Translator: Silavin & Tia
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
It started with one of the young man’s arms being crushed. Then, it was his second arm, followed by both his legs…
The continuous sound of bones breaking was extremely disturbing.
The fear and despair in his eyes grew stronger and stronger, but his screams slowly grew weaker and weaker. He became breathless instead. The entire process took no more than a half cup of tea’s time. In that time, all the bones in his body had been crushed to pieces and all the meridians in his body were destroyed.
This kind of pain was not something ordinary people could withstand. The most important point was that he could clearly feel the traces and movements of each bone when they were broken. What horrified him even more was Yang Kai’s expression, which remained completely calm and indifferent, almost cold and meticulous, making him look like he was handling something very serious.
“Please kill me…” The young man murmured with lifeless eyes, “Kill me!”
It didn’t matter if all his bones were broken. With his cultivation, he only needed to recuperate for three to five years and consume some Spirit Pills to recover from even such major injuries. However, there was no way to recover once his meridians had been destroyed. Even if he could heal all the broken bones in his body, he would only be a cripple in the future. He could never cultivate again. For a cultivator, it was a fate worse than death. There was no crueler fate than that.
“Won’t killing you be going too easy on you?” Yang Kai stood up and looked down on this person contemptuously, his expression still as calm as ever, “I’m a man who means what he says. I said I won’t kill you, so I won’t kill you!”
After that, he took off the young man’s Space Ring and retrieved the Space Rings from the others. Turning around, he walked back to Qu Hua Shang.
Qu Hua Shang was in shock. It was her first time seeing Yang Kai acting so cruel. He had always given her the impression of a mild tempered man. At the very least, he was warm and gentle with her. Be that as it may, his current actions could only be described as cruel and ruthless. It was true that he had not killed the young man from Heavenly Sword Union, but this fate was more despairing than death.
[Just who is this woman?] She lowered her head to look at Zhang Ruo Xi, who she was carrying in her arms. [I can’t believe seeing her hurt made Yang Kai so furious.]
Although she did not know the answer to her question, Qu Hua Shang could be certain that he had a close relationship with this young woman.
“How is Ruo Xi?” Yang Kai came to Qu Hua Shang and placed two fingers on the young woman’s wrist to probe her condition while asking. After a while, he breathed a sigh of relief. She was heavily injured, but her injuries had not damaged her foundation; hence, she would recover fully after recuperating for some time.
“Many thanks for your life-saving grace, Senior Brother!” A voice came from the side suddenly. It was the man who had been fleeing alongside Zhang Ruo Xi earlier. Seeing that his pursuers were gone, he returned and thanked Yang Kai.
Yang Kai turned to look in that direction and his originally gentle gaze instantly turned frosty. What happened earlier had not escaped his notice.
Both this person and Zhang Ruo Xi were being pursued just now. It was bad enough that he had not protected her. When an attack came from behind, it was only she who turned around to defend. On the other hand, he had taken the opportunity to flee even faster. He didn’t even bother to look back to see what had happened to her. It was one thing if they did not know each other; however, they had been escaping together, so how could they be unrelated to one another?
How could Yang Kai have any good impression towards a person like that? Even Qu Hua Shang looked at this man with an expression of disgust.
“Sir, this is my Senior Brother, Du Xu.” Zhang Ruo Xi introduced weakly.
Why would Yang Kai care to know that person’s name? He simply shouted, “Scram!”
Du Xu originally had a smile on his face, but when he heard Yang Kai telling him to get lost, his expression suddenly became incredibly awkward. He said falteringly, “Senior Brother, why must you be so hurtful with your words? Although you rescued my Junior Sister and I, we are still from Lang Ya Paradise.”
“It’s a disgrace to Lang Ya Paradise for having a disciple like you! Get lost!”
Du Xu’s face flushed red in embarrassment and then he became angry out of shame. It looked like he wanted to say something back, but he did not dare to speak the words that were on the tip of his tongue when he recalled the strength and brutality Yang Kai displayed earlier. In the end, he could only glance at Zhang Ruo Xi angrily before he turned to leave.
Qu Hua Shang watched that person’s back and frowned, “Is that person really from Lang Ya Paradise? He is a disciple of one of the 72 Paradises. How could he act like that?”
Lowering her head, she asked Zhang Ruo Xi, “Are you also from Lang Ya Paradise?”
Zhang Ruo Xi replied, “Yes. Senior Brother Du and I might belong to Lang Ya Paradise, but we are just Inner Disciples.”
Qu Hua Shang understood. Most Sects divided their disciples into three grades. The first were the Outer Disciples. They had the lowest status and worst potential. Next came the Inner Disciples. They had much better aptitudes and potential. The strongest among the disciples were the Core Disciples or Legacy Disciples. These talents were the future hope and pillars of the major Sects.
Both Qu Hua Shang and Gu Pan were Core Disciples while Zhang Ruo Xi and that man called Du Xu were Inner Disciples.
Legacy Disciples and Core Disciples were the smallest in number. Generally, only the cultivators who could condense Sixth-Order Elements were qualified to be chosen. Even among the major Cave-Heavens and Paradises, each Sect did not have more than a dozen Legacy or Core Disciples. Nevertheless, it was hard to say how many out of this dozen or so people would succeed and advance into the Open Heaven Realm and how many would fall.
Upon knowing that they were from Lang Ya Paradise, Qu Hua Shang became even more curious, “Heavenly Sword Union might be relatively powerful, but they wouldn’t dare to provoke Lang Ya Paradise. Why did those people pursue you so doggedly just now?”
Zhang Ruo Xi said, “We accidentally discovered a medicine garden earlier. It seemed to be one created by Blood Monster Divine Monarch. We found many valuable herbs, so those people were blinded by their greed.”
Yang Kai immediately snorted coldly, “Men die for wealth.”
As long as the people from Heavenly Sword Union could kill Zhang Ruo Xi and Du Xu, who would know that they had attacked people from Lang Ya Paradise? This matter would not be exposed.
If Zhang Ruo Xi and Du Xu had not met Yang Kai here, they would certainly be facing a bleak future. What Zhang Ruo Xi never expected was that Du Xu would be so unreliable. He had been very eager to flirt with her and constantly displayed his affection when they were at Lang Ya Paradise. His usual demeanour was also rather upright. Although she had explicitly rejected him on numerous occasions, he had continued to persevere.
Afterward, they happened to encounter each other in the Blood Monster Cave Heaven. Considering the dangers of this place, she decided to travel together with him. It had made him very happy, so he had been extremely diligent in every way.
Even so, he turned out to be as timid as a mouse when faced with a crisis. With their strength, they would not have been able to kill those people from Heavenly Sword Union even if they fought back with everything they had, but their enemies would also have suffered greatly as a result. The best chance at surviving would have been if they could scare their opponents off. However, Du Xu chose to escape without even trying to fight, leaving Zhang Ruo Xi no choice but to escape with him. In the end, it turned into the situation Yang Kai had witnessed earlier.
“Ruo Xi, the top priority is treating your wounds. We can talk about the rest later,” Yang Kai said.
Zhang Ruo Xi gave a non-committal grunt in response.
He took her from Qu Hua Shang’s arms and placed her into the Small Sealed World without another word. Then, he called out to Qu Hua Shang, “Let’s go, Senior Sister.”
The two of them continued on their journey while the cries of the young man from Heavenly Sword Union came from behind them as he begged in despair, “Please kill me!”
There were no traces of other cultivators along their journey and they did not see many traces of Monster Beast activity either. Many of the cultivators were in possession of a map sold by Red Clouds Auction House. Naturally, they moved forward by relying on the directions of the map. It was not surprising that their journey was calm since they were travelling the path that others had travelled earlier.
This only happened because Yang Kai and Qu Hua Shang had encountered too many hardships along their way, which delayed their travels; otherwise, they would not have fallen behind the others.
After travelling for two days, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly changed and he immersed his mind into the Small Sealed World. He might have been travelling all this while, but he had always kept an eye on Zhang Ruo Xi’s condition inside the Small Sealed World. Just now, she had called for him.
Sending his Soul Avatar inside, Yang Kai stood in front of Zhang Ruo Xi. She smiled slightly and said delightedly, “I knew you would come to the Blood Monster Cave Heaven, Sir.”
Yang Kai was surprised and asked, “Did you come here just to look for me?”
“En.” Blinking, she continued, “Hasn’t Sir been looking for me all this while as well? Senior Sister Gu told me everything. She said that you once sought her out in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary to ask about me.”
“Gu Pan came to look for you?”
Upon further consideration, Yang Kai understood the situation. He had asked Gu Pan for information on Zhang Ruo Xi back in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary. At the time, she said she had never heard of the name ‘Zhang Ruo Xi’ before. It was not until she returned to Lang Ya Paradise that she deliberately went around inquiring for information. That was how she found Zhang Ruo Xi.
“Senior Sister Gu has taken great care of me. I would not have been able to become an Inner Disciple if not for her.”
“Then, I’ll have to thank her properly next time.” Yang Kai nodded lightly. The image of a petite young girl with a paintbrush in hand, eating dried fish with her head lowered slightly involuntarily flashed through his mind.
Sitting crossed-legged opposite Zhang Ruo Xi, Yang Kai looked at her and grinned, “I’m glad. Although it has been years since we’ve last met, you’ve not gotten thinner. Good, very good.”
She blushed beet red, “Sir, are you calling me fat?”
“Of course not. You’re perfect the way you are right now. You’re neither fat nor thin.” Yang Kai chuckled, “By the way, did you go straight to Lang Ya Paradise after we parted ways back then?”
She nodded, “That’s right. I couldn’t find Sir; however, I knew you knew that my ancestor came from Lang Ya Paradise. I believed that you would surely look for me there, so I went there.”
Zhang Ruo Xi had not been very strong at the time. Moreover, she had to wander the 3,000 Worlds alone. How difficult had it been for her to go to Lang Ya Paradise? It was fortunate that she had some of her ancestor’s memories and knew quite a lot about the Outer Universe; otherwise, a lone girl like her would have been devoured cleanly by others.
Even so, the journey had taken her more than 10 years. It was not until several years ago that she finally arrived at Lang Ya Paradise. Joining Lang Ya Paradise was not difficult. Her ancestor had been a Lang Ya Paradise disciple after all, so she received some preferential treatment. Besides, her own aptitude was not poor. Lang Ya Paradise was also happy to accept a disciple like her.
It was just that it had not been easy to survive in Lang Ya Paradise. That place was one of the 72 Paradises, so although it had a grand reputation, it was still a large Sect. It was not easy to stand out among the countless disciples. Zhang Ruo Xi had crawled her way through the lower levels and finally borrowed Gu Pan’s help before she successfully became an Inner Disciple.
Be that as it may, she did not tell Yang Kai about these matters. The hardships she went through in the past were not worth mentioning. Meeting her Sir once more in this vast universe was the greatest gift from the Heavens she could ask for.
Yang Kai nodded, “I guessed as much. I wanted to head to Lang Ya Paradise, but I was held up by some other things.”
After he came out from the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, he had wanted to go to Lang Ya Paradise to look for Zhang Ruo Xi. It was just that he later obtained Void Land and the root from the World Tree, so he had to hurriedly return to the Star Boundary instead.
