Chapter 333

: Refuge     None of them knew what dangers lay ahead, but behind them, to their left, and to their right, only death awaited them, so they pushed on.

After running more than a dozen kilometers none stop, all of a sudden everyone stopped, and their eyes bulged in shock at the sight before them.
In front of them was a large open space filled to the brim with purple Evil Spirits. These Evil Spirits all floated back and forth, and for some unknown reason they were fighting amongst themselves.
From all directions, more and more purple Evil Spirits flooded into the space and joined the fray. It was a thrilling spectacle to behold.
Even Yang Kai with his numerous fantastical experiences was shocked by this scene, not to mention the disciples from Ghost King Valley and Free And Unfettered Sect.
Although he cultivated the True Yang Secret Art which could restrain these Evil Spirits, but against such a vast quantity he was still helpless. If they really turned and attacked them, Yang Kai reckoned he wouldn’t even be able to resist.
Suddenly, everyone was filled with despair, and many of their eyes overflowed with tears as panic and fear spread across their faces, as they stood there stunned, not knowing what to do next.
Before them was the wolf. Behind them was the tiger. There was no place to go, and they were basically in an absolutely hopeless situation!

Brother Yang?  Brother Yang!
Not far away, a loud voice called out, seemingly recognizing Yang Kai.
When he heard this voice, Yang Kai turned his head and saw Tao Yang, the one he had first met when he entered the Evil Cavern, hollering and waving towards him.
He was on a naturally formed plateau that stood atop one of the large pillars that could occasionally be seen inside the Evil Cavern. It had a flat surface that seemed to be about twenty or so meters off the ground.
To Tao Yang’s side were his two Junior Brothers and his Junior Sister, gathered together looking scared.
In addition, not far away there was another such high platform.

Over there!
  Yang Kai shouted, leading Leng Shan and the others toward the pillar, Yu Qing and others suddenly seeing hope for survival also scrambled to keep up.
In this life or death crisis, Yang Kai also no longer concealed his strength, and he charged through the swarm of purple Evil Spirits, sending a number of them flying with full powered strikes infused with his True Yang Yuan Qi.
Fiercely rampaging through this horde of Evil Spirits, he finally managed to cut a path through their encirclement and jumped up onto the high platform that Tao Yang stood upon along with the disciples from Ghost King Valley.
This plateau’s area wasn’t overly large, so with the four people in Tao Yang’s group and the seven or eight Ghost King Valley disciples, although it wasn’t crowded, but it also couldn’t accommodate the entire group from Free And Unfettered Sect.
On top of the plateau, Yang Kai turned around and glared coldly at Yu Qing’s group.
Fortunately, they also had some self-awareness, knowing that now was not the time to fight amongst themselves.
Immediately, the Free And Unfettered Sect group turned, summoned their respective artifacts, and quickly made their way to the other pillar a short distance away.
These artifacts all emitted various glows in the dark cave, apparently a mix of fire and lightning attribute offensive artifacts.  Only these kinds of attacks could restrain these yin type Evil Spirits.
Numerous Evil Spirits swirled beneath the platforms, screaming at each other, just like crazed beasts, yet atop these pillars it was extremely peaceful, seemingly like a separate world from the chaos below.  This whole situation puzzled everyone greatly, and all of them wondered what mysteries these pillars hid.

Brother Yang, we meet again.
  Tao Yang looked at Yang Kai with a wry smile.
Yang Kai also looked back at him, gratefully cupping his fists,
Many thanks, Brother Tao.


Brother Yang is too polite.


How did Brother Tao end up here?


Same as you probably, we were chased over…
  Tao Yang laughed helplessly. He and his Junior Brothers and Junior Sister had followed behind Yang Kai for quite a while, yet the result was that they didn’t come across a single Evil Spirit for quite some time.
After a while, Tao Yang could only lead his group in a different direction, no longer following Yang Kai’s trail.  As they explored, they had unwittingly entered the domain of purple Evil Spirits and finally came across an isolated one, but before they had time to launch an attack, an accident occurred.
Behind them, a large group of Evil Spirits suddenly appeared and chased after them.  In a panic, they escaped in the opposite direction and eventually wound up here, taking refuge atop this high platform.

Are there others here as well?
  Yang Kai asked as he caught his breath. Looking around, he discovered that about a kilometer away from them there really were two slender figures sitting atop a third high pillar.
Such a distance, under peaceful sun-lit conditions, Yang Kai could see across clearly, but in the dim depths of this cavern, obstructed by various obstacles, all he could make out was that they were a pair of young women.

They must be the pair of twins Free And Unfettered Sect are chasing,
Leng Shan said, glancing towards them as she whispered.
Yang Kai nodded lightly in agreement.

Are these Brother Yang’s friends?
  Tao Yang looked around curiously at the Ghost King Valley disciples.  Yang Kai was definitely alone when he had entered the Evil Cavern, yet now he had suddenly appeared before them with a big group of people who didn’t appear to be strangers.  This scene made Tao Yang somewhat surprised.

En, they’re old acquaintances. I didn’t expect to meet them here,
explained Yang Kai.
Tao Yang laughed heartily,
Looks like Brother Yang has friends and relatives all over the world, even in this forsaken place you can come across old acquaintances, good good!  This one is Treasure Instrument Sect’s Tao Yang!


Treasure Instrument Sect!?
Chen Yi exclaimed loudly, Leng Shan’s beautiful cold eyes also flashed with surprise as she looked towards Tao Yang, apparently also having heard of this Sect.

Excuse our disrespect, it turns out Brother Tao is a disciple from the famed Treasure Instrument Sect, this one is called Chen Yi, we are disciples of Ghost King Valley!


So it is Brother Chen!
  Tao Yang laughed happily, not changing his expression in the slightest because the opposite party was from Ash-Grey Evil Land’s Ghost King Valley.
Yang Kai was also surprised, not expecting that Tao Yang was actually from the famous Treasure Instrument Sect.
Treasure Instrument Sect …
It was a very small, yet very special Sect.
The entire population of Treasure Instrument Sect numbered only around one hundred, even smaller than most third-class Sects, truly amongst the smallest in existence, but its name was in no way inferior to Medicine King’s Valley.
Medicine King’s Valley represented the apex of Alchemy in this world, whereas Treasure Instrument Sect was the highest authority when it came to artifact refinement!
There were only a few Mysterious Grade Top-Rank artifact refiners in this world, but half of them hailed from Treasure Instrument Sect.
Treasure Instrument Sect had its own unique artifact refining style, making their products easily recognizable, so although the Sect wasn’t large, its name was very loud.
Each year, Treasure Instrument Sect would only produce and sell twenty artifacts!
But each of these artifacts were at least Heaven Grade and were sought after by great families and large Sects all over the world.
The patriarchs of some small families and Sects did not necessarily have artifacts on par with those possessed by an ordinary Treasure Instrument Sect disciple.
So the world had a saying, any one Treasure Instrument Sect disciple was a walking treasure.
Yang Kai hadn’t paid too much attention to them when they had first met, but now hearing Tao Yang say he was from Treasure Instrument Sect, upon closer inspection he found that from their robes, their weapons, even their accessories were all extraordinary artifacts.
Tao Yang daring to say that he was a Treasure Instrument Sect disciple showed that he was serious about befriending him and thus did not want to hide his identity.
Seeing him be so frank, Yang Kai was also disinclined to conceal his origins, cupping his fists in reply,
High Heaven Pavilion’s Yang Kai…

As soon as he uttered this, everyone sucked in a breath as they stared in shock towards Yang Kai.
Only Leng Shan, who already knew, shook her head slowly, knowing what effect Yang Kai’s words would have.

No way…
Cheng Ying murmured, his eyes almost bulging out of his sockets.
Chen Yi also froze for a long time before laughing awkwardly,
I see. I, Chen Yi, have had my eyes opened today.

Saying so, he lowered his voice and said,
It turns out Brother Yang is from the famous High Heaven Pavilion! Brother Yang’s Sect seems to produce one powerhouse after another.

The new Demon Lord originated from High Heaven Pavilion, and now there was Yang Kai who was also a High Heaven Pavilion disciple.  Simply being from the same Sect as the Demon Lord was a shocking fact, so how could everyone not be surprised?

These two brothers being so frank with us today, my Ghost King Valley is grateful!
  Chen Yi quickly put a positive spin on things.

Alright alright…
  Leng Shan shouted a few times,
You guys, can’t you focus on our immediate situation for now?  Before we discuss anything else we need to find a way to resolve this crisis. Honestly, I don’t understand what goes on inside all of your heads.


En en!
  Rong Mei from Treasure Instrument Sect nodded in agreement.
The others who had gathered around all glanced shared a wry grin.  Yang Kai raised his brow and shifted his attention to Tao Yang, asking,
Since Brother Tao has been here before, do you understand anything about this situation?


Unfortunately not, we came this time because our Master said he wanted some Evil Spirit Essence to see if it could use it to refine an artifact, but nothing like this has ever happened before, in fact, we only reached here a short time before all of you arrived.


En…
Yang Kai frowned, looking down off the plateau only to see a thick layer of Evil Qi, like a dark fog that blanketed the world.  Purple Evil Spirits shuttled back and forth through the Evil Qi, seeming to absorb it to strengthen themselves while fighting with other Evil Spirits.  From time to time an Evil Spirit would be killed, leaving behind an Evil Spirit Essence that would exude a faint tempting light.
It wasn’t long before a dozen or so Evil Spirit Essences appeared, scattered around the cavern floor, and as time passed, and more and more Evil Spirits were killed, the number of essences continued to rise steadily.
Everyone stared at these essences with hot eyes, but no one had the courage to snatch them.
Forget about the large number of Evil Spirits that would instinctively attack anyone who approached, and just being stained with the thick ink like Evil Qi that lingered around the cavern would likely not end well.

If you really want to understand what’s happening, I think it would be best to ask those two girls over there, they likely know a bit more about what’s happening than we do.  If it weren’t for their kind reminder to climb these pillars we likely wouldn’t have survived until now.
Tao Yang said as he looked off into the distance.

Chen Yi!
  Yu Qing called out suddenly, apparently also having discovered the two women’s hideout. His expression dimmed as he maliciously smiled, turned around, and shouted towards the Ghost King Valley group,
If you can capture those two women for me now, I can have the Yellow Spring Pond opened to you for two months instead of just one!

Listening to this, Chen Yi couldn’t help sneering,
Yu Qing, you’re crazy. Look around you, we don’t even know if we’ll survive this and yet you’re still thinking of taking revenge?  If you have time to waste on that, you should try to find a way out of this mess first!

However, Yu Qing just grinned even harder,
Even if I die here today, I want those two sluts to die under my crotch first!


Idiot!
Chen Yi spat in disgust, his face filled with contempt.

Don’t bother listening to any of his nonsense. If we survive this crisis, I swear to never deal with him ever again.
  Leng Shan cut in, as her disgust reached an extreme height.
The conversation between Chen Yi and Yu Qing had apparently reached the ears of the two women as they stood on their distant platform, both of them turned vigilant gazes towards these newcomers.
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed for a moment before he stepped forward,
I’ll go ask them.


Ah… it’s too dangerous,
Chen Yi exclaimed. Now that Evil Spirits floated about in all directions, although they were temporarily safe atop these pillars, if any of them were to leave, it would likely prove fatal.