezed out a smile as she breathlessly said.
“En, it was an accident of sorts,” Yang Kai nodded and while talking used his Saint Qi to scan Xue Yue’s body, frowning slightly at what he found. Xue Yue’s situation was quite dire. Yang Kai could not tell how long she had been entangled with this Monster Beast, but her Saint Qi was essentially depleted and there was damage to both her body and meridians. If he had arrived an hour later, Xue Yue might have died from exhaustion, even if the Monster Beast did not kill her.
“How did you provoke it?” Yang Kai asked while glancing back at the Monster Beast suspended in the void.
“It appeared on its own,” Xue Yue leaned into Yang Kai’s arms and replied softly. “After waiting for you for a few days, without any response, this Monster Beast suddenly appeared. Perhaps it was nearby and sensed your presence. As soon as it appeared, it rushed towards you. I was afraid that you would be disturbed, so I…”
“So, you lead it away?” Yang Kai looked down at her.
Xue Yue hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Yang Kai sighed softly as his heart warmed.
“Your body… what happened?” Xue Yue suddenly cried out again as she finally noticed Yang Kai’s unusual state. The black lines which seemed to erase his physique as they flowed across his figure caused Xue Yue to think that something terrible had happened to Yang Kai, immediately putting her on edge.
“It’s just some of my powers running out of control, it’s not a big problem. As long as I completely refine and absorb it, the effects should pass.” Yang Kai explained, patting Xue Yue’s back as he said, “Don’t worry about it, what needs to be dealt with right now is this fellow.”
Saying so, he turned his attention to the strange Monster Beast in front of him with a solemn expression.
Xue Yue’s face changed slightly as she whispered, “Be careful, it’s very powerful, definitely not inferior to an Origin King. What’s more, it’s proficient in Space Force. If I am not mistaken, it should be…”
“A Shocking Void Beast!” Yang Kai grinned, “I know.”
Him following Luo Lan into the Severed World this time was primarily to hunt a Shocking Void Beast.
But Yang Kai had never expected to encounter such a Shocking Void Beast in this situation.
Able to wander The Void freely, proficient in the Dao of Space, what else could it be other than a Shocking Void Beast? So even if Yang Kai had never encountered this kind of Monster Beast before, he was instantly able to identify it.
“As long as you know,” Xue Yue put her heart at ease, adjusted herself into a comfortable position in Yang Kai’s arms, then whispered softly. “I’ll leave the rest up to you, my life is in your hands.”
Saying so, she activated some kind of Secret Technique without hesitation and fell unconscious.
She was already a dry oil lamp, so she needed to heal her injuries immediately; the Secret Technique she used allowed her to enter a state of deep sleep where all her energy could be devoted to healing.
“You trust me that much?” Yang Kai smiled slightly, feeling a heavy sense of responsibility and muttering to himself, “Then, I certainly can’t let you down.”
Saying so, he flipped Xue Yue onto his back and then condensed his Saint Qi to secure her to him, allowing him to freely move his hands and feet. After making sure Xue Yue wouldn’t be thrown off no matter how he moved, Yang Kai turned his attention to the Shocking Void Beast in a leisurely manner.
Since Yang Kai appeared, the Shocking Void Beast has fallen silent.
On its fat head, its two small eyes stared fixedly at Yang Kai, as if he was a delicious meal stimulating its appetite.
The Shocking Void Beast was innately proficient in the Dao of Space, and Yang Kai has just absorbed the entire spatial helix, greatly increasing his understanding of the Dao of Space. Moreover, the raw Space Force Yang Kai had just absorbed was leaking out from his body uncontrollably, drawing the Shocking Void Beast’s full attention.
Staring at each other, Yang Kai’s eyes filled with the same aggression as the Shocking Void Beast’s, neither of them flinching.
In this boundless void crack, one person and one beast felt their opponent’s fighting intent.
“Come!” After a long time, Yang Kai beckoned to the Shocking Void Beast, “I want your Monster Core, you want my body. Let’s see who obtains what they want and who becomes the other’s meal!”
Whether the Shocking Void Beast understood Yang Kai’s words or not was debatable, but it certainly realized it was being provoked, so it released a loud roar in the next moment and shot a barrage of pitch-black energy balls at Yang Kai.
The speed of these dark spheres was incredible; after all, they had been released by the Shocking Void Beast using its comprehension of the Dao of Space. The attacks instantly crossed the distance between them and bombarded Yang Kai.
The power of these attacks was enough to threaten an Origin King!
Yang Kai eyes flashed. Instead of retreating in the face of such an attack, his fighting spirit intent only soared higher as he swung his arms out freely.
Secret Technique, Space Blade!
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
A series of crescent-shaped Space Blades shot out, precisely and perfectly meeting the Shocking Void Beast’s attacks.
Space Blade was the Space Force offensive Secret Technique that Yang Kai possessed and had always been one of his trump cards.
However, after swallowing and fusing with the spatial helix, the power of this Secret Technique had increased several times!
Although the size of the Space Blades Yang Kai released had not changed, his control over them, and the stability of their form had dramatically improved, together with their lethality.
Space Blades collided with the Shocking Void Beast’s void shots.
A faint rumbling rang out as violent Space Force fluctuations filled The Void. The space just ten metres in front of Yang Kai collapsed at that moment, shattering like a mirror as chaotic fluctuations burst forth.
From the collapsed space, the Shocking Void Beast’s huge body leapt out strangely and its opened mouth bit towards Yang Kai.
When Yang Kai’s attention had been diverted, it had managed to cross space and approach him.
Fortunately, Yang Kai seemed to have anticipated this a long time ago, so he didn’t appear flustered, instead just shifting his feet slightly while enveloping his body in Space Force, swiftly turning into a phantom.
The Shocking Void Beast bit down!
The next moment, Yang Kai appeared above the Shocking Void Beast’s body like a ghost and released a punch powered by his full strength towards its head.
*Hong…*
The fist shadow impacted the Shocking Void Beast and exploded it to pieces.
But Yang Kai did not show the slightest satisfaction after his attack landed, instead just frowning as he hurriedly withdrew from where he was standing. The moment he moved, the Shocking Void Beast that had supposedly shattered appeared behind him, its mouth still wide open.
The Shocking Void Beast that was shattered by Yang Kai was nothing more than an after-image!
One person and one beast had reached an astonishing level of speed, their respective use of Space Force disturbing each other’s vision and senses.
In a flash, Yang Kai appeared a thousand metres away while the Shocking Void Beast also came to halt, floating in the void, accurately finding Yang Kai’s location in the next instant and staring at him.
After this brief confrontation, both parties realized that the other was not some soft persimmon they could pinch at will.
“In that case…” Yang Kai murmured as he flashed a fierce grin, “Don’t blame me for being unkind!”
Saying so, he waved his hand.
In the next moment, Stone Puppet Xiao Xiao and Artifact Spirit Liu Yan appeared beside him!
Xiao Xiao carried the Heaven Shaking Pillar on his small shoulder, his eyes darting about, seemingly wondering where he was. Liu Yan on the other hand simply turned to Yang Kai and asked, “What are Master’s orders?”
“Kill it!” Yang Kai pointed his finger at the Shocking Void Beast a thousand metres away.
Liu Yan’s beautiful eyes turned towards the Shocking Void Beast and her expression became solemn as she quietly said, “It’s very strong.”
Yang Kai laughed, “If it wasn’t, I could have handled it alone. Why would I bother calling you two out? En, it’s proficient in using Space Force, which is why I need both of you to cooperate with me.”
“If that’s what Master commands!” Liu Yan nodded, a ball of red-purple flame filled with streaks of lightning and a violent, destructive force, appearing above her jade white palm.
“En,” Yang Kai grinned, his figure flickering as he rushed towards the Shocking Void Beast once again. There was no need for words between him and his two most trusted helpers, because whether it was Xiao Xiao or Liu Yan, both shared a Soul connection with Yang Kai, allowing them to share their thoughts perfectly and instantaneously, making their cooperation seamless.
As soon as Yang Kai moved, Liu Yan transformed into a giant ball of flame and rushed out right behind him.
Xiao Xiao transformed into his stone giant form and he stepped across The Void while dragging the thirty-metre-long Heaven Shaking Pillar, appearing slow and unhurried.
The Shocking Void Beast undoubtedly had high intelligence, so when it saw Yang Kai suddenly had two more helpers, its two small eyes could not help flashing an almost human look of suspicion.
Seeing Yang Kai and Liu Yan rushing up together, it leapt up before diving down, the space below it acting almost like the surface of a lake, swallowing its form as it dove into it.
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed as he felt the changes in the surrounding space before swiftly instructing Xiao Xiao who was behind him on what to do.
Xiao Xiao did not even hesitate, letting out a thunderous roar as he swung the Heaven Shaking Pillar towards his left side.
The several-million-kilogram Heaven Shaking Pillar swung by Xiao Xiao’s earth-destroying strength was even able to shatter space, and the moment the Stone Puppet’s attack swept out, the Shocking Void Beast’s head appeared in its path.
It almost looked like the Shocking Void Beast had taken the initiative to get attacked by Xiao Xiao.
The Shocking Void Beast had obviously planned to attack Xiao Xiao first, but it had not expected its little scheme to be seen through so easily by Yang Kai and get used against it.
At such close range, the Shocking Void Beast was unable to dodge such a swift attack, even if it was proficient in using Space Force.
If this blow landed squarely, the Shocking Void Beast would definitely suffer a grievous wound despite its strength that was comparable to an Origin King’s. Xiao Xiao’s full-powered attack was no joke.
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up as he secretly looked forward to a scene of splattered flesh and blood.
But what stunned him was that the Shocking Void Beast managed to twist its body forcibly at the last moment while at the same time unleashing a powerful Space Force fluctuation from its body, forming a kind of vortex that blocked Xiao Xiao’s attack.
The Heaven Shaking Pillar quickly smashed this vortex and smashed onto the Shocking Void Beast, drawing a huge splash of blood, and hurling it far, far away!
At the spot where the Shocking Void Beast’s head and neck were connected, there was now a deep red wound in which even bone was vaguely visible.
But in the end, it had survived, and the injuries it suffered were not too serious!
“I knew it wouldn’t be so easy!” Yang Kai grit his teeth and shouted, waving his hand to wrap Liu Yan in his Saint Qi before shuttling across space and instantly arriving in front of the injured Shocking Void Beast.
Immediately, the master-servant pair madly attacked the wounded beast.
Hundreds of Golden Blood Threads infused with Space Force were released by Yang Kai to form an inescapable net that completely sealed a massive region of space, cutting off any escape route the Shocking Void Beast had. At the same time, Yang Kai madly sent out his Space Blades to deal damage.
Liu Yan’s attack was far simpler, simply releasing a storm of red, petal-like flames wrapped in purple lightning towards the Shocking Void Beast. Each falling petal contained an extraordinary amount of double attribute power, and whenever any of them landed on the Shocking Void Beast, it would burn and scar its flesh while also delivering a potent shock that affected the smoothness of its movements.
For a moment, the Shocking Void Beast was only able to endure this beating, without any power to fight back, roaring constantly in pain and frustration.
*Deng deng deng deng…*
Xiao Xiao raced over, a cold aura wrapping his giant frame, and taking advantage of Yang Kai and Liu Yan restraining the Shocking Void Beast, he smashed his Heaven Shaking Pillar down again.
As soon as it saw this stick approach, the Shocking Void Beast’s eyes flashed with fright.
It did not dread the methods used by Yang Kai and Liu Yan, but this simple, brute-force attack from Xiao Xiao was something it feared. This was a perfect example of overwhelming force destroying all defences. Even its space transfer and solidification techniques could not fully stop the blow.
The Shocking Void Beast roared and struggled as it continuously spat out a dense bombardment of Space Force blasts towards Yang Kai and Liu Yan. At the same time, it projected a Space Force barrier around its body to resist Xiao Xiao’s attack.
In the next instant, the sound of broken bones rang out and the aura of the Shocking Void Beast diminished greatly.
It had taken too many attacks in too short a time, becoming severely wounded. Facing Yang Kai, Xiao Xiao, and Liu Yan all at once, it could felt helpless and realized that if it didn’t escape, it would soon die.
As such, it began desperately pushing its Space Force to disturb the surrounding space.
Yang Kai’s Golden Blood Thread net was affected by this disturbance and was unable to maintain its stability, flaws soon beginning to open in it.
Liu Yan also cried out in alarm as she pushed her flames and lightning to protect herself from the Shocking Void Beast’s counterattack.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Shocking Void Beast leapt out of its encirclement.
“Want to run?” Yang Kai snorted coldly, but just as he was about to give chase, he saw the Shocking Void Beast use its old trick once again and plunge into the void, disappearing in the next instant.
Yang Kai frowned and scanned the area around himself, pushing his Space Force to its limit, but was unable to detect any trace of the Shocking Void Beast’s aura nearby, muttering to himself, “It escaped!”
The Shocking Void Beast had obviously escaped from The Void, which was why Yang Kai was unable to perceive it anymore.
Not hesitating, Yang Kai immediately summoned Xiao Xiao and Liu Yan back before flying over to where the Shocking Void Beast disappeared and plunging his hands in The Void and ripping open a tear.
A Void Crack instantly appeared!
Yang Kai dove straight in.
In the next moment, he returned to the Severed World.
Yang Kai immediately began searching for the Shocking Void Beast. He would lose this strange Monster beast forever if he didn’t find it soon.
The roar of the Shocking Void Beast suddenly resounded, and a clear tone of panic could be heard in its voice, as if it had encountered something terrifying.
Yang Kai frowned, looked over in the direction the voice was coming from and saw a scene which caused his eyes to bulge.
Not far away, a giant black curtain covered a portion of the sky, and countless human faces were struggling and floating about inside this curtain, twisting and changing constantly. These human faces were like Yin Souls that had been gathered together on this black curtain, exuding cold and wicked aura.
Through this black curtain, Yang Kai could vaguely make out the huge figure of the Shocking Void Beast, but at this moment, it had been completely surrounded by countless Yin Soul like things that were biting into its physique.
The Shocking Void Beast’s body began to visibly shrink, as if its vitality was being sucked dry by these Yin Souls. No matter how hard the Shocking Void Beast struggled, it was unable to escape from this binding.
It was clearly at a dead end!
“Heh heh heh…” Strange laughter suddenly came from nearby.
Yang Kai’s complexion could not help but sink as he secretly began circulating his Saint Qi and turned to look at the place where the sound had come from.
Over there, a figure shrouded in darkness was standing quietly, and from the darkness, there seemed to be a pair of chilling eyes staring at Yang Kai.
“It’s you!” Yang Kai gasped as his expression became solemn.
Yang Kai could tell at a glance that this person covered in darkness was the Origin King Realm master who had been eyeing him before!
This guy seemed to be watching him before entering the Severed World, and Ni Guang had also said that this person was very dangerous, and it was best not to provoke him easily.
Yang Kai never expected to encounter this man here, or for the other party to have caught the prey he was after. The dark curtain which was currently trapping the Shocking Void Beast was obviously an artifact belonging to this unknown Origin King.
This artifact gave off a malevolent aura and was obviously the type that required a large number of living beings to be sacrificed in order to refine and enhance. It could be seen that the owner of this artifact was a vicious person who had killed countless people.
Yang Kai frowned.
The current situation was not favourable to him. Although Yang Kai did not need to fear this individual with his current strength, the Shocking Void Beast was now in the other party’s hand.
Yang Kai had worked hard to heavily injure this Shocking Void Beast, but it had now ended up in another person’s pocket, a reality Yang Kai could not swallow.
However, trying to snatch the Shocking Void Beast’s Monster Core in this situation would not be appropriate either.
Yang Kai wasn’t afraid of this man, and was confident he could escape without too much difficulty, that didn’t mean he could break through his artifact and snatch the Shocking Void Beast from him. In fact, Yang Kai estimated that his fate would likely be the same as this Monster Beast’s if he were to charge in recklessly.
What was he supposed to do now?
How could he obtain the Shocking Void Beast’s Monster Core without irritating this man? Yang Kai thought it over but was unable to come up with a suitable answer.
“Heh heh heh…” Just as Yang Kai’s thoughts were churning, the Origin King wrapped in darkness once again let out an intrigued laugh, as if he was in a good mood, and immediately said. “Yang Boy, you sure have your way with women. Having a beauty cling to you even in this kind of place, this old master is truly envious.”
As soon as these words came out, Yang Kai’s expression couldn’t help changing.
The other party had called his surname as soon as he spoke, so obviously he knew him, but… Yang Kai did not remember ever meeting such an Origin King Realm master before.
He had not met many Origin Kings, and his impression of every one of them was profound, but none resembled this man.
Yang Kai stared at the other party calmly and tentatively asked, “Senior recognizes me?”
“Of course this old master recognizes you! Hah, why, did you forget this old master?” The Origin King asked in a teasing tone.
Yang Kai looked at him and didn’t feel any malice coming from the other party, so after pondering for a moment, he cupped his fists and said, “Forgive this Junior for his lack of vision, but he truly does not remember Senior. Since Senior recognizes Junior, could you perhaps show your true face?”
“It’s only natural you don’t recognize this old master; after all, this old master has changed greatly compared to when we last met!” The other party did not seem to take offence and nodded lightly, “You take a closer look at who this old master is.”
Saying so, the black Qi which had been enveloping him dissipated slowly like a receding tide.
In the next moment, the face of the other party appeared before Yang Kai’s eyes.
“Huh?” Yang Kai was taken aback and stared at this man in a daze, muttering in amazement a moment later, “Senior Gui Zu, it’s you?”
When the black Qi disappeared, he immediately recognized who the other party was.
This Origin King was surprisingly the first Origin King Yang Kai had encountered when he entered the Star Field: A man who had been trapped on that floating continent for two thousand years and who called himself Gui Zu!
Gui Zu was inadvertently swallowed by the Domain Eruption in the Chaotic Abyss and had been imprisoned on the floating continent for two thousand years. During those two millennia, he had risen from the Saint King Realm all the way to the Origin King Realm, a near-legendary feat.
However… he had also spent almost two thousand years in isolation on that floating continent until Yang Kai and the others were stranded there as well.
At that time, Gui Zu had been trying to construct a Space Array that could send him out of the floating continent. Unfortunately, his efforts had failed. In the end, he had to rely on Yang Kai’s achievements in Space Force to allow him to escape.
A total of seven people escaped at that time. In addition to Gui Zu and Yang Kai, there was the Yue Xi Master and Disciple trio, Shen Tu, a son of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce’s President Ai Ou, and another woman named Bi Ya.
Such events were now part of the distant past, but they still left a great impression on Yang Kai, as it was his first real experience after entering the Star Field. How could he possibly forget such an event?
Gui Zu was a First-Order Origin King when they met, and Yang Kai’s impression of him was also quite memorable.
Yang Kai had never imagined that they would meet again in this place.
Although Gui Zu was no doubt a cruel and violent man, he also clearly distinguished between gratitude and grievance. Back then, he accepted Yang Kai’s life-saving grace, and after escaping from the floating continent, besides not killing him, he even gifted Yang Kai the complete Star Emperor Token as thanks!
Without that Star Emperor Token, Yang Kai would never have been able to kill Luo Hai on Scarlet Wave Star.
So, after learning that the other party turned out to be Gui Zu, Yang Kai’s vigilance immediately relaxed and he smiled at this unexpected and happy reunion.
“It is indeed this old master!” Gui Zu was in a good mood and laughed heartily as he scanned Yang Kai up and down, nodding lightly as he commented, “Kid, you’re quite amazing. How long has it been since we separated? You are already a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator! This old master remembers you were just a Saint back then, right?”
“Second-Order Saint!” Yang Kai replied with a grin, “Senior Gui Zu has a good memory.”
Gui Zu nodded, “It seems that your opportunities these years have not been small! Otherwise, it would have been impossible to achieve such shocking growth.”
“Many thanks, Senior.” Yang Kai replied, “How has Senior been these years?”
“What can I say… not as good as you young kids apparently,” Gui Zu joked as he glanced towards Xue Yue, who was still sleeping on Yang Kai’s back, with a meaningful grin.
Yang Kai simply chuckled, “This was an accident of sorts.”
After thinking about it, Yang Kai suddenly asked, “By the way, Senior, have you managed to avenge your grievance?”
Back then, Gui Zu had said that after he escaped from the floating continent, he would seek vengeance for his past grudge. Before he became trapped, he seemed to have been framed by someone and plotted against, but his enemy’s power was too great and at that time he was unable to resist. After reaching the Origin King Realm, Gui Zu had sworn to wipe clean this stain on his past.
Now that several dozen years had passed, Yang Kai wondered if this wish had been fulfilled.
Gui Zu’s expression turned gloomy as he went silent for a while before shaking his head and saying, “This old master’s grudges are not so easy to repay. Why do you ask, Kid? Are you interested in helping this old master?”
“Senior must be joking,” Yang Kai waved his hand quickly, “Junior’s strength is low, so how could he offer any help to Senior? If Junior were to involve himself and become a burden instead, it would be an unforgivable sin towards Senior.”
Yang Kai did not dare to agree casually. Although he had some small friendship with Gui Zu, he naturally wouldn’t rush into such matters.
“Haha, don’t be so serious, I was only joking,” Gui Zu chuckled. “But you don’t need to improperly belittle yourself either. You were able to seriously wound this Shocking Void Beast, so this old master can somewhat estimate your true level of strength.”
Yang Kai scratched his nose but did not argue.
While the two were speaking, the Shocking Void Beast received brutal torment, the countless Yin Soul-like human faces gnawing away at it constantly. No matter how the Shocking Void Beast struggled, it was unable to escape the black curtain, and all its attempts to resist ended up in vain.
By now, the Shocking Void Beast’s cries had become somewhat weak and its struggles had become less violent.
Soon after, the Shocking Void Beast stopped moving, leaving only the countless Yin Soul-like human faces howling and shuttling back and forth inside the black curtain, a terrifying sight to behold.
Gui Zu stretched out his hand and the black curtain immediately condensed into a black banner that flew back to his hand.
Seeing this black banner, Yang Kai suddenly remembered!
This black banner-like artifact was used by Gui Zu when he was on the floating continent back then, but it did not have nearly this much power at that time. It was obvious that Gui Zu had sacrificed many to refine this artifact in recent years which in turn greatly enhanced its power.
The black banner flew back, leaving only the shrivelled up body of the Shocking Void Beast behind. When the wind blew, the last remaining traces of flesh on the Shocking Void Beast crumbled into dust, revealing its bones.
Soon after, even these bones, which appeared to have been drained of all essence, crumbled and collapsed into a pile of ash.
Amongst this pile of dust, only one round, fist-sized bead with a lustrous glow remained.
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up as he stared at this thing fiercely.
Gui Zu gave a chuckle, stretched out his hand, and with a flick, the bead flew towards Yang Kai, “If you want it, just ask this old master. Why act so hesitant?”
Yang Kai was overjoyed and quickly caught the bead, looking it over for a while in order to confirm it was the unscathed Monster Core of the Shocking Void Beast. The energy contained in this Monster Core had not leaked out in the slightest. Smiling, he turned around and said, “Many thanks, Senior!”
“It was yours in the first place!” Gui Zu didn’t care, “This old master also knows you’re proficient in the Dao of Space, so of course he left this Monster Core behind. With it, your comprehension of the Dao of Space will advance quite a bit, yes?”
Yang Kai did not bother concealing anything and nodded, “Yeah, the purpose of me coming here is for this Shocking Void Beast’s Monster Core, so now I’ve obtained what I wanted.”
“Kid, you’re as bold as ever, even daring to enter this kind of damned place,” Gui Zu looked at Yang Kai with a bit of amazement. “Since you got what you wanted, perhaps you can help this old master get what he wants now?”
“What does Senior need help with? If this Junior can be of assistance, he will certainly not refuse,” Yang Kai carefully put away the Shocking Void Beast Monster Core before turning to address Gui Zu with a solemn expression.
Although Gui Zu did not seem like a good thing, he had been quite good to Yang Kai, especially during this unexpected reunion of theirs. Gui Zu seemed very approachable and amiable, so Yang Kai naturally reciprocated in kind.
What’s more, Gui Zu was strong, to the point that even Ni Guang was wary of him, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to establish a good relationship with him. Perhaps there would come a time when Yang Kai would need help from Gui Zu in the future.
“There is a place in here that I will need to borrow your powers to explore,” Gui Zu pondered for a moment, “This old master doesn’t dare to enter that place on his own, but it will be fine if you are there.”
Gui Zu was a decisive character, so after reaching an agreement, he immediately led the way forward.
Yang Kai adjusted Xue Yue on his back, allowing her to lean on him more comfortably as he hurriedly kept up.
Along the way, through some idle chatter, Yang Kai learned that since Gui Zu saw him before entering the Severed World, he had been searching for him; after all, there were many Void Cracks in this Severed World, and only someone proficient in the Dao of Space could travel through here safely.
And Gui Zu happened to know that Yang Kai was quite accomplished in the Dao of Space.
Gui Zu originally intended to find a chance to snatch Yang Kai from under Ni Guang and Luo Lan’s noses and then take him to explore the Severed World, but after entering this place, he had been unable to track Yang Kai down and was only able to use some clues to chase after him.
But suddenly, an accident occurred, and he completely lost track of Yang Kai.
It was not until just now, when Yang Kai suddenly rushed out of The Void and appeared in front of Gui Zu that the latter picked up the former’s trail.
“It seems that Senior and I do indeed share some fate,” Yang Kai laughed after hearing his explanation.
The Void was connected to almost everywhere in the Severed World, yet the injured Shocking Void Beast had appeared right in front of Gui Zu with Yang Kai following close behind. It was a coincidence within a coincidence.
“This old master was also quite surprised, I was beginning to believe I’d lost my chance to meet up with you,” Gui Zu wrapped himself in his black Qi again, making it impossible for others to see his face, but from his tone, it was still obvious he felt quite pleasantly surprised.
“By the way, where are you taking me, Senior?”
“A medicine valley!” Gui Zu flew ahead and replied without looking back, “When this old master passed by there before, he spotted many rare spirit medicines. Unfortunately, that damned place was filled with Void Cracks, so this old master didn’t dare enter too deep and only collected a few Enlightenment Flowers which had bloomed around the periphery before having to withdraw.”
“Enlightenment Flowers!” Yang Kai’s eyes lit up.
Enlightenment Flowers were Origin Grade Mid-Rank spirit flowers! They were extraordinarily rare in the Star Field because the current World Principles did not seem suitable to their growth. Only in places where an ancient environment persisted could Enlightenment Flowers survive.
Fortunately, the Severed World was just such an environment, so it wasn’t surprising that there were Enlightenment Flowers here.
This type of ancient spirit flower, whether it was used to refine the Enlightenment Pill or directly consumed, was of great help to Origin King Realm cultivators in improving their strength and state of mind!
It was no wonder even Gui Zu, with his profound cultivation, was so interested in that medicine valley. It turned out that he obtained a few Enlightenment Flowers there.
“Yeah, in addition to Enlightenment Flowers, there are many treasures there. Some of those herbs even I, an old master, can’t recognize, but I am certain it is a paradise for Origin Kings! If I can obtain enough benefits from there, this old master is confident he will be able to break through to the Third-Order Origin King Realm in this lifetime!” There was a hint of fanaticism in Gui Zu’s voice.
Hearing what he said, Yang Kai’s brow rose slightly as he was able to speculate that Gui Zu was already a Second-Order Origin King Realm master, otherwise, he would not be speaking so confidently about the Third-Order!
It seemed like it was not unreasonable for Ni Guang to fear him.
“After this old master left that place, he was even more determined to search for you. If anyone here can safely enter that medicine valley, it would definitely be you! This old master didn’t hold out much hope, but… en, it seems this old master’s luck has not run out!” Gui Zu said.
“That should be the medicine valley that Uncle Ni spoke of.”
As soon as Gui Zu finished speaking, Xue Yue’s voice came from behind Yang Kai.
The voice was still weak, but it did not sound haggard or distressed like before.
“You woke up?” Yang Kai turned his head and glanced at her, quickly discovering that Xue Yue’s face had become quite ruddy. It seemed that her healing technique was quite extraordinary, allowing her to rapidly stabilize her injuries.
“En, things were blurry just now, but it seems I’m alright,” Xue Yue nodded, not showing any intention to get off Yang Kai’s back. Instead, she hugged him tighter, enjoying the warmth and care Yang Kai showed her with peace of mind. Glancing over at Gui Zu suspiciously though, she asked into Yang Kai’s ear warily, “This Senior is…”
“This is Senior Gui Zu,” Yang Kai chuckled. “Don’t worry, Senior and I are old acquaintances.”
“Jie Jie…” Gui Zu gave a weird laugh, “Little girl, your thoughts are quite scattered. If this old master really wanted to attack you, do you think you would still be alive? Rest assured, since your boyfriend is this old master’s acquaintance, you can be regarded as this old master’s acquaintance as well. This old master has no ill will towards you.”
Hearing the word ‘boyfriend’, Xue Yue could not help blushing a hint of pink, but a smile soon formed on her lips as she replied softly, “Senior is too kind. Unfortunately, this Junior is wounded and cannot offer a proper greeting, please forgive me.”
“It’s fine!” Gui Zu didn’t care, giving Xue Yue a thoughtful look before asking, “Little girl, you’re Xue Yue of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, right?”
Xue Yue’s expression cramped, but she quickly recovered and nodded, “How did Senior figure that out?”
She used an artifact to change her appearance and figure, making her normal look completely different from her natural one. Moreover, that artifact was refined by an Artifact Refining Grandmaster of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, so unless it was a peak Third-Order Origin King, no one should have been able to notice any flaws.
Xue Yue didn’t know why Gui Zu had uncovered her identity at a glance.
“This old master is not a fool,” Gui Zu chuckled. “Only a few people entered the Severed World, and you’re wearing the same clothes as Xue Yue, and you just spoke about your ‘Uncle Ni’. If this old master is still unable to figure out who you were, he would have lived all these years in vain,” As Gui Zu spoke, he felt relaxed. He had been curious about the origins of the woman Yang Kai was carrying as he had not noticed such a woman upon entering the Severed World.
Later, he had managed to figure it out through various clues, and now he had confirmation.
“So that’s how it is!” Xue Yue nodded, realizing that Gui Zu recognizing her was not because of his strength but because she had shown too many flaws.
“The famous Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce’s Third Young Master is actually a woman, simply astonishing,” Gui Zu expressed true surprise.
“Senior, Xue Yue has her secrets, so she doesn’t want others to know about her true identity as a woman. I hope Senior can keep it a secret,” Yang Kai asked. “You know, Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce is a super force, so if this matter were to spread out…”
“This old master isn’t loose-lipped,” Gui Zu snickered, “Whether she’s male or female has nothing to do with this old master.”
“Many thanks, Senior,” Xue Yue bit her red lips lightly and offered her thanks.
After thinking about it for a moment, she leaned over and whispered into Yang Kai’s ear, “I’d best change my appearance back, otherwise, if I meet someone again, they may also see through my identity.”
“If that’s what you think is best!” Yang Kai nodded.
Xue Yue tapped something on her chest and pushed her Saint Qi, activating the artifact which concealed her appearance and figure, quickly returning to her male image.
“Little girl, what did you mean just now? Does your Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce also know the location of that medicine valley?” Gui Zu asked.
“En,” Xue Yue gently nodded, “My Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce has long known about the existence of that medicine valley. Every time the Severed World opens, someone will come over and we will have some gains occasionally, but because that place is filled with so many Void Cracks, no one dares enter too deeply. Our previous goal was also that medicine valley, but after encountering that swarm of Illusionary Void Butterflies, we became separated from Uncle Ni.”
“It turns out that it’s not a secret,” Gui Zu expressed his disappointment. “Yang Boy, it looks like we need to speed up a bit; if others get there first, we may not even have soup to drink. Let this old master carry you for now!”
Saying so, Gui Zu formed a series of seals with his hands and summoned his Ten Thousand Soul Banner. The next moment, the Ten Thousand Soul Banner wrapped around the trio and transformed into a streak of black light that flashed across the sky, more than doubling their previous travelling speed.
It was only a coincidence that Gui Zu was able to discover the medicine valley. He did not have any special purpose in entering the Severed World. He had only heard that there were many good things inside that could help Origin Kings enhance their strength, so he decided to come and explore. Then, while tracking Yang Kai, he happened to pass not far from the medicine valley and found a few Enlightenment Flowers.
Unfortunately, even with his great strength, he did not dare to explore too deeply and could only reluctantly retreat.
Now that he was bringing Yang Kai with him, he could not wait to dive in and begin reaping as many rewards as possible.
The medicine valley was not too far away from the place where he and Yang Kai met, but it also was not close. It took a full day for the trio to reach their destination.
The Ten Thousand Soul Banner was withdrawn, and three figures appeared.
However, after Gui Zu released his Divine Sense to investigate the surroundings, his expression sank and he coldly muttered, “As I thought, many people came!”
Within a hundred-kilometre radius, Gui Zu sensed a number of Origin Kings, the only question was whether these people knew about this place beforehand or had discovered it by accident like he had.
Yang Kai swept his eyes around at random and saw the figures of Purple Star’s Sect Master Zi Long and Young Master Zi Dong, both of them sporting the same long, purple hair, making them stand out against the barren hillside they stood upon.
In addition to them, Xu Wei, who had previously plotted against Yang Kai, was also here. Even Kong Fa had come.
These two were quite dishevelled, with Kong Fa obviously injured and pale-faced. It seemed he had suffered greatly under the siege of the Illusionary Void Butterflies and had only barely made it out alive.
“Xue Yue!” Not far to the right, a nervous and delighted voice rang out.
Yang Kai turned his head and found that Ni Guang was rushing towards their side hurriedly while watching Gui Zu vigilantly. Behind him, Luo Lan followed closely.
“Uncle Ni!” Xue Yue called out in pleasant surprise from Yang Kai’s back.
In this damned place, there was nothing more pleasant than seeing familiar faces. Although she was at ease when she was with Yang Kai, she still worried about whether Ni Guang was safe or not, so seeing him here, in good condition, Xue Yue naturally let go of her last concerns.
“What happened?” Ni Guang did not approach too close and instead came to a halt about ten metres away from Yang Kai’s group, his eyes fixed vigilantly on Gui Zu.
He was worried that Yang Kai and Xue Yue had been captured by Gui Zu, and if this was the case, his actions needed to be restrained.
Ni Guang thinking this way was not him being overly cautious or pessimistic, but rather a necessary measure. Gui Zu was easily identified as a villain, so anyone with some common sense would treat him like this.
“Don’t worry, Uncle Ni. I was only slightly wounded, it’s not a problem,” Xue Yue slipped off Yang Kai’s back while answering.
Hearing what she said, Ni Guang’s expression brightened slightly as he glanced over Yang Kai and Xue Yue before returning his eyes to Gui Zu to make sure that this unknown party did not do anything to Xue Yue. After a slight pause, Ni Guang cupped his fists and spoke, “Dare I ask this friend…”
In any case, Gui Zu was clearly travelling with Xue Yue, so Ni Guang had to at least ask for his identity.
Gui Zu simply gave a strange, somewhat grating laughter as he waved his hand, “You don’t need to ask for this old master’s name and origin, this old master has no plans to join forces with you. Just take your Junior back and go about your business, no need to pay attention to this old master!”
His stand-offish tone clearly indicated he did not put Ni Guang in his eyes.
Yang Kai simply scratched his nose to the side.
Ni Guang’s face could not help sinking slightly as he snorted, his expression extremely unhappy.
He was amongst the highest-ranking members of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce and a famous figure in the Star Field, anyone with lower cultivation would greet him with extreme respect, and even those in the same realm did not dare treat him rudely, except for a few like Zi Long. As such, Gui Zu’s words were somewhat off-putting.
Ni Guang immediately lost interest in chatting with the other party and coldly declared to Xue Yue, “Let’s go!”
Xue Yue opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn’t find the words, simply glancing over at Yang Kai and entreating him, “Be careful!”
Yang Kai smiled and nodded, “You too!”
In this situation, he couldn’t remain with Xue Yue as she needed to stay by Ni Guang’s side, and he had to act with Gui Zu.
“Yang Kai, aren’t you coming?” Luo Lan asked in amazement.
Yang Kai shook his head, hesitated, then said, “I have something to do with this Senior, so I’m afraid I cannot fulfil our previous agreement, Senior Luo. If there is a chance in the future, this Junior will give you appropriate compensation.”
“That’s…” Luo Lan smiled, “It’s fine, I was not fully prepared and implicated you this time. Since you have agreed to assist this nobleman, then… Good luck!”
She was a reasonable individual and did not blame Yang Kai for not acting together with her.
“Kid, trying to take the skin from a tiger only leads to being eaten. Think about it clearly,” Ni Guang gave Yang Kai a stern look as he subtly warned him.
“Many thanks for Senior’s care, Junior understands well!” Yang Kai cupped his fists.
Gui Zu cackled to the side, seemingly intentionally worsening his image.
Ni Guang nodded towards Luo Lan before bringing Xue Yue back to the place where they had originally been waiting. On the way, Ni Guang naturally asked about what happened after they separated, but Xue Yue did not explain in detail, only telling Ni Guang that she and Yang Kai had expended a lot of effort to escape from the Illusionary Void Butterflies before coincidentally meeting Gui Zu.
As for what happened in the void crack, Xue Yue did not dare to explain.
“His name is Gui Zu?” Ni Guang frowned, “Why have I never heard of such a character in the Star Field? Elder Luo, have you ever heard of this person?”
“This Mistress is also ignorant of such a man,” Luo Lan shook her head.
“Strange, how could a Second-Order Origin King possibly be so unknown? Especially one with such obvious traits. Has he intentionally been secluding himself from the world…?” Ni Guang couldn’t understand why he had never heard of Gui Zu before. It was if he had suddenly leapt out from a stone without warning, surprising everyone around.
“Uncle Ni, what’s the situation right now?” Xue Yue asked, skillfully changing the subject.
“The situation isn’t optimistic,” Ni Guang glanced over towards a certain direction. “That bastard Kong Fa followed this old master and Elder Luo all the way to this medicine valley, and after he arrived, he used some kind of secret technique to call over Xue Wei. What’s more, before we even arrived, Zi Long was already here along with that old bastard Meng Tong, who somehow learned of this place.”
“Meng Tong?” Xue Yue frowned and glanced over at a certain spot where a short old man stood, his eyes narrowed tightly and shifting around frequently, like a guilty thief.
This short old man was a true Origin King, and although he was just a First-Order, he had reached the very peak of that realm!
It was rumoured that Meng Tong had reached the Origin King Realm more than a thousand years ago but had never had an opportunity to break through to the Second-Order. If he could obtain some kind of opportunity, breaking through was almost assured!
Meng Tong’s origins were also very mysterious. No one knew where he came from, and the man himself never joined any great force, always cultivating all on his own.
It was extremely difficult for a cultivator without a powerful background to reach great heights because there was no one to teach them, making it much more likely for them to stumble and make mistakes on the long road of cultivation, eventually falling short.
Also, a cultivator without a great force behind them would have limited access to resources. Any time such a lone cultivator wanted resources, they would need to acquire them personally, wasting a great deal of time.
Therefore, such lone cultivators generally did not have high achievements; simply reaching the Origin Realm was already quite impressive.
But Meng Tong was a genuine Origin King! It could be seen that his luck and opportunity in this life were quite good, and with his perseverance and effort, he was able to have his current achievements.
Therefore, although Meng Tong’s cultivation was not at the top of the Star Field, his reputation was quite loud.
Many cultivators without great forces backing them regarded Meng Tong as a role model as well as a goal they strove to match, making the number who looked up to and even worshipped him very large.
Purple Star, Sword Union, Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce… All of the Star Field’s great forces had extended invitations to Meng Tong, hoping to win him over and even offering him honourable positions as an Elder. Unfortunately, Meng Tong had refused them all so far, preferring to remain alone and not even accepting disciples of his own.
In a sense, he was another legend in the Star Field.
He did not engage in evil or provoke any great force, nor did he get too close to any great force, simply living an unfettered life.
At times, even Ni Guang admired Meng Tong’s life and yearned for it, but even if he really abandoned everything and lived a life like Meng Tong’s, he might not be happy.
This time, among the cultivators who entered the Severed World, Meng Tong was also one of them. He had come here to seek treasures, and seeing how he found his way to this medicine garden, it was clear his good luck had not run out yet.
Counting Meng Tong and Gui Zu, who had just arrived, there were a total of seven Origin Kings present!
This accounted for about sixty percent of the people who entered the Severed World, and if one took into account those who had already died, the number of Origin Kings who had come to this medicine valley might be as high as eighty percent of the total number of people still alive!
“The spirit medicines and herbs outside the valley have already been divided up,” Ni Guang motioned towards the huge mountain valley in front of him.
“Divided up?” Xue Yue was astonished, “How was the harvest?”
Ni Guang smiled slightly, “Not bad; although there weren’t many, each one was a rare treasure.”
As the two spoke, Luo Lan also unconsciously stroked her Space Ring, as if she too had gained a lot.
“The remaining spirit medicines are hidden inside, but we can’t enter it for now!” Ni Guang continued.
Xue Yue stared at the huge mountain valley in front of her and saw that there was a dazzling seven-coloured light blanketing it, making it seem like the entire valley was filled with a vibrant tide.
What’s more, from this seemingly solid light, Xue Yue felt a deadly threat.
“Seven Coloured Radiant Light?” Xue Yue’s face sank as she uttered the name of this phenomenon.
Given her status, it was obvious she knew something about this medicine valley.
“Indeed!” Ni Guang gently nodded, “This is the Divine Bird’s – Seven Coloured Radiant Peacock’s – innate Seven Coloured Radiant Light. This aura completely ignores all forms of defence, whether they’re artifacts, Secret Techniques, or Divine Sense. Once shrouded in it, no matter how high one’s cultivation is, it will not take long for them to disintegrate and die. It’s extremely dangerous!”
“Then how are we supposed to enter?” Luo Lan asked with some worry. Although she had followed Ni Guang this entire time and gained some knowledge, she was still ignorant of this situation.
It was even her first time hearing about this Seven Coloured Radiant Peacock and its Seven Coloured Radiant Light. Against this dazzling light that even Ni Guang was powerless before, she felt a profound sense of weakness.
“We wait!” Ni Guang quickly said, “This radiant light is diffused when the Divine Bird exhales. When it inhales, it will take it back and we can then enter the medicine valley. Inside the valley, there are numerous Void Cracks that, while dangerous, can serve as natural barriers against the Seven Coloured Radiant Light. We only need to find an appropriate Void Crack to hide behind in order to protect ourselves when the Divine Bird exh…”
Hearing what he said, Luo Lan showed a look of understanding.
While explaining though, Ni Guang suddenly frowned and stared at Xue Yue gravely.
“What’s wrong?” Xue Yue gave a stunned expression.
Ni Guang didn’t speak, but instead focused on a certain spot on top of Xue Yue’s head for a moment before suddenly coldly snorting and shouting, “Despicable!”
Saying so, he condensed his Saint Qi onto his fingers and struck towards Xue Yue.
In the face of Ni Guang’s sudden attack, Xue Yue stood still and did not move. She believed that Ni Guang would not harm her and that her Uncle Ni must have his own reason for doing this.
*Xiu…*
A strong wind blew past the top of Xue Yue’s head and a strand of black Qi suddenly flew from her hair and hovered for a moment before flying over towards Gui Zu’s location like an arrow from a string.
This strand of black Qi escaped so fast that even Ni Guang could not stop it.
He could not clearly see what this strand of black Qi was, but it resembled a human figure with a distorted face, like a Yin Soul. It had been hidden in Xue Yue’s hair just now, and because both were black and it had completely restrained its aura, even Ni Guang had not been aware of it at first.
By the time he noticed, it was too late.
The strand of black Qi quickly flew over to Gui Zu, and as he let out a burst of wicked laughter, he opened his mouth and swallowed the black Qi into his belly.
“Don’t you feel ashamed of acting like that, Your Excellency?” Ni Guang looked over at Gui Zu and shouted coldly.
“Heh heh heh…” Gui Zu still just grinned strangely, “How this old master acts, there’s no need for others to comment on!”
Ni Guang’s face went gloomy as he glared at Gui Zu for a long time before waving his hand and saying, “This King cannot be bothered with you now, but he will certainly settle this account another day!”
Although he was displeased with the little trick Gui Zu had pulled on Xue Yue, it was obviously not the time to fight. Zi Long, who was not far away, was already watching with interest, seemingly eager to see the only two present who could rival him fight.
Naturally, Ni Guang wasn’t about to do what Zi Long wanted. What’s more, he could tell that Gui Zu hadn’t harmed Xue Yue in the slightest and was only trying to eavesdrop to obtain information.
With no other choice but to set the matter aside for now, Ni Guang snorted coldly and turned back towards the medicine valley.
“Yang Boy, did you hear what they said just now?” On the other side, Gui Zu whispered to Yang Kai.
“I heard,” Yang Kai looked surprised, “Senior, when did you leave that thing on Xue Yue?”
He had been carrying Xue Yue this whole time, yet he didn’t even notice when Gui Zu planted that strand of black Qi.
“When this old master handed over the Shocking Void Beast’s Monster Core to you,” Gui Zu smiled triumphantly, “What’s wrong? Are you dissatisfied with this old master’s conduct?”
“Nothing of the sort…” Yang Kai chuckled. “I just felt that Senior really stands high and sees far.”
Gui Zu laughed, “Don’t try to flatter this old master, it’s just that this old master has always worked alone, so he needs to be vigilant of everything and take advantage of every opportunity! En, now that you’ve heard what they just said, this old master will be counting on you.”
“I’ll do my best!” Yang Kai nodded, not arguing.
Outside the medicine valley, there was silence for a time as all the gathered Origin Kings waiting patiently. Those like Zi Long and Ni Guang knew how they needed to act next, and while those like Kong Fa, Xu Wei, and Meng Tong may not have any idea about this place, they were still Origin Kings who possessed extraordinary observational skills and analysis capabilities. Even if they did not know how to enter the mountain valley safely right now, watching Ni Guang and Zi Long gave them enough clues.
Xu Wei would cast his eyes towards Yang Kai from time to time. He was very curious about how Yang Kai and Xue Yue survived after being surrounded by so many Illusionary Void Butterflies. At that time, he had used them as bait to delay the Illusionary Void Butterflies so he could escape and was certain these two Juniors would die.
He never thought that he would see both of them appear here a few days later, completely unscathed.
Xu Wei could only attribute their survival to Gui Zu who came with them, thinking it was Gui Zu who appeared and rescued them.
Time passed by.
After about an hour, a strange sound suddenly came from a certain location deep in the huge mountain valley ahead. This sound was almost like a great beast inhaling deeply in its sleep.
The sound was dull and rolling, like the mixture of drums and thunder pounding heavily on one’s soul.
Almost all the Origin Kings present wore solemn expressions upon hearing this sound.
On the other hand, Ni Guang, Luo Lan, Zi Long, and a few others wore eager looks as they secretly condensed their Saint Qi in preparation to move.
The next moment, a change suddenly occurred.
The peaceful mountain valley suddenly filled with a strong gust of wind that blew straight towards its deepest depths. At the same time, the inhalation sound became even more obvious.
As this inhalation continued, the Seven Coloured Radiant Light flooding the mountain valley seemed to receive an irresistible attraction and rapidly receded from the mountain valley like a tide. In the blink of an eye, the scenery inside the mountain valley was exposed to everyone.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
At that moment, three Origin Kings, Ni Guang, Luo Lan, and Zi Long, all moved, shooting out like arrows from the string and chasing after the ebbing Seven Coloured Radiant Light as they charged into the mountain valley!
Seeing this movement, Kong Fa, Xu Wei, and Meng Tong, who had been waiting and watching, no longer restrained themselves, each of them using their movement skills to turn into streaks of light that shot off in different directions.
Gui Zu let out riotous laughter, summoned his Ten Thousand Soul Banner, wrapped it around Yang Kai, and rushed forward.
His cultivation was profound, and among the Origin Kings present, only Ni Guang and Zi Long could match him, so his speed was naturally extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, he crossed ten kilometres.
Inside the mountain valley were innumerable Void Cracks, some tiny, some massive, all scattered about randomly. These cracks were like scars in space that could never be repaired.
Many Void Cracks were also hidden, and while some could be located by Divine Sense, some were completely undetectable.
Both Ni Guang and Zi Long carried artifacts that were able to detect Void Cracks, and at this moment they relied on them to push forward while constantly changing directions to avoid these hidden dangers.
The other Origin Kings, who had not prepared for this in advance, had to release their Divine Senses to the greatest extent possible to avoid as many dangers as they could.
After only ten breaths of effort, everyone had settled into a steady pace, and although they had all rushed into the mountain valley at almost the same time, Ni Guang and Zi Long were undoubtedly much further ahead.
However, Gui Zu’s progress was even more exaggerated.
With Yang Kai showing him the way, he did not even need to worry about the threat of Void Cracks. He only needed to follow Yang Kai’s guidance and was easily able to surpass Ni Guang and Zi Long in a short time, leaving them in his dust as he disappeared into the valley.
“That bastard!” Zi Long looked at Gui Zu’s figure in the distance and could not help cursing.
He had spent so many years waiting for the Severed World to open so he could come here to harvest the rare ancient herbs that had long gone extinct in the greater Star Field. Every time the Severed World opened, many rare herbs were obtained from this medicine valley, and those who were faster naturally obtained more.
He thought that his biggest competitor here would be Ni Guang, but then the unanticipated variable, Gui Zu, had appeared halfway and caught him by surprise.
“Does that fool want to die?” Zi Dong, who was following Zi Long, also looked up ahead with a stunned expression, “Rushing in so quickly, once he touches a hidden Void Crack, even if he’s an Origin King, he’ll surely suffer greatly.”
“Don’t concern yourself with him!” Zi Long coldly snorted, “If he wants to court death, let him.”
“Yes!” Zi Dong thought about it and agreed. Even if one rushed in quickly, that did not guarantee good results and instead might lead to a quick death.
Thinking so, his mood became stable.
On the other side, Ni Guang, who was keeping pace with Zi Long, also shook his head and sighed, “Xue Yue, that boy is probably going to meet disaster. That guy named Gui Zu doesn’t know how dangerous this place is, how could their end be good?”
“I doubt that,” Xue Yue shook her head. She knew what Yang Kai and Gui Zu had to depend on, but she did not bother explaining.
Only Luo Lan sighed softly.
If Yang Kai was with them now, their situation would definitely be much better, but unfortunately, he wasn’t.
…..
“We’re here,” After releasing his Divine Sense, Gui Zu confirmed there was no one around for a dozen kilometres and suddenly slowed, allowing his and Yang Kai’s figures to be revealed.
“Hm? There’s a medicinal fragrance!” Yang Kai suddenly sniffed and said with shock.
“Heh heh, we’ve only just come in and we already have a harvest,” Gui Zu chuckled before his expression suddenly turned solemn. “Yang Boy, this old master will make this clear right now, whatever we find in this medicine valley, we’ll split evenly, this old master won’t take advantage of you. What do you think?”
“We’ll do as Senior proposes,” Yang Kai nodded readily.
In this kind of place, although Gui Zu had to rely heavily on Yang Kai’s expertise in Space Force, that did not mean he couldn’t act without Yang Kai, it’s just his speed would be much slower.
Therefore, Gui Zu’s proposal to split the gains evenly was actually a bit of a loss to him; so of course, Yang Kai wouldn’t object.
“Over there!” Yang Kai confirmed the source of the medicinal fragrance and pointed in a certain direction.
Saying so, he rushed over with Gui Zu following close behind.
Ten breaths later, the two arrived in front of a fruit tree about half a person tall. The branches of this fruit tree were a bit sparse and only a few scattered cone-shaped leaves adorned its branches.
On these branches, there were a total of four purple fist-sized fruits that gave off a light twinkling. Their skin was crystal clear and one could see the sweet flesh on their inside.
An indescribable aura lingered around these four fruits, making them stand out all on their own.
Gui Zu’s whole body was wrapped in black Qi, but the piercing fire in his eyes was still difficult to contain.
He could see just how extraordinary these four fruits were at a glance and that they were of great use to improve his strength!
“Divine Nirvana Fruits!” Yang Kai took a moment of observation to identify these fruits from his vast knowledge, and when he did, he could not help calling out in alarm.
“These are Divine Nirvana Fruits?” Gui Zu raised his brows and asked with pleasant surprise, “The ones that are used to refine the Great Nirvana Pill?”
He had obviously heard about the Divine Nirvana Fruit before and what pill it was used to refine.
“En, I’m certain this is the Divine Nirvana Fruit!” Yang Kai grinned, “In this world, there are many kinds of spirit flowers and grasses, but each one that has the descriptor ‘Divine’ in their name is an incredible treasure. Such herbs innately gather elements of the Heavenly Way, which makes them extremely difficult to mature and will easily perish if certain conditions are not met! However, once one does mature, they come to possess incredible effects, whether they are swallowed directly or refined into pills. These effects are even useful to Origin Kings! Senior, we’ve struck it lucky!”
“Heh heh heh… kid, it seems you know quite a bit about spirit medicines,” Gui Zu was in a good mood as he observed Yang Kai in surprise.
“I know a little something,” Yang Kai chuckled.
“Good, there are exactly four, so as we agreed, we’ll each take two!” Gui Zu said as he stretched out his hand to grab the Divine Nirvana Fruit nearest him.
“Wait!” Yang Kai stopped him quickly.
“What’s wrong?” Gui Zu looked at him suspiciously.
“Senior, if you pick the Divine Nirvana Fruit like this, there won’t be any immediate problems, but if you don’t preserve it properly, the medicinal efficacies will quickly pass,” Yang Kai warned.
“Hm? Then how should they be preserved?” Gui Zu asked humbly. He knew that some exotic herbs needed to be preserved in special ways, otherwise, their medicinal efficacies would leak out. The Divine Nirvana Fruit was incredibly valuable, so if its medicinal efficacies were to deteriorate due to improper storage, it would be an unacceptable loss. Listening to Yang Kai’s tone, it was obvious he knew the proper preservation method though, so Gui Zu did not hesitate to ask.
“Simple, it only needs to be stored in a Metal Attribute container,” Yang Kai explained with a smile, “Senior, look, there is a rich Metal Attribute aura in the area around this Divine Nirvana Fruit. If my guess is right, down below this fruit tree, there is some kind of mineral lode. If we maintain a similar environment for the picked fruits, it would be best.”
“So that’s how it is!” Gui Zu lightly nodded.
Among the five elements, needing to store the picked Divine Nirvana Fruit in a Metal Attribute box wasn’t unreasonable, but… the fruit tree itself needing to grow atop a mineral lode was a bit strange.
Gui Zu naturally would not think too deeply about such things, though, and simply took out a dark red metal box from his Space Ring, turning to Yang Kai and asking, “Is this alright?”
“Oh… a box made from Profound Red Gold! Senior actually has such a treasure, of course there won’t be a problem with this. Storing the Divine Nirvana Fruit inside such a box will ensure its medicinal efficacies don’t leak for a thousand years or more!” Yang Kai nodded.
“Good, then this old master won’t delay any further,” Gui Zu laughed as he picked two Divine Nirvana Fruits first and placed them carefully into his box for storage.
Yang Kai picked the remaining two Divine Nirvana Fruits, and although he did not have a treasure like Gui Zu’s Profound Red Gold box, as an Alchemist himself, he was naturally well prepared and had an appropriate Metal Attribute box to store them in.
After splitting the four Divine Nirvana Fruits, the two happily moved on, avoiding the surrounding Void Cracks while searching for ancient herbs inside the medicine valley.
This medicine valley was enormous, so large that no one even knew its full extent, so no matter how Yang Kai and Gui Zu rushed about, they never encountered anyone else.
Moreover, it was extremely convenient to find spirit medicines in this kind of place because each one had an extremely high medicinal age and released a rich medicinal fragrance. As long as one followed these medicinal fragrances, they would definitely obtain something good.
After half an hour, the pair followed their noses to a palm-sized flower.
This flower was growing in a well-concealed crevice and was extremely difficult to spot. In fact, if it were not for it emitting such a potent medicinal fragrance, Yang Kai and Gui Zu might have missed it.
“Demon Melting Iris!” Upon seeing this flower, even without Yang Kai’s explanation, Gui Zu readily recognized it and could not help calling out in joy. “It’s really a Melting Iris! Hahaha, this old master’s luck is too good!”
“Congratulations Senior, this Demon Melting Iris seems to be at least two thousand years old and if it is used to refine a Demon Vanquishing Pill. It is imaginable that Origin Kings would go to war to snatch it!” Yang Kai cupped his fists with a smile.
Gui Zu glanced over at Yang Kai and said, “Good, this thing is of great use to this old master, so he will take it first. If there is anything we discover later, no matter what it is, you can freely take it. Yang Boy, is that agreeable?”
“Naturally,” Yang Kai replied boldly.
The primary function of the Demon Melting Iris was to melt heart demons. When a cultivator was cultivating or trying to break through, heart demons would occasionally appear. These heart demons were negative shadows hidden in a cultivator’s heart.
For example, witnessing the strong bully the weak and not drawing one’s sword to help may become a heart demon.
Being bullied and failing to obtain justice was another way a heart demon could form.
Being unable to save one’s beloved woman from death could also become the source of a heart demon.
Heart demons was a general term that encompassed all kinds of regrets and negative emotions that weighed on a cultivator’s heart.
Heart Demons were extremely harmful, and while they normally did not have much impact on a cultivator’s day to day life, as one’s strength grew, the degree of danger a heart demon posed would also grow stronger, especially when one was trying to break through. During the delicate period when a cultivator was trying to reach the next realm, the power of a heart demon would be infinitely magnified, and once the cultivator failed to suppress or overcome it, the breakthrough would fail, resulting in severe backlash or possibly even a dissonance in his or her cultivation, the ultimate result of which could be death.
Therefore, high-level cultivators would generally make many preparations before attempting to break through, especially when it came to preventing or resolving heart demons. The easiest way to do this was to take certain types of pills.
The Demon Vanquishing Pill, refined from a Demon Melting Iris, was the best Spirit Pill to suppress heart demons! Even if the Demon Melting Iris weren’t refined into a pill, just consuming one of its petals during a breakthrough would have a miraculous effect.
Gui Zu was now a Second-Order Origin King, but if he wanted to break through to the Third-Order, there would be many difficulties. Gui Zu’s life was filled with tragedies, and he had yet to obtain the vengeance he sought, so the power of his heart demons would not be small. In this world, only the Demon Melting Iris could suppress such a powerful heart demon.
That is why he made such a proposal.
Yang Kai certainly would not refuse.
Gui Zu treated the Demon Melting Iris like a supreme treasure, but Yang Kai didn’t actually care much about it.
High Heaven Sect’s Rising Dragon Hall had the precious Ten Thousand Year Incense which could also resolve heart demons, and its effects were even stronger than the Demon Vanquishing Pill. In other words, this Demon Melting Iris was useless to Yang Kai.
“This old master won’t forget the favour,” Gui Zu said solemnly before collecting the Demon Melting Iris. During the harvesting process, he also consulted Yang Kai about whether it needed to be preserved in a special way. After obtaining the appropriate information, the Demon Melting Iris quickly entered Gui Zu’s pocket.
After Gui Zu collected the Demon Melting Iris, Yang Kai, who had been standing next to him, suddenly frowned, and asked in a low voice, “Senior, do you hear something?”
Gui Zu was startled and quickly perked up his ears.
A moment later, both his and Yang Kai’s expressions changed drastically as they called out in alarm, “This is bad, the Seven Coloured Radiant Light!”
*Hu…*
The exhaling sound came from somewhere far away, and along with it, the medicine valley began to tremble slightly. Looking towards the source of the vibrations, a seven coloured light came crashing forward like a great tide.
“Where’s the nearest Void Crack?” Gui Zu immediately looked at Yang Kai and asked nervously.
There were countless Void Cracks nearby, but none of them were visible, so Gui Zu could only pin his hopes on Yang Kai.
The Seven Coloured Radiant Light was an innate ability of the Seven Coloured Radiant Peacock Divine Bird, and was capable of rapidly disintegrating both a cultivator’s body and Soul while ignoring any kind of defence. Even Gui Zu had no confidence he could resist the Seven Coloured Radiant Light.
The only way to survive was to hide behind one of the Void Cracks nearby!
“Here!” Yang Kai did not become flustered though and simply pointed towards a certain direction with confidence while rushing off.
Gui Zu’s figure flickered and followed close behind.
A moment later, the pair stood in a certain spot mid-air.
“Is there really a Void Crack here?” Gui Zu looked around as he watched the Seven Coloured Radiant Light diffuse towards them from the depths of the medicine valley. This tide was about to cover the spot they were standing in so he could not help feeling a little panicked.
“Of course,” Yang Kai smiled lightly and gestured, “Senior doesn’t need to be so nervous; this Junior would not play tricks with his life. En, this Void Crack is both tall and long!”
Seeing him speak with such confidence, Gui Zu relaxed somewhat.
Soon, the Seven Coloured Radiant Light swept past them!
Even with Yang Kai’s assurances, Gui Zu still leaked cold sweat as he watched the terrifying light flow over them.
Since breaking through to the Origin King Realm, he had not experienced such palpable fear.
Silence reigned…
The Seven Coloured Radiant Light swept over the location where the two stood as it continued to fill up the entire medicine valley at a rapid pace.
Yet where Yang Kai and Gui Zu stood, there was a ten-metre long patch that was not filled with Seven Coloured Radiant Light. The terrifying light in front of this narrow strip seemed to have flown into some kind of bottomless abyss, disappearing entirely while leaving a safe place behind.
Gui Zu finally let out a sigh of relief.
Yang Kai was right, there was indeed a Void Crack here, but Gui Zu was unable to sense it even though he was standing right beside it. However, now that the Seven Coloured Radiant Light was outlining its existence, Gui Zu could see that its size and shape were just as Yang Kai had described earlier.
Looking at Yang Kai beside him, Gui Zu’s eyes flashed a complicated light.
He too had studied the Dao of Space and understood just how difficult it was to cultivate this esoteric Dao. He had been trapped on that floating continent for two thousand years yet barely scratched the surface, while Yang Kai had such profound achievements in this domain, making Gui Zu feel like his aptitude was simply unsightly.
What’s more… when he met Yang Kai some thirty years ago, this boy was only a First-Order Saint, but he was now a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator. This boy’s cultivation speed was simply too fast, quite likely faster than anyone in the entire Star Field.
This kid would definitely become the most dazzling star in the Star Field’s future, Gui Zu thought in his heart.