Martial Peak

This pit was quite deep. Yang Kai had fallen for quite some time, yet had not reached the bottom.

Suddenly, the sounds of fighting rang with flashes of flickering light from below. Clearly, someone was using a Martial Skill.

Yang Kai quickly raised his level of vigilance even further and kept in mind everything Shan Qing Luo had told him. Although this Evil Cavern was extremely dangerous, there were always groups of people inside it for life experience. He had just not thought that he’d meet some the moment he entered.

The more dangerous a place was, the more wonderful the treasures it held, and the Evil Cavern clearly had enough hidden opportunities to attract these fortune seekers.

If it were not for the world currently being in a time of chaos, with many people engaged in warfare outside, there would certainly be even more cultivators inside these caves.

Where people gathered, disputes would occur, even leading to fights and bloodshed. This was an ancient truth that applied no matter where one looked.

After a while, the sounds and flashes of light became clearer.

As Yang Kai listened, he became aware of four distinct individuals, each of whom had the strength that was neither high nor low, probably all True Element Boundary cultivators.

Descending even slower, Yang Kai quietly released his Divine Sense and felt a large number of evil auras in every direction for as far as he could sense. These auras varied in strength and gave off an uncomfortable feeling, probably the Evil Spirits he had been told about.

There were also the auras of a number of cultivators, but they were quite scattered, each group seemingly deciding to not mix well water with river water.

Although he was not aware of any immediate dangers, Yang Kai still quickly took back his Divine Sense.

Searching one’s surroundings with their Divine Sense had its own dangers. If it suffered any injury while away from one’s physical body it would damage their Soul. Even if it was an Immortal Ascension Boundary master they would carefully consider when and where to use their Divine Sense and normally would only use it occasionally to investigate their surroundings.

After the time it would take to drink half a cup of tea, Yang Kai finally touched the ground again.

Not far in front, he saw four people engaged in sending a variety of Martial Skills flying about. Each of them displayed excellent teamwork, when one retreated, another advanced, obviously they had full control of the situation.

Fighting with them were a few things which emitted an odd fluorescence. These things were humanoid in shape and had fuzzy facial features, but their bodies were vague and misty, almost like an ethereal illusion.

Ferocious roars and bursts of wailing howls rang out along with explosions of wind. Although these things didn’t appear to be too powerful, they possessed an odd tenacity and were apparently extremely difficult to kill.

[These things should be the so-called Evil Spirits! Sure enough, they’re unusual creatures.]

Although Yang Kai had suddenly set down behind them, none of these four actually noticed, presumably concentrating too much on the battle before them.

To avoid any misunderstandings, Yang Kai deliberately made some noise.

The four cultivators were instantly surprised and hurriedly looked back.

The next moment, one of the four left their formation and vigilantly faced Yang Kai.

In response, Yang Kai remained indifferent and didn’t reveal the slightest hostility but instead just quietly stood there waiting for the fight to end.

The youth who was confronting him stared for a moment before noting Yang Kai’s behaviour and quickly flashed a meaningful grin before nodding lightly in acknowledgement.

Yang Kai nodded lightly in return before going back to observing the environment of the Evil Cavern.

This underground cavern seemed similar to the Heaven’s Cave he had visited once before many years ago. The entire underground structure was a massive hollow with the occasional giant column towering to the ceiling high above.

Unlike the Heaven’s Cave though, this Evil Cavern was barren and almost devoid of any vitality, inevitably giving off a feeling of repression. The architecture was quite complex with multiple paths winding off in all directions.

Although it was deep underground, it wasn’t pitch dark. Everywhere you looked there were flickering points of light, some like tiny fireflies that flitted about, others like clumps of ghost fire. It was like the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land’s purgatory, with members in it appearing no better than hell spawns.

After looking around for a while, Yang Kai had a random thought.

If Old Demon were here, these green Evil Spirits would undoubtedly be a delicacy for him. It was a pity that he was probably still absorbing the Demonic Qi at the bottom of the Coiling Dragon Stream.

As for the four cultivators before him, although one of them was guarding against Yang Kai, thus reducing their available firepower, the remaining three didn’t appear burdened. Quickly launching a variety of ferocious Martial Skills, they soon dispatched the few green Evil Spirits they were fighting.

Accompanied by a series of piercing howls, the bodies of these green Evil Spirits suddenly collapsed and dissipated into thin air.

All that was left behind were a few transparent clusters of mist, and each of them seemed to contain some residual Evil Qi suspended mid-air.

[Evil Spirit Essence!] Yang Kai quickly concluded.

All of the cultivators who came to Evil Cavern essentially came for this Evil Spirit Essence as absorbing and refining it would yield a variety of benefits.

However, these groups of green Evil Spirit Essence looked a bit weak and apparently weren’t very rich in energy.

When he discovered this, Yang Kai quickly became disinterested.

Noting Yang Kai’s calm and indifferent behaviour, the four cultivators relaxed slightly as they secretly nodded to themselves. One of the youths who appeared relatively calm quickly faced his female teammate, “Rong Mei, quickly collect the Essence.”

“En!” The girl nodded, pulled out a small bottle from her waist pocket, and pointed it at the green Evil Spirit Essences while inputting a bit of her True Qi.

*Xiu xiu xiu...*

After the small bottle sucked in all of the Evil Spirit Essences, the girl gently shook the bottle as she revealed a smile. Her pair of clear eyes stared at it with a very satisfied look.

Yang Kai raised one of his brows, curiously observing the entire process.

The youth who had just spoken seemed to be aware of this, quickly cracking a smile as he cupped his fists towards Yang Kai and greeted, “This one’s name is Tao Yang, may I ask who this Fellow Daoist is?”

“Yang Kai!”

“So it is Brother Yang.” Tao Yang laughed, raised his sword-like brows, and bluntly asked, “From Brother Yang’s reaction, it seems like you’re not quite familiar with this place, correct?”

“En.” Yang Kai nodded. Though Shan Qing Luo had told him about the dangers and opportunities in the Evil Cavern, he had never heard her mention anything about a bottle that could collect Evil Spirit Essence, so he was quite curious about this.

“Is it Brother Yang’s first time here?”

“Indeed.”

“No wonder.” Tao Yang showed a friendly smile, which neither displayed the least bit of malicious intent, nor did he give off an arrogant aura in an attempt to bully him with their superior numbers.

From this point alone, Yang Kai thought to himself that he needed to re-examine his previous prejudices towards cultivators from the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land. It would appear that the rumours and hearsay about the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land in the outside world were a bit too biased. Those who lived here weren’t all unreasonable bloodthirsty devils and monsters.

Wicked and good seemed to both exist no matter where one went.

As Yang Kai and Tao Yang were talking, the other three youths examined Yang Kai with great interest, and each of them had some thoughts of curiosity and ridicule. They had never thought that someone would dare to enter the Evil Cavern all by themselves, yet there was one such reckless fool right in front of them now.

[Really doesn’t know how to write the word ‘dead’.]

“What is that bottle?” Yang Kai asked as he glanced towards the bottle in the girl’s hand. Since he sensed no malice from this Tao Yang, naturally he thought of gathering some information from him.

“This thing...” Tao Yang took the bottle from the girl’s hands and shook it in front of Yang Kai. If one looked carefully they could see a dense clump of green light inside, like a drop of turbid water, “This is a Purifying Spirit Bottle, it’s a type of artifact that’s used by those who come here for life experience.”

“What’s it used for?”

Seeing this newcomer really not know anything, Tao Yang couldn’t help be grin helplessly, rubbing his forehead slightly as he patiently explained, “Brother Yang, you that when an Evil Spirit is killed it leaves behind its essence, right?”

“En.”

“Well, this essence contains all kinds of wonderful things that are very beneficial to cultivators after they absorb and refine them, but... This essence isn’t that easy to absorb because it contains a lot of residual malevolence which requires a cultivator to refine out, the more powerful the Evil Spirit, the more powerful the malevolence left in its essence after it dies.”

Yang Kai nodded lightly, he too could also detect the residual evil aura hidden in the Evil Spirit Essence. No one could directly absorb this malevolence into themselves, and doing so would only lead to a backlash against their mind and Soul.

“Since it takes time to refine it, and inside this Evil Cavern there is crisis around every corner, you can’t absorb the Evil Spirit Essence on the spot. Doing so would leave you vulnerable while you attempt to refine it, only a fool would do that.” Tao Yang said with a light chuckle, “That’s where these Purifying Spirit Bottles comes in handy, they allow you to store Evil Spirit Essence until you can find a place to safely absorb and refine it.”

“I see!” Yang Kai suddenly understood. He never had thought that things would be so complicated when he had rushed here on his own. Apparently in the future, he needed to be more careful.

“Also, the Purifying Spirit Bottle also had a purifying effect on the residual evil aura, the longer it remains in the bottle the easier it is for one to refine the essence, but doing so can also damage the Purifying Spirit Bottle, so it’s best not to store it for too long. Best to find an opportunity to quickly refine it to avoid such a situation while also increasing your own strength, haha!”

“Many thanks for your guidance Brother Tao!” Yang Kai cupped his fists in thanks.

“Brother Yang is too polite.” Tao Yang faintly smiled. Finished with his explanation, he wrinkled his brow for a moment and seemed to struggle and hesitate but soon turned to his female companion, “Junior Sister, give me one of our bottles.”

Not thinking too much about it, the girl quickly took out another bottle and passed it to Tao Yang.

As soon as Tao Yang grasped this bottle, he offered it to Yang Kai while letting out a friendly laugh, “It’s best to bring one of these with you Brother Yang, otherwise I’m afraid it would be quite troublesome.”

“Senior Brother!” Seeing him so easily offer a Purifying Spirit Bottle to a stranger they had just me, the other three youths couldn’t help but object.

A Purifying Spirit Bottle, though not a particularly precious artifact, was still quite troublesome to refine. As such, they had only brought three of them with them this time.

But now, their Senior Brother wanted to give one away just like that?

“Those who come here for life experience should help one another out and support one another.” Tao Yang quietly glanced at his three juniors, indicating with his eyes that they should keep quiet.

Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled slightly as he held the Purifying Spirit Bottle he was given.

This was an instinctive reaction to this unusual situation. Since he had arrived here, although he hadn’t sensed any malicious intent from Tao Yang’s group, in the end, they were still strangers who had met by chance, and seeing them act so generously was surprising, to say the least.

This act of generosity couldn’t help but make him feel suspicious, thinking that perhaps there was something they wanted his help with!

But they had just met, what could it be they wanted in exchange?

Holding the bottle, Yang Kai hesitated to simply refuse. When someone gifted you something in friendship, directly rejecting them wasn’t polite, doing so would instead give the opposite party a bad impression, like you were distrustful of them or looking down on them.

The question is, what to give them in exchange? Yang Kai thought to himself.

Sweeping the Black Book space with his Divine Sense, in terms of treasures, besides the Myriad Drug Liquid, Milk, and Cream, there was only the Yin Yang Monster Ginseng.

Other than that there were the artifacts he’d obtained from the Great Sects of the Endless Sea Islands, as well as the Asura Sword and the Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia.

Obviously, he couldn’t give these things away.

All that he had besides that were some pills. These pills were the ones originally prepared for him by Ling Tai Xu. There were also the two bottles of Heaven Grade pills which he had taken from Shan Qing Luo’s Treasure House.