Setting up spatial formations was second nature to Yang Kai by now. Without bothering to move elsewhere, he simply set to work on a patch of open ground beside the pavilion atop the mountain peak.
Li Wuyi stood nearby with his hands clasped behind his back, watching in silence. His expression shifted constantly—sometimes surprise, sometimes puzzlement, sometimes shock, sometimes the look of sudden enlightenment—as though the mere act of observation had already yielded rich rewards.
Half a day later, the spatial formation was complete. Yang Kai inspected it carefully, confirmed there were no issues, then looked to Li Wuyi. "I would be grateful for Senior's evaluation."
Li Wuyi regarded him with a meaningful look, then strode into the formation. Spatial laws surged around him. He closed his eyes and quietly felt them out.
After a moment, he spoke: "What restriction did you add to this formation? It seems like only a specific method can activate it."
Yang Kai grinned. "Senior is quite right. A spatial formation arranged by my hand can only be activated by wielding a spatial token I've personally refined. Otherwise, even occupying this formation would be utterly useless."
Li Wuyi nodded. "This restriction is quite ingeniously done, and it eliminates the flaw of it being exploited by others. Hmm, it seems to connect to quite a few places, though…"
"Though what?" Yang Kai asked with a smile.
Li Wuyi frowned deeply, half-muttering as if talking to himself, half-asking: "Why do the distances between them feel so vast?" Suddenly his eyes snapped open, divine light blazing from them, and he exclaimed in a low voice: "Is this a cross-domain spatial formation?"
"A cross-domain spatial formation?" Jiu Feng was startled too, her small mouth forming a perfect, alluring O as she stared at Li Wuyi. "You're not mistaken?"
Li Wuyi shook his head slowly. "I don't know exactly which places this formation connects to, but those locations are diametrically opposed and immensely far apart. No ordinary spatial formation could link them together—it would have far exceeded its limits. Yang Kai, is this truly a cross-domain spatial formation?"
Yang Kai nodded. "Senior's eyes are sharp as ever. This is indeed a cross-domain spatial formation."
Jiu Feng turned to stare at him in disbelief. "You can actually set up cross-domain spatial formations?"
Yang Kai scratched his head sheepishly. "Compared to Senior Li's spatial beacon technique, it's a bit clunky and lacks finesse."
Jiu Feng couldn't help rolling her eyes. "Comparatively speaking, *his* method is the one that's petty and small-scale."
Li Wuyi ignored her entirely, standing within the formation and carefully probing it, clicking his tongue in admiration. He had seen cross-domain spatial formations before, but there were precious few in the entire Star Realm—they were all relics from ancient times. Some had been preserved, but could no longer function. He had once studied several of them for years, yet had been unable to unravel their mysteries. The spatial beacon technique had been born from that very period of research.
He had never expected Yang Kai to be capable of constructing one.
"Where does this formation connect?" Li Wuyi asked with curiosity.
"The Southern Domain, the Northern Domain—I can reach either. The Barbarian Ancient Land of the Eastern Domain as well."
Li Wuyi was speechless for a moment. "It seems you've been to quite a few places."
Only by personally visiting those locations and leaving behind cross-domain spatial formations could they be linked together for teleportation after rearrangement—Li Wuyi understood that perfectly well. And Yang Kai was still so young, yet he had already traveled between the Star Realm's various domains, even venturing to somewhere as perilous as the Barbarian Ancient Land and leaving spatial formations in his wake. That breadth of experience and knowledge had left his peers far, far behind.
After a moment's thought, Li Wuyi said, "I am rather curious—where did you obtain that formation diagram? Did you comprehend it on your own?"
The foundation of a spatial formation lay in its formation diagram. Without that diagram, the whole thing was nothing more than a lifeless object, completely useless. But Li Wuyi had also spent years studying the matter and had never been able to penetrate the mystery. Now, seeing a complete formation diagram in Yang Kai's hands, his curiosity was understandably intense.
Yang Kai thought for a moment. "Might Senior know of a person named Yang Yan?"
"Yang Yan?" Li Wuyi raised an eyebrow. "That Yang Yan from the Star Court?"
Yang Kai smiled. "It seems Senior does know her, then."
Jiu Feng asked curiously, "Wait, you know her?"
Yang Kai said, "You could call her an old friend of mine."
*Old friend…* Li Wuyi and Jiu Feng exchanged a glance, both at a loss for words. Yang Yan was an existence on their own level. Yang Kai's cultivation, though respectable, was only at the second-stage Emperor realm, and he was at most a hundred years old—yet he claimed to be an old friend of Yang Yan.
Had anyone else said that, they would have assumed it was idle boasting. But coming from Yang Kai, it didn't sound quite so outlandish.
"As you both know, I came from a lower realm—a lower-star domain. Back then, Yang Yan was also in that domain, but her main body had been injured and fallen into slumber. She manifested a minor avatar that was trapped in humble circumstances. I came to know that avatar during that time, and we grew close. The formation diagram for the spatial formation came from her." As Yang Kai spoke, memories of the past stirred within him, and he let out a wistful sigh. "She looked after me quite a bit back then."
"So it was her!" Li Wuyi murmured, momentarily lost in thought.