When word got out that a Return Void Realm Stage Two cultivator had walked out of a Domain Vortex unscathed, the Void King Realm powerhouses inside the stone pavilion nearly erupted.
In an instant, they recognized that this Return Void Realm cultivator possessed unimaginable potential.
"Heh heh, this kid—this old woman reserves him for the Sword Alliance," the old woman chuckled lightly. "If he manages to walk out of the Blood Prison alive, I'll bring him straight back to the Sword Alliance's main star and nurture him with everything we have."
"Senior Lei, are you still half asleep?" A middle-aged man dressed as a Confucian scholar sneered. "You've claimed him with a single sentence—shouldn't you ask the rest of us first? Such a fine seedling, our Heng Luo Commercial Union isn't about to give him up either."
"Purple Star wants him too," the beautiful woman interjected.
"I don't care. If he really makes it out alive, I only want this one. The rest of you can fight over whoever you like." The old woman put on the act of pulling rank by virtue of her age, her expression firm.
"This isn't your call, Senior Lei. Setting aside where he actually comes from and whether he has some powerful patron backing him—let's say he doesn't. Are you even sure he'd agree to go with you? He might favor our Heng Luo Commercial Union instead. After all, in the Star Domain, our reputation outshines the Sword Alliance's by a fair margin." The middle-aged man refused to back down, his tone dripping with mockery.
"In terms of reputation, the three of us are about even, wouldn't you say?" The beautiful woman covered her lips in a delicate laugh, clearly disagreeing. "Or perhaps he'll prefer Purple Star."
The old woman snorted coldly, her expression turning sour. "So the two of you are dead set on competing with this old woman for that kid?"
"It's not that we want to fight you for him, Senior Lei—you're simply being too autocratic." The middle-aged man shook his head slowly.
"Enough, all of you—stop squabbling!" Luo Hai frowned and cut short the argument between the three. "Whether that kid can even make it out alive is still an unknown. What are you three bickering for? Maybe he just got lucky this time and managed to escape that Domain Vortex. Maybe he won't be able to hold on until the end. If he really dies in there and you've been carrying on like this—won't everyone else be laughing at us?"
When Luo Hai spoke, the three still felt somewhat intimidated. They nodded in acknowledgment.
The old woman said, "Lord Luo Hai, then I'll trouble you to keep an eye on that kid's movements. If he really does die in there, please let us know so we're not still holding onto false hope."
"I'll do my best." Luo Hai gave a slight nod.
"Then thank you, Lord Luo Hai." The old woman hurriedly expressed her gratitude.
The stone pavilion returned to silence once more.
Inside the Blood Prison, Yang Kai picked up the spatial ring from the ground, his own Presence shrouding his surroundings. He strode forward.
The terrifying Domain Vortex posed no obstacle whatsoever. He swept through like a force of nature, unstoppable and overwhelming, and soon left the area covered by that Domain Vortex far behind him.
Several days of struggling against and meditating upon it had given Yang Kai's Presence a noticeable boost. His understanding and control over it had deepened by another level.
This was the kind of return that sitting in quiet meditation could never provide.
The Blood Prison really was a fine place for tempering oneself.
Standing still, Yang Kai extended his Divine Sense to sweep through Xu Dingyang's spatial ring, then quietly tucked it away.
There was nothing in Xu Dingyang's spatial ring that particularly caught his eye. Of course, by the standards of the Return Void Realm, Xu Dingyang's accumulated wealth was already quite staggering. But Yang Kai's standards were far higher, and he was hardly going to be moved by such wealth.
As for the dying request Xu Dingyang had made of him before his end, Yang Kai hadn't paid it much mind.
They had crossed paths by chance with no prior connection and no friendship. He had never agreed to the request, so naturally he wasn't going to make a special trip to some Crimson Overflow Star to pass along a message to the Green Feather Sect for the sake of a total stranger.
If fate willed it, perhaps they would meet again.
Raising his head to get his bearings, Yang Kai pressed onward.
The Blood Prison was unlike any place Yang Kai had tempered himself in before. Whether it was the Flowing Blaze Desert on the Dark Star or Emperor Yuan, the Emperor's private estate, those spaces had been vast in scope and filled with numerous restrictions. Even when many people entered, they rarely had the chance to encounter one another.
The Blood Prison was different.
Though the Blood Prison was also enormous in area, it had existed for tens of thousands of years and had earned such renown that it drew countless Return Void Realm Stage Three cultivators from across the entire Star Domain. As a result, Yang Kai found himself running into strangers with surprising frequency as he traveled.
Most people weren't the type to go looking for trouble. Upon sensing an unfamiliar aura, they would actively steer clear to avoid confrontation.
However, when they noticed that Yang Kai was only at Return Void Realm Stage Two, their expressions turned to shock, and soon after, disdain. They cast looks of pity and sympathy toward his position, as though he were about to die at any moment.
Yang Kai naturally paid them no mind.
He did encounter several life-and-death battles between cultivators.
The various great factions in the Star Domain were far from harmonious. Many had friction and grudges between them, and when they ran into each other inside the Blood Prison, fights broke out with little more than a exchanged word.
Yang Kai didn't involve himself. He was only searching for Domain Vores, hoping to glean greater benefits and further refine and deepen his understanding of Presence through them.
His prudence earned him peace. In the half month since entering the Blood Prison, Yang Kai hadn't had a single clash with anyone. He had encountered three Domain Vorexes of considerable power, braved the danger by plunging into them for tempering, and emerged safely each time, reaping bountiful rewards.