Of the golden threads drawn in by the Warm Spirit Lotus and surged into his Sea of Consciousness, Yang Kai had only managed to merge with a hundredth of them before the rest were all snatched away by the Warm Spirit Lotus. The six-colored radiance instantly blazed with a brilliance far exceeding what it had shown before.
Startled, Yang Kai hastily reined in the attractive force generated by the Warm Spirit Lotus, not daring to cause such a commotion again.
Had he been alone here, Yang Kai would have been nothing but thrilled — he would never have suppressed it.
But over thirty people were present in this place. If he kicked up this kind of disturbance, he would inevitably draw everyone's attention, and then be expelled! If he could absorb the Soul-Cleansing Divine Water's medicinal essence at such a frenzied pace, what would be left for anyone else?
Although Yang Kai clamped down quickly, the movement still caught the attention of the beautiful woman who had spoken to him earlier and sat nearby.
The beautiful woman opened her elegant eyes with suspicion, studying Yang Kai with a strange look. Just a moment ago, she had clearly sensed a faint, abnormal attractive force emanating from this Saint King First Stage youth, but when she focused her awareness to probe further, there was nothing to be found.
Shaking her head inwardly, she dismissed it as a figment of her imagination and quickly closed her eyes once more, resuming her absorption of the benefits contained within the Soul-Cleansing Divine Water.
Yang Kai secretly let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't known that the Warm Spirit Lotus would crave the Soul-Cleansing Divine Water this much. If he had known earlier, he would have simply found a more secluded corner, where he could have loosened the reins a bit.
He could still do so now, but he had to be extraordinarily careful — he absolutely could not let anyone grow suspicious, especially the beautiful woman sitting so close by.
With this thought, Yang Kai gradually eased his suppression of the Warm Spirit Lotus, stopping only when he had released it to a certain degree.
In an instant, roughly ten times as many golden threads as before surged into his Sea of Consciousness. A hundredth of them were devoured by his Sea of Consciousness, while the remaining golden threads flowed, as before, into the six-colored treasure island.
This speed was about right — neither so fast that he would be discovered, nor so slow that he failed to reap significant benefits. At this rate, the medicinal essence he alone was absorbing from the Soul-Cleansing Divine Water was equivalent to the combined intake of ten other people.
But Yang Kai was still not entirely satisfied, and a trace of anxiety stirred within him.
The Soul-Cleansing Divine Water was limited to this single pool. Everyone was scrambling for it, and it would inevitably run dry. If a man does not look out for himself, heaven and earth will destroy him — at a time like this, the more he could grab, the better.
Unlike the others, who were wholly absorbed in extracting the medicinal essence of the Soul-Cleansing Divine Water, Yang Kai's Divine Sense was already extraordinarily powerful, and he could afford to split his attention for other purposes.
He intended to quietly observe the others. If they were so immersed in the pool that they couldn't extricate themselves, he planned to increase his absorption speed — as long as he was careful enough, no one should notice.
Moreover, it would be best to put more distance between himself and that beautiful woman. Her strength was not particularly high — only Saint King Third Stage — but she was far too perceptive for comfort.
Thinking this, Yang Kai quietly swam toward a remote corner nearby.
Though his movements disturbed a few cultivators, causing them to open their eyes and shoot him annoyed glances, none had the inclination or the energy to call him out. They merely swept a look his way before closing their eyes again, racing against every precious moment.
After a short while, Yang Kai finally reached a corner of the pool. The spot was so secluded that almost no one had chosen it, which suited him perfectly.
He had just settled into a cross-legged position, ready to finally let loose and go all out, when he suddenly felt something press uncomfortably against his backside.
He quickly reached down and picked it up. It felt slightly warm to the touch. Before Yang Kai had any chance to examine what it actually was, a strange, bizarre energy suddenly surged from his fingertips into his body, shooting straight upward toward his brain.
Wherever that energy passed, Yang Kai's entire body was seized by a bone-deep chill. An instinctive sense of crisis arose within him.
He dared not be careless. He hastily channeled his Sacred Yuan to block it.
The Demonic Flame blazed fiercely through his meridians, and what seemed like a faint, ghostly scream echoed at the edge of Yang Kai's hearing. That cold, yin energy seemed to sense the terror of the Demonic Flame as well — it dared not press any further and instead retreated rapidly. It was expelled from his body with ease, vanishing into the pool water in an instant.
Yang Kai's face drained of color!
He opened his eyes and glanced toward the others. To his relief, no one had noticed anything happening over here. It seemed he alone had heard that eerie scream.
Not only that — the object he had been holding no longer felt warm. It had become utterly unremarkable.
Whatever this thing was, the fact that it had appeared within the Soul-Cleansing Divine Water meant it was anything but ordinary. Without a second thought, Yang Kai tossed it into his Space Ring, intending to examine it more closely after leaving this place.
His brow furrowed, he studied the golden pool water in every direction, searching for that cold, yin energy that had invaded his body. But the pool water was impenetrable to the naked eye and impenetrable to Divine Sense alike — Yang Kai searched for a long time and found nothing.
Still, since that energy feared his Demonic Flame, he was not overly concerned about it posing any further threat.
What puzzled Yang Kai was what exactly that thing could be, and why it existed in a place like this.
Shaking his head in silent bewilderment, he decided not to dwell on it any further. Quietly, he released his suppression on the Warm Spirit Lotus by a little more, allowing it to draw in the golden threads at a faster pace.