Besides, within his Black Book's space, the Divine Tree was still slumbering. Perhaps its aura could nourish the Golden Yang Fruit Tree.
Of course, even if that didn't work out, there would be no loss.
"What do you want with this fruit tree?" The woman, who had been about to leave, halted her steps and looked at Yang Kai with puzzlement. "This kind of spirit tree has extremely strict requirements for its growing environment. If you uproot it from here, it could very well die. And a Spatial Ring isn't suitable for storing something like this either."
After blurting out those words, she suddenly seemed to realize she shouldn't be sticking her nose into other people's business. She gave an awkward smile and asked on her own initiative, "Would you like me to help?"
"There's no need, miss. I appreciate the kind offer, but I can handle this myself." Yang Kai smiled faintly, extended a finger, and burst his Saint Source outward, condensing it into a sharp blade-like energy at his fingertip. He then plunged it into the ground and carved a wide circle around the Golden Yang Fruit Tree.
The soil around the tree wasn't particularly compact, so Yang Kai sliced through it with ease. To avoid damaging the tree's root system, he worked with great care, his Divine Sense constantly enveloping the area beneath the tree and guiding his Saint Source to steer clear of the roots.
After completing the full circle, Yang Kai released his Divine Sense and wove it into a great net that enveloped the entire Golden Yang Fruit Tree.
The next instant, light flashed, and the three-zhang-tall Golden Yang Fruit Tree vanished without a trace — Yang Kai had stored it away in his Black Book's space and placed it beside the Divine Tree, leaving behind only a massive pit in the ground.
A hint of surprise flickered through the woman's eyes. While her cultivation was more than sufficient to store such a spirit tree in her own Spatial Ring, the fact that Yang Kai — a mere First Layer Saint King — could do so without so much as turning red in the face was rather astonishing.
After all, collecting something so massive, and a living thing at that, placed a real burden on one's Divine Sense.
With the Golden Yang Fruit Tree safely put away, Yang Kai gave the woman a faint smile and was about to bid her farewell and go their separate ways when his brow suddenly furrowed. He swiped a finger across his ring and withdrew a communication compass.
The moment his Divine Sense had casually swept through his Spatial Ring, he had noticed signal fluctuations emanating from the compass, immediately catching his attention.
This communication compass had been given to him by Wei Guchang — back when he had just entered the third layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Region. At the time, Yang Kai had discovered two Shadow Moon Hall disciples' corpses and had tried to contact Wei Guchang, but received no reply. He had no idea how that guy and Dong Xuan'er were faring. Now, over a month later, the compass had suddenly shown activity, which greatly surprised him.
Before Yang Kai could even examine the message within the compass, the woman standing nearby let out a soft gasp and looked at him in astonishment. "Are you a disciple of Shadow Moon Hall?"
Yang Kai looked up at her, his face full of confusion. "What makes you say that?"
Although he had been in close contact with Shadow Moon Hall's people, he wasn't actually one of their disciples. All he'd done was take out a communication compass — how had she jumped to that conclusion?
The woman smiled slightly and pointed at the compass in Yang Kai's hand. "That Artifact you're holding was forged by Master Green of Shadow Moon Hall. It carries his distinctive mark. I also own an Artifact forged by Master Green, so I'm quite familiar with this. And someone who owns this kind of communication compass — wouldn't they be a Shadow Moon Hall disciple? Moreover, only Shadow Moon Hall's most elite disciples would possess one."
For some reason, after guessing that Yang Kai belonged to Shadow Moon Hall, the woman's attitude toward him seemed to warm considerably. Before, there had been a certain aloofness to her, but now her words came across as perfectly natural.
Yang Kai blinked, then followed the direction of her finger. Sure enough, he spotted a triangular mark etched into the side of the compass.
Master Green — Yang Kai had heard of him. He was said to be Shadow Moon Hall's only Void Grade Low-tier Artifact Refiner, one of the few renowned masters across the entire Dark Star. It seemed this triangular mark was indeed his personal signature.
This sort of thing was perfectly normal. Any Artifact Refiner worth their salt had their own unique mark, which they would stamp onto every piece they forged. Not only did this increase the Artifact's value, but it also gave its owner a certain prestige.
Alchemists, on the other hand, couldn't pull off anything like that. No alchemist would be idle enough to stamp their personal mark on pills. Pills, after all, were swallowed in one bite — it wasn't as if people needed to admire them before popping them in their mouths.
The woman's powers of observation were remarkably sharp. Yang Kai truly hadn't noticed that mark before.
Hearing her explanation, he nodded. "This was most likely forged by Master Green, but I'm not a Shadow Moon Hall disciple. This was given to me by Wei Guchang."
"Senior Brother Wei gave it to you?" The woman covered her small mouth in surprise. How well she knew Wei Guchang's pride — even among Shadow Moon Hall's other core disciples, he didn't think much of any of them. Aside from Dong Xuan'er, no one else caught his eye. For Wei Guchang to have given Yang Kai a communication compass — what did that imply?
"You know Brother Wei?" Now it was Yang Kai's turn to be surprised. He hadn't expected that this woman he'd happened to run into had some connection to Wei Guchang.
"Yes, I do. I'm quite close with Xuan'er..." The woman smiled sweetly, then suddenly seemed to recall something. Her expression shifted slightly and she said urgently, "Did Senior Brother Wei just send a message? Hurry, check it!"
The only people who could send messages from this place were a handful of Shadow Moon Hall's most elite disciples — no one else. There was a very real possibility that Wei Guchang himself had sent the message, and if he was reaching out to someone else, it likely meant he had fallen into some kind of peril.