Maplewood City…
Followed by a deafening sound and quaking of the ground, a colourful screen of light appeared out of nowhere, surrounding the entire city in a dome.
These defensive Arrays were painstakingly created and arranged by the past City Lords and masters of major families living in Maplewood City, to guard against the foreign enemies. However, these defensive Arrays had never been activated.
Because Maplewood City hadn’t encountered any powerful enemy invasion so far. Even the cultivators, who had been living in Maplewood City for a long time, had almost forgotten about these defensive Arrays.
But today, all the Spirit Arrays were activated, one after another.
“What is going on? Why are these Spirit Arrays activated?”
“Something big must have happened. A foreign enemy wouldn’t happen to be invading, right?”
“Could an Emperor Realm master be attacking?”
For a while, many cultivators in the city were surprised and confused. Everyone broke into lively discussions. Some even looked toward the City Lord’s Mansion, wondering what the City Lord’s Mansion had to say about it.
At this moment, an anxious shout came from outside the city, “Everyone, quickly enter the city! No delays are allowed!”
This sentence was repeated over and over again. The speaker sounded anxious. Furthermore, the speaker seemed to have imbued his energy into it. His voice was heard throughout Maplewood City.
“It’s Vice City Lord Drunkard!”
After some cultivators recognized the owner of the voice, everyone was stunned. They immediately rushed to the city wall and looked around. After a short while, the wall was jam-packed with cultivators.
The next moment, cries of surprise rang everywhere.
“Look, Sir Vice City Lord seems to be being chased by something!”
“Wa-what the hell is that? It’s all black!”
“Even Sir Vice City Lord is not its opponent!?”
While everyone was clamouring, Drunkard had already arrived before Maplewood City. Seeing him arrive, the cultivator responsible for controlling the Spirit Array barrier immediately opened a gap in front of him. Drunkard’s figure immediately flew inside.
After he entered, the gap was quickly closed again. The barrier looked as good as before.
At the same time, the billowing black Qi that was hot on Drunkard’s tails had also reached the walls. It didn’t slow down and crashed straight into the screen of light.
*Bang…*
A deafening crash instantly resounded across the city. The brightly glowing screen of light shook a little and dimmed all of a sudden, almost shattering. This couldn’t escape from the eyes of the nearby cultivators. Everyone was scared, their faces turning pale as they backed away.
The cultivators maintaining the Array hurriedly mobilized their own energy, pouring more of their energy into the array. Finally, they somehow stabilized the trembling screen of light.
*Swish swish swish…*
Streaks of light immediately shot toward this side from every nook and corner of the city. Obviously, all the cultivators in Maplewood City had noticed the commotion here.
City Lord Duan Yuan Shan was first to appear. The moment he landed on the walls, he stared ahead with a serious look on his face. The corner of his eyelids, twitching.
Several cultivators emanating the aura of Dao Source Realm appeared on either side of him, one by one. And after noticing what was happening before them, everyone’s face turned pale.
“City Lord Duan, what are these things?” One of the grey-haired old men asked.
This old man was a First-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator. He was none other than Qin Family’s Old Ancestor, Qin Zhao Yang! He was the oldest looking cultivator among the ten Dao Source Realm cultivators present here. He looked as if he didn’t have much time left; old age spots could be seen on his face.
This was extremely rare for a Dao Source Realm cultivator. Only those cultivators, whose lifespan was about to reach the limit, would show these signs.
“Yes, City Lord Duan, since you ordered the activation of the defensive Arrays in advance, you should have gotten some news about this, right?” Du Family’s Old Ancestor, Du Li Shen also asked.
Other Dao Source Realm masters of other families also looked to Duan Yuan Shan, hoping to get an explanation from him.
“Demon Qi! Pure Demon Qi of an Ancient Great Demon!” Duan Yuan Shan replied with a serious look on his face. “From what I know, it happened to have leaked 2 thousand kilometres away!”
“Ancient Great Demon’s pure Demon Qi!?” The crowd of Dao Source Realm masters’ expression drastically changed after hearing this.
“This City Lord just got the news. Don’t ask me where this Demon Qi came from, this City Lord doesn’t have a clue. I only know that if we can’t work together, Maplewood City will be destroyed today!”
The crowd of Dao Source Realm masters looked shocked after hearing this.
Duan Yuan Shan looked around. “Everyone, you all are leaders of your respective families. Most of your clansmen are still inside the city. I think you don’t want to see them infected by the Demon Qi and lose their sanity, do you?”
“Of course not!” Qin Zhao Yang was the first to express his position, “But how will we defend against it? I ask Sir City Lord to please share!”
“Yeah! This is the first time we have encountered pure Demon Qi of an Ancient Great Demon. We don’t know what the best way is to get rid of it,” Liang Peng Le of the Liang Family stated with a grim look hanging on his face.
“Well…” Duan Yuan Shan was rendered speechless for a while. Although he was a Second-Order Dao Source Realm master and his cultivation was higher than the others, he was against the pure Demon Qi of an Ancient Great Demon. Just like everyone else, he was encountering it for the first time. How would he have any idea how to get rid of it effectively?
“Brother Duan, we might as well strengthen our defences first. We can slowly research it later!” Drunkard was showing no signs of being drunk. He was wide awake now.
“Exactly!” Duan Yuan Shan’s eyes lit up. He added, “Everyone, please take care of a section of the city wall and help others defend the Spirit Array. I will go look for someone, I might get some answers from him!”
While speaking, Duan Yuan Shan gave an eye signal to Drunkard. Drunkard immediately understood and summoned everyone to come forward before they started studying.
After a while, the Dao Source Realm cultivators had settled on their section to defend before quickly dispersing.
Meanwhile, Drunkard’s expression momentarily changed as if he recalled something. He hurriedly flew toward the City Lord’s Mansion.
The shocking thing happening outside the city had already reached the ears of many cultivators. The word got spread from one to ten, then from ten to a hundred, and so on. Very soon, every cultivator in the entire Maplewood City knew about it. Some hot-blooded cultivators immediately obeyed the call and went to the city wall to assist in the defence.
In a flash, the walls of Maplewood City were jam-packed.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai and Mo Xiao Qi were back at the Spirit Pill Plaza. Yang Kai immediately spread his Divine Sense and knew that Kang Si Ran and the members of the Spirit Pill Plaza were already ready. They had even boarded the ship.
He signalled Mo Xiao Qi before Mo Xiao Qi embarked the ship the next moment.
Just when he was about to enter the ship, he suddenly looked toward a direction, immersed in his thoughts.
In that direction, an unremarkable middle-aged man among the crowd of onlookers was calmly gazing at Yang Kai. When their gazes met, the middle-aged man smiled slightly. His smile appeared quite weird.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
The middle-aged man was a complete stranger. He was sure that he had never seen this guy. However… to his surprise, this man was a Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator. He found this a little unbelievable.
Masters of this level rarely appeared in Maplewood City. Apart from the Luan Feng’s appearance on Clear Jade Mountain last time, which had attracted countless powerful cultivators to investigate, the entire Maplewood City might not have a single Third-Order Dao Source Realm master pass by in a year.
But today, he found one in the crowd. And he seemed to be interested in Yang Kai, which puzzled him.
However, he didn’t give it much of a thought. Instead, he quickly embarked on the ship before controlling the ship to fly off.
After the ship left, the middle-aged man coldly smiled as he muttered to himself in a voice that only he could hear, “Wow, it’s really a case of wearing the iron shoes in fruitless search only to find it by coincidence. Who would have thought that after finding no clues after half a year, I would see the Young Palace Master’s ship here! Since you obtained it, you should know something!”
Surprisingly, this middle-aged man was the master sent by the Flying Saint Palace Master six months ago to investigate who murdered Ning Yuan Cheng!
Following clues, he easily found out that the place where he was seen last time was the auction fair in Maplewood City. So naturally, he rushed all the way to Maplewood City.
However, he didn’t find any useful information even after investigating for six months.
By some lucky coincidence, he managed to see Ning Yuan Cheng’s ship artifact in the city!
He didn’t believe that Yang Kai had the ability to kill Ning Yuan Cheng. After all, Ning Yuan Chen was guarded by a Second-Order Dao Source Realm master, Liu Yi Zhi. And in his opinion, Yang Kai simply didn’t have that kind of ability. But he believed that since Yang Kai could get Ning Yuan Cheng’s ship, he definitely knew something.
Therefore, he was paying attention to Yang Kai.
There were many eyes in the city. It was inconvenient for him to make a move here. He decided to follow him first.
Yang Kai flew the ship to the city walls. But when he saw the situation outside, his heart immediately hit rock bottom!
Because at this moment, the boundless Ancient Demon Qi had already surrounded the entire Maplewood City, leaving not even the slightest bit of gap. Looking from high above, it looked as if the city walls of Maplewood City were built from pitch-black materials.
The pitch-black city wall kept squirming and moving around several dozen kilometres around Maplewood City. Anyone who rushed into it would be in grave danger.
Even though the ship artifact’s grade wasn’t low and it also had some defensive barriers, if Yang Kai hastily rushed in, everyone else besides him would definitely be infected.
“Brother Yang…” Kang Si Ran had obviously noticed the situation. He immediately turned pale. “How did this happen?”
“Ah, it’s too late!” Mo Xiao Qi nibbled her cherry red lips. She looked frustrated. At the same time, she was cursing Zhuang Pan in her heart.
Had they not wasted so much time on Zhuang Pan, maybe they still had the chance to leave here before the Demon Qi surrounded the city. But now, it was too late.
Inside the ship, everyone turned their gazes to Yang Kai.
At this point, Yang Kai’s cultivation was highest, and he had already become everyone’s pillar.
Even though there was a grim look on Yang Kai’s face, he wasn’t in a panic.
Because even if he had nowhere to go, he could send everyone into the Small Sealed World and break through the blockade of Demon Qi alone.
He was eighty percent confident that he could safely escape from it using Space Force.
But this way, he would be unable to hide his big secret, the Sealed World Bead. The members of the Zhang Family were still good. After all, they regarded Yang Kai as their saviour. If Yang Kai asked them to keep the matter about the Sealed World Bead a secret, they would definitely swear an oath and keep a tight lid on it.
As for Spirit Pill Plaza’s waiters and Alchemists, it was hard to say.
Yang Kai didn’t have much friendship with them. If the secret of Sealed World Bead was exposed by them, it would draw countless coveting masters.
The Sealed World Bead was an Emperor Artifact and was a portable Self-Contained World. In the entire Star Boundary, there were few to no other such artifacts.
There were still some Self-Contained World-type Artifacts in the Star Boundary, such as the Five Colored Treasure Pagoda that Yang Kai had gone in last time. Naturally, it was the founding artifact of Star Soul Palace.
However, the biggest difference between the Five Colored Treasure Pagoda and the Sealed World Bead was that the former could not be carried wherever the user pleased. It could only be placed inside the Star Soul Palace.
The Sealed World Bead was extremely important to Yang Kai. He didn’t dare to expose it unless absolutely necessary.
“It seems, it’s impossible to charge through!” Yang Kai muttered to himself. But suddenly his expression changed as he asked, “There should be a Space Array in Maplewood City, right?”
In his home Star Field, most of the major cities had Space Arrays. Not to mention, he was now in the vast Star Boundary. Although Maplewood City wasn’t that big, it still should have a Space Array.
“Yeah! But it’s inside the City Lord’s Mansion!” Kang Si Ran replied with a nod.
“Alright, let’s go to the City Lord’s Mansion!” Yang Kai proposed and immediately controlled the ship to fly toward the City Lord’s Mansion.
Looking down, the entire Maplewood City was in chaos. When the word about pure Demon Qi of Ancient Great Demon surrounding the city got out, many cultivators living in the city naturally panicked. They were afraid that the defensive Array of the city would break and they would end up dead.
And the first route to escape that crossed everyone’s mind was naturally to teleport through the Space Array!
So at this moment, the cultivators were rushing toward the City Lord’s Mansion. No one could tell how many of them were there.
After realizing this, Yang Kai’s face turned ashen. He pushed the ship to fly faster.
After a while, the ship arrived above the City Lord’s Mansion.
But before he could make the ship land, he suddenly sensed energy fluctuations belonging to a Dao Source Realm master from a certain palace. Immediately after, a deafening crash resounded as that palace instantly collapsed, creating a cloud of dust. All of a sudden, there was nothing left of the beautiful palace.
Many cultivators flew from inside the rubble, cursing again and again. All of them looked pretty angry.
Seeing this, Yang Kai’s pupil shrank at once. He was having a bad feeling. He immediately turned to Kang Si Ran and asked, “Brother Kang, that… that wouldn’t be the place where the Transmission Array was, right?”
Kang Si Ran nodded with a frustrated look on his face.
Yang Kai’s corners of mouth started twitching as he focused his gaze at an unkempt figure floating in the air.
This figure had a short stature and was wearing ragged clothes. Its hair was a horrible mess. The figure looked no different than a beggar. But this figure exuded a powerful aura that only Dao Source Realm master could possess. And more importantly, a big green bottle gourd was hanging on his waist.
Obviously, it was none other than Drunkard himself!
At this moment, he was the only Dao Source Realm master here. Apparently, what just happened was his handiwork.
On the ground, countless cultivators were glaring at Drunkard in anger. They looked as if they couldn’t wait to wipe him off the face of this world!
“Sir Vice City Lord, why did you destroy the Transmission Array? I always used to admire you, but who would have thought that you would be so vicious at this critical point!”
“Yeah! Drunkard, why did you destroy my escape route!”
“The Space Array is destroyed. It’s over… We can’t escape anymore…”
“Drunkard, if you don’t give us an explanation, you can forget leaving this place alive!”
“Drunkard, only one of us can remain in this world!”
Angry shouts and questions flew straight toward the hovering Drunkard like the sharpest knife. Some of the agitated cultivators had already started attacking. They summoned their artifacts and cast their Martial Skills as they launched their attacks straight at Drunkard.
Meanwhile, Drunkard just stood right in his place. No matter how he was condemned by the public, he remained absolutely still. Even in the face of those oncoming attacks, he didn’t bat an eye. He just mobilized his Source Qi to defend himself. He had no intention of retaliating.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Drunkard looked around as his eyes flickered with a cold gleam. His voice was low but it was loud and clear, “This Old Man understands what’s going in everyone’s mind and knows what everyone is thinking! But today, our Maplewood City is surrounded by Demon Qi. A disaster is imminent and it might strike at any moment!”
“You freaking old fart, since you know it, why did you destroy the Space Array? You really must have some kind of sinister intent! Just how evil are you?!” A furious roar suddenly came from the crowd.
Drunkard immediately focused his gaze there as his expression turned apologetic. Then, he continued, “This old man had no choice but to do this! Our Maplewood City has a few hundred thousand cultivators. If we can work together, we might be able to survive this disaster. But if everyone left through the Space Array, the city would be destroyed. By then, everyone in the city will be eradicated. The entire city will be wailing. It would be turned into hell!”
“This Old Man has spent his entire life in Maplewood City. All this Old Man’s relatives and friends are here, and so are your friends and relatives! This Old Man doesn’t want to see them infected and lose their sanity. Would you like to see this? If you want to escape with your lives, who will guard your friends and relatives?”
As he said this, Drunkard’s eyes flickered with a majestic aura as he looked about at everyone.
The angry voices coming from the crowd slowly grew weaker and weaker. Many heads were hung in shame as they started ruminating.
“Our Maplewood City is just a drop in the ocean in the Star Boundary! It’s not even well-known in the Southern Territory! Hardly anyone knows it! But I am proud of my Maplewood City’s sons and daughters! This Old Man has lived most of his life here, witnessed the prosperity of Maplewood City for hundreds of years. This Old Man loves this city and doesn’t want to see the city destroyed!”
“Everyone, don’t worry. We have already sent some messengers to the other cities through the Transmission Array. They will pass the news to Star Soul Palace and other prominent Sects. I believe that masters will come to our rescue and save our Maplewood City soon!”
“But before that, this Old Man begs everyone to join me in protecting the city! Let’s fend off the foreign enemies together! This Old Man assures you that I will do my best to protect the city and safeguard everyone’s safety. Even if my blood is spilled, I will have no complaints!”
“Ladies and gentlemen, please help me!”
Having said this, Drunkard looked at everyone with an earnest and sincere look in his eyes.
The entire crowd was completely quiet. They were no longer clamouring like before.
“Count this City Lord in too! This City Lord swears on his heart demon: If the city exists, everyone exists, if it’s destroyed, everyone dies!” Duan Yuan Shan’s voice came from the distance. After a while, he appeared beside Drunkard in a flash.
Drunkard was startled, smiling at Duan Yuan Shan.
“Old Drunk, nicely done.” Duan Yuan Shan whispered quietly. He looked extremely thankful.
Drunkard shook his head.
At this moment, someone among the crowd suddenly shouted aloud, “Let’s follow Sir City Lord and Sir Vice City Lord, follow their orders. If the city exists, everyone exists, if it’s destroyed, everyone dies!”
“If the city exists, everyone exists, if it’s destroyed, everyone dies!”
“If the city exists, everyone exists, if it’s destroyed, everyone dies!”
More and more cultivators joined the shouting. Gradually, their shouts shook the entire city. Their voices resounded throughout the city, reaching Heaven!
Everyone’s heart was united!
Everyone’s will was united like a fortress!
Drunkard looked down at the crowd in relief and deeply bowed to everyone!
Whether everyone was supporting him sincerely or because they were forced to help, as long as they were willing to do their part in defending Maplewood City, they deserved his gratitude.
“Thank you, everyone. We have no way out. If we want to survive, we have to resist the Demon Qi. I invite everyone to go to the city wall and support the fellow cultivators in the city!” Drunkard’s voice was heard loud and clear across the city.
Just as he said this, everyone below started moving. They immediately cast various movement techniques or summoned flight-type artifacts as they dispersed in every direction.
“Old Drunk, I’ll leave the things here to you. I’ll have to meet someone,” having finished speaking, Duan Yuan Shan turned his gaze at a nearby ship. He then arrived before the ship with a flicker, cupped his fist, and asked, “Brother Yang, can we meet?”
“City Lord Yuan, please come in,” Yang Kai’s voice came from inside the ship.
Hearing this, Duan Yuan Shan smiled lightly before he stepped on the ship.
Heading inside the cabin, Duan Yuan Shan met Yang Kai who had an indifferent look on his face.
“Brother Yang!” Duan Yuan Shan cupped his fists again before a grim look took over his face as he stated the purpose of his visit, “Please forgive this Duan for coming uninvited, but this Duan wants to ask Brother Yang about the Ancient Demon Qi!”
“I know.” Yang Kai nodded. He didn’t mean to hide anything. He briefly narrated everything that happened in the mine.
Having heard everything, Duan Yuan Shan tightly furrowed his brow before he asked again, “So, according to Brother Yang, all of this is because of the Jiang Family?”
“Yeah!” Yang Kai nodded.
“No wonder I didn’t see that oldie, Jiang Tai Sheng!” Duan Yuan Shan looked furious. He immediately asked again, “Since Brother Yang has come in contact with Ancient Demon Qi, do you know how to resist it?”
Yang Kai shook his head. “I don’t have a clue. All I know is that after that Ancient Demon Qi invades someone’s body, it will cause the victim’s temperament to change. And… anyone who has recently died would come back to life after being invaded by it!”
“How is this possible?” Duan Yuan Shan’s expression changed.
“I don’t know. Perhaps there is something mystical about the Ancient Demon Qi.”
While the two were talking, Mo Xiao Qi suddenly interjected, “Actually, there is no special way to deal with the Ancient Demon Qi. It can only be dispersed with strength. If it was just an ordinary Demon Qi, there are things to restrain it, but the pure Demon Qi from an Ancient Great Demon is very hard to suppress. However…”
“However, what!?” Duan Yuan Shan immediately turned to Mo Xiao Qi. His face was filled with questions.
“In the mine, since Pure Heart Jade was used as a sealing medium, then Pure Heart Jade should be able to resist the invasion of the Demon Qi. If the cultivators of the city wore some Pure Heart Jade, it might have some restraining effect.”
“Pure Heart Jade!?” Duan Yuan Shan raised his brows. This was giving him a headache. “Pure Heart Jade is very rare. There are some in the City Lord’s Mansion’s storehouse, but there are very few of them!”
A smile immediately bloomed on Mo Xiao Qi’s face. She took out a few rings and handed them to Duan Yuan Shan. “Sir City Lord, take a look at these.”
Duan Yuan Shan took them suspiciously. But as he scanned them with his Divine Sense, he immediately cried with a pleasant surprise, “So much Pure Heart Jade!?”
The rings Mo Xiao Qi handed to Duan Yuan Shan were filled with Pure Heart Jade. They were countless!
This made Duan Yuan Shan overjoyed.
“Miss, are these all from that mine?” Duan Yuan Shan asked after a moment of thought.
Mo Xiao Qi nodded. “I defeated a few Jiang Family cultivators in the mine and snatched their Space Rings. These are all they had.”
“This Duan will humbly accept Miss’ graciousness!” While speaking, Duan Yuan Shan immediately stood up and deeply bowed to Mo Xiao Qi.
Mo Xiao Qi hurriedly waved off and apologetically said, “City Lord Duan, don’t be so serious. Actually, these are nothing.”
Duan Yuan Shan shook his head and quickly responded, “In any case, my Maplewood City has noted down Miss’ graciousness. If we survive this catastrophe, Miss will be the honoured guest of my Maplewood City!”
The Pure Heart Jade was more or less useful to every cultivator. It was quite valuable. And this much Pure Heart Jade was a huge fortune.
Had it been any other ordinary cultivator, it was quite unlikely that they would offer these many Pure Heart even if they knew that Maplewood City was in danger. However, Mo Xiao Qi took them out without so much as batting her eyes.
Duan Yuan Shan was extremely grateful for this.
“All these Pure Heart Jade can be considered to have been bought by my Maplewood City’s City Lord’s Mansion. In the future, my City Lord’s Mansion will convert them into corresponding Source Crystals and pay you, Miss,” Duan Yuan Shan added.
“It’s really alright!” Mo Xiao Qi really had no idea what to say.
Yang Kai’s expression flickered as he stated, “City Lord Duan, I also have some Pure Heart Jade here. If they are not enough, just tell me!”
Duan Yuan Shan’s eyes lit up after hearing this. He broke into laughter, “After Brother Yang and Miss’ help, my Maplewood City has nothing to worry about! Please let this Duan thank Brother Yang for your generosity in advance. If they really fall short, I will come to Brother Yang. Well, this Duan would now like to distribute these Pure Heart Jade. I wonder if Brother Yang would like to go with this Duan to the city wall… to defend against the foreign enemies?”
Yang Kai didn’t answer immediately. Rather, he glanced around at the others before answering, “I can come but let me drop them off first.”
“But of course! This Duan will go first!” Duan Yuan Shan was in glee after hearing this. He had gotten another Dao Source Realm master’s help. It would be beneficial for the entire Maplewood City. He naturally thanked Yang Kai’s cardinal principles and righteousness.
After bidding goodbye, his figure immediately went out of the ship and flew straight toward the city wall.
After Duan Yuan Shan left, Yang Kai turned his gaze at Mo Xiao Qi and stated, “Xiao Qi, my cave mansion has been taken back by the City Lord’s Mansion. Can I leave them in your cave mansion?”
“Sure,” Mo Xiao Qi readily agreed.
Yang Kai nodded, and following her guidance, piloted the ship to her secluded mansion.
After a while, a crowd arrived at Mo Xiao Qi’s cave mansion.
Under Yang Kai’s arrangement, the Zhang Family and the waiters and two Alchemists of the Spirit Pill Plaza entered the cave mansion.
“Please rest here. If something changes in Maplewood City again, I will come to you in advance and take you out of here,” after saying this, Yang Kai looked at Zhang Ruo Xi and ordered, “Ruo Xi, take care of your Zhang Family.”
“Yes! Sir, please be careful!” Zhang Ruo Xi looked at Yang Kai with a worried look.
“Xiao Qi, do you have a secret room here?” asked Yang Kai.
“Yes, come with me.” Although Mo Xiao Qi didn’t know what Yang Kai wanted to do, she still promptly led the way.
“Brother Kang, you are coming with us as well!” Yang Kai shouted at Kang Si Ran.
Even though Kang Si Ran was suspicious, he followed after them without asking any questions.
The cave mansion rented by Mo Xiao Qi was the best in Maplewood City, whether it was in the density of the World Energy or the size of the cave mansion. The cave mansion Yang Kai had rented before was a far cry from this.
The cave mansion had five-six secret rooms for a retreat.
After arriving before the secret room, Yang Kai gave an eye signal to Mo Xiao Qi, who astutely withdrew.
“Brother Yang, why did you bring me here?” Kang Si Ran was at a loss. He had no idea why Yang Kai brought him to a secret room in this moment of crisis. [Shouldn’t I be coordinating with the cultivators outside to defend against the Demon Qi?]
“Brother Kang, take a look at this.” While speaking, Yang Kai threw him a jade bottle.
Kang Si Ran sceptically took it. Next, he opened its lid and flipped it upside down as a pill rolled down from the jade bottle.
The next moment, Kang Si Ran seemed to have been struck by lightning. His eyes immediately lit up as he suspiciously looked at the pill on his hand. There was a look of incredulity on his face. He studied the pill with widened eyes for a while. And when he had finally determined what it was, he couldn’t help but blurt out in shock, “A Dao Source Pill!?”
As the shopkeeper of the Spirit Pill Plaza, countless pills had been traded by his hands. So, Kang Si Ran was deeply knowledgeable about them. Although he had never seen the Dao Source Pill, how could he not tell what the Dao Source Pill looked like and how it smelled?
The pill in his hand was precisely the very Dao Source Pill from legends.
The only difference was that this Dao Source Pill had lines on it like the meridians of a human body. Delicate patterns that looked like they had been carved by Heaven and Earth itself dotted the pill.
“Dao Source Pill with Pill Veins?” Kang Si Ran’s voice became sharper and louder. His hands were trembling uncontrollably.
“I got this from the Yuan Furnace Mountain. As Brother Kang had expected, a Dao Source Pill refined by Gong Sun Mu himself was indeed left by him in his cave mansion. Unfortunately, too much time has passed. Only, this one was left. The others have been reduced to waste!” Yang Kai explained, looking regretful.
Of course, all of this was nonsense.
This Dao Source Pill with Pill Veins was refined by him personally before he broke through to the Dao Source Realm. After successfully refining it, he didn’t have the time to check his own handiwork as he was immediately absorbed in his advancement.
After having successfully advanced, he had the time to check it while he was waiting for Liu Yan near the Yuan Furnace Mountain.
At that time, he had refined six pills at once, five of which were ordinary Dao Source Pills. Only this one gave birth to Pill Veins!
Fortunately, there was this one. Otherwise, he would not be able to explain the origin of the Dao Source Pill.
After all, only a pill that had given birth to Pill Veins could withstand the erosion of time without losing its medicinal properties.
As such, he could tell Kang Si Ran that this Dao Source Pill came from the Yuan Furnace Mountain and was personally refined by Gong Sun Mu himself. It was within rhyme and reason.
“Brother Yang, this…” Although Kang Si Ran was excited and was unable to calm himself, he didn’t have the slightest bit of greed in his heart. Rather, he looked at Yang Kai and stated, gritting his teeth, “This thing is extremely expensive. This Kang can’t take it!”
Yang Kai chuckled, “Brother Kang, you are treating me like an outsider by saying this. If it weren’t for you, I would never have gone to Yuan Furnace Mountain. Not to mention, didn’t you and I discuss it before that if we find a Dao Source Pill inside, it will be yours and the rest of the things regarding Alchemy would belong to me? Let me put it this way, I didn’t just find this Dao Source Pill inside the Yuan Furnace Mountain, I got something useful as well. I even got to advance to the Dao Source Realm thanks to the opportunity inside!”
Yang Kai wasn’t lying. Had he not taken the Ten Thousand Medicinal Treasures Soup underground the Yuan Furnace Mountain, the Source Qi in his body would not have converted so quickly, and if his Source Qi had not been completely converted, he would not have been able to break through to the Dao Source Realm.
“Be that as it may, I didn’t help you at all. If this Dao Source Pill was auctioned, it would be worth tens of millions of Source Crystals, or even more. This Kang doesn’t deserve to receive such an expensive item!” Kang Si Ran kept shaking his head in refusal. He even put the Dao Source Pill back into the jade bottle with a flip of his hand and stuffed it into Yang Kai’s hands.
Even though his eyes were filled with unwillingness, his movements weren’t the least bit tardy. Even his voice was loud and clear. Obviously, he wasn’t being hypocritical but he genuinely thought so.
In the last auction fair, the Dao Source Fruit was auctioned for more than 10 million Source Crystals in the finale. Although a furnace of Dao Source Pill could be refined with a Dao Source Fruit and one could even get several pills if he or she was blessed by lady luck, it also had corresponding risks. The Alchemist might fail and all of it could be for nought.
And Yang Kai had taken out a Dao Source Pill with Pill Veins! Its effectiveness would be exceptional!
In terms of value, it was definitely several times more valuable than the Dao Source Fruit!
In other words, if a peak Third-Order Origin King took this Dao Source Pill, there was a 70% chance of him being promoted to the Dao Source Realm!
“Brother Kang, do you really not want it!?” Yang Kai looked at Kang Si Ran with a playful smile.
Kang Si Ran resolutely shook his head. But his eyes never left Yang Kai’s hand. Finally, he steeled his heart and turned his head away. If the eyes don’t see anything, the heart will not grieve.
“In that case…” Yang Kai spoke very slowly. Next, he opened the jade bottle and tossed the Dao Source Pill in his hand.
“What do you want to do?” Kang Si Ran vigilantly looked at Yang Kai.
“I want to eat it like a fried bean. This pill smells so good, it’s obviously very tasty,” while speaking, Yang Kai really tossed the pill in his hand. The Dao Source Pill immediately flew into the air. It made a parabolic arc as it flew toward his opened mouth.
“Stop it!” Kang Si Ran was struck with panic. He immediately reached out as the Dao Source Pill flew back into his hand before it could enter Yang Kai’s mouth. He lashed out, infuriated, “Damn you, damn you, Brother Yang! You are really wasting Heaven’s gift. It’s intolerable by Heaven and Earth!”
“You don’t want it anyway,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent look hanging on his face.
“Then, can’t you…” while speaking, Kang Si Ran sighed in resignation. “Forget it, since Brother Yang is treating me like this, if this Kang still acts all coy and shy, that would be really low. This Kang accepts this Dao Source Pill. This Kang will forever remember Brother Yang’s kindness. I will definitely repay you in the future. Brother Yang, please accept this Kang’s bow!”
Having said this, he straightened his clothes before he deeply bowed to Yang Kai with an earnest look on his face.
Yang Kai grinned meaningfully and nodded, accepting his bow straight-on, “That’s better.”
Suddenly, he turned serious and stated, “Brother Kang, you retreat in here and refine its medicinal efficacies. If my estimate is right, Maplewood City would not have any trouble hanging on for the next seven to eight days. These days will be enough for your advancement. I will be waiting outside for Brother Kang’s good news!”
“Either I will succeed or die trying! This Kang will live up to Brother Yang’s expectations!” Kang Si Ran quickly replied.
Kang Si Ran had remained stagnant in the Third-Order Origin King Realm for a good couple of hundred years already. If not for the aid from the Dao Source Pill, he couldn’t improve his cultivation at all. Yang Kai’s Dao Source Pill with Pill Veins could be said to be the perfect gift at a time when he needed it the most.
With Kang Si Ran’s help, Yang Kai was able to obtain great benefits at the bottom of the Yuan Furnace Mountain. Furthermore, he was also willing to lend him a few hundred thousand Source Crystals to use during the auction fair. Recalling how favourable he had been treated, Yang Kai did not hesitate one bit to give that Dao Source Pill to Kang Si Ran.
[If I am shown kindness and respect, I will return it tenfold.] Yang Kai had never been stingy in his life.
Although Mo Xiao Qi was also at a peak Third-Order Origin King, and might be able to promote her cultivation to the next stage within a short period of time through the aid of the Dao Source Pill, her situation was different from Kang Si Ran.
Mo Xiao Qi was young, yet already possessed this level of cultivation. Furthermore, she had a mysterious background, an extraordinary one in fact. Without even talking about her not needing the Dao Source Pill at all, it was exceedingly likely that she possessed the strength to obtain one if needed.
Although using the Dao Source Pill to obtain a cultivation breakthrough would not have too much of an effect on a cultivator, it might have an impact on a cultivator’s future cultivation progress.
Therefore, no cultivator would use pills to assist in their cultivation breakthroughs unless they were faced with insurmountable situations. This was the reason why Yang Kai did not consume a Dao Source Pill to break through into the Dao Source Realm.
By the time Yang Kai had left the cave mansion, not only was he accompanied by Mo Xiao Qi, he was also accompanied by the old woman and beautiful lady from the Zhang Family.
The latter two were not willing to wait for their deaths within the cave mansion, as, after all, there were other heirs of their family present here. If the city was to really be broken into, their Zhang Family would inevitably face complete destruction. Therefore, regardless of how Yang Kai tried to persuade them, the old woman and beautiful woman of the Zhang Family still decided to head out to face their enemies, contributing their strength to defend their city.
Exasperated, Yang Kai had no other choice but to take a step back.
Fortunately, although the two did not possess powerful cultivations, they were both First-Order Origin Kings, which wasn’t too shabby. Therefore, it would not be too much of a problem if they were to aid the city guards in reinforcing the Spirit Array by the city walls.
A beam of light encased the 4 of them as they flew rapidly within Maplewood City. Within a short period of time, they arrived at a section of the city walls.
As far as their eyes could see, a stretch of pitch black darkness filled everything outside of the city walls. Endless waves of Demon Qi surged about, appearing as though it was alive, sending shivers racking through anyone who saw it. Time to time, one would even be able to hear bouts of what seemed like cries and howls, sounds that seem to draw out painful memories in the depths of people’s hearts, forcing every cultivator to circulate their strength to resist them.
On the city wall, Duan Yuan Shan was in charge of distributing Pure Heart Jades. Any cultivator that had headed to the city walls to defend the city would be able to obtain a Pure Heart Jade as a contingency measure.
Upon seeing Yang Kai arriving, a delighted expression appeared on Duan Yuan Shan’s face as he promptly said his greetings: “Over here, Brother Yang!’
In a blink, Yang Kai brought Mo Xiao Qi and the two Zhang Family ladies right before Duan Yuan Shan. Looking at the scenery outside, they discovered that the Demon Qi was truly ferocious. However, from the looks of it now, Maplewood City did not seem to have much trouble, if any. There were quite a few cultivators present in every section of the city wall. Some were maintaining the defensive Spirit Array, while others were displaying their Martial Skills, unleashing ferocious attacks at the squirming Demon Qi.
“Sir City Lord, please do tell us if you need any help at all.” Yang Kai cupped his fists and said.
“Since you’ve said it, Brother Yang, I’ll be frank. Right at this moment, there aren’t many Dao Source Realm Masters present within the city. If we count in Brother Yang, we still aren’t able to hit ten. Every one of them has been allocated to a section of a city wall to take charge of defence. From the looks of it now, we still are able to hold on for a while. However, we also can’t drop our guard. Brother Yang, you don’t have any special mission. You can go about handling your matters, and while doing that, see around if there’s any place that needs assistance and provide your help. How about that?” asked Duan Yuan Shan with a solemn expression.
“Alright!” Yang Kai nodded his head.
Duan Yuan Shan quickly pulled out a communication artifact. Handling it to Yang Kai, he said: “Take this, Brother Yang. If anyone needs help, they’ll definitely use this to communicate. When that happens, I beseech for Brother Yang to respond at the first instant!”
Taking it, Yang Kai did not store it in his Space Ring, opting to keep it within his robes.
Turning his head, he looked at Mo Xiao Qi and the two Zhang Family ladies, and said: “For now, please stay here and listen to City Lord Duan’s commands. I’ll go and look around.”
As he said those words, he transformed into a streak of light, cruising about along the city walls.
Along the city walls, countless Maplewood City cultivators were rallying together and fighting bravely. The majority of them had cultivations of Origin King Realm, and they would either fight alone, or come together in groups of three to five. Upon exhausting their strength, they would retreat back up the city walls where there would naturally be others to take their place.
After doing an investigation, Yang Kai realized that the situation wasn’t too bad at all.
After experiencing the initial bout of panic and bewilderment, the cultivators present in Maplewood City had already calmed their minds down. Instead of continuing to think of how to flee and escape from the city, they had truly united their wills together to defend against the Demon Qi.
Brilliant rays of light stemming from various Martial Skills rumbled towards the Demon Qi. Although they were quickly destroyed by the latter, with his acute Divine Sense, Yang Kai could naturally sense that the Demon Qi was also being worn down in the process.
A single person might be utterly inadequate, but 100 people, 1000 people, 10000 people, 100 thousand people… if all of them did the same thing, the effect would be entirely different.
Every time, when the Demon Qi seemed to rush forwards, it would be met by powerful Secret Techniques or Martial Skills, dispelling the seemingly unstoppable Demon Qi.
With a casual test, Yang Kai discovered that indeed, this was a foolproof simple method to deal with the Demon Qi surrounding the city.
However, the Demon Qi possessed exceedingly powerful corrosive properties. Therefore, most cultivators simply did not dare to brandish their artifacts, choosing to only rely on their Secret Techniques and Martial Skills to unleash attacks.
At this moment, Maplewood City seemed to give off a well-fortified feeling. This feeling brought forth great delight in the hearts of the cultivators on the city walls, with their morale gaining an extremely large boost. At the same time, there was an inevitable surge of contempt for the Demonic Qi, as though this was the worse it could get.
Time slowly passed.
It had been a day since Maplewood City had been encircled by Demon Qi, and, in fact, there had yet to be a fatality or people injured at all.
This unusual development turned the vigilance-meter in Yang Kai’s heart into overdrive. After all, while he was in the mine, he had personally experienced the terror brought by the Ancient Demon Qi. Although he did not engage in a head-on confrontation against it, just the berserk intent radiating from the Demon Qi could not be underestimated.
Messages coming from the various Dao Source Realm Masters were transmitted through the communication artifact. Therefore, despite everyone being at different places, all of them were able to gain a clear understanding of the situations present at each other’s locations.
As dawn broke on the next day, something seemed to happen to the Demon Qi that surrounded Maplewood City, as it proceeded to gradually retreat a couple dozen metres, leaving an empty circular zone between it and the city walls.
Upon seeing this, the cultivators on the city walls instantly let off earth-shattering cheers of jubilation.
Believing that they had managed to successfully fight the Demon Qi back, they could not help to start congratulating each other and celebrating their victory.
In fact, a few of the Dao Source Realm masters had also assumed this to be true.
“Don’t let your guard down!” Duan Yuan Shan’s voice rang out from the communication artifact, his tone sounding solemn.
At a certain part of the city wall, Yang Kai stood in the air, narrowing his eyes as he looked ahead. Despite being a Dao Source Realm Master, which granted him extraordinary visual prowess, with the darkest time of the day being before daybreak, coupled with the surging Demon Qi, he was unable to see too far into the distance.
All of a sudden, minute vibrations started to shake the earth, as a series of muffled rumbling noises seemed to ring on in the far distance, travelling at an exceedingly fast speed towards the city.
In the beginning, these vibrations were very minute, to the point that they were barely noticeable. However, they grew more and more apparent as time passed.
The cheers coming from the cultivators on the city walls came to a grinding halt. After exchanging glances with each other, slivers of unease started to surface in their hearts.
Yang Kai took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Upon opening them, a golden radiance had impressively covered his left eye, with that pupil also turning into a shocking vertical shape.
Demon Eye of Annihilation, piercing through all illusions!
Within his left eye, he could see through the Demon Qi with ease, allowing him to see into its depths…
In the next instant, his expression suddenly changed as he roared towards the nearby cultivators: “Hurry up and increase the strength of the Spirit Array!”
At the same time, his Divine Sense surged, rushing into the communication artifact to transmit messages to the other Dao Source Realm masters: “There’s a large number of demonized Monster Beasts and Human cultivators in our vicinity! Everyone be careful!”
Within his field of view, he could see strong and powerful figures currently heading over to his direction from within the endless surging Demon Qi. Not only were there Monster Beasts present among those figures, but also Humans.
These Monster Beasts were all strange and grotesquely shaped. God knows where they popped out from, but their entire bodies radiated vicious and evil auras that blotted their surroundings.
As for those humans, after being corrupted by the Demon Qi, their auras had also been warped, with their vitality turning extremely vigorous.
Regardless of whether they were Monster Beasts or Humans, or their varying realms of cultivation, their numbers were incredibly terrifying. Rushing over from all directions, with seemingly endless numbers, they appeared to have already surrounded the entirety of Maplewood City.
Upon hearing Yang Kai’s roar, the nearby cultivators did not hesitate one bit as they hurriedly channelled their strength into the defensive Spirit Array.
With a resounding hum, the Spirit Array’s radiance instantly grew brighter by a few degrees.
The reason why these cultivators were doing what they were told to do was completely due to Yang Kai displaying the might of a Dao Source Realm Master a day ago. To them, there wasn’t any reason to doubt the words of a Dao Source Realm Master.
In the next instant, Duan Yuan Shan’s orders came ringing out from the communication artifact.
In a split second, the defensive Spirit Array surrounding the entire Maplewood City was tuned up to its most powerful state, its sparkling radiance so bright that it seemed as though daybreak had descended upon the vicinity of the city walls.
HONG LONG LONG…
The Demon Qi, which had been forced back several dozen metres, started to surge forward once again, roaring like a tsunami as it swirled up into giant waves that blotted the skies, rumbling right towards the city walls.
Sparks started to appear in massive quantities.
The Demon Qi was being blocked by the defensive light screen, continuously corroding its power, which caused bone-jarring sounds to ring out.
God knows how many times the cultivators on the city walls experienced this situation, which naturally made them react by channelling their power without restraint into the Spirit Array.
However, just at this instant, figure after figure suddenly started to rely on the protection of the endless Demon Qi as they rushed from within.
Vicious, demonized Monster Beasts with jet black eyes and humans shrouded in swirling black fog swept out before the Maplewood City cultivators in a spectre-like fashion.
Bang Bang Bang… collision sounds continued to ring out.
After making contact, those demonized Monster Beasts unleashed their unique Divine Abilities, resulting in rainbow coloured rays of beast techniques blossoming in the air. Furthermore, these demons still possessed the abilities of their previous life, with some even able to summon their artifacts to launch ferocious attacks at the defensive light barrier.
Like a ball, sunken depressions continued to appear on the defensive barrier. Despite it being like a balloon and rebounding, the brilliant radiance of the defensive Spirit Array was rapidly turning dim.
Everyone turned pale in fright!
At the section of the city wall where Yang Kai was located, the cultivators were also stunned by what they were witnessing. Fortunately, due to Yang Kai’s earlier warning, everyone had some level of mental preparation. After the initial shock had passed, everyone immediately unleashed their Secret Techniques and Martial Skills with even greater ferocity, sending them rumbling towards the Demon Qi; but the Demon Qi consumed it all, leaving no trace behind.
Yang Kai flicked all of his fingers, shooting bolt after bolt of Gold Blood Thread. Under the perfect control of his Divine Sense, they whipped around like thrashing dragons, leaving behind stretches of golden brilliance within the Demon Qi.
Maplewood City defensive Spirit Array was unidirectional – when activated, it would block attacks from outside the city, while defensive attacks from within the city could pass through the Spirit Array freely.
The vast majority of cities had similar protective arrays, while some used a bidirectional Spirit Array. However, the bidirectional arrays would only be activated under the direst of circumstances.
Once they were activated, it meant that the city was clinging to the last line of defence. The cultivators within the cities would be unable to launch counterattacks against enemies outside of the arrays, and they would only be able to wait for their impending death.
“Chi Chi Chi Chi…” As golden rays of light sparkled about, the Monster Beasts and Demons that were lunging ferociously at the city walls were sliced apart, turning into countless pieces of meat and bloody clumps, raining down from the sky.
In an instant, an area of about a couple dozen metres before Yang Kai had become devoid of any living creature.
These Monster Beasts and humans who were corrupted by the Ancient Great Demon’s Demon Qi all possessed a high level of strength. Their fleshly bodies had been greatly enhanced, and not only were they ruthless, but they were even capable of utilizing the skills and techniques they possessed prior to their corruption. If any one of them engaged in a one-on-one duel with a cultivator at the same cultivation realm, they would win every single time.
However… Yang Kai was in the Dao Source Realm!
These demonized Monster Beasts and humans did not have powerful cultivation realms before their corruption, the highest being was at the Origin King Realm. Therefore, they were as weak as tofu before the berserk dance of the Golden Blood Threads.
Seeing this, the nearby cultivators had a massive surge in morale, and each of them proceeded to unleash their special skills, launching ferocious attacks towards the enemies. For a brief moment, the section of the city wall Yang Kai was responsible for seemed to be holding strong, providing the cultivators with a huge confidence boost.
Yet, a solemn shade blanketed Yang Kai’s face after he cast his sight into the distance. The demonized Monster Beasts and humans were simply too great in number, like endless waves stretching into the distance. Shrouded in jet-black Demon Qi, they took advantage of the surging waves of Demon Qi to unleash their attacks.
It just took a momentary lapse in concentration for the defensive Spirit Array to be weakened significantly, causing it to turn dim.
While waving his ten fingers, Yang Kai came to a sudden realization.
He suddenly understood why it was only the Demon Qi that had surrounded the city yesterday, yet in the next day, countless demons and Monster Beasts had appeared.
This was clearly the result of the Ancient Demon Qi that had propagated earlier. It had demonized the various living creatures in the surroundings of Maplewood City, hence, there was not a single trace of any Monster Beasts or demons on the first day.
From the look of it, no living creature in the vicinity of Maplewood City could have survived this, and it was not known just how far the Demon Qi had spread.
Just as he was focusing on defending against the demonized living creatures, the communication artifact in his chest pocket suddenly vibrated. Immediately, his expression changed as he hastily pulled it out to check the message he had received.
“The situation at the southwest corner has changed! Hurry and reinforce it, Brother Yang!”
City Lord Duan Yuan Shan’s command rang out from within the communication artifact!
Returning the communication artifact to his pocket, Yang Kai turned to look southwest. Unfortunately, his objective was too far away, and he was unable to make anything out. The only thing he could make out was the incomparably dense Demon Qi, as well as traces of furious roars ringing from that direction.
Just as he was surveying the situation, a figure suddenly flashed to his side. Upon appearing, the person spoke out in haste: “Go over there, Brother Yang! This old man will take charge of this section of the wall!”
The person who said those words was, impressively, the Maplewood City’s Vice Lord, Drunkard!
Having said that, Drunkard suddenly pulled out the large green gourd that had been hanging on his waist, before taking a fierce gulp of wine. While doing so, he formed seals with his hands, and his face abruptly turned red.
In the next instant, his cheeks bulged out, before he spit at the enemies fiercely.
An endless stream of intense flames spewed out from his mouth. Surging forth, the intense flames were filled with unimaginable heat. Any Demons or Monster Beasts that it came into contact with would cry out miserably as they retreated. Nevertheless, they were unable to extinguish the flames that had landed on their bodies. Despite their struggling, all of them were reduced into piles of ashes within three breaths.
The nausea-inducing smell of burnt flesh began to perfuse through the air.
Not yet done, Drunkard proceeded to wave his head about slightly, causing the flames spewing out from his mouth to follow suit. He kept it up until an intense wall of flames 300 metres wide was formed before the city walls.
A fiery glow covered the skies, casting its radiance everywhere, as though it wanted to burn the entire sky into a fiery red shade.
All of the surrounding demons retreated in succession, no longer willing to even come close at all.
Bringing his exhalation of flames to a stop, a slight shiver racked through Drunkard’s body. It seemed that this move was a taxing one that he wasn’t able to use easily.
Seeing this, Yang Kai nodded towards Drunkard and disappeared with a flicker.
The southeast corner was quite a distance away from his current location. However, for Yang Kai, who possessed a Spatial Secret Technique, it didn’t take long at all.
Yang Kai unleashed his Space Techniques without any restraint, arriving in the southeastern corner in a few flashes.
Right as he arrived, Yang Kai’s eyes immediately narrowed after taking in what was around him!
At this moment, there was a hole several dozen metres wide in the defensive Spirit Array. Just like a cat that had smelt fish, the surging Demon Qi came drilling in through the hole, and there were even quite a few demonic figures present within the incoming Demon Qi, unleashing attacks at the nearby cultivators as they breached the city walls.
There were several dozen corpses strewn across the ground, while slivers of Demon Qi were slithering into their noses and mouths!
Standing at the entrance of the hole was an old man with a head full of white, a jade sceptre in his hand. Waving it around, mysterious beams of light radiated out from the sceptre, turning the demonic beings rushing through the hole into dust.
This old man was radiating the aura of a Dao Source Realm Master! He was unleashing his Source Qi without restraint, causing his robes to flutter about in its might. On the city walls, countless cultivators stood united as they defended against the invading Demon Qi and demonic creatures. The entire situation was utterly chaotic!
Right after he arrived, Yang Kai immediately summoned his Dao Source Grade Low-Rank sword. Activating his Five Element Indestructible Sword Qi, sword flowers blossomed on his long sword as he sent a stab downwards!
Chi Chi Chi Chi…
Rainbow coloured beams of sword Qi rained down from the sky, enveloping a gigantic region.
All of the demonic creatures that were within this region were either sliced in two or suffered serious injuries, leaving them roaring furiously in anger.
Moreover, the greater portion of the Sword Qi swept towards the complete corpses present on the ground.
Pu pu pu…
As the Sword Qi scattered away, explosive sounds rang out from the corpses, before all of them exploded into dust!
The countless cultivators who had witnessed this sight were dumbfounded by what they saw. In the next instant, all of them shot furious glares at Yang Kai!
After all, among the corpses lying on the ground, there were family members, friends, and compatriots who had fought alongside them.
They had been killed by demonic creatures, and nothing could be done about it; but denying the chance to have their bodies remain in one piece after their death? Even more incorrigible was that it was one of their own that had destroyed all traces of the bodies! How could anyone ignore this?
“If you all don’t wish for more demonic creatures to be born, destroy all of the corpses! This Demon Qi not only corrupts living, but it doesn’t even let the dead in peace!” Noticing their misunderstanding, Yang Kai hastily shouted in response.
Hearing his words, some of them seemed to understand, but the majority still had doubts within their hearts.
After all, how could the dead come back to life? No matter how incomparably mysterious the Ancient Demon Qi was, how could it let the dead live again?
However, their doubts did not last long, as a corpse suddenly rose. Shrouded in Demon Qi, its eyes snapped open, no longer having any white; the colour had been fully replaced by an abstruse, scarlet-black shade.
“This Sir is indeed correct! Hurry up and destroy the remaining bodies!” Some people shouted out loudly.
Now, who would dare to hesitate? Everyone proceeded to take action, destroying all of the bodies in their vicinity.
As for those newly resurrected Demons, their heads were chopped off by Yang Kai before they could even examine the world after death, falling right back onto the ground.
Turning around, Yang Kai swept his sword out once again, radiance blossoming and Sword Qi shooting out without restraint.
Ching….
Sword Qi swept out, ripping the greater half of the demonic creatures present into ten thousand pieces!
“I’ll leave the rest to you guys!” With a shout, Yang Kai took to the air and headed towards the old man.
The source of the danger in the southeast corner was ultimately the broken defensive Spirit Array. If the hole wasn’t patched, endless amounts of Demon Qi and demonic creatures would continue to pour through.
Not far away, there were already Array Masters hard at work. However, they still required a bit more time to repair the array.
It was utterly impossible to rely solely on the old man to block up the hole. From time to time, the demonic creatures that were able to slip through his attacks would make it to the city, causing chaos to the cultivators below.
Furthermore, from his expression, it appeared as though the old man was somewhat unable to continue sustaining the constant activation of the sceptre artifact in his hand. The burden of using it was immense, causing his expression to turn slightly pale as a result.
“I’m here to help you, old sir!” With a flash, Yang Kai appeared by the side of the old man. Right as he finished saying those words, he shook the long sword in his hand. A shimmer glazed over the long sword, before countless rays of Sword Qi shot out from its tip, flying towards the gap.
In an instant, the demonic creatures and Demon Qi gathering around the hole suffered serious injuries, forcing them to pull back.
Seeing this, a look of delight appeared on the old man’s face as he hastily opened his mouth: “This Qin thanks you, little brother!”
Indeed, just like an arrow at the end of its flight, he had exhausted his strength heavily through his solitary actions of defending at this place. If Yang Kai had come any later, he might really have lost his life from over-exhaustion.
The old man took a step back and let Yang Kai take the lead.
Seeing this, Yang Kai did not back down. Noticing the Demon Qi and demonic creatures he had pushed back starting to regain ground, a cold look appeared on his face as he extended his hand out to the front.
Space Force started to surge, before a jet-black hole suddenly appeared within the hole, fitting perfectly within the empty space.
Space Secret Technique, Exile!
All of the Demon Qi and demonic creatures that intruded were devoured completely by the black hole, with not a single one of them left behind.
Although the black hole was only able to exist for 10 breaths before dissipating away, this peculiar Secret Technique caused a sliver of terror to surface within all of the demonic creatures, and for a moment, none of them dared to proceed forward.
Taking in this spectacle, a blank expression appeared on the old man’s face as he stared at Yang Kai’s figure in shock.
During the past two days of defending against the Demon Qi invasion, he found that Yang Kai was Maplewood City’s newest Dao Source Realm Master. Nevertheless, he never expected Yang Kai to be this powerful.
He could clearly sense the Space Force fluctuations radiating from the Secret Technique Yang Kai had just unleashed. Didn’t this mean that Yang Kai was already able to harness Space Force?
He could no longer be treated as an ordinary Dao Source Realm cultivator.
Originally, the old man didn’t care much about Yang Kai, assuming that he was just a young and newly promoted master. However, after witnessing this Secret Technique, the old man had no choice but to regard Yang Kai in a new light.
Right at this moment, a shout rang out from below them. “Two sirs, there’s… there’s a slight problem with the Spirit Array repairs.”
The old man frowned. Looking down, he immediately shouted back in response. “What’s the problem?”
“It’s like this, Senior Qin…” The Array Master wore an awkward expression as he quickly continued, “If we want to close that hole, there cannot be powerful energies in the area that would interfere with the repair!”
“What do you mean?” The old man replied with a frown; although he was a Dao Source Realm Master, he didn’t have a good understanding of Spirit Arrays. Naturally, he didn’t know what the Array Master was trying to imply.
“In other words, if you two sirs are to continue fighting against those demonic creatures where the hole is, it will be impossible for us to repair the Spirit Array!” A look of unease appeared on the Array Master’s face.
“Useless!” The old man roared out in anger, “Are you trying to say that it’s simply impossible to repair the Spirit Array?”
Feeling the anger radiating from the old man, the Array Master’s eyes shrunk in fear before he replied weakly, “That isn’t the case. As long as you two sirs can shift the battlefield to another location, it will not hinder the repairs.”
“Where to?” The old man asked in a deep voice.
The Array Master’s face scrunched up in embarrassment. “You two sirs might have to go outside the Spirit Array…”
Before he could finish his sentence, old man Qin had already roared out in fury. “Bullshit! If that’s the case, isn’t it just a death sentence?”
The reason Maplewood City was still relatively unscathed was that the attacks launched by the Demoni Qi yesterday were relatively weak, and the Spirit Array was sufficient to hold those attacks off.
If he really left the protection of the Spirit Array to engage in combat against the Demon Qi and demonic creatures, it wouldn’t take long for him to get corrupted by the Demon Qi, transforming into a demon with his consciousness lost forever.
“Please calm down, senior Qin. It’s all due to my inadequate skills.” The Array Master also knew that his suggestion was ridiculous for anyone to accomplish. However, just as the cultivation realms of the cultivators in Maplewood City were rather mediocre, the might of the Array Masters were simply ordinary.
If they wanted to repair the damage, they couldn’t get disrupted by any powerful sources of energy near the area of repairs.
If Yang Kai and old man Qin were to engage in endless combat against the demonic creatures, they would be utterly incapable of doing anything.
“I’ll go, Old Sir Qin!” Yang Kai suddenly spoke up.
“You will?” Upon hearing this, old man Qin turned around to look at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai replied with a smile. “Since we need to shift the battlefield in order for the Spirit Array to get repaired, there’s no other way.”
A sliver of worry flashed across old man Qin’s face as said worriedly, “Are you sure about this, Little Brother? If you head out of the Spirit Array’s protective radius, you’ll be entering enemy lines alone. The Demon Qi can’t be easily defended against. If anything untoward were to happen…”
“I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll know when I try,” Yang Kai smiled faintly. “If we don’t take care of this now, the city will get invaded the moment we become exhausted and run out of strength.”
After hearing Yang Kai’s reply, old man Qin also knew that there was truly no other way but to head out of the hole. Clenching his teeth, he quickly said, “Since that’s the case, let this old man go along with you, Little Brother. Hmph, as the saying goes, how can men be brave if they don’t dare to go into the tiger’s den? This old man really wants to see whether the Demon Qi will erode his consciousness!”
Yang Kai failed to stifle his laughter as he replied, “If old sir Qin were to head out there, how would the people below deal with any small fry that manages to get past?”
“About that…” Old man Qing gawked in speechlessness.
With a stern expression, Yang Kai gave his reply. “I’ll take the lead, while old sir Qin will stand guard in the rear.”
Knowing that Yang Kai wouldn’t back down from his words, old man Qin sighed and said, “Then you must be very careful, Little Brother. If you feel that your strength is waning… just retreat back into the city.”
Yang Kai nodded his head.
“If we succeed in doing this, I will definitely give a report to the City Lord, and make sure he acknowledges your contribution!” Old man Qin quickly said.
Declining to comment, Yang Kai flickered away towards the hole.
At once, old man Qin stepped up while roaring out loudly, “Repair the Spirit Array with the greatest speed you can muster! If you can’t complete the repairs on the Spirit Array within a quarter-hour, this old man will throw all of you Array Masters outside!”
Miserable expressions immediately appeared on the few Array Masters below. Nevertheless, they didn’t dare to utter any retort as they hastily started to repair the Spirit Array.
Right as Yang Kai exited the city, he felt that he had entered another world; a world without light, engulfed in endless darkness. The jet-black Qi that flowed all around his body possessed terrifying corrosive properties, and also seemed to contain some mysterious components.
The instant Yang Kai appeared outside, the Demon Qi and demonic creatures were like beasts that had spotted fresh meat, as all of them rushed towards him.
In a second, the space before Old Man Qin was emptied. It seemed as if the Demon Qi and demonic creatures were no longer flooding through the hole.
Witnessing this, delight, as well as a sliver of anxiety, surfaced in his heart.
He was delighted that the Array Masters would be able to repair the Spirit Array in peace, allowing them to complete the repairs in the shortest possible time.
He was worried about whether Yang Kai could endure until the repairs were complete. If Yang Kai were to suffer from misfortune before that, not only would their repair attempt end in failure, there would be an additional Dao Source Realm Master among the ranks of the demonic creatures.
If that were to happen… Maplewood City’s situation would become even worse!
Just as Old Man Qin was waiting anxiously, a few streaks of light suddenly came streaking over from not far away.
Not long after that, the streaks of lights descended before Old Man Qin, dissipating away to reveal a few figures.
“Yu’er, why did you come here?” Upon seeing a delicate-looking girl standing among the new figures, his expression changed drastically. “It’s dangerous here. Hurry up and go back.”
That delicate-looking girl was precisely Qin Yu, whom Yang Kai had met once before. Furthermore, within Maplewood City, the only Dao Source Realm Master surnamed Qin was the Qin Family’s old ancestor, Qin Zhao Yang.
Nevertheless, despite hearing this, Qin Yu didn’t make a move. Instead, she replied: “We received news that the situation here was critical. Therefore, we hurried here as reinforcements…”
As she continued to speak, Qin Yu turned to look at her surroundings, only to discover in astonishment that everything in her vicinity was currently under control. Other than the hole in the Spirit Array, there wasn’t a single trace of demonic creatures.
The Demon Qi and demonic creatures outside the Spirit Array even seemed to be ignoring the hole in the Spirit Array, and seemed to be surging around, congregating towards some location outside the city instead.
“Over there…” A dark look appeared on Qin Yu’s face. “What is going on over there?
Qin Zhao Yang sighed in reply. “There’s a young man who rushed out to attract the attention of the Demon Qi and demonic creatures. If not for his actions, how would this area be so peaceful now?”
“There’s someone who rushed out?” Looks of astonishment appeared on the faces of other Qin Family members present.
After all, although they had yet to personally witness the terrifying might of the Demonic Qi, just the sight of it was enough to cause all the hair on their bodies to stand on their ends. Who would dare to rush out into the Demonic Qi?
The courage to face such a terror head-on would mean that the person simply had no regard for their life.
Just the thought of this caused feelings of respect for the unknown person to surface in their hearts, as they silently admired the person’s decision.
“Yu’er, since you’re here, then so be it. Help this old master observe the situation over there!” All of a sudden, Qing Zhao Yang seemed to have recalled something, prompting him to speak to Qin Yu.
“Okay!” Qin Yu nodded, before closing her eyes. After reopening them, a silver glow radiated from her eyes. Within her pupils, silvery currents were flashing about, while a mysterious power beamed out from within, piercing through the void before her.
Due to an incurable disease that plagued her body, Qin Yu was frequently not well. Furthermore, displaying this Secret Technique seemed to put an immense burden on her. Tremors started to rack through the body, beads of sweat seeped out of her forehead, while her originally pale face gradually grew even paler.
“So, how’s the situation?”
“Ah…” Right after gazing into the void, Qin Yu could not help but let out a soft yelp.
Very quickly, a sliver of delight flashed across her face as she said out in astonishment, “It’s him?”
Right after she said those words, Qin Yu’s tender body trembled as she closed her eyes abruptly. Like a fish out of water, she proceeded to gasp deeply for air.
Seeing this, a look of fear flashed across Qin Zhao Yang’s face. With a series of finger movements, he made successive taps on the pressure points on Qin Yu’s body. At the same time, he retrieved a Spirit Pill from his Space Ring and shot it straight into her mouth.
He did not chase her for a reply, just waiting for Qin Yu to sit down and adjust her breathing.
After a short while, Qin Yu opened her eyes, looked towards Qin Zhao Yang excitedly. “Old ancestor, was that person named Yang?”
“You recognize him?” Qin Yu’s reaction caused Qin Zhao Yang’s expression to change as he asked her in pensiveness.
“It’s really him!” Qin Yu smiled and replied in a low voice, “Old Ancestor, do you remember the last time Yu’er returned, I had asked for our family to look out for a particular person?”
“I remember hearing about this matter.” Qin Zhao Yang nodded, before asking curiously. “Are you saying that this is the person you were looking for?”
“Indeed!” Qin Yu nodded in response. “Old Ancestor, this person is extraordinary! If it’s possible, you have to try your best to pull him to our side, and get him employed by our Qin Family!”
“This old man can already tell that he is extraordinary…” Qin Zhao Yang’s mouth twitched as he gave a bitter smile in response. If this man was just an ordinary cultivator, would he dare to rush out of the city by himself? “So, how did you come to know about him?”
Qin Yu continued, “That’s because Yu’er was observing him from a distance when he was promoting his cultivation into the Dao Source Realm! When that person was promoting his cultivation realm, the resulting Heavenly Manifestation was exceedingly terrifying, and the spectacle was simply unlike any ordinary cultivator promoting into the Dao Source Realm. Furthermore… at the critical moment of his promotion, he even had enough strength to spare, and dealt heavy injuries to Ghost Hand Shen Tu!”
“What?” Qin Zhao Yang exclaimed in shock, “Are you sure about this?”
How would Qin Zhao Yong not know someone as infamous as Ghost Hand Shen Tu? Having been a Dao Source Realm Master in Maplewood City for so long, he had crossed paths with Shen Tu several times over the years, and had even fought twice due to differences in opinions.
Despite holding Shen Tu in contempt due to his prior actions, Qin Zhao Yong begrudgingly acknowledged Shen Tu’s strength, treating Shen Tu as his number one foe. When they fought, he could only maintain a slight advantage and was unable to properly finish Shen Tu off. Both times, he couldn’t prevent Shen Tu from escaping.
However, from what Qin Yu had mentioned, Yang Kai was actually able to deal a heavy blow against Shen Tu during the critical moment of his promotion to the Dao Source Realm!
In other words, at that time, Yang Kai had yet to reach the Dao Source Realm and was merely a Peak Third-Order Origin King.
Qing Zhao Yang was utterly incapable of imagining the strength required to injure Shen Tu under such circumstances.
Didn’t this also mean that, at that time, Yang Kai was already out of his league?
Now that Yang Kai had ascended to the Dao Source Realm, his cultivation realm had taken a huge step forward, and his strength might have more than doubled!
Reaching this conclusion, Qin Zhao Yang suddenly felt his breathing turn heavy. Earlier on, he had tried his best to convince himself of Yang Kai’s strength, but he was actually underestimating Yang Kai!
“What about Shen Tu?” Qin Zhao Yang asked impatiently.
Shen Tu had had some past grievances against the Qin Family, and if they could track him down while he was still recovering from serious injuries, it was a golden opportunity to exterminate the root of the problem.
With a bitter smile, Qin Yu replied, “I was just about to tell you about this matter, Old Ancestor! Shen Tu is dead!”
“Dead?” Qin Zhao Yang’s eyes contracted in shock. “Didn’t you say that he only suffered serious injuries? How did it go from serious injuries to death?”
“During his promotion… that sir had another Dao Source Realm protecting him from the shadows. After suffering serious injuries and being forced to retreat, Shen Tu was killed by that protector in a single strike! However, it’s a pity… I was unable to see exactly who that protector was, nor the level of their strength.”
“Eh?” A look of excitement filled Qin Zhao Yang’s face. “Are you telling me that a hidden master is backing Little Brother Yang?”
Qin Yu nodded her head and replied in excitement. “Yes, Old Ancestor. That person is a loose cultivator. If we’re able to pull him into our Qin Family, we will definitely receive a great boost in strength. Furthermore, with another powerful master behind him, our Qin Family will definitely benefit if we’re able to establish a good relationship with him!”
A gleam flashed across Qin Zhao Yang’s eyes. “I understand what you’re implying. However, that matter can only proceed after the danger before us is settled.”
“Yu’er understands. However, please pay attention to this, Old Ancestor. Please be careful to never offend that person,” Qin Yu reminded her Old Ancestor in a solemn voice. A peculiar gleam sparkled within her beautiful eyes, before she quickly added, “Perhaps, the revival of our Qin Family will fall on his shoulders.”
Hearing her words, an intense tremble shook through Qin Zhao Yang’s face as he said with rapt attention, “Did you see something else, Yu’er?”
Qin Yu shook her head and replied, “My Fated Fortune Heavenly Pupil only allowed me to see his absolutely insane fortune and opportunities. His future is definitely not limited to Maplewood City.”
Qin Zhao Yang’s expression changed. “Your words give this old man some assurance.”
After finishing their conversation, the two looked outside the city, though they were unable to see anything through the darkness. The only thing they could make out was the constantly surging Demon Qi, still appearing to be gathering towards a certain location. Within the patch of jet-black Demon Qi, various roars of demonic creatures continued to ring out, making everyone’s hair stand on end.
“Where the hell did all of these damn things come from?”
Outside of the city, a deep frown had covered Yang Kai’s face. Before he had exited the city, he wasn’t able to notice this. However, upon leaving the city and entering this endlessly dark world, he was gradually able to discover the seemingly endless amount of demonic creatures within the Demon Qi.
Furthermore, just like a speck of radiance within the jet black world, he attracted countless demonic creatures to encircle and attack him.
Under the pressure from his Dao of Space, the surrounding region became incomparably dense. Regardless of how high their cultivation level was, any demonic creature that came within 20 feet from him was rendered immobile.
As all-encompassing golden light sparkled about, all of the demonic creatures were sliced into bits by the Golden Blood Threads.
Nevertheless, despite Yang Kai’s incomparably valiant display, the demonic creatures still continued to rush towards him like berserkers without the fear of death. After a moment of work, a hill of corpses had already formed beneath his feet.
Although the Source Qi protecting his body was able to resist the Demon Qi’s corrosion, he could tell how exceedingly strong its corrosive properties were from the intense hissing sounds ringing out all around him. If this continued on, it would be severely taxing on Yang Kai’s strength.
“Come out!”
After fighting for a moment, Yang Kai’s forehead wrinkled. With a low roar, the Queen Monster Insect and Blue Flame Thunder Wolf both graced the battlefield, standing by his side.
Upon their appearance, the two great Blood Beasts immediately moved in accordance with Yang Kai’s commands.
Flashes of light blossomed from the Queen Monster Insect’s twin violet swords, as an ice-cold Domain expanded out. In an instant, a bitter cold engulfed a one thousand metre radius. Snowflakes started fluttering down from the sky, and as they fluttered by the bodies of the surrounding demonic creatures, miserable shrieks rang out as they were sliced into halves.
Take big gulps and exhaling heavily, balls of fire and bolts of lightning shot out from the Blue Flame Thunder Wolf’s mouth. Although the might of its attacks weren’t comparable to the Queen Monster Insect, it was still able to hold its own.
*Chi Chi Chi…*
The blood radiance blossoming from the two great Blood Beasts was so dense, they appeared to be corporeal. Stained with a weak golden-red brilliance, they continued to reject the advancement of the seemingly unstoppable Demon Qi.
For a moment, the current situation seemed to stabilise.
With no other person present, Yang Kai was free to unleash all of his abilities without restraint. With Space Force surrounding his body, various kinds of Space Force Secret Techniques were launched by him. With the cooperation from the two great Blood Beasts, the countless demonic creatures present were utterly incapable of coming any nearer than ten metres from him!
Fortunately, considering the average cultivation realms of the cultivators in the vicinity of Maplewood City, despite the strength boost after being corroded by the Demon Qi into demonic creatures, they did not become substantially stronger.
If not for that, how could Yang Kai be able to accomplish this feat as easily?
After fighting for quite a while, Yang Kai started to become affected by the bloodlust. No longer carrying about conserving his energy, Moon Blade after Moon Blade flew out in all directions, creating neat paths in their wake.
Just at this moment, appearing to have sensed something, the Queen Monster Insect waved its twin swords, sending its frost Dao powers shooting to a certain location.
Right there, a ghostly figure that was approaching them stealthily was forced to make an appearance by the incoming attack.
This new figure seemed to appear somewhat different from other demonic creatures, as the evil aura surrounding its body was incomparably large as compared to the others. Furthermore, it was surrounded by a dense clump of Demon Qi, and had also used some kind of Secret Technique to obscure Yang Kai’s senses.
If not for the Queen Monster Insect detecting it, Yang Kai might have only been able to detect it after it had closed in on him.
“A Jiang Family member?” Nevertheless, Yang Kai reacted exceedingly quickly in response. Right as the Queen Monster Insect made its move, he had already cast his gaze towards the location of its attack. Upon focusing his gaze, he was astonished to discover that it was actually an elder of the Jiang Family, someone whom Yang Kai had fought with previously.
However, Yang Kai didn’t know his opponent’s name.
This Jiang Family Elder’s cultivation was previously at the Third-Order Origin King realm, but right now, it had increased in might, with the current energy fluctuations radiating from his body already reaching the Dao Source Realm in strength. However, the strange thing was that he was still in the Third-Order Origin King realm!
Thinking about that, Yang Kai immediately realized that this was the contribution from the Demon Qi.
After being corrupted by the Demon Qi, despite the loss of consciousness, one’s strength would increase as a result.
After turning into a demon, this Jiang Family Elder’s strength had greatly increased. Nevertheless, the Demon Qi wasn’t omnipotent and thus was unable to truly promote him into a Dao Source Realm cultivator. It was able to increase the quality of the Source Qi within his body but was unable to lead any quantitative change.
“Courting death!” Yang Kai had a deep-seated hatred for the Jiang Family evildoers that had caused the crisis that Maplewood City was currently facing. If not for their wanton harvesting of that mine, he would not have been swept into all of these troubles.
If not, he could very well be focusing his mind on his cultivation in his cave mansion.
Sensing the murderous intent rising from Yang Kai, the Queen Monster Insect didn’t hesitate one bit to wave its twin swords. Two different coloured flashes of light crisscrossed as they shot towards the Jiang Family Elder.
The sound of a body being sliced into bits rang out.
Despite gaining strength from being corrupted by Demon Qi, how would the Jiang Family elder be a match for the Queen Monster Insect?
As the flashes of light shot over, the Jiang Family Elder’s body was sliced into four parts.
Before he died, there was unexpectedly not even a shred of terror in his eyes. On the contrary, roars continued to ring out from his mouth, as though he had turned into a raving lunatic.
“Whoosh…” right at this instant, a figure wielding a sword suddenly appeared behind Yang Kai. The sword was completely black in colour, with a jet black aura radiating from its entire blade. With a flash, the sword pieced towards the back of Yang Kai’s head.
As this figure surfaced, the Blue Flame Thunder Wolf opened its mouth to shoot out a brazier-sized fireball right at it.
However, this person unexpectedly did not evade or dodge, choosing to meet the fireball head-on. The jet black Demon Qi that surrounded it scattered apart, accompanied by a wave of a charred smell.
However, after enduring that attack head-on, his long sword was successful in piercing Yang Kai’s head.
“Ha ha ha ha!” Managing to land his strike, the person could not hold back and started to chuckle heartily, his deranged laughter filled within unconcealable nefarious intent.
“You sound so happy, Brother Chu He!”
An indifferent sounding voice rang out from an unknown position behind his back.
Turning pale in fright, this demon hastily turned its head around, only to discover Yang Kai, whom he thought he had just killed, was already standing behind him and was staring at him with a look of ridicule.
As for the figure whose head he had just stabbed with his sword, it started to slowly dissipate away. That was merely an afterimage.
Seeing the demon look over, Yang Kai could not help but chuckle. “What made you so happy for you to laugh like that, Brother Chu He? Can you share the happiness with me?”
After the earlier incident where the Jiang Family Elder had concealed his figure and almost managed to unleash a sneak attack, how would Yang Kai relax his vigilance? Therefore, he had naturally managed to discover Jiang Chu He’s movements the instant the latter took action. With Yang Kai’s skills, evading a sneak attack like this did not pose any difficulty for him at all.
At this moment, Jiang Chu He was radiating an aura even more powerful than the Jiang Family Elder. He was not able to break through into the Dao Source Realm, was unable to utilize the power of a domain. However, all of his other abilities were on par with a Dao Source Realm master.
Faced with such ridicule from Yang Kai, Jiang Chu He was completely blinded by rage; all of a sudden, with a low roar, his expression grew ruthless, while surging Demon Qi gushed out from his body. At this moment, his originally black pupils grew even more jet black, to the point that they seemed to be able to suck in the souls of people who dared to look at them.
Within the surging Demon Qi, the demonized Jiang Chu He flew into a rage, opening his mouth wide to take a deep breath.
Like a whale gulping water, the surging and squirming Demon Qi rushed madly into his mouth before being swallowed into his body.
Jiang Chu He’s stomach appeared to have transformed into a bottomless abyss…
As he continued to swallow more and more Demon Qi, the aura radiating from Jiang Chu He’s body grew increasingly dangerous. At the same time, the Demon Crests that were present across his body started to radiate with a black twilight, appearing as though they were gathering some kind of mighty force, causing unease to surface in Yang Kai’s heart.
“Deal with him!”
Yang Kai shouted. He knew that he could not allow Jiang Chu He to continue uninterrupted. If he did, something bad might really happen! Upon his command, his two great Blood Beasts transformed into two rays of light, flanking Jiang Chu He.
As for Yang Kai, he proceeded to clad himself with his Sword Qi, merging with the long sword in his hand as he stabbed at Jiang Chu He.
Faced with such an all-out attack, Jiang Chu He did not show even the slightest hint of fear. On the contrary, he opened his mouth wide, letting off a ferocious roar of anger that rang out and shook his surroundings.
As his roar rang out, a jet-black pillar of light shot out from his mouth. Coalescing into a surging jet-black flood dragon, it brandished its fangs and claws as it rushed to meet the incoming Yang Kai.
Seeing this, Yang Kai could not help but narrow his eyes. His long sword blossomed with radiance, transforming into a twisting gale, sweeping the jet-black flood dragon into his sword intent.
On the other side, Jiang Chu He sent a rumbling punch right at the head of the approaching Blue Flame Thunder Wolf. The Blood Beast, despite possessing a strength that rivalled a First-Order Dao Source Realm, let out a miserable whimper as its gigantic body was sent flying away.
Before it could land on the ground, it was entangled by countless strands of Demon Qi, making it utterly incapable of freeing itself. The aura of Blood Qi that surrounded its body continued to be corroded by the Demon Qi, ear-piercing hissing sounds ringing out. Within a short moment, a large hole had been formed, which Demon Qi immediately drilled right into, before entering the Blue Flame Thunder Wolf’s nose.
At the same time, purple and green flashes of light shot over, a Domain of ice and frost descended as the Queen Monster Insect made its move. Combining its twin purple and green swords, they impressively blossomed with dazzling brilliance, momentarily scattering all of the surrounding Demon Qi before congealing a gigantic Sword Qi and sending it chopping down.
Seemingly knowing that this was not a strike he could contend against, Jiang Chu He disappeared from his original location.
*Hong…*
Right as he disappeared, the Sword Qi struck the ground, creating a deep gouge in the earth and sending dirt and dust in all directions.
On the other side, Yang Kai managed to chop that jet-black flood dragon in pieces after much difficulty. Turning around, he saw the Blue Flame Thunder Wolf’s predicament, causing unease to fill his heart. With a hasty flash, he appeared by the side of his Blood Beast, and with a grab, sent it into his Sealed World Bead.
If he had left his Blue Flame Thunder Wolf any longer, it wouldn’t take long for it to become demonized.
Even with him and his two Great Blood Beasts taking action, he had still lost one of them to Jiang Chu He in an instant. This turn of events made Yang Kai angry out of shame, and also let him thoroughly realise exactly how terrifying a demon’s strength was post-demonification.
Before Jiang Chu He was demonized, Yang Kai could kill a fellow like him with a snap of his fingers.
The difference in strength between the Dao Source realm and Origin King Realm could not be scoffed at.
Silence ensued within the Demon Qi.
After evading the Queen Monster Insect’s attack, Jiang Chu He appeared to have merged with the surrounding Demon Qi, disappearing without a trace.
Obviously, he had used this to his advantage earlier, allowing him to get near Yang Kai in the first place.
With no trace of its enemy, the Queen Monster Insect stood silently at its original location, its entire body enveloped by a lustrous white aura of light. This lustrous aura of light radiated with extreme cold, a clear transformation of the Clearly Sky Snowfall’s sword intent.
“Hmph! Do you think you can hide from me?”
Yang Kai gave a cold snort, and after briefly closing his eyes, his Demon Eye of Annihilation had already appeared.
Scanning his surroundings, he quickly spotted the faint outline of a human figure within a stretch of Demon Qi, hiding and not moving an inch.
If not for the Demon Eye of Annihilation’s ability to see through the void, it would have been impossible for him to discover that human figure, no matter how strong his Divine Sense was.
Not only that, there were even more human figures present not far away from him, concealing themselves with the aid of the Demon Qi as they crept silently towards him.
The auras radiating from these few figures weren’t much weaker than the aura radiating from Jiang Chu He. In fact, there were two of them that were even more formidable than Jiang Chu He.
Shock immediately filled Yang Kai’s heart, as he knew that he had stayed too long outside of the city. This had led him to attract even more demons, and these impressively strong demons were obviously demonized Jiang Family members.
That was because one of the figures was extremely similar to the figure of the Jiang Family’s Patriarch, Jiang Lin; they were basically identical to each other.
“Little brother Yang, hurry up and return to the city! The repairs on the great array are about to be complete!”
Just at this moment, Qin Zhao Yang’s roaring voice suddenly rang out from far behind him.
Yang Kai smiled happily, as he knew that he had accomplished his mission. However, he still felt somewhat unwilling to leave just like that.
Seeing even more demons closing in on him, he clenched his teeth and gave an order to the Queen Monster Insect.
In the next instant, the Queen Monster Insect displayed its most powerful Sword Dao Secret Technique.
Cleary Sky Snowfall!
The domain of ice and frost accompanied the movements of the twin purple and green swords as they suddenly descended on a certain location. In an instant, bone-chilling cold immediately enveloped that entire area. In the air, the ice principles lingered on, acting like a poison as it seeped out in all directions.
Unable to react in time, the demons that were creeping up slowly within the Demon Qi were all struck by this move.
Roars began to ring out in succession, as figure after figure revealed themselves. These demons proceeded to execute the Secret Techniques and Divine Abilities they possessed when they were alive, to dispel the ice and frost energies that had struck them.
Taking advantage of this, Yang Kai turned into a flash of light, reappearing right before Jiang Chu He.
“Solidify!”
With a roar, Yang Kai directed his Space Principles, his will locking the entire stretch of the world up.
Jiang Chu He’s figure immediately appeared. However, at this moment, there seemed to be a flustered look appearing on his malevolent-looking face. As he struggled with all his might, the Demon Crests that covered his skin started to move and sparkle, and all of his veins bulged and swelled, creating an extremely shocking sight.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t escape from the bindings created by Space Principles. In the end, he was merely a demonized Third-Order Origin King cultivator, and thus was utterly incapable of breaking free of the constraints created by the strength of the World Principles!
“Slash!” Lifting the long sword in his hand, Yang Kai proceeded to slash down fiercely.
A will to survive burst forth from Jiang Chu He’s jet-black eyes. Mustering energy from an unknown source, he actually managed to forcefully shift his head slightly to the side.
The sword Qi flashed across, cleaving off an arm, and sending jet black blood gushing out from the stump.
Jiang Chu He cried out in pain!
Yang Kai was surprised to see this series of outcomes, as he never expected that his strike wouldn’t achieve its intended effect. Nevertheless, as he thought about it, he came up with an even better idea.
In the next instant, he roared out once again. “Bind!”
Hearing his command, the surrounding space squashed down fiercely towards Jiang Chu He. As though he was being crushed, cracking sounds rang out from the bones across his entire body, while blood flowed out from his nose and ears. Nevertheless, he still continued to struggle and did not show even the slightest hint of wanting to beg for mercy. In fact, he did not even attempt to flee! Instead, he continued to roar at Yang Kai like a frenzied wild beast.
Forming seals with his hands, Yang Kai’s hands turned illusionary, before he smashed them towards Jiang Chu He.
Wave after wave of Source Qi gushed into Jiang Chu He’s body, suppressing every single flow of energy in his body.
Within a few breaths, Jiang Chu He was utterly incapable of mustering any energy to resist, as his entire cultivation was sealed within his body.
Extending his hand, Yang Kai grabbed and hoisted him up.
At the same time, he gave an order to the Queen Monster Insect.
Receiving his command, the Queen Monster Insect transformed into a beam light, shooting towards Yang Kai, who immediately sent it into his Sealed World Bead.
After that, with a flash, Yang Kai rushed towards the city walls.
Seeing Yang Kai appear in the distance, a look of delight appeared on Qin Zhao Yang’s face as he shouted out. “Little brother Yang, hurry up and get back!”
Yang Kai nodded his head. However, right as he was about to head into the city through the hole present in the Spirit Array, his expression suddenly changed as he turned to look behind him.
“What are you doing, Little Brother?” A blank look appeared on Qin Zhao Yang’s face, unable to understand why Yang Kai would come to a stop at such a critical moment.
“Did you hear that, Old Sir Qin?” Yang Kai asked in doubt.
Qin Zhao Yang gawked, before pricking his ears to carefully listen to the surrounding sounds. As he did so, his expression changed. “Is there someone calling for help?”
Indeed, there was someone not far outside of the city that was calling for help. From the shouts, it appeared to be a man, and one that wasn’t young!
Conflicted emotions flashed across Qin Zhao Yang’s face, before he quickly said, “Don’t worry about it, Little Brother. Regardless of who he is, he might already be in a disastrous state. You should hurry back as quickly as possible.”
Yang Kai nodded in agreement.
The dangers of the Demon Qi had far exceeded his expectations. If there really was someone who had recklessly rushed out into it, it wouldn’t take long before that person’s consciousness would be devoured and turned into a demon.
Even with his current level of strength, he did not dare to stay too long within the Demon Qi.
“Sir, please wait! Sir, help!”
All of a sudden, that strange call for help rang out once again from behind him. Furthermore, from the location the sound was coming from, it seemed to be nearer than the last cry for help.
This instantly piqued Yang Kai’s curiosity, as he did not know exactly what kind of person could actually protect their body within that surging Demon Qi and the countless demonic creatures within the Demon Qi. Furthermore, that person seemed to be able to accurately determine which location to run towards.
A person that was able to accomplish those feats would clearly not be any ordinary cultivator.
“Please wait, Old Sir Qin. I’ll take a look first.”
Saying those words, Yang Kai tossed Jiang Chu He into the city.
In a somewhat absent-minded state, right as Qin Zhao Yang noticed Jiang Chu He’s malevolent expression and bared teeth flying towards him, he was instantly shocked. Without giving a second thought, he sent a palm rumbling forward.
*Hong…*
A gigantic bang rang out, accompanied by the sounds of countless bones shattering. Jiang Chu He immediately vomited out black blood, while his aura immediately withered away.
Nevertheless, despite taking Qin Zhao Yang’s palm strike in the face, Jiang Chu He did not immediately die. Instead, he collapsed onto the ground, groans escaping from his mouth.
“Demon… Demon!”
Noticing him, the surrounding cultivators cried out in surprise and shock.
Qin Yu’s beautiful eyes sparkled as she started to size Jiang Chu He up in curiosity.
This was the first time she was this close to a living and breathing demon!
“Jiang, Jiang Chu He?” Qin Yu’s beautiful eyes suddenly snapped wide open, a look of inconceivable shock appearing on her face as she stared at the struggling demon being suppressed on the ground.
She realised that this demon was, in fact, the Jiang Family’s new generational talent, Jiang Chu He!
As one of the descendants hailing from the various aristocratic families in Maplewood City, Qin Yu had had a number of interactions with Jiang Chu He, and thus was naturally able to recognise him. However, never in her wildest thoughts did she imagine that one of the demons who had taken over the outside of Maplewood City would actually be a person she knew.
The Jiang Family’s wanton mining had caused the seal in the mine to break, causing the pure Demon Qi from the Ancient Great Demon to seep out. Only a handful of Dao Source Realm Masters within Maplewood City knew about this, leaving it as a mystery for all the other cultivators.
It wasn’t because Duan Yuan Shan was worried about creating chaos that he had not disseminated this information, but that he hadn’t had the time and opportunity to do so.
“How could it be him?” Qin Yu was completely incapable of wrapping her head around what she was seeing.
“Oh my god! Isn’t that Young Master Jiang?”
“Is that really Young Master Jiang? I had a drink of flower wine with him at the Drunken Moon Winehouse just half a month ago! How could he…”
After recognizing Jiang Chu He from his appearance, expressions of shock appeared on the faces of the surrounding cultivators.
One of the cultivators even revealed a pained look on his face, as he had indeed had a drink with Jiang Chu He at the greatest winehouse in Maplewood City, beautiful women in their arms as they drank delicious flower wine and had a great and happy chat.
Within half a month, the majestic and graceful Jiang Young Master had unexpectedly turned into such a monster! He couldn’t help but sigh sorrowfully in regret.
“Hold him down properly! What are you all scared of? Little Brother Yang has already suppressed his cultivation, he’s just a useless person!” Qin Zhao Yang shouted out from the side, his voice brimming with a stern and oppressive pressure.
Hearing this, the surrounding cultivators unconsciously twitched their mouths in response.
Everyone had clearly seen Qin Zhao Yang instinctively unleashing a palm strike earlier that destroyed all of Jiang Chu He’s bones.
Nevertheless, no one dared to go against him at this moment as they started to surround Jiang Chu He. Unleashing various techniques, they bound him up, all while sizing him up with great curiosity.
Jiang Chu He seemed to have lost all conscious thought; not even the slightest shred of recognition appeared on his face despite coming face-to-face with several familiar faces. On the contrary, he continued to roar out, sending terrifying roars ringing out from his throat.
Outside of the city, Yang Kai continued to act like a mountain, standing right in front of the last hole. Unleashing his Five Elements Indestructible Sword Qi, he blocked wave after wave of countless demonic creatures.
Utilising his Demon Eye of Annihilation to look ahead, the only thing he saw was a lone and miserable figure currently charging about wildly within the endless surging Demon Qi. Unleashing an unknown secret technique that was unexpectedly able to resist the Demon Qi’s corrosion, the figure fled madly towards Yang Kai’s position.
“Ah, great sir! You really are my saviour! Many thanks, many thanks great sir! This one will forever remember great sir’s benevolence! This one will definitely bow three times in the morning, and burn an incense in the evening to pray for this great sir to live to a hundred years old!”
As he flew rapidly towards Yang Kai, he continued to blabber incessantly!
This spiked Yang Kai’s curiosity greatly; this person’s movement skills were exceedingly deft and nimble. Although he was breaking through all of those demonic creatures by himself, he was unexpectedly doing so with ease, and not a single one of the demonic creatures managed to land an attack on him. He even had the time to give thanks to Yang Kai.
A frown appeared on Yang Kai’s face as he replied in anger, “A hundred years old isn’t a long lifespan for me! Are you trying to curse me to an early demise!”
“It’s just a saying, it’s just a saying…” The man seemed to notice his faux pas. However, by then, he had already arrived several dozen metres from Yang Kai.
“Shut up and hurry inside!” Yang Kai said impatiently, as he could see that the hole behind him was about to close up. Right after saying those words, he gave up caring about that person and turned around, rushing through the hole into the city.
“Wait for me, sir!” With a strange shout, that person abruptly accelerated, and in a brief instant, rushed up to Yang Kai’s side and into the city.
Without any more targets to attack, the countless demonic creatures and Demon Qi continued to gush into the city.
Nevertheless, how would the Array Masters waiting silently for their opportunity let them do as they wish? Dazzling flashes of light blossomed from their hands, transforming into streams of energy that flowed into the Spirit Array and the hole shrank rapidly, soon completely repaired!
Hong Hong Hong…
Demonic creatures continued to unleash attacks at the Spirit Array, while Demon Qi continued to surge forth. Nevertheless, everyone breathed a light sigh of relief. As long as the defensive Spirit Array was undamaged, they did not have to worry too much.
“You few, hurry up and strengthen the weak links here! Make sure that the demonic creatures never break the Spirit Array again!” Qin Zhao Yang roared at the few Array Masters present with a stern tone.
Accepting the command, the few Array Masters hastily grasped the Array Plates in their hands tightly.
“We’re really lucky to have you around this time, Little Brother Yang. Without you, Maplewood City might have…” A look of fear flashed past Qin Zhao Yang’s face as he cupped his hands towards Yang Kai in gratitude.
With the viciousness of the Demon Qi and demonic creatures outside of the city, he did not dare to belittle the earlier hole at all. If the Spirit Array hadn’t been able to be repaired, the endless Demon Qi that engulfed the city would definitely invade inwards. Among the tens of thousands of cultivators in Maplewood City, just how few would be able to defend against that?
He could almost visualise the terrible spectacle of despair that would envelop Maplewood City! If that really happened, he would be the sinner of Maplewood City, as protecting the city was his responsibility after all.
“There’s no need to be that modest, Old Sir Qin! It’s within my abilities!” Yang Kai waved his hand in response, and he took those remarks lightly. Instead, he started sizing up the person who had rushed into the city alongside him.
After an instant, a look of shock appeared on his face as he growled, “It’s you, you old swindler!”
Earlier, when he was outside of the city, Yang Kai did not pay much attention to that person’s face. Only now did he realize that the fellow who had rushed through all of the demonic creatures with boldness and bravery, turned out to be that wretched old swindler!
While in the black market, this old fellow had swindled a few thousand Source Crystals from Mo Xiao Qi. After that, before the opening of the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, he had gone all over the place to peddle his Nine Revolutions Life Restoring Pill, which he claimed to be his ancestor’s and had some miraculous power to help people regrow their flesh, bones and even bring people back to life! And from the looks of it, his business had been great!
Never in his wildest dreams did Yang Kai imagine that this old swindler had such an outstanding side to him.
Not just any Origin King Realm cultivator could travel through Demon Qi as they wished. Although the old swindler appeared to be gasping for air, at the very least, he had managed to live another day.
Just this fact alone would raise the old swindler to a level that ordinary people could only dream to reach!
“There’s no need to say such horrible words, this sir…” After hearing Yang Kai’s way of addressing him, a rather embarrassed look appeared on the old swindler’s face. With a cheeky smile, he continued, “This old master is merely scraping by, I’ve never swindled anyone before.”
“Oh really?” Yang Kai grinned meaningfully as he shot a deep look at the old swindler.
A righteous look appeared on the old swindler’s face as he replied, “This old master has always treated buying and selling as fair business with reasonable prices. I definitely wouldn’t force others to buy and sell. It’s merely that some people have misunderstood this old master, that’s all, claiming that this old master is a swindler. That’s absolutely slander! This old master’s a businessman, where honesty is of the utmost importance!”
“It’s you, you old thing! Exactly what the hell is that Golden Rod Pill that you sold me last time…” All of a sudden, a cultivator stood out from the crowd. Looking at the old swindler with a face brimming with anger, he seemed to have suffered some kind of great loss.
“That thing didn’t work?” A look of surprise appeared on the old swindler’s face as he looked at that person, before replying in a baffled tone, “Of course. That pill was refined by this old master using my ancestor’s formula. Its efficacy is absolutely extraordinary. This brother, are you sure you followed the instructions properly?”
That cultivator asked with a strange look on his face, “Other than eating, what other way can the pill be used?”
The old swindler patted his leg and cried out in lament, “You idiot! How can you eat that Golden Rod Pill! You’re supposed to grind it to powder, before applying it on…your…!”
Right as he said those words, everyone’s eyes instantly snapped wide open, their eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets.
“Apply what? Apply on where?” Curious, Qin Yu asked with an innocent look on her face.
Qin Zhao Yang could not help but cough lightly in response. Nevertheless, unsure of whether to give a reply to her or not, an exceedingly embarrassed look appeared on his face.
Shooting his gaze towards Qin Yu, the old swindler waved his hands and said, “Don’t ask so many questions, little lass!”
Hearing his response, Qin Yu pouted her lips in anger.
Turning his attention back to the earlier cultivator, a vulgar look appeared on the old swindler’s face as he whispered, “Brother, don’t tell me you’ve really consumed it.”
That cultivator’s face turned red, though he did not give a reply.
Seeing this, the old swindler clapped his hands and continued with a wide grin, “Indeed, you’ve consumed it! Haha, you’re in luck, brother! Although you can consume that Golden Rod Pill, if you really did so, your golden rod will not turn limp for a full 49 days… Oh, let me calculate, the last time I saw you was…”
“Bastard!” That cultivator immediately turned angry with shame. Rushing up, he instantly unleashed a punch at the old swindler while shouting, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! Any brothers with grievances against this old fellow, let’s have a go at him!”
As his words rang out, several dozen people immediately rushed out from the crowd!
A wave of bangs rang out, mixed with the old swindler’s shrieks and cries for help. Just like a young girl who had been passed around by a dozen men, tears streamed from his eyes as an incomparably miserable look filled his face.
As the crowd looked over towards the first cultivator to have started the beating, looks of understanding proceeded to flash across their faces. So this was the reason why this brother of theirs had been wearing an extra-large set of robes for the past few days! Furthermore, he would frequently bend his waist forwards! Originally, they had assumed that he had suffered some kind of injury. So this was the hidden trouble he was facing!
That cultivator’s face turned beet red as he noticed the crowd’s gaze bearing down on him, causing him to bolt away hastily.
“Sigh…” At this moment, Qin Zhao Yang gave a light cough, before glancing at Yang Kai with concern. “Did you get injured, Little Brother Yang?”
“I’m alright!” Yang Kai replied while shaking his head.
“That’s good to hear,” Qin Zhao Yang seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “The City Lord’s Mansion has already been notified of this matter. Your hard work was a major factor in allowing us to repair Spirit Array. City Lord Duan has said that when this demonic tribulation is over, he’ll confer you the position of 3rd Vice City Lord of Maplewood City, though he doesn’t know if Little Brother Yang will accept it or not!”
“Vice City Lord?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows in surprise, before giving a spiteful laugh. “It’s an honour to be held in such high regard by City Lord Duan. However, I’m not interested in being a Vice City Lord!”
“Haha, Little Brother Yang’s afraid of being bound by fetters, right? Although the position of Vice City Lord seems impressive, in reality, many responsibilities come along with it. Little Brother Yang’s choice is the intelligent one!” Qin Zhao Yang gave a hearty chuckle. For some unknown reason, his expression became much more relaxed. “ Rather than some Vice City Lord post, this old master feels that Little Brother Yang would be more unfettered by choosing an aristocratic family and becoming a Great Foreign Elder!”
Yang Kai smiled, though he did not give any reply. Instead, he turned towards the old swindler. In a flash, he appeared beside the man. Extending his leg, Yang Kai kicked him. “Don’t act dead. Hurry and stand up.”
“Sir, I’ve just suffered a miserable beating. I beg of you to uphold justice and punish those evildoers!” Lying on the ground, the old swindler wore a look of misery as he gazed at Yang Kai, tears streaming from his eyes and mucus flowing from his nose as he started to complain. “Sir, if you’re unable to teach them a lesson, this old master will not stand up.”
“Then you can continue talking while lying down then.”
A look of speechlessness immediately appeared on the old swindler’s face.
Squatting down, Yang Kai cast a deep gaze at the man as he asked in a deep voice, “Let me ask you. How did you end up outside in the Demon Qi?”
Walking over, Qin Zhao Yang grinned as he looked towards the old swindler. “This Qin is also very curious about this matter.”
Being stared at by two great Dao Source Realm Masters caused an involuntary tremble to run through the old swindler as he hastily answered, “These two sirs, is there some kind of misunderstanding? I’m here to ask for reinforcements from Maplewood City.”
“Reinforcements?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows, while a pensive look appeared on Qin Zhao Yang.”
“I came from Forest City.” The old swindler replied.
Yang Kai could not help but frown.
“Forest City is 3000 kilometres away from Maplewood City. It is a smaller city than Maplewood city, and the average realms of its cultivators are lower.” Qin Zhao Yang added before his expression suddenly changed as he continued in a solemn voice, “Could it be that Forest City has already…”
“Forest City is in danger, two sirs!” An anxious look appeared on the old swindler’s face. Nevertheless, after looking to his left and right, he sighed and said, “From the looks of it, Maplewood City is also in danger. What can we do?”
“What’s the current situation in Forest City?” Qin Zhao Yang asked as an ugly look set in on his face.
“Extremely bad. It is surrounded by Demon Qi and demonic creatures, just like Maplewood City, and you sirs should know what kind of city Forest City is. It probably can’t hold on much longer. Furthermore… there seems to be a Demon over at Forest City that has probably reached the Dao Source Realm!”
“Jiang Tai Sheng!” Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed.
“The Jiang Family’s old ancestor?” Qin Zhao Yang’s expression changed drastically.
Yang Kai nodded his head and said: “That’s why I didn’t spot any traces of Jiang Tai Sheng at all. When I headed out just now, I kept a constant guard against this person in fear that he would suddenly appear to launch a sneak attack against me, yet he did not appear at all. So he was not in Maplewood City, but had headed to Forest City. Obviously, he is trying to use the Demon Qi to create more Demons.”
“That is a possibility. Furthermore, the chances of that happening are extremely high!” Qin Zhao Yang’s face turned ashen in shock. “Although Forest City isn’t large, there’s still a few hundred thousand people present in it. If all of them were to be corroded into Demons…”
After saying this, a scene surfaced within his mind, causing an involuntary shiver down his spine.
“Did you all request for help from any place other than Maplewood City?” Yang Kai questioned.
The old swindler nodded his head and replied, “Of course we did. However, Maplewood City is the closest city to us. Furthermore, this old master is extremely familiar with Maplewood City, so I volunteered to come here. If I had known that I’d get into trouble, I wouldn’t have come over here.”
“It’s all due to your actions!” Yang Kai shot a dark look at him.
The old swindler gave an embarrassed smile. “I’m just lucky, just lucky. Furthermore, if not for sir attracting such a large number of demonic creatures, it would have been impossible for me to enter the city safely.”
With a smile, Yang Kai nodded slightly, before shouting out, “Make sure to take good care of this old swindler, better not let him run away!”
As he said those words, he suddenly extended his hand to touch the old swindler’s body. The power of domain circulated, entering the old swindler’s body and sealing his cultivation.
The old swindler was dumbstruck by this series of events!
Even Qin Zhao Yang seemed to not expect Yang Kai’s sudden hostility, causing him to be stunned for a moment.
A flash of radiance surfaced within Qin Yu’s beautiful eyes as she stared at Yang Kai in astonishment, not knowing what he was planning to do.
“Sir, you…” The old swindler stared at Yang Kai with his wide open eyes, while misery and pity set onto his face.
“Take him away!” Noticing the surrounding cultivators just standing around, Yang Kai promptly shouted out with a stern tone.
It was only after his shout that two guards from the City Lord’s Mansion stepped forward. Holding the old swindler by his arms, they proceeded to fly off in the direction of the City Lord’s Mansion. It seemed that they were planning on locking him up in the prison there.
“This is a misunderstanding, Sir! I’m only here to ask for reinforcements! I’m on your side! Sir, you can’t treat me like this!” The old swindler started to cry and weep, as he gradually disappeared into the distance!
“Little Brother Yang, you aren’t going to lock that person up just because he frequently swindles others, right? Or is there a deeper reason for this?” Qin Zhao Yang shot a pensive look at Yang Kai as he asked.
Qin Yu was also brimming with curiosity towards this matter.
“Of course not.” Yang Kai shook his head. “However, with only a Third-Order Origin King cultivation realm, this person was actually able to pass through the Demon Qi blockade safely. There’s some kind of secret hidden in his body, and I’m very interested in that.”
“Does Little Brother Yang want to extract this secret from him?” Qin Zhao Yang’s eyes lit up.
Origin King Realm cultivators weren’t lacking in Maplewood City at all. If all of them had the ability to travel through the Demon Qi with ease, there would have been no need to be as terrified as they were. Everyone would have been able to head out of the city and kill every single one of those demonic creatures.
“That old thing seems to be crafty and cunning, so it might not be an easy task to discover his secrets. Besides, even if he reveals it to us, not everyone might be able to use it… in any case, we’ve done everything we can do.” Yang Kai replied in an indifferent tone.
“That’s right!” Qin Zhao Yang nodded his head, agreeing with Yang Kai’s words. Pointing towards Jiang Chu He, whose cultivation had been suppressed but was still roaring away endlessly, he asked, ”Little Brother, how should we deal with this person?”
Yang Kai turned his head to look at Jiang Chu He. “I captured this fellow to try and extract some information about the outside. However, with his condition right now…”
He could not help but to let out a bitter laugh.
Jiang Chu He already seemed to have lost all conscious thought. How could Yang Kai gather any information from him? The only method would be for someone to risk the possibility of a backlash and use a soul searching type of Secret Technique on him.
However, to utilise such a Secret Technique, it would require the user to have a cultivation realm much higher than the target. If not, the risk of suffering a backlash from Jiang Chu He’s rage-filled demonic consciousness would be extremely high.
Even within Maplewood City, the highest cultivation realm anyone else had was the Second-Order Dao Source Realm; it was simply unsuitable for this task.
Although Yang Kai’s Divine Sense could rival a Third-Order Dao Source Realm Master, he did not know any Soul Searching Arts. Even if he were to forcefully utilise one, he might not necessarily obtain any useful information
“If that’s the case, perhaps my humble self might be able to offer some assistance.” Qin Yu suddenly spoke up.
“You?” Yang Kai looked towards Qin Yu with a stunned and confused look. He was afraid that he might have heard wrongly, as from what he could see, Qin Yu’s Second-Order Origin Returning Realm was present right before him.
“Yu’er!” However, as though some great enemy had appeared, Qin Zhao Yang’s expression changed drastically as he roared out sternly. “Stop fooling around!”
With a smile, Qin Yu replied, “ Old Ancestor, Yu’er isn’t fooling around. Of course, with Yu’er’s cultivation, I naturally can’t deal with Jiang… use my Secret Technique on this demon. However, with the aid of the Spirit Array, Old Ancestor and Senior Yang, we might be able to give it a try!”
Yang Kai’s brows twitched after hearing her reply. Taking a deep look at Qin Yu, he said, “Our first meeting was in the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda. At that time, this one had already felt that Sister Qin was an extraordinary person. Now, it seems like that is indeed the truth!”
“Thanks for the praise, Senior Yang,” Qin Yu smiled gently. “This humble girl’s too weak and fragile, so how can I stand up to your praise? As for Sir, you’ve managed to reach the Dao Source Realm at such a young age and have an immeasurably long future ahead of you. You truly fill this humble girl with admiration for you.”
“Old Sir Qin,” Yang Kai asked as he turned towards Qin Zhao Yang. “Do the ladies in your family always speak like that?”
Qin Zhao Yang laughed and replied, “Little Brother Yang, if you’re interested, you can come to my Qin Family to choose a few. There are quite a few unmarried girls in my Qin Family, so there is bound to be one that will catch your eye, Little Brother.”
Yang Kai’s face turned black, “You really know how to joke, Old Sir Qin.”
Qin Zhao Yang smiled. “This old master isn’t joking.”
Yang Kai gave a light cough to change the subject. Looking at Qin Yu, he said, “Sister Qin, you have to know that there is a sizable disparity between your cultivation realm and Jiang Chu He’s. If you don’t have the confidence, don’t dive recklessly into danger. If not, it would not be good if something untowards happened to you.”
“Many thanks, Senior Yang, for your concern. This little girl is naturally acting within one’s reaches,” Qin Yu nodded gently with a tranquil and calm look on her face. “This little girl still has some level of confidence.”
“That’s good to hear.” Yang Kai nodded and no longer attempted to dissuade her.
No one dared to play a joke with their own lives. Since Qin Yu said that she was confident, she definitely had her reasons.
“What about you, Old Sir Qin?” Yang Kai asked as he turned towards Qin Zhao Yang.
A solemn look hung on Qin Zhao Yang’s face. After remaining silent for quite a while, he raised his head and looked at Qin Yu. “Yu’er, there’s really no need for you to do this. After all, this tribulation is something that the entire Maplewood City must face. If worse comes to worst, we can beseech City Lord Sir to take the risk and use the Soul Searching arts!”
Qin Yu replied, “As of right now, Sir City Lord is responsible for the entire city’s safety. If something really happens to him, the entire Maplewood City will be finished. That’s not the case for Yu’er. Even if something happens to me, it will not affect the general situation! Old Ancestor, the absolute majority of our Qin Family is in the city. If the city falls, our Qin Family will definitely fall! I wish to do something for our family!”
“You… sigh…” A look of speechlessness washed over Qin Zhao Yang’s face, as he did not know how to persuade her to back down.
On the contrary, Yang Kai’s expression changed to one of surprise as he looked at Qin Yu. He did not expect that a little girl like her would actually be able to take the big picture into consideration.
“However, before we start anything, this little girl still has something to ask Senior Yang.” All of a sudden, a smile appeared on Qin Yu’s face as she turned her head towards Yang Kai.
“What is it?”
Qin Yu’s lips twitched, though no sound rang out.
Yang Kai raised his eyebrows, thought silently for a moment, before gently nodding his head.
A look of delight replaced her smile as Qin Yu clapped her hands. “If that’s the case, then Yu’er has about an 80% chance to succeed. Furthermore, I only need Senior Yang’s help. Old Ancestor, you can stay here and continue defending the city.”
“You don’t need this old master?” Qin Zhao Yang asked in surprise.
Qin Yu smiled and replied, “Senior Yang’s is extraordinary after all.”
Heaving a sigh, Qin Zhao Yang said, “Since that’s the case, then this old master has nothing much left to say. However, since this matter concerns the entire Maplewood City, this old master will still have to inform Sir City Lord before proceeding. Furthermore… we have to inform City Lord Duan about the matter of Forest City, so you all need to wait a short moment.”
As he said those words, he took out his communication artifact. Sending his Divine Sense into it, he proceeded to inform all the Dao Source Realm Masters about the matters of the Forest City and Jiang Chu He, and more importantly, pass the information to Duan Yuan Shan.
After a short moment, Yang Kai and Qin Zhao Yang’s communication artifacts rang simultaneously.
Sending his Divine Sense into his artifact, Yang Kai immediately received Duan Yuan Shan’s message. “I’ll leave this to you two!”
Raising his eyes, Yang Kai looked at the helpless expression appearing on Qin Zhao Yang’s face.
“Since the City Lord has spoken, you two can begin.” Although Qin Zhao Yang was still filled with anxiety, he couldn’t argue against their decision any further. Therefore, the only thing he could do was to keep his worries in his heart and look ahead, thinking about how he could use the situation to squeeze out more benefits from the City Lord!
After all, Qin Yu was a descendant whom he held with exceedingly high importance. Having the Fated Fortune Heavenly Pupil allowed her to utilise the Soul Search Secret Technique despite her Second-Order Origin Return Realm cultivation, but the risk was high.
“Brother Yang, I entrust Yu’er to your care,” Qin Zhao Yang said in a sincere and solemn tone, as though he was about to marry Qin Yu off to Yang Kai.
Cupping his fist, Yang Kai replied, “Rest assured, Old Sir Qin. I will definitely do my utmost to collaborate with Sister Qin!”
“Senior Yang, please follow me,” Qin Yu waved her hand, flying in a certain direction.
Extending his hand, Yang Kai hoisted Jiang Chu He up before following behind Qin Yu.
The few Origin King Realm cultivators that were in charge of Qin Yu’s safety also followed suit.
Earlier, Jiang Chu He had one of his arms severed by Yang Kai outside of the city. However, instead of blood, a jet-black aura was surging out from the severed stump; it was an extremely weird sight to behold.
After a short flight, the group arrived at the Qin Family’s main residence.
With the current crisis that had befallen Maplewood City, all of the Qin Family’s cultivators at the Origin Returning Realm and higher had already left for the city walls to aid in the defence. Therefore, the majority of the Qin Family members left in the residence either had low cultivation realms or were young.
Upon seeing Qin Yu return, each one of them started to gather impatiently around her, clamouring about as they continued to shoot question after question about the current situation on the outside.
Qin Yu didn’t have the patience to deal with them right now. Summoning the aura of an Elder Sister, she reprimanded all of them, causing them to no longer dare to talk back to her.
However, they gathered around once again after seeing Jiang Chu He, who was being carried by Yang Kai, staring in curiosity.
“ARGGGGH!” All of a sudden, Jiang Chu He roared out. Opening his mouth wide, he radiated pure madness, scaring those Qin Family descendants away. Some scaredy-cats even started to cry as they ran and hid in their rooms.
“I apologize for their disgraceful actions, Senior Yang,” Qin Yu took the lead, walking ahead without looking back.
Yang Kai did not reply as he followed closely behind her.
After a moment, the two of them arrived at the Qin Family’s hidden chamber. Multiple restrictions were layered around the hidden chamber, while the World Energy present within was substantially more dense than other places. Clearly, this was a place for important members of the Qin Family to retreat to.
After arriving, Qin Yu made some seals with her hands, activating the restrictions in the chamber. After that, she turned around to give orders to the few Origin King Realm protectors guarding her. “You few stand guard outside. Before I leave, no one is allowed to enter!”
“Yes!” The guards answered in unison before spreading out to stand guard in the surroundings.
Within the hidden chamber, Qin Yu activated the restrictions once again, before taking some items out from her Space Ring and arranging them within the hidden chamber.
Holding onto Jiang Chu He, Yang Kai stood by the side. After observing for a while, he asked out of curiosity, “So, Sister Qin is proficient in the Dao of Spirit Arrays?”
He discovered that Qin Yu was currently arranging an exceedingly mysterious formation. Although he did not know what use this formation had, he obviously knew that it was related to the Secret Technique she was going to execute.
Furthermore, from the deft movements she made when arranging the formation, Qin Yu’s proficiency in Spirit Arrays was clearly established.
Continuing to arrange the formation, Qin Yu smiled. “Due to this little girl’s incurable disease, I’m unable to go out as frequently as other people. Therefore, I could only spend time at home researching more obscure stuff. I’m not a master of Spirit Arrays, it is just something I’ve done research in.”
“Don’t be so modest, Sister Qin,” Yang Kai narrowed his eyes. “From what I can see, your achievements in the Dao of Spirit Arrays might have already reached a rather high realm.”
Qin Yu gave a smile and replied, “This Spirit Array will not only strengthen the Secret Technique I’m going to display, but it can also allow the strength of Senior Yang’s Divine Sense to temporarily be grafted onto my body. With this, I’m able to display the Soul Searching Technique with the utmost confidence.
“Grafting my Divine Sense?” Yang Kai’s expression changed slightly, “There is such a mysterious Spirit Array in the universe?”
One had to know that it was exceedingly hard for cultivators to cultivate their Divine Sense, and thus much harder for it to reach the same realm as their cultivation. If not for obtaining a precious treasure, the Soul Warming Lotus, early in his life, he would not be able to reach such a realm in his short lifespan.
He would have undoubtedly needed to spend a large amount of time to temper his Divine Sense.
The Soul Warming Lotus’ benefits allowed him to save a large amount of effort.
However, the formation that Qin Yu was arranging was actually able to allow a cultivator to graft their Divine Sense to another cultivator! This was somewhat unimaginable.
If such a Spirit Array could be used in combat, it would definitely allow one to fight across cultivation realms! With a Divine Sense pressure radiating, one could easily defeat their opponent despite the disparity in cultivation realms.
“Although this formation is miraculous, it isn’t as magical as what Senior Yang thinks. This was a half-complete formation I discovered from an ancient book, which I then restored using my own knowledge. When the Spirit Array is active, it cannot receive powerful interference from the outside, as it will fail. Therefore, it is only suitable for some special scenarios, like the one we are facing now, but it’s totally unsuitable for use in combat.” As though she knew what Yang Kai was thinking, Qin Yu gave a reply in a calm manner.
“Restored by yourself…” In his mind, Yang Kai felt that Qin Yu was basically a genius, and raised his evaluation of her to an even greater height. She wasn’t just extremely proficient in the Dao of Spirit Arrays, she had already become an expert!
“That’s right. Will this Divine Sense grafting reveal my secrets?” Yang Kai continued his questions with some worry in his voice.
There were quite a few secrets he was concealing within his body. Although his observations of Qin Yu made him have a pretty good impression of her, in the end, Yang Kai was not very familiar with her, and thus, naturally did not wish for her to know his secrets.
“There is a possibility!” Hearing his question, Qin Yu’s actions came to a slight halt as she replied.
“Oh?” Yang Kai’s face turned black, as thoughts of wanting to pull out immediately appeared in his mind.
Qin Yu hastily added, “But rest assured, Senior Yang. Although there’s a risk of one’s secrets being revealed, that would happen for the side with the weaker Divine Sense… Sir’s Divine Sense is much stronger, so I will not be able to pry into Sir’s secrets after the Divine Sense graft. On the contrary, you sir…”
Having said this much, her face turned slightly flushed.
After all, she was a lady while Yang Kai was a man. Some of her secrets that Yang Kai might involuntarily discover might place him in an awkward and apologetic position.
Yang Kai hastily replied: “You don’t have to worry, Sister Qin. This Yang will definitely adhere strictly to myself and not pry into anything else.
He said those words with a resounding voice and a stern look.
Qin Yu didn’t say anything as she continued to focus on arranging the formation.
After a while, the formation within the hidden chamber was finished.
Looking at it, Yang Kai discovered that this Spirit Array Formation was incomparably mysterious, and it seemed like he had never encountered such a formation before. He couldn’t help but develop a huge curiosity for it, memorising these formation lines for potential future use.
Leaping forward, Qin Yu placed herself in the middle of the Spirit Array. Making a seal with her hands, she slowly sat down. “Sir, please place yourself and the demon at the two extreme positions.”
Nodding, Yang Kai extended his hand to pat on Jiang Chu He’s back, sending his Source Qi into the latter’s body. At the same time, he unleashed his Space Force, transforming it into invisible bindings that chained Jiang Chu He to a specific position in the formation.
After that, Yang Kai appeared at the opposing position with a flash.
Although his cultivation realm and movements had been sealed, Jiang Chu He was still acting extremely unruly, roaring continuously as the Demon Crests on his body squirmed and wriggled, while Demon Qi surged out from him. Nevertheless, no matter how hard he struggled, he was still unable to move even an inch.
Seeing that, Qin Yu managed to calm down. She proceeded to form seal after seal with her hands, her slender hands appearing just like a butterfly fluttering in the air.
Following her movements, waves of mysterious power started to propagate out from her in all directions. Invisible and incorporeal, they were unfathomable.
A faint fluorescence started to radiate from the formation. As though they had been granted life, all of the lines that created the Spirit Array started to flow like living creatures.
“Formation Open!” All of a sudden, Qin Yu shouted.
As her voice rang out, a hum rang out from the formation, before it promptly started to spin rapidly.
In an instant, radiance blossomed throughout the hidden chamber, so bright that it would make people squeeze their eyes shut. While that happened, an invisible power travelled in a rope-like manner and pierced through Yang Kai’s body.
An indescribably strange feeling immediately rose up within Yang Kai’s body.
He felt as though he was connected with Qin Yu as one being, able to clearly feel every inhalation and exhalation she made, feel the blood circulating within her body, the beats of her heart, the contraction of her pores, and was even able to vaguely sense the changes happening to her state of mind.
Qin Yu revealed a sliver of an exceedingly uncomfortable expression, while her face turned slightly flushed. Opening her mouth, she shouted out: “Sir, please display your ocular technique and suppress that person’s soul!”
She knew that Yang Kai had that kind of Secret Technique in his arsenal, and that was precisely what she had asked him earlier.
After all, during that day when Yang Kai was promoting his cultivation, she had used her Fated Fortune Heavenly Pupil from a far distance to observe the spectacle. In the end, she managed to get countered by Yang Kai’s Demon Eye of Annihilation, which led to her making such a guess.
After asking about it today, she had indeed hit the bullseye.
With the suppression from Yang Kai’s ocular technique, she basically did not need Qin Zhao Yang’s help at all, as Yang Kai alone was sufficient.
Hearing Qin Yu’s shout, Yang Kai immediately executed his Demon Eye of Annihilation.
In an instant, golden light blossomed from his left eye, revealing its awe-inspiring might as it shot right at Jiang Chu He.
At the instant it made contact with the suppressed Jiang Chu He, he immediately cried out as though he had suffered a serious blow. Right in the next moment, his body entered combat mode, and as though he was experiencing a nightmare, his sinister expression grew even more malevolent.
After a moment, Jiang Chu He’s eyes turned unfocused, causing him to stare ahead with blank eyes, while a string of saliva flowed out from the corner of his mouth, as though he had lost consciousness.
Despite being transformed into a demon, Jiang Chu He was being suppressed by the Divine Sense comparable to that of a Third-Order Dao Source Realm Master, and his strength paled in comparison. As a result, it took only a few breaths for the Demon Eye of Annihilation to completely suppress his soul.
Seeing this, Qin Yu smiled happily. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath before promptly reopening them.
Silver light sparkled within her eyes, causing the entire hidden chamber to be suffused with a silvery-white glow.
As the Spirit Array hummed, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense flowed along with the strength of the Spirit Array without any impedance and grafted onto Qin Yu’s body, before circulating into Jiang Chu He’s Knowledge Sea.
In the next instant, darkness appeared before Qin Yu and Yang Kai’s eyes as they simultaneously entered a secret world.
They were enveloped in darkness, and within it, something seemed to be concealed.
[This should be Jiang Chu He’s Knowledge Sea!]
Yang Kai’s brow twitched, as he immediately made some conjectures.
Nevertheless, he was in an extremely strange state right now. Although his Divine Sense had been grafted onto Qin Yu’s body, allowing her to display her Secret Technique to take a look into Jiang Chu He’s Knowledge Sea, he had zero control of the situation.
Yang Kai had no choice but to be dragged along with Qin Yu’s path of exploration, being led around by her will, heading deeper as they continued their investigation.
This was a rather unique feeling, which made Yang Kai slightly uncomfortable; at the same time, he was brimming with curiosity.
Rays of mysterious light blossomed from Qin Yu’s Soul Avatar, dispersing the surrounding darkness and revealing the surging sea beneath.
Impressively, the seawater appeared jet-black, just like a black hole that caused people to tremble upon looking at it.
All of a sudden, unfamiliar images started to flash across Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea.
Taking a detailed look at it, Yang Kai realized that all of these images were the memories and experiences of Jiang Chu He’s life. As they continued to flash by, despite their discontinuity, he was able to observe a great part of Jiang Chu He’s life experiences.
While he was analysing those pictures, Qin Yu had already displayed her soul searching technique on Jiang Chu He.
The information gathered from these pictures was largely useless, so Yang Kai and Qin Yu did not focus on them.
After a long while, a peculiar image suddenly appeared before Yang Kai’s eyes.
This was an image of an exceedingly abstruse formation pattern. Within the formation, the jet-black lines of the formation were just like Demon Crests, squirming constantly as they crisscrossed with one another. This formation appeared intricate, and was carved on a stone wall. As those lines wriggled about, he could faintly hear hints of what seemed like berserk roars ringing out from the stone wall.
Great waves of shock rocked Yang Kai when those roars rang into his ears, instantly causing him to feel uneasy.
At the same time, the images that were flowing into his Knowledge Sea spontaneously dissipated, appearing as though they were about to collapse.
This gave Yang Kai a shock, as he knew that it was Qin Yu that was enduring this impact, and seemed unable to endure it. Immediately, he unleashed his will, and with his Divine Sense grafted onto her acting as a bridge, attempted to restore Qin Yu’s consciousness.
The dissipating images started to stabilise.
However, all of the earlier images had already disappeared, replaced by another scene.
This was a scene of a world-shaking war.
A gigantic creature enveloped in jet-black Demon Qi stood over 300 meters tall. Possessing an awe-inspiring figure, it was strong and sturdy. Standing tall on the earth, it roared towards the heavens.
Its roar shook its surroundings, causing the clouds in the sky to crumble apart and dissipate away.
Within the swirling Demon Qi, the true face of the gigantic creature could faintly be seen.
It had an ugly and malevolent expression, while a gigantic eyeball occupied half of its face. That gigantic eyeball was jet-black in colour. Looking at it, one would have the misconception that it was a bottomless pit. Rays of jet-black twilight radiated from the gigantic pupil, brimming with Heaven-destroying, earth-shattering might, shooting through the void and shattering space apart.
Even the slightest contact against that jet-black eye with his consciousness caused Yang Kai to feel immeasurable pain radiating through his Knowledge Sea, surging unstably to the point that it was at risk of collapsing.
This frightened him so much that he hastily turned his gaze away.
“Black Eye Great Demon!”
For some inexplicable reason, this name surfaced within his Knowledge Sea, alongside intense terror and shock.
This feeling did not come from Yang Kai, but from Qin Yu’s current emotional state. Being able to recognize that giant demon was all due to Qin Yu. However, with both of them being connected by Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, her thoughts were being transmitted to Yang Kai with clarity, allowing him to gain some information.
Right at this instant, figures appeared around the gigantic Black Eye Great Demon. Every single one of these people radiated exceedingly powerful lifeforce and astonishingly strong auras.
Every single one of these cultivators were, impressively, Emperor Realm masters.
From what he could see, he estimated that there were more than a hundred people present.
There were several dozen masters that radiated auras that were even more terrifying than the Star Soul Palace’s Silver Star Envoy, Xiao Yu Yang!
According to the rumours, Xiao Yu Yang was already a Second-Order Emperor. Therefore, these several dozen cultivators that were even stronger than him would naturally be Third-Order Emperors!
Every single one of them was surrounded by a scholarly air, but no one would dare to belittle them.
However, at this moment, these over one hundred Emperor Realms appeared just like a horde of mosquitoes that had gathered around the gigantic Black Eye Great Demon. Secret Technique after Secret Technique, Emperor Artifact after Emperor Artifact caused dazzling flashes of light to blossom out as they shot towards the Black Eye Great Demon.
A roar rang out of the Black Eye Great Demon, vibrating the heavens and shaking the earth.
Other than the hundred-plus Emperor Realm Masters, there were even 20 gigantic Warships present in the Black Eye Great Demon’s vicinity!
Each of these Warships spanned over several dozen metres in length. Pillar-like rays of pure white light shot from these Warships, rumbling towards the Black Eye Great Demon.
The heavens and earth turned dim, as the sun and the moon lost their radiance.
The Black Eye Great Demon’s movement seemed to be somewhat restricted. Although it would shift its body from time to time, it was still unable to dodge the innumerable attacks headed its way. As those attacks landed on its body, the Demon Qi that surrounded its body was sent into a frenzied surge, as it roared continuously in pain.
Mysterious black rays of light continued to shoot out from its gigantic black eye. Furthermore, it held a gigantic Wolf Fang Mace in its hand, and as it waved it around, it appeared as though it was even capable of knocking down the stars hanging in the sky.
Human figures continued to drop from the air, while fires continued to erupt from Warships as they were smashed into halves.
Yang Kai and Qin Yu were dumbstruck, utterly incapable of believing what they saw, their hearts unable to calm down even after a long while.
The scene changed once again!
As he took a clear look at the scene before him, Yang Kai’s eyes could not help but contract.
The scene before his eyes was the desolation in the aftermath of the battle. The land within ten thousand kilometres had all been turned into wastelands, peppered with the scars of the battle.
The gigantic body of the Black Eye Great Demon lay on the ground, with the Wolf Fang Mace by his side. Jet-black blood flowed out from the wounds that covered its entire body. There were even some wounds that penetrated deep into its body, revealing multiple bones within, causing people to tremble at the sight of it.
The Black Eye Great Demon had been killed!
Although they did not see the entire process of the fight, Yang Kai could imagine exactly how difficult it had been.
Scanning his gaze about, he could see corpse after corpse of Emperor Realm Masters strewn across the ground. Of the over hundred Emperor Realm Masters, not even a fifth of them remained. Among those, every single one had injuries on their bodies, and they wore expressions of pain and misery on their faces. As for the 20 Warships, all of them had been sunk and turned into wrecks. Strewn across the battlefield, they continued to give off green smoke, narrating the misery and sorrow from ancient times.
The scene changed once again.
The gigantic corpse of the Black Eye Great Demon was thrown into the mouth of a ten-thousand-year-old volcano. However, despite the terrifying heat coming from the magma setting it ablaze, it did not suffer even the slightest damage.
The corpse was retrieved from the volcano by a master. Gathering other masters in the world, they carved a formation and tempered it with their combined strength.
A dozen Emperor Realm masters sat cross-legged around this exceedingly profound formation with the Black Eye Great Demon’s corpse placed in the centre. With every movement of the dozen Emperor Realm Masters, astonishing bolts of lightning would descend from the sky and strike the corpse.
Ghastly white flames surfaced within the formation and continued to burn at the corpse.
The Black Eye Great Demon’s corpse finally started to slowly disintegrate, eventually leaving a small remnant behind. This little bit was transferred into a specially constructed artifact by a master, buried deep into the ground, and sealed by a Spirit Array.
As time passed, the world transformed, while the containment artifact and the object it held slept quietly, not known by anyone.
Over time, the strength of the seal slowly weakened, allowing Demon Qi to seep out from the containment artifact and into the outside world.
……
Within the hidden chamber, an unknown amount of time passed before a tremor suddenly shook through Qin Yu’s entire body. In an instant, her face turned deathly pale as she spurted a mouthful of blood out before opening her beautiful eyes.
At the same time, Yang Kai had also opened his mouth. Taking a deep breath, he suppressed the churning lifeforce in his chest.
Seeing Qin Yu’s abnormal condition, he quickly arrived next to her. Extending his hand, he tapped on the various major acupressure points across her body, finally allowing her condition to stabilise.
“Many thanks, Sir!” Qin Yu opened her mouth to express her gratitude. However, she was still unable to stop her body from trembling.
The two of them exchanged glances, each of them noticing the fear and terror in the other’s eyes.
That was because every scene that they had witnessed earlier had clearly been the experiences of that Ancient Demon when it lived. The Ancient Demon Qi had inherited the will of the Black Eye Great Demon and invaded Jiang Chu He’s body, thereby allowing Qin Yu and Yang Kai to see everything clearly.
Despite it not being the entire picture, it was enough for both of them to unravel the truth behind some matters.
“This is a very thorny problem.” Yang Kai mumbled. “We have to inform City Lord Duan first.”
Right as he was preparing to retrieve his communication artifact, a furious bellow suddenly rang out from his side.
Shocked, Yang Kai turned his head towards Jiang Chu He, only to see that Demon Qi was unexpectedly gushing out from his entire body, as though he was risking his life to break free from his restrictions. However, despite being demonised, his strength was still insufficient. This caused the energies in his body to rampage about, and he was utterly incapable of suppressing them.
A dangerous aura immediately radiated out.
“Run!” Seeing this, how could Yang Kai not know what was going to happen next? He enveloped Qin Yu in his own Source Qi, and displayed his Spacial Secret Technique, disappearing from the hidden chamber with a flash.
When he reappeared, he and Qin Yu were already in the courtyard outside.
Right as he stabilized his footing, a giant bang rang out from beneath as the ground shook violently. In the next instant, rocketing energies exploded underground, accompanied by the sounds of flesh and bones exploding apart.
Jet-black Demon Qi transformed into snakes and travelled in all directions!
The few Qin Family Origin King Realm cultivators standing guard outside of the hidden chamber were utterly clueless to what had happened. By the time they could react, they were already too late to do anything. Right as the snake-like Demon Qi was about to invade their bodies, a roar suddenly rang out from behind them. “Solidify!”
The surrounding space suddenly became incredibly dense, making it almost impossible for those few Qin Family cultivators to even raise their hands.
In an instant, the Demon Qi heading towards them was locked in mid-air, unable to move even an inch forward.
Golden Blood Threads flashed about, transforming into rays of golden light that smashed all of the Demon Qi apart, saving them from their dangerous predicament.
After their close brush with death, the Qin Family guards had turned pale with fright and shock.
Walking over from the side, Yang Kai sent his Divine Sense around the bodies of those people. Only after making sure that they did not show signs of being invaded by Demon Qi did he calm his heart.
However, looking around him, a large hole several dozen metres wide had appeared over where the hidden chamber used to be. Clearly, this was the result of Jiang Chu He’s self-destruction.
“Many thanks for saving our lives, Sir,” After pulling themselves together, all of the guards cupped their hands towards Yang Kai in gratitude.
Waving his hands, Yang Kai did not say anything back to them. Instead, he turned towards Qin Yu. “Sister Qin, follow me to see City Lord Duan. We need to tell him about what we’ve discovered.”
Qin Yu nodded her head silently.
Extending his hand, Yang Kai pulled her to his side, before flying out of the residence.
Although the Secret Technique Qin Yu displayed had allowed Yang Kai’s Divine Sense to be grafted onto her, letting him observe quite a bit from Qin Yu’s perspective, he wasn’t able to gather more details than her. Therefore, it was still better for Qin Yu to brief Duan Yuan Shan personally.
On the way, Yang Kai sent his Divine Sense into his communication artifact and confirmed Duan Yuan Shan’s current location.
It didn’t take long before the two noticed the City Lord of Maplewood City on the city walls.
“Thank you for your efforts, Brother Yang!” Duan Yuan Shan had a stressed look on his face. After seeing Yang Kai and Qin Yu approaching, he cupped his hands towards Yang Kai, before turning his gaze towards Qin Yu, “I’ve heard from Brother Yang that you’ve discovered something?”
Qin Yu nodded her head and replied, “That’s right, City Lord. Thanks to Senior Yang capturing a live Demon, Yu’er was able to do a Soul Search and I’ve indeed discovered something.”
Duan Yuan Shan’s eyes lit up. “Speak!”
Qin Yu immediately explained everything she had managed to uncover when she was in Jiang Chu He’s Knowledge Sea.
After she was done, Duan Yuan Shan’s face turned somewhat pale as he exclaimed in shock, “So according to what you said, that mine’s actually where the remnants of the Ancient Great Demon were buried?”
Qin Yu shook her head. “I’m also not sure about that, as the scenes that appeared within Jiang Chu He’s Knowledge Sea were not linked up, so we don’t know exactly what was sealed ten thousand feet beneath the surface. However, from what we can see of the current situation, it’s extremely likely that it is indeed the remnants of that demon’s corpse!”
If it was the remnants of the demon corpse, it would naturally be able to produce that much Ancient Demon Qi.
However, if even those great powerhouses from ancient times were unable to completely eradicate the demon corpse, with the cultivation standard of Maplewood City’s cultivators, what could they do about it?
With the seal having been broken, if the demon corpse remnants weren’t moved away, Maplewood City would turn into a living purgatory. However, who could actually carry that out? Furthermore, who would dare to touch them? The Ten Great Emperors were the only ones who could achieve that.
Considering all of these, a wave of terror shook through Duan Yuan Shan’s heart. Looking towards Yang Kai, he said, “What are your thoughts on this, Brother Yang?”
Yang Kai shook his head. “I didn’t see anything else!”
What he meant was that Qin Yu had already described everything that he had seen.
“City Lord Sir…” All of a sudden, Qin Yu shouted out. “Perhaps, I might have a way that could slightly alleviate the current situation.”
“Oh?” Hearing her words, Duan Yuan Shan hastily turned to look at Qin Yu. “What way?”
Although Qin Yu only had a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivation realm, being the Maplewood City City Lord, as well as the strongest person of this city, Duan Yuan Shan had some knowledge regarding the details of Qin Yu’s strength. He knew that he could not discount this little girl. If not for her congenital weakness, she would definitely become an extraordinary figure.
If she said that she had a way, it might just work.
“Add another seal below! Before this, I made a detailed investigation. Although that seal has grown weaker after countless years, it isn’t completely useless. A corner of the seal has just suffered some damage due to the Jiang Family’s wanton mining. As long as we can repair the damage, we can stop the Demon Qi from seeping out. When that happens, the demonic creatures and Demon Qi on the outside would be left stranded with nowhere to go. Water without a source will always be eliminated one day.”
“You can repair it?” Duan Yuan Shan asked doubtfully.
Qin Yu hesitated for a moment, but she still replied: “I can give it a try!”
“How confident are you?”
“Sixty percent!”
Duan Yuan Shan fell silent, seemingly unsure of how to proceed.
“City Lord Sir, although I don’t have full confidence in repairing that seal, the damage that it has will only become worse if we leave it as it is. I’m afraid that it wouldn’t take long for even more Demon Qi to seep out. At that time, there will be absolutely no way for Maplewood City to maintain its defence. Therefore, we need to repair that seal no matter what!” Qin Yu’s beautiful eyes glimmered as she stared at Duan Yuan Shan, a change from her usual delicate image.
“From what you’ve said, this matter absolutely needs to be done?” Duan Yuan Shan asked solemnly.
Qin Yu nodded her head.
Giving a long sigh, Duan Yuan Shan continued, “Even if that’s the case, how will we be able to get to the location of the seal safely? How can we defend against the countless demonic creatures and the corrosion of the Demon Qi? Although this city lord has a Second-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation, I don’t have the confidence to last that long in the Demon Qi. What if…”
Yang Kai nodded his head, before adding on, “The Demon Qi has extremely strong corrosive properties. Most Dao Source Realm masters can’t endure more than half an hour against it. With City Lord Sir’s strength, an hour will be the limit!”
Having fought outside of the city, he had a deep impression after a head-on confrontation with the Demon Qi. Therefore, his words on this matter were highly credible.
“Furthermore, you need to be there for the repair of the Spirit Array. With your cultivation, heading into the Demon Qi…” Yang Kai tilted his head as he looked at Qin Yu, unable to finish his sentence.
Nevertheless, his meaning was clear.
With her Second-Order Origin Realm cultivation, just making contact with the Demon Qi would cause her to become a Demon.
Yet, Qin Yu replied with a smile. “Since I’m the one that proposed this idea, I naturally have a way to deal with that.”
“What way?” Both Yang Kai and Duan Yuan looked at her with doubt.
“By relying on a Spirit Array!” Qin Yu gave a faint smile. “Although I definitely can’t move about myself, if I rely on the strength of the Spirit Array and connect the strengths of a number of Dao Source Realm masters, I might be able to travel as I please among the Demon Qi!”
“Really?” Yang Kai’s eyes lit up.
Duan Yuan Shan looked pensively at Qin Yu, before chuckling and saying. “You shouldn’t keep people in suspense, great niece. Tell your Uncle Duan about how great that Spirit Array is. If it’s really possible, Uncle Duan will definitely reward you for your contributions!”
“Uncle Duan…” A sullen look appeared on Yang Kai’s face as he looked at Duan Yuan Shan.
He suddenly realized that this City Lord Duan was an exceedingly shameless person! In accordance with his generational status, he was on the same level as Qin Zhao Yang. Qin Zhao Yang was Qin Yu’s grandfather, so Duan Yuan Shan would naturally be a figure in the same generation as her grandfather.
Him calling himself Uncle Duan and her as niece was a plain attempt to establish a relationship. If this actually happened, he might have to call Qin Zhao Yang uncle in the future. “I’m not sure if Uncle Duan has heard of the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array?” Qin Yu asked with a faint smile, her beautiful eyes gleaming with elegance.
“The Seven Points Black Tortoise Array?” A frown appeared on Duan Yuan Shan’s face as he sunk into thought.
All of a sudden, his expression changed greatly as he exclaimed, “The Spirit Array that was the secret inheritance of one of the Eastern Territory’s Great Sects, The Black Tortoise Sect from twenty thousand years ago?”
An incredulous look appeared on his face, with his eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets. From the looks of his reaction, it seemed as though this Seven Points Black Tortoise Array was something extraordinary.
Yang Kai was brimming with curiosity as he continued to listen to their conversation. He could not help but to look towards Qin Yu, wanting to know the details.
Qin Yu clapped her hands in excitement. “Uncle Duan is indeed extremely knowledgeable. This Seven Points Black Tortoise Array is indeed the secret inheritance of one of the Eastern Territory’s Great Sects, The Black Tortoise Sect, from twenty thousand years ago.
Duan Yuan Shan quickly added, “According to rumours, the naming of the Black Tortoise Sect offended the Divine Spirit, the Black Tortoise. Enraged, the Black Tortoise raised endless waves that surged through the East Sea, battering against the Black Tortoise Sect headquarters. After the battle, the Black Tortoise Sect suffered innumerable losses and casualties, but an extraordinary genius from that sect comprehended a powerful Secret Technique from the might of the Black Tortoise and created a Spirit Array, which was named the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array! A hundred years later, the Black Tortoise came back and launched an attack, the Black Tortoise Sect relied on this exact Spirit array to counter it. After paying a substantial price, they managed to chase the Black Tortoise back and deal a serious blow to it!”
Duan Yuan Shan took a deep breath, before continuing with a look of fear on his face, “Although this matter occurred twenty thousand years ago, there aren’t many sects that were able to survive after being targeted by a Divine Spirit. Furthermore, with the great fame of the Black Tortoise Sect, it would be strange if this City Lord didn’t know about them.”
“Uncle Duan is really knowledgeable,” Qin Yu covered her mouth as she gave a delightful laugh, her smile appearing like a blossoming flower.
Duan Yuan Shan laughed bitterly in response. “No matter how much I know, I still won’t match up to you.”
As the two of them bantered, Yang Kai was dumbstruck as he looked from the side.
The Divine Spirit, the Black Tortoise! That was a first-class existence that rivalled the True Dragon and Heavenly Phoenix since ancient times! It was one of the strongest living creatures in the world. Apart from existences like a True Dragon or Heavenly Phoenix, who else would be able to rival it?
However, the Black Tortoise Sect had actually managed to rely on a Spirit Array to force the Black Tortoise to retreat. Just from that, one could see the might of the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array.
Nevertheless, the Black Tortoise Sect was really unlucky, as they were targeted by a Divine Spirit just due to the name of their sect. No one could be blamed but the sect creator, for not putting much consideration into the naming of the sect, and actually daring to use the Black Tortoise’s name.
“So what happened to the Black Tortoise Sect?” Yang Kai asked in curiosity.
Duan Yuan Shan shot an odd look at Yang Kai and replied: “After being targeted by a Divine Spirit, how would they have any good ending at all? It was said that when the Divine Spirit, the Black Tortoise came to attack the sect for the third time, it brought along a group of offspring. Although the Black Tortoise Sect had its extraordinary Spirit Array, how would it be able to defend against a coordinated attack from a group of Divine Spirits? They were destroyed.”
“How disastrous!” Yang Kai exclaimed.
“Hmph! They have only themselves to blame for their outcome!” Duan Yuan Shan didn’t seem concerned, “After them, no other sect dared to use the names of Divine Spirits for the sect names anymore.” Turning to look at Qin Yu, he shot her a meaningful grin and said, “However, although the sect has been destroyed, it is said that several of its disciples managed to escape with their lives, carrying with them quite a few of the sect’s Secret Techniques with them, one of which being the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array!”
Hearing this, Qin Yu replied in annoyance. “Why do you need to say in such a roundabout manner, Uncle Duan? Our Qin Family’s ancestor was indeed a disciple from the Black Tortoise Sect, therefore, the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array was passed down from our ancestor. However, when our ancestor had learned it, it wasn’t a complete Spirit Array. When the Black Tortoise Sect was teaching its disciples this Spirit Array, they only taught each of them a part of it. It required seven people to combine their strength, with each person in charge of their portion of the array.”
After hearing her words, Duan Yuan Shan’s expression turned blank in shock. Looking at Qin Yu, he said, “Doesn’t this mean that you don’t possess the complete Seven Points Black Tortoise Array?”
He could not help but reveal a sliver of disappointment on his face; after all, without an extraordinary Spirit Array like that, there was simply no one among the Dao Source Realm, other than those who gave no regard about their lives, who would dare intrude into the Demon Qi’s domain.
“I have an Array, but it isn’t quite the same as the original.” Qin Yu replied with a faint smile.
“What do you mean?” asked Duan Yuan Shan.
“My Qin Family’s ancestor can be considered as a rather extraordinary genius. Although he had only managed to learn a seventh of the original Spirit Array, through the frequent practice with his fellow sect brothers, he had managed to gain a certain amount of knowledge regarding the other sections of the Array. After the decimation of the Black Tortoise Sect, my ancestor fled to the Southern Territory. Spending a lot of effort in the latter half of his life, he managed to rely on his abilities and knowledge of the Spirit Array to restore the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array to its complete form. However, my ancestor also mentioned that with his abilities, the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array that he restored was just an inferior product, and could never match up to the original version.
“What realm… did your Qin Family ancestor reach?” Duan Yuan Shan asked.
“Second-Order Emperor!” Qin Yu replied pridefully.
Duan Yuan Shan instantly sucked in a mouthful of cold air.
The Second-Order Emperor realm! Even within a great sect like the Black Tortoise Sect, he would have been considered an elite, and might even have held a position of responsibility such as a deacon.
However, despite having a powerful Second-Order Emperor cultivation realm, he was still unable to restore the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array to its original version, showing just how profoundly strong this Spirit Array was.
“Although this isn’t the original version of the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array, I feel that it should be more than adequate for the situation we are facing. Furthermore… it’s easier to master, and if you only focus on the defence and ignore the minor details, it should be more than enough.”
Hearing her words, Duan Yuan Shuan took a deep breath. “If that’s the case, I will need to inform Brother Qin before we proceed.”
In any case, Qin Zhao Yang was the head of the Qin Family. If they really needed to use the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array, they would require his permission before they could use it. After all, this Spirit Array was probably the Qin Family’s greatest treasure.
If not for the desperate situation they were in, who would be willing to share a Spirit Array like this with the masses?
“Please rest assured, Uncle Duan. I’ve already informed Old Ancestor about this matter. He’s on his way here!” Qin Yu replied.
As she said those words, she seemed to sense something as she turned her head with a faint smile. “He’s here.”
With a solemn look on his face, Qin Zhao Yang flew over from the distance. Landing before Yang Kai and Duan Yuan Shan, he cupped his hands towards them.
Sparing the small talk, Duan Yuan Shan cut straight to the issue. “Brother Qin, there’s no need for me to talk anymore about the current situation; I believe that Yu’er has already told you everything. At this moment, we need to utilise your Qin Family’s Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array. Will you accede?”
“Since this matter concerns the survival of Maplewood City, it’s obviously not possible for our Qin Family to stay out of this. I agree with the matter,” Qin Zhao Yang quickly replied.
“Eh?” Duan Yuan Shan gawked in surprise to Qin Yuan Shan’s reply while a look of astonishment appeared on his face, as if he wasn’t expecting Qin Zhao Yang to reply in such a straightforward manner. All of the negotiation tactics he had prepared were now in vain.
Having quite a few interactions with Qin Zhao Yang, Duan Yuan Shan knew that he wasn’t some narrow-minded person. Nevertheless, he was also not an easy person to deal with, especially when it concerned the treasure of the Qin Family.
He had originally expected Qin Zhao Yang to come up with some excuse to avoid responsibility.
After thinking for a moment, Duan Yuan Shan gave a bitter laugh. “Brother Qin, if you have any requests, please do tell. If it isn’t too overboard, this Duan will definitely accept.”
Qin Zhao Yang grinned meaningfully and replied, “Are you treating me as an outsider, City Lord Duan? Everyone’s living together in Maplewood City. Since Maplewood City’s in trouble, our Qin Family is naturally duty-bound to provide assistance…”
“If you continue with your nonsense, there’s nothing further to discuss.”
“Since City Lord Sir’s this sincere, this old man is going to make a slightly difficult request,” A look of helplessness appeared on Qin Zhao Yang’s face, as though he was feeling the grief and misery a girl being forced into prostitution. Seeing this, Duan Yuan Shan suddenly felt the urge to give Qin Zhao Yong a good beating.
“After this disaster, this old master wants to take over all of the Jiang Family’s businesses!” Qin Zhao Yang quickly replied with a stern look on his face.
Duan Yuan Shan abruptly narrowed his eyes, “Isn’t your appetite too big, Brother Qin? Aren’t you afraid of becoming bloated?”
Other than the City Lord’s Mansion, which possessed the greatest authority and might, the Jiang Family’s forces were the most numerous among the aristocratic families in Maplewood City. Furthermore, they were also the strongest aristocratic family in Maplewood City.
With the entirety of the Jiang Family’s top forces being completely decimated by their own actions and turning into demons, all of their businesses and resources have naturally become ownerless things.
At this moment, with Maplewood City being surrounded by Demon Qi and demonic creatures, the patriarchs and old ancestors of the other aristocratic families did not have the mental capacity to spare a thought about fighting over the Jiang Family’s valuables, as they were putting in all of their effort to defend against the demonic onslaught. However, once that danger was over, they might really start to fight over it.
Anyone who was able to obtain such a large family business would be able to increase their strength within a short amount of time.
There is no such thing as an eternal enemy or friend in this world, only eternal benefits!
The businesses left behind by the Jiang Family were also coveted by the City Lord’s Mansion.
However, right now, Qin Zhao Yang was planning to devour all of them. Even though he was already prepared for Qin Zhao Yang to claim a lion’s share, Duan Yuan Shan was somewhat unable to accept this.
Without talking about his personal reluctance to agree to this request, even the various aristocratic families present in Maplewood City would not bend over and accept this.
Hearing that, Qin Zhao Yang laughed. “So what if my appetite is too big? Isn’t City Lord Duan going to protect our Qin Family from the fallout?”
“You’re even planning to get the City Lord’s Mansion involved in this?” A look of misery instantly appeared on Duan Yuan Shan’s face.
Qin Zhao Yang chuckled in response. “What are you talking about, City Lord Duan? Our Qin Family is in decline right now, so I just wish to rely on the City Lord’s Mansion’s might and fame, that’s all. In any case, without City Lord Duan’s permission, our Qin Family also won’t be able to devour these riches.”
“You old fart…” Duan Yuan Shan cursed.
“How could you say that? Being the lord of a city, don’t you understand the virtue of respecting the old and cherishing the young?” Qin Zhao Yang rolled his eyes, before turning towards Yang Kai, “Little brother Yang, Sir City Lord scolded me just now, and you’ve heard it loud and clear. This old master’s very angry, so angry that my life’s shortened by ten years! I’ll make sure to pursue this matter with him!”
“You two continue chatting! I’ll take my leave first!” Seeing this, Yang Kai hastily made his exit.
These two were tearing at each other’s faces right now, and he did not want to get caught up in the mess. He was merely a passing traveller in Maplewood City…
“Haha, I’m just joking, I’m just joking…” Qin Zhao Yang grabbed Yang Kai’s arm. “Please don’t be so hasty to leave. If we really want to form the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array, we need little brother’s help to do so!”
“I’m also needed?” Yang Kai frowned.
Qin Zhao Yang smiled. “Just a moment ago, Yu’er should have mentioned it, that the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array requires seven people to act together in order to unleash the might of the Divine Spirit, Black Tortoise. There aren’t enough Dao Source Realm masters in Maplewood City, so little brother’s assistance is naturally required.”
Yang Kai gave it a thought before nodding. “ Okay, count me in.”
He was also extremely interested in the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array. If he could learn such an extraordinary Spirit Array, he would come out of this situation with a net gain.
Seeing Yang Kai agree, a look of delight flashed across Qin Zhao Yang’s face. Looking back at Duan Yuan Shan, he said, “City Lord Sir, there’s no problem over at this Qin’s side. However, what’s the progress in your considerations?”
A solemn look appeared on Duan Yuan Shan’s face as he quickly replied. “Brother Qin, although my City Lord’s Mansion is the number one force in Maplewood City, you should know that those few old fellows aren’t good to provoke. Your suggestion is going to piss off a lot of people…”
“Sir City Lord’s capabilities are matchless, you possess strength that towers over the masses, and have powerful connections. How can you be afraid of those few old fellows?” Qin Zhao Yang laughed in response, before shaking his head and continuing, “This old master doesn’t believe that you can’t achieve it!”
Duan Yuan Shan’s eyes narrowed before he growled, “Fine, I’ll do as you say!”
“My pleasure,” Qin Zhao Yang chuckled heartily. “Since that’s the case, I’ll need City Lord Sir to find seven people and let this old master and Yu’er teach them the formations for the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array.”
“I’ll give you an answer after an hour!” Duan Yuan Shan quickly replied.
Qin Zhao Yang nodded and turned to shoot a look at Yang Kai, before flying off with them.
Not long after, the three of them returned to the section of the city walls that Qin Zhao Yang was in charge of defending.
A solemn look suddenly appeared on Qin Zhao Yang’s face as he handed a jade slip to Yang Kai. “Little brother Yang, please destroy this immediately after looking through and comprehending the information present within. You can consult Yu’er on anything that you’re not sure about. Although her cultivation realm is far inferior to yours, she might be able to give an explanation or two on the Dao of Spirit Arrays.”
Yang Kai’s expression immediately changed. Receiving the jade slip, he replied, “I’ve already had first-hand experience of Sister Qin’s proficiency in Spirit Array techniques.”
After saying that, he sent his Divine Sense into the jade slip. After a cursory sweep across the information, his expression changed slightly, before he raised his head to send a look of doubt towards Qin Zhao Yang. “Old Sir Qin, this is…”
The Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array required seven people to join hands in order to properly execute it. In the past, for the sake of preventing this secret Spirit Array from being shared openly with the public, the Black Tortoise Sect had only taught each disciple a portion of the Spirit Array’s formations. Only when seven people collaborated would they be able to form the complete Spirit Array.
Yang Kai had assumed that Qin Zhao Yang had given him one of the seven portions. However, after the cursory look, he discovered that the information recorded in the jade slip was actually the formation method of the complete Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array.
Obviously, this wasn’t the original version of the Spirit Array, but the one the Qin Family’s old ancestor had comprehended.
Even so, this was still one of the best Spirit Arrays.
However, Yang Kai wasn’t able to understand why Qin Zhao Yang would do such a thing.
With a smile, Qin Zhao Yang said, “You don’t have to think too much about it, Little Brother Yang. Currently, with Maplewood City facing a disaster. If we aren’t able to survive this, Maplewood City will be finished, and my Qin Family will definitely be wiped out. When that happens, the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array might get lost in the rivers of time. I’ve handed it to you in the hope that you might be able to preserve it. After all, this is something that my Qin Family’s old ancestor spent half his life to comprehend. This old master isn’t willing to let it get buried along with our Qin Family.”
“If this city can’t hold on anymore, I might not be able to escape either.” Yang Kai quickly said.
“Don’t be modest, little brother.” Qin Zhao Yang gave an ambiguous laugh. “With your capabilities, you should be able to escape Maplewood City whenever you wish. Although I don’t know why you have chosen to stay, since you’re willing to stay and defend this city, you definitely have your reasons for doing so. This old master has handed you this thing, and I only have one request.”
Yang Kai’s expression changed as he asked, “What request?”
“If Little Brother Yang really wants to leave Maplewood City, please take Yu’er along with you and ensure her safety!” Qin Zhao Yang’s expression turned into a solemn one, while his voice contained an earnest plea.
Earlier, when he was defending against the invasion of demonic creatures alongside Yang Kai at the city walls, Qin Zhao Yang had personally seen Yang Kai display his Spatial Secret Technique, creating a black hole that devoured countless demonic creatures.
Therefore, he had come to the conclusion that Yang Kai was a master in Space Force.
Qin Zhao Yang wasn’t exactly sure how powerful cultivators that were proficient in Space Force were. The only thing he was sure about was that such cultivators had a natural superiority in escape and pursuit situations that were hard to rival.
He felt that with Yang Kai’s accomplishment in Space Force, it should not be difficult for Yang Kai to leave Maplewood City if he really wanted to.
Therefore, the exchange of the complete Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array for the promise of protecting Qin Yu wasn’t disadvantageous for him.
“Okay!”
Yang Kai nodded his head in agreement, before turning to shoot a look at Qin Yu standing by the side. “If I’m not dead, Qin Yu will definitely be safe!”
He had the confidence to make this declaration; after all, he had the trump card in the form of his Sealed World Bead.
Qin Zhao Yang gave a hearty laugh. “With your words, Old Brother, this Qin can rest assured. Just stay here and focus on comprehending the formation method. Leave the defence of the city walls to this old master.”
Yang Kai nodded, before finding a slightly quieter place to sit down. Sending his consciousness into the jade slip, he started to comprehend the information in detail.
Time continued to tick by.
Yang Kai had immersed himself completely in the mysteries of the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array.
He discovered that what Qin Yu had said was right. This Spirit Array was patched up by her Qin Family’s old ancestor with his own comprehensions and was inferior to the original version. However, it was far easier to master, so it didn’t take long for him to attain some comprehension of his own.
Yang Kai only had cursory achievements in the Dao of Spirit Arrays. However, the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array was unlike those that were usually used for defence or offence. This Spirit Array’s basis was focused on the cultivators. When they worked together to execute it, the completed Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array could even rival a portion of the might that the Divine Spirit Black Tortoise’s Divine Ability could unleash.
On the other side, there were Dao Source Realm masters constantly flying over, receiving jade slips from Qin Yu before heading off to find their own corners to comprehend the information given to them.
Qin Yu obviously did not give these people the complete version of the Spirit Array formation method. Instead, they received one of the seven portions.
After a day, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly changed. Retrieving his communication artifact, he sent his Divine Sense in and immediately read the message that he had received.
It was a message from City Lord Duan Yuan Shan for everyone to gather.
Raising his head, Yang Kai shot a look at Qin Zhao Yang, who nodded back lightly at him.
Right at the same time, a rotund figure descended from the sky. With a large green bottle gourd hanging at his waist, who would it be other than Drunkard?
Standing on the city walls, Drunkard waved his hands at Qin Zhao Yang. “Go.”
Qin Zhao Yang smiled and replied: “I’ll have to trouble Vice City Lord City Sir to take care of this section’s defences then.”
Raising his eye towards Qin Zhao Yang, the Drunkard said, “Old fellow, you better be careful when you head outside. Make sure to not perish out there.”
Qin Zhao Yang’s mouth twitched in response, though he did not do anything in response other than to shoot a look at Yang Kai, before bringing Qin Yu as they flew to the gathering point.
After a short moment, they landed in another part of the city.
There were already four others gathered at this place, and all of them were Dao Source Realm masters.
Of the four, two of them were Maplewood City’s City Lord Duan Yuan Shan and Vice City Lord Zhuang Pan respectively, but Yang Kai didn’t recognise the other two people.
One of them was a pale-faced old man, while the other was a beautiful woman with an alluring figure.
Yang Kai made a sweeping glance, though shock surfaced within him as his eyes gaze landed on the beautiful woman, as he discovered that she was actually a Third-Order Dao Source Realm master! She was even stronger than Duan Yuan Shan! Furthermore, the aura radiating from her body was restrained, resulting in the energies in her body being only faintly discernible, which made it hard for people to judge her strength.
[When were there so many Third-Order Dao Source Realms in Maplewood City?]
Yang Kai’s heart was filled with suspicion. Just a few days ago, he had run into a master, a man he had met at the entrance of the Spirit Pill Plaza; he never expected to meet another master so soon after.
Although he did not know exactly where these two hailed from, they were definitely not local cultivators from Maplewood City.
Seeing Yang Kai looking over, the beautiful woman gave a sweet smile, causing her to radiate an air of seduction. Her moist, elegant peach-like eyes seemed to tell a story, containing a soul-stirringly fascinating glint.
A surge of vigilance rose in Yang Kai’s heart as he quietly turned his gaze away.
“Brother Yang, Brother Qin, you’ve arrived.” Seeing the two arrive, Duan Yuan Shan cupped his fists to greet them.
On the contrary, Vice City Lord Zhuang Pan gave a cold snort, appearing to have a big problem with Yang Kai and disliked the latter.
Yang Kai was not concerned with his reaction, as he had quarrelled with Zhuang Pan the last time he had visited the City Lord’s Mansion. In fact, they even started a fight where Yang Kai destroyed the spirituality of his artifact, so it was natural that he would not express pleasure at Yang Kai’s arrival.
“City Lord Duan, this madame is …” Landing, Qin Zhao Yang looked doubtfully at the beautiful woman.
Qin Yu was in charge of handing over the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array to the Dao Source Realm Masters, and Qin Zhao Yang did not get involved in that matter. Therefore, he had not met this beautiful woman, and furthermore, knew that it was impossible for Maplewood City to have any Third-Order Dao Source Realm masters, prompting him to voice his query.
“This Mistress, Hua Qing Si, greets the two of you.” Not waiting for Duan Yuan Shan, the beautiful woman took the initiative to reply.
“So it is Lady Hua.” Qin Zhao Yang frowned in response, while a hint of a weird feeling flashed across his face. The woman had only introduced herself with her name, and no one knew if it was her real name or just an alias, thus he had no way of speculating about her origins.
Duan Yuan Shan smiled. “Lady Hua’s not a cultivator for our Maplewood City. She had just so happened to be doing some business here when the Demon Qi invasion began. After hearing that we’re heading outside to repair the seal, she volunteered to provide assistance. This Duan can’t thank Lady Hua enough for her righteous act.”
Hua Qin Si covered her mouth to give a lovable giggle. “You’re too modest, City Lord Duan. As of now, if anyone in Maplewood City suffers, everyone will suffer. This mistress is just doing it for my own survival. There’s no need to talk about righteousness at all.”
“This person should be Brother Yang, right? Old Master Du Li Shen, we’ve interacted briefly before.” Seemingly noticing Yang Kai’s pensive look, the pale-faced old man stood up and gave a self-introduction.
“So, it is old Sir Du, nice to meet you!” Yang Kai returned the greeting in a neutral tone.
He recognized this Du Li Shen, as he was the old ancestor of the Maplewood City’s Du Family and possessed the same First-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation as Qin Zhao Yang. Although the two of them had not exchanged greetings before, they had engaged in simple conversations through their communication artifacts during the defence of Maplewood City, so Yang Kai was not unfamiliar with him.
On the hand, after seeing that Du Li Shen was attempting to form a connection with Yang Kai, Qin Zhao Yang hastily changed the subject and asked, “City Lord Duan, we’re still one person short. Don’t tell me that you’re planning to let Yu’er be one of the seven we need? Yu’er’s role in this is only to repair the seal.”
There were only four Dao Source Realm masters gathered here. After including himself and Yang Kai, they only had six here.
Duan Yuan Shan smiled in response. “Just wait a while longer, that person should be arriving quite soon.”
Just as his words rang out, a streak of light came shooting rapidly towards their direction. From the looks of it, that person seemed to be coming over from the City Lord’s Mansion.
After a short while, a flash appeared above the group, before a figure appeared.
Raising his head, Yang Kai could not help but frown in response.
That was because he discovered that the last person was actually the Third-Order Dao Source Realm middle-aged male that he had bumped into a few days ago at the entrance of the Spirit Pill Plaza!
Arriving at the gathering place, the middle-aged man swept his gaze below, before coming to a slight rest on Yang Kai before saying in an indifferent tone. “This King is late.”
His haughty stance incited displeasure in the crowd. Nevertheless, due to his astonishing cultivation realm, no one dared to outwardly reveal any of their displeasure.
The only exception was Hua Qing Si, who pursed her lips and let out a giggle, causing what seemed to be a lovely scene of flowers blossoming to appear.
Noticing her actions, the middle-aged male’s gaze turned chilly as he focused his eyes onto Hua Qing Si. However, upon noticing that her cultivation realm was not inferior to his own, he could not help but reveal a strange look on his face, as though he didn’t expect there to actually be a Third-Order Master other than himself present in this small Maplewood City.
Being unable to see through Hua Qing Si’s origins despite looking at her for a moment, the middle-aged man could only give a cold snort in response.
“You’ve arrived right on time, Brother Fu.” Duan Yuan Shan greeted the middle-aged male. From the looks of it, the appearance of two people stronger than him had caused him to feel somewhat uncomfortable.
The critical point was that these two had spontaneously come forward in the name of wanting to assist in the repairing of the seal. Therefore, he wasn’t able to reject them without good reason.
“City Lord Sir, when we leave, the defensive strength of Maplewood City would decline substantially. Would that be a problem for the people remaining here?” Qin Zhao Yang asked in concern. In any case, the core of his Qin Family’s businesses was in Maplewood City, therefore their losses would be great if the city was destroyed.
“With Drunkard and the old ancestors of the other families present, there shouldn’t be a problem for a short while. However, we still need to get this done as quickly as we can.” Duan Yuan Shan quickly replied. “Since everyone’s arrived, we should get going.”
After saying those words, Duan Yuan Shan waved his hand and took the lead to fly off.
The other people quickly followed behind.
As they arrived at the city walls, there were people already waiting for them.
“Open the array!” Looking deeply at the surging Demon Qi and an endless number of demonic creatures scuttling about, Duan Yuan Shan gave a loud roar.
Hearing his words, the nearby Array Masters quickly controlled the Array Plate in their hands.
Under their control, an opening slowly formed on the golden liquid-like Spirit Array.
When the opening grew large enough for a person to pass through, Duan Yuan Shan took the lead and rushed through, shouting out as he did so. “Let’s go!”
Xiu Xiu Xiu…
With everyone being at the Dao Source Realm, they would naturally not be lacking in their sense of timing. Streaks of light flashed about, and all seven of them were outside of the city.
Qin Yu followed closely behind Yang Kai and Qin Zhao Yang, not daring to be apart from them by more than half a step.
After the eight people had left, the Array Masters on the city walls quickly closed up the Spirit Array.
Outside of the city, Demon Qi surged about, creating berserk winds that howled about. One could even hear faint cries and howls ringing about, causing people’s hairs to stand on their ends and rocking the core of their life force.
Qin Yu’s face turned slightly pale, while tremors shook through her tender body.
Despite Yang Kai and Qin Zhao Yang joining hands to protect her, with her Second-Order Origin Returning cultivation realm, she was still somewhat unable to endure being in such a place.
“Form up!” At the front, Duan Yuan Shan shouted out.
In the next instant, everyone started to move, shifting themselves to various positions, all while forming seals with their hands.
With the change of their hand seals, a mysterious and invisible connection gradually formed between the seven Dao Source Realm cultivators, linking them together.
The Source Qi radiating from everyone started to surge and expand, before fusing with others’ Source Qi. When that happened, an extraordinary aura suddenly came into existence, before expanding out furiously, driving all of the Demon Qi away from their vicinity, creating an empty void around where they were standing.
The Source Qi within the bodies of the seven Dao Source Realm masters surged uncontrollably and gushed out from their bodies like broken dams, the speed of outflow causing great changes to their expressions.
Qin Zhao Yang roared out in a stern voice. “Fret not! This is what will happen before the completion of the formation! Everyone, please make sure to work together!”
After hearing his words, everyone quickly calmed themselves down and continued to form their hand seals.
Source Qi visible to the naked eye surged out like tidal waves, before gradually gathering and merging together. After a short while, an embryonic form of a fierce gigantic creature started to condense.
The creature possessed the head of a dragon, a tortoiseshell, and the tail of a snake, and appeared incomparably mighty and powerful. This was the Divine Spirit, Black Tortoise!
An all-powerful pressure suddenly burst forth, causing shock and astonishment to form in the hearts of the seven people who formed the Spirit Array.
At this instant, the Divine Spirit Black Tortoise condensed from the Source Qi of the seven people appeared remarkably alive, turning its head about and wagging its tail, just like an actual living creature would do. Nevertheless, regardless of its size or strength, it was substantially inferior to the real Black Tortoise, though it was still a gigantic creature.
Among the seven people, Duan Yuan Shan took the position of the dragon head, the middle-aged man took the position of the snake tail, while the other four took the positions of the limbs. As for Yang Kai, he took the centremost position, with Qin Yu by his side.
This arrangement was naturally due to Qin Zhao Yang’s deliberate actions.
If one was to look from afar, one would notice that the seven Dao Source Realm masters appeared to be concealing their bodies within a semi-corporeal Black Tortoise Divine Spirit.
As the formation of the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array reached its completion, the Source Qi surging out from everyone’s body finally slowed down.
Delighted looks appeared on the seven people’s faces, though they did not make any reckless moves. On the contrary, all of them closed their eyes and quietly sensed the miraculous properties of this extraordinary Spirit Array.
Demon Qi came surging from all directions, enveloping the seven people and quickly submerging the translucent figure of the Black Tortoise. Countless demonic creatures came attacking from all directions, using the concealment of the Demon Qi to launch attacks that came in like tidal waves hitting a shore.
In an instant, the Black Tortoise’s figure could no longer be seen.
Feelings of worry and anxiety surfaced within countless pairs of eyes on top of the city walls, in fear that those seven Dao Source Realm masters would lose their lives just like that.
All of a sudden, a low roar rang out from the area the Demon Qi had surrounded. This roar sounded like a dragon or a beast, resounding across the heavens and earth.
As the roar rang out, a might that seemed to be able to destroy the heavens and shatter the earth suddenly erupted from that location.
In an instant, all of the Demon Qi present in that area was purged, while all of the demonic creatures were sent flying back, before exploding into clouds of blood mist in the air.
The figure of the Divine Spirit appeared once again, while the eight people present within it were completely unharmed.
Duan Yuan Shan chuckled heartily. “With the aid of this miraculous array, what can’t we achieve? Let’s go!”
After experiencing how profound this Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array was, he had gained a large boost in confidence.
As he said those words, he took the lead and rushed forward. The other people followed blindly behind him, maintaining the revolution of the Spirit Array and their relative positions to one another.
As they headed along, any demonic creature that came forth to obstruct them would incite the Divine Spirit projection to wave its humongous palm. With a single palm sweeping out, not a single demonic creature could stand in its way, all of them being sent flying and turning into piles of mush.
The mine wasn’t too far away from Maplewood City, with the distance being about two thousand kilometres. However, if these seven Dao Source Realm masters were to attempt to fly over by themselves, only a few of them might be able to arrive at the mine unscathed.
However, at this moment, by relying on the might of the Spirit Array to combine their Source Qi into one and transform it into a Divine Spirit projection, their journey was basically them bashing through dry weeds and smashing through rotten logs, with nothing that could even obstruct them at all.
The exceedingly corrosive Demoni Qi could not even affect them at all, as it was obstructed by the Divine Spirit projection.
“This Spirit Array is excellent,” As everyone advanced without any pressure at all, Hua Qing Si, who was positioned at the left foreleg of the Black Tortoise projection, suddenly smiled and commented. Directing her beautiful eyes to the left side, she said: “Old Sir Qin, do you have any plans on selling this to the public? If you’re willing, this mistress can…”
“You don’t need to say anymore, Lady Hua. This Qin’s ancestor spent his blood, sweat and tears, and the latter half of his life to complete this Spirit Array. This Qin will not sell it to the public,” Before Hua Qing Si could finish her sentence, Qin Zhao Yang had already interrupted with a gloomy look appearing on his face.
“Don’t be so firm, Old Sir Qin. There is nothing in this world that does not have a price. After this matter, this mistress will find the time to have a private chat with you,” Hua Qing Si smiled as she replied. Clearly, she did not plan to give up easily. As she said those words, her eyes sparkled with a seductive glint. Despite being old and withered, Qin Zhao Yang could not stop his heart from pounding loudly, his blood from surging, and his throat from drying up before a gaze from her peach-like eyes,
[Enchantress!] He quietly cursed as he hastily defended his mental state. Taking a deep breath, he suppressed the surging Qi within his chest.
“This King is also very interested in this Spirit Array, Count me in, too.” The man with the surname of Fu suddenly opened his mouth and spoke with a tone that did not allow one to refute.
“This Sir, your words are unreasonable,” Hua Qing Si immediately felt displeased as she spat out. “This mistress is the one that raised this matter with Old Sir Qin. If you, sir, are interested, shouldn’t you allow this mistress and old sir Qin to finish our discussions before talking about it?
“So, a first-come-first-serve basis also applies in this?” The middle-aged man shot an emotionless look at Hua Qing Si and sneered. “Do you think this is like buying buns from the market?”
Hua Qing Si narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly, though she still continued to wear a faint and beautiful smile on her face as she replied, “This sir, isn’t this an obvious attempt by you to bully a weak girl like this mistress?”
A frown appeared on the middle-aged man’s face as he snorted coldly. “So?”
After exchanging words to and fro, sparks have already emerged between the two of them.
Duan Yuan Shan shouted out from the front, “Sir, madam, as of now, the most important thing to do is to repair that broken seal. We can discuss other matters after that task is accomplished. Can the two of you give me face and put this aside for the time being?”
Hua Qing Si smiled, but no longer said anything.
On the contrary, the middle-aged man continued to speak out in a cold and haughty manner. “Who are you to step in when this King is doing something? Do you believe that this king will leave this Spirit Array right now and make you all unable to return?”
As his words rang out, not only the face of Duan Yuan Shan, but even Qin Zhao Yang, Zhuang Pan and Du Li Shen turned ashen in response.
The Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array required seven people to cooperate in order to display it. If the middle-aged man really left them here, with his powerful Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation, it might be possible for him to fight his way out of the encirclement. However, that would not be the case for the other people present.
At the very least, the few First-Order Dao Source Realm masters did not have the confidence to defend themselves against the corrosion of the Demon Qi for long, and they would eventually turn into one of the demonic creatures.
Although there was Qin Yu present with the possibility of her filling in the void, with her Second-Order Origin Return cultivation realm, how would she be able to assist the others to execute the Spirit Array? If that really happened, it would only take a few breaths before Qin Yu would be sucked dry of all of her energy within her body.
It could be said that if that middle-aged man left right now, at least half of the people present here would die.
“There’s no need to do that, sir.” Zhuang Pan was frightened to the point where his face turned pale. He did not come here of his own will, but was volunteered by Duan Yuan Shan. As his strength was inferior to that of Drunkard, Duan Yuan Shan needed the latter to take charge of Maplewood City, leaving him with no other choice but to follow along. After seeing how haughty and arrogant that middle-aged man was being, he was terrified to the bones, causing him to throw swear word after swear word towards Duan Yuan Shan in his heart, blaming Duan Yuan Shan for not recognizing the middle-aged man for who he really was – an idiot person that did not even have a single shred of morality at all.
“That’s right. Please don’t be so hasty, sir.” Du Li Shen also attempted to mediate the situation. “We can discuss this.”
As he said those words, he shot a fierce glare at Qin Zhao Yang, hinting at him to think of a way to defuse this situation.
Yang Kai continued to remain silent as he looked at Duan Yuan Shan with a somewhat astonished look.
The middle-aged man had flown over from the City Lord’s Mansion earlier, leading Yang Kai to assume that the man had some kind of relationship with Duan Yuan Shan, and that they were well-acquainted with each other. However, with what was happening now, it clearly wasn’t the case.
That middle-aged man didn’t give a damn about Duan Yuan Shan at all.
It could be said that he didn’t give a damn about anyone at all, as the behaviour he was showing indicated that he believed he was superior to everyone, and that he was the sole ruler in Heaven and Earth.
[Did this guy have a powerful background?] Yang Kai continued to mull it over. Only cultivators with extraordinary backgrounds would develop such a haughty and arrogant attitude.
“Discuss? This king never discusses with anyone,” The middle-aged man sneered at Qin Zhao Yan. “Old fellow, are you going to sell this Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array or not? Hurry up and give an answer!”
His actions, which seemed to indicate that he would immediately leave if not given a satisfactory answer, made the others feel intense hatred towards him, but at the same time, they were incomparably anxious, as they turned towards Qin Zhao Yang to shoot pleading looks at him.
“Sir, what’s your opinion on this?” Unable to believe the development of this matter, Qin Zhao Yang wore an expression of bitterness and grief on his face.
On the other side, Duan Yuan Shan had reached the limit of his anger as he clenched his fists tightly.
It wasn’t because the man had not treated him, the City Lord, as someone of any importance at all. Instead, it was because he had added insult to injury at such a critical junction. If he had known that the middle-aged man had such rapacious designs, he would have never agreed to let him become a member of this Spirit Array.
If not for the dire situation, Duan Yuan Shan would have immediately flipped him off.
“This King’s patience is wearing thin. Let me ask you one last time. Are you selling it, or not?” The middle-aged man tossed out an ultimatum, leaving Qin Zhao Yang absolutely no room for respite.
“Old Qin…” Du Li Shen grew flustered as he stared anxiously at Qin Zhao Yang.
“Brother Qin, the present situation is of higher importance.” Zhuang Pan said in an attempt to persuade him. After saying that, he added, “It’s alright if it’s just us. However, without the protection of the Spirit Array, your Yu’er will…”
He gave an impression of being worried for Qin Yu, as though he was extremely concerned for her well-being.
A look of fury and indignation surfaced on Qin Zhao Yang’s face as, after all, he had taken the initiative to hand over his Qin Family’s heirloom Spirit Array, had personally participated in its formation, and had even brought his precious granddaughter Qin Yu into a dangerous place, all in the hopes of helping Maplewood City fend off the dangerous situation it was currently in. However, never in his wildest dreams did he expect his surge of hot-bloodedness would be drenched and doused in ice water in such a place.
How could he be willing to hand this Spirit Array over?
“Okay. I’ll sell this Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array to you, brother Fu.” After remaining silent for a while, Qin Zhao Yang replied through clenched teeth, knowing that he was powerless to change the situation.
“Haha. A wise man will submit to the circumstances!” The middle-aged man chuckled heartily, “You’re not bad, old fellow.”
“I can sell the Spirit Array, but may I know what price you are going to offer for it?” Qin Zhao Yang asked as he clenched his teeth in anger.
Seemingly prepared for him to ask, the middle-aged man with the surname of Fu raised his finger. “One million!”
“You might as well just steal it?” Qin Zhao Yang roared in fury.
Everyone else also revealed inconceivable looks as they stared at the middle-aged man.
Although a million Source Crystals wasn’t a small amount, it was too low of a price for the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array. During the auction fair, a single Dao Source Fruit could fetch over a million Source Crystals, much less an extraordinary Spirit Array like this.
If such a Spirit Array was brought out to be auctioned, there would absolutely be many great sects fighting to get their hands on it, much less being able to fetch a few million Source Crystals. Therefore, Qin Zhao Yang was utterly incapable of accepting this price.
“A million, no more, no less!” Ignoring Qin Zhao Yang’s fury, the middle-aged man snorted coldly. “If you continue nagging, this offer will be gone.”
“Tsk tsk, this sir from the Flying Saint Palace is overbearing indeed. You’ve really opened this mistress’s eyes.” An alluring giggle suddenly rang out from Hua Qing Si.
“Flying Saint Palace?” Zhuang Pan exclaimed in astonishment, while Du Li Shen’s expression immediately changed.
Even Duan Yuan Shan had a shocked look plastered on his face. On one hand, it was due to him suddenly discovering the origin of this middle-aged man with the surname of Fu. On the other hand, it was naturally due to Hua Qing Si’s knowledge of such information. Although everyone had already guessed that the middle-aged man had an extraordinary background, no one knew exactly what it was. This was only revealed through Hua Qing Si’s information, and no one could tell how she managed to obtain that information!
After hearing those words, great waves of vigilance surged within Yang Kai’s heart as he sneakily shot a look at the middle-aged man, quietly feeling that this fellow’s intentions weren’t good at all.
Despite being forced to kill the Flying Saint Palace’s Young Master, who had been possessed by the Wood Spirit, it was still undeniable that he had killed the latter.
After that, he had seized Ning Yuan Cheng’s ship and refined it for his own use.
With this in mind, it was definitely not a coincidence that the middle-aged man had appeared in Maplewood City. He might very well be in pursuit of the culprit behind Ning Yuan Cheng’s death. Therefore, there was no way he didn’t notice that ship at the Spirit Pill Plaza a few days ago.
In fact, he might have already known that Yang Kai was the killer!
Yang Kai’s face turned slightly gloomy as he considered all of this.
After his origin was revealed by Hua Qing Si, the middle-aged man narrowed his eyes slightly, before focusing on the beautiful woman. “Your eyesight’s impressive, woman. Where do you hail from?”
Raising her hand to arrange her loose strands of hair back behind her ear, Hua Qing Si gave a faint smile and replied, “This mistress is just a lowly loose cultivator. What’s there to talk about where I hail from?”
“Hmph!”
Naturally, the middle-aged man did not believe Hua Qing Si’s nonsensical reply. As shock and doubt surfaced quietly in his heart, a faint sliver of dread finally flashed across his eyes.
A person who could see where he came from was obviously not an ordinary person. However, with his haughtiness and arrogance, he still did not treat Hua Qing Si as much at all.
“Have you made up your mind?” The middle-aged man turned back to Qin Zhao Yang.
Qin Zhao Yang sighed and replied, “Can the offer be raised?”
After all that had just happened, Qin Zhao Yong was already on the chopping board. Furthermore, he still had Qin Yu to consider. In the end, he had to weigh his options; since he had no other choice, he made an attempt to see if he could obtain more Source Crystals.
“What do you think?” The middle-aged man did not answer Qin Zhao Yang’s question.
Qin Zhao Yang’s expression sunk, causing him to appear as though he had aged for quite a bit, “Let’s agree to the price Sir has given.”
“Very good!” Extremely satisfied with the outcome, the middle-aged man extended his hand towards Qin Zhao Yang. “Hand the thing to this king, and this king will not renege from this king’s words.”
“Hold up!”
All of a sudden, a voice interrupted this trade.
Everyone turned towards the source of that voice, only to discover that it was impressively Yang Kai, who stood at the middle of the formation. Ever since Hua Qing Si and the middle-aged man started their conversation, until the man successfully forced Qin Zhao Yang to sell the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array, Yang Kai did not speak a single word at all, causing everyone to forget his existence. However, they never expected him to suddenly speak up at such a critical moment, causing blank looks to appear on everyone’s faces, being at a loss for what he wished to do.
A flash of splendour surfaced within Hua Qing Si’s beautiful eyes, as she started to size Yang Kai up with interest, a faint smile curling up at the corner of her mouth.
Compared to her, the middle-aged man narrowed his eyes, while a sliver of murderous intent obvious to anyone who saw it flashed across his eyes, as he said in a cold voice, “What do you want, brat?”
“Don’t be impatient, sir,” Yang Kai chuckled. “I’m not going to snatch your business away. However, after your stunt, I suddenly realized that the unity between us people is somewhat weak. If anyone just wants to casually leave, he or she can use such a threat to coerce the other people. This doesn’t seem too good, right?”
Duan Yuan Shan quickly added, “It’s this Duan’s failure to make adequate considerations.”
Originally, he had treated the sudden requests from the two Third-Order Dao Source Realm Masters taking the initiative to join this mission as a good thing. How would he ever expect that such a situation would occur? Compared to the middle-aged man, Hua Qing Si looked more reliable for the time being. However, if Hua Qing Si was just like the middle-aged man , it would be better for everyone to just rush back to the city than to get their consciousness wiped out and turned into demons.
“This isn’t City Lord Duan’s fault. It’s just that there aren’t many Dao Source Realms in Maplewood City in the first place. Having external aid is something that I’d naturally desire.” Yang Kai replied in a calm tone.
Hearing Yang Kai’s words, Duan Yuan Shan gave a long sigh, one that was filled with helplessness.
“For the sake of preventing such matters from occurring again, I feel that we should have a proper discussion about it. For example, we can’t have someone else pulling something like this again, right?” Yang Kai asked while looking at his surroundings.
“That’s right, that’s right. We indeed need to discuss it.” Du Li Shen promptly nodded his head in support.
The other people were still indifferent about the matter, as everyone knew one another and had family businesses in Maplewood City, which meant that they wouldn’t act too despicably and not give regard to the general situation at all. However, the rest were also not familiar with Hua Qing Si. What if she pulled the same stunt as the middle-aged man? If that really happened, this team would definitely break apart. With even returning back to the city becoming a problem for them, how would they have any room to think about repairing the seal?
Furthermore, with how despicable the middle-aged man was, what if he still pulled out after obtaining the Seven Points Black Tortoise Array? What could everyone else do then?
As such apprehensions started to surge within their minds, frowns appeared on a few people’s faces, as worry filled their hearts.
“What’s the matter? You won’t believe this king?” Seeing their reactions, the middle-aged man couldn’t help but reveal a gloomy expression on his face!
Huang Qin Shi pursed her lips and laughed, “Do you think you’re a trustworthy person, sir?”
The middle-aged male snorted coldly. “So, what are you trying to say, madam?”
He did not believe that Hua Qing Si, a Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator, would act just on her hotbloodedness to help these people repair the seal. She definitely had underlying reasons behind her actions.
“Aiya. This mistress isn’t harbouring any ill intentions at all. It’s just that one can’t act alone at this moment, that’s all.” Hua Qin Si giggled after giving her reply.
After being singled out by Hua Qing Si, a look of fury appeared on the middle-aged man’s face. Nevertheless, he did not dare to take action, leaving him no choice but to forcefully restrain himself.
“Everyone, there’s no need to argue. This Duan feels that there’s a reason behind little brother Yang’s words. How about this, why not make sure that they would not pull any requests like earlier and not leave their positions before we repair the seal and return to the city?” Duan Yuan Shan quickly interjected.
“You lot can rest assured. As long as this king obtains the complete array formation method, this king will naturally aid you all to repair the seal.” The middle-aged man said in a cold voice.
“Words have no value…” Zhuang Pan said weakly.
“Then what do you want? Are you trying to make this king swear upon my heart demon?” The middle-aged man’s gaze suddenly turned cold as he looked right at Zhuang Pan.
Zhuang Pan turned pale in fright and promptly gave a weak laugh, “It’s just a joke, sir.”
“Why not?” On the contrary, Yang Kai gave a faint smile, “If sir really wishes to work together with us as a team, it shouldn’t be a big problem for you sir to swear upon your heart demon. Unless… you have a guilty conscience, sir.”
“Impudence!” The middle-aged man roared in fury as he sent a scorchingly angry glare at Yang Kai, the flames of anger within his eyes seemingly wanting to set Yang Kai aflame.
However, Yang Kai remained unmoved and continued to stare right back at him.
Since he had guessed that the man had already treated him as Ning Yuan Chen’s killer, the man would definitely have a grudge against him. Therefore, Yang Kai wasn’t afraid of having some enmity with the man.
“What this little brother said is not wrong,” Surprisingly, Hua Qing Si was extremely supportive of Yang Kai. “It’s rare for this mistress to follow along in my moment of hotbloodedness and travel with people, so I really don’t want my mood to get spoiled by some people. Since everyone agrees on this, let’s all swear upon our heart demons.”
“Who would agree to it?” The middle-aged man asked out in shock.
“Everyone has agreed to it. It seems like you, sir, are the only one with a different opinion.” Yang Kai grinned as he looked at him, before suddenly revealing a look of shock. “Could it be that you, sir, are really planning to leave after obtaining the formation method? Sir, you can’t be that untrustworthy and harbour evil intentions at heart!”
“Lies! This King never said those words,” The middle-aged man had reached the limits of his anger.
“Then that means that you’ve agreed.” Yang Kai concluded. No longer caring about the latter, he looked around and said, “Since no one has any objections, let’s start.”
After saying those words, he started to swear upon his heart demon.
Exchanging glances with one another, the other people proceeded to do the same.
In fact, even Hua Qing Si did not act out of place and started to swear upon her heart demon.
After that… everyone turned to look at the middle-aged man.
At this moment an angry glow burst forth from the middle-aged man’s eyes. Staring fiercely at Yang Kai, he seemed to want to cleave Yang Kai to death as he growled between his clenched teeth. “Good, very good! This king will remember you.”
Yang Kai giggled in response. “I really apologize for making you, sir, remember me.”
“You’re courting death!” The middle-aged man replied with his hatred evident in his voice.
“Sir, is there any use in threatening me?” Yang Kai made an innocent face, “I didn’t do anything at all.”
“This sir, it’s your turn now.” Hua Qing Si interjected, grinning as she looked at the middle-aged man. “Unless you don’t wish to obtain the complete formation method, you have to swear upon your heart demon. If not, this mistress will have to properly thank you, sir, as this mistress is prepared to offer a better price for the trade.”
“Very good, all of you!” Suppressing the flames of anger in his heart, the middle-aged man had no choice but to clench his teeth and start his oath.
Although swearing upon one’s heart demon appeared to be a useless verbal promise, it was actually not completely useless, as no cultivator dared to recklessly disregard it. If one was to really face an oath backlash during a critical moment, it would be an exceedingly troublesome matter to deal with.
However, there are also quite a few secret techniques that could allow one to evade the backlash of a heart demon’s oath, so it could not be fully trusted most of the time.
These secret techniques required one to have an extremely powerful cultivation realm in order to execute them. Furthermore, they required extremely long preparation times. Therefore, despite the strength of the middle-aged man, he should not be able to dispel the heart demon’s oath for a while.
After swearing an oath on his heart demon, the middle-aged man extended his hand coldly towards Qin Zhao Yang.
“Where are the Source Crystals?” Qin Zhao Yang asked with a gloomy expression on his face.
The middle-aged man sneered. “It’s just a mere million Source Crystals. Are you afraid that this king can’t pay up?”
As he said those words, he immediately retrieved a Space Ring from his robes. After making some slight arrangements, he tossed it to Qin Zhao Yang.
Catching it, Qin Zhao Yang examined it in detail. After making sure that the amount was correct, he retrieved an empty jade slip, sent his Divine Sense into it and transferred the complete formation method for the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array.
After that, he tossed that jade slip to the middle-aged man.
The man suppressed the emotions surging out from his heart as he caught the jade slip. After checking its contents, a look of delight instantly appeared on his face, before he put it carefully with a hearty chuckle.
Clearly, he was extremely satisfied with the results of this trade, to the point that he seemed to have forgotten about the earlier unhappiness.
“Everyone, we should increase our speed. Otherwise, we will get surrounded,” All of a sudden, Yang Kai’s solemn voice gave everyone a wake-up call.
Sweeping their Divine Sense outwards, everyone discovered that it had only taken that short period of time when they were occupied with their conflict to be surrounded by a horde of countless demonic creatures like a tightly-knitted ball.
“Just a bunch of pitiful weaklings!” With a roar, Duan Yuan Shan suddenly formed seals with his hands.
As everyone was connected to the Spirit Array, Duan Yuan Shan’s movements made the others have no choice but to closely follow suit and take action.
The gigantic Divine Spirit projection suddenly opened its large mouth, before dense water elements from the surroundings converged in a berserk fashion. In the blink of an eye, a gigantic ball of water appeared before the dragon head.
As Duan Yuan Shan’s muffled roar rang out, it was as if someone took control of the Divine Spirit as it opened its mouth wide and spit.
The gigantic ball of water transformed into a beam of white light that travelled straight forward. Smashing everything in its path like rotten wood, its might couldn’t be obstructed, as countless demonic creatures were killed in an instant, disintegrating into nothingness.
A safe passage spanning over a thousand metres appeared before them.
Without saying a word, Duan Yuan Shan took the lead and rushed forwards, everyone following suit behind him.
The City Lord’s heart seemed to be filled with fury towards that middle-aged man. However, in their current situation, they couldn’t have a falling out with that man, so the only thing he could do was to let all of his anger out on those demonic creatures.
As the situation changed, the demonic creatures that had surrounded the group seemed to also become affected, lunging at them with total disregard for their lives as they continued to unleash various kinds of attacks at the Spirit Array.
If one was to observe from afar, they would see dense numbers of demonic creatures around the gigantic body of the Black Tortoise projection.
Nevertheless, this was still unable to stop the group’s advance.
After approximately half an hour, the group finally arrived at the original location of the mine.
Although everything within a thousand kilometres of here was filled with jet-black Demon Qi, there was a certain location where the Demon Qi was much denser. There was a black pillar of energy shooting straight up into the sky, connecting Heaven and Earth; it was a soul-stirring sight for anyone who laid eyes on it. Like an open tap, unimaginably pure Demon Qi gushed out from it continuously, spreading out in all directions.
There was no need to warn anyone in the group; when they saw that jet-black energy pillar that shot up towards the sky, all of them naturally knew that it was the origin, and should also be where the seal was located.
Taking the lead, Duan Yuan Shan rapidly flew towards it.
However, as they approached the location, everyone felt the rate at which Source Qi was flowing out of their bodies started to gradually increase. After a moment of shock, everyone proceeded to retrieve restorative Spirit Pills, consuming them to maintain the circulation of their bodies’ energies.
All of a sudden, Duan Yuan Shan’s advance came to a halt, frowning as he looked before him.
Less than ten feet away, several dozen powerful auras were standing quietly, as though they had been waiting for the group for a very long time.
Right at the instant when the group stopped in their tracks, these figures let off simultaneous roars, before rushing forwards in a storm-like manner.
The resulting berserk energies reached the Dao Source Realm level, with the only thing lacking being the mobilization of Principles.
“They’re Jiang Family members!” Yang Kai roared fiercely after narrowing his eyes to look before him.
“Die, you bastards!” Duan Yuan Shan changed his hand seals. In response, the Divine Spirit Black Tortoise projection raised its foreleg and swept out fiercely towards the front.
BANG…
The slap sent two figures flying, exploding into blood mist in midair, their bodies disintegrating into nothingness. Nevertheless, the other enemies managed to nimbly evade the attack.
The group of Jiang Family Origin King realm members had their strength increased by the Demon Qi. Nevertheless, despite reaching a level of strength that rivalled Dao Source Realms, how could they match up to the group which was already displaying their Spirit Array?
With the activation of the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array, the Source Qi from the seven Dao Source Realm masters were combined into one, and among them, two were Third-Order Dao Source Realm masters.
The palm strike from the Black Tortoise projection was equivalent to a simultaneous strike from seven people!
“It’s that brat, Jiang Lin!” Positioned on the left side of the Spirit Array, Du Li Shen’s gaze landed on a demon rushing forward, with jet-black eyes and a body covered in Demon Crests. Instantly, he recognised that demon, and it was shockingly the Jiang Family’s patriarch: Jiang Lin!
Clearly, Jiang Lin had already fully lost consciousness, as the miserable death of his family’s elders did not incite any fear in him. On the contrary, it stimulated his bloodlust, causing the Demon Qi around his body to surge as he unleashed various highly powerful Secret Techniques to strike the Spirit Array.
His frenzied state of madness frightened Du Li Shen, causing Du Li Shen’s speed of forming hand seals to subconsciously slow down.
Any slight mistake by anyone within the Spirit Array would affect the entire Array. Due to him slowing down, it had risked causing disruptions for the others.
This instantly incited the anger of the middle-aged man, who shot a fierce glare at Du Li Shen and roared, “Do you wish to die, old man! If you feel that you’ve lived too long, this king doesn’t mind fulfilling your wish!”
“It’s a mistake, it’s a mistake!” Sorrow and dejection filled Du Li Shen’s heart as he hastily gave a reply. Giving a shaky smile, he promptly suppressed the shock in his heart and proceeded to adjust his position and state of mind.
There were several dozen Origin King Realm masters that were turned into demons, each with the ability to fight against Dao Source Realm masters. Anywhere else, this would have been quite a powerful lineup. However, they might as well have been children when facing off against the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array.
With its gigantic frame, the Divine Spirit projection was invincible, sweeping everything before it. The reason behind the lack of technique in its actions was merely due to everyone commanding it to constantly wave its forelegs, smashing every demon that rushed over into mush and blood mists.
From the start to the end, the fight lasted a mere several dozen breaths, with the Jiang Family higher-ups being completely wiped out, leaving Jiang Lin as the only one left alive.
Unexpectedly, he did not initiate any attacks. Instead, he hid his body within the swirling Demon Qi, all while continuing to send roars out, commanding the endless demonic creatures in his surroundings in an attempt to obstruct the group’s progress.
Nevertheless, how could these demonic creatures of varying strength serve any purpose other than becoming cannon fodder?
Rivers of blood formed alongside piles of corpses.
After a full hour, the group finally arrived at the origin of the Demon Qi.
The ground had been smashed apart, and a pile of rubble stood where the mine entrance was, a result from the massive explosion of Demon Qi. This forced the group to dig a hole, all while fighting against demonic creatures, before finally jumping into the mineshaft.
Having previously seen the location of the seal, Yang Kai was naturally familiar with the directions. Through his lead, the group travelled through the twisting tunnel, spending yet another half an hour before reaching the location of the seal.
After cleaning the place up, they finally located the wall where the seal was located.
“Did we find it?” Duan Yuan Shan asked in delight.
“This should be it.” Upon seeing the wall covered with Demon Crests, Qin Yu, who had been protected in the centre of the group throughout the journey, nodded in response, eyes sparkling.
She had managed to catch a faint glimpse of the patterns from Jiang Chu He’s Knowledge Sea. Being an extremely ancient seal, she only had a smattering of understanding of it.
Fortunately, the damage to the seal was only limited to a corner, so repairing it was barely within her capabilities.
“Hurry up and take action!” The middle-aged man urged impatiently.
With a smile, Hua Qing Si said, “What are you afraid of, sir?”
Shooting her a look, the middle-aged man snorted. “It isn’t that this king is afraid, but these other trash are lacking in strength. If we get delayed here for too long, even though this king and you can endure, do you think they can?”
“What sir said makes a lot of sense.” Hua Qin Si giggled.
Upon hearing those words, displeased looks appeared on everyone’s faces!
For better or for worse, everyone here was a Dao Source Realm master. Although they couldn’t rule Maplewood City and the area ten thousand kilometres around it with absolute power, they were first-rate figures at the very least. Yet, at this moment, they had actually been treated like trash by the middle-aged man.
Feelings of unhappiness surfaced in everyone’s hearts, yet they felt too embarrassed to reveal it openly, so they were forced to silently curse the middle-aged man in their hearts.
“I need you all to temporarily disperse the Demon Qi here. If not, I will be unable to repair the seal!” Qin Yu suddenly spoke out.
The broken part of the seal was the source of the Demon Qi. It could be said that the Demon Qi coming out from there was incredibly pure, something that Qin Yu, with her Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivation, was utterly incapable of dealing with!
“Use the might of the Divine Spirit to suppress it!” Qin Zhao Yang roared out.
Flashes of understanding appeared in everyone’s minds as they proceeded to take action.
As they formed more and more hand seals, the group started to move. After a short while, the gigantic Divine Spirit projection pressed itself right on top of the seal.
The rate at which Demon Qi surged out instantly slowed down, as though it had encountered an obstruction, before finally being unable to flow out at all.
Nevertheless, exceedingly ugly expressions appeared on everyone’s faces.
That was due to their consumption of Source Qi. After using the strength of the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array to suppress the broken part of the seal, everyone discovered that Source Qi started to gush out from their bodies like a torrent from a broken dam, pouring out at a frenzied rate.
The speed of energy consumption was simply akin to unleashing Secret Techniques without any regard for their life, something that probably no one could handle.
The faces of the First-Order Dao Source Realm cultivators turned pale.
“Little Yu’er, approximately how long do you need to repair the seal?” Du Li Shen asked with a bitter expression on his face.
Continuing to focus on the seal, various kinds of precious materials used to repair seals appeared in Qin Yu’s hands. “It’ll take at least half an hour!”
“Half an hour…” The look on Du Li Shen’s face grew even more bitter.
“Our success or failure rests on this! Everyone, please do not drop your guard!” Duan Yuan Shan roared out loudly in an attempt to boost the group’s morale.
Hearing his words, everyone had no choice but to clench their teeth and summon their strength, all while constantly shoving various kinds of restorative Spirit Pills into their mouths.
“A bunch of trash!” Seeing this, a look of ridicule and disdain surfaced on the face of the middle-aged man, while showing the relaxed state he was in.
Being a powerful Third-Order Dao Source Realm master, the quantity and quality of the Source Qi was several dozen times greater than that of Du Li Shen and the other First-Order Dao Source Realm masters, therefore he naturally did not need to worry too much about the increase in Source Qi consumption.
“Sir, have you done a detailed analysis into this Seven Points Black Tortoise Array?” All of a sudden, Hua Qing Si asked a question out of nowhere while sporting a somewhat mocking smile on her pretty face.
“I’ve naturally analysed it. So, what about it?” The middle-aged man shot a displeased look at Hua Qing Si.
He looked down upon everyone else here, even the Maplewood City City Lord, Duan Yuan Shan. The only exception was Hua Qing Si; he somewhat dreaded her as, after all, her cultivation realm was not much different from his own.
Her sudden question subconsciously caused him to raise his guard.
“Looks like you, sir, did not analyse it properly,” Hua Qing Si smiled.
“What do you mean?” The middle-aged man asked in shock. For some unknown reason, he felt that he had overlooked some part of the array.
“If sir had analysed it properly, you should know that when the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array is fully deployed, the formation members’ Source Qi are fused together as one. In other words, the Spirit Array will consume the same amount of Source Qi from everyone. If anyone exhausts their Source Qi, the Spirit Array will collapse.”
“Exactly what are you trying to say?” The middle-aged man frowned.
“Can’t you understand such a simple concept, sir?” Hua Qing Si giggled as she looked at him. “The Spirit Array does not draw the same amount of Source Qi from each of us. Instead, it draws in the same ratio to maintain equilibrium… yes, the higher your cultivation, the more Source Qi it will pull from you, and the opposite is true. Therefore, everyone’s rate of Source Qi consumption is the same. I wonder if sir understands what I’m trying to say?”
“What?” The middle-aged man’s expression instantly changed upon hearing her words.
He hastily sent his Divine Sense for a detailed check and discovered that, as Hua Qing Si had just described, the rate of consumption for his and her Source Qi was much higher than the others. Duan Yuan Shan came in second place, and the rest of the Dao Source Realm cultivators basically had the same load.
This discovery instantly caused his face to turn incomparably gloomy and filled with unhappiness.
“Is that really the case? Lady Hua’s eyesight is sharp indeed,” After being reminded by Hua Qing Si, Du Li Shen and Zhuang Pan also noticed it. Exchanging glances, they could see the delight hidden in each other’s eyes.
After all, if this was the case, that truly meant that all seven people would suffer as one, and prosper as one. This Spirit Array bound everyone — weak or strong — together, and did not differentiate between people!
Therefore, they did not have to worry about their Source Qi being sucked dry, as the middle-aged man was still able to handle the current situation with ease.
“This king is being burdened by all you useless trash!” The middle-aged man shouted out, an expression of incomparable rage appearing on his face.
“This sir, please do not forget that you’ve already sworn on your heart demon,” Hua Qing Si added fuel to the flames, causing the middle-aged man’s mood to burn even hotter with anger.
Being dragged down by someone else would never fail to make anyone unhappy.
Raging with fury, he shot a furious glare at Qin Zhao Yang, as though he was placing all of the blame on him.
Qin Zhao Yang mumbled, “I thought that everyone understood the basis behind this Spirit Array’s operations…”
Hua Qing Si giggled and added, “Since this sir hails from the Flying Saint Palace, I would assume that you would definitely carry the pill famous in the Southern Territory, the Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill, right? I wonder if you sir would be willing to spare a single pill for each one of us.”
“You wretch… you even dare to target this king’s pills?” The middle-aged man’s anger had reached his boiling point, and his face started to twist, teetering on the brink of cursing out loud.
“Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill?” Zhuang Pan’s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this name, as he shot a look of longing towards the middle-aged man.
A similar expression also appeared on Du Li Shen’s face.
It seemed as though that Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill would be extremely beneficial in this current situation.
A chilling glint flashed within Hua Qing Si’s eyes, though she quickly restrained it. Continuing to purse her lips and give an alluring smile, she said, “There’s no need to be so stingy, sir. Although the Flying Saint Palace’s Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill has some negative side effects, its efficacy is incomparably powerful, making it famous throughout the Southern Territory. Sir, with your powerful cultivation, you should hold an important position within the Flying Saint Palace. Could it be that you don’t even have a single Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill with you right now?”
“None!” The middle-aged man’s cheek twitched slightly as he immediately refuted her claim.
Hua Qing Si could not help but let off a puff, while a look of contempt appeared on her face.
“What is a Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill?” Yang Kai quietly whispered to the nearby Qin Zhao Yang.
“Haven’t you heard about it, Little Brother Yang?” Qin Zhao Yang shot a flabbergasted look at Yang Kai, appearing to be extremely shocked by his question.
Yang Kai made a blank look, before shaking his head slowly.
“The Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill is a unique product of the Flying Saint Palace, and it seems to have harsh requirements regarding the location where it is refined. Therefore, even Spirit Alchemists from powerful places like the Start Soul Palace aren’t able to refine this Spirit Pill. The greatest effect of this Spirit Pill is its ability to restore one’s Source Qi at an extremely rapid speed. Furthermore, it has a very powerful efficacy. However…”
“However?” Yang Kai gawked before asking.
“However, after consuming this Spirit Pill, one would expend a portion of their Blood Essence. This is its minor side effect. However, how can this blemish affect its true worth? Compared to its efficacy, would some Blood Essence matter at all? A Spirit Pill like this is sufficient to let anyone keep their life during critical moments. Nevertheless, due to the extremely low production rate of this Spirit Pill, it has an extremely shocking price. A single Spirit Pill is valued at several hundred thousand Source Crystals at the very least!”
“You know quite a lot, Old Thing!” Hearing Qin Zhao Yong’s words, the middle-aged man gave a haughty laugh, “That’s right, our palace’s Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill is indeed the hallmark of the Southern Territory. Even a great sect like the Star Soul Palace isn’t able to refine it. The only way to refine it would be to enter our palace’s restricted area. Since the number of Spirit Pills refined isn’t even able to satisfy the needs of our palace’s disciples, how can this king have any spare to give you all?”
“If you don’t want to, then don’t. What’s the use of talking so much?” Hua Qing Si snorted, “In any case, when everyone’s Source Qi dries up, everyone will die here, and this mistress won’t be left alone.”
“There’s no need to say something so demoralizing. We can definitely hold on through this crisis.” Zhuang Pan reassured himself as his face grew paler.
“That Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill… what does it look like?” asked Yang Kai.
Qin Zhao Yang replied, “It’s blood-red in colour, has a fishy smell, and it’s around the size of a broad bean…”
An odd look appeared on Yang Kai’s face as he retrieved a jade bottle from his Space Ring, before saying in a dazed tone, “Could this be it?”
“What?” Everyone was shocked by his words, prompting all of them to look his way.
Yang Kai leisurely removed the bottle stopper and removed a single Spirit Pill. It was just as Qin Zhao Yang had described, blood-red in colour with a faint fishy smell and the size of a broad bean…
“Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill!” The middle-aged man exclaimed in astonishment, before revealing a chilling glare at Yang Kai and roaring, “How do you have this pill?”
“Haha, so this is really the Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill, right?” Yang Kai gave a hearty chuckle, appearing as though he was also surprised by this discovery.
“Little brother Yang, how is it that you have…” Qin Zhao Yang’s expression changed drastically, turning deathly pale in an instant. As he asked the question in a trembling voice, he shot a fierce look at Yang Kai, signalling him to hurry up and put his Spirit Pills away.
The faces of Duan Yuan Shan and the rest also changed, as they proceeded to keep their silence.
“Little brat, this king is asking you a question. Where did you obtain those Spirit Pills from!” The middle-aged man’s face sank as he emphasized every single word in his question.
“I picked them up.” Yang Kai replied.
“Picked them up…” Everyone’s face turned black after hearing his response.
There were at least several dozen Blood Burning Source Restoring Pills in that jade bottle, with a total worth of a few million Source Crystals! How could something like this be casually picked up like that?
One had to know that very few Blood Burning Source Restoring Pills were ever circulated in the open market. Only important figures from the Flying Saint Palace would carry a few with them. Yang Kai’s sudden revelation of having so many Blood Burning Source Restoring Pills inevitably led the others into thinking that he had done something bad to some important figure from the Flying Saint Palace… for example, something cruel like killing them and repossessing their belongings.
This was the reason why Qin Zhao Yang had shot a fierce glare at Yang Kai.
A year ago, there was indeed an important figure from the Flying Saint Palace that had come to Maplewood City, and that person was precisely the Flying Saint Palace’s Young Master: Ning Yuan Cheng!
However, after the auction fair that year, Ning Yuan Cheng disappeared without a trace while the Flying Saint Palace had a new young master.
This wasn’t really a secret. Therefore, paired with the appearance of those Spirit Pills in Yang Kai’s hands, people couldn’t help but to have such thoughts.
“Bullshit!” With a fierce roar, the aura radiating from the middle-aged man suddenly turned dangerous. Glaring coldly at Yang Kai, he said, “Little brat, if you don’t give this king a proper explanation today, this king will make sure that you’ll regret being born in this world!”
“Sir, what a bad temper you have.” Yang Kai gave a faint smile in response, appearing as though he was not one bit afraid of the man, causing everyone looking at him to be shocked by his courage. “You became so overbearingly aggressive after I said that I picked up this bottle of Spirit Pills, as though I’ve killed your parents. Even if this bottle of Blood Burning Source Restoring Pills came out of your Flying Saint Palace, there isn’t a need to be like that, right?”
After saying that, he did not wait for the middle-aged man to give his reply before he continued, “However, it’s true that I picked this thing up, and I even obtained a ship artifact.”
The middle-aged man gawked in response to Yang Kai’s words and seemed to have recalled something, suddenly suppressing his fury, before replying in a cold voice. “Explain in detail how you came into possession of these items!
“Is there anything good to say?’ Yang Kai chuckled, “At that time, two people were fighting against each other, ending up with both losing their lives at the same time. I hid in a corner and watched the fight until it ended, before looting these things from the battlefield.
“Is that even possible?” Qin Zhao Yang’s eyeballs were about to pop out from their sockets.
A fight between a sandpiper and a clam resulted in the fisherman’s win; but in the end, this was just a quote from classical literature. It would be incredibly different to encounter such a scenario in the cultivation world.
“At that time, my cultivation was only at the Third-Order Origin King realm, but that was a fight between Dao Source Realm masters. How would I dare to get involved?” Yang Kai explained.
“Indeed, Little Brother Yang has just been promoted to the Dao Source Realm a short period of time ago. Last year, he was a Third-Order Origin King.” Qin Zhao Yang nodded his head and added.
A frown appeared on the middle-aged man’s face before a shade of understanding flashed across his face. He proceeded to speak out sternly, yet his earlier fury seemed to have abated. “Since it’s a fight, other than the person from my Flying Saint Palace, who was the other party?”
“There was only one other person, and he was called Han Leng!”
“Han Leng?” Everyone exclaimed in shock upon hearing that name.
A burst of radiance flashed across Hua Qing Si’s beautiful eyes, while she shot a complicated, yet pleasantly surprised look at Yang Kai.
“So, it’s the Star Soul Palace’s traitor!” The middle-aged man seemed to believe Yang Kai’s words.
“Does this mean that the two parties managed to form some grievances against each other during the auction fair?” Du Li Shen pondered with a pensive look.
Basically all of the Dao Source Realm masters present here had participated in the auction fair, where they had all witnessed Ning Yuan Cheng and Han Leng competing for the auctioned goods. After discovering this matter from Yang Kai, everyone immediately guessed what had resulted in the conflict.
All of their guesses were basically the same. However, never in their wildest dreams would they believe that the Wood Spirit had a part to play in this matter. If not for the Wood Spirit quietly anchoring itself in Ning Yuan Cheng’s body, Han Leng would never have been ambushed.
With Yang Kai’s level of strength, he would not be able to obtain any advantage if he were to fight against Han Leng, who was at the Second-Order Dao Source Realm and hailed from a powerful sect.
A plethora of expressions flashed through everyone’s faces as they secretly felt envious and shocked at Yang Kai’s luck.
“Little Brat, hand that bottle of Spirit Pills and that ship artifact over to me right now!” All of a sudden, the middle-aged man extended his hand in an overbearing fashion at Yang Kai, “Those items belong to my Flying Saint Palace, you ought to return them to their rightful owners!”
“Those words don’t sound reasonable, sir.”
Before Yang Kai could reply, Hua Qing Si suddenly interjected with a ridiculing laugh. “For ownerless items, finders keepers. Since this little brother managed to obtain these items by luck, then it is also his destiny to find them. Do you not care about your dignity by asking him to return them like that?”
After finishing her sentence, she turned to look at Yang Kai. “Little brother, don’t listen to him.”
Little brother…
Yang Kai’s mouth twitched at the way she had addressed him, while a look of discomfort appeared on his face.
“Do you really think that this king is afraid of you, cheap slut?” After being ridiculed by Hua Qing Si time and time again, the middle-aged man’s belly was already filled with anger. At this moment, he could no longer endure it, cursing out loud at her.
“A useless man scolding other people is truly an ugly sight to behold, tsk tsk…” The ridiculing look on Hua Qing Si’s face grew even more contemptuous.
“You…” The middle-aged man’s anger skyrocketed. If not for the oath he had made with his Heart Demon, he might have already started a fight with Hua Qing Si to keep his face.
Hua Qing Si continued to provoke him, “What narrow mindedness. Little brother, would it be possible for you to give this elder sister a Blood Burning Source Returning Pill?”
“Sure!” Yang Kai nodded his head. He had taken out the bottle of Spirit Pills for two reasons. First, he wanted to use this opportunity to try to clear his name and erase that middle-aged man’s suspicions towards him, and secondly, he wanted to distribute it to everyone.
After displaying the Spirit Array, everyone’s fate was tied together, so it was useless to act solely for personal benefits.
“There’s enough for everyone,” Yang Kai said, all while giving everyone a Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill. Only the middle-aged man did not receive anything!
Being a higher-up of the Flying Saint Palace, no one would believe that he didn’t have such a Spirit Pill with him. Since he treated the Spirit Pills so importantly and had no intention of sharing them, Yang Kai was not so stupid as to give him a Spirit Pill.
“You sure are magnanimous, Little Brother. You’re looking really pleasing to this elder sister’s eyes,” Keeping the Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill, Hua Qing Si’s beautiful eyes gleamed with an alluring splendour as she said those words. With a giggle, she looked towards Yang Kai, her peach-like eyes shining with a soul-stirring gleam. As her red lips wriggled, they shone with a gem-like lustre. “Since you’ve given me a Spirit Pill, this Elder Sister will make sure to protect you. If anyone wants to touch you, they have to first go past this elder sister!”
After saying those words, she intentionally swept her gaze towards the middle-aged man, a look that was filled with provocation!
Yang Kai grinned and replied, “Then I’ll have to thank you, Elder Sister!”
Hua Qing Si could not help but to toss some coquettish glances at him after seeing how collaborative he was. Yang Kai responded with a look as though he had been charmed by her. This caused Duan Yuan Shan and the others to feel extremely uncomfortable, resulting in them cursing the two. [Why didn’t such amazing things happen to me, too?]
“You two sure are brave!” The middle-aged man was so angry, steam could be seen rising from his head. With a chilling voice, he added, “This matter isn’t over.”
“Elder sister, he’s threatening me!” Yang Kai immediately called for help.
Hua Qing Si rolled her beautiful eyes and replied in an unconcerned manner. “He has yet to take any action. What’s there to be afraid of? You better not be too gutless, Little Brother!”
“Can… you all please quieten down a bit? It’s extremely distracting to my concentration.”
All of a sudden, Qin Yu, who was focusing all of her efforts on repairing the seal, spoke up with an extremely annoyed look on her face, while simultaneously shooting fierce glares at the few raucous people.
After hearing her words, everyone instantly shut up. Nevertheless, everyone could feel the rather weird atmosphere.
The seven people that formed this Spirit Array weren’t united in heart, foretelling that this matter wouldn’t go smoothly.
For a period of time, deathly silence filled the interior of the mine, with the only noises coming from the continuous whistles and roars from the surrounding Demon Qi and demonic creatures.
Qin Yu continued to repair the seal in silence.
Not long after, a frown suddenly appeared on Duan Yuan Shan’s face as he roared out, “There’s something coming!”
There wasn’t any look of surprise appearing on the faces of the middle-aged man and Hua Qing Si. Clearly, they had discovered it before Duan Yuan Shan. This was also the case for Yang Kai. With his Divine Sense being not one bit inferior to a Third-Order Dao Source Realm master, he had naturally discovered it before Duan Yuan Shan. In fact, he was even able to faintly sense some information that was not privy to the rest.
On the contrary, the faces of the few First-Order Dao Source Realm masters turned solemn upon hearing his words.
*Whoosh whoosh….*
Human and beast figures started to reveal themselves within the swirling Demon Qi. Clearly, they were demonized creatures.
Having spent a period of time within the mine, which was the source of the Demon Qi, it was naturally impossible for the group to not worry about the demonic creatures present.
After gathering together, they proceeded to launch all-out attacks without regard for their lives.
Nevertheless, having travelled all the way here, the seven people were much more proficient in operating the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array than before. Under their combined strength, they focused strictly on protecting the area of the seal, all while not sparing a single demonic creature that dared to approach them.
After a while, piles made from the corpses of innumerable demonic creatures appeared before the group, with the resulting bloody smell assailing everyone’s noses.
Although they managed to achieve remarkable results, everyone had a feeling of unease creep into their hearts. As a result of suppressing the origin of the Demon Qi, all while needing to fight against the onslaught of demonic creatures, the consumption rate of their Source Qi had increased by 30%.
They had yet to spend a stick of incense’s worth of time since arriving here, yet they had already consumed the greater half of the Source Qi within their bodies.
At this rate, it wouldn’t take too long before they would exhaust all of their Source Qi. When that happened, they would need to consume that Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill.
“Roar…”
All of a sudden, a furious roar rang out from a certain location. In the next moment, a dazzling burst of radiance surfaced over there, transforming into an astonishing giant axe that cleaved downwards from the air.
Before the giant axe had truly chopped down, everyone felt a surging pressure descending from the sky, causing the faces of the few First-Order Dao Source Realm masters to turn pale.
Even the expressions of the two Third-Order Dao Source Realm masters, the middle-aged man and Hua Qin Si, suddenly turned solemn.
“Giant Spirit Axe?” Duan Yuan Shan exclaimed, as though he had recognized that artifact. With a roar, he rapidly formed seals with his hands.
The Black Tortoise projection raised its head and roared, before lifting up its gigantic foreleg to meet the incoming giant axe.
*Bang…*
This time around, the ever so mighty and invincible Black Tortoise’s palm was unexpectedly only able to block the incoming giant axe. In fact, a giant gash appeared on its palm, looking dangerously close to being chopped off.
Duan Yuan Shan’s expression changed as he realized that he had underestimated the might of that Giant Spirit Axe, causing him to hastily increase the strength of the Spirit Array.
However, right at this moment, a figure appeared in a flash, as a person with jet-black abstruse eyes had appeared in a location not far away from the group in a spectre-like manner. Although he did not use any artifact, he waved his fists about, Demon Qi swirling around them as he sent a fierce punch forward.
“In your dreams!” With a furious roar, Duan Yuan Shan’s hand seal formation speed increased by a few notches. In return, the Black Tortoise projection opened its big mouth, before biting down on that figure.
Just like a house, its gigantic mouth devoured that person whole.
However, before people could feel any delight, the Black Tortoise’s giant mouth unexpectedly started to swell and shrink, as though some kind of berserk energies were erupting from within. In the next moment, with a bang, the devoured figure rushed out, and with a flash, retreated away. Reappearing right beside the Giant Spirit Axe wielding demon, it continued to let out roars from its mouth.
“Brother Cheng, Brother Zhou…” Duan Yuan Shan shot a complicated look at the two demons that had suddenly appeared, before letting out a sigh.“It has been three years. I never expected that you two would actually become like this in our next meeting.”
From his sighing expression, it was clear that he recognized the two people.
Qin Zhao Yang’s expression had also sunk as he quickly said, “They are the two City Lords of Forest City!”
“Forest City!” Yang Kai repeated those words, before sighing too. “From the looks of it, Forest City has already fallen.”
Previously, Old Swindler had said that he had come from Forest City to ask for reinforcements from Maplewood City. Now, since the two City Lords of Forest City had appeared before them, and had both turned into demons, anyone could imagine the situation at Forest City!
Although Forest City was smaller than Maplewood City, these two City Lords were both First-Order Dao Source Realm cultivators. Strengthened by Demon Qi, most First-Order Dao Source Realms were truly no match for them. This explained the powerful attacks they were able to unleash.
All of a sudden, Yang Kai roared out, “If they are here, that Jiang Tai Sheng must also be here! Everyone, please pay attention.”
“They’re just a few trivial First-Order Dao Source Realm demons, that’s all! Is there anything to be afraid of? Take a look at how this king deals with them.” With his belly already filled with anger, the middle-aged man was worrying about how to vent his anger. Therefore, it was natural for him to find a good place for him to blow all of his anger off.
He was interested in showing off his strength. After saying those words, a short spear about a foot long suddenly appeared in his hand, before Source Qi surged into it.
“Pay attention to conserve your Source Qi!” Seeing him about to take action, Duan Yuan Shan immediately let out a reminder.
Nevertheless, it was a pity that he was too late. The short spear radiated with a weak brilliance. With a flash it disappeared from his hand, creating a shockwave in the process.
Not far away, appearing to sense something, the demonized City Lord Cheng twisted his body.
In the next instant, a blood mist erupted from his shoulder, while the connected arm blew apart, revealing jet-black muscles and white body, an exceedingly striking sight for one to see.
As pain set in, the demonized City Lord Cheng roared out loudly, its roars seemingly transforming into invisible shockwaves that shook everyone’s Knowledge Seas. Fortunately, as the cultivation realms of everyone present here weren’t low, coupled with the protection of the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array, they only needed to spend some energy to suppress the tremors.
“It isn’t dead yet?” The middle-aged man was extremely surprised.
His short spear was a Mid-Rank Dao Source Grade artifact, and possessed incomparably powerful might. Originally, he had assumed that it would only take a flick of his hand to deal with a demon that had lost its consciousness. However, he never expected that it would actually shift its body and vitals in time, resulting in it only losing an arm.
“Looks like their combat abilities have increased by quite a bit after losing their consciousness.” Yang Kai said pensively. Even he could feel the danger behind the strike the middle-aged man had launched, and it clearly wasn’t easy to evade it at all.
Hearing his words, Hua Qing Si nodded her head in agreement.
Right at this moment, a shocking spectacle appeared before everyone.
Demon Qi started to churn at the stump of the demonised City Lord Chen. It proceeded to merge together with the wound. In the next instant, right before everyone’s eyes, the wound started to squirm, before rapidly growing out.
Before ten breaths were up, it had actually regrown its severed limb!
“How is this possible?” Everyone’s eyes snapped wide open, their jaws dropping down, not closing even after a very long time.
Something like regrowing limbs was the stuff of legends. Only a few precious spirit medicines that were virtually extinct in this world were capable of allowing one to achieve such a heaven-defying effect. It was even impossible for cultivators of the Emperor Realm to rely on their own strength to achieve a feat like regrowing their limbs.
However, such a spectacle had just happened right before everyone’s eyes.
And the person who managed to do so was just a First-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator.
Who wouldn’t be astonished?
The demonic creatures they had encountered previously were not very powerful, with all of them possessing cultivations below the Dao Source Realm. They were utterly no match for anyone in the group, exploding apart after a single attack. Therefore, no one had discovered this terrifying effect the endless Demon Qi had on demonic creatures.
However, with the aid of the Demon Qi, this demonised City Lord Cheng was actually able to regrow his severed limb in such an extremely short period of time. Everyone was shocked, all while quietly feeling that the situation had become somewhat thorny.
“Looks like we have to strike their vital points, or smash them into bits.” Duan Yuan Shan quickly said.
“This king wants to see how many times you can evade!” The failure of the middle-aged man’s attack caused him to become angry out of shame. With a twist of his wrist, the short spear appeared once again in his hand before he started to send in Source Qi as though his life depended on it.
The short spear shook slightly before two spears appeared, then four, then eight…
Each of the short spears appeared identical to each other, as though all of them were Mid-rank Dao Source Grade artifacts. It was unknown whether this was his own Divine Ability or the special ability of that artifact.
“Go!” With a roar, the eight short spears trembled slightly, before they suddenly disappeared before everyone’s eyes.
In the next instant, the figures of the two Forest City City Lords swayed violently. Right at the same moment, another figure came lunging over from the side. With his hands clasped together to form a seal, Demon Qi erupted forth, causing a mysterious energy to condense in the sky, before descending and enveloping the area in front of it.
*Whoosh whoosh whoosh…*
Sounds of objects breaking through the air broke the silence, while large patches of blood mist erupted around the bodies of the two City Lords, creating an exceedingly miserable sight.
When the eight short spears that disappeared earlier re-appeared in the middle-aged man’s hand, an even more gloomy expression replaced the already gloomy expression he had on his face.
Severe injuries were present on the two Forest City City Lords. One of them had been struck in the chest, leaving a gaping fist-size hole that was so deep that one could almost see right through him, and could even faintly make out the organs squirming within his body.
The other person had lost both of his feet, causing him to fall down to the ground, though he continued to struggle in an attempt to stand up.
Nevertheless, despite the terrifying injuries sustained, the attacks did not lead to any of their deaths. As Demon Qi started to churn, the spectacle identical to the limb regrowth scene appeared once again.
Not long after, two completely uninjured Forest City City Lords appeared before everyone.
At this moment, other than the two, there was an existence that appeared to be an old man beside them.
“Jiang Tai Sheng!” Duan Yuan Shan snorted coldly, showing his bitter hate towards the perpetrator of Maplewood City’s crisis.
Clearly, this demon was the Jiang Family’s old ancestor, Jiang Tai Sheng. Not only did he appear somewhat different from how he looked since Yang Kai had last seen him, he had now turned into a demon-like existence, with the aura he radiated being much stronger than before.
It was precisely due to him taking action to help the two Forest City City Lords to block quite a few of the attacks that allowed the two to survive. If not, with the capabilities of the middle-aged man, he would have been able to kill one of them at the very least.
“You few pieces of trash, you’ve succeeded in angering me! I’ll make sure you all pay the price for that!” Anger seemed to have overwhelmed the middle-aged man as he roared out. In the next instant, he suddenly mustered all of the Source Qi in his body, and with the twist of his palm, a Secret Technique in the shape of a fireball formed above his hand. As he poured more and more Source Qi in, the temperature of the fireball skyrocketed, alongside its brilliance.
“No!” Duan Yuan Shan immediately lost his voice upon seeing this.
Maintaining the Spirit Array as well as fighting had already greatly exhausted everyone’s energies. The earlier attack launched by the middle-aged man had more or less drained him dry. At this moment, how could Duan Yuan Shan allow the latter to unleash a Secret Technique with even greater energy consumption?
If he was by himself, there was no issue with him displaying that Secret Technique at all. However, at this moment, all seven people’s Source Qi were fused as one. Therefore, the energy used in that Secret Technique was provided by all seven people. This was far less safe and energy-efficient than relying on the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array.
“He’s gone mad. He can’t listen to reason,” Hua Qing Si’s expression changed slightly, before she gave a shout. “If you all don’t want the Spirit Array to collapse, hurry up and use your Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill!”
After saying those words, she immediately retrieved the Spirit Pill Yang Kai had given to her and shoved it straight down her throat.
Seeing this, everyone else did not hesitate anymore and proceeded to consume their Spirit Pills.
This was the first time that Yang Kai had consumed this type of Spirit Pill. As it entered his stomach, he felt a fiery sensation blossoming from there. At the same time, a portion of his precious Blood Essence suddenly burst into flames, catalyzed by the medicine into pure Source Qi that gushed into his empty meridians.
He could not help feeling surprised by this, as he realized that this Spirit Pill was indeed a very good thing.
There were quite a few Source Qi replenishing Spirit Pills present in the Star Boundary. However, none of them could compete with the Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill in terms of efficacy and speed.
The only side effect was the consumption of a portion of the user’s Blood Essence. This wasn’t really a serious problem, but neither was it a minor issue; generally speaking, the consumption of one’s Blood Essence would result in them becoming weaker.
At this instant, the seemingly berserk middle-aged man made a malevolent sneer, while the fireball in his hand had grown to be as dazzling as a miniature sun, with its scorching temperature causing extreme discomfort for everyone present.
Nevertheless, all of the Demon Qi that came close to it were burnt cleanly into nothingness, which was an unexpected surprise.
“Die, you trash!” Raising his hand, the middle-aged man tossed the miniature sun-like fireball forward.
Sensing the terrifying might contained within that fireball, the faces of Duan Yuan Shan and the others turned pale. Without any hesitation, he raised his hand to form a seal and shouted out fiercely, “Defend!”
Being led along, everyone else hastily cooperated with him.
The size of the Black Tortoise projection shrunk by quite a bit, while a tortoise shell-like projection with complicated patterns and motley drawings appeared in the air. In an instant, the Black Tortoise Projection appeared to turn corporeal, causing everyone within it to feel a sense of security enveloping them.
Before them, Jiang Tai Sheng and the other demons let off roars while radiating feelings of unease, as though they were aware that they were in big trouble. In the next instant, all of them opened their mouths wide and devoured all of the Demon Qi in their surroundings.
In a blink of an eye, the Demon Qi around them grew much denser than before.
As the small sun descended, it landed right into the middle of the 3 demons.
Dazzling brilliance blossomed, causing everyone to shut their eyes, leaving them unable to see the situation before them.
*Hong.*
An earth-shattering explosion rumbled out.
The heavens and earth became devoid of light, as sand and rocks flew in the air, berserk winds howled and the earth rumbled and cried.
The originally collapsed mine shaft was now destroyed into nothingness.
“Hahahaha! Let’s see if you all are dead or not!” As he roared with laughter, the middle-aged man retrieved a Blood Burning Source Restoring Pill, shoved it into his mouth and chewed on it, his expression so malevolent that one would assume that he had fully lost it.
As the light gradually disappeared, a giant hole spanning several dozen meters wide was present in the ground before them, surrounded by flames that were still burning strong.
They were able to faintly make out three figures within the giant hole.
The middle-aged man’s mad laughter came to an abrupt halt as he looked incredulously before him, a look of disbelief blanketing his face.
With the giant hole, all of the Demon Qi had already been purged clean, allowing everyone to have a clear view of what was inside.
Despite being in an incomparably miserable state, with no uninjured parts on their bodies, the 3 demons that should have been obliterated into nothingness did not perish.
On the contrary, they still continued to suck in the Demon Qi in their surroundings in a bid to repair their bodies.
Nevertheless, flames burnt on their bodies, causing the Demon Qi gushing towards them to be burnt by the scorching heat into black smoke.
“They’re unable to regrow their limbs! What are you all waiting for?” Seeing this sight, Duan Yuan Shan exclaimed in a pleasantly surprised voice. Taking the lead, he summoned his personal artifact, and disregarding the consumption of Source Qi, started to unleash a fierce attack on the demons.
Seeing this, the other people didn’t hesitate anymore as they unleashed Secret Techniques or summoned the might of their artifacts.
Within the giant pit, Jiang Tai Sheng and the other two demons let off loud roars and lunged out. Continuing to let the flames on their bodies burn on, they evaded the incoming Secret Techniques and artifact attacks as they rapidly closed in on the group, their jet-black eyes filled with gleams of madness.
“Are they trying to perish together with us? Hurry up and obstruct them!” Hua Qing Si’s pretty face changed, and with a twirl of her tender body, she shouted out, “Butterfly Dance!”
In an instant, she appeared to have metamorphosed into a dancing butterfly, fairy-like and absolutely beautiful to behold.
Gorgeous five-coloured butterflies suddenly started to shoot out from her body, flapping their wings as they flew forwards. Numbering over a hundred, they hid the skies and covered the earth as they did so.
After closing in on the demons, powerful energy fluctuations erupted from those dazzling butterflies, before they proceeded to self-destruct. Each explosion rivalled that of the self-destruction created by a Third-Order Origin King cultivator!
The successive explosions of over a hundred butterflies was a magnificent sight to behold.
The three demons, who already suffered quite significant injuries, ended up in an even more disastrous condition.
“Chop!” Qin Zhao Yang wielded a long blade in his hand, which transformed into an astonishing gigantic arc that chopped down from the skies.
The demonized City Lord Cheng, who had arrived within ten metres of the group, was cleaved into two halves. Falling down onto the ground, he finally perished.
Also knowing that this was the critical moment that decided their life or death, Zhuang Pan and Du Li Shen did not dare to hold back any bit of their strength, unleashing their strongest trump cards to obstruct Jiang Tai Sheng and the demonized City Lord Zhou.
A longsword appeared in Yang Kai’s hand, Five Elements Indestructible Sword Qi surging endlessly into it. Forming a loop, it shot towards the demonized City Lord Zhou, striking the latter so many times that he appeared just like a bee’s nest after that.
“Dragon Emperor Flash!” Clasping his hands together, Duan Yuan Shan made a furious push forward.
With a loud dragon’s roar, a dragon projection lunged forwards, smashing right into the demonized City Lord Zhou’s chest. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and City Lord Zhou’s already broken body exploded into quite a few bits before dropping down onto the ground.
“Where’s Jiang Tai Sheng?” All of a sudden, Qin Zhao Yang’s expression changed as he roared.
Among the confusion, he had suddenly discovered that Jiang Tai Sheng had gone missing.
Great waves of shock surged through everyone’s hearts as they hastily scanned their surroundings!
“Over there!” Yang Kai roared. Using his accomplishments in Space Force, he managed to capture Jiang Tai Sheng’s movements. The long sword in his hand trembled, shooting out and transforming into a beam of light.
Pu…
Jiang Tai Sheng’s figure was revealed in a weird manner, with a long sword pierced right through the location of his heart.
Nevertheless, the group could not feel any happiness from this, as Jiang Tai Sheng had already closed in on them. Although he had suffered a lethal injury, a cold smile surfaced at the corner of his mouth, as unstable energy fluctuations radiated out from his body.
In front of everyone’s eyes, Jiang Tai Sheng’s body expanded abruptly in size. Within the blink of an eye, he transformed into someone extremely obese, ripping all his robes clean off his body.
Extremely discomforting energy fluctuations radiated out from his body, causing everyone’s heart to jump.
The Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array blossomed with radiance, faintly showing signs of reaching its limit.
“Hurry up and stop him!” How would Hua Qing Si have the mood to act flirtatious at this moment? As she shrieked, her beautiful eyes were filled with the glow of terror.
Although she was a Third-Order Dao Source Realm master, it was impossible for her to simply disregard the self-destruction of a First-Order Dao Source Realm master. Furthermore, Jiang Tai Sheng had been demonised!
A similar look of dread was also present on the middle-aged man’s face. A short blade surfaced within his hand, slashing right down at Jiang Tai Sheng, attempting to kill him before he self-destructed.
Duan Yuan Shan, Qin Zhao Yang, Du Li Shen and Yang Kai simultaneously unleashed their strength, sending multi-coloured energy attacks rumbling towards Jiang Tai Sheng.
However, right at this moment, something that no one could have expected actually occurred.
All of a sudden, with a loud scream, Zhuang Pan’s eyes trembled violently, before he fled with all his might.
He had actually been frightened past his limits! The only thought he had at that moment was to flee as far as possible, absolutely forgetting the heart demon oath he had made with the group, as well as the safety of the others.
Originally, the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array would still be able to defend and not get broken. However, with his actions, the gigantic Black Tortoise Projection started to warp and distort, teetering on the brink of collapse.
“Bastard!” Yuan Shan almost coughed out blood upon seeing the fleeing figure of Zhuang Pan.
“Hurry up and come back, Brother Zhuang!” Du Li Shen shouted out loudly. Nevertheless, having already fled, how could Zhuang Pan hear him?
Hong…
A gigantic sound rang out as the earth shook. A dark black hole had appeared abruptly at where Jiang Tai Sheng used to be. Not a single trace of light could be seen within it as it appeared incomparably deep, as though it was able to devour anything it came into contact with.
The black hole expanded outwards, carrying energy shockwaves that caused people’s skin to turn cold.
Pu pu pu…
Being at the front of the group, blood mist erupted from Duan Yuan Shan’s mouth, as the strength of his aura declined substantially.
In the next instant, the faces of the middle-aged man and Hua Qing Si turned pale, while blood dripped down from their noses and mouths. Fortunately, due to their powerful cultivations, as well as their reasonably powerful Secret Techniques, they were able to rely on them to stand their ground and block the greater portion of the damage.
Being the weakest members of the group, Qin Zhao Yang and Du Li Shen’s conditions were the most miserable, with Qin Zhao Yang being sent flying by the explosion, landing a great distance away, his condition unknown.
Du Li Shen lost half of his body from Jiang Tai Sheng’s self-destruction and died right where he stood.
On the other side, Yang Kai continued to protect Qin Yu, back facing towards the explosion while channelling his Source Qi to protect himself.
Being a weak Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator, coupled with the heavy responsibility of repairing the seal, this mission would be a complete failure if Qin Yu were to lose her life to Jiang Tai Sheng’s self-destruction.
Therefore, his first thought was to ensure Qin Yu’s safety.
Right when the terrifying energy shockwave arrived, despite using his Space Force Secret Technique, Exile, to negate the bulk of the impact, it still felt as though a giant hammer had struck him. An intense, scorching pain racked his back, churning his insides, causing him to spurt out a mouthful of golden blood.
As the aftermath of the explosion died down, the scene before them was too miserable to take in.
Everyone was gasping for air, their faces filled with dread and fear.
The explosion from the self-destruction of a First-Order Dao Source Realm absolutely did not possess such might. Jiang Tai Sheng being able to achieve this feat was absolutely due to him being demonised.
“Yu’er, how’s the repair of the seal?” within the silence, Duan Yuan Shan suddenly turned his head around to ask Qin Yu.
At this moment, of the seven original Dao Source Realm masters, one had fled, one had died, and another’s condition was unknown. They could no longer execute the Seven Points Black Tortoise Spirit Array any further. If the seal had been completely repaired, the group would immediately head back to Maplewood City. If it just needed a little more time, Duan Yuan Shan felt that they could just push through and get it done. However, if the repairs were nowhere near completion, they had no choice but to leave immediately.
As his question rang out, everyone turned their gazes towards Qin Yu.
In the next instant, a blank look appeared on everyone’s faces, before being replaced by despair.
That was due to the substantial increase in damage to the seal on the stone wall compared to before. Clearly, this was the result of the self-destruction. Furthermore, a weak golden sparkling glow was radiating from the seal, travelling across the lines like golden earthworms, appearing to have come alive after devouring some kind of life force.
On top of that, a weird suction force had appeared on the stone wall, preventing people from turning their eyes away.
Shock filled everyone’s hearts as they hastily bit their tongues, using the pain and resulting instance of clarity to immediately close their eyes.
“We can’t stay here for long. Let’s hurry up and leave!” Knowing that the mission was a failure, Duan Yuan Shan immediately moved to Qin Zhao Yang’s side, extending his hand to check on his breathing. Upon discovering that Qin Zhao Yang was still alive, his eyes lit up in pleasant surprise as he helped him up.
The middle-aged man and Hua Qing Si exchanged glances, both of them seeing the intent to retreat present in each other’s eyes.
“Little Brother, let’s go!” Hua Qing Si shouted to Yang Kai, who was still standing still, revealing what seemed to be a look of great concern.
“There’s something amiss with Senior Yang.” Qin Yu said through her sobs.
Being protected by Yang Kai, she did not suffer any injuries at all. On the contrary, Yang Kai had faced that terrifying energy shockwave head-on, causing him to spurt a mouthful of golden blood onto the seal.
Qin Yu had seen it with great clarity; when Yang Kai’s mouthful of golden blood landed on the seal, something within it had changed, as it became full of vitality and a strange type of demonic energy erupted.
In fact, she could even faintly feel that at this moment, Yang Kai had some ambiguous connection with the seal.
“What happened?” Hua Qing Si was shocked by this development, prompting her to ask out.
“I’m also not sure.” Qin Yu shook her head as she continued to look at Yang Kai in a daze.
Duan Yuan Shan’s expression turned gloomy before he proceeded to move beside Yang Kai to observe his condition. In the next instant, his expression suddenly changed.
That was because he discovered that Yang Kai’s eyes were wide open, and golden blood was dripping from their corners. Yang Kai was staring deeply at the seal, as though he was being attracted by something. Furthermore, a look of struggling was present on his face, though no matter what he did, he seemed to be unable to extricate himself from it.
Jet-black Demon Qi suddenly gushed out from the seal, before climbing straight up Yang Kai’s body. Just like a black rope, it bound him tightly to the stone wall where the seal was.
The aura radiating from Yang Kai promptly turned demonic, while weird jet-black Demon Crests started to surface on his revealed skin.
“Demonization!” Duan Yuan Shan cried out in shock.
After noticing this spectacle, how would he not know that Yang Kai had already been corroded by the Demon Qi, and that it would not take much longer for him to become an existence exactly like what Jiang Tai Sheng had been?
As such, he no longer hesitated. Extending his hand, he pulled Qin Yu to his side, surrounded her and the unconscious Qin Zhao Yang with his Source Qi, before shouting to Hua Qing Si and the middle-aged man. “This Duan will take leave first.”
As he said those words, he shot off like a bolt of lighting towards Maplewood City.
The energy he had remaining in his body should be enough for him to rush back to Maplewood City. As long as he arrived back at the city, he could rely on the city’s defensive Spirit Array to defend against the Demon Qi.
“What about Senior Yang?” Qin Yu asked in panic.
It was more or less due to her that Yang Kai had ended up in his current situation. If not for Yang Kai protecting her, leaving his back exposed, he would not spit that mouthful of golden blood that just so happened to land on the seal.
Therefore, Qin Yu could not stay silent. Nevertheless, with her cultivation realm being too low, she was utterly incapable of doing anything at all.
“Don’t worry about him.” Duan Yuan Shan replied, before abruptly increasing his speed, disappearing in a blink of an eye.
On the other side, the middle-aged man and Hua Qing Si did not immediately retreat. With their powerful cultivation realms, they were not too afraid of the Demon Qi that had gathered in their surroundings. On the contrary, they were sending weird gazes at Yang Kai.
After an instant, the middle-aged man let off a cold laugh before speaking, “Little brat, since you’ve been corroded by Demon Qi, you’ll definitely become a Demon. Therefore, this king killing you will be considered an act of justice for the heavens.”
The short spear resurfaced in his hand. In the next instant, a shockwave erupted as it stabbed right towards Yang Kai’s head.
However, right at this moment, Hua Qing Si’s hands suddenly shook, before a coloured streamer-like artifact shot out. Twirling around the short spear, it did not let the spear advance an inch further.
“What are you doing? Don’t tell me that you’ve also been corroded by the Demon Qi?” Anger surged as he turned his head and shouted.
With a giggle, Hua Qing Si replied, “Sir, do I look like I’ve been corroded by Demon Qi?”
“Then why did you obstruct this king?”
“Just a moment ago, this little brother was risking his life alongside us, and in a blink of an eye, you, sir, wanted to kill him. Aren’t you a little bit too heartless?” Hua Qing Si looked at the middle-aged man in contempt, before speaking out in a ridiculing tone. “Your change of attitude is faster than flipping through a book.”
“What kind of friendship do I have with a brat like him?”
“You didn’t have one, but I do now,” Hua Qing Si giggled sweetly. “Earlier, I said that I’d protect him. Now, are you not giving this mistress any face by trying to kill him in front of me?”
“This King has to give you face? Who do you think you are?” The middle-aged man squinted and replied, “Hurry up and scram. If not, don’t blame this king for being discourteous.”
“Aiya, I’m so scared.” Hua Qing Si made a frightened look while patting her well-rounded chest, before bursting into a fit of giggles. “You’ve become angry just like that, sir? Anger isn’t good for the body, it makes people grow old faster.”
“You cheap slut… time and time again you’ve infuriated me! This king doesn’t wish to argue with you anymore. However, if you continue to court death, don’t blame this king for being merciless and killing you first!” The middle-aged man roared out. With a wave of his short spear, it transformed into eight copies of itself, howling as they shot towards Hua Qing Si.
Faced with such an attack, even Hua Qing Si did not dare to be any bit careless. Forming a seal with her hands, dots of starlight suddenly erupted from her tender body, causing her to appear just like a sea of stars. In the next instant, the beams of starlight condensed together to form several dozen arrows that floated before her.
Each arrow appeared to be held in invisible bows, and with a flash, clashed against the incoming spears.
“Star Chaser Arrow!” The middle-aged man’s expression changed drastically upon seeing this spectacle. As he controlled his artifact to resist her Secret Technique attack, he roared out, “Are you a member of the Star Soul Palace?”
“Hehehehe… so, what if I am?” Hua Qing Si giggled sweetly. While doing so, she clapped her hands, before forming a series of complicated hand seals. Patting down in the direction of the middle-aged man’s head, she shouted, “Star Descent!”
The starlight that blotted out the skies descended, appearing just like meteors, each of them brimming with unimaginable might, smashing down so powerfully that they left the middle-aged man crying out incessantly.
Star Chaser Arrow and Star Descent were both Secret Techniques of the Star Soul Palace. Hua Qing Si being able to execute them was an undeniable sign that she was a member of the Star Soul Palace.
After making this discovery, the bitterness the middle-aged man felt in his mouth was too much for him to cope with.
From the very beginning, he had displayed a haughty attitude and did not place anyone with any regard at all, and the basis of this was purely due to his powerful cultivation realm and the Flying Saint Palace which he hailed from.
Within the Southern Territory, despite not being a peak sect, they had an Emperor Realm master overseeing the sect, giving them a certain level of reputation.
If not, how would Ning Yuan Cheng and this middle-aged man behave so condescendingly and dare to strut around shamelessly within Maplewood City?
However, right at this moment, the middle-aged man had suddenly discovered that Hua Qing Si’s background was even more powerful than his, causing him to feel shocked, as well as becoming angry out of shame!
This was just like him showing off his wealth before a beggar, only for the beggar to casually pull out a few pieces of gold to smash his face, hitting him till his face had become swollen…
In an instant, the sense of superiority the middle-aged man had always had within him had abruptly vanished into thin air. Not only that, he was helpless to do anything about it.
His opponent was a member of the greatest sect in the Southern Territory, the Star Soul Palace! How would he dare to go against a person like that?
It would still be alright if he had lost. However, if he were to win… he did not dare to imagine the resulting scenario.
Therefore, a comical spectacle proceeded to occur. Faced against Hua Qing Si, who continued to unleash various kinds of Secret Techniques, the middle-aged male could only defend against them, as he basically did not dare not launch any counterattacks back at her.
Nevertheless, Hua Qing Si showed no signs of dropping the matter. Not only did she continue to display Secret Technique after Secret Technique, but she even pulled out her artifact, resulting in the middle-aged man being completely suppressed by her.
On the other side, Yang Kai continued to stand quietly in front of the seal, though he continued to curse out loudly in his heart.
Just as Qin Yu had discovered, when he had spit a mouthful of golden blood at the seal as a result of Jiang Tai Sheng’s self-destruction, he had formed an unknown connection with the seal.
He was able to clearly sense that there was a terrifying consciousness present behind the seal, and it was quietly looking right at him.
This caused his body to turn rigid, and totally incapable of moving.
This continued all the way even as the pure Ancient Demon Qi gushed into his body, and yet Yang Kai was utterly helpless to stop it, leaving him no choice but to watch everything unfold right before his eyes.
Yang Kai did not know exactly what was behind the seal. The only information he had was what he had discovered while in Jiang Chu He’s Knowledge Sea, which he guessed was a portion of the ancient demon’s body, though he did not know exactly which portion it was.
Nevertheless, since it was sealed here, it naturally meant that it was an existence that could not be eliminated. If those Emperor Realm masters from ancient times could deal with this threat once and for all, they wouldn’t have been forced to resort to sealing it.
Nevertheless, as countless years went by, the world above the seal transformed, and so did the Earth. This continued until it was damaged by the Jiang Family members.
As the Ancient Demon Qi gushed into his body, Yang Kai felt an uncomfortable feeling spread throughout his entire being, his consciousness becoming murky, while his mind grew muddled…
When the middle-aged man had taken action against him, Yang Kai had assumed that he was dead without a doubt. Never did he imagine that Hua Qing Si would step in at such a critical moment and save his life!
This caused him to celebrate his fortunate circumstances, but he still had some doubts, as he did not know why Hua Qing Si had done such a thing.
As time passed, more and more Demon Qi gushed into his body, causing Yang Kai’s entire body to disappear, being replaced by a clump of darkness that appeared just like a black hole that had devoured all the light.
All of a sudden, a loud sound rang within Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea.
The sound seemed to be the manifestation of the shock present in the depths of his consciousness, yet also sounded like a summoning call coming from ancient times. The sound was deafening, making it hard to hear exactly what was being said. As that happened, blood dripped out of the seven apertures of his head.
Nevertheless, the golden blood did not drip down onto the ground. Appearing to be drawn by some kind of mysterious power, they flew towards the stone wall, before fusing with the seal.
All of a sudden, a tremor shook through Yang Kai’s body as he opened his eyes wide to stare straight before him.
Everything in his world and sight had completely vanished, appearing as though he had entered a black hole that was completely devoid of light. Endless darkness surrounded him, a scene that would induce despair and terror in anyone who encountered it.
Hanging in the middle of the jet-black heavens was a gigantic horizontal eye.
This sole eye, incomparably jet-black and abstruse, seemed to take up half of the sky. An extremely mysterious power seemed to be contained within, pulling in and forming a resonance with Yang Kai’s soul.
“Black Eye!” Huge waves of shock surged in Yang Kai’s heart, as he immediately realised that this was the jet-black solitary eye of the ancient demon.
While observing the scenes in Jiang Chu He’s consciousness, he had seen the sole eye of the ancient Black Eye Great Demon radiating with jet black twilight, handing a beating to those powerful Emperor Realm masters and leading to the destruction of many starships.
The might of the jet-black twilight was even more powerful than Emperor Artifacts!
[So, that’s what it was!]
At this instant, a flash of understanding struck Yang Kai, as he finally understood exactly what part of the ancient demon was sealed beneath this ground.
Clearly, it was that solitary black eye!
The solitary black eye of the ancient demon was formed by Heaven and Earth, and could not be destroyed through mankind’s power.
Those almighty figures had used all the means and methods they could think of, but were still unable to destroy that solitary black eye. Therefore, they had no choice but to seal it up.
Although he finally made this discovery, Yang Kai was utterly incapable of doing anything about it.
Despite being dead for countless years, that solitary black eye still contained a portion of the ancient demon’s consciousness. That consciousness was immensely powerful, and a First-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator was nothing compared to it.
Yang Kai could only view everything that was happening to him like a spectator with a front-row seat.
Under the Black Eye that hid the skies, Yang Kai was just as small, insignificant and weak as an ant.
All of a sudden, the solitary Black Eye seemed to have noticed Yang Kai’s existence, causing it to focus its gaze towards him.
In an instant, Yang Kai felt intense pain racking through his Knowledge Sea, while his soul felt like it was being ripped apart, causing him to roar out unbearably in pain.
Endless amounts of Demon Qi gushed out from the damaged seal and flowed incessantly into his body, causing it to crumble. Nevertheless, due to the effects of his golden blood and the Demon Qi, his body was reconstructed at an astonishingly rapid speed.
The pain he was experiencing was absolutely worse than what people who had undergone the legendary trial of a thousand cuts would have to endure.
Moreover, there was an even more shocking matter that caused Yang Kai’s heart to be filled with incomparable terror, which was that the solitary Black Eye floating in the sky was unexpectedly starting to move towards him.
Yang Kai could clearly feel the delighted emotions present within that Black Eye, appearing as though it had finally found something after countless years of searching.
In the next instant, the Black Eye proceeded to engulf Yang Kai, before turning incorporeal and gushing straight into his body.
When that happened, jet-black energy suddenly erupted out with Yang Kai as its point of origin. Rushing through the sky, it scattered the clouds and reached the heavens.
As if it had been summoned, the endless Demon Qi that had spread over an area of a few hundred thousand kilometres started to surge over, gathering frantically towards Yang Kai’s location.
Within the Demon Qi, countless demonic creatures proceeded to turn around and look towards Yang Kai’s direction.
Despite having lost their consciousness and not knowing the pain of life or death, looks of delight had actually appeared on their faces as they proceeded to prostrate on the ground, looks of ardent worship gleaming in their eyes.
It seemed as though the ruler they had waited for countless years had finally arrived, as though their invincible sovereign had finally awakened.
Five hundred kilometres away, Duan Yuan Shan was protecting Qin Yu and the unconscious Qin Zhao Yang as he fought a bloodsoaked battle against a group of demonic creatures.
It wasn’t difficult to deal with the demonic creatures, as they were far from being a match for Duan Yuan Shan with their weak cultivation realms. However, their numbers were still overwhelming, and it was virtually impossible to completely kill off all of them. Furthermore, he still needed to protect the two Qin Family members, leaving him stretched thin.
Seeing that his defences were about to be breached by the demonic creatures, Duan Yuan Shan no longer gave any regard to his own health, biting down on his tongue and igniting his Blood Essence in a fit of anger.
Right at this moment, a sharp whistling sound rang out from the distance, piercing through his eardrums. The Demon Qi started to surge and churn, while the demonic creatures proceeded to kneel down, giving no regard to Duan Yuan Shan and the two Qin Family members at all.
Seeing this, Duan Yuan Shan’s eyes narrowed. Although he did not know exactly what had happened, he knew that time waited for no man. Paying no heed to continuing his battle with the endless demonic creatures, he immediately brought the two Qin Family members and leapt into the sky, flying frantically towards Maplewood City.
Along the way, he noticed dense numbers of demonic creatures, all of them kneeling on the ground. There were even some demonised monster beasts that were prostrated on the ground, not moving an inch at all.
“What the hell is happening?” Doubt welled up within Duan Yuan Shan, prompting him to turn around to take a look. Nevertheless, a stretch of jet black darkness was the only thing he saw. However, he was able to clearly feel terrifying energy fluctuations radiating from the location of the seal.
In Maplewood City, the countless cultivators present on the various city walls were also dumbfounded by what they saw.
Just a moment ago, the demonic creatures were still frantically launching attacks at the defensive Spirit Array. However, in a single breath of time, all of them had unexpectedly stopped moving, appearing as though they had all taken their last breaths and died.
Nevertheless, those cultivators with keener eyesight that allowed them to observe through the jet-black Demon Qi were able to notice the blurry figures of demonic creatures still present in the Demon Qi. However, those demonic creatures were either kneeling down or… just not moving at all.
Not far from the seal, Hua Qing Si and the middle-aged man had also stopped their utterly meaningless fight, with both of them opening their eyes wide to look down at the location beneath them.
The jet-black energy rushing towards the sky had overwhelmed them in fear, while the astonishing pressure radiating from Yang Kai’s body had caused their whole bodies to quake…
This feeling was even more terrifying than coming face to face with a Third-Order Emperor Master.
The two of them exchanged a glance, before simultaneously retreating ten kilometres to prevent themselves from getting affected.
“Do you feel it? The Demon Qi seems to be gathering over there!” All of a sudden, Hua Qing Si spoke out with a solemn look.
The middle-aged man gave a stern nod, before sneering, “From the look of it, that little brat can’t escape this calamity.”
“Why are you taking pleasure in other people’s misfortune?” Hua Qing Si snorted coldly.
“This king… I’m just speaking the truth, that’s all. Why are you getting all anxious?”
After discovering Hua Qing Si’s background, how would the middle-aged man dare to continue addressing himself as this king in front of her? Nevertheless, he was also filled with doubt and confusion, as he did not know why she would have such a special fondness for Yang Kai. With her cultivation realm, it was utterly impossible for her to develop any kind of personal relationship with a man she had just met. How would someone a few hundred years old develop a crush with such ease?
He could faintly sense that Hua Qing Si had some other kind of hidden motive behind her concern for Yang Kai.
When the gigantic solitary Black Eye entered and fused with Yang Kai’s body, his consciousness became blurry.
The various negative emotions that were always suppressed in the deepest part of his heart started to bubble to the surface, as though something was fishing them out, causing an extremely malevolent and evil aura to radiate from his body.
Complicated and abstruse Demon Crests started to crawl over his skin, and as great amounts of Demon Qi gushed into his body, these Demon Crests grew darker.
A power that far surpassed any First-Order Dao Source Realm started to brew within his body, shaking his consciousness and will. It made him drunk with delight and happiness of possessing such mighty power. Heavy murderous intent and destructive tendencies surged out from his heart, aimed at living creatures of blood and flesh.
His Divine Sense turned dim, enveloped by endless darkness without a single ray of light present. The only thing he could do was to wait for time to pass, as he turned into a member of the demons.
However, right at this moment, just like a sharp blade cleaving through the haze, a weak beam of radiance suddenly shone through the endless darkness.
This beam of radiance possessed seven colours and brimmed with magnificence. The seven-coloured light shone through the endless Demon Qi, shining down onto Yang Kai’s body, bringing warmth, making him feel as though he had been frozen during the Winter Solstice and waited until the sunlight appeared to start beaming down on him.
As though it had encountered its nemesis, the malevolent tendencies surging through his heart turned into smoke and rapidly dissipated away.
Yang Kai’s rapidly dimming consciousness had abruptly regained clarity.
Clenching his teeth, he summoned strength to his eyes and focused on what was before him.
In his vision, he saw the faintly discernible projection of a lotus flower radiating with a seven-coloured glow.
This seven-coloured lotus wasn’t large, appearing just like a speck of mud among the endless Demon Qi. Nevertheless, the place where it existed had become the final remnant of clean ground within this world of darkness.
“Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus!” Having abruptly regained clarity of his mind, Yang Kai realized he had unknowingly formed a Soul Avatar and entered his own Knowledge Sea.
This seven-coloured glow was clearly the light that the Seven Colour Soul Warming Lotus was radiating.
With a thought, he immediately rushed towards the Seven coloured Soul Warming Lotus.
After a short while, he stood before the lotus flower’s stamen.
The seven-coloured radiance enveloped him, cleansing him of all of his negative emotions. When those streams of black smoke shot out of his body, Yang Kai finally managed to fully regain his clarity.
Looking around, he noticed that his entire Knowledge Sea had turned into a world of darkness, with not a single speck of light present from the Starry Array map that should be floating above his Knowledge Sea. Other than the radiance coming from the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, there seemed to be nothing else present in this entire world.
Except for the gigantic solitary Black Eye lording in the air above his Knowledge Sea, coldly staring down on Yang Kai with not a single trace of emotion present in its gaze.
Yang Kai was not able to see it. Nevertheless, with this being his Knowledge Sea, he was able to sense it clearly.
Endless pressure and will radiated from the solitary Black Eye, attempting to destroy Yang Kai’s soul defences and stain his soul.
However, under the protection of a mystical, precious treasure like the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, any invisible attack would be cleansed away by its radiance.
Not only that, many tiny insects invisible to the naked eye were shooting out from the top of the Soul Warming Lotus.
Soul Devouring Insects!
Earlier in his life, Yang Kai had obtained these unique insects in the Tong Xuan Realm. Nevertheless, with Yang Kai’s promotion of strength, they were already unable to serve any useful purpose to him. All along, they had been placed by Yang Kai on the seven-coloured treasure island formed by the Soul Warming Lotus, and left to their devices.
After many years of nourishment, their numbers had reached an unimaginable level.
At this moment, they had exceeded Yang Kai’s expectations as they proceeded to fly from the Soul Warming Lotus and scatter in all directions.
Everywhere they went, they were accompanied by waves of ripping noises that sounded exceedingly sharp and crisp, as the ancient Demon Qi that had invaded Yang Kai’s knowledge sea was devoured at a rate visible to the naked eye.
[The Soul Devouring Insects are able to devour even something like Demon Qi?] Yang Kai was extremely surprised by this discovery.
As time continued to pass, the bodies of these Soul Devouring Insects that had devoured the Demon Qi started to grow larger. Being an existence that was extremely hard to detect, Yang Kai’s earlier enemies were utterly incapable of detecting them when he had released the Soul Devouring Insects to deal with them.
However, at this moment, within Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, they were visibly growing larger. Not only that, the colour of their bodies were gradually shifting to a jet-black shade. Mysterious and complicated Demon Crests started to appear on their bodies, causing their auras to become incredibly abstruse.
Within a short moment, these Soul Devouring Insects had already grown to the size of rice grains, and were still continuing to grow at a rapid rate.
Within his Knowledge Sea, the Demon Qi started to churn with unease. Seemingly possessing some kind of intelligence, it started to evade the Soul Devouring Insects. However, with this being Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, where else could it hide?
Therefore, clump after clump of Demon Qi was devoured, revealing large patches in its midst.
Yang Kai quietly observed this spectacle, not knowing if this was a good or bad thing. Nevertheless, since it was beneficial to his current situation, he did not worry too much about it.
In the next instant, a thought flashed in his mind before he proceeded to urge the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus to fly to a certain part of the sky, a place within the endless darkness right before the gigantic solitary Black Eye was.
As the Demon Qi slowly scattered apart, it finally revealed the presence of the Black Eye.
Despite this being Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, it still lorded over half of the sky. Yang Kai appeared as weak and insignificant as an ant as he stood before it.
The seven-coloured radiance could dispel illusions and false realities. Transforming into a halo around Yang Kai’s body, it appeared just like a revolving heavenly body, its massive brilliance radiating out in all directions.
“Scram, or… get completely destroyed!” With Yang Kai’s will, a thunderclap descended from the skies, transforming into what seemed like a sharp knife that stabbed right into the Black Eye, causing its shape to distort and turn illusionary.
After a long while, the Black Eye’s shape finally stabilised, returning to its black hole-like form and not moving a single inch at all.
[So, devoid of the consciousness of its main body, the only thing left is its remnant will, huh?] Yang Kai thought. Although he had his guesses earlier, he didn’t dare to confirm whether it was true till this moment.
However, after this test, he finally got the answer he wanted. This solitary Black Eye had already lost the consciousness of its original body. What remained was just the remnant will of the ancient demon.
After all, in ancient times, countless Emperor Realm masters had destroyed its body, alongside its original consciousness.
Since it was like this, there was basically no way for him to communicate with it anymore.
With a stern look, Yang Kai proceeded to unleash the might of the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus.
In the next instant, a dazzling seven-coloured brilliance blossomed out, transforming into more sharp blades that stabbed towards the solitary Black Eye.
Right at this instant, the solitary Black Eye looked deeply at Yang Kai, before slowly closing up.
Across this whole space, the voice of a giant rang out. “You have the aura of a demon! I’ll hand it to you! I’ll hand it all to you! Go and witness the end of this world and the destruction of Heaven and Earth!”
An unparalleled aura of savagery suddenly radiated out, as the solitary Black Eye transformed into a jet black beam of light that shot towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s face was drained of all colour from shock as he hastily defended his mind. At the same time, the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus also started to spin, its endless seven-coloured radiance transforming into a barrier that attempted to halt the invasion of the black light.
Nevertheless, both their efforts were futile.
The black beam of light passed through the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus’s barrier with ease, shattering Yang Kai’s defences and smashing right into his body.
In the next instant, Yang Kai felt a heart-rending pain racking through his soul, to the point that he was unable to maintain his Soul Avatar, which proceeded to crumble apart.
As this happened, his consciousness finally returned to his body. Opening his mouth, he left out a furious roar, a roar from an injured wild beast.
His body enveloped by surging Demon Qi, Yang Kai was utterly incapable of observing his own face or body as he used a hand to clutch his right eye tightly, where golden blood continued to drip down from.
“That is…” ten kilometres away, Hua Qing Si and the middle-aged man were completely dumbfounded by what they said.
Ever since Yang Kai had entered that weird state until now, they had been constantly observing him. Therefore, they were naturally able to gain some understanding about exactly what was happening to him.
They had witnessed all of the jet-black Demon Qi that covered over several hundred thousand kilometres gush and disappear right into Yang Kai’s body within an incense’s worth of time.
All of the innumerable demonic creatures present in their surroundings were kneeling on the ground. However, for some unknown reason, all of the Demon Qi within the bodies had vanished into thin air, disappearing without a trace at all.
Without the protection of Demon Qi, these exceedingly savage demonic creatures had turned extremely weak in just a short moment of time. Although it didn’t lead to their deaths, it had severely damaged their cultivation foundation. Not only that, all of them wore blank looks on their faces, as though they were utterly confused about what had happened. Compared to them, the monster beasts had lost themselves in panic, as they fled away in a hurry.
Sunlight returned and beamed down onto the land, bringing warmth to everyone.
Despite these developments, the middle-aged man and Hua Qing Si felt a chill surge through their hearts.
That was because they felt a pressure that rivalled an Emperor Realm Master radiating from Yang Kai, who stood ten kilometres away from them. This pressure was exceedingly sinister, and filled with a bloodthirsty aura; a nemesis of the auras made by any living creature!
In the next instant, the violently shaking Yang Kai suddenly calmed down.
He slowly relaxed the hand clutching his right eye, before extending both hands before his eyes, as though he was examining them.
Within the darkness, two beams of mysterious lights shone out.
One golden, and one black.
The golden left eye had a vertical pupil that was filled with majesty, and the black right eye had a horizontal pupil that contained the void. Shaking violently in Yang Kai’s eye sockets, they were greatly contrasting each other.
“What is that?” The middle-aged man was gobsmacked by what he saw. Despite hailing from the Flying Saint Palace, he was unsure as to what monster he was looking at right now, with those mysterious eyes.
When his voice rang out, the two different coloured eye beams suddenly shot towards the location that he and Hua Qing Si were at.
“Not good!” As the two different coloured eye beams made contact with her, Hua Qing Si suddenly felt a pressure on her head, causing a drastic change to her pretty face as she shouted out, “Hurry up and run!”
As she said those words, she made a seal with her hands. With a bang, her entire being transformed into over one hundred five-coloured butterflies that flew away in all directions.
Seeing her leave with such resolution, how would the middle-aged man not know that he was in serious trouble? He hurriedly bit the tip of his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood that enveloped his entire body in a reddish glow, and in a flash, rapidly retreated several dozen kilometres away.
With his powerful Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation, the middle-aged man was extremely quick in fleeing when he put his mind into it.
In the blink of an eye, he had burnt his Blood Essence and fled a hundred kilometres away.
Dread filled his heart as he looked back, only for him to turn dazed with shock. He was unexpectedly unable to locate Yang Kai’s figure from his distant position. It was as though Yang Kai had disappeared into thin air.
The middle-aged man’s heart sunk, as an ambiguous feeling of fear and terror started to spread within him.
A series of chaotic spatial fluctuations rippled out in front of him before a jet-black figure suddenly surfaced from within.
The figure was shrouded by endless Demon Qi, masking his face. However, the golden and black radiance beaming out from his face caused great waves of fear to surge within the middle-aged man’s heart.
After seeing those two eye beams, the middle-aged man’s thoughts froze, his consciousness grew chaotic and his Soul shook with unease.
With a furious howl, he immediately summoned his short spear. Forming complicated seals with his hand, Source Qi poured madly into the short spear.
*Whoosh…*
The short spear started to expand in size, and in a blink of an eye, turned into a giant pole several dozen meters in length. With a slight tremble, it proceeded to shoot right at Yang Kai.
This was the middle-aged man’s most powerful attack, and he was rather confident of it. Even Emperor Realm masters wouldn’t dare ignore an attack like this coming their way.
Acting in a similar fashion to those demons, Yang Kai appeared to have already lost his consciousness, leaving only a primal bloodthirst. Faced against the impending danger, he did not show any attempt to avoid it, simply standing still.
Only when the spear was just about to reach his body did he send a fist forward.
His fist was enveloped in jet-black demonic Source Qi, so dense that it appeared corporeal.
“You’re courting death!” The middle-aged man could not help but exclaim loudly in happiness. He opened his eyes wide, wanting to see the result of his attack, to see Yang Kai being smashed into bits.
*Boom…*
A massive sound rang out. Yang Kai did not move an inch from his original location, but the incoming spear was met with a berserk energy blast. The long spear body instantly turned dim, before transforming back into its original smaller size. Moreover, it was sent flying backwards at a speed faster than it had moved at during the start of the attack, before disappearing without a trace.
“Huh?”
The middle-aged man’s eyeballs were almost popping out of their sockets, as he was utterly incapable of believing what he had just seen. He rubbed his eyes vigorously, before taking another look, and indeed, saw Yang Kai’s completely unhurt appearance.
Just as he thought he had lost his mind, Yang Kai suddenly raised his hand.
Great amounts of pure Demon Qi gushed out from his body, before flowing to his arm, causing it to seemingly grow in size.
In the blink of an eye, a gigantic jet-black palm took shape, before patting down towards the head of the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man’s face lost all colour as he made a hasty attempt to evade. Nevertheless, despair filled his heart as he discovered that the space around him had unknowingly solidified into a glue-like substance, turning into a makeshift prison around him.
He was utterly incapable of evading.
All of the blood drained from the middle-aged man’s already deathly pale face. With a loud shout, he summoned a shield-like defensive artifact. Sending his Source Qi into it, the artifact immediately transformed into a barrier before him.
Not only that, he continued to form hand seals, while rapidly muttering, “Heaven, Earth, Mystery, Martial…”
Source Qi within his body surged madly.
Before he could properly execute that unknown Secret Technique, the jet-black mountain-like palm had already smashed down.
*Crack…*
The barrier formed by the shield artifact shattered like a piece of glass, as countless cracks formed across its surface before it shattered into pieces, unable to provide any defence at all. In the next instant, the giant palm landed on the middle-aged man’s body.
He was only able to let out a terrified shriek before there was silence.
As the giant palm gradually dissipated, other than the gigantic palm print, the only thing left on the ground was a pile of mush.
Under that palm, the middle-aged man with a powerful Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation was utterly incapable of resisting and was immediately smashed to death. Even the artifacts and Space Ring he carried had been shattered into pieces.
The items in his Space Ring were sent into an eternal exile in the void.
After accomplishing that feat, a totally emotionless Yang Kai raised his head and looked in the other direction.
Over there, Hua Qing Si, who had split up with the middle-aged man when both of them had fled, turned her head around in dread, her beautiful eyes trembling in fear. Just a moment ago, she was faintly able to hear the miserable shriek ringing from the far distance, which caused terror to fill her heart, while also pushing her to increase the speed at which she was fleeing.
However, right at this moment, the space before her turned blurry, before a jet-black figure appeared to obstruct her path.
“How’s this possible?” Hua Qing Si’s expression changed drastically, while her heart sank to an all-time low.
She and the middle-aged man had fled in different directions. After that, she had personally witnessed Yang Kai pursuing the latter. However, within a few breath’s time, Yang Kai had actually managed to kill that man before arriving here to obstruct her path?
This was a feat that even Emperor Realm masters couldn’t accomplish!
Looking at the jet-black figure and sensing the malicious and bloodthirsty aura radiating from him, Hua Qing Si’s face turned pale, while a bitter frown appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Nevertheless, she did not immediately take action. Instead, she made a faint smile, and in her terror, displayed her charm and elegance.
Since he was able to kill the middle-aged male in a single strike, this meant that he was also capable of destroying her at will. Therefore, there was no use in putting up any resistance at all.
At this moment, the only thing she could hope for was to awaken Yang Kai’s consciousness that was hidden in the deepest part of his heart.
“Little Brother…” Hua Qing Si said in a soft voice, her voice containing a gentleness that had never been there before. “Could you give way? You’re blocking my path.”
Yang Kai did not move an inch, continuing to stand at this original location as he quietly stared at her, appearing as though he was looking right at a stranger he had never met before.
The mysterious black and golden light beaming from his eyes filled Hua Qing Si’s heart with dread, though she was helpless to do anything about them.
She felt just like a little lamb coming face to face with the savage king of the jungle, with her fate resting in the other’s hands.
The only thing that Hua Qing Si could feel fortunate about was that Yang Kai did not immediately take action upon seeing her, giving her a glimmer of hope for her survival.
“It’s your elder sister. Do you remember me, Little Brother?” Hua Qing Si pushed her loose hair strands behind her ear as she continued her attempts to get through to him.
For good or bad, Yang Kai appeared to be affected by the words she had said, as his eyelids started to tremble violently, as though his consciousness was struggling to break through.
“Little Brother, I’ve just saved your life just now… you aren’t going to kill me and repay my kindness with enmity, right?” Hua Qing Si’s robes were drenched by the cold sweat coming from her body, revealing her beautiful and voluptuous figure. Huge beads of sweat rolled down along the curves of her face, deathly pale in shade yet stubborn and resolute.
“ROAR…”
All of sudden, the Demon Qi-cladded Yang Kai clutched his head, letting out a deep roar in the process.
Hua Qing Si was terrified by his sudden actions, causing her to retreat a few steps. However, a thought flashed through her mind. With his strength, it wouldn’t matter how far she retreated. This caused her to chuckle bitterly in helplessness, before standing her ground.
“If you’re not going to talk… this elder sister will leave, okay?” Hua Qing Si tested the waters with a gentle voice. Not getting any response from Yang kai, she exclaimed in happiness, “Our friendship wouldn’t change, just like the mountains and streams! Till we meet again!”
After saying those words, she displayed her Divine Ability to split herself into butterflies once again, transforming into countless five-coloured butterflies that fled into the distance like a berserk gale.
However, right at this moment, Yang Kai suddenly straightened his body and extended his hand, before grabbing fiercely at the location the countless butterflies were headed towards.
The butterflies dissipated away, revealing Hua Qing Si, who wore an ugly and bitter look on her face.
Feeling somewhat angry, she shouted out, “What the hell do you want? You didn’t even say a single word, and you won’t let me go! What? You just want to kill me!?”
Turning a deaf ear to her words, Yang Kai made a grab towards the location she was at.
“Huh?” Shock flooded Hua Qing Si’s heart as she exclaimed, “I’m just joking, okay? How can you not know it? No, noo…”
As words left her mouth, she desperately summoned her Source Qi in defence.
However, with the disparity of her strength compared to Yang Kai, it meant that he could suppress her with ease.
Before her Source Qi could surge out of her body, Hua Qing Si felt her body tighten, as though she had been bound by an invisible force. A stifling feeling came flooding over, followed by confusion as her Divine Sense grew chaotic before her vision blacked out.
When she was finally able to react, Hua Qing Si stared blankly at the wide and spacious wilderness she now stood in, her pale face appearing just like a sheet of snow.
Turning her head in all directions, she discovered that the ground was flat, dense vegetation surrounding where she stood. A mighty wind blew by, making her feel content with its refreshing breeze.
This wasn’t the Star Boundary!
Right from the beginning, Hua Qing Si could feel the difference between this place and the Star Boundary. She wasn’t able to explain this strange feeling, but she nevertheless was able to confirm that this place was definitely not the Star Boundary.
[Am I dead?] A blank look appeared on Hua Qing Si’s face as she stood there, bewildered.
[So death isn’t as terrifying as I had imagined it to be. I didn’t even feel like I had died at all…]
[So, would a person come to a place like this after death? Then where did that irritating fellow from the Flying Saint Palace go? Could this place be the legendary Netherworld?]
“Oh… He actually didn’t kill you. Instead, he sent you in here. From the looks of it… the main body’s consciousness is still present! At the very least, he still has some level of control!”
All of a sudden, thunder-like sounds rang out in Hua Qing Si’s ears. The voice was so powerful it sounded like the beating of war drums, giving Hua Qing Si a big scare.
“Who is it!?” Hua Qing Si’s expression changed drastically as she shouted out in vigilance, turning her head to scan in all directions. Nevertheless, she wasn’t able to detect anybody.
“Above, look above!” The voice rang out once again.
After the reminder, Hua Qing Si hastily raised her head.
What entered her vision were two stone pillar-like existences that stood by her side.
When she had just arrived here, she had already noticed those two stone pillars. However, her mind was still stuck within the ‘I’m dead’ mentality, so she did not think twice about them.
At this moment, after taking a closer look, a myriad of expressions flashed through Hua Qing Si’s face, from astonishment, to shock, amazement, and surprise.
After finally gaining a clear look of what exactly was by her side, Hua Qing Si made a small step and floated several dozen metres back.
Looking from a distance, Hua Qing Si was finally able to see with greater clarity.