Chapter 882: Long Shuttle Artifact
Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain
Among the Starry Sky, there were many asteroids flying about. Where they came from and where they were headed, no one knew. They seemed to have existed since before ancient times, drifting through Starry Sky, waiting to be discovered.
Yang Kai even suspected that Tong Xuan Realm itself was nothing more an incredibly enormous asteroid.
After searching around the Starry Sky for an hour or two, Yang Kai and Li Rong had already found several asteroids of different sizes.
Some were as small as washbasins while others were as big as mountains.
After finding and shattering these asteroids, Yang Kai had naturally managed to harvest some rare ores, but the quantity and grade were not that high.
This time he had come to the Starry Sky first and foremost to verify whether the information in Zhang Ao’s memory was accurate or not.
However, since he was already here, naturally he didn’t want to return empty-handed.
Since the ores in the Black Book space had been exhausted, this was the perfect opportunity to collect some more.
Yang Kai was really quite curious about what would happen to the two pitch-black round stones after they absorbed enough mineral essence.
“Master, there seems to be a large asteroid flying over there!” Li Rong said via a Divine Sense message as she indicated a certain spot in the distance.
“I’ll be right over!” Yang Kai immediately flew in the direction she indicated.
Not long after, a house-sized asteroid came into view, its surface filled with scars and craters, seemingly having been worn and battered for many, many years.
Li Rong nodded to greet him before sending a light palm thrust towards the asteroid.
Her lush jade-white hand burst with a sensational power and instantly caused the huge asteroid to disintegrate into a cloud of dust, sending countless pieces of debris scattering in all directions.
Yang Kai’s eyes darted around quickly and soon caught sight of one piece of debris that was dark in colour than the others. Rushing over, Yang Kai caught this dark stone and after a quick investigation, sent it into the Black Book space, placing it next to the two pitch-black round stones.
Inside these asteroids there were many rare ores, all of which were incredibly hard and wouldn’t be destroyed even if some force was applied to them.
As such, breaking an asteroid was undoubtedly the most convenient and efficient way of finding treasures inside them.
Li Rong also collected one or two pieces of ore before flying over and handing them to Yang Kai.
“Is master collecting these in order to refine some artifacts?” Li Rong asked with a smile.
Although they couldn’t identify most of the ores they collected from the Starry Sky, simply judging from their innate properties, it was obvious none of them were below Spirit Grade, while many of them had reached the Saint Grade.
Any artifact refined with such materials would be excellent.
Li Rong seeing Yang Kai work so hard to collect so many of these ores naturally led her to believe he wanted to refine some powerful artifacts.
“En,” Yang Kai didn’t bother explaining, observing the surrounding area with his Divine Sense for a moment before his expression suddenly changed and he turned to squint in a certain direction.
In the tinkling starlight, Yang Kai vaguely made out a number of small black spots floating about a few dozen kilometers away in the direction he was staring.
“An Asteroid Sea?” After observing for a while, Yang Kai became overjoyed and quickly motioned to Li Rong to follow him over.
A moment later, a massive number of asteroids appeared before the two of them.
These asteroids appeared like a giant flowing river that stretched from one side of the vast Starry Sky to the other.
The number of asteroids in this Asteroid Sea was simply uncountable and varied in size from as small as a fist to as large as ten mountains.
Drifting through the Starry Sky silently, it was an impressive sight to behold.
“So many asteroids?” Li Rong was also stunned by this scene.
Yang Kai let out a great laugh, “Now there’s no need for us to search aimlessly.”
Saying so, he immediately flew into the Asteroid Sea while Li Rong smiled lightly and hurriedly kept up.
The two of them did not restrain themselves and quickly began breaking apart one asteroid after another. A strange fact about the Starry Sky was that there was no way to produce sound, so all communication had to be done via Divine Sense transmission. Therefore, even though they were wantonly destroying these asteroids, not a single noise was actually made.
Ores of all different shapes and sizes were collected by Yang Kai and stuffed into the Black Book space, each one of them an extremely rare and precious treasure that would be almost impossible to come across in Tong Xuan Realm.
If an Artifact Refiners were to be here to witness this scene, they would likely have already gone insane from excitement.
In order to find rare ores likes these ones, outstanding Artifact Refiners would sometimes travel all over the world simply to seek out a single piece.
Yet here, in the Starry Sky, there were so many of these rare ores just waiting to be harvested.
This kind of phenomenal wealth was now only made available to Yang Kai.
Li Rong was also seemingly infected by Yang Kai’s enthusiasm, a big smile appearing on her pretty face as she busied herself.
Most of the asteroids contained nothing of value, and after being broken simply dispersed in a cloud of dust, but with so many asteroids in this Asteroid Sea, even if the chances any individual one contained a rare ore was small, Yang Kai and Li Rong were still able to gain a large number in short order.
Amidst the dense sea of asteroids, Yang Kai and Li Rong flew back and forth leisurely.
Eventually, after an unknown amount of time, the pair arrived at the end of the Asteroid Sea.
“That should be enough for now,” Yang Kai said, preparing to head back.
In any case, the Void Corridor to the Starry Sky was inside Shattering Mystical Palace, so Yang Kai could return here any time he wanted to. There was no need to only harvest these materials only once.
“En,” Li Rong nodded, flying over and handing Yang Kai the last piece of ore she had just obtained.
At that moment, Yang Kai suddenly felt a faint energy fluctuations come from somewhere nearby inside the Asteroid Sea.
This energy fluctuation was quite unlike that of some ore and immediately caught Yang Kai’s attention.
Glancing over in the direction he sensed these fluctuations coming from, Yang Kai saw a dim flicker of light.
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled as his body flickered and disappeared, a moment later appearing next to where he saw the strange light. After seeing what the source of this faint glow was though, his expression couldn’t help becoming confused.
Reaching out and grabbing the object in front of him, Yang Kai quickly returned to where Li Rong was waiting.
“What did you find, Master?” Li Rong asked.
“This…” Yang Kai handed over what was found in the Asteroid Sea.
Li Rong took it and after carefully examining it, also revealed a look of amazement as she muttered, “Is this… an artifact?”
The object Yang Kai found amidst the Asteroid Sea was only about the size of a palm, its overall shape smooth, just like a long shuttle. It resembled a miniature boat and gave of a mysterious energy fluctuation.
Possibly because it had been left idle for so long, the energy fluctuations were both faint and intermittent, almost as if whatever was powering them had been nearly completely drained.
“I also think it is an artifact,” Yang Kai said with a serious expression, casting his eyes back towards the drifting Asteroid Sea, his brow furrowing deeply.
“But… how can there be an artifact here?” Li Rong asked, unable to understand what was going on.
The Starry Sky was a legendary domain that no one had ever been able to set foot into much less explore.
If not for the Void Corridor in the Shattering Mystical Palace, she and Yang Kai would never have been able to arrive here.
However, an artifact like this one appearing in a Starry Sky Asteroid Sea, and the implications that came with such a reality, were really quite thought provoking!
“The presence of artifacts means that there were once cultivators here… Which means it’s possible that there are people who have already explored the Starry Sky,” Yang Kai solemnly said.
“Is that even possible?” Li Rong shouted, “Even Great Demon God only yearned to achieve such a feat, he never actually accomplished it.”
“What if there are cultivators out there stronger than Great Demon God?” Yang Kai said faintly.
Li Rong beautiful face changed dramatically, filling with a look of shock, rendering her totally speechless.
Since ancient times, Great Demon God had been hailed as the world’s greatest master, never once surpassed! A character stronger than Great Demon God was something Li Rong really couldn’t even imagine.
Yang Kai gently let out a sigh, “I just spoke thoughtlessly, you don’t need to think too much about it; however, from the energy fluctuations inside this artifact, it’s quite obvious it is very old. Even if that supreme powerhouse existed, I’m sure he or she died long ago.”
“En,” Li Rong relaxed noticeably, letting out a sigh as she handed the long shuttle-like artifact back to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai continued examining this strange artifact for a while but was unable to determine much about it, “Can you see what grade it is?”
Li Rong shook her head, “I can’t, there is some strange energy inside it that, although seems like it will disappear at any moment, is actually blocking my attempts to investigate it. Master might as well take it back and study it; that should be the best way to figure out what exactly its function is.”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded and stored the long shuttle-like artifact away, preparing to refine it once they returned.
The only artifact Yang Kai had currently refined and had some form of use left was the Silver Leaf artifact!
This Silver Leaf had been owned by Nine Heavens Holy Land’s previous generation Holy Master and was actually a genuine Saint Grade Top-Rank artifact. It was extremely useful for both attacking and defending. Refining this strange long shuttle wouldn’t be excessive.
An average cultivator would have at least two or three artifacts on them, with those possessing high status, wealth, and strength often possessing more.
Speaking of artifacts, Yang Kai suddenly remembered something and asked, “Do you and Han Fei have any artifacts?”
Li Rong smiled lightly, “Our Ancient Demon Clan originally had some artifacts, and their grades were not low, but over the years they have degraded quite severely. In any case, our clan’s biggest advantage is our physical strength, so we normally don’t use artifacts when fighting.”
“That said, having good artifacts is better than not; there’s always a possibility they may come in handy,” Saying so, Yang Kai took out several different artifacts from the Black Book space and handed them over to Li Rong, “Take these with you and have Han Fei, Hua Mo, and yourself refine whatever ones you find useful.”
“So many? And all of them are Saint Grade?” Li Rong was amazed.
Saint Grade artifacts were incredibly rare, each one worth more than an average city.
All of Tong Xuan Realm’s Saint Realm masters wished to possess a Saint Grade artifact, but only a minority of them actually did.
Most Saints still used Spirit Grade artifacts.
Saint Grade artifacts were similar to Saint Pills, the materials required to forge one were quite difficult to obtain.
However, the biggest challenge was finding an Artifact Refiner who was capable of refining Saint Grade artifact! On top of that, even if such an Artifact Refiner could be found, there was still a chance of failure.
Saint Grade Artifact Refiners were all famous figures in Tong Xuan Realm, each one highly respected and admired, but each of their schedules was also always full because there was a never ending stream of people begging them to refine Saint Grade artifacts.
Why did the First Under Heaven Alchemist, The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep, always conceal his movements and wander about aimlessly?
It was because there were too many people trying to find him in order to request Alchemy of him. If he didn’t hide his whereabouts, he would never have a moment of peace from these annoying people. If that was a case, how could he spend any time teaching his young disciple?