Before retreating into the Mysterious Boundary Bead,
Liu Yan's identity was rather special, making it inconvenient for her to move about freely, so he had asked her to stay temporarily at the Zhang Family estate outside the city. It was a measure born of necessity.
During those brief moments of clarity, Yang Kai had considered many things.
His own condition was undoubtedly dangerous. Setting aside the possibility that he might lose his sanity and become a demonic human, if he didn't hide inside the Mysterious Boundary Bead and instead wandered about recklessly, he would inevitably be tracked down by Chen Wenhao and the others again, who would stop at nothing to finish him off.
Moreover, in his bloodthirsty state, he harbored an instinctive desire to slaughter living beings. If he accidentally stumbled into Maple Forest City, the entire population would likely be massacred to the last soul.
The Minor Mysterious World was the only place he could go.
Inside the Mysterious Boundary Bead, Yang Kai's consciousness drifted in a murky haze, barely coherent. Had the Seven-Colored Warming Spirit Lotus within his Sea of Consciousness not been safeguarding the last remnant of his awareness, he would long since have been consumed by that overwhelming power, losing all sense of self.
At this moment, the seven-colored radiance of the Warming Spirit Lotus and the demonic will of the Ancient Great Demon were locked in a fierce, unending struggle — perfectly matched, leaving Yang Kai powerless to intervene.
If the crisis were confined to his Sea of Consciousness alone, it would have been manageable. With the formidable protective effects of the Warming Spirit Lotus, Yang Kai believed he wouldn't lose his mind entirely.
But the problem was that his physical body had accumulated an inconceivable amount of pure, ancient demonic energy. When the demonic will had entered his body, it had blanketed an area spanning tens of thousands of kilometers, drawing in all the demonic energy from every demonic creature within range.
The Warming Spirit Lotus was certainly powerful, but its effects targeted only the soul — it had absolutely no influence over the physical body.
If the problem within his body wasn't resolved, he would eventually succumb to the ancient demonic path.
Roars and howls continued without cease, oppressive and terrifying beyond measure. Affected by Yang Kai's emotional state, the spiritual energy within the Minor Mysterious World had been thrown into utter chaos.
Hua Qingsi, her face deathly pale, was cowering beneath the Dharma Body's legs, using those massive, tree-trunk-like limbs as a shelter from the storm. Her beautiful eyes stared in terror toward the source of the sounds.
Her third-stage Dao Source Realm cultivation — a formidable level of power — felt no more stable than a skiff tossed upon a raging sea in the face of the tidal waves of force Yang Kai was unleashing, liable to capsize at any moment.
The Dharma Body wore a grim expression as well. His gleaming eyes were filled with worry, but he could do nothing.
Gradually, the roars grew louder and louder. Yang Kai, it seemed, was driven by pure instinct, frantically destroying everything within the Minor Mysterious World.
Sand and stone whipped through the air. The earth cracked and split. Mountains rose and crumbled. Boulders tumbled down slopes.
Then, at some point, the unceasing roar suddenly ceased. The earth-shaking turmoil vanished in an instant.
Hua Qingsi sensed the silence for a long moment before asking with great effort, "What happened over there?"
The Dharma Body narrowed his eyes, his gaze seeming to pierce through the void itself, and said in a low voice, "It seems he's regained a sliver of consciousness."
"Tell me — if I went over there now and begged him to let me out... what do you think would happen?" Hua Qingsi could truly no longer bear this torment of constant fear and anxiety. A ridiculous notion had sprouted in the depths of her heart.
"You're welcome to try," the Dharma Body said, glancing at her with an unhurried look. Then he suddenly raised his head toward something far in the distance, letting out a small exclamation of surprise.
His eyes brightened immediately. "That's right — perhaps that thing might have a miraculous effect!"
"What thing?" Hua Qingsi cried out in alarm.
But the Dharma Body paid her no heed, leaving the beautiful woman to purse her lips in frustration.
On the other side, Yang Kai seized upon his brief moment of lucidity and rushed at full speed toward the Medicine Garden.
During his previous period of clarity, he had identified his most critical problem: the surging demonic energy within his physical body. Until that demonic energy was dealt with, he could never free himself from the grip of the Ancient Great Demon's will.
His thoughts had immediately turned to the Ageless Tree planted in the Medicine Garden.
The Ageless Tree — neither dying nor perishing, eternal as heaven and earth, enduring from ancient times to the present.
If he could find a way to merge it into his body, he would not only achieve the legendary Immortal and Indestructible Body, but the power of the Ageless Tree would likely be sufficient to contend with the demonic energy within him — enough to suppress it.
The Mysterious Boundary Bead had been refined by Yang Kai's own hand. Within the Minor Mysterious World, only his will held sway.
With a mere thought, he arrived at the Medicine Garden. He sat cross-legged directly before the Ageless Tree, silently circulating his cultivation technique, attempting to draw the tree's power into his body.
When he had first obtained the Ageless Tree years ago, he had attempted to refine it. But he had been completely unable to do so, and eventually gave up.
However, back then he had been only at the first-stage Void King Realm — perhaps his cultivation level simply hadn't been sufficient.
Now, he had reached the first-stage Dao Source Realm, a full major realm above where he'd been back then. It was certainly worth another attempt.
Yet he quickly discovered, with a sense of helpless frustration, that even at the first-stage Dao Source Realm, he was unable to draw upon even a trace of the Ageless Tree's power. The tree — not particularly tall — stood rooted in the Medicine Garden, radiating a heaven-defying life force that suffused the entire Minor Mysterious World with vitality, but it simply refused to yield anything to him.
Yang Kai's gaze dimmed, and a flicker of despair stirred in his heart.
Under normal circumstances, such an emotion would have been insignificant.
But now, entangled as he was by the ancient demonic will, the moment despair was born within him, the demonic influence magnified it a hundredfold. In an instant, the entire Minor Mysterious World was engulfed by an atmosphere of suffocating heaviness. Even Hua Qingsi, far away as she was, was enveloped by that wave of despair. Her lovely face darkened with sorrow, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
Infected by that emotion, she saw herself trapped forever in this strange, isolated space, growing old alone until the end of her days.
Until death, the only companion beside her would be a great stone.
She hurriedly raised a hand to wipe the corner of her eye, her fingertips coming away damp...
"Sigh!" The Dharma Body let out a heavy sigh.