Outside the pavilion, the three Saint Venerables — Fan Wu, Cang Gou, and Luan Feng — stood with bitter expressions on their faces. Yang Kai had accepted their gifts without so much as a word of acknowledgment, leaving them deeply unsettled. Worse still, they hadn't even managed to see Yang Kai himself during this visit — only the woman who accompanied him had come out to speak on his behalf.
After a long silence, Cang Gou finally ventured, "Could it be that he finds our gifts too light and wants more?"
Fan Wu shot him a sideways glance. "Each of us has already parted with a full tenth of our entire fortunes. How can that possibly be considered light?"
"The problem is whether he'll ever be satisfied." Cang Gou's face was awash with worry, his tone tinged with disdain. "You know how greedy humans can be."
Luan Feng sighed. "If he's not satisfied, what can we do about it? We'll probably have to bleed a little more to keep the peace. By the way — Shi Huo's leftover assets. Neither of you has kept anything for yourselves, I trust?"
Cang Gou curled his lip. "Lady Feng, you inspected everything Shi Huo left behind yourself. Did you not notice whether anything was missing?"
Luan Feng nodded. "I was just making sure."
Fan Wu smiled bitterly. "He's using his injuries as an excuse to remain in the Ancient Lands. We can hardly ask him to leave — if anything were to happen to him, and that descendant of the Heavenly Executioner emerged from the Blood Gate, none of us could bear the consequences!"
The moment he mentioned the descendant of the Heavenly Executioner, both Luan Feng and Cang Gou couldn't help but blanch, their expressions clearly showing deep wariness.
The three of them exchanged glances, letting out a round of heavy sighs, their heads aching with worry.
Just then, all three seemed to sense something and turned to look back the way they had come. There, Ji Yao was walking toward them from the direction of the pavilion, calling out as she approached: "Please wait, three Saint Venerables!"
Fan Wu and the others felt a jolt in their hearts, unsure what further instructions Yang Kai might have. Could it be that the man was unsatisfied with the contents of the four spatial rings and intended to squeeze even more out of them? If so, that would be truly shameless.
Luan Feng forced a smile and said politely, "Miss, does Master Yang have additional requests?"
Ji Yao glanced at her coolly and said, "My master asked me to inform you all that his injuries have fully healed and he will be departing the Ancient Lands tomorrow."
"What?" Cang Gou blurted out in delight. "Is that really true?"
He was, after all, a Saint Venerable — yet upon hearing that Yang Kai intended to leave the Ancient Lands, he had lost his composure so completely that the words tumbled out before he could stop himself. A subtle kick from Fan Wu quickly followed.
Cang Gou's expression shifted at once. He shut his mouth immediately, looking thoroughly awkward.
Ji Yao didn't so much as glance at him. Having faithfully relayed Yang Kai's words, she turned and headed back the way she had come.
Once Ji Yao's figure had vanished from sight, the three Saint Venerables looked at one another, each seeing unmistakable relief in the others' eyes. Fan Wu discreetly signaled with a glance. Suppressing the joy welling up inside them, they quickly walked a considerable distance before finally letting out a collective sigh of relief.
Cang Gou laughed. "He's finally leaving. It seems this Master Yang isn't entirely without restraint."
If Yang Kai truly had demanded more from them, they would have had no choice but to brace themselves for yet another financial blow.
"A small price for peace, a small price for peace…" Fan Wu wore a cheerful grin as well. In all likelihood, there was no other person in this world who could extort a fortune from the three of them and have them celebrate about it afterward. Had anyone else attempted such a thing, the three Saint Venerables would have put up a fight without hesitation.
"If he's leaving tomorrow, then I shall see him off personally — it would be discourteous not to," Luan Feng said with a smile.
Fan Wu nodded. "That would be appropriate. We'll leave it to you, Lady Feng."
Luan Feng waved her hand and smiled wryly. "He is staying at my residence, after all. The Ancient Lands are our domain. If something were to happen to him here, none of us could bear the responsibility."
The three exchanged a few more pleasantries before Fan Wu and Cang Gou took their leave.
They had arrived weighed down by worry and anxiety, but departed with light hearts and cheerful spirits — a contrast as stark as heaven and earth.
…
In the time that followed, Yang Kai set aside alchemy and instead turned his attention to sorting through the contents of the four spatial rings.
Origin Crystals and Inner Cores were easy enough to deal with. He sorted them by grade and tossed them all into his Small World, where they formed a series of mounds of varying sizes, ready to be retrieved whenever needed.
The truly painstaking task was the hundred-odd thousand Emperor-grade spirit herbs. Each of these was rare and precious, and Yang Kai naturally had to inspect and store them one by one, doing his best to preserve their medicinal potency.
After an entire night of work, he had barely sorted through less than a tenth of them.
The next morning, Yang Kai led Ji Yao out of the Phoenix Luo Palace under the guidance of the maid Tian Long, and found Luan Feng waiting outside the palace gates.
"Master Yang!" Upon spotting him, Luan Feng hurried forward.
Yang Kai offered a slight nod and smiled faintly. "I've imposed on Lady Feng's hospitality for quite some time. Now that my injuries have fully recovered, it's time I set off. I'll be relying on Lady Feng and the other two Saint Venerables to look after the Stone Spirit Clan."
Luan Feng pressed her lips together and smiled. "Please rest assured, Master Yang. So long as the three of us remain in the Ancient Lands, the Stone Spirit Clan will not be mistreated."
Yang Kai nodded with satisfaction.