Indeed, the title of Elder of Azure Sun Temple had great utility. It would be an utter fantasy for anyone else to even attempt to obtain the Supreme Divine Water from Zhang Da Shan’s hands as he wasn’t that much of an idiot to simply offer a precious treasure like the Supreme Divine Water to others on a whim.
It was precisely due to Yang Kai’s status as an Elder of Azure Sun Temple that he had chosen to believe the latter.
Seeing Yang Kai’s figure disappear without a trace, Zhang Da Shan was overwhelmed with excitement and apprehension.
He was excited about the possibility of forging a connection with Grandmaster Ji Ying through this matter. This would allow him to benefit from this relationship should he need to request Emperor Pills in the future. The apprehension he felt stemmed from the unknown success of the refining of the Emperor Pill this time round.
Even an Emperor Alchemist had a certain percentage chance of failure whenever they took action. If it failed, the herbs that he had painstakingly collected would be completely destroyed, meaning he wasted the five years of his life that he had spent collecting them!
As Zhang Da Shan moved along this train of thought, he was shocked once again as he patted his leg in annoyance. Earlier, due to being overwhelmed by his emotions, he had forgotten to inform Yang Kai about the pill he desired. Nevertheless, after further consideration, with Grandmaster Ji Ying’s insight and Alchemical prowess, it shouldn’t be difficult to deduce the type of Spirit Pill to refine from the herbs that he had prepared.
As the day passed, Zhang Da Shan waited impatiently, feeling as though an entire year had gone by.
All of a sudden, a streak of light came shooting over from the distance. Zhang Da Shan’s mind shook as he raised his eyes to look over.
Yang Kai’s figure reappeared, and with a casual toss, threw a jade bottle over. With a faint smile, he said, “Fortunately, I did not fail my mission!”
Emotions surged crazily in Zhang Da Shan’s heart upon hearing that. Receiving the jade bottle, he opened it up to take a look. Indeed, he saw six gleaming, smooth, and round Emperor Pills within. Taking a whiff of the pill fragrance, he immediately felt his mind relax and his soul enter a harmonious state.
He let off a laugh, and replied in a sincere tone as a look of gratitude appeared on his face, “Many thanks, Elder Yang.”
If not for Yang Kai’s connections, how would it have been possible for him to obtain these Spirit Pills in just a day? According to Zhang Da Shan’s estimates, he would have to first head to the headquarters of the Violet Source Chamber of Commerce to seek out Grandmaster Huang Fu, gift the Supreme Divine Water to him, then wait at least a few months before being able to obtain the Spirit Pills from him.
Furthermore, three to four Spirit Pills would be the maximum amount he would obtain.
Truly worthy of being the Disciple of the Wondrous Pill Great Emperor! Grandmaster Ji Ying’s prowess in Alchemy left Grandmaster Huang Fu in the dust. Zhang Da Shan could not help but rejoice that he was fortunate enough for Yang Kai to send a message to him yesterday, and fortunately, he had believed in Yang Kai. If not, how would he have benefited from such a wondrous matter?
At this moment, he naturally felt extreme gratitude towards Yang Kai.
“You’re too courteous, Sect Master Zhang. We both obtained what we wanted, that’s all,” Yang Kai smiled faintly and cupped his fists, “Safe travels!”
“Please wait, Elder Yang!” Zhang Da Shan suddenly raised his hand and shouted.
Looking back, Yang Kai replied, “What is it, Sect Master Zhang?”
A somewhat sheepish look appeared on Zhang Da Shan’s face, “This Zhang wishes to ask Elder Yang, if this Zhang wishes to seek Alchemy services in the future…”
Yang Kai smiled, “Please do not hesitate to find me in Azure Sun Temple.”
In any case, with Ji Ying putting in the effort, any Emperor Pill could be easily refined. Furthermore, he could even obtain some commission from it.
Zhang Da Shan was ecstatic, “Many thanks, Elder Yang.”
Yang Kai nodded his head, and with a flicker, returned back the way he came.
……
Azure Sun Temple, Spirit Jade Peak, the residence of Vice Temple Master Qiu Ran.
“Senior Brother Qiu, I’m here!” Yang Kai shouted out after barging inside. Very quickly, he noticed Qiu Ran seated quietly within, appearing as though he was waiting for the former to arrive.
“Hm, your expression doesn’t look too good, Senior Brother Qiu.” Yang Kai looked at Qiu Ran in surprise.
With a gloomy look, Qiu Ran replied, “Didn’t you ask this Old Master to wait for you for a moment yesterday? How did a moment become a day?”
Only then did Yang Kai realize why the latter was looking at him with bitterness on his face, making it seem as though Yang Kai had abandoned him after a one night stand. Scratching his head, he laughed sheepishly, “I bumped into a small matter and was held up for a bit.”
Qiu Ran shook his head in helplessness. Too lazy to refute the latter, he waved his hand and replied, “Follow me.”
Yang Kai followed behind obediently.
As Qiu Ran walked into a slightly larger hall, he waved his hand, causing the doors to immediately close shut. Looking left and right, Yang Kai discovered that there were traces of a Spirit Array present within this large hall, though he was unable to identify exactly what kind of array it was.
There was a massive sand table present in the middle of the hall, and upon taking a cursory look at it, Yang Kai discovered that there seemed to be a sliver of spirituality present within the sand as it slowly circulated about. However, taking a closer look, he noticed that it was an inanimate object, bringing about an incomparably strange feeling within him.
Moving forward for a closer look, Yang Kai’s eyebrows immediately rose up, “Is this Azure Sun Mountain Range?”
Qiu Ran nodded in response, “Correct. This is the Mountains and Rivers Projection of our Azure Sun Mountain Range.” As he said that, he extended his finger. Emperor Qi surged out before the sand table immediately started to come alive. Luscious vegetation, trees, and a mountain range rose up, followed by rocky outcrops, before a miniaturized model of Azure Sun Mountain Range impressively formed. Every single mountain peak, and every single valley present within Azure Sun Mountain Range was identical in shape and scaled size to the original.
Yang Kai clicked his tongue repeatedly in awe, while thinking whether he should ask Hua Qing Si to create a similar Mountains and Rivers Projection when he returned back to High Heavens Palace.
Although this kind of thing was not uncommon within big Sects, it required exquisite and detailed refining to create. With his High Heavens Palace’s current level of heritage, it shouldn’t be difficult to accomplish such a task.
“Our Azure Sun Temple sits within Azure Sun Mountain Range, with our temple taking its name from it. There are a total of 1,352 large and small peaks, of which there are 27 main peaks reserved for our Elders. Currently, the majority of them are empty. Take a look and find one that catches your interest,” Qiu Ran said while pointing towards the Mountains and Rivers Projection.
Yang Kai took a deep look for a while before replying, “Senior Brother Qiu, someone is staying in that green area, right?”
Qiu Ran nodded, “That’s right. The peaks highlighted in green are occupied by people, while the white areas are unoccupied.” Saying that, he extended his hand to point towards a certain location on the Mountains and Rivers Projection, “This is this Old Master’s Spirit Jade Peak.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai raised his brow. With Spirit Jade Peak as a reference, he was able to make out the accuracy of this Mountains and Rivers Projection in detail. Of the 27 main peaks, other than the 10 or so being occupied by the Elders of the temple, the remaining dozen or so were left for him to choose from. Yang Kai looked over at them and felt somewhat dazzled, resulting in him being unable to make a decision for a long time.
To the side, Qiu Ran extended his hand and pointed towards a certain Spirit Peak, “That place is quite good. How about considering it, Junior Brother?”
Yang Kai looked over to where he was pointing, before pointing towards the neighbouring Spirit Peak, “If I am not mistaken, that should be the Purple Bamboo Peak, yes?”
“That’s right. That’s Junior Sister Gao’s Purple Bamboo Peak!”
“Forget about it,” Yang Kai said with great certainty.
Of the people within Azure Sun Temple, Gao Xue Ting was the person that he was most unable to oppose. Although if he and Gao Xue Ting were to fight, Gao Xue Ting would lose nine times out of ten, it was still for the best to avoid being neighbours with her.
“Oh… take your time to choose one then,” Qiu Ran did not judge Yang Kai’s response.
After a while, Yang Kai suddenly pointed, “That Spirit Peak.”
Qiu Ran looked over and nodded slightly and replied, “Spirit Sword Peak. It’s also fairly good, though its location is somewhat remote and the peak isn’t too big.”
The 27 Spirit Peaks designated for the residence of Elders did not have many differences between them; after all, regardless of shape or the density of World Energy present, they were all Main Peak level locations. Nevertheless, this Spirit Sword Peak was located slightly further from the core of Azure Sun Mountain Range, though it truly did not matter for anyone with an Emperor Realm cultivation.
“Since Junior Brother has already chosen, then Spirit Sword Peak it is.” With a wave of Qiu Ran’s hand, the Mountains and Rivers Projection instantly collapsed, turning back into its earlier sand table appearance, before he continued, “Junior Brother, your Elder Token will be able to open the various barriers and restrictions present on Spirit Sword Peak. When you head over, please remember to refine your Elder Token together with the Spirit Sword Peak’s Earth Vein. From then on, Spirit Sword Peak will be your domain. Without your permission, even this Old Master cannot enter as he pleases.”
“Many thanks, Senior Brother Qiu,” Yang Kai cupped his hands and replied.
“Off you go,” Qiu Ran waved his hand.
Yang Kai immediately bade farewell and left.
Leaving Spirit Jade Peak, Yang Kai headed along the path he memorized towards Spirit Sword Peak.
It merely took the time for one to steep a small cup of tea for a tall, precipitous mountain peak to come into view in the distance. At first glance, the mountain peak appeared just like a sharp sword piercing out from the ground, giving it an imposing look. That was also where its name of Spirit Sword Peak came from.
The sides of the mountain peak were steep, with high cliffs surrounding it, while clouds covered the midline of the mountain. Many beasts and creatures were living on the mountain, with everything coming together to form something akin to a paradise.
Yang Kai looked over from a distance and was immensely satisfied with it.
Although he was the Palace Master of High Heaven Palace, which occupied a peak grade Spirit Vein and many Spirit Peaks, he was just a High-Rank Guest Elder in Azure Sun Temple. Nevertheless, Yang Kai now had a place he could call his own in the Southern Territory.
This was something to be happy about.
Transforming into a streak of light, he flew towards the mountain peak. Sweeping his gaze around, Yang Kai saw that there were a few exquisite palaces here. Although it had been unoccupied for many years, and no maintenance had been conducted on them, with the protection of the various Spirit Arrays, there was not a trace of damage present on these palaces. In fact, there wasn’t even a speck of dust.
Standing where he landed, Yang Kai spread out his Divine Sense. Like a tsunami roaring towards the shore, it encapsulated the entire Spirit Sword Peak in a flash, allowing Yang Kai to get a full understanding of the situation of this Spirit Sword Peak.
Retracting his Divine Sense, Yang Kai moved about, appearing just like a sovereign who was inspecting his own territory.
After spending a full half-day doing so, Yang Kai had returned to his peak’s main palace and could not help but call out in surprise, “Senior Brothers, Senior Sisters, why are all of you here?”
Impressively, Gao Xue Ting and the others were waiting within. Upon seeing Yang Kai return, Chen Qian gave a faint smile and replied, “We’re here to offer our congratulations.”
Yang Kai chuckled and said, “Didn’t you all already offer your congratulations yesterday?”
“What’s wrong? You don’t welcome us?” Gao Xue Ting shot a cold glare at Yang Kai.
This shocked Yang Kai, who hastily replied, “How would I dare? I’m simply ecstatic. Everyone, please come in.”
As he said that, he welcomed the other Elders into the palace hall.
Before Yang Kai could even sit down though, Gao Xue Ting suddenly waved her hand, causing over a hundred big bottles of fragrant wine to appear on the ground. With a refreshing tone, she declared, “Our temple has a new Elder, so today, everyone will not return until they’re drunk!”
As those words rang out, colour faded from everyone’s faces.
Chen Qian’s pretty face turned pale as she hurriedly cautioned, “Please don’t be impulsive, Senior Sister!”
Di Rong’s face also changed as he subconsciously backpedalled, “I suddenly recalled that the Temple Master is looking for me for some matters, so I’ll take a leave first.”
“Hmm?” Gao Xue Ting’s eyes narrowed sharply as she snorted deeply.
In an instant, Di Rong turned stiff and came to a halt there. He turned his head around to You Kun, hoping that the latter could save him from this impending disaster, only to see You Kun drenched in beads of cold sweat, his face so pale it appeared as though he had lost all of his blood.
After some time, a group of people were huddled together in the corner, all of their faces a pale shade, while Chen Qian and another female Elder were shivering in fright.
Yang Kai’s face was filled with shock as he looked towards the beautiful figure dancing about in the large hall with an Emperor Artifact longsword in her hand. After gulping with much difficulty, he asked seemingly to the Heavens, “What kind of situation is this?”
That figure was moving about without inhibition, staggering about with a bottle of wine in her hand. Her eyes were scarlet red, while she would cheer to herself from time to time, take a swig of her wine, before complimenting how good the wine was. Her emotions flowed out without restraint, as flower after flower of sword patterns formed as her longsword shook, radiating a chilling glow in all directions.
Di Rong replied in a bitter tone, “Junior Brother Yang, since you’re still quite new here, you’re not aware of the Three Great Taboos of our temple. I never imagined that you would witness this so soon after you become an Elder. This is truly… something to be celebrated.”
Yang Kai gawked, “Three Great Taboos? What Three Great Taboos?”
Chen Qian replied in a soft voice, “Temple Master’s birthday, Senior Brother Qiu’s fury, and… Senior Sister Gao drinking alcohol!”
“What kind of taboos are these?” A look of astonishment appeared on Yang Kai’s face before he looked back to the person before them. At this moment, he felt that the noble and pure image he had of that lady had completely collapsed and disintegrated. The lady he was looking at right now was basically a mental patient! Cleaning away the cold sweat that had formed on his forehead, he replied, “Why does Senior Sister Gao turn into a different person after drinking alcohol? Could it be that she has been taken over by some malicious spirit?”
“It isn’t that serious…” You Kun hastily waved his hand, while his expression turned strange, “It’s just that Junior Sister Gao… could never handle her alcohol.”
“How can that be? For better or worse, Senior Sister Gao is a Second-Order Emperor. No matter how strong the alcohol is, she would be able to easily remove its effect just by circulating her Emperor Qi. How does it turn into this?”
Chen Qian sighed, “It’s all due to Temple Master’s negative influence.”
“How does it concern Temple Master?” Yang Kai was utterly surprised by her reply and felt that what he had seen and witnessed today had caused his outlook of the world, life, and his values to collapse.
Chen Qian replied, “Senior Sister Gao was brought up by Temple Master from childhood. You should know about this, right?”
“Yes. I’ve faintly heard about this,” Yang Kai nodded his head.
Chen Qian revealed a sad and depressed look, “When she was young, Temple Master made Senior Sister Gao drink a number of times, and each time, it was until she was totally drunk. This culminated in one incident where she drank too much and turned crazy for a few days and nights before finally returning back to normal. After that, Senior Sister Gao always becomes like this whenever she touches alcohol.”
In this short story, one could sense the miserable childhood Gao Xue Ting had experienced. This truly made anyone who heard it feel sad and burst into tears.
“That’s… utterly heartless! It makes one bristle with anger!” Yang Kai cursed out in extreme anger, causing a wave of commotion that incited the group of Elders to nod their heads in succession, looks of contempt and disdain present in their eyes that were aimed towards that Temple Master of theirs.
After gawking for a while, Yang Kai continued, “Since she cannot drink alcohol, she should know better than to do it. Yet, how did she get so much Spirit Wine…” As he said that, Yang Kai took a sniff of the wine fragrance, before saying in praise, “This Spirit Wine has been fermented for a few hundred years. Tsk tsk, what a waste.”
“Who knows where she got them from?” Chen Qian was on the brink of tears, “She should have been feeling great the past few days, right? Last night, she even came to my Small Spring Peak to chat through the night with me before leaving.”
Another female Elder immediately added, “She had also come to me last night…”
Yang Kai sighed, “So, with this happening, what is the best option? Don’t tell me we have to wait for her to become sober for her crazed antics to stop?”
Chen Qian replied, “It’ll be alright when the wine is finished.”
Yang Kai swept his eyes across the scene, and his head started to hurt, “There are still over a hundred bottles, so how long will she be drinking for? In accordance with her speed, it will take a few days and nights before they are empty.”
“Other than that, there isn’t any option left,” Chen Qian shook her head.
Yang Kai thought silently for a while before a resolute expression appeared on his face as he stood straight up.
“What are you going to do, Junior Brother Yang?” You Kun asked in surprise.
“I’m going to accompany her to drink. The faster the wine is finished, the earlier this matter can end,” As he said that, he took big strides forward, appearing just like a man who would face an army of tens of thousands of people by himself!
Respectful looks immediately appeared on the faces of the various Elders present, as they looked blankly at his back figure.
“Youth…” Di Rong shook his head and sighed.
“Enough of this nonsense. Let’s help Junior Brother Yang restrain her before getting out of here as soon as possible,” You Kun shot a glare at the others, before looking over to Yang Kai, who had at some point been captured by Gao Xue Ting and was already getting alcohol forced down his throat. He immediately turned his head away, unable to continue watching on.
[Junior Brother! We will remember your sacrifice and pay this favour back in the future!]
Everyone understood this tacitly, proceeding to hold their breaths and tiptoe out of the premises.
Just as they arrived at the entrance though, an elegant figure suddenly shot towards them, flying straight towards You Kun’s face. A few strands of his black hair drifted away while a deep gulch was carved onto the ground. If not for the protection of the Spirit Array, that strike might have caused the entire palace to collapse.
“You all want to leave?” A frosty look was present on Gao Xue Ting’s face, appearing just like the north wind that had whipped over from the Nine Hells, to the point where even the air seemed to have frozen up. An ice-cold voice reverberated in everyone’s ears, causing everyone to freeze up, their entire being turning cold as a ghastly voice sounded, “Let me see if you all dare to take another step?”
Chen Qian looked pitifully at Gao Xue Ting and replied in a soft voice, “Senior Sister Gao, you’re drunk…”
Gao Xue Ting immediately tossed Yang Kai away, and with a flicker, appeared before the hall entrance, blocking the path. Slashing her long sword down, she glared imposingly at Chen Qian, “How am I drunk?”
“You, you… I…” Chen Qian was at a loss. An Emperor was actually forced to the point where she was just like a mouse that had bumped into a cat, unable to utter a single word properly at all.
“Stop your nonsense and come here and drink!” Gao Xue Ting grabbed hold of Chen Qian, wrapped her arm around the latter’s neck, and shoved the wine bottle towards her mouth.
Chen Qian only managed to gulp down a few mouthfuls before she could not hold back her gag reflex. Wine flowed and dripped down her slender neck, staining her robes, obliterating her gentle and humble pretty girl image in an instant…
“Hahahahaha!” Gao Xue Ting burst into laughter, appearing as though she was feeling exceedingly ecstatic before her pretty eyes rotated and locked onto You Kun.
You Kun instantly jumped up and extended his hand. Grabbing hold of a wine bottle as he hastily replied, “There’s no need for you to take action, Junior Sister Gao. This Senior Brother will do it himself.”
As he said that, he raised his head to take a drink, appearing incomparably heroic as he did so.
Only after seeing this did Gao Xue Ting reveal a satisfied look, before her pretty eyes shifted once again.
However, any Elder that was targeted by her, while filled with bereavement, hastily grabbed the fragrant wine and gulped it down in large mouthfuls.
Gao Xue Ting continued to laugh heartily, seemingly having lost all of her intellect. Waving her longsword once again, she started to perform a sword dance within the hall, causing Sword Qi to fly out in all directions, leaving Yang Kai and the rest to run helter-skelter away in distress.
“Junior Brother Yang…” Chen Qian managed to regain her senses after much difficulty. Extending her hand to rub the corners of her mouth, she proceeded to remind him with good intention, “Please do not use your cultivation to dispel your drunkenness, if you do…”
“If I do?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.
This conversation came too late though, as just like a spectre, Gao Xue Ting suddenly appeared in front of him. Extending her hand out, she grabbed hold of him, lifted him up just like a little chick, before speaking out in a chilling voice, “Little brat, you dare to cheat!?”
As she said that, the long sword in her hand started to vibrate, as though it was about to fly out from her hand at any moment.
Yang Kai’s face turned pale as he clamped his legs and cried out in alarm, “Please be merciful, Senior Sister Gao!”
“Hmph, you want me to be merciful?” Gao Xue Ting let out a cold snort, swept her eyes over Yang Kai before nodding, “Put your best into it then!”
Her longsword rose and shook before a bottle of spirit wine appeared on top of the sword’s tip as it was delivered before Yang Kai.
Yang Kai immediately revealed a look of deep bitterness. However, under the demanding glare from Gao Xue Ting, he had no choice but to clench his teeth and take up the bottle.
“Good, good, good!” Gao Xue Ting clapped and danced about, a satisfied look appearing on her face, as though she was a little girl that had just gotten a new toy. Just as Yang Kai had emptied the bottle, yet another one was hoisted before him.
Yang Kai looked at her with a face filled with bitterness.
“Are you going to drink or are you going to drink?” Gao Xue Ting’s face immediately turned frosty.
“I’ll drink, I’ll drink, I’ll drink…” Yang Kai stared at the longsword positioned below his chin, before nodding vigorously like a little chick pecking at rice grains.
After downing a total of thirteen successive bottles of hundred-year-old spirit wine, Yang Kai let out a full belch as his body started to sway. Under the sympathetic looks from the various Elders, he opened his mouth with much difficulty, “Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters… this little brother will take his leave first!”
As his voice rang out, he collapsed backwards onto the ground.
“Waste!” Gao Xue Ting stepped on Yang Kai ruthlessly and sneered. With a twist of her body, she leaned on his body, using him as a support as she raised a wine bottle in her hands and opened her mouth to drink.
The clear yet strong fragrant wine transformed into arrows of water, before being drunk up completely in just a few breaths.
With Yang Kai leading by negative example, the other Elders did not dare to hesitate anymore as they all proceeded to hug a bottle and start drinking. Within a moment, the entire hall was filled with a miserable atmosphere, as though Azure Sun Temple had been decimated by its bitter enemies.
The alcohol strength of the spirit wine was extraordinary, and coupled with them being unable to circulate their cultivation to get rid of its effects, even these Emperor Realms were unable to prevent themselves from getting wasted.
It did not take long for Chen Qian to reach her limits. She felt her entire world shake, while it seemed as though her eyelids were being weighed down by a few mountains. No matter how hard she tried, she could not keep them open. She tipped over as she collapsed onto the ground, passing out then and there.
Not long after, another female Elder joined her.
You Kun and Di Rong fell over in succession.
After a short while, snoring sounds filled the hall, as Azure Sun Temple Elders laid on the ground in a disorderly fashion. If anyone saw this scene, they would be in for a great shock.
The only person left was Gao Xue Ting, who continued to persevere away in her fight with those fragrant wines.
Only after drinking the last bottle up did she smack her lips, and collapse limply on the ground.
……
“You all actually gathered together to partake in heavy drinking in broad daylight! Highly improper!” On top of Spirit Jade Peak, Vice Temple Master Qiu Ran slammed his fist on the table, his moustache waving chaotically in the wind while the group of Azure Sun Temple Elders before him lowered their heads, embarrassed looks covering their faces.
“All of you are Elders of our Azure Sun Temple, with important responsibilities to shoulder, the very pillars of our temple! If we were to have faced an enemy incursion yesterday, what path would the thousand-year foundation of our temple have taken!?” Qiu Ran grew angrier as he shouted, to the point where his saliva shot out in all directions.
“We know our mistake, Senior Brother,” Gao Xue Ting lowered her head and straightforwardly admitted her wrongdoing.
“You know your mistake?” Qiu Ran grew even angrier as he stared at Gao Xue Ting and roared, “Do you think a single ‘I’m wrong’ will suffice!?”
Gao Xue Ting lowered her head to the side and mumbled under her breath, “I already said I’m sorry, what else do you want? That’s why you’re still unable to find a companion after so many centuries. Serves you right to be single until you die!”
“What did you say?” The veins on Qiu Ran’s temples throbbed.
“Nothing,” Gao Xue Ting made a poker face and met Qiu Ran’s raging anger head-on before taking it upon herself to say, “However, this matter was caused by me. If Senior Brother wants to mete out punishment, just punish me alone, as it was not their fault.”
The other Elders nodded their heads in succession after hearing her words.
You Kun added, “That’s right, Senior Brother. This matter was caused by Junior Sister Gao. We are just the victims. If you want to mete out punishment, just punish her alone. Furthermore, you have to make sure it is a severe one. It will not appease the masses if she doesn’t get punished sufficiently.”
Yang Kai responded by staring at him in stunned silence, appearing as though this was the first time that he had met You Kun.
Qiu Run replied with a sneer, “Who else can force you all to drink alcohol?”
Di Rong scratched his face and replied, “Your vision is truly sharp, Senior Brother! That’s precisely it!”
“Nonsense!” Qiu Ran erupted with great anger, “None of you will escape from yesterday’s matter!”
The group sagged like lifeless corpses, with their heads drooping down, disheartened after hearing his words.
“Just state the punishment. What’s with the long-windedness?” Gao Xue Ting shouted back with an extremely impatient look on her face.
“You, you, you… you are utterly devoid of any respect for your Seniors!” Qiu Ran slammed the table yet again. After venting his anger for a while longer, he declared, “Yesterday’s matter is absolutely unacceptable! If our disciples were to know of your actions, how would our temple maintain its dignity in the future? In view of this, this Old Master will punish you all by deducting 3,000 Elder Contribution Points from all of you!”
“What!?”
“Please don’t do it, Senior Brother Qiu… that’s 3,000 Elder Contribution Points! Why not just kill me!”
“Please be merciful, Senior Brother!”
The group of Elders immediately started to shout out, appearing as though they were having their skin peeled off by Qiu Ran. In fact, Chen Qian even proceeded to carve a pitiful stance as she looked at Qiu Ran and cried, “Senior Brother… please don’t be like that…”
She was actually using a soft approach of attack that was just shy of flirting.
“Stop this disgraceful act before this old man! If any of you dare to utter one more word, I will deduct another 2,000 points!” Nevertheless, Qiu Ran continued to wear a steely and unemotional expression on his face, with his words sounding so sharp it appeared to cut through everything like butter.
Those words immediately shut everyone up, their shouting coming to a screeching halt.
“Hmph,” Qiu Ran shot a cold glare at Gao Xue Ting, “As for you, the cause of this disaster, other than the deduction of 3,000 Elder Contribution Points, you will be further deducted 1,000 points, for a total of 4000 Elder Contribution Points! On top of that, you will be locked up for three months in solitary confinement! If you commit such an offence again, your punishment will be increased!”
Gao Xue Ting spat disdainfully in response. Clearly, she did not accept those terms of punishment, though she did not say anything to refute it.
Yang Kai’s heart was filled with distress as he stood by the side. While he was an in-name disciple of Azure Sun Temple, he did not have much interaction with these Elders. Of those rare interactions, due to the difference in their statuses, he hadn’t had the opportunity to observe their true natures.
Now, with his title of High-Rank Guest Elder, giving him equal status as them, Yang Kai finally managed to gain a better understanding of the minds and characters of these high ranking people. For a moment, Yang Kai felt that his impressions of them had been completely wiped clean and replaced by an utterly new one.
A sharp gaze suddenly shot over, leaving Yang Kai gulping his saliva down before meeting it with a dry laugh.
Qiu Ran remained silent for a while, before continuing, “Junior Brother Yang, in light of this being your first offence, this Old Master will not say anything to you and you will not be punished.”
Yang Kai was ecstatic upon hearing this and hastily replied, “Many thanks Senior Brother Qiu! Senior Brother truly is a paragon of virtue and understanding.”
As his words rang out, eight pairs of eyes turned to look at him…
“Only this time. There will be no next time. If there is a next time…”
“There absolutely will not be a next time!” Yang Kai made a solemn vow as a guarantee.
“That would be best,” Qiu Ran let out a long sigh before saying in a sincere and gentle tone, “Junior Brother Yang, you have such achievements at such a young age, with you being destined to have immeasurable prospects for your future. Therefore, you should not mix around with this group of hooligans and be sure to protect your Martial Heart, okay?’
His words left Yang Kai unable to reply, leaving him filled with embarrassment.
Fortunately, Qiu Ran did not continue as he went back to scolding the rest of the Elders before waving his hands to get them to shoo off.
The group of Elders felt as though they had received the amnesty of their dreams and hastily departed.
Upon leaving Spirit Jade Peak, the group of Elders had their heads drooping down in depression, while Gao Xue Ting at the front was continuing to mutter incessantly, something vaguely along the lines of cursing. As she did so, a frosty aura radiated from her, causing no living creature to dare come near to her, creating an utterly frightening spectacle.
“Haa… It was only yesterday that I informed you about the Three Great Taboos of our temple. Who would have known that you would be lucky enough to bump into two of them within the short span of two days, Junior Brother Yang,” You Kun let off a sigh, patting Yang Kai’s shoulder and asking with deep concern, “Were you frightened, Junior Brother?”
“I’m alright,” Yang Kai nodded his head, before asking curiously, “Why is everyone so afraid of Senior Brother Qiu?”
Chen Qian replied with a soft voice, “Not only is Senior Brother Qiu our temple’s Vice Temple Master, but he is also the Elder in charge of the Punishment Hall, which is in charge of disciplining everyone from the Temple Master down to the disciples. With the temple’s law and order under his control, who isn’t afraid of him? Even the Temple Master has to give him face.”
“So, that’s how it is,” Yang Kai finally understood the reason, before asking another question, “So, what are those Elder Contribution Points that were mentioned?”
When Qiu Ran said that he was going to deduct 3,000 Elder Contribution Points from them, the various Elders seemed so dejected to the point it appeared as though their parents had died. Clearly, those Elder Contribution Points were very useful.
You Kun explained, “Junior Brother Yang, you’ve just become an Elder for a few days, so you haven’t come across this yet. Elder Contribution Points, erm, is something that every big Sect will have. Take our temple for example. Our disciples have Disciple Contribution Points, while we Elders have Elder Contribution Points. These contribution points can be exchanged for many benefits from the temple. The most straightforward exchange would be one Elder Contribution Point being equivalent to 1,000 High-Rank Source Crystals!”
“That many?” Yang Kai was shocked by what he heard and proceeded to silently calculate in his mind. Didn’t that mean that 3,000 Elder Contribution Points was equivalent to three million High-Rank Source Crystals?
A single drinking session led to the loss of three million High-Rank Source Crystals. That was why these Elders were feeling incomparably dejected over the punishment. 3,000 Elder Contribution Points was really not a small number to them.
“Although you can exchange High-Rank Source Crystals for Elder Contribution Points, there is a limit to how many you can earn that way per year. Every person can exchange for at most 2,000 points per year in this way. If you want to obtain more Elder Contribution Points, you have no choice but to complete certain tasks that are beneficial to the temple. An example would be completing Elder Missions.”
“Generally speaking, the amount of Elder Contribution Points that we accumulate in total will not amount to more than five or six thousand.”
“That’s right. Elder Contribution Points are very useful for us. For example, if you want to enter the Divine Ascension Mirror, you need to spend Elder Contribution Points. 2,000 Elder Contribution Points will allow you to enter once.”
You Kun patted Yang Kai’s shoulder and said in a heartfelt manner, “Junior Brother Yang, let’s work hard together in the future.”
Yang Kai gave a casual reply, only to see You Kun scoot over and speak mysteriously, “I’ll tell you in advance that it will be Temple Master’s birthday in three months’ time. Around that time, you’d best leave if you can, or lock yourself up in secluded retreat. Just make sure to not reveal yourself unless absolutely necessary.”
Chen Qian by the side nodded her head furiously in agreement, appearing as though she had experienced some kind of nightmare before, “That’s right, Junior Brother Yang. You’ve already experienced two out of our temple’s Three Great Taboos; you absolutely do not wish to experience that last one.”
Yang Kai’s face turned pale as he replied, “Could it be more terrifying than Senior Sister Gao drinking alcohol?”
Chen Qian pondered over it in deep thought, before replying, “Definitely, however… in any case, it will not be anything good.”
You Kun could not help but shiver, “That’s enough, that’s enough. I have to go back and properly recuperate. Ah my heart, my heart…”
“I’m also going. If you’re free, please come to my Small Spring Peak for a visit, Junior Brother,” Chen Qian turned in another direction, before flying away.
After a short while, the various Elders scattered, heading back to their respective peaks. Gao Xue Ting, the first one to leave, was already long gone, most likely having already returned to her Purple Bamboo Peak. Qiu Ran had punished her with three months of solitary confinement, which would definitely leave her angry for quite a while.
Yang Kai returned to his Spirit Sword Peak, looked at the wine bottles that were strewn messily around his Spirit Sword Palace, before letting out a long sigh.
Extending his hand, he pulled a wine bottle over before flinging it down the mountain with a flick of his wrist.
This continued for a few dozen wine bottles before a black shadow suddenly scuttled out from behind one of the bottles before lunging over towards him.
Remaining calm despite the appearance of the black shadow, Yang Kai gave it a light flick. Immediately, a whimper rang out as the black shadow shot backwards and landed on the ground.
Lowering his head, Yang Kai was somewhat surprised by what he saw.
Present before him was a little jet-black coloured beast that spanned the size of his palm. On first look, it appeared similar to a dog. Plastered to the ground, it bared its fangs at Yang Kai as it grimaced in pain, a threatening growl rumbling out from its throat.
“Where did this little thing come from?” Yang Kai was seriously surprised.
The critical point was that he had unexpectedly not discovered any trace of this little beast before it showed itself. Although Yang Kai had not intentionally scanned his surroundings just now, it was unreasonable for him to have failed to discover the presence of a living creature that had been hiding in plain sight only a few steps away.
However, the truth of the matter was that Yang Kai had only sensed it when the little beast had suddenly shot out towards him.
Sending his Divine Sense out, he discovered that there seemed to be no unique traits possessed by this little beast. Its appearance here on Spirit Sword Palace was most likely due to it being attracted by the strong smell of alcohol.
After observing it for a while, Yang Kai snickered and he extended his hand to grab the little beast. Never did he expect the little beast to sense the impending danger and attempt to evade. Nevertheless, it still ended up being captured by Yang Kai and held in his hand.
Immediately after being captured, the little beast actually instantly restrained its hostility. Extending its tongue, it proceeded to pant at Yang Kai, making it appear just like a little dog.
“Seems you know how to judge the situation and respond accordingly,” Yang Kai grinned, and with a slight move of his hand, tossed the little beast away.
Having removed this mysterious visitor, Yang Kai retrieved his Jade Elder Token and opened the barriers around Spirit Sword Peak. He then started to infuse some of Spirit Sword Peak’s Earth Vein energy into his token, in accordance with Qiu Ran’s teachings.
Only when this was completed would he become the true master of this Spirit Sword Peak.
The refining process was rather simple, the only problem being the huge expenditure of Spiritual Energy. Locating the exact position of the Earth Vein and grasping hold of its fluctuations was a simple task for Yang Kai, but that didn’t make it any less laborious.
This refining process took five days, before a streak of light flashed faintly above the jade token. At the same time, a miraculous feeling surfaced within Yang Kai’s heart, like the jade token had become one with the Spirit Sword Peak, and everything between the two was connected and shared.
With a single thought, the entire Spirit Sword Peak was within the grasp of his hand.
Refinement complete!
Just as he was putting away the jade token, Yang Kai suddenly discovered a familiar strength fluctuation appearing outside the Spirit Sword Peak’s barrier. A surprised expression appeared on his face, before a hole appeared in the barrier, letting the visitor in.
After a few moments, a streak of light landed in front of the Spirit Sword Palace, revealing the figure of Gao Xue Ting.
“Senior Sister Gao, what are you doing here?’ Yang Kai asked, gasping in surprise. While doing so, he took a sneaky look at his surroundings. Only when he was sure that there was no one around did he close the large doors of the Spirit Sword Palace.
Gao Xue Ting frowned, “What’s with those sneaky actions? What are you planning?”
Yang Kai glared at her in response, “What can I be planning? On the contrary, it’s you who was punished with three months of confinement by Senior Brother Qiu, yet you actually dared to run all the way here. If Senior Brother Qiu finds out about this… he will definitely deduct your Elder Contributions to death.”
Gao Xue Ting sneered, “That old ghost just wants to lock me up in solitary confinement, though he did not say anything about locking me up on Purple Bamboo Peak. There isn’t any place within the territory of our temple that I can’t go as I please.”
“This place is also included?” Yang Kai gawked, most surprised about Gao Xue Ting’s nickname of “old ghost’’ for Qiu Ran.
Gao Xue Ting chuckled coldly, “Sooner or later, I’ll snatch away his post as the Punishment Hall Elder… and let him experience the taste of having his Elder Contribution Points deducted and being locked up in solitary confinement.”
Complicated feelings arose in Yang Kai’s heart as he started to question whether he made the right choice in accepting Gao Xue Ting’s request to be a High-Rank Guest Elder of Azure Sun Temple.
As the saying goes, if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam would become crooked too; he had originally assumed that Gao Xue Ting was an esteemed and noble lady; however, from the looks of it, due to her upbringing under Wen Zi Shan, which utterly distorted her childhood days and caused her mental development to suffer damage, how esteemed and noble could such a person be?
It seemed that his impressions of her had been based on the false front she had put up. After gaining a more in-depth understanding of her, all of his views had been destroyed…
“That’s right, Senior Sister Gao, why have you come to look for me?” Not wanting to further the conversation about starting a coup, Yang Kai hastily changed the subject.
“Right. There’s a small matter,” Gao Xue Ting nodded her head with a serious expression and with a flick of her hand, a Space Ring appeared which she tossed over to Yang Kai.
Feeling suspicious as he caught it, Yang Kai sent his Divine Sense inside before his brow rose in surprise and he commented, “So many Emperor Grade Spirit Herbs! Could this be a benefit of becoming a temple Elder? Our temple is really thoughtful; however, I have quite a few Spirit Medicines myself, so I don’t need these.”
Gao Xue Ting stared at him and replied indifferently, “You’re misunderstanding. This isn’t for you. Spirit Sword Peak is your reward. Right, if you want to, you can find Junior Sister Chen Qian to request for some disciples to come to your Spirit Sword Peak to help you maintain the flowers and vegetation here. That can be considered a benefit. As for these Spirit Grasses and Medicines…”
“What are they for?”
“They are for you to refine into Spirit Pills,” Gao Xue Ting replied bluntly.
“Refine into pills?” Yang Kai’s expression turned dark, “There are so many Emperor Grade Spirit Medicines inside here, and you want me to refine them all into Emperor Pills?”
“That’s right, we want you to refine them into Emperor Pills,” Gao Xue Ting nodded, “Our temple doesn’t have an Emperor Alchemist among its ranks, though we have accumulated quite a few Emperor Grade Spirit Medicines. It wasn’t easy to get you to join, so we naturally have to hand these over to you to deal with.”
“Why me?” A look of speechlessness was plastered on Yang Kai’s face.
Gao Xue Ting replied with a faint smile, “With greater power comes greater responsibility. Junior Brother, during that year in the Four Seasons Realm, you managed to refine the Extraordinary Treasure Pill. Although that matter happened a long time ago, and some people might not remember it, with me being the leading Elder at the time, I recall it very clearly. I’ve asked around and heard that since you were able to refine the Extraordinary Treasure Pill, it shows that you were already on the cusp of becoming an Emperor Alchemist. After those years, you should have made some progress in the Alchemic Dao. Other than you, who else can we hand these Spirit Medicines to? Are we going to let the other temple Elders waste them by burning them to dregs while trying to refine pills? That would be an utter waste. That’s right, it seems that you had refined a furnace of Emperor Pills during your stay in my Purple Bamboo Peak yesterday. Tsk tsk, and you successfully completed your refining in half a day’s time, how incredible. Although there are quite a few herbs in that ring, I believe in your capabilities. In just a year and a half or so you should be finished with those.”
Yang Kai remained silent for a moment, before asking with a serious tone, “Can I reject this?”
“Yes, you can,” Gao Xue Ting nodded, “No one’s forcing you on this matter.”
“Then I reject it!” Yang Kai returned the Space Ring back.
Gao Xue Ting took the Space Ring, turned around, and sighed as she walked away, “I came to help you with good intentions yet you were not grateful for it. Good, good, I’m afraid that you might not be able to enter the Divine Ascension Mirror for the rest of your life.”
Yang Kai immediately raised his hand, “Please wait, Senior Sister!”
Gao Xue Ting turned her head and grinned as she looked at him, “Is there anything you want to say, Junior Brother?”
Yang Kai covered his mouth and coughed lightly, “Senior Sister, I would have forgotten about the Divine Ascension Mirror if you hadn’t just mentioned it. A few days ago, you told me that someone was using the Divine Ascension Mirror when I asked you about going in, someone who could not be disturbed unless absolutely necessary. May I know what time it would be possible for me to go in?”
“Do you have Elder Contribution Points?” Gao Xue Ting tossed a question back.
“No.”
Gao Xue Ting sneered and declared, “2,000 points per entry. You don’t even have any Elder Contribution Points, yet you still dream of entering the Divine Ascension Mirror. Have you not sobered up yet?”
“But that time…”
“That time, you still weren’t an Elder of our temple. Currently, you are already an Elder of our temple, so you naturally have to follow the rules. If not, if just anyone were able to enter as he or she pleased, training in the Divine Ascension Mirror would no longer be precious anymore.”
“How can you be like this, Senior Sister?” Yang Kai was utterly distraught.
Gao Xue Ting turned around and said in a sincere and heartfelt manner, “Junior Brother, with greater power comes greater responsibilities. Being the only Emperor Alchemist in our temple, you have to shoulder the responsibility of refining Emperor Pills for our temple.”
Yang Kai growled between his clenched teeth, “You duped me to become an Elder a few days ago just for this, right, Senior Sister! You were my respected Senior yet you had the heart to trick me!”
Gao Xue Ting smiled lightly and replied, “Nonsense, I’ve been planning this ever since you refined the Extraordinary Treasure Pill in the past.”
“I really was blind…” Yang Kai felt bitterness and pain wash over his heart, as his impression of her completely shattered. As he woke from the dream, his heart had been sliced up, leaving a scene filled with blood and tears.
Gao Xue Ting said, “Don’t be angry. If you don’t wish to perform Alchemy, there is still another way.”
Yang Kai growled back, “I seek your advice, Senior Sister!”
“Didn’t you mention previously that one of the Wondrous Pill Great Emperor’s Disciples was your High Heaven Palace’s Chief Alchemist? Since you already have such a subordinate, there isn’t actually a need for you to personally put in the labour.”
“Oh… that seems like a good method,” Yang Kai stroked his chin thoughtfully.
After a moment of contemplation, Yang Kai seemed to have made a decision as he asked, “So, what are the benefits?”
“One Emperor Pill for ten Elder Contribution Points! As long as you are able to refine two hundred Emperor Pills, you can enter the Divine Ascension Mirror.”
“Fart!” Yang Kai leapt up, “Ten Elder Contribution Points? That’s just a mere ten thousand High-Rank Source Crystals. Which Emperor Alchemist would accept such a cheap fee when they take action!?”
“Dammit! Which of those scoundrels spoiled my good deed by telling you the conversion rate!” Gao Xue Ting’s face sank as she mumbled in anger.
Yang Kai’s face turned black, “I can hear you…”
Gao Xue Ting pouted and replied, “So, what do you want?’
“One Emperor Pill for one hundred Elder Contribution Points. I will barely be able to accept that.”
One hundred Elder Contribution Points was worth a hundred thousand High-Rank Source Crystals. Generally speaking, it was impossible for an Emperor Alchemist to only refine a single pill for every furnace, with four pills being the absolute minimum. Furthermore, any Emperor Alchemist would charge a fee of around five hundred thousand High-Rank Source Crystals for every furnace they refine.
Yang Kai’s asking price was basically the same as what the temple would pay when they sought outside Emperor Alchemists.
“Twenty points!” Gao Xue Ting counter-offered without a trace of politeness in her voice.
“A hundred points!” Yang Kai refused to budge.
“Stop daydreaming!”
“A hundred points means a hundred points!”
“Thirty points at most!”
…
An arduous bout of haggling and bargaining proceeded on, which ultimately ended with Yang Kai bowing down and accepting the price of fifty Elder Contribution Points for one Emperor Pill.
“Come, come, come, sign this Soul Contract.” With a flip of her hand, Gao Xue Ting took out a contract that radiated with peculiar fluctuations. This was precisely a Soul Contract produced by Serene Soul Palace. This thing was a common sight in the Eastern Territory, but was a priceless object in the Southern Territory. How she managed to get her hands on one of these was a mystery.
“Aren’t you looking down on me, Senior Sister? Although this Junior Brother may be young, he won’t go back on his word.” A look of disgust appeared on Yang Kai’s face.
“Just sign it.” Gao Xue Ting urged him on.
Unable to bear with her, Yang Kai had no other choice but to leave his Soul Imprint on the Soul Contract.
With the contract signed, Gao Xue Ting’s eyes immediately lit up as a smile blossomed on her face. With great care, she stored the Soul Contract, extended her hand and patted Yang Kai’s shoulder warmly, “Junior Brother, your Senior Sister’s fortune will depend on you in the future.”
Her words immediately stunned Yang Kai. Nevertheless, after some thought, his face suddenly sunk as he spoke out in a bitter tone, “Senior Sister, is this the mission Senior Brother Qiu assigned to you? Upon completion, how many Elder Contribution Points will you be able to obtain?”
“The same amount as you,” Gao Xue Ting replied as she glanced away.
“What do you mean by the same?”
“That old bachelor gave me a price of a hundred Elder Contribution Points per Emperor Pill and asked me to convince you to help perform Alchemy for our temple. Since I secured your cooperation at fifty points per pill, the remaining fifty points will belong to me, so I’m naturally getting the same as you!”
“Ah…” Yang Kai’s smile suddenly turned incomparably sinister, “It really is hard for you, Senior Sister, to tell me about this as though it meant nothing. Senior Sister, you really are a good person. I swear I’ll remember this great favour for the rest of my life.”
Gao Xue Ting replied defiantly, “The path of growth will always be filled with thorns, young man. Suffering defeat to gain wisdom and then learn from your mistakes. You should move slowly in the future.”
“I really have to thank Senior Sister for this lesson!” Yang Kai forced those words out from his clenched teeth, as he felt his insides churn, a sweet feeling surged up his throat.
Gao Xue Ting gave a sweet smile, “Don’t forget that you’ve already signed the Soul Contract. Good, do work hard. How quickly you work will determine how quickly you can access the Divine Ascension Mirror.” Turning around, she made a lazy stretch, opened the doors of the Spirit Sword Palace, and raised her head towards the sky as she commented, “What a beautiful day.”
With a shift of her tender body, she transformed into a streak of light before disappearing into the distance.
Yang Kai clutched his chest as a look of pain covered his face.
Half a day later, in a desolate mountain valley behind Spirit Sword Peak, Yang Kai raised his Jade Elder Token. As thoughts flashed through his mind, he drew power from the Earth Vein and manipulated the barrier around his Spirit Sword Peak to conceal this portion of the mountain valley.
With this, even Third-Order Emperors would not be able to pierce through the concealments around this place without significant effort.
Letting out a sigh, Yang Kai retrieved various materials from his Space Ring as he prepared to arrange a Space Array.
He had originally not planned on concealing this Space Array and was even thinking of sharing it with Wen Zi Shan, as once Azure Sun Temple and High Heaven Palace were connected, it would bring immense benefits to both Sects.
Currently, Hua Qing Si was collecting the unique products of the Northern Territory, and when the time came, they would be able to earn a great profit if they shipped those products to the Southern Territory. On the other hand, if Azure Sun Temple were to collect the unique products of the Southern Territory and ship them to the Northern Territory, they would definitely be able to obtain a good price for them too.
Not much was needed to be said about using a Space Array to connect the two places, with both Sects being able to protect and aid each other.
Although nothing could be predicted from arranging a Space Array in the short term, it would have a huge impact on both Sects in the long run.
That was also one of the reasons why Yang Kai agreed to become one of Azure Sun Temple’s Elders back then, he would be given his own Spirit Peak if he became one, and thus, making it much simpler for him to arrange this array.
However, after his recent experience with Gao Xue Ting, Yang Kai had no choice but to reconsider his plans.
If she learned about this matter, then Ji Ying might end up as the exclusive Alchemist of the temple in the future. Consequently, High Heaven Palace would lose its Chief Alchemist.
For the time being, it seemed as though it would be better for this matter to be carried out in secret as it would not be too late to reveal the truth once the time was right.
Half a day later, a brand-new Space Array was completed. Using the Jade Elder Token to mobilize the power of Spirit Sword Peak’s Earth Vein to conceal the Space Array, even Wen Zi Shan would not be able to sense its presence unless Yang Kai allowed it.
Inserting Source Crystals into the array to activate it, Yang Kai disappeared in a flash of light.
In the next moment, his figure appeared above the Space Array in High Heaven Palace.
Another moment later, he found Ji Ying on the Medicine Pill Peak, one of the Main Peaks of High Heaven Palace.
Ji Ying seemed surprised to meet Yang Kai again and commented, “Brother Yang, why are you back so soon?”
“Heh,” Yang Kai looked annoyed. Accepting the tea from Ji Ying’s First Disciple before he sat down and dispiritedly said, “It isn’t worth mentioning.”
Ji Ying smiled lightly. Although he did not know what had happened to Yang Kai, he could tell that the latter was in a bad mood. Therefore, he casually took out a jade bottle and tossed it to him.
Yang Kai caught the bottle and asked curiously, “What’s this?”
“Dragon Blood Pills,” Ji Ying explained, “These are the Spirit Pills created from the Dragon Blood Flower you obtained previously. It should be of some use to you, Brother Yang.”
“Oh? These are the Dragon Blood Pills?” Yang Kai sounded extremely surprised as he opened the jade bottle and poured out three blood-red pills. Each pill was about the size of a fingernail; moreover, they exuded a bloody smell that was surprisingly not pungent. The scent alone was able to stimulate Yang Kai’s blood, roiling it slightly.
From the looks of it, these Dragon Blood Pills were Emperor Grade Low-Rank Spirit Pills.
“This is my first time refining this kind of pill, so it is inevitable that I am not familiar with the method yet. In the end, I only managed to produce three. Please forgive me, Brother Yang,” Ji Ying said remorsefully.
Yang Kai laughed in response, “You are too humble, Brother Ji. Successfully refining three pills is already a great achievement.”
Although Ji Ying was not just an Emperor Alchemist, he was also a Legacy Disciple of the Wondrous Pill Great Emperor. The ability to produce three pills during his first attempt to refine this type of Spirit Pill was enough to demonstrate his profound Alchemy skills. An ordinary Emperor Alchemist could never have performed as well as Ji Ying had.
Ji Ying repeatedly waved his hands dismissively with a wry smile, “You praise me too much, Brother Yang.”
In front of Yang Kai, who had defeated him fair and square in an Alchemy competition, Ji Ying could not bring himself to be proud of his achievements.
Pausing for a moment, he continued, “Back to the topic at hand… I have entered High Heaven Palace, but what exactly do you want me to do, Brother Yang? A few days ago, I met with Head Manager Hua; however, she simply asked me to rest for a while and did not assign any tasks to me. I can’t just laze around now that I am the Chief Alchemist of High Heaven Palace, right? After all, I don’t have any other talents aside from my Alchemy skills.”
Yang Kai smiled and replied, “It is precisely your Alchemy skills that I am interested in, Brother Ji. Here, take a look at this.”
While speaking, he tossed the ring that Gao Xue Ting had given to him over to Ji Ying.
Ji Ying caught it and scanned it with his Divine Sense before calling out in some surprise, “So many Emperor Grade spirit medicines!”
Yang Kai replied, “Refine them as you see fit, Brother Ji. You don’t need to rush; just go at your own pace.”
“Not a problem. I will live up to your expectations, Brother Yang.”
“There’s something else I’d like to ask of you, Brother Ji.”
“What is it?”
Yang Kai’s expression suddenly became solemn as he continued, “How much do you know about the Flesh Incarnation Pill, Brother Ji?”
“The Flesh Incarnation Pill?” Ji Ying’s expression froze for a moment, and his breathing became a little uneven, “Could it be… Do you have the Flesh Incarnation Fruit, Brother Yang?”
Yang Kai thought to himself, [I don’t just have the Flesh Incarnation Fruit; I even have the Flesh Incarnation Fruit Tree! However, the ripe fruits on that tree have already been picked, so I’m afraid it will take a long time for the rest of the fruits to mature.]
He didn’t conceal the truth from Ji Ying, stretching out his hand and summoning a Flesh Incarnation Fruit into his palm.
Ji Ying’s eyes brightened in response. He hurriedly got up and carefully accepted the Flesh Incarnation Fruit from Yang Kai. Studying it with his Divine Sense and looking it over carefully, Ji Ying became more and more elated the more he stared at the fruit. He couldn’t help nodding as he commented, “It’s really the Flesh Incarnation Fruit! It’s exactly like what is recorded in the ancient books. Didn’t this go extinct a long time ago? How is it possible for it to appear here?”
He studied the Flesh Incarnation Fruit while mulling over it, seemingly completely obsessed with it.
“Spirit Herbs are only classified as extinct when nobody can find them. I just stumbled upon this by accident.”
The Flesh Incarnation Fruit wasn’t the only ‘extinct’ item that Yang Kai owned. Therefore, he had a deep understanding of this subject.
Meanwhile, Ji Ying raised his head abruptly, “Brother Yang, are you asking me to refine the Flesh Incarnation Pill?”
“Yes,” Yang Kai nodded and added embarrassedly, “I thought about refining it myself since I’ve almost gathered all the necessary materials; however, I can’t help feeling that it’s inappropriate for me to do so. What if I fail in the refining process? This is the only Flesh Incarnation Fruit in the world after all, that’s why I wanted to know what Brother Ji’s probability of successfully refining the pill was first.”
Ji Ying frowned and considered the question seriously, answering after a while, “Less than thirty percent.”
[Thirty percent… That’s very low…. Even Ji Ying only has a thirty percent chance of success. The difference should be negligible even if I have a slightly higher probability of succeeding. In hindsight, I made a wise decision when I decided not to rashly try my hand at refining the Flesh Incarnation Fruit.]
“Do you think you can ask the Great Emperor to help?” Yang Kai asked solemnly.
“Honored Master?” Ji Ying lifted his head and pondered over it before breaking into a smile, “He stopped taking outside Alchemy requests a few thousand years ago, but if it’s the Flesh Incarnation Fruit… He might make an exception. I will need to return to Medicine Pill Valley and inform Honored Master about this matter. As for whether he will help… that will be up to the Heavens.”
“Then, I shall trouble you with that, Brother Ji. This matter is not urgent. You can go back whenever you are free.”
“I’ll go immediately,” He stood up. It seemed he felt the Flesh Incarnation Fruit would be very attractive to the Great Emperor, otherwise, Ji Ying would not be in such a rush.
Naturally, Yang Kai did not try to stop Ji Ying from leaving.
After seeing Ji Ying off, he went looking for Hua Qing Si. He wanted to discuss the Mountains and Rivers Projection with her.
Needless to say, Hua Qing Si knew about Mountains and Rivers Projections; however, she wasn’t sure how one was created. She had only broken through to the Emperor Realm in recent years, after all, so many things had been completely out of her purview until now.
“Nanmen Da Jun should know about this subject, right?” Hua Qing Si suddenly thought of somebody who might have the necessary knowledge. The Mountains and Rivers Projection was most likely a type of Spirit Array, so as an Emperor Array Master, there was no reason why Nanmen Da Jun would be unaware of its workings.
“Call him over.”
Immediately, Hua Qing Si took out a communication artifact and sent word to Nanmen Da Jun.
Less than a quarter of an hour later, Nanmen Da Jun appeared in front of them.
“Palace Master, Head Manager. Were you looking for me?” Nanmen Da Jun smiled and asked, seeming to be doing quite well for himself recently. At the moment, his face was ruddy and glowing with vitality, the depression from before swept far away.
He had been fascinated by Yang Kai’s Space Array in the past and agreed to join High Heaven Palace for ten years in order to gain access to its Array Charts. The truth was that he had been unhappy about this, but he seemed to have resigned himself to his fate as time passed.
He gradually adapted to his position as the Chief Array Master, especially after Yang Kai handed the full authority of arranging all Spirit Arrays in High Heaven Palace to him. These days, he spent his time investigating and repairing the Spirit Arrays around High Heaven Palace and used up countless materials in the process. The profligate spending gave Nanmen Da Jun an inexplicably wonderful feeling.
Although he had the freedom to roam as he pleased in the past, unfettered to any one force, Nanmen Da Jun’s financial resources had also been limited. As a result, he could not arrange many sophisticated Spirit Arrays he conceived of even if he wanted to. However, he was now backed by High Heaven Palace, so all the grand arrays that only existed in his mind were being gloriously brought to life by him and his subordinates, one by one.
Nothing could make Nanmen Da Jun happier than that.
All of a sudden, it seemed as if joining High Heaven Palace had been a good choice.
Naturally, freedom was still the most important aspect!
He might be the Chief Array Master of High Heaven Palace in name, but essentially, nobody bothered him, leaving him completely free to do as he pleased. Therefore, he leisurely lived his days with an ambitious goal in his heart. He was going to use a long time to set up a gigantic array in the High Heaven Palace, one that when completed, would even be able to defend against one or two attacks from a Great Emperor!
With such a Sect Defending Array, all attacks from Emperor Realm Master would be doomed to fail as long as the array was activated.
[It’s not as if my dream is impossible to achieve. Unfortunately, that is only possible provided High Heaven Palace has sufficient financial resources to support my actions; however, I believe High Heaven Palace does have the resources to do so. After all, a Cross-Territory Space Array is a huge money-making opportunity.]
Therefore, he immediately put down whatever he was doing at the moment and rushed over without hesitation the moment he heard Yang Kai calling for him.
Hua Qing Si said, “Palace Master wants to set up a Mountains and Rivers Projection for the palace. Can you do it?”
“Head Manager Hua, are you looking down on me?” Nanmen Da Jun glanced sideways at her, hot air blowing out of his nostrils, “How can I call myself an Array Master if I can’t even arrange something like a Mountains and Rivers Projection?”
Yang Kai nodded in satisfaction, “Good. Then, I will leave this matter to you and Head Manager Hua.”
Nanmen Da Jun suddenly scratched his face and said, “Unfortunately, I can’t arrange a Mountains and Rivers Projection alone.”
“Why?” Yang Kai frowned. [This guy was so arrogant just now, looking as if he was second only to the Heavens, yet now he is faltering. What does he mean by this?]
Nanmen Da Jun replied, “The thing is… a Mountains and Rivers Projection can be said to be a very simple, but also very difficult piece to create, Palace Master. Not only does it require an Array Master, but it also requires an Artifact Refiner. These two must work together to arrange one.”
“An Artifact Refiner?”
“Yes. Strictly speaking, a Mountains and Rivers Projection is an artifact; therefore, it is only natural that it requires an Artifact Refiner to complete. Moreover, the requirements for the Artifact Refiner are very high. An ordinary Artifact Refiner cannot possibly produce a Mountains and Rivers Projection. At the very least, you need a Dao-Source Grade High-Rank Artifact Refiner.”
“Such requirements are indeed quite difficult to meet,” Yang Kai rubbed his chin as he pondered. It seemed like it would be difficult to proceed with this, but that couldn’t be helped. Although High Heaven Palace was still small, it had everything it currently needed. Be it Alchemists, Array Masters, or even puppets. The only thing really missing was a competent Artifact Refiner.
What Nanmen Da Jun said made Yang Kai realize that he had an issue he could not ignore. It was time for High Heaven Palace to recruit or cultivate its own Artifact Refiner.
After all, all kinds of talents were indispensable in a big Sect.
Silavin: Happy Chinese New Year! Let us start off the new year with a bang! Quite literally!
Picking up a new novel:
Dragon Blood Warrior
[It might be a little unrealistic to cultivate an Artifact Refiner on our own. Not only does cultivating an Artifact Refiner consume a lot of resources, but it also requires a lot of time to do so.]
[It may take several dozen years or even several hundred years…]
High Heaven Palace has only just been founded, so there was no time to cultivate an Artifact Refining Grandmaster at the moment. If everything went well in the future, the Sect may be able to cultivate its own Artifact Refiners, but for now…
It seemed as though Hua Qing Si had considered this issue as well and questioned, “Palace Master, shall we recruit an Artifact Refiner? In any case, the Sect is not lacking Source Crystals right now. I’m sure someone will come if we offer an appropriate price.”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded, “I’ll leave this matter to you too.”
“Palace Master, I actually have a recommendation,” Nanmen Da Jun suddenly interjected, “If it were that person, a mere Mountains and Rivers Projection would be nothing at all.”
“Oh? Do you know such an Artifact Refiner?” Yang Kai looked at Nanmen Da Jun in surprise, “If that’s the case, invite them over. If they agree to join us, High Heaven Palace will not treat them unjustly.”
Nanmen Da Jun chuckled dryly and apologetically said, “That person is capable indeed. A Grandmaster in Artifact Refining without any doubt; however, she’s a little troublesome. If I meet her alone… I don’t think I would be able to recruit her successfully.”
“Ho, sounds like this Grandmaster is pretty arrogant,” Yang Kai was extremely astonished. “You are also an Array Master yourself. Who would dare to show you such disrespect?”
Nanmen Da Jun scratched his face and said, “To be honest, compared to her, I’m very approachable…”
Hua Qing Si glanced at him contemptuously in response. They had known each other for some time now, so she knew a little about his true nature. It was only because High Heaven Palace had great financial resources and strength, combined with the precedent of Yang Kai nonchalantly destroying Seeking Passion Sect that he, an Emperor Array Master, was subdued. If it were anybody else or any other Sect, Nanmen Da Jun would have been the prime example of arrogance and would unhesitantly look down on others.
But what Artifact Refiner, Alchemist, or Array Masters of this world who had even a little skill was not haughty? Yang Kai was the only Emperor Alchemist Hua Qing Si knew that liked keeping a low profile, the sole exception to the norm.
“If so, let’s have the Head Manager accompany you,” Yang Kai said with a wave of his hand.
“Good,” Hua Qing Si nodded.
However, Nanmen Da Jun chimed up, “I think it won’t work unless you go personally, Palace Master.”
Yang Kai laughed, “As the Palace Master, I’m busy managing all the day-to-day affairs and other official duties. Do you think I have the time to run around?”
Hua Qing Si also looked angry, “I am the Head Manager of High Heaven Palace! Who dares to look down on me? Could that person be an Emperor Artifact Refiner?”
Nanmen Da Jun’s expression became solemn as he nodded lightly.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai looked shocked before he exclaimed in amazement, “An Emperor Rank Artifact Refiner?”
“That’s right. So, it would be best if you go meet her in person, Palace Master, that’s the only way to express your sincerity.”
Yang Kai stroked his chin and pondered seriously for a moment before nodding, “In that case, it will be worth the trip. Still… Da Jun, in your opinion, will this Emperor Artifact Refiner be willing to join High Heaven Palace?”
Nanmen Da Jun’s expression became strange, “Does that mean you want to recruit her into the Sect, Palace Master?”
“Yes,” Yang Kai nodded as if it was only natural, “From what you said, this Emperor Artifact Refiner is not affiliated with any force at the moment. Coincidentally, High Heaven Palace is currently short of talents in this particular Dao. Since we came across a Grandmaster by sheer luck, we shouldn’t miss the chance to recruit her.”
“Uhh…” Nanmen Da Jun suddenly became a little embarrassed. He hesitated slightly before saying, “Palace Master… That person is a great choice if we are only working together temporarily. For example, asking to cooperate with me to arrange a Mountain and Rivers Projection then kicking her out after we are done, but, if you plan to recruit someone like that into High Heaven Palace, then… I don’t recommend doing it, Palace Master.”
Yang Kai chuckled and said, “It is said that ‘two of a trade never agree’. You are an Array Master while that person is the Artifact Refiner. Since you are both proficient in different fields, there should be no conflicts, right?”
“That’s not the issue. It’s just… haa, Palace Master, you will understand what I mean once you meet her.”
Nanmen Da Jun seemed quite exasperated with this Emperor Artifact Refiner. Unfortunately, he could not explain the reason clearly, so even though Yang Kai asked many questions, he only said Yang Kai had to see the truth for himself, lest his words give a preconceived bias.
Since this Emperor Artifact Refiner lived like a recluse, Yang Kai had no choice but to travel with Nanmen Da Jun to meet her.
Fortunately, there was nothing he was in a rush to do.
“By the way, is there still no news from Zhu Qing?” Before leaving, he suddenly turned to Hua Qing Si and asked.
Hua Qing Si shook her head and replied, “Are you worried about her, Palace Master? If you are worried, I can ask the Monster Kings to search for her.”
“No,” he waved his hand dismissively and casually tossed a jade slip to her. Without even turning his head, he added, “This is Star Soul Palace’s decision regarding your punishment. Have a look at it.”
Hua Qing Si caught the jade slip and shuddered, quickly pouring her Divine Sense into it. After some investigation though, the nervous expression on her face soon disappeared and was replaced by a bright smile.
The decision written in the jade slip regarding her punishment was very simple. Although Hua Qing Si remained a Star Soul Palace disciple, it would not hinder her freedom. In other words, she was free to stay wherever she wanted to be, and it wouldn’t matter if she never returned to Star Soul Palace for the rest of her life.
It was just a simple jade slip, in no way an official document from Star Soul Palace. Even so, the jade slip contained the Soul Imprint of Princess Lan Xun, so with this jade slip in hand, it was equivalent to Hua Qing Si breaking free of Star Soul Palace even though she continued to hold the status of one of its disciples. She no longer needed to worry about this matter again in the future.
This was also part of the results stemming from the discussions between Yang Kai and Lan Xun a few days ago.
Lan Xun was the daughter of the Bright Moon Great Emperor, a position that, for all intents and purposes, placed her below one and above all others in Star Soul Palace. Compared to the Elders, her status was even nobler. Despite that, Hua Qing Si was now an Emperor Realm Master, so even Lan Xun could not expel her at will. Fortunately, Lan Xun was very willing to give Yang Kai leeway in this matter. Since she couldn’t expel Hua Qing Si from Star Soul Palace, she decided to remove all restrictions on Hua Qing Si’s freedom instead, which was comparatively easier.
Outside the gates of High Heaven Palace, Nanmen Da Jun threw something into the air. That item suddenly became bigger mid-air and quickly transformed into a small boat. Then, he smilingly said, “Palace Master, please come aboard!”
Yang Kai glanced at the flying boat and raised his eyebrow in response, “This thing is pretty good.”
It was obviously a flight-type Emperor Artifact, not something that could be described with mere words like ‘pretty good’.
Not many flight-type artifacts of Emperor Grade could be found across the entire Star Boundary, so the value of one was at least tens of millions of High-Rank Source Crystals. For Nanmen Da Jun to have one showed that he had great wealth.
Nanmen Da Jun laughed dryly, “There’s no way I could have afforded this thing, I simply obtained it by winning a bet.”
“That’s incredibly lucky of you,” Yang Kai clicked his tongue in amazement as he flew up to the flying boat.
The flying boat did not look big, only about ten meters long at a glance, enough for five people to fit inside comfortably. However, Nanmen Da Jun suddenly made a gesture the moment Yang Kai moved towards the flying boat.
A hatch opened immediately on the hull of the flying boat.
Yang Kai stepped through the hatch, and the scene before his eyes changed immediately, leaving him stunned for a moment.
What entered his vision was not a simple interior, but instead a spacious cabin. Right now, Yang Kai was standing facing a large hall that could fit several dozen people without difficulty. Sweeping his Divine Sense around, Yang Kai even discovered several extravagantly decorated private rooms further inside.
There was even a First Stage staircase winding upward in a spiral by the side.
[I can’t believe this flying boat contains an independent space! This is equivalent to a large ship with several decks!]
A moment later, Nanmen Da Jun appeared beside Yang Kai.
Yang Kai turned his head and glanced at Nanmen Da Jun as he asked incredulously, “Did you really win this in a bet?”
Previously, Yang Kai thought that this was just a simple flying boat artifact, so he evaluated it to be worth to be around ten million High-Rank Source Crystals; however, from what he could see right now, this item was probably worth a hundred million High-Rank Source Crystals at the very least.
“It was just luck, just luck,” Nanmen Da Jun laughed wryly, his expression a little unnatural, making it clear he did not want to continue discussing this matter. Stretching out his hands, he gestured, “Palace Master, please find a place to rest at will. The place we are heading towards is neither far nor near. It will take around three days for us to arrive.”
“Good. Many thanks in advance for your hard work,” Yang Kai nodded before walking up the stairs to the second floor and randomly choosing one of the private rooms. Pushing the door open, he swept his glance across the interior and found that it was luxuriously and exquisitely decorated. A monkey head sculpture stood to one side, seemingly shading its eyes with its hand and glancing into the distance. It was a very lifelike sculpture.
Frowning slightly, Yang Kai couldn’t help thinking that the monkey head looked rather familiar.
At that moment, the flying boat hummed slightly and rapidly started flying. The speed went from slow to fast in the blink of an eye, soon reaching a speed no slower than a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master’s maximum pace.
That made Yang Kai sigh in amazement at the grandness of this artifact once more.
After that, Yang Kai walked over to the bed, sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began adjusting his breathing.
The journey was very smooth, to the point where one couldn’t even feel the slightest vibration. Moreover, there was nobody stupid enough to dare to block their path or try to rob them.
But then again, the speed of this flying boat was so fast that only a Third-Order Emperors could manage to stop them.
And so, three days passed by in a flash.
The speed of the flying boat decreased significantly all of a sudden. Following that, there was a loud humming sound as the boat came to a stop.
Yang Kai opened his eyes just as a knock on the door sounded from the outside. Standing up, he opened the door and saw Nanmen Da Jun standing outside. Nanmen Da Jun said, “We’re almost there, Palace Master. We need to fly the rest of the way.”
“Is there a barrier restricting the movement of the flying boat?” Yang Kai asked.
“That’s not it,” Nanmen Da Jun smirked before explaining, “It’s just that I can’t let others see this flying boat. Otherwise, things will get a little troublesome.”
He only gave a vague explanation, but Yang Kai did not bother to question him further. Then, the two of them got off the boat together.
The sound of waves falling and rising entered Yang Kai’s ears immediately, accompanied by a slight fishy smell carried over by the sea breeze. It made one feel relaxed and happy. Lifting his head, Yang Kai saw the blue sky stretching out into the vast distance, with not a cloud in the sky for ten thousand kilometres.
[I can’t believe our travels brought us to the sea.]
“Is this Grandmaster living on an island somewhere?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.
“That’s right,” Nanmen Da Jun nodded, leading the way. “This way, please.”
They immediately flew off in a certain direction. Although Nanmen Da Jun had the cultivation of an Emperor Realm Master, he was not good at fighting and his Emperor Qi wasn’t very pure, so his speed was not that great.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai leisurely followed behind Nanmen Da Jun. Looking down at the endless sea stretching out below him, he occasionally caught a glimpse of a sea creature revealing itself, making for some interesting scenery.
An hour later, Yang Kai suddenly heard the cry of seabirds in the distance and immediately understood that they were nearing their destination. Somewhere up ahead in this vast sea there had to be an island, for that was the only way for these ordinary birds to appear here.
Sure enough, an island that was neither small nor large came into view a short while later. Suddenly coming across a beautiful island in the middle of this endless sea could be said to be a kind of visual enjoyment. The island did not cover a large area, only being several dozen kilometres wide, while on the beach, waves came and went while birds rested leisurely.
Yang Kai and Nanmen Da Jun landed on the shore a moment later.
“Hmm?” Yang Kai frowned suddenly and looked at Nanmen Da Jun strangely, “Isn’t the Grandmaster unaffiliated? Why are there so many people on this island?”
When he swept his Divine Sense across the island, Yang Kai clearly found signs of activity. There were at least twenty people here, including six Emperor Realm Masters. If it weren’t for the presence of so many Emperors, he would have assumed that this place was the residence of a small Sect, but no small Sect would have so many Emperor Realm Masters.
Nanmen Da Jun heard Yang Kai’s question and was just about to open his mouth to explain when a stream of light suddenly rushed towards them from the front. It was clear that somebody had sensed their auras and came to investigate.
“Palace Master, please don’t say anything. I will deal with them!” Nanmen Da Jun said anxiously, as if he was seriously worried about something.
Yang Kai frowned in response as he began to feel that something was amiss about this trip.
Meanwhile, that stream of light dissipated to reveal the figure of a middle-aged man, who exuded the cultivation of a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master. That man glanced at them and casually asked, “Who are you?”
Both of them were First-Order Emperor Realm Masters; therefore, this middle-aged man was not too concerned about them nor was he wary towards them. He even had a hint of arrogance in his expression when he questioned them.
Nanmen Da Jun immediately gritted his teeth and replied, “Debt collectors!”
[Debt collectors?] Yang Kai turned his head and glanced at Nanmen Da Jun only to discover that Nanmen Da Jun was acting serious with a furious expression. Moreover, Nanmen Da Jun now seriously looked like a creditor who had come to collect his due.
[What the hell is going on?] Yang Kai was puzzled. Unfortunately, the situation did not allow him to ask for an explanation.
To his surprise, the middle-aged man nodded lightly after hearing those words, “So, we’re in the same business. How much are you owed?”
Nanmen Da Jun replied without even thinking about it, “Five million High-Rank Source Crystals. You?”
The middle-aged man coldly snorted, “Twenty million! If I find that bitch, I’ll definitely skin her alive!”
“That’s outrageous!” Nanmen Da Jun nodded in agreement, “Skinning someone like that alive is going too easy on that kind of trash. If I get my hands on her, I’ll make sure she tastes the worst torture the world has to offer!”
“Hahaha,” the middle-aged man smiled slightly and nodded. “Very good.”
Then, Nanmen Da Jun asked, “Are all the people here debt collectors as well?”
“That’s right,” the middle-aged man nodded and explained, “We have reached an agreement among us. If anybody finds her, we will capture first, then immediately signal the others. Everybody else will rush over right away so that that slut won’t be able to escape! Since the two of you are debt collectors as well, we will let you have your share. However, I will warn you first; there seems to be an extremely strong Spirit Array protecting this island, so don’t take anything suspicious lightly.”
“Many thanks,” Nanmen Da Jun said, cupping his fists.
“It’s nothing. We are all victims here, so it’s only natural to help each other out,” the middle-aged man responded politely. He said a few more words to Nanmen Da Jun then before turning around and flying away.
Watching that person leave, Nanmen Da Jun signalled Yang Kai with his eyes and quietly sneaked toward the other side of the island.
“What happened to that Artifact Refining Grandmaster?” Yang Kai asked through Divine Sense transmission, “Why are there so many creditors here? How much money does she owe them?”
“Who knows?” Nanmen Da Jun had an exasperated expression.
Yang Kai clicked his tongue and said, “Seeing as you are so adept at dealing with this, it seems that you expected this from the beginning?”
Nanmen Da Jun wore a bitter smile and nodded, “This is what makes that woman so hateful. It’s not the first time something like this happened.”
Yang Kai wondered, “Isn’t she an Artifact Refining Grandmaster? Just refining a few Emperor Artifacts should be enough to pay off any debt she has, right?”
Nanmen Da Jun sighed, “It doesn’t matter how many Emperor Artifacts she refines, as she can’t stop herself from gambling.”
“That Grandmaster is an avid gambler?” Yang Kai asked in shock.
“It’s worse than that, she’s simply addicted to gambling. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she always loses when gambling,” Nanmen Da Jun had a scornful look. “That’s why I said she is troublesome.”
Yang Kai suddenly realized something and said, “Did you win that flying boat Emperor Artifact through a bet with her?”
Nanmen Da Jun blushed, “I was forced to do it! It wasn’t my intention to gamble with her.”
In just a few words, Yang Kai garnered a deep understanding of this unknown Emperor Artifact Refiner. [Tsk, tsk. This person is quite the character. I can’t believe she gambled away a flight-type Emperor Artifact worth hundreds of millions. Moreover, she lost the bet too. No wonder so many creditors are hanging around. Isn’t this life a little too miserable despite being an Emperor Artifact Refiner?]
While they were talking, they came to a steep mountain wall. There, Nanmen Da Jun sneakily released his Divine Sense to investigate and make sure that no one was paying attention nearby. After that, he suddenly took out a token and waved it in front of him. A series of ripples immediately appeared on a rock on the mountain wall, revealing a passage big enough for one person to enter and exit. Nanmen Da Jun hurriedly went inside while simultaneously beckoning to Yang Kai. Once Yang Kai was inside, Nanmen Da Jun quickly closed the entrance behind them.
As if noticing the suspicion on Yang Kai’s face, Nanmen Da Jun took the initiative to explain, “I helped arrange the Spirit Array here. If not for this Illusion Array, she wouldn’t have any place to hide by now.”
“You two seem to share a good relationship…” Yang Kai chuckled.
“Palace Master, please don’t mention me in the same sentence as her,” Nanmen Da Jun had an expression of disdain on his face. “If people find out that I am acquainted with her, it will only bring disaster.”
“It can’t be that bad, right?” Yang Kai seemed confused.
Nanmen Da Jun said bitterly, “Palace Master, you haven’t experienced how shameless she is. I helped pay off a bit of debt for her in the past, then those creditors suddenly began knocking on my door, one after the other. Even now, the memory is still vivid in my mind,” he shuddered while speaking.
Yang Kai didn’t know what to say. It seemed as if this Emperor Artifact Refiner had inflicted quite a lot of psychological traumas on Nanmen Da Jun.
The pair headed deeper inside, walking for a half an hour or so before the front brightened up abruptly and a large cave entered their field of vision. However, the cave was empty, with many tunnels leading in all directions.
“Please wait for a moment, Palace Master,” after Nanmen Da Jun said that, he turned around and studied the tunnels. A short while later, his gaze locked onto one of the tunnels before he coughed lightly and shouted, “Xiao Hou, come out.”
Nobody replied to that, only his voice echoed in that cave.
“Why aren’t you coming out? Do you think I can’t see you?” Nanmen Da Jun shouted, his expression darkening.
“Don’t come over! If you dare to take a single step forward, I’ll kill myself!” Without warning, a female voice rang out. The voice sounded extremely weak, like its owner had suffered a grave injury. Moreover, those words were full of despair.
When Nanmen Da Jun first mentioned that this Artifact Refining Grandmaster was a woman, Yang Kai had been a bit surprised, but after thinking about it for a bit, he relaxed. It wasn’t like he had never met female Artifact Refiners before, and among them, Yang Yan was the greatest Artifact Refiner and Array Master he knew.
Nanmen Da Jun’s expression became livid as he furiously shouted, “You idiot! Can’t you even recognize my voice anymore?!”
The woman hidden in the tunnel fell silent for a moment; however, Yang Kai could sense a pair of eyes studying them. A moment later, a figure rushed out like the wind and stood right in front of them.
“Oh, it’s you, Da Jun!” The woman exclaimed in pleasant surprise.
Yang Kai glanced at the woman and discovered that even though her appearance was not country-destroying, she was still quite a beauty. She was wearing a floral dress that made her look playful and cute, but her figure was curvy and mature. Not to mention, her complexion seemed a little pale for some reason.
On the other hand, she seemed very happy to be reunited with an old friend. She paused for a moment before throwing herself at Nanmen Da Jun.
“What are you doing?!” Nanmen Da Jun was clearly prepared for such antics and swiftly reached out his hand to press his palm against her head, using his Emperor Qi to firmly hold her back.
In response, she smiled flatteringly and coyly called out, “Da Jun—”
“What extraordinary impudence you have!” Nanmen Da Jun shouted furiously. Pouring his Emperor Qi into his palm, he pushed her away.
Unexpectedly, the woman pushed back against the pressure, stepping forward, slipped past him, and rushed into his chest for a brief moment before she spun around and fluttered over to a smooth rock nearby while giggling happily.
“My ring!” Nanmen Da Jun’s expression went pitch-black as he suddenly felt something missing from his hand, lifting his gaze to see his Space Ring now in the hands of this woman. She held it up between two fingers and waved it at him as if showing off.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai’s eyes flashed, revealing a look of surprise. What happened just now had occurred too quickly, and although he couldn’t see her movements clearly, he still vaguely detected some traces of her movements. This Emperor Artifact Refiner was quite quick on her feet! Even though Nanmen Da Jun was guarded against her, his Space Ring was taken away in an instant! Was she really an Artifact Refiner, not a thief?
“Give it back to me!” Nanmen Da Jun stretched out his hand to her with an icy expression.
In response, the woman pursed her rosy lips and casually erased his Soul Imprint from the ring. Searching through it, she laughed brightly before taking out several bottles of wine as she happily said, “You always do treat me the best!”
While speaking, she lay down on the rock, unsealed the bottle, and gulped down the wine. At the same time, she silently flicked the Space Ring back to Nanmen Da Jun, who caught it with a dark expression and said nothing. Afterwards, the only sound in the cave was the sound of her glugging the wine.
Yang Kai rubbed his forehead and suddenly felt a headache coming on. He didn’t think much of it when he heard that this Emperor Artifact Refiner was addicted to gambling; however, he felt like leaving after seeing her seasoned drunkard posture right at that moment. Right now, the only thought that came to Yang Kai’s mind was, [Damn it! Another female drunkard!]
A few days ago, what Gao Xue Ting did after drinking had cast an indelible psychological shadow in Yang Kai’s heart. For that reason, he couldn’t help recalling the traumatic events of that day whenever he saw a woman drinking. Just thinking about it made his heart pound wildly and his breathing grow short.
Silavin: Happy Chinese New Year! Let us start off the new year with a bang! Quite literally!
Picking up a new novel:
Dragon Blood Warrior
After finishing several bottles of wine, the woman belched loudly with a contented expression on her face. She wiped away the remains of the wine from the corner of her lips before exhaling a long breath and standing up, raising her hands and cheering, “I feel alive again!”
Her anaemic complexion from before had vanished without a trace, and her face became flushed instead. There were two more bottles of wine, but she didn’t drink them, instead lovingly storing them into her own Space Ring before lifting her head and asking, “Da Jun, are you here to save me?”
Nanmen Da Jun sneered coldly, “What do you think?”
“So, when are we getting married?” She asked.
“Scram!”
The woman curled her lips, muttering something under her breath. From the way her lips moved, it seemed like she was cursing somebody. In the next moment, she glanced at Yang Kai and smilingly asked Nanmen Da Jun, “Who is this Little Brother? He has a good figure. Is he rich? Did he bring me some good wine?”
“Cease your impudence!” Nanmen Da Jun coldly snorted, “This is the Palace Master of High Heaven Palace! You foolish woman; quickly come and give your greetings!”
“High Heaven Palace?” She tilted her head to the side and pondered for a moment before smiling carefreely, “Never heard of it before. Where did it pop out from?”
Nanmen Da Jun quickly snapped, “It doesn’t matter even if you’ve never heard of it before! The important point is that I am now the Chief Array Master of High Heaven Palace!”
The cheeky smile on the woman’s face stiffened instantly as she turned to look at him in astonishment, then glanced at Yang Kai. After that, she stepped forward and placed her hand on Nanmen Da Jun’s forehead.
“What are you doing?!” He took a step back warily.
“Have you finally gone crazy?” She asked curiously.
“You’re the one who’s gone crazy!” He shouted furiously, “Your entire family is crazy!”
A peel of laughter left the woman’s lips before she twirled around and landed on the smooth rock from before as she condescendingly said, “Why would you join a Sect if you hadn’t gone crazy? I recall that you have always sneered at those Sects, be they large or small.”
“Naturally, I have my own reasons for joining High Heaven Palace.” Nanmen Da Jun groaned.
The woman’s expression changed abruptly as she had known Nanmen Da Jun for many years now. They had met each other when they were still young and weak; then, over the years, they had worked together on many occasions and slowly grown stronger together. It could be said that she understood him completely; therefore, she knew what his attitude was like toward those Sects that were trying to recruit him. If he had any intention to join a Sect, he would be free to choose from almost all the Sects in the Star Boundary, be they the smallest and weakest, or the most powerful. Even Great Emperor Sects would welcome him if he showed interest in joining them. The last time she met him, he had still been working alone; yet now, she suddenly discovered that he had joined a Sect called High Heaven Palace. That was enough to shock her to the extreme.
[The Palace Master of High Heaven Palace? He only has a First-Order Emperor Realm cultivation, so how powerful could the Sect he founded be? What does it have that can attract somebody like Da Jun to join it?] The woman tilted her head to the side and studied Yang Kai carefully, as if she was trying to stare a hole into him.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai stared back at her with a smile; however, his heart was full of sorrow and remorse as he thought to himself, [Should I just go back and forget about this? Even if I recruit such an Emperor Artifact Refiner into High Heaven Palace, it might not necessarily be a good thing.]
A long while later, the woman made a fist with one hand and hammered it into her other palm with a look of epiphany. Then, she glanced at Nanmen Da Jun in surprise and said, “Da Jun, we have known each other for so many years, but it’s only now that I discovered that you don’t love women! No wonder you refused to marry me all these years!”
“Y-Y-You—” Nanmen Da Jun was so furious that steam was practically rising from his head. He pointed at her and stuttered, “You foolish woman!” Turning his head to look at Yang Kai, who had a sullen expression as well, he anxiously said, “Palace Master, this woman is a lunatic! Please ignore what she says!”
“Just who are you calling a ‘lunatic’?” She glared.
On the other hand, Yang Kai stepped forward and lightly said, “Da Jun said there was an outstanding Emperor Artifact Refiner here, so I came with great sincerity and expectations, but now, it seems… Tsk.”
“What do you mean by ‘Tsk’?” The woman suddenly became disgruntled, flying over to him in a flash, widening her almond eyes as she reached out, grabbed him by the collar, and angrily snarled, “You better explain yourself well, otherwise you will suffer the consequences!”
“Let go!” Nanmen Da Jun was startled and hurriedly shouted. Of course, he was not worried about Yang Kai, but was instead concerned Yang Kai might get angry. His ‘friend’ would definitely suffer at Yang Kai’s hands if a fight broke out. They might both be First-Order Emperors, but she definitely wasn’t his opponent.
However, Yang Kai simply raised his hand to stop Nanmen Da Jun before he glanced back at the woman with contempt and sneered, “Since you are a Grandmaster, you should carry the dignity of a Grandmaster. Unfortunately, I can’t find a single shred of the poise that a Grandmaster would possess. You give off the impression of a countryside bumpkin instead. To be honest, I am very disappointed.”
She released her hold on his collar and laughed mockingly, “What a joke! Are you saying that all the so-called Grandmasters should be polite and sanctimonious? Sorry, I was born like this.”
Yang Kai smiled back lightly and quipped, “So, you consider yourself a Grandmaster?”
She coldly snorted, “I don’t dare to say that about anything else, but nobody is better than me in this world when it comes to Artifact Refining.”
“What arrogance. Be careful not to bite your tongue.”
She smiled deviously in response, confidence overflowing from her words.
“Anybody can talk big, but I wonder if you can actually prove it.”
“You want me to prove myself?” She glared at Yang Kai, seeing his look of provocation, before instantly becoming incensed, “Good, good, good. Elder Sister here will make you understand how great she is!”
Stretching her hand out, she said to Nanmen Da Jun, “Give me some materials!”
Nanmen Da Jun glanced at Yang Kai questioningly. He understood what Yang Kai was aiming for by now, a test of her Artifact Refining abilities.
It wasn’t as if this woman had not seen through Yang Kai’s intentions either, but that didn’t decrease the frustration she felt for having her qualifications questioned. Therefore, she went along with this farce despite knowing that Yang Kai was simply using his words to provoke her.
Seeing Yang Kai nodding in agreement, to which Nanmen Da Jun asked, “What materials do you want?”
“Anything would do!”
Only then did Nanmen Da Jun start rummaging in his Space Ring. During his time as the Chief Array Master of High Heaven Palace, he had been busy with arranging Spirit Arrays which required large amounts of materials, so he had quite a lot of them in his ring. He soon found a piece of ore about the size of a melon and threw it to the woman.
Yang Kai took a look and recognized the Scarlet Feather Stone at a glance. It was an ore known for its toughness and if it could be smelted with other materials while refining an artifact, the durability of that artifact would be improved. However, it was precisely because of that attribute that the Scarlet Feather Stone could only be used as an auxiliary material, not a primary one. Despite that, Nanmen Da Jun chose that piece of ore without any other materials. It was obvious that he intended to let the woman show off her abilities.
“Open your eyes wide and watch carefully, Little Brother. Don’t even blink or you might miss Elder Sister’s amazing display!” She accepted the Scarlet Feather Stone and smiled at Yang Kai frostily. Her fingers then began to dance agilely as the melon-sized piece of Scarlet Feather Stone started to spin and whirl in her hands. She was in no hurry to finish the refining process and instead lifted the bottle of wine in her hands and took a large gulp. Putting the bottle away, she opened her mouth wide and sprayed out a fine mist of wine.
*Hu…*
Following that sound, a ball of fire burst forth and the temperature in the cave rose exponentially. The fireball did not burn with a normal colour and seemed to be giving off a faint white light instead, probably a type of Heavenly Flame.
Yang Kai’s eyes brightened at the sight. Be it an Artifact Refiner or an Alchemist, their requirements for the fire they used was very high. Having an excellent flame could improve the efficiency and quality of Alchemy and Artifact Refining.
The moment this woman started working, Yang Kai could tell that she was truly very capable. She didn’t even take out her Artifact Refining Furnace, clearly intending to refine this ore on the spot. This refining method required great skill from the Artifact Refiner, and amateurs couldn’t pull it off. What surprised Yang Kai even more though was her mastery of her flames. It was so perfect that it was to the extent of being divine. That mouthful of spirit wine flames that she sprayed out enveloped the Scarlet Feather Stone perfectly, not having the slightest bit of waste.
Under the high temperature, the Scarlet Feather Stone melted quickly. She then held out her beautiful jade-white hand as her fingers moved dexterously to remove the impurities from the ore, drop by drop. At the same time, the Scarlet Feather Stone became smaller and smaller.
Just as condensing medicinal liquid was the first step in Alchemy, removing impurities from ore was the first in Artifact Refining. That was the most basic step, as well as the step that most directly displayed an Alchemist or Artifact Refiner’s skills as everything that followed in the refinement process would depend on how well this first step was executed.
Yang Kai released his Divine Sense and carefully inspected the state of the Scarlet Feather Stone and the result was quite amazing. After a quarter of an hour, this woman managed to remove all the impurities in the Scarlet Feather Stone without leaving the slightest trace behind. She had achieved perfection in this step! That alone was enough to warrant her status as a Grandmaster.
Yang Kai was thoroughly impressed and the prejudice he felt against her because of her previous slovenly behaviour lessened slightly. As long as she was capable, some lifestyle issues were not completely unacceptable.
Another quarter of an hour later, the Scarlet Feather Stone had transformed into a ball of pure liquid metal about the size of a fist. The woman lifted her head and glanced at him triumphantly, “Little Brother, it’s not too late for you to beg for mercy right now. As long as you can give me several million Source Crystals, I will forgive you for your previous rudeness.”
“Ha!” Yang Kai sneered openly.
“I guess you won’t regret it until you see your coffin! I hate stubborn men like you the most!” She gritted her teeth. Even though she turned her attention away to speak with him, her hand movements did not pause in the slightest. She held the liquid mineral in her small hands as her hands formed various intricate seals one after the other. This led to the liquid metal to burn even hotter while her white flames flickered and fluctuated, obviously varying the temperature at specific positions and points.
The liquid metal was slowly stretched out and gradually took on the shape of a sword. The entire process was visible to the naked eye, and with the passing of time, the appearance of the sword became more and more distinct. The edges of the sword gleamed with a sharp and cold light while intricate designs appeared on its hilt.
Although the refining process looked boring and lacked any particularly thrilling scenes, both Yang Kai and Nanmen Da Jun couldn’t take their eyes off it as they watched intently.
About an hour later, the woman suddenly grabbed a bottle of wine again, and while spraying out a mouthful, the flames were extinguished. This was followed by the sound of something sizzling as a light burst from the sword.
“Done!” The woman casually tossed the sword into the air, allowing it to fall straight down and stab into the ground. The sword proceeded to bury itself into the ground up to its hilt.
The ground of this cave was extremely hard; however, the sword made from the Scarlet Feather Stone penetrated all the way to its hilt just from its falling momentum. This was enough to showcase just how sharp its blade was. What was even more commendable was that the sword had been made with a Scarlet Feather Stone as the primary material with no other materials being added to it. Although Scarlet Feather Stone was known for its toughness, it was not known for its malleability. That alone gave Yang Kai a general assessment of this woman’s Artifact Refining ability.
He reached out and grabbed the sword, and as the Scarlet Feather Stone sword sat heavily in the palm of his hand, Yang Kai poured his Emperor Qi into it, causing it to hum softly.
“Dao-Source Grade Low-Rank!” He said with slightly raised eyebrows.
“Hahahaha!” The woman stood on the rock and spread open her arms, laughing maniacally, “Surrender to the mystical and powerful Artifact Refining techniques of mine!”
Nanmen Da Jun’s expression darkened, “Palace Master, why don’t we go back and just forget about this?”
If Nanmen Da Jun had made this suggestion before the woman started refining, Yang Kai might have gone back home without any hesitation. Unfortunately, he had other plans after seeing this woman’s skills. The woman in front of them still looked extremely unreliable, but she definitely had ability far beyond the average Grandmaster.
“Little Brother, are you convinced now?” She glanced at Yang Kai proudly with an expression that seemed to say ‘hurry up and worship me’.
“It’s not bad.” Yang Kai nodded slightly.
“Not bad?!” Her expression became sullen as she stressed each word, “Not… Bad?!” Her divine skills only received a trivial evaluation like ‘not bad’!? She looked angry, waving her hands as if she were driving away flies, “Scram, scram! Leave this place at once. You’re not welcome here. Stay as far away from me as possible.”
Seeing as that brat was a guest brought by Nanmen Da Jun, she had treated him with some courtesy; otherwise, she would not have deliberately revealed her Artifact Refining skills in front of him. However, his neutral evaluation of her skills left her burning with rage and she immediately kicked him out as a result. She no longer had any interest in talking to him as she hated his kind the most! Not only did they not know how to appreciate how amazing her skills were, but they also pretentiously acted as if they understood!
Yang Kai smiled slightly, “It’s certainly not bad.”
Her expression turned icy as she calmly scolded, “Little Brother, watch what you say. Careless talk can bring misfortune. I might not look like much, but a single word from me could destroy you completely!”
Nanmen Da Jun chuckled, “Xiao Hou, you sure are talking big. Be careful or you might have to choke down your words.”
She scoffed in response, “I am an Emperor Artifact Refiner. Do you think nobody would help me if I really wanted to kill somebody? Those guys outside might be going crazy searching for me to pay back my debts; however, they will all become my lackeys if I step up to negotiate with them!”
He lightly replied, “Palace Master is an Emperor Alchemist!”
“Uh…” She looked at Yang Kai in surprise before turning to look at Nanmen Da Jun as if trying to detect a sign that he was lying from his expression. In the end, she was disappointed by the results. His expression was solemn, and he looked dead serious. Besides, based on what she knew about him, he would never lie about such matters.
[An Emperor Rank Alchemist?! At such a young age?!] She seemed rather shocked by the news. Even so, she stubbornly insisted, “So what? There’s not much difference between an Emperor Artifact Refiner and an Emperor Alchemist anyway.”
It was funny if you thought about it. An Emperor Artifact Refiner, an Emperor Alchemist, and an Emperor Array Master were gathered on this nameless island at this moment. That was a terrifying lineup. Any Sect would go crazy at such a sight, trying to recruit them all at any cost.
Yang Kai said, “You are called Grandmaster Hou, right? It seems that you don’t have a good impression of me, Grandmaster Hou.”
She snorted, “Whatever. I’m not close to you anyhow, so it doesn’t matter what you think of me.”
“The reason I said that your skills are not bad is that I have met a more skilful Artifact Refiner than you.”
As soon as the words left Yang Kai’s mouth, she jumped to her feet and screeched, “Bullshit! How could there be an Artifact Refiner better than me in this world?! In the Dao of Artifact Refining, I am the greatest!” She turned to glare at Nanmen Da Jun and spoke through gritted teeth, “Can I beat this little brat up?”
Nanmen Da Jun shook his head, “There’s no such thing as the best in the world.”
Nobody would dare to call themselves the best in the world in any field. Perhaps the Wondrous Pill Great Emperor could call himself that in the Alchemic Dao; however, this woman was certainly not of that calibre yet.
“You don’t believe me, Grandmaster Hou?” The corners of Yang Kai’s mouth curved, revealing a subtle smile.
The woman scoffed, “If that’s the case, then you have to bring me to this ‘more skilful Artifact Refiner’ that you mentioned. I want to see just who is stronger or weaker between us.”
Yang Kai shook his head and said, “I don’t know where she is right now.”
This drew a disdainful snort as Grandmaster Hou’s expression turned contemptuous. It was clear that she thought he was slandering her without reason.
“But…” Yang Kai continued, “What if I can prove that there is someone in this world that is better than you in the Dao of Artifact Refining? What happens then?”
“I’ll marry you then!” She sneered. Tugging at her floral dress as she puffed out her chest and uttered some shocking words, “I’m beautiful and have an ample bosom and stylish figure! Moreover, I still have my innocence. You better not say that I’m not good enough for you!”
Yang Kai glanced at Nanmen Da Jun who was currently facepalming before bringing a hand up to cover his own face in exasperation. The two wore annoyed expressions as if they just discovered how shameless this woman really was.
“Fine, fine,” Yang Kai nodded in exasperation before taking something out of his Space Ring and tossing it to her, “Please have a look at this, Grandmaster Hou.”
She caught it and glanced at it before sneering disdainfully, “An Origin King Grade artifact? Where did this toy come from? Ugh. Moreover, it’s a warship…”
Origin King Grade artifacts were artifacts that were only used by Origin King Realm cultivators, it was certainly a toy to her at her current level; furthermore, a useless one at that.
Yang Kai only smiled faintly and replied, “The simpler the item, the easier it is to evaluate the ability of the one who refined it, right?”
The woman’s brow furrowed together slightly as it was rare that she agreed with his point of view, “Good.”
Just like cooking, what challenges a master chef’s skills the most are not luxurious delicacies, but the simplest of dishes one would eat every day.
“Hmm?” Her gaze suddenly focused as the contempt in her eyes vanished abruptly and was replaced by prudence and amazement. She flipped the delicate little warship about, playing with it in her palms, her Divine Sense flowing out to investigate its internal structure.
“Palace Master… Do you really intend to recruit this woman into High Heaven Palace?” Nanmen Da Jun asked through a secret transmission, “You’ve seen what she is like… If she really joined High Heaven Palace, she might bring trouble to us. Moreover, she behaves perversely and acts however she pleases. I’ve yet to meet anybody who can subdue her. Do you have the confidence to make her submit to you, Palace Master?”
“Nope!” Yang Kai shook his head, “The only way to make her submit is to defeat her in what she does best. I am not capable of that.”
On this point, Nanmen Da Jun understood through his own experience. The reason he agreed to join High Heaven Palace was not that he was touched by Yang Kai’s sincerity nor how well Yang Kai treated him, it was simply because High Heaven Palace had something in his Dao that he was interested in but was unable to comprehend; that was the main reason he joined the Sect.
“But, even if I don’t have the ability, the people around me do,” Yang Kai smiled mysteriously.
“Are you referring to that Origin King Grade warship?” Nanmen Da Jun frowned, realizing that it was the key to their problem.
Yang Kai grinned meaningfully in response but said nothing more. Even though it was just an Origin King Grade warship, far too low grade for Yang Kai to use now, it was still refined by Yang Yan herself back on Shadowed Star. Yang Kai was very familiar with Yang Yan’s Artifact Refining skills. If this Grandmaster Hou was superior to Yang Yan in Artifact Refining, then he would have nothing to say, but Yang Kai believed that to be very unlikely, and the serious expression the woman in front of him was wearing reinforced that view.
As the saying went, ‘While the connoisseur recognized the artistry involved, the layman simply enjoyed the show’. A trivial Origin King Grade warship was nothing but a low-grade toy to Yang Kai and Nanmen Da Jun; however, it was an extremely delicate treasure of refinement to this woman.
Time passed slowly as the cave remained utterly silent. Grandmaster Hou’s expression became increasingly serious as a fine layer of sweat oozed out of her forehead. This both shocked and horrified Nanmen Da Jun, as the only reason for her current behaviour was that the Origin King Grade warship had had a huge impact on her.
Although he did not recognize her self-proclaimed title of being ‘the best Artifact Refiner in the world’, he believed that nobody was significantly more skilled in the entire Star Boundary in terms of Artifact Refining. Now, it seemed like the saying that ‘there is always a mountain beyond the mountains’ was true. But just who in the world created this Origin King Grade warship? And, where did Yang Kai obtain it?
“Activate it,” the woman suddenly raised her head and issued a command to Yang Kai. Her voice held no trace of politeness in it.
Fortunately, Yang Kai wasn’t bothered by her rudeness and simply formed a hand seal. Then, the warship that was the size of his palm immediately swelled until it became thirty metres long. A hatch opened and the woman entered the warship in a flash. From the looks of it, she planned to study it carefully from the inside out.
Since Yang Kai was in no hurry, he decided to wait outside with Nanmen Da Jun. At present, he was eighty percent certain that he could successfully recruit her into his Sect. The rest all depended on whether she was willing to accept her loss.
One hour later, she walked out of the warship with a dazed expression, looking like a walking corpse. It was as if she had been brutally ravaged by dozens of burly men to the point where she even walked stiffly and awkwardly. Only a strange light shone in her beautiful eyes. Moreover, her mouth was moving slightly, muttering something under her breath.
Glancing at each other, Yang Kai and Nanmen Da Jun tactfully did not disturb her from her trance.
Time passed. An hour… Four hours… Half a day… One night… A whole two days later, her demeanour finally changed. Her eyes shone brightly as she jumped up and clapped her hands, “Hahaha! I understand! So, that’s how it is!”
[She actually gained some kind of enlightenment from this!] Seeing this, Nanmen Da Jun let out a long sigh of relief. He had been quite worried over the last two days. Although they had known each other for so long and she constantly got on his nerves, they were still old friends, so he had been worried that she might suffer from dissonance in her cultivation when he looked at her possessed appearance. Still, it seemed like he had been worried over nothing. It made him feel relieved but a little angry at the same time. [Good people don’t live long, but a scourge lasts a thousand years. Based on what she has done in the past, she might just live forever. Why was I foolishly worried about her?]
“How was it?” Yang Kai looked at the woman with a smile.
“Ah, well…” The woman scratched her head and shifted her gaze away, laughing dryly, “This warship is… well… certainly not bad… hahaha…”
Nanmen Da Jun smiled in response, “Xiao Hou, do you remember what you said before?”
She glared at him fiercely, striking a defiant but resigned posture before she glanced over at Yang Kai and declared, “Fine! Even though I have some minor shortcomings in my character…”
“Minor shortcomings?” The veins in Yang Kai’s forehead throbbed visibly.
“I also have my strong points! My greatest strength is my willingness to accept my losses!” She looked at Yang Kai and unreservedly said, “Since that’s the case, when do we tie the knot?”
“Marriage won’t be necessary,” Yang Kai lifted his hand in refusal, “Grandmaster Hou, you are an Artifact Refining Grandmaster, and I am here to recruit you into my High Heaven Palace. I hope you will take on the position of Chief Artifact Refiner. I apologize if I offended you with my words earlier, Grandmaster Hou.”
“Hehehe…” She covered her mouth and giggled, “Little Brother, you sure know how to talk.” Her expression suddenly became stern, “Let’s make this clear; you’re the one that doesn’t want me to fulfil our agreement. I did not go back on my word. I cannot allow my reputation to be tarnished.”
“Da Jun can testify for your reputation.” Yang Kai smiled slightly and added, “The prerequisite being that you willingly return to High Heaven Palace with me, Grandmaster Hou.”
When she heard those words, her expression became solemn as she turned to look at Nanmen Da Jun before carefully considering Yang Kai’s offer, eventually saying, “If it wasn’t for Da Jun, I wouldn’t even consider it regardless of how many benefits High Heaven Palace offered, but since Da Jun has already joined… I’ll join in on the fun too.”
“I will not disappoint you, Grandmaster Hou!” Yang Kai smiled and nodded.
“Hold on!” She lifted a hand and said, “Before that, I have a condition.”
Frowning, Yang Kai nodded, “What is it?”
She turned around and moved back to the rock she was sitting on before, lifting her leg and pulling up her floral skirt before she placed one foot on the rock. Her actions exposed half of her leg, but she didn’t care. Furthermore, a dice cup had appeared in her hand at some point. She shook it vigorously, and a rattling noise came from inside the cup. After that, she placed it face down on the rock and shouted, “Make a bet with me! The wager will be that warship!”
“That’s your condition?” Yang Kai asked in astonishment.
“Good!” She nodded.
Yang Kai was rendered speechless. He had heard from Nanmen Da Jun that she was addicted to gambling, but he had yet to experience it for himself. [I can’t believe I’d see it for myself before we leave. The Origin King Grade warship refined by Yang Yan must be very attractive to her, which is why she wants me to wager it in our bet.]
“Fine!” Yang Kai had no problem with her suggestion. It was just a small bet after all, “What do I get if I win? What is your wager?”
“Of course, I have something to pay you with!” She snorted and shouted, “What do you choose, big? Or, small?”
Yang Kai glanced at Nanmen Da Jun. The latter said, “Just pick whichever you want, Palace Master. You don’t need to worry about her cheating in this regard. She is always serious when it comes to gambling. She won’t cheat.”
“I’ll choose big then,” Yang Kai casually said. It didn’t matter whether he won or lost anyway. Besides, he would only lose an Origin King Grade warship if he lost the bet.
Following that, Nanmen Da Jun silently took out a Space Ring and tossed it onto the rock, “I’ll choose big too.”
The woman shot a sneer at him, “Careful, you might lose everything you have.”
“Don’t worry! I can beat you with my eyes closed.”
“Alright! The bets have been placed!”
…..
A moment later, the woman grabbed her right wrist with her left hand with all her strength. She looked as if she was staring at her nemesis as she wailed in agony, “No way! How can it be ‘big’?!”
Nanmen Da Jun calmly retrieved his Space Ring and replied, “Adding it all up, you now owe me a total of fifty million Source Crystals, Xiao Hou.”
“Put it on my tab!” She glared at Nanmen Da Jun angrily. Then, she looked at Yang Kai and sighed, “Since I lost, I’ll give you something.” While speaking, she reached into her clothes, grabbed an object, then tossed it to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai caught the item unsuspectingly, but when he fixed his gaze on it, he nearly had a nosebleed on the spot.
She chuckled, “It’s my undergarment. And, it’s still warm…”
Yang Kai’s expression darkened as he shouted, “What am I supposed to do with this?!”
She meaningfully replied, “Who knows?”
He sighed. Just as he was about to return the delicate undergarment to her, he frowned suddenly. Unfurling the undergarment, Yang Kai lifted it up and began to study it carefully.
The woman initially wanted to tease him; however, she felt her heart skip a beat when she saw his reaction and secretly sent a Divine Sense transmission to Nanmen Da Jun, “Da Jun, is the Palace Master a virgin? Will he devour me if I play tricks like this on him?”
“Devour you? You of all people?” Nanmen Da Jun sneered contemptuously.
“What’s wrong with me?” She immediately became insulted.
On the other hand, Yang Kai seemed to have spotted a clue and lifted his head in surprise to stare at the woman, exclaiming in astonishment, “Are you the Monkey Grandmaster?”
The woman was taken aback for a moment before blinking and replying, “En, my last name is Hou, and my given name is Yu!”
“So, you are Monkey Grandmaster!” Yang Kai laughed heartily, pointing at the monkey head symbol on her undergarment with his finger.
Only then did Hou Yu understand what he was talking about and smiled faintly, “I see; that’s what you’re talking about. That’s right. I am the mysterious and elusive Monkey Grandmaster!”
“I can’t believe it’s you!” Yang Kai widened his eyes in shock but immediately nodded to himself lightly, “I should have realized earlier.”
He had seen a monkey head sculpture on Nanmen Da Jun’s flying boat previously, and at the time, he had the vague feeling that it looked familiar. Unfortunately, Yang Kai’s thoughts had been interrupted before he had the time to mull over it. Seeing the monkey head symbol on her undergarment again, Yang Kai immediately understood the situation.
When he brought Qin Yu to the auction in Maplewood City a short time ago and spent a lot of High-Rank Source Crystals to buy her the Flowing Clouds Butterfly Hairpin which had a similar monkey head symbol engraved on it.
According to what Qin Yu said at the time, Monkey Grandmaster was an extremely mysterious Artifact Refining Grandmaster whose very gender wasn’t even known. Nevertheless, any artifact refined by Monkey Grandmaster was a magnificent item, and each item could be sold at an exorbitant price.
The name ‘Monkey Grandmaster’ enjoyed a stellar reputation in the Southern Territory, but unexpectedly, the true identity of the Monkey Grandmaster turned out to be a woman. Moreover, it was a strange woman who loved drinking and gambling. In addition, she lost every single bet she made!
[This is such an unexpected surprise. Regardless, Hou Yu’s Artifact Refining skills are already extremely impressive. Combining that with the grand reputation of Monkey Grandmaster, High Heaven Palace has certainly received a stroke of luck!]
At the moment, High Heaven Palace had gathered an Emperor Alchemist, an Emperor Array Master, an Emperor Artifact Refiner, and even had a number of practitioners of the Dao of Puppetry. Furthermore, three Monster Kings oversaw the Sect and there was even a Cross-Territory Space Array that linked both the Eastern and Southern Territories. At this rate, nobody could stop the rise of High Heaven Palace anymore.
Yang Kai’s mood brightened immensely as he waved his hand and said, “I’ll give this Origin King Grade warship to you. It only holds some nostalgic value to me anyway.”
“Seriously?!” Hou Yu was overjoyed. Smiling widely, she bowed to Yang Kai elegantly and gently replied, “I thank Palace Master for his gracious gift.”
Her sudden change in attitude left Yang Kai feeling a little unaccustomed, but she relapsed back to her original behaviour in the blink of an eye, rushing over to the Origin King Grade warship as she opened her arms wide and hugged it as if holding a priceless treasure.
After that, Yang Kai dispelled his Soul Imprint on the warship and she immediately started to refine it. Soon, Hou Yu solemnly placed it away before walking over to him and saying with a stern expression, “Palace Master, I hope you can introduce me to the person who refined this warship if the opportunity arises.”
“I’m sure the opportunity will come.” Yang Kai nodded slightly, “Do you have anything you need to pack? If not, let’s be on our way.”
She threw her head back and laughed, “I don’t have much.”
Years of gambling had made her lose almost all of her assets, so even though she was an Emperor Artifact Refiner, she was actually very poor.
“Let’s go then,” Yang Kai said, “Please don’t resist.”
Having given them notice, Yang Kai wrapped the other two in his Emperor Qi then pushed his Space Principles. With a flash, they disappeared from the cave in an instant. Their field of vision instantly changed as the three of them reappeared in the sky above the island.
Nanmen Da Jun had been mentally prepared, so he didn’t feel anything about it; however, Hou Yu was shocked and exclaimed in amazement, “Teleportation?!”
They had moved from the cave to this spot in an instant, effectively breaking through various obstacles such as barriers and Spirit Arrays around her cave mansion. Even so, she could not detect any traces of Yang Kai using an artifact; therefore, there was only one explanation for that, “Palace Master, are you proficient in the Dao of Space?”
“Palace Master’s abilities are vast and unfathomable. You will be very surprised in the future,” Nanmen Da Jun grinned meaningfully.
Hou Yu was already quite surprised. At the same time, she quietly rejoiced that she had not fallen out and fought Yang Kai head-on previously. [I don’t think my strength is enough to take him on. Even though we are both First-Order Emperor Realm Masters, an opponent proficient in the Dao of Space is terrifying!]
“Oh no, this is bad!” Her pretty face paled suddenly as she hurriedly urged Yang Kai, “Let’s leave quickly. It will be too late if we don’t leave now.”
Needless to say, Yang Kai knew what she was worried about and motioned lightly to her, “High Heaven Palace will become famous across the Star Boundary one day and it will be impossible to conceal the fact that you are our Chief Artifact Refiner forever. Rather than having these people chase you all the way to High Heaven Palace to collect on your debts, ruining High Heaven Palace’s reputation, I might as well settle everything now.”
“Palace Master, you…” Hou Yu looked touched, but unfortunately, Yang Kai’s next sentence shattered her good feelings completely.
“All the payments made today will be deducted from your salary from now onward.”
“You damn woman! You finally appeared! You won’t be able to escape today!” A furious roar sounded while at the same time, a stream of light flew towards the trio at high speed from the distance. At the same time, a kind of flare exploded in the sky, alerting everyone else nearby.
A short while later, the streak of light appeared before the trio and dispersed to reveal the middle-aged man that Yang Kai and Nanmen Da Jun had met when they first arrived on the island two days ago. This man was a Second-Order Emperor and had good strength. The moment he arrived, he locked his Divine Sense onto Hou Yu in order to ensure she did not escape.
When he came closer, he grabbed her with a large hand. Following that, an incredibly powerful pressure pressed down on Hou Yu like a large mountain and she couldn’t help turning pale with fright. Even Nanmen Da Jun shuddered in response. Both of them were only First-Order Emperors; therefore, it was only natural that they had a hard time standing up to this enraged Second-Order Emperor. Even breathing was difficult for them.
Facing the middle-aged man’s terrifying pressure, Yang Kai lightly stepped forward and pushed out his palm, instantly causing the intense aura pressing down on Hou Yu and Nanmen Da Jun to melt away like snowflakes under the scorching sun. Although Yang Kai’s actions seemed simple and unremarkable, they also seemed to harmonize with the surrounding World Principles and with the Martial Dao itself.
The expression on the face of the middle-aged man that had approached them changed abruptly. He hastily curled his hand into a fist, gathered his Emperor Qi, and threw a punch out to meet Yang Kai’s palm. When the two attacks met one another, the middle-aged man’s aura deflated like a punctured sack and with a muffled snort he was forced back several steps before finally managing to steady himself.
On the other hand, Yang Kai remained motionless while his aura did not even fluctuate as a sea breeze blew against him, making his clothes sway and his hair dance in the wind.
Hou Yu was stunned and stared at Yang Kai’s back in a daze. For a moment, she thought that he was amazing. [I didn’t see wrongly, right? How can a First-Order Emperor Realm Master be so powerful? Da Jun and I are both First-Order Emperors too, but we could barely breathe under the pressure of that attack. On the other hand, Palace Master managed to repel the enemy with just a casual palm!]
“You…” The middle-aged man was shocked too. What he saw at that moment was not a palm, but rather a mountain slamming towards him. The aura of death had enveloped his entire body in that instant, and moreover, the attack had been unavoidable and unstoppable. Just as he was thinking that he would suffer grievous injuries even if he survived the attack, the other party simply broke through his defences easily and pushed him back. Surprisingly, that attack did not kill him nor even harm him whatsoever; all that person did was disrupt his momentum.
“Are you all one group?” The middle-aged man immediately recognized Yang Kai and Nanmen Da Jun; after all, he had greeted these two when they first arrived on the island just two days ago. [The other guy claimed that they were debt collectors back then, and I naively believed them. From the looks of it, they are not creditors but accomplices of that wicked woman!]
If it were any other ordinary First-Order Emperor, he would have thought nothing of them; however, this middle-aged man immediately understood Yang Kai’s abilities after being beaten back with a single palm and was now feeling quite anxious.
[I might not be his opponent if it really comes down to a fight.] Changing his mind, he regained his composure and shouted, “No matter what, you need to pay up or pay with your life, woman!”
As soon as those words rang out, numerous figures appeared in all directions and gathered around the middle-aged man. These people were none other than the debt collectors that were loitering around on the island and searching for Hou Yu to claim payment. There were more than twenty people here, of which five were Emperor Realm Masters. Aside from the middle-aged man who was a Second-Order Emperor, the remaining four were just First-Order.
With so many people standing next to him, the fear the middle-aged man felt in his heart reduced slightly. He might not be a match for that young man on his own, but with so many people on his side, how could they be defeated? A lone tiger cannot defeat a pack of wolves, just as two fists cannot defend against four strikes. No matter how powerful the other party was, he was still just one man.
The moment these people appeared, they all glared at Hou Yu with hatred and anger, acting as if they had absolutely irreconcilable enmity with her. Even so, none of them spoke carelessly, making it clear that the middle-aged man was the ringleader.
“Friend, this woman owes me a lot of Source Crystals. If you insist on protecting her, please don’t blame me for being rough.” The middle-aged man fixed his gaze on Yang Kai, obviously extremely wary of the latter.
“Is everybody here now?” Yang Kai smiled slightly as he swept his gaze across the crowd before looking back to the middle-aged man. He then said unhurriedly, “Repaying one’s debts is a matter of course. I will pay off all her debts on her behalf.”
“You will pay on her behalf?” The middle-aged man was taken aback after hearing those words. He glanced at Yang Kai and asked with a furrowed brow, “Do you even know how much she owes?”
“I will pay it off no matter how much she owes!” Yang Kai said lightly.
Hou Yu swallowed nervously and nudged Nanmen Da Jun quietly, asking under her breath, “Is Palace Master rich?”
Nanmen Da Jun glanced at her and smiled deviously, “What does it matter to you? Palace Master is going to help you pay off all your debts this time and will then deduct it from your monthly salary in the future. In that case, you will probably be stuck in High Heaven Palace for the rest of your life.”
When she heard those words, the expression on her pretty face changed abruptly. She clutched at Da Jun’s arm and begged, “Da Jun, please don’t abandon me! I joined High Heaven Palace because of you! If you ever think of leaving in the future, you can’t go alone! You must take me with you!”
Nanmen Da Jun continued to smile coldly as he pulled his arm out of her grasp.
On the other side, Yang Kai’s words were met with mixed reactions. Some looked happy while some looked suspicious. The amount of debt owed by Hou Yu was not small, yet this young man was saying that he would pay off however much she owed. However, did he have the financial resources to do so? This wasn’t a matter of Low-Rank Source Crystals or Mid-Rank Source Crystals but High-Rank Source Crystals calculated in the tens of millions! Even Full Sky Sect and Fire Dragon Palace would have some difficulty taking out so much money all at once!
“May I ask who Your Excellency is?” The middle-aged man frowned as he stared at Yang Kai, “You have such impressive strength and even dare to boast so grandly; you cannot be an unknown character!”
“I’m just paying off some debts. Why are you asking so many questions?” Yang Kai smiled slightly.
However, Nanmen Da Jun cut in and introduced to the crowd, “This is the Palace Master of High Heaven Palace, Yang Kai. I’m sure you’re familiar with the name, right?”
“What?!”
“High Heaven Palace’s Palace Master?!”
“The High Heaven Palace that destroyed Seeking Passion Sect and occupied their stronghold?!”
“I heard that the Palace Master of High Heaven Palace is a young man; moreover, his cultivation is just First-Order Emperor Realm. From the looks of it…”
*Murmur…*
Upon hearing Nanmen Da Jun’s introduction, this group of debt collectors was quite shocked. They drew in deep breaths of cold air while simultaneously re-evaluating Yang Kai. Meanwhile, the middle-aged man’s expression turned dark and cold sweat began beading on his forehead. It turned out that this young man was none other than the famous Palace Master of High Heaven Palace, whose name had spread across the entire Northern Territory recently!
The annihilation of Seeking Passion Sect had caused a great stir, and consequently, the name ‘High Heaven Palace’ became famous even though it had only just been founded. Any person among the billions of cultivators in the Northern Territory that had access to even the slightest bit of information would be familiar with this grand name.
High Heaven Palace was capable of annihilating a deep-rooted behemoth such as the Seeking Passion Sect. From that alone, one could imagine who astonishing the strength of High Heaven Palace was. It was even rumoured that three Monster Kings were guarding the Sect. Furthermore, the Sect Master of Seeking Passion Sect, Feng Xuan, had also been killed without even the chance to resist.
Now, it would seem as if High Heaven Palace was not just relying on the power of the three Monster Kings to establish itself. Despite how young the Palace Master was, he was a formidable person too. He only had a First-Order Emperor Realm cultivation, yet he easily managed to suppress a Master one Minor Realm higher. This was not something many people across the entire Star Boundary can do. Fortunately, the conflict between them wasn’t great; otherwise, he might have to escape the Northern Territory after this incident concluded.
The moment that thought crossed the middle-aged man’s mind, his expression turned solemn and he quickly cupped his fists, “So, you are Palace Master Yang. I apologize for my discourtesy.”
Upon seeing his actions, the others quickly mirrored him. They cupped their fists and greeted Yang Kai, not daring to show any disrespect.
In response, Yang Kai waved his hand lightly, “Xiao Hou is now part of my High Heaven Palace. I apologize for all the trouble she caused during this period. So… how many Source Crystals does she owe you? Please name your price. I will pay back everything on her behalf.”
(Tl note: Xiao Hou is a more intimate way of calling Hou Yu. It’s literally Little Hou)
Everybody exchanged glances with each other for a moment. It was reasonable of them to suspect his ability to repay those debts when they were unaware of his true identity; however, they were troubled by something else now that they knew he was the Palace Master of High Heaven Palace; they didn’t know whether they should collect their debts from him.
Those debts were essentially gambling debts and not debts from righteous transactions. Hence, they would lose more than they gained if they offended High Heaven Palace over something like that. Even so, they could not bring themselves to refuse the repayment. It was not a small sum after all. For that reason, nobody dared to speak up even though Yang Kai sincerely offered to pay back the debts on Hou Yu’s behalf.
Yang Kai observed the situation and immediately understood what these people were afraid of. Raising a brow, he turned to the middle-aged man and asked, “I recall Xiao Hou owes you twenty million High-Rank Source Crystals, right?”
“Uh… Yes, indeed!” The middle-aged man nodded in agreement. That was what he had told Yang Kai and Nanmen Da Jun two days ago.
“Please check if this amount is correct.” Yang Kai casually tossed a Space Ring to him.
The middle-aged man caught the Space Ring and immediately knew that the number was correct upon sweeping its contents with his Divine Sense. Now that things had come to this, he could only nod, “It is twenty million, indeed.”
With that, the remaining people no longer hesitated and enthusiastically reported the number of Source Crystals that Hou Yu owed them, one after the other. The number ranged from anything between one million to tens of millions of High-Rank Source Crystals. There were more than twenty people present, and it took Yang Kai seventy million High-Rank Source Crystals to pay off all the debts owed to them.
Everybody was happy that they managed to collect their debts. Among these people, the ones that arrived the earliest had spent more than a year on the island. They couldn’t even locate Hou Yu before, let alone try to collect their debts from her; hence, they couldn’t help being overjoyed by the unexpected blessing they received. Getting back their money meant that they no longer needed to suffer in this place.
“The money has been returned to you,” Yang Kai clasped his hands behind his back and glanced at the crowd calmly. “So, now I have a small favour to ask of you, one I hope you all can assist me with.”
The expression of the middle-aged man acting as the leader became serious as he cupped his fists and said, “Palace Master Yang, we admire your generosity. Please speak up if you have anything to ask of us.”
The rest echoed his words in unison.
Yang Kai smiled and said, “I would like you to spread a message for me when you return home. If any Sect or person gambles with Xiao Hou in the future, High Heaven Palace will not forgive them!”
Everybody was shocked by this request while Hou Yu exaggeratedly shouted, “Palace Master, please just kill me now!”
[Who will dare to gamble with me in the future if word of this spreads to the public?!] She suddenly regretted joining the dump known as High Heaven Palace, which caused her to be deprived of the greatest pleasure in her life. A wave of despair washed over her as she felt she no longer had anything left to live for!
The middle-aged man let out an obvious sigh of relief and smilingly replied, “That’s not a problem. Please rest assured, Palace Master Yang. We were not aware that this… lady was affiliated with your High Heaven Palace. If we had known…”
“There is no need to mention the past,” Yang Kai waved his hand lightly. He had no intention of exchanging greetings with this group any longer. Thus, he turned to Hou Yu and Nanmen Da Jun and said, “Let’s go.”
Nanmen Da Jun immediately summoned his Emperor Artifact flying boat and the three of them entered. After that, the flying boat turned into a stream of light heading in the direction of High Heaven Palace.
Inside the boat, Yang Kai glanced at Hou Yu, who looked like she had just had a sword driven through her heart, and asked, “Do you still want to gamble?”
Hou Yu looked up, nodding repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice.
“Pay off the seventy million High-Rank Source Crystals you owe me first.” Yang Kai grinned, “It won’t take long. I think a hundred years of servitude should be enough.”
Hearing this, Hou Yu’s eyes rolled back and she instantly fainted…
Three days later, the trio returned to High Heaven Palace. During this period, Hou Yu had tried to escape many times, only to be recaptured by Yang Kai. She was so furious that she couldn’t get any angrier.
[I don’t believe you can monitor me for a hundred years! I will have plenty of opportunities to escape the moment you look away!] She sneered in her heart. Unfortunately, this wishful thinking of hers was ruthlessly crushed no more than a quarter of an hour after they returned to High Heaven Palace.
“M-Monster Kings?! And there are three of them?!” She stared at the three terrifying existences standing in front of her with a look of shock. They were completely enveloped in dense Monster Qi and exuded an incredible strength from their very beings.
She had no idea that High Heaven Palace had such a sturdy foundation. Yang Kai was nothing more than a First-Order Emperor Realm Master after all, so how many Masters could the High Heaven Palace he established have? Besides, she had not had a chance to inquire more about High Heaven Palace during their return journey. For that reason, she was utterly caught off guard when she arrived.
With three Monster Kings protecting it, High Heaven Palace was powerful beyond imagination! It was unrivalled by any of the top Sects in the Northern Territory!
“This is the new Chief Artifact Refiner of our High Heaven Palace,” Yang Kai introduced Hou Yu to the three Monster Kings, “Just call her Xiao Hou. En, Xiao Hou is a rather lively and active person; however, I hope she can be more anchored and dutiful in High Heaven Palace, so…”
Ying Fei immediately replied, “Please rest assured, Young Master Yang. The three of us will take turns watching her. We will not allow her to cause any trouble whatsoever.”
Similarly, Xi Lei and Xie Wu Wei fervently expressed their agreement on the matter.
Meanwhile, Hou Yu’s complexion instantly became deathly pale. She involuntarily staggered backwards and wailed, “How can this be?!” [I’m going to be watched by the three Monster Kings in turn?! How will I live out the rest of my days?! If that’s the case, forget about escaping; I won’t even have a single moment of privacy!]
“Very good!” Yang Kai gently nodded before turning to Ying Fei, “Bring her to Head Manager Hua and register her name into the Sect. After that, arrange a place for her to live in.”
“Yes, sir!” Ying Fei replied, reaching out his hand to Hou Yu, “Sister Hou, please come this way.”
“I don’t want to!” Hou Yu gritted her teeth, spun around, and fled.
Ying Fei glanced at Yang Kai, to which Yang Kai nodded lightly in response. Chuckling slightly, Ying Fei transformed into a stream of light and chased after Hou Yu, capturing her in the blink of an eye. Holding her in his hand as if he were holding a tiny chick, Ying Fei leisurely flew away into the distance.
In the meantime, Xi Lei and Xie Wu Wei looked at each other for a moment before slowly following them. The sounds of Hou Yu cursing and yelling in the distance gradually became softer and softer until the sounds couldn’t be heard anymore.
Taking out a communication artifact, Yang Kai left a message for Hua Qing Si before turning to Nanmen Da Jun and saying, “Complete the Mountains and Rivers Projection as soon as possible.”
“Rest assured, Palace Master, the Mountains and Rivers Projection will be a simple matter with Xiao Hou’s assistance.”
“One more thing, please inform Head Manager that I want Xiao Hou to refine a flight-type artifact for me once she finishes with the Mountains and Rivers Projection. Cost is no issue, so I only want the best.”
“Yes!”
Now that the matter regarding the Chief Artifact Refiner was done, Yang Kai was in a good mood. He returned to Azure Sun Temple via the Space Array a short while later. The moment he planted both feet on Spirit Sword Peak, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly changed. Looking to the side, he saw a jet-black little beast in the mountain valley. It was looking in his direction curiously. Moreover, its beady eyes were shifting about, seemingly as if it were searching for something.
Fortunately, Yang Kai had concealed the location where the Space Array was with the power of Spirit Sword Peak’s Earth Vein and arrays. Thus, there was nothing special about this place from what the little beast could see.
Yang Kai laughed softly as he recognized this small beast was the one he had encountered after the drinking party that day. It had a strange appearance, slightly resembling a puppy, and was probably a Monster Beast native to Spirit Sword Peak. It was just that it was not that strong, so Yang Kai hadn’t detected any energy fluctuations from it.
When Yang Kai stepped forward and his figure suddenly appeared, the ‘puppy’ was visibly startled and warily crawled backwards. Its beady eyes stared unblinkingly at him, gleaming with humanlike vigilance; however, that vigilance vanished the moment it recognized who he was. Instead, it stuck out its tongue and panted continuously as if trying to act cute and friendly.
Yang Kai found this small beast’s actions to be very amusing. Reaching out, he picked it up and petted its head with a laugh, “Are you lost? This isn’t a place you can come and go as you please.”
Although the cultivation realm of the Monster Beasts on Spirit Sword Peak was not that high, many of them were something this puppy could not handle with its strength. In particular, this mountain valley contained numerous powerful Monster Beasts. If it encountered any one of those powerful Monster Beasts, it would be devoured in a single bite. Therefore, Yang Kai was honestly very curious as to how that small black dog-like beast managed to survive here.
Meanwhile, the black puppy revealed an expression of delight while being petted. It closed its eyes in enjoyment as it quietly crawled into his arms before staying there motionlessly.
Yang Kai shook his head lightly at the sight. Shifting his body slightly, he arrived outside Spirit Sword Palace. He bent down to place the black puppy on the ground, but to his surprise, the little guy hugged him tightly and refused to let go. Yang Kai laughed wryly and flexed one of his fingers, flicking the little beast on the forehead.
At that moment, a sudden change occurred. The black puppy that had been calm and well-behaved all this while suddenly opened its mouth and bit his finger without warning. For a moment, the human and the beast stared at each other. Yang Kai was a little taken aback as an incident like this was completely out of his expectations. Immediately after that, he frowned as a twinge of pain came from his finger, and he concurrently felt a violent force causing a tremor in his Dantian.
His expression changed drastically, but before he could reorganize his thoughts, the black puppy ran away with its tail between its legs. It fled without looking back, whimpering endlessly. It was clearly shocked by what happened just now.
Lifting his hand, Yang Kai examined his finger with a look of disbelief. The skin on his finger where the black puppy had bitten him was broken. Moreover, there were distinct teeth marks and deep puncture wounds there, with golden blood quickly flowing out.
[It managed to make me bleed when it bit me? How is that possible?]
Yang Kai’s constitution was so intrepid that he could be said to be one of the strongest Emperor Realm Masters in terms of body tempering in the Star Boundary. Aside from a few unusually gifted members of the Monster Race, Yang Kai was not afraid of being physically injured by anybody, let alone an unremarkable puppy. Even if an Emperor Realm Master were to bite him with all their might, it should be impossible for them to break his skin with their teeth if they did not use their Emperor Qi to reinforce their jaws. However, this black puppy had managed to do just that! Moreover, it looked like it had bitten him without any thought and didn’t even put that much strength into it.
[Can those little fangs really be that sharp?] Yang Kai frowned. He had a strange expression on his face, accompanied by a vague feeling that the black puppy was rather unusual.
What shocked him the most though was that the Ancient Demon’s Qi sealed in his Dantian had reacted when the black puppy bit his finger. The Ancient Demon’s Qi had been sealed by the gold and silver power of the Firmament Tree and the seal was so strong that he had never felt any abnormality from it all this time. And yet, not only had it been triggered today, but it was triggered by a little black puppy at that!
What was going on?
Yang Kai carefully examined the seal in his Dantian and determined that there was no hidden danger. That sudden abnormality seemed to be an isolated event, but with such timing, it couldn’t be a mere coincidence.
Spreading out his Divine Sense, he found the black puppy in a cave not far away. It was currently hiding and for some reason, had fallen asleep. It seemed to be frightened by something in its sleep and trembled uncontrollably in fear.
[Why is it showing such a wounded look after biting me?!] Yang Kai was speechless. He initially planned to capture it and investigate it carefully. Unfortunately, it seemed like that was impossible at the moment.
“What’s going on?!” A cold shout rang out. Yang Kai looked up and saw Gao Xue Ting appearing atop Spirit Sword Peak, her beautiful eyes scanning the area, seemingly searching for something before she asked, “What happened here just now?”
Yang Kai’s heart clenched but he quickly put on a confused look and asked, “What do you mean by ‘what happened’?”
Gao Xue Ting replied, “I felt a familiar energy fluctuation, one that I deeply loathe and detest… Did anything strange happen here?”
“What strange thing could happen here?” Yang Kai fervently denied, “I was simply experimenting with my newly-trained Divine Ability just now.” He had to admit, Gao Xue Ting’s perception was extremely keen. The abnormality involving the Ancient Demon’s Qi in his Dantian only happened for a moment, yet she still noticed it.
Back when he had been taken over by the Demon Qi for the first time and his body had undergone a kind of demonification, Yang Kai had fought a huge battle against three Emperor Realm Masters, namely Gao Xue Ting, Chen Wen Hao of Heavenly Martial Holy Land, and Feng Ming of Orthodoxy Temple.
At the time, Yang Kai had only been a Dao Source Realm cultivator; thus, the pressure of facing the three Emperors was unimaginably heavy. He only managed to escape their clutches after using a special trump card. Hence, he did not dare to come clean with Gao Xue Ting regarding this matter. If she were to learn that he was the Demon back then, who knows whether she would attack him with her sword.
“Is that so?” Gao Xue Ting frowned slightly, obviously still having some doubts about the truth. If Yang Kai had only been experimenting with his Divine Ability, then she would not have found it so hateful. However, that momentary fluctuation had instinctively filled her with utter disgust! Unfortunately, it was so fleeting that it disappeared before she could sense it properly. Therefore, she couldn’t recall where she had felt it before.
“Of course,” Yang Kai felt cold sweat pouring down his back. Even so, he kept his expression straight and changed the subject, “By the way, Purple Bamboo Peak is quite far from here. How did you arrive here so quickly, Senior Sister Gao?”
She responded, “I happened to be passing by. I was on my way back from visiting the Temple Master.” Pausing for a moment, she added, “Now that I think about it, where have you been? Why couldn’t I find you anywhere when I came here the day before yesterday?”
[I was in the Northern Territory the day before yesterday. It’s only to be expected that you couldn’t find me.] Yang Kai retorted in his heart, but what came out of his mouth was, “I went into retreat for a short while.”
She looked at him suspiciously. His evasive answer made her a little suspicious, but even so, she had no intention of questioning him further if he did not want to talk about it. She simply nodded in response, “You can continue doing whatever you were doing then. I’m leaving.”
“Senior Sister Gao!” Raising his hand, Yang Kai suddenly called out to her.
“What is it?” She paused and asked.
He replied, “You seem to be in a rush and look troubled about something. Did you encounter something difficult? I might be able to be of some help.”
To which Gao Xue Ting replied, “This matter is related to the secrets of the Temple. As a High-Rank Guest Elder, you are not qualified to know too much. Well, if you are willing…”
“Senior Sister, please don’t say more,” Yang Kai hurriedly stopped her. He was half forced, half tricked into becoming a Guest Elder of the Temple, so why would he want to go a step further and get more deeply involved? When it came down to it, he was still a Palace Master of his own Sect.
“By the way, I am planning to go on a trip soon!”
“Go if you want to; nobody is going to stop you.” Gao Xue Ting’s voice rang out as she flew off.
“Brother Yang!” Kang Si Ran walked into one of the best private rooms inside Violet Source Chamber of Commerce’s branch office, a ruddy complexion on his face as he warmly cupped his fists and gave his greetings.
Yang Kai stood up and returned the greeting, “Brother Kang!”
“Please have a seat. It’s not like we are strangers to each other.” Kang Si Ran motioned to Yang Kai before glancing behind him. A maidservant instantly appeared outside the door with a tray of high-quality tea. After closing the door, he asked, “Did you come here today to pick up your order?”
“That’s right. The two month period is almost up. How are your preparations going?”
Kang Si Ran smiled, “Doing business with Brother Yang is very profitable, so it’s only natural that President Lou did everything in his power to complete your request. The Space Spirit Crystals and the Space Spirit Jades have been prepared.” Saying so, he took out a Space Ring, placed it on the table, and pushed it to Yang Kai, “These materials are worth forty million High-Rank Source Crystals. Brother Yang, please feel free to inspect them.”
“No need.” Yang Kai shook his head. If he were doing business with anybody else, he might have inspected the wares to see if everything was in order; however, it was unnecessary since he was currently dealing with Kang Si Ran, who Yang Kai trusted would never deceive him.
In reality, transferring Space Spirit Crystals and Space Spirit Jades worth forty million High-Rank Source Crystals from the major branches of the Southern Territory within two months had required quite a bit of manoeuvring, consuming a large amount of labour and resources in the process. Although Lou Chi was doing his best, it ultimately required Kang Si Ran’s frequent efforts to speed up the process. In the end, they managed to gather everything with some excess, and the extras were given to Yang Kai free of charge under Kang Si Ran’s decision. Compared to this large-scale business, some small benefits weren’t worth mentioning at all.
“How much should I pay?” Yang Kai asked.
“You previously paid a deposit of ten million, and with the two Twelfth-Order Monster Cores being worth thirteen million, you only need to pay an additional seventeen million High-Rank Source Crystals,” Kang Si Ran reported the price, “On another note, President Lou said that it is fine even if you don’t pay us with Source Crystals; we will also accept Twelfth-Order Monster Cores.”
Yang Kai grinned, “President Lou is shrewd indeed. I think it’s best if I pay with Source Crystals.”
Although he had many Monster Cores on hand, he could not take them out carelessly. If too many Twelfth-Order Monster Cores entered the market, it would definitely affect the price. Needless to say, he was not the type to dig his own grave. Besides, he had enough High-Rank Source Crystals to pay off Hou Yu’s seventy million gambling debt, so what was seventeen million in comparison?
Soon, they concluded their business deal. Kang Si Ran then took out the documents, and they left their respective Soul Imprints onto the Soul Contracts to successfully complete the transaction.
Then, Yang Kai requested, “Please continue to purchase Space Spirit Crystals and Space Spirit Jades on my behalf. If I don’t come to you in time, please deliver them to the Azure Sun Temple for me.”
“Not a problem,” Kang Si Ran nodded, “On that note, congratulations on being promoted to the position of Azure Sun Temple Elder, Yang Kai.”
“I’m just a High-Rank Guest Elder,” Yang Kai shook his head.
Kang Si Ran sighed, “The chamber of commerce also received an invitation letter, but I was busy with acquiring the Space Spirit Crystals and Space Spirit Jades, so I couldn’t step away from my position and failed to congratulate you. I am very ashamed!”
“Brother Kang, don’t be such a stranger, it’s just a small matter,” Yang Kai smiled lightly.
Now that the transaction was completed, they chatted casually for a while.
Upon asking about Kang Si Ran’s current situation, Yang Kai learned that the former was doing very well in Maplewood City’s branch office. Kang Si Ran’s cultivation was just First-Order Dao Source Realm, so normally it would be impossible for him to take up the Manager position at this branch office. However, he was promoted to the position as a special case since he was very familiar with Maplewood City. Though, he had almost reached the end of his career as a Manager here prior to obtaining Yang Kai’s business deal. If not for this deal, it would not have been long before he was transferred away from the prosperous Maplewood City and dispatched to some remote place instead.
Fortunately for him, Yang Kai’s huge business was an important turning point for Kang Si Ran.
The deal made Lou Chi highly regard Yang Kai, as who else would be generous enough to put down forty million in a single transaction? Not to mention that Yang Kai also promised to bring two Monster Cores from Twelfth-Order Monster Beasts to Violet Source Chamber of Commerce every six months. That was a long-term business deal, one valuable enough to make Kang Si Ran irreplaceable as the Manager here. After all, Yang Kai only made this agreement with the Violet Source Chamber of Commerce out of respect for Kang Si Ran.
Furthermore, Lou Chi was said to have the greatest expectations of Kang Si Ran among the current Managers and had been appointing him to handle many important customers, especially after the Manager named Gu Hong suddenly left Maplewood City. Kang Si Ran had subsequently taken over all of the clients under Gu Hong’s jurisdiction and was now considered the Head Manager of this Violet Source Chamber of Commerce branch office.
“Gu Hong left Maplewood City?” Yang Kai was surprised. [No wonder I didn’t see him around during my trip here this time.]
“En, after you came here, Brother Yang, he took the initiative and requested to be transferred away from Maplewood City. Since President Lou had no reason to refuse this request, he immediately approved the transfer with a wave of his hand.” Kang Si Ran smiled from ear to ear. He had a fierce rivalry going on with Gu Hong and originally had no hope to win, but to his surprise, he had the last laugh in the end while Gu Hong, who used to have the upper hand, had to leave instead.
“He probably felt that he couldn’t continue working here. This is all thanks to you, Brother Yang,” Kang Si Ran repeatedly thanked Yang Kai, believing all the credit belonged to the latter.
Listening to those words, Yang Kai vaguely felt as if he finally understood something and asked, “How was Gu Hong’s condition when he left?”
Kang Si Ran did not know the reason for this question, but even so, he considered for a moment before replying, “He looked panicked. Hmm… He also looked very uneasy, as if a huge catastrophe was about to befall him.”
“That bastard!” Yang Kai slapped his thigh and snorted coldly.
“What happened?” Kang Si Ran was startled.
Yang Kai sneered, “I know why he suddenly asked to transfer out of Maplewood City… He was afraid I might come looking for revenge against him.”
Kang Si Ran suspiciously asked, “Did Gu Hong offend you in some way, Brother Yang?”
Yang Kai replied, “In your chamber of commerce, what kind of offence does the selling of customer information constitute?”
Shocked by those words, Kang Si Ran solemnly replied, “It’s considered one of the highest offences. If the claim is verified, the criminal will be executed immediately! Why do you ask, Brother Yang?”
Yang Kai explained, “After attending the auction in Maplewood City, I was stopped by the Sect Master of Broken Mountain Sect, Le Dong Zheng, when I went out of the city. At the time, I was wondering how that guy tracked me down. Moreover, he managed to intercept my path so quickly and precisely. Now, I understand; somebody was manipulating things from behind the scenes!”
“What?! Le Dong Zheng died at your hands, Brother Yang?” Kang Si Ran was shocked. He had heard the news about Le Dong Zheng’s death; after all, Le Dong Zheng had been a Sect Master and a major customer of Violet Source Chamber of Commerce, so it was only natural for Kang Si Ran to pay attention to such news, especially after he took over all of Gu Hong’s clients.
Le Dong Zheng was originally one of Gu Hong’s best clients, so when Kang Si Ran took over Gu Hong’s portfolio, he had specially visited Broken Mountain Sect to give his greetings. To his surprise though, Kang Si Ran learned that Le Dong Zheng had passed away when he arrived. Following Le Dong Zheng’s death, Broken Mountain Sect fell apart and its thousands of disciples scattered.
After asking around, Kang Si Ran learned that Le Dong Zheng had died soon after the auction. Not many knew about this though, and no one knew just who murdered Le Dong Zheng either. It wasn’t until this moment that Kang Si Ran realized it was Yang Kai’s doing. Although his cultivation was not high, he was a Manager of Violet Source Chamber of Commerce, so Kang Si Ran was naturally very quick-witted. Thus, he managed to guess the truth of the matter just by making some inferences from Yang Kai’s words.
It was obvious that Gu Hong had leaked the information about Yang Kai to Le Dong Zheng after the auction. Then, Le Dong Zheng tried to ambush Yang Kai. Unfortunately, his skills were inferior to Yang Kai’s and the hunter ended up becoming the hunted instead.
The grudge between Yang Kai and Le Dong Zheng was no secret to Kang Si Ran, while on the other hand, the reason Gu Hong turned against Yang Kai was even simpler. As he and Kang Si Ran were competing for the Manager position, Gu Hong became jealous and angry upon seeing Kang Si Ran’s position stabilizing because of Yang Kai.
Pondering over it, Kang Si Ran’s expression became grim, “This matter is of great importance. Brother Yang, please wait for a moment. I will report this to President Lou immediately.”
Unexpectedly, Yang Kai said, “Forget it. Since Le Dong Zheng is dead and Gu Hong has also taken the initiative to transfer, let’s drop this matter. There is no need to trouble President Lou.”
Gu Hong was nothing but an ant to him, so there was no need to blow this matter out of proportion.
Kang Si Ran, however, shook his head and responded solemnly, “Brother Yang, you might not know this, but the chamber of commerce places great importance on its reputation; after all, reputation is vital in the business world. Gu Hong’s actions, leaking a customer’s private information for his personal gain, will absolutely not be tolerated by the chamber of commerce. If we let him go this time, he might cause greater trouble in the future.”
When Kang Si Ran brought up the Chamber of Commerce’s reputation, Yang Kai could hardly refuse anymore, “However, I don’t have any real evidence…”
Kang Si Ran shook his head again, “No proof is needed. This matter couldn’t be more obvious; I believe President Lou will be able to tell as well.” After saying that, he walked out of the room.
It was clear that he was not trying to take the opportunity to exact his personal vendetta against Gu Hong. Although he and Gu Hong had been stuck in a rather unpleasant rivalry, Kang Si Ran was not such a petty and small-minded person. What he was doing was simply for the sake of the Violet Source Chamber of Commerce. As the saying went, ‘a single mouse dropping could ruin the entire pot of porridge’.
A short while later, Kang Si Ran returned. He said nothing regarding Gu Hong’s fate or how Lou Chi planned to punish Gu Hong, he simply apologized to Yang Kai on Lou Chi’s behalf. Similarly, Yang Kai did not ask about it either. Moreover, Kang Si Ran informed Yang Kai that he would receive a ten percent discount whenever he purchased anything from the chamber of commerce in the future. That was, without a doubt, hush money from Lou Chi.
As Gu Hong’s actions tarnished Violet Source Chamber of Commerce’s face, word about it could not be spread outside. Besides, the ten percent discount was a very generous offer as hush money, in particular since the business between Yang Kai and Violet Source Chamber of Commerce was on an extremely large scale.
After chatting idly for a while longer, Yang Kai said his goodbyes and left. He went directly to Spirit Lake City. Along the way, he took out the Jade Elder Token and sent a message to Xia Sheng. Thus, Xia Sheng was already standing there with a smile by the time Yang Kai arrived, waving his hand enthusiastically upon spotting him.
When Yang Kai walked over, Xia Sheng threw his arm around Yang Kai’s shoulder with a smile, “Junior Brother Yang, congratulations on becoming an Elder of the temple!
Yang Kai replied, “Please don’t tease me, Senior Brother.”
“I’m not teasing you! It’s a happy event for both you and the temple,” Xia Sheng patted Yang Kai on the shoulder and whispered, “More importantly, I heard that you have already experienced two of the temple’s Three Great Taboos.”
All was fine before this topic was mentioned, but the moment Xia Sheng brought it up, Yang Kai couldn’t help recalling Gao Xue Ting’s heroic posture from when they were drinking that day and in response, his face visibly twitched.
Xia Sheng laughed loudly, “Don’t mind it, don’t mind it.”
Xia Sheng enthusiastically welcomed Yang Kai into his room, and after they took their seats, Yang Kai asked about Bian Yu Qing’s condition.
“That woman successfully broke through to the Emperor Realm half a month ago. The commotion she caused on that day was huge.” Xia Sheng’s expression was solemn.
“She broke through to the Emperor Realm?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows in surprise. That news was both within his expectations and extremely unexpected at the same time.
Based on Bian Yu Qing’s aptitude, the possibility of a breakthrough was very slim even if she could enter the Spirit Lake Palace’s Heaven Grade cultivation room for two months of secluded retreat; after all, her inherent talent in the Martial Dao was not that great, and she had been stuck in the Dao Source Realm for so many years. All her passion had been withered away, and she lost her drive to move forward. How could a person like that achieve a breakthrough? Third-Order Dao Source Realm should have been the pinnacle she could reach in her life if nothing unexpected happened.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Kou Wu’s death had greatly stimulated her. In addition, she also received all sorts of help from Yang Kai, such as a large number of Source Crystals and Emperor Pills to supplement her cultivation. It was only a matter of time for her to achieve a breakthrough and make progress in her cultivation with such motivation and resources.
In any case, it was a happy occasion as it meant that High Heaven Palace had another Emperor Realm Master added to its ranks.
Spirit Lake Palace had been established for many years, so numerous cultivators came here to break through their own shackles and spy on the mysteries of the higher realms. However, not many managed to advance into the Emperor Realm here. For that reason, the commotion created by Bian Yu Qing’s breakthrough that day shocked all of Spirit Lake City. In particular, those cultivators waiting in line to enter Spirit Lake Palace to cultivate seemed to have gotten fresh hope. They were filled with renewed motivation as they waited their turn.
“She has been consolidating her cultivation for the past half a month and should be able to leave in a few days,” Xia Sheng smiled lightly. As one of the three Deacons of Spirit Lake Palace, he was very familiar with Bian Yu Qing’s situation. Even if she was not somebody Yang Kai had brought over, he would have extended a helping hand to her somehow given her situation.
“That’s great.” Yang Kai nodded cheerfully.
“Junior Brother, do you have anything going on in the near future?” Xia Sheng suddenly changed the subject and asked.
Yang Kai replied, “I need to go to Star Soul Palace for a certain matter, but other than that, no. Why? Do you have anything to ask of me, Senior Brother?”
“Star Soul Palace…” Although Xia Sheng was stunned by those words, he did not question Yang Kai about the reason he was heading to Star Soul Palace and instead just pondered for a moment before asking, “How long will it take?”
“A month, maybe two.”
“In that case, there will be just enough time,” he grinned and continued, “I would like you to do me a favour, Junior Brother. Do you have the time?”
“What is it, Senior Brother?” Yang Kai looked solemn.
However, instead of explaining, Xia Sheng turned his head to look in the direction of the private room behind them and said, “Xiao Hua, come on out. You are also acquainted with Junior Brother Yang, so stop hiding away.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, a young woman in a fabulous dress strolled out of the room. Her tight-fitting attire emphasized her excellent figure, and the smile on her face made all who saw it swoon, but it was her beautiful, watery eyes that were the most captivating.
“Palace Master Hua!” Yang Kai was surprised to see the beautiful woman who appeared suddenly.
This lady was none other than the Palace Master of Hundred Flowers Palace, Hua Yu Lu. Just a few days ago, they had greeted each other at Azure Sun Temple, so Yang Kai had not expected to meet her here again. Hua Yu Lu had inquired about Xia Sheng that day, and from the looks of it, she had headed to Spirit Lake Palace directly after she left Azure Sun Temple.
Although he had noticed that there was another person’s aura in the room, Yang Kai had not investigated it further since that person had no intention of showing themselves.
[A man and a woman together… interesting!] Yang Kai’s expression suddenly became meaningful.
Meanwhile, Hua Yu Lu seemed a little apologetic, and her cheeks were slightly flushed. When she came closer, she bowed elegantly and gently said, “Greetings, Elder Yang!”
“Palace Master Hua is being too polite.” Yang Kai quickly replied to her with due courtesy. Putting aside the fact that her cultivation realm was similar to his, they were both Palace Masters of their respective Sects. However, her unclear relationship with Xia Sheng was enough to make Yang Kai a bit uncomfortable with her overly polite behaviour. As such, he quickly turned to look at Xia Sheng, “Senior Brother, could it be that the favour you wanted to ask of me is related to Palace Master Hua?”
Xia Sheng smiled slightly, “Yes, it is indeed related to Xiao Hua.” He glanced at Hua Yu Lu and said, “Xiao Hua, why don’t you explain it yourself?”
Hua Yu Lu nodded lightly, parting her luscious lips slightly as she slowly explained, “It’s like this… When I went to the Southern Swamp to look for spirit medicines three months ago, I stumbled upon an Ancient Cave Mansion…”
“An Ancient Cave Mansion?” Yang Kai was shocked when he heard those words.
“Yes,” she nodded, “It was undoubtedly an Ancient Cave Mansion; moreover, it gave off an extremely desolate aura. I don’t know who it originally belonged to, but three people, including myself, ventured inside to explore it at the time. Although we tried all means to break the barrier that had been in disrepair for so many years and managed to gain some benefits from our endeavours, we were eventually blocked by a stronger single barrier deeper inside. As a result, we couldn’t enter the inner sanctum.”
“Why were there two other people with you?” Yang Kai frowned.
To which Hua Yu Lu replied, “The Southern Swamp might be perilous, but it also has many opportunities. It is said that the Southern Swamp was once a thriving place where ancient cultivators gathered. That’s why so many treasures are hidden there. Moreover, it is a special environment that can give birth to various rare spirit medicines. Therefore, many Masters like to explore the Southern Swamp. When the Ancient Cave Mansion appeared, it caused some minor disturbances. Otherwise, I would not have discovered it, and the other two would not have been attracted to it either.”
Yang Kai nodded after listening to her explanation as he could vaguely understand the situation at the time.
She then continued, “Of the other two people, one of them had some knowledge about barriers and Spirit Arrays. According to that person’s hypothesis, we wouldn’t have been able to break the barrier blocking our way even if we combined our strengths. Thus, we could only ask others for help. We agreed to each bring a helper and meet up at the Southern Swamp again half a year later.”
“So, you asked Senior Brother Xia for help!” Yang Kai understood.
Smiling bitterly, she admitted, “Although I know many Emperor Realm Masters, not many can truly be trusted.”
Selling out comrades, murder, robbery… These were common occurrences along the road of cultivation. Therefore, one had to find somebody trusted when asking for cooperation in exploration. Otherwise, one might find themselves dead at the hands of their ‘partner’ if they carelessly invited just anybody to help them.
Xia Sheng spoke up, “Junior Brother Yang, I’m afraid I really can’t step away from this place. The temple sent me here, and I need to remain here for three more years. I can’t step a single foot out of this place before the time is up. If that wasn’t the case, I wouldn’t need to trouble you for this, Junior Brother.”
“It’s not a big deal. It’s just exploring an Ancient Cave Mansion.” Yang Kai waved his hand confidently before glancing at Hua Yu Lu, “But… are you familiar with the other two? Are they trustworthy?”
Hua Yu Lu replied, “I can’t say I’m familiar with them as that was the first time we met each other, but both of them were in the First-Order Emperor Realm. As for whether they are trustworthy or not… since it’s the first time we met; how can I possibly trust them? Still, it goes both ways. If I don’t trust them, they won’t trust me either, that’s why we each made a Heart Demon Oath, vowing not to disclose any information about the Ancient Cave Mansion to the public. We are only allowed to bring one person along to help us. Moreover, that person must be a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master at best.”
“I see…” Yang Kai rubbed his chin and pondered over it.
A Heart Demon Oath might be nothing more than lip service, but it was not an oath one would carelessly make once their cultivation reached the Emperor Realm. If they broke their word, a Heart Demon might appear and negatively impact their future cultivation, and since all three of them were restrained by such an oath, it should be alright to temporarily trust that the other two will not disclose this information to others at will. It was a well-considered strategy.
“If my guess is right, those two will surely find Second-Order Emperors to help them.” Hua Yu Lu looked at Yang Kai with light in her eyes and added, “If you have any qualms about this, Elder Yang, you can forget about it. I will think of another way.”
It wasn’t that she couldn’t find a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master to help her, but rather that she could not cooperate with them. If that wasn’t the case, she would not have come to Xia Sheng for help. Before being a cultivator in the Emperor Realm, Xia Sheng was the chief disciple of Azure Sun Temple, and although it had not been long since he became a First-Order Emperor, it would not be an easy feat for a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master to kill him when it came down to a desperate fight.
As for Yang Kai’s strength, Hua Yu Lu had personally witnessed it during the Grand Canonization Ceremony the other day. Yang Kai had even injured an Elder of Star Soul Palace, so despite being injured in the process, his power was certainly not something an average First-Order Emperor Realm could compare to. He should be of equal strength with Xia Sheng at least.
Standing to the side, Xia Sheng reminded, “Junior Brother, just consider the issue yourself, there’s no need to worry about me. I’m simply making a suggestion, whether you accept the request or not is completely up to you.”
He was clearly worried that Yang Kai might reluctantly accept the request out of respect for him.
In response, Yang Kai simply smiled, “I am also very interested in this Ancient Cave Mansion.”
Hua Yu Lu’s beautiful eyes lit up at those words, “Does that mean you agree, Elder Yang?”
Yang Kai did not reply to her question immediately and instead asked, “Why are the three of you so fixated on this Ancient Cave Mansion, even going to such lengths just to search for helpers; what benefits did you gain from it?”
“We certainly gained some benefits!” Hua Yu Lu nodded frankly, “Even if you didn’t ask about this, I planned to explain it to you too, Elder Yang. The three of us didn’t manage to explore the inner depths of that Ancient Cave Mansion, but we did manage to break several powerful barriers and reap valuable benefits. This is one of the items I obtained from that cave mansion.”
While speaking, she took out a small flower drum. The small flower drum didn’t seem to be anything special on the outside and was only about the size of a person’s palm, made from some unknown materials; however, an extremely special aura rippled forth the moment it was taken out.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed as he gasped in shock, “An Ancient Exotic Artifact!”
This small flower drum exuded a pure yet desolate aura. It was a genuine Ancient Exotic Artifact, just like the Mountains and Rivers Bell he owned.
In ancient times, the World Energy and World Principles were very different from what they were currently; therefore, the ancient cultivators cultivated all sorts of different Secret Techniques and Divine Abilities. Even the artifacts they used back then were vastly different from those created in this era. However, it was undeniable that the Ancient Exotic Artifacts passed down through the times were not to be underestimated.
It was just that Ancient Exotic Artifacts were too scarce in numbers. Over the past few millennia, the Mountains and Rivers Bell was the only Ancient Exotic Artifact that was well known enough to be recorded in history. Other unknown Ancient Exotic Artifacts might have surfaced during that time, but they surely amounted to less than ten across the entire Star Boundary. And yet, there was now one in Hua Yu Lu’s possession!
“This Soul Summoning Drum can shock the mind, and although it isn’t very strong, it makes up for that in stealth, allowing one to catch their enemy off guard.” Hua Yu Lu suddenly reached out and patted the little flower drum gently. The strange thing was that no sound came out from it; however, an invisible force rippled out from it, cutting into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea like a sharp blade.
Caught by surprise, the force shook Yang Kai’s focus slightly. It was just as Hua Yu Lu had explained, the power of the Soul Summoning Drum was not that great, and for that reason, it failed to break through the defences in Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea. It also went without saying that part of the reason for its weak power was that she had failed to completely refine the artifact and was unable to fully bring out its true strength as a result. Even so, it was already very impressive.
Imagine if two people of equal strength were desperately fighting against each other; the opponent would definitely suffer a fatal blow if Hua Yu Lu were to use the power of the Soul Summoning Drum without any warning. If used well, it could become a concealed weapon that could turn the tides of a losing battle. In this regard, it was actually much more versatile compared to most Emperor Artifacts.
“What an impressive item!” After getting a taste of the Soul Summoning Drum’s power himself, Yang Kai couldn’t help praising it.
To which Hua Yu Lu replied, “You flatter me, Elder Yang.”
Yang Kai then asked, “You acquired the Soul Summoning Drum when the three of you went exploring. So, what did the other two get?”
“One of them obtained a Secret Technique from the cave mansion. I don’t know the exact details since he did not reveal anything to us; however, it should be very powerful from the way he reacted. On the other hand, the other person’s cultivation skyrocketed inside the cave mansion. In the beginning, that person’s strength was the weakest among the three of us as he had just broken through to the First-Order Emperor Realm. Nevertheless, his aura was the strongest among us when we left that place.” Hua Yu Lu explained.
“It can even make a person’s cultivation skyrocket!?” Yang Kai was stunned.
Opportunities that could significantly increase an Emperor Realm Master’s cultivation were extremely rare. Just from that, it could be seen that the Ancient Cave Mansion definitely held some powerful inheritance. The ancient methods were powerful and extraordinary, and to think such a treasure with so many opportunities was so deeply hidden even after so many years. It made one wonder just how many benefits could be obtained if they managed to explore the entire cave mansion.
If it was said that Yang Kai only agreed to explore the Ancient Cave Mansion with Hua Yu Lu out of respect for Xia Sheng before, it was now because he truly became interested at this moment.
Cultivators could not grow strong by simply cultivating behind closed doors. Rather, gaining actual experience out in the world was the most important aspect of one’s cultivation. Coming across a rare opportunity was often far more beneficial than years of hard secluded retreat.
“If you are interested in this endeavour, then let’s meet at the Southern Swamp in two months. What do you think, Elder Yang?” Hua Yu Lu looked at Yang Kai.
“Good,” Yang Kai nodded. He didn’t have much to say about it as it just so happened that he needed to visit Star Soul Palace during this period to cultivate in the Five Colored Treasure Pagoda.
The two of them exchanged the means to contact each other on the spot, leaving their Soul Imprints on each other’s communication artifacts, which would allow them to communicate freely as long as they were not too far away from each other.
“Then, this matter is settled. Please take good care of Xiao Hua, Junior Brother.” Xia Sheng smiled faintly.
Yang Kai generously replied, “Rest assured, Senior Brother. I will definitely bring Palace Master Hua back in one piece.”
Xia Sheng seemed calm and indifferent, while on the other hand, Hua Yu Lu blushed furiously and secretly sneaked a glance at Xia Sheng before revealing a slightly disappointed expression. Yang Kai took in the entire situation in front of him and vaguely understood the relationship between those two afterwards.
“I’ll be staying in Spirit Lake City for the next few days. Senior Brother, please let me know if Bian Yu Qing comes out of her retreat.”
“Don’t worry!” Xia Sheng spoke in a serious tone, “I will periodically check up on her.”
After that, Yang Kai took his leave, but just as he was about to turn around, he turned back and asked, “By the way, do you still remember what the barrier that blocked your path looked like, Palace Master Hua?”
Stunned, Hua Yu Lu nodded, “Of course. Do you want to check into it, Elder Yang? I can draw it out for you.”
“That would be great.”
Nodding, she immediately took out a blank jade slip and poured her Divine Sense into it, engraving what she saw the other day inside. Then, she handed the jade slip to Yang Kai and said, “This is the barrier. It’s probably an ancient Spirit Array, but unfortunately, I don’t understand much about Spirit Arrays and can’t tell much from just observing it. I did carefully memorize it though, so there should be no mistakes.”
At her level of cultivation, memorizing something at a glance was the most basic of basics.
“I don’t know much about Spirit Arrays either, but I can ask others about it,” Yang Kai smiled.
“Do you know somebody proficient in Spirit Arrays, Elder Yang? That’s great! I planned to visit the Gong Family of Heavenly River Valley after this, but it seems unnecessary now.”
The Heavenly River Valley Gong Family was the most highly regarded Spirit Array force in the Southern Territory, while Hua Yu Lu was not an ignorant Junior either. It was impossible to fully trust the other two Emperor Realm Masters; therefore, it was a given that she would need to learn more about this Spirit Array if she wanted to crack it and enter the deeper parts of the Ancient Cave Mansion. For that reason, the Heavenly River Valley Gong Family was her best choice.
Fortunately, from what Yang Kai had said just now, she no longer needed to go through such trouble. If she went to Heavenly River Valley, Hua Yu Lu would have no choice but to lie about the origins of this Spirit Array on the off chance that the Gong Family questioned her about it.
“Leave this to me, Palace Master Hua. You should rest well for the next two months. I’ll see you again at the Southern Swamp at the appointed time.”
“Many thanks, Elder Yang.” Hua Yu Lu nodded politely.
As soon as Yang Kai left, Xia Sheng stood up and said, “Xiao Hua, please make yourself at home. I’m going out for a bit.”
“Where are you going?” Hua Yu Lu looked at him angrily, “Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Are you afraid I might eat you?”
Xia Sheng’s brow twitched slightly as he replied, “Why would I be afraid of you? It’s just that if I don’t work hard to cultivate, I won’t be able to maintain my seat as the Eldest Senior Brother for long.”
Clasping his hands behind his back, he walked out looking pleased with himself and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
“Smelly man!” Hua Yu Lu puffed up her cheeks in anger, feeling very upset. The host had left, so what was the point of the guest remaining? Thus, she could only follow his example and depart, leaving behind a lingering floral scent of perfume.
Yang Kai stayed at an inn in Spirit Lake City for three days before Bian Yu Qing came looking for him. She was brimming with energy at the moment and her aura was strong and steady. Their eyes met inside the room, and Yang Kai nodded lightly, “Not bad.”
Bian Yu Qing brushed her hair back behind her ear with a wry smile and replied, “It’s all thanks to your help. If not for you, I wouldn’t have come this far.”
In truth, she was quite shocked as well. She had assumed that she wouldn’t feel as pressured when facing Yang Kai again now that she was also an Emperor Realm Master, but contrary to her expectations, she realized she could not figure out his depths even meeting this time. If she had not known that he was a First-Order Emperor, she might have assumed he was a Third-Order Emperor instead. But why was the gap still so massive between them?
“You can’t withdraw your aura yet, which means your cultivation hasn’t fully stabilized,” Yang Kai commented, “Once you can freely control your aura, that will mean your cultivation has been consolidated.”
“I understand. Many thanks for your guidance, Palace Master.” Bian Yu Qing replied honestly but still couldn’t help feeling a little awkward. A decade or so ago, she had stood far above this young man; however, their roles were now reversed. She was also only able to survive and become an Emperor Realm Master thanks to Yang Kai. Just thinking back on the past, it really was quite embarrassing.
Yang Kai simply smiled, “It looks like you are ready to join High Heaven Palace.”
Bian Yu Qing smilingly replied, “Could it be that you don’t want me to join High Heaven Palace, Palace Master?”
“No such thing!” Standing up, Yang Kai motioned, “Let’s be on our way.”
With that, they left Spirit Lake City and flew off in a certain direction without stopping. During their journey, Bian Yu Qing constantly worked hard to stabilize her cultivation, and after two days of travel, the effects of her efforts were apparent as her aura was significantly more restrained than before.
“Palace Master, where are we going now?” Bian Yu Qing couldn’t help but ask when she saw Yang Kai’s leisurely look.
“I’m sending you back to High Heaven Palace!” Yang Kai replied.
“Back to the palace…” She was stunned for a moment, then she exclaimed in surprise, “Isn’t High Heaven Palace in the Northern Territory?!”
The Northern Territory and the Southern Territory were separated by a distance of billions of kilometres! Flying without stopping would take them several years to arrive, and if they were delayed during their journey, a decade-long trip would not be surprising!
At first, Bian Yu Qing wanted to persuade him to speed up a little bit or use local Space Arrays to save some time; however, Yang Kai did not seem to have any intention to do so. Thus, she did not say anything. In any case, she was now part of High Heaven Palace, so she only needed to follow Yang Kai’s lead. There was nothing special about her that could attract his attention anyway, even if he had saved her life before.
Three days went by in such a fashion before the pair arrived at a desolate and dilapidated place.
“If I remember correctly, this was once the Thousand Leaves Sect, right?” Bian Yu Qing followed Yang Kai as he landed, turning her head around as she studied her surroundings.
“Indeed!”
Bian Yu Qing couldn’t help sighing, “The rise and fall of a Sect is like the ebb and flow of the tides. Nothing stands forever.”
She seemed to be feeling nostalgic about something. Looking at the ruins of the Thousand Leaves Sect, she inevitably recalled the Blue Feather Sect. Both Sects had about the same strength, and their endings were practically no different either.
“Get on!” While she was in a trance, Yang Kai called out to her. He was already standing on the Space Array in the hidden mountain valley, and although Bian Yu Qing found this strange, she obediently followed suit and stood on the Space Array.
In the next moment, they appeared in what seemed to be a Small World. Yang Kai said nothing though and simply led her straight towards a certain spot in Emperor Heaven Valley. When she caught sight of the Cross-Territory Space Array, Bian Yu Qing instantly revealed a shocked expression, stuttering in amazement, “T-T-This… Could this be?”
Yang Kai nodded and explained, “Once you pass through here, you will arrive at High Heaven Palace. I have three jade slips for you to bring back with you.”
Bian Yu Qing forcefully composed herself and accepted the three jade slips from him before asking, “Who should I hand them to?”
Yang Kai replied, “Give one to somebody by the name of Hua Qing Si. She is the Head Manager of High Heaven Palace and is responsible for all affairs in the palace. Just hand this jade slip to her and she will take good care of you. As for the other two jade slips, ask Hua Qing Si to pass them to Nanmen Da Jun. Understood?”
She nodded seriously, “Yes.”
“Good. Go on then!” Yang Kai motioned for her to step onto the array.
Yang Kai then waved his hand and numerous High-Rank Source Crystals were accurately embedded into the grooves at the base of the array. The moment the Space Array was activated, it thrummed with Space Principles and in a flash of light, Bian Yu Qing disappeared.
For a moment, Yang Kai thought he vaguely saw Bian Yu Qing opening her mouth slightly as if to thank him just before she vanished, to which he just smiled brightly and turned around to leave Emperor Heaven Valley.
His next destination, Star Soul Palace!
Not many Sects were run by a Great Emperor in Star Boundary. There were three Sects at the most: Serene Soul Palace of the Eastern Territory led by the Serene Soul Great Emperor, Star Soul Palace of the Southern Territory led by Bright Moon Great Emperor, and Shadow Killer Palace of the Western Territory led by the Night Shadow Great Emperor.
Medicine Pill Valley and Spirit Beast Island were also regarded as great forces under the command of Great Emperors; however, they were not regarded as Sects since they did not take in outside disciples. They were the private sanctuaries of the two Great Emperors; thus, ordinary people could not enter those places.
In any case, any Great Emperor Sect would become the pillar of the territory in which it resided, an awe-inspiring and inviolable protector of the people of that territory. As such, Star Soul Palace, in its capacity as the overlord of the Southern Territory, had played a guardian role for tens of thousands of years. That was why it was so greatly admired by all the cultivators in the Southern Territory.
The very existence of Star Soul Palace became closely related to the well-being of the entire Southern Territory as a consequence. Someone once claimed that the day Star Soul Palace was destroyed, was the day the entire Southern Territory would be devastated in turn, suffering from various calamities and disasters. Fortunately, destroying Star Soul Palace was no easy feat with the Bright Moon Great Emperor assuming command of the Sect. Unless another disturbance such as the one during the Heaven Devouring Great Emperor’s era occurred, Star Soul Palace was sure to endure.
By the time Yang Kai arrived at Star Moon Mountain Range, seven days had passed.
Star Moon Mountain Range was vast, with steep and towering peaks that looked as if they bordered on the Nine Heavens themselves. It gave off the feeling as if one could reach out and grab the Sun and the Moon or cover the entire world with one’s palm if they stood atop it.
A heavy and turbulent aura washed over Yang Kai as if what stood before him were not mountains but a living giant that had been standing in the Southern Territory for tens of thousands of years, overlooking the lives of the common people.
Yang Kai had a wide range of knowledge and experience, and had visited various large Sects before, but even so, he had to admit that top Sects such as Azure Sun Temple, Ice Heart Valley, and Seeking Passion Sect were not too different from each other. However, none of them were comparable to the beauty of Star Soul Palace. Standing in this spot gave a person an inexplicable sense of sublimation, creating an extremely subtle feeling of excitement and pleasure.
Among the wilderness of the mountains, rare birds and beasts roamed about freely as pavilions loomed in the distance, hidden in the clouds and the fog. It was a heavenly scenery so beautiful that it lingered in one’s memories.
“So, this is a Great Emperor Sect?” Yang Kai murmured under his breath.
“Who goes there?!”
Yang Kai had been standing at the base of the mountains for no more than several breaths before he heard a furious roar coming his way. Two streams of light quickly flew toward him from afar, and as the lights approached him, they turned into two humanoid figures. These two young men were Dao Source Realm cultivators and they were exuding a pure and vigorous aura. One glance was enough to tell that this pair had solid foundations and promising futures. They would most likely break through into the Emperor Realm in time.
Such excellent cultivators would surely be groomed and developed by any Sect to become Elders of Sect Masters; however, these two seemed to be nothing more than sentries guarding the mountain. It made Yang Kai realize that Star Soul Palace really lived up to its reputation. Only Serene Soul Palace and Shadow Killer Palace, which were also Great Emperors Sects, could compare to the heritage of Star Soul Palace.
“This is Star Moon Mountain, trespassers are not allowed here! Return where you came from, or we will not let you off lightly!” Among the two Dao Source Realm cultivators, the one on the left seemed to be a little more down-to-earth. He was the one who shouted at Yang Kai despite his cultivation being far lower, not showing the slightest hint of fear as he warned loudly. This was the confidence of a Star Soul Palace disciple!
In the eyes of a Star Soul Palace disciple, all the cultivators in the Southern Territory could be categorized into two, disciples of the Sect, and others. Yang Kai was undoubtedly in the latter category; therefore, they didn’t need to bother about him regardless of his realm.
Glancing at these two, Yang Kai cupped his fists and said, “I received an invitation to come here.”
“You received an invitation to come here?” The young man that had spoken previously frowned in response, looking Yang Kai up and down suspiciously, “Can you tell us who invited you? My fellow brother will pass a message for you if you are telling the truth.”
Since this person in front of him had received an invitation to come here, that meant this person had some connection to a fellow disciple of the palace. If that was the case, it would not be good to offend this person, so his tone became much more polite as a result.
Yang Kai was about to explain the truth to them when his expression changed suddenly and he smiled, “No need. Someone is already coming to pick me up.”
When the two young men heard those words, they turned around to look. They saw a bright light approaching them from the distance, moving swiftly before coming to a stop a short distance away in the blink of an eye. Then, the light dissipated and a beautiful figure appeared.
“Senior Brother Yang!” Lan Xun greeted Yang Kai with a smile.
In a flash, the entire world seemed to lose its colour as the two young men were dumbfounded, staring blankly at Lan Xun, who had appeared without warning. Practically frozen in shock, they stuttered, “Y-Y-Your Highness?!”
When they heard Yang Kai saying that he had received an invitation to come, they had not thought much of it; after all, he was obviously just an outsider with some connection to a fellow disciple of theirs; however, it turned out that the person who had extended an invitation to him was none other than the Princess of Star Soul Palace!
[How could it be the Princess?!]
The Princess was an outstanding figure who not only inherited the Bright Moon Body from the Great Emperor, but also possessed a rare and incredible talent in the Martial Dao. She was born with heavenly beauty, was easy-going and approachable, and was very well-received by everyone in Star Soul Palace. She was the dream lover of countless young men.
Even the arrogant Star Soul Palace disciples were proud just to have a word with the Princess. Unfortunately, very few people could receive such honour. Only Xiao Chen, who guarded the Princess by her side all year round, had the chance to witness her dazzling smile.
But why would a person regarded as a Goddess by countless Star Soul Palace disciples invite a man here? The two were so shocked that they could hardly think.
“Junior Sister Lan, you certainly arrived quickly!” Yang Kai replied. When he first arrived at Star Moon Mountain, he had contacted Lan Xun, who had asked him to wait a moment for her, but he didn’t expect her to really arrive after just a moment.
[He called her… Junior Sister Lan?!] The eyes of the two Star Soul Palace disciples widened even more in shock. When they saw how friendly Yang Kai and Lan Xun seemed to be with each other, they felt their hearts clenching in great anguish for some reason. On the other hand, the Princess’ reaction broke their hearts completely, making them feel as if there was nothing left to live for anymore.
“Senior Brother Yang sent me a message, so of course I had to rush over!” Lan Xun laughed and stretched out his hand to gesture to Yang Kai, “Senior Brother, please come this way.”
“Many thanks!” Yang Kai nodded and walked in that direction. When he arrived by her side, she stepped forward and led the way.
It wasn’t until their figures disappeared into the distance that the two Star Soul Palace disciples looked at each other in despair. When Lan Xun appeared in front of them, she had not spoken a single word to them from beginning to end; she didn’t even spare them a single glance. All her attention had been focused on that damn outsider.
What did that indicate? That indicated that the Princess valued that man greatly. Otherwise, the gracious and magnanimous Princess would not have ignored them without even smiling at them once.
“Senior Brother, Senior Brother Xiao is in trouble!” The Junior Brother who had not spoken since the beginning suddenly spoke up sadly.
“Yeah… I don’t know if Senior Brother Xiao knows about this. If Senior Brother Xiao does…”
The ‘Senior Brother Xiao’ they were talking about was none other than Xiao Chen. Among the Star Soul Palace disciples of the same generation, Xiao Chen was undoubtedly the one with the most contact with the Princess. He was generally alright in all other aspects, but he was very sensitive when it came to matters related to the Princess. If any fellow brother were to speak to the Princess, Xiao Chen would hold a grudge and find a chance to teach them a lesson. Yet for some reason, the Princess only saw him as an Elder Brother figure, clearly having not a trace of romantic feelings for him.
But judging by the current situation, it seemed like this outsider was encroaching into Senior Brother Xiao’s territory! Wouldn’t it be a disaster if Xiao Chen learned about this?
“Senior Brother Xiao is not the problem, what’s more important is Senior Brother Lei…”
Upon mentioning ‘Senior Brother Lei’, the both of them shuddered in terror. They seemed to be greatly frightened by something and even quickly glanced about their surroundings to confirm that there was nobody around before they hurriedly fled the place.
At the same time, a man with the appearance of someone barely twenty years old was meditating in a cross-legged position inside the Central Hall of Star Soul Palace’s Star Hall when he suddenly opened his eyes. Those eyes of his seemed to be filled with stars that were burning brightly. He lifted his head and gazed upward, his sharp falcon-like gaze seemingly penetrating the Heavens themselves.
All of a sudden, he frowned and exclaimed in shock, “Nine stars rising above the Moon? Why is this happening? My symbol is the Bright Moon; this is clearly directed at me! How ominous. How ominous…”
Few people in the world knew that the great Bright Moon Great Emperor, the patron saint of the Southern Territory who was renowned across the entire Star Boundary, actually had the appearance of a youth. While speaking, he lowered his head and formed an extremely strange set of seals with his hands. An odd aura spread out in response while his hands continued to weave back and forth.
After a while, the young man’s brow twitched as he dismissed the seals, muttering under his breath “Old Tian Ji’s Secret Technique is a bunch of nonsense. I can’t figure out anything from it. It’s so embarrassing to call it ‘Heaven’s Diviner’. The next time I meet him, I’m going to pull out his beard.”
Mulling over something while supporting his head on his hand, he haphazardly declared, “Forget it! It’s only a trivial problem anyway, not worth wasting my time over.”
After saying that, he closed his eyes again and resumed his meditation.
…..
“Senior Brother Yang, this is where you will stay during your visit.” Lan Xun said after arranging a place for Yang Kai to stay on Nan Dou Peak.
Yang Kai said, “Junior Sister Lan, when can I enter the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda?”
If not for his agreement with Hua Yu Lu, Yang Kai wouldn’t be in such a rush. This was a Great Emperor Sect after all, so staying here for a longer time would not be detrimental to Yang Kai and instead would have many benefits. Unfortunately, he had a promise to uphold and was worried about any delays as a result. He would need a month to cultivate inside the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, and also needed some time to travel back, so he couldn’t delay for very long.
Lan Xun smiled back and replied, “Don’t worry, Senior Brother Yang. Since my father has promised you, he will not break his word. If things had gone according to schedule, the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda would have been opened half a year from now; therefore, Star Soul Palace needs to make some preparations on our side since we made a promise to you. Right now, it will take five days at the latest before the pagoda is opened.”
“That’s good.” Yang Kai breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the words.
Giggling happily, Lan Xun teased, “You seem to be in a rush, Senior Brother Yang, could it be possible that you have an appointment with a beautiful woman?” She had simply been joking only to see him freeze for a moment at her words. Thus, she exclaimed in surprise, “Oh, my! Do you really have an appointment with a beautiful woman?”
Yang Kai looked troubled, “Please don’t speak nonsense. Still, it’s true that I have an appointment.”
Lan Xun pursed her lips and smiled coyly, “You don’t need to explain yourself, Senior Brother Yang. Well then, I’ll be taking my leave now. I’ll notify you when the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda is prepared.”
Nan Dou Peak was the second highest peak in the Star Moon Mountain Range where Star Soul Palace was situated. It was an excellent environment for cultivation as World Energy was abundant there. It wasn’t even inferior to the Main Peak of High Heaven Palace.
Star Soul Palace was where billions of cultivators in the Southern Territory gathered. Not only was it closely linked to the well-being of the Southern Territory, but it was also the central axis of the Earth Vein across the entire Southern Territory. It was only natural for that place to have an abundance of World Energy as a result.
After arranging a place for Yang Kai to stay, Lan Xun took her leave.
For a while, Nan Dou Peak was tranquil. Yang Kai’s mental state seemed to be slightly affected by the environment, and he became very calm. Since there was nobody to disturb him, he closed his eyes and meditated, cultivating the Dragon Transformation Secret Technique Zhu Qing had taught him before she left.
Time flew by, and night fell. Yang Kai, who was cultivating quietly, suddenly felt a disturbance and opened his eyes abruptly. Shifting his body slightly, he exited the private room and stood atop Nan Dou Peak. What entered his vision made him agape with shock.
The crescent moon hung brightly in the sky, surrounded by the stars. It looked like a stunningly beautiful scroll was spread out over the entire sky above Star Moon Mountain Range. Moreover, each and every star twinkled with a dazzling light, almost as if one could reach out and grasp them.
However, what amazed him the most were the flashes of light falling from those stars, connecting the Heavens and the Earth together. Each flash of light seemed to contain some sort of mysterious power that made the World Energy on Star Moon Mountain become more alive. The space between the Heavens and the Earth was filled with a charm that could not be experienced during the day. It was insignificant and elusive yet seemed to contain some kind of profound truth.
At this very moment, the entire Star Moon Mountain Range looked like a heavenly land. It was so mesmerizing that it made one reluctant to leave this place. He stared at the sight before him blankly until he even forgot to breathe. Even so, his mind was calmer than ever before.
“This is the Star Tide, which occurs once every month. According to the Great Emperor, the Star Tide contains the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. One can receive countless benefits if one can comprehend anything from the Star Tide. En… It is a fact that many Star Soul Palace disciples received various benefits from the Star Tide, some even managing to break through their cultivation bottlenecks in a state of epiphany and, consequently, learned Divine Abilities taught directly from the Heavenly Way. For those Star Soul Palace disciples cultivating the Star and Moon Secret Technique, in particular, they have received even more from the Star Tide.” A person’s voice rang out suddenly from not far away.
“So, that’s how it is.” Yang Kai looked unflustered. He was immersed in the starlight enshrouding him, but unfortunately, he failed to receive any benefits from the Star Tide even though he found it absolutely miraculous and was vaguely aware of its mysterious powers. He wasn’t sure if the failure was caused by the presence of the Star Soul Palace disciple next to him, or was simply his lack of opportunity.
After a while, Yang Kai turned his head and looked at a sturdy young man, who had his hands clasped behind his back, and asked, “How should I address you?”
The young man turned to him and grinned, revealing a set of clean and white teeth, “Lei Ting!”
Frowning, Yang Kai mulled over it for a bit, “I’ve heard of the four Third-Order Emperor Realm Masters that serve as the Elders of Star Soul Palace under the Great Emperor. Among them, Great Elder Lei Hong is the most powerful. His strength even goes beyond that of a Third-Order Emperor. What relationship do you have with that Great Elder Lei?”
Lei Ting spat disdainfully, seemingly unwilling to hear Lei Hong’s name. Even so, he truthfully replied, “He is my Uncle!”
Yang Kai made a non-committal sound in response, “I see. You are Great Elder Lei’s Nephew.”
Lei Ting’s gaze sharpened at those words as he snapped back, “I much prefer hearing you say that he is my Uncle.”
Yang Kai shrugged, “I apologize. I have only ever heard of Great Elder Lei’s name.”
Lei Ting coldly snorted as a faint blue arc of electricity danced in his hair, making crackling sounds before he quickly said, “I spend most of my time in retreat inside Star Soul Palace and rarely travel out of the Sect. Therefore, it is only natural that you have never heard of me before; but that’s okay, my name will spread far and wide from now onwards.”
“Then, Brother Lei…” Yang Kai smiled slightly at Lei Ting’s shameless boasting, not sure how else he was supposed to react. “Why did you come here in the middle of the night?”
Lei Ting’s eyes lowered, a cold light shining in their depths as he spoke, “I heard that the Princess personally came to welcome you when you arrived today.”
“Yes, that did happen.” Yang Kai nodded.
Lei Ting’s aura flared up and he spoke through gritted teeth, “Does that mean that you are very close with the Princess?”
“Not really. We’ve only met each other a few times before,” Yang Kai rubbed his chin, feeling rather annoyed and troubled, “I think I can guess the reason why you came to find me, Brother Lei.”
“It’s good that you understand! Let’s have a duel! You have to scram out of Star Soul Palace immediately and never meet with the Princess again if you lose!” Lei Ting shouted in fury as the aura of a First-Order Emperor surged from his body, seemingly boiling over in rage. It felt as if the person standing in front of him was not Yang Kai, who he had met for the first time today, but his greatest and most hated archnemesis instead.
Yang Kai stared at Lei Ting, “Don’t you think you’ve chosen the wrong opponent? Shouldn’t your enemy be Xiao Chen? He is the biggest obstacle between you and the Princess.”
Lei Ting burst out into mocking laughter, “Xiao Chen? Xiao Chen is nothing! If he refuses to listen, I will beat him up so badly that his own father won’t be able to recognize him!”
Yang Kai was stunned by those words. Xiao Chen was a rising star of the Southern Territory who had just broken through to the Emperor Realm. Even if Lei Ting seemed slightly stronger, he was still just a First-Order Emperor as well. What made this boy dare to boast so shamelessly? Still, Yang Kai had truly never heard of the name Lei Ting before, only knowing that this generation of Star Soul Palace disciples was led by Xiao Chen and Lan Xun. Now, it seemed like there is one more person among them.
Ruminating over what Lei Ting said before, Yang Kai quickly understood the situation. If Lei Ting was constantly in retreat inside Star Soul Palace and rarely stepped outside the palace, it wasn’t strange that his name wasn’t known to the public.
Yang Kai went silent for a moment before saying seriously, “Brother Lei, I’m afraid you have misunderstood something about me…”
He found Lei Ting’s attitude of immediately finding faults with him displeasing; nevertheless, he was currently a guest in Star Soul Palace. If any conflict were to arise between him and Lei Ting, it might upset the higher-ups at Star Soul Palace. Moreover, since Lei Ting’s Uncle was none other than the Great Elder, Lei Hong, it would be bad if this incident ruined his chance to cultivate in the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda.
Yang Kai was only halfway through his sentence when Lei Ting shouted, “Enough nonsense! Fight me!”
Lei Ting lifted his hand the moment those words left his mouth and deep purple lightning crackled around him. Suddenly, the lightning condensed into a kind of whip in his hands which he swept towards Yang Kai. This was a powerful and heavy attack that looked as if it could split worlds apart.
Yang Kai was forced to swallow the rest of his words with a shocked expression. He could tell from Lei Ting’s attack that this guy was stronger than Xiao Chen. In fact, Lei Ting was more powerful than any other First-Order Emperor Yang Kai had ever met. It could even be said that Lei Ting was on par with most Second-Order Emperor Realm Masters in terms of strength.
[He hasn’t even gone all out yet. If he exerted his full strength, I’m afraid even ordinary Second-Order Emperors may not be his opponent. He certainly has some skills. No wonder he dares to come and pick a fight with me.]
The electric whip struck towards Yang Kai, who summoned his Myriads Sword in response and swung it horizontally in front of him. Sparks flew and a loud clashing sound rang out as the lightning whip was deflected. Even so, that terrifying current flowed through the Myriads Sword and into Yang Kai’s arm. In an instant, he felt as if a snake had slithered across his entire body, causing all his hairs to stand on end. Only after pushing his Emperor Qi did Yang Kai manage to dissipate the foreign force invading his body.
Before Yang Kai could even react though, the lightning whip struck towards him again, twisting mid-air as it quickly transformed into a gigantic lightning python. The lightning python opened its mouth wide and struck at him swiftly, letting out a thunderous and horrifying roar in the process. In response, Yang Kai waved his hand and sent out a Moon Blade that cleanly cut the python in half.
An exclamation of shock rang out as Lei Ting seemed to be incredibly astonished. He had cultivated this Lightning Python Secret Technique for many years now and was well aware of how powerful it was. Most First-Order Emperors would not be able to withstand it no matter how they struggled, but Yang Kai seemed to have split it in two with ease. Besides, the Divine Ability Yang Kai used gave off a strange feeling, seemingly containing fluctuations of the Space Principles.
As the lightning python dispersed into the air, Lei Ting took advantage of the distraction to silently approach Yang Kai. Amidst the flashes of lightning, he snuck closer until he was no more than one meter away. Raising his palm, Lei Ting sent out a palm covered in lightning that crackled loudly as it shot forwards.
“Enough!” Yang Kai roared in anger, lifting his finger and poking towards Lei Ting’s palm. If this finger connected with Lei Ting’s palm, a hole would surely be opened in the latter’s hand. Yang Kai would also suffer some injuries of course, but they wouldn’t be anywhere near as severe.
Just as their attacks were about to meet though, Lei Ting’s body suddenly shuddered. A trace of panic swept across his expression as he turned to look back in a certain direction. The palm strike he was about to make also froze in mid-air instantly.
When Lei Ting stopped moving, Yang Kai stopped moving too, his finger actually tapping against Lei Ting’s palm, focusing his strength on that one spot but not releasing it.
“Bastard! How dare you spoil my good deed, Xiao Chen!” Lei Ting cursed suddenly before retracting his palm and turning to leave. He had taken no more than two steps though before he turned around and glared at Yang Kai seriously, “I never came here tonight. You and I did not greet each other. More importantly, we did not fight! Do you understand?!”
Yang Kai looked up at the sky and leisurely said, “The night sky is so charming.”
“You…” Lei Ting seemed like he had more to say; however, he obviously didn’t have enough time to do so, so he just glared at Yang Kai ferociously before transforming his body into a flash of light that quickly disappeared.
Moments after Lei Ting left, another flash of light landed on Nan Dou Peak. Lan Xun glanced at Yang Kai and asked, “Senior Brother Yang, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Why?” Yang Kai smiled slightly, “The night view of Star Soul Palace is beautiful, so I came out to get some fresh air.”
“I heard that Lei Ting came here. Did he cause any trouble for you?”
“Who is Lei Ting?” Yang Kai blinked at her in surprise, a bewildered expression on his face, but his slightly singed hair which was all standing on end, obviously giving him away.
Lan Xun gave him a pondering look before she pursed her lips and smiled. On the other hand, Yang Kai just casually ran his fingers through his hair and calmly explained, “The wind did a number on my hair.”
Lan Xun shook her head lightly and retorted, “Lei Ting cultivated so much that he became a little stupid in the process. He can be a little unreasonable. The next time you meet him, let me know immediately, Senior Brother Yang. I will take care of him.”
Yang Kai fell silent for a moment before he nodded, “Good.”
“En. You can… Continue enjoying the night air, Senior Brother Yang. I’ll head back first,” Lan Xun covered her mouth and giggled. After that, she turned around and left.
“Lei Ting…” Yang Kai touched his chin and pondered for a moment before a smile suddenly spread across his face.
Not far away from Nan Dou Peak, Lei Ting grabbed Xiao Chen by his collar and viciously snarled, “You were behind it, right? I’m sure it was you! If you didn’t notify Little Sister Xun, she wouldn’t have come over at such a timely moment! You rotten bastard! If you had given me just a little more time, I’d have been able to kick that guy out of Star Soul Palace!”
“Let go of me! Pulling at my clothes like that… highly improper!” Xiao Chen’s eyes drooped slightly, staring at Lei Ting’s large hands with a disgusted look.
Lei Ting snorted softly. Even so, he complied with that request and released his grip as he muttered, “I heard you exchanged blows with that guy before and failed to gain the upper hand.”
With a sullen expression, Xiao Chen countered, “You exchanged blows with him just now. Can’t you tell how strong he is?”
Lei Ting’s expression turned grim, considering it carefully for a moment before nodding, “That person is a strong enemy!”
Xiao Chen followed up, “What’s even more hateful is that Xun’er seems to look at this guy differently. That’s why you and I should put aside our differences for now and work together to chase that guy away from her side, Lei Ting!”
Lei Ting sneered, “Work together? Why should I work together with you? What a joke.”
Xiao Chen snapped, “Do you dare to speak to Xun’er? Do you dare to look into her eyes?”
The aura around Lei Ting vanished instantly as he stammered for a long time before muttering bitterly, “Who doesn’t have a weakness?”
Xiao Chen gave a mocking smile, “You don’t even have the courage to look at Xun’er or speak to her, so how are you going to deal with it if she gets together with that guy?!”
“Then what do you think we should do!?” Lei Ting roared furiously.
Xiao Chen grinned meaningfully as he explained, “The Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda will be opened in a few days. You and I will surely be entering, and our time limit will be one month; we will definitely get a chance during that period. The moment we get the chance, we have to teach him an unforgettable lesson. When that time comes, he will be greatly humiliated.”
“Work together to defeat him?” Lei Ting hesitated a little, “No can do. It’s not my style to gang up against others.”
Xiao Chen said, “Or, you can fight him alone. I will be responsible for preventing Xun’er from interfering with your fight.”
Upon hearing those words, Lei Ting considered the idea seriously and nodded, “Good, that’s fine.” Then, he patted Xiao Chen on the shoulder heavily and added, “I will leave Little Sister Xun to you. Leave that guy to me!”
“So, does that mean you have agreed to cooperate with me?” Xiao Chen flashed a knowing smile.
“Sure, sure; I’ll cooperate with you. Since my Junior Brother has already said so much, as your Senior Brother, I should play along with your plans.” Lei Ting laughed, feeling extremely happy.
Xiao Chen’s expression became sullen, “I’m too lazy to argue with you about who is the Junior Brother or Senior Brother among us…” [It’s fine as long as I can always be with the Princess, why should I be worried about not being in an advantageous or favoured position? An idiot like you should just focus on getting rid of outside enemies, you don’t need to worry about the rest.]
After their discussion was completed, the two of them parted ways to adjust their conditions for the upcoming confrontation.
…..
Since that night when Lei Ting came looking for trouble, no one else came to Nan Dou Peak to pick a fight with Yang Kai again. The entire Star Soul Palace was busy preparing for the opening of the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, so even Lan Xun did not visit Yang Kai.
It was rare for Yang Kai to have a few days of leisure to himself; thus, he spent his time cultivating behind closed doors on Nan Dou Peak. He used the chance to consume and refine the three Dragon Blood Pills refined by Ji Ying.
The Dragon Blood Pills were amazing. After Yang Kai finished refining the three Spirit Pills, he noticed that the toughness of his physique had improved somewhat. Even though it did not improve by much, any little improvement was precious at his current level of strength. If he consumed more Dragon Blood Pills, perhaps his body could be elevated to a whole new level. Unfortunately, he only had three pills.
On the contrary, Yang Kai did not notice the purifying effects of the Dragon Blood Pill that Ji Ying had talked about regarding his Dragon Clan bloodline. But if he thought about it, he wasn’t actually a part of the Dragon Clan, he only possessed the Golden Divine Dragon’s Source Strength, so the purifying effects of the Dragon Blood Pills probably had no meaningful effect on him.
Five days later, Yang Kai had finished refining the third Dragon Blood Pill and was now immersed in the ecstatic feeling of growing stronger when he noticed somebody flying in his direction.
A short while later, Lan Xun’s voice entered his ears, “Senior Brother Yang!”
Yang Kai got up and walked out of the hall.
Lan Xun greeted him and explained, “We are opening the Treasure Pagoda today. Are you prepared, Senior Brother Yang?
“There’s nothing I need to prepare!”
“Good, then follow me.” Lan Xun said, leading the way.
The Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda was one of the most important places for cultivating in Star Soul Palace and could be described as a very large Sealed World. Cultivators of all realms ranging from Origin Realm to Emperor could cultivate in it and obtain benefits beyond imagination. It was rumoured that the sealed spaces within the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda were actually broken shards of destroyed worlds. That was why cultivators could easily perceive World Principles inside. Although the World Principles were fragmented, they were much easier to understand and had a miraculous effect on the cultivation of cultivators.
The existence of the Divine Ascension Mirror made it easier for disciples of Azure Sun Temple to gain higher accomplishments in Soul cultivation compared to others in the same realm. Similarly, the existence of Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda allowed the cultivators of Star Soul Palace to get ahead of other cultivators in the perception of Principle Strength.
The deeper the understanding of Principle Strength, the more refined the cultivation of the cultivator, and the easier it became for them to progress in their cultivation. It could be said that the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda was the foundation of Star Soul Palace.
However, even Star Soul Palace could not open the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda as it pleased as the process consumed a lot of manpower and material each time. Not only did it require several Elders to contribute their strength, it also consumed countless precious treasures belonging to Star Soul Palace each time.
Generally, Star Soul Palace only opened the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda once every three years, and only selected disciples were allowed to enter.
There were restrictions on the number of people that could enter; therefore, the disciples of Star Soul Palace, regardless of their ranks within the Sect, would often conduct a large-scale tournament half a year in advance just to get the opportunity to cultivate in the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda. They needed to obtain a certain ranking before they were eligible to enter the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda.
The opening of the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda this time was originally scheduled for half a year later, but was brought forward because of Yang Kai. Needless to say, if Star Soul Palace had been adamant about opening it half a year later, Yang Kai would have had no choice but to slowly wait. It was just that Star Soul Palace, as the pillar of the Southern Territory, had always kept its word and would never do something that would stain its reputation. Be that as it may, the early opening this time around had increased Star Soul Palace’s consumption of manpower and material resources significantly.
Yang Kai had entered the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda once before. When he first arrived at Maplewood City, Xiao Yu Yang had opened the entrance to the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda remotely and allowed all cultivators in the Origin King Realm in Maplewood City to enter. Yang Kai gained many benefits from that experience, and the memories of that mystical and wondrous Sealed World were still fresh in his mind.
The Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda was filled with large amounts of fragmented World Principles, which not only helped to increase his cultivation significantly but also functioned to perfect the Sealed World Bead. Although the Sealed World Bead was an independent Small World unto itself, the World Principles inside it were incomplete. Despite having it for so many years, Yang Kai had not had the opportunity to fix this issue. However, it had absorbed numerous World Principle fragments when Yang Kai was last inside the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, improving the Small World within significantly. Later, it absorbed even more Shattered Star Source’s from the Shattered Star Sea and became even closer to perfection.
If it could absorb enough of the fragmented World Principles, as well as the complete Principle Strength, inside the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, then it would most likely be completely perfected. A perfect Sealed World Bead was, essentially, a real world that was no different from a Large World like the Star Boundary. Perhaps, it could even bring about unexpected benefits!
Compared to asking the Bright Moon Great Emperor three questions, Yang Kai preferred improving his Sealed World Bead; after all, the Sealed World Bead held unimaginable significance to his ability to understand World Force and his aspirations to become a Great Emperor in the future.
Xiao Yu Yang had worked with several Emperor Realm Masters in Maplewood City previously to open an entrance to the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda; therefore, Yang Kai had never seen the actual Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda before. This time around, he was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of it. It was an actual pagoda that soared high into the sky and sparkled with five colours. The whole building exuded a very mysterious aura.
When Lan Xun led Yang Kai to this place, he found that no less than a thousand people had gathered near the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda. There were cultivators ranging from the Origin Returning Realm to the Emperor Realm among them. Moreover, each of their auras was stable regardless of their cultivation realm. It clearly showed that they were the future pillars of Star Soul Palace. These one thousand cultivators were the disciples who were entering the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda to train this time.
The moment the two of them arrived, a thousand pairs of eyes turned towards them. Every Star Soul Palace disciple looking at Lan Xun, be it man or woman, had infatuated expressions on their faces. However, their looks turned to jealousy and hatred when they looked at Yang Kai. The difference between those two looks was like night and day. Although Yang Kai was not bothered by the gazes from these people, several other sharp and piercing gazes forced him to take them seriously.
Four people stood side by side in front of the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda. Their auras were as deep as the seas and gave off the feeling as if four towering pillars were standing there. These four were the four Elders of Star Soul Palace.
Xiao Yu Yang and Xue Zheng Mao, whom Yang Kai was acquainted with, made up two out of the four. The other two were old men. One had a ruddy complexion and a stocky build while the other had grey hair and a sprightly figure.
Xiao Yu Yang nodded at Yang Kai. On the other hand, Xue Zheng Mao, who had suffered greatly in Yang Kai’s hands, snorted softly.
“Is that Yang Kai?” The ruddy-faced, stocky old man asked, staring at Yang Kai.
Xiao Yu Yang replied, “Yes, that’s Yang Kai!”
“He is certainly an exceptional and unmatched talent. Still, his cultivation is only at the First-Order Emperor Realm. How did he injure Junior Brother Xue?” The stocky old man frowned.
Xue Zheng Mao’s expression became unnatural as he explained, “That little brat is proficient in the Dao of Space. I failed to notice that and allowed him to succeed in ambushing me.”
As a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master, his ego had been bruised after being injured by a Junior like Yang Kai.
“Even if it was a sneak attack, that’s extremely impressive.” The stocky old man nodded lightly.
“You are praising him too much,” Xue Zheng Mao looked upset, “If I get serious, I can kill him within three moves.”
The burly old man was none other than the Great Elder of Star Soul Palace, Lei Hong, who was known as the most powerful Emperor Realm Master in the Southern Territory. To this response, Lei Hong chuckled, “I am not overpraising him. But, did you forget how Tan Jun Hao died?”
Xue Zheng Mao snorted in response, “Didn’t they say there was a Monster King with this brat at the time? Tan Jun Hao must have died at the hands of that Monster King. It has nothing to do with him!”
Lei Hong shook his head and said nothing more. He knew that Xue Zheng Mao harboured a great dislike toward Yang Kai and might become angry if he continued this topic. Being Elders in the same Sect, there was no need for him to agitate Xue Zheng Mao any further. Still, it had been a long time since Lei Hong last met a young man that was capable of wounding a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master.
Xiao Yu Yang glanced at Yang Kai before glancing over at Xiao Chen. Then, he sighed to himself. Although he believed his son was quite outstanding, he still paled in comparison to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai and Lan Xun landed together. Following that, Xiao Chen and Lei Ting immediately came forward to greet them.
“Princess!” Xiao Chen called out with a smile. On the contrary, Lei Ting, who was walking next to Xiao Chen, seemed uneasy and embarrassed, glancing around as if he felt extremely uncomfortable
“Senior Brother Xiao, Senior Brother Lei!” Lan Xun smiled brightly and glanced at the two of them.
“Um…” Lei Ting stammered. His face flushed suddenly, and he didn’t even dare to look her in the eyes.
A hint of surprise flashed across Yang Kai’s eyes. He looked at Lei Ting, then looked at Lan Xun; following that, a playful grin crept onto his face.
“Brother Yang!” Xiao Chen cupped his fists and greeted Yang Kai, his demeanour cordial and easy-going, a huge difference from the domineering attitude he carried during their previous meetings. It was almost as if he was a different person altogether.
“Brother Xiao, Brother Lei, we meet again.” Yang Kai replied.
Lei Ting snorted softly and turned his head away.
Yang Kai was not bothered in the least, “Are we the only four Emperor Realm cultivators entering the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda this time?”
Although there were many cultivators gathered here, it seemed as though the four of them were the only Emperors. The four Elders in the Third-Order Emperor Realm were here too, but they were obviously not entering the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda.
Lan Xun nodded, “Yes, we are the only four. The price of an Emperor entering the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda is very high. Moreover, Emperor Realm Masters occupy more spaces in the quota. That’s why only a few Emperors are allowed to enter at a time.”
Yang Kai nodded in response.
She continued, “Senior Brother Yang, even though you entered the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda once before, the situation this time around will be different from your previous encounter. There are five layers to the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, and each layer contains many fragmented spaces. Some of these fragmented spaces may be connected while others may be sealed and isolated from the rest. The higher you go, the more obvious this becomes. The first layer is suitable for cultivators in the Origin Returning Realm, the second for Origin Kings, the third for Dao Source Realms, and the fourth for Emperors. As for the highest layer, the Fifth, it can only be entered by Emperor Realm Masters from the Fourth Stage.”
“Could it be that there are restrictions to this?” Yang Kai frowned.
Lan Xun nodded, “Yes, you cannot enter the next layer if you are not strong enough. Of course, the higher you go, the more dangerous it becomes. When the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda was opened more than ten years ago, an ancient Wood Spirit appeared on the second layer and caused many people in Maplewood City to lose their lives. Senior Brother Yang, you experienced this personally, so I’m sure it is still fresh in your memory, right?”
(TL note: The Wood Spirit here is a different Wood Spirit from the ones in the Ancient Wild Lands, a different character that is… it’s confusing I know, just go with it.)
Yang Kai nodded solemnly, “How could I forget?”
The disaster the Wood Spirit caused in Maplewood City killed tens of thousands of people in a short time. Yang Kai had been involved in that ordeal, so it was only natural that he still remembered it.
Lan Xun sternly explained, “Although the experience in the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda is of great help to one’s cultivation, it is also fraught with dangers. Many Star Soul Palace disciples lose their lives each time the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda is opened.”
“Is there no way to guarantee their safety?” Yang Kai furrowed his brow and asked.
Shaking her head, Lan Xun replied, “No. It is said that the shattered worlds sealed inside the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda are ancient battlefields, each world having been destroyed by war. Even though these worlds were destroyed, they still contain many shattered World Principles. For that reason, many ancient relics with tenacious vitality are able to find a way to survive in them. A mighty expert later collected those shattered worlds with shocking methods and refined the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda from them. The pagoda has gone through many vicissitudes and passed through several hands before my father acquired it. However, even my father cannot fully control the countless shattered worlds inside.” Pausing for a moment, she smiled, “Of course, even if he could control it, my father probably wouldn’t interfere; after all, what are experiences without any danger?”
Yang Kai deeply agreed with that sentiment, nodding as he said, “You’re right, Junior Sister Lan.”
She smilingly replied, “That’s why you have to be careful when you enter the pagoda later, Senior Brother Yang. Don’t get careless.”
“I understand.” He nodded seriously.
At the same time, the Star Soul Palace disciples participating in the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda training this time had more or less arrived in full.
Great Elder Lei Hong cleared his throat lightly, causing all the noise in the square to die down as thousands of eyes turned to him.
“The Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda opens today. You are all elites of Star Soul Palace and the future pillars of the Sect. The other Elders and I hope you can obtain great benefits from this experience. Of course, that is on the premise that you can protect your lives. As part of the same Sect, you should help and support each other inside the pagoda…”
Taking this opportunity, Lan Xun secretly sent a voice transmission to Yang Kai and told him some things about the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, all of which he kept in mind.
In the meantime, Lei Hong didn’t talk much. He simply said a few words before waving his hand for them to enter, “If you remember all of that, then prepare yourselves!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he and the three other Elders glanced at each other before they moved to stand at the four corners of the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda. They then executed a Secret Technique and activated the array. When their Emperor Qi surged, the four of them stretched out their hands and pointed downward.
With a loud rumble, the door of the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, which had been tightly shut, opened suddenly. Although the actions of the four Elders had been swift, and they were sweating profusely at this moment. It was clear that opening the pagoda took a heavy toll on them.
The moment the door opened, a gently whirling and pitch-black vortex emerged from the door. It looked like the gaping maw of a gigantic beast that wanted to devour the selected participants. When the vortex first appeared, it was not very stable, twisting and churning randomly, giving off stray energy fluctuations that made one uneasy. However, the vortex gradually stabilized as the four Elders continued to pour their power into it. Following that, the disturbing fluctuations gradually disappeared.
This situation lasted for about a quarter of an hour before the four Elders stopped in unison. They were pale-faced and breathing heavily by then; moreover, their auras were extremely weak. If a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master were to attack any of them at this moment, they wouldn’t even be able to put up a fight.
“When are you going to enter, if not now?” Great Elder Lei Hong suddenly shouted.
The Star Soul Palace disciples had been waiting eagerly for this moment, so how could they hesitate after hearing those words? All of them moved swiftly, rushing into the vortex and disappearing out of sight, one after the other,
The discipline and pride of top Sects were immediately reflected in its disciples’ behaviour. Thousands of people were entering the pagoda now, but there was no crowding or shoving despite everyone moving swiftly. Rather, everything appeared to be extremely orderly.
First, those cultivators in the Origin Returning Realm entered, then those in the Origin King Realm, followed by those in the Dao Source Realm… It didn’t take long for most of the one thousand participants to disappear. Soon, only Yang Kai and the other three young Emperors were left.
“Let’s go,” Lan Xun called out and took the lead to fly forward. Before rushing into the vortex, she urged, “Take care, Senior Brothers.”
“You too, your Highness!” Xiao Chen smiled slightly, showing concern in a timely manner.
“X-Xun…” Lei Ting stammered. Unfortunately, Lan Xun disappeared before he could finish speaking. For a moment, he looked upset and depressed at the same time.
“I’m going on ahead,” While laughing, Xiao Chen entered the vortex.
Then, Lei Ting turned and glared at Yang Kai fiercely.
“What?” Yang Kai glared back.
“You’d best pray we don’t meet each other inside, or else, you’re dead!” Lei Ting coldly snorted.
Yang Kai sneered and rushed into the vortex before Lei Ting.
The moment Yang Kai crossed the threshold, his vision blurred. Unlike what he imagined, he was not greeted by the sight of various shattered worlds. Instead, when he entered the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, a strange wave of power suddenly blocked his path for a moment and he subconsciously exerted his full strength in case of any unexpected events. The moment Yang Kai released his Space Principles to guard himself, he felt as if he ran into a ball of cotton and was repelled backwards.
What entered his vision next shocked him greatly. Yang Kai found himself suspended in the Void. Looking around him, he saw what seemed like clouds stretching out in all directions. It all felt ethereal and illusionary. Moreover, the clouds were in all sorts of different colours; some were vibrant and bright while others were dark and dull like a cluster of Death Qi. There was also a pitch-black patch that made him very uncomfortable just looking at it. At this very moment, Yang Kai was surrounded by countless cloud-like existences.
Feeling dizzy, he wondered what was going on. This was very different from what Lan Xun told him to expect.
The Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda was divided into five layers, each one containing many fragmented spaces, some that were connected to one another, others that were isolated. Upon entering the pagoda, a cultivator would be automatically placed in one of the layers, one that most suited their cultivation realm. For example, a cultivator in the Origin Returning Realm would enter one of the shattered worlds in the second layer, while a First-Order Emperor Realm Master like Yang Kai would certainly enter the fourth layer. Only the fifth layer could not be entered directly from the entrance of the pagoda. One had to find the corridor leading to the fifth layer from the fourth layer.
Yang Kai originally assumed that he would appear in one of the shattered worlds in the fourth layer as Lan Xun had said that would be the case; however, it now seemed as though something was not quite right. This was definitely not a shattered world in the fourth layer because he couldn’t sense any Principle Strength here, and instead there was a large number of strange, colourful clouds.
Expanding his Divine Sense out to investigate his surroundings, Yang Kai was both shocked and horrified. That was because he discovered that those cloud-like existences were similar to the entrances of a Void Corridor and he did not know where he would be sent to if he passed through any of these entrances.
Yang Kai stood in place with a frown on his face for a time before all of a sudden, he snapped back to his senses and turned to look behind him. A gigantic and pitch-black vortex was slowly spinning behind him.
[Isn’t this the entrance to the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda? Why did it appear behind me? If the entrance is behind me, then is the way forward what lies in front of me? Am I in an intermediate space within the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda?] Hundreds of thoughts flashed through Yang Kai’s head before a sudden flash of inspiration struck him. [Could these cloud-like entrances to the Void Corridors be…]
Turning to look around him, Yang Kai spotted a cloud emitting a dazzling golden light and rushed into it. His field of vision flashed and everything spun dizzyingly. At the same time, a peculiar Principle Strength lingered around him, and by the time he recovered, he was standing on a vast plain.
Not a single blade of grass grew on the plain that was seemingly covered in gravel and stones, looking extremely desolated. Moreover, there were no sun, moon, or stars in the sky, yet it was still as bright as day.
“What rich Metal Attribute Energy!” Yang Kai spread out his senses and looked stunned by his findings. The World Energy in this place was extremely strange, not only extremely dense, but also containing only a single elemental attribute, the Metal Attribute.
If a cultivator practicing Secret Arts or Secret Techniques of the Metal Attribute came here, they would be ecstatic about encountering such a cultivation environment! After all, cultivating in a place like this would definitely increase their cultivating efficiency by a hundred-fold.
“So, this is a shattered world in the fourth layer?” Yang Kai murmured thoughtfully, “It certainly is quite distorted.”
Lan Xun once mentioned before that the spaces within the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda were all broken and incomplete, so, even the World Principles became fragmented. Hence, the World Principles in some spaces became extremely distorted over the years. A situation in which one or several different Principle Strengths became incredibly strong while the others grew weak or disappeared altogether might occur. This was the case in this shattered space right now. The Metal Attribute Principles practically dominated the entire world, leaving no space for others to manifest. The distortion in this place was tremendous.
[I entered this place by passing through an entrance emitting golden rays. In other words, the colour of those clouds most likely represented the type of Principles of the shattered world inside. And, those clouds are doorways to the shattered worlds! I can enter the shattered worlds by passing through those colourful clouds, but, how did this happen?] Yang Kai was sure that other Star Soul Palace disciples had not encountered this situation before. If they had, Lan Xun would have told him about it. Since she did not mention this to him, it could only mean that his experience was unique.
This was good news, however, as appearing in that intermediate space meant that he had the ability to make his own choices. Yang Kai could pick which shattered world to enter, provided that he could return to that intermediate space again.
While mulling over those thoughts, he began to take action. Unleashing Space Principles, Yang Kai reached out his hand and tore the space in front of him. It went more smoothly than he expected as he did not encounter any resistance worth mentioning. Pondering for a moment, he realized something that since this world was broken and incomplete, the World Principles were also incomplete, making the World Barriers around it easily breach-able
When the tear in space appeared, Yang Kai dove into it and sure enough, he was back at the intermediate space from before. This time, it was no different from his previous experience; a strange force washed over him and he reflexively used his Space Principles to isolate himself. Then, he immediately stopped in the strange intermediate space, surrounded by clouds in all directions.
“Hah! So, that’s how it is!” Yang Kai laughed heartily. When he first entered this intermediate space, he was clueless as to what had happened, but now that he came here a second time to investigate this place, he finally figured out something.
[It’s the Space Principles!] According to Lan Xun, the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda would automatically place an Emperor Realm Master into one of the shattered worlds in the fourth layer the moment they passed through the entrance of the pagoda. This process undoubtedly involved Space Principles.
As he was proficient in Space Principles though, Yang Kai could interrupt this automatic teleportation by shielding himself with his own Space Principles. Therefore, the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda was unable to place him into any of the shattered worlds and could only leave him in this intermediate space.
“Doesn’t this mean I have free reign here now?” Yang Kai grinned after understanding the entire situation.
When others entered the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, they could only rely on luck to seek opportunities. If they accidentally entered a dead zone, they could only blame themselves for their bad luck; however, Yang Kai had almost absolute control over his movements.
Once he organized his thoughts, he immediately began searching his surroundings. He ignored the pitch-black clouds surrounded by Death Qi as it was obviously a dead world without any World Principles left, fragmented or otherwise. Yang Kai was searching for brightly coloured clouds as he figured that the brighter the colours, the more complete the shattered world would be, and the more useful it was for him.
After a short while, he located a cloud sporting a wash of colours and plunged into it immediately. As expected, the World Principles of the shattered world he entered this time were still fragmented but not distorted. On the contrary, it seemed to be surprisingly rich in World Energy, not inferior to a first-class Sect in the Southern Territory.
However, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling astonished when he released his Divine Sense, muttering out loud, “How small…”
He discovered that this fragmented space was extremely small, seemingly covering only a few dozen kilometres. Its boundaries were a chaotic mess of non-existence, which made him very uncomfortable.
This space was even smaller than Thousand Leaves Sect’s Emperor Heaven Valley, and while it had some plants, there were no living creatures inside. Nothing in this world could be hidden from him when he swept his Divine Sense across this place.
[Oh, well. So, what if it is small? It’s still better than nothing. Besides, I’m curious to learn what changes will occur to the Sealed World Bead after I absorb and refine all the World Principles contained in this broken world. I can just treat this as an experiment.] With such thoughts in mind, Yang Kai summoned the Sealed World Bead, and sat down cross-legged.
In a flash, the boundary of the Sealed World Bead opened, after which Yang Kai sent his consciousness inside while activating a certain Secret Technique in silence. Using his mind, he controlled the Sealed World Bead to devour the World Energy and the broken World Principles in this place. And soon after, a strong wind raged on as the World Energy in the surroundings was continuously swallowed into the Sealed World Bead like water flowing into the sea.
At the same time, a series of extremely profound and mysterious World Principles flowed into the Sealed World Bead through the entrance, flooding the space within.
All of a sudden, lightning flashed and thunder roared. Yang Kai opened his eyes abruptly, sensing a wave of hostility coming at him from all directions. Shocked, he initially thought that he had failed to notice some sort of danger in this place, but upon closer inspection, he realized that the truth was not what he had imagined. There really weren’t any living creatures in this world, but the hostility was clear and distinct. Moreover, it seemed to be everywhere, surrounding him in all directions, making him feel as if he was drifting in a sea of hostility.
“World Force!” His expression became grim, immediately figuring out the reason behind this hostility.
Devouring and refining the World Principles of this world with the Sealed World Bead would naturally cause a rejection reaction from this small world. The Heavenly Way was constant, and there were no exceptions. Even if it was a shattered world, it was still a world.
Amidst the thunder and lightning, several flashes struck from above. Yang Kai was caught unprepared, and his entire body convulsed from the lightning strike. He hurriedly used his Emperor Qi to resist and only then did the pain subside slightly.
At the same time, Yang Kai was secretly astonished. Even a tiny world no more than a few dozen kilometres wide could produce such powerful force. If it were a larger world, how strong would the rejection reaction and hostility be? Fortunately, he had chosen this small shattered world for the purpose of experimentation. If he had rashly chosen a larger world, I might have brought disaster upon himself.
Secretly rejoicing in his heart, Yang Kai distinctly felt a strong repulsive force squeezing him from all directions, as if trying to force him out of this world and prevent him from doing whatever he wanted again. Still, the repulsive force was not that strong so he only needed to resist slightly to overcome it.
The lightning and thunder became more violent as Yang Kai sat cross-legged on the ground expressionless, ignoring the lightning that struck at him from above. It was as if he was a rogue who had broken into an old and defenceless farmhouse to rob everything from it.
“World Force…” The corners of Yang Kai’s mouth curled upwards, revealing a faint smile. He felt no fear. Instead, he was rather exhilarated.
He had witnessed the Heaven shaking battle between two Great Emperors in the Shattered Star Sea a few years ago. At that time, he learned about a kind of strength called World Force. It was the only power stronger than the Principle Strength, one that only a Great Emperor could slightly harness.
[Isn’t this the very same World Force?] Although the World Force in this world was not that powerful, it was native to this world. It was hostile towards him, but could not harm him. Thus, it gave Yang Kai an early opportunity to come into contact with this power and begin comprehending it.
Yang Kai vaguely gained a slight understanding of this power after studying it; however, good times don’t last forever. Less than six hours after he started, the thunder and lightning vanished abruptly. Even the hostility of the world disappeared without a trace. This situation occurred not because the world had accepted him, but because the Sealed World Bead had cleanly devoured the World Principle Fragments of this world. Every single scrap was gone, so this world could no longer take any hostile action against him or reject him.
Yang Kai opened his eyes and smacked his lips, looking as if he still had not enough.
At that moment, the world suddenly shattered. Cracks split across the sky like a broken mirror and the ground rumbled and trembled with ravines appearing everywhere. Void Cracks appeared in the surrounding space and the aura of chaotic nothingness began to flow in.
Yang Kai stood up quickly and, reaching out, tore space. He escaped the world and returned to the intermediate space from before. As soon as he returned to the intermediate space, the cloud in front of him exploded into dust and disappeared. The shattered world vanished just like that.
“Next!” Yang Kai muttered to himself, flickering as he began wandering between the clouds searching for his next target, soon entering another shattered world.
There were countless shattered worlds in this place; however, Yang Kai discovered upon closer inspection that these shattered worlds had distinct traces about them despite their different sizes. He did not dare to touch those larger worlds and only searched for the smaller ones to plunder.
Following the same method, he managed to cleanly devour and utterly destroy more than a dozen Small Worlds with the Sealed World Bead in a span of three days. He distinctly felt a slight change in the world within the Sealed World Bead, with its World Principles undoubtedly becoming closer to perfection even though it was still far from completion. This made Yang Kai very happy.
While Yang Kai was in a wonderful mood during these past three days, on the contrary, the four Third-Order Emperor Realm Elders stood melancholically outside the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda with worried looks on their faces. That was because something strange had occurred after the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda was opened, an unprecedented occurrence.
Six hours after the pagoda was opened, a sudden burst of light emerged from the fourth layer. The four Elders had been meditating to restore themselves near the pagoda at the time, so all of them saw what happened clearly when that strange incident took place.
Shocked, Lei Hong immediately went to investigate but couldn’t figure out the reason behind the incident. Similarly, the three other Elders couldn’t figure out what happened either.
Just as the four of them were searching for the cause of the incident, what happened previously happened again.
In the following days, such an event occurred again and again, more than a dozen times in total.
A situation like that occurring in the fourth layer undoubtedly meant that something was happening to one of the Emperor Realm Masters. Among them, excluding Yang Kai, there were Lan Xun, Xiao Chen, and Lei Ting. These three were all descendants of Star Soul Palace’s higher ups, and no accident was allowed to befall them.
As this matter was of great importance, Great Elder Lei Hong didn’t dare to delay things any further and sent a message to the Great Emperor. He informed the Great Emperor of this matter and asked him to decide how they should deal with it.
“Has the Great Emperor said anything?” Xue Zheng Mao paced back and forth impatiently before suddenly halting for a moment and glancing over at Lei Hong.
Although none of the disciples training in the fourth layer were his relatives, Xue Zheng Mao was still one of the Elders of Star Soul Palace. His life was tied to Star Soul Palace, so he was very concerned about everything related to its future. If not for that, he would not have lowered himself to attacking Yang Kai, a Junior who was weaker than him.
Just as Lei Hong shook his head in response, he suddenly saw a white light swiftly approaching them from a distance and immediately felt shocked. Reaching out to grab the object, Lei Hong sent his Divine Sense into it, after which his expression became strange.
“What did the Great Emperor say?” Xiao Yu Yang asked in a low voice.
Lei Hong glanced at the other three Elders and answered, “Wait and see…”
“Wait and see? How can we just wait and see…” Xue Zheng Mao muttered under his breath. It seemed as though he had not expected the Great Emperor to give such passive instructions.
Xiao Yu Yang pondered for a while before affirming, “I’m sure the Great Emperor has his own reasons, so we cannot rashly interfere in this matter.”
Nobody dared to disobey the orders of the Great Emperor, and since such orders were given, they would carry them out faithfully. The four Elders could only speculate as to why the Great Emperor was not worried for the Juniors in the fourth layer.
…..
Half a month later, Yang Kai stood in a dilapidated space and frowned. He had shuttled through various shattered worlds for the past half month and used the Sealed World Bead to devour the shattered World Principles of all of them, gaining immensely.
Putting aside the fact that he gained some understanding regarding World Force, just the World Principles absorbed by the Sealed World Bead were of unimaginable value. One by one, the shattered worlds were completely destroyed and each destroyed world meant that the Sealed World Bead had cleanly devoured its Principles. And each time, Yang Kai had to confront the rejection and hostility of those worlds. These worlds were of different sizes, and the hostility could be strong or weak depending on its scope.
Thunder and lightning strikes were the most common occurrences. Some shattered worlds even had ancient relics hidden in them which were incredibly powerful. Driven by the Will of the World, these ancient relics attacked him and engaged him in a fight to the death all for the sake of driving away this intruder. No matter how well Yang Kai concealed himself, he could not escape from such a fate.
Fortunately, this was only the fourth layer, so even if ancient relics remained, their strength was not that terrifying. It was not hard for Yang Kai to defeat these obstacles with his current cultivation. That might not be the case if he were at the highest level, the fifth layer. However, the fifth layer could not be directly accessed from the intermediate space, so Yang Kai could only search for the entrance among the shattered worlds in the fourth layer.
Over the past few days, the number of shattered worlds he had consumed reached over two dozen. Similarly, the ancient relics he annihilated were numerous too. Even so, he could not locate the entrance to the fifth layer. Yang Kai didn’t know if his luck was bad or the entrances were simply too few.
After half a month of hard work though, Yang Kai ran into an obstacle. He could distinctly sense that the Sealed World Bead had devoured enough World Principles to reach perfection, but that didn’t seem to be enough to complete this evolution. It would seem as though something was still missing, and the Sealed World Bead was unable to take this last step, leaving Yang Kai feeling very troubled.
“Dao begets one, one begets two, two begets three, three begets all. Yin and Yang become the Five Elements. When the Five Elements converge, a new world is born… Five Elements… Five Elements…” Muttering endlessly under his breath, Yang Kai’s eyes brightened suddenly as if he vaguely realized something.
A moment later, he stood up abruptly, reached out to tear the space apart, and returned to the intermediate space. His eyes were shining with a sharp light as he searched for something among the countless clouds, and after a short while, his eyes lit up, “Found it!”
Yang Kai’s body moved as he rushed towards a cloud emitting a dazzling golden light. In the next moment, he appeared in the world distorted by Metal Attribute Principles. It was also the first shattered world he had entered half a month ago.
[If the Five Elements are missing, then I just need to replenish all the Five Elements. After all, the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda does not lack Principles of the Five Elements.]
Summoning the Sealed World Bead, Yang Kai opened its World Barrier and began devouring the Metal Attribute Principles and World Energy here with all his might. In the meantime, he separated a part of his consciousness to keep a vigilant eye on his surroundings.
After repeating this process so many times, Yang Kai had become experienced in dealing with what was to come. No matter what, the world would not sit idly by and allow him to seize its Principles. It would definitely interfere and try to expel him. Even so, a different world with different Principles would also have different means of rejecting him.
There was no sign of clouds gathering in the sky this time, allowing Yang Kai to let out a breath of relief. He had grown apprehensive of being struck by lightning after experiencing it so many times and would become anxious the moment he heard the crackling sound of thunder. Fortunately, this world was distorted by the Metal Attribute Principles. There was no place for other Attribute Principles here, so thunder and lightning couldn’t appear.
Even so, the hostility and rejection of the world were unprecedentedly fierce. If it wasn’t for his solid foundation and great strength, Yang Kai might have been forced out a long time ago.
“What is it this time…” His expression was not nervous. Rather, he seemed a little excited.
The experience of being the enemy of a world and resisting its attempts to expel him was not something ordinary people would have the chance to experience, and each time Yang Kai fought back, he grew from the experience.
Previously, he had searched for worlds that contained various Attribute Principles mixed together while this was his first attempt refining a single-Attributed Principle world like this, so he couldn’t help looking forward to it.
*Zheng…*
A clear sound rang out suddenly, like a sword being unsheathed. Yang Kai looked in the direction the sound originated from and raised his brow in response. Not far away, a blade formed from golden light took shape. It floated mid-air, spinning slowly, its tip pointing directly at him.
“A Golden Sword…” Yang Kai grinned, “How interesting…”
The clear sound rang out again and again, interrupting his monologue. In the next moment, hundreds of Golden Swords suddenly appeared in all directions. All the swords looked like they had been cast from the same mould, identical to one another. Moreover, each Golden Sword emitted an extremely sharp aura that felt as if it could split the mountains and the sea.
*Gudong…*
Yang Kai couldn’t help swallowing nervously as his expression became difficult.
With so many Golden Swords appearing together, and every one of them brimming with thick hostility, Yang Kai just couldn’t bring himself to feel happy. Things hadn’t ended yet, though, as even more Golden Swords gathered. In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai suddenly found himself in the middle of a sea of Golden Swords that stretched out in all directions around him. Trapped, he felt as if he was a small boat caught in the middle of a raging storm, liable to capsize at any moment.
After the countless Golden Swords appeared, they did not attack him immediately, though, instead humming in unison. Apparently, these swords were showcasing their sentience to give a demonstration and a warning. Gathering together, they formed a terrifying Sword Intent that threatened to turn this broken and desolated world upside down.
However, Yang Kai was unmoved, his expression simply turning grim as he stood at the ready.
A few moments later, the Golden Swords began to tremble. Soon, the trembling became high-speed spinning, leaving behind traces of their afterimages in place. It felt as if they were being controlled by innumerable invisible hands, breaking through the obstacles of space to strike at Yang Kai all of a sudden.
His Myriads Sword had long been summoned, and as the countless Sword waves burst out, Yang Kai brandished his long sword to protect his body. Even so, this defence lasted only for a short while before it fell apart.
*Ding ding dang dang…*
The sounds of clashing metal rang out and sparks flew everywhere. When Yang Kai’s sword defence broke, even more Golden Swords appeared instantly, as if trying to turn him into mincemeat.
Yang Kai was shocked. Even though he had not looked down on the strength of the Golden Swords, he had still underestimated them. In his desperation, he hurriedly covered himself in Five Elements Indestructible Sword Qi. Unfortunately, this layer of protection was also quickly broken.
*Chi. Chi. Chi. Chi…*
More blades swept towards Yang Kai at that moment and he quickly turned into a ragged and wretched state. A deep slash even appeared on his face, revealing the bones below. Covered in blood, Yang Kai looked quite terrifying now.
After the volley of attacks, the Golden Sword calmed down significantly and did not launch another attack. The Heavenly Way had determined that the benefits gained could not outweigh the damages suffered. Therefore, the Will of the World would not go to extreme lengths and leave no room for manoeuvre. It simply wanted to make Yang Kai retreat in the face of danger.
Since he had experienced this situation many times though, Yang Kai was quite familiar with it. Despite suffering some setbacks, he did not plan to give up. Instead, he urged the Sealed World Bead to devour the Metal Attribute Principle of this place even more vigorously, enraging the world in the process.
Consequently, countless Golden Swords exuded even greater Sword Intent than before as they rotated more and more rapidly.
The Golden Swords struck out again with a soft sound a moment later.
Yang Kai was prepared for it this time though and shouted, “Dragon Transformation!”
The Golden Divine Dragon Source Strength manifested, and a huge Golden Dragon Head flashed behind Yang Kai’s bloody figure. The next moment, Yang Kai’s body grew, his originally tall stature abruptly elongating to more than ten metres tall. Then, scales appeared on his bare skin, and flesh bulged out on both sides of his head, as if something was trying to break out of it. His hands turned into Dragon Claws that were incomparably sharp, and he had a Dragon Tail growing out his back. Moreover, the Great Soaring Black Dragon Armor draped over his body made him look incredibly majestic.
During this period of time, Yang Kai cultivated the authentic Dragon Transformation Secret Technique with the help of the Golden Divine Dragon Source Strength whenever he had free time. Cultivating this Secret Technique yielded twice the result with half the effort with his innate advantages, and at present, the Dragon Transformation Secret Technique seemed to be much stronger than the last time he used it.
The last time he used the Dragon Transformation in front of Hua Qing Si, he recalled that he had barely reached three metres in height, but now, Yang Kai stood an impressive ten metres tall! If he continued to cultivate this Secret Technique, his transformed figure would surely become even bigger. If not for the Emperor Artifact, the Great Soaring Black Dragon Armor, he would also have ended up naked at this moment.
Although the Dragon Transformation only took a moment, the thousands of Golden Swords were already attacking Yang Kai. He reached out with his Dragon Claws and grabbed a dozen or so Golden Swords, using a bit of strength to crack and destroy all of them without a trace.
Two days later, a dragon’s roar rang out across the Nine Heavens. Yang Kai stared forward with wide eyes, his entire body covered in blood, like he had just experienced hundreds of life-and-death battles. Although he had maintained the Dragon Transformation Secret Technique all this time, every part of his body that was not covered by the Great Soaring Black Dragon Armor was covered in countless wounds, big and small. Even the Dragon Horns on his head were partially broken. Nevertheless, his fighting spirit continued to burn brightly despite his weakening aura.
On the other hand, a Giant Golden Sword more than a thousand meters long hung in mid-air in front of him. He was facing off with the terrifying Sword Intent that threatened to split the space apart constantly, and had spent two days fighting desperately against this Metal Attribute Principle filled world. During that period, he had tried every trick up his sleeve and used up countless precious healing pills just to persist until this moment. If not for his strong foundation and excellent physical toughness, he would have long been forced out of this world, dead or alive.
It was cavalier of him to make an enemy of this world; but even so, Yang Kai was at the end of his rope. Likewise, this world was faring no better. Over the past two days, the Sealed World Bead had been devouring the Metal Attribute Principles and World Energy of this place, whittling away at the spirituality of this world. If not for the prolonged battle consuming most of his attention and energy, Yang Kai would have had more than enough time by now to refine this world after it weakened so much. Be that as it may, the battle was about to end.
“Come on! This is the last attack! Let’s see who survives!” Yang Kai laughed loudly, glaring madly at the Giant Golden Sword.
As if responding to his provocation, the Giant Golden Sword thrummed loudly as it struck towards Yang Kai. This attack was the final attack containing all the remaining power the world could muster, the last manifestation of all the hostility from this world. Such a horrendously powerful attack was enough to shake the Earth and split the seas, mighty enough to shatter space itself. A gigantic pitch-black scar appeared in the sky like a wound that would never heal wherever the sword passed.
Yang Kai roared furiously in response, but instead of retreating, he flicked his Dragon Tail and rushed forward like an arrow from the bow. A resounding Dragon Roar rang out, while at the same time, the figure of a gigantic Golden Dragon appeared and enveloped his entire body. The Dragon’s body was thousands of meters long and looked incredibly lifelike. Whenever its head or tail moved, lightning flashed and thunder boomed.
*Hong…*
An ear-splitting explosion sounded as violent waves of power swept out in all directions, shattering the world itself for hundreds of meters. Then, two dazzling balls of golden light exploded in mid-air, releasing a brilliance so bright that Yang Kai couldn’t keep his eyes open. It was as if the entire world was covered in a sea of golden light.
*Kacha…*
A cracking sound rang out, and a huge crack appeared above the Giant Golden Sword. Following that, a dense web of cracks soon spread out from that first crack like spiderwebs, covering its entirety.
With a loud crashing sound, the Giant Golden Sword suddenly broke apart like a mirror shattering into pieces, dissipating into tiny particles of light spreading across the entire world.
Yang Kai was thrown back even faster than he had shot forward, streaking like a falling star across the sky. Even the illusory phantom of the gigantic Golden Dragon wrapping around him collapsed in an instant. He immediately tumbled and rolled upon crashing heavily into the ground. Blood spurted out of his mouth, and his aura was as weak as an oil lamp that was about to sputter out. He lay on the ground motionlessly, only the Sealed World Bead continuing to devour the Metal Attribute Principles and World Energy of this place.
A long while later, Yang Kai groaned and moved slightly. His entire body was in pain, and it felt as if all the bones in his body were broken. Taking out a Spirit Pill from his Space Ring, he swallowed it, forcing himself into a cross-legged sitting position as he began to meditate.
After quite some time, Yang Kai managed to stand up, but his complexion was still very pale. The battle from before had completely exhausted him, and it would take a long time before he could completely recover. Unfortunately, he couldn’t stay here any longer as he could distinctly sense that the world was about to collapse. Besides, the surrounding space had become very unstable. Putting away the Sealed World Bead, Yang Kai took one last look at the world around him before returning to the intermediate space.
The next day, he plunged into a cloud emitting a dazzling green light with great vigour and entered a world distorted by Wood Attribute Principles. Inside this world, he ran into an old acquaintance, a Wood Spirit! Moreover, it wasn’t just in one or two, but thousands.
The vitality of a Wood Spirit was extremely powerful. In addition, its seeds had the ability to parasitize a host. Hence, Wood Spirits were existences that were very difficult to kill. It was a pity that it encountered Yang Kai here because Wood Spirits were most afraid of Fire Attribute Techniques. Although Yang Kai’s primary Dao was the Dao of Space, he had begun his cultivation journey by comprehending a Yang Attribute Secret Art and also possessed a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea. It could be said that the Wood Spirits had met their natural enemy.
In this world, what Yang Kai encountered was much easier to deal with compared to what he faced in the world distorted by Metal Attribute Principles. He single-handedly held his ground and remained in place. By covering himself in his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, the Wood Spirits were unable to even get close to him.
It took another two days for the Sealed World Bead to finish devouring all the Principles in this world before Yang Kai returned to the intermediate space and continued his mission without stopping. He was not willing to waste another moment of time as he purposefully searched for worlds distorted by each of the Five Elements.
The world of Water Attribute Principles was covered in an ocean of large waves that tried to cage and drown him while the world of Earth Attribute Principles had stone giants each possessing enough power to smash kingdoms with their fists. Even so, they were all cut down by Yang Kai in the end.
Twenty-five days after entering the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, Yang Kai stood in a world comprised entirely of Fire Attribute Principles with a solemn look on his face. With a wave of his Myriads Sword, a Sword Wave made from the condensation of all the Emperor Qi he poured into it, slashed into the body of the Ancient Flame Demon before him.
Space Principles surged at the same time as the hidden blade within the Sword Wave transformed into a pitch-black vortex that sucked in the remains of the Ancient Flame Demon. The Ancient Flame Demon let out a blood-curdling howl, seemingly unwilling to accept its fate. Even so, it could not escape being pulled into the Void, eventually vanishing without a trace.
Following that, he breathed a soft sigh of relief. The Ancient Flame Demon he encountered in this world did not have the devastating attack power of the Golden Sword, nor the defensive power of the stone giants, nor the flexibility and fluidity of giant waves or the overwhelming numbers of the Wood Spirits, but it did have a troublesome undying body. No matter how severely Yang Kai damaged it, it would recover completely just by absorbing more Fire Attribute World Energy.
Fortunately, his Spatial Ability could exile it into the endless Void. Otherwise, Yang Kai would have truly been at a loss for how to kill it. After the Ancient Flame Demon was banished, the biggest threat in this world disappeared. Thus, he relaxed and focused on using the Sealed World Bead to devour the Fire Attribute Principles of this world.
According to his previous hypothesis, the reason why the Sealed World Bead could not take the last step in its evolution was due to its Five Elements Principles being incomplete. Since they were incomplete, all he had to do was supplement it with the necessary World Principles.
After devouring the Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth Attributes of the Five Elements Principles, the Sealed World Bead shone with a five-coloured brilliance from within. The power of the Five Elements mutually reinforced and restrained each other in an endless loop, seemingly undergoing a mysterious change, allowing Yang Kai to feel more confident in his own conjecture.
One day later, the Fire Attribute Principles in this world had been cleanly devoured, and the world was about to collapse. Yang Kai put away the Sealed World Bead as he didn’t have time to sit and examine the changes it would undergo. However, he did not return to the intermediate space like always, and instead headed in a certain direction. There was a Void Corridor in that direction, one that most likely led to the fifth layer.
Yang Kai had travelled through a few dozen shattered worlds since he entered the pagoda and finally came across an entrance. It was only natural that he couldn’t just let the opportunity slip by him as he was very curious to know what he could find in the fifth layer.
Raising his guard, Yang Kai plunged into the Void Corridor. A sense of weightlessness immediately washed over him, but he quickly became grounded again. Before he could observe the environment he was in though, he suddenly noticed a sharp gaze watching him.
Surprised, Yang Kai instantly pushed his Emperor Qi and lifted his head to look in the direction the gaze came from, exclaiming in astonishment in the next moment, “Brother Lei?”
The person looking at him turned out to be Lei Ting, surprising Yang Kai greatly.
“So, you really came to the fifth layer,” Lei Ting didn’t seem surprised at all. On the contrary, he looked like he had expected this. He grinned and said, “It was worth wasting my time waiting here for you for more than ten days.”
Yang Kai frowned and asked, “You were waiting for me, Brother Lei? Why?”
Lei Ting was furious, “Don’t feign ignorance! You and I have not finished our battle from before! Could it be that you want to back out now?!”
Yang Kai felt surprised and immediately burst out laughing in response, “I thought we finished our fight that night.”
Lei Ting snorted, “There was no clear winner or loser during that fight. How can you say that it is finished?”
“Why do we need to decide who wins?” Yang Kai countered.
Lei Ting replied, “Of course, it’s because…” At this point, he suddenly waved his hand and continued, “Why do you care so much about that? We can talk after we fight.”
The moment he finished speaking, he threw a punch at Yang Kai without any warning. A lightning snake roamed across his fist, giving off a crackling sound, its power horrifying.
In response, Yang Kai calmly stepped forward to take the attack head-on without even batting an eye. Lei Ting’s fist instantly stopped right before him, the lightning running across his fist, making his hair stand on end.
“What are you doing?!” Lei Ting glared at Yang Kai, “If I failed to stop my attack, you would have died!”
It was bad enough that Yang Kai had moved forward instead of retreating when Lei Ting launched his attack just now, but the key point was that Yang Kai had no intention of gathering his strength at all. He simply allowed Lei Ting to attack him without putting up any resistance.
It gave Lei Ting the feeling of releasing a deadly punch only to hit a ball of cotton. Although he was itching to give Yang Kai a severe lesson, what was the point if the other party did not fight back? What he wanted was a proper battle and an upright victory.
Yang Kai replied indifferently, “You are powerful, Brother Lei. I don’t mind letting you win!”
The veins in Lei Ting’s forehead bulged in anger. It felt as if a volcano was stirring in his chest and could erupt at any moment.
However, Yang Kai pretended not to notice this and brushed past Lei Ting as he glanced around. After that, he turned back to ask, “Where is this place? Why is there a corridor here?”
It wasn’t until this moment that he discovered he was standing in a long corridor. There was a Space Array from where he had appeared, but the other end of the corridor was pitch-black, like a beast with its mouth open.
Lei Ting gave a muffled reply, “This is the place between the fourth layer and the fifth layer. You will reach the fifth layer if you pass through this corridor. What you can find there will depend on your luck.”
Yang Kai stroked his chin, thought for a moment, then muttered to himself, “It’s somewhat similar to the fourth layer.”
There had been an intermediate space in the fourth layer too; however, that wasn’t a place just anyone could enter. Even for him, it was only because he had cultivated the Dao of Space and was skilled at manipulating Space Principles that he could enter the intermediate space.
The corridor in front of Yang Kai was the intermediate space of the fifth layer. It was a place anyone could enter, provided that they found the entrance in the fourth layer.
[No wonder Lei Ting was waiting here. It’s because he expected me to come to the fifth layer.] “Aren’t you going to go and check it out, Brother Lei?” Yang Kai asked, tilting his head and glancing at the dark and deep entrance before them.
“I’m not in a hurry,” Lei Ting replied faintly.
Yang Kai counted with his fingers, “If I remember correctly, the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda will close in just a few days. You won’t get the chance to enter the fifth layer again if you don’t hurry.”
Lei Ting sneered, “That only applies to you.”
He was the nephew of Star Soul Palace’s Great Elder and one of the leading figures of Star Soul Palace’s younger generation. Since the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda was opened once every three years, he could enter as many times as he wanted as long as he was willing. Therefore, he was naturally in no hurry to explore the fifth layer. On the contrary, Yang Kai only obtained this opportunity by chance. If he did not make the most of this opportunity, he might not have another chance to enter the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda again.
“That’s true,” Yang Kai rubbed his chin and smiled brightly, “If that’s the case, I’ll be going on ahead.”
“Where are you going?!” Lei Ting roared. He securely locked Yang Kai in place, his posture seeming to indicate that Yang Kai would suffer grave consequences if he so much as dared to take another step forward.
Yang Kai frowned and said impatiently, “Brother Lei, we have nothing against each other. Why are you being so aggressive?”
Lei Ting sneered, “It’s true that we have nothing against each other, but you are such a rare opponent. How can I let this chance slip away so easily?”
Yang Kai pondered for a moment before glancing at Lei Ting solemnly, “That’s just an excuse, right? The biggest reason is the Princess, right?”
Lei Ting blushed furiously and waved his hand dismissively, “What are you talking about? Please don’t speak nonsense.”
Yang Kai grinned and said, “I can tell that you are deeply in love with the Princess, Brother Lei. You are worried that my appearance will arouse the Princess’s interest, so you want to use force to prove your strength and make the Princess look at you differently.”
Lei Ting looked embarrassed, “Is it that obvious?”
Yang Kai pointed at his eyes and retorted, “It’s not like I’m blind.”
After being called out by Yang Kai, Lei Ting seemed much more at ease. He relaxed his attitude and spoke, “You’re right. Xun’er and I grew up together, but I have never seen her being so passionate towards any man before. You give off a dangerous vibe; I have no choice but to face you seriously.”
A strange light flashed in Yang Kai’s eyes, and he smiled, “It’s an honour you think of me like that, but Brother Lei, you’ve got something wrong …” He shook his head repeatedly while speaking.
Lei Ting was startled, “What did I get wrong?”
Yang Kai replied seriously, “The Princess is beautiful, friendly, and likeable indeed. With the Princess’s status and her high standards, how can she show interest in a man so carelessly? The relationship between a man and a woman isn’t just about mutual feelings, it is also about having the same status in life.”
Lei Ting mulled over those words for a moment and nodded, “En, you’re right.”
Then, Yang Kai continued, “Brother Lei, you should know the Princess’ temper best since you are childhood friends with her. Besides, you are the nephew of Great Elder Lei, who stands above all and answers only to the Great Emperor. Your status just barely matches up to the Princess, so status is not a problem for you. Accordingly, everything else will naturally fall into place as long as you capture her heart since your status is not a problem.”
Lei Ting laughed loudly, “I couldn’t tell previously, but you’re pretty interesting.” His expression turned cold, and the conversation abruptly turned in a different direction, “Do you take me for a fool?! Do you think I’d believe you with just a few words from you?!”
Stunned, Yang Kai sighed, “Brother Lei, oh, Brother Lei… I just wanted to let you know that I am not your enemy. Your enemy is someone else.”
Lei Ting snorted, “Who else could it be?”
Yang Kai blinked, “Who else could it be? It’s Xiao Chen! Brother Lei, don’t tell me you don’t know the saying that ‘it’s easy for a person in a favourable position to gain special advantages’? While we are stuck facing each other here, Brother Xiao is probably sticking right next to the Princess. Moreover, Xiao Chen’s cultivation and status aren’t inferior to yours. I’ve seen Xiao Chen with the Princess several times now. He follows her around and takes care of her carefully. Men and women are different, but feelings grow when they spend a long time together! Let me ask you this, Brother Lei, aren’t you scared of that?”
Lei Ting sneeringly said, “Xiao Chen? Pfft! He is nothing! I can easily kill him off without even breaking a sweat! On the other hand, you… uh… the way Xun’er treats you makes me very uneasy.” He curled his hands into fists while speaking, cracking his knuckles as he approached Yang Kai with a savage smile, “Rest assured, I don’t want your life. I just want to beat you half to death. As long as I deal with you and make you too embarrassed to show yourself in front of Xun’er again, then Xun’er is as good as mine.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai raised his brow and asked sternly, “Brother Lei, don’t you know that a loose tongue may cause a lot of trouble? Are you sure it’s wise to say such irresponsible things?”
Lei Ting pursed his lips, “You don’t need to waste your breath on nonsense! Hurry up and fight me!”
“Oh… So, I’m as good as yours, Senior Brother Lei?” A clear and pleasant voice suddenly called out from behind Lei Ting.
Lei Ting’s fierce complexion instantly stiffened while all the hairs on his body stood on end. At the same time, his fighting spirit was doused as if somebody had poured a basin of cold water over his head.
*Gudong…*
He gulped nervously, as cold sweat poured profusely down his forehead. Turning his head haltingly, he saw Lan Xun and Xiao Chen standing side by side on the Space Array. The former was watching him indifferently while the latter was smirking, clearly taking pleasure in his misfortune.
“W-When…” Lei Ting was horrified as he felt his heart sinking into the deepest depths of Hell from where it would never recover again. He wailed deep in his heart, [It’s over! It’s over! Everything is over now! Xun’er heard what I said just now! How am I ever going to face her again?!]
What shocked him the most was that he had completely failed to notice the two people appearing behind him at some point. If not for that, he would never have made such a huge gaffe.
[It’s this damn Yang Kai! He must have diverted my attention on purpose! I initially thought that he was making some sort of preparation when he began releasing Space Principles just now, but it turned out it was just a way to block my senses!]
“Lei Ting! H-How can you say such things?! Hurry up and apologize to the Princess!” Xiao Chen suddenly shouted sternly with righteous indignation.
Lei Ting instantly blushed bright red and said in a fluster, “I-I…”
Lan Xun raised her chin slightly and stared at him as if waiting for his explanation. Unfortunately, he couldn’t utter a single word at all. He stammered for a long time but in the end, he grit his teeth and stomped his feet before rushing towards the entrance ahead, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
“Get back here immediately, Lei Ting! How dare you leave before you explain yourself?!” Xiao Chen shouted furiously. Despite knowing full well that it was impossible for Lei Ting to return, he still shouted repeatedly; however, the corners of his lips were curled into a subtle arc.
[That takes care of him!] Xiao Chen cheered in his heart before leisurely glancing over at Yang Kai. Xiao Chen was different from Lei Ting. Although Yang Kai threatened his position slightly, he didn’t think much of him in the end as what Yang Kai said before was the truth. It is easy for a person in a favourable position to gain special advantages! Besides, Yang Kai was going to leave Star Soul Palace after this training experience in the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda and might never have another chance to meet with the Princess again, so how could he be considered a threat? Only an idiot like Lei Ting would believe such obvious lies.
“Isn’t that a little cruel…” Yang Kai asked, looking in the direction Lei Ting left and rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
Lan Xun said, “Senior Brother Lei is the one in the wrong here, so you don’t need to worry about it too much, Senior Brother Yang.”
He smiled openly and replied, “En, good. If he can understand the meaning behind what ‘love’ is, then he will surely have greater accomplishments in the future. He can only take this as a test.”
Pursing her mouth, Lan Xun smiled and looked at him with her beautiful and elegant eyes, “Senior Brother Yang, you seem to be speaking from experience.”
Coughing lightly in response, Yang Kai mused, “I just have a little more experience in life.”
Xiao Chen watched coldly from the side. Seeing the two of them getting along so well made his mood turn sour. Thus, he hurriedly jumped into the conversation, “Congratulations on finding the entrance, Brother Yang.”
“It was a lucky coincidence,” Yang Kai smiled slightly. Subsequently, he looked at them suspiciously, “That said; why are the two of you together?”
Xiao Chen smiled faintly, “Fate!”
Upon entering the fourth layer of the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, he had searched for Lan Xun continuously. During that period, he had traversed through more than a dozen shattered worlds, finally finding her a few days ago and re-assuming his role as her protector.
Meanwhile, Lan Xun spoke up, “We only have a few more days before the one-month deadline is up while the fifth layer is right in front of us. Do you want to check it out, Senior Brother Yang?”
“Of course!” Yang Kai nodded and added, “I wonder if the fifth layer will be different from the fourth layer.”
She replied, “Of course it will be different!”
“Please explain!” He humbly asked to be enlightened.
There, Xiao Chen interjected, “The space in the fourth layer consists of numerous fragmented worlds, so the World Principles in them are imperfect. On the other hand, the fifth layer, although containing many spaces too, differs from the fourth layer in that it is filled with independent Sealed Worlds!”
“Sealed Worlds!” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Xiao Chen explained, “That’s right. Those Sealed Worlds were formed from the shattered worlds in the first few layers of the pagoda. When that ancient Senior refined the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, he combined many shattered worlds to form the fourth layer of the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda while the complete Sealed Worlds remaining in these shattered worlds were isolated and placed in the fifth layer.”
Yang Kai pondered for a moment and said, “In that case, the Sealed Worlds in the fifth layer may be related to one of the shattered worlds in the fourth layer?”
“That’s right, but it’s not very relevant. There are many kinds of Sealed Worlds in the Fifth layer. They come in many shapes and sizes, similar to the countless shattered worlds in the previous layers. Moreover, what kind of Sealed World you enter is based entirely on your own luck. We don’t get to choose.”
Yang Kai was stunned for a long time before sighing, “The Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda is certainly impressive.”
Before he understood the truth behind the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, he only felt that its existence was of great importance to the Star Soul Palace. Now that he finally understood all the aspects of it, he realized that it was a priceless gem!
All the cultivators across the Star Boundary wished for the chance of obtaining an opportunity in their cultivation journey, and where did opportunities come from? In that aspect, Sealed Worlds were the greatest source.
It was as difficult as ascending to the Heavens for ordinary people to find a Sealed World. Most cultivators would never receive an opportunity to enter a Sealed World to hunt for treasures throughout their entire lives; however, countless Sealed Worlds were waiting to be explored in Star Soul Palace.
[Do all the Great Emperor Sects have such terrifying foundations?]
Lan Xun smiled slightly and asked, “Senior Brother Yang, do you still remember the Golden Armor Heavenly Book?”
He burst out laughing, “Of course! I haven’t gone senile yet.”
She had only taken that artifact away from him a few months ago, so how could he have forgotten already? It was also because Lan Xuan had taken the Golden Armor Heavenly Book back that Yang Kai had received the opportunity to enter the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda this time.
[Even so, for her to bring up the Golden Armor Heavenly Book at this time… She obviously did not mention it for no reason. Rather…] Yang Kai’s expression changed as he asked, “Could the Golden Armor Heavenly Book be related to the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda?”
Lan Xun nodded, “That’s right. Martial Uncle Tan… En, Tan Jun Hao brought the Golden Armor Heavenly Book out from a Sealed World in the fifth layer of the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda. Not only was it a powerful Emperor Rank Artifact, but it is also the key to unlocking that particular Sealed World for us to enter!”
Yang Kai was astonished by those words and asked, “In other words, that Sealed World was originally located in the fifth layer of the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda; but now, the disciples of Star Soul Palace do not need to pass through the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda to enter that Sealed World to cultivate because Tan Jun Hao brought out the Golden Armor Heavenly Book which was its key?”
“Exactly!” Lan Xun nodded in affirmation, “That Sealed World was originally located in the fifth layer of the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda. Under normal circumstances, one would have to pass through the fourth layer to enter it, and doing so was a matter of pure luck; however, our disciples can now enter that Sealed World freely ever since Tan Jun Hao brought out the Golden Armor Heavenly Book.”
“Tan Jun Hao certainly had great luck!” He clicked his tongue in wonder.
To which Lan Xun smiled faintly, “According to Father’s speculation, there are probably many Sealed Worlds in the fifth layer that have their own keys, just like that Sealed World! As long as we can obtain those keys, we can open the entrances of those Sealed Worlds at any time and in any place to allow our disciples to enter for cultivation.”
Taken aback, Yang Kai exclaimed in astonishment, “I can’t believe something like that is possible!”
All of a sudden, Xiao Chen’s expression changed as he quietly spoke next to Lan Xun, “Your Highness, you have divulged too much.”
This matter was one of Star Soul Palace’s secrets. Although it was not a core secret, it was still something that shouldn’t be disclosed to others so casually. Fortunately, nobody could criticize her for her words because of her status.
Lan Xun shook her head in response, “It’s fine. It’s not like a key can be found so easily anyway. Star Soul Palace has been searching for them for so many years, but we have only found one in all that time.”
Yang Kai seriously pondered those words for a while before cupping his fists and saying, “Many thanks for enlightening me.”
Pursing her lips, Lan Xun smilingly said, “Having said so much, a lot of time has passed. Senior Brother Yang, let’s advance to the fifth layer.”
He nodded, “En. Please go ahead, Junior Sister Lan!”
All of a sudden, her expression turned solemn as she warned, “There’s one more thing you need to know, Senior Brother Yang. Anything can happen in the Sealed Worlds found in the fifth layer, so please be very careful. Don’t be shaken nor influenced by external factors!”
“I understand,” Yang Kai nodded.
While they were speaking, the three of them had arrived at the end of the corridor. Yang Kai glanced forward and saw a rotating vortex that seemed mysterious and unpredictable. Moreover, a strange aura that gave off an uncomfortable vibe oozed out from it.
“Senior Brother Yang, I’ll be going first. Take care and let us meet again outside.” Lan Xun leapt forward after saying that to Yang Kai, jumping into the vortex and vanishing from sight.
Xiao Chen stood motionlessly and sighed, seeming to be a little depressed. It had not been easy for him to locate Princess Lan Xun in the fourth layer during their time here and he had wanted to accompany her to the end. But to his surprise, she wanted to enter the fifth layer no matter what, forcing them to be separated again. After shooting a faint glance at Yang Kai, he too jumped into the vortex, seemingly having no interest in making small talk.
Yang Kai was soon the only one left in this place, and as time was running out, he naturally did not hesitate either. Besides, both Lan Xun and Xiao Chen had entered, so it was only natural for him to follow them in.
The moment Yang Kai stepped into the vortex, he immediately pushed his Space Principles to see if he could enter the intermediate space just like in the fourth layer. If he was able to, it would grant him the ability to control what experiences he would have to a certain extent.
Unfortunately, Yang Kai was disappointed this time around. Despite shielding himself with his Space Principles, there was no reaction whatsoever, and when his vision returned, he heard an anxious cry sounding in his ears, “Ah Niu, wake up! Wake up! The Beast Tide is coming! Hurry and wake up! Why are you daydreaming?!”
At the same time, a large hand grabbed his shoulder and shook him vigorously. Yang Kai was shocked as he did not know what was going on at all. His expression darkened in response, and he simultaneously reached out to grab the other person’s large hand.
Contrary to his expectations though, the other party’s reaction was unimaginably swift. Before Yang Kai could touch the other party’s hand, his own wrist was grabbed tightly. An unimaginably violent force came from the other party’s hand, instantly suppressing him. Yang Kai couldn’t move a single muscle, causing his expression to change drastically once more. While feeling shocked by the other party’s strength, he tried to circulate his Emperor Qi to free himself only to discover that nothing happened!
[My body is empty! Not a single shred of Emperor Qi exists inside of me!] In a flash, Yang Kai felt so shocked that his complexion turned deathly pale. He nearly lost his soul due to this unexpected situation.
Before entering the Sealed World of the fifth layer, Yang Kai had been confident he would achieve great things as he had complete faith in his skills. After all, his true strength was not to be underestimated. Numerous Third-Order Emperor Realm Masters had been defeated at his hands already. Furthermore, he had no reason to fear since even Lan Xun, Xiao Chen, and Lei Ting dared to enter the Sealed Worlds of the fifth layer.
Yang Kai believed that his life would not be threatened regardless of what dangers he might face. In the worst-case scenario, he had his Spatial Abilities and could always run away if he couldn’t win. Unfortunately, this unexpected turn of events left him at a loss for what to do.
[Why is my Emperor Qi gone? Am I still an Emperor Realm Master without my Emperor Qi? Doesn’t that make me no different from a cultivator that just started cultivating?! What is going on?!]
Amidst his shock, Lan Xun’s words echoed in his ears, “Anything can happen in the Sealed Worlds found in the fifth layer. Please be very careful, Senior Brother Yang. Don’t be shaken nor influenced by external factors!”
Gathering his thoughts, Yang Kai instantly calmed down. [Don’t panic. Don’t panic! First, I need to figure out what is happening. Perhaps, this Sealed World has its own World Principles that suppress my true strength and that’s why I can’t sense a single shred of Emperor Qi in me. Besides, the owner of the hand grabbing my wrist may be strong, but I don’t sense any hostility or malicious intent from them. They probably don’t mean any harm.]
Yang Kai lifted his head and saw a pair of bloodshot, scarlet eyes right in front of his face. Then, his vision expanded and the image of a face covered in a shaggy beard imprinted itself in his eyes.
It was a young man, one about the same age as Yang Kai. However, his appearance was very rough, and his figure was so burly that he didn’t seem human. Moreover… He really had a different kind of appearance to the humans Yang Kai was familiar with, like he had some kind of special or unique bloodline. This young man was dressed very simply with only animal skins wrapped around his body to cover up his important bits while the rest of his body was left exposed. In addition, he had muscles as firm as metal. One glance was enough to tell that his body contained explosive strength.
Then, Yang Kai glanced down at himself. His arms and legs were thin and slender. The contrast was like night and day compared to the young man in front of him! Having said that, he was still considerably fit even though he was not burly. It was just that the other party was too muscular.
[But… Why did a living person appear? Is this a dream? Or, an illusion created by the Sealed World? It can’t be a dream, yet it’s too realistic to be an illusion.] Yang Kai couldn’t feel any falsities from the bearded young man in front of him. As far as he could tell, this young man was a living, breathing person with actual flesh and bones! Besides, the environment around him was very simple yet completely tangible. They seemed to be inside a shabby log house, which barely had any furnishings inside of it. There was a simple bench made from a tree stump; a wooden table cobbled together from pieces of boards; some pots and pans stacked to the side; several slabs of unknown animal meat hung on the wall, blackened by smoke, some wild vegetables piled in a wooden basket, and some leftovers in a stone bowl…
[What is this place?] Just as Yang Kai was pondering the question, the bearded young man yelled at him, “Have you gone stupid!? I told you that the Beast Tide is here! Did you not hear me?!”
The young man’s voice was filled with anxiety, and the volume was deafening. In response, Yang Kai nodded woodenly, “I heard you!”
“If you heard me then hurry up and help out! The village is short of manpower, and the defences are about to be broken!” While speaking, the bearded young man gripped Yang Kai’s wrist tightly and ran outside with swift steps.
Yang Kai took the opportunity to ask, “Who are you…”
The bearded young man froze in his tracks for a moment and looked back at Yang Kai, the beast-like scarlet eyes causing a chill to run down his back. After a long while, the young man sighed, “Are you being stupid again? I’m Ah Hu!”
The corners of Yang Kai’s mouth twitched slightly as he asked, “Did you say that my name is Ah Niu?”
[Ah Niu?! What the hell?! I’m called Ah Niu?! What is with this damned Sealed World?! Moreover, the other party is called Ah Hu? Can the names get any simpler?]
“I don’t have the time to explain all of this to you. Hurry up and help out! I’ll answer anything you want after the Beast Tide is over!” Ah Hu hurriedly dragged Yang Kai along as he ran.
Not far from the log house, Yang Kai heard shouting and screaming, as well as beastly roars coming from not far away. The sounds resounded through the sky, and even the ground seemed to shake from them.
He glanced about his surroundings, feeling rather astonished. All the people running around the place were like Ah Hu. They were burly and built like iron towers, each of them seemingly incredibly powerful. In addition, some of the women were also tall, strong and incredibly well built.
A robust woman ran by like lightning while carrying a huge boulder spanning a diameter of six metres as if it was as light as a feather. Yang Kai could not sense any Qi fluctuations from her. In other words, she was carrying the stone with the strength of her body alone. There were also some obviously under-aged children that looked no more than ten years old. They were also holding weapons in their hands, and their baby faces were filled with a bitter hatred for their enemy while lacking any kind of fear towards death.
Meanwhile, as Yang Kai was still having trouble believing what he was seeing, everyone was hurrying over towards a certain spot. All of them were wrapped in several pieces of animal skin while not even the simplest clothes could be found here. Lowering his head, Yang Kai saw that he too was dressed in the same fashion! His exposed skin was as white as snow, forming a sharp contrast with Ah Hu’s dark and tanned skin.
[Forget it. Forget it. It’s just a minor detail…] He comforted himself in his heart.
There were many log houses in the surrounding area. These log houses had a simple and crude appearance that was similar to how the people here looked. Next, Yang Kai gazed into the distance and saw a wall made of logs and stones that was erected not far away. This place was probably a village. Moreover, it looked like a very primitive and ancient village.
Meanwhile, the beastly roars that made one feel extremely uneasy came from outside the wall. Many villagers were standing on top of the wall, either throwing huge boulders or shooting arrows from large bows. The flames of war were raging and a bloody smell permeated the air. It was a very nauseating smell.
All of a sudden, Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed. A muscular leopard over ten metres in length scaled over the wall and opened its bloody jaws wide before chomping down on one of the villager’s heads. Even though the villager had a body that was as burly as an iron tower, how could he win against an existence like that? After a short struggle, the leopard bit the villager’s head off, causing blood to gush out like a fountain. It was a harsh sight to see under the scorching sun.
Seemingly enraged by what happened, the villagers around the wall lunged towards the leopard with a roar. At the same time, a dozen arrows flew through the air and buried themselves into the leopard’s body.
In response, the leopard roared in pain and staggered on its feet. Following that, a villager threw himself at the leopard, knocking it off the wall and falling with it outside. There was no need to guess at the fate of that villager as it was an obvious outcome.
This caused a section of the wall to instantly become undefended. Hence, the remaining villagers were a little panicked and at a loss for what to do. All of them were screaming constantly as a result.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!” Ah Hu dragged Yang Kai to the bottom of the wall. Exerting some strength in his hands, he reached out and tossed Yang Kai up to the top before turning to a robust woman standing nearby and shouting, “Ah Hua, I’ll leave Ah Niu in your hands!”
The woman named Ah Hua glanced at Ah Niu at those words, her bushy brows furrowing together slightly as if she was a little disgruntled. She was about to say something, but Ah Hu had already rushed out towards the village gate.
“Forget it; it’s better than nothing,” Ah Hua muttered in annoyance. She stretched out her hand toward Yang Kai and uttered succinctly, “Arrows!”
Yang Kai was slightly taken aback by her words. To be honest, he was still stunned by everything that had taken place ever since he entered this Sealed World and had yet to gather his wits. Moreover, the bewildering changes left him unable to figure out the situation he was in right now.
All he understood was that he had appeared in this somewhat primitive and ancient village for some reason, inexplicably received the name ‘Ah Niu’, and was unwittingly caught up in a bloody war.
Yang Kai had explored several Sealed Worlds before but never had he encountered a situation as complicated and perplexing as this. He had the vague feeling that the Sealed World he entered this time around was rather special; thus, he decided to be on his guard at all times. Who knows? He might receive unexpected gains from this venture. In any case, he was in no position to care about whether these villagers were illusions, hallucinations, or something else.
[I’ll deal with it when the time comes; things will always work out, one way or another.]
“Are you deaf!? Hand me the arrows!” Seeing that Yang Kai was still in a daze, the woman named Ah Hua couldn’t help shouting at him, her eyes as red and bloodshot as Ah Hu’s. Furthermore, her emotions of fury and hatred were so strong that they almost seemed to condense into a tangible substance. Her fury and hatred were of course not aimed at Yang Kai, but rather born from the feelings of powerlessness after seeing many of her fellow villagers being devoured by the wild beasts to the point where not even bones were left, yet being completely helpless to avenge their deaths.
Yang Kai finally snapped back to his senses after being shouted at like this. He hurriedly looked around and saw a pile of arrows fashioned from some unknown wood lying by his feet. Each wooden arrow was approximately three metres long and as thick as a baby’s arm, giving them a terrifying look.
Reaching out to pick them up, Yang Kai grunted in surprise. This wooden arrow was incredibly heavy, almost as if it was made from heavy iron rather than wood. It was hard for him to imagine how an ordinary person without even Yuan Qi could manage them.
“Your task is to hand me these arrows!” Ah Hua looked at him sternly and shouted, “Do you understand?!”
“Yes, I understand!” Yang Kai nodded honestly and took the opportunity to study this woman named Ah Hua. The villagers here were generally burly and rough around the edges; however, this woman named Ah Hua looked beautiful and had a curvy figure. Her towering peaks were barely wrapped in animal skins, revealing a deep valley passing between the mountains. She had a slim waist, a flat belly, and tight, rounded bottom.
If she wasn’t such a tall and strong woman, she would make for a decent beauty. However, no petite and delicate ladies could be born in an environment where physical strength was of paramount importance; after all, death was the only ending for an ordinary person without strength here. Even so, this Ah Hua had a different kind of wild beauty to her.
With an arrow in hand, she immediately drew the giant bow into a full moon. This sight made Yang Kai’s brow twitch slightly as he could only imagine the amount of strength required to draw a bow like that. Even so, she did it so easily that it looked like it was effortless.
*Weng…*
Following that whistling sound, the arrow shot forward and Yang Kai could distinctly see the burst of compressed air in front of the arrowhead as it left the bow. The force behind that arrow was terrifying.
A giant beast leaping towards them was nailed in the eye mid-air by the arrow. The three-metre-long arrow pierced through its skull and caused blood to splatter everywhere. Then, the giant beast fell to the ground heavily and struggled for a few moments before it stopped moving completely.
“Amazing!” Yang Kai praised sincerely.
Ah Hua simply looked at him coldly and stretched out a hand. Understanding what she meant, Yang Kai hurriedly picked up an arrow from the ground and handed it to her. Pulling the bow back again, she loosened another arrow.
Every arrow Ah Hua shot killed a giant beast, with each one piercing directly into the eye of an enemy, smashing their heads without fail. It could be said that she never missed her mark.
More than ten other archers like Ah Hua stood on top of the wall, and each of them had superb skills, which amazed Yang Kai greatly. If the villagers in this village had not had this impressive ability, they would not have been able to survive in such a place where the circumstances were so harsh.
The battle on the wall reached a kind of stability, with Ah Hua and the other archers shooting their arrows in an orderly manner. Meanwhile, hundreds of villagers held various weapons in their hands as they brutally slew those giant beasts outside the village.
The roar of the beasts and the furious shouts of man intertwined together. Blood splattered everywhere as body parts were cleaved off. Giant beasts fell and villagers died, one after another. An inextricable life-or-death battle took place in front of this nameless village. It seemed as though both sides had an absolutely irreconcilable hatred for each other and refused to stop until one party completely exterminated the other.
On the battlefield, an ancient melody suddenly resounded in an aged voice. An old man with a stooped figure walked across the ground scattered with bodies with a cane. His undulating voice was accompanied by the flickering of his cane which shone with an inexplicable brilliance. At that moment, it felt as if something akin to spirituality poured into the bodies of the fighting villagers.
Every villager shrouded in that brilliance suddenly became incredibly bold and fierce. As if inspired by something, their skin turned crimson and the surface of their bodies were covered in a layer of red light. Releasing furious roars, they began knocking the giant beasts back with overwhelming force.
It was an incredibly strange sight to see the seemingly weak and unassuming stooped figure old man walking across the battlefield defenceless. Even so, the giant beasts seemed to ignore him as if they couldn’t even see him at all.
Yang Kai widened his eyes in surprise and exclaimed, “Barbarian Techniques! The Barbarian Race?! The Ancient Barbarian Race?!”
At first, he had no idea what kind of place this seemingly primitive and ancient village was; however, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and vaguely realized where this was after witnessing the old man’s mysterious methods.
It was rumoured that in ancient times, before cultivation became widespread and man-made disasters became endless, humans fought against the Heavens just to survive. Thus, the Barbarian Techniques were born.
The Ancient Barbarian Race placed great importance on cultivating their physical bodies, and it was said that when their bodies were cultivated to the highest level, they would become practically immortal and indestructible, making the true powerhouses not inferior to the Great Emperors of today. In that era, there were no Secret Techniques and Secret Arts, nor artifacts and advanced weapons. All anyone could rely on was the strength of their own body. Hence, the Humans of that era were known as the Ancient Barbarian Race; they were also the ancestors of the Human race today.
Among the Barbarian Techniques, the most famous and practical technique was the Bloodlust Technique. Similar to what the old man was doing at the moment, they used an inexplicable power to inspire the hidden potential within one’s body to increase their strength exponentially by burning their Blood Essence. Unfortunately, the Bloodlust Art had a huge pitfall. Once it was used, it would cause a person to become weak for a period afterwards. It would also affect their lifespan. If the technique was used multiple times, it might even kill the affected instead of aiding them. This was because the Bloodlust Art utilized the innate Blood Essence in a person’s body as its fuel.
[No wonder all the villagers look so haggard and old. It seems like it is not their first time utilizing the Bloodlust Art.] A person would undoubtedly grow older faster as their Blood Essence was consumed. Moreover, only a very small number of people among the Ancient Barbarian Race could master the Barbarian Techniques. Most people could only train their bodies, while those who could cultivate the Barbarian Techniques were known as Shamans! Thus, the Barbarian Secret Arts were also known as Shamanic Spells!
The old man was undoubtedly a Shaman; however, Yang Kai did not know how powerful a Shaman he was as all of this belonged to ancient history. Besides, Yang Kai had only heard the occasional mention about the Ancient Barbarian Race after roaming the Star Boundary for a long time. How could he be familiar with the division of power of this distant age?
[I can’t believe that they are the Ancient Barbarian Race! Moreover, I witnessed a Shamanic Spell! Does that mean that the place I am in right now is part of ancient history? But, how can this be? The gap between the present and these primitive times is far too wide. Moreover, this entire race had long ago been lost to the river of time. How did this Sealed World maintain a complete legacy from ancient times? Is this place real or fake? Can it be that I really am Ah Niu? Then, what happened to Yang Kai? Am I dreaming?]
“The Village Chief is a Shaman Apprentice. Did you only realize this today? What rock have you been living under for all these years?” When Ah Hua heard what Yang Kai was muttering, she couldn’t help snapping at him. Her saliva splattered across his face as she scolded, “Don’t forget; the village doesn’t need good-for-nothings. If not for Ah Hu constantly sharing some food with you, you would have starved to death a long time ago! You better prove the value of your existence today. Don’t you dare bring shame to Ah Hu!”