Chapter 1071, Outsider
Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain
Yang Kai knew that he had not spoken in vain and that Zong Ao had now fallen into a trance, the expression on his face constantly changing, his eyes were blank while sometimes full of light.
He was clearly experiencing an epiphany.
Yang Kai shook his head and did not bother him, focusing instead of restoring himself.
Ten Burning Flame Pills per day, three hundred pills per month, and a twenty to thirty percent chance these pills would form Pill Veins. Such achievements were enough to show disdain for the entirety of the Star Field’s Alchemists.
But Yang Kai felt no joy.
Because even if he could refine more pills with Pill Veins, he could not solve Xue Yue and his own crisis. What he needed was a single Burning Flame Pill which formed Pill Clouds.
With every attempt, Yang Kai went all out, not daring to slack, giving one hundred percent of his effort and focus to this Alchemy.
The chance of generating Pill Veins greatly increased over time, and as he further mastered the refinement of Burning Flame Pills, it reached as high as forty percent.
This meant that nearly half the Burning Flame Pills refined by Yang Kai formed Pill Veins, an incredible feat!
If these things were given to a cultivator who cultivated a Fire Attribute Secret Art, they would be able to rapidly improve their strength, but now they were all simply tossed aside by Yang Kai.
Every day, after he finished performing Alchemy, Yang Kai felt exhausted.
Refining a trivial ten Burning Flame Pills couldn’t cause him such fatigue, rather it was the huge psychological pressure weighing down on him which was responsible. And as time passed, that pressure only grew heavier.
Yang Kai, now deeply realized how difficult it was to refine Pill Clouds and even understood why those Alchemists who occasionally succeeded in this feat would shed tears of joy and offer thanks to the Heavens.
He could also wait for the Heavens to bestow him such good fortune, solving his current crisis.
Unlike Yang Kai, who was constantly frowning and in an irritable mood, Zong Ao’s face beamed radiantly these days and was filled with energy.
After Yang Kai’s words made him fall into an epiphany, he discovered that his own Alchemy technique had been unknowingly improved.
Every time he used to refine several dozen pills at once, he would need to maintain absolute focus in order to avoid mistakes, but now he could actually accomplish this task with ease, as if he was cooking a light meal.
And, by applying Yang Kai’s method, he had also successfully artificially refined Pill Veins!
Although his success rate wasn’t as frightening as Yang Kai’s, it still reached as high as ten percent.
One-tenth, that meant that for every ten pills he refined, one would form Pill Veins. This was something Zong Ao had never even dreamed of before. Zong Ao had his own pride and insistences, but regarding this matter, he was truly grateful to Yang Kai.
If Yang Kai hadn’t helped him overcome his mental block, Zong Ao imagined he would have blindly continued down his current Alchemy path and eventually gone astray.
By now, Zong Ao felt Yang Kai was incredibly pleasing to the eye, he no longer cared about him robbing half his pill furnaces. He didn’t bother Yang Kai at all, spending all day long familiarizing himself with the new Alchemy method Yang Kai had taught him while studying all kinds of Spirit Arrays, choosing the ones most suited to form Pill Veins.
He had reaped a huge harvest, and even his short temper had softened greatly, spending much of the day in a festive and laughing mood.
When the Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce cultivator responsible for the regular delivery of herbs and collection of pills came, he could hardly believe his eyes.
He would be incredibly frightened and apprehensive every time he came to this place, as if he was walking on thin ice, only wanting to quickly hand over the herbs to Zong Ao and take the refined pills before fleeing the mountain valley out of fear that Zong Ao would find trouble with him.
During these exchanges, Zong Ao would perpetually wear a sour expression, as if he owed him millions of Saint Crystals.
But this most recent time, Zong Ao actually welcomed him with a smile, said a few words of thanks and praise while patting his shoulders, saying he had worked hard in these recent years, finally even inviting him inside to have a cup of tea.
The cultivator was so scared he didn’t even dare utter a word before departing in a fear-induced panic.
When this man reported what had happened with Zong Ao to Ha Li Ka, Lin Mu Feng and the other executives, all of them were just as dumbfounded, wondering what Zong Ao had experienced to undergo such a drastic change, only able to guess it had something to do with Yang Kai.
These executives were very concerned about the progress of this matter, because if Lady Xue’er was unable to awaken again, they would all be punished, very likely implicating the entire branch.
After incurring Third Young Master’s anger, it wasn’t impossible for all of them to be sent as slave miners to an Ore Star.
However, none of them had the courage to ask Zong Ao anything, each day that passed now feeling like an entire year, all of them only able to wait for Yang Kai to pass along the news to them.
On a certain day, Yang Kai finished his Alchemy, the expression on his face unsettled, a dark cloud hanging over him as he sat cross-legged there without moving.
Zong Ao came over and glanced towards the piled up Burning Flame Pills nearby, asking lightly, “How many batches of materials have been consumed?”
“It’s been six months, so more than eighteen hundred!” Yang Kai replied casually.
“More than one thousand and eight hundred batches…” Zong Ao took a soft breath, “There are seven or eight hundred Burning Flame Pills here that have formed Pill Veins. Being able to achieve such a result is something you can take great pride in, so why do you look so dissatisfied, kid?”
“I only want one pill with Pill Clouds,” Yang Kai glanced up at him, “Even if all these pills formed Pill Veins, they’d be worthless to me.”
“Is this little girl really so important to you?”
“My life is literally connected to hers, how important do you think she is to me?” Yang Kai smiled bitterly.
“Your lives are linked?” Zong Ao frowned slightly, pondering for a moment before calling out in shock, “Soul Chains?”
“You know about them, Old Zong?”
“Of course this old master knows about them, only Soul Chains can connect the lives of two people. It’s an artifact which carries the Soul Skill of one of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce’s Honoured Guest Elders! No wonder when I checked for her last time I felt there was an invisible connection between you. Who is this little girl to Ai Ou? How did you two end up like this?”
Zong Ao was an experienced master and from all the clues he had he was able to infer that Xue Yue had a close relationship to Ai Ou, otherwise it was impossible for her to possess Soul Chains.
Yang Kai just shook his head, not wanting to explain, just saying wryly, “Old Zong, I now understand the meaning of that phrase you always speak.”
Zong Ao chuckled, “Pills are difficult to refine, en, when others hear it, they only assume this old master is showing off his Alchemy skills, but there are a rare few who can understand the bitterness which lies behind them. Kid, it seems you now count among those few.”
He was finally not alone, Yang Kai had become a fellow comrade.
Seeing Yang Kai remain silent, Zong Ao paused for a moment before saying, “You only have less than two hundred batches of Burning Flame Pill herbs left that you will consume in less than a month. That little girl also only has about half a year left to live. What do you plan to do now? En, there’s still time to let Ha Li Ka gather up more herbs, but even if you collect more materials, you won’t have many opportunities left.”
Yang Kai sat in place and thought for a long time before declaring, “I’m going out for a walk!”
Saying so, he stood up and walked out.
Zong Ao stared at his back and nodded lightly.
Sometimes, when a person worked for a long time at something but was still unable to accomplish it, it was best to set it aside, clear their head, and refresh their mood. Although by continuing to attack the problem forcefully, there was always a chance of success, doing so would also often cause people to develop mental blocks that would hamper their progress rather than help it.
Zong Ao’s own experience was the best example of this, he had worked in isolation on his Alchemy method for a hundred years but only after Yang Kai’s sentence had he managed to see the light.
However, no one could wake up Yang Kai now, he really needed to go out and walk around, perhaps in his travels, he would find some inspiration that could lead him to the right path.
Inside Xue Yue’s room, Yang Kai stayed for a while to examine her condition.
Yang Kai hadn’t come to see her since he began refining Burning Flame Pills, and after half a year, Xue Yue’s condition had finally started to show some signs of deterioration. Her vitality, which Zong Ao had managed to stabilize, was being continuously consumed, and her white skin had become paler, with traces of frost appearing on it now.
Yang Kai knew that the Profound Yin Sunflower Water which had been temporarily suppressed was once again showing its effects.
Xue Yue would die if he failed to refine a Burning Flame Pill with Pill Clouds.
It was also impossible for Ha Li Ka to collect more herbs, there was no supply anywhere close enough to be found, but even if he could, it was pointless.
Without saying a word, Yang Kai left Zong Ao’s palace, and not caring about a destination, he simply summoned out his Star Shuttle and flew off.
Yang Kai crossed famous mountains and rivers, jungle and swamps, taking on the role of an outsider, an observer watching the day to day lives of the people on Rainfall Star as well as its various natural sights and scenes. The endless stream of emerging cultivators and the prosperity and suffering of ordinary mortals were all taken in by Yang Kai with great interest.
Gradually, his anxiety settled, and the stone which had been weighing down his heart this past year slowly lifted, allowing him to relax and even forget about Xue Yue and his own crisis.
Stopping over in each and every small town, Yang Kai left his footprints all over Rainfall Star.
Spectating bloody, corpse-filled conflicts between big and small families because of various interests.
Seeing Sects receive disciples of all sorts of cultivations, the successful rejoicing while the unsuccessful wept.
Watching a group of people fight over an artifact, their past bonds of brotherhood tossed to the wind.
Observing those of great ability scatter the clouds and rain, obtaining the praise and admiration of others.
Finding a young beauty bathing in the mountains and stopping a while to peak, after which he was hunted down by several dozen big and little girls from a nearby Sect.
Fleeing in panic like a stray dog…
Drinking heartily until he half-drowned in alcohol!
Yang Kai had never experienced such an unrestrained carefree time in his life. He no longer thought about his search for Su Yan, or about what would happen if Xue Yue were to die, he didn’t even think about his friends and family back on Tong Xuan Realm.
Only obeying the whims of the moment, Yang Kai experienced an indescribable freedom and joy, going where he pleased, doing what he wanted without any regard for consequences.
He suddenly felt as if there was nothing he couldn’t do.
Inside a remote mountain forest, a Saint Realm cultivator was fighting a Blue Eyed Fire Dragon Eighth-Order Monster Beast in order to seize the Origin Grade Blue Blood Flower spirit herb it was guarding.
Just after this battle began, Yang Kai happened to pass by.
He didn’t interfere though, instead choosing to stand back and watch from a distance.