Two days later, Yang Kai was inside his cave dwelling refining several newly acquired Dao Source-grade Artifacts when his expression suddenly shifted. He retrieved a transmission compass from his space ring, poured his spiritual consciousness into it, and his face brightened. He immediately rose to his feet.
A short while later, he strolled out of the cave dwelling and headed straight for the city gate.
Half an hour later, in a small grove roughly thirty thousand li from Maple Forest City, Yang Kai descended from the sky.
Before he even had a chance to scan his surroundings, a familiar figure materialized ahead of him. The man chuckled and cupped his fists. "Brother Yang, you're impressively fast."
"Brother Kang, sorry to keep you waiting." Yang Kai smiled and returned the greeting.
The person before him was naturally Kang Siran. After receiving his transmission earlier, Yang Kai had immediately understood that Kang Siran was ready to go. However, the two of them hadn't left Maple Forest City together—instead, they had split up and arranged to rendezvous at this location.
Kang Siran was a cautious and prudent person, which suited Yang Kai just fine.
"Not at all, I just arrived myself. Hadn't even caught my breath before you showed up," Kang Siran said with a grin. "Since Brother Yang is here, there's no time to waste. Let's set off right away."
As he spoke, he opened his mouth and spat out a spindle-shaped Artifact. The Artifact expanded in the wind, quickly growing into a spindle roughly three zhang in length.
Kang Siran formed several hand seals and sent a stream of Source Power into it. A small opening immediately appeared on the side of the Artifact.
Yang Kai understood at once that this was a flying Artifact. Without hesitation, he flickered inside. After Kang Siran followed, the older man began channeling his energy, and the spindle Artifact shot forward at tremendous speed.
"Forgive the embarrassment, Brother Yang—my flying Artifact is only Void King middle-grade, so the speed isn't anything spectacular. But it saves energy, which is better than the two of us flying under our own power," Kang Siran explained as he controlled the Artifact.
Yang Kai nodded. "It's more than sufficient. How long until we reach our destination?"
"About three days or so," Kang Siran replied. "That gives me time to fill Brother Yang in on the details of that place."
Yang Kai said, "I was just about to ask."
The two of them settled inside the Artifact and began talking. Through Kang Siran's account, Yang Kai learned that the cave dwelling of Gongsun Mu—the third disciple of the Great Emperor Miao Dan—was located at a place called Yuan Ding Mountain.
From a distance, the mountain resembled a great treasure cauldron, which was why the locals had named it Yuan Ding Mountain.
What made matters more complicated was that Yuan Ding Mountain fell within the territory of the Scorching Fire Hall. Years ago, Kang Siran had sneaked out alone to explore the area. Unfortunately, his strength at the time wasn't high enough to break through the cave dwelling's restrictions, and he had left empty-handed and frustrated.
By his estimation back then, even if the restrictions around Gongsun Mu's cave dwelling had fallen into disrepair over the ages, a Void King realm cultivator still wouldn't be able to breach them alone. At minimum, one would need to be at the Dao Source realm to have any chance.
That was why he had invited Yang Kai to join him. With his current strength, going back alone would be just as futile.
The reason he had chosen Yang Kai specifically was twofold. First, Gongsun Mu had been an expert in alchemy, so his cave dwelling would be enormously attractive to Yang Kai—Kang Siran wasn't worried about him refusing. Second, over the days they had spent together, Kang Siran had come to see Yang Kai as a trustworthy person.
Otherwise, for something this important, how could he have rashly invited an outsider to cooperate? Even among close friends and relatives, there were no shortage of cases where immense profit turned allies into enemies.
"Brother Kang, if Yuan Ding Mountain is within the Scorching Fire Hall's territory, we'll need to tread carefully. If the Scorching Fire Hall's people catch wind of us, it'll be trouble," Yang Kai said, frowning after hearing the explanation.
He hadn't been in Maple Forest City for long, but he had heard quite a bit about the Scorching Fire Hall.
Among the forces near Maple Forest City, only the Scorching Fire Hall could rival the City Lord's Manor. That was because the strongest person in the city was City Lord Duan Yuanshan, who cultivated at the second layer of the Dao Source realm—and the Scorching Fire Hall had a Hall Master surnamed Luo who was also at the second layer of the Dao Source realm.
Unfortunately, that Hall Master Luo had been incinerated by the annihilating black flames of the ancient Sacred Spirit, the Luan Feng, at Yuqing Mountain.
The Scorching Fire Hall's strength should have diminished considerably since then.
"Rest easy, Brother Yang," Kang Siran said with a smile. "I already made some inquiries through a friend. The Scorching Fire Hall is far too busy with its own problems to bother with us right now."
"What do you mean?" Yang Kai asked, surprised.
Kang Siran explained. "You must have heard that the Scorching Fire Hall's former Hall Master Luo perished at Yuqing Mountain?"
Yang Kai nodded, thinking to himself that it wasn't just hearsay—he had been there in person. If not for the Mysterious Boundary Globe providing him refuge, he likely would have been buried alongside Hall Master Luo.
"With Hall Master Luo gone, the Scorching Fire Hall is in complete disarray. The two remaining Vice Hall Masters are busy fighting each other for power."
"Is that information reliable?" Yang Kai raised an eyebrow.
"Absolutely reliable," Kang Siran said with a slight smile. "Setting aside their internal power struggle, Yuan Ding Mountain itself sits right at the very edge of the Scorching Fire Hall's territory—it's extremely desolate. When I explored there years ago, I didn't see a single soul. So there's no need for Brother Yang to worry too much. As long as we're careful this time, we'll slip in and out without anyone knowing."
"That's the best-case scenario," Yang Kai said, nodding with satisfaction.
With that settled, the two dropped the subject and moved on to lighter conversation.