Yang Xue turned to Yang Kai with a gentle smile. "Big Brother, wait here for me for ten years. I'll come out after ten years."
Yang Kai reached over and ruffled her hair. "Big Brother will wait for you."
Ten years would be an eternity out in the world, but this was the Temple of Years, where the power of time flowed freely — ten years here likely wouldn't amount to much on the outside.
It was also a perfect opportunity for him to study a particular secret technique in depth.
Feng Jun was still clinging to the last shreds of his life. Yang Kai had collected him into the Small World — even a False Emperor had to behave himself once inside, let alone one who was gravely wounded. Even if he had the will, he wouldn't be able to stir up any trouble.
Yang Xiao and Yang Xue went back into seclusion. The little girl had asked Yang Kai to wait ten years for her, but hadn't said what for — though her mysterious air made it clear something good was in the works.
Before leaving, Yang Kai awakened Liu Yan. Master and servant reunited, and naturally there was yet another wave of joy.
In the great hall, Yang Kai briefed Liu Yan and Qiong Qi on the Star Boundary's recent situation. When they had entered the Four Seasons Land together, the Demon Race had not yet invaded, so they knew nothing of the outside world. The moment they heard that the Star Boundary had fallen into such a state, both Liu Yan and Qiong Qi were stunned.
The whole thing had been far too sudden for them. All they'd done was enter the Temple of Years and take a nap, and somehow the Star Boundary had been thrown into turmoil.
Qiong Qi would certainly serve at Yang Xiao and Yang Xue's side in the future, so he needed to understand the Star Boundary's current affairs. That way, when the two children emerged from seclusion, he wouldn't be completely lost about the state of the world.
Their conversation didn't take long.
Several days later, Yang Kai found a secluded chamber and entered seclusion himself.
Previously in the Demon Domain, he had used the Mysterious World Pearl to devour the Demon Domain's landmasses, but after consuming too many, a new problem had emerged — the Heavenly Laws of the Third Territory were gradually becoming fuller and more complete, to the point where they had begun to swallow and assimilate the Second Territory. The reason was simple: the Second Territory's Heavenly Laws were of a lower grade and could not resist the Third Territory's encroachment.
It was the same principle as water flowing downhill. Once the Third Territory had accumulated enough, it naturally overflowed into the Second Territory.
Within the Second Territory lived the inhabitants of several Cultivation Stars that Yang Kai had absorbed from the lower-realm Star Fields. If left unchecked, those inhabitants would inevitably be corrupted by demonic energy. This wasn't like the corruption wrought by the Heavenly Dao Devil Master — those beings were weak, and once tainted by demonic qi, they would become mindless walking corpses.
There were three full Cultivation Stars worth of beings, a number too vast to count.
The Demon Domain had to be devoured, but the inhabitants of those three Cultivation Stars could not simply be abandoned. If that happened, Yang Kai would be no different from a butcher. Should such a thing come to pass, he would never know peace again.
As it happened, the devouring of the Demon Domain couldn't proceed any further anyway, so he had brought Yu Rumeng and the others back to the Star Boundary. And until this problem was resolved, the Demon Domain's landmasses could not continue to be absorbed.
The solution wasn't difficult — the root of the matter lay with those inhabitants. He simply needed to relocate them out of the Small World.
Yang Kai was the Lord of the Hengluo Star Field, and within that Star Field there were quite a few Cultivation Stars suitable for habitation and practice. As long as he brought those beings back to the Hengluo Star Field and transferred them to other Cultivation Stars, the problem would be solved.
This was the simplest approach, but also the hardest to carry out.
In the lower-realm Star Fields, there were indeed many Cultivation Stars, but each one had its own complete ecosystem. Introducing a large number of outsiders abruptly could trigger all manner of unrest. Take a city, for instance — if it originally housed a hundred thousand people and, while there were occasional frictions and disputes, everyone more or less lived in peace, what would happen if twenty thousand outsiders suddenly poured in? Everything would likely descend into chaos.
It would be ideal to find uninhabited Cultivation Stars, but that was essentially impossible. Every Cultivation Star in the Star Fields had already been charted.
So Yang Kai opted for a second approach — separate the Second Territory from the Small World entirely and let it become a new, self-sustaining world. That way, the crisis of it being swallowed by the Third Territory would be averted.
The Second Territory had been absorbed by the Mysterious World Pearl. If it could be absorbed, then it could also be separated — but this was no easy task for Yang Kai. Separating an entire world was tantamount to re-creating the cosmos, refining heaven and earth itself.
This feat was even more difficult than Li Wuyi's refinement of Mount Wuding. But if he succeeded, the benefit to his Cultivation of the Space Laws would be immense — it could elevate his mastery in that Dao by leaps and bounds.
Difficult, yes, but the rewards were enormous, and Yang Kai was naturally eager. Besides, even if he failed, he could still relocate those beings one Cultivation Star at a time. At worst, he would simply have to make more trips, placing fewer people on each star.
Re-creating the cosmos and refining heaven and earth — Li Wuyi had done exactly that. Mount Wuding was his masterpiece. In a sense, what Yang Kai intended to do was no different from what Li Wuyi had done with Mount Wuding.
Mount Wuding had once belonged to the Star Boundary. Li Wuyi had separated it from the Star Boundary and refined it into a small world.
The Second Territory had once belonged to the Small World. Yang Kai likewise intended to separate it out and refine it into a small world.
A senior's experience was there to draw upon. Mount Wuding was no longer in his hands — he had contributed it to the Star God Palace to repair the Cosmos Tower and complete its set — but before that, Li Wuyi had given Yang Kai a jade slip in addition to the mountain itself.
Within that jade slip were Li Wuyi's insights on re-creating the cosmos and refining heaven and earth — the very pinnacle of his mastery over the Space Laws.
A tiny jade slip, yet for Yang Kai it was nothing short of a peerless treasure! He hadn't had time to study it before, planning to examine it properly once he reached the lower-realm Star Fields. Now, however, with ten years at his disposal, how could he afford to waste them?
And so Yang Kai entered seclusion.