Li Wuyi didn't waste time with words. He extended a finger and pointed at Yang Kai. With a surge of Space Laws, Yang Kai felt his vision blur, his body flip, and in the next instant he was standing in the midst of a towering mountain.
A tiger's roar rang out — a white-furred stripe-eyed tiger had caught the scent of an intruder nearby and lunged without hesitation.
Yang Kai raised a palm and pressed it against the beast's massive head. The white tiger immediately lost all its ferocity, its eyes filling with terror. It stumbled back a few steps, whimpered, turned tail, and fled.
The white tiger wasn't truly a demon beast — just an unusual wild animal. But even wild animals possessed their own instincts, and this one knew better than to provoke Yang Kai. It wouldn't dare be reckless again. Fleeing was the only sensible course.
Yang Kai looked around. Towering trees surrounded him on all sides, colorful venomous snakes slithered between rocky crags, and nearby a mountain spring tinkled softly. The air was thick with birdsong and the fragrance of flowers.
He raised his gaze skyward. There, against the heavens, several colossal figures stood like gods — Mo Huang, Yao Jun, Zhan Wuhen, and the others. Li Wuyi's enormous face, which blotted out half the sky, was turned toward him with a smile.
They hadn't grown larger. He had become smaller.
Wuding Mountain — seven hundred and eighty zhang tall and three thousand li long — had been refined by Li Wuyi into something the size of a palm. Upon entering it, Yang Kai was affected by the spatial laws within, and his body shrank accordingly. To Li Wuyi's eyes, he was probably no bigger than a speck of dust.
This Wuding Mountain operated on the same principle as his Mystic Boundary Bead — indeed, in a sense, the two were identical. Both were small worlds. The difference was that the Mystic Boundary Bead was sealed: nothing could be seen from outside looking in, nor from inside looking out, unless Yang Kai exercised his power. Wuding Mountain, while also a small world, was closely connected to the greater Star Boundary at all times. In that regard, it was far less independent than the Small Mystic World.
Ever since advancing to the second-layer Emperor Realm, Yang Kai had harbored the realization that with his current mastery of Space Laws, he should be able to refine a spatial Artifact similar to the Mystic Boundary Bead. He simply hadn't had the time to experiment — other matters always intervened.
Now it turned out that the very idea he'd conceived had already been put into practice by Li Wuyi. Wuding Mountain was the embodiment and crystallization of Li Wuyi's mastery over Space Laws. Having witnessed its wonders firsthand, Yang Kai grew even more certain that his original notion had been correct.
His spirits lifted, because he would indeed need to refine some treasures like the Mystic Boundary Bead or Wuding Mountain in the near future.
Having entered the mountain and taken in the sight, Yang Kai waved toward Li Wuyi. Li Wuyi understood and pointed at him once more.
In the next instant, Yang Kai reappeared inside the Small Mystic World.
Before Yang Kai could even offer his praise, Li Wuyi spoke first, a puzzled look on his face: "How did you conceive of having this world devour the Demon Realm continent? And how did you manage to make it happen?"
It was precisely because Li Wuyi had personally refined Wuding Mountain that this baffled him. In principle, Wuding Mountain and the Mystic Boundary Bead were the same type of existence. What the Mystic Boundary Bead could do, Wuding Mountain should be able to do as well — and conversely, what Wuding Mountain couldn't do, the Mystic Boundary Bead probably couldn't either.
Yet the Mystic Boundary Bead had accomplished something Wuding Mountain never could. Devouring and absorbing an entire landmass? Li Wuyi had never even conceived of such a thing.
Yang Kai smiled faintly. "I once had a conflict with someone in a lower plane star field. That person was devouring my star field at the time, so I decided to turn their own method against them. As for how I managed it..." He paused for a moment, his voice growing solemn. "The Heaven Devouring Battle Art!"
All three Great Emperors turned to look at him.
Mo Huang spoke in a low, grave tone: "Kid, don't tell us you actually cultivated the Heaven Devouring Battle Art."
Several years ago, the Iron Blood Great Emperor had used the matter of the Heaven Devouring Battle Art to confront Yang Kai at Huxiao City, staging an elaborate drama that forced Yang Kai to "demonic corruption" and apparent defection from the Star Boundary. But back then, Zhan Wuhen's angle had been that Yang Kai's Dharma Idol had cultivated the art — a far cry from Yang Kai practicing it himself.
Yang Kai shook his head slowly. "The Heaven Devouring Battle Art — it devours heaven and earth, its power unfathomable. It is a supreme evil technique. I wouldn't dare cultivate it. The one who mastered it was my Dharma Idol. Its constitution is unique, born as a Stone Puppet, and this technique suits it perfectly. The Dharma Idol has grasped the essence of the Heaven Devouring Battle Art, and so I have as well. By using the Mystic Boundary Bead as a medium and channeling the Heaven Devouring Battle Art through it, the Bead gains the ability to devour and absorb."
Yang Kai's explanation was clear, and everyone understood it perfectly. Yet the crux of the matter was something only those directly involved could truly comprehend.
Why the Heaven Devouring Battle Art and the Mystic Boundary Bead meshed so flawlessly — that was something even Wu Kuang, the creator of the art, probably couldn't explain.
Li Wuyi shook his head with a rueful laugh. "If that's the case, then I'm afraid there's not much hope for my Wuding Mountain." He had been harboring thoughts of refining it further if the technique was transferable, but now that he knew the Heaven Devouring Battle Art was involved, he abandoned all such notions entirely. Not even a hundred times his courage would be enough to make him cultivate that art.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, was staring at Wuding Mountain in Li Wuyi's hand with gleaming eyes, like a glutton beholding a feast or a lecher spotting a beauty.
"How large is this domain?" Zhan Wuhen asked.
"As large as the Demon Realm continents that were devoured," Yang Kai replied respectfully.
Zhan Wuhen was silent for a moment, then asked: "If the Demon Race were relocated here, could you keep them under control?"