Back when Yang Kai had first ventured through the Star Domain, he had encountered meteorite seas like this on several occasions.
Having deliberately sought one out this time, a flood of old memories returned to him, and he couldn't help but sigh at how pitifully weak he had been back then.
He selected a meteorite roughly the same size as the barren mountain from before and sat cross-legged upon it. Once more he closed his eyes, calmed his mind, and regulated his breathing.
Several days passed in this manner before Yang Kai opened his eyes. Demonic energy surged, spiritual sense billowed outward, and the laws of Space unfurled around him.
As his demonic energy churned, the meteorite beneath him contracted and expanded in rhythm. But this time the outcome was different from before — the last barren mountain had shown little change after expanding and shrinking, yet now, with each cycle of expansion and contraction, the massive meteorite grew perceptibly smaller.
Round after round, cycle after cycle…
Seven full days passed, and the enormous meteorite had been reduced to half its original size.
Another half month went by, and it was now only a dozen zhang across.
After a month, it had shrunk to the size of a millstone.
But Yang Kai's expression showed not the slightest hint of relaxation — if anything, his focus had grown even more intense. The laws of Space and his demonic energy oscillated at an ever-increasing tempo, and with them the millstone-sized meteorite contracted and expanded faster and faster. Yet the progress grew slower and slower with each passing day.
The last ten steps of a hundred are the hardest. Having cultivated for as long as Yang Kai had, he understood this simple truth all too well. This meteorite was, strictly speaking, the first Small World he had ever refined — he could afford neither carelessness nor a single misstep. He poured his entire being into the task.
Time trickled onward, and the millstone grew ever smaller.
It had taken Yang Kai a month to compress the hundred-zhang boulder down to a millstone, but refining that millstone took a full three months. The closer he got to completion, the slower the progress became.
Four months after he had begun, Yang Kai's brow suddenly lifted. He reached out and scooped something into his palm.
It was a small bead, no bigger than a longan fruit, and it possessed not a trace of spiritual energy — nothing more than a stone bead.
Yet holding it in his hands, Yang Kai cradled it as though it were the most precious treasure in all the world. A broad grin spread across his face no matter how he looked at it, and he could not suppress a hearty laugh.
After only a few booming guffaws, Yang Kai's eyes rolled back, his legs gave way, and he collapsed into unconsciousness in an instant.
A figure flickered — the Dharma Avatar, Bo Ya, and Bai Zhuo appeared simultaneously. The moment the two veteran Demon Clan Half-Saints materialized, they both let out stifled groans as their expressions changed drastically.
It was none other than this: the instant the two demons emerged, their demonic energy suddenly refused to flow properly, as though seized by an invisible hand. Moreover, in this expanse of stars, a vast and hostile will descended upon them, and somewhere in the back of their minds, it felt as though a pair of invisible eyes were watching them, monitoring their every move.
Bo Ya and Bai Zhuo naturally assumed a powerful enemy lurked nearby — how could they not react?
"Stay calm — it's merely the suppression of the world's laws," the Dharma Avatar quickly explained.
Neither Bai Zhuo nor Bo Ya had experienced this before, but after a moment's thought they grasped the underlying truth. This realm was low-level, its martial path meager, yet the world was still a complete and sovereign domain. It was not alive in the mortal sense, but it possessed a kind of awareness. Upon detecting two existences whose power exceeded what this world could sustain, it naturally reacted with hostility.
This was its means of self-preservation.
Yang Kai had faced the same thing when he returned to the Star Domain all those years ago — it was no privilege reserved for these two Demon Clan Half-Saints.
Hearing the Dharma Avatar's words, the two Half-Saints finally relaxed. But at precisely that moment, a massive meteorite drifted soundlessly up from behind. Even powerful cultivators like Bo Ya and Bai Zhuo detected nothing at all — the meteorite slammed squarely into the backs of both their heads, sending the two demons stumbling forward.
Half-Saints were staggeringly powerful; even a blow from an enormous meteorite could not so much as scratch them. If anything, it was the meteorite that shattered into pieces on impact. Still, the experience was nothing short of humiliating.
What had hit them was only a meteorite. But what if it had been some devastating divine ability?
The Dharma Avatar cleared his throat lightly. "As a general rule, anyone above the Void King Realm who enters this world will find their luck quite dismal…" With the world itself harboring hostility toward them and offering no favor, good fortune was the last thing they could expect. The two Demon Clan Half-Saints had gotten off relatively easy — merely bumped by a painless meteorite. When Yang Kai had come here back in the day, he would trip over his own feet just walking. Now *that* had been truly wretched.
"Why is it so?" Bai Zhuo frowned.
The Dharma Avatar replied, "This Star Domain doesn't like you."
It sounded like nonsense, but it was the plain truth. If a few stray insects suddenly crawled into an anthill, who would welcome them?
"Then why aren't *you* affected?" Bo Ya asked curiously. He had clearly sensed that the Dharma Avatar felt no suppression from the world's laws here.
The Dharma Avatar grinned and pointed at Yang Kai. "This Star Domain is his — and that means it's mine too." He was family. When family came home, you rolled out the welcome mat — you didn't drive them away.
"Is he… asleep?" Bai Zhuo asked, glancing around warily to keep track of the meteorites whizzing past them.
Yang Kai had indeed fallen asleep. Though he was not snoring, this was no mere fainting spell — he was in a deep, peaceful slumber, a faint smile still lingering at the corner of his lips, as though he had encountered something wonderful in his dreams.
The two Demon Clan Half-Saints had remained inside the Small World all this time and were unfamiliar with what had just transpired. The Dharma Avatar, on the other hand — being Yang Kai's clone — could freely open and close the Small World. Even while residing within it, he had been able to see everything Yang Kai was doing outside. Upon noticing that Yang Kai had slipped into unconsciousness, he had immediately manifested to keep watch.