A hundred miles outside the Blood Prison, within the stone pavilion atop the towering peak, Luo Hai sat with both eyes closed, seemingly sensing something in silence.
The other Void King realm powerhouses were all watching his movements.
They had no way of knowing what was happening inside the Blood Prison. Only Luo Hai, as the Star Lord, could catch glimpses of it, and so naturally, he had become the center of attention for everyone present.
After a good while, Luo Hai finally opened his eyes, a faint smile appearing on his face.
"Lord Luo Hai, have you discovered something? Why the happy expression?" the elderly woman from the Sword Alliance quickly asked.
"A wonderful event! A truly wonderful event!" Luo Hai nodded gently.
"Wonderful event?" The beautiful woman from Purple Star raised her delicately arched brows, regarded Luo Hai thoughtfully for a moment, then showed a look of realization. "Brother Luo Hai, you mean to say..."
"Heh heh, that's right. There's only one kind of wonderful event inside the Blood Prison, and it's exactly what you're thinking." Luo Hai nodded once more, then spoke in a deep voice. "The Domain Stone Mountain has appeared!"
"The Domain Stone Mountain has appeared?" Everyone's expression changed at once.
"Yes."
"This really is an extraordinary piece of good fortune!" The old woman's face crinkled into a smile so wide her wrinkles folded over each other. "The young ones who entered the Blood Prison this time are truly blessed to have encountered something like this. It seems they're luckier than most."
"Why should Senior Sister Lei envy others? When you entered the Blood Prison two thousand years ago, didn't you encounter this same event?" The beautiful woman pressed her lips together and smiled.
"Heh heh, yes. In the blink of an eye, two thousand years have passed." A nostalgic look surfaced on the old woman's face. "If I hadn't encountered the Domain Stone Mountain back then, this old woman might never have glimpsed the mysteries of Domain and advanced to the Void King realm. You could say the Domain Stone Mountain was the very foundation upon which I achieved my current level!"
"Senior Sister Lei encountered the Domain Stone Mountain?" Many people wore looks of surprise. Someone exclaimed, "How come I never had such luck? When I entered the Blood Prison, the Domain Stone Mountain was wrapped in an incredibly powerful domain field — there was no way to get a look at it at all."
"That's simply fortune," Luo Hai chuckled. "The Domain Stone Mountain is a treasure of the Blood Prison. It is extraordinarily sturdy — even Void King realm experts may not be able to damage it in the slightest. It is vast beyond measure, and no one can carry it away. It is the ideal place for Return Void realm cultivators to comprehend the mysteries of Domain, but unfortunately it is shrouded in all manner of fierce domain fields year-round, and only during very brief periods do those fields weaken enough to reveal the true face of the Domain Stone Mountain. The Blood Prison opens only once every millennium, and even when it does, the Domain Stone Mountain doesn't necessarily appear — so it's perfectly normal that none of you encountered it. There's no need to envy Senior Sister Lei's luck. Aren't you all Void King realm now yourselves?"
"Be that as it may, if I had encountered the Domain Stone Mountain back then, I wouldn't have had to painstakingly cultivate for three hundred years before breaking through to my current realm." The one who had spoken earlier looked thoroughly vexed, his face twisted with resentment as he lamented his inferior luck compared to the old woman surnamed Lei.
The old woman laughed. "Why bother sighing here? This old woman was simply lucky enough to stumble upon the Domain Stone Mountain, but since advancing to the Void King realm, I've made no further progress. I'm afraid I'll remain at this level for the rest of my life."
"Senior Sister Lei shouldn't be so hard on herself. In matters of Cultivation, who can say with certainty? Perhaps one day, when inspiration strikes, you'll break through to the second stage of the Void King realm," the beautiful woman offered comfortingly.
Though the great factions across the Star Domain had more than their share of friction, as Void King realm powerhouses they all had at least some rapport with one another, and a casual word of consolation cost nothing.
"I suppose we can hope." The old woman managed a strained smile, then suddenly furrowed her brow, a worried look crossing her face. "However, while the appearance of the Domain Stone Mountain is certainly good news, it's going to make the trial far more dangerous for those young ones. When this old woman was competing for a favorable spot back then, I had to fight someone to the death and nearly perished. This time, I'm afraid quite a few of them won't survive."
"Whether it's fortune or calamity depends on their own karma. There's no use worrying about it from out here." The elderly man from the Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce slowly shook his head.
"That's true. By the way, Lord Luo Hai — that Return Void Second Stage brat, what's his current situation? Is he dead or alive?" The old woman suddenly recalled Yang Kai and inquired.
Everyone turned their attention toward Luo Hai with interest, as if they were all quite curious about Yang Kai.
Luo Hai smiled faintly and spoke. "Still alive. I can sense his life force."
"He's still alive!" The old woman was delighted. "Wonderful. I was genuinely afraid his luck had run out and he'd been killed by that powerful entity. It seems his fortune is even better than mine. I'm truly looking forward to the day he walks out of the Blood Prison — I want to see whether this brat really does have three heads and six arms."
"Three heads and six arms he most certainly doesn't have, but he does have plenty of nerve. He—" Luo Hai was speaking when he suddenly fell silent, furrowing his brow as he focused his senses. Moments later, a look of astonishment crossed his face.
"Lord Luo Hai, has he run into some kind of trouble?" The beautiful woman from Purple Star asked tensely.
No one wanted to see Yang Kai encounter difficulties, or worse, perish inside. They all considered him a rising talent from their respective factions and were prepared to offer him extremely generous terms to lure him into their ranks once he emerged from the Blood Prison.
"He hasn't run into trouble exactly, but it looks to me like he's looking for trouble on his own!" Luo Hai's tone was strange.
"What do you mean?" the old woman pressed anxiously.
"He's heading toward the Domain Stone Mountain!" Luo Hai's expression was utterly peculiar.
"What?!" Everyone was horrified.
"Why would he head toward the Domain Stone Mountain?" The old woman looked as though she wanted to shake some sense into him. "The boy is practically courting death! How is that any place for him? If he gets caught up in some conflict—"
"Sigh, this young man is truly impossible to worry about in peace." The beautiful woman from Purple Star sighed softly, her expression one of pure helplessness.
Yang Kai was inside the Blood Prison, and there was nothing they could do to intervene. All they could do was watch as he walked into danger.