Translator: Silavin & Jon
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Yang Kai had never been to the Universe Temple in this Great Territory, but it was a different case for Lu Xue.
According to her, before joining Scarlet Star, she had once wandered around the 3,000 Worlds on her own with only her sword for over 100 years. During this period of time, she had visited many Great Territories and left her Imprint at their Universe Temples.
This made things simpler. After Yang Kai and Guo Zi Yan entered the Six Fated Paths Bag, Lu Xue stored the bag and activated the Universe Transference Law. A few breaths later, they arrived at the local Universe Temple.
Universe Temples and Star Cities were different. A Star City was a place where cultivators could trade and communicate with one another. On the other hand, a Universe Temple was strategically valuable. That was the reason Universe Temples were firmly controlled by the Cave-Heavens and Paradises.
Nevertheless, a Universe Temple also had some functionalities of a Star City. Cultivators could take a rest here and buy some goods; however, the prices were usually higher, and the selection of goods were not as wide, so it wasn’t comparable to a Star City in this regard.
Upon entering the Universe Temple, Lu Xue released Yang Kai and Guo Zi Yan. The three of them then found an inn and settled down. They intended to rest for a few days before continuing their journey.
Meanwhile, in one of the shops in the Universe Temple, a stern-looking yet thin middle-aged man was bargaining with the shopkeeper. Both of them seemed to be familiar with one another, and they probably had had some business deals in the past, which was why neither of them was over-passionate when bargaining. Instead, they were bartering back and forth in a calm manner.
The shopkeeper knew that the middle-aged man needed the goods in his shop, so he wasn’t worried about the latter lowering the price and dealt with him dispassionately.
All of a sudden, the middle-aged man sensed something as he grunted and turned to look in a particular direction.
The shopkeeper shot him a glance and smiled, “Hei He, it’s not that I want to make a huge profit. As you can see, the cost of this thing is really high. If I agree to your price, I’ll suffer a loss. It’s been 100 years since we got to know each other. When have I ever ripped you off? I only make a small profit every time I make a deal with you.”
A glint of surprise flashed through the eyes of the man called Hei He, then he turned his head back and nodded, “I’ll agree to the price you’ve come up with.”
The shopkeeper was stunned as he had never expected that Hei He would agree to it so easily; after all, the item was pretty expensive, and there was still room to bargain. He was ready to haggle with Hei He, but it never crossed his mind that the latter would simply agree to the price before he even made a counteroffer.
However, that was the outcome he wanted to see, so with a bright smile, he replied, “Brother He, you’re indeed a straightforward person. Wait a moment. I’ll get your items right now.”
Then, he rose from the chair and entered the storehouse. A moment later, he returned with a Space Ring. Both of them examined the ring, and upon making sure that nothing was wrong, the ring was sold to Hei He. Without intending to stay in the shop any longer, he left and took some twists and turns in the Universe Temple. Soon, he arrived at an inn, and after looking up for a moment, he nonchalantly stepped inside.
Inside the inn, Yang Kai and the others checked into a room. Before they settled down, Lu Xue hurriedly left to look for someone to repair her windmill artifact; after all, they had to rely on this artifact to move across the Great Territories. It would be exhausting for them if they didn’t have this artifact.
On the other hand, Yang Kai and Guo Zi Yan remained in the room and adjusted their breathing.
A few days later, their injuries were mostly healed, while Lu Xue’s artifact was being repaired, but they would have to wait for half a month before the repairs were complete.
Although Yang Kai was eager to return to the Star Boundary, there was nothing he could do in this situation; therefore, he decided to wait patiently. Since he had arrived at this Universe Temple, he certainly had to leave his Imprint here.
Then, he left the inn with Guo Zi Yan and Lu Xue as they headed to the Grand Array in the centre of the Universe Temple.
If a cultivator wanted to leave their Imprint at a Universe Temple, they would need to cough up 100,000 Open Heaven Pills. The price was the same throughout the 3,000 Worlds, no more, and certainly no less.
100,000 Open Heaven Pills was a lot of money, but a Universe Temple could save a person’s life at a critical moment; therefore, any wealthy cultivator wouldn’t be stingy when it came to leaving their Imprint in a Universe Temple.
However, there was no way a cultivator would leave an Imprint in only one Universe Temple, so paying 100,000 pills each time eventually led to a staggering expenditure.
So far, Yang Kai had spent more than 1 million pills on Universe Temples. In other words, he had left a Brand in more than 10 different Universe Temples at the very least.
In fact, Yang Kai was very interested in how Universe Temples worked; after all, it had something to do with the Dao of Space as one could instantly move to a Universe Temple from a faraway place. Even though he could use Instantaneous Movement as well, the distance he could travel was vastly inferior to that of the Universe Transference Law.
In any Great Territory, as long as a Universe Temple existed, the Universe Transference Law could resonate with it regardless of the distance. Yang Kai’s Instantaneous Movement was no match for it in this regard, and even his Space Beacons were inferior to it.
The distance where he could move from one Space Beacon to another was limited.
Yang Kai had a feeling that if he could unravel the mysteries of the Universe Temples, his mastery of the Dao of Space would be greatly improved.
However, there were some downsides as well. Although the Universe Transference Law was profound and abstruse, and everyone could freely learn it, it took a few breaths of time to activate it.
Yang Kai had seen a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master using the Universe Transference Law. He was the owner of First Inn, yet even someone as powerful as that needed a few breaths of time to activate the Secret Technique.
In a life-or -death battle, one’s opponents would never give them so much time to flee.
The time needed was one drawback, while the pressure was another. The further the Universe Temple was, the more pressure a cultivator would feel when using the Universe Transference Law. If that pressure exceeded their limits, even if they successfully activated it, they might be torn apart during the transfer process.
That wasn’t unprecedented. Many cultivators were left with no choice but to use the Universe Transference Law at critical moments. Although they had gotten rid of their opponents, what arrived at the Universe Temple were battered corpses.
Despite the downsides, the Universe Transference Law was still widely adopted throughout the 3,000 Worlds. It was a Secret Technique most cultivators used to move to Universe Temples to save travel time or flee from their enemies.
After spending 200,000 Open Heaven Pills, Yang Kai and Guo Zi Yan respectively left their Imprints in this Universe Temple.
After leaving the place, they were not in a rush to return to the inn. Since they had nothing to do, they decided to roam around.
It wasn’t the first time Yang Kai visited a Universe Temple, but he had never been to this one before. Unlike a Star City, the shops around here were limited, as was the goods selection. Moreover, the prices were generally higher than average.
When they passed by an accessories store, Yang Kai thought of something and entered it.
He believed that he couldn’t return to the Star Boundary empty-handed. Other people didn’t matter, but he had to bring some gifts to his wives, father, and mother.
Then, he started counting, [Su Yan, Xia Ning Chang, Shan Qing Luo, Xue Yue, Yu Ru Meng, Father, Mother, Little Sister Yang Xue… There are indeed many people. By the way, there’s also Ji Yao… Besides them, there are also Mo Xiao Qi, Lin Yun’er, and the others…]
Naturally, the things that were sold in the shop were not ordinary accessories. Each one of them was an artifact. There were many kinds of accessories with different uses, and although the prices were expensive, Yang Kai didn’t mind it as he wasn’t short of Open Heaven Pills.
He was willing to pay a hefty price to build the Nine Heavenly Layers, so these artifacts in this shop were nothing.
Then, a young woman that looked like a maidservant came over. With a sweet smile, she elegantly welcomed them to the shop. Her voice was clear, and there was a pleasant scent wafting from her body, which easily made people take a liking to her.
The young woman was weak as she was just an Emperor Realm cultivator; nevertheless, she had been working in this shop for a long time, so she immediately realised that Yang Kai was no ordinary man, which was why she was very hospitable to him.
Yang Kai looked around the shelves as the young woman introduced each item to him in detail in her pleasant voice.
Soon, Yang Kai was attracted to a Phoenix-shaped hairpin, and he couldn’t help thinking about Su Yan. This hairpin appeared elegant, which should match her temperament; moreover, it happened to be a defensive artifact.
Su Yan and the others were still weak, so they couldn’t draw out the power of killing artifacts; however, these defensive artifacts could save their lives in a perilous situation.
Yang Kai decided to buy each of them a defensive artifact.
Just as he was extending his hand towards the hairpin though, a big hand suddenly whizzed past him and took the hairpin first.
Yang Kai turned his head, only to see a scrawny yet stern-looking man staring at him. As their eyes met, the man flashed a smile at Yang Kai and nodded, “Little Brother, are you interested in this?”
With a smile, Yang Kai replied, “Yes.”
The middle-aged man said, “What a coincidence. This King had his eyes on this item as well. Can you give it to me?”
“The item is in your hand now. You’ve taken it first, so it’s yours. It’s not like you need to ask me to give it to you,” Yang Kai replied nonchalantly.
“Many thanks, then.” The middle-aged man guffawed, “Little Brother, you’re a generous man. What’s your name?”
“We don’t really know each other, so there’s no point asking.” Yang Kai shook his head, then hinted at the maidservant to keep going.
The maidservant seemed to be annoyed at the fact that a business deal had been ruined by the middle-aged man, who disturbed Yang Kai halfway through; therefore, she became more attentive when serving Yang Kai.
Soon, Yang Kai bought a lot of accessories as the smile on the maidservant’s face became brighter.
After the bill was paid, Yang Kai stored all the items inside his Space Ring, then left the shop with Lu Xue and Guo Zi Yan. Following that, he saw a person looking smilingly at him outside the shop.
He was none other than the man who snatched the Phoenix-shaped hairpin.
A shocked Yang Kai gazed at him and asked, “Sir, are you waiting for me?”
The middle-aged man replied, “Yes.”
“What for?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
That person said, “This King felt sorry that he snatched your accessory just now, so I’d like to treat you to a meal. Will you come with me?”
Yang Kai laughed and shook his head, “Sir, it is no serious matter. You took the hairpin first, so it belongs to you. It’s not like you snatched it from me. As for the meal… There’s no need for that. I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll part with you here.”
Upon finishing his words, he cupped his fist and left the place with Lu Xue and Guo Zi Yan.
Seeing as Yang Kai turned him down, the middle-aged man didn’t mind it as he smilingly watched Yang Kai leave.
A moment later, they returned to the inn and entered the room, then Lu Xue said, “Sir, I’m worried that he has some ill intentions.”
Guo Zi Yan nodded in agreement, “I have the same feeling as well. That guy looks wicked. It’s said that a person’s appearance is indicative of his temperament. I’m worried that he’s a thug.”
Yang Kai asked, “Do either of you know that guy?”
Both of them shook their heads to mean that they had never seen that person before.
