For a full year, Yang Kai roamed the various continents of the Demon Domain with his Frost Snow Ice Guard in tow. In that year, he traversed every territory belonging to every Demon Saint, devouring all the known lost continents in their entirety.
One day a year later, over a vast expanse of ocean, Bo Ya stood before a Void Passageway, his gaze fixed blankly on the pitch-black tunnel pulsing with an aura of danger, his expression complicated.
He knew that the place this Void Passageway connected to was a continent that had vanished from the map of the Demon Domain three thousand years ago.
Over all this time, Yang Kai had long since stopped hiding things from him. The man had already glimpsed his secret, and a secret that had been glimpsed was no longer a secret.
So more than half a year ago, Yang Kai had calmly and openly released Gui Xu right in front of him, using its power to gnaw through the void. Yang Kai had even brought him inside. When he laid eyes on the shattered continent, the expression on Bo Ya's face had been something spectacular — filled with utter disbelief.
Over countless years, at least a hundred continents in the Demon Domain had disappeared, but all the demon race had subconsciously assumed that these lost continents had merely lost their connection to the Demon Domain. The continents themselves, they believed, should be fine — and as long as that connection could be re-established, those vanished continents would one day return. But only after witnessing with his own eyes what had truly become of those lost continents did Bo Ya realise that his long-held assumptions had been far too naive.
The Demon Domain, even if it was fractured and fragmented, was still a whole. Once an individual continent severed its connection to that whole, it was like a limb cut from a body — it would gradually wither and crumble, starved of nourishment...
Between life and death lay a great terror. Having witnessed the fate of those lost continents with his own eyes, Bo Ya could not help but wonder whether the surviving continents of the Demon Domain might one day meet the same end — the continent shattering, the Sacred Spirits upon it perishing to the last...
When that time came, even the Demon Saints themselves might not survive, let alone someone like him, a half-saint.
A faint fluctuation of aura drifted from the Void Passageway before him, and in the next instant, a figure flickered and Yang Kai stepped out.
Their eyes met, and Yang Kai gave a slight nod. "Thank you for your trouble, Brother Bo Ya."
Bo Ya smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Compared to what you've been doing, Brother Yang, I've merely been standing out here keeping watch. There's nothing troublesome about it."
"Nothing unusual out here?" Yang Kai turned his head, scanning the surroundings.
"There was a probing aura at one point, but it didn't come close," Bo Ya replied. As a half-saint, any probing aura that concerned him could only have come from another half-saint.
This past year had not been entirely smooth sailing. A year ago, Yu Rumeng had reached a new agreement with the other Demon Saints — the Demon Saints themselves would no longer make moves against Yang Kai — but plenty of half-saints had been stirred by the scent of opportunity. Yang Kai was like a wounded great fish swimming through the ocean, his body reeking of blood, drawing the covetous gazes of those shark-like half-saints.
Over this past year, there had been no fewer than ten clashes with half-saints. The only reason they had come to nothing was that Yang Kai now had Zhui Feng at his side for protection, along with five hundred thousand Frost Snow Ice Guard and Bo Ya. One or two half-saints showing up made no difference whatsoever.
The most dangerous encounter had been when five half-saints joined forces.
In that battle, Bo Ya and Zhui Feng had each been pinned down by one half-saint and unable to break free, leaving three half-saints to chase Yang Kai relentlessly — nearly convincing themselves they were on the verge of success.
But Yang Kai now left a Void Spirit Bead hidden on every continent he visited, and his mastery of spatial laws was extraordinary to begin with. If he couldn't beat them, he could certainly outrun them.
The battle lasted half a month. In the end, those three half-saints spent a fortnight eating dust behind Yang Kai, not so much as plucking a single hair from him, while being thoroughly tormented by his unpredictable methods.
After that, no half-saint dared engage Yang Kai in direct confrontation again. Now every half-saint in the Demon Domain knew that unless at least ten half-saints joined forces, or the space Yang Kai occupied was sealed in an instant to prevent his escape, there was simply no effective counter against someone who had mastered the laws of space.
But getting ten half-saints to join forces was extraordinarily difficult. The Demon Domain was not short of ten half-saints — more than a hundred had taken part in the siege of Emperor Ming Yue back in the day — but that had been under the Demon Saints' orders, with everyone working in concert. To get ten half-saints to join forces against a single enemy now, when there was only one fortune to be claimed, was practically impossible.
Through that battle, Yang Kai had stunned the entire Demon Domain. Before, his fame had come from obtaining an Emperor's fortune — now, those half-saints who were familiar with him or not discovered that his own strength was profoundly unfathomable. No wonder he had managed to escape even the Demon Saints' pursuit that day.
"Are there no more continents?" Yang Kai asked.
Bo Ya shook his head. "The Demon Blood Continent was the last lost continent."
Yang Kai's brow furrowed slightly at this. He sank his consciousness into the Small World, sensing it for a moment, then let out a soft sigh.
Not enough!
Over this past year, the Small World had undergone tremendous changes from devouring those shattered continents — its territory had grown immensely vast — but it was still not enough.
It was not a matter of area. The space within the Small World now was equivalent to nearly a hundred Demon Domain continents combined — a territory so enormous that housing several hundred billion people would be no trouble at all.