What reassured Dai Yuan was that before she even had to ask, Yang Kai had already headed back on his own. This made her silently breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that this man must have a decent relationship with Wei Guchang — otherwise, why would he take such a risk to save them?
After some effort, they finally got the remaining three people to shore.
Strangely enough, once no one was left on the lava lake, the lake — which had been rolling with enormous bubbles as though brought to a boil — actually sank rapidly. In just a dozen or so breaths, the lava lake that had trapped Wei Guchang and the others for a full month strangely vanished from everyone's sight.
All that remained was a turtle shell, cracked and baked glowing red, along with dark red earth visible everywhere — as if everything they had endured, all those hardships, had been nothing but an illusion.
This kind of restriction left even Yang Kai dumbfounded. No wonder Wei Guchang and the others couldn't find their way out — if it had been him in their place, he would have fallen into it as well.
But he definitely wouldn't have been trapped for so long. In terms of the condensation of Sacred Yuan, Wei Guchang and the others couldn't compare to him. He could have taken the risk of using the Haotian Shield as a foothold to break through the lava lake's blockade.
Wei Guchang and the others' Sacred Yuan, on the other hand, simply wasn't sufficient for that.
After the lava lake vanished, the force that had been binding the turtle shell dissipated entirely. Dai Yuan easily dragged the shell back from a distance.
This turtle shell greatly piqued Yang Kai's interest. He had firsthand experience with the destructive power of lava — that this seemingly ordinary-looking turtle shell could float upon it and hold up for so long meant it was definitely no ordinary object.
While Wei Guchang and the others were meditating to recover, Yang Kai studied the turtle shell.
The shell was covered with crisscrossing grooves, obviously something quite old. Moreover, this turtle must have been a long-lived demon beast, having lived at least several thousand to ten thousand years — the shell was covered with marks left by wind, frost, and the passage of time.
"This is the shell of a tenth-grade Mystic Water Turtle." Just as Yang Kai was studying the object, a pleasant voice suddenly reached his ears. He didn't need to turn around to know it was Dai Yuan speaking.
"You know about this?" Yang Kai looked at her with surprise.
"Yes, I've seen it in some ancient texts." Dai Yuan crouched down and extended one slender, jade-like hand, tracing the patterns and grooves on the shell. A trace of sadness appeared on her face. "I just don't know who killed it. This shell has also been simply refined by someone — otherwise, little Xuan'er and the others would never have been able to harness the power of water contained within it for protection. I truly can't believe that a tenth-grade demon beast could exist in a place like this. I suppose we'll need to be more careful from now on."
A tenth-grade demon beast was equivalent to a Void King Realm powerhouse! Forget the tenth grade — even ninth-grade ones were extremely rare on the Dark Star. If a tenth-grade demon beast were ever to appear outside, it would absolutely be an invincible existence, bringing catastrophic devastation to the entire Dark Star.
"Perhaps there are no tenth-grade demon beasts here," Yang Kai said thoughtfully. "Or rather, they existed a long time ago but not anymore."
"How can you be so sure?" Dai Yuan looked at him curiously.
"Just guessing." Yang Kai chuckled and didn't bother to explain.
He had obtained Soul-Washing Divine Water in the Flowing Flame Sand, and he knew that Void King Realm powerhouses had died here before. Since Void King Realm powerhouses had perished in this place, it would be perfectly normal for a tenth-grade demon beast to have died as well.
But having experienced all this, Yang Kai had a vague feeling that the Flowing Flame Sand was not as simple as it seemed. It was no ordinary forbidden ground. It definitely still harbored some secret within. This time, the threat of the third level had greatly diminished, allowing many elites to enter — but no one knew what kind of change had caused this.
Seeing that Yang Kai didn't want to say more, Dai Yuan didn't press further. She simply smiled gracefully and addressed him in a straightforward manner:
"Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Dai Yuan — a disciple of the Liuli Gate!"
"Liuli Gate?" Yang Kai was startled. "What is Yin Sudie to you?"
Hearing Yang Kai mention the name Yin Sudie, a faint look of disgust flickered between Dai Yuan's brows, but she quickly recovered her composure and said coolly:
"She is my junior sister."
For some reason, her tone became noticeably colder — as if simply because Yang Kai's first reaction upon hearing "Liuli Gate" had been to mention that woman Yin Sudie.
But this wasn't Yang Kai's fault. His knowledge of the Liuli Gate was limited to Yin Sudie alone. He hadn't been on the Dark Star for very long and wasn't a native warrior — how could he know about other matters related to the Liuli Gate?
"That woman is actually your junior sister?" Yang Kai looked Dai Yuan up and down as if seeing her for the first time, a peculiar expression on his face.
Regarding that woman Yin Sudie, Yang Kai couldn't say he liked her, but he didn't particularly dislike her either. He just thought the woman was somewhat slippery and charming to the bone — seemingly on par with Fang Tianzhong, Qu Changfeng, Wei Guchang, and others in reputation.
Yang Kai didn't know how much real ability she possessed, but her beauty had certainly boosted her reputation considerably.
Now, seeing Dai Yuan say that Yin Sudie was actually her junior sister — this really surprised Yang Kai.