Three days later, Yang Kai burst into a valley-like expanse. During those three days, he had been traveling nonstop. With the boost from his Wind Lightning Wings, his speed far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators. Aside from coincidentally encountering an eighth-rank Fire Spirit Beast and expending some effort to kill it, nothing else of note had happened.
That eighth-rank Fire Spirit Beast had already solidified its body to a considerable degree. When it suddenly erupted from an underground fissure, it genuinely startled Yang Kai. Had his reflexes not been sharp—or had the Wind Lightning Wings not been at his disposal—that ambush alone would have been enough to injure him.
Only then did he understand: the true threat of Fire Spirit Beasts didn't lie in their raw power, but in their ability to blend perfectly with the environment of the Scorching Flame Sand Region. As long as they didn't reveal themselves voluntarily, no martial artist could ever detect them.
But whenever they did appear, it was always accompanied by a lethal ambush.
An eighth-rank Fire Spirit Beast was equivalent to a Saint King Realm cultivator. That ambush could have killed any other martial artist on the spot.
Still, Yang Kai managed to slay it and obtained a fire crystal stone roughly the size of a pigeon's egg.
This fire crystal stone was considerably larger than the one he'd acquired the first time, and its value was undoubtedly high as well. As long as an alchemist or a refiner could perfectly fuse the pure Fire Spirit Qi contained within into their pills or artifacts, it would elevate the grade and quality of the finished product.
This find pleased him somewhat. He even found himself itching to seek out another eighth-rank Fire Spirit Beast to hunt. After all, he was an alchemist himself, and such a thing would be of genuine use to him.
Upon entering the valley, Yang Kai kept his Divine Sense spread over a radius of thirty zhang around him, wary of yet another ambush from a powerful Fire Spirit Beast.
The terrain here was quite peculiar. In every direction rose bare, towering mountains, and the valley as a whole resembled a massive pit sunk into the earth. It stretched so far that its end was invisible in the distance, and the entire basin was riddled with crisscrossing ravines. The larger ones gaped like bottomless abysses, enough to send a chill down anyone's spine.
Yang Kai paid it no mind. He urged his Wind Lightning Wings forward, pressing deeper.
He shared the same thinking as Wei Guchang—arrive at the area of rare spiritual herbs and treasures as quickly as possible, before too many people had entered, and gather what he could. Once the elites of every major faction poured in, the pickings would be slim.
Everyone should be rushing right now. With his Wind Lightning Wings, Yang Kai enjoyed a significant advantage.
Half a day later, he had already reached the interior of the valley. Strangely enough, in that half-day he hadn't encountered a single Fire Spirit Beast. Before, no matter how lucky he was, one or two would invariably pop out of nowhere every couple of hours to block his path. Yet now, half a day had passed without a single trace of them, which left him quite puzzled.
It was as though the valley was a forbidden zone for Fire Spirit Beasts—a place they simply wouldn't come.
Yang Kai was happy enough with that and pressed on with his head down, hurtling forward.
But suddenly, his expression changed. In the blink of an eye, his body dodged sharply to the side.
Just a moment before, his Divine Sense had picked up an abnormal fluctuation of energy—a fluctuation Yang Kai knew all too well. It was the telltale sign of a Fire Spirit Beast about to erupt from an underground fissure for an ambush.
Sure enough, the instant he shifted position, several Fire Spirit Beasts of varying forms and ranks shot out from the spot where he'd just been standing.
Yang Kai had no interest in dealing with them. He only wanted to keep moving. But before he could even steady himself, that same abnormal energy fluctuation appeared once more—this time directly beneath his feet.
His brow furrowed. He shifted again.
The third time, the fluctuation came from under his feet once more…
And simultaneously, the entire valley seemed to boil over. Chaotic energy surged in violent waves, and streams of firelight shot from the crisscrossing fissures, rising into midair where they twisted and morphed into Fire Spirit Beasts of all manner of bizarre shapes.
The streams of firelight erupting from the underground fissures were staggeringly numerous—practically countless. And from even further away, still more flashes of light appeared.
Yang Kai's face finally changed.
Something was very wrong with this valley!
He had never imagined that Fire Spirit Beasts could be this densely concentrated, and this place was nothing like what he'd assumed moments ago. This valley wasn't some forbidden zone for them—it was clearly their paradise.
Who knew why so many Fire Spirit Beasts had gathered here? In the span of just a dozen breaths, Yang Kai found himself completely surrounded, with Fire Spirit Beasts on every side glaring at him with hostile intent.
His Divine Sense swept outward, and his expression darkened.
Within a hundred zhang of his position alone, more than ten thousand Fire Spirit Beasts had already congregated. Though the vast majority were only fifth- or sixth-rank—barely worth a glance—there were seventh- and eighth-rank ones mixed in among them. And from further away still, even more Fire Spirit Beasts were converging on the area in an endless flood.
Yang Kai felt as though he had inadvertently kicked a massive hornet's nest. His expression was grim beyond measure.