The middle-aged man who led Yang Kai to the power room spoke a few more words to the cultivator named Ke Meng before leaving.

As the two talked, Yang Kai said nothing and just silently observed his surroundings, his obedient performance satisfying Ke Meng very much.

“Little brat, come with me!” Ke Meng beckoned to Yang Kai and led him over to the centre of the power room.

A short time later, the two came to a slot on the floor.

This slot was already occupied by another cultivator who had both his hands and feet shackled to the floor, forcing him to sit cross-legged. However, at this time, it was clear that this man had already died as he showed no signs of vitality.

Before dying though, it seemed as though he had suffered an immense amount of pain. His eyes bulged round and his mouth was agape, the veins on his neck clearly visible.

Obviously, he had suffered unimaginable torture, his body little more than flesh and bones now, his skin pale without the slightest trace of colour or blood.

“Someone, come and throw this corpse out,” Ke Meng shouted to the side.

Immediately after he shouted, a cultivator rushed over, unchained the corpse, and carried it off.

Ke Meng sneered as the turned to Yang Kai, “Little brat, sit here obediently and I won’t make you suffer much; after all, you’re Senior Bi Ya person and I don’t want to make her unhappy. As long as you cooperate, it’ll be to both of our advantages.”

Yang Kai gently nodded.

Ke Meng laughed, “That’s for the best. En, sit down here.”

Saying so, he pointed to the spot the dead man was just occupying.

Yang Kai sat down honestly and allowed Ke Meng to shackle both his hands and feet.

There were many Saint Realm masters concealing themselves inside this Stars.h.i.+p power room, and Yang Kai could even feel an aura that belonged to a Saint King Realm powerhouse nearby.

Facing this kind of lineup, he didn’t dare act rashly.

After the shackles were attached though, Yang Kai’s expression changed dramatically.

He instantly discovered that these shackles were madly absorbing the Saint Qi from his body and feeding it into the Stars.h.i.+p itself. Together with the energy of the huge Saint Crystals spread throughout this room, they were supplying the power that let the Stars.h.i.+p move.

Yang Kai finally understood why so many cultivators were shackled in this place.

It also explained why the cultivators who were bound here all had weak and sluggish auras.

With their strength being so forcefully extracted like this, no matter who it was, they wouldn’t be able to maintain themselves for too long. Those who were stronger and had greater reserves could last longer while those who were weaker were at risk of dying on the spot from the excessive consumption.

The cultivator who was sitting where he was just now had probably died this way.

“Don’t worry!” Ke Meng squatted down in front of Yang Kai and patted his shoulder, “The Stars.h.i.+p is basically powered by the Saint Crystals here.”

As he said so, he pointed to the huge array of Saint Crystals nearby. “You guys are just here as backups, so there’s nothing to worry about. En, these are for you. Don’t think about it too much, just absorb them when you need to.”

The ring on Ke Meng’s hand flashed as he took out more than a dozen fist-sized Saint Crystals and set them down in front of Yang Kai.

These Saint Crystals contained a lot of energy, and although they couldn’t be compared with the giant ones arranged next to him, they were still quite good.

“What if I run out?” Yang Kai picked up a piece of Saint Crystal and held it in the palm of his hand.

“When you run out, call me and I’ll give you a few more. You belong to Senior Bi Ya, so naturally, I won’t be too stingy with you!” Ke Meng smiled deeply.

If that s.l.u.t Bi Ya came back and found that this little brat was too weak for her to enjoy, Ke Meng knew he would be punished harshly.

“Good!” Yang Kai no longer said anything more and closed his eyes directly, circulating his Secret Art to absorb the power inside the Saint Crystal in order to supplement his own loss.

Ke Meng stood up and nodded with satisfaction before leaving to attend to his own affairs.

After he left, Yang Kai opened his eyes and secretly glanced around.

There were at least fifty cultivators imprisoned inside this power room, each of them was already extensively weakened, some of them even gasping for breath as if they could die at any moment. As Yang Kai was observing, he suddenly discovered that many pairs of eyes were staring at him, like a pack of hungry wolves, each of them revealing a greedy look.

These gazes belonged to the cultivators who were imprisoned here, and obviously, they weren’t interested in Yang Kai but rather in the dozen pieces of Saint Crystal that Ke Meng had given him!

The shackles chaining them to the floor were constantly extracting the energy from their bodies, and the only way to supplement this loss was for them to refine Saint Crystals; however, none of them had received such favourable treatment from Ke Meng.

In this situation, Saint Crystals were equivalent to one’s life.

Yang Kai immediately understood why these cultivators would have such a reaction.

Quickly, Yang Kai placed the dozen pieces of Saint Crystal between his legs, obscuring them from those prying eyes.

Closing his eyes and monitoring the speed at which the shackles were extracting his strength, Yang Kai gradually calmed down.

He found that the rate of extraction wasn’t very fast and could easily be supplemented with the Saint Crystals he had received. Yang Kai estimated that he could absorb energy from these Saint Crystals much faster than the shackles were draining his strength away, meaning there was no threat to his life and he could even take this opportunity to improve his cultivation.

But faintly, he still felt like things weren’t as simple as they seemed; after all, there were so many people here with hopeless expressions on their faces, so Yang Kai decided to act prudently for now.

“Friend, friend…” A quiet voice suddenly called out to him.

Initially, Yang Kai didn’t pay it any mind, but this voice kept calling out, seemingly unwilling to give up until it got a response. Yang Kai couldn’t help frowning as he turned towards the source of the sound.

Although there wasn’t much light in this room, he still managed to see a square-faced youth seated to his right showing him a friendly smile.

That smile even had some traces of flattery in it.

Yang Kai’s mouth twitched, already guessing what this ‘friend’ wanted, staring back at him indifferently as he asked, “Are you talking to me?”

“Yes,” The young man nodded quickly, flas.h.i.+ng a pearly white smile in the darkness as he said, “My name is Shen Tu. How could I address this friend?”

“Why do you want to know?”

The young man still maintained a sunny smile, seemingly not minding Yang Kai’s indifference, continuing to speak in a familiar tone, “We’re all victims sharing the same fate here, which makes us friends. Is there any need for such vigilance?”

“I don’t like making friends with strangers,” Yang Kai shook his head.

“Don’t say this,” Shen Tu pressed on, a wry grin appearing on his face, “As the saying goes, first time strangers, second time friends, third time brothers. What harm is there in chatting, we’re not strangers after all.”

Yang Kai closed his eyes decisively, no longer paying any attention to this youth.

Shen Tu wore a bitter face as he continued whispering, “Hey, don’t ignore me, we’re stuck here, in any case. Chatting a bit will help relieve our boredom.”

“Rest a.s.sured, I’m not trying to get my hands on your Saint Crystals, those idiots who chained me here can’t hurt me, even if these things drained my strength for a hundred years it wouldn’t be enough to kill me.”

“Look, I’m really not interested in those ​​Saint Crystals. See, take a look at me, I’m sure you can tell that my life aura is still strong, nothing like those half-dead people over there.”

Shen Tu kept on chattering while Yang Kai ignored him, the cycle repeating itself ad infinitum, one refusing to give up while the other refused to acknowledge.

“Right, I just heard that man say you were caught by a woman named Bi Ya, yes? Hey, brother, your luck is really quite astonis.h.i.+ng, astonis.h.i.+ngly bad that is. Of all the people you could be caught by, it was actually that cheap s.l.u.t. I urge you, whatever she wants you to do, absolutely don’t agree. Her name is famous across the entire Star Field, and whoever goes to bed with her will not have a good end. Your strength will be sucked dry by her, causing you to die the most miserable of deaths.”

He attempted to draw Yang Kai’s attention with this topic, awakening him to his impending crisis.

However, Yang Kai remained unmoved.

“Brother, I haven’t gotten your name yet, have I? Let’s make friends. After we get out of here, I can promise being my friend will have many advantages. I can let you enjoy wealth, food, Saint Crystals, artifacts, beauties, whatever your heart desires.”

Yang Kai’s eyes which had been shut tight suddenly opened upon hearing these words.

Shen Tu saw this and immediately grinned, thinking he had finally found something Yang Kai was interested in, but just as he was about to continue his persuasion campaign, something suddenly flew over to him.

Shen Tu quickly reached out and grabbed this object, and after noticing what it was, he directed a happy and gratefully looked towards Yang Kai, “Brother, thank you very much, you’re a good man.”

He hadn’t expected that Yang Kai would actually send him a piece of Saint Crystal on his own!

This, of course, was his goal in showing goodwill towards Yang Kai.

Although every day Ke Meng would distribute some Saint Crystals to the cultivators who were shackled here, allowing them to supplement the strength which was being sapped from them, the amount of Saint Crystal simply couldn’t fully make up for the loss.

Shen Tu hadn’t been caught too long ago, and his cultivation wasn’t low, so he was still alive and kicking; however, if this situation were to continue for an extended period of time, there was no guarantee he would be able to survive.

Just now, Yang Kai had received a dozen pieces of Saint Crystal, and Ke Meng had explicitly said that if he exhausted them, all he had to do was ask for more. Shen Tu, who was sitting next to Yang Kai, naturally heard this and immediately came up with this little plan.

Before now, with all the status and wealth he possessed, Shen Tu hadn’t ever imagined that a trivial piece of Low-Rank Saint Crystal would ever be able to make him happy.

Right now, this piece of Low-Rank Saint Crystal seemed even more attractive than the greatest of beauties.

“Brother, could you give me another piece? In any case, you have so much, you won’t be able to use all of them up for a while,” Shen Tu shamelessly begged, a slightly unsatisfied look appearing on his face.

Hearing this though, Yang Kai just shot him a strange grin.

Shen Tu didn’t understand what this grin was about, but in the next instant, he actually witnessed Yang Kai calling out in surprise.

Ke Meng quickly appeared and rushed over to Yang Kai, asking in a disgruntled tone, “What is it? Kid, did you forget what I just said to you? I told you to sit here quietly.”

“When I wasn’t paying attention, he stole a piece of Saint Crystal from me!” Yang Kai pointed indignantly towards Shen Tu.

Ke Meng glanced over in the direction Yang Kai was pointing and saw Shen Tu tightly gripping the piece of Low-Rank Saint Crystal, as if it was the most precious of treasures.

The smile on Shen Tu’s face suddenly froze up.