"So it really is you!" Yin Lesheng's expression shifted instantly, his face the very picture of a sworn enemy meeting his foe, eyes blazing with hatred. He ground his teeth. "You're one tough bastard—somehow surviving that catastrophe back then, and now you've even made your way to the Shattered Star Sea."
Yang Kai regarded him with cold eyes and said in a deep voice, "Yin Lesheng, I'm only going to ask you one question, and you'd better answer honestly. What happened to the puppet that was with me back then?"
Yin Lesheng heard this and smiled faintly. "Who knows? It was your puppet—why ask me?"
He definitely knew Xiao Xiao's whereabouts. Yang Kai's heart stirred. Though Yin Lesheng hadn't directly answered his question, from his tone and demeanor Yang Kai could read the truth clearly.
Yang Kai's mind immediately burned with intensity, his gaze boring into Yin Lesheng like twin flames. "It seems you have no intention of telling me."
Yin Lesheng grinned. "Since you already know, why bother asking and embarrassing yourself?"
"Very well." Yang Kai nodded, and in that instant his aura became lethally dangerous, like a leopard poised to spring at its prey, sending chills down the spine. "If you won't talk, then this young master will beat it out of you!"
Yin Lesheng's face darkened. "Do you really think you're invincible?"
"Invincible? I wouldn't go that far. But crushing you won't be much of a problem."
Yin Lesheng laughed from pure fury. "On what basis? On your Star Lord physique?"
"What? Brother Yin, what did you just say?"
"This kid is a Star Lord?"
"Aren't Star Lord physiques only possessed by warriors who come from lower-realm star fields? Could this kid be one of them?"
"Hiss—I've heard that a Star Lord physique carries a complete Star Origin within it, granting extraordinary advantages in cultivation. I wonder if that rumor is true."
The moment everyone heard that Yang Kai possessed a Star Lord physique, the surrounding warriors erupted into an uproar, each one gazing at him with feverish eyes, as though staring at a priceless treasure.
Everyone had come to this Shattered Star Sea, enduring untold hardships to seek out fragments of the power of origin. But no matter how hard they searched, all they ever found were fractured remnants. Absorbing and refining them did provide some benefit to cultivation, but they were only broken fragments—how could they compare to a complete Star Origin? A complete Star Origin allowed for far more comprehensive comprehension of the Laws of Heaven and Earth, something fractured origin power could never hope to match.
It was said that long ago, the Shattered Star Sea had contained some complete Star Origins as well. But as time passed and the sea was opened year after year, those complete Star Origins had long since been claimed by predecessors and ancestors. All that remained were the fractured remnants of origin power.
Perhaps in a few more decades, even the fractured origin power in the Shattered Star Sea would cease to exist. When that day came, the sea would lose its current purpose and its appeal to warriors.
That was precisely why everyone had reacted so explosively upon hearing that Yang Kai was a Star Lord.
Yin Lesheng laughed aloud. "This kid is indeed a Star Lord—that much I can vouch for on my personal honor."
Everyone who heard this looked at him with peculiar expressions.
Lan He gave a cold snort. "How laughable—the Huangquan Sect still claiming to have personal honor."
Yang Kai had saved her life moments ago, and now that she saw him being targeted, she naturally stepped forward to speak on his behalf, clearly prepared to stand or fall alongside him.
Yin Lesheng's expression darkened as he swept his gaze across the crowd. "If you don't believe me, you're welcome to ask him yourselves. What was his cultivation seven years ago?"
A burly man immediately turned to Yang Kai and bellowed, "Kid, you heard him—answer up!"
Though Yang Kai's earlier move of killing an equal-rank warrior in a single strike had made everyone wary, he was still just one man. With so many eyes on him now, they figured that no matter how formidable he was, he couldn't stir up much trouble.
Yang Kai glanced sideways at the big man and gave a cold snort. "None of your damn business."
His dismissive air, as though the big man weren't even worth noticing, left the fellow's face dark with fury.
Yin Lesheng smiled. "Seven years ago, he was only at Void King Stage Two. Brother Yang—I recall correctly, don't I?"
"Void King Stage Two?!"
"That... that's impossible!"
"From Void King Stage Two to Dao Source Stage Three in seven years? How could anyone possibly accomplish that?"
"Brother Yin, you're not deceiving us, are you?"
In seven years, a single person had gone from Void King Stage Two to Dao Source Stage Three. That kind of progress was simply terrifying. Most of the warriors present, when comparing their cultivation from seven years ago to now, had advanced by at most a single minor level—if they had progressed at all.
Yin Lesheng said, "What would I gain by lying to you? He may well have had other opportunities along the way, but the Star Lord physique was his greatest advantage!"
"I've long heard that warriors from the lower-realm star fields are all heaven-blessed prodigies, especially Star Lords—their cultivation speed is like flight. If what Brother Yin says is true, then today has truly been an eye-opener."