Chapter 2219, Soul Jade
Pitiful screams kept transmitting from inside the cave. There were also occasional sounds of a giant creature crashing against the cave walls, which caused loud banging sounds as shattered stones poured down like rain.
“How violent!” Yang Kai exclaimed.
The Purple Squirrel nodded next to him.
Moments later, the movements from inside the cave started to die down and finally disappeared.
The Soul Devouring Demon Insects had evidently killed the Monster Beast within!
In this Divine Ascension Mirror World, any prey that was targeted by the Soul Devouring Demon Insects wouldn’t have a good ending.
Yang Kai confirmed that everything was safe before he entered the cave.
The cave was dimly lit, but that didn’t affect Yang Kai’s vision as he was currently a Soul Avatar. He etched everything in the cave into his brain after scanning it with his Divine Sense.
This cave wasn’t large or deep, but traces of a desperate struggle were left behind everywhere in the cave. It was evident that the master of this cave had been viciously tortured by the Soul Devouring Demon Insects and suffered greatly before its death.
Yang Kai actually didn’t even know what type of Monster Beast lived inside this cave, because by the time that he arrived, the Soul Devouring Demon Insects had completely finished devouring the Monster Beast without leaving even a speck of flesh behind.
Yang Kai’s current condition meant that he was no longer able to absorb Soul Sources, which was why he didn’t have the Soul Devouring Demon Insects leave anything behind.
After he took back the Soul Devouring Demon Insects, Yang Kai began to scan the cave’s interior.
After he scanned with his Divine Sense, he actually discovered nothing!
This cave didn’t have any spirit fruits or any other such treasures. It seemed to only be the resting spot for a Monster Beast.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed, but he didn’t pay it too much mind.
Not every powerful Monster Beast would be guarding a treasure, after all…
But just as he was preparing to leave, he suddenly paused and looked at a certain place inside the cave.
A strange item there had attracted his attention.
Yang Kai glanced at it for a moment and then walked over and bent down to pick it up.
Right when he touched it, his body suddenly trembled as his eyes flashed with a sharp light. At the same time, he took in a cold breath.
His unusual reaction really scared the Purple Squirrel, to the point where all its hairs stood up on end. It darted away from Yang Kai’s side as if trying to escape.
“This is…” Yang Kai kept touching the item in his hand as he used his Divine Sense to examine it.
Soon, he realized what this item was.
This item was shaped like a plate and was about the size of one too. Its body was pure white like jade and had no flaws.
Earlier, when Yang Kai scanned it with his Divine Sense, he didn’t notice anything about it apart from feeling that it had a strange shape. That was why he was interested enough to pick it up for a closer look.
However, he hadn’t expected that when he touched it, his Soul would react so strongly to it, even causing his Soul Avatar to tremble slightly.
At the same time, the white jade plate released a burst of pure Spiritual Energy that flowed into Yang Kai’s body, giving him a comfortable sensation like he was soaking in warm water.
This sensation made him feel incredibly relaxed all over.
If he had to describe it more specifically, this feeling resembled what he felt back when he combined Souls with Su Yan all those years ago.
“Soul Jade!”
Yang Kai exclaimed in astonishment as various random thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning.
Although he had never seen a Soul Jade before, nor did he know what one looked like, he was a hundred percent certain that this was the treasure he had heard Gao Xue Ting speak about a few days ago.
According to what Gao Xue Ting said, even in this Divine Ascension Mirror World, Soul Jades were rare treasures that one could only encounter by chance. She had entered this world four times already and had only obtained a single Mid-Rank Soul Jade so far, but even that Mid-Rank Soul Jade had benefited her tremendously.
Yang Kai didn’t know how to differentiate Soul Jade ranks, but he felt that the one in his hands was definitely better than Mid-Rank. It might be High-Rank or even better!
Soul Jades were the purest crystallization of Spiritual Energy in the Divine Ascension Mirror World and cultivators could easily absorb them to increase the power of their Soul without fear of any consequences whatsoever.
However, Gao Xue Ting had made them sound so rare that Yang Kai didn’t think he would be lucky enough to find one.
He never thought one would appear here!
“It’s so large…” Yang Kai was so excited that he couldn’t close his mouth while his face filled with some slight frustration. “Just how long will I have to absorb this?”
As he spoke, he was already trying to absorb the energy within the Soul Jade, wanting to try and see if it was as mystical as Gao Xue Ting had described.
A sliver of pure energy was extracted from the Soul Jade and flowed into Yang Kai’s body through his arms, instantly causing him to feel warm all over as his face flushed slightly.
As this energy poured into him, Yang Kai discovered that Gao Xue Ting had been correct in saying that absorbing energy from Soul Jades wouldn’t cause any harm to the body at all.
Currently, his Soul Avatar was in a satiated state and was unable to absorb any more Soul Sources left behind by Monster Beasts.
However, there was no obstruction at all in absorbing energy from the Soul Jade.
Yang Kai could clearly sense a terrifying amount of energy contained within the Soul Jade.
He couldn’t help but want to retreat here and absorb the Soul Jade energy until the one-month time limit was up.
If he really did that, Yang Kai calculated that by the time he left this place, his Soul would definitely reach the Emperor Realm! He might not even finish absorbing the Soul Jade’s energy by then, so he could definitely have the Soul Devouring Insects join in as well.
He had plenty of time and he could gain the most from absorbing this energy here!
However…
Just before he could do so, another force suddenly welled up within Yang Kai’s body. A seven coloured radiance suddenly illuminated the dim mountain cave with blinding light.
The rainbow light kept glowing and with a twist, Yang Kai suddenly felt his hand become lighter.
The Soul Jade… disappeared.
Yang Kai was caught off guard by this astonishing event, and with a shocked expression, he hurriedly scanned himself.
Soon, he located the Soul Jade in a certain part of his body.
The Soul Jade was actually enveloped by the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus as it quietly laid in the lotus flower’s centre.
But when Yang Kai saw it, he saw something inconceivable. The Soul Jade was swiftly melting like a snowflake under the sun and disappeared entirely soon after.
The Soul Warming Lotus absorbed every bit of energy from the Soul Jade without leaving even a little bit behind.
After it absorbed the Soul Jade’s energy, the Soul Warming Lotus’s colour seemed to get brighter.
Simultaneously, a gentle but seemingly endless power began spreading out from the Soul Warming Lotus, gradually injecting itself into Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar…
“This… just what is going on!?” Yang Kai was completely stunned and stupefied.
He had just discovered a High-Rank or even better Soul Jade, yet the Soul Warming Lotus had absorbed it without letting him have anything, only to then slowly return the energy to his Soul Avatar.
[Was this a good thing… or a bad thing?]
Yang Kai had no idea.
He lost the Soul Jade, which was obviously a loss for him, but the Soul Warming Lotus had absorbed it, rather than someone else stealing the Soul Jade. Right after that, the Soul Warming Lotus even slowly returned the energy to his body…
After thinking about it for a while, Yang Kai felt that this was likely a good thing.
This way, it would be beneficial for both himself and the Soul Warming Lotus, and… even though the flow of energy from the Soul Warming Lotus was much slower, it was orderly and gradual so that he could slowly absorb and refine it to strengthen his Soul.
If he personally absorbed the Soul Jade’s energy, he might not be able to finish absorbing it in the remaining time, and if he tried to do so, he definitely wouldn’t be able to do anything else but hide in this cave.
But now, he no longer needed to consider the Soul Jade’s matter and could focus on his own affairs.
“This arrangement should be more beneficial!” Yang Kai announced with confidence.
After saying that, he turned to look all around him and found that the Purple Squirrel was staring at him with fear in a corner of the cave.
The Purple Squirrel hadn’t understood the strange situation just now, so it had immediately run away from Yang Kai. Now that it saw he was safe and even waving at it in a friendly manner, it slowly went over to him.
After it confirmed that there weren’t any problems with Yang Kai, it went up on his shoulder once again.
But for some unknown reason, it actually sniffed Yang Kai gently a few times and then had a look of confusion. It seemed to think that Yang Kai’s current scent was somewhat different from before.
After that, Yang Kai went around the cave again and carefully checked to make sure that he didn’t miss anything before he finally left.
He still had plenty of time, and wouldn’t waste it.
Right when he exited the cave, a whoosh sound came from not far away.
This was followed by a figure that suddenly landed before him.
Yang Kai was astonished and he instinctively used his Spiritual Energy to summon the Purple Sun Profound Light Shield. At the same time, he leapt backwards to open some distance with this newcomer.
He never expected that he would meet anyone else here.
The other person also obviously thought the same thing. When he saw Yang Kai, he also condensed his Spiritual Energy and looked over vigilantly.
The two men exchanged glances, with the unknown stranger furrowing his brow as he stared curiously at the purple glow on Yang Kai’s body.
Just as Yang Kai had expected, cultivators of this world didn’t have artifacts that they could use! That was because they lacked resources that could be crafted into artifacts.
Battles between cultivators here were all about competing with the strength of one’s Soul. They relied on Soul Secret Techniques and weapons crafted purely from Spiritual Energy!
Soul-type artifacts were incredibly rare to cultivators in this world, possibly not even existing at all!
After Yang Kai summoned the Purple Sun Profound Light Shield, it formed a layer of purple light around his body, and although it appeared similar to some kind of defensive Secret Technique, it was still fundamentally different.
This cultivator who suddenly appeared was a Third-Order Dao Source Realm Cultivator, not weak at all!