The Space Blade was a direct manifestation of spatial power — a form of attack that only Yang Kai could employ. It was utterly uncanny, impossible to guard against, and if he could use it at will, it would give him yet another card to play in life-or-death situations.
He had never been to the Flowing Flame Sand Field and knew little about it, but from Qian Tong's description, it was sure to be extraordinarily dangerous. Yang Kai couldn't afford to be careless — he could only prepare as thoroughly as possible.
He sat cross-legged and first produced the Zhi Stone he had obtained from the auction.
Yang Yan had told him that this stone contained an unusual type of energy. It couldn't be absorbed by cultivators, nor could it be used for forging — its only purpose was to nurture certain rare and exotic insects and creatures. The Soul-Devouring Insects were one such species.
At the auction, it had been the Soul-Devouring Insects' abnormal reaction that prompted Yang Kai to buy this stone. Otherwise, he would have let it slip right through his fingers.
No sooner had he taken out the Zhi Stone than he felt the Soul-Devouring Insects on the Six-Colored Treasure Island in his Knowledge Sea stir violently, as if they wanted to fly out and pour into the stone.
But without Yang Kai's permission, they couldn't leave the island by even a single step. They only grew more frenzied with excitement.
Yang Kai stopped holding them back. He released his Knowledge Sea's defenses, used his Divine Sense to sweep up the countless insects, and channeled them into the Zhi Stone.
Once inside the stone, the Soul-Devouring Insects instantly turned violently aggressive — each one was as if injected with chicken blood, radiating an eerie aura.
Yang Kai listened closely. There seemed to be a rustling sound rising from within, like spring silkworms devouring mulberry leaves.
Under the observation of his Divine Sense, Yang Kai discovered that the Soul-Devouring Insects had begun devouring one another yet again, stirring up a civil war within the Zhi Stone.
The weaker insects had no right to survive in this moment — they were swept clean in an instant by their stronger kin. Once the weak had been culled, the stronger insects turned on each other, conquering and consuming. The total number of Soul-Devouring Insects plummeted.
Yang Kai was overjoyed!
The last time the Soul-Devouring Insects had devoured each other had been a very long time ago, but afterward their power had increased dramatically. Now history was repeating itself. Yang Kai was certain that once things stabilized, they would grow even more powerful!
He was brimming with anticipation!
If the Soul-Devouring Insects could evolve to the point where even Return Void Realm cultivators couldn't withstand them, he would be invincible on the Dark Star. There would be no need for Yang Yan to keep setting up formations — no one would dare trespass on his little patch of territory with the insects alone.
After observing for a while, Yang Kai found that the mutual slaughter would continue for quite some time. He stopped wasting energy watching and simply placed the Zhi Stone in a corner, letting them evolve on their own.
He then took out some spirit herbs and medicines, produced a pill furnace, and began refining Ice Snow Pills.
Refining low-grade Void-grade pills was no trouble for him now. In just over a day, he had produced two bottles totaling twenty Ice Snow Pills, seven or eight of which had developed Pill Patterns.
After finishing all of that, Yang Kai finally went into seclusion to nurture his artifact and cultivate his spatial power.
Time flew by, and three months passed.
In the stone chamber, Yang Kai sat with eyes closed in deep concentration. His left hand gripped a Space Spirit Crystal, continuously using spatial power to absorb its energy, while his other hand seemed to wave unconsciously. Each sweep tore a razor-thin spatial rift that shot outward in all directions the moment it appeared.
The entire stone chamber was in shambles, covered in the marks left by the Space Blades' rampage.
After three consecutive months of seclusion, the Space Blades' power had grown considerably compared to when they were first born. Both speed and stability had improved beyond what they were at the beginning.
The Space Blade's lethality depended primarily on speed and stability — especially the latter, which was absolutely critical. Unlike other forms of attack where the more Saint Yuan you poured in, the greater the damage, the Space Blade's main principle of destruction had nothing to do with the amount of Saint Yuan. It was predicated on devouring — the devouring of space itself!
As long as it was stable enough, it could swallow anything in its path into the spatial rift. It could even devour the attacks of others. Imagine it — when an opponent unleashed a killing move or an artifact against Yang Kai, and the Space Blade met it head-on, consuming the attack or artifact outright. At that point, Yang Kai wouldn't need any defensive measures at all. Offense was the best defense.
But this stability could be disrupted by other cultivators' attacks. If the disruption was severe enough, the spatial rift would collapse, and the Space Blade would lose its utility.
So Yang Kai had spent this entire period refining the Space Blade's stability. Its speed hadn't improved much.
He burned through massive quantities of Space Spirit Crystals, thoroughly cementing his reputation for cultivating in the most money-burning way possible, and gradually developed some insights into the use of the Space Blade.
Time passed imperceptibly during cultivation. It wasn't until the communication compass he had set aside emitted a pulse of Divine Sense that Yang Kai jolted awake.
Qian Tong had sent a message.
He quickly picked up the communication compass, poured his Divine Sense into it to check, then immediately rose to his feet and strode out.