Half an hour later, A Da stared at Yang Kai eagerly, clearly wanting more.
Yang Kai spread his hands. "It's really gone."
Quite a few World Beads had been devoured, and more than half the spiritual fruits in the medicine garden had vanished. If this continued, he would truly go bankrupt. Yang Kai seriously doubted that even if he brought out everything in the medicine garden, it would be enough to fill that belly.
Looking at that mountainous physique… probably not.
His eyes darted about, and Yang Kai said, "Want to come with me? I'll take you somewhere with good food."
A Da's mind might be simple, but his cultivation was truly world-shaking. If he could lure this giant back to the Star Realm, beings like the Demon Saints could be crushed at will. Yang Kai even wondered whether the Great Demon God could stand up to him. With someone like this, the Star Realm's crisis would be resolved in an instant—no need for countless sacrifices and years of warfare.
It had been nothing more than a flash of inspiration, but the more he thought about it, the better the idea seemed. He immediately began his earnest persuasion, piling on sweet talk and gentle words, but the gist was simple: Come with me, and you'll never go hungry.
If they really made it back to the Star Realm, with an entire world's resources, surely they could keep him fed.
Yang Kai talked himself dry, but A Da just kept giggling foolishly, offering no response at all. It made Yang Kai wonder whether the giant was actually feigning stupidity.
"I've said all that—so what's your verdict? Are you coming with me or not?" Yang Kai wiped his mouth, making one last attempt.
"Hehehe."
"Hehehe my foot. Are you coming with me or not? Give me an answer!" Yang Kai was exasperated. He sat down on A Da's palm with a thump, glaring at him with frustrated expectation. The two stared at each other—big eyes into small—wordless.
Then, without warning, a look of joy flashed across A Da's face, and he turned to gaze in a certain direction.
Yang Kai followed his line of sight but saw nothing—only the vast expanse of stars.
A moment later, A Da suddenly rose to his feet, energized. "A Da is going to find food!"
"Where?" Yang Kai shielded his eyes with a hand and peered into the distance.
A Da had already taken great strides, hurtling toward that direction. His mountainous body moved with lightning speed, and Yang Kai, perched on his palm, watched the surrounding scenery streak past in a blur, unable to help calling out, "Hey, hey, hey—where are you going?"
A Da paused, as though he had only just remembered there was someone on his hand. He halted his steps, lowered his head to glance at Yang Kai, and grinned. "You treat A Da to food. You're a good person. A Da likes you." His smile was pure and clean, like that of a child.
"Then like me enough to come with me! Whatever you want, just say the word." Yang Kai doubled down on his recruitment effort.
But A Da reached into his armpit, dug around, and then produced something that looked like an embroidery needle. He set it gently before Yang Kai. "A Da gives you this."
Yang Kai snatched up the needle-like object, and his body shuddered. An aura ancient and desolate surged toward him, enveloping him completely, creating the sudden illusion that he had been transported back to the primordial age of creation.
By the time Yang Kai shook off that sensation and collected himself, A Da had already departed into the distance, leaving behind only a tiny silhouette. In the blink of an eye, even that vanished.
Incredibly fast. While standing on A Da's palm, he hadn't quite grasped the speed. But now, watching from afar, Yang Kai finally understood just how terrifying the giant's velocity was.
He immediately channeled the Laws of Space to give chase, but there was no catching up. A Da had already vanished into the boundless expanse of the starfield. Tracking a single person's trail across this vast, infinite cosmos was an extraordinarily difficult task.
Yang Kai felt a pang of frustration. Such a powerful ally, and he had failed to win him over—a genuine pity.
Only then did Yang Kai finally have a chance to examine the object in his hand.
When A Da had pulled it from his armpit, it had truly resembled an embroidery needle—but that depended on who was doing the comparing. Before that colossal body, it was indeed needle-sized. But in Yang Kai's palm, that "embroidery needle" was the size of a chopstick.
He had to remember that since encountering A Da, he had maintained his hundred-zhang half-dragon form. So a chopstick in his hand was at least one or two zhang long.
A closer look revealed that it was, in fact, a long spear. Its tip gleamed with cold, sharp light. A dragon coiled along the shaft, accompanied by many patterns resembling dragon scales. The butt of the spear was adorned with gilded cloud engravings—truly a remarkable weapon.
Yang Kai's expression brightened. He closed his eyes and extended his senses. A moment later, surprise flickered across his face.
His attention had been fixed on A Da before, and he hadn't had the leisure to probe this object's mysteries. Now, with a careful examination, he realized it was an extraordinarily uncommon treasure. The primordial aura emanating from the shaft was, if anything, even denser than that of the Mountain and River Bell.
That meant this spear had existed even longer than the Mountain and River Bell.
What startled Yang Kai even more was that he could faintly sense a familiar aura emanating from within the spear.