The Cross-Cultivation Star Space Arrays that Yang Kai had arranged over the past few years had nearly connected the entire Star Field together, making it extremely convenient to travel.
Over the past year, he took his four women to visit every famous mountain and river, walking every picturesque land they could. He also stayed in Nine Heavens Holy Land on Tong Xuan Realm for a period of time and visited many more familiar places, completing a tour of all the most beautiful sights to see in the Star Field.
This year had been an extremely fulfilling and joyful year for Yang Kai and the four young women.
There were no disputes, no battles, not even any cultivating this year, just travelling about together, hand in hand, forgetting about everything else and just cherishing what was right in front of them, and standing beside them.
But this had to end eventually, and today, Yang Kai returned to High Heaven Sect with the four girls.
When Yang Kai’s figure appeared, all the Third-Order Origin King masters who were discussing the Heavenly Way suddenly turned to look at the Space Array.
“That boy is back,” Long Tian Shang grinned.
“Smelly brat, you’re finally willing to show up,” Chi Yue snorted coldly as she looked rather unhappy.
Gui Zu just laughed wickedly, “Sect Master enjoys the blessing of having four wives, it’s already more than enough for him to remember to be on time. You shouldn’t complain too much.”
Ai Ou cut straight to the point and called out, “Brat, you have three days to finish up anything you have left to deal with. Three days later and we’ll begin.”
Atop the Space Array, Yang Kai’s expression changed as he cupped his fists towards the main peak where everyone was.
As soon as he finished, he turned and smiled at the four women, “I have three days left.”
No matter who among the four it was, they could not help wearing gloomy expressions.
Although they had already prepared themselves for this, when the day really came, no matter who it was, they felt extremely reluctant. But more than that, they felt worried about the unknown place Yang Kai was going to.
Over the next three days, Yang Kai handled all his business in High Heaven Sect, gathering the Elders to discuss the development of the Sect, as well as passing the position of Sect Master to Ye Xi Yun. Su Yan and Xia Ning Chang were also promoted to Elder status to assist her.
This way, even if he and Gui Zu left High Heaven Sect, with three First-Order Origin Kings assuming command, coupled with the myriad of powerful Spirit Arrays protecting it, the Sect would certainly be safe unless it encountered an attack from a Third-Order Origin King.
Even if a Third-Order Origin King were to appear though, High Heaven Sect would still have the strength to fight back.
After finishing the arrangements, Yang Kai was finally able to relax.
Next, he left a large number of Secret Arts, Secret Techniques, pills, and various other treasures in the High Heaven Sect’s Treasury for the disciples to use in the future.
Three days passed in a flash.
On this day, the atmosphere inside High Heaven Sect was extremely solemn.
Countless disciples had exited their retreat and gathered in the main square, looking up at the man who created High Heaven Sect single-handedly.
Yang Ying Feng and Dong Su Zhu shed tears as they bid farewell to Yang Kai.
Su Yan and the others also surrounded Yang Kai and spoke to him one after another.
“When you get there, if you meet someone who can take care of you, make sure to accept her. A man needs a woman to support him if he wants to achieve great things,” Su Yan said earnestly.
“Junior Brother, you have to take care of yourself, don’t take any unnecessary risks,” Xia Ning Chang entreated with puffy eyes.
“No matter how you conduct yourself out there, make sure you keep us all in your heart!” Xue Yue expressed faintly.
“If you dare to abandon us sisters, next time we meet…” Shan Qing Luo smiled wickedly as she made a slicing motion with her hand, real murderous intent leaking out from her body.
Yang Kai smiled dryly at this before putting on a serious expression and saying, “I’ll have to trouble you to look after my parents while I’m away.”
“That’s a given, go with peace of mind,” Su Yan nodded sincerely.
“It’s a blessing having all of you!” Yang Kai said affectionately.
The four women could not help blushing as Shan Qing Luo said in a sharp tone, “Just get going, don’t embarrass us in front of our Seniors over there.”
Yang Kai chuckled and took the four women into his arms one by one without any scruples about the eyes of others, hugging them tightly, as if trying to imprint the tenderness and warmth of their bodies onto his own before he turned around and soared up into the sky without looking back.
All four of the beauties standing down below opened their mouths, but none of them was able to make a sound.
“High Heaven Sect pays respect to Sect Master on his day of departure! May Sect Master achieve victory and success, enjoying prosperity and fortune, returning safely in triumph!” Ye Xi Yun’s voice sounded behind him.
The next moment, all of High Heaven Sect shouted, “May Sect Master achieve victory and success, enjoying prosperity and fortune, returning safely in triumph!”
The thunderous chorus of voices rang out through the sky.
“We shall take advantage of your auspicious words!” Long Tian Shang laughed loudly in a distant response.
Several streaks of light then swiftly shot towards Starry Sky, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Only once they were gone did many people shed tears in silence.
…..
Somewhere in Starry Sky, a group of seven stood together.
Besides Yang Kai, everyone else present was a Third-Order Origin King.
For Yang Kai, basically all these people were his acquaintances. Gui Zu, Chi Yue, and Ai Ou did not even need to be mentioned, and although Long Tian Shang and Yang Kai hadn’t interacted much, they had at least met one another. As for Sword Union’s Union Master Gu Cang Yun, Yang Kai had often exchanged cultivation experiences with this short old man during the year or so he was travelling around Sword Union. Gu Cang Yun had a friendly and free-spirited personality, so Yang Kai had gotten along with him quite well.
The relationship between the two was fairly pleasant.
As for the last person… Yang Kai actually didn’t recognize him.
Seeing him cast a curious glance towards the last master present, Long Tian Shang smiled and said, “Come here, Yang Kai. Let me introduce you. This one is the oldest and strongest amongst the Third-Order Origin Kings in the Star Field, Brother Wu Dao!”
Yang Kai’s eyes bulged in surprise as he asked, “You are Senior Wu Dao?”
Wu Dao did not have an eye-catching appearance and just wore plain grey robes, which matched well with his white beard. Although he had some sage-like features and aura about him, even that was somewhat unremarkable. If Long Tian Shang hadn’t introduced him as Wu Dao, Yang Kai would never have guessed that this living legend was the one who stood before him.
Wu Dao’s name itself was a type of symbol for this era.
Rumour had it that he had lived for more than five thousand years and had experienced countless major events in the Star Field, witnessing the rise and downfall of many great forces.
Although he was a hidden dragon who never deigned to show his face, all Origin Kings in the Star Field recognized him as the strongest!
Yang Kai had first heard the name Wu Dao when he visited Green Mountains Star.
At that time, Yang Kai had met a young man named Xu Bin Bai during the Blood Prison Trial, Wu Dao’s Disciple. Precisely because of this, Green Mountains Star’s Star Master Luo Hai treated Xu Bin Bai, a mere Junior to him, with a great deal of respect; this was proof of just how famous and influential Wu Dao was.
He was like an Ancestor to the entire Star Field.
What was rarer still was that, although this man had astonishing strength, there were no instances at all of him acting wickedly or even arrogantly, maintaining a spotless reputation for his entire life and causing him to be worshipped by many cultivators.
“Junior Yang Kai, greets Senior Wu Dao!” Yang Kai did not dare to neglect and hurriedly offered a salute.
“Sect Master Yang is too polite,” Wu Dao smiled slightly. “Brother Long shows this old master too much favour, there’s no need to act so constrained. This old master has simply lived the life of a tortoise. Living longer simply gives one more time to accumulate experiences in life. On the other hand, Sect Master Yang being able to find a way to the Star Boundary and opening up an opportunity to spy on a higher Martial Dao is truly worthy of this Wu Dao’s admiration. This old master will have to ask Sect Master Yang to lead the way.”
Yang Kai quickly shook his head and declined such praise modestly before turning around and saying seriously, “All of you being willing to cast aside your own safety and help Junior open the road to the Star Boundary is a graciousness this Junior will never forget! Please accept Junior’s worship!”
Saying so, Yang Kai cupped his fists and bowed.
Chi Yue laughed lightly and shook her head as she said, “There’s no need for you to act so reservedly. We agreed to help you not just for you, but for ourselves as well. Having reached the Third-Order Origin King Realm, if we ever want to advance a step further, we can only travel to the Star Boundary, and as cultivators, who among us can really stand to not take that leap? Wu Dao being here is the best example.”
Wu Dao smiled bitterly, “Yes, when Brother Long mentioned this, this old master knew that he had to come. If he didn’t, this old master would soon pass away from old age!”
As a Third-Order Origin King who had lived for five thousand years, Wu Dao could already be considered an extremely long-lived individual. Wu Dao himself did not have much of a life span left, and if he did not want to simply pass away in obscurity somewhere, he could only attempt to raise his cultivation once more, so travelling to the Star Boundary was his last and only hope. With this being the case, how could he not come?
“Be that as it may, Junior must still offer his sincere thanks,” Yang Kai still spoke while concealing a little guilt, because he had not told them everything he knew, like about the Star Field Guardians. However, this information was irrelevant to everyone else at the moment, so Yang Kai had decided not to explain it to them.
“Alright, enough idle chatter. Boy, just tell us what you want us to do,” Ai Ou urged impatiently.
“Is everyone here planning to travel to the Star Boundary?” Yang Kai asked.
“Martial Uncle Long won’t be accompanying us, he is only here to offer his assistance in opening the way,” Ai Ou explained. “My Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce has a vast empire to oversee, after all, so someone must stay behind to watch over it. This time, only I will be following you.”
Yang Kai nodded, expressing his understanding.
Even for High Heaven Sect, Yang Kai had to make proper arrangements. Three Origin Kings being left to oversee the High Heaven Sect was barely enough, so Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce need not even be mentioned.
If there was no Third-Order Origin King assuming command of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, it would likely not take more than a few years for it to be carved up either from the inside or out.
“In that case, Junior will begin,” Yang Kai declared before he turned around and with a wave of his hand summoned out all nine Star Emperor Tokens.
The nine Star Emperor Tokens, which now appeared insignificant and unremarkable, had once sealed the Divine Ability of the Great Emperor. Now, they only radiated a slight Emperor Pressure, but when all of them appeared together here, they began to resonate.
Soon, various flickering patterns began to appear on the Star Emperor Tokens.
These patterns were extremely profound and complex, hiding untold mysteries. Without any need for outside control, the nine Star Emperor Tokens flew out and began to arrange themselves in a specific formation.
One Star Emperor Token assumed a central position while the other eight scattered around and formed a symmetrical eight-pointed array.
The Star Emperor Tokens began to hum even more noticeably as they seemed to draw in a kind of mystical energy from the infinite Star Field, and energy that caused the nine tokens to radiate a brilliant light.
At this moment, Yang Kai shouted, “Please take action together and pour your Saint Qi in!”
As soon as his words fell, he took the lead to push his Saint Qi into the eight-pointed formation.
Everyone else followed suit and with a myriad of shouts. They too began to pour out the strength they had condensed over the course of their lives.
At that moment, with this single point as a centre, a ten thousand kilometre region of the visibly Starry Sky shook.
If a Third-Order Origin King acted with all their strength, they could destroy a small Cultivation Star.
And in this region of the Starry Sky, a total of six Third-Order Origin Kings and one Second-Order Origin King were gathered. The seven of them taking action together, just how spectacular of a scene was that? If such a massive burst of energy were to be sent out, it could definitely vaporize everything within a million kilometres, turning this region of the Starry Sky into a shattered space.
But nothing close to that happened. The eight-pointed array formed by the gathering of all nine Star Emperor Tokens seemed to have transformed into some kind of bottomless pit at this moment, swallowing all the Saint Qi that these seven masters could pour out with ease.
Everyone’s complexion changed drastically as they realized that they had deeply underestimated the methods of the Great Emperor.
These Star Emperor Tokens were refined by the Great Emperor over ten thousand years ago, yet they still had such power even today. It was difficult to imagine just how astonishing the Great Emperor’s strength was.
Exchanging a quick glance, everyone silently understood what they needed to do and simultaneously pushed their strength even more fiercely into the formation.
As time passed, the light of the eight-pointed array became brighter and brighter, and the array itself also expanded out from its original washbasin size to become as big as a large dinner table.
By now, each of the Origin Kings wore a dignified expression as they madly poured out their Saint Qi like this was actually quite taxing on them.
However, they also felt somewhat inspired at the moment, because it had been many years for them since they had gone all out. Having stood at the pinnacle of the Star Field, who was qualified to make them exert their fullest?
The current eight-pointed array, this entrance, was a perfect target for them to let loose their strength!
Gu Cang Yun couldn’t help but laugh as he ignored the passing of his own strength and desperately squeezed out as much strength from his body as he could, as if trying to see where his limits were.
Naturally the others weren’t about to be outdone and each began using their own methods to add even more energy into the eight-pointed formation.
Some time later though, everyone’s expression became a bit difficult.
Because they found that even if they kept pushing their Saint Qi madly like this, there were no signs at all of the road to the Star Boundary opening. The only change that could be seen was that the eight-pointed array was steadily expanding.
All of them couldn’t help glancing over at Yang Kai, hoping to glean some clues from his face, but all they could see was his calm demeanour as he continued to pour out his strength at a rate and intensity no worse than anyone else present.
His composure allowed everyone to feel at ease and after each of them popped a restorative Spirit Pill into their mouths, they continued on.
This situation actually lasted for three days and three nights, and during this period, the several Origin Kings lost track of just how many pills they had taken in order to maintain their power. Finally, on the third day, a dull hum suddenly rang out from the Starry Sky.
The shining eight-pointed array suddenly expanded greatly at this moment before shrinking down to the size of a house and stabilizing in place.
As a profound and mysterious light flowed out from the eight-pointed array, it stood silently in the void like the open mouth of a great beast. As for the Star Emperor Tokens, they had all seemingly vanished.
Everyone withdrew their hands and stood staring at the entrance the eight-pointed array in front of them had transformed into, none of them able to say a word for a long time.
“Is this the passage?” After a long silence, Gui Zu finally asked. He could feel the power of the Void coming from this entrance, similar to that of a Void Corridor, but also completely different. It seemed far more dangerous, causing even someone as strong as him to feel some chills.
“Do we enter or not?” Gu Cang Yun swept his gaze around.
No one was able to give him an answer though.
Quickly, everyone’s eyes landed on Yang Kai.
Yang Kai frowned as he said, “I’m definitely going to enter, but… Let’s restore ourselves first.”
“Yang Kai is right,” Chi Yue nodded sincerely, “There may be some danger inside.”
“Then, we’ll take half a day to restore ourselves. None of us knows how long this entrance will remain open, so if we delay too long and it disappears, the benefits will not be able to make up for the loss,” Wu Dao said with some slight concern.
No one had any objections and quickly took out some Spirit Pills before finding a location to sit down, meditate, and recover.
Yang Kai directly took out a mountain of Saint Crystals from his Space Ring and crushed them, allowing their energy to flood the surrounding area to help everyone quickly restore themselves.
Half a day later, everyone gathered again in front of the entrance.
Yang Kai took the initiative without any fear and said, “Leave the vanguard up to this Junior, Seniors please bring up the rear!”
“How could we allow that?” Ai Ou snorted in objection. Yang Kai was his son-in-law, and as Xue Yue’s father, certainly couldn’t let Yang Kai take such risks. What if something happened? Wouldn’t that leave Xue Yue as a widow?
Saying so, he stepped forward, determined to enter first.
Yang Kai, however, quickly stretched out his hand to stop him and said lightly, “I am proficient in Space Force, and as this is a type of Void Corridor, it would be best if I take the lead.”
“Yang Kai is right. Ai Ou it’s best if you back down here, his mastery of Space Force makes him far more suited to this role,” Chi Yue nodded in agreement.
Ai Ou hesitated for a moment before nodding, “Then, act cautiously kid.”
Yang Kai smiled lightly at him before turning back to Long Tian Shang and saying, “Senior Long, I’ll have to trouble you to watch over Shadowed Star while we’re gone.”
“You may rest assured; I will come here from time to time. In any case, it’s quite convenient to travel around now. As long as my Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce has not fallen, Shadowed Star will surely be safe and sound!” Long Tian Shang quickly pledged.
“Many thanks, Senior!” Yang Kai cupped his fists before turning around and plunging into the entrance.
Following him, Gu Cang Yun, Wu Dao, and Gui Zu all stepped inside one by one.
Chi Yue followed suit.
Ai Ou bid farewell to Long Tian Shang before he brought up the rear.
In the blink of an eye, only Long Tian Shang was left. Staring at the glowing entrance before him, his eyes showed a look of incomparable yearning, but he simply sighed, turned around, and flew back towards Shadowed Star, in the end.
….
After Yang Kai crossed the threshold, he was immediately stunned by the sight in front of him.
He had expected that he would be greeted by the sight of a Void Corridor, an empty chaotic nothingness.
But on the contrary, when he walked inside, things were very different.
Instead of black chaos with vast emptiness, there was actually a rich and pure flow of mysterious energy.
There were also little fluorescent wisps of light all around, making people feel like they were being surrounded by an ocean of starlight. These wisps behaved almost like fireflies, moving as if they had their own sentience.
Looking around, to the front, rear, left, and right, everywhere was filled with a similar starlight scene.
It was really like staring at the starry sky reflecting on the calm surface of a lake.
Yang Kai couldn’t help taking a deep breath. Breathing out comfortably, it felt like the exhaustion he had built up over the past few days from opening the Star Boundary channel had simply faded away.
In the next instant, the little wisps of starlight were somehow drawn towards his body and soon sank into his form.
The pure energy contained in these wisps of starlight quickly began to penetrate into his flesh and bone, rapidly recovering Yang Kai’s strength.
Yang Kai was overjoyed, never having expected such a thing to happen.
“This is…” An exclamation came from behind, one filled with obvious shock from what the voice’s owner was seeing.
Yang Kai didn’t have to look back to know it was Sword Union’s Gu Cang Yun who had called out.
Immediately afterwards, the exclamations from Wu Dao, Gui Zu, Chi Yue, and Ai Ou followed, all of them tossing aside the aloof images they had built up over the years as Third-Order Origin Kings as they were unable to contain their shock and awe.
“Such rich World Energy… it’s so pure and clean. It can be absorbed directly even without trying to refine it.”
“If one cultivated here for a day, wouldn’t it be the same as cultivating for a year outside?”
“What is this place? Have we already reached the Star Boundary?”
“This shouldn’t be the Star Boundary!” Yang Kai shook his head.
“How do you know?”
“I’m not clear,” Yang Kai explained with a wry smile. “But I can somehow tell that this is a place between the Star Field and Star Boundary. Only after passing through here can we truly enter the Star Boundary.”
“The environment here is already so astonishing. How much better must the Star Boundary be?”
As such thoughts swirling in their heads, none of them was able to calm themselves. If everything they speculated was true, then breaking through to the next realm was just around the corner for them. Anyone able to cultivate to the Third-Order Origin King Realm was a genius among geniuses, so if they could find a suitable environment, they could steadily raise their cultivation.
“I don’t know what the Star Boundary’s situation is, but this place… we probably can’t stay here for too long,” Yang Kai didn’t get dazzled by everything in front of him and calmly analyzed.
“Why do you say so?”
“In the end, this is a passageway, so who can guarantee that it will remain stable forever? If some kind of turbulence happens, we may be lost here forever.”
Hearing what he said, everyone couldn’t help being shocked, only then realizing they were actually in danger.
Ai Ou nodded and said, “Yang Kai is right, this likely isn’t a place we can remain for an extended period.”
Yang Kai smiled and added, “But there’s no need to be too nervous. Since we need to pass through this place, it’s only natural to harvest as much benefit as possible along the way. It seems like the starlight here can not only restore Saint Qi but also cleanse and temper one’s physique and Soul. Everyone should try their best to absorb as much as possible.”
“A cleaning effect on the body and Soul!” Wu Dao’s eyes lit up and laughed, “If that’s the case, we certainly cannot miss it!”
Hearing this news, how could any of them not be moved? Hurriedly circulating their own Secret Arts, all of them began trying to gather the dense wisps of starlight around them.
But soon, everyone noticed an anomaly.
Among the group of six, the speed at which Yang Kai and Ai Ou were able to absorb this starlight seemed to be more than ten times faster than the others, with Yang Kai’s performance being particularly conspicuous. The wisps of starlight seemed to be naturally drawn to him, like moths to a flame, causing the path he walked along to be devoid of any wisps at all.
Although Ai Ou’s situation wasn’t bad either, there was still a noticeable gap between him and Yang Kai.
As for the others, their performance was even worse.
All of them had to work hard and use their own Saint Qi to draw in these wisps of starlight.
In terms of efficiency, they were a hundred times worse than Yang Kai!
“What Secret Technique are you two using?” Wu Dao asked curiously. Among the six people here, Yang Kai and Ai Ou weren’t the strongest, especially Yang Kai, who was only a Second-Order Origin King in terms of cultivation. Technically, it made him the weakest here, but he was actually able to absorb more of this starlight than anyone else, eliciting some confusion.
The others also quickly discovered this issue and looked at Yang Kai and Ai Ou suspiciously.
“I’m not using any kind of Secret Technique, I’m just absorbing them normally,” Ai Ou said with an innocent expression on his face, turning to look at Yang Kai for confirmation.
Yang Kai also nodded and said, “I haven’t used any Secret Technique either.”
Everyone present was a hegemon-level figure from the Star Field, but after arriving at this juncture together, they worked together without any kind of intrigue, so if Ai Ou and Yang Kai said they were not doing anything special, the others didn’t doubt them.
“That’s strange, then is there something… different about you two?” Gu Cang Yun frowned in thought.
Soon, Chi Yue’s beautiful eyes lit up as she muttered thoughtfully, “Could it be… because you’re both Star Masters?”
Hearing what she said, everyone could not help showing a stunned look before thinking this very well could be the case.
Among the six present, only Yang Kai and Ai Ou had refined a Star Source and become Star Masters. If there was a significant difference between the two of them and the others, this was it.
Thinking about it carefully, this was the only plausible explanation.
“Strange… does being a Star Master really grant such a mysterious benefit?” Wu Dao shook his head as he wore a slight look of regret on his face. If he had known this before, he would have found a way to refine a Cultivation Star’s Star Source before coming here; even if there was great danger, he still would have had to try.
The surrounding starlight had the effect of cleansing and tempering one’s body and Soul, and this was only what everyone had been able to sense so far. There may still be unknown benefits, so the more they could absorb, the better.
But now, the other four could only look on at Yang Kai and Ai Ou with envy, watching those wisps of starlight pour into their bodies and disappear.
Ai Ou could not help grinning smugly.
Yang Kai knit his brow for a moment before suggesting, “We should slightly separate. I’ll walk further apart from everyone else, and several Seniors should space themselves out somewhat as well, just don’t stray too far from each other.”
Wherever Yang Kai walked, no starlight remained, so he could not travel together with the others.
Fortunately, no obvious signs of danger were to be seen yet, so separating was not too much of a risk.
“Sounds good,” Wu Dao nodded and agreed with Yang Kai’s proposal.
The others also did not have any objections and quickly, the group separated into two, with Yang Kai on the right, and the others to the left. The group of six then continued forward unhurriedly.
Although Yang Kai did not know why being a Star Master gave such an advantage, he tell that the wisps of starlight flooding into his body had something to do with the Star Source he had refined, otherwise, he and Ai Ou wouldn’t have such different performances to the others.
It was probably the very existence of the Star Source’s energy in his body that drew in these wisps of starlight and allowed him to absorb them so easily.
Observing the situation on the left side for a while, Yang Kai confirmed that Ai Ou and the others were all in a stable condition, allowing him to relax and concentrate on analysing the benefits the starlight brought to him.
Yang Kai’s physique was already extraordinarily strong. After several years of tempering in the Dead Zone, he had already surpassed the level an Origin King Realm should have.
But as these wisps of starlight entered his body, Yang Kai could still feel his physical quality being significantly improved. Vitality burgeoned from every inch of his flesh, and his body seemed to now contain a Heaven-destroying and Earth-shattering power.
Even the Pure Golden Blood flowing through his body was distilled to a certain extent.
This Pure Golden Blood was one of Yang Kai’s unique treasures, and he had long ago thought it had reached a state of perfection, but now he realized that he was short-sighted.
His Pure Golden Blood could still be enhanced!
His body was washed of all impurities, leaving him with flawless flesh and crystal-jade bones. Even his five viscera and six organs seemed to have been strengthened and now emitted a lustre.
This was a manifestation of his physical body’s enhancement.
His Soul also reaped huge benefits.
Yang Kai sent his consciousness into his Knowledge Sea, and through his Soul Avatar, he could see the tiny wisps of starlight flooding in from the outside. While his Knowledge Sea was absorbing some of these wisps though, many were also flying towards his Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus.
The Soul Warming Lotus, which was accepting all the starlight coming to it, now gave off a dreamlike glow as faint ripples spread out.
This dazzling radiance seemed to contain a mysterious power that continuously strengthened Yang Kai’s Soul as it rippled forth.
Seeing this scene, Yang Kai suddenly understood!
Him and Ai Ou being able to absorb the starlight here at a much faster rate than the others could be explained by their identities as Star Masters.
But even so, Yang Kai was still able to absorb the starlight almost ten times faster than Ai Ou!
This was a fact difficult to explain.
Yang Kai did not understand the reason for this at first, but now that he had seen the situation in his Knowledge Sea, he realized the truth.
The Soul Warming Lotus was causing this phenomenon! With the Soul Warming Lotus helping to absorb the starlight and merge it with him, how could Ai Ou compete?
Seeing this scene, Yang Kai’s brow suddenly twitched as he remembered what that master named Wu Sheng Feng from Star Boundary’s Falling Star Sect said back then.
Wu Sheng Feng said that the Soul Warming Lotus could still evolve further.
Yang Kai was extremely surprised at that time because he had always felt that the seven-coloured form was the final form of the Soul Warming Lotus, but now, he realized that Wu Sheng Feng was correct.
What would the Soul Warming Lotus look like if it was able to evolve further? Just what kind of benefits would it be able to provide? Yang Kai did not know, but now that the Soul Warming Lotus was actively trying to absorb this mysterious starlight, he knew it had a great nourishing effect.
Allowing the Soul Warming Lotus to do as it pleased, Yang Kai simply walked forward slowly.
His whole body was like a vortex, and wherever he walked, the starlight would converge towards him. Feeling the changes happening in his body, Yang Kai felt joyous in his heart.
Simply closing his eyes, he began to meander about in a leisurely manner.
Time slowly passed by, but with no sun, moon, or stars here, it was not long before everyone lost track of how long they had been walking. A rough estimate would say they had been travelling for at least a month.
Suddenly, a low shout came from Yang Kai’s side.
Yang Kai was stunned, and thinking that something had gone wrong, he quickly opened his eyes and looked over.
But soon, he knew his assumption was wrong as the other five were all safe and sound. It was only that Ai Ou showed a shocked expression on his face and was deeply frowning, seemingly pondering something.
The other four people also had similar expressions.
“Everyone, what happened?” Yang Kai asked.
Gui Zu raised his head and said, “Sect Master, feel the power in your body and see if there are any changes!”
He did not directly answer Yang Kai’s question but instead directed him to investigate for himself. Yang Kai immediately understood that this was an important matter, so he immediately began to inspect himself.
Soon, Yang Kai also showed a shocked look as his expression changed greatly.
“It looks like you’ve noticed too,” Gui Zu laughed gratingly. “It is precisely because we discovered this that we suddenly woke up.”
“What exactly is happening?” Yang Kai looked at everyone in amazement.
Everyone shook their heads, however, unable to explain.
Wu Dao pondered for a long time before offering a theory, “According to the observation of this old master, the Saint Qi in our bodies seems to be transforming into a higher form.”
“Transforming into a higher form?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
“Indeed,” Wu Dao gently nodded, “This is just this old master’s opinion, however, and I have no proof either way.”
He paused and continued to speak, “We cultivators start our cultivation journey with Yuan Qi. After cultivating to the True Element Boundary, Yuan Qi is transformed into True Qi. Only True Qi can support a True Element Boundary Cultivator’s Martial Skills and techniques, Yuan Qi is simply insufficient. This is similar to a child needing to wear bigger clothes when he grows up. The smaller clothes would only serve to hinder his movements.”
Everyone nodded lightly.
What Wu Dao said was common sense. Everyone who cultivated knew this, so there was no reason they would not understand.
“Then, when a cultivator reaches the Saint Realm, the True Qi in the body will transform into Saint Qi!” Wu Dao’s eyes flickered, “However, after the Saint Realm, there is the Saint King Realm, Origin Returning Realm, and Origin King Realm, but through those realms, Saint Qi shows no further transformations. This old master has considered this issue in the past and felt that there should be a higher form of power a cultivator can possess, but nothing tangible ever came out from my ponderings until today!”
The longer he spoke, the more Wu Dao’s eyes burst with excitement.
“Senior Wu Dao means…” Yang Kai’s brow rose, “The Saint Qi in our bodies is being transformed into a stronger form?”
“It should be,” Wu Dao laughed. “And the starlight here not only has the effect of cleanings one’s body and Soul but can also assist in this transformation process! This old master speculates that once all the Saint Qi in our bodies has undergone this transformation, we can take that next step!”
As soon as this remark came out, everyone’s body shook.
The masters here, besides Yang Kai, were all Third-Order Origin Kings, so they naturally understood what Wu Dao meant by taking that next step.
That was the step above the Origin King Realm!
It was a realm that no master from the Star Field’s history had ever been able to reach.
At this moment, the change in the strength of everyone’s body was not just an opportunity, it was a guiding ray of light.
This was definitely a brand-new force that they had never encountered before, one that was far more refined, condensed, and powerful than Saint Qi.
In other words, even if two Origin Kings had the same cultivation, but one of them had Saint Qi while the other had this new strength, the one with the latter would be able to triumph over the former with ease.
True Qi was stronger than Yuan Qi, and Saint Qi was stronger than True Qi, so this new power was naturally much stronger than Saint Qi.
“I just don’t know what this power is called,” Wu Dao said with some regret. This was not a surprise though as no one here had contacted a higher-level Martial Dao.
“I feel that this new power is closely linked to the essence of my life and Soul, my source so to speak!” Chi Yue said thoughtfully.
Everything in this world had an origin, a source. Stars had Star Sources and cultivators had their own sources as well, the root of their existence. Without that source, they would not be.
The power everyone’s Saint Qi was transforming into seemed to somehow be related to their own source.
“Yang Kai, you’ve absorbed the most starlight of all of us; how much of your Saint Qi has transformed?” Gu Cang Yun asked curiously.
As soon as this question was asked, everyone could not help turning their heads to look at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai checked quickly and said, “About one percent.”
“So much!?” Wu Dao called out in shock as everyone else looked at him with envy.
“Is that a lot?” Yang Kai was stunned.
Wu Dao smiled bitterly, “Indeed, the amount of this old master’s Saint Qi that has transformed is barely noticeable, but it has already provided some great benefits. Since you have already transformed one percent of your Saint Qi, it likely won’t be long before the conversion is complete!”
“En, I suspected that, at the rate my Saint Qi is transforming, it will take at least five or six years to complete, even if I stay here,” Chi Yue nodded.
“What about President Ai Ou?” Everyone turned their eyes to the other person who held an advantage in this regard.
“I’m much worse than Yang Boy, about ten times so,” Ai Ou slowly shook his head.
“That’s fast enough,” Everyone could not help feeling a little frustrated.
None of them had thought that being a Star Master would result in such benefits after entering here. The power in Yang Kai’s body was transforming so fast that they could hardly believe it.
After discussing this unexpected development for a short while, everyone deeply felt that they had no more time to waste; after all, such an opportunity was not one you met every day. Splitting into two groups again, everyone hurriedly began absorbing the starlight wisps while moving forward on the road.
…..
At a spot, some ten thousand kilometres ahead of where Yang Kai’s group was.
This place was also filled with starlight, the same as everywhere else in this strange corridor.
However, in this place, there were three figures.
Among these three people, two were men and one was a woman, none of whom seemed old, even dressed up as youths, but their auras were extremely powerful.
One of them, sat cross-legged in the sea of starlight with a gloomy face, like a dormant beast, his aura so daunting that the other two stayed as far away from him as possible, seemingly afraid to approach.
All three were Third-Order Origin Kings.
And where the three of them sat, there was a semi-circular energy barrier covering them. This barrier was quite profound and was able to block the intrusion of the surrounding starlight.
As such, in a ten-metre radius around the group of three, there was just a clean, empty void.
The imposing man had his eyes closed tightly and was slowly forming a series of seals with his hands, seemingly cultivating some kind of Secret Technique. From time to time, there would be a violent energy fluctuation from his body.
Although all of them were Third-Order Origin Kings, this man gave off a far stronger aura compared to the other two.
Suddenly, the bald man amongst the male and female pair opened his eyes and glanced around with an impatient look on his face before muttering, “We’ve already been here for five years. How long more do we have to wait?”
Hearing what he said, the woman next to him also opened her eyes and glanced towards the front before whispering, “Calm yourself Brother Feng De, is five years really a long time for you or me? Both of us have benefited a lot from staying in the Starlight Corridor with the help of the Netherworld Darkness Shroud provided by Senior Brother Yin Le Sheng.”
Hearing her mention Yin Le Sheng, Feng De, the bald man, looked towards the man in front of him who was releasing a thick malevolent aura with some fear and nodded, “En, we did take advantage of the Netherworld Darkness Shroud provided by Brother Yin in order to stay here for so long; if not for it, the Starlight Corridor would surely have expelled us after just a month or two, but… why are we waiting here anyway? What exactly is Brother Yin waiting for? Junior Sister Liu, do you know anything?”
Liu Xian Yun slowly shook her head, “I don’t know, but Brother Yin must have his own plans!”
Feng De smiled bitterly, “Fine, let us not mention this anymore. By the way, how much of your Saint Qi have you managed to transform, Junior Sister Liu?”
“About one-fifth,” Liu Xian Yun smiled wryly before turning to look at Yin Le Sheng with some envy and saying in a low voice. “I am incomparable to Brother Yin. In my opinion, the Saint Qi in his body should almost be completely transformed into Source Qi! Once we leave this Starlight Corridor, he will likely be able to break through to the Dao Source Realm immediately!”
“The advantages of being a Star Master are really extraordinary,” Feng De said, filled with jealousy, “If I had known this before, this Feng would have also gone and refined some Cultivation Star’s Star Source.”
“And how dangerous is refining a Star Source?” Liu Xian Yun slowly shook her head, “Without great luck, it is impossible to succeed in refining one. How many of our Grand Desolation Star Field’s Third-Order Origin Kings have died over the past ten thousand years trying to refine Star Sources? This Mistress never attempted it because she never had full confidence in succeeding. In any case, we will soon arrive at the Star Boundary, so it won’t be too late to look for a Star Source in the future.”
Feng De slowly shook his head, “That might be true, but I’ve also heard that Star Sources are extremely rare treasures in the Star Boundary. Many masters intentionally regress their own cultivation in order to access the Starlight Corridor and return to the major Star Fields just to seek such an opportunity. Since you and I have already missed the opportunity, I’m afraid it will be difficult to obtain a Star Source in the future.”
Liu Xian Yun looked somewhat depressed, knowing that Feng De was right.
“Can you two be silent? Your noise is disturbing this King’s tranquillity,” Suddenly, a gloomy voice sounded.
Liu Xian Yun and Feng De could not help shivering slightly as they turned their heads fearfully towards the front, just in time to see Yin Le Sheng, who had been sitting cross-legged the whole time, open his eyes.
Those eyes were extremely cold and seemed to have no emotion in them at all, making any who gazed into them feel extremely uncomfortable.
Liu Xian Yun squeezed out a smile and apologized, “This Mistress was just chatting with Brother Feng casually and did not intend to disturb Senior Brother Yin. Please don’t take it to heart, Senior Brother Yin.”
Yin Le Sheng just glowered at them indifferently, not saying anything.
Feng De soon frowned though and asked, “Brother Yin, we’ve been waiting here for five years. How long are we supposed to linger?”
“Do you want to leave?” Yin Le Sheng glanced at Feng De lightly.
Feng De replied, “If Brother Yin could inform us what he is waiting for here, this Feng would be fine accompanying him for a lifetime, but… Since entering this Starlight Corridor, Brother Yin has been in meditative retreat, so this Feng is somewhat…”
“Dissatisfied with my attitude?” Yin Le Sheng’s voice sounded coldly.
Feng De wore an ugly expression, frowned, and said, “I wouldn’t dare, it’s just…”
Before he could finish speaking though, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him. At some unknown point, Yin Le Sheng had already approached and Feng De could not help shivering under his icy eyes. Feeling the aura of death approaching him, Feng De instinctually punched out.
“Don’t!” Liu Xian Yun’s pretty face changed drastically as she cried out softly.
“Hmph!” Yin Le Sheng coldly snorted. Facing the terrifying blow that Feng De had just released, he did not even try to dodge and instead raised a single hand and lightly dispersed the incoming attack, before reaching out and pinching Feng De’s neck.
Suddenly, Feng De, who was also a Third-Order Origin King, was restrained, his Saint Qi unable to circulate properly. Yin Le Sheng then hoisted him up like a chicken to be slaughtered.
This scene was so incredible that even Liu Xian Yun was frozen in shock.
At this moment, she knew that she had been underestimating Yin Le Sheng. He had transformed all his Saint Qi in his body into Source Qi, otherwise he would never have been able to so easily overwhelm Feng De who had the same cultivation as him.
After all, before coming here, while Yin Le Sheng was indeed stronger than either of them, the discrepancy wasn’t so obvious.
But after coming to this place, the distance between him and them suddenly expanded.
This was directly related to his Saint Qi’s transformation into Source Qi.
“Brother Yin…” Feng De struggled but could not get rid of Yin Le Sheng’s restraint, a look of horror flashing across his eyes as he called out pleadingly, his face slowly losing colour.
“If you were not from the Grand Desolation Star Field, do you think this King would so kindly allow you to enjoy the benefits of the Netherworld Darkness Shroud? Not only are you not grateful, but you also actually dare to question this King’s actions? Even your death won’t be worth pitying!” Yin Le Sheng spat coldly, adding a little strength to his hand, causing Feng De’s life to shorten even further.
Liu Xian Yun to the side was completely pale right now and wanted to intercede, but when she thought of Yin Le Sheng’s cruel methods and manner, she couldn’t work up the courage to speak.
Because she knew that if Yin Le Sheng was truly angered, Feng De would die without a doubt.
She could only force a smile and say, “Senior Brother Yin, please show mercy. This Mistress and Brother Feng know our wrongs and apologize. Please spare Brother Feng, Senior Brother Yin.”
“You know your wrongs?” Yin Le Sheng asked indifferently.
Feng De nodded quickly.
“There will be no second chance!” Yin Le Sheng snorted coldly before tossing Feng De aside like some kind of rag sack.
Liu Xian Yun wanted to help Feng De but did not dare to move rashly. Instead, she only able to watch Yin Le Sheng nervously.
After punishing Feng De a little, the latter did not make another move. Instead, he folded his hands behind his back and said lightly, “This King does not want to take extreme measures, you are both from the Grand Desolation Star Field like me after all, and my Netherworld Sect has a base in the Star Boundary. After we arrive, both of you will join my Netherworld Sect and we will all belong to the same family in the future.”
Liu Xian Yun squeezed out a smile and said, “Since Senior Brother Yin has said so, this Mistress will respectfully obey.”
Netherworld Sect’s reputation in the Grand Desolation Star Field was terrible, so its base in the Star Boundary was not going to be anything good. However, with so many masters in the Sect, few dared to challenge it. After this trip to the Star Boundary, if they could really join an established force, perhaps their future cultivation would be much smoother.
However, that also meant being thoroughly tainted with the stigma of the Netherworld Sect, causing Liu Xian Yun to be a little bit displeased.
But with things as they were now, she had no choice.
Feng De, on the other hand, was just grateful for having escaped death, so he did not dare raise any objections.
Yin Le Sheng was very satisfied with the attitude of the two of them and took the initiative to say, “You want to know why this King hasn’t entered the Star Boundary for so long and instead chose to remain here?”
Liu Xian Yun and Feng De looked at each other, the former saying, “If it is not convenient for Senior Brother Yin to say…”
“There’s nothing inconvenient,” Yin Le Sheng said lightly. “Since you will both be joining my Netherworld Sect, you are not outsiders, so it won’t hurt to tell you. The reason why this King has been waiting here is to wait for others from different Star Fields who are also travelling to the Star Boundary.”
“Waiting for cultivators from other Star Fields travelling to the Star Boundary?” Liu Xian Yun and Feng De were stunned, not expecting that Yin Le Sheng was actually using the Netherworld Darkness Shroud to isolate them from the surrounding starlight and remain here for five years just because of this.
One had to know that the Netherworld Darkness Shroud was a core treasure of Netherworld Sect, said to have been passed down to it from the Star Boundary, its grade already surpassing Origin King Grade.
Only the Netherworld Sect, which had a foothold in the Star Boundary, could possess this kind of Heaven-defying treasure. What’s more, every time it was used, the Netherworld Darkness Shroud had to absorb countless Souls to fuel itself.
Liu Xian Yun suddenly recalled that Yin Le Sheng had gone to a certain Cultivation Star in the Grand Desolation Star Field five years ago and slaughtered the inhabitants of more than a dozen cities. At that time, everyone had thought he had fallen into depravity and was wantonly slaughtering to amuse himself, but now it seemed he was actually preparing the Netherworld Darkness Shroud for this.
“Do you understand?” Yin Le Sheng stared at the two faintly.
Liu Xian Yun shook her head and said, “Please dispel our doubts, Senior Brother Yin.”
Yin Le Sheng said, “I’m waiting for Star Masters!”
As soon as this remark came out, both Liu Xian Yun and Feng De showed a look of enlightenment, with Lin Xian Yun saying, “Could it be that the rumour about Netherworld Sect possessing a Secret Technique to seize Star Sources from others is true?”
Yin Le Sheng nodded and said, “Naturally.”
“So, Senior Brother Yin wants to snatch others’ Star Source?”
“No!” Yin Le Sheng’s eyes flashed coldly, “I already have a Star Source, so I won’t be able to absorb a second for some time.”
“Then Senior Brother Yin, you…”
“I can’t make use of it, but now that I am heading to the Star Boundary’s Netherworld Sect, I must prepare a decent gift. If this King can prepare such a gift, this King’s future will surely become smooth after entering Star Boundary’s Netherworld Sect! “
Only now did Liu Xian Yun and Feng De truly understand why Yin Le Sheng had been waiting here for five years.
Although Yin Le Sheng all but ruled over the Grand Desolation Star Field, he was still just a Third-Order Origin King. After entering the Star Boundary, such a cultivation would be worthless. Netherworld Sect had fierce internal competition, and it was commonplace for disciples to fight amongst themselves.
Yin Le Sheng was travelling to Netherworld Sect in the Star Boundary without a backer, and without support, one could only rely on themselves.
As such, he was here targeting Star Masters.
As long as he could bring a Star Source as a gift to the Netherworld Sect, what lack of support could he have?
For a moment, Liu Xian Yun and Feng De could not help but admire Yin Le Sheng’s level of vision. He truly stood higher and saw further.
Any Third-Order Origin King had an extreme yearning for the Star Boundary, so spending five years waiting here also showed how strong Yin Le Sheng’s will was.
However… this was all a gamble, one that could result in great gains, or complete losses.
After all, staying here was also delaying their progress. Even if the Saint Qi in Yin Le Sheng’s body had completely transformed into Source Qi, he was unable to break through here, wasting a great deal of time.
“As long as this King can obtain the attention of Star Boundary’s Netherworld Sect, he will not lack for resources in the future and becoming an Emperor will be just around the corner. Follow me, and the benefits you reap won’t be small.”
Liu Xian Yun and Feng De quickly thanked him.
“Now that you know this King’s plan, cease your incessant prattling. This King prefers silence!” Yin Le Sheng waved his hand.
“Yes,” Liu Xian Yun and Feng De nodded together.
After experiencing the scene just now, regardless of how they really felt, they knew they could not put up any resistance. If Yin Le Sheng wanted to kill them, it was probably as simple as waving his hand. The gap between them was too great now.
At that moment, a clear ringing sound came out.
Yin Le Sheng was startled and immediately took a small bell from his waist. This bell seemed perfectly ordinary, but right now it seemed to have been disturbed by something and was ringing softly.
“Someone is coming!” Yin Le Sheng’s eyes flashed brightly, and he couldn’t help grinning, “This King has not waited here for five years in vain! I hope these people don’t let me down too much, otherwise… heh heh heh…”
His low laughter was so harsh and grating that Liu Xian Yun and Feng De could not help cringing slightly, silently paying tribute to the people who were approaching.
It did not matter how powerful or what kind of status these newcomers had in their Star Field, they could only curse their own bad luck for facing Yin Le Sheng here.
If the ones who came had a Star Master among them, Yin Le Sheng might be willing to send them all off painlessly.
But if no such character existed, Liu Xian Yun and Feng De were certain that these people would soon understand what a life worse than death felt like! After all, Netherworld Sect’s torture methods caused the entire Grand Desolation Star Field to tremble in fear.
A hundred kilometres away, Yang Kai and the others were still casually strolling forward.
Yang Kai could not tell how the others were, but the Saint Qi in his body had been transforming into this new, higher form at a very fast rate. This power seemed closely related to his essence and was incredibly smooth to circulate and operate, on top of being far more powerful.
However, the speed of conversion still seemed a bit slow to him, and Yang Kai estimated that, at this rate, it would take him at least one or two years to finish the process.
The group of six people was silent.
Suddenly, Yang Kai raised his head and looked ahead with a frown.
Faintly, he felt some kind of life aura coming from the front, but the environment here was too strange so even with his powerful Divine Sense, he couldn’t probe too far, making him uncertain.
After thinking about it, Yang Kai pushed both his Space Force and his Divine Sense.
In an instant, his Divine Sense leapt across space into the distance up ahead.
“There’s really someone there!” Yang Kai’s expression suddenly became strange. He never thought that there would be other people in this Starlight Corridor.
[Could they be from some other Star Field and were also preparing to enter the Star Boundary?]
He could only make this speculation.
At the same time, he quickly used his Divine Sense to tell everyone to pause.
On the other side, Yin Le Sheng, who was waiting quietly, narrowed his eyes slightly, revealing a suspicious look on his face.
Just now, he felt a Divine Sense drifting by his side strangely, which was quite shocking to him as Divine Sense could not probe too far in this Starlight Corridor, not even one as strong as his own. Even seeing someone a few kilometres away was all but impossible, which was why he had to use the bell-like artifact on his belt to check for the life auras of nearby people.
“Did I imagine it?” Yin Le Sheng muttered to himself before grinning slightly, “If not, then it seems I’ve met a real master. Interesting, very interesting!”
He had been waiting here for five years and had already transformed his Saint Qi into Source Qi, so although he had yet to break through to the Dao Source Realm, his combat strength was now no longer comparable to that of an ordinary Origin King.
No matter who the approaching person was, since they were travelling to the Star Boundary from some Star Field, their cultivation would certainly not exceed the Origin King Realm.
As such, Yin Le Sheng did not put them in his eyes at all.
The movement of the bell in his hand stopped temporarily, causing Yin Le Sheng to be even more certain that he had encountered a cultivator with a strong Divine Sense, and that the other party had someone who discovered him already.
The truth was exactly as he thought. After Yang Kai stopped the other five people, he told them the situation there.
“There are people here? Three of them?” Chi Yue’s beautiful eyes widened, unable to believe what she was hearing.
“Yang Boy, are you sure you didn’t sense wrong?” Ai Ou also had a suspicious expression on his face.
“Since Sect Master Yang has said so, he must be certain,” Wu Dao frowned. “Now it is just a question of whether these three strangers are friends or foes.”
“En, since we’re all new and unfamiliar with this place, it would be best to avoid unnecessary trouble. Yang Kai, what’s the exact situation, be more specific.”
Yang Kai knit his brow slightly as he said, “From what I could perceive, the three people up ahead are just standing in place, seemingly waiting for something. As for their cultivation, they are all Third-Order Origin Kings, but one of them… gives me an extremely dangerous feeling.”
“If even you feel a threat from them, they’re not weak,” Ai Ou frowned. “But since they are all Third-Order Origin Kings, they should be cultivators from a different Star Field and are probably trying to enter the Star Boundary just like us. Did they perhaps get lost here?”
“Why don’t we just ask?” Gui Zu laughed strangely, “There are three of them and six of us, what is there to be afraid of?”
“While that might be true, you also know that after entering this place, a massive gap can appear between different Third-Order Origin Kings. Take President Ai Ou as an example, I’m afraid that none of us is his opponent now!”
“En, the power our Saint Qi is transforming into is very powerful.”
“But we can’t just continue standing here, right? Each of us is an overlord in our own domain. Since when have we begun acting so timidly?”
As soon as this statement came out, everyone could not help feeling shocked and realized that since entering the Starlight Corridor and feeling the mysteries of this place, while looking forward to the Star Boundary, their mentality had also gradually changed.
They could no longer behave as they once did, standing aloof and dominating over all others.
“Alright, we’ll proceed carefully and let everything take its course. If they are really lost, it is fine to have a discussion with them, but if they are hostile, then we’ll fight!” Yang Kai said lightly.
“So be it!” Wu Dao nodded in agreement.
“Then Junior will take the lead!” Yang Kai smiled slightly and offered.
“I’ll go, you stand back!” Ai Ou snorted and stood at the forefront.
As an elder, how could he always allow Yang Kai to take the risks?
Chi Yue also smiled and said, “This time, you just follow along obediently.”
“Eh… en, alright,” Yang Kai did not insist. In any case, it was not clear whether the people up ahead were friends or enemies, so it didn’t make much difference who went forward.
And so, the group of six approached the direction where Yin Le Sheng and his group were waiting.
As they approached, the bell in Yin Le Sheng’s hand rang quicker and quicker.
A distance of a hundred kilometres was nothing to cultivators of their level, so after just a stick of incense’s time, the two groups of people met.
Ai Ou took the lead and stood still about three hundred metres away from Yin Le Sheng and looked forward intently.
The starlight around him flooded into his body uncontrollably as he absorbed and accepted it.
Yin Le Sheng’s originally dull gaze burst with a strong light when he saw Ai Ou and he couldn’t help laughing heartily, “Good, good, good! After waiting for five years, this King has finally found someone decent.”
Yin Le Sheng laughed wildly as he clapped his hands, causing Yang Kai and his group to become extremely unhappy, especially Ai Ou who, being stared at by this unknown man, could not help feeling an extreme sense of danger.
Out of courtesy, Ai Ou did not get angry, however, but instead cupped his fists intently and said, “This one is Ai Ou, dare I ask these friends’ names and what you are doing here?”
Yin Le Sheng grinned lightly and replied, “This King is Grand Desolation Star Field, Netherworld Sect’s Yin Le Sheng, which Star Field are you from?”
Which Star Field?
Yang Kai and others looked at each other, at a loss for how to answer.
However, everyone had heard from Yang Kai before that theirs was not the only Star Field and that there were many others out there, separated by some kind of unpassable boundary that only those of extraordinary strength could cross.
So, when they heard the other party report the name of their home Star Field, this so-called Grand Desolation Star Field, they were able to understand.
“You don’t even know what your Star Field is called?” On the side, the bald man called Feng De looked at Yang Kai and others with a weird expression, like he was staring at a group of country bumpkins.
Ai Ou let out a wry chuckle as he explained, “Well… we really don’t know. Our Star Field has been closed off for over ten thousand years, so none of us or our ancestors had any contact with the Star Boundary. Thus, we don’t know what the outside world calls us.”
“Closed off for ten thousand years?” Feng De and Liu Xian Yun looked surprised, the latter wondering out loud, “Then how did you find the Starlight Corridor and arrive here?”
She knew that there were times when the connection between a Star Field and the Star Boundary was cut off. For example, when the Star Field’s Principles became damaged or unbalanced and cultivators could no longer reach a sufficient height to open a connection. Another example would be if the passage to the Star Boundary itself collapsed.
As such, she was very curious how Ai Ou and the others repaired the passage after ten thousand years.
“This…” Ai Ou showed a hesitant look as he did not want to explain in detail; after all, this matter involved the Starry Sky Great Emperor and the other party was a stranger who they just happened to meet, there was no reason to tell them too much.
Liu Xian Yun observed his reaction and smiled lightly, “This Mistress has been indiscreet.”
“It’s fine!” Ai Ou observed her polite response and the resistance in his heart reduced greatly, quickly changing the subject, “Are you three also heading to the Star Boundary?”
“Of course!” Liu Xian Yun nodded.
“Then why linger here? Did you become lost?”
Liu Xian Yun and Feng De did not know how to answer this question and could only turn to Yin Le Sheng.
Ai Ou then realized that this man, who made him feel quite uncomfortable, was this group’s leader. Turning his eyes back to Yin Le Sheng, Ai Ou was about to ask another question when suddenly Yin Le Sheng’s gaze fixed onto Yang Kai who had been blocked by the crowd all this time, a brilliant light flashing across his eyes.
While Ai Ou had been trying to communicate with the other party, Wu Dao, Chi Yue, and the others were also observing these three. Each of them was a figure who had lived thousands of years and dominated one side of the Star Field, reaching the pinnacle of strength and status.
What kind of character someone had and what their intentions were, they could often tell at a glance.
Liu Xian Yun and Feng De both gave off a fairly passive feel, but Yin Le Sheng made each of them uncomfortable. This could not be helped though as the malevolent aura coming from him was far too rich.
At this moment, seeing how interested he seemed to be in Yang Kai, how could they not understand that the situation was moving in a bad direction? Instantly, all of them stepped slightly to covering Yang Kai’s figure.
“Hahahaha!” Yin Le Sheng burst into laughter suddenly, “There’s actually more than one Star Master among you! The Heavens have truly blessed this King!”
In this Starlight Corridor, Star Masters appeared extremely different from others. Their status could be seen at a glance through how they absorbed the surrounding starlight wisps.
Before, Yin Le Sheng’s attention had been attracted by Ai Ou, so he hadn’t noticed Yang Kai’s existence, but it hadn’t taken long for him to discover Yang Kai hiding in the back, absorbing the starlight more than ten times faster than Ai Ou.
What made him even more excited was that one of his ‘prey’ was just a Second-Order Origin King.
How could he not be happy?
After waiting here for five years just to bring a gift to the Star Boundary’s Netherworld Sect, the Heavens had delivered two big gifts to him.
Yin Le Sheng’s eyes filled with greed in an instant.
“Friend…” Ai Ou’s face went cold as he stood in front of everyone, staring at Yin Le Sheng intently.
“Friend?” Yin Le Sheng tilted his head and squinted towards Ai Ou, as if he didn’t put him in his eyes at all, walked towards the edge of the Netherworld Darkness Shroud step by step, and declared slowly, “Who is your friend?”
“What is Your Excellency’s meaning here?” Ai Ou’s expression turned gloomy. He couldn’t figure out why the attitude of this man, the apparent leader of this group, would be so different from his companions; after all, up until now, they had been chatting in a relatively pleasant manner.
“It’s nothing much!” Yin Le Sheng came to the edge of the Netherworld Darkness Shroud, looked forward with indifferent eyes, and declared lightly, “If you ants don’t want to die, lower your Knowledge Sea defences and allow this King to mark your Souls. Depending on whether this King is in a good mood, perhaps he will spare your lives!”
“What?”
“Ants?”
“Impudence!”
“You want to enslave me? Don’t make this old master laugh to death!”
Ai Ou and the others were immediately filled with outrage. Of the six, aside from Yang Kai, which one had not stood at the peak of the Star Field for centuries? Which one was not a master who held worlds in their hand?
They had always been the ones standing at the summit, looking down on the masses below? When had they ever been so despised?
None of them could even remember the last time they were referred to as ants.
What was even more unacceptable was that Yin Le Sheng actually commanded them to open their Knowledge Seas and allow him to mark their Souls!
If they really obeyed, they would become slaves to Yin Le Sheng for the rest of their lives, with him able to control whether they lived or died.
With someone stepping on their faces so presumptuously, even if Ai Ou and the others had the calmest of temperaments, they would become enraged.
Yang Kai’s expression also became gloomy as he knew that this encounter was no doubt a great misfortune. Although the other party was also just a Third-Order Origin King, daring to act so wantonly obviously meant he had something to back his arrogance up.
Yang Kai was not able to determine what gave this wicked looking man his confidence though, only by fighting would that become apparent.
“You’re angry?” Facing the rage of Ai Ou and the others, Yin Le Sheng remained perfectly calm and said indifferently, “Ants aren’t qualified to be angry. Know that this King branding your Souls is your life’s honour, not a shame!”
“Honour my foot!” Chi Yue snapped, “If you think it’s such an honour, why not let this Queen mark your Soul instead!”
Yin Le Sheng’s eyes flashed coldly hearing this and took another step, his body finally appearing outside the Netherworld Darkness Shroud.
Suddenly, a terrifying aura erupted from his body and pressed down on everyone like a mountain.
The appearance of this aura was so abrupt that it caused everyone’s complexion to change drastically.
Yin Le Sheng raised his hand, pointed his finger towards Chi Yue, and condensed a light at its tip before softly calling out, “Netherworld Finger Spear!”
An attack formed from pure energy seemed to break through the barriers of space at that instant and arrive directly in front of Chi Yue.
Feeling the terrifying power behind this blow, Chi Yue’s pretty face changed drastically and she swiftly pressed her palms together to summon a massive silver spider phantom behind herself. This silver spider flashed its fangs and legs menacingly as the crescent-moon shaped mark on its forehead began exuding a faint fluorescence reminiscent of pure moonlight.
Heavenly Moon Demon Spider!
Chi Yue was also a descendant of the Ancient Divine Spirit Heavenly Moon Demon Spider and had its blood flowing through her veins. This was the reason she had so willingly accepted Shan Qing Luo as her adopted daughter and taken the utmost care of her.
Chi Yue was a Monster King level master, and with the blood of an Ancient Divine Spirit running through her, when she displayed this Secret Technique its might was naturally extraordinary.
The Heavenly Moon Demon Spider phantom opened its giant mouth and spat out a beam of pure white energy that rapidly transformed into a spider web, one that seemed extremely tough and durable, creating a shield in front of her.
“Oh? A descendant of an Ancient Divine Spirit?” Yin Le Sheng seemed surprised at the scene in front of him, but the look on his face was still as calm as ever, “Interesting, but if that’s all… you can just die!”
As soon as his voice fell, his finger spear touched the spider web.
With a puff, the seemingly sturdy spider web was instantly pierced through by the spear.
Seeing this scene, Chi Yue’s face turned pale as she realized just how massive the gap between her, and her opponent was. This attack was not something she could resist at all.
“Universe Inversion!” A whisper suddenly sounded as Wu Dao stretched out his hand towards the void and pulled out a long sword covered in cold light that began drawing in all the surrounding luminescence.
Wu Dao waved his long sword and slashed forward.
“Jie Jie Jie Jie… Sky Devouring Ten Thousand Souls!” Gui Zu smiled wickedly as he summoned out his Ten Thousand Soul Banner and transformed it into a black curtain that released an endless series of cries and howls. On this black curtain’s surface, one could vaguely see all sorts of distorted human faces, making it appear quite terrifying.
“Grand Sun Golden Disk!” Gu Cang Yun followed up.
“Tyrant Body Destructive Fist!” Ai Ou took action.
The five Third-Order Origin Kings all displayed their own Secret Techniques to block the finger spear Yin Le Sheng had just sent out.
*Hong long long…*
The world trembled as waves of energy crashed against the void.
Faced with this violent explosion, Ai Ou and the others were all forced back a few steps.
The finger spear was stopped, and everyone’s Secret Technique had disappeared.
However, all of their faces were extremely ugly!
They needed to all combine their strength just to block a casual blow from their enemy! If this man had used all his strength, just how terrifying would his power be?
They could hardly imagine.
All of them had never felt so powerless before. Facing any opponent in the same realm as them, they were confident they would not lose fighting spirit, and even if they were to die, they would surely drag down their enemy with them.
But when facing Yin Le Sheng, everyone felt that they were facing a high mountain that could not be crossed, one they could only look up at but could not see the peak of. Everything seemed shrouded in clouds and mist…
Ai Ou and the others were all world shocking figures, and all of their strengths were comparable to each other’s, but in front of Yin Le Sheng’s unfathomable power, the strength they had always been so proud of suddenly felt so trivial and insignificant.
After this exchange, none of them dared to move rashly and all of them wore extremely solemn expressions as they stared at Yin Le Sheng vigilantly, lest he make another move.
“Interesting!” Yin Le Sheng smiled indifferently, “But it is too early for you to contend with this King based on your current strength. This King warns you one last time, if you don’t want to die, lower your Knowledge Sea defences!”
“In your dreams!”
“We’d rather die!”
“Pfft, this King isn’t in the habit of being a slave!”
Although Ai Ou and others felt the situation was bad, they still responded firmly.
“Fine then, since you want to die, you can’t blame this King for being ruthless!” Yin Le Sheng’s eyes flashed cold as his figure flashed and suddenly disappeared from where he stood. When he reappeared, he had already arrived in front of Gu Cang Yun.
Pushing his hand forward, his palm slammed towards Gu Cang Yun.
From this palm, a fierce rotational force emerged, causing even a master of Gu Cang Yun’s level to be unable to resist. Unable to control his body, Gu Cang Yun was only able to watch helplessly as this palm approached.
[This is the end!] Such a thought flashed across Gu Cang’s mind.
The next moment, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him, one covered in a blinding five coloured glow.
“Union Master Gu, fall back!” Yang Kai’s voice rang in Gu Cang Yun’s ears and Gu Cang Yun was pleasantly surprised as at the same time the voice sounded, the strength which was holding him in place was suddenly relieved.
Not daring to hesitate, he desperately pushed his strength and quickly withdrew from where he stood.
Yang Kai quickly punched out, his Five Elements Indestructible Sword Qi enveloping his fists with the five different Sword Qis mutually supporting and enhancing one another.
*Hong…*
As his fist impacted Yin Le Sheng’s palm, a violent bang sounded. Yang Kai snorted as the five-coloured glow on his fist burst like a bubble and his whole body was sent flying back like a rag sack.
On the other hand, Yin Le Sheng’s body shook slightly, and he was forced back a few steps before he managed to stabilize himself.
This scene happened so suddenly that everyone was left stunned.
By the time everyone recovered, Yang Kai had been knocked far away, his life or death uncertain.
“Yang Kai!” The expressions of Ai Ou and Chi Yue changed drastically as they hurried over to check his condition.
Gu Cang Yun, Wu Dao, and Gui Zu, who had escaped from the death just now, all stood in front of Yin Le Sheng, watching him vigilantly lest he make another move.
“He…” Liu Xian Yun, who had been standing in the Netherworld Darkness Shroud, had her beautiful eyes shrink violently as she stared in shock towards the direction Yang Kai flew, her delicate face filled with disbelief as she muttered, “Did he actually blocked a blow from Senior Brother Yin?”
Not just that, this unknown young man had forced Yin Le Sheng to retreat a few steps!
Although his life or death was uncertain, it was already shocking enough that an Origin King Realm cultivator could achieve such a feat, much less a mere Second-Order Origin King!
Beside Liu Xian Yun, Feng De also had his jaw dropped as his heart pounded fiercely.
He knew firsthand how powerful Yin Le Sheng was at this moment. When Yin Le Sheng attacked him just now, he was unable to even summon the courage to resist and had lost control of whether he lived or died, but this young man from some unknown Star Field was actually able to do so, shocking Feng De greatly.
[He must be dead, right?] Feng De thought to himself. However, even if this young man had died, he could do so with pride; after all, he had faced Yin Le Sheng with only a Second-Order Origin King cultivation.
Before he could finish these thoughts though, a violent coughing sound rang out.
“He’s not dead?” Feng De exclaimed with a dumbfounded look on his face, his eyes bulging as he stared towards the spot where Yang Kai flew.
Liu Xian Yun also let out a cry of shock as she covered her mouth with her delicate hands.
On the other side, Yang Kai struggled to get up, waving his hands at Ai Ou and Chi Yue to indicate he was fine. His face, however, had gone pale and the vitality in his chest was roiling. Unable to hold back, Yang Kai coughed up a mouthful of Golden Blood spewed out.
“Fierce!” Yang Kai took a few deep breaths before straightening himself up and squinting towards Yin Le Sheng.
Yin Le Sheng had been standing in place with a strange expression on his face ever since he was forced back by Yang Kai. Instead of taking the opportunity to chase him down, he simply frowned, as if puzzling over something.
Hearing Yang Kai’s voice, Yin Le Sheng seemed to recover his senses and he glanced over faintly, “You’re also quite good. This King was mistaken, it turns out you’re the strongest among this group!”
“Haha!” Yang Kai smiled sharply and spat out the last bit of blood in his mouth before squinting at him and saying, “I wouldn’t dare make such a claim, I’ve just managed to transform a bit more of my Saint Qi than them. Isn’t that the case for you as well? I’m afraid the power in your body has been completely converted, no?”
Yin Le Sheng narrowed his eyes and said, “Boy, your vision is quite sharp!”
Yang Kai grinned, “If that weren’t the case, how could a Third-Order Origin King possibly face off against five others in the same realm? It’s not that they aren’t strong enough, it’s that they haven’t had enough time here yet.”
Hearing what Yang Kai said, Ai Ou and others suddenly understood.
Prior to this, they had already experienced the benefits to their strength the transformation of their Saint Qi brought, but because their time was too short here, the gap between them was not too obvious.
Before they could adapt to this new power in their bodies, however, they were suddenly met with Yin Le Sheng, causing Ai Ou and the others to doubt their own strength for a moment.
After Yang Kai enlightened them, they realized that the reason for the scene before them was not because they were weak, but because Yin Le Sheng had an advantage they did not.
If the Saint Qi in his body had been completely transformed, how could they possibly stand up against him despite their cultivation realms being the same?
This was like two cultivators with the same amount of power facing one another, but one had an ordinary wooden sword while the other had a legendary weapon. Naturally, the latter occupied the absolute advantage.
“I’m curious, how long have you been here?” Yang Kai took this chance to make some inquiries.
“Not too long, only five years!” Although Yin Le Sheng saw what Yang Kai was trying to do, he did not bother concealing anything.
“Five years… It seems that Your Excellency is also a Star Master,” Yang Kai said thoughtfully.
“You’re really quite sharp!” Yin Le Sheng’s eyes lit up as he looked at Yang Kai appreciatively, “This King has a soft spot for talents. Surrender to this King and this King will give you endless benefits and even allow your friends to live!”
Yang Kai laughed, “If I submit to you, you will give me whatever benefits I want?”
Yin Le Sheng lifted his chin and declared arrogantly, “As long as this King is able to afford it.”
“Then I want your life!” Yang Kai smiled grimly.
Yin Le Sheng shook his head slowly, “Then you die here! Although you are quite smart, it seems you don’t even know what this new power is called, so how can you contend with this King? In addition, let me tell you one more piece of news; just now, this King only used thirty percent of his strength!”
As soon as this remark came out, everyone’s face changed drastically.
Only thirty percent of his strength was already enough to render them helpless. If he went all out…
“Hahahaha, this look of despair before death, this is what this King likes best!” Yin Le Sheng laughed as he stepped forward and suddenly arrived in front of Gu Cang Yun and Wu Dao.
“Netherworld Seven Hells Flower!” As he shouted, he formed a seal with his hands and pure Source Qi burst from his body. Pushing both his palms forward, a strange and enchanting looking flower suddenly appeared before him and shot towards Gu Cang Yun and Wu Dao.
“Setting Rivers and Mountains!” Wu Dao’s complexion darkened drastically as he gathered all the surrounding light onto his sword and poured every last ounce of his lifetime of strength into its body as he slashed forward.
“Heavenly Sword Illuminates the Universe!” Gu Cang Yun’s whole body also illuminated with crimson light as he hastily bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of his Blood Essence onto his sword as he stabbed it forward.
The two of them acted jointly to block Yin Le Sheng’s terrifying blow.
“In front of this King, all of you are ants. What qualifications do you have to resist?” Yin Le Sheng’s eyes flashed coldly as he pointed a finger at both of them.
With two soft pops, Wu Dao and Gu Cang Yun’s protective Saint Qi was instantly pierced through, causing blood to splash from their chests as they screamed and flew backwards.
Yin Le Sheng simply waved his hand at them, like he was sweeping away flies, causing a burst of power to swat at the injured pair and break several of their bones.
“Kill them!” Yin Le Sheng shouted coldly as he continued to forward without stopping.
After hearing his order, Feng De and Liu Xian Yun, who had been hiding in the Netherworld Darkness Shroud, could only walk out.
Feng De rushed directly towards Gu Cang Yun with a brutal look, seemingly wanting to kill him immediately.
He did not dare to violate Yin Le Sheng’s orders.
Liu Xian Yun on the other hand flew towards Wu Dao as she called out softly, “Pardon my offence!”
While speaking, her jade palm shot towards Wu Dao, and although this move appeared quite ruthless, there was no murderous intent behind it.
If not for her having no other choice, she did not want to kill innocent people; after all, she had a very good reputation back in the Grand Desolation Star Field. Unfortunately, people under the eaves had to bow their heads.
A hazy darkness suddenly appeared, wrapping around the injured Wu Dao and Gu Cang Yun, before flashing off into the distance. When the black haze disappeared, Gui Zu’s figure appeared, his black Qi flickering light a wicked flame.
“You two okay?” Gui Zu asked in a low voice.
“We’ll live!” Wu Dao responded.
“This will be troublesome!” Gui Zu said dejectedly, “From what that guy said, it seems they’ve been here for five years! That is to say, they’ve had five years to transform the power in their bodies. Clearly, they’re much stronger than us.”
“So what? Even if we die here, we cannot make them feel any better,” Gu Cang Yun showed a fierce look as he stared at Feng De and Liu Xian Yun approaching them.
On the other side, Yang Kai took a few breaths as he witnessed the crisis that had befallen Gui Zu and the others before whispering, “Seniors, leave this place to me and go assist them!”
Ai Ou and Chi Yue were shocked when they heard these words and both shook their heads without thinking.
They could also see that the strength of Yin Le Sheng was far above everyone else here, and that Yang Kai was not his opponent at all. Allowing Yang Kai to fight him alone would be like allowing him to die, how could they possibly allow that to happen?
“We’ll fight with you,” Ai Ou quickly said.
“En, with the strength of the three of us, we may have a chance to beat him!” Chi Yue nodded.
Yang Kai shook his head and said, “You’re underestimating the severity of the situation. This new strength… it’s too great. If I cannot match him on my own, it will be useless even if we all go together; however, if the two of you help Gui Zu and the others, you may be able to open up a path to escape.”
“And what about you?” Ai Ou asked solemnly.
“I’ll find a way to leave on my own. Don’t forget, escaping is my speciality,” Yang Kai smiled confidently as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Hearing what he said, Ai Ou and Chi Yue exchanged a glance before nodding, Ai Ou quickly saying, “Boy, don’t die.”
“Be careful!” Chi Yue also exhorted, only then turning around with Ai Ou and joining together with Gui Zu’s group.
Yin Le Sheng watched all this happen without even trying to intervene. It seemed like even if all five of the others joined together, it made no difference to him. Feng De and Liu Xian Yun would be enough to take them down.
“You want to fight me alone? Kid, aren’t you being a bit too arrogant?” Yin Le Sheng looked at Yang Kai for a while with a mocking grin.
Yang Kai chuckled and said lightly, “As the saying goes, enmity should be solved rather than settled. Everyone is aiming for the Star Boundary, so there is no need for us to kill each other here, right? Besides, we have neither grievances nor grudges, we didn’t even know each other until today. Why must Your Excellency insist on acting so?”
“What’s wrong, scared?” Yin Le Sheng looked at Yang Kai sarcastically.
Yang Kai laughed and said nothing.
“Actually, I don’t mind explaining to you!” Yin Le Sheng suddenly said, “This King wants to strip the Star Source strength from your body and take it as a gift for Star Boundary’s Netherworld Sect, so whether you live or die does not matter to me. If you are scared, surrender to this King and I can spare your life!”
“Strip my Star Source?” Yang Kai’s brow rose slightly, “So that’s what you’re after.”
“Indeed, this King waited five fruitless years in this place, but just as I was about to leave, you appeared. It seems your luck is quite bad.”
Yang Kai laughed, “Truly so, but… your luck doesn’t seem to be very good either.”
“You still refuse to surrender?” Yin Le Sheng’s face went cold.
“I haven’t been beaten yet, so how can I just give up?” Yang Kai grinned before his figure flickered and he suddenly disappeared, the next moment appearing in front of Yin Le Sheng as he stretched out his hand towards him and shouted, “Secret Technique, Exile!”
From his hand, a pitch-black whirlpool suddenly appeared and began rapidly expanding towards Ye Le Sheng like a great beast’s maw.
If negotiating was useless, Yang Kai decided to seize the initiative and attack first.
“This is…” Yin Le Sheng narrowed his eyes as he sensed the strange power contained in this black vortex, his expression becoming solemn for the first time as he too stretched out his hand. A mighty power burst out from his figure as he shouted lowly, “Shatter!”
*Hong long…*
Yang Kai’s Secret Technique was instantly broken, and his body was forced backwards, but he didn’t slow his assault as he waved his hands rapidly and shouted, “Secret Technique, Moon Blade!”
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
A barrage of pitch-black, crescent-shaped blades shot towards Yin Le Sheng rapidly.
“It’s really a Space Force Secret Technique!” Yin Le Sheng’s complexion was shaken as he stared at the scene before him in shock.
When Yang Kai performed his Exile Secret Technique just now, Yin Le Sheng had already guessed this, but he could not be certain. Now seeing the rich Space Force fluctuations contained in the countless Moon Blades flying towards him, he immediately confirmed that Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space.
And incredibly proficient at that!
Being able to manipulate Space Force to this extent showed that this boy before him had a profound comprehension of the Dao of Space, at least on a Grandmaster level.
Clear jealousy flashed across Yin Le Sheng’s eyes, but this could not be helped. The Dao of Space was extremely esoteric and incredibly difficult to learn, much less master, but throughout the ages, those who had succeeded had always become legendary figures!
Yin Le Sheng was the overlord of Grand Desolation Star Field and had reigned supreme for countless years. After breaking through to the Third-Order Origin King, he had spent some time trying to comprehend this mysterious power.
However, he had failed to even begin cultivating it and was forced to reluctantly give up.
Now, he saw such a magnificent display of Space Force from a mere Second-Order Origin King.
This both shocked and angered him.
Why was this power beyond his grasp, but this boy was able to use it so freely? Did that mean he was inferior to this kid?
As this thought flashed across his mind, Yin Le Sheng’s eyes suddenly turned red and a cold murderous intent filled his whole body.
“So what if you can manipulate Space Force? In the face of absolute strength, you must still kneel and prostrate yourself at the feet of this King!” Yin Le Sheng roared wildly as he stretched out his hand and the Netherworld Darkness Shroud far behind him transformed into a stream of black light and flew over, rapidly enveloping him.
*Chi chi chi chi…*
The countless Moon Blades struck the Netherworld Darkness Shroud but could not break it; all of them disappearing after only making some faint ripples on its surface.
Yang Kai’s complexion changed slightly as he instantly realized that the other party’s defensive artifact was of an extremely high grade. Otherwise, it would never have been able to withstand his Moon Blades so easily.
Yin Le Sheng looked down at where the Moon Blades had struck and snickered sarcastically, “This King’s Netherworld Darkness Shroud is a Dao Source Grade artifact passed down from the Star Boundary. With your paltry means, even if this King were to simply stand here and let you attack, you would never be able to break it!”
Saying so, he flew forward, right through Yang Kai’s storm of Moon Blades, and punched out.
Yang Kai’s face sank and he tried to use his Space Force to flicker away, but he realized something was wrong in the next instant.
The surrounding space was incredibly viscous, and his instant movement technique which had always allowed him complete mobility in the past now seemed greatly hindered.
Yin Le Sheng saw this and grinned, “This is not the Star Field anymore, this is the Starlight Corridor, the intersection between all Star Fields and the Star Boundary. The World Principles here are hundreds of times stronger than in your Star Field, so all your Space Force Techniques will be greatly restricted.”
As his words fell, his fist had already arrived in front of Yang Kai’s chest.
Even before this punch landed, the mere pressure from it caused Yang Kai’s bones to creak and his skin to crack. It was conceivable that if this fist hit, even if Yang Kai did not die, he would be seriously injured.
At that last moment, Yang Kai roared, “Dragon Transformation!”
A shocking dragon roar sounded, shaking the world itself.
Yin Le Sheng froze for a moment as he felt the ancient and desolate aura suddenly surging out of Yang Kai’s body, even trembling slightly from its majesty.
Dragon scales condensed from Saint Qi rapidly covered Yang Kai’s right arm and transformed it into the shape of a dragon’s claw.
At the same time, on his chest, a unique, palm-size dragon scale emerged.
This was naturally a True Dragon Scale, a True Dragon Relic.
This dragon scale was something Yang Kai obtained from Purple Star’s Vault and had been refined into his body. Coupled with the Golden Divine Dragon Source he possessed; Yang Kai was able to exert a small fraction of the True Dragon’s Divine Ability contained within this scale.
*Hong…*
Yin Le Sheng’s fist impacted Yang Kai’s chest in the next instant, but the scene of Yang Kai bursting into a blood fog failed to appear. Instead, Yin Le Sheng only felt his fist go slightly numb.
Yin Le Sheng involuntarily retreated a few steps, and when he raised his fist and took a look, he was completely stunned.
He found that his fist was bleeding! On the other hand, Yang Kai, although greatly shaken, had not suffered any significant damage.
Yin Le Sheng cast his gaze to the dragon scale on Yang Kai’s chest and his eyes flickered for a moment before a greedy light burst from them, “An actual Dragon Scale? How did you refine it into your body?”
At this moment, he seemed to have discovered an astonishing treasure, and his expression became frenzied.
This was not a surprise as a genuine Dragon Scale, in terms of value, was far above his Netherworld Darkness Shroud.
If he could obtain this dragon scale, how could his future achievements possibly be ordinary?
“What qualifications do you have to possess such a treasure?” Yin Le Sheng roared as he madly attacked Yang Kai, “Hand it over to this King!”
“If you have the ability, try to take it yourself!” Yang Kai also became somewhat feral. Since he stepped onto the path of cultivation, although he had encountered countless powerful enemies, he was always able to turn every dire situation into a good fortune. Unfortunately, he had encountered a very tricky opponent this time.
The heart of the Martial Dao lay in perseverance, courage, and unbroken resolve.
Facing a powerful enemy like Yin Le Sheng had stimulated Yang Kai’s fighting spirit.
Greeting his enemy without fear, he began a desperate battle.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
Two fists struck one another. Yang Kai had displayed his Dragon Transformation Secret Technique and his Five Elements Indestructible Sword Tempering Art, raising his strength to an unprecedented level, but even so, he was not Yin Le Sheng’s opponent.
The power surging out of Yin Le Sheng’s body was almost overwhelming.
The halo of Yang Kai’s Five Elements Indestructible Sword Tempering Art constantly shattered, reformed, and shattered again under Yin Le Sheng’s assault.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai became bloodied, and if not for the True Dragon Scale which was protecting his vitals, Yang Kai estimated that he might have already lost the ability to fight back.
On the other hand, the Netherworld Darkness Shroud around Yin Le Sheng remained completely unscathed, resisting all of Yang Kai attacks with ease.
“Boy, accept your fate, you’re not my opponent!” Yin Le Sheng laughed wildly as he continued to attack Yang Kai.
“Come out!” Yang Kai suddenly roared.
In the next moment, Stone Puppet Xiao Xiao and Firebird Liu Yan appeared.
Seemingly sensing the urgency in Yang Kai’s summon, as soon as Xiao Xiao appeared, he immediately assumed his stone giant form and donned his lava armour before slamming the Heaven Shaking Pillar down at Yin Le Sheng.
Liu Yan also transformed into her Firebird form and spat out a violent blast of fire and thunder.
Yin Le Sheng’s eyes only narrowed slightly as, although he was astonished at the two helpers Yang Kai suddenly summoned, he did not put Xiao Xiao or Liu Yan’s attacks in his eyes and only focused on butchering Yang Kai.
*Hong…*
When the Heaven Shaking Pillar hit Yin Le Sheng and he felt the violent force behind it though, Yin Le Sheng realized he had greatly underestimated the power of this stone giant. Even with the Netherworld Darkness Shroud protecting him, he was still almost sent flying as the black light halo around him flickered wildly.
“What the hell is that?” Yin Le Sheng looked at Xiao Xiao with flickering eyes, astonished.
Even with his experience and vision, he could not tell whether Xiao Xiao was a living creature or some kind of puppet.
The Stone Puppet Race was simply too rare. If Yang Kai had not had Yang Yan to explain things to him, he likely would not know about Xiao Xiao’s background or origins either, so although Yin Le Sheng had traversed the Grand Desolation Star Field for many years, with the world being as wide as it was, it was only natural there were things he did not know about.
Stone Puppets were one of them!
Transformed into a stone giant, Xiao Xiao had astonishing strength. Wielding the Heaven Shaking Pillar, which weighed millions of tons, he was able to even shatter space.
Having succeeded once, Xiao Xiao did not pause, raising the Heaven Shaking Pillar and smashing it down again.
“Bind!” Yin Le Sheng shouted in a low voice as he pushed his Domain vigorously, wanting to shackle Xiao Xiao and impede his actions.
But his plan failed as Xiao Xiao seemed completely unaffected by his Domain. On the contrary, a strange and inexplicable force pulsed from Xiao Xiao’s body which threw Yin Le Sheng’s Domain into chaos.
“Is this… Principle Strength?” Yin Le Sheng’s face changed wildly as he felt the magical power emanating from Xiao Xiao’s body, a look of pure shock covering his face.
Principle Strength was something that only those as the Dao Source Realm should be able to use. It was vastly superior to Domain and even Yin Le Sheng was unable to grasp it, yet this strange puppet-like creature was able to.
This surprised him greatly.
“Did you also swallow a Source?” Yin Le Sheng’s eyes were sharp, and he swiftly guessed how Xiao Xiao could master Principle Strength, roaring madly, “So what if it is Principle Strength? Do you want to use this broken power to act presumptuously in front of this King? Impudence!”
While roaring, he suddenly formed a seal with his hands and a vigorous power began to condense around his body. In the next instant, he shouted lowly, “Netherworld Bone Spear!”
A giant spear fashioned from jade white bone suddenly appeared in front of him, appearing flawless but exuding a haunting;y eerie power. Trembling slightly for but a moment, it then flickered and disappeared.
The next moment, the bone spear appeared in front of Xiao Xiao.
*Hong…*
The bone spear struck Xiao Xiao’s chest and exploded, causing Xiao Xiao to roar fiercely as he was sent flying by the massive impact force. Rock splashed out from Xiao Xiao’s body as he seemed to suffer great damage before disappearing somewhere into the distance.
*Li…*
Liu Yan’s cry sounded as she released countless thunder-fire balls like a rain of arrows to blanket the place where Yin Le Sheng stood.
“Some kind of mutated Thunder-Fire, it seems that you’ve also refined a lot of exotic flames!” Yin Le Sheng glanced at Liu Yan and grinned wickedly, “Good, this King happens to be missing a good Artifact Spirit. You’ll do nicely!”
At a glance, he saw that Liu Yan’s was an Artifact Spirit that had obtained sentience, illustrating just how sharp his vision and insight were.
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and grabbed towards Liu Yan.
Up in the air, a huge palm print which seemed to cover the sky suddenly appeared and instantly moved to suppress Liu Yan like a giant falling mountain.
Liu Yan was shocked and rapidly flapped her wings, soaring away from the spot she was hovering at.
However, the giant palm print seemed to have a life of its own and chased after her like a shadow. No matter where Liu Yan ran, she could not escape this palm print and soon was caught by it.
The palm print transformed into a cage and imprisoned Liu Yan the moment it hit. Liu Yan cried out fiercely as she spat out thunder and flame, trying to burn down this cage, but with just a glance, it was obvious it would take her some time to free herself.
At that moment, Yang Kai appeared like a ghost in front of Yin Le Sheng. If it weren’t for the Netherworld Darkness Shroud, it was likely Yang Kai would have stuck right to him.
Yang Kai’s expression was filled with ferocity as his right arm, in its Dragon Claw state, tightly gripped the Verdant Dragon Bone Sword and slammed it towards Yin Le Sheng with all his strength.
“Ant, you dare pester me so!” Yin Le Sheng roared, causing the thick malevolent aura around him to shrink and condense into a giant phantom head above his head which opened its mouth wide and screamed towards Yang Kai.
An invisible force shot forth and, like crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood, destroyed Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea defences, shaking his Soul and causing him to become somewhat disoriented.
[Such a strong Divine Sense attack?]
Yang Kai’s heart sank, knowing that if he did not go all out this time, he would be doomed.
Although this Yin Le Sheng was not the most powerful enemy he had ever encountered, Yang Kai knew he was definitely not his opponent. The Wu Sheng Feng Yang Kai had encountered before was definitely much stronger than Yin Le Sheng, but at the time Yang Yan was there to help him, and Wu Sheng Feng was absolutely not a match for her.
Now though, Yang Kai could only depend on himself.
Resisting the discomfort in his mind, Yang Kai poured all his strength into the Dragon Bone Sword and slashed at the Netherworld Darkness Shroud.
With a bang, Yang Kai was sent flying, bleeding profusely as he tumbled through the air, his appearance extremely miserable.
“You still want to resist?” Yin Le Sheng looked at Yang Kai coldly, a smug expression on his face, as if victory was already in his grip. After he landed, he said in a leisurely manner, “Your ability and aptitude in your Star Field is no doubt top-notch, even this King admits he was inferior when he was in your realm, but… you have appeared in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is your fate, obediently accept it, Boy!”
Yang Kai braced himself and struggled to his feet, raising his head to glance over at the other battlefield, his expression cold and severe.
Over there, Gui Zu and the others were still fighting together, but it was clear they were not the opponents of Feng De and Liu Xian Yun.
Their cultivations were all technically the same, but the gap in their inner strength was obvious. The three masters from the Grand Desolation Star Field who had spent five years in this Starlight Corridor had clearly transformed a good portion of their Saint Qi into this new power.
What about them?
Yang Kai and his group had only been here for a month.
How could they compare to these three?
As such, it did not take long for Gui Zu and the others to fall into a disadvantage. Gui Zu was in a particularly bad state, his black Qi almost completely scattered, revealing a bloodied body. Ai Ou was also bleeding from a deep gash on his chest, obviously having suffered a severe injury. The Heavenly Moon Demon Spider manifestation floating behind Chi Yue had become bleak while Wu Dao’s face was pale and Gu Cang Yun was coughing up blood.
They had almost reached a dead end!
The bald man was absolutely ruthless in his approach, but the woman seemed to have some reservation in her actions.
Even so, Gui Zu and the others would not last much longer.
As for his two big helpers, Xiao Xiao had been sent flying, his condition unknown, while Liu Yan was imprisoned in a cage that she was struggling desperately to escape. While there did not seem to be any worry about her life at the moment, once Yang Kai was defeated, Liu Yan would likely have her will erased and be grafted into some artifact by Yin Le Sheng, becoming his Artifact Spirit.
The six of them had all departed in high spirits, with infinite yearning for the Star Boundary in their hearts, but who could have anticipated that what was waiting for them was such a scene?
Yang Kai felt great sorrow in his heart.
“Give up! You and that other one have Star Sources, so this King can’t kill you now, but the others…” Yin Le Sheng’s eyes flashed a cold light. He had suffered a small loss at Xiao Xiao’s hand, causing his appearance to become a bit dishevelled, but aside from that, he was basically unharmed.
“Feng De, leave the one with the Star Source, kill the others!” Yin Le Sheng suddenly ordered.
“Yes!” Feng De shouted before grinning and pushing his strength even more violently, as if he was trying to vent the humiliation he had suffered at Yin Le Sheng’s hand before on Gui Zu and the others a hundred times over.
Suddenly, the situation of Gui Zu and the others became more and more worrying.
Yang Kai took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before he gazed towards Yin Le Sheng and said, “You want my Star Source? I can give it to you!”
“Oh? Finally willing to submit?” A sarcastic smile appeared on the corner of Yin Le Sheng’s mouth.
“But you’ll have to take this first!” Yang Kai’s face suddenly became fierce as he stretched out his hand, a small bead glowing a faint purple hue tightly gripped in his palm. This bead was about the size of a pigeon egg and looked quite attractive as faint lighting arcs flickered across its surface.
“That’s…” Yin Le Sheng furrowed his brows as a sense of unease suddenly washed over him, like this seemingly unremarkable bead could bring him great danger.
Before he could identify just what kind or grade of artifact this bead was, a terrifying aura suddenly erupted from it, one that seemed capable of extinguishing all creation, one that was tinged with the aura of death…
Yin Le Sheng’s expression finally changed as he exclaimed in shock, “You actually have a Dao Source Grade artifact?”
He mistakenly regarded the Annihilation Thunder Bead as an artifact at the Dao Source Grade.
Yang Kai grinned and said, “What’s wrong, scared?”
Yin Le Sheng’s expression flickered fiercely before he quickly regained his calm and said lightly, “So what if you have a Dao Source Grade artifact? You can boast after breaking this King’s defence!”
As he spoke, he rushed straight towards Yang Kai.
Although he did not believe that the bead in Yang Kai’s hand could break through the defense of his Netherworld Darkness Shroud, it didn’t hurt to act cautiously, so he did not plan to give Yang Kai a chance to use it.
Yang Kai simply stood in place, unmoving, allowing Yin Le Sheng to rush towards him while he poured all his strength into the Annihilation Thunder Bead.
As Yang Kai’s strength flooded into the Thunder Bead, a single lighting arc condensed.
*Xiu…*
With a faint puff, a small purple bolt of lightning shot out from the Annihilation Thunder Bead.
This purple bolt flashed forward leisurely, looking completely harmless.
But this tiny, inconspicuous purple lightning arc directly penetrated the Netherworld Darkness Shroud around Yin Le Sheng’s body which had resisted all of Yang Kai’s and Xiao Xiao’s attacks to this point. Before this lightning bolt, the black halo which seemed impenetrable was actually as fragile as paper.
Yin Le Sheng suddenly froze on the spot, as if he had been subjected to some kind of profound binding technique, his eyes trembling violently as he glanced down in disbelief.
The next instant, he witnessed something terrifying. His Netherworld Darkness Shroud unexpectedly had a tiny hole in it!
*Kacha…*
A loud crack soon followed, together with some chaotic energy fluctuation and the sound of something crumbling.
The Netherworld Darkness Shroud’s protective halo directly shattered!
The Dao Source Grade artifact had directly returned to its original appearance and was now barely emitting any glow, apparently having completely lost almost all of its spirituality.
“An Emperor Artifact?” Yin Le Sheng paled in horror as his eyes shot towards the Annihilation Thunder Bead in Yang Kai’s hand.
It was not until this moment that he realized how greatly he had underestimated Yang Kai’s depths. The bead in his hand was no mere Dao Source Grade artifact, but a genuine Emperor Artifact!
Only an Emperor Artifact could possess such terrifying destructive power. The spirituality of the Netherworld Darkness Shroud had been all but destroyed in a single blow, and no Dao Source Grade artifact could achieve such a feat.
Just who was this little brat? Not only did he have a True Dragon Scale refined into his body, he even possessed an Emperor Artifact. Didn’t they say that their Star Field had been closed off for over ten thousand years? Why did it have such an astonishing heritage then?
At that moment, Yin Le Sheng’s eyes shook violently.
*Pu…*
He could help coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Checking again, he realized that the Emperor Artifact had not only destroyed his Netherworld Darkness Shroud but also caused massive damage to his body. Pure destructive energy was now wreaking havoc in his physique and meridians, and no matter how he tried, he was unable to suppress it.
Yin Le Sheng immediately felt both frightened and lucky.
Fortunately, Yang Kai’s strength was too low to display the full power of this Emperor Artifact, otherwise, even if he was a Dao Source Realm master, he would have been vaporized.
This Emperor Artifact… he needed to seize it. If the value of the dragon scale was above that of his Netherworld Darkness Shroud’s, then the value of this Emperor Artifact was above that of the dragon scale. Even in the Star Boundary, an Emperor Artifact was a rare and precious treasure!
Yin Le Sheng lifted his hand and madly struck his own body as he crazily pushed his strength, forcefully suppressing his wounds while at the same time he stuffed a number of Spirit Pills into his mouth like beans and crushed them.
Lifting his feet with great difficulty, he dragged his severely wounded body towards Yang Kai!
But at that moment, a cry filled with fear rang out from Liu Xian Yun, “Senior Brother Yin!”
Yin Le Sheng was startled and quickly turned his head only to see a shocking scene.
A massive tear had appeared in the Starlight Corridor, like the passageway itself had broken apart, a black chaotic nothingness rapidly sucking in the surrounding starlight wisps.
*Kacha…*
Countless more cracks soon speared from this gash in the Starlight Corridor.
At this moment, the entire Starlight Corridor seemed akin to a broken mirror, crisscrossing cracks spreading out at an alarming rate.
“Damn it!” Yin Le Sheng’s face turned pale as he realized that the blow from the Emperor Artifact just now had shaken the stability of the Starlight Corridor and that this place was on the verge of collapsing.
“Hateful!” Yin Le Sheng roared. This was a result he had never anticipated. He thought that after waiting here for five years, converting all his Saint Qi into Source Qi; supplemented with his Netherworld Darkness Shroud’s defensive ability, he could kill anyone who came through here with ease!
How could he have known a variable like Yang Kai would appear?
The Starlight Corridor was the bridge that allowed cultivators from the various Star Fields to travel to the Star Boundary, so generally speaking, the cultivators that entered this place were Origin Kings. No matter how an Origin King tossed about here, it should be impossible for them to affect the stability of the Starlight Corridor.
But Yang Kai using an Emperor Artifact was a completely different story. The Annihilation Thunder Bead contained the strength of a real Emperor, so how could the Starlight Corridor withstand it?
That’s why such a situation had occurred.
“Senior Brother Yin, what’s happening here?” Feng De had also gone pale as he felt the Starlight Corridor begin to collapse around him, becoming as anxious as a headless fly, no longer even bothering about Gui Zu and the others he was just trying to kill.
“This place is about to collapse,” Yin Le Sheng said hurriedly before turning his head to stare at Yang Kai fiercely, “Since we can’t catch them alive, they have to die, all of them!”
His last words were clearly orders to Feng De and Liu Xian Yun.
Yang Kai’s expression changed when he heard this and he shouted sharply, “Don’t even think about it!”
Saying so, disregarding all the injuries he had suffered, he exploded several drops of Golden Blood in his body to replace the Qi consumed by the Annihilation Thunder Bead and began pushing a rich Space Force from his body.
As if he had gone mad, Yang Kai, began attacking the surrounding space.
Waves of Space Force spreading around like ripples, further destabilizing the already crumbling Starlight Corridor and causing it to crumble even faster.
A series of massive Void Cracks began to appear, like fierce beasts trying to swallow everything around them.
Yin Le Sheng realized what Yang Kai’s intentions were and madly charged towards him.
Yang Kai did not even bother with him though and instead focused entirely on manipulating his Space Force to further collapse the Starlight Corridor power.
*Hualala…*
As if a mirror had broken, the entire Starlight Corridor instantly shattered as countless Void Cracks took shape.
“Yang Kai!” Ai Ou suddenly yelled. The place where he and everyone else was standing was swiftly swallowed up by a Void Crack as soon as his voice fell though, causing them to disappear into the chaotic nothingness.
Yang Kai resisted the many discomforts in his body as he shot his Divine Sense into the Void Crack to guide Ai Ou and the others forward.
A soft cry rang out next as Liu Xian Yun was also swallowed by a different Void Crack, her figure disappearing just before Feng De also vanished.
*Li…*
Liu Yan escaped from the cage she had been trapped inside at that moment and frantically flapped her wings, trying to fly towards Yang Kai, but an ocean of Void Cracks was between them.
Liu Yan’s eyes filled with anxiety as she was unable to rush to Yang Kai’s side no matter how she tried. Three breaths later, she too was swallowed by a Void Crack.
Xiao Xiao had long been missing, so at this moment, only Yang Kai and Yin Le Sheng remained inside what was left of the Starlight Corridor.
Yin Le Sheng had a ferocious expression on his face as he stretched out his hand towards Yang Kai and condensed a massive bone spear.
Yang Kai turned to him at that moment and smiled coldly, “I’ll remember you! Today’s enmity, I swear to repay a hundred times over!”
As soon as these words fell, he took the initiative to leap into the Void Crack behind him, causing Yin Le Sheng’s bone spear to hit nothing.
“Damn it, damn it!” Yin Le Sheng roared furiously as he saw more and more Void Cracks form around him, the surrounding space becoming more and more unstable. Left with no other choice, he could only grit his teeth and actively jump into the crack closest to him, disappearing in the next instant.
After everyone left, the Starlight Corridor suddenly burst apart as the various Void Cracks all swirled around like sharp blades. It was conceivable that if there were any living creatures left here, they would have been shredded apart.
This scene lasted for half an hour before it was slowly restored to its original form under the guidance of the World Principles here.
…..
Upon an unknown mountain range, Yang Kai lay on his back, motionless, looking up at the gorgeous starry sky.
Currently, Yang Kai seemed as tranquil as an ancient well, without any sadness or joy apparent on his face, only indifference.
The battle with Yin Le Sheng and his group just now had made Yang Kai instantly aware of his shortcomings. His group, comprised of six peak level masters from their Star Field, were toyed with by Yin Le Sheng alone and almost wiped out without even the ability to resist. If it were not for the Annihilation Thunder Bead’s saving blow, it was likely all six of them would now be dead or enslaved.
Yin Le Sheng was also from a different Star Field called the Grand Desolation Star Field and had yet to even step into the Star Boundary, but he already had such terrifying strength, so what about the real cultivators from this place? Would they all show such astonishing power?
Yang Kai felt an incomparable yearning for such strength.
As for Gui Zu and the others, Yang Kai was not too worried about them; after all, the five of them were at least together. At the last moment, Yang Kai had used his Divine Sense to guide them together, so he was confident they would not be lost to the Void somewhere.
Liu Yan and Xiao Xiao were also separated from him during this battle.
Yang Kai was more worried about his two big helpers; after all, Liu Yan was a sentient Artifact Spirit, a treasure anyone would covet, while Xiao Xiao had a unique form and ability. If either of them were caught, they would likely become enslaved.
But worrying now was useless, as Yang Kai himself hadn’t even escaped danger yet.
Using the Annihilation Thunder Bead had completely emptied his energy, and at the last moment, he had also used his Space Force recklessly to hasten the collapse of the Starlight Corridor, completely overdrawing his strength.
Since arriving in this place, Yang Kai had not been able to move and could only silently breathe while inspecting his injuries and trying to restore his strength.
His injuries themselves, fortunately, did not seem too serious, thanks in large part to his dragon scale which had blocked the larger portion of Yin Le Sheng’s strength, what was a problem was his extreme overdraft.
[This is the Star Boundary, right?] Yang Kai wondered to himself.
As he lay there, looking up, everything he saw seemed so different from what he could see in the Star Field. In the sky, huge, beautiful nebulae of every shape and size stretched out before him.
Such a scene could not be witnessed anywhere in the Star Field. The night sky of the Star Field was only filled with gleaming stars.
As he stared up into the night sky, Yang Kai could perceive the direction his Star Field lay in. There seemed to be something that connected him closely to his Star Field, allowing him to perceive the location of his hometown no matter where he was.
He did not understand what this connection was though, causing him to frown.
After a long time, when his strength had been restored slightly, Yang Kai let out a sigh of relief before taking out all kinds of Spirit Pills from his Space Ring with difficulty and stuffing them into his mouth.
Immediately, he sent his consciousness into his Knowledge Sea.
He was faintly aware that the key to his connection with his hometown lay inside his Knowledge Sea.
Looking around, Yang Kai observed carefully.
When he looked up at the sky above his Knowledge Sea, he could not help his eyes from lighting up as he finally understood what was connecting him and his homeland.
The Star Chart!
It was actually this mysterious Star Chart he had always regarded as only being useful for finding his way!
At this moment, looking at the Star Chart again, Yang Kai suddenly found that its shape was exactly the same as one of the distant nebulae he had seen in the starry sky above.
Yang Kai could not help showing a thoughtful look.
If that was the case though, could one of the countless nebulae he had seen just now really be the Star Field he had come from? Was that why the shape of that particular nebula was exactly the same as the Star Chart in his Knowledge Sea.
Did that mean the other nebulas were also other Star Fields?
Thinking so, Yang Kai could not help feeling shocked. According to his observations just now, there were almost too many nebulas to count, and if each of them represented a unique Star Field, then this world which was able to see them all was simply too astonishing in size.
The scale and scope of this world were probably so grand that even an Emperor would not be able to see its complete form.
Wu Sheng Feng was extremely excited when he saw the Star Chart in his mind, causing Yang Kai to realize that this Star Chart seemed to involve some huge secret, but Yang Yan had not said much when he asked.
Nevertheless, Yang Kai guessed that this Star Chart probably had a lot to do with becoming a Star Field Guardian!
Yang Kai could not help but grin when he found out that the Star Chart in his Knowledge Sea somehow connected him with his home Star Field, even allowing him to perceive its location from so far away.
This way, no matter where he was, he would be able to feel the existence of his home so long as he looked up, as if he could see its familiar figure.
This made his heart feel full, so even at this moment, though he was alone, he did not feel isolated.
He did not know if he could still summon the strength of his home star in the Star Boundary.
As the Star Master of Shadowed Star, Yang Kai could summon the strength of Shadowed Star to assist him and increase his strength with a single thought in his native Star Field. Now that he had reached the Star Boundary, he didn’t know if he still had this convenience.
Considering all this, Yang Kai returned his consciousness to his body and stimulated the Star Source of Shadowed Star in his body.
At the same time, he closely stared at the sky up above where his native Star Field was located.
Suddenly, a little light flickered somewhere in that vast nebula and a faint bolt of starlight which seemed to cross over space in an instant shot towards him.
In the blink of an eye, this beam of starlight rushed into Yang Kai’s body.
[It is really possible?] Yang Kai was surprised.
He had only felt a slight whim and tried a small experiment, but Yang Kai had not expected that he could still summon the power of Shadowed Star in the Star Boundary.
However… perhaps because the distance was so great, even if he was able to summon this strength, it had a negligible effect. Once this weak beam of starlight entered him, Yang Kai’s strength essentially didn’t change.
Realizing this, Yang Kai quickly severed his connection with Shadowed Star.
At this moment, he was in an unfamiliar place, and if such an obvious phenomenon continued, it would likely draw unwanted attention.
Yang Kai was faintly regretting his recklessness.
Immediately afterwards, he closed his eyes and began to circulate his Secret Art to refine the medicinal efficacies in his body and replenish the strength he had lost.
The surrounding environment was extremely comfortable. The World Energy here was extremely rich, far more so than in any place in his Star Field. Moreover, the World Energy here seemed subtly different when compared to the Star Field. In this environment, Yang Kai estimated that it would only take a few days for him to restore himself to his peak.
As for what came next, Yang Kai did not have any firm plans, only thinking he needed to quickly search for Gui Zu and the others, especially Liu Yan and Xiao Xiao. Being separated from his two big helpers made Yang Kai feel somewhat anxious for their well-being.
Time passed by in this silent mountain range as there seemed to be no beasts nearby, only the light sound of the wind rustling the nearby leaves broke the stillness of the night.
Suddenly, Yang Kai opened his eyes and stared towards a certain spot in the sky coldly.
There, at some unknown point, a figure had appeared, floating quietly in the air. The moonlight gently fell upon this figure allowing Yang Kai to see her in all her beauty.
“It’s you!” The visitor also looked at Yang Kai with a surprised expression.
“Death!” Yang Kai suddenly shot up from the ground, using his Dragon Transformation Secret Technique instantly, transforming his arm into a golden dragon claw and with a ferocious dragon roar, he violently struck towards this newcomer.
“Wait, wait!” The woman called out in shock while she quickly moved to disperse Yang Kai’s attack, backing away quickly as she called out anxiously, “There’s been a misunderstanding between us!”
Yang Kai did not reply as he struck out with his dragon claw towards the woman’s chest, as if trying to gouge out her heart.
The woman saw this and knit her brow, “Stop this, in your current state, if you exert yourself like this, you’ll only further aggravate your wounds!”
“I don’t need your fake pity!” Yang Kai coldly snorted as he pushed his strength even harder. Space Force began pulsing from his body as it flickered about randomly, instantly breaking through the woman’s defences and allowing him to directly appear beside her.
The woman called out in shock as she swept her hand out and condensed a defensive light to resist Yang Kai’s blow while at the same time withdrawing once again, her beautiful eyes staring at Yang Kai incredulously as she called out, “Even in that state, you still have such power, you’re really not ordinary. No wonder you were able to survive Senior Brother Yin’s assault.”
Yang Kai frowned but did not continue to act.
He had not restored much of his strength yet and clearly couldn’t kill this woman in a short time, so he was at a slight loss about what to do now.
Seeing him calm down, the woman forced out a smile and said, “Can we talk now?”
“If you want to fart, just let it out!” Yang Kai snapped coldly without giving this woman any face.
The other party frowned hearing such crass language directed at her, but although she was a little annoyed, she knew that Yang Kai’s attitude was only natural after what had transpired so she simply said, “You haven’t healed your wounds yet, and I’m also quite afraid of the Emperor Artifact in your hands, so I think it’s best if we can end our hostilities here. As for what happened between us earlier… That was not my intention, I was simply forced to act.”
Yang Kai stared at her coldly for a moment before nodding, “Go on!”
This woman was none other than the female Third-Order Origin King cultivator who was together with Yin Le Sheng in the Starlight Corridor before. At that time, she had teamed up with the bald youth to attack Gui Zu and the others.
Yang Kai had a chance to observe that fight and had noticed at the time that she was different from the bald man in that she had no murderous intent, so after hearing what she said now, he at least somewhat believed her. If it were Yin Le Sheng or the bald man here, Yang Kai would not have bothered even listening to them.
If it were not for these three suddenly attacking them, how could he have been separated from Gui Zu and the others? How could Xiao Xiao and Liu Yan now be forced to wander the world alone?
Yang Kai carried a deep seething hatred towards these three.
“First, allow me to introduce myself. This Mistress is Liu Xian Yun, and like the Senior Brother Yin, I come from the Grand Desolation Star Field,” Liu Xian Yun lightly opened her delicate lips as she gazed towards Yang Kai elegantly.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly before simply spitting, “Yang Kai!”
“So it is Brother Yang!” Liu Xian Yun smiled, “About earlier, let me explain. Although Senior Brother Yin and I indeed come from Grand Desolation Star Field, we are not from the same Sect, nor are we companions. I was simply helpless to disobey him and was forced to act against your companions. For that, this Mistress apologizes.”
“If apologies were useful, why would we bother cultivating?” Yang Kai sneered.
“Think what you like,” Liu Xian Yun smiled flatly. She was also considered to be a peak level figure where she came from; her taking so much time to explain to Yang Kai was simply because she felt guilty about her actions. Yang Kai having resentment was something she could understand.
“Now that Senior Brother Yin is not there, this Mistress doesn’t need to give him any face or act against her conscience, so I think it would be best for us to exchange weapons of war for gifts of jade and silk.”
“Not fighting is fine, as for anything else, I have no interest. I want to heal now and have no time to waste with you,” Yang Kai closed his eyes and said coldly.
Liu Xian Yun smiled and said, “Why must Brother Yang act so distant.”
“How should I act?”
Liu Xian Yun smiled, “Why don’t we cooperate? You and I are both from lower Star Fields, newcomers in this strange place, so working together will benefit both of us. What does Brother Yang think?”
Yang Kai didn’t answer right away as he seriously thought about it.
Liu Xian Yun saw this and quickly continued, “Since I want us to work together, this Mistress will speak frankly. Brother Yang, although you are only a Second-Order Origin King, your strength and ability are far above that of your realm. If it were any of your companions here instead, hehe… this Mistress would have no interest in cooperating with them.”
“Should I feel honoured then?” Yang Kai sneered.
“That’s not what I meant. This Mistress simply doesn’t want to wander the Star Boundary alone, the Star Boundary is much more dangerous than the Star Field after all…”
Hearing this, Yang Kai suddenly became interested, “You know something about the Star Boundary?”
“I don’t know much, but I believe it should be more than you,” Liu Xian Yun smiled slyly.
Yang Kai snorted, “You also know that our Star Field has been closed off for ten thousand years and naturally have very limited information.”
Saying so, he simply sat down cross-legged. Since he was sure that this Liu Xian Yun was not hostile to him, Yang Kai didn’t bother putting up his guard and instead focused on recovering his strength.
“If Brother Yang wants to know what this Mistress knows, I can tell you. Consider it a bit of sincerity from this Mistress,” Seeing Yang Kai relax, Liu Xian Yun realized he was at least willing to hear out her proposal, so she couldn’t help but smile.
“There’s one thing I don’t understand,” Yang Kai said lightly, “How did you find this place?”
“Oh, I came out of the Void Crack nearby, and just saw a beam of starlight fall around here, so I thought some kind of treasure had appeared and came to take a look, but I found Brother Yang healing here instead,” Liu Xian Yun laughed lightly.
Yang Kai instantly looked a bit depressed, realizing that his actions earlier were a bit hair-brained. Fortunately, only Liu Xian Yun had been attracted, if it had been a powerful enemy the consequences would have been disastrous.
“We should find another place to talk then!” Yang Kai pondered for a moment before deciding it wasn’t safe to remain here any longer.
Liu Xian Yun nodded, “Agreed!”
Saying so, the pair flew up into the sky and rushed towards the depths of the mountain range.
Somewhere a few thousand kilometres away, inside a cave, Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun sat facing each other across a dozen meter gap.
Yang Kai went straight to the point and asked, “I have a question I need to ask you.”
“Please feel free, Brother Yang,” Liu Xian Yun lifted her hand and brushed her hair back behind her ear charmingly.
“Why did you think of working with me? We were enemies just a moment ago,” Yang Kai looked directly into her eyes, as if trying to see into the depths of her heart.
Liu Xian Yun smiled lightly and replied, “Because I think Brother Yang is not a wicked person but rather trustworthy.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai sneered.
Liu Xian Yun said sternly, “This Mistress is not a naïve little girl. After living for so many years, I have gained some ability to see through people, and while I dare not say my judgement is always right, this Mistress can at least weigh things fairly. Brother Yang’s previous actions in the Starlight Corridor were all witnessed by this Mistress, so I believe you’re a man of heavy affection and righteousness, on top of being quite capable!”
“The latter being the main point,” Yang Kai spat disdainfully.
Liu Xian Yun nodded and said, “I won’t deny that, but if you weren’t a man of principles, this Mistress wouldn’t have taken the initiative to propose we cooperate.”
“Well, since you are an honest and upfront woman, it would only make me seem petty if I were to continue doubting you,” Yang Kai nodded. “You and I can cooperate, as I also want to know more about the Star Boundary, but you should remember well… If one day you dare to stab me in the back… heh heh heh!”
Yang Kai’s grin caused Liu Xian Yun’s tender to shiver inexplicably, and she quickly nodded with a straight face, “You may rest assured, this Mistress is not someone who engages in treachery.”
“That would be best!”
“So we have a deal?” Liu Xian Yun looked at Yang Kai with a smile.
Yang Kai nodded.
Inside the cave, while Yang Kai was healing his injuries, he asked Liu Xian Yun for information about the Star Boundary. She was also frank and explained things simply and straightforwardly without concealing anything, which greatly improved Yang Kai’s impression of her.
“So in summary, the realm above the Origin King Realm is the Dao Source Realm, and above the Dao Source Realm is the Emperor Realm?”
“Yes,” Liu Xian Yun nodded. “Only when a cultivator’s Shi reaches the grand accomplishment stage and touches upon Domain can they break through to the Origin King Realm, and only after fully comprehending Domain to the grand accomplishment stage and touching upon Principle Strength, otherwise called Law Strength, can they break through to the Dao Source Realm and manipulate such power.”
“Principle Strength!” Yang Kai showed a reverent expression.
Liu Xian Yun smiled slightly and said, “Brother Yang should not misunderstand. Even a Dao Source Realm master can only slightly utilize Principle Strength. I have heard that only upon reaching the Emperor Realm can one actually control Principles, allowing their thoughts to be made manifest and command the world with their intention alone!”
“I understand!” Yang Kai nodded.
“Of course, comprehending Principles is only the most basic requirement for breaking through to the Dao Source Realm. The other essential condition is that one needs to transform their Saint Qi into Source Qi!”
“Source Qi?” Yang Kai’s eyes lit up, “Is that the name of this new power in our bodies?”
“Indeed, the stage above Saint Qi is Source Qi. Brother Yang must have felt that this new power is closely related to your own root, your source. Therefore, it is called Source Qi.”
“I did notice that.”
“In the Starlight Corridor, the biggest role of those starlight wisps is to help transform Saint Qi in an Origin King’s body into Source Qi, so the more starlight one can absorb there, the better,” Liu Xian Yun explained patiently.
“So after staying there for five years, were you able to completely transform your strength?” Yang Kai’s expression turned solemn.
Liu Xian Yun smiled bitterly and shook her head, “Brother Yang’s thoughts are too simple. Although we stayed there for five years, the total time we spent absorbing starlight wisps was less than two months, the rest of the time we spent hiding in the Netherworld Darkness Shroud.”
“Netherworld Darkness Shroud?” Yang Kai frowned.
“En, the defensive artifact that Senior Brother Yin used, a Dao Source Grade artifact. I heard it was a treasure that came from the Star Boundary’s Netherworld Sect. This time, it was brought along by Senior Brother Yin. If not for it, we would have long ago been forced out of the Starlight Corridor.”
“Why do you say that?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
“The starlight wisps in the Starlight Corridor can bring massive benefits to cultivators, especially those who travel from low-level Star Fields to the Star Boundary. It can be said that the starlight wisps are the first opportunity we encounter on our path to this world. However, does Brother Yang really think cultivators can remain in the Starlight Corridor at will?” Liu Xian Yun smiled, “That’s impossible. The longest one can stay inside the Starlight Corridor is about two months, once that time is up, they will be rejected by the World Principles of the corridor and forced out.”
Yang Kai showed a look of understanding.
He had his doubts even before now. If cultivators could remain in the Starlight Corridor at will, it would undoubtedly become a disaster for the cultivators from the lower Star Fields.
As long as there was someone like Yin Le Sheng who blocked the Starlight Corridor, no one would be able to pass.
Now, after listening to Liu Xian Yun’s explanation, he realized that this was only possible thanks to that Netherworld Darkness Shroud.
“The starlight wisps in the Starlight Corridor can speed up the conversion of Saint Qi into Source Qi in our body, so the more we can absorb, the better. In this regard, Star Masters have a great advantage thanks to their Star Sources, which increase their affinity with those starlight wisps. The speed at which Star Masters absorb that starlight is much faster than ordinary cultivators,” When Liu Xian Yun said this, she suddenly paused, and her beautiful eyes widened as she swept them over Yang Kai in shock.
“What’s wrong?” Yang Kai frowned.
“Strange!” Liu Xian Yun frowned as she said in surprise, “Brother Yang, aren’t you a Star Master?”
Before, she could clearly see all the surrounding starlight rush into Yang Kai’s body like a whale sucking in water in the Starlight Corridor. That was irrefutable proof he was a Star Master, as Yang Kai’s speed of absorption was even higher than Yin Le Sheng’s.
The other Star Master who was present together with Yang Kai could not even absorb a tenth as much starlight.
“I am a Star Master!” Yang Kai did not deny it as he had already been exposed back in the Starlight Corridor.
“But why don’t you have starlight glow about you?” Liu Xian Yun’s expression became even stranger.
“What do you mean?” Yang Kai looked at her in confusion.
Liu Xian Yun quickly explained, “Let’s put it this way, when a Star Master first enters the Star Boundary, because they have absorbed too much starlight from the Starlight Corridor, they naturally release a faint starlight glow from their bodies. This glow, while not strong, is incredibly obvious and something completely unique to Star Masters, but you…”
Yang Kai looked down at himself and found no trace of excess starlight.
However, when he quickly checked inside his Knowledge Sea, he found it filled with brilliant starlight, especially the area around his Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus. The starlight there was so rich it was nearly blinding.
At once, he felt relieved as he understood that this starlight had simply not integrated into his body yet and had been instead gathered into his Knowledge Sea.
Liu Xian Yun’s information was not wrong, it was just that Yang Kai was a unique case, and since this matter was related to his Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, Yang Kai naturally didn’t explain.
“Does this have something to do with the Starlight Corridor shattering?” Liu Xian Yun frowned, trying to come up with a possible explanation.
“Perhaps!” Yang Kai immediately hit the snake with a stick.
Liu Xian Yun glanced at him faintly but did not dwell on the issue anymore, simply smiling instead and saying, “It’s better this way anyway. Without that starlight glow, Brother Yang would be much safer.”
“Why do you say that?” Yang Kai asked.
“Because of the Star Source,” Liu Xian Yun explained. “Why did Senior Brother Yin target you? It was because he wanted to rob you of your Star Source. In the Star Boundary, Star Sources are rare treasures as a cultivator with a Star Source can more easily sense World Principles and more easily break through to the Dao Source Realm and Emperor Realm, which is why everyone covets Star Sources. If you still had that starlight around your body, wouldn’t that be a sign that you are a Star Master who just came out of the Starlight Corridor? Wouldn’t that draw people’s greed? You should know that there is more than one Secret Technique to extract a Star Source from someone in the Star Boundary. This Mistress will advise you now, don’t let others know that you are a Star Master, otherwise, you will likely be killed.”
“Damn it!” Yang Kai’s expression suddenly changed.
Liu Xian Yun was taken aback by his sudden reaction and asked, “What happened?”
“My companion!” Yang Kai thought of Ai Ou, who was also a Star Master, and his face suddenly sank.
Ai Ou did not know anything about the Star Boundary and had also absorbed a lot of starlight in the Starlight Corridor. Right now, it would be obvious to anyone from the Star Boundary that Ai Ou was a Star Master.
If what Liu Xian Yun said was true, Ai Ou may be in a bad situation right now.
Liu Xian Yun soon also understood, thought for a moment, then said, “The Starlight Corridor collapsed, causing everyone to be swallowed up by Void Cracks, so there’s nothing you can do for now other than pray your friend has good luck. There are both pros and cons to this situation. Although Star Master cultivators are easily aimed at, if he encounters a powerful master with noble character, perhaps this will be his opportunity.”
Seeing Yang Kai looking towards her questioningly, Liu Xian Yun took the initiative to explain, “If your friend encounters a righteous master, there’s a good chance he will be recruited as a disciple. Star Masters from the lower Star Fields are all highly valued and have great potential, so the bigger Sects do their best to recruit people like you and your companions as disciples to train.”
“Is that true?” Yang Kai was surprised.
“Of course,” Liu Xian Yun nodded sincerely. “There are ten peak Emperors in the Star Boundary, and it is rumoured that six of them came from low-level Star Fields. Each of them a Star Master.”
“Ten peak Emperors?” Yang Kai’s eyes lit up when he heard it, “Who are they?”
He suddenly thought of Yang Yan and wondered if she was qualified to be among these ten masters.
Liu Xian Yun chuckled, “I don’t know. Everything I know about the Star Boundary is from Senior Brother Yin. His Netherworld Sect’s main headquarters is in the Star Boundary, so they know more than us. What I do know is that the ten peak Emperors are all characters who can shake the world and possess strength we can only look up to… En, Brother Yang may one day reach such a height. As for this Mistress, it will be enough to cultivate to the Emperor Realm someday.”
Saying so, Liu Xian Yun smiled bitterly.
Yang Kai said lightly, “Don’t be too modest, no one knows what the future will bring. Perhaps you will soar from the branches into the sky one day.”
Liu Xian Yun smiled, “Then I’ll borrow Brother Yang’s auspicious words.”
Yang Kai nodded, and although he was anxious for Ai Ou deep in his heart, he understood he was currently helpless to do anything about the situation. He could only hope that Ai Ou would notice something and conceal himself well to refine the starlight before emerging. Yang Kai believed that Ai Ou would definitely not act rashly; he was an experienced veteran, after all.
After their chat, Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun felt much more cordial and there was no longer a sharp, tense atmosphere like when they first met.
Yang Kai also gained a certain understanding of Liu Xian Yun’s character and realized that she was truly helpless when they attacked his group.
In the Starlight Corridor before, she had been forced to obey Yin Le Sheng, so there was no point blaming her.
Yang Kai was not too anxious to recover his strength and instead prioritised his talk with Liu Xian Yun to gain more information while he slowly restored.
Unfortunately, Liu Xian Yun did not know much about the Star Boundary, so she had told him everything she knew after only a short time.
Afterwards, the two of them chatted about their respective Star Fields.
Although it was just a casual discussion, Yang Kai soon discovered that her Grand Desolation Star Field was quite similar to his home Star Field in almost every respect.
The biggest difference was Yin Le Sheng’s presence in the Grand Desolation Star Field, a sole hegemon who stood above all others, while in Yang Kai’s Star Field, three peak powers shared the distinction of ‘strongest’.
The more Yang Kai learned about the Star Boundary’s wonders, the more he realized how grand this world truly was and how small his existence was.
He felt a deep desire for greater power.
As the two were talking though, suddenly, Yang Kai’s expression turned extremely serious.
“What happened?” Liu Xian Yun looked at him with a puzzled expression, but in the next instant, her body became stiff as her pretty face turned to Yang Kai’s nervously.
Yang Kai put a finger up to his lips and gestured for her to stay silent.
But before Liu Xian Yun could even respond, a light flashed at the entrance of the cave and a figure suddenly appeared in front of them.
The two of them instinctively pushed their Saint Qi and flew back to take up defensive stances as they stared at this newcomer warily.
The visitor had no intention of hiding his presence though as he simply looked at Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun coldly and sneered, “You two little rats are quite vigilant.”
With the help of the dim light, Yang Kai could see the opponent’s face clearly.
He was a man who looked around thirty years old and was dressed in fine white robes, but that was of little consequence. What Yang Kai really cared about was this man’s aura, one that was unfathomably deep, far more so than Yin Le Sheng’s back in the Starlight Corridor and one that brought him great pressure.
[Dao Source Realm!]
As this thought flashed across Yang Kai’s mind, his face became more and more ugly.
Both he and Liu Xian Yun were peak level existences in their respective Star Fields, so after concealing themselves inside this cave to talk while completely withdrawing their auras, if it had been another Origin King it would have been impossible to notice them.
But if the other party was a Dao Source master, it was obvious he would be aware of their existence.
Yang Kai did not know exactly how powerful a Dao Source Realm cultivator was, only that this man was not someone he could compete with right now.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
Several whooshing sounds came from outside as three more figures landed at the edge of the cave behind the first man to appear.
One of them asked, “Senior Brother Kou, what did you find?”
Another man said in surprise, “Hey, there really are two people hiding here. Senior Brother Kou’s senses are really amazing, actually able to find them here.”
The last person laughed, “Senior Brother Kou is a First-Order Dao Source Realm master while these two are just like us, how could they hide under Senior Brother Kou’s nose?”
The three men observed Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun mockingly after they entered the cave, the eyes of the person who spoke first flashing a meaningful light. Observing Yang Kai first, then Liu Xian Yun, a knowing grin appeared on his face, obviously thinking that these two were hiding in this small cave to do something shameful.
Although Liu Xian Yun looked embarrassed, she didn’t dare lash out.
Yang Kai also remained silent.
Without even mentioning the other party had three Third-Order Origin Kings, just the lead Dao Source master was more than he and Liu Xian Yun could handle now, so Yang Kai had to act discreetly. Fortunately, the other party had not immediately attacked, otherwise, he and Liu Xian Yun would have suffered disaster already.
The Senior Brother Kou who led this group gave Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun a cold look over as the light in his eyes became more and more contemptuous, snorting a moment later as he commented, “Seems like there is only some slight Source Qi in your bodies. Where are you two from and what are you plotting here in my Blue Feather Sect?”
“Blue Feather Sect?” Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun looked at each other as they both showed confused expressions.
Quickly though, the two of them speculated that they had inadvertently intruded into the territory of this so-called Blue Feather Sect and had now been discovered by its disciples.
Considering all this, Yang Kai tried to put on a relaxed expression as he cupped his fists and said, “Greetings friends, we didn’t know this was the site of your noble Sect and accidentally trespassed. If we have offended you in any way, please forgive us. You may rest assured; we will depart immediately!”
Saying so, Yang Kai winked at Liu Xian Yun.
Liu Xian Yun understood his intentions and tried to follow Yang Kai out.
The leading man surnamed Kou and the other three Origin Kings, however, stood at the entrance of the cave, motionless, showing no intention to give way.
The man surnamed Kou sneered and said, “Accidentally trespassed? You might be able to fool children with such lies, but you think you can deceive this Kou? I think it’s more likely you’re from Daybreak Pavilion!”
“Daybreak Pavilion?” Yang Kai frowned before shaking his head, “Sorry, I‘ve never heard of it.”
“Your acting skills aren’t bad,” One of the Origin Kings sneered and said. “Senior Brother Kou, don’t talk nonsense with them, let us just take them back with us and make them spit out the truth. Daring to trespass into my Blue Feather Sect’s site, these Daybreak Pavilion dogs simply don’t put us in their eyes.”
The man surnamed Kou also spoke with a cold expression, “Better to kill a thousand innocents than let off one guilty!”
Saying so, he stretched out his hand and formed a seal before pressing his palms towards Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun up ahead.
Two beams of light shot out and struck Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun’s chests before they could dodge.
The two were taken aback and hurriedly tried to resist, but to their amazement, they found that some kind of rope had at some point appeared on their bodies. These ropes were covered in dense runes that flashed lightly and completely suppressed them.
The more the two struggled, the firmer this Secret Technique’s binding became.
Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun’s complexions instantly became gloomy.
A casual move was enough to completely seal their fighting ability, making Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun fully realize how terrifying a Dao Source Realm master was.
After finishing this, the man surnamed Kou did not spare Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun a second glance and simply waved, “Take them!”
Saying so, he turned around and did not even give them an opportunity to argue.
Yang Kai was annoyed but knew that now was not the time to act rashly.
The three cultivators following the man surnamed Kou swarmed up and pushed Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun outwards.
Liu Xian Yun twisted her body and ground her teeth as she snapped, “Don’t touch me, I can walk myself!”
The previous cultivator who kept looking at Liu Xian Yun sneered and said, “The little lady here is quite grumpy, I like it! Let’s see how you stand up to some torture later.”
The other two showed an expression of wicked understanding hearing this.
This only frustrated Liu Xian Yun even more.
She was an overlord of the Grand Desolation Star Field, but after coming here, before she could even enjoy the sights and scenes of the Star Boundary, she had been taken prisoner. She had never encountered such an embarrassing situation in her life and found it simply unacceptable.
And listening to the way these three men were chatting, it seemed that after arriving at Blue Feather Sect, the ‘torture’ she would suffer would be…
Just imagining it caused Liu Xian Yun’s pretty face to pale as she instinctually turned to Yang Kai for help.
“Several friends, there seems to be a misunderstanding between us, could you listen to my explanation first?” Yang Kai calmly made a last-ditch attempt.
“Explanation? You can explain all you like once we’re back at the sect!” The man surnamed Kou snorted coldly.
“Yeah, first hand over your Space Rings if you want to avoid some immediate pain!”
Yang Kai glanced at Liu Xian Yun as he shook his head slowly, taking off his Space Ring and tossing it towards the nearest person.
There was not anything valuable in his Space Ring, just some everyday items he needed frequently. The real precious treasures were hidden inside his Sealed World Bead.
As such, surrendering his Space Ring did not cause Yang Kai much of a psychological burden.
On the other hand, Liu Xian Yun wore a look of intense struggle and unwillingness. If it were not for her strength being sealed right now, she would likely have gone all out to resist.
All her possessions were stored in her Space Ring, so how could she be willing to simply hand it over like this?
However, people under the eaves must bow their heads, so she could only reluctantly remove her ring like Yang Kai and throw it out.
Receiving the two Space Rings, the three Origin Kings did not try to inspect them at all and instead turned them over to their leader. Senior Brother Kou was very satisfied with their performance and simply put these Space Rings away.
A short time later, the group left the cave.
Senior Brother Kou waved his hand lightly and summoned a small shuttle which immediately enlarged to a ship engraved with dragons and phoenixes in the blink of an eye.
This ship was not very big, only having about two decks to it, but it was more than enough to accommodate their small number.
Senior Brother Kou casually leapt up, binding Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun with his own strength and landed lightly on the deck. The other three quickly followed.
Subsequently, Senior Brother Kou activated a Spirit Array on the ship and a light barrier surrounded it before it shot off with astonishing speed.
Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun both observed all of this in amazement, pure surprise and shock filling their eyes.
In their respective Star Fields, neither of them had ever encountered this type of flight artifact. They had only seen Star Shuttles and Starships.
Although this ship was not grand or magnificent like a Starship, its refinement was vastly superior, and it was incomparable to a mere Star Shuttle in terms of practicality.
It was a type of existence between a Star Shuttle and Starship that was incredibly well suited for rapid travel.
The man surnamed Kou and the others did not pay Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun any mind; after all, their strength was sealed so they posed no threat at all.
However, after seeing the expressions of the two, the Blue Feather Sect’s disciples could not help but laugh as they got together and whispered amongst themselves, pointing at Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun like they were mocking them.
The pair quickly became aware of this and could not help feeling embarrassed.
In their native Star Fields, they were undisputed masters, but after coming to the Star Boundary, they were now behaving like country bumpkins, it was indeed a bit shameful.
Senior Brother Kou, on the other hand, saw their reactions and frowned slightly, but he did not say much and simply focused on controlling the speed and direction of the small ship.
After flying for about half an hour, a mountain range came into view that had a dense cluster of buildings built around it. Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun knew that this was Blue Feather Sect’s headquarters right away. Regarding this Star Boundary Sect, the two were quite curious and could not help standing up from the deck to look around.
The next moment, the two shook on the spot.
As far as they could see, for many tens of thousands of kilometres, the mountains had palaces and pavilions dotting the landscape. Obviously, all of this belonged to Blue Feather Sect.
The Sect stood among the vast mountain range and had an incredibly rich World Energy aura floating about it. This kind of aura was extraordinary compared to any Star Field Sect. Even Yang Kai’s High Heaven Sect had no way to compare with this Blue Feather Sect, the two were simply of two different grades.
“The headquarters of your Daybreak Pavilion is not worse than here. Why make such a fuss?” Senior Brother Kou squinted, his eyes flashing a faint light as he observed the shock on Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun’s faces.
Yang Kai turned his head and quickly said, “As I explained before, we are not from the Daybreak Pavilion. This is our first time here, but believe what you like!”
Senior Brother Kou nodded faintly and said nothing, just standing on the deck with his hands behind his back, enjoying the bit of wind he allowed past the ship’s barrier.
After reaching Blue Feather Sect’s sky, Senior Brother Kou tapped his foot lightly and the boat quickly descended to the ground.
Down below, many cultivators saw the ship approach, and when they noticed that it was Senior Brother Kou driving it, they cupped their fists in greeting.
Apparently, this Senior Brother Kou was quite famous in Blue Feather Sect, with many disciples recognizing him.
Some people directed curious looks towards Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun as they wondered how Senior Brother Kou had gone out and suddenly caught two people. Yang Kai vaguely heard them whispering about Daybreak Pavilion and it was clear that they suspected him and Liu Xian Yun of being spies.
[This Daybreak Pavilion and Blue Feather Sect definitely have many grievances between them!]
Yang Kai thought to himself.
At the same time, he and Liu Xian Yun were also secretly looking around at the surrounding cultivators and were shocked by what they saw.
There were about seventy or eighty people in the square around them, and half were Origin Kings. Third-Order Origin Kings were everywhere, with at least a dozen of them giving off a more intimidating aura than Yin Le Sheng.
If it were a battle in which Yin Le Sheng couldn’t use his Dao Source Grade Netherworld Darkness Shroud, Yang Kai was a hundred percent certain these dozens or so cultivators could defeat him.
Based on the information he obtained from Liu Xian Yun, Yang Kai immediately understood that these dozen or so people must have successfully transformed their Saint Qi into Source Qi but were unable to break through to the Dao Source Realm due to a lack of comprehension of Principles.
There was an almost insurmountable gap between the Origin King Realm and the Dao Source Realm, which was also the most basic reason why Senior Brother Kou was regarded with such awe.
This was the first Sect that Yang Kai had encountered since coming to the Star Boundary, so everything he saw shocked him.
Several dozen Origin Kings all gathered was a scene that would be absolutely impossible to encounter in the Star Field. Origin Kings were peak-level existences where Yang Kai had come from. Without even mentioning those old monsters who hid from the world and never showed their faces, most ordinary cultivators would not ever get a chance to meet even a First-Order Origin King.
But here, such masters were as common as weeds in the field, literally scattered around randomly.
And this was just the tip of the iceberg, who knew how many disciples this Blue Feather Sect had, or how many Origin King, Dao Source, and even Emperor Realm masters there were!
Among the seventy or eighty people, in addition to more than half which were Origin Kings, there were also some Origin Realm and Saint King Realm cultivators, but they were actually the minority.
Even in the Star Boundary, strength was not something that a cultivator could come to possess overnight. Although the cultivation environment here was countless times better than that of the Star Field, cultivators still had to advance steadily from the bottom, which was why it wasn’t surprising to see Saint Kings and Origin Realm masters walking about.
Just as Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun were immersing in their shock, Senior Brother Kou pointed to a cultivator who had been following him and said, “Cui Jing, send them both to the Bone Prison. I’ll report to Protector Bian to decide how to deal with them.”
“Send them to the Bone Prison?” The cultivator named Cui Jing was a little stunned, as if Senior Brother Kou handling Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun this way came as a surprise to him; however, he did not question his orders and simply nodded, “Yes!”
Saying so, he waved his hand at Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun and said with a cold face, “Get down, how long do you two want to stay on the boat?”
Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun sighed helplessly and could only jump off the ship.
“Follow me!” Cui Jing said before leading the way forward.
Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun followed reluctantly.
Both of them knew that it was useless to explain anything now. Since Senior Brother Kou did not trust them from the start, he definitely wouldn’t believe them now.
Fortunately, although their strength had been locked, they had not suffered any harm yet.
Passing along the road, it seemed they were travelling towards a certain mountain.
Halfway there, Yang Kai asked tentatively, “Dare I ask this friend, what is this Bone Prison?”
Cui Jing turned his head and snorted at Yang Kai, “Who is your friend?”
Yang Kai frowned but still cupped his fists and said, “Pardon this one’s offence. Senior Brother, could you explain to both of us what exactly this Bone Prison is?”
Yang Kai’s attitude made Cui Jing very satisfied, so he put on a kind face and said lightly, “Just like the name implies, it’s a prison where people are detained. Inside there… heh heh heh… well you’ll understand when we get there.”
The low, sullen laughter made Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun’s expressions slightly change as they subconsciously realized this Bone Prison was definitely not a good place to go.
The Bone Prison was indeed located under a certain mountain and had a number of Blue Feather Sect disciples guarding it. After Cui Jing handed over Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun to the disciples here, he left directly without sparing them a second glance.
The disciple who was now charged with Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun was also a Third-Order Origin King, and he had an extremely powerful aura. He was obviously not an affable individual.
After Cui Jing left, this man squinted his eyes and swept his gaze over Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun before frowning and cursing, “Damn that Cui Jing, every time he brings someone over, he always snatches their Space Ring first, not leaving any soup for Father here to drink.”
After grumbling for a while, he turned to Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun again and commanded, “Don’t even try to pretend, just hand over whatever you have left.”
“Huh?” Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun were confused.
“The artifacts you’ve refined, or are you going to tell Father here that Cui Jing snatched those too,” The Blue Feather Sect disciple sneered.
As soon as this remark came out, not only did Liu Xian Yun’s pretty face change, Yang Kai’s face also became unsightly.
A cultivator could refine artifacts into their bodies to summon whenever needed, this was common sense. Previously, Senior Brother Kou and his group had only forced Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun to surrender their Space Rings and had not mentioned their artifacts, seemingly leaving them a little leeway.
But as soon as they came to this Bone Prison, the cultivator guarding this place demanded they hand over their artifacts. Naturally, their expressions became ugly.
The artifacts a cultivator refined into their body were obviously their strongest and most precious, along with the ones they most commonly used. These artifacts had formed a deep connection with both their mind and Soul. If they were forcefully seized, they would suffer great harm!
Compared to Senior Brother Kou and his subordinates, Yang Kai suddenly felt that this man was far more wicked.
There were only three artifacts on Yang Kai’s body.
The Verdant Dragon Bone Sword, Annihilation Thunder Bead, and Sealed World Bead, the last two being Emperor Artifacts. Yang Kai had not refined anything else into his body, but no matter which one it was, he could not surrender any of these three to others.
Although he did not know what kind of natal artifacts Liu Xian Yun possessed, Yang Kai was clear she wouldn’t give them up easily.
However, the other party seemed to have expected this and seeing Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun remain silent, he simply sneered, “You want me to take them by force? Woman, if you want to refuse, this Yan Xiu Ran may be able to accommodate you, after all, Father here knows how to show tender affection, heh heh heh…”
Saying so, an obscene look appeared on his face.
Liu Xian Yun naturally understood his intentions and immediately hid behind Yang Kai.
Yan Xiu Ran’s eyes became cold next as he squinted at Yang Kai and said, “The woman can say no, but you can’t!”
“I don’t have any artifacts on me,” Yang Kai quickly said.
Yan Xiu Ran coldly snorted, “You think you can deceive Father here with such an obvious lie? Since you refuse to cooperate, don’t blame Father for acting ruthlessly.”
Saying so, he quickly took off a small bag that was hanging on his waist.
This bag was quite small and exquisite and was currently bulging slightly, as if there was something alive inside, squirming about.
Yan Xiu Ran sneered, opened the bag, and poured something out of it.
After seeing the appearance of this thing, Liu Xian Yun could not help calling out in alarm.
It was a small snake, but it looked very different from a normal snake. Instead, it was pure white and looked like it had been carved from the finest jade.
Even with Yang Kai’s experience though, he could not recognize the name or purpose of this snake-like Monster Beast; however, since Yan Xiu Ran took out this Monster Beast at this time, obviously it played some role in snatching another cultivator’s artifacts.
Yan Xiu Ran also undoubtedly attached great importance to this small spirit snake and acted cautiously when he took it out.
Immediately, he stretched out his hand and grabbed Yang Kai directly in front of him before grinning, “Since you refuse a toast, you must drink a forfeit. Do your best not to scream.”
As soon as these words fell, his hand shook and the white spirit snake shot towards Yang Kai like an arrow from the string before impacting the back of Yang Kai’s hand.
A strange scene happened next. The white spirit snake bit Yang Kai’s skin, then, like smoke, entered into the wound before beginning to shuttle along Yang Kai’s meridians and physique.
In an instant, Yang Kai’s body trembled violently as an unbearable pain came from his muscles and meridians, causing his face to turn bright red.
If it weren’t for his strong willpower, Yang Kai would have cried out miserably.
“Brother Yang!” Liu Xian Yun called out; worried Yang Kai might encounter some kind of accident.
A low roar, like that of a wounded beast, burst from Yang Kai’s throat as he turned a scarlet gaze towards Yan Xiu Ran in front of him.
Yan Xiu Ran showed no fear as he simply laughed loudly, “Don’t worry, you won’t die. My Treasure Seizing Snake has no offensive ability, all it can do is take out artifacts from others’ bodies. After it takes away your artifacts, you can just heal yourself naturally.”
[It seems to be true…]
Yang Kai felt his heart clench. The purpose of this spirit snake was exactly the same as he had previously guessed, it was actually able to arbitrarily snatch other people’s artifacts. Realizing this, his heart sank.
Regardless of which of these three artifacts it was, Yang Kai could not let them be easily revealed. Even in the Star Boundary, the revelation of these artifacts would surely bring about a rain of terror.
Needless to say, the two Emperor Artifacts were the inheritance he obtained from Yang Yan and were of extremely high grade and power, enough to make cultivators below the Emperor Realm risk their lives to snatch. Even Emperors would likely covet them greatly.
Although the Verdant Dragon Bone Sword was not as high-grade, that was only because Yang Kai had not completely refined it into a real artifact. The Dragon Bone Sword was basically a semi-finished product now.
But its primary materials were a piece of Dragon Bone and a Dragon Bead.
These were relics of an ancient True Dragon, on par with the Dragon Scale fused into Yang Kai’s body. Even if these relics were not as valuable as the two Emperor Artifacts, the difference wasn’t that great.
So as soon as the Treasure Seizing Snake entered his body, Yang Kai became anxious.
These three artifacts, no matter which one was taken away, were not a loss he could bear, but right now, with his strength imprisoned, he could only silently endure the pain caused by the Treasure Seizing Snake swimming about his body, unable to resist.
What’s more, even if he was at his peak, he may not be this Yan Xiu Ran’s opponent.
Yan Xiu Ran was smiling deviously to the side, a cold look in his eyes. Obviously, this was not the first time he had done this kind of thing. Grinning, he taunted, “It’s not too late for you to regret now. If you don’t want to endure this pain, just cooperate obediently. “You have to know, although you might think your artifacts are precious, if you die, you’ll have no use for them anyway.”
Yang Kai just glared back at him coldly, without saying a word, his eyes filled with hatred as he seemingly tried to burn the appearance of this person in front of him deep into his bones.
Yan Xiu Ran snorted contemptuously and said, “Fine, be stubborn, just don’t blame Father here later when you can’t endure it any longer.”
Saying so, he formed a seal with his hands and pushed his strength slightly.
Seemingly receiving some kind of signal, the Treasure Seizing Snake inside Yang Kai’s body began moving about even more fiercely.
Yang Kai’s screams rang out again.
He could clearly feel the path the Treasure Seizing Snake was travelling through inside his body. This Monster Beast had some kind of innate ability to sniff out artifacts inside a cultivator’s body, making it impossible to try to conceal anything from it.
Quickly, it located the Dragon Bone Sword and swiftly slithered towards it.
Yang Kai endured the pain as big beads of sweat dripped from his forehead while trying to shift around the Dragon Bone Sword, but he was unable to help matters at all.
The Treasure Seizing Snake soon approached the Dragon Bone Sword and it opened its mouth to swallow it whole without even pausing.
If it succeeded, Yang Kai’s loss would be immense.
However, something unexpected happened next. The Treasure Seizing Snake was only halfway through its swallowing motion when it suddenly seemed to be greatly frightened and backed away in a hurry.
Turning around, it scurried away from the Dragon Bone Sword with all haste.
In that moment, Yang Kai clearly felt a faint Dragon Pressure being emitted from the Dragon Bone Sword while inside the Dragon Bead which was embedded into the hilt of the Dragon Bone Sword, the Dragon Soul suddenly opened its eyes and out glanced lightly towards the Treasure Seizing Snake.
Feeling the faint Dragon Pressure coming from the Dragon Soul had shocked and forced back the Treasure Seizing Snake.
Yang Kai was ecstatic seeing this, and after just a little thought, he understood why things had transpired this way.
It was not that the Dragon Bone Sword was too high-grade, but rather that the Dragon Bone Sword’s Dragon Pressure and remnant Dragon Soul possessed a natural restraint and deterrence towards the Treasure Seizing Snake.
This was not too surprising though as Dragons were the rulers of all Ancient Divine Spirits and according to rumours, the bloodline of Flood Dragons and snakes were all originated from Dragons, only diluted innumerable times over the aeons. True Dragons were great ancestors to these creatures and could naturally restrain them.
The Treasure Seizing Snake was still a type of snake, so of course it did not dare act presumptuously in front of its ancestor and immediately backed down.
“Hm?” Yan Xiu Ran, who had been observing, could not help letting out a note of surprise as he frowned, not knowing what happened to his Treasure Seizing Snake which had seemingly just failed to snatch the other party’s artifact from his body for the first time.
In the past, his Treasure Seizing Snake could easily rob artifacts from others, clearing them out within just ten breaths of effort, but today, it seemed to be having difficulties…
He could not help taking a deeper look at Yang Kai, but he didn’t care too much in the end and simply continued to wait.
The Treasure Seizing Snake did not dare to swallow the Dragon Bone Sword, so it could only look for other artifacts.
Its next goal was the Annihilation Thunder Bead!
Naturally, the Annihilation Thunder Bead did not give off an innate Dragon Pressure that could deter it, but the rich Thunder Attribute energy which it contained was not something the Treasure Seizing Snake dared to provoke, so it only took a single glance at the Annihilation Thunder Bead before slithering away.
With the ability of the Treasure Seizing Snake, it dared not get involved with an Emperor Artifact such as the Annihilation Thunder Bead. The only result of forcibly plundering it would be frying itself to ashes!
This Treasures Seizing Snake had some level of intelligence, so it knew how to advance while avoiding disasters.
Soon, it came to the Sealed World Bead, and possibly because it had already failed twice with the Dragon Bone Sword and Annihilation Thunder Bead, the Treasure Seizing Snake did not rush to devour the Sealed World Bead but instead wandered about nearby, observing this new prey carefully.
After confirming that the Sealed World Bead did not give it a sense of danger, it opened its mouth and swallowed the Sealed World Bead into its abdomen in one bite before trying to withdraw from Yang Kai’s body.
But it immediately realized it had made a terrible mistake.
The moment the Sealed World Bead entered its belly, a surge of World Force exploded in its abdomen and in an instant, a big hole blasted out of the Treasure Seizing Snake’s abdomen, causing it to hiss and cry as it fled in panic.
The Sealed World Bead was literally an independent world. Yang Kai was only able to keep it inside his body because he had painstakingly refined it. How could the Treasure Seizing Snake possibly swallow an entire world with its pitiful strength? It was nothing more than good luck it had not exploded on the spot from trying.
The Treasure Seizing Snake had quickly discovered that all the things in Yang Kai’s body were not things it could covet, and even with its faint sentience, how could it dare to remain after suffering such a loss?
At the same time, Yan Xiu Ran’s face could not help changing dramatically as he shouted, “What happened?”
He shared some connection with the Treasure Seizing Snake, so the moment Treasure Seizing Snake was wounded, he noticed and, in a panic, hurriedly formed a series of seals to try to urge the Treasure Seizing Snake to return.
Yang Kai endured the unbearable pain before suddenly stumbling backwards a few steps.
*Xiu…*
From somewhere in his chest, a small snake covered in blood shot out, hissing frantically as if it had been greatly wronged, and shot towards Yan Xiu Ran. There was a big hole in this small snake’s abdomen that was continuously leaking blood and its organs were clearly exposed to the air, causing Yan Xiu Ran to feel incredibly distressed.
In the next instant though, Yang Kai made a move that shocked Yan Xiu Ran and Liu Xian Yun.
Leaping forward, Yang Kai stretched out his hand, grabbed the Treasure Seizing Snake, and with a squeeze of his palm crushed its head.
Yang Kai’s Qi was indeed imprisoned right now, but he still retained his physical strength, so the speed of his actions was as fast as lightning.
By the time Yan Xiu Ran reacted, the Treasure Seizing Snake was already dead.
Yang Kai grinned at him wickedly before stuffing the little snake into his mouth and chomping down on it.
Blood overflowing from his lips, Yang Kai appeared akin to a ravenous beast, his scarlet eyes gleaming with a terrifying light.
“You…” Yan Xiu Ran was stunned, never having anticipated such an outcome. Because Yang Kai’s strength was supposedly sealed, he did not expect him to be able to move so quickly, and by the time he realized something was wrong and tried to rescue his precious snake, it was already too late.
The Treasure Seizing Snake had now become a snack in Yang Kai’s belly.
Liu Xian Yun could not stop her tender body from trembling slightly. Right now, she and Yang Kai were a pair of grasshoppers on the same rope. In her opinion, Yang Kai’s actions just now were no different from pushing them into a fiery pit.
Didn’t he understand that people under the eaves have to bow their heads?
[Disaster, this is a true disaster!] At that moment, she deeply regretted cooperating with Yang Kai. How could he seem so steady and stable in one moment, and in the next, act like a madman? Liu Xian Yun’s stomach was filled with regret as her expression turned incredibly ugly!
“You court death!” Yan Xiu Ran was truly enraged as he arrived in front of Yang Kai with a few hurried steps and punched his face in.
*Hong…*
Facing a violent blow from a Third-Order Origin King, how could Yang Kai possibly defend himself in his current state? Immediately, he flew out like a ragged sack and directly sank into a big mountain wall a hundred metres away, opening a giant pit in the process.
The sound of broken bones rang out.
A moment later, Yang Kai slipped down from the mountain wall.
“Brother Yang!” Liu Xian Yun exclaimed in panic. Although she did not understand why Yang Kai had made such a crazy move all of a sudden, she couldn’t help calling out to him nervously when she saw him taking this hit.
After all, no matter what, she and Yang Kai were both from the low-level Star Fields and shared some common fate. On the other hand, none of these Blue Feather Sect disciples seemed to be anything good, so if Yang Kai really died here like this, her own future would become worrying.
She subconsciously did not want Yang Kai to die like this.
But she also knew that Yang Kai had little hope of survival. Yan Xiu Ran had not shown any mercy with his attack just now. Even if it was her, in her current state, she would have certainly been killed, so what hope was there for a mere Second-Order Origin King like Yang Kai?
*Hai hai…*
A violent cough suddenly rang out as Yang Kai struggled to stand up, spat out most of the Treasure Seizing Snake’s meat from his mouth, then swallowed down its bladder alone.
Liu Xian Yun’s beautiful eyes widened as she stared at Yang Kai like he was some kind of monster, her heart beating wildly!
[He… he survived?]
How was that possible?
“He didn’t die?” Yan Xiu Ran was also stunned. Just now, he had furiously tried to take Yang Kai’s life in order to avenge his Treasure Seizing Snake’s death; after all, while the Treasure Seizing Snake had no use in battle, its innate Divine Ability to rob other people’s refined artifacts was still incredibly useful to him. He had purchased this little snake for an incredibly high price, but it had died tragically at Yang Kai’s hand; how could Yan Xiu Ran possibly forgive him?
As such, after seeing that Yang Kai really was not dead, Yan Xiu Ran’s eyes became cold as he stepped towards Yang Kai menacingly, his Qi erupting like a volcano as he directed all his anger and hatred towards him.
Yang Kai didn’t show any fear though and instead just grinned and said, “If you kill me, you may not be able to withstand the consequences!”
“A trivial prisoner dares try to bargain with Father? No one will care if trash like you dies!”
“Really?” Yang Kai spat out a mouthful of blood, “Senior Brother Kou said he is going to ask Protector Bian for instructions about how to deal with us. You tell me: What will your fate be if Protector Bian learns that you killed me without her permission?”
Hearing the name ‘Protector Bian’, Yan Xiu Ran’s eyes flashed with a strong sense of fear and like a basin of cold water was splashed onto him, his anger instantly cooled.
[Seems like I am right!]
Seeing his expression, Yang Kai completely calmed down.
Judging from these Blue Feather Sect disciples’ behaviour, this Sect did not seem to be anything good. Likewise, these cultivators were not good people. Most likely, the only reason this Sect continued to exist was that rules were strictly enforced and breaking them led to severe punishment!
This was why Yang Kai used Protector Bian’s name as a deterrent despite never having met her before.
Yan Xiu Ran really did begin to hesitate.
Just as Yang Kai said, if Yan Xiu Ran really killed him before Protector Bian gave the order, it would be a disaster for him. Even if Protector Bian didn’t kill him, he would still lose a layer of skin.
As such, he didn’t dare think about killing anymore.
However, his Treasure Seizing Snake was killed by Yang Kai, so it was impossible for him to simply drop this matter. After hesitating for a while, Yan Xiu Ran walked towards Yang Kai and savagely spat, “Brat, know this! Once Protector Bian orders your death, Father here will personally send you down.”
Yang Kai curled his lips sharply when he heard these words.
“But now… while you can escape capital punishment, some suffering is due. Your physique seems a bit unusual, so Father here hopes you do not give in too quickly!”
Saying so, Yan Xiu Ran rushed in front of Yang Kai and pushed his Source Qi violently onto his fist and punched Yang Kai’s abdomen fiercely.
*Hong…*
Yang Kai felt as if he had been struck by lightning and his whole body bent into a shrimp shape as he convulsed in pain. Unable to hold back, Yang Kai coughed up a big mouthful of blood onto Yan Xiu Ran.
The latter was caught off guard again, and before he knew it, his face was covered in blood.
Being provoked again and again, Yan Xiu Ran’s patience was at its limits and he could not stop himself from lifting his leg and sweeping it towards Yang Kai’s neck.
The next moment, Yang Kai flew out and fell to the ground, motionless.
From the looks of it, he had passed out.
“Consider yourself lucky!” Yan Xiu Ran snorted coldly before turning around and shouting at Liu Xian Yun viciously, “Drag him with you and follow me!”
Now that his Treasure Seizing Snake had died, it would be impossible to snatch Liu Xian Yun’s artifacts even if Yan Xiu Ran wanted to. He could only imprison the two of them in the Bone Prison first before finding other ways to torture them.
Liu Xian Yun heard this and hurriedly ran over to Yang Kai’s side before stretching out her finger to check his pulse. After confirming that he was still alive, she could not help breathing a sigh of relief.
After calming down, Liu Xian Yun stretched out her hand and lifted Yang Kai up before carrying him on her back.
Following Yan Xiu Ran, she walked into the cave in the mountainside and immediately felt a kind of pressure that forced her neck to shrink slightly.
From the belly of the mountain, pained shouts faintly echoed, adding a gloomy and menacing air to the already gloomy cave.
As Yan Xiu Ran led the way, he sneered and commented, “After entering the Bone Prison, there are not many people who come out alive. If you do not want to suffer any inhuman treatment, you’d best hand over your artifacts to me as soon as possible and I can make life a bit more comfortable for you, otherwise… you’ll learn what living a life worse than death really means!”
Liu Xian Yun’s pretty face paled slightly as her tender body trembled, but she still bit her thin lip and held her tongue.
The deeper they went, the darker and damper the environment became, and it wasn’t long before an unpleasant smell also began to fill the air, causing Liu Xian Yun to frown.
After descending what seemed to be about a thousand metres, they arrived at a dungeon.
The cells here were separated by some kind of fencing refined from Monster Beast bones that seemed extremely strong.
From the dim cells, many scarlet eyes, like those of wild beasts, stared towards Yan Xiu Ran and the others, causing Liu Xian Yun’s hair to stand on end slightly.
“Kill me, kill me, please kill me!” A horrible howl came from somewhere as someone begged for death. Liu Xian Yun could not imagine what kind of torture this man was enduring that actually made him prefer death to life.
But here, death obviously became a kind of extravagant hope as the pleading voice quickly turned into a series of extremely miserable howls.
Liu Xian Yun’s cheeks were already pale and bloodless as she felt that this might be her future destiny, causing her great sorrow and pain.
“Get in!” Yan Xiu Ran suddenly stopped in front of a cell, opened the door, and motioned to Liu Xian Yun.
Liu Xian Yun did not dare to defy him, so she could only walk into the cell with Yang Kai still on her back.
Yan Xiu Ran closed the cell tightly as soon as Liu Xian Yun entered before directing a sneer at her and rapping his fingers on the bone fence, “These two are new, make sure you entertain them well.”
Having said what he wanted to say, he turned around and left.
At the same time, a few scarlet eyes suddenly lit up inside the cell that was originally dark and silent.
Liu Xian Yun was taken aback as it was not until this time that she realized that there were already four people inside this cell.
“Huh? A woman?” Suddenly, a shout of pleasant surprise rang out as a cultivator who had been imprisoned here began taking deep sniffs of the air with his nose, apparently indulging in Liu Xian Yun’s faint body scent, his whole person became extremely excited.
“A woman came here? Hahahaha! The Heavens have blessed us brothers!” Someone immediately laughed.
When this word spread, there was a commotion in the nearby cells as numerous prisoners crowded beside the fence to stare at Liu Xian Yun with interest. Bursts of lewd laughter rang out as everyone was clearly expecting a good show to start soon.
Liu Xian Yun’s complexion sank as she hurriedly backed away to the innermost position and leaned herself against a wall while staring forward vigilantly.
Inside the cell, a burly man stood up slowly. This man was at least two metres tall and his huge size alone gave him an imposing presence. Although his strength was also clearly sealed, his whole figure exuded a fierce aura like that of a great beast.
“This woman is mine!” The burly man said faintly but in a tone that would allow no objections.
The other three men heard this and cringed for a moment before one of them said flatly, “Since Boss Zong has spoken, we brothers will naturally have to give some face, but after Boss Zong has finished enjoying her, can we… heh heh heh?”
“Do as you please!” Zong Qi said coldly.
“Many thanks Boss Zong!” The three people hurriedly thanked him before taking a step back while obscene smiles filled their faces as they prepared to watch.
The burly man named Zong Qi stared at Liu Xian Yun closely. Using the dim light to see Liu Xian Yun’s appearance clearly, he couldn’t help but nod his head in approval, “En, the highest quality goods! Those Blue Feather Sect bastards finally did something good for Grandfather here.”
“What do you want to do?” Liu Xian Yun asked with a calm face, her phoenix eyes filled with sharp light as she stared at Zong Qi.
She did not panic because she knew in such a place, trying to reason with others was useless, only strength mattered here.
Now that everyone’s Qi had been sealed, and one could only use their physical strength though, Liu Xian Yun felt great pressure just looking at the giant iron body before her.
“You still don’t know what I want to do?” Zong Qi coldly snorted, then without putting the petite Liu Xian Yun in his eyes at all, he commanded, “If you don’t want to suffer, do you best to enjoy it!”
“Hahahaha, Boss Zong’s words couldn’t be more correct. En, I advise you not to provoke Boss Zong, little girl. He’s quite skilled in Body Tempering, so with your tiny frame, you can’t resist. Just lay back and enjoy yourself, or are you afraid Boss Zong can’t satisfy you?”
“Shameless bastards!” Liu Xian Yun ground her teeth and cursed.
“Haa, if you scold him like this, you’ll only stimulate his animal desires! It’s better to just keep quiet,” Suddenly, Yang Kai’s voice came from behind.
Liu Xian Yun was startled at first before she became overjoyed and asked softly, “You woke up?”
“I never passed out!” Yang Kai leapt off Liu Xian Yun’s back as he spoke and began to rub his neck and abdomen, grimacing in pain for a moment as he muttered, “That bastard really used a heavy hand, he nearly crippled me. Damn it, I’ll make him pay for this one day.”
Liu Xian Yun looked at Yang Kai dumbly, completely shocked he had actually not passed out being hit like that.
[This man… what kind of freak is he!] Yan Xiu Ran’s attack just now was not even enough to rob his consciousness. Just how strong was his endurance?
Absent-minded, she even forgot about the dangerous situation she was currently in.
“Oh? You have a lover already?” Zong Qi stood ten metres away from Yang Kai as he looked down at him with eyes filled with disdain and mockery.
“Haha, this friend must be joking, she and I… are just friends,” Yang Kai explained.
Zong Qi coldly snorted, “Whether you are her friend or lover, I warn you, scram if you don’t want to die!”
“You’re quite the arrogant one aren’t you!” Yang Kai raised his head to look up at the burly man in front of him with half-squinted eyes, “In that case, I should also warn you… scram if you don’t want to die!”
Using the same words, Yang Kai returned the exact same intent.
The cell suddenly went quiet.
The other three men hiding in the dark had their jaws drop as they stared at Yang Kai as if he was a dead man. Suddenly, one of them reacted and called out, “Not good, run! Boss Zong is definitely going to explode.”
The other two were also quite agitated as a look of horror filled their eyes, seemingly recalling some kind of hellish memories as they hurriedly moved to the outer edge of the cell.
A moment later, Zong Qi sneered and said, “You’re quite funny, but… angering Grandpa here will do you no good. I’ll give you one chance to survive: Kneel down and lick my shoes, otherwise, this time next year will be the anniversary of your death!”
“Shit!” Yang Kai couldn’t help cursing as his bad mood only got worse.
Since he entered the Starlight Corridor, he seemed to only run into one disaster after another.
First, he had met Yin Le Sheng who had attacked and tried to rob him, then he met Senior Brother Kou who had captured him and brought him back to Blue Feather Sect for no reason. After that, he met Yan Xiu Ran who wanted to steal his artifacts in front of the Bone Prison, and finally, he met this tall, brawny man…
Yang Kai suddenly discovered that, up until now, the Star Boundary was only filled with unpleasant memories.
Were all people from the Star Boundary so cruel and aggressive? Or did he just have terrible luck?
Regardless of the reason, Yang Kai’s patience had run out.
After all these repeated misfortunes, the anger in his heart had become like a raging torrent, just waiting to erupt.
This Zong Qi’s shameless provocation was like a fuse that set off all the rage Yang Kai had been building up.
So after hearing Zong Qi’s threats, Yang Kai not only wasn’t afraid, he instead grinned with interest, “If I understand what you mean, it doesn’t seem to matter if people die here, right?”
Zong Qi sneered, “This is Blue Feather Sect’s Bone Prison. What does it matter how many people die in here?”
“Understood,” Yang Kai gently nodded before suddenly raising his head and grinning fiercely, “Then it seems you’re quite unlucky!”
As soon as his voice fell, he rushed in front of Zong Qi in a single bound and threw out a punch.
This punch seemed to contain all the anger and dissatisfaction Yang Kai had pent up until this point, his rage soaring to the Heavens as his fist flew as fast as lightning.
Zong Qi was extremely proud of his burly stature and his great attainments in Body Tempering, so he did not put Yang Kai’s attacks in his eyes at all, simply sneering as he mocked, “Interesting, someone dares to provoke this Zong. I’ll crush every bone in your body as punishment!”
Saying so, he too threw out a punch to meet Yang Kai’s head-on.
When the two fists collided, the cold look on Yang Kai’s face turned into a sneer while the disdain on Zong Qi’s face rapidly changed to astonishment, then panic…
With a pitiful scream, Zong Qi’s towering figure was actually sent flying through the air as the crisp sound of the bones in his arm breaking rang out.
*Peng…*
Zong Qi hit the bone bars of the Bone Prison before falling to the ground heavily.
Before he could get up though, Yang Kai had already rushed out like a fierce tiger and mounted him before unleashing a storm of fists.
*Peng peng peng…*
Inside the Bone Prison, shockwaves from the continuous bombardment propagated, creating a war-drum-like rhythm that seemed to pound directly on people’s hearts.
Inside the Bone Prison cell, the three men who were expecting to see a good show had long gone dumbfounded, their eyes bulging as they stared at the sight in front of them in amazement.
Liu Xian Yun was also standing frozen on the spot, her heart filling with both shock as well as excitement.
This could not be helped though. In this kind of place, the stronger Yang Kai’s performance was, the safer she would be. Regardless of anything else, she was currently Yang Kai’s ally!
In the other cells, calls and shouts echoed about. The cultivators detained here were tortured year-round, which had either completely eroded their wills or stimulated their inner ferocity. Many enjoyed watching this kind of bloody fight as it gave them some entertainment in this gloomy, depressing hole.
*Peng peng peng…*
The muffled impacts continued to be heard as red blood splashed out, sometimes mixed with bits of broken bone and organs.
The commotion in the cell aroused the guards’ attention, and two Blue Feather Sect’s disciples soon came over to investigate. After they discovered that Yang Kai, the guy who had just been imprisoned, was making a display of his strength, these guards just stood by and watched with cold grins, not showing any intention to interfere. After entertaining themselves for a moment, the guards turned around and left.
Zong Qi was right about one thing: In this Blue Feather Sect Bone Prison, what did it matter if some people died? The Blue Feather Sect guards had no interest in stopping this.
As time passed, Zong Qi’s pitiful roars and howls began to fade, his curses and bravado giving way to pleas for mercy.
However, Yang Kai seemed to have devolved into a wild beast and ignored all of these cries.
Soon, Zong Qi’s groans were silenced altogether.
When Yang Kai stopped and stood up, what was left of Zong Qi lay in a puddle of bloody mud, most of his bones shattered beyond recognition, dead beyond any doubt.
Yang Kai shook off the blood staining his hands before letting out a long breath. He immediately felt refreshed as the depression in his heart was greatly lifted.
Yang Kai turned to the other three inside the cell next, causing all of them to scurry to the corner of the cell and stare back at him with clear terror filling their eyes, panicking as they worried Yang Kai would butcher them next.
They were well aware of Zong Qi’s abilities. Under the premise that everyone’s Qi was sealed inside this Bone Prison, whoever had the strongest physical body occupied the absolute advantage in a fight. All three of them had been subdued by Zong Qi previously, and even all together, they knew they were not his match.
However, this newcomer was actually able to overwhelm Zong Qi to the point where the latter couldn’t even fight back. It was easy to imagine just how powerful this boy’s body was!
There was good reason for them to be afraid.
Fortunately, Yang Kai did not seem interested in fighting anymore and simply walked to a corner of the cell and sat down cross-legged. This made the three breathe a sigh of relief, as if they had just escaped from the jaws of death.
Liu Xian Yun did not disturb Yang Kai either, realizing that his mood was still a bit unstable at the moment. Finding a place nearby, she also sat down cross-legged and began to recover her strength.
After some unknown length of time, the door of the cell was suddenly opened.
The two Blue Feather Sect guards who had shown up earlier entered the cell and with cold faces called out to Yang Kai, “Boy, get up!”
Yang Kai raised his eyes to look at them before slowly standing up.
Liu Xian Yun pulled on his clothes from behind, a worried look on her face.
Yang Kai just smiled slightly, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a while. They won’t dare to kill me.”
As long as that Protector Bian whom he had never met didn’t pass judgement on him, no one in Blue Feather Sect would dare to take extreme measures. Regarding this, Yang Kai felt he should thank Protector Bian.
After comforting Liu Xian Yun, Yang Kai turned his head to the three cowering men in the cell and grinned, “If you do not want to die, don’t make a fuss. If I come back and find that you hurt a single hair on my companion’s head, you know what the consequences will be.”
The three men had been deterred by Yang Kai’s ferocity long ago, not even daring to move Zong Qi’s mashed up corpse, which was lying nearby, so how could they dare have any improper thoughts now? All three of them kept nodding their heads like chicken pecking rice.
“Still dawdling? Do you want to die? Hurry up and get out here!” The guards at the door urged impatiently.
Yang Kai spat disdainfully before he walked out of the cell.
Once outside, the two guards swept their eyes over Yang Kai for a moment before one of them sneered and said, “I heard that you made Senior Brother Yan suffer a big loss?”
“Boy, you’re quite capable, killing Zong Qi the first day you arrived. He was a nasty one. For this alone, we brothers admire you a bit.”
“But, Senior Brother Yan said that we need to ‘take care’ of you well, so don’t blame us for what comes next. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for having eyes but failing to see, provoking those who shouldn’t be provoked.”
From the way these two spoke, Yang Kai quickly understood the whole story.
As such, he did not bother responding and simply motioned for these two to lead the way.
The two guards glanced at each other and could not help but give Yang Kai a big thumbs up as they laughed deeply, “You’ve got guts!”
Soon, Yang Kai was taken to a dim cell, chained up, and tortured in various ways by the two Blue Feather Sect disciples.
It was not until half a day later that a half-dead Yang Kai was thrown back into his cell.
After seeing Yang Kai’s miserable appearance, Liu Xian Yun was deeply frightened, thinking that he would soon be dead. If Yang Kai died, she would become isolated and alone. In this kind of place, in that kind of condition, she didn’t even want to imagine what her fate would be.
However, contrary to her expectations, Yang Kai, who seemed to be on the verge of death, actually got into a cross-legged sitting position after an hour and entered a state of meditation.
By the next day, Yang Kai was once again as mighty as a dragon and fierce as a tiger. Although he looked quite dishevelled, his injuries seemed to be mostly healed, and even the scars on his body had mostly disappeared. Even the dried up blood had fallen off, revealing new, healthy-looking skin.
Liu Xian Yun found it even more difficult to see through Yang Kai as time passed and instinctively realized that he was absolutely hiding some unimaginable secrets…
This routine repeated itself for the next few days.
Yang Kai would endure the torture of the two Blue Feather Sect guards every day, then be thrown back into his cell half-dead, meditate, then restore himself.
What’s more, as time passed, Liu Xian Yun was shocked to discover that Yang Kai’s condition seemed to be changing little by little, his body actually becoming stronger and stronger. There seemed to be an unimaginable surging power coming from his frame, one that was being suppressed by some incredible force that was slowly being lifted.
In fact, this was not far from the truth!
The torture the two Blue Feather Sect guards administered to Yang Kai had actually caused the starlight he had absorbed in the Starlight Corridor to quickly merge into his physique, prompting the transformation of his Saint Qi into Source Qi.
He had absorbed an unimaginable amount of starlight in the Starlight Corridor, part of which was fused into his body, becoming a catalyst to transform his strength, but most of it had been stored away in his Knowledge Sea.
This was why, even as a Star Master, he did not give off any starlight glow.
Under normal circumstances, Yang Kai would need to slowly guide the starlight in his Knowledge Sea to integrate it into his body and promote the transformation of his Saint Qi.
But right now, his cultivation was sealed, so he was unable to complete this process on his own.
When the two Blue Feather Sect guards tortured him the first day though, Yang Kai quickly realized something.
When his physical body was damaged and then forced to repair itself, the stored starlight would actively rush out of his Knowledge Sea and pour into his physique, forcefully transforming his Saint Qi into Source Qi!
After discovering this, Yang Kai could not help feeling overjoyed.
As such, facing the repeated torture of the two guards, instead of feeling it unbearable, he was actually willing to do so, wishing they would torture him as mercilessly as possible to help speed up this process.
Time marched on and soon, ten days had passed. Yang Kai woke up from his meditation and silently sensed his physical condition before shaking his head, somewhat dissatisfied.
The slow rate at which his Saint Qi was being transformed was somewhat frustrating to him.
For an Origin King like him, the higher the proportion of Source Qi there was in his body, the higher the strength he could exert.
At this moment, only about a fifth of Yang Kai’s Saint Qi had been transformed into Source Qi, and at this rate, it would take at least another year or two to finish the conversion process.
Seeing him open his eyes, the three male prisoners in the cell all put on their best flattering smiles, but none of them dared to speak.
The brutal and overwhelming image of Yang Kai had penetrated deep into their bones and they knew that it would be simple for him to take their lives in this place. With him controlling whether they lived or died, how could they not go all out to flatter Yang Kai?
Even Liu Xian Yun was repeatedly praised and flattered by these three men over the past few days.
Although Yang Kai very much looked down on these three who bullied the weak and feared the strong, he kept them around because they were useful sources of information.
These three were able to inform him about various things regarding Blue Feather Sect and the Star Boundary as a whole.
As Yang Kai expected, Blue Feather Sect was really not a righteous Sect, but it also couldn’t be said to be an evil one. Simply put, the disciples of this Sect were unscrupulous and unruly. There was also Daybreak Pavilion nearby, which had many grievances and grudges with Blue Feather Sect, leading to constant small-scale conflicts between the two forces as they competed for resources and prestige.
Beyond Blue Feather Sect, the Star Boundary seemed to be divided into four primary territories split between south, west, north, and east. Each of these territories was unimaginably vast, to the point where even a Dao Source master could spend their entire life travelling and still not see everything in a single territory.
Within each territory, there were countless smaller provinces. Blue Feather Sect was situated in the Star Boundary’s Southern Territory, Qi Province.
Qi Province was roughly 80 million kilometres from end to end and was considered average in the Southern Territory, whether it was in terms of the number of masters or overall strength and size.
In Qi Province, forces like Blue Feather Sect were countless in number.
This information allowed Yang Kai to vividly feel the magnificence of the Star Boundary as he realized just how much wider a world it was than the Star Field. Just the words of these three had painted an epic picture before Yang Kai, causing him to yearn for that broader sky.
However, it was questionable how accurate this information was, as these three were just First-Order Origin Kings who had never even left the Qi Province before.
Still, this information was enough for Yang Kai to digest for a long time.
Right now though, Yang Kai had his brow furrowed slightly as he continued to inspect the changes inside his body.
Suddenly, Yang Kai raised his head and frowned deeply.
“Heh heh heh… kid, you’re indeed a bit unusual, even able to detect the Divine Sense of this old master!” A voice suddenly sounded in Yang Kai’s ear, one that was ethereal and untraceable.
Yang Kai remained silent as he swept his eyes around, but no matter how he looked, he was unable to notice anything from the surrounding prisoners.
“Don’t bother, this old master is locked up in the innermost depths. You can’t see me from where you’re sitting,” The voice sounded again.
After being imprisoned here for more than ten days, Yang Kai also knew that the more powerful a prisoner’s cultivation was, the deeper inside they would be imprisoned. This mysterious master said he was imprisoned in the innermost depths, so his strength obviously was not low, at least reaching the Dao Source Realm. If this weren’t the case, it would have been impossible for this master to conceal himself while still using his Divine Sense to talk to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai pondered for a moment before asking, “Who is Senior? Is there something Senior needs to discuss with me?”
“Naturally, there is something, and it’s a good deed at that,” The voice cackled. “Since you entered this place and killed Zong Qi, this old master has been paying special attention to you. If this old master is not mistaken, you have cultivated any extremely advanced Body Tempering Secret Art, yes?”
“And so?” Yang Kai frowned, not denying it. Since the other party had been paying attention to him for some time now, there was no way Yang Kai could conceal the strength of his physique.
“If so, this old master wants you to do him a favour.”
“Senior, please speak plainly.”
“This old master wants you to free him!” the voice’s master said.
Yang Kai could not help but sneer, “Senior must be joking. Junior is a prisoner himself, how is he supposed to free you?”
“Since this old master has made this request, he has a plan,” The person coldly snorted. “I can pass you the method to unlock the seals on your body and restore your strength. With your ability, as long as you can recover the use of your cultivation, no one in this Bone Prison will be able to stop you and you can easily free this old master.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai’s eyes could not help but brighten up.
The mysterious person quickly spoke again, “You do not want your destiny to be controlled by others, do you? This old master’s Secret Technique can definitely allow you to free yourself!”
The words were spoken in a steady tone, but they contained an almost irresistible charm. Yang Kai almost instinctually agreed, but he was shaken awake in the next moment as he realized something was wrong. This unknown figure was definitely using some kind of mental manipulation technique to influence his thinking. Snorting coldly, Yang Kai snapped, “Senior using such tricks to tempt me, don’t you feel any shame?”
The voice laughed loudly hearing this, “Boy, you’re better than I thought! En, it was this old master’s mistake, this old master will apologize to you.”
Seeing him apologize and admit his mistake so frankly left Yang Kai speechless for a while.
After a short, dumbfounded silence, Yang Kai said, “Since you have a Secret Technique to restore your strength, why not use it yourself instead of asking for Junior’s help?”
The voice snarled, “If I could use it myself, why would I be asking you for help? This old master not only has his strength sealed, he has also been shackled with chains made from Spirit Suppressing Gold by those bastards and cannot use any Secret Techniques at all. Even if this old master were to unseal his cultivation, with these Spirit Suppressing Gold chains, he wouldn’t be able to circulate any strength!”
“So that’s how it is!” Yang Kai nodded faintly.
Although he had never heard of Spirit Suppressing Gold, from the information revealed by this unseen master, Yang Kai could tell that it was definitely some kind of metal used to impede the flow of Source Qi, otherwise, it would have been impossible to imprison a Dao Source Realm master.
“One more question: There are so many cultivators in this Bone Prison, so why did Senior choose me? With your eyesight, it should not be difficult to see that I’m not that strong, right?” Yang Kai asked cautiously.
“This old master naturally knows what kind of cultivation you possess, and there are indeed many others in this Bone Prison who are stronger, but… Spirit Suppressing Gold is impenetrable by Source Qi, only brute force can destroy it, so this old master thinks you’re the most appropriate one to ask.”
Hearing what he said, Yang Kai understood why this man had asked him whether he cultivated some kind of extremely profound Body Tempering Secret Art, it was all because of the existence of the Spirit Suppressing Gold.
Many thoughts flashed across Yang Kai’s mind.
Although he did not know who this person was, or what kind of strength he possessed, Yang Kai himself was currently imprisoned here and didn’t even know what kind of fate he would have tomorrow. If Protector Bian sent an order to execute him, Yang Kai was certain Yan Xiu Ran would happily carry out the sentence.
If he could really obtain the method to lift the seal on his body, he would at least be able to put up a fight and not simply be a fish on the chopping board.
As for whether or not to rescue the mysterious man, that would depend on how he felt at the time.
Seeing Yang Kai thinking through his offer over, the unknown man quickly struck while the iron was hot and said, “This old man will speak frankly with you. This old master is a Third-Order Dao Source cultivator, only one step away from the Emperor Realm. If you can save this old master, this old master will certainly compensate you handsomely!”
[A Third-Order Dao Source Realm master!] Yang Kai was shocked!
Senior Brother Kou who he had met before was nothing more than First-Order Dao Source Realm, but that was enough to totally suppress Yang Kai. If it were a Third-Order Dao Source Realm, Yang Kai imagined he could be killed on a whim.
Before knowing this person’s temperament, Yang Kai did not dare to rashly agree, he didn’t want to try to steal a chicken but end up losing the rice in the process.
“I know what you are worrying about, but you may rest assured, this old master is not deceiving you in any way. If you cannot believe this old master, he can swear an oath on his Soul!”
Yang Kai frowned, pondered for a moment, then said, “Junior can feel Senior’s sincerity, but this matter… let me think about it before giving an answer!”
“No rush, there is no rush, you can just ponder over it carefully!” The man cackled gratingly, not trying to urge him any further.
“By the way, dare I ask Senior’s name?”
“Wu Meng Chuan!”
Yang Kai silently memorised this man’s name as he began to consider the pros and cons between agreeing or not.
In fact, Yang Kai felt that agreeing right away in order to obtain that Secret Technique to lift the seal on his strength wasn’t a bad idea.
But with his current strength, even if he was restored to his peak, he wouldn’t be able to leave Blue Feather Sect. At that time, he would still need to rescue Wu Meng Chuan to make use of his Third-Order Dao Source strength.
However, there was no way to tell what Wu Meng Chuan would do to him once he was free.
As such, Yang Kai hesitated to give an answer.
Just as he was feeling indecisive, the sound of footsteps echoed outside the cell.
Yang Kai raised his head in amazement and frowned slightly.
Every day, at exactly the same time, he would be taken out by the two guards and tortured, but the hour had yet to arrive for today’s ‘session’.
Yang Kai did not know what the guards wanted with him to come early today.
A moment later, the two guards who had been responsible for torturing Yang Kai appeared at the door to the cell with a strange expression on their faces. After opening the cell, they motioned to Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun, “You two, come out!”
Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun exchanged a glance but did not try to resist and simply stood up obediently.
Liu Xian Yun’s tender body trembled slightly as she subconsciously thought that she would be subjected to the same torture as Yang Kai.
On the other hand, Yang Kai asked thoughtfully, “Do two friends have instructions for us?”
One of the two guards swept his eyes over Yang Kai and grinned, “It seems your luck is changing. Protector Bian wants to see you.”
“Protector Bian!” Yang Kai frowned.
Being locked here for more than ten days without any word from Protector Bian, Yang Kai thought that the other party was disinclined to even bother with him and Liu Xian Yun, but now it seems he was mistaken.
Regardless of why the other party wanted to see them, Yang Kai knew that an opportunity was about to present itself before him.
Turning to Liu Xian Yun, Yan Kai found the other party’s beautiful eyes had also lit up slightly, obviously also aware of what this change meant.
Since Protector Bian wanted to see Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun, the two Bone Prison guards did not dare disobey. Quickly entering the Bone Prison, they brought the pair out.
“Kid, the deal this old master offered will remain valid. If you have nowhere else to turn to, you can come and find this old master.”
Just when Yang Kai was about to leave the Bone Prison, Wu Meng Chuan’s voice rang in his ears again.
Yang Kai continued walking as if he hadn’t heard anything and soon departed, leaving only the envy-filled gazes of the other imprisoned cultivators in the Bone Prison behind.
Once outside, Yang Kai immediately felt a hate-filled glare being directed at him. Turning towards the source, he saw a gloomy-looking Yan Xiu Ran.
He was responsible for guarding the entrance to the Bone Prison, so of course he was here.
Yang Kai had killed and eaten his Treasure Seizing Snake, causing Yan Xiu Ran to harbour deep hatred towards Yang Kai. The torture that Yang Kai had suffered these days was all due to his instigation.
“Brat, you should thank your good luck that Protector Bian found time to see you, but don’t get too comfortable. One day, you will fall into my hands again, and then Father here will show you what a life worse than death really means!” Yan Xiu Ran Yin sneered wickedly.
Yang Kai gave him a faint, indifferent look, while he was cursing his eighteen generations of ancestors on the inside. He hated his lack of strength. If he was strong enough, he would simply kill all these Blue Feather Sect disciples on the spot.
However, he knew he did not have the strength to fight back, and it would only end miserably for him if he tried to resist, so for now, all he could do was grit his teeth and endure, turning a deaf ear to Yan Xiu Ran’s provocation.
“Good, good. Senior Brother Yan, don’t be angry. Protector Bian wants to see these two people right away, so we can’t delay,” the Bone Prison guards smiled slightly as he faintly spoke to Yan Xiu Ran before waving his hand and summoning something.
It was a flight-type artifact, but completely different from the ship that Senior Brother Kou had used. This flight-type artifact looked more like a chariot and was noticeably smaller than Senior Brother Kou’s. However, it was still big enough to easily hold five people, and gave off a threatening aura.
The owner of the chariot jumped up before immediately waving his hand and dragging Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun up as well. Soon, the chariot turned into a streamer and shot towards the centre of Blue Feather Mountain.
The journey went by silently.
Eventually, the chariot came to a certain mountain peak, at the top of which was a massive palace.
After Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun got out of the chariot, the Bone Prison guard took back his flight-type artifact before moving forward and speaking to the guards outside the palace.
“Go in, Protector Bian is waiting inside,” The palace guard did not make things difficult and simply allowed them to pass.
“Good luck to the two of you!” The Bone Prison guards did not follow, simply smiling meaningfully towards Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun before summoning the chariot again and returning the way they came.
Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun looked at each other, not knowing whether this was a blessing or a curse that could not be avoided. So, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and secretly prayed that Protector Bian was not a person who was hard to talk to.
At this moment, the two of them still had their cultivations sealed and were incapable of raising a fuss in front of the Blue Feather Sect masters.
Ignoring the curious looks of the guards, Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun walked into the palace step by step.
Inside the palace, at the head of a spacious hall, two people were waiting for them.
As soon as Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun appeared, the eyes of these two focused on them.
In an instant, Yang Kai tensed up as he felt like he was being thoroughly examined, an extremely uncomfortable sensation.
Looking towards the sources of these piercing gazes, Yang Kai could not help raising his brow.
He found that one of the two in the hall was the Senior Brother Kou who had captured him. He was standing next to a beautiful woman with a graceful figure and a charming visage.
This woman wore a light blue palace dress and was lazily lying on a long chair. Her hair was done up in a bun, exposing her jade white neck, and she was currently fiddling with something in her hand, a faint smile on her face as she looked at Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun with great interest.
This woman was extremely charming, a true Heavenly beauty, but Yang Kai felt a pressure from her that made him not dare look at her directly!
[Is this woman Protector Bian?] Yang Kai was shocked.
“Are these the two you caught a few days ago?” When Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun approached, the beautiful woman asked lightly.
Her voice was sweet and sensuous, to the point where it felt like it was gently caressing one’s heart, drawing out the inner desires one kept hidden within themselves.
As for who she was speaking to, it was obviously Senior Brother Kou.
Senior Brother Kou hurriedly bowed his head and lowered his eyes, as if afraid to look at this beautiful woman as he replied respectfully, “Reporting to Lady Protector, these are indeed the two who were recently captured!”
The beautiful woman nodded lightly as her elegant eyes flashed a sharp light, her red lips curving upwards slightly as she said, “Release their seals.”
Senior Brother Kou immediately formed a seal with his hand before pushing his palm towards Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun.
Two streaks of light shot out and pierced into their bodies.
In the next moment, Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun both let out a slight groan as they felt their strength begin to circulate again.
“Hehe…” The beautiful woman suddenly laughed and slowly raised her jade hand under the dumbfounded gazes of Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun.
As she raised her hand though, whether it was Yang Kai or Liu Xian Yun, they both felt that something had suddenly changed in the atmosphere around them, turning it thick and tense and causing the pair’s complexions to become solemn.
Senior Brother Kou seemed to have expected this from the start and was not surprised at all, instead just observing the reactions of Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun indifferently.
The beautiful woman gently pressed her jade palm forward next, causing the surrounding World Energy to condense into a terrifying attack that covered Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun.
“What are you doing!?” Liu Xian Yun exclaimed as such hurriedly bit the top of her tongue and spat out a mouthful of her Blood Essence onto a mirror-like artifact she summoned into her hands.
As soon as the artifact appeared, it split into two, then into four, then into eight… In an instant, countless small mirrors were surrounding Liu Xian Yun, each one reflecting a brilliant blue light like the deepest ocean, releasing a powerful and imposing aura.
She knew that her opponent this time was a Dao Source Realm master, and likely a peak-level one at that, so she did not hesitate to use her strongest artifact to defend herself.
She did not even think about contending with the beautiful woman and focused solely on enduring the incoming attack.
Yang Kai also let out a roar as he pushed his Five Elements Indestructible Sword Qi while simultaneously flicking his ten fingers and releasing all of his Golden Blood Threads towards the sky to intercept the terrifying palm.
*Chi chi chi chi…*
With a wind-cutting sound, the Golden Blood Threads launched a barrage of attacks under Yang Kai’s control, but just like snow in the early spring encountering the scorching sun, they were all melted and blown away.
Liu Xian Yun also let out a roar of defiance as the mirrors gathered atop her and Yang Kai’s heads.
*Huala…*
The next moment, the mirrors all shattered, and Liu Xian Yun’s face turned white as she coughed up a mouthful of blood. The mirror-like artifact reverted to its original form as well, and was now only releasing a dim light.
Taking this opportunity, Yang Kai soared into the sky as he gathered all of his Five Elements Indestructible Sword Qi onto his hand and sliced apart what was left of the falling palm, finally dispersing its might.
Twisting mid-air, he next plunged towards the beautiful woman who was still laying down lazily on her chair.
The beautiful woman did not move at all as she just smiled lightly as Yang Kai approached.
Senior Brother Kou, who was standing behind her, made a move at that moment as he pushed his palm towards Yang Kai.
This palm seemed quite simple, but there was a violent power swirling about it and as soon as Yang Kai came into contact with it, he felt his defences being smashed through like they were made of rotten wood, unable to block any of the impact at all.
With a stuffy grunt, he was forced backwards.
Liu Xian Yun looked flustered as she felt that they were really doomed to die this time. Recognizing this reality, she grit her teeth and pushed all the strength she had as she charged towards the beautiful woman and Senior Brother Kou.
If she had to die, she would do so fighting!
“Xian Yun, stand down!” Yang Kai was still mid-air as he shouted loudly, crashing to the ground a moment later in an embarrassing state.
Hearing Yang Kai’s call, Liu Xian Yun stopped her advance, but she continued to stare warily towards the front as she maintained a battle stance.
The beautiful woman laughed happily as her beautiful eyes began scrutinizing Yang Kai again before she nodded lightly, “Kou Wu, what did I say? They really were able to block my blow, yes?”
Kou Wu heard this and bowed his head, “Milady’s vision is indeed sharp, this Kou Wu has nothing but praise!”
The beautiful woman giggled as her proud peaks trembled lightly. Pursing her lips, she waved her hand lightly and said, “Dispense with the flattery. Although this Queen only used a bit of her strength just now, the two of them being able to resist is still quite impressive.”
“It is as Milady says,” Kou Wu nodded again.
The conversation between the two was done out loud without any attempt at concealment, so Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun naturally heard it clearly. Yang Kai did not show any surprise, while Liu Xian Yun frowned slightly in dissatisfaction at being toyed with.
“You seem to have noticed, yes?” The beautiful woman turned to look at Yang Kai and asked unhurriedly.
Yang Kai wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and grinned, “If Senior really wanted to kill us, why bother bringing us here? The previous attack was obviously a test.”
The beautiful woman heard this and smiled, “You’re an interesting one little boy. Then, do you know why this Queen wanted to see you in the first place?”
Yang Kai frowned hearing this and quickly said, “Please enlighten us, Senior!”
The beautiful woman nodded, stretched out her hand, picked up two Space Rings from the table next to her, and tossed them casually towards Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun.
The two caught the Space Rings and swept them with their Divine Senses, quickly showing strange expressions on their faces.
Because they discovered that these were actually their own Space Rings, which Kou Wu had taken away earlier. What’s more, nothing at all was missing from them.
“What is Senior’s meaning?” Yang Kai frowned.
“If this Queen isn’t mistaken, you two are from one of the lower Star Fields, right?” The beautiful woman asked the two with a smile.
Liu Xian Yun wore a look of surprise as she subconsciously glanced towards Yang Kai. Thinking that his status as a Star Master had been exposed, she could not help feeling a little worried.
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed slightly, but after a little thought, he understood and asked, “Senior came to this conclusion based on the things in our Space Rings?”
“Indeed!” the beautiful woman nodded lightly, “Only a cultivator from the lower Star Fields would have so much junk in their Space Ring!”
Having all her most precious treasures be evaluated as junk made Liu Xian Yun feel quite uncomfortable, but when she thought about her opponent’s strength, status, and methods, she could not say anything. Perhaps her possessions really were trash to this woman.
On the other hand, Yang Kai did not care at all because his Space Ring was originally designed as a type of camouflage to deceive others and really didn’t have anything precious inside it. Compared to the items stored away in his Sealed World Bead, it was not an exaggeration to say the things in his ring were trash. Smiling indifferently, he continued to ask, “In that case, are the suspicions against us cleared?”
The suspicions he mentioned were naturally related to them possibly being Daybreak Pavilion spies.
The beautiful woman smiled lightly, “En, but this Queen is curious, which Star Field are you from?”
“Grand Desolation Star Field!” Yang Kai replied without hesitation.
Liu Xian Yun felt some surprise but showed nothing on her face.
“Oh…” The beautiful woman raised her brow thoughtfully, “I have heard of that Star Field. It seems there is a Sect here in the Star Boundary that is related to them.”
“Is Senior referring to the Netherworld Sect? We are not from the Netherworld Sect,” Yang Kai didn’t know whether the other party was testing her or simply curious, so he simply responded accordingly before smiling coldly, “On the contrary, we have some grudges with the people from the Netherworld Sect.”
“Is that so?” The beautiful woman looked at Yang Kai with a faint smile, her pair of beautiful eyes exuding a strange light, as if trying to pierce into Yang Kai’s heart to see if he was being honest or not.
“En, in the Starlight Corridor, we were ambushed by people from the Netherworld Sect,” Yang Kai snorted coldly, his eyes flashing with undisguised hatred, as if the Netherworld Sect was his irreconcilable enemy.
The beautiful woman nodded and said nothing.
Pondering for a moment, she eventually said, “Since you are not spies from Daybreak Pavilion, and you are from the lower Star Fields, this Queen will give you two choices.”
“Please elaborate!”
“One, leave my Blue Feather Sect now, the further the better!” The beautiful woman put up a single jade white finger and smiled softly.
Hearing her say this, Liu Xian Yun expression could not help changing as she almost instinctually agreed, but before she spoke, she glanced over at Yang Kai subconsciously and found that his expression was actually still indifferent, so she quickly swallowed down her words.
“And the second choice?” Yang Kai asked.
“Second, join my Blue Feather Sect and become my Blue Feather Sect’s disciples. Although my Blue Feather Sect is not the biggest in the Southern Territory, it still has a stable foundation. By joining, you can gain a foothold in this land and also have a place of refuge. If you encounter any problems in your cultivation, this Queen can also answer one or two questions for you.”
“Is such a good deed really an option?” Yang Kai’s eyes lit up when he heard this and seemed to be extremely excited.
The beautiful woman smiled without speaking, seemingly quite satisfied with Yang Kai’s attitude.
Yang Kai thought for a while before knitting his brow and asking, “I have another question.”
“Speak!” The beautiful woman raised her chin slightly, her expression aloof and arrogant.
“Our strength is not worth mentioning, so why does Senior want to recruit us into her Sect?” Yang Kai asked in a deep voice.
The beautiful woman covered her mouth lightly and smiled, “Because you are from the lower Star Fields. Cultivators like you are all worth training; it is just a pity neither of you is a Star Master. If you were Star Masters, this Queen would give you even more care.”
“So that’s how it is!” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
This was something Liu Xian Yun had mentioned to him before, that cultivators from the lower Star Fields all required genius-level aptitude in order to simply reach the Star Boundary. Once they arrived, they would become popular recruitment targets by big Sects, even if they weren’t Star Masters.
This beautiful woman’s explanation was reasonable.
“So, what will you choose?” The beautiful woman looked at Yang Kai and asked.
“What other choice is there? Naturally, we want to join the Blue Feather Sect!” Yang Kai did not even think about it before agreeing, immediately turning his head and asking, “Xian Yun, what do you think?”
Liu Xian Yun looked dazed, never having expected that Yang Kai would decide this matter so hastily, leaving her somewhat at a loss about how to respond.
However, after meeting eyes with Yang Kai’s briefly, Liu Xian Yun nodded, “If that is Brother Yang’s intention, I will join too!”
The beautiful woman heard this and smiled brightly before standing up from her chair and saying, “Good. From now on you will be disciples of my Blue Feather Sect, temporarily under the jurisdiction of this Queen. Kou Wu, take them down and arrange a place for them to stay. Make sure they cultivate diligently so as not to disappoint this Queen’s expectations.”
After saying what she wanted to, the beautiful woman turned around and left.
Kou Wu respectfully bowed.
After the beautiful woman left, Kou Wu looked at Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun with a smile and said, “So from now on, everyone will be fellow brothers and sisters. Senior Brother hasn’t asked you your names yet?”
“Yang Kai greets Senior Brother Kou,” Yang Kai cupped his fists with a grin, appearing quite open and friendly.
Although Liu Xian Yun felt a bit awkward, she too quickly reported her name.
After learning the names of the two, Kou Wu said, “So it is Junior Brother Yang and Junior Sister Liu. Senior Brother has offended you two a few days ago, but please don’t take it to heart. Senior Brother was simply performing his duties.”
“Senior Brother Kou is too polite. The previous incident was our fault for being careless, Senior Brother need not blame himself.”
Kou Wu nodded before beckoning to them, “Follow me, I’ll take you to your accommodations so you can get settled in and familiarize yourselves with the environment. While our Blue Feather Sect is not a peak-level existence, it’s also not bad.”
A short time later, after reaching the bottom of the mountain, Kou Wu pointed to the two adjacent wooden houses and said, “These will be your residences for the time being. Each house has a barrier protecting it and requires an Identity Token to enter and exit. As for those tokens, someone will bring them to you in two days. It would be best if you stay here until you obtain your Identity Tokens, otherwise, you might encounter some difficulties if you go out without them.”
“Understood,” Yang Kai nodded and said, “Then what should we do from now on, Senior Brother Kou?”
Kou Wu smiled upon hearing these words and said, “There’s no need to do anything specific for the time being, just cultivate well. If a mission comes up that you need to participate in, I will inform you. In addition, we are under the jurisdiction of Protector Bian, so we need not pay any attention to anyone else, just following Milady’s orders will suffice. Good, that is all for today.”
Having said so, Kou Wu turned to leave.
Yang Kai suddenly remembered something and hurriedly called out, “Senior Brother Kou!”
“What else do you want to ask?” Kou Wu frowned, seemingly growing impatient.
Yang Kai leaned closer and asked in a low voice, “Senior Brother Kou, Senior Protector’s cultivation…”
Kou Wu smiled meaningfully, “Third-Order Dao Source Realm, but you need not concern yourself with that for now. Just cultivate diligently.”
“What Senior Brother says is correct!” Yang Kai nodded appreciatively.
After Kou Wu left and only Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun remained, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly turned cold as he signalled to Liu Xian Yun and walked towards one of the wooden houses.
Liu Xian Yun followed closely behind.
The layout of the house was quite simple: One bed, one table, and one chair. Although it seemed to have been vacant for a long time, it was spotless, so the barrier around it appeared to be working properly.
After Yang Kai took a seat, he released his Divine Sense and checked around to confirm no one was eavesdropping before saying, “You want to ask me why I agreed to join Blue Feather Sect, right?”
Liu Xian Yun thought for a moment before saying, “I did wonder why at first, but after some thought, I understood that this was probably the only chance we have to survive!”
“En, even though that Protector Bian gave us two choices, who knows what the consequences of choosing the first option would have been? You also saw what kind of behaviour these Blue Feather Sect people have. They’re certainly not kind people,” Yang Kai sighed.
Liu Xian Yun also smiled bitterly, “I didn’t expect it would be like this when I entered the Star Boundary. If I had only known…”
“It’s useless to regret now, we just need to take one step at a time. As long as we become strong enough, why would we need to fear anyone here?” Yang Kai sneered.
“I suppose so…” Liu Xian Yun smiled bitterly. “Since that’s the case, I’ll go take a rest first.”
“En.”
Over the next few days, everything was peaceful.
Because he had not received his Identity Token yet, Yang Kai didn’t dare to walk around at will and just remained inside his house to cultivate.
Without the seal on his cultivation, the speed at which his Saint Qi transformed into Source Qi increased greatly.
Yang Kai already vaguely felt that he was about to touch the threshold of the Third-Order Origin King Realm.
Before entering the Star Field, he had spent several years cultivating in the Dead Zone outside Shadowed Star, using the omnipresent Emperor Pressure to increase his comprehension of the Martial Dao and Heavenly Way, which benefited him greatly. Later, he had accumulated much in the Starlight Corridor, so he was now fully confident he could break through to the Third-Order Origin King Realm.
But he was not in a hurry.
After all, as newcomers that joined Blue Feather Sect, if his performance was too eye-catching, it would likely attract unnecessary trouble.
Therefore, Yang Kai chose to focus on allowing his body to absorb the starlight he had collected and transforming his Saint Qi into Source Qi instead, before striving for a breakthrough.
A few days later, Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun’s Identity Tokens were brought over by Kou Wu. With these Identity Tokens, the two of them had truly become disciples of the Blue Feather Sect, and besides a few restricted areas, they were free to walk around.
Yang Kai took this opportunity to tour around and get acquainted with a number of Blue Feather Sect’s disciples. Regardless of their temperaments, what Yang Kai was able to tell was that among the Origin Kings here, all of them were natives of the Star Boundary.
After some inquiries, Yang Kai learned some good information.
There was no Emperor Realm master in Blue Feather Sect!
There were only five Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivators, of which, Bian Yu Qing was one.
This was similar to his original estimates. After learning that Bian Yu Qing was at the Third-Order Dao Source Realm, Yang Kai had figured that even if there was an Emperor here in Blue Feather Sect, there would be only one or two, and their cultivations wouldn’t be high!
Because a Protector of a Sect would normally represent the highest strength and combat power of that force.
In addition to Bian Yu Qing, there were four other Third-Order Dao Source Realm masters, one of whom was the Sect Master while the others were also Protectors. The four protectors each occupied one of the four main peaks in the Sect and generally did not interfere with one another’s affairs.
Time flew by and soon it had been more than a month since Yang Kai had arrived in Blue Feather Sect.
Over the past month, he had basically learned the general situation inside the Sect, and during this time, besides cultivating, his life with Liu Xian Yun was calm and steady. No one came looking for trouble with them and the Sect did not issue them any tasks.
Based on this situation, choosing to join Blue Feather Sect was actually a good choice. At least they had a place to stay.
But Yang Kai knew that this was only temporary.
Anyone who joined a Sect would eventually have to contribute to that Sect. The reason why he and Liu Xian Yun could spend their time leisurely now was that the Blue Feather Sect was facing no great difficulties. Once the Blue Feather Sect encountered foreign enemies or some other crisis, Yang Kai knew that lower disciples like himself would be forced to participate in the battle.
He had no sense of belonging to the Blue Feather Sect, so he was unwilling to risk his life for such a Sect.
What’s more, Yang Kai always felt that he and Liu Xian Yun were secretly being observed, but this was obvious since they had only just joined the Sect and were still being evaluated.
Yang Kai did not care too much about this, and he and Liu Xian Yun didn’t show anything too out of the ordinary during this period. Both of them were always well-behaved, so even if they were being monitored, they didn’t reveal any of their secrets.
In Blue Feather Sect, there was a lively shopping district where Blue Feather Sect disciples exchanged materials or purchased things. In this shopping district, some places occupied large areas of land and had easy access to the main roads, but these places were all occupied by the most powerful and influential factions. As for the common disciples, they had to settle for using the more remote areas.
Early in the morning, Yang Kai and Liu Xian Yun would come to the shopping district and walk to a relatively remote spot, where a humble-looking shop stood.
Outside the shop, there were already more than thirty cultivators lined up, and seeing Yang Kai arrive, they all cupped their fists and greeted him, “Good morning, Junior Brother Yang.”
“Junior Brother Yang, please hurry and open the shop! We have been waiting for you for a long time already.”
“Junior Brother Yang, I was here first today, help me first!”
All of these cultivators were basically Origin Kings, with a few Origin Returning Realm cultivators mixed in, but all of them wore the same friendly smile on their faces as they took the initiative to greet Yang Kai.
Yang Kai wore a business-like smile on his face and cupped his fists to the line, “Many thanks, Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters, for waiting for so long. Junior Brother will begin right away.”
Saying so, he walked straight towards the shop.
At that moment, a beautiful and enchanting young woman walked up in a sultry manner and without any scruples about the eyes staring at her, directly took Yang Kai’s arm and pressed it between her luscious peaks before exhaling a light orchid scent into his ear and whispering, “Junior Brother, forget about them and help Senior Sister here refine a furnace of Nine Revolutions Origin Spirit Pills, Senior Sister wants to hurry back and cultivate.”
“Uh… this Senior Sister, the shop has rules, and it is important to maintain a first-come-first-served policy,” Yang Kai frowned as he freed his arm from this enchantress’ grip.
The young woman did not give up though and continued to press Yang Kai, “Don’t worry about that, Senior Sister will go and talk to them, I’d like to see if they dare disagree. If Junior Brother can help Senior Sister first, Senior Sister can…”
Leaning in closer, she whispered a few words into Yang Kai’s ear as her eyes flashed a shy yet seductive look that was obvious to all.
“Really?” Yang Kai’s eyes burst out with green light as an excited expression appeared on his face.
“Hmph!” To the side, Liu Xian Yun’s pretty face went cold as she glared at Yang Kai contemptuously, a meaningful snort escaping her lips.
Yang Kai gave a dry laugh before stretching out his hand and gently caressing the young woman’s assets before he said with a look of regret, “Senior Sister, Junior Brother can’t break the rules, but… if Senior Sister wants to, perhaps she could come visit Junior Brother’s humble home so we can have a good chat.”
Seeing that her attempts were all meaningless, the young woman immediately spat disdainfully and snorted, “You won’t even do this small favour? Meany!”
Saying so, she flung Yang Kai’s arm away before shooting Liu Xian Yun a vicious look, as if to blame her for ruining her own good deed.
Liu Xian Yun’s expression remained indifferent as she pulled out a signboard from her Space Ring and set it down forcefully before declaring coldly, “Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters, please line up for your Alchemy requests in order. The fee for service is as written here. Please have the required ingredients for the Spirit Pill you require refined prepared in advance. If the refining fails, there will be no refunds!”
Everything she said was already written on the signboard, so there was no need for her to deliberately repeat it, but she still took the time to do so.
While she was speaking, Yang Kai had already entered the shop and took out his Purple Origin Furnace, closed his eyes, and prepared to start the day’s work.
After more than a month of getting along, his relationship with Liu Xian Yun had become quite harmonious. In this unfamiliar Star Boundary, although the two were not from the same Star Field and didn’t know much about one another, having similar situations allowed them to bond.
Just a few days after arriving in Blue Feather Sect, the two discovered a problem: They could not obtain any cultivation resources!
Although they were already disciples of the Blue Feather Sect, the Sect would not distribute cultivation resources to the disciples for no reason. If you wanted to obtain resources, you had to pay the Sect for them or find a way to get some yourself.
For Origin Kings, Saint Crystals were essentially useless. The energy stored in Saint Crystals could not meet the needs of an Origin King.
In the Star Boundary, there was a special resource called Source Crystals that replaced Saint Crystals.
The energy stored in Source Crystals was countless times richer than Saint Crystals, so even Origin Kings or Dao Source Realm cultivators could use them to cultivate.
Like Saint Crystals, Source Crystals were divided into high, mid, and low grade. The exchange ratio between each grade was one to ten, and they were used as hard currency between cultivators!
In other words, if Yang Kai wanted to speed up his cultivation, he needed to find a way to earn Source Crystals to buy resources.
However, he was unfamiliar with this place and did not know what to do in order to earn resources.
After discovering the existence of this shopping district though, Yang Kai came up with the idea of performing Alchemy in order to earn some Source Crystals.
He was an Origin King Grade Alchemist that had inspired the Grand Alchemic Dao Tone, so although his technique and talent were inferior to a genius like Xia Ning Chang, they were by no means weak.
Origin King Grade Alchemists in his native Star Field were extremely extraordinary existences.
But in the Star Boundary, they were quite common.
As such, Yang Kai did not need to worry about drawing attention to himself as long as he didn’t show too much of his real skill. What’s more, the identity of Alchemist would increase his worth and, in a disguised way, improve his and Liu Xian Yun’s safety somewhat.
After considering the gains and losses, Yang Kai did not hesitate anymore and set up a shop in the shopping district after discussing with Liu Xian Yun.
The first few days were extremely difficult.
No one dared hand over their precious herbs to him.
After all, the cultivation materials acquired by these Blue Feather Sect disciples were done so by risking their lives; who would dare hand over their hard-earned gains to an unknown and unproven Junior Brother? What’s more, there was already more than one Alchemist offering Alchemy services in this shopping district, so there was no need to risk losing everything by trusting Yang Kai.
After three days, Yang Kai did not even have a single customer, causing him and Liu Xian Yun to become somewhat desperate.
On the fourth day, Yang Kai grit his teeth and wrote on his signboard that he would be performing Alchemy for free and would offer full compensation if the refining failed.
Once this advertisement went up, someone was finally willing to give him a chance.
In any case, even if the refinement failed, they would be compensated in full, so it did not matter if they gave him a try.
While Yang Kai was refining the first Spirit Pill, Liu Xian Yun felt as anxious as an ant on a hot wok.
After all, she and Yang Kai do not even have a single piece of Source Crystal now, which meant that they wouldn’t be able to compensate their customer at all if the refining failed.
Waiting for an hour felt like an entire year.
In the end, though, Yang Kai succeeded!
Moreover, the refined Origin King Grade Spirit Pill was of extremely high quality, causing the client to be very satisfied! When the pill was successfully refined, a rich pill fragrance spread out across half the nearby street.
The man who received his pill praised Yang Kai’s ability liberally and promised that if he ever wanted Alchemy services again in the future, he would definitely come to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai generously accepted his praise before requesting that this young man spread the word about his Alchemy services.
The Blue Feather Sect disciple who had just picked up a bargain naturally agreed.
That day, Yang Kai refined three furnaces of pills, all of which were successful and of high quality.
The next day, Yang Kai refined eight furnaces…
On the third day, the cultivators who came to look for Alchemy from Yang Kai had formed a long line before he even arrived.
Yang Kai immediately asked Liu Xian Yun to replace the free Alchemy signboard with clearly marked prices about how many Source Crystals would be charged per pill!
One month of hard work allowed Yang Kai to accumulate a lot of Source Crystals, and more importantly, his name began to spread throughout the shopping district. Almost all the Blue Feather Sect disciples who came to the shopping district for Alchemy now knew there was a humble shop in this remote corner where a Junior Brother with exceptional skill had appeared. Not only was the probability of failure extremely low, but the quality of the refined pills was always top-notch.
Those who wanted to ask for Alchemy naturally began to flock here, causing this small out-of-the-way shop to become quite lively.
Yang Kai also exercised proper restraint, never refining Spirit Pills that formed Pill Veins and deliberately failing in the refinements from time to time.
This way, he could hide his true accomplishments in the Alchemic Dao.
A few years ago, when he had caused the Grand Alchemic Dao Tone to sound on Water Moon Star, Yang Kai’s comprehension and ability in the Alchemic Dao had been greatly enhanced. Now, his handling of Alchemy was far more dexterous than before, and the various herbs seemed to dance in his hands.
His Alchemy methods now coincided with the Alchemic Dao itself, reaching a realm that few humans could ever hope to attain.
As for Liu Xian Yun, she was responsible for receiving cultivators who came to ask for pills outside, delivering the herbs into the shop, and taking out the refined Spirit Pills to the waiting customers.
The two performed their own duties with flawless cooperation.
After returning from work every night, Yang Kai would give Liu Xian Yun thirty percent of the earnings from the day.
In fact, according to Liu Xian Yun’s original idea, she was not even qualified to take ten percent; after all, Yang Kai was the one performing Alchemy while she was only responsible for receiving customers.
But Yang Kai insisted on giving her thirty percent of the profits, making her extremely grateful for his generosity.
Before he started performing Alchemy, Yang Kai made sure to inquire a little bit about the Star Boundary’s Alchemy standards in the shopping district from the Blue Feather Sect disciples he had met.
He found that the Star Boundary’s Alchemic Dao was extremely advanced, on a different level entirely to the Star Field.
Among other things, Pill Condensing was common in the Star Boundary, with an average Alchemist able to condense at least two or three pills from a single set of ingredients, unlike in the Star Field where one was the standard.
The reason for this was that Pill Condensing Arts and Techniques were widely publicised in the Star Boundary and any qualified Alchemist was qualified to study them.
However, there was an upper limit to the number of pills which could ultimately be condensed from a single furnace of materials.
The furnace of Origin Grade Mid-Rank Vibrant Monarch Spirit Pills Yang Kai was currently refining was not difficult for him to successfully complete, and if he went all out, there was even a good chance to produce a few pills that formed Pill Veins.
This Spirit Pill consumed seventeen different raw materials and was not too difficult to refine, but even the greatest of Alchemist would only be able to produce nine pills during the final Pill Condensing.
Nine was the limit for this furnace of Vibrant Monarch Spirit Pills. This would be true even if it was an Emperor Grade Alchemist taking action.
Different Spirit Pills with different pill recipes had different upper limits to the number of pills which could be condensed.
If one wants to condense the maximum number of Origin King Grade Mid-Rank Spirit Pills from a single furnace, they would need to at least be a Dao Source Grade Alchemist.
As for Yang Kai, his current limit was six!
While performing Alchemy this past month, Yang Kai had also constantly been familiarizing himself with the Pill Condensing Technique he had obtained from the Grand Alchemic Dao Tone, causing his skills to improve noticeably.
In less than an hour, the Vibrant Monarch Spirit Pills, which were able to quickly restore the Source Qi of an Origin King, were completed with a total of six pills being condensed!
Yang Kai stuffed three of them into his Space Ring before tossing the remaining three into a jade bottle he had prepared.
The Spirit Pills in the jade bottle were for the client, as three were enough to meet that person’s needs. As for the extra Spirit Pills, Yang Kai pocketed them.
This way, over the past month, Yang Kai had not only gained many Source Crystals, but also a variety of Spirit Pills for various purposes. If he were to sell out all his stock, it would definitely earn him a small fortune.
Unfortunately, he could only refine Origin King Grade Spirit Pills at the moment, as no one would provide him with Dao Source Grade materials to practice with. Otherwise, Yang Kai would have liked to try his hand to see if he had reached that level.
Sealing the jade bottle, Yang Kai casually played with it for a moment as he felt it really was easy for Alchemists to earn resources.
Just when he was about to go out and meet with Liu Xian Yun outside to complete the transaction though, Liu Xian Yun’s soft shout rang in his ears, followed by a loud clattering sound.
Yang Kai’s face sank as he quickly got up and rushed out of the shop.
When he arrived outside, Yang Kai scanned his eyes around only to see Liu Xian Yun standing nearby with an ugly expression on her face. The signboard, which had originally been placed in front of her, had been thrown to the ground and stomped on by a cultivator wearing a Blue Feather Sect uniform, turning it into bits and pieces of broken wood.
Outside the shop, all the cultivators who had been waiting in line for Alchemy frowned one by one and spread out to observe from a distance.
Seeing Yang Kai appear, Liu Xian Yun seemed to have found a backer and ran towards him quickly.
“What happened?” Yang Kai frowned and asked.
He had been occupying this spot with Liu Xian Yun for almost a month now and had not provoked anyone as far as he could remember, so he couldn’t figure out why someone had come today and smashed his signboard.
“They said there was a problem with the pill you refined,” Liu Xian Yun came up to Yang Kai and said in a low voice.
“What kind of problem?” Yang Kai raised his brow and scanned the opposite side.
“They didn’t make it clear and just began smashing things when they arrived,” Liu Xian Yun grit her teeth as a trace of confusion flashed across her face while she stared aggrievedly at the signboard which was being stepped on by the cultivator in front of her.
Because Yang Kai was generously giving her thirty percent of the profits from their cooperation, even though she could not help him in Alchemy, Liu Xian Yun had been doing her best to fulfil her own role, especially when it came to taking care of this signboard.
From the design of the signboard to each and every character which was written on it, she had meticulously created every detail. Every night, after she took down the signboard, she would wipe it down carefully to ensure it was not the least bit dirty before carefully storing it in her Space Ring.
She felt this was the least she could do to help Yang Kai.
But now, the signboard filled with her painstaking effort and care had been smashed, causing Liu Xian Yun to feel extremely dissatisfied.
“They didn’t say what was wrong and just began smashing things?” Yang Kai raised his brows while coldly snorting to himself, realizing that even though he had done his best not to stand out this past month, he had obviously caught someone’s eye or perhaps cut into someone else’s profits. Otherwise, how could such a scene have happened?
“Are you the Alchemist here?” On the opposite side, the cultivator who was stepping on the signboard looked at Yang Kai arrogantly, with a cold smile on his face as he asked in a pointed manner.
“Indeed. Dare I ask how this Senior Brother is called?” Yang Kai looked at the other party indifferently.
“Chu Fei, a disciple under Protector Zhu!”
Yang Kai brow rose, knowing that the Protector Zhu that was mentioned was Zhu Jun Shan, one of the Protectors of Blue Feather Sect. This man had the same cultivation as Bian Yu Qing, Third-Order Dao Source Realm, and was not someone Yang Kai could currently challenge.
The four Protectors did not have a harmonious relationship with one another, and if it weren’t for the Sect Master suppressing the conflicts, it was likely that the Blue Feather Sect would have already fallen into chaos. However, it was also precisely because of this that the lower disciples did not have peaceful relationships.
In this Sect, there were many private and public disputes between the lower disciple factions, with fights often causing injuries or even disabilities.
When Yang Kai heard that the other party was a disciple under Protector Zhu, he knew that this person was here to make trouble.
“So it is Senior Brother Chu, dare I ask why Senior Brother has broken Junior Brother’s signboard?” Yang Kai asked in a deep voice.
“Don’t play dumb in front of this Chu. Are you seriously trying to say you don’t know what you did wrong?” Chu Fei coldly snorted as he said in a stern tone.
Yang Kai, however, just shook his head and said, “Junior Brother only entered the Sect a month ago and does not recall offending Senior Brother Chu in any way, so I hope Senior Brother can clarify his actions today!”
Chu Fei chuckled, nodded, and said, “Of course, since you’ve said as much, then Senior Brother will make you understand!”
Saying so, he waved his hand and shouted, “Bring him!”
Immediately, a couple of cultivators came out from behind Chu Fei carrying a stretcher. On the stretcher was a man who looked extremely miserable. His aura was fluctuating chaotically while his eyes were bulged and bloodshot. He was also spouting some cruel and miserable cries randomly from his mouth.
Even as he lay on the stretcher, this man was clearly struggling, but his body was bound by the barrier so that he was unable to move.
“Cultivation Dissonance! He’s experienced Cultivation Dissonance!” The onlookers exclaimed.
The situation of this cultivator lying on a stretcher was obviously the result of dissonance in his cultivation, most likely caused by something going wrong in his secluded cultivation and sending his strength running wild. If his condition was not treated promptly, he would likely degenerate into a cripple.
However, Cultivation Dissonance was extremely difficult to resolve; only if a master with far greater strength and ability took action could this situation be remedied.
This was a situation all cultivators feared encountering as once they did, it could very well lead to their destruction.
“Junior Brother, do you recognize this person?” Chu Fei asked Yang Kai coldly as he pointed to the man lying on the stretcher.
Yang Kai cast him a glance before nodding slightly, “I have an impression of him. If I recall correctly, he came to ask for Alchemy five days ago.”
As soon as this remark came out, Liu Xian Yun’s pretty face turned pale.
She was no fool and vaguely guessed what was about to happen, so she couldn’t help looking at Yang Kai worriedly.
“So Junior Brother admits it,” Chu Fei sneered. “Junior Brother Jiang here is a talented man and reached the Second-Order Origin King at a young age. His future was simply boundless and was praised by Protector Zhu over and over again as one of the rising stars of our Blue Feather Sect.”
“And?” Yang Kai looked at Chu Fei indifferently.
Chu Fei’s face became cold as he said grimly, “But he was ruined by your hands! Junior Brother, what do you have to say?”
“Senior Brother surely jests,” Yang Kai chuckled and said. “This Senior Brother Jiang is clearly experiencing Cultivation Dissonance, how is that my fault?”
“You still refuse to admit fault? How could a dissonance in his cultivation have occurred if he had not taken that Spirit Pill you refined? You just said yourself that he obtained a pill from your hands five days ago!” Chu Fei shouted sharply.
Hearing what Chu Fei said, the faces of the onlookers suddenly changed; after all, they were all waiting here for Alchemy services from Yang Kai. If the Spirit Pills refined by Yang Kai really had problems, how could they dare seek him out?
Instantly, they began to feel a little grateful. Fortunately, Chu Fei had come at this time, otherwise, they might have ended up like Junior Brother Jiang.
“While it’s true he came to ask for pills from me five days ago, that doesn’t mean his Cultivation Dissonance has anything to do with me. Perhaps his own foundation was unstable, or he recklessly tried to achieve something beyond his means. Cultivation Dissonance can be caused by many things. Isn’t Senior Brother slandering me without any evidence unjustified?” Yang Kai looked at Chu Fei coldly.
The other party was just a Third-Order Origin King, so Yang Kai had no reason to fear him at all. The only thing that worried Yang Kai was whether someone was pulling the strings behind this Chu Fei.
It was impossible for Chu Fei to come and seek trouble with him for no reason. Regarding Spirit Pills, several other Alchemists and shops provided Alchemy services in this shopping district, but each of these establishments was managed by Blue Feather Sect directly and had no relationship with the several Protectors.
“Senior Brother isn’t slandering you. Junior Brother Jiang came to ask for pills five days ago, then after returning entered retreat right away to cultivate. As a result, he suddenly experienced dissonance in his cultivation a few days later. Now, he has become like this. Do not say that this is just a coincidence. Protector Zhu said that Junior Brother Jiang’s talent was first class, so how could his foundation possibly be unstable? Apart from a problem with your Spirit Pills, there is no other explanation!”
“That’s right! Senior Brother Jiang looked so happy after he received those pills that day, even bragging he had picked up a great bargain. I tried to persuade him to find someone to verify the quality of those pills first but he was too anxious to enter retreat. As it turns out, they really were cheap quality goods! I never could have imagined Senior Brother Jiang would encounter such a serious problem only a few days into his retreat!” A Blue Feather Sect disciple who had been with Chu Fei chimed in suddenly.
The shopping district was extremely lively, with people coming and going constantly, so although the store rented by Yang Kai was located in a remote corner, the incident here naturally attracted countless onlookers.
The ones who arrived later did not know the whole story and only saw the miserable appearance of the cultivator surnamed Jiang. After realizing how dark his future would be, they all felt sorrowful and glared at Yang Kai as if he really was a fraud. Many even swore that they would warn their friends not to trust this sham Alchemist when they left.
Of course, some people realized that the situation was not as simple as it first appeared, but in Blue Feather Sect, most disciples were indifferent to others, and since none had any friendship with Yang Kai, they didn’t take the initiative to stand up and draw fire towards themselves.
Yang Kai saw how the situation was developing and knew that if this matter wasn’t resolved properly today, he would never be able to earn Source Crystals from Alchemy here again. That in and of itself was not a great misdemeanour, but what the other party was planning as a follow-up to this conspiracy was not something Yang Kai could simply ignore.
“You… do you have any evidence to prove that this Senior Brother Jiang’s Cultivation Dissonance was caused by the Spirit Pill refined by Brother Yang?” Liu Xian Yun asked through gritted teeth, but even her attempts here seemed quite feeble and desperate.
Chu Fei sneered, “With Junior Brother Jiang in this condition, what more evidence is needed?”
Liu Xian Yun was speechless for a moment as she turned anxiously to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai pondered for a moment before saying, “Five days ago, this Senior Brother Jiang came to me to refine an Emperor Blood Yang Pill. This kind of Spirit Pill is used to supplement one’s vitality, perhaps it is related to some Secret Technique Senior Brother Jiang is cultivating. I gave him four Spirit Pills at that time. Might I ask if there are any of those pills remaining? If there are, we can simply ask another of the Sect’s Alchemy Grandmasters to confirm whether my Spirit Pill has any problems.”
Liu Xian Yun’s beautiful eyes lit up and quickly nodded, “That’s right, if there are any remaining Spirit Pills, we can verify their efficacy.”
Chu Fei snorted, “All the Spirit Pills were taken by Junior Brother Jiang, how do you want to handle things now?”
Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders, “Since Senior Brother Chu cannot produce any evidence to back up his claims, then it is pure slander. As such, forgive Junior Brother for not being able to do anything. Senior Brothers, please take your leave now, it won’t be too late to discuss this again when you have some kind of proof.”
Saying so, Yang Kai turned around to enter the shop.
The other party was clearly trying to make trouble for him, so Yang Kai did not want to bother dealing with them again.
“You want to just walk away?” When Chu Fei saw the attitude of Yang Kai, he was furious and shouted, “Murder must be paid for with one’s life, and all debts require their due, you think you can harm Junior Brother Jiang like this and just leave? How can something so outrageous act possibly be allowed?”
Yang Kai turned his head, looked at Chu Fei with a smile, and said coldly, “What does Senior Brother Chu think we should do then?”
“Follow me back to Protector Zhu to accept your punishment!” Chu Fei shouted.
“Nonsense, I am one of Protector Bian’s disciples! Even if punishment is due, it would be up to Protector Bian to mete it out, what business is it of Protector Zhu?”
“Bold! How dare you speak so disrespectfully of Sir Protector! If such arrogance is tolerated just after you joined the Sect, how wild will you be later? This Senior Brother will teach you a good lesson about how to behave like a proper Junior Brother!”
Chu Fei had come here in order to make trouble, and now he had finally found a reason to act, so how could he hold himself back? After shouting righteously, he charged at Yang Kai, reaching out to seize him.
A powerful Origin King Domain burst out and completely enveloped Yang Kai, trying to suppress him in place and causing the surrounding space to become extremely viscous.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed as he also pushed his Domain to resist his opponent’s while at the same time a golden light flickered from his hand as dozens of Golden Blood Threads shot out and condensed into a whip that slashed through the air towards Chu Fei.
Space seemed to be split in half as the shocking vitality contained in the gleaming Golden Blood Whip shot out like a viper, causing all who witnessed it to shiver unconsciously.
Chu Fei was also taken aback.
He thought that the other party was just a Second-Order Origin King Junior Brother who had only entered the Sect recently and could be easily dealt with by a Third-Order Origin King like himself. However, the instant Yang Kai fought back, Chu Fei realized something was wrong.
Not only was his opponent’s Domain not weaker than his own, it actually seemed stronger, able to completely nullify the suppression of his own Domain.
What’s more, the surging aura which came from this seemingly casual counterattack showed that this Junior Brother had transformed a significant amount of his Saint Qi into Source Qi, otherwise, it would have been impossible for Chu Fei to feel such pressure against a cultivator who was a Minor Realm lower in cultivation.
The Golden Blood Thread whip that was rapidly approaching him caused a chill to shoot up Chu Fei’s spine and without even hesitating he opened his palm in front of him and summoned out a mirror-like artifact. A profound light shone from this mirror and formed a light shield between Chu Fei and the Golden Blood Thread whip.
*Pa…*
With a snap, the Golden Blood Thread whip impacted the light shield and was deflected, failing to injure Chu Fei at all.
[This mirror can actually divert my attack?]
[But if that’s all…]
A smirk appeared at the corner of Yang Kai’s lips.
The deflected Golden Blood Thread whip suddenly twisted and transformed into a golden python with glowing red eyes and fangs. Hissing furiously, this golden python shot towards and rapidly wrapped around Chu Fei, capturing him in an instant before it bit into his neck.
Chu Fei cried out in pain, and before he could compose himself, Yang Kai had already arrived right in front of him. Covered in five-coloured light, Yang Kai brought down his fist onto Chu Fei’s face like a great hammer.
Chu Fei instinctively tried to resist but was shocked to discover he was powerless to do so. His opponent’s strange golden python Secret Technique and extremely overbearing Domain had fully suppressed him, making it difficult for him to even circulate his strength.
*Hong…*
With a muffled bang, Chu Fei was sent flying, tumbling several times through the air before smashing into the ground.
The audience immediately went into an uproar! Everyone’s heart shook wildly as they stared dumbfounded at this battle.
The fight between Yang Kai and Chu Fei started and ended so fast that they might have missed it if they blinked. Even Liu Xian Yun, who was standing right beside Yang Kai, was unable to help because Chu Fei had already been knocked out by the time she assumed an attacking stance.
There was simply no room for her to intervene!
Her heart filled with shock as her beautiful eyes stared at Yang Kai tremblingly. She was stunned to discover that, Yang Kai was much more powerful compared to when she saw him in the Starlight Corridor!
She never doubted that Yang Kai could defeat Chu Fei; after all, he had caused Yin Le Sheng to suffer a huge loss back in the Starlight Corridor.
Although Chu Fei was also a Third-Order Origin King, the Saint Qi in his body had certainly not been fully transformed into Source Qi, so he was definitely weaker than Yin Le Sheng.
Yang Kai was able to cause serious trouble to Yin Le Sheng, so he would certainly be able to beat Chu Fei.
But she did not expect Yang Kai’s victory to come so easily.
Was his opponent really a Third-Order Origin King? If people didn’t know any better, they would likely assume he was only a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator.
Did this man really come from a low-level Star Field? If it were not for her encounter in the Starlight Corridor, Liu Xian Yun wouldn’t be able to believe it.
While Liu Xian Yun was immersed in her shock, the surrounding Blue Feather Sect disciples were also stunned to the point where their jaws were hanging loose.
This was especially true of the cultivators who knew that Yang Kai was also a skilled Alchemist; they were simply unable to believe their eyes!
One had to know that although Alchemists also cultivated, their cultivation was generally lower than their Alchemy Grade because they spent most of their time on Alchemy, and even their strength would generally be lower than average for their realm.
Yang Kai was able to refine the Origin King Grade Spirit Pills and was himself an Origin King Realm cultivator, which was unbelievable enough, but now he was able to use his Second-Order Origin King to easily crush a Third-Order Origin King Senior Brother!
The scene in front of them could not even be called a fight, it was more appropriate to call it a thrashing.
Yang Kai’s bizarre performance was beyond their ability to comprehend!
A disciple with such extraordinary combat power, capable of overwhelming opponents a Minor Realm higher than himself, and who was also proficient in Alchemy… it was difficult to even imagine. The spectating Blue Feather Sect disciples now looked at Yang Kai like a monster who would foreseeably receive great attention from the Sect and be cultivated vigorously. As for the injuries to Senior Brother Chu… why would Blue Feather Sect care about him?
Several people were already making plans in their hearts about how to build a good relationship with Yang Kai so that once he rose to prominence one day, they would be able to drink some of the leftover soup.
The other two Origin Kings who had come together with Chu Fei turned pale at this moment.
When the battle between Chu Fei and Yang Kai began, they had wanted to go up and help just like Liu Xian Yun, but in the blink of an eye, Chu Fei had been laid out on the ground with his face punched in, a scenario completely beyond their expectations.
They had thought it would be Yang Kai who was severely beaten by Chu Fei and forced to beg for mercy, allowing them to do what they pleased with him…
But reality was cruel to them, to the point where it robbed them of the ability to think.
Yang Kai’s sharp eyes drifted towards these two next, causing them to involuntarily take a step back.
One of them was a First-Order Origin King while the other was a Second-Order. The two of them together would not have been Chu Fei’s opponents, so how could they dare challenge Yang Kai?
Fortunately, Yang Kai did not seem interested in dealing with them and instead just walked towards Chu Fei step by step, narrowing his eyes slightly as he smiled warmly, “Senior Brother Chu, we have never met before today, nor do we know anything about one another. Why don’t we have a seat and talk about this Senior Brother Jiang’s Cultivation Dissonance like good brothers?”
When Chu Fei heard this, he did not dare continue to lie on the ground and pretend to be dead. Leaping to his feet, he tried to put up a strong front as he shouted, “What do you want to do?”
“Senior Brother is too serious, Junior Brother only joined the Sect recently, how could he have any malicious thoughts towards you? En, Junior Brother simply wants to have a nice chat,” Yang Kai smiled very amiably, but in Chu Fei’s eyes, he only saw the wicked grin of the grim reaper.
As he spoke, Yang Kai cracked his fists lightly.
Chu Fei’s face went pale as his eyes stared out from the swollen and bruised face, angrily shouting, “This time, I acknowledge the punishment is deserved, but don’t reach out for a yard after taking an inch!”
“Don’t reach out for a yard after taking an inch?” Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly became cold, “Senior Brother maliciously smeared my good name as an Alchemist today. If this matter is not resolved properly, how will I be able to offer Alchemy services here ever again?”
“What do you want?” Chu Fei grit his teeth and asked.
After recognizing the gap between himself and Yang Kai, Chu Fei lost his previous arrogance, but here in front of everyone’s eyes, he was unwilling to lose any more face. Otherwise, how would he be able to show himself in Blue Feather Sect in the future?
So even if he was frightened in his heart, he could only put up a front and growl back at Yang Kai.
“It’s quite simple actually,” Yang Kai looked at Chu Fei with a smile and raised a finger. “After Senior Brother caused such a scene, Junior Brother is afraid he won’t be able to continue performing Alchemy here in the future, so shouldn’t Senior Brother compensate for my loss?”
“Compensate for your loss?” Chu Fei’s eyes bulged as he never expected Yang Kai to be so shameless.
Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, “Junior Brother doesn’t need too much, just a few hundred thousand Source Crystals.”
“A few hundred thousand… in your dreams!” Chu Fei snapped as his face distorted and shouted, “You dare ask for such an absurd amount!”
A few hundred thousand Source Crystals was a number that Chu Fei could not even dream about. From when he first began cultivating until now, even counting the ones he had used up, the total number of Source Crystals he had possessed did not exceed two hundred thousand, yet Yang Kai was asking him for several hundred thousand all at once? What difference was that from asking for his life?
Yang Kai’s face suddenly became cold as he said grimly, “It seems Senior Brother has no sincerity at all. Apparently, negotiations have broken down, and in that case…”
Before Yang Kai could finish what he was saying though, he suddenly turned his head slightly, as if listening to something that just reached his ear.
Seeing this scene, Chu Fei smiled happily and laughed, “Junior Brother, let us end matters here today. Senior Brother will remember you; perhaps we shall meet on some mountain or river in the future.”
Looking at Yang Kai’s expression, how could Chu Fei not understand that a master was sending a message to him? Now that Sect’s leaders were involved, he was safe.
Having said what he wanted to, Chu Fei waved his hand and shouted to his companions, “Let’s go!”
The other two did not dare to delay and quickly lifted up their Junior Brother Jiang, who was still struggling, and tried to quickly flee.
“You want to leave after soiling my reputation so? How could that be allowed?” Yang Kai’s coldly snorted, shocking Chu Fei. Turning around, Chu Fei saw Yang Kai charge towards him and swing a fist covered in five-coloured light.
A thick Domain pressed down on Chu Fei at that moment, completely suppressing his movements, and before he could even let out a scream, he was knocked to the ground again by Yang Kai.
As a Third-Order Origin King, Chu Fei was not weak, and even if he hadn’t completely transformed his Saint Qi into Source Qi, he should have still been able to put up a fight.
However, Chu Fei had deeply realized in the previous confrontation with Yang Kai that he was not this Junior Brother’s opponent at all, so he was unable to muster up the will to resist and instead just frantically pushed his strength to protect his vitals as Yang Kai’s fists fell on him like rain.
The onlookers watched this scene in utter shock.
Amid the muffled bangs, Chu Fei’s wails and moans rang out.
When Yang Kai got up, Chu Fei was already covered with blood and lay on the ground twitching, obviously having suffered serious injuries.
Yang Kai turned his head, glanced in a certain direction, then cursed under his breath before calling out to Liu Xian Yun, “Close up the shop!”
Liu Xian Yun was taken aback for a moment before quickly recovering and following Yang Kai back to their residence.
Wherever the two went, the other Blue Feather Sect disciples took the initiative to give way, all of them staring towards Yang Kai fearfully.
…..
Liu Xian Yun followed after Yang Kai, staring blankly at his wide back, her thoughts still somewhat confused.
She had not expected that Yang Kai, who usually looked like a peaceful person, would actually act so cruel and merciless so suddenly. Back in the shopping district, if it were not for them being from the same Sect, Chu Fei would certainly have been butchered by Yang Kai.
However, after this incident, it was likely they would no longer be able to sell Alchemy services in the shopping district again, causing Liu Xian Yun to feel a little regretful; after all, the two of them had earned a lot of Source Crystals this past month.
Suddenly, as they were walking, Yang Kai came to a halt, causing Liu Xian Yun who was still in a daze to almost bump into him. After steadying herself, she quickly asked, “Brother Yang what happened?”
“You go back first, I’ve been summoned,” Yang Kai turned back.
“Summoned?” Liu Xian Yun frowned but quickly understood, “Does Protector Bian want to see you? The message you received just now…”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded. “It’s just a small matter, don’t worry about it.”
“Should I go with you?” Liu Xian Yun asked.
“Protector Bian didn’t summon you, so I’m afraid you will be sent back even if you came. Just return home for now,” Yang Kai finished speaking before flying off towards a nearby mountain peak.
Liu Xian Yun shouted from behind, “Be careful.”
Yang Kai simply waved his hand in reply.
Halfway up the mountain, a figure flashed in front of Yang Kai and stared at him with some dissatisfaction on his face.
“Senior Brother Kou!” Yang Kai greeted him indifferently as he cupped his fists.
The one who stopped him was none other than Kou Wu. It was also Kou Wu who had just sent his voice to Yang Kai to stop and to come to the mountain to see Protector Bian.
“Your courage isn’t small! Daring to disobey my order, didn’t I tell you to let Chu Fei go? Why did you still beat him after that?” Kou Wu snorted coldly.
Yang Kai sneered, “Someone spat on my face and I have to just choke down the insult? Protector Bian’s faction is not so weak, right? If that is really the case, Senior Brother Kou disappoints me greatly.”
“How long has it been since you joined the Sect? What do you know? Do you think what happened today was just Chu Fei coming to stir up trouble?” Kou Wu questioned coldly.
“Of course I know he was instigated,” Yang Kai sneered. “I was just trying to make some Source Crystals by performing Alchemy but it seems I’ve cut into someone’s interest, yes? Let me guess, Protector Zhu? And Protector Bian doesn’t want to have any conflict with Protector Zhu right now? Is that why you wanted me to compromise?”
Kou Wu looked at Yang Kai in surprise but soon nodded, “Seems you’re not stupid! Yes, although Chu Fei’s actions today were not directed by Protector Zhu personally, they can still be regarded as involving the interests of Protector Zhu. If you want to make money through Alchemy, why not enter the Treasure Yuan Hall? You should know that Treasure Yuan Hall has a Pill Hall inside the shopping district and will protect its Alchemists if something happens.”
Yang Kai spread his hands and shrugged, “I’m poor. If I entered the Treasure Yuan Hall, I’d have to turn over sixty percent of my income to them. Senior Brother knows I just came to the Star Boundary and don’t have a single Source Crystal.”
“Fair enough,” Kou Wu knew that Yang Kai was telling the truth, so he didn’t press this topic much, instead shifting to the next issue. “But you beating Chu Fei today has only given Protector Zhu an excuse to find fault. Do you want to be punished by the Sect’s laws? Regardless of anything else, Chu Fei is your Senior Brother, what you did was akin to defying orders from your Senior!”
Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, “Isn’t that why Protector Bian has summoned me? I believe an old master like her will solve this appropriately.”
Kou Wu’s face turned dark as he quickly muttered, “Don’t mention the words ‘old master’ in front of Lady Protector, or you’ll lose your dog life!”
“I understand, Lady then!” Yang Kai nodded.
“Forget it, come with me, I hope Lady Protector is in a good mood today, otherwise… well, best of luck,” Kou Wu shook his head and did not continue to scold him, instead just leading Yang Kai towards the top of the mountain.
Kou Wu led Yang Kai into the same palace he had visited once before and escorted him to a certain room.
Inside this room, there were luxurious and elegant furnishings everywhere that obviously belonged to a woman’s boudoir.
Bian Yu Qing lay languidly on a sofa, her exquisite curves on full display as she rested her cheek on one hand, her eyes closed lightly, her posture suggestive and enchanting.
The sofa itself was covered in the pelt of some powerful Monster Beast and beside her, there were a few young women in thin robes. These maids were either fanning Bian Yu Qing lightly or peeling grape-like spirit fruits and feeding them to her lips. Still others were gently kneading Bian Yu Qing’s beautiful legs…
When Yang Kai entered this room, the first thought that popped into his mind was ‘extravagance’…
As always, Kou Wu lowered his head and stared straight at his toes while cupping his fists and saying, “Protector Bian, I’ve brought the little brat you requested.”
“Greetings, Lady Protector!” Yang Kai, unlike Kou Wu, stared straight ahead, his eyes clear and limpid, without the slightest trace of obscenity or desire.
Because he knew that a woman like Bian Yu Qing was definitely not someone he could socialize with right now, he made sure to eliminate any trace of distraction in his heart, lest she ruthlessly punish him for his impropriety.
Hearing Yang Kai’s voice, Bian Yu Qing, who had been closing her eyes and resting, lightly opened them. From her majestic phoenix eyes, a sharp light flashed, causing Yang Kai to feel quite uncomfortable, as if he had been cut by a sharp knife.
The moment Yang Kai’s eyes met hers, he felt as if he was staring into a bottomless vortex that was trying to pull out his Soul and consume it.
Yang Kai was shocked and hurriedly bit his tongue to restore his consciousness.
When he looked again, Bian Yu Qing’s eyes had been restored to their original state.
“Boy, your courage isn’t small. Just a few days after entering the Sect, you actually dared cause trouble for this Queen!” Bian Yu Qing’s voice was sweet and pleasant to the ear, but her tone was quite cold and sharp.
“Lady Protector, please understand,” Yang Kai resisted the uncomfortable coercion and quickly said. “It’s not that this disciple was causing trouble, he was simply struggling to resist after being bullied.”
“Struggling to resist? Haha, I heard that you beat your Senior Brother into a pulp and that it will take at least three months for him to recover. Is that your definition of ‘resistance’?” Bian Yu Qing looked at Yang Kai lightly.
“This disciple may have been a bit heavy-handed, but he only acted so to ensure that others don’t dare underestimate Lady Protector’s faction. If this disciple had silently born such disgrace, others would begin to think our faction was weak and easy to bully!”
“Oh?” Bian Yu Qing raised her brow slightly and said with a smile, “Then, according to what you said, should this Queen gather all the disciples and praise you in public, using you as an example?”
“This disciple only did what was necessary, Lady Protector need not pay it any mind!”
“Impudence!” Bian Yu Qing snapped and with a wave of her hand released a burst of force that sent Yang Kai flying into the rear wall.
“Milady, please calm yourself!” Kou Wu quickly soothed.
But a moment later, Bian Yu Qing actually giggled happily, making it impossible for Kou Wu to understand exactly what she was thinking.
Yang Kai hadn’t had any contact with Bian Yu Qing aside from the one meeting together with Liu Xian Yun last time.
When he saw Bian Yu Qing for the first time, Yang Kai only felt that this woman was very powerful; after all, she had a Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation, but Yang Kai couldn’t figure out what her temperament was.
However, in this second meeting, Yang Kai realized that she was a woman who was subject to shifting moods!
Not someone to be trifled with!
Her casual blow had not used much force, but it was still not something Yang Kai could contend with. After smashing into the wall, he felt his vitality roll and his bones creak.
When he stood up, he only heard Bian Yu Qing’s sweet laughter.
Yang Kai grabbed his chest to try to settle his roiling blood before turning to look at Bian Yu Qing intently.
The latter also stared back at Yang Kai with her pair of beautiful eyes, a hint of approval flashing across them as she nodded lightly, “This Queen likes men with some spine. Good, you’ve performed well, In any case, you haven’t lost face for this Queen!”
Yang Kai frowned but did not answer.
“However…” Bian Yu Qing continued. “Today’s matter can be big or small, and this Queen doesn’t want to give Zhu Jun Shan an excuse to cause trouble; after all, you only entered the Sect a month ago yet dared to commit such an act. This could also be construed as this Queen being inadequate in her supervision, so as punishment you are to be imprisoned in the Ice Cliff for three months. That’s all.”
While she had spoken very casually, Yang Kai could not help feeling a bad premonition and asked solemnly, “Dare I ask, Lady Protector, what is this Ice Cliff…?”
He had only been in Blue Feather Sect for a month and had yet to hear of the existence of this Ice Cliff.
“The Ice Cliff is…” Bian Yu Qing smiled slightly, “En, it’s a place where disciples who committed mistakes are confined, and the environment there… hehe, you’ll know when you get there.”
Yang Kai’s expression could not help but sink.
Kou Wu also turned his head and glanced at him, his eyes full of sympathy, as if this ‘Ice Cliff’ was truly a bad place.
“Take him away!” Bian Yu Qing waved her hand carelessly before closing her beautiful eyes again.
“This disciple will obey!” Kou Wu respectfully stepped back before pulling Yang Kai along with him and leaving.
Yang Kai naturally had more questions, but seeing Bian Yu Qing’s attitude, he knew it was impossible to ask her anything more so he could only turn to Kou Wu.
Once outside the palace, Kou Wu let out a sigh of relief. Every time he met with Bian Yu Qing, he felt tremendous pressure.
“Senior Brother Kou…” Yang Kai turned to look at Kou Wu.
“Ha… Junior Brother Yang!” Kou Wu sighed and patted Yang Kai on the shoulder as he spoke earnestly, “Don’t ask. You’ll know when you get there. Senior Brother can only say… Lady Protector has shown great kindness this time; after all, three months is not a long time… Just enter closed retreat and your sentence will be over in a flash. When the time comes, Senior Brother will come pick you up in person.”
Hearing what he said, Yang Kai felt even worse and became certain that Ice Cliff was a horrendous place.
However, unless he was able to cut a bloody path out of the Blue Feather Sect now, he had no choice but to follow Kou Wu.
Silently evaluating his own strength, Yang Kai could only press down his depression and obey.
Kou Wu once again summoned his flight type artifact, and after the two boarded, the ship flew off in a certain direction at a rapid speed.
From above, the buildings of Blue Feather Sect flew by in the blink of an eye.
As they travelled, Yang Kai began to perceive a bitter chill in the air.
After some time, Kou Wu suddenly pointed to the front and said, “Junior Brother Yang, that is the Ice Cliff. Anyone from the Sect who commits a mistake will be confined here. En, don’t even think about trying to run away; although this place isn’t close to the headquarters, being over ten thousand kilometres away, and is uninhabited, if you leave Ice Cliff without authorization, Lady Protector will know, and when the time comes…”
Kou Wu did not finish his words, but how could Yang Kai not understand his meaning? Powerless to resist, he simply nodded and stared forward.
Somewhere up ahead, hidden in a veil of white clouds, Yang Kai could make out a majestic mountain that had seemingly been split in half. The cut to this mountain was smooth and clean, like a valley in the middle of the sky, a daunting scene to behold.
As the ship approached, the severe cold in the air became more obvious, and Yang Kai could feel a stinging sensation on his skin even through the protective barrier.
What’s more, this icy cold seemed to be mixed with another kind of aura, one that was both familiar and unfamiliar to Yang Kai.
Frowning for a moment, Yang Kai soon understood and muttered aloud, “Emperor Pressure?”
Kou Wu turned to Yang Kai in surprise and asked in amazement, “Junior Brother Yang can detect the Emperor Pressure here? Have you met an Emperor before?”
If one had not met an Emperor Realm master, it would be impossible to know what Emperor Pressure felt like. When Kou Wu first came to this place, he had only felt the cold here was extremely uncomfortable, as if it had a suppressive effect on his cultivation, but he didn’t understand why this was and it wasn’t until he asked Bian Yu Qing some time later that he was enlightened.
Yang Kai was a mere Second-Order Origin King from a lower Star Field, but he had quickly noticed the Emperor Pressure which permeated the cold in this place, which was not something just sharp eyes could detect. The only possibility was that Yang Kai had experienced Emperor Pressure before and was hence able to recognize it.
“En, there is a Restricted Area in the Grand Desolation Star Field where a faint Emperor Pressure still remains, that is where I felt it before!” Yang Kai replied casually.
“So that’s how it is!” Kou Wu did not doubt him, instead just nodding and saying, “Each Star Field supposedly has a Guardian that is a high-level Emperor, perhaps your Grand Desolation Star Field’s Guardian left traces of their power in that Restricted Area.”
“But how can there be Emperor Pressure here?” Yang Kai questioned.
Kou Wu smiled lightly, “This is related to the origin of Ice Cliff. It is rumoured that Ice Cliff was created by an Emperor who controlled Ice Principles. With a single swing of their sword, that Emperor cleaved apart Ice Cliff, causing their Emperor Pressure to remain behind. That was thousands of years ago, yet the Emperor Pressure has not dissipated. Why else would this place be used as a place of confinement for our Blue Feather Sect disciples?”
“So this place was created by an Emperor’s sword strike?” Yang Kai’s eyes lit up as he listened.
“That’s what everyone in the Sect says, but whether or not this story is true is uncertain,” Kou Wu chuckled, “Junior Brother, when we arrive, just stay at the top of the valley and as far away as possible. Whatever you do, do not descend into the valley. The further one goes down, the stronger the ambient Emperor Pressure becomes. Even the Sect Master and the four Protectors cannot reach the bottom of the valley, so with just your strength, you will surely be crushed by the Emperor Pressure if you act recklessly here.”
“I see. Many thanks for the reminder, Senior Brother Kou!” Yang Kai nodded.
“In addition, Lady Protector confining you here is not just to punish you. Although the environment in Ice Cliff is terrible and one cannot remain here for long, if they are able to perceive anything from this place, they will benefit infinitely! Don’t disappoint Lady Protector’s good intentions,” Kou Wu spoke solemnly.
“Is that so?” Yang Kai grinned, “If that’s the case, why doesn’t Senior Brother come down with me and we can spy on the depths of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao together?”
“No thanks!” Kou Wu trembled as a light of fear flashed across his eyes, “I’ve been stuck in this damned place once before, and after just one month I nearly couldn’t return.”
“What was Senior Brother’s cultivation at that time?”
“Third-Order Origin King!” Kou Wu replied.
Yang Kai curled his lips hearing this, “It seems Lady Protector thinks quite highly of me.”
“This shows that Lady Protector believes your potential is greater than mine!” Kou Wu chuckled before he tapped his foot and stopped the ship. Turning to Yang Kai, he said, “Senior Brother will drop you off here, go the rest of the way by yourself. I will return in three months to bring you back!”
Yang Kai nodded before turning around, jumping off the boat, and rushing towards the top of the Ice Cliff.
After Yang Kai left, Kou Wu immediately turned his ship around and flew off at high speed, as if trying to flee from this accursed place.
…..
The biting cold seemed to be able to penetrate all the way to one’s soul and not only hindered the circulation of one’s strength but even slowed down their thinking, giving people the illusion that their thoughts themselves were being frozen.
Breathing out, Yang Kai saw his breath turn to mist as he landed at the top of the Ice Cliff and involuntarily circulated his Qi to ward off the ubiquitous cold.
The expanse above the Ice Cliff was spacious, like flat ground, and in the nearby rock walls were some big and small caves.
Obviously, these were crude cave mansions that had been excavated by the Blue Feather Sect disciples who had been confined here over the years.
Yang Kai stood there and looked around.
He found that there was not a single blade of grass growing here, causing it to appear extremely desolate. Even the rocks seemed to be frozen into ice blocks.
Although there was indeed a faint Emperor Pressure in the air here, one that contained very profound Ice Principles, it was not overbearing at all and was relatively easy for Yang Kai to resist with his current strength.
“If Su Yan were here…” Su Yan’s beautiful image suddenly appeared in Yang Kai’s mind.
If she were here, then this Ice Cliff would not be an unbearable Restricted Area, but instead a cultivation paradise. This place contained an Emperor’s comprehension of Ice Principles, which would allow Su Yan to cultivate at a remarkable speed. As long as she could comprehend something from the ambient aura here, it would greatly assist her growth.
Unfortunately, Su Yan was still back on Shadowed Star.
As for Yang Kai himself, he did not comprehend anything related to Ice Principles, so he could only sigh.
Shaking his head, Yang Kai dispelled these distracting thoughts before taking some time to get acquainted with the desolate environment. The first thing Yang Kai did was go to the rock walls and inspect the cave mansions.
Since he would be staying here for three months, naturally, he first needed to determine if there was anyone else living here. If there were others in this place, before entering seclusion, Yang Kai felt it best to at least offer some greetings.
After some investigation though, Yang Kai determined that there was no one living here except for himself!
There were, however, a dozen or so frozen corpses.
These people had all died inside different cave mansions in a cross-legged meditative posture, their expressions all incredibly peaceful, as if they experienced no pain or suffering when they passed away, simply losing all their vitality as they gently slept.