Ten days passed in the blink of an eye. Yang Kai stirred from his meditation, silently assessing his body's condition, and shook his head with a faint frown of dissatisfaction.
Too slow. The rate at which the power within his body was transforming left him somewhat disappointed.
Among martial artists of the Void King Realm, the more abundant and purer one's Source Power, the greater the force one could unleash.
Yet right now, barely a little over one-fifth of the Sacred Energy inside him had been converted to Source Power. At this pace, it would take at least one or two years to complete the full transformation.
When he opened his eyes, the three prisoners in the cell all put on ingratiating smiles, though none dared speak a word.
Yang Kai's fierce and formidable image had been burned deep into their bones. In a place like this, taking their lives would be trivially easy for him. With their fates entirely out of their own hands, how could they dare not curry his favor?
Even Liu Xianyun had endured days' worth of flattery from those three.
Though Yang Kai looked down on these bullying cowards, he had nonetheless managed to wring some useful intelligence out of them during casual conversations.
About the Jade Bird Sect. About the Star Boundary. All manner of information, no detail too small.
Just as Yang Kai had suspected, the Jade Bird Sect was far from a righteous organization, though neither was it a truly evil one. It was more that the sect's Disciples operated with reckless impunity. Nearby stood the Sun Crushing Hall, which frequently clashed with the Jade Bird Sect. Grudges ran deep between them, and their strength was roughly matched.
Setting aside the Jade Bird Sect, the Star Boundary as a whole was divided into four great domains — East, South, West, and North. Each domain spanned an impossibly vast territory. Even a Dao Source Realm powerhouse might exhaust their entire lifetime's energy and still fail to traverse a single domain, a testament to the Star Boundary's staggering expanse.
Below each domain lay countless provinces and prefectures, and the Jade Bird Sect was one of many sects situated in Qi Prefecture of the Southern Domain.
Qi Prefecture covered an area of eighty million li and was essentially insignificant within the Southern Domain — whether measured by the number of experts, overall strength, or sheer territory.
And in a place like Qi Prefecture, entities on the level of the Jade Bird Sect were countless.
The intelligence he had gathered gave Yang Kai a profound sense of the Star Boundary's grandeur. This was unquestionably a far more vast world than the Star Domain. The snippets of information those three had let slip were like an epic scroll slowly unfurling before his eyes, filling him with longing for a broader sky.
Still, those three were nobody important — just first-level Void King Realm martial artists. None of them had even left Qi Prefecture, so they could hardly paint a clear picture of the wider political landscape.
Nevertheless, this information was more than enough for Yang Kai to digest for a good while.
At this moment, he was frowning as he examined the transformation of power within his body.
Suddenly, Yang Kai's head snapped up, his brow furrowing.
"Heh heh heh… The boy truly is something out of the ordinary, to actually detect my divine sense!" A voice materialized beside Yang Kai's ear, drifting and ethereal, impossible to pin down.
Yang Kai betrayed no reaction, his gaze sweeping left and right. He spotted nothing suspicious among the prisoners in the nearby cells.
"No need to look. I'm locked in the innermost layer — you won't be able to see me," the voice spoke again.
Having been confined here for over ten days, Yang Kai already knew that the more powerful a martial artist, the deeper they were imprisoned. The owner of this sudden voice claimed to be held in the innermost layer, which meant his strength was definitely no small matter. Likely a Dao Source Realm existence — otherwise, he could never have bypassed everyone else's awareness to transmit his voice directly to Yang Kai via divine sense.
Yang Kai deliberated briefly before asking, "Senior, who are you? Is there something you need from me?"
"Of course there is, and it's something beneficial for you." The voice chuckled, the sound somewhat unsettling. "Ever since you came in and beat Zong Qi to death, I've been watching you. If I'm not mistaken, you've cultivated some extremely profound body-tempering art, haven't you?"
"And if I have?" Yang Kai said with a slight frown, making no effort to deny it. Since the other party had been observing him all along, the condition of his physical body was impossible to conceal.
"If that's the case, I'd like to ask you a favor."
"Senior, please speak plainly."
"Get me out of here!" the voice declared.
Yang Kai couldn't help but scoff. "Senior, you must be joking. I'm nothing more than a prisoner myself right now. How could I possibly have the means to free you?"
"If I say so, then naturally I have a way." The man snorted coldly. "I can transmit a secret technique to you — one that will break the restrictions inside your body and restore your power. With your abilities, once your strength is recovered, there won't be a single soul in this Bone Prison who can stop you. Getting me out after that will be child's play."
At these words, Yang Kai's eyes lit up.
The man continued, "Surely you don't want your fate to remain in someone else's hands? My secret technique can absolutely break the restrictions in your body!"
The voice was low and deep, carrying a power that was almost impossible to resist. Yang Kai very nearly agreed on the spot — but the next instant, a jolt of alarm shot through him. Realizing something was wrong, he knew the other party must have employed some technique to influence his thoughts. He gave a cold snort and said, "Senior, using such tricks against me — don't you think that's a bit underhanded?"
The voice burst into hearty laughter. "Impressive, boy! I suppose that was my failing. Allow me to apologize — how about that?"
He actually owned up to his mistake without any hesitation, leaving Yang Kai momentarily speechless.
After a silence, Yang Kai finally said, "If you possess a secret technique that can restore power, why not use it on yourself? Why do you need to rely on me instead?"