"Is it working?" Yang Kai asked. Though he felt his idea should be correct—using fluctuations in spatial power to sense the rifts—since it was a secret art applied to someone else, he had no absolute certainty.
"It works, it works wonderfully!" The Ghost Ancestor nodded emphatically. "I can now sense every rift. There are three hidden rifts nearby, correct?"
"That's right!" Yang Kai nodded and smiled. "Looks like this idea wasn't wrong after all."
"Mm, my problem is solved now. But… are you certain you'll be fine on your own?" the Ghost Ancestor asked with concern. Most who had entered this place were Void King Realm experts. Xue Yue and Zi Donglai, though Return Void Stage, would surely be following Ni Guang and Zi Long. If Yang Kai were moving alone, there would inevitably be risks. If he encountered any powerful figures, he would surely be attacked.
This thought made the Ghost Ancestor rather uneasy.
"No problem." Yang Kai grinned. "Supreme Elder, don't forget what kind of power I specialize in. With so many spatial rifts here, this place is practically tailor-made for me. If I really run into some fool who doesn't know better and I can't beat them, surely I can still outrun them."
Hearing this, the Ghost Ancestor found it quite reasonable and nodded. "Very well. If that's the case, we'll split up and operate independently. But still, don't let your guard down. Here—I'll leave something on you. As long as you and I are within a thousand li of each other, you activate it and I'll be able to sense your location. I'll reach your side immediately."
As he spoke, the Ghost Ancestor waved his hand and summoned his Myriad Soul Banner. He reached into the banner and grabbed forcefully.
In the next instant, a ferocious, howling yin soul was pulled free by the Ghost Ancestor.
The soul looked terrifying beyond measure, and it even possessed clearly defined facial features. The aura radiating from it was immensely powerful—no weaker than a cultivator at the third level of the Return Void Stage.
"This is a subsidiary soul from my Myriad Soul Banner. It is linked to me mind-to-heart. Consider it yours for now!" The Ghost Ancestor slapped it down onto Yang Kai's shoulder.
In the next moment, Yang Kai felt a faint chill emanate from his shoulder. However, it had no real impact on him.
He silently probed inward, confirming that the subsidiary soul had indeed merged into his body, then gave a slight nod to indicate everything was in order.
Next, of course, came the wait for the Seven Luminary Treasure Light to recede so the two of them could move freely.
When the treasure light blanketed the valley, no one could move at all—they could only take shelter within the spatial rifts.
Yang Kai quietly calculated the time.
Finally, at a certain moment, a tremendous inhaling sound echoed from deep within the valley. Accompanied by a faint tremor running through the Medicinal Valley, the Seven Luminary Treasure Light covering it began to withdraw toward the depths like a receding tide.
"Be careful, Sect Master," the Ghost Ancestor cautioned.
"Mm." Yang Kai nodded, and the two of them immediately headed off in separate directions.
After parting from the Ghost Ancestor, Yang Kai's speed increased dramatically. Before, while traveling with the Ghost Ancestor, they had been perfectly safe—but he'd needed to constantly alert the old man to change course, which caused some delay. Moving alone, he had no such concerns.
The Medicinal Valley was permeated with the fragrance of herbs everywhere, and finding those rare spirit materials was actually quite simple. By following the source of the scent, one could always make some discovery.
The only things to watch out for were the spatial rifts and the spread of the Seven Luminary Treasure Light.
But Yang Kai estimated that the treasure light, having just retreated, would not surge back anytime soon. So he set about his work without worry.
After the time it took to burn one incense stick, he was crouching cheerfully beneath the roots of an enormous tree, pocketing a spirit herb of extraordinary potency that resembled a ginseng root.
The herb looked virtually identical to ordinary ginseng, the only difference being that its entire surface was covered in a faint luminescence, as though countless tiny stars had been scattered across it.
"A Crimson Star Ginseng—this really is a wondrous place," Yang Kai remarked with a sigh. Every spirit herb he had collected so far was a treasure of the Void King level, and all of them were long-extinct rarities. Refining them into Void King grade spirit pills would make any Void King Realm expert fight over them.
His own cultivation was nearing a breakthrough, and in the days ahead he would inevitably need spirit pills and medicinal aids for his training. This journey through the Lost Lands had provided him with a rare opportunity to gather ingredients, and he was certainly not about to hold back.
Half an incense stick's time later, Yang Kai was already three hundred li away. He frowned as he stared at a spirit grass before him and the scattered soil around it, cursing himself silently for arriving too late.
The spirit herb that had grown here had already been claimed by someone else.
The only plant left behind was a newly sprouted seedling, too young and underdeveloped to be of any use even if harvested.
It seemed the cultivator who had come here before had not committed the act of killing the goose for its golden eggs. They had taken the mature herb but left this seedling behind, a stroke of fortune for whoever came after.
Yang Kai wondered briefly who it might have been, then slowly shook his head without dwelling on it further, and continued searching by following the herbal fragrance.
As time passed, another incense stick's time later, Yang Kai finally had some results. The spirit herbs he gathered were not quite on the level of the Brahma Heaven Holy Fruit or the Demon Transformation Lingzhi, but they were all priceless treasures that money could not buy.
"Time should be just about up," Yang Kai muttered to himself.
Based on his earlier calculations, the sacred bird Seven Luminary Peacock breathed in and out at intervals of roughly half a shichen each time. If that estimate was correct, then the Seven Luminary Treasure Light would soon be blanketing the valley once more.