Wei Cheng's face was grim as he recounted everything that had happened inside the Sacred Fire Cavern. According to his account, everything had been proceeding according to plan until the very last moment, when the Heavenly Flame he'd been about to capture seemed to suffer some kind of disturbance. After a violent tremor, it vanished without a trace.
"Besides that, you didn't see anything else, Master Wei?" Yang Kai probed.
Wei Cheng was taken aback. "What else would there be? Did you see something?"
"No, I was just asking casually." Yang Kai deflected.
Going by Wei Cheng's account, he hadn't witnessed the sight of the White Flame devouring the Heavenly Flame. In his perception, the Heavenly Flame had simply disappeared abruptly. He hadn't even seen the spectacle of countless pill fires in myriad colors converging together—otherwise, he certainly wouldn't have concealed it.
That was rather strange…
"I deeply regret that you failed to capture the Heavenly Flame, Master Wei, but I truly had no knowledge of this matter. There was no reason for me to sabotage your good fortune." Yang Kai looked at Wei Cheng with an expression of complete sincerity.
"Even if you didn't do it intentionally, you're definitely involved!" Wei Cheng's teeth were clenched. It was clear that today's events had left him furious—after all, he'd spent two years preparing for this, and just when success was within reach, it had all fallen apart. It was truly hard to accept.
Yang Kai regarded Wei Cheng with a hint of impatience. "So what do you want to do about it? Fight me?" Wei Cheng's failure to capture the Heavenly Flame was indeed related to him, but it hadn't been intentional, and there was no way to explain it. He could only deny everything.
To his surprise, Wei Cheng's eyes lit up at these words. "Fine—you said it. I'll fight you!" He turned to look at Wu Zhengqi. "Vice Hall Master Wu, please serve as witness!"
Wu Zhengqi hesitated as though he wanted to say something, but in the end he could only sigh. "Since both of you are willing, I'll serve as witness. I hope both masters will show restraint and not let things get out of hand."
Wei Cheng clasped his fists. "Thank you, Vice Hall Master Wu."
He shot Yang Kai a vicious glare. "Three days from now—we meet at the arena!"
With that, he swept his sleeve, and led his two Blood Servants away with an exaggerated swagger.
Yang Kai's hand rested on the hilt of the Qingxu Sword, the aura he'd just gathered dissipating instantly. He stared at Wei Cheng's retreating back in bewilderment. "Why did he leave?"
Wu Zhengqi said, "Since the match has been set, of course he needs to go back and prepare."
Yang Kai was speechless. "It's just a fight—what is there to prepare?"
Wu Zhengqi looked at him with surprise. "Master Yang, you were really going to fight Master Wei just like that?"
"What else would there be?"
Wu Zhengqi stared at him for a good while before slapping his forehead. "I forgot—Master Yang only recently arrived at the sect and probably isn't familiar with the rules. You see, pill masters are extremely precious talents to our Profound Dan Sect, so duels between pill masters are handled differently from those between ordinary martial artists."
Yang Kai frowned. "Please enlighten me, Vice Hall Master Wu."
Wu Zhengqi explained, "Generally speaking, sparring matches between pill masters are divided into three rounds. The first to win two rounds is the victor. The first two rounds don't involve the pill masters themselves—their personal guards fight. They'll compete for two rounds first. If a winner can be determined, so much the better. If they're evenly matched, then the pill masters step in, and the competition between them naturally involves matters related to pill refining, not physical combat. This way, the safety of the pill masters is maximally protected, and even if they lose, they won't suffer any real harm."
Yang Kai's expression cleared. "So that's how it is!"
No wonder Wei Cheng had said to meet at the arena in three days. Yang Kai had thought they could just start fighting right away and had been pondering whether to hold back a bit.
"Master Yang doesn't have any Blood Servants, does he?" Wu Zhengqi asked, eyeing him curiously.
Yang Kai slowly shook his head.
Wu Zhengqi let out a chuckle. "It looks like Master Yang will need to visit the Blood Servant Camp first. But... I'll say no more for now. When you get there, you'll find out soon enough."
When Yang Kai returned from the Sacred Fire Hall, he was feeling somewhat helpless.
This trip to the Sacred Fire Cavern had resulted in him inexplicably absorbing a human fire of unknown origin, inexplicably making an enemy of Wei Cheng, and inexplicably agreeing to a duel with him. Truly, the unpredictability of life was something else.
But Yang Kai didn't let it weigh on him too much. The only thing he was really concerned about was what exactly the human fire he'd absorbed actually was, and why it was capable of even devouring Heavenly Flames.
With these thoughts in mind, he headed down the mountain and soon arrived at the Pill Inquiry Pavilion. He wandered around inside but couldn't find the person he was looking for.
*Women really are unreliable,* he thought. *She said she'd be waiting right here, but she's vanished after only a few days!*