Chapter 3836. Qiqiao Ground

Without delay, the old man departed the moment he said he would. He called out to the group, extended a finger forward, and a door immediately materialized before them.

Yang Kai narrowed his eyes and looked—sure enough, it was the very door he had spotted in the void earlier.

With a creak, the old man pushed it open and the group filed through. They stepped out onto the very spot where they had first entered, though the door behind them warped and twisted, transforming into the shape of a great ship. Two luminous ropes of shimmering light extended from the prow, their ends looped around the necks of two stone lions.

Those stone lions were none other than the pair that had been crouching on either side of the entrance before. Seeing this, Yang Kai immediately confirmed his earlier suspicion—the two stone lions were no ordinary creatures, for how else could they undergo such a transformation?

At this moment, both stone lions had swelled dramatically in size, their bodies exuding a fierce and baleful aura. They shook their heads and lashed their tails, radiating an imposing might.

The newcomers aboard the ship stared with their jaws agape. It wasn't that the transformation of the stone lions was particularly wondrous—rather, the aura emanating from within them was clearly no weaker than their own, and in some cases arguably surpassed it.

In other words, the strength of these two stone lions very likely exceeded theirs.

They were each rulers of their own Great World, Emperors who had condensed Dao Marks, absolute authorities within their own domains. Yet now, having stepped outside those domains, they found that even the beasts pulling someone's ship were more formidable than them. The bitterness in their hearts was beyond words.

The old man read their expressions, noting the shock written plainly on their faces, and smiled genially.

"Wow, Master, what are these two things? They look really impressive!" Ah Sun stood at the prow, peering downward with undisguised astonishment, calling out in excitement.

The old man made no effort to correct her mode of address—or perhaps he simply didn't care. He chuckled and said, "These two little things were originally a pair of stone embryos native to my Qiqiao Ground. After stumbling upon some fortuitous encounters, they awakened their spiritual intellect. I thought they seemed presentable enough, so I put them to work guarding the gate and pulling the ship."

"Qiqiao Ground?" Yang Kai raised an eyebrow. "May I ask, Senior, is the Qiqiao Ground you just mentioned the very place we're heading to?"

He had spent an entire year within that minor Great World without exchanging more than a few words with the old man, so he had no idea where the fellow came from. Now that it had been mentioned, he naturally paid closer attention.

"Precisely!" The old man nodded.

"Then could Qiqiao Ground be one of the Seventy-Two Blessed Grounds?" The burly man's face suddenly twisted in shock.

"Oh? You know of the Seventy-Two Blessed Grounds?" The old man looked at the burly man with a smile.

The other replied respectfully, "This junior hails from the Black River World. A great power once returned there, leaving behind scattered words. That is how this junior learned that beyond these Great Worlds, there exist the Thirty-Six Heavenly Caverns and the Seventy-Two Blessed Grounds."

The old man nodded in understanding. "Then do you know which faction that returning powerhouse belonged to?"

The burly man shook his head. "This junior does not."

"Did they leave behind some token for you to follow?" the old man asked again.

The burly man reached into his robes and produced an object, offering it respectfully. "This is the token that powerhouse left behind."

Yang Kai's sharp eyes caught it at once—a jade piece, unlike any jade he had seen before, of an unfamiliar variety. Inside, a tiny fish swam back and forth as if it were alive. Though he couldn't discern what was special about the fish within the jade, he could faintly sense that it contained profound and mysterious principles. He realized this must be the token the great power from the Black River World had left for their junior descendant.

A chill ran through his entire body!

Not because of the token itself, but because of the burly man's completely unguarded attitude toward the old man.

He had already been ambushed by the old man once before—it was only thanks to the Warm Spirit Lotus's protection that he had emerged unscathed. Yang Kai had already harbored suspicions about whether the old man had tampered with the others as well.

But suspicion was suspicion, and frankly, other people's affairs were none of his concern.

That was, until Ah Sun had been captured into the minor Great World and had moved to strike at the old man—and the burly man and the rest had rallied to the old man's defense in unison. That was when Yang Kai had grown fairly confident in his suspicions.

If the old man hadn't done something to them, why would four Emperors hailing from completely different Great Worlds react as one? Even if they had been trying to curry favor, it would have been unlikely for all four to move in such perfect concert.

And now, seeing this—this jade piece was undoubtedly one of the burly man's most precious possessions. With its guidance, he could undoubtedly locate the powerhouse from his own world and seek them out, receiving ample protection and support in turn. Why would he need to humble himself under someone else's command?

Yet such a precious item, the burly man had produced it simply because the old man had asked in passing, with not the slightest wariness. That spoke volumes.