The man seemed to be offering Yang Kai a helpful tip out of consideration for that single high-grade source crystal.
But Yang Kai's mind went blank.
A year ago, he had brought the three great Monster Kings to wipe out the entire Questioning Heart Sect, yet he never imagined that around the same time, Thousand Leaves Sect had also been destroyed.
Back then, he had received an invitation from Ye Jinghan, the daughter of the Thousand Leaves Sect Master, in Maple Forest City. He had traveled to Thousand Leaves Sect to repair the spatial formation and reopen that sealed small world so they could retrieve their ancestral legacy. Through a twist of fate, he had reunited with the long-lost Crimson Moon Ghost Ancestor, Ai Ou, and the others.
Thousand Leaves Sect meant little to him — they had merely had some dealings — but Crimson Moon and the others had remained there after the fact.
Now that Thousand Leaves Sect had been annihilated, what had become of them?
Those people had deep bonds with him. They had come together from the Heng Luo Star Field to the Star Realm. Crimson Moon was Shan Qingluo's adoptive mother — essentially his mother-in-law. Ai Ou was Xue Yue's father, his father-in-law. The Ghost Ancestor was the Supreme Elder of his own Lingxiao Sect, a comrade with whom he had shared life and death. Only the Sword Alliance Master, Gu Cangyun, was someone he wasn't particularly close with…
Hearing this sudden, terrible news, Yang Kai's face twisted, and a bone-chilling killing intent erupted from his body in an instant. He glared at the man and said, "You're lying to me?"
The man hadn't thought much of Yang Kai before, but the moment he sensed Yang Kai's aura, his face drained of color and he cried out in alarm, "Emperor Realm!"
He never expected that this young man who had casually stopped him for directions was a genuine Emperor Realm cultivator. Had he known, he never would have spoken so carelessly.
The frigid killing intent coiled around him like a physical force, giving him the sensation that he might die at any moment. Drenched in cold sweat, he stammered, "L-Lord, this humble one isn't lying to you! Thousand Leaves Sect really was destroyed! Everyone in the Southern Region knows about it!"
"Rubbish!" Yang Kai seized him by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
Across the countless star fields, sects numbered more than the grains of sand on a beach. A minor sect like Thousand Leaves Sect being destroyed could never make waves across the entire world. Only the annihilation of a colossus like the Questioning Heart Sect could set the entire Northern Region buzzing.
To put it bluntly, even if Thousand Leaves Sect had truly been destroyed, it would have been nothing more than a pebble tossed into the vast ocean of the Southern Region — at most stirring a few ripples before they faded away.
So instinctively, Yang Kai believed the man was lying.
Choked by Yang Kai's grip, the man could barely breathe. He struggled desperately, but it was useless.
"Young Master Yang!" Ying Fei called from the side in a low voice. He could tell that something was off with Yang Kai's emotional state, realizing that this Thousand Leaves Sect must hold extraordinary importance in Yang Kai's heart.
Yang Kai frowned, aware of his loss of composure. He relaxed his grip and let the man down, then said in a deep voice, "Tell me what you know. If it's true, I won't make things difficult for you."
The man coughed for a long while, even coughing up tears, but not daring to show the slightest hint of displeasure. Once he had caught his breath, he said, "My Lord… what would you like to know?"
This Emperor Realm cultivator seemed disturbingly volatile. He didn't dare presume to guess at the man's thoughts and could only answer carefully.
"Who destroyed Thousand Leaves Sect?" Yang Kai asked in a low voice.
"It's said that they crossed the Liuying Sword Sect."
"Liuying Sword Sect!" Yang Kai's brow furrowed. He vaguely remembered hearing about this sect somewhere.
Thinking carefully, he had indeed heard of it. Back in the Four Seasons Realm, he had crossed paths with disciples from the Liuying Sword Sect. From what he recalled, they weren't a top-tier sect, but their strength was respectable.
"Why would the Liuying Sword Sect destroy Thousand Leaves Sect?" Yang Kai continued. "What deep grudge existed between them?"
The man hurriedly replied, "There was no deep grudge — it's simply that Thousand Leaves Sect was an innocent man who possessed a jade, and that alone was a crime!"
A flash of insight struck Yang Kai, and he blurted out, "Heaven Puppets?"
The so-called Heaven Puppets were heaven grade puppets. Thousand Leaves Sect had built its foundation on the art of puppetry. Their founding ancestor had achieved profound mastery in this craft and had left behind ten great Heaven Puppets for the sect, each one comparable to an Emperor Realm cultivator.
During its heyday, Thousand Leaves Sect had been one of the top-tier sects in the Southern Region, renowned throughout the Star Realm.
But later generations had been mediocre, unable to carry forward the art of puppetry. As each generation's inheritance withered, Thousand Leaves Sect eventually devolved into a minor sect, its art of controlling puppets lost in large part.
Fortunately, the last time Yang Kai had visited, he had repaired the spatial formation and reopened the long-sealed small world, recovering the sect's lost secret techniques and reactivating the Heaven Puppets.
Liu Yan's Spirit Puppet body had also been obtained from that very small world. Without it, Liu Yan would likely have remained bodiless to this day.
Hearing Yang Kai mention the words "Heaven Puppets," the man nodded eagerly, "Exactly, exactly! So my Lord is familiar with Thousand Leaves Sect's Heaven Puppets as well. A few years ago, Thousand Leaves Sect somehow recovered their ancestral legacy and regained control of those puppets that had been sealed away for so long. The Liuying Sword Sect apparently took great interest in them, so they found a pretext to destroy Thousand Leaves Sect."