At the eleventh stage of growth, this demon beast — even without having undergone a transformation into human form — would surely possess its own spiritual intelligence, enough to know how to seek fortune and avoid calamity.
When Yang Kai's light tap obliterated its giant claw in a single flick, the creature immediately sensed mortal danger. Without the slightest hesitation, it whirled around, its body shrouded in swirling sand and dust — a fleeing technique of some kind — and bolted into the distance like the wind.
Having found Little Black Dog, Yang Kai was in a good mood and didn't bother giving chase. An eleventh-stage demon beast meant nothing to him. Seeing it had the good sense to flee, he made no move to stop it.
"What's going on with you?" Yang Kai held Little Black Dog up in front of him, examining it closely, somewhat baffled.
A creature capable of devouring even Demon Kings — chased helpless by a single eleventh-stage demon beast with nowhere to run? Had he not seen it with his own eyes, Yang Kai would never have believed it.
He cast his mind back. When Gong Yue had been possessed by that demonic will, he'd once mentioned that Little Black Dog carried a sliver of Gui Xu bloodline — but he hadn't stated outright that it was a Gui Xu pup. Thinking about it that way, the bloodline running through Little Black Dog's body was very likely impure.
When facing the Demon Race — its preferred food — its innate divine ability would definitely activate. But against other enemies, the power was hit-or-miss.
It had once swallowed Steward Liao in the Wheel World without a second thought, yet during the battle against those princes and princesses in the imperial palace, it had performed rather unremarkably, never deploying its devouring ability.
Now it seemed that being hunted by that eleventh-stage demon beast was most likely because it couldn't manifest its powers.
Impure bloodline — that was quite the hassle.
But Yang Kai didn't dwell on it. If Little Black Dog had useful abilities, great. If it didn't, so be it. He had never needed to ride on a dog's coattails anyway. Right now, the priority was figuring out where Zhu Qing had gone.
He set Little Black Dog on his shoulder, didn't bother summoning his Emperor Artifact for flight, and simply soared into the air.
For the next ten days, he searched ceaselessly through the wasteland — and found nothing.
On the tenth day, an oasis suddenly appeared on the horizon. In a place blanketed entirely by yellow sand and dust, stumbling upon such a refreshing sight lifted Yang Kai's spirits considerably.
There seemed to be a small settlement within the oasis, and the signatures of quite a few living beings.
Yang Kai swept the area with his divine sense and immediately determined that no experts resided here. The strongest individual had only the Dao Source Realm's level of cultivation, and the rest were even weaker.
He descended straight toward the oasis, landing beside a clear pool of water. He cupped a handful and splashed his face. Little Black Dog, meanwhile, dove straight into the pool and began swimming about with obvious delight.
When Yang Kai raised his head, he found several children standing nearby, eyes wide, staring at him with open curiosity.
The children were a mix of boys and girls. The youngest looked no more than four or five, while the eldest might have been eleven or twelve. Perhaps due to the harsh environment here, their clothing was quite crude — many of their garments were patched — and their complexions were poor. Every one of them was gaunt, their bones jutting beneath their skin, the unmistakable look of malnutrition.
The older ones among them had apparently begun Cultivating already, though their cultivation was pitifully low.
Pairs of curious eyes gleamed at him from a dozen-odd zhang away, their owners watching with a timorous air.
Yang Kai offered them a gentle smile and was about to speak when his gaze suddenly sharpened. He looked up at the top of one girl's head and exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Little one, where did you get this?"
This girl was one of the older children. A butterfly-shaped bow sat atop her head, and what startled Yang Kai was that the ribbon used to tie it was none other than a strip of cloth he recognized all too well.
That was Emperor Artifact — Zhu Lie's ribbon!
Back in the endless void, they had used this Emperor Artifact ribbon to tether themselves together to prevent getting separated. In the end, the spatial rifts on the other side of the boundary barrier had sliced it apart. Yang Kai had ended up with one fragment, but it was useless, so he'd thrown it away.
He never expected to see another piece here.
This clearly wasn't the same fragment he'd discarded — that was far too distant, and this little girl certainly couldn't have retrieved it. In other words, this piece had either been dropped by Li Jiao or by Zhu Lie.
This discovery only strengthened Yang Kai's earlier suspicion: they had all returned to the Star Boundary, just at different locations.
Yang Kai's sudden exclamation startled the children, and they all stumbled back several steps.
"Lend me this for a moment — I'll give it back in a second." Yang Kai raised his hand with a beckoning gesture, and the butterfly bow unraveled, the ribbon flying into his palm.
He lowered his gaze and confirmed it was an unmistakable piece of the Emperor Artifact ribbon. Though it was an Emperor Artifact, once severed into fragments it had lost all its spiritual potency and was essentially useless. If that weren't the case, the sheer might of an Emperor Artifact alone would have crushed this little girl into dust.
Yang Kai nodded repeatedly, then looked up to ask another question — only to find that the children had scattered in every direction, likely frightened by his sudden actions.
Moments later, accompanied by the children's shouts, several dozen warriors of varying cultivation levels rushed in from all directions, converging on Yang Kai's position. In the blink of an eye, they had surrounded him in layers upon layers, every one of them eyeing him with guarded hostility.
Yang Kai laughed in spite of himself, realizing his actions had been a bit too abrupt. His gaze swept the crowd and settled on the face of a middle-aged man. "You the one in charge around here?"
The man had a cultivation at the second level of the Dao Source Realm — the strongest person in the settlement. Yet for some reason, his face looked remarkably weathered. His Dao Source Realm cultivation had done nothing to halt the passage of years from carving its marks upon him. The other villagers were much the same. And, more to the point, Yang Kai noticed something off about the looks on their faces.