Somewhere in the deep abyss, within an ancient underwater ruin.
Within a hundred-meter radius of this spot, over a hundred martial artists lay scattered, most of them lifeless. Only the bodies of one man and one woman still radiated a faint spark of vitality, though they remained unconscious.
In front of these fallen cultivators, a luminous sphere emitted bizarre, fluctuating waves of energy. With each surge, its halo flickered between bright and dim, as if it might extinguish at any moment.
Suddenly, a thread of golden hue flowed across the glowing sphere. As this gold appeared, the surrounding space began to grow scorching.
The golden color spread with the ferocity of an autumn gale sweeping fallen leaves, quickly engulfing the entire sphere and turning it into a dazzling golden sun. The heat in the air intensified.
*Crack...*
The sound of something shattering echoed.
Simultaneously, two streams of soul energy shot out from the glowing sphere, spiraled in the air for a moment, and dove downward.
The golden sphere gradually dimmed. After a while, it emitted no more light.
With a soft moan, An Ling'er slowly and laboriously opened her eyes. Supporting herself with her hands, she straightened up and looked around. Not far away, she saw Yang Kai also slowly rising to his feet.
Their gazes met, and both offered a faint smile.
Inside the Godly Battle Arena, after finding the direction to refine the artifact, Yang Kai had relentlessly burned the four large characters with his powerful Divine Sense. He didn't know how much time had passed until just now, when he finally succeeded in subduing the soul artifact.
Having gone through this experience of sharing hardships together, An Ling'er suddenly found Yang Kai much easier to look at. Yang Kai, in turn, thought this young lady wasn't bad either, just a bit silly at times. During his artifact refinement, she hadn't disturbed him, quietly and sensibly staying far away to observe.
With the soul artifact subdued, leaving was simple. He only needed to use his spiritual sense to open an exit, and they could escape their predicament.
Their spiritual forms had been separated from their physical bodies for quite some time. Upon returning, they felt somewhat unaccustomed. Yang Kai was better off—his spiritual cultivation and physical strength were significantly greater than An Ling'er's. An Ling'er, after confirming Yang Kai had also returned, simply sat cross-legged on the ground, silently channeling her cultivation technique to regulate her breath.
Yang Kai also rested briefly. Only after confirming his body was in perfect condition did he stand and walk toward the location of the soul artifact.
Now that he had refined it, the artifact naturally belonged to him.
Approaching the object, he moved his spiritual consciousness and stored it within his spiritual sea.
Carefully examining the artifact's condition, Yang Kai's spirits lifted, and he praised it inwardly. As expected of a treasure left by an ancient sect, this soul artifact was undoubtedly of the saint grade. Even after the passage of countless ages, its power had not diminished much.
Nurtured within Yang Kai's spiritual sea, given time, it would surely recover its original might.
Yang Kai was extremely satisfied, feeling this trip was well worthwhile. Obtaining a pill with a medicinal cloud earlier had been ecstatic, but now, acquiring a soul artifact perfectly suited for his use? His gains surpassed anyone else's.
Pulling his mind back, Yang Kai looked around. An Ling'er was still meditating. Hai Wangu and the others were thoroughly dead. Yang Kai thought for a moment, then walked over to the corpses and removed all their Cosmos Bags. After a quick search, he kept the valuable items and tossed aside anything he deemed worthless.
He stood there, waiting. It took roughly half a day before An Ling'er slowly opened her beautiful eyes. After this period of regulation, she had finally recovered.
Seeing Yang Kai seemingly watching over her, the Holy Maiden of the Nine Heavens Holy Land smiled softly, an inexplicable hint of sweetness welling in her heart.
She glided over to Yang Kai on light steps and asked, "Do we head back now, or continue exploring?"
"I'm continuing. There's something I want to figure out. As for you... suit yourself," Yang Kai said flatly, then stepped forward.
Seeing Yang Kai seem somewhat cold toward her, An Ling'er pouted but didn't say a word, quickly following him without hesitation.
Entering the grand hall ahead, after searching around, Yang Kai couldn't help but frown.
This hall had originally been guarded behind the Godly Battle Arena. Hai Wangu, Elder Cheng, and the others had joined forces with over a hundred martial artists to break the invisible barrier, with their initial plan being to explore this hall for treasures.
Who could have guessed that once the barrier was broken, everyone's spiritual forms were pulled into the Godly Battle Arena, ruining their original intentions?
Now, when Yang Kai and An Ling'er returned to look, they discovered clear signs that someone else had been here first. The hall had been ransacked, leaving nothing of value behind.
"Other people must have come to explore it," An Ling'er guessed.
Yang Kai nodded slightly, agreeing with her assessment.
Although over a hundred of them had been pulled into the Godly Battle Arena, there were still quite a few others active within this ancient ruin as a whole.
He had no idea how much time had passed, but the ruin had likely been thoroughly searched by them already.
Realizing this, Yang Kai wasted no more time. He left the hall directly and followed the direction of the yang-attributed energy source, heading straight for it.
Even though a month or two might have passed since arriving on the ocean floor, the yang-attributed energy here continued to generate ceaselessly.
Yang Kai really wanted to know what lay in that direction.
An Ling'er, careful not to annoy him with unnecessary words, simply followed obediently, sticking close to his steps.