On a spirit mountain somewhere within the Qiaoqiao Grounds, Yang Kai found a suitable spot, withdrew Xu Huang's corpse from his Small World, and laid it in a freshly dug grave before him.
After Xu Huang's death, Yang Kai had stored his body in his Small World. Now that the Qiaoqiao Grounds had fallen into his hands, returning Xu Huang's remains could be considered letting him return to his roots.
After all, the Qiaoqiao Grounds had originally belonged to Xu Huang.
He and Xu Huang had shared no real friendship—merely a relationship of mutual convenience. Still, Yang Kai had genuinely profited from their association. The Six Harmonies Wonder Bag had been Xu Huang's, and without the Formation Jade Pendant Xu Huang had gifted him on his deathbed, seizing the Qiaoqiao Grounds this time would not have gone so smoothly.
In burying him here, Yang Kai could be said to be returning a kindness.
Just as he was about to fill in the grave, a faint ripple of divine sense emanated from the corpse.
Yue He's expression instantly hardened. She stepped forward, shielding Yang Kai with her body.
As the two watched, a translucent, somewhat ethereal figure drifted out of the corpse—so fragile a breeze might scatter it. The figure bore Xu Huang's unmistakable appearance.
"A remnant soul!" Yue He's brows furrowed. At a glance, she recognized it for what it was—a remnant soul possessing no offensive power or threat whatsoever. Any technique could annihilate it on the spot, so her tension eased somewhat.
But she couldn't fathom why a remnant soul still lingered within the body.
Yang Kai was equally puzzled. Xu Huang's corpse had lain in his Small World for years without incident. Why the sudden activity?
Then a thought struck him: this might have been a restriction Xu Huang placed before his death.
It would only activate when his body was returned to the Qiaoqiao Grounds, producing the remnant soul they now saw before them.
What purpose could this remnant soul serve? Yang Kai's thoughts raced as he studied it in silence.
Xu Huang's remnant soul hovered in midair, glancing around. "So I've returned."
A long sigh, brimming with loneliness and sorrow that words could not capture.
After speaking, the soul reached out with a casual gesture. The Formation Jade Pendant tucked in Yue He's sleeve suddenly flew free, landing in the soul's spectral hand. Xu Huang's remnant soul lightly swept a finger across its surface, then tossed it back.
Yue He caught it and swept it with her divine sense. "There was a layer of restriction on this pendant. It's been removed."
"Must have been something he set up before he died," Yang Kai replied. The Formation Jade Pendant had originally belonged to Xu Huang and been gifted to him on his deathbed. Yang Kai had suspected even then that Xu Huang harbored ill intent—and now it appeared his suspicion was justified.
Without returning his body to the Qiaoqiao Grounds, the final layer of restriction on the pendant could never be removed. Even in possession of it, one would have been unable to fully refine the protective grand formation of the Qiaoqiao Grounds.
"I don't have much time. Follow me!" the remnant soul said, then shot rapidly forward.
Yang Kai and Yue He exchanged a glance and hurried after it. Neither asked questions—the remnant soul was born of Xu Huang's dying obsessions and possessed little capacity for independent thought, merely acting on the final impulses Xu Huang had left behind. Even if they asked, they would learn nothing.
After about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the remnant soul brought them to a grand hall.
The hall stood within the Earth Spirit Land, serving as the central nexus of the entire Qiaoqiao Grounds.
The Qiaoqiao Grounds comprised seven Great Spirit Lands, arranged in a peculiar pattern. The Earth Spirit Land occupied the central position and was by far the largest. Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire flanked it on four sides, each considerably smaller, while the Yin and Yang Spirit Lands lay at the opposite ends of the Earth Spirit Land.
Viewed from high above, the Qiaoqiao Grounds resembled a turtle suspended in the void.
The turtle's back was the Earth Spirit Land. Its front limbs were the Metal and Wood Spirit Lands; its hind limbs, the Water and Fire Spirit Lands. Its head was the Yang Spirit Land, and its tail the Yin Spirit Land—an almost perfect likeness.
The market town, meanwhile, was a world fragment floating above the turtle's back, somehow relocated here by some past master of the Qiaoqiao Grounds through divine means and used as a place of trade.
The place the remnant soul had led Yang Kai and Yue He to was the central hall of the Earth Spirit Land.
It was also the residence of the Qiaoqiao Celestial Lord.
The remnant soul surged directly into the hall, weaving through a maze of corridors before coming to a stop before a certain wall.
"Everything behind here is yours now." With those final words, the remnant soul slammed into the wall and burst into a shower of shimmering motes.
The motes spread across the wall's surface and quickly coalesced into a doorway.
Yue He and Yang Kai stared at each other, neither having anticipated such a development.
"A hidden vault!" Yue He exclaimed, her spirits lifting.
Yang Kai's eyebrows rose as well.
He had no clear picture of what lay beyond this door, but given what the remnant soul had said, it wasn't difficult to guess—this was undoubtedly the entrance to a treasure vault.