Inside the valley, Yang Kai regarded Xie Yun with an indifferent expression. He didn't kill him immediately, instead speaking up: "Tell me — how did you know I was here? Don't say it was a coincidence. The Flowing Flame Desert is massive. Without some special method, it'd be impossible to follow right behind me. If your answer satisfies me, I'll leave your body intact."
His expression suddenly turned fierce, and he said coldly: "But if you dare hide anything from me, I'll show you what it means to wish you were dead. Believe me — I can bring you back to life, and then slowly take you apart!"
Xie Yun let out a bitter laugh, took several heavy gasps of air, and only then spoke: "It's simple. A disciple from the Shadow Moon Hall tipped us off — told us the exact spot where you entered. Everyone follows the guidance of the geomagnetic compass toward the interior of the Flowing Flame Desert. As long as they can pinpoint where you entered, following behind you isn't difficult. And that Xie Yong you killed — he was an expert tracker!"
Yang Kai gave a slight nod, thinking to himself that this was roughly what he'd expected.
After discovering that the ones who ambushed him were Xie Hongwen and the other two, Yang Kai had already formed his suspicions.
From the moment he entered the Flowing Flame Desert until now, he'd only encountered two people, and both were right when he first went in. One was wearing Shadow Moon Hall robes — a disciple of the Shadow Moon Hall. The other person Yang Kai didn't recognize, but his voice had been somewhat familiar.
In Yang Kai's estimation, the fact that Xie Hongwen and his group had caught up to him so quickly meant someone had tipped them off. And that person had to be one of the two who'd seen his location earlier.
Now it seemed his guess was spot on. No wonder that Shadow Moon Hall disciple had made such a strange face upon entering the Flowing Flame Desert and spotting him — Xie Hongwen must have given him advance instructions, which was why he'd hurried away, rushing off to deliver the report.
Moreover, Yang Kai was certain that Xie Hongwen hadn't only approached that one person. Seventy Shadow Moon Hall disciples had entered the Flowing Flame Desert, and among them, a considerable number could certainly be swayed by money.
Since ancient times, wealth had moved men's hearts.
"Give me a quick death." After finishing his words, Xie Yun lay flat on the ground with a look of calm resignation, not moving a muscle.
Yang Kai flicked his finger casually, and a burst of force pierced through Xie Yun's forehead.
He was a man of his word. Since he'd promised to leave the body intact, he naturally wouldn't use the Demonic Flame to burn it.
Yang Kai bent down and picked up the crossbow Artifact. After a brief inspection, his brow furrowed. This Artifact's power was indeed considerable — it had actually managed to wound him. But its limitations in use must be equally severe, something Yang Kai could infer from the state Xie Yun had been in after firing it. The crossbow not only frantically devoured the user's sacred yuan, but it also consumed blood.
This was an evil, sinister Artifact.
Yang Kai had no interest in it. Using it once would leave him completely at the mercy of others. It was the kind of Artifact that could only be employed under someone else's protection — useful only for sniping purposes.
He tossed it casually into his spatial ring, then picked up the rings of both Xie Hongwen and Xie Yun. After examining their contents, he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
Aside from some pills for recovery and sacred crystals, there was nothing else of value in either ring.
Though, thinking about it, that was to be expected. Aside from Yang Kai himself, who carried everything precious on his person, most warriors who entered the Flowing Flame Desert would likely leave their valuable items outside. They wouldn't dare bring them in — otherwise, if something went wrong, the losses would be too great.
Among those pills, the only ones that caught Yang Kai's eye were a vial containing five Ice Snow Pills.
He'd given all of his Ice Snow Pills to Chang Qi and Hao An. He hadn't had time to refine more after entering this place, so picking up a few now wasn't bad at all. They might come in handy someday.
Having witnessed how destitute Xie Hongwen and Xie Yun were, Yang Kai didn't even bother checking Xie Yong's spatial ring. He headed straight toward the deeper reaches of the Flowing Flame Desert.
Without the Fire Spirit Beasts to obstruct him, Yang Kai used the Wind-Thunder Wings to accelerate and left the valley completely in just over two days.
The deeper he ventured, the more powerful the Scorching Zone became. Yang Kai's constitution was far from ordinary, his sacred yuan was abundant, and having previously cultivated Yang-attribute techniques — with the Demonic Flame within him now as well — the heat wasn't particularly frightening. All he needed to do was circulate a bit of sacred yuan to resist the encroachment of fire toxin.
He had no idea how vast the Scorching Zone was. As Yang Kai pressed deeper, he didn't encounter a single soul along the way, and his harvest was pitifully small. Over a full half-month, aside from collecting a few Fire Crystal Stones from seventh-rank Fire Spirit Beasts, he only gathered a dozen or so fire-attribute spiritual herbs.
Only then did Yang Kai truly realize how precious and rare Fire Crystal Stones were. He'd happened to kill an eighth-rank Fire Spirit Beast earlier and obtained a pigeon-egg-sized Fire Crystal Stone, and then in the valley he'd found one the size of a millstone. That meant his haul surpassed what all previous visitors to the Flowing Flame Desert had ever collected.
It was precisely because Fire Spirit Beasts above the seventh rank were so scarce that Fire Crystal Stones were so valuable.
The Fire Crystal Stones inside fifth and sixth-rank Fire Spirit Beasts were too small to serve any real purpose — warriors could only absorb them during cultivation.
Those dozen-odd fire-attribute spiritual herbs were passable. Some were Saint King grade, some Void grade — the quantities weren't large, since very few spiritual herbs could grow in the Scorching Zone. The only thing that satisfied Yang Kai was that they all brimmed with medicinal potency. With no one having entered this place for four hundred years, they'd had plenty of time to mature.
One day, while Yang Kai was traveling, a speck of fire suddenly streaked past before his eyes. It looked like a single spark flung from the void itself, moving at an impossible speed. The instant he spotted it, his Divine Sense extended toward it — but even so, he failed to envelop it.
It flashed by in a blink and quickly vanished from his field of vision.
"Flowing Flame Flying Fire?" Yang Kai's eyes narrowed as he instantly realized what it was.