A sudden change occurred which even Du Rufeng couldn’t react to. Three hundred years ago, there was a precedent for collecting Scarlet Clouds True Flame in Fire Spiritual Land. At that time, he was also the one leading the team, so he was quite familiar with this matter, but he had never expected such a change to occur.
Seeing that the scorching hot energy was about to enter the ground, a shout suddenly rang out, “Where do you think you’re going?!”
As soon as the voice finished speaking, a layer of light swept across the surrounding thousand meters, causing the ground to become extremely hard.
Zhou Zheng looked up and saw Yang Kai holding the token in his hand, activating its power to connect to the Fruit Garden’s Formation, preventing the Scarlet Clouds True Flame from escaping.
The Scarlet Clouds True Flame plunged into the ground, but it was completely blocked.
“Well done!” Du Rufeng shouted, raising his hand and summoning a blue net from the sky towards the Scarlet Clouds True Flame. It was unknown what kind of artifact this net was, but it gave off a bone piercing chill.
In the blink of an eye, the net enveloped the Scarlet Clouds True Flame. The Scarlet Clouds True Flame rushed left and right but was unable to break free. Du Rufeng’s hand formed a series of hand seals and with a wave of his hand, the net tightened and the Scarlet Clouds True Flame was caught.
After observing for a while, Du Rufeng’s face showed a hint of surprise and he couldn’t help laughing out loud.
Only now did Zhou Zheng react and quickly stepped forward and cupped his fists, “Congratulations Senior Brother Du, congratulations Senior Brother Du for successfully obtaining the Scarlet Clouds True Flame.”
Du Rufeng’s laughter died down as he stared at him coldly and snorted, “You still have the face to speak? If it weren’t for this king's Heaven-wrapping Net, I’m afraid this Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame would have escaped!”
Zhou Zheng was stunned, “Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame?”
Du Rufeng put away the net and its contents and coldly said, “Do you think this is a Third Order Scarlet Clouds True Flame?”
“Is it not?” Zhou Zheng was puzzled.
“This is a Fourth Order Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame!” Du Rufeng grit his teeth and shouted, “Truly trash!”
Zhou Zheng exclaimed, “Fourth Grade?”
Yang Kai also clicked his tongue in wonder. It was obviously a Third Order material, so how did it become a Fourth Grade? But thinking about the strange changes just now and Du Rufeng’s previous performance, Yang Kai somewhat believed his words. Moreover, Du Rufeng didn’t need to lie to them about such things.
It was no wonder that the Seven Skillful Land's disciples had been so well-prepared but had almost failed. It turned out that a piece of fourth grade material was hidden under this land, so it was only natural that they would use a method to collect the Third Grade material.
But a fourth grade material…
First Grade was 150 Open Heaven Pills, second Grade was 1500, third Grade was 15,000, isn't fourth grade 150,000? The value of these materials was ten times higher each grade!
The dispirited Seven Skillful Land disciples also became excited when they heard this. Today, they had come here with Du Rufeng to collect the materials needed for Open Heaven, and now there will be a reward on the Venerable side. The reward they will get for collecting a fourth grade material is naturally more than finding a third grade material.
Moreover, in the entire Seven Skillful Land, there were very few Open Heaven Stage masters above the Fourth Order. In other words, a Fourth Grade material was extremely precious to the Seven Skillful Land. This was not something that could be measured with an Open Heaven Pill. With such a great contribution this time, how could they not achieve meteoric success?
Everyone stepped forward with smiles on their faces and gathered around Du Rufeng, hoping to broaden their horizons. Even these Seven Skillful Land Disciples had never seen a Fourth Grade material before.
How could Du Rufeng agree? The Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame in the Heaven-wrapping Net was extremely important, it was only a fluke that he was able to collect it now. If anything were to happen, he wouldn’t be able to bear the responsibility, so he simply reprimanded the group of people with a stern look before dismissing their thoughts.
Looking up at Yang Kai again, Du Rufeng’s expression became much more pleasant, “What’s your name?” In fact, Yang Kai had just told him about his name before, but he probably didn’t take it to heart.
Yang Kai once again reported his name.
Du Rufeng nodded, “You’ve done well this time. I will report today’s matter to the Venerable, and when I return, I will reward you handsomely.” Just now, if it weren’t for Yang Kai’s quick reaction and using the fruit garden’s token to connect to the Formation and block the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, Du Rufeng wouldn’t have had a chance to use his Heaven-wrapping Net. Looking back at Zhou Zheng who was in charge of the entire garden, his performance had been mediocre, and his previous information had been wrong, nearly causing the Fire Spiritual Land to lose a great opportunity.
“Many thanks, Sir!” Yang Kai replied, wondering how many rewards he could receive. An item worth 150,000 should at least have a few thousand Open Heaven Pills as reward, right? This was a considerable amount of income for Yang Kai, so he immediately felt a bit of anticipation. Moreover, he had been thinking about how he should make a contribution to this fruit garden as a servant, but who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, he would be rewarded?
Du Rufeng waved to the others, “You go first, I still have some things to ask.”
Hearing this, the group of Seven Skillful Land Disciples didn’t stay any longer and rushed towards the sky.
Du Rufeng turned to look at Zhou Zheng again, his eyes cold. Zhou Zheng shivered and quickly said, “Junior Brother will take his leave first.”
After everyone left, Du Rufeng waved his hand and set up a barrier around him, staring at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai frowned slightly. Du Rufeng had asked him what he wanted to ask, and Yang Kai knew in his heart that today’s truth was hard to avoid suspicion, but whether or not the other party could discover anything, Yang Kai couldn’t be certain. As his thoughts changed, Yang Kai cupped his hands and asked, “What does Sir want to ask?”
Du Rufeng stood with his hands behind his back and said lightly, “There’s something wrong with this piece of land. I’m sure you know that in the past ten years, this king has brought many people here to investigate, but none of them were able to find any clues. Today, thanks to you, this king learned that it was all because of the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame.”
“It’s just luck, Sir is too kind.”
“I’ve never believed in luck. Since you were able to discover it, you must have some kind of ability,” Du Rufeng said, “This king also tried to activate the power of the Wood Element, but was unable to activate the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame. The others weren’t able to do so either, so why are you the only one who can do so? What grade of Wood Element did you condense?”
As expected…
Before this, Yang Kai had suspected that he wanted to ask him about this. After all, when others tried to use their Wood Element power, they were unable to activate the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, but Yang Kai was able to do so. This undoubtedly showed that his Wood Element power was somewhat special, the most obvious difference being the grade.
“What grade did Sir condense?” Yang Kai asked instead of answering.
Du Rufeng proudly declared, “Fourth Grade!” He was the most outstanding disciple in the Fire Spiritual Land and was also the one the Protector Venerable had placed high hopes on. Naturally, the path to Open Heaven was not a sloppy one. The reason he had not broken through yet was because he wanted to collect all the materials needed to break through to the Fourth Order Open Heaven.
Yang Kai shook his head and said, “I don’t know what grade I condensed. I’ve only been to the Outer Universe for a short time, so I don’t know much about this place. I just happened to discover something in the vast universe before I met the Venerable and accidentally absorbed it to condense my Wood Element power.”
Du Rufeng nodded, “Show me your Dao Seal.”
This request was a bit rude. The Dao Seal was the crystallization of Yang Kai’s cultivation and was his own Dao, concealing many of his secrets. How could an ordinary person make such a request? Moreover, releasing the Dao Seal was equivalent to a Monster Beast spitting out it's Core, an extremely dangerous matter.
Back in the Star Boundary, if he had not been forced to do so, Yang Kai would not have released his Dao Seal to deal with Great Demon God.
However, in someone else’s territory, it would not be easy to refuse. Looking at Du Rufeng’s expression, if he didn’t release his Dao Seal, he would definitely not let this matter rest, and it would only become more troublesome.
So after a brief hesitation, Yang Kai activated his Dao Seal.
An ever-changing mark appeared on his forehead, containing the Void Great Dao Yang Kai had comprehended. Within this mark, the power of the Wood Element circulated, causing Yang Kai to become vigilant and pay close attention to Du Rufeng, waiting for him to discover something wrong before acting rashly.
Staring at Yang Kai’s Dao Seal, Du Rufeng didn’t even hesitate to use his Divine Sense to examine it, but soon his expression changed as he exclaimed, “The Wood Element Energy above Fourth Grade!”
Yang Kai’s tense nerves were greatly relieved. It seemed that Du Rufeng could only determine that his Wood Element was of a higher grade than his own, but was unable to determine its true grade. After all, Du Rufeng’s knowledge was limited, so he pretended to be surprised and asked, “Is Sir serious?”
“It can’t be wrong,” Du Rufeng clicked his tongue in wonder, “Your luck is really quite good, actually allowing you to obtain this opportunity. It seems your luck isn’t completely useless.”
Yang Kai grinned, “I also don’t know what grade my Wood Element is, but since Sir said it’s above Grade Four, It can’t be wrong.”
Du Rufeng asked, “What exactly did you find in the void?”
Yang Kai casually said, “It’s a small tree, its entire body as translucent as white jade, with a few branches and a few white jade-like leaves. The tree is so tall, and it also has a strange smell!” He gestured casually before turning to Du Rufeng, “Does Sir know what it is?”
Du Rufeng slowly shook his head, “I’ve never heard of it before.” Unable to probe any further, he asked Yang Kai to withdraw his Dao Seal so that he wouldn’t be too jealous and casually asked, “Did you discover the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame here?”
Yang Kai replied, “Yes!” Although Zhou Zheng had warned him in advance, since this ingrate had refused to help him, Yang Kai couldn’t be bothered to share the credit with him. In any case, now it was just him and Du Rufeng, so Zhou Zheng didn’t know what he had said.
Du Rufeng sneered, “Even that trash Zhou Zheng wouldn’t be able to discover this Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame.”
Du Rufeng quickly left. Originally, after receiving the Scarlet Clouds Golden Flame, he had wanted to immediately report it to the Venerable. After all, a Fourth Grade material was extremely rare, and he had only left it for a while to inquire about Yang Kai’s Wood Element energy. Now that the matter was clear, there was no need to stay.
As soon as Du Rufeng left, Zhou Zheng hurried over and asked, “What did Senior Brother Du ask you?”
“He didn’t ask anything, just a few words of praise.”
“Really?” Zhou Zheng looked at him suspiciously.
Yang Kai said, “If you doesn’t believe me, you can ask Sir Du.”
Zhou Zheng coldly snorted, “That’s for the best!” Pausing for a moment, he continued, “Today, you have made a great contribution, the Venerable and Senior Brother Du will definitely reward you. Just wait for the good news.”
Saying so, he soared into the sky, seemingly in a bad mood.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Martial Peak