After transferring everything into his spatial ring, Yang Kai sat cross-legged beneath the massive boulder to rest and recuperate.
He had been cultivating in that canyon for over a month straight and had just fought a fierce battle. Although his expenditure hadn't been significant, Yang Kai still wanted to maintain his optimal condition in case anything unexpected arose.
Half an hour later, Yang Kai had fully recovered.
Just as he was about to leave the hollow beneath the boulder, a gray shadow suddenly flashed past his eyes. The figure was small and agile, moving with remarkable speed—not as terrifyingly fast as the Flowing Flame Flying Fire, but still extraordinary nonetheless.
The instant Yang Kai spotted it, his divine sense swept over. After confirming what the creature actually was, he couldn't help but display a look of surprise.
It was actually a demon beast, somewhat resembling a fox. Its eyes were incredibly lively, carrying a mischievous gleam, and its body was suffused with a wind-attribute energy aura. It moved like the wind on its four paws, covering a vast distance in the blink of an eye.
What drew Yang Kai's attention was that the demon beast had a spirit fruit brimming with rich spiritual energy clenched in its mouth. The fruit was bright red, containing an intensely scorching heat within.
A Golden Yang Fruit? Yang Kai raised his eyebrows and immediately shot to his feet, rapidly giving chase after the fox-like little beast.
The Golden Yang Fruit was a top-grade Void-tier spirit fruit—a premium ingredient for refining certain Void-tier pills. Since he had been planning to brew pills to boost the cultivation of Wuyi and the others, encountering such a spirit fruit naturally meant he wasn't about to let it slip by.
Besides, the demon beast's strength was low—only at the sixth rank. It appeared to be fast and nothing more. He was confident that with his abilities, catching it would be a simple matter.
Snatching a spirit fruit from a demon beast's mouth was admittedly a bit undignified, but what interested Yang Kai was this: if a Golden Yang Fruit had appeared, then there had to be a Golden Yang Fruit tree growing nearby. If he caught the beast, it might lead him to the tree.
If he could transplant it to Dragon Cave Mountain, that would be perfect. Yang Kai was confident that with the vitality contained within his golden blood, relocating the Golden Yang Fruit tree would not be a problem.
This was the Scorching Zone of the third layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field. All the spirit herbs and medicinal plants here had aged for extraordinarily long periods. In terms of value, they simply couldn't be compared to what the outside markets had to offer.
Yang Kai was no slow runner. The moment he detected the little beast's trail, he gave chase. But he had somewhat underestimated the creature's abilities—by the time he burst out of his concealment, it was already more than three li ahead.
Frowning slightly, Yang Kai unfurled his Wind and Thunder Wings, gradually closing the gap between himself and the little beast.
Half an hour later, just as Yang Kai was about to catch the little beast, the sound of intense fighting suddenly erupted from somewhere not far ahead. Powerful waves of energy fluctuated radiating from that direction—it sounded like a desperate battle was underway.
Yang Kai had no intention of involving himself in someone else's trouble. He had planned to detour around the fight, but the little beast was heading straight for the source of the commotion.
Having chased it this far, Yang Kai was naturally unwilling to give up halfway. He gritted his teeth and pressed on.
But moments later, a stunned expression crossed his face, because he watched with his own eyes as the little beast he had been pursuing all this way reached the two combatants and suddenly transformed into a streak of flowing light, slipping directly into the chest of one of the women.
This little beast was actually someone's tamed pet? Yang Kai's expression turned ugly.
Had he known this earlier, he never would have committed such an embarrassing blunder. If it was a tamed demon beast, its owner had certainly sent it out to forage for spirit herbs and medicinal plants. It just so happened that he had spotted it on its way back with its harvest and chased it all the way here.
This sort of thing could easily lead to misunderstandings, very likely resulting in a fight.
Still, the little beast was genuinely impressive—it had managed to find a Golden Yang Fruit for its owner. And judging by how熟练 it seemed, this was probably far from the first time it had done so.
The one fighting the beast's owner was a man clad in radiant golden garments. The moment Yang Kai laid eyes on that attire, he couldn't help but feel a deep sense of revulsion.
The War Heaven Alliance—no matter how many of their warriors had entered the Sand Field, one ran into them everywhere. He had killed two while harvesting Emerald Luo Grass before this, four more in the canyon, and barely had he stepped out of the canyon before stumbling onto another one here. Truly bad luck.
The sight of the little beast carrying a spirit fruit and diving into the woman's chest had of course been witnessed by the War Heaven Alliance disciple. His eyes widened as he cried out, "A Golden Yang Fruit?"
Greed blazed in his gaze, and his attacks grew even more vicious.
Meanwhile, after Yang Kai's arrival, the woman seemed somewhat apprehensive. She kept splitting her attention to monitor Yang Kai's movements, which caused her—originally fighting her opponent to a draw—to suddenly slip into the disadvantaged position. The man's halberd-shaped artifact pressed her relentlessly, and she found herself in increasingly dire straits.
As for the War Heaven Alliance disciple, he paid Yang Kai absolutely no mind. While launching his full-power assault, he taunted the woman viciously: "You ugly woman—you're ugly and you can't stand someone saying so? Ha ha ha! If you're ugly, then you should obediently stay in your boudoir and not show your face in public. Coming out to disgust people is your fault! The mouth is on my face—I'll say whatever I please. What are you going to do about it, bite me?!"