The lean, tall man who led the group barked an order, and his subordinates immediately swarmed forward, tying up all the remaining human and sea clan warriors with ropes. Anyone who resisted was sure to receive a flurry of fists and kicks, beaten until their faces were swollen and bruised.
Every one of these followers, regardless of their cultivation level, surpassed the creatures from the outside world in physical strength by a considerable margin. As a result, there was simply no room for the humans or sea clan to resist, and they were quickly suppressed.
The lean man wore a thin, insincere smile as he spoke again: "Be obedient, and there will be rewards for you. But if you dare to cause trouble, heh heh… quite a few people die on Ghost Island every year. Think carefully about that."
Pang Zhen, Qian Mo, and the others all darkened in expression, a sense of unease rising in their hearts.
…
A hundred li away, Yang Kai frowned at the two corpses on the ground and let out a soft sigh.
He had only just arrived and hadn't wanted to go on a killing spree.
But these two who had chased after him were relentless, acting as though they were determined to hunt him down and destroy him completely. Left with no choice, Yang Kai had no option but to strike hard.
Under conditions where Holy Power could not be used, the number of beings across the entire Star Field who could match Yang Kai in pure physical combat could probably be counted on one hand. These two nameless, low-level grunts were no match for him whatsoever.
Within two or three moves, they were already sprawled on the ground!
Yang Kai stripped their spatial rings, then picked a direction and swiftly departed.
Half an hour later, more warriors arrived at the spot. Upon seeing the two corpses on the ground, their expressions changed in alarm, and they hurried back to Ghost Island to report the situation.
By then, Yang Kai was already hundreds of li away.
Inside a natural rock cave along the coastline, Yang Kai sat cross-legged. The cave was rather damp and not well-suited for habitation, but Yang Kai couldn't afford to be choosy.
He sat on the ground and tried to circulate the Holy Power within his body, attempted to commune with the Dark Star — every attempt ended in failure.
This bizarre place truly severed his connection with the Dark Star, robbing him of his greatest advantage entirely.
Yang Kai's expression was grim.
Fortunately, his Divine Sense, though severely suppressed, was still usable. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to retrieve items from his spatial ring, let alone wield the Artifacts nurtured within his body.
Using both spatial rings and Artifacts required a minimum threshold of Divine Sense to serve as a bridge. Once Divine Sense became unusable, all such external aids would be cut off as well.
This brought Yang Kai some measure of relief.
After a moment's thought, he retrieved the spatial rings of the two he had killed earlier and began examining their contents.
Given Yang Kai's current wealth, he naturally wouldn't spare a glance at the assets of two ordinary warriors. However, through their belongings, he could glean certain details about Ghost Island by proxy — which was why he had taken their rings before leaving.
The two had not originally possessed high cultivation, and the restrictions on their rings were cracked by Yang Kai with ease.
After a careful search, Yang Kai found both to be rather impoverished. Apart from some food, the rings contained only a small quantity of Saint Crystals, a few low-grade Artifacts, some martial technique manuals he had no interest in, and several jade bottles.
Saint Crystals were completely useless here. If he couldn't even channel Holy Power, how could Saint Crystals possibly serve any function?
He paid no further attention to the Artifacts or the manuals.
Yang Kai took out the jade bottles, uncapped them, and poured a gray pill into his hand.
The moment it touched his palm, Yang Kai's lips curled in disdain.
With his status as a Void King level Alchemist, he could tell at a single glance that this pill had been incompletely refined. While it couldn't be called an outright failure, it had certainly not drawn out the full efficacy of its ingredients. The refinement technique was crude, and the medicinal potency of the raw materials had not been properly condensed.
This pill was nothing more than several materials thrown together and shaped into a haphazard, failed product!
But then he remembered that Holy Power couldn't be used in this godforsaken place, and his displeasure faded.
Without the ability to channel Holy Power, an Alchemist had no way to condense medicinal liquids or fully exploit the properties of the ingredients. That was almost certainly the reason these pills were so poorly refined.
Though Yang Kai's expertise and standards were far too lofty to regard such pills with any respect, he was quite curious about their effects.
None of the pills he had mastered to date matched what lay before him, which he found rather remarkable.
He studied the pill for a while, sniffed its scent, confirmed it was non-toxic, and simply tossed it into his mouth.
A moment later, Yang Kai's brows shot upward in surprise, and he murmured: "So that's it. No wonder every one of them had decent physical quality — it was because of these pills!"
After taking it, he immediately understood the pill's purpose.
It was a pill designed to temper the body!
After swallowing it, Yang Kai clearly felt a warm current rise from his lower abdomen, flowing into his limbs and bones, transforming his organs, muscles, and tendons, pushing his physical body toward improvement.
A single pill had a negligible effect on Yang Kai — practically immeasurable.
But for warriors who had never specifically tempered their bodies, it offered genuine benefit. If one consumed these pills consistently over the long term, it could absolutely elevate one's physical quality.