Translator: Silavin & SymphonyOfEverything
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Yang Kai did save their lives, after all. If he did not use the Sealed World Bead to bring them out, many of them might have been killed by the enraged Divine Spirits backing them.
However, now that he was seen by some Cave Heavens and Paradises as a threat to peace and order, they may have to rethink their proposal, since befriending Yang Kai could bring disaster to their Sects.
So even though Yang Kai had now become Void Land’s Sect Master, and the battle that ended with the destruction of the Hundred Sects Alliance had made Void Land famous, no one had come to visit.
Fang Yue was not like them and obviously did not share their worries, since he was a loner, not associated with any great force.
If Yang Kai remembered correctly, the Divine Spirit that stood behind this guy at that time was the Solid Earth Black Tortoise, and then in the Primordial Land, he acquired a Divine Medicine, the Thousand Leaves Stone Lotus. Both of these combined basically made his defenses impregnable.
There were a number of Divine Medicines in the Primordial Land. Yang Kai got Pu Bai Xiong and the Little Mushroom, Fang Yue got the Thousand Leaves Stone Lotus, and a guy named Xiang Ying got the Purple Bamboo. The Divine Medicine Ah Ku was obtained by an unknown cultivator, and a man surnamed Gou obtained the Gourd Vine initially, but he was killed by Yang Kai, which led to the Gourd Vine falling into Yang Kai’s hands.
Thus, Yang Kai obtained three of the six known Divine Medicines.
Divine Medicines each had tremendous effects. Taking Pu Bai Xiong as an example, each of the berries on his head had unimaginable healing efficacies, and even a man half a step through the gates of death could be brought back to full health by eating one. In the Blood Monster Cave Heaven, when Yang Kai was being chased by Yin Xin Zhao, if he had a berry from Pu Bai Xiong on hand, he would not have fallen into such a miserable state.
So, when Yang Kai came back after that, ignoring Pu Bai Xiong’s strong protests, he took a berry to keep for emergencies, earning him Pu Bai Xiong ire for several days.
Little Mushroom evolved from a Profound Multi-Coloured Illusionary Mushroom, which had unparalleled natural hallucinogenic powers. Yang Kai placed her in the Nine Heavenly Layers Grand Array as the Array Core of the Illusion Array, strengthening both even further.
The Thousand Leaves Stone Lotus had supreme defensive power, the Purple Bamboo that Xiang Ying had could suppress all types of Principles, while the Gourd Vine could exert power equal to the strength displayed by a Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. The only thing Yang Kai didn’t understand was what Divine Medicine Ah Ku was, and since his Master had never used it to do anything, there was no way to guess.
Yang Kai had never thought of exploiting the life-saving grace he had shown to those people, so when he first heard of Fang Yue’s visit, he didn’t have much of a reaction at all.
But after a moment of contemplation, he suddenly understood why this guy had come at this time.
If things were really as he guessed, perhaps…. Void Land could gain a powerful Master in the near future!
“If Sect Master doesn’t want to see him, this subordinate will turn him down,” Seeing Yang Kai hesitate, Bian Yu Qing thought that Fang Yue was taking the opportunity to climb the ladder, and felt a little unhappy. Now that Void Land had become famous, such an occurrence would not be unusual.
Yang Kai, however, just smiled and said, “Show him in.”
At his response, Bian Yu Qing took out a communication bead and sent a message outside.
After waiting for an incense stick’s worth of time, a Void Land disciple led a young man with thick brows and big eyes into the reception hall. It was Fang Yue.
When he saw Yang Kai, Fang Yue’s eyes lit up with a look of relief. He took two steps forward and cupped his fist, “Senior Brother Yang!”
“Brother Fang!” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
Fang Yue looked at him incredulously and said, “When we left the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, I did not expect that in less than ten years, Senior Brother Yang would have made such a grand accomplishment. When I heard the name of the Void Land’s Sect Master, this Fang couldn’t believe it at first. I thought perhaps it was another man with the same name, but I never thought it would really be Senior Brother Yang.”
“Opportunities and coincidences.” Yang Kai smiled and gestured, “Brother Fang, let’s sit down and talk.”
Fang Yue did not stand on ceremony and sat down readily as the maidservant served tea.
Yang Kai looked at him and asked, “Does Brother Fang have some advice for me today?”
Fang Yue laughed and said, “Senior Brother Yang is now the Master of a great force with numerous Open Heaven Realm Masters for subordinates, not to mention, even a great force like Heavenly Sword Union has been defeated by your Void Land. I am but a trivial person with no roots, how can I give you any guidance? I came here today just to thank Senior Brother for saving my life that day.”
Yang Kai smirked in his heart, but he said with a solemn expression, “What happened that day was just a simple matter. Brother Fang need not worry about it.”
Fang Yue replied sternly, “To Senior Brother, it may have just been a minor matter, but to this Fang, it was a life-saving grace. I was selected as a Bearer by that Divine Spirit in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, and spent a lot of effort to cultivate, but the result was a complete failure. I was unable to assist my backer in achieving what he wanted, and without your help, Senior Brother, the consequences would have been dire. I, along with many others, would definitely have been killed by those enraged Divine Spirits.”
Yang Kai smiled and said, “Not necessarily. Some Divine Spirits were actually quite friendly.”
The Divine Spirit that took in Gu Pan would not have killed her, but Kun Sha, the Divine Spirit that supported Lin Feng, would definitely have eaten Lin Feng alive to vent out his rage. Naturally, each Divine Spirit had a different temperament and each of them acted in different ways.
“In any case, Senior Brother’s life-saving grace cannot be forgotten!” Fang Yue continued, “This Fang is not someone who does not know how to repay the kindness that he receives. The favour from that day has been etched into this Fang’s heart. If Senior Brother has any orders, just speak up, and this Fang will never decline.”
Yang Kai chuckled and said, “Junior Brother Fang is too serious, my Void Land is at peace now, so there is no need to speak of such heavy matters.”
“No no, no matter what it is…. this Fang wants to do something to repay this favour. If not, I will not be able to eat and sleep in peace.” Fang Yue’s face was earnest.
“It’s really fine.” Yang Kai said while shaking his head slowly.
Fang Yue asked anxiously, “When I came here, I passed through the Star City dock and it was quite overcrowded. Does Senior Brother need manpower to maintain order? Although this Fang’s cultivation is low, I will still do my best.”
Yang Kai said, “I have people guarding the dock, so I won’t bother Brother Fang. Well, if Brother Fang is free, you might as well spend some time in my Void Land. I still have some things to do, so I won’t be able to accompany you further.”
Saying so, he stood up.
Fang Yue rushed up to him in a stride, grabbed Yang Kai’s sleeve, and hurriedly said, “Senior Brother, please stay!”
Yang Kai turned around and looked at him with a smile, “Brother Fang, is there anything else?”
Fang Yue faltered and blushed slightly, unable to speak.
Yang Kai sighed, “Brother Fang, just say what you have to say, why beat around the bush?”
When Fang Yue saw his expression, he suddenly came to his senses, “Senior Brother, you already expected me to ask for help?”
Yang Kai said, “I had a guess, but I wasn’t sure. Now, I am. Brother Fang is here for the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill, right?”
Fang Yue’s face turned slightly red and he looked very embarrassed when Yang Kai said that, “Senior Brother, this Fang Yue would like to offer his services to you, and hopes Senior Brother will take me in!”
Yang Kai took a deep look at him and held out his hand, “Let’s sit down and talk.”
The two men retook their seats.
Yang Kai said slowly, “Brother Fang should have a great aptitude to be valued by the Solid Earth Black Tortoise and be chosen as his Bearer, but Sixth-Order Elements are probably a bit too much for Brother Fang. Of course, the Solid Earth Black Tortoise would not care about your future problems, he only wanted Brother Fang to be as strong as possible, so that he could win the first place in the Spirit Seizing War. In the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, the Solid Earth Black Tortoise helped Brother Fang to forcibly raise your strength, right?”
Fang Yue said with shame, “It appears I can’t hide anything from Senior Brother Yang.”
Yang Kai replied, “I was there in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary as well, and I was chosen to be a Bearer, so I know first hand about such matters.”
At that time, Zhu Jiu Yin also wanted to forcibly raise Yang Kai’s strength by making him condense a Sixth-Order Earth Element. However, Yang Kai staked his own life against it, forcing her to back down.
Furthermore, considering that Yang Kai was originally refining Seventh-Order Elements and his strength was already phenomenal, Zhu Jiu Yin was willing to back down.
But others, such as Fang Yue, were not so lucky, and were forced by their Divine Spirits to condense Sixth-Order or even Seventh-Order Elements.
Even taking the entire 3,000 Worlds into consideration, those who could condense Sixth-Order Powers and directly achieve the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm were extreme rarities, often Core Disciples of the Cave Heavens and Paradises. There were only a few of such people in each generation, such as Gu Pan, Qu Hua Shang, Lin Feng, Ning Dao Ran and so on.
Although Fang Yue and the others had good aptitudes and were valued by the Divine Spirits, they were still inferior to geniuses like Gu Pan and Qu Hua Shang.
Their limit was the Fifth-Order! Even though forcing them to condense Sixth-Order Elements could grant them more power for a short period of time, allowing them to gain some advantage in the Spirit Seizing War, it would leave fatal drawbacks!
These drawbacks would become more and more serious as they progressed in their cultivation. By condensing Elements beyond what they were capable of bearing, once they tried to break through to the Open Heaven Realm, they would most likely die!
Ding Yi, the leader of Emperor Heaven back then, was forced by Bi Fang to condense a Seventh-Order First Element Power, but every time he used this Power, he suffered a serious backlash. He would look like a cooked crab, all red and steaming hot from overheating.
Yang Kai had once asserted that if Ding Yi dared to break through to the Open Heaven Realm, he would die on the spot in nine out of ten cases.
Fang Yue was now facing the same problem.
The only thing that could help him and the others was the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pills that Yang Kai had! This Spirit Pill could greatly increase the chances of success. If Fang Yue took one before attempting to break through, although there was no guarantee of success, the chance of failure would be greatly reduced.
However, Fang Yue was only an Emperor Realm cultivator without any background, so how could he earn enough Open Heaven Pills to afford to buy a Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill? Thus, he thought that the only way he could survive was by joining Yang Kai. That was why Fang Yue had approached him today.
Fang Yue said with a bitter smile, “In the ten years that I stayed in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, this Fang traversed the path that others could not finish even in a hundred years. With the assistance of Senior Solid Earth Black Tortoise, I refined several materials for different Elements, and advanced straight to the Half-Step Open Heaven Realm. However, this Fang knows his aptitude very clearly. In this Fang’s present situation, I will not be able to bear the impact of advancing to the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm. The only possible way to survive would be to instead advance to the Third-Order, but even then the chances are slim…”
It was easy for him to advance into the Third-Order, since he would only need to refine a Third-Order material. The Powers of Yin, Yang, and Five Elements required to break through to the Open Heaven Realm were like the boards of a wooden barrel. The amount of water that could be stored in the wooden barrel depended entirely on the shortest board, regardless of how tall the others were.
“But with such a great starting point, how could this Fang be willing to settle for the trivial Third-Order Open Heaven Realm?”
These words couldn’t help but resonate with Yang Kai, because all of them had a high starting point, they couldn’t settle for such mediocre achievements. The gap was just too big.