Yang Kai turned to survey his surroundings. The Celestial Heaven Palace was just as he remembered.
Though he had been missing for three years, no one dared disturb this place — it was the personal residence of the Lingxiao Sect Master. Ye Xiyun merely had someone clean it daily, keeping the dust at bay.
After glancing around for a moment, Yang Kai gave a quiet nod of satisfaction and was about to go rest when his expression suddenly changed. "Who's there?" he barked sharply.
Even as the words left his lips, his Divine Sense exploded outward, slamming toward a specific point in the void.
He had sensed, in that instant, the unmistakable feeling of being watched.
He held nothing back.
The void warped under the force of his attack, imbued with a vast torrent of Divine Sense. Even a Third-Stage Return Void Realm cultivator couldn't withstand such a blow head-on.
But the distorted space settled back to normal in the very next moment, as though an invisible hand had simply smoothed it flat.
Yang Kai's attack had accomplished nothing.
His expression shifted, and a sharp light blazed in his eyes.
A mass of formless, visible energy drifted lazily out from that spot, twisting and shifting in ways that felt deeply unsettling.
"Divine Sense given physical form!" Yang Kai murmured. His initial shock gave way to wariness, for within that visible manifestation of spiritual energy he had caught a trace of something familiar.
The moment he spoke, that stream of Divine Sense suddenly coalesced into a human silhouette.
Though the image flickered and wavered slightly, it was clad in a black robe that nearly swallowed the figure from head to toe. Only a pair of eyes — bright as stars — remained visible, and the figure itself possessed an exquisite, elegant frame.
Yang Kai's gaze narrowed as he stared fixedly at the apparition, his emotions surging.
The figure stared back at him, perfectly still, its expression as placid as a deep well — betraying neither joy nor sorrow.
A long moment passed before Yang Kai inhaled deeply and spoke in a low voice: "Are you Yang Yan… or the Great Emperor?"
The humanoid shape conjured from Divine Sense bore an unmistakable resemblance to Yang Yan. It was clearly formed from the divine will of the being slumbering on the sixth level of the Flowing Flame Sand Field. But Yang Kai couldn't be certain whether this was Yang Yan — the companion he had known day and night — or the legendary Starry Sky Great Emperor.
If it was the former, everything would be fine.
If the latter, Yang Kai would need to tread carefully.
Hearing his question, the figure furrowed its brow slightly and replied: "Both, I suppose."
"Is that so…" Yang Kai responded evenly. "It looks like the two of you have already begun to merge."
"That's right. But it will still take a few years before the process is fully complete."
"Then how should I address you?"
"Whether it's the person you knew or the Great Emperor the rest of you speak of — I am Yang Yan," the figure answered.
Yang Kai nodded gently. "If that's the case, why did you send your divine will here instead of staying asleep in the pavilion?"
"I sensed that you brought back something rather interesting, so I came to take a look." Yang Yan smiled faintly.
"Something interesting?" Yang Kai's brow furrowed.
"This…" Yang Yan said, extending a hand toward Yang Kai in a casual gesture. The motion appeared effortless, yet in that instant Yang Kai felt something inside his body get drawn out without his consent.
The speed was so great that he hadn't even formed the thought of resisting.
A flash of light passed, and a small bead now rested in Yang Yan's palm.
"The Mysterious World Bead!" Yang Kai's eyes went wide as he stared at the unassuming little orb.
"Yes. The Mysterious World Bead." Yang Yan nodded gently. After speaking, she closed her beautiful eyes, seemingly sensing something within it. Moments later, she opened them again and said softly, "Just as I thought. You really were able to refine it."
Yang Kai's mastery of spatial power was something Yang Yan already knew about.
Refining the Mysterious World Bead required, at the bare minimum, an understanding of spatial forces. Over the tens of thousands of years that Star Emperor Mountain had held it, not a single sect master had managed to accomplish the feat — until Qi Tianche, who had stumbled upon its secret by pure chance.
In the end, it had fallen into Yang Kai's hands.
"You've even expanded it to encompass a hundred-li radius of space. With your current cultivation, that truly is remarkable." Yang Yan seemed to have discovered something that surprised her, and she offered repeated praise.
Yang Kai frowned, thought for a moment, then spoke: "I know this bead originally belonged to you. I only refined it so I could escape from inside. If you want to take it back, I won't stand in your way. But could you lend it to me for a while? I need it to transport some people."
"Lend it to you?" Yang Yan glanced at him and allowed a small smile. "Why would I need to lend it to you? You've already imprinted your life force within the Mysterious World Bead — it's yours now. I won't be taking it back."
With that, she tossed the bead back to Yang Kai.
He caught it and regarded her with suspicion.
He still hadn't fully grasped what tier of Artifact the Mysterious World Bead was, but since it was an Imperial Artifact, it was clearly of enormous value even to a Great Emperor. He hadn't dared to presume he could keep it — all he'd wanted was to use it to bring his friends and family over from the Profound Continent.
Without the Mysterious World Bead, there was simply no way to transport that many people at once.
"You've gotten one thing wrong," Yang Yan said gently.
"What?"
"This Mysterious World Bead doesn't actually belong to me."
"Hmm?" Yang Kai was taken aback.
"Strictly speaking, I never refined this bead. I've merely been its keeper." Yang Yan's spiritual form drifted down from the void, standing before Yang Kai as naturally as a real person. "It actually belongs to a friend of mine."