None of this was something Yang Kai could perceive — or even if he did, there was nothing he could do to stop it. Wu Heng was the Master of a Star Domain. Within the Great Desolation Star Domain, he could wield power akin to a god's. Yang Kai himself stood no chance of defeating him here. The only one who could put up a fight was Gun Gun.
And Gun Gun did not disappoint. No matter how much power of the star domain Wu Heng condensed and hurled its way, Gun Gun swallowed it all.
One large and one small figure darted and tangled through the star domain, chasing and evading each other in a spectacle that was positively lively.
This won't do — Wu Heng was burning with anxiety.
Every additional breath he spent here meant another vast swathe of the Great Desolation Star Domain being devoured. The shrinking of the star domain would directly diminish the power he could command. If this continued, defeat was inevitable.
He was actually going to lose! Even though it was only a possibility, the notion was inconceivable to Wu Heng. Before he had come seeking Yang Kai, he had never imagined things could turn out this way.
But his current situation was a true dilemma — advance seemed impossible, yet retreat offered no escape.
Yang Kai also felt that something was amiss.
He took a moment to check on Gun Gun's condition and finally noticed the changes occurring within the Small World.
Just as Gun Gun had needed rest and time to digest after devouring three Cultivation Stars, those star-domain-powered attacks from Wu Heng were far from easy to swallow. The pressure they placed on Gun Gun was even greater than that from directly consuming Cultivation Stars.
If this continued for much longer, the Small World would certainly be unable to bear it, and then things would truly go wrong. He had to let Gun Gun rest for a while and find an opportunity to digest that stellar power.
Two adversaries, each with their own concerns, made the same choice at precisely the same moment — they raced toward the edge of the Great Desolation Star Domain.
Wu Heng was desperate to return and stem the Heng Luo Star Domain's encroachment while driving this robber Yang Kai away. Yang Kai, on the other hand, was eager to bring Gun Gun to a safe place to recover.
Both sides moved at tremendous speed. Wu Heng was the Star Domain Master, so that went without saying — distances of hundreds of millions of li could be crossed with a mere thought. And though Gun Gun's body was bloated and cumbersome, each leap carried it staggering distances, amplified further by Wu Heng's conscious or unconscious guidance, which lent it an almost teleportative quality.
In less than half an hour, that endless darkness came into view.
Before long, both parties arrived at the border between the two great star domains. Yang Kai's spirits lifted immediately. He re-established contact with his Avatar and, in some indistinct way, felt the power of the Heng Luo Star Domain bolstering him.
Although he was technically still within the Great Desolation Star Domain, this place was where the two domains overlapped, so the suppression he felt was far less pronounced.
He couldn't help but laugh. "Heaven has a road and you won't take it — Hell has no door yet here you barge in. Wu Heng, I really must thank you."
Even as the words left his mouth, he guided Gun Gun past Wu Heng and burst back into the Heng Luo Star Domain.
Rather than celebrating the departure of his powerful foe, Wu Heng was alarmed. His heart sank — he felt he had done something terribly wrong.
In the very next instant, from the depths of that boundless darkness, an overwhelmingly powerful surge of momentum crashed toward him, so immense it felt almost impossible to resist.
And within that darkness, Yang Kai's smiling face materialized, displayed with perfect clarity before his eyes.
"You really are a Star Domain Master!" Wu Heng cried out in shock. Thick, bitter regret flooded his heart. Had he known this sooner, he would never have sent Yang Kai back. He had previously reasoned that since Yang Kai was not a Star Domain Master, he couldn't be allowed to run amuck behind his lines — and so he had tried to expel him. That way, he could focus entirely on the pressure from the Heng Luo Star Domain without worrying about threats at his rear.
But now it was clear — this had been a terrible, terrible move!
Yang Kai truly was the master of the Heng Luo Star Domain!
Yet no matter how hard Wu Heng racked his brain, he couldn't make sense of it. If Yang Kai was the master of the Heng Luo Star Domain, then who had been orchestrating the devouring of the star domain when he first invaded the Great Desolation Star Domain? Could the Heng Luo Star Domain have two masters? That was impossible — the Star Domain Origin existed as a single entity. It couldn't possibly be refined by two people.
A bold and daring conjecture surfaced in his mind. Wu Heng's face turned ashen, and he said through gritted teeth: "An Avatar!"
Only that could explain all the mysteries. Yang Kai must have an Avatar as responsive as his own arm, which was how he had maintained the devouring of the star domain even while invading the Great Desolation Star Domain himself.
The art of creating Avatars was no secret, nor was it an especially difficult technique to cultivate. Many powerful cultivators had practiced it at some point. But ordinary Avatars couldn't accomplish much — at best, they could be sent to scout dangerous territory, making them rather impractical. Moreover, cultivating the technique required extremely rare materials and an enormous investment of time.
Under normal circumstances, nobody would pour too much effort into mastering the Avatar technique. It was of little use in a life-or-death battle.
But now it seemed the Avatar that Yang Kai possessed was powerful to an almost inconceivable degree — otherwise, there would have been no way to command the full force of the Heng Luo Star Domain.
Darkness surged like tidal waves, rolling forward in endless layers. Vast stretches of starry sky vanished into nothing. Wu Heng retreated again and again — his defeat was like a landslide!
When the Avatar had first been channeling the Star Domain Origin to devour the domain, Wu Heng had already found it difficult to hold his ground, forced to struggle desperately just to contain it. Now that Yang Kai himself had returned to the Star Domain and the true body was driving the Star Domain Origin, its power was naturally a cut above.
On top of that, the Great Desolation Star Domain had lost enormous territory over these past days while the Heng Luo Star Domain had expanded its holdings. With one side growing and the other shrinking, Wu Heng stood even less of a chance.
He couldn't hold — there was absolutely no way to hold! Wu Heng's face was the color of death. He had never imagined that a spur-of-the-moment decision to devour a masterless star domain would bring such catastrophe upon himself. He had only recently become a Star Domain Master — how could he possibly have been expected to wield such overwhelming power?
They were both Star Domain Masters. He should have been the one with the upper hand in this contest. The reality, however, was the exact opposite.