The hardships that Chi Yue, Ai Ou, and the others had endured while traversing the Star Realm flashed vividly through Yang Kai's mind. He knew all too well how much suffering and exhaustion they had gone through. Even Wu Dao, once heralded as the foremost figure of the entire Star Domain, had perished — what chance would Su Yan, a lone woman, have had?
A voice deep inside him was roaring and screaming.
He had to see her!
Right now! Immediately!
Longing surged through him like a tidal wave, threatening to completely drown his body and mind.
"Master!" Liu Yan gripped Yang Kai's arm. The delicate touch snapped him back to his senses. The man whose throat he had been clamping down on was rolling his eyes, his breathing labored, his face pale — it looked as though he might die at any moment.
Yang Kai hastily released him and tossed him onto the Star Shuttle.
A violent fit of coughing erupted. The man knelt on one knee, clutching his throat, coughing so hard that tears nearly streamed from his eyes. The martial artists below watched with twitching eyelids.
"I'm truly sorry." Yang Kai extended a hand toward the man, though it trembled slightly despite his efforts to control it.
Given his current level of mental fortitude, very few things in this world could shake him to this degree. But learning news of Su Yan in the Ancestral Domain absolutely qualified. This man had called Su Yan "senior sister," which meant that after arriving in the Ancestral Domain, she had joined the sect he belonged to. Regardless, bullying someone's junior brother was nothing to be proud of — especially when Yang Kai was about to need a favor from him.
After a moment's recovery, the man took Yang Kai's hand and pulled himself to his feet. He still wore a look of lingering fear, regarding Yang Kai with visible wariness.
His cultivation was at the third level of the Void King Realm, yet in this young man's grasp he had been as powerless as an ant — utterly unable to resist. The other party was clearly not someone he could afford to cross. Yang Kai's abrupt shift in attitude also struck him as temperamental and unpredictable, deepening his wariness. Such power paired with such temperament was truly bizarre.
"What might I call you, junior brother?" Yang Kai smoothed his expression as much as possible.
The man swallowed and said, "Xiang Fei."
"So it's Junior Brother Xiang." Yang Kai chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, the force of it shoving the man down a good several inches. "My apologies for just now — please don't hold it against me. Um, you called Su Yan senior sister earlier. Did she join your sect as a disciple?"
Through a brief exchange, Yang Kai gleaned several leads.
Just as he had suspected, Su Yan had indeed joined the faction behind this Xiang Fei after arriving in the Ancestral Domain — the Cloud Mist Sect. And Su Yan had entered the Ancestral Domain through this very star pathway entrance.
However, it hadn't been Xiang Fei stationed here at the time, but another member of the Cloud Mist Sect, so he didn't know the specifics. He had only come to know Su Yan after she had joined the sect.
Breathtakingly beautiful, cold and aloof by nature, and blessed with extraordinary talent — within just a few years of joining the Cloud Mist Sect, Su Yan had amassed a large following. Countless senior and junior brothers vied for her attention, and she had already become one of the most talked-about figures in the sect.
Every sect had a few such people, more or less. And as a disciple who had come from a lower-plane star domain, the attention Su Yan naturally attracted was that much greater. It was how word of her origins in the Heng Luo Star Domain had spread.
Xiang Fei had seen Su Yan on a few occasions, but he'd never had the courage to approach her. That frigid look in her eyes carried an air of utter detachment — come too close, and you might get frostbitten.
"Senior Sister Su's talent is truly extraordinary. She'd only been in our sect for five years before she advanced to the Dao Source Realm. It's honestly embarrassing." Xiang Fei sighed with admiration. He had probably guessed that there was some connection between Yang Kai and Su Yan, so he stuck to flattering remarks.
Sure enough, Yang Kai was overjoyed the moment he heard it. "She advanced to the Dao Source Realm?"
He had been worrying that she might suffer unfair treatment or face exclusion in this world. Now it seemed she was doing quite well.
"What about now?" Yang Kai pressed.
Xiang Fei replied, "I don't know."
Yang Kai's brows knitted together. "How can you not know? You're a disciple of the Cloud Mist Sect too!"
Xiang Fei jumped in alarm and quickly said, "I am indeed a disciple of the Cloud Mist Sect, but I was posted here over a decade ago and rarely return to the sect. I'm out of the loop on what goes on inside."
Yang Kai regarded him with sympathy. Generally speaking, those assigned to guard a star pathway entrance were not favored within their sect and lacked influential backers, which was how they ended up with a time-consuming job that offered little benefit.
Xiang Fei was clearly one of those people in the Cloud Mist Sect.
"Want to go back?"
"Of course." These lonely, bitter days out in the middle of nowhere couldn't compare to the comfort and ease of life within the sect.
Yang Kai clapped him on the shoulder. "Congratulations — your wish is about to come true!"
"Wh-what!" Xiang Fei hadn't processed it yet, only instinctively sensing that something was off.