If one day Yang Kai could successfully refine a Void King Grade pill, it would mean his alchemy had reached a pinnacle—the pinnacle of the entire Star Field!
He actually had some Void King Grade medicinal ingredients on hand. They were all harvested back when he had first set foot in the Star Field and found himself stranded on the Profound Hanging Continent. Over the years, his alchemy hadn't been good enough to attempt refining them.
But no one ever turned down such materials—the more the better.
In particular, a peak Void King Grade alchemist would undoubtedly face tremendous difficulty advancing to the Void King realm, and the ingredients consumed in that process would be staggering. At the thought, Yang Kai threw himself into harvesting with even greater vigor.
Time drifted by. Although this valley contained several plots of medicinal gardens with at least a thousand spirit herbs planted across them, the four of them working together made short work of the harvest. Half a day later, Yang Kai straightened up and surveyed his surroundings, only to find that nearly every herb in the valley's gardens had been picked clean. The last remaining scraps were being gathered by the three women from Ice Heart Valley off to one side.
A faint smile crossed his face. Yang Kai had no intention of joining in. Instead, he stood in place and waited.
Bored, he began looking around the valley more carefully. This should be a hidden cave abode left behind tens of thousands of years ago—and if it was a hidden cave abode, there ought to be signs of habitation. Earlier, everyone had flooded in and been captivated by the sight of the spirit herbs, too distracted to examine the place closely.
But now, as Yang Kai looked around, he couldn't find a single dwelling—not even one building.
Could it be that…
A contemplative expression settled on his face. He turned his gaze toward the cliff wall nearby. Upon closer inspection, he actually did notice something. A moment later, his figure flickered and he appeared before a stretch of smooth rock face.
He reached out and slapped the wall a few times. Nothing unusual. But Yang Kai was no greenhorn fresh off the streets—would he be fooled by such a simple trick? He continued tapping the wall with his fingers, listening to the sounds reverberating from within. At the same time, he sent his spiritual sense probing inward.
Before long, Yang Kai's face lit up with delight. Without a moment's hesitation, he struck the wall at a specific spot with his palm.
He hadn't infused the palm strike with any Saint Yuan, but the instant his hand landed, a deep rumbling echoed from inside the cliff. The smooth rock face split open, revealing a pitch-black passageway.
Yang Kai raised an eyebrow and strode inside without hesitation.
The tunnel carved through the rock wasn't particularly wide—perhaps three feet across, barely enough for two people to walk abreast. But it twisted and turned repeatedly, giving the impression of considerable depth.
Yang Kai walked a good one or two li inward before a faint, flickering glow finally appeared up ahead.
At the sight of it, his expression grew serious and he quickened his pace.
Moments later, he arrived at a stone chamber. It wasn't large, spanning perhaps twenty to thirty zhang across. The furnishings inside were sparse—a stone table, a stone chair, a stone bed—and nothing else.
But the instant Yang Kai stepped inside, his gaze was drawn to a particular spot.
There, standing silently on the ground, was an alchemy furnace roughly half a person tall. It had an extremely ancient appearance, and a desolate, weathered aura seeped from within. Clearly it was something of considerable age, and judging by its quality, it was undoubtedly of no low grade—most likely a Void King Grade alchemy furnace!
And beside the furnace sat a set of skeletal remains, still locked in a cross-legged posture. From the way the skeleton was positioned, it appeared as though it had been channeling Saint Yuan into the furnace at the moment of death.
This person had still been refining pills when they died!
Yang Kai deduced the truth in an instant. Combined with all the spirit herbs growing in the valley outside, the identity of this person was practically screaming at him.
An alchemist!
Only an alchemist would plant so many medicinal ingredients in their own cave abode. And judging from the posture at the time of death, this had been someone utterly consumed by alchemy—otherwise they wouldn't have still been refining pills in their final moments.
He just didn't know whether they had succeeded.
With that thought in mind, Yang Kai sent his spiritual sense curiously sweeping into the alchemy furnace. One scan later, he discovered, to his astonishment, that a single pill actually lay within!
This person had actually succeeded! A surge of genuine respect welled up in Yang Kai's heart. He didn't know whether the cave abode's owner had died from the exhaustion of pouring everything into their alchemy, or whether they had simply wanted to fulfill a final wish before death by refining one last batch of pills. But either way, that kind of devotion left Yang Kai feeling humbled.
He himself practiced alchemy solely in service of his Cultivation. But this person, regardless of whether they had been good or evil, male or female in life, had undeniably elevated alchemy to something more important than life itself—which was why this scene lay before him now.
While he was still lost in reflection, the sound of soft footsteps suddenly reached him from outside. Yang Kai's brow twitched. Without a second thought, he reached into the alchemy furnace, plucked out the single pill, tossed it directly into a jade vial, and stowed it away in his space ring.
The entire sequence flowed like water, so swift that Yang Kai didn't even have time to glance at what grade the pill was.
The moment he finished, a graceful figure appeared behind him.
"Young brother, could this be the cave abode of the place's former owner?" The beautiful woman from Ice Heart Valley had arrived. She cast a casual glance around, then immediately exclaimed in surprise.
"Most likely," Yang Kai replied with a gentle nod, his expression perfectly composed.
"Oh? An alchemy furnace—so this person was an alchemist in life?" The woman's face lit up with delight. She hurried over to Yang Kai's side and studied the chamber carefully, confirming that nothing appeared to have been disturbed. Then her beautiful eyes locked onto the space ring on the skeleton's bony finger, and a look of unmistakable desire flickered across her face.