The cavern was vast in area, and besides the pool of magma, there were other things present as well.
Before Yang Kai had a chance to take a good look around, Liu Yan's voice suddenly rang out in his ear: "Master!"
Hearing the call, he willed it and immediately released Liu Yan.
Liu Yan did not assume human form, instead maintaining the shape of a firebird, hovering silently before Yang Kai. Her gaze was fixed on the magma pool ahead, and a hint of longing flickered through her aura.
"Is there something down there that would be of use to you?" Noticing this, Yang Kai asked at once.
Liu Yan conveyed her thoughts to him: "It seems so, and not a small use either. Let me go take a look."
As she spoke, she spread her wings and flew directly over the magma pool, plunging straight in without hesitation.
"Be careful," Yang Kai called out behind her, but Liu Yan had already vanished without a trace.
He couldn't help but shake his head slowly before finally beginning to survey his surroundings.
Though the cavern was not small in size, it was empty inside, so a single sweep of his gaze was enough to see everything clearly.
Before long, Yang Kai's attention was drawn to a particular spot.
Over there, what appeared to be a humanoid figure sat cross-legged. Yang Kai frowned, extended his divine sense, and probed the area. He confirmed that the figure was nothing more than a skeleton — devoid of any trace of life or aura. It had clearly been dead for a very long time.
If his guess was correct, this should be the remains of Gongsun Mu.
A master alchemist of his generation — the third disciple of the Ten Great Emperors, the Divine Alchemy Emperor — he should have been a figure of immense influence, one who could move heaven and earth across the Star Boundary. Yet he had ended up dying in this trivial place, Yuan Ding Mountain, a fate so tragic it made Yang Kai sigh with emotion. He had no idea what Gongsun Mu had done to offend the Divine Alchemy Emperor that would result in his expulsion from the sect, such a desolate downfall, and in the end, not even a single person to collect his remains.
Steeling his composure, Yang Kai walked toward the skeleton. When he stood before it, he cupped his fists and bowed slightly in a respectful salute.
Gongsun Mu was an elder, no matter how one looked at it — and a master alchemist at that. Even in death, he was worthy of this gesture of respect from Yang Kai.
After rising, Yang Kai's gaze was immediately drawn to the items in front of Gongsun Mu.
It seemed Gongsun Mu had been guarding this place right up until his death, and not far in front of him sat a small pot-like object. The pot looked much like an ordinary cooking wok, only considerably smaller. Beneath it, earthfire — drawn in by a formation — burned steadily, scorching the bottom of the pot.
What caught Yang Kai's interest was not the pot itself, but what lay inside it.
Within this small pot, a rich medicinal broth was being simmered. The quantity was meager — roughly a bowl's worth — covering just the bottom of the pot.
Every so often, a bubble would rise to the surface of the broth and burst, releasing a burst of five-colored radiance along with a peculiar fragrance that wafted outward, filling the entire cavern.
Smelling that fragrance, Yang Kai's expression shifted.
Because it was very familiar — it seemed to be the same scent he had detected outside Yuan Ding Mountain.
Back then, outside Yuan Ding Mountain, so many warriors had been drawn to the location because of the anomalous phenomenon: the eruption of five-colored light and the wondrous fragrance that had filled heaven and earth. Everything about it bore a striking resemblance to what lay before him now.
A look of contemplation appeared on Yang Kai's face.
So it seemed the anomaly at Yuan Ding Mountain was not caused by some rare treasure about to ripen, but rather by this pot of medicinal broth.
Yang Kai's interest was immediately piqued. Though he was eighty percent certain this rich broth was no poison and could even be of tremendous benefit to warriors, until he understood it fully, he did not dare to consume it rashly.
His eyes roamed, and before long, he spotted a jade slip in front of Gongsun Mu's skeleton.
The jade slip appeared to have been deliberately placed in front of himself by Gongsun Mu before his death — positioned with perfect precision, clearly intended for whoever might come after to read.
Yang Kai first probed it with his divine sense to confirm there was no danger, then reached out to grasp the jade slip.
The instant his fingers closed around it, something unexpected occurred.
Gongsun Mu — who should have been dead for countless years and reduced to nothing but a skeleton — suddenly stirred. Immediately after, two spots of eerie green light flickered to life within his empty eye sockets. The glow flashed once and vanished, then abruptly coalesced into a ball of light that shot toward Yang Kai at blistering speed.
Yang Kai was startled. He hurriedly retreated, circulating the power within his body to shield himself.