"Oh well, stingy is stingy then." Qiong Qi had resigned himself to his fate.
Yang Kai nodded. "You may withdraw for now. I have some matters to discuss with Senior Li."
"Yes." Qiong Qi answered respectfully, then turned and flew a considerable distance away, landing on the tip of a tree. He stood with one foot on the very apex of the branches, hands clasped behind his back, looking every bit the picture of a master riding the wind through the void. Had it not been for the crimson robe that rather ruined the image, he might have cut a genuinely impressive figure of an otherworldly expert.
In the pavilion, Yang Kai said, "Please rest assured about Qiong Qi, both of you and the Great Emperor. I will keep him on a tight leash."
Jiu Feng spoke up. "Remember — too much of a good thing is worse than not enough. He is an ancient Sacred Spirit who has lived longer than I have. Though he seems willing to acknowledge you as his master and I see no hint of reluctance, pushing him too hard would only be counterproductive. You'll need to feel out the right balance yourself."
"I understand." Yang Kai nodded. Though having such a fearsome evil spirit at his side was something of a threat, Yang Kai was no pushover, nor was he some naive youngster fresh out of the nest. As for Qiong Qi's true nature, he would observe carefully in the days to come.
With the matter of Qiong Qi settled, Yang Kai lost no time in broaching the subject of the Laws of Space with Li Wuyi. Since the day he had first begun cultivating spatial power, this was the first time he had ever had the chance to discuss the subject with anyone knowledgeable, and he could not help feeling a thrill of excitement.
"Senior Li, just now — how did you send that jade slip back to Spirit Beast Island? Could you demonstrate it for me once more?"
Li Wuyi offered a faint smile. "That shouldn't be too difficult." As he spoke, he raised a single finger. The Laws of Space rippled at its tip as he began to trace something in the air above the stone table.
Yang Kai sharpened his gaze to the fullest, watching intently. He discovered that what Li Wuyi was sketching was an extraordinarily intricate and complex formation diagram. As the drawing progressed, Yang Kai let out a soft exclamation of surprise — he realized the diagram bore some resemblance to the cross-domain spatial formation he had once laid down himself, though it was not entirely the same.
After a short while, Li Wuyi withdrew his hand. The stone table before him showed not the slightest change, yet Yang Kai could clearly sense that a layer of spatial power now lingered upon its surface. The invisible formation diagram had been branded onto the table by the force of space itself.
Li Wuyi tossed a blank jade slip to Yang Kai. "Pour a bit of anything into it."
Yang Kai nodded, pinching the jade slip between his fingers. He sent a pulse of divine sense inward and inscribed his own spiritual imprint upon it.
"Give it to me." Jiu Feng extended her hand.
Not knowing what she intended, Yang Kai nonetheless handed the jade slip over without hesitation.
Jiu Feng accepted it, and with a flicker of her graceful figure, she shot off into the distance, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.
Yang Kai stared after the direction she had departed, lost in thought.
After roughly the time it took to finish half a cup of tea, the stone table before him suddenly flashed with white light. When Yang Kai turned to look, a jade slip had materialized on the surface out of thin air.
Yang Kai raised an eyebrow. "This is..."
Li Wuyi chuckled. "Take a look for yourself and you'll understand."
Yang Kai reached out and picked up the jade slip. A brief inspection confirmed that it was, in fact, the very same slip into which he had just inscribed his spiritual imprint — the one Jiu Feng had carried away. And yet it had now appeared before him out of nowhere.
Li Wuyi tapped the stone table with a finger. "I can use the Laws of Space to inscribe a spatial beacon. At any location where a spatial beacon has been placed, anything that I personally or anything sent through my hand can be instantly teleported there."
Yang Kai's eyes lit up. "That's essentially the same principle as a spatial formation."
Li Wuyi nodded. "Exactly. Normally, when you use a spatial formation, you teleport people away. In my case, I teleport objects — the difficulty is somewhat lower, but the underlying principle is the same."
Yang Kai clicked his tongue in admiration. "This stone table is nothing more than ordinary rock, and yet it can hold a spatial imprint?"
Li Wuyi replied, "It can, but only for a very short time. If you want the imprint to persist for a long while, you'll need to use certain special materials."
Yang Kai raised an eyebrow. "Ethereal Spirit Crystal or Ethereal Spirit Jade?"
Li Wuyi smiled. "Precisely."
"I see." Yang Kai was delighted, as though he had come into possession of a priceless treasure. "This method, if used for transmitting messages, would be virtually unstoppable — far more useful than those message compasses." The message compasses had hard range limits; if the distance was too great, messages simply could not get through. This technique, however, was entirely different. No matter how vast the distance, arrival was instantaneous.
The Beast Martial Great Emperor must have had a spatial beacon that Li Wuyi had inscribed in advance, which was why the jade slip just now could be sent back immediately. By the same token, the Great Emperor's reply could be returned in an instant.
Yang Kai's heart burned with eagerness. Without delay, he began tracing a spatial beacon of his own on the stone table before him.
Li Wuyi watched from the side, offering the occasional correction, and before long Yang Kai had grasped the technique thoroughly. In a short time, a new spatial beacon had taken shape.
Yang Kai rose to his feet and let out a hearty laugh. "I'll be right back."