Yang Kai was quickly closing the thousand-metre gap between himself and Manager Wang, but just as he was about to catch up, Yang Kai felt a shocking energy fluctuation rapidly approaching from behind. In the next instant, a stream of light shot past him and impacted the old man surnamed Wang’s back.
A pitiful scream rang out before Manager Wang fell to the ground, struggling for only a moment before lying still.
Yang Kai raised his brow as he looked back in surprise only to see Yang Yan in her black robe holding up a crossbow-like artifact.
Yang Kai recognized this artifact as one of the prizes he had looted in the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
He had obtained it from a cultivator from the Xie Family. The other party had used this artifact to sneak attack him but had ultimately failed to kill Yang Kai. In the end, Yang Kai had ended the Xie Family cultivator’s life. This artifact’s power was quite impressive, but the cost to use it was equally high, even requiring a blood sacrifice from its wielder, a truly evil artifact. As such, Yang Kai had not paid much attention to this crossbow after obtaining it and had simply tossed it into his Space Ring.
Now it seems that Yang Yan had improved and enhanced it, allowing her to use it against enemies in combat.
The old man surnamed Wang dying like this saved Yang Kai some trouble so he didn’t mind either way. Immediately walking over the body, Yang Kai urged the power of his Demon Eye of Annihilation and soon, Manager Wang’s Soul remnant was sucked into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea and purified. Finished with this, Yang Kai removed Manager Wang’s Space Ring before turning around and returning to Yang Yan and Qian Yue.
Inside the abandoned hall, Qian Yue stared at Yang Kai, as if she was having trouble recognizing him.
After Yang Yan used the crossbow artifact, she had nearly collapsed, and her face had gone quite pale. It seemed even after her special refinement and improvement, the cost of using this artifact was still quite high.
“Let’s rest here for a while before setting out again, there should be no further ambushes,” Yang Kai said before handing Yang Yan a bottle of pills then walking over to the Space Array.
He wanted to completely destroy this Space Array to ensure that any further arrangements his opponents might have made couldn’t be implemented, and to ensure that no clues about what happened here were left behind.
Taking advantage of this time, Yang Yan quickly adjusted her breathing while Qian Yue went to clean up the remains of the other fallen Saint King Realm cultivators.
While Yang Yan sat in meditation, both Yang Kai and Qian Yue finished their respective work and Qian Yue handed over the Space Rings she had collected to Yang Kai, the look of shock still lingering on her face, as if she was unable to believe the scene she had just witnessed, even now.
Yang Kai glanced at her and naturally understood what she was thinking. Waving his hand lightly, he said, “Keep those Space Rings for yourself, there’s probably nothing good inside them, but there are probably some resources which will be suitable for you to use. Don’t reject, when you reach Dragon Cave Mountain, you’ll understand what true riches look like and how worthless these things are.”
Qian Yue froze for a moment, but eventually did not object, simply happily replying, “Then I’ll look forward to it.”
She really could not help anticipating arriving at Dragon Cave Mountain now. Since wandering about destitute through the Star Field and arriving at Joyous Union Pavilion, Qian Yue had never met anyone she knew or found a place to rely on. She felt like a rootless tree, a river without a source, suffering through each day.
But now, Yang Kai had appeared in front of her, allowing her to find a pillar of support for her weary heart and giving her hope for the future. Although Yang Kai was her Junior, this Junior had now exceeded her cultivation, so depending on him a little was not something to feel embarrassed about.
While waiting for Yang Yan to restore herself, Yang Kai sat down and began reviewing his gains and losses from this battle.
This was not the first time Yang Kai had battled an Origin Returning Realm master, but it was his first time killing such a cultivator. If not for the interference from his Soul Devouring Insects and his mastery of the Dao of Space, however, Yang Kai estimated he would not have been Manager Wang’s opponent.
Nevertheless, this battle allowed him to understand that his Golden Blood Thread could cut apart Shi, a pleasant surprise. When Deng Ning of Demon Blood Temple handed him the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique, he had not mentioned anything about this particular ability.
Facing this old man surnamed Wang, a First-Order Origin Returning Realm master, Yang Kai had to go all out, so what about a master at the Second-Order or Third-Order?
Yang Kai suddenly realized that his cultivation realm was still too low. After returning to Dragon Cave Mountain, he decided to enter retreat to break through to the next realm. Only when his cultivation reached the Origin Returning Realm would he not have to fear anyone on Shadowed Star.
Half a day later, Yang Yan had restored herself sufficiently, so Yang Kai summoned his Star Shuttle and left this deserted city with the two women.
After flying for two days, the trio arrived at a small town and Yang Kai flew down to ask for directions. After learning that this place was only half a month away from Heavenly Fate City, he finally relaxed.
He was really afraid that the deserted city was actually farther away from Heavenly Fate City than Black Crow City, but it seemed his luck was good and Wang Yu Han had chosen to set up this ambush in the same direction as Heavenly Fate City.
On top of that, they had arrived inside Shadow Moon Hall’s territory, so with his friendship with Qian Tong, Wei Gu Chang, and Dong Xuan’er, they were basically safe.
Along the way, Yang Kai remained silent as he was immersed in planning what to do in the future, while Yang Yan and Qian Yue chatted a bit from time to time. Like this, half a month passed by and the group of three arrived at Dragon Cave Mountain. As soon as she saw this place, Qian Yue fell in love with it.
Although Dragon Cave Mountain was not as grand and imposing as the foundations of a great Sect, it had its own unique style. The mountains and rivers here were all incredibly beautiful, making it seem like an untouched paradise.
After letting Yang Yan help Qian Yue settle in, Yang Kai went to see the Divine Tree and learned that it was currently in good spirits. On top of that, the Golden Sun Fruit Tree Yang Kai had transplanted was now doing well, its vitality slowly growing stronger with no possibility of it perishing anymore.
After giving the Divine Tree a drop of Golden Blood, Yang Kai immediately announced he was entering retreat.
Inside his cave mansion, Yang Kai played with a small, crystal-clear bead in his hand as tenderness filled his eyes.
This bead was Su Yan’s Ice Soul Bead. As long as this bead remained intact, the person who condensed it was certainly still alive. Although he did not know where Su Yan was right now, as long as this Ice Soul Bead remained, it meant she was still fine.
Feeling Su Yan’s aura gently wafting from this bead made Yang Kai feel nostalgic.
After watching it for a long time, Yang Kai smiled warmly, held it tightly, closed his eyes, and silently cultivated, attempting to break through.
Back in Joyous Union Pavilion, Yang Kai had touched the threshold of the Third-Order Saint King Realm, but at that time, he was too anxious to hear news about Su Yan, so he had firmly suppressed his breakthrough. Now that he had returned to Dragon Cave Mountain, his first order of business was to attempt a breakthrough again.
The Ten Thousand Year Incense burned in the background, its mellow and calming fragrance filling the air. The place where Yang Kai chose to meditate was also right beside the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree, and with his thorough comprehension of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, this breakthrough posed no problem to him.
With just a trivial ten days worth of effort, and without the assistance of any pills or Saint Crystals, Yang Kai successfully broke through to the Third-Order Saint King Realm.
His breakthrough did not cause any spectacular scene as the cave mansion was completely isolated by powerful Spirit Arrays, so not even the other residents of Dragon Cave Mountain knew Yang Kai had made a breakthrough.
After taking another month or so to consolidate his cultivation, Yang Kai began taking inventory of his harvest from his latest trip.
With a thought, Yang Kai summoned another bead into the palm of his hand. This bead was different from Su Yan’s Ice Soul Bead, it had an inconspicuous grey appearance. It was the Coloured Glass Bead Dai Yuan had given him.
As Dai Yuan cultivated her Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art, taking a small amount of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass into her body, she was able to condense this bead which was equivalent to the Monster Core of a Monster Beast. It was extremely valuable.
Dai Yuan had said that if he could refine this Coloured Glass Bead, he might be able to comprehend the mysteries of Coloured Glass Divine Light!
Coloured Glass Divine Light had the incredible ability to suppress others’ Souls and it was very difficult to guard against. Yang Kai had even suffered a small loss to this Coloured Glass Divine Light, so he had a deep interest in it. If he could really achieve what Dai Yuan said, it would give him another powerful card to use in battle.
Moreover, Coloured Glass Divine Light shared some similarities with his Demon Eye of Annihilation; both had the function of suppressing other’s Souls, so if he was able to combine the two of them, Yang Kai couldn’t say what kind of mutation would happen.
After quietly contemplating for a while, Yang Kai decided to put aside this Coloured Glass Bead for now and instead take out his Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace.
Inside the Corpse Cave, in order to collect the Sun’s True Essence, the Firebird Artifact Spirit had suffered some injuries, but Yang Kai had learned afterwards that this had actually been a blessing in disguise because the Artifact Spirit had ingested a wisp of Sun’s True Fire and was assimilating it inside the Artifact Refining Furnace.
Now, more than a month had passed, yet the Firebird showed no signs of awakening as it was still refining that wisp of Sun’s True Fire. However, when he observed it, Yang Kai discovered that the wisp of Sun’s True Fire had diminished greatly while the Artifact Spirit’s aura had become significantly more powerful.
Yang Kai immediately understood that the Artifact Spirit had truly obtained huge benefits from that incident.
Leaving it alone, Yang Kai put away the Artifact Refining Furnace.
Next, Yang Kai checked on the Stone Puppet. The Stone Puppet was the same as the Artifact Spirit. Some time ago, when the Stone Puppet spat out the Sun’s True Essence, Yang Kai had told it to absorb as much mineral essence as it needed to repair itself, but upon seeing it now, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a bit surprised.
The Stone Puppet’s injuries were now completely healed, and after being released by Yang Kai, its pair of eyes sparkled somewhat, its spirituality having obviously increased greatly.
However, what shocked Yang Kai the most was that the Stone Puppet’s body now seemed to contain an extremely intense Fire Attribute Energy. Even with his powerful Divine Sense, Yang Kai was unable to probe this Fire Attribute Energy as it was burnt the moment it tried to make contact with it.
Sun’s True Fire!
Unexpectedly, the Stone Puppet had absorbed some Sun’s True Fire! And it had finished refining this Sun’s True Fire even before the Fire Attribute Artifact Spirit. This was a bit of a pleasant surprise and made Yang Kai realize just how powerful the Stone Puppet’s innate talent was. Even the Artifact Spirit born from pure Fire Attribute Energy could not compare to it.
The Stone Puppet had an innate ability to quench and refine minerals, and now it seemed that the Sun’s True Fire was no exception, in the future this pure Fire Attribute Energy would only become purer and more potent.
Unfortunately, Yang Kai had yet to find another Blood Essence Stone; after all, there was another Stone Puppet in his Black Book Space, but without a Blood Essence Stone, that Stone Puppet couldn’t be hatched from its black shell.
After confirming that the Stone Puppet was alright, and even gained some unexpected advantages, Yang Kai sent it a Divine Sense command.
The Stone Puppet opened its mouth a moment later and began spitting out a massive amount of refined ores, soon creating a massive hill in front of Yang Kai.
