Fortunately, Yang Kai had absolute dominion over everything within the World Pearl, so carving away a portion from the Third Domain was merely a matter of thought. The real challenge was extracting the Demonic Will from within—until that was purged, the human armies could not be allowed to enter.
After several attempts and numerous failures, wasting considerable time, Yang Kai finally found a workable method.
One month later, the first Realm Pearl created by separating a world from the Small World was born.
This Realm Pearl was quite different from those Yang Kai had refined before. The biggest difference was that its space was relatively small—but even so, housing fifty thousand people was no issue.
It wasn't that Yang Kai couldn't forge a Realm Pearl with more space. It was simply that, considering the current situation in the Star Boundary, smaller Realm Pearls would be more practical, and they required far less time to refine.
One landmass after another was devoured in a rolling tide. At each new continent, Yang Kai would activate the Ethereal Pearl, attempting to contact Yu Rumeng and the seven Great Emperors—but alas, he had yet to establish contact with any of them.
This made Yang Kai wonder: were the Great Emperors truly in the Demon Domain? If they weren't there, then where could they be? There was no trace of them in the Star Boundary either.
...
In a bizarre, otherworldly space, two spheres of light blazed with extreme brilliance—one black, one red. Within each radiance sat a figure, both impossibly massive in presence, their auras unfathomably deep. Each had their hands formed in seals, their power surging wildly, and as their energies clashed, the black and red lights ground against one another ceaselessly.
But to the eye, the red light was clearly gaining the upper hand. The black light was in a state of suppression.
How long this standoff had persisted was impossible to say. It might have been an instant, or perhaps centuries. But for the two locked in battle, the passage of time had long ceased to matter—all that existed between them was the enemy before their eyes.
Suddenly, a voice like a great bell boomed from within the black light: "Iron Blood Great Emperor—your reputation is well deserved!"
Within the red light, Zhan Wuhen's expression remained as still as ancient water. He said flatly, "First Demon Saint... passable, I suppose."
Of the Twelve Demon Saints of the Demon Domain, Huang Wuji was universally recognized as the First. Among the ten Great Emperors of the Star Boundary, however, there was no official ranking—no such thing as a "First Great Emperor." But when it came to sheer combat prowess, Zhan Wuhen standing at the very top was something all the Great Emperors tacitly acknowledged. At their level of cultivation, hollow titles held no meaning whatsoever; there was no need to draw up some formal ranking.
And now it seemed that in this clash between the First Demon Saint and the First Great Emperor, Zhan Wuhen's methods were proving more formidable. If that weren't the case, the black light would not be in a suppressed state.
Huang Wuji let out a thunderous laugh. "Even if your reach spans heaven and earth—what of it? The Star Boundary cannot escape the fate of being consumed. Zhan Wuhen, if you know what's good for you, surrender now. Otherwise, it will all end in tragedy."
Zhan Wuhen replied coolly, "Invasion of the Star Boundary? That depends on whether you actually have the ability."
Huang Wuji snorted coldly. "You really think I can't handle you?"
Zhan Wuhen was a man of few words: "Try me."
Huang Wuji sneered. "Then I will!"
The moment those words left his mouth, he suddenly reached out and grasped at the void. Something appeared in the palm of his hand. The instant it manifested, Zhan Wuhen's expression—for the first time—shifted. A wave of overwhelming, vicious aura assailed him head-on, and that aura carried a sense of familiarity.
Unbidden, memories flooded back: that day above Canglang City, when a colossal hand had reached through a rift in the void. The malevolence emanating from this object was strikingly similar to that hand!
He had never been able to determine where that hand had come from. Only now did a measure of understanding dawn.
Zhan Wuhen focused his gaze, a flicker of crimson light passing through his eyes as his vision pierced through layer upon layer of obstruction to discern the shape of the object in Huang Wuji's hand.
It was a severed palm—blue-green, desiccated, cut clean at the wrist. The severance was perfectly flat, as though carved by some supreme blade. Who knew how many years had passed since the wound had ceased to bleed, but the moment this severed palm appeared, its terrifying malevolence came with it.
Zhan Wuhen felt a jolt of astonishment. From the sheer pressure this severed palm exuded alone, one could imagine the cultivation level of its original owner. He—the Iron Blood Great Emperor, who had already ascended to the pinnacle of the martial path—found that upon seeing this severed palm, it was as though an entirely new door had opened before his eyes. In that moment, his emotions churned wildly, difficult to contain, and his body trembled ever so slightly.
Huang Wuji laughed coldly. "Scared now? It's not too late to beg for mercy."
Zhan Wuhen's trembling intensified. His head hung low, his hair casting a deep shadow over his face as he let out a low, rasping laugh. "So that's how it is... so that's how it is... so it was all true!"
Huang Wuji saw him muttering to himself, unable to make out what he was saying, but this utter disregard for his presence ignited a furious rage within him. His voice turned icy. "Stubborn fool!"
As he spoke, he raised the severed palm and slammed it down toward Zhan Wuhen's position.
A beam of blue-green light shot from within the severed palm, transforming into an enormous, misty-green hand that smashed violently into the red light. In an instant, brilliance erupted in every direction, and the entire nameless space shuddered and warped, as though it might collapse at any moment.