The yellow faced old man finished speaking and stared out across the crowd, stroking his long beard as he waited quietly.
Although they knew they couldn’t fully believe his words, the mere mention of an Ancient Ruin still managed to firmly grab everyone’s attention.
If there really was an Ancient Ruin down there, then there would definitely be treasures as well and whether they fought or cooperated with one another, it was ultimately for those unseen benefits. As such, all the foreign cultivators gathered on the shore were inevitably tempted.
What’s more, the great movement when the Ancient Ruin’s barrier was disturbed had already been noticed by all of them, making the yellow-faced old man’s story seem more credible.
Many of these outsiders gathered together frowning and deliberating, while others, like Yang Kai, stood alone, observing the situation vigilantly.
The Seven Family Alliance was definitely forced to make this decision, but they were also likely trying to take advantage of the situation to reduce their own losses by roping in all these outsiders to serve as pathfinders.
From this, it could be easily understood that although they knew something about the Ancient Ruins down below, it likely wasn’t much.
Yang Kai’s thoughts turned quickly in his mind as he quickly evaluated the options before him.
Should he join the exploration team?
Going down there definitely carried risks, but the source of that rich Yang Attribute aura was something Yang Kai was interested in.
Now that he had reached the Transcendent Realm, he had no decent artifacts on hand. His Bone Shield had been destroyed during his trip to the Starry Sky so the only usable artifact he had at the moment was the small sword currently floating in his Knowledge Sea.
However, that soul type artifact was only Heaven Grade Top-Rank. While it had some value back in the Central Capital, it wasn’t of much use to Yang Kai anymore.
If it was a powerful artifact exuding that potent Yang Attribute aura, it would be a perfectly fit for Yang Kai; after acquiring it, his combat strength would increase dramatically.
Even if it wasn’t an artifact and was instead just some precious material, it would still be incredibly useful to him.
Considering all this, Yang Kai quickly made a decision.
At the same time, there were many other outsiders who had come to the same decision as him. After the yellow-faced old man finished speaking, it wasn’t long before someone stepped out of the crowd and flew over to the registration place the Seven Family Alliance had set up.
Soon, some scattered cultivators began coming forward, including Yang Kai; however, the majority were still standing by, looking suspicious and uncertain.
Seeing this scene, the yellow-faced old man who has been silent for some time now suddenly said, “Right, there is one more thing I must tell all of you. Although my Seven Family Alliance is willing to cooperate with all of you, it is impossible for us to allow each and every one of you to participate. En, each of our Families will only recruit thirty outsiders to join their respective exploration teams. Naturally, the higher your strength the better. Those who have not yet broken through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary need not bother applying to join.”
“Hey, you old fatty, why didn’t you say something so important sooner?!” A series of dissatisfied roars erupted from the crowd and many of those who had still been hesitating broke out into a sprint, rushing to register with the Seven Family Alliance lest all the available spots be taken up.
The yellow faced old man simply continued stroking his beard in response, his mouth curled into a slight smirk, a triumphant look upon his face.
All of the Seven Family Alliance’s teams stood apart from one another and any cultivator who wanted to join in the undersea exploration could choose which one they wanted to work with.
Soon, seven big groups had formed with a little less than two thousand people in total.
Yang Kai was among the first to sign up and after casually reporting his name, he displayed an Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivation, intentionally disguising himself but still easily qualifying and being directed to a waiting zone.
Time passed by slowly as all of the gathered outside cultivators applied to the Seven Family Alliance’s masters. Most of these foreigners were rejected because their strength was too low but still others, like Yang Kai, passed the screening relatively easily.
After an hour or so, the teams had been finalized.
However, the number of cultivators who had passed the Seven Family Alliance’s scrutiny was greater than the yellow-faced old man’s expectations. There were nearly three hundred foreign cultivators, the weakest of which was still an Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage maser, remained. There was also a not small number of Transcendent, making up nearly a tenth of the population.
The Seven Family Alliance powerhouses gathered again to hold a discussion, the same yellow-faced old man soon emerging and announcing, “This old master has felt the enthusiasm of all of you, so all of you who have passed my Seven Family Alliance’s test will be allowed to join us. As for the rest of these friends, please remain on the coast line, if you dare not listen to my advice, don’t blame my Seven Family Alliance’s disciples for not being merciful!”
The remaining foreign cultivators didn’t possess very high strength to begin with, so with the unquestionably unfriendly words the yellow-faced old man delivered, none of them had any thoughts of stirring up trouble; this was, after all, still the Seven Family Alliance’s territory.
Seeing the yellow-faced old man’s attitude go from friendly to menacing so quickly, the cultivators who were excluded could only utter a few curses under their breath.
After finishing this brief episode up, the masters from the Seven Family Alliance came together and seemed to be making some final preparations.
Yang Kai stood in a remote corner, indifferently observing the strength of the people around him. Most of the others gathered here were doing the same, each of them apparently seeing all the others as competitors rather than allies.
Perceiving this, Yang Kai couldn’t help chuckling. They hadn’t even found any treasures yet, but the tension was already so thick. If they really were to find something good down there, Yang Kai figured that a big fight would immediately break out, likely resulting in a large number of casualties.
The Seven Family Alliance really had some sinister methods!
They knew they couldn’t stop all these outsiders from diving into the sea to treasure hunt, so they adopted what, on the surface, appeared to be a compromise strategy. On its face, this arrangement shared the secrets of the Ancient Ruins with outsiders but in actual fact, even if the Seven Family Alliance brought a large number of foreigners down with them to explore the ruins, these individuals were by no means united and would instead mutually constrain each other. Such a group of loose sand wouldn’t be able to stir up much trouble down in the Ancient Ruins and when the time came, the Seven Family Alliance cultivators only needed to sit atop the mountain and watch the tigers fight before reaping the fishermen’s benefits. Everything was set up for the Seven Family Alliance to gain the most profit while exerting the least amount of effort!
Yang Kai secretly shook his head in admiration.
As he was observing his surrounding ‘allies’ though, a whiff of fragrance suddenly drifted over from his side, its aroma somewhat familiar to him.
Wrinkling his brow slightly, Yang Kai turned his head to discover a woman standing next to him with a light smile on her face
After staring at this seemingly unfamiliar woman for a moment, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly changed as he called out in amazement, “You…”
“Shh…” The woman quickly placed a jade finger on her lips and silenced Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s eyes flickered before quietly releasing his Divine Sense and scanning the area around them. After confirming no one was listening in on them, he turned to the somewhat delicate featured woman with a strange smile and whispered, “Girl, how come you’re here?”
“Why are you so sure it’s me?” The woman smiled faintly, a touch of surprise apparent in her eyes.
Yang Kai laughed slyly and shook his head before replying, “There’s a saying that to know a woman you must know her scent! Every woman has a unique fragrance so although you’ve changed your appearance… En, and by some method I can’t quite understand, even covered up your original aura, you still can’t disguise your scent!”
“Dog nosed bastard!” The woman’s face blushed bright red as she glared half mad half embarrassed towards Yang Kai, “You seem like quite the expert in this field, you must have hooked up with a lot of women, right?”
“Nonsense,” Yang Kai shook his head in a serious manner, “I have always been a pure and incorruptible paragon, I would never do such shameless things.”
The woman pursed her lips and trembled slightly, trying to stop herself from giggling out loud before flatly stating, “I don’t believe you.”
Yang Kai squinted towards her for a moment before directing his eyes towards two Second Order Transcendent masters who were flying over from the distance. These two men were releasing their Divine Senses unscrupulously, seemingly anxiously looking for someone; however, after sweeping this area and apparently not finding anything, they turned around a left in a clearly exasperated state.
“Isn’t this bad? Regardless of anything else, you are a Saintess, what exactly are you doing here?” Yang Kai quietly glanced in the direction the two masters were leaving, “Those two seem to be looking for you.”
“Don’t look at them directly! They’re quite alert, if will really be bad if I’m discovered by them,” The woman quickly pulled on Yang Kai’s sleeve.
Yang Kai was really shocked when he realized the true identity of this woman.
She was actually the one he had met back on that big ship, the Nine Heavens Holy Land’s Saintess!
Yang Kai didn’t know what kind of strange technique she had used to conceal her aura but it had apparently also allowed her to disguise her appearance.
If she hadn’t taken the initiative to approach him, Yang Kai estimated he wouldn’t have even noticed her.
This Nine Heavens Holy Land’s Saintess’ skills were really profound! No wonder she was able to escape the detection of those two Second Order Transcendents and secretly hide here.
“You still haven’t told me, what are you doing here?” Yang Kai wrinkled his brow.
“Of course I came here to join the excitement.”
“This excitement isn’t something good to join, if you’re not careful the price will be your life!” Yang Kai muttered as he directed a stern glance towards her.
The Saintess immediately became annoyed at his words though, “Do you think I’m someone ignorant who would just die in vain? Hmph, even you with your Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivation can go, so why can’t I? My true strength is a lot higher than yours.”
“You know, like this, you don’t have any of the etiquette or demeanor of someone raised as a Saintess,” Yang Kai couldn’t help commenting. The woman in front of him right now was very different from the gentle and quiet Saintess he had witnessed before, and it seemed this was her real temperament.
“What’s it to you? I won’t be choosing you as a Holy Master anyways!” The woman sneered.
“I don’t want to be any nonsense Holy Master!” Yang Kai spat disdainfully.
The woman’s expression suddenly became somewhat pleading, “Don’t expose me… please… I believed in you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have approached you.”
“Rest assured, I don’t have a hobby of meddling in other people’s business,” Yang Kai nodded, but soon became somewhat confused, “You’re an honoured Saintess, so why are you bothering to approach a nameless junior like me?”
The Saintess’ long eyelashes fluttered lightly as she smiled, “How should I put this, I feel like there is something unusual about you. It’s like everything about you is covered in a mysterious barrier that I can’t fully comprehend. I have a strong sense of curiosity towards the unknown.”
Yang Kai’s expression dimmed as he snickered back, “I could say the same about you.”
What kind of cultivation did this woman have? Yang Kai couldn’t tell! Even though the two of them were close enough he could smell the scent of her hair, it seemed like some kind of mystifying force surrounded prevented him from probing her.
“Your laugh looks a bit evil,” The Saintess commented as she stared back at Yang Kai, “I grew up in the Holy Land since I was a child. This is actually the first time I have left, but no matter where I go, there are always people following me, watching me, restricting my movements. All of this is boring me to death! I figured that in this backwater place I can take care of myself so I decided to ditch my escorts and have a little fun.”
“You don’t need to explain it to me,” Yang Kai said lightly, “I have no interest in hearing the sob story of some stranger. En, after we arrive at the Ancient Ruins, don’t pester me, if you encounter any danger, do your best, don’t expect anyone to come save you!”
