"What's going on? What's going on? Is this damned place about to be destroyed?" Lu Guichen staggered toward the place where Yang Kai was breaking through.
He had only been healing his wounds for a short while, but when he opened his eyes, he suddenly realized that the entire atmosphere of the Floating Continent had undergone a violent transformation. Thunder rolled across the sky, black clouds blotted out the sun, and the spiritual energy on the ground churned and surged in wild unrest.
He was completely bewildered, having no idea what was happening. He could only follow the source of the commotion, hoping to investigate firsthand.
As he raced forward, he watched the mass of black clouds in the sky grow larger and larger. Within those clouds, flashes of pitch-black lightning darted to and fro, like grotesque, fearsome flood dragons lurking within, occasionally thrusting their heads out.
The sight was enough to make his blood run cold.
After sprinting over a hundred li, Lu Guichen's vision blurred, and a strange demon beast wreathed in blood-red light suddenly appeared before him.
Lu Guichen startled and immediately halted, for he could see the beast's crimson eyes radiating a menacing glow—as though warning him not to come any closer.
He was certain that if he took another step forward, this blood beast would unleash a devastating attack without hesitation.
The blood beast was something Yang Kai had created—that much he knew. After a moment's thought, Lu Guichen pieced it together: the current state of the Floating Continent had to be connected to Yang Kai.
Was this the commotion from refining that Star Origin? Lu Guichen speculated wildly, but he couldn't pin down the answer.
After thinking it over, he took to the air and rose to a high vantage point, peering into the distance.
Yang Kai's figure immediately came into view. Though it was over thirty li away, Lu Guichen was at Return Void Stage Two by now, and his eyesight was far from ordinary—he could make out every detail clearly at that distance.
"Is this… is this a breakthrough?" Lu Guichen gasped in shock, his entire body trembling.
Yang Kai was at Return Void Stage Three. If he broke through… wouldn't that mean he was advancing to the Void King Realm?!
The words "Void King Realm" echoed through Lu Guichen's mind like the deep tolling of a great bell, nearly sending him plummeting from the sky.
The Void King Realm! That was the absolute pinnacle of power in the entire Star Domain. Lu Guichen could hardly believe he would ever live to witness a martial artist breaking through to the Void King Realm. He bit down hard on his tongue, felt the sharp pain, and confirmed that he was neither dreaming nor hallucinating.
Decades ago, Void King Realm powerhouses had seemed impossibly lofty and out of reach. The mere casual glance of such an expert would have been enough to shatter his soul.
Even decades later, Lu Guichen understood just how terrifying the Void King Realm was.
Because the stronger one's own cultivation grew, the more clearly one could grasp what kind of heights the Void King Realm represented.
This kid—young as he was—was about to break through to the Void King Realm? When Lu Guichen had first met him, the boy had only been at the Saint Realm, and Lu Guichen had subdued him with a casual wave of his hand…
The past was like smoke, yet every detail remained vivid.
If Yang Kai succeeded in breaking through this time, he would absolutely be the youngest Void King Realm powerhouse the entire Star Domain had ever seen. Not to say no one would ever follow, but he would certainly have no predecessor. Such an achievement was truly earth-shattering!
Lu Guichen bit his tongue again, forced down the whirlwind of thoughts in his head, and descended to the ground. He sat cross-legged.
He knew this spectacle was a tremendous opportunity for him.
To observe a Void King Realm advancement from such close range was not something that came along every day. If he could glean even a fragment of insight from this baptism of heaven and earth, his future cultivation would proceed far more smoothly.
So Lu Guichen made up his mind on the spot: he would watch every moment.
The might of the black clouds overhead intensified. When the oppressive atmosphere had built to a fever pitch, a sudden crack split the sky, and a streak of pitch-black light flashed to life. That dark radiance, like a startled dragon bursting from the clouds, plummeted from above and struck a point on the ground below.
A muffled grunt came from Yang Kai's direction, and the entire earth shuddered.
"This is…" Lu Guichen's face drained of color. "That terrifying?"
The Heavenly Baptism. Every time a martial artist advanced to a new major realm, they would face one—it was the law of heaven and earth testing the cultivator. Succeed, and one's power would soar. Fail, and one's realm would regress… or one would perish, body and soul.
As a Return Void Realm powerhouse, Lu Guichen had experienced the Heavenly Baptism more than once or twice.
It had only been twenty or thirty years since he himself had advanced to the Return Void Realm in this very place.
But the intensity of the Heavenly Baptism back then didn't even amount to a fraction of the black lightning he was witnessing now.
And this was only the first bolt. What followed would only grow stronger and more terrifying!
"If it were me… could I survive?" Lu Guichen couldn't help letting his imagination run wild. He placed himself in Yang Kai's position, picturing himself facing that same horrifying tribulation at Return Void Stage Three.
The result was…
He couldn't survive. Absolutely couldn't survive. Even if he got lucky and clung to life after the first strike, the second and third would be more than enough to end him!
As these thoughts surged through his mind, Lu Guichen's aura abruptly grew erratic and unstable. The martial dao heart he had held firm for so long began to waver.
Crack…