On the barren mountain, a piercing howl echoed across the wilderness.
Everyone who heard the sound could sense a deep joy and excitement emanating from it.
The middle-aged man from the Qin Family stood rooted in place, his face blank with shock. It took him a long while before he managed to speak, his voice strained with disbelief: "He actually succeeded?"
He could scarcely believe his own eyes.
After all, the commotion caused by the advancement ahead was far, far too great — something no Void King Third Stage cultivator should have been able to endure. And yet, that person had truly succeeded, breaking through to the Dao Source Realm.
The shock hitting the middle-aged man was even more intense than if he himself had suddenly broken through to the Dao Source Realm.
Beside him, Qin Yu was equally stunned beyond measure. Although she had harbored a vague feeling beforehand that the person breaking through would not fail easily, when the advancement actually went so smoothly, she still found it somewhat hard to accept. Her beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, as though trying to pierce through the barrier of space itself to catch a clear glimpse of the person advancing in the distance.
Far away, Yang Kai quickly suppressed the joy following his breakthrough and continued to receive the baptism of surging heaven-and-earth energy.
A cultivator's baptism upon breaking through a major realm was exceedingly rare. It not only cleansed the body and divine soul, elevating them to a higher level, but also contained the essence of the Heavenly Dao and the Martial Dao within the energy. If a cultivator could gain even a partial insight from it, the benefits would last a lifetime.
Moreover, this time Yang Kai had broken through to the Dao Source Realm, which meant he could also catch a glimpse of the power of Laws within the baptism.
What Yang Kai sought to comprehend was, naturally, the Space Law.
He had already gained some grasp of it; what he needed now was to deepen his understanding of this particular Law's power.
The howl subsided, but the heaven-and-earth energy continued to pour downward in a frenzy. Yang Kai remained seated in place, his expression as calm as an undisturbed well.
Unfathomable celestial power surged into his body, simultaneously stabilizing his foundation in the Dao Source Realm while tempering his physical form and the Source Power within him. Drawing upon the faint, wondrous threads of insight carried by the energy, Yang Kai soon sank into a state of comprehension regarding the Space Law.
Time passed slowly...
The black funnel in the sky finally dissipated after half a day, and the oppressive, gloomy sky returned to its former clarity.
But even so, the numerous cultivators watching from a distance still could not make out Yang Kai's features. Within a radius of several thousand zhang centered on Yang Kai's location, space was wildly twisted and warped, as though disrupted by some extraordinary force.
Those cultivators assumed it was merely an aftereffect of the massive commotion from the breakthrough, and they all clicked their tongues in astonishment.
However, once they realized there was nothing more to watch and no spoils to be had, they gradually dispersed.
The Qin Family's group, on the other hand, remained behind, continuing to observe from afar.
Another ten days or so slipped by in a flash. Yang Kai, who had been seated cross-legged in the same spot the entire time, suddenly opened his eyes. Lightning-like radiance interwove within his gaze, suggesting a greatly rewarding insight had been gained.
Then, his eyes returned to their normal clarity, and he waved a hand casually.
The wildly distorted space spanning several thousand zhang in every direction abruptly calmed under that single wave, without the slightest anomaly remaining.
Seeing this, Yang Kai broke into a grin.
At the same time, Qin Yu — who had been watching from the distance all along — suddenly stiffened. Her beautiful eyes blinked once, and in that instant, they transformed into a deep purple. A violet hue flowed ceaselessly through her pupils, as though she had activated some secret technique.
Those purple eyes lent an alluring, almost bewitching quality to the delicate young woman.
She focused her gaze toward the distance, and two faint beams of purple light shot from her eyes, piercing through the void.
Far away, Yang Kai seemed to sense something. He turned his head to look in Qin Yu's direction, and the World-Cleansing Demon Eye manifested over his left eye — its golden vertical pupil radiating boundless majesty.
Their gazes collided in midair, and Yang Kai let out a soft "Hm?" before immediately dispelling the World-Cleansing Demon Eye. His gaze returned to one of gentle calm.
Meanwhile, Qin Yu let out a startled cry and stumbled backward several steps involuntarily, her face draining of color.
"Young Miss!" The middle-aged man from the Qin Family panicked. He flickered to her side in an instant and extended a hand to steady her, asking with concern, "Young Miss, are you alright?"
He hadn't noticed Qin Yu's earlier secret action and assumed she was suffering a relapse of an old ailment.
Fine beads of cold sweat had broken out across Qin Yu's forehead. The purple faded from her eyes, and she shook her head. "I'm fine."
She stared once more in the direction where Yang Kai had been, only to find, to her surprise, that the spot was completely empty.
Yang Kai had vanished at some unknown point.
"So it was him?" Qin Yu murmured to herself, clearly having glimpsed Yang Kai's face after activating her secret technique.
It all came rushing back — she had encountered this man before on the first level of the Five Elements Treasure Tower. More than that, she had even told him how to find the entrance to the second level.
"Who?" the middle-aged man asked, confused.
Qin Yu pressed her lips into a small smile and shook her head. "It's nothing."
After a brief pause, she added, "Let's head back."
The middle-aged man furrowed his brow, vaguely sensing that his young miss was behaving oddly, but he didn't dare press further. All he could do was join the others in escorting Qin Yu in the direction of Maple Forest City.
A hundred li from the site of his breakthrough, Yang Kai's figure flickered, and he materialized out of thin air as if stepping through a hidden door.
He stood in place and waited quietly for a moment. The Monster Insect Mother and the Azure Flame Lightning Jackal — his two Blood Beasts — came racing up from behind. Yang Kai glanced at them, collected them both, then fixed on a direction. His body did not move, yet he vanished from the spot without a trace.
All that remained was the faintest ripple of spatial power.