Seeing this, Yang Kai let out a silent, bitter laugh. He knew Yang Yan wanted to study that restriction formation, which meant his own plans were about to fall through. All he could do was keep a smile on his face and chat with Shen Shitao while waiting for Yang Yan to finish.
As they talked, Shen Shitao, naturally, introduced her companions to Yang Kai with the utmost warmth.
The refined-looking woman was someone Yang Kai had seen before—one of the Qiantian Sect disciples who had followed Shen Shitao into the Flowing Flame Sands, named Lü Ying.
Of the two men, the one with the lower cultivation level but bright, spirited eyes was called Shen Fanlei, and he turned out to be a younger cousin from Shen Shitao's clan. Hearing this, Yang Kai immediately understood—no wonder there were subtle similarities between certain features of their faces. There was a blood connection between them.
The last, a Saint King Stage Three martial artist, was named Wang Yuhan.
To Yang Kai's surprise, this Wang Yuhan and Shen Fanlei were not disciples of the Qiantian Sect. The two hailed from another faction called the Jidao Gate and did not belong to the same sect as Shen Shitao and Lü Ying.
However, it was common enough for martial artists who shared some prior connection to travel together even without belonging to the same faction, so Yang Kai didn't show much surprise upon learning this.
Only the name "Jidao Gate" struck him as somewhat familiar, as though he had heard it somewhere before.
After the introductions, Shen Shitao smiled and asked, "Young Master Yang, what brings you to this Valley of Buried Heroes?"
Her voice was sweet and honeyed, and combined with her mature, almost dewy elegance, it was even more alluring than Yin Sudie's charm techniques. Yang Kai noticed that the man called Wang Yuhan seemed to harbor some special feelings toward Shen Shitao.
But the moment he heard the words "Valley of Buried Heroes," Yang Kai's expression shifted, and he blurted out, "This is the Valley of Buried Heroes?"
Shen Shitao was taken aback, then covered her mouth and giggled, asking in surprise, "Young Master Yang, you really did stumble into this place by accident, didn't you? Not even knowing what this place is."
When Yang Kai had given his explanation earlier, Shen Shitao naturally hadn't believed a word of it—after all, this location was already several days' journey from the outermost perimeter. Even if someone had wandered in unintentionally, they wouldn't have made it this deep. But now, seeing Yang Kai's reaction and expression, which didn't seem to be put on, she began to wonder. Could it be that Yang Kai hadn't been lying to her?
"Heh." Yang Kai's mouth twitched. "I really don't know what this place is."
After a moment's thought, he asked, "Is this the Valley of Buried Heroes left behind after the Guyang Sect was wiped out?"
"That's right." Shen Shitao gave a slight nod, a smile playing at her lips. "It seems you're not completely ignorant about this place."
"Mm, I've heard some rumors about it before."
The reason Yang Kai knew about the Valley of Buried Heroes was that Dai Yuan had told him about it back in the Flowing Flame Sands. The Red Candle Fruit had been about to mature at the time, and while inquiring with Dai Yuan about a certain Star Emperor Gate disciple, the conversation had drifted to this topic.
According to Dai Yuan, the Valley of Buried Heroes had originally been the site of the Guyang Sect—a mighty power no less formidable than the Leitai Sect or the Zhantian Alliance. But over two thousand years ago, someone from the Guyang Sect had accidentally killed a Star Emperor Gate disciple who had descended from Star Emperor Mountain for training, bringing catastrophic disaster upon them. One month later, the Guyang Sect was annihilated, and this place became the peculiar location known as the Valley of Buried Heroes.
Moreover, Dai Yuan had said that since then, many martial artists had liked to come here in groups to search for opportunities, because rumor had it that although the Guyang Sect had been destroyed, there remained a hidden secret vault containing the accumulated wealth of the entire sect across countless years. With such profit at stake, people were naturally drawn here.
But the place was riddled with restriction formations and saturated with an extremely dense yin energy. Many came, and many died, and that secret vault had never been discovered. Over time, fewer and fewer people sought their fortune here.
As for whether the story of the Guyang Sect's destruction at the hands of the Star Emperor Gate was true or not—there was no way to verify it.
Dai Yuan herself had come here in person, but gained nothing. Instead, she had become entangled by a wisp of cold energy, and after returning to the Liuli Gate, it had taken her a long time to purge it.
Yang Kai's mind replayed Dai Yuan's words from back then, and his expression grew uncertain.
If this really was the Valley of Buried Heroes, then he needed to be extremely careful on this trip. Those who had come here in the past hadn't been limited to the Saint King Realm—even experts of the Return to Void Realm had ventured here and perished. However strong Yang Kai might be, he wouldn't dare be the slightest bit careless.
Could it be that the two fragmentary maps in Yang Yan's possession pointed to the Guyang Sect's hidden vault? At this thought, Yang Kai's heart skipped a beat, and a surge of excitement rose within him.
If that were truly the case, it could resolve Dragon Cave Mountain's current predicament. After all, the accumulated treasury of a great sect would be an astonishing fortune.
He thought all this to himself, but his expression revealed nothing.