The entire Heaven-reaching Island had only a handful of Emperors. Ling Yinqin had never imagined that someone she happened to run into on the road actually had the potential to break through to the Emperor Realm.
Once this person called Yang Kai broke through to the Emperor Realm, he would certainly secure a position on Heaven-reaching Island and might even be able to protect their entire ship in return. But... only those who had lived in the Silence Void Secret Realm for a long time truly understood that this place was nothing less than a cultivator's graveyard. For a warrior living here, simply not suffering a decline in Cultivation over time was already a blessing from the heavens. Even if one was fortunate enough to sense an opportunity for a breakthrough, those who actually succeeded were vanishingly few.
Ling Yinqin had seen far too many people attempt a breakthrough in this wretched place, fail, and lose everything—their Cultivation utterly destroyed, reduced to cripples.
So after her initial shock, the gaze Ling Yinqin directed at Yang Kai suddenly turned to one of sympathy. She could tell that Yang Kai was not particularly old. To have reached the third level of the Dao Source Realm at his age spoke well of his talent. Back in the outside world, he would have been one of those young prodigies, a rising star in some Sect—give him time, and it was entirely possible he could glimpse the mysteries of the Emperor Realm.
But in this place... the chances of failure were staggeringly high.
Yang Kai looked anxious, having no idea why Ling Yinqin was gazing at him with such sympathy. Seeing that she still hadn't answered, he pressed again: "Sister Ling, do you have any good advice?"
"You really want to break through?" Ling Yinqin asked, somewhat reluctantly. She suggested, "If you don't have much confidence, I would advise you to cripple your own Cultivation rather than attempt a breakthrough inside the Silence Void Secret Realm!"
Yang Kai froze, instinctively asking: "Why?"
Jiao Yi spoke up: "Brother Yang, the Silence Void Secret Realm isn't suited for breakthroughs. You should know that this world is saturated with an infinite amount of Dissolution Force. Those who dare to attempt a breakthrough here—nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand fail. Big Sister is doing this for your own good."
Now Yang Kai was truly alarmed. He had already suspected this was not an ideal place for a breakthrough, but he hadn't realized the situation was this severe. Right now, Zhang Ruoxi's aura was fluctuating wildly and could not be suppressed at all. If, as Ling Yinqin suggested, he crippled his own Cultivation, then Zhang Ruoxi would never advance to the Dao Source Realm in her entire life. She would be stuck at the Void King Realm permanently.
Because doing so would sever the Martial Dao path entirely—no pill or elixir in existence could restore it.
The other crew members all wore sympathetic expressions as they looked at Yang Kai, as though he had suffered some tremendous misfortune. The fact that he had burst through Ling Yinqin's door no longer seemed to matter much to them. Arguing over such petty grievances with a man whose martial path was about to be cut short—that would just be cruel.
Yang Kai hesitated only briefly before his expression turned resolute. "Please, Sister Ling, guide me."
Seeing how firmly he insisted, Ling Yinqin knew that trying to dissuade him further was pointless. She could only say: "I happen to have an Advanced Spirit Purification Formation. It may be able to help you."
The Spirit Purification Formations were divided into four tiers: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and Supreme.
During his casual conversations with Jiao Yi over the past few days, Yang Kai had learned that the Spirit Purification Formations installed in the ship's rooms were all Basic-tier, because the higher the tier, the more expensive it became. Each tier up cost roughly ten times as much. Ling Yinqin and her crew were fighters struggling at the very bottom of the Silence Void Secret Realm—they simply couldn't afford to have anyone set up a more powerful Spirit Purification Formation.
He hadn't expected her to actually possess an Advanced one.
The higher the tier of the Spirit Purification Formation, the better its effect on a cultivator. A Spirit Purification Formation worked like a net—while filtering out the Dissolution Force that permeated the world, it simultaneously impeded the inflow of spiritual energy. So no matter how rich the spiritual energy of a given region might be, wherever a Spirit Purification Formation had been erected, the ambient spiritual energy remained relatively thin. The higher the formation's tier, the less it restricted spiritual energy from flowing in, the denser the energy became, and the more effective a warrior's Cultivation would be within it.
Yang Kai was elated. "Many thanks, Sister Ling."
Hearing that Ling Yinqin was going to bring out the Advanced Spirit Purification Formation she had on hand, the crew members couldn't help but change expressions. Jiao Yi even exclaimed in a low voice: "Big Sister, that Spirit Purification Formation..."
Ling Yinqin cut him off, retrieving a set of formation flags and base from her Spatial Ring and handing them to Yang Kai. "If it truly seems impossible, do not force it."
She pressed a jade slip into Yang Kai's hand as well, adding: "This contains the instructions for setting up the formation. It's quite simple—read it carefully and you'll understand."
"I'll keep that in mind," Yang Kai said with a solemn nod. He had no idea what the provenance of this Advanced Spirit Purification Formation was, but from the looks on the crew members' faces, he knew this item was extremely precious to Ling Yinqin. Otherwise, she wouldn't have kept it stowed away unused.
As far as Yang Kai knew, Ling Yinqin's own quarters were equipped with nothing more than a Basic-tier Spirit Purification Formation.
He didn't know what story lay behind this Advanced Spirit Purification Formation, but he quietly resolved that once everything here was sorted out, he would make sure to compensate Ling Yinqin generously.
"I need to trouble you once more, Sister Ling—are there any islands nearby?" Yang Kai asked.
Ling Yinqin raised her head and called out to a bearded warrior: "Bring me the sea chart."
The warrior immediately pulled out a sheet of beast-hide parchment from his Spatial Ring and unfurled it with a snap in front of Ling Yinqin. Yang Kai leaned in to look but couldn't really make sense of it.
Ling Yinqin's gaze swept over the sea chart for a moment before she pointed to a specific location, her voice grave: "To the southeast, five hundred li out, there's a small island."