When the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven first appeared, it had only a single entrance, and that entrance was firmly controlled by the various Grotto-heavens and Blessed Lands. Only disciples of those Grotto-heavens and Blessed Lands were qualified to enter, exploring and searching for treasures within.
But as time passed, the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven grew increasingly unstable, gradually showing signs of merging with the Blood Demon Domain as a whole. The most obvious manifestation was the growing number of entrances—a result of the two worlds colliding and making contact.
With that, it became far more difficult for the Grotto-heavens and Blessed Lands to monopolize the entrances. Eventually, the situation settled into what it had been during the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven's recent opening: everyone staking out their own territory, waiting for the entrances to open, then pressing inward. The Blood Demon Grotto-heaven had evolved into an event that swept across the entire Three Thousand Worlds, drawing countless cultivators like moths to a flame.
But regardless of all that, the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven was undeniably unstable. Mo Mei and the others in Dingfeng City had said as much—one day, the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven would merge completely with the Blood Demon Domain, becoming a part of it. At that point, the Cosmos Grotto-heaven left behind by an eighth-grade Open Heaven Realm master would be fully exposed to the world.
The collapse of the Blood Demon Divine Palace had merely accelerated that timeline.
Scenes of heaven and earth shattering, of the world ending, spread to every corner of the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven. The sky and earth hummed without cease, as though weeping. Countless demon beasts hidden in the depths of the Grotto-heaven fled in panic. The native cultivators who had settled within all looked up at the sky with ashen faces, despair etched across their features.
They were descendants of those whom the Blood Demon Divine Lord had dragged into this place long ago, branding them with Blood Dao seals. Within this Cosmos Grotto-heaven, they had lived and multiplied for generations. Without those Blood Dao seals, the collapse of the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven would have been cause for celebration—it would have freed them from the confines of this world, allowing them to step into the broader, grander Three Thousand Worlds. But burdened as they were with Blood Dao seals, trapped here and unable to leave, the collapse of the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven meant certain death. Without the nurturing aura of the Grotto-heaven to sustain them, they would perish!
In the valley where the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven was situated, the blood cloud formed by the Black Crow Divine Lord drifted ceaselessly, hunting for Yang Kai's traces. Wherever it passed, a storm of blood and carnage followed. Countless cultivators were devoured of their flesh and blood essence, losing their lives on the spot.
Yang Kai had been hiding for a while when suddenly his heart lurched. "This is bad!" he cried.
He had originally planned to keep hiding until the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven fully collapsed, at which point he could naturally leave and return to the Blood Demon Domain. Once he was in the Blood Demon Domain, the Black Crow Divine Lord wouldn't dare act with such impunity. The man was brutal by nature and an ancient monster who had seized a body through soul transmigration. The various Grotto-heavens and Blessed Lands would never let him go—not because they were eager to rid the world of evil, but because an ancient monster like him surely carried many secrets. With his current strength so low, capturing him would naturally yield some top-secret intelligence and benefits. At the very least, he knew of the Great Profundity Immortal Blood Illumination Scripture. Such a heaven-defying cultivation technique would be enough to tempt anyone.
But then he suddenly thought of Mo Mei and the others in Dingfeng City.
Hiding here kept him perfectly safe. With the Shadowless Veil concealing his form and aura, the Black Crow Divine Lord would never find him. But if the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven truly collapsed, wouldn't those people in Dingfeng City be doomed?
He had even specifically sought out the Black Crow Divine Lord to obtain the secret technique for removing the Blood Dao seals—all so he could help the people of Dingfeng City. They had some connection to the proprietress, and Yang Kai saw their potential. Mo Mei and several elders of considerable strength—if their lives could be saved, they were virtually guaranteed to advance to the Open Heaven Realm!
They had spent their entire lives within the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven and had nowhere else to go in the outside world. If Yang Kai could save them, bringing them into the Void Land should pose no problem.
The Void Land was currently short on Open Heaven Realm powerhouses. Yang Kai naturally had no intention of missing such an opportunity.
With that thought, Yang Kai could hesitate no longer. While keeping his form and aura concealed as much as possible, he raced toward Dingfeng City at top speed, silently praying that the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven wouldn't collapse too quickly—at least not before he could remove the Blood Dao seals from the people of Dingfeng City.
After flying for a stretch and putting himself beyond the Black Crow Divine Lord's range of detection, Yang Kai shed all restraint. His speed surged to another level entirely. Under the activation of his Space Laws, his body flickered and teleported, rapidly closing the distance to Dingfeng City.
Enormous spatial rifts appeared without warning ahead of him—signs of the heavens and earth tearing apart. Within the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven, vast stretches of land crumbled away, pouring into these rifts and vanishing without a trace.
In such an environment, an ordinary person would find it nearly impossible to move. One moment of inattention could mean being swallowed by a spatial rift.
But Yang Kai sensed the aura of the Blood Demon Domain within those rifts. In other words, even if he were swallowed by one, there likely wouldn't be any danger to his life—there was a good chance he would simply be deposited back in the Blood Demon Domain.
Understanding this, Yang Kai felt somewhat reassured. Whether it was the accountant Lang Qingshan or Ruoxi and the others, safely returning to the Blood Demon Domain should not be a problem.
He possessed the Space Laws and could detect those spatial rifts well in advance, so his journey had not been significantly delayed.
As he traveled, Yang Kai split off a thread of his mind to study the jade slip the Black Crow Divine Lord had given him. He had examined its contents before, and with his experience deciphering several of the Blood Illumination Scripture's stone stele inscriptions, he had determined that the jade slip's contents were genuine—it truly could remove those Blood Dao seals.
But he hadn't actually practiced the technique yet. Even if he managed to reach Dingfeng City in time, time would be extremely tight. He needed to rehearse the contents of the jade slip beforehand, so that he could rescue the people of Dingfeng City in the shortest time possible.
The disturbances between heaven and earth grew more alarming by the moment, and the Grotto-heaven could collapse at any time. No matter how anxious Yang Kai was, he pushed himself desperately toward Dingfeng City. But there was still a considerable distance between them, and reaching Dingfeng City would take at least half a day.
All he could do was pray silently that the Blood Demon Grotto-heaven would hold on just a little longer.