Chapter 1390, Fusion

Although Yang Kai’s heart was tumbling and it felt as if a chaotic storm was blowing in his mind, he remained extremely calm on the surface. While chatting with Yang Yan, he learned all kinds of information about the Starry Sky Great Emperor; after all, Yang Yan’s memory was slowly being restored and after learning she was the Soul Clone of the Great Emperor, she herself must have become quite flustered. Therefore, if Yang Kai didn’t maintain composure, the situation would only get worse.

What Yang Kai was most curious about was why the Great Emperor had chosen to enter a deep sleep on Shadowed Star. Were the World Principles here restricting cultivators from breaking through to the Origin King Realm somehow related to her?

After chatting for a while, Yang Kai learned that the place where the Starry Sky Great Emperor’s true body was currently sleeping was inside the Emperor Garden.

This reminded him of something.

Fei Zhi Tu had said that he and his group had come across a jade coffin that held a woman inside a palace in the Emperor Garden.

Fei Zhi Tu and the others accidentally touched a barrier near this jade coffin at that time, causing the Emperor Garden to appear after sending Yang Kai, Qian Tong, and the rest out.

Could it be that the woman lying inside that jade coffin was the Starry Sky Great Emperor? On this isolated and backward Shadowed Star, a supreme master was actually in deep sleep? Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling that all of this was too shocking.

While contemplating these issues and examining Yang Yan, Yang Kai was still unable to connect her with the Starry Sky Great Emperor, a figure famous across the entire Star Field.

“Let’s go,” Yang Yan looked at the fog covered ruins of the Supreme Profound Sect for a long time before seemingly losing interest and moving on.

“Don’t you want to go in and see?”

“No,” Yang Yan shook her head slowly, lightly stepping away.

“Where are you going now?” Yang Kai asked curiously.

“To the Sixth Layer to retrieve something,” Yang Yan smiled lightly, not bothering to explain further.

The Sixth Layer was where that small loft was located, the place Yang Kai had found the Ten Thousand Year Incense. It seemed that the Ten Thousand Year Incense belonged to the Great Emperor. In other words, it was Yang Yan’s.

Yang Kai wrinkled his nose for a moment before relaxing, not showing any kind of embarrassment. In any case, Yang Yan was his friend, so there was no need to worry about such minor issues.

The speed of the pair wasn’t too fast, but because Yang Yan was leading the way through the Flowing Flame Sand Field, they didn’t encounter any danger. The pair quickly arrived at the Fifth-Layer Flame Area and, similar to the Third Layer, the heat and flames all spontaneously separated in front of Yang Yan, revealing a path leading to the Sixth Layer.

A piercing cry suddenly came out and the Firebird Artifact Spirit leapt out from Yang Kai’s body on its own initiative.

Flapping its wings, it circled above Yang Kai’s head for a moment, communicating with him. Yang Kai smiled lightly as he understood its intentions and nodded, not making any attempt to stop it.

The Artifact Spirit cried out happily before immediately transforming into a flame and flying off into the distance, disappearing in the blink of an eye. From the direction it was flying, it was obviously headed towards the Earth Lung Fire Pond.

The Earth Lung Fire Pond was the Artifact Spirit’s birthplace, and although it had been there for tens of thousands of years, it was unable to continue to draw more power from Earth Lung Fire Pond due to its growth limitations. But now, it was different from the past. After absorbing several wisps of Sun’s True Fire, the Firebird Artifact Spirit was significantly stronger compared to when Yang Kai first obtained it.

Now, it wanted to go to the Earth Lung Fire Pond to devour the pure Fire Attribute aura there to further strengthen itself.

For something beneficial, how could Yang Kai prevent it?

Half a day later, the pair crossed the Fifth-Layer Flame Area and reached the delicate loft hidden in the bamboo forest.

Looking at this humble loft, Yang Yan’s eyes flashed a nostalgic light, seemingly recalling many memories of this place. Seeing this, Yang Kai didn’t disturb her, instead just waiting outside the bamboo forest silently.

These bamboos were extremely hard. Yang Kai had spent half a year here cutting them with his Space Blade, but had only managed to harvest twenty pieces. These cuts still appeared fresh when Yang Kai spotted them.

“These are Black Gold Bamboos. Although they are an excellent material for refining sword-type artifacts, that’s nothing compared to their other uses so don’t cut down any more of them,” Yang Yan suddenly spoke.

“Other uses?” Yang Kai heard this and asked. He knew the strength of these bamboos so, naturally, he understood they were a rare artifact refining material.

“En, after these Black Gold Bamboos blossom, they produce Black Gold Bamboo Shoots which contain highly concentrated and extremely pure World Energy. These shoots can be easily absorbed by any cultivator to raise their cultivation without any hidden dangers.”

Yang Kai was startled and quickly asked, “Is that true?”

“You think I’d lie to you?” Yang Yan shot him an unhappy glare.

“When will they blossom and produce shoots?” Yang Kai asked eagerly.

“From the looks of it, somewhere between ten and twenty years,” Yang Yan smiled, naturally knowing what he was thinking.

“Ten or twenty years…” Yang Kai showed an ugly expression. Who could tell what would happen over the next ten or twenty years? By that time perhaps he would no longer even be on Shadowed Star.

With a chuckle, Yang Yan ignored Yang Kai and walked towards the loft. Letting out a reluctant sigh, Yang Kai hurriedly followed after her.

After entering the first floor of the loft, the first thing Yang Kai saw was the picture hanging directly in front of him. There was nothing else depicted in this picture other than a woman’s back. When Yang Kai first came here, he had studied this picture for a while, but was unable to discover anything out of the ordinary with it. This picture seemed to only be a common painting, without the slightest energy fluctuations.

At that time, Yang Kai had felt this back was faintly familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Now that he saw it again though, everything became clear.

This back was exactly the same as Yang Yan’s!

Yang Kai simply hadn’t connected the two at that time because Yang Yan was always wearing a loose black robe, making it difficult to see her profile; however, with Yang Yan currently standing in front of the picture staring at it intently, Yang Kai could clearly see the similarity between them.

While thinking this way, the picture seemed to be shaken by the breeze, trembling slightly before an incredible scene appeared.

The figure in the picture actually turned around slowly, and her beautiful eyes met Yang Yan’s directly as a smile formed on her lips.

Yang Kai stared at all this in amazement, too shocked to move for a while.

When the woman drawn in the picture turned around completely, it was clearly Yang Yan, the only difference was that she was wearing very different clothes. The Yang Yan that Yang Kai knew was always wearing a long black robe, but the woman in the picture wore all white, giving her an icy and pure look.

This strange scene looked like Yang Yan was standing in front of a mirror, causing Yang Kai to feel somewhat at a loss for what to do.

What shocked him even more though was that the woman in the picture actually glanced over at him, as if she had her own sentience and consciousness.

If Yang Kai had any doubt about Yang Yan’s identity before, now that doubt had been completely erased. Forget about anything else, just the extraordinariness of this picture alone was beyond Yang Kai ability to understand.

One person and one portrait stared at each other for a long time before Yang Yan suddenly let out a gentle sigh, “I’ve already awoken, so you no longer need to remain here. Come out, you’ve worked hard all these years.”

“I am you and you are me, why try to draw distinctions now?” The same voice as Yang Yan’s sounded from the picture and immediately, the woman in it smiled slightly before transforming into a stream of light and leaping off the canvas before diving into Yang Yan’s forehead and disappearing.

Yang Yan herself shivered slightly, showing a hint of pain on her face, but she quickly calmed down and closed her eyes, seemingly sensing something.

Yang Kai didn’t disturb her. This trip with Yang Yan to the Flowing Flame Sand Field had allowed him to witness many things that exceeded the scope of his understanding. The Great Emperor’s means were not something a cultivator of his level could possibly comprehend.

After the portrait of the Great Emperor disappeared, the canvas it was drawn upon suddenly ignited and was burnt to ash in an instant, disappearing from the world entirely.

Yang Yan remained immersed in her perception with her eyes closed, so Yang Kai also remained silent and waited.

After about two hours, Yang Yan exhaled suddenly and slowly opened her beautiful eyes before turning to Yang Kai and smiling.

Although he still found it impossible to determine Yang Yan’s cultivation, Yang Kai felt that after receiving the portrait from the picture, some changes had taken place in Yang Yan’s aura, making her seem more powerful than before.

“This place was left here as a failsafe by the Great Emperor. If I hadn’t appeared and regained my memories, she would have taken up my role,” Yang Yan explained softly.

“And what role is that?”

“To awaken the Great Emperor!” Yang Yan replied, “You should be thankful that you aren’t a woman. If you were, your body would already have been taken over when you arrived at this place.”

Yang Kai’s face sank as he was struck speechless, but soon his curiosity re-asserted itself, “So what you mean to say is you now have the duty of awakening the Great Emperor?”

“Yes,” Yang Yan nodded.

“How are you going to accomplish that?”

“Wait for the Emperor Garden to open then travel to its innermost sanctum,” Yang Yan looked up towards the location of the Emperor Garden but, unfortunately, nothing could be seen through the Flowing Flame Sand Field’s red flame barrier.

Yang Kai didn’t ask any more questions, as he knew sometimes knowing too much was not a good thing.

“That’s how it is, let’s head back,” Yang Yan said with satisfaction.

“Yeah, just wait a moment,” Yang Kai nodded while sending out a command with his Divine Sense before standing in place and waiting.

A moment later, a blazing wisp of fire flew over. It was the Firebird Artifact Spirit which had left Yang Kai a few hours earlier.

In the blink of an eye, the Artifact Spirit arrived in front of Yang Kai as violent flames and heat surged around its body.

It seemed that although it had not spent much time in the Earth Lung Fire Pond, the Artifact Spirit had still gained many benefits. After being summoned back by Yang Kai, the Artifact Spirit showed a look of reluctance and continued to tweet its displeasure.

Yang Kai just waved his hand helplessly and the Artifact Spirit obediently entered his body.

Finished with their business here, Yang Kai and Yang Yan began walking out.

In order to avoid being seen, the two proceeded very carefully. Fortunately, the Emperor Garden had attracted the attention of most cultivators, so the number of people who rushed to investigate the changes in the Flowing Flame Sand Field wasn’t too high. Concealing themselves properly, the two finally left the Flowing Flame Sand Field without incident.

Once they were a fair distance from this Forbidden Zone, Yang Yan immediately summoned the Flying Shark Battle Shuttle and the pair set out towards Heavenly Fate City.