Zong Ao's concerns were not without merit. Even the greatest powers, when cultivating young disciples, would never push their youngsters beyond their limits—that would do them no good whatsoever.
But everything Yang Kai was doing now clearly far surpassed the limits a martial artist of his level could endure.
Even a martial artist at the first or second stage of the Saint King Realm would likely be unable to keep up over time.
Whether Yang Kai lived or died was none of Zong Ao's concern. All Zong Ao cared about was whether that wild boast from their bet—whether Yang Kai could truly refine a Li Fire Pill born with a Pill Cloud—was actually true!
In his heart, Zong Ao had a hundred reasons not to believe it, yet he couldn't help clinging to a sliver of hope—that Yang Kai could truly do as he said and make him lose in convincing fashion.
Pill Veins had been his lifelong pursuit. For the sake of that dream, he had abandoned his lofty status and readily available wealth, choosing instead to refine pills here—and he had been at it for a century. More than anyone, he longed to find a reliable method to seize those ethereal Pill Veins or Pill Clouds.
So even if it was just a sliver of hope, or nothing more than a young man's wild talk, Zong Ao couldn't help wanting to see it through to the end. That was why he didn't want anything to happen to Yang Kai.
His worries had been in vain.
After Yang Kai had deployed the grand formation of the Seven-Colored Spirit Gathering Flags and begun his cultivation, Zong Ao hadn't refined a single pill for an entire month, instead secretly watching him from somewhere within the palace. He was startled to find that an unimaginable surge of blood and vital force was erupting from the boy's body. He was startled to find that the energy—enough to cause a Saint King Realm martial artist's body to explode—flowed into the boy's body and was effortlessly absorbed without the slightest discomfort. He was even more startled to find that the fluctuations of the boy's power were growing stronger by the day.
Not only was there no trace of distress on his face—he seemed to relish it, his spirits bright and joyful each day, making Zong Ao nearly unable to believe his own eyes.
As time passed, a faint yellowish glow began to quietly emanate from around Yang Kai's body. At first, the glow was barely noticeable. But as more and more spiritual energy poured in, it grew increasingly brilliant.
Dense heaven and earth spiritual energy gathered around him like mist, lingering and refusing to dissipate.
It caused mist to rise from across Zong Ao's several hundred acres of medicinal fields, and the herbs planted there grew even faster than usual.
With such dense heaven and earth spiritual energy converging, it would have been strange if the herbs hadn't grown faster.
In an instant, this valley had almost become the most spiritually rich location on Rainfall Star—even the cluster of mountain palaces where the Heng Luo Commerce Association's branch was situated was far inferior to this place.
To have changed the heaven and earth spiritual energy over such a vast area single-handedly, turning this place into something as rare as a blessed paradise—in all his decades of life, Zong Ao had never encountered such a strange phenomenon.
"What kind of person is he?" Zong Ao wondered, utterly baffled, slowly shaking his head and knowing his worries had been fed to the dogs. After observing for a month, he stopped paying Yang Kai any mind, heading instead to the pill refinement chamber. He fired up dozens of pill furnaces and set about his great work of alchemy!
He had finally understood that a monster like Yang Kai could never possibly damage himself through cultivation.
Zong Ao could see clearly how Yang Kai kept tossing cultivation pills into his mouth, replacing one high-grade Holy Crystal after another…
No matter his current strength, in the future, he would undoubtedly become a dazzling new star in the Star Domain! Zong Ao was certain of it.
…
Seizing the opportunity of the medicinal ingredient delivery to Zong Ao, which happened once every three months, Lin Mufeng personally handed several special spatial rings over to him.
Those spatial rings were packed to the brim with the medicinal ingredients Yang Kai needed. To save the comatose Xue Yue, Lin Mufeng and the others had spared no expense—these ingredients had to be purchased with their own money, as they couldn't be billed to the Heng Luo Commerce Association.
After purchasing all those ingredients, the combined wealth of the group had been reduced by nearly half.
Zong Ao took the spatial rings and immediately shut the palace gates, without even the slightest thought of letting Lin Mufeng in for a brief rest.
Lin Mufeng didn't dare put on any face. He stood there awkwardly outside, gazing at the medicinal fields where spiritual energy swirled like an ocean, and his eyes suddenly brightened.
Through the thick barrier of heaven and earth energy, he discovered something remarkable about Yang Kai.
What Saint King Realm martial artist could cultivate this frantically? From his appearance, he had clearly been cultivating for a long time, yet there wasn't the slightest thing wrong with him. Setting everything else aside, the boy's physical toughness alone seemed somewhat extraordinary.
After watching for a while, Lin Mufeng quietly left without disturbing Yang Kai.
The sun set and the moon rose. Yang Kai sat motionless in the midst of the medicinal fields. The infant-face pattern on his chest—formed after consuming the Tianling Ghost Orchid—ravenously devoured the heaven and earth spiritual energy in great gulps. The Seven-Colored Spirit Gathering Flags were working ceaselessly as well, drawing vast quantities of heaven and earth spiritual energy toward this location.
The effects of the Snow Pool Crystal Marrow had persisted until this day without the slightest diminishment, and his state of mind remained as calm and steady as ever, without any great fluctuations.
He took one cultivation pill after another, and the few hundred remaining high-grade Holy Crystals were completely exhausted!
Never before had Yang Kai cultivated with such frenzy and such sustained intensity.
His cultivation at the second stage of the Saint King Realm was climbing steadily, and the power contained within his body grew ever more immense—he was gradually reaching the threshold of the third stage.