A spatial rift opened in the underground chamber, and Yang Kai stumbled out of it, his face still pale with lingering shock.
Fang Peng hadn't been ignorant of Yang Kai's ability to tear through space, yet he had still laid that vicious trap. On one hand, he likely understood that the Thunder Terrace Sect's headquarters was beyond saving, so rather than let Yang Kai benefit from it, he might as well put it to use. On the other hand, there may have been a sliver of hope—that Yang Kai would react too slowly and perish in the detonation of those Profound Burst Crystals.
Who knew how confident he had actually been?
Regardless, Fang Peng's plan had fallen through. In the final moments before the Profound Burst Crystals detonated, Yang Kai had already departed from the heart of the explosion, following the direction from which the formation diagram originated straight down into the earth.
This was ten thousand zhang underground. Dim lantern light flickered weakly around the surroundings, and five figures lay scattered across the ground in haphazard positions, drawing more breaths than they released.
Yang Kai took one look and could tell they would not survive much longer. He furrowed his brow involuntarily.
It seemed the commotion earlier had been caused by these five. As expected of a great sect with over ten thousand years of history—even in the most dire of moments, there were still those willing to remain behind and share the sect's fate, sacrificing their own lives.
"You really didn't die—Fang Peng was right!" A feeble voice came from the side. Yang Kai looked over and saw a gaunt, yellow-faced elder, nothing but skin and bones, lying there and staring at him. The old man's withered lips twitched, his face tinged with both unwillingness and disbelief. "The power of space—living up to its reputation!"
"You flatter me, Senior." Yang Kai let out a cold snort and stepped forward, stopping five paces from the elder. "You knew perfectly well that a petty trick like this couldn't kill me, yet Fang Peng still had the heart to leave the five of you behind to die. What bold resolve!"
The yellow-faced elder let out a hoarse, wheezing laugh. "He didn't ask us to stay—we chose to stay on our own. At this point, boy, you still think you can drive a wedge between us?"
A flicker of surprise passed through Yang Kai's eyes, and he said nothing.
The yellow-faced elder coughed lightly and continued, "The five of us were already nearing the end of our lifespans. If we could drag you down with us as our burial offering, that would be a tremendous gain—a final act of service for the sect before death. So even though the odds were slim, we had to take the shot."
"You're dying anyway—why say so much?" Yang Kai replied with little interest. "Tell me. Where did Fang Peng go? I'll leave your bodies intact."
"Heh… bold words, boy. If I'd met you in earlier years, perhaps I'd have held you in higher regard! Fang Peng said… he said…"
"What did he say?"
"He said for you to go to Star Emperor Mountain… and find him there!" The yellow-faced elder seemed to have wrung the very last drop of life from himself to force out that final sentence. The moment he finished, his breath ceased.
The other four had already passed away during Yang Kai's exchange with the elder.
Yang Kai gazed at the five corpses with furrowed brows, slowly shook his head, and made no move to disturb them. He drew a line through the air before him, and space was instantly torn open.
……
In the Leifeng Gorge, the warship hovered in midair with its hatch thrown wide. Ye Xiyun and the others had all rushed out, their eyes filled with anxious worry as they stared ahead.
The explosion had long since subsided, but as far as the eye could see, the once-magnificent headquarters of the Thunder Terrace Sect had been reduced to rubble. In its place, there was only a crater dozens of zhang deep and several dozen li across.
Yang Kai was nowhere to be seen.
Every heart had leapt into its throat.
An energy eruption of that magnitude—if not for the warship's protection, everyone present would surely have perished, to say nothing of Yang Kai, who had been deep inside it.
Everyone worried for him, fearing that Yang Kai had been buried in the destruction.
"Looking for me?" A sudden voice came from behind. Everyone startled and turned to look, only to discover that Yang Kai had somehow appeared behind them at some point, standing there without a scratch on him.
Their expressions turned extraordinarily strange—they had not sensed Yang Kai's appearance in the slightest, as though he had simply materialized out of thin air.
"Yang Kai, are you all right?" Qian Tong asked hastily.
"I'm fine. Get back inside first." Yang Kai strode into the warship and turned to gesture for the others to follow.
Moments later, the warship changed course and sailed out of Leifeng Gorge.
Inside the warship, Yang Kai gave a brief account of the results of the expedition. Listening to his account, everyone couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"Those five must have been the Thunder Terrace Sect's Supreme Elders. They were all advanced in age—probably a generation or two above even Old Fei and me," Qian Tong said softly. "In truth, every great power has such figures. My Shadow Moon Hall has a few as well—they simply don't involve themselves in worldly affairs and spend their years in seclusion. Unless something truly major occurs, they won't emerge until they die of old age."
"Indeed. Though they were our enemies, the fact that those five could act as they did makes them worthy of respect," Fei Zhi Tu nodded slightly from the side.
"Respectable or not, now that Fang Peng has fled to Star Emperor Mountain, it saves me the trouble of hunting him down," Yang Kai said with a light snort. If Fang Peng had chosen to go underground and live under an alias from that point on, it would have been a genuine hassle. But of all places to flee, he had gone to Star Emperor Mountain—which suited Yang Kai perfectly.