Changfeng City was a small town in the Northern Domain, comparable in scale to the old Maple Forest City.
Had Yang Kai not done some research during the day, he never would have known where exactly Changfeng City was located.
Five thousand li of distance—in his current speed, it had taken less than half a cup of tea to arrive. Glancing around, Yang Kai sighed softly. Places like Changfeng City were now countless throughout the Star Boundary.
The small town was dilapidated, a scene of utter ruin. Though the Demon Race's armies had not yet rampaged this far, the city's residents had long since fled for their lives. The town, which had never been prosperous to begin with, was now utterly dead and silent.
This was merely a microcosm of countless places across the Star Boundary.
The flames of war between the two realms had spread across the entire world. After this war concluded, even if the Star Boundary emerged victorious, how long would it take for this land to recover its Yuan Qi? Perhaps several thousand years, perhaps tens of thousands—perhaps even longer.
But so long as recovery was possible, that alone was enough for everyone in the Star Boundary to give their lives to prevent the Demon Race from claiming it.
Atop the city wall, Yang Kai stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing up at the sky. Dark clouds blanketed the heavens, not a sliver of moonlight breaking through. He cracked a grin—on a moonless night with a rising wind, it was the perfect time for killing and arson.
A rustling sound came from behind him. Yang Kai turned to look and was visibly surprised.
The person who had invited him here had appeared in plain sight, with no attempt to hide whatsoever.
Had he been overthinking things? Yang Kai's brow furrowed slightly upon seeing the newcomer's face.
"I was worried you wouldn't come. But you really do have guts—running around outside at a time like this. What would you do if I'd invited three or five capable fighters here and set up an inescapable trap?" A pleasant voice rang out, crisp and pleasing to the ear. Not far away, a lithe figure drifted gracefully forward, landing five zhang before Yang Kai. She regarded him with a bright smile, and carried on the wind was a faint, intoxicating fragrance.
At this distance, for the newcomer, it was an extraordinarily dangerous range. Yang Kai, who commanded the Laws of Space, could launch a lethal attack in the blink of an eye. Even with her immense strength, she probably couldn't dodge it.
"Senior Sheng!" Yang Kai exclaimed in astonishment. "That secret letter… was from you?"
Standing before him was none other than Sheng Yuzhu of the Rakshasa Sect! The Pseudo-Emperor whom he had rescued from the spatial rift—someone who had lived for tens of thousands of years and experienced a previous Grand Dao competition!
Strictly speaking, the Grand Dao competition Sheng Yuzhu had experienced was the one before the last. She was, after all, a contemporary of Wu Kuang. When Yang Kai had originally brought her out of the spatial rift, he had wanted to verify her identity.
She had casually rattled off the names of Wu Kuang, Yao Jun, Chu Tianji, Duan Hongchen, Zhan Wuhen, and others…
Before that, Yang Kai wouldn't have believed that a single person could have lingered in the spatial rift for so long. As for why she had been trapped there, according to her own account, she had been set up by Wu Kuang.
Back then, her strength had been roughly on par with Wu Kuang's—both had the potential to contend for the title of Great Emperor. Wu Kuang, that bastard, in order to eliminate a competitor, had schemed to cast her into the spatial rift before the Grand Dao competition arrived, where she remained until Yang Kai found her. So while she had lived through that era, she had missed the competition entirely—a perfect miss.
After Yang Kai had rescued her from the Rakshasa Sect's spatial rift years ago, the two had rarely been in contact. Later, when the war between the two realms broke out, Yang Kai had thought of her and made inquiries about the Rakshasa Sect. After all, he still bore the title of Honorary Elder of the Rakshasa Sect, and within his capacity, he was willing to look after this sect of women. But his inquiries revealed that the Rakshasa Sect had vanished without a trace over a decade ago—which, by his calculations, was just a few years after he had helped Sheng Yuzhu escape her imprisonment.
From that point on, the entire Rakshasa Sect, along with Sheng Yuzhu herself, had disappeared without a trace.
Until today.
Once he knew it was Sheng Yuzhu who had sought him out, Yang Kai realized he had been overthinking things earlier. The fact that she had appeared so openly and spoken the way she had meant she harbored no ill intentions toward him. Besides, Yang Kai had done his research on Sheng Yuzhu after their parting.
At one point, he had spoken with Zhan Wuhen about this woman. Upon learning that she was still alive, even Zhan Wuhen had been quite surprised. After all, after tens of thousands of years, most of their old acquaintances were long gone, and only a handful of old friends remained. Though Zhan Wuhen had no particular relationship with Sheng Yuzhu, he had still smiled upon hearing she was alive.
Of this woman, Zhan Wuhen had offered only one assessment: she's not a bad person!
Coming from Zhan Wuhen, that was proof enough of Sheng Yuzhu's character.
"Otherwise, who did you think sent it?" Sheng Yuzhu tilted her head as she looked at Yang Kai, her smile bright. Setting aside the fact that she had lived for tens of thousands of years, judging by her appearance and expression alone, one would think her barely past the age of sixteen.
An old monster! Yang Kai muttered inwardly, then chuckled lightly. "Precisely because I didn't know who sent it, I came to see for myself." He paused, then added, "It seems you know something, Senior?" Otherwise, she wouldn't have made those comments about Yang Kai's boldness earlier.
Sheng Yuzhu looked at him with an amused expression. "You're able to ask that question, which means you already know something yourself! Good—that saves me the trouble of explaining."