Chapter 2988

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Having cultivated to the Eleventh Order, a Monster Beast would naturally have some level of sentience even if it did not have a Human Form; hence, it would know how to seek out fortune and avoid misfortune.

When Yang Kai easily used a finger to cause its huge hoof to explode, it immediately sensed that it was in mortal danger. Therefore, it turned around without hesitation, wrapped itself in sand and dust, and escaped into the distance as swiftly as the wind. The ability to wrap itself in sand and dust seemed like some sort of Innate Divine Ability for it to escape from danger.

Yang Kai was in a good mood since he managed to locate the black puppy; thus, he did not give chase nor kill it ruthlessly. An Eleventh-Order Monster Beast was nothing to him, so he simply watched it escape without stopping it.

"What's with you?" He held the black puppy up in front of his eyes and studied it carefully; he was unable to make heads or tails of the situation. It could even devour a Demon King, so why is it being driven into the corner by a mere Eleventh-Order Monster Beast? He would not have believed it had he not seen it with his own eyes.

Thinking back on it, Gong Yue, who had been taken over by a Demon Spirit at the time, once said that the black puppy had a faint trace of the Abyssal Returner's bloodline; however, he did not outrightly mention that it was an Abyssal Returner cub. It was very likely that the puppy did not come from a pure bloodline.

Its Innate Divine Ability would instinctively be stimulated when faced with its favourite food, the Demon Race. Unfortunately, that ability was unstable and unreliable against other kinds of enemies. It once devoured Liao Guan Shi in the Revolving World without any warning, but behaved very ordinarily when fighting against the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial Family. It had not used its innate devouring ability at the time even once.

From the looks of it, it probably failed to bring out its Divine Ability and was chased by an Eleventh-Order Monster Beast as a result. It was pretty troublesome to have impure bloodlines.

Even so, Yang Kai wasn't bothered by this. It was good if the black puppy was capable, but it was fine even if it wasn't; after all, he did not need to rely on its power. The most important thing was that he finally knew that Zhu Qing and the others were here.

Picking up the black puppy, he placed it on his shoulder, but did not summon his Emperor Grade flight-type Artifact. Instead, Yang Kai just flew into the air directly before he continued his search. Unfortunately, for the next ten days, he made no new discoveries.

Ten days later, an oasis suddenly appeared in Yang Kai's field of vision. Discovering such a pleasing spot out of the blue in this land of endless sand and dust instantly made his mood brighten.

There seemed to be a small village in the oasis, and Yang Kai could sense a number of life auras inside. Sweeping his Divine Sense across the village, he discovered that there were no powerful cultivators here, with the strongest person being just a Dao Source Realm while the rest were even lower than that.

Yang Kai headed to the oasis and landed beside the clear pool of water. Bending down, he washed his face in the water while the black puppy jumped into the water and started swimming freely. When he lifted his head again, he saw several children standing next to him and staring at him with wide eyes brimming with curiosity.

The children were a mix of boys and girls, with the youngest no older than five while the oldest was perhaps eleven or twelve. It might have been due to the environment, but their clothes were shabby and patched over multiple times. Moreover, they had terrible complexions and were all skin and bones, looking extremely malnourished.

The older ones among them seemed to have begun cultivating. Unfortunately, their cultivation was weak to the point that it was pitiful. They stood tens of meters away from Yang Kai, staring at him timidly with eyes that sparkled with curiosity.

Yang Kai smiled at them slightly, but just as he was about to speak, his gaze focused on something in one of the girl's hair. Smiling even more happily, Yang Kai asked in as friendly a voice as possible, "Hey, where did you get that?"

This girl was among the older ones in the group of children and had tied a ribbon into her hair. What surprised Yang Kai was the material the ribbon was made out of. It turned out to be part of the Emperor Artifact Ribbon Zhu Lie had brought out!

Back in the Void Crack, everybody had used this Emperor Artifact Ribbon to tie themselves together to prevent getting lost or separated. However, that artifact had been shredded when they crossed the World Barrier by a violent Void Turbulence. Yang Kai had one section in his possession originally, but later threw it away since he no longer had a use for it.

[I can't believe I'd find another section of that artifact here! This is clearly not the one that I threw away as the place I discarded mine is far away from here, there is no way this little girl could have picked up that ribbon from over there. In other words, this section of the ribbon must have been dropped by either Li Jiao or Zhu Lie.] This discovery confirmed Yang Kai's suspicions from before: everyone had returned to Star Boundary, it was just that they all landed in different places.

When Yang Kai spoke up abruptly, the children jumped in fright and took several steps back in unison.

"Can you let me see that for a moment? I will return it to you once I'm done," stretching out his hand, the ribbon loosened and flew over to Yang Kai. He lowered his head and studied the ribbon and was now certain it was a piece of the Emperor Artifact. It was too bad that its spirituality was completely lost after it was torn to pieces and no longer had any use. If not for that, the aura of an Emperor Rank Artifact alone would be enough to crush this little girl into dust.

Nodding repeatedly, he lifted his head again to ask something, but to his surprise, he saw the children fleeing without warning. They were probably frightened away by his sudden movements.

Moments later, several dozen cultivators of varying strength rushed over from all directions following the screams of the children. In the blink of an eye, they surrounded Yang Kai, all of them staring at him warily, their expressions rather unkind.

Yang Kai failed to stifle his laughter even though he knew that his actions were a little reckless. His gaze shifted and landed on the face of one of the middle-aged men as he asked, "Are you the one in charge here?"

That middle-aged man's cultivation was at the Second-Order Dao Source Realm and he was the strongest person here, but for some reason, his face looked particularly haggard and aged. It seemed even his cultivation could not prevent the passing years from carving wrinkles into his face while the rest of the villagers were in similar situations. Moreover, Yang Kai could tell that something was amiss from their expressions. The looks in their eyes seemed to be filled with despair.

Upon hearing Yang Kai's question, the middle-aged man nodded, "That is correct. I am the one in charge of Green Water Village. May I know Your Excellency's name?"

Although his cultivation was not as high as Yang Kai's, he could tell that the young man in front of him was not somebody he could afford to provoke. Thus, he spoke with great respect, for fear that he might bring disaster down on the Green Water Village.

"My name doesn't matter, I just wanted to ask something," Yang Kai lifted the ribbon in his hands and continued, "I saw the little girl wearing this on her head just now, so I wanted to know where she obtained it. I didn't mean to frighten them. Can you help me ask her about it instead?"

The middle-aged man said, "If that's the case, there's no need to ask her."

"Do you know about it?"

He nodded and replied, "She received that item from a red-haired young man."

"A red-haired young man!" Yang Kai was overjoyed when he heard the news. He didn't need to inquire further to know that the red-haired young man was Zhu Lie and thus, he hurriedly asked, "Where is that red-haired young man now?"

"He left a long time ago," the middle-aged man mulled over it for a bit before continuing, "He suddenly appeared in this place about half a month ago and waited here for about half a day. Then, a woman came looking for him. After that, they left together."

Yang Kai anxiously asked, "What did that woman look like? Did she have red hair too?"

The middle-aged man nodded, "That's right. Moreover, those two looked very strong, I believe they were even stronger than you."

"That's right; that's right. They are certainly stronger than I am," Yang Kai was all smiles, his worries finally completely laid to rest. Although he had guessed that Zhu Qing was fine when he managed to locate the black puppy, it was still a huge relief to receive confirmation.

Red hair was a unique characteristic of the Red Dragon siblings. Zhu Lie had obviously arrived at this oasis and used a Dragon Clan Secret Technique to contact Zhu Qing. Then, they left this place together after she arrived.

The middle-aged man continued, "This ribbon is what the red-haired young man left behind when he left this place. Please excuse the child's ignorance for picking it up and playing with it. You can have it back if it is something you need."

Yang Kai waved his hand lightly in response, "That is not necessary. I just wanted some information, there's no need to be so nervous."

While speaking, he flicked his wrist and the ribbon immediately flew to the little girl and stopped in front of her. The little girl glanced at Yang Kai several times before grabbing the ribbon and holding it in her palm like a treasured item.

After ascertaining that he meant no harm, the group of people finally felt relieved. They had sensed how powerful Yang Kai was and knew if he meant to harm them, they would have no way to resist.

"Which direction did that man and woman leave in? Do you know?"

The middle-aged man pointed with his hand, "That way!"

Glancing into the distance, Yang Kai cupped his fists and said, "Many thanks!"

Subsequently, he turned around and called for the black puppy. Picking Ah Wang up, he then left in the direction Zhu Qing and her brother had gone, chasing after them.

Upon seeing him leave, the villagers secretly breathed a sigh of relief; however, it was just a momentary respite as a figure appeared in front of them again a moment later. It was the powerful young man from before who had for some reason returned.

The middle-aged man asked curiously, "Does Your Excellency need something else?"

Yang Kai smiled, "I thought about it, and since you helped me out, I should return the favour to you."

"It was nothing; please don't worry about it!" The middle-aged man shook his head in response.

"It might be a trivial matter to you, but it is extremely important to me. In that case, go ahead and tell me what you need. I will do my best to satisfy you!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, a small commotion ran through the crowd as they looked at the middle-aged man in unison.

Similarly, the head of the village's expression changed significantly. Even so, he hesitated for a long time before shaking his head and saying, "Many thanks, Your Excellency; however, we are currently not in need of anything in particular."

Yang Kai smiled, "Looking at your expressions, it must be something difficult to ask, or perhaps there are lives at stake. Not answering when asked means that you are either being restrained by something, or do not have confidence in me. Tell me, who is troubling you?"

"It's nothing," the middle-aged man shook his head again with a nervous expression, "Your Excellency, please go quickly. The people you are looking for left half a month ago, so if you don't leave now, you won't be able to catch up with them again."

Yang Kai ignored the village head and turned his gaze to the little girl who had picked up the ribbon instead to ask, "In truth, you are the one who did me the favour, so I would like to return the favour in kind. Tell me, is somebody bullying you? I will go and beat them up so that they won't be able to bully you again."

The little girl exclaimed in surprise, "Really?"

"Yes, really."

Then, the little girl said, "Then, can you go and defeat that giant snake? It often comes here to eat people. Both my brother and sister were eaten by it."

"A giant snake?" Yang Kai frowned.