"The spiritual energy here used to be even thinner." Yang Kai smiled faintly, carefully probing his surroundings with his senses, and his brows furrowed slightly.
"What's wrong?" the Ghost Ancestor asked, noticing the shift in his expression.
"That can't be right." A trace of suspicion crossed Yang Kai's face. "The spiritual energy on this continent shouldn't still be this thin after all this time. It's been long enough — it should have become far denser by now."
The Tongxuan Continent had once been lacking in spiritual energy for two reasons. First, the Great Demon God's seal had isolated this Cultivation Star from the rest of the star domain, preventing outside spiritual energy from flowing in. Second, the Star Source of this Cultivation Star had been withering.
But once Senior Sister Xia had refined the Star Source and become the Star Lord of the Tongxuan Continent, that should have changed things.
The stronger Senior Sister's power grew, the greater the feedback the Tongxuan Continent would receive.
After all this time, no matter how things stood, the Tongxuan Continent shouldn't still have only this pitiful amount of spiritual energy.
"This isn't some famous spiritual mountain or great river — it probably never had much spiritual energy to begin with." The Ghost Ancestor glanced at the surrounding terrain and offered casually.
Yang Kai gave a slight nod, conceding the point.
"Let's go. I'll pay a visit to my old Sect." Yang Kai called out, orienting himself, and led the Ghost Ancestor in the direction of the Nine Heavens Holy Land.
He had decided to set up the super space array within the Nine Heavens Holy Land. The place had nine peaks converging to form a natural grand formation — one of the rare spots on the entire Tongxuan Continent where spiritual energy was comparatively abundant. With his current abilities, merely setting up a barrier formation nearby would be more than enough to conceal the space array's existence. He doubted that the martial artists of the Tongxuan Continent could break through it even given ten thousand years.
Three to five days passed in the blink of an eye.
Both Yang Kai and the Ghost Ancestor, flying through the air, wore furrowed brows and kept glancing downward.
"Elder, have you noticed anything off?" Yang Kai asked in a low voice.
"The spiritual energy of your homeland is leaking badly. It's like a punctured balloon — leaking everywhere."
"So you feel it too." Yang Kai's expression darkened.
He had initially sensed that the Tongxuan Continent's spiritual energy was thin and found it strange, but the spot where they had landed wasn't exactly known for its rich spiritual veins, so he hadn't paid it much mind. However, after three to five days of flight, not a single place they passed over showed any sign of abundant spiritual energy. Whether it was towering mountains or rushing rivers, everything looked lifeless and drained.
This discovery settled heavily upon his heart.
There could only be two possible explanations. Either something had gone wrong with the Tongxuan Continent itself, or something had happened to the Star Lord, Xia Ningshang.
Either way, the implications for Senior Sister were dire.
Yang Kai suddenly regretted coming here. He was now desperate to return to the Dark Star and check on Senior Sister.
But then he reconsidered — Senior Sister was staying safely within the Lingxiao Sect, so nothing should have happened to her. In that case, it must be something affecting the continent itself.
But what could possibly make an entire continent look this lifeless, causing the already meager spiritual energy to grow thinner and thinner?
"Hm? What are those fellows down there up to?" The Ghost Ancestor suddenly noticed something and pointed below.
Yang Kai immediately halted in midair and gazed down from a height of ten thousand zhang.
Below, a massive valley stretched out. Within it, a brilliant hexagram-shaped formation was actively running. Surrounding the formation stood countless martial artists packed together, every single one forming hand seals and laboriously maintaining the formation's operation. From time to time, someone would collapse from exhaustion, but another would immediately step in to take their place.
Around the formation, a number of black-clad martial artists stood watching coldly. Occasionally they barked harsh commands or even struck someone.
Each of these black-clad figures radiated powerful auras, yet none of them participated in maintaining the formation. They seemed to be supervising.
"Return Void Realm?" Yang Kai's brow shot up in astonishment. "How is that possible? How could Return Void Realm experts exist here?"
Throughout its entire history, the strongest martial artist the Tongxuan Continent had ever produced was the Great Demon God, and even he had only touched upon the mysteries of the Saint King Realm. After him, the pinnacle of power on the Tongxuan Continent had been the Saint Realm!
Senior Sister had only reached the Return Void Realm by chance after refining the Star Source.
Yet now, as he flew over this valley, Yang Kai had actually sensed the auras of two Return Void Realm martial artists.
They were only at the first level, but they were unmistakably Return Void Realm.
"Your homeland didn't have Return Void Realm cultivators before?" the Ghost Ancestor asked.
"The strongest before were only at the third level of the Saint Realm!"
"Then they must be outsiders!" The Ghost Ancestor pointed downward. "And look at that formation — it seems to be devouring the surrounding spiritual energy as it operates. They appear to be using it to refine something!"
"Outsiders…" A vicious gleam flashed through Yang Kai's eyes. "They're courting death!"