Even Yang Kai, who had seen his fair share of wonders by now, was stunned by the sheer volume of treasures stored in the Wenqing Sect's vault.
And starting today, all of this wealth belonged to him. Talk about a windfall.
"There's more over there!" Ji Yao suddenly pointed.
Everyone looked in the direction she indicated. Deep within the stone cavern, three stone platforms stood in a row. Each was shrouded behind a barrier of light, and upon each sat a box.
The fact that these items had been so carefully preserved spoke volumes about their extraordinary value.
Yang Kai approached with great interest and produced the token he had used to unlock the vault, waving it casually over one of the stone platforms. A flash of mystical light passed, and the barrier dissolved on cue.
He picked up the long box sitting on the platform.
"Let's see what treasure it is." The three Demon Kings crowded around, eyeing it with keen interest.
Curiosity was universal, and the Demon Kings were no exception.
Yang Kai hefted the long box with a peculiar expression. "Seems to be empty," he said.
"No way!" Ying Fei's jaw dropped. Xie Wuwei and Xi Lei wore equally disbelieving looks, though they knew Yang Kai had no reason to lie to them.
Under everyone's gaze, Yang Kai opened the long box. Sure enough, it was completely empty.
"What's the point of displaying an empty box here like some grand artifact!" Ying Fei exclaimed indignantly, clearly disappointed.
Yang Kai glanced at the length of the empty box, and a thought struck him. He drew an object from his spatial ring and placed it inside—it fit perfectly, without a hair's breadth to spare.
"Is that... the Emperor Treasure that Feng Xuan used before?" Xie Wuwei raised an eyebrow, recognizing the artifact Yang Kai had produced.
Yang Kai nodded. "The Wind Thunder Divine Spear. It's said to be a relic left behind by Great Emperor Wenqing!"
"So that's how it was. The Wind Thunder Divine Spear was originally enshrined here, and Feng Xuan only took it out when he needed it." Xie Wuwei's face lit up with understanding.
"That must be it. After all, it was an heirloom left by their ancestor. Even as Sect Master of the Wenqing Sect, Feng Xuan couldn't carry an Emperor Treasure on his person at all times." Yang Kai nodded and casually stored the box away.
Now it was confirmed. What had originally been in this empty box was the Wind Thunder Divine Spear. As for the remaining two items, since they had been placed here with the same degree of care, their value was surely no less than the spear's.
Yang Kai was curious about what lay in the other two boxes and didn't hesitate. He activated the barriers on both platforms, picked up one box and opened it.
Ying Fei was quick with his hands and grabbed the other box to inspect as well.
"Hmm..." Yang Kai's eyebrows rose, his eyes brightening. "This is..."
The moment he opened the box, an incredibly pure wave of spiritual energy rippled outward, causing the Emperor Energy within his body to resonate in response. It was as if this refined spiritual energy could greatly benefit one's cultivation.
"Source Crystals!" Xie Wuwei finished, but his expression quickly shifted. "No—supreme-grade Source Crystals!"
"Supreme-grade Source Crystals?" Xi Lei's eyes went wide as he craned his neck toward the box in Yang Kai's hands. Even Ji Yao, who always maintained an unshakable calm, couldn't help stealing a glance.
"They really are supreme-grade Source Crystals!" Yang Kai grinned and reached into the box to pull out a piece roughly the size of a thumb, its body crystalline and translucent like crystal.
These Source Crystals were a size smaller than superior-grade Source Crystals, but the heavenly and earthly spiritual energy stored within was far beyond what superior-grade ones could compare to.
In the entire Star Boundary, once a warrior reached the Emperor Realm, inferior-grade and even middle-grade Source Crystals became largely useless. Most Emperor Realm warriors relied on superior-grade Source Crystals for cultivation, and high-value transactions also used them as currency.
But above superior-grade Source Crystals, there existed an even rarer form known as supreme-grade Source Crystals.
Compared to superior-grade ones, supreme-grade Source Crystals were exceedingly rare—virtually impossible to find.
Often, a hundred Source Crystal mining veins might not yield even one or two pieces. Every single supreme-grade Source Crystal was formed through the convergence of heaven and earth's extraordinary forces.
Rumor had it that supreme-grade Source Crystals had many uses, but for warriors, the most valuable application was breaking through bottlenecks. If a warrior encountered a cultivation bottleneck, a supreme-grade Source Crystal was the finest auxiliary aid available—and unlike consuming certain special pills, it carried no hidden risks.
Countless Emperor Realm warriors in the Star Boundary had spent centuries upon centuries stuck at their bottlenecks, unable to advance a single step. Throughout the ages, who knew how many warriors had sought out these legendary supreme-grade Source Crystals, hoping to take their cultivation to the next level.
But supreme-grade Source Crystals were not so easily found, and those who pursued them with painstaking effort were destined to do so in vain.
Now, in the Wenqing Sect's vault, there sat an entire box of supreme-grade Source Crystals—and not just a few, but seven of them, neatly arranged in rows.
"What a find, what a find. What a shame, though..." Xi Lei sighed admiringly while shaking his head.
The other two Demon Kings caught his meaning and nodded in agreement. "Indeed, what a shame."
Though supreme-grade Source Crystals were immensely useful for breaking through cultivation bottlenecks, all three of them were already powerful beings at the Demon King level—equivalent to the third tier of the Emperor Realm. So while the crystals were extraordinary, they were as useless to the three of them as chicken ribs.
If they wanted to advance further, their only hope lay in Sacred Spirit Origins and ancestral bloodlines.
If not for this very reason, with their strength and status, the three of them would never have willingly submitted to Yang Kai's command.