MARTIAL ADVERSITY, VOLUME 8 - Season 12 Episode 24

Gui Zu’s little schemes, Yang Kai was well aware of, but never brought to light.

Because inside the turbulent Void, everything from the outside world was cut off. Gui Zu wouldn’t even be able to sense where he was much less what he was doing, so Yang Kai wasn’t worried that his methods and abilities would be stolen by Gui Zu.

Although Gui Zu had enlightened him and allowed his strength to greatly increase, earning him Yang Kai’s gratitude, this and that were two different matters. Vigilance was always necessary as Yang Kai could never feel truly at east around Gui Zu.

For an old monster like Gui Zu, going back on his word was something all too common, so Yang Kai not only had to search for a way out of this place, but also a way to ensure that after leaving, Gui Zu wouldn’t kill him!

It was difficult! Yang Kai felt overwhelmed and was unable to think up any good way to accomplish these two goals simultaneously, only able to take one step at a time.

After spending a short time inside The Void, Yang Kai left.

As soon as his figure reappeared, Gui Zu’s voice rang in his ear, “Little brat, what did you learn?”

It was clear from this alone how anxious Gui Zu was for news.

Yang Kai smiled bitterly, “How could things be so easy? Senior should have some patience, I was only confirming whether or not the space around this place had stabilized.”

“And the result?” Gui Zu continued to press.

“En, it has stabilized and should not interfere with my judgment any longer.”

“That’s good!”

“Senior, how far did I move this time?”

“A thousand kilometres or so,” Gui Zu coldly snorted, “Your ability compared to last time has improved significantly, it seems your strength has grown quite a bit.”

Yang Kai couldn’t help smiling upon hearing this. In the past, whenever he tore space, he could move at most a few hundred kilometres, but now that distance had increased to over one thousand kilometres. This was a massive improvement!

“Don’t think you can play any tricks in front of me, you and I know that you can’t escape from this old master’s palm, so work hard and as long as we can leave this place, this old master promises not to hurt you!”

“Junior understands,” Yang Kai gently nodded, “Senior, if there is nothing else, I’d like to continue studying the problem.”

“Go on!”

Yang Kai once again tore space and stepped into the turbulent flow of The Void, searching for the correct way out of this strange place.

Although Yang Kai’s strength had improved greatly over the past few years. Standing in The Void, he suddenly realized that his understanding of the Dao of Space was still very shallow. Although it was far better than Gui Zu’s, at his current level of comprehension, it was obviously not enough for him to find a way out from this floating continent.

And so, as he had done many years ago, Yang Kai submerged himself in The Void in order to study its mysteries and improve his comprehension of the Dao of Space.

He didn’t explain this to Gui Zu though because Gui Zu was very impatient and was hoping that Yang Kai would immediately be able to take him away from here.

Time passed by and Yang Kai spent much of his time inside The Void, studying its mysteries and complexities.

Every day, he would return to the continent to make a progress report to Gui Zu in order to appease his anxiety.

Yang Kai had made remarkable progress and had gained much, his understanding of the Dao of Space becoming deeper and deeper.

One day, Yang Kai suddenly had an interesting idea and immediately left The Void.

He then released his Divine Sense and sent it into The Void without his physical body, projecting it in all directions.

If he wanted to leave this place, Yang Kai would need to pass through the strange seven coloured sky, but Gui Zu had said that this sky was formed by the chaotic interactions of the Chaotic Abyss’ various energy fields and spanned at least several thousand kilometres, possibly as much as ten thousand kilometres.

Even with Yang Kai’s current means, he would need to accurately tear space a dozen times in order to cross this chaotic region of space.

He didn’t dare run tests with his own body though, because a single mistake would cause him to become forever lost in that chaotic domain.

However, he could replace himself with his Divine Sense, because even if threads of his Divine Sense became lost, it wouldn’t cause him much trouble.

At most, his Soul would receive some minor damage, but with the Six Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, that damage could quickly be restored.

Sending out a tidal wave of Divine Sense in all directions, Yang Kai condensed his Spiritual Energy into invisible threads before attaching his own understanding of the Dao of Space to them and then piercing them into The Void.

These threads of Divine Sense, coordinating with Yang Kai’s understanding of the Dao of Space, began jumping across the entire continent, disappearing from one place and reappearing in another as they rapidly and repeatedly traversed The Void.

The range Yang Kai’s Divine Sense covered grew wider and wider!

Inside the mountain peak, Gui Zu, who had been monitoring Yang Kai’s movements, suddenly saw this scene and couldn’t help muttering to himself, “Good, it seems that he’s making some progress.”

He grinned widely seeing Yang Kai’s efforts, as every step forward Yang Kai made meant they were one step closer to leaving this cage. As such, Gui Zu didn’t bother disturbing Yang Kai and simply let him experiment.

After an hour, Yang Kai showed a tired look. His Divine Sense had spread out too far now, far beyond what should be possible for his current realm.

At this moment, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense covered almost half of the entire continent, a feat no Second-Order Saint should be able to achieve. Even masters like Yue Xi and Lu Gui Chen may not be able to cover such a vast area.

Because Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was leaping across space though, he didn’t have to spread it step by step like ordinary cultivators.

It was for this reason he could cover half of the continent.

He then took back his Divine Sense and began to restore himself.

However, at this moment, one of the threads of Divine Senses Yang Kai had sent out noticed something unusual.

Yang Kai’s brow rose as he first took back all his other Divine Sense threads before focusing his attention on that particular place.

After a moment, a look of shock appeared on Yang Kai’s face as he made an amazing discovery!

Right in the very centre of the continent, several thousand meters underground, there was a hidden mass of energy, one that was concealed so well that if Yang Kai’s Divine Sense thread hadn’t inadvertently passed by it, he would never have even noticed its existence.

Moreover, Yang Kai discovered that there was a barrier around this mass of energy that not only firmly protected it but also concealed its aura fluctuations from leaking out, making it nearly impossible to detect.

The thread of Divine Sense Yang Kai had accidentally made a jump inside this barrier and had only been there for a moment but it had actually received an incredible strengthening, going from nearly dissipating to stronger than when he had released it.

Yang Kai was incredibly shocked and quickly realized that this mass of energy was something extraordinary.

Recovering his composure, Yang Kai left that thread of Divine Sense in place so he could continue to determine the position of this strange energy mass before sitting down cross-legged and beginning to restore himself.

He wanted to figure out what this mass of energy was!

Could Gui Zu, who had lived here for more than two thousand years, know what it was?

Soon though, Yang Kai faintly felt that Gui Zu shouldn’t know about the existence of this energy mass! Because if he did know about it, he certainly would not have left it alone. Such a huge mass of energy would be enough to attract even an old monster like Gui Zu.

However, why didn’t he know about it? Gui Zu was an Origin King Realm master and had spent innumerable years in this place, he should be well aware of everything minute detail here.

“Senior,” Yang Kai called out with his Divine Sense.

“What?” Gui Zu immediately responded.

“Junior wants to ask, after having lived on this continent for so long, have you discovered any special places?”

“Special places?” Gui Zu coldly snorted before angrily growling, “What are you talking about? In addition to the rich aura and abundance of spirit herbs, this place is nothing more than a hateful prison! A cage that has trapped this old master for two thousand years, this old master cannot wait to leave here!”

“Why do you ask? What did you discover?” Gui Zu suddenly became alert.

“No, I simply wanted to learn more about this place. Perhaps it might help me find a way out!” Yang Kai replied casually.

“Good, if you let this old master discover you’ve been up to some kind of scheme, don’t blame me for not showing kindness!” Gui Zu snorted.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly said, “Do you want to use your special Divine Sense to find the Star Source of this damned place?”

“Star Source? What’s that?” Yang Kai asked curiously.

“You don’t know?” Gui Zu was stunned.

Yang Kai shook his head and smiled bitterly, “Junior came from a lower world, one where no one has ever even visited the Starry Sky before I, so I know next to nothing about the Star Field.”

“Barbarians!” Gui Zu snickered disdainfully, “A Star Source is the heart of a star, any Cultivation Star will have one. It can be thought of as the crystallized essence of a Cultivation Star. For example, if you think of a cultivator as a star, the Star Source would be equivalent to their dantian and Knowledge Sea. If any cultivator can engrave his Soul Brand on the Star Source of a Cultivation Star, he will become the master of that Cultivation Star and clearly understand everything about it. If he wishes, he can even cause natural disasters to happen at any place on that Cultivation Star. While he is alive, he can turn mountains into oceans and abysses into plains.”

Yang Kai couldn’t help raising his brow and asking, “Does that mean they could control that Cultivation Star?”

“Exactly! Throughout the Star Field, every Star Master that controls the Star Source of their Cultivation Star can draw energy from that entire star to supplement their own. While standing on their own Cultivation Star, their strength will never dry up, it’s literally inexhaustible! Little brat, do you now understand the power of a Star Master?”

“I understand,” Yang Kai turned pale, “Then this place…”

“Hah, it seems you really are a barbarian from some remote backwater. This strange continent isn’t even a proper star, so how could it have a Star Source? This old master did a thorough search of this place a thousand five hundred years ago. If I had found something, do you think I’d let it off?”

Yang Kai chuckled, “It’s as Senior said, I was just asking casually, not looking for some Star Source. Before now I’d never even heard of that.”

“Good, since you understand then stop wasting time and get back to finding a way out of this place. Don’t bother seeking for something that doesn’t exist, it won’t do you any good,” Gui Zu reprimanded before cutting off the conversation with Yang Kai.

Yang Kai continued restoring himself while sinking into contemplation.

As Gui Zu said, this place wasn’t anything like a complete star, it was just a strange floating continent.

However… Yang Kai had seen an ancient tree-like star in the Chaotic Abyss, one that towered high into the sky and emitted a rich Wood Attribute aura.

Considering that, it wasn’t really much of a stretch to say that this continent was also a star; after all, its volume wasn’t small, at least far beyond the scope of an asteroid.