Tongxuan Continent—the second stop on Yang Kai's martial path, and a vital stepping stone toward higher worlds. Without the opportunities and trials he had experienced on the Tongxuan Continent, he would never have achieved what he had today.
His thoughts drifted, memories rising like smoke. Gazing through the void at that long-absent star, Yang Kai's expression grew as dark as still water.
His earlier worries had become reality.
Seen from the stars, the entire Tongxuan Continent looked worse off than even the Cuiwei Star. The star appeared gravely ill, emanating a sickly, decrepit air—like an aging elder shuffling toward the grave.
One after another, black spots marred its surface, as though someone had casually splattered great drops of ink across the continent. Even from thousands of miles away in the starry void, they were strikingly visible.
A faint black mist permeated the star's surface.
Yang Kai studied those "ink spots" and vaguely perceived that they were arranged in a formation, interconnected, resonating with one another across distances, forming an invisible net that wrapped around and sealed off the Tongxuan Continent.
The formation was not yet fully complete, but it was already beginning to display formidable power. Even Yang Kai, floating in the void, could feel a suffocating pressure emanating from below—let alone the inhabitants of the Tongxuan Continent, who lived within its reach and were all affected by its influence. This was unquestionably a formation of annihilation. If it were ever fully activated, the Tongxuan Continent would be doomed.
Fortunately, he had not arrived too late.
He did not know when the formation would be completed and triggered, but clearly it was not something that could be accomplished in a matter of days. With his current abilities, a few days was more than enough for him to make a round trip across the entire continent and slaughter every last invader.
By all rights, the Tongxuan Continent had a Star Lord in residence. Warriors from the Great Desolation Star Domain should not have been able to invade so easily. The might of a Star Lord was extraordinary—a Star Lord standing upon their own cultivation star, bolstered by the star's origin, was essentially invincible on their own ground.
But the Tongxuan Continent was different. Just as he had told Liuyan before, the continent had suffered a spiritual energy drought decades ago. Even though Xia Ningshang had later refined the star's origin to help restore it, how much could a mere few decades really recover?
Compared to other cultivation stars, the Tongxuan Continent's spiritual energy and natural laws were far weaker. If that were not the case, the continent would never have been ruled by Saints as its highest power—it was precisely because of those weaker laws and thinner spiritual energy that the continent could not produce more powerful warriors, while other stars within the same domain could give rise to Sovereign Kings, Returning Void cultivators, and even Void Kings.
A few decades had restored only a sliver of vitality to the Tongxuan Continent, and that fragile recovery had likely been exhausted the moment the Great Desolation warriors arrived. If Xia Ningshang wanted to repel the invasion, she had to draw upon the entire star's power. But the more she did so, the greater the unbearable burden placed upon the continent.
So even as Star Lord, she could not keep the Great Desolation warriors blocked outside indefinitely. Letting them enter the Tongxuan Continent must have been a last resort. In an instant, Yang Kai had pieced together most of the situation Xia Ningshang now faced.
Suppressing the longing in his heart—he did not actually know where to find Xia Ningshang and Xueyue. The Tongxuan Continent was neither too large nor too small; if they were hidden somewhere, he would not be able to locate them quickly.
Better to spend this time killing some of the Great Desolation warriors and teaching them what happened to those who offended the wrong people.
After observing for a while longer, Yang Kai launched himself forward, plunging toward the Tongxuan Continent.
He locked onto the largest "ink spot" on the star below and let the planet's gravitational pull drag him downward. Liuyan followed close behind, her movements unhurried yet keeping perfect pace with him.
In moments, they pierced through the atmosphere together. The aura radiating all around them made Yang Kai frown—it was foul and acrid, deeply unpleasant. His powerful physique allowed him to shrug off such effects, but if an ordinary warrior were enveloped by this miasma, their mind would be corrupted before long, turning them into walking corpses.
From the void above, the Tongxuan Continent had looked dire. Now, diving into the zone blanketed by those "ink spots," he found the situation even worse than he had imagined.
Whatever these "ink spots" truly were, being inside them felt like stepping into a hellish purgatory.
Wind howled past his ears, his robes snapping and fluttering wildly. His black hair whipped behind him in the fierce gale. Head-down, feet-up, he resembled a meteor plummeting from the heavens, piercing through the void and streaking toward the earth.
The sheer speed of his descent caused friction against the air, igniting a trail of fire around his body. To anyone looking up from the ground below, it would appear as though a true meteor were falling from the sky—a spectacle both terrifying and magnificent.