MARTIAL ADVERSITY, VOLUME 8 - Season 11 Episode 4

After absorbing these purified Soul remnants, Yang Kai’s own understanding of the Saint Realm had drastically improved and the control he could exert over his strength had grown substantially.

The benefits he obtained though went far beyond this, because every time he absorbed other cultivator’s Soul remnants, his own Soul’s strength would improve and his Spiritual Energy would be enhanced. Although this increase in strength was quite small, piling up many grains of sand would eventually create a mountain. Over time, by repeating this process again and again, Yang Kai’s Soul had already become several times more powerful than other cultivators in the same realm.

The flames that filled his Knowledge Sea had seemingly become hotter and more intense.

Please with these gains, Yang Kai quickly devoured the last few Soul remnants.

However, when he began absorbing one of these masses of Spiritual Energy, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly became weird and he quickly stopped his movements.

In front of his Soul Avatar was a not so powerful Soul remnant. In fact, this one was weaker than all the rest, only belonging to the level of a Third Order Transcendent.

This was clearly the Soul remnant left behind by the Chart Master named Wu Suo!

Yang Kai understood this clearly because unlike most of the others, he had actually witnessed Wu Suo’s body burst into a bloody fog and his bones ground into dust. At the time, Wu Suo was the only Transcendent Realm cultivator in the Starship power room, everyone else was at least a Saint.

The Spiritual Energy mass that Wu Suo left behind after his death though seemed to be different somehow.

While it was truly only on the level of a Third Order Transcendent, weaker than the others, there seemed to be something hidden inside of it, something out of the ordinary.

Yang Kai concentrated his Divine Sense and began to investigate.

Suddenly, it was as if he had left his Knowledge Sea and been immersed in the Starry Sky, surrounded by stars. Some of these stars exuded a glamorous and dazzling light, some exuded rich vitality, some were blanketed in heavy Death Qi, and so on.

Yang Kai felt as if he had suddenly become omnipotent and was standing above the Starry Sky, overlooking the entire Heng Luo Star Field.

Nothing could escape from his eyes.

All the stars in front of him seemed to be driven by some kind of mysterious force, rotating in a complicated and regular pattern that Yang Kai failed to comprehend.

Yang Kai then saw a place in the exact centre of the entire Star Field.

Some of the stars in this location seemed to be particularly bright, some were red like flame, some were white like frost, some stars gave off incredible amounts of pure energy, some seemed like enormous ancient trees…

It was the Chaotic Abyss!

Yang Kai’s spirit visibly shook.

He immediately realized that this distinctive sector of the Starry Sky he was looking at was the Chaotic Abyss he had been lost in for so long, the dazzling stars and rich energy aura were all too familiar to him.

The first place he had arrived at in the Star Field was the Chaotic Abyss, and its appearance that had long ago been carved into the depths of his soul was identical to the one he was looking at right now.

The only difference was that it had been reduced in size countless times over.

Wu Suo’s Soul remnant actually hid a profound Star Chart.

And it was a Star Chart of the entire Heng Luo Star Field!

Yang Kai stared dumbfounded at this for quite a while, not understanding why this was.

As Yang Kai continued examining this Star Chart with his Divine Sense, the water in his Knowledge Sea rapidly began to evaporate and dry up, his Spiritual Energy being consumed at an incredible speed.

A tearing pain spread from Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, shocking him and forcing him to quickly withdraw his Divine Sense from the Star Chart, only then discovering the changes in his Knowledge Sea.

In this brief period of time, he had actually used up nearly half of the Spiritual Energy in his Knowledge Sea.

The splitting pain he felt was a sign that his Spiritual Energy was being over-consumed and the reason for this was no doubt the mysterious Star Chart, clearly it contained hidden secrets!

Yang Kai took a deep breath and didn’t dare to act recklessly, quickly withdrawing his consciousness from his Knowledge Sea.

Returning his senses to his body, Yang Kai felt a cold wind brush against him, causing him to shiver and notice that he was covered in sweat, his every muscle stretched taut.

Shen Tu, who was sitting nearby, stared at him with a stunned look.

Seeing Yang Kai in such a miserable state, he couldn’t help speaking a few words of persuasion, “Yang Kai, calm down, don’t get anxious, that’s the seal of a Saint King Realm master, no matter what, you won’t be able to unlock it for a while.”

Obviously, he thought that Yang Kai was trying to break open Lu Gui Chen’s seal.

“I know, don’t worry about me,” Yang Kai spoke thoughtlessly before quietly taking out a Spiritual Energy restoring Saint Pill from the Demon Mystic Tome and popping it into his mouth, adjusting his Soul while contemplating what just happened.

According to what Shen Tu had told him, Wu Suo was one of the top-ranking Chart Masters in all of Purple Star, qualifying him to assume responsibility for setting the course of Purple Star’s Starships.

Such a top-level Chart Master would obviously have his own unique insights into the makeup of the Star Field. In addition to spending a small amount of time on his personal cultivation, the rest of his life must have been spent on studying and producing Star Charts.

However, that simply couldn’t explain why that mysterious Star Chart would remain even after being exposed to the purifying Golden Light.

The Golden Light was capable of erasing all the memories and life experiences of a cultivator, leaving behind only a mass of pure energy.

This was why Yang Kai had always been able to obtain the insights these fallen cultivators possessed about the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, but never any of their Secret Arts or Martial Skills.

The knowledge Wu Suo had obtained about Star Charts across the course of his life should have been erased.

However, it all remained intact.

This phenomenon was very strange and had never happened before.

Yang Kai thought about it for a while and eventually arrived at a certain possibility.

The Star Chart which had been left behind wasn’t part of Wu Suo’s knowledge but was actually some kind of fortuitous encounter he had obtained.

It didn’t originally belong to Wu Suo, therefore it wasn’t purified, and on top of that, it was a higher level treasure than the Demon Eye of Annihilation!

Only this possibility could explain the current situation.

The more he considered it, the more Yang Kai felt his guess was correct.

Suddenly opening his eyes, he turned to Shen Tu and said, “I have something I need to ask.”

“Oh? What?” Shen Tu looked back at him.

“How much do you know about that Chart Master called Wu Suo?”

“How come you suddenly want to know about him?” Shen Tu wore a confused look, “He seems to have already died as I haven’t seen him here. What’s wrong? Did you know anything about him before?”

“I didn’t, I’m just curious.”

Shen Tu chuckled, “He’s not a beautiful woman, so I don’t know much about him, but Wu Suo was indeed a top-level Chart Master, so it’s not like I know nothing. En, it’s said that he came from a rather small force that had fallen into decline. He didn’t have extraordinary talent in cultivation and was more or less a drifter. At two hundred years old, he had only been able to cultivate to the Transcendent Realm. A two-hundred-year-old Transcendent is really no different from a waste…”

Despite saying otherwise, Shen Tu knew a lot, his mouth continuing to move for quite some time.

Yang Kai didn’t interrupt him and simply listened to these pieces of trivial information indifferently.

“Right, how he became a Chart Master is actually quite an interesting tale, nearly legendary actually. Before reaching the Transcendent Realm, he was a small character that no one had ever heard of, but after breaking through to the Transcendent Realm, he suddenly displayed incredible talent in the field of Star Chart design. The Star Charts he created were incredibly precise and were capable of avoiding many potential dangers in the Star Field. He originally came from a star under Purple Star’s jurisdiction, so after his rise to fame, he was recruited by Purple Star.”

“After reaching the Transcendent Realm, he became a Chart Master?” Yang Kai expression changed.

“En, it’s strange, isn’t it? Some people have investigated this but no one was able to find much information about it. Basically, everyone thinks that he should have been taught in secret by a very powerful Chart Master, which was why his cultivation had advanced so slowly. His advancement was delayed because he spent all of his effort studying Star Charts. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to become a top-level Chart Master in such a short period of time. Chart Masters are too rare and take too much time to train. Training them also consumed a massive amount of resources. Every big force in the Star Field has its own Chart Master training organization, but Chart Masters who emerge from these institutes and are actually of use are still rare,” Shen Tu smiled and explained, “All of those so-called Chart Masters are capable of drawing a Star Chart from one star to a neighbouring star, but once the distance increases, those same Chart Masters become useless. The Star Charts they draw are inaccurate and can’t provide the least bit of safety.”

“Got it, thanks,” Yang Kai had obtained the information he needed, so he didn’t see a reason to continue discussing this topic any longer and quickly closed his eyes.

“Hey, you haven’t told me why you suddenly became interested in Wu Suo. Could it be you want to become a Chart Master?” Shen Tu asked before letting out a laugh, “I strongly advise you against that. Without dozens of years of immersion and research into the field of Star Charts, it’s absolutely impossible to become a Chart Master, the amount of information one needs to know is simply too immense.”

Yang Kai didn’t bother replying to him, causing Shen Tu to feel somewhat bored, so he too closed eyes and silently began circulating his healing art.

Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar once again appeared inside his Knowledge Sea. After his talk with Shen Tu, he had basically confirmed his previous hypothesis.

Wu Suo really became a Chart Master because of some fortuitous encounter where he managed to somehow obtain this Star Chart hidden in his Soul.

With such a Star Chart, anyone could become a Chart Master!

The reason why he didn’t achieve fame until he broke through to the Transcendent Realm was likely because of the amount of Spiritual Energy required to examine this Star Chart was too great.

About this point, Yang Kai had firsthand experience!

Just now, he had only examined the mysterious Star Chart for an incense stick worth of time, yet half of his Spiritual Energy had been consumed. If it was a cultivator at Wu Suo’s level, after at most a tea sip worth of time, they would become completely exhausted.

Yang Kai didn’t have much interest in the Chart Master profession, but he was very interested in the makeup of the Star Field and the distribution of its various stars.

There were many potential dangers in the Star Field, some that could even threaten Saint King Realm masters. It was the Chart Masters who were responsible for detecting and avoiding these dangers in a timely manner.

If he could refine this Star Chart for himself, Yang Kai felt that he would never have to worry about becoming lost in this Star Field again.

He had suffered a lot in the Chaotic Abyss and had taken this experience to heart, so he had decided to refine the Star Chart. Wu Suo’s treasure had fallen into his hands now; so naturally he wasn’t going to just give it up.