"Zhu Jiuyin, sooner or later you'll pay for this!" Hovering in the sky above the Void Land, Yang Kai clenched his teeth and silently swore revenge.
Earlier, Zhu Jiuyin had sent a voice transmission saying that this Void Land was not simple, and that he should investigate it thoroughly. Yang Kai naturally hadn't dared to neglect the matter. This place was his foothold in the Three Thousand Worlds. Setting everything else aside, the six hundred thousand people he'd brought from the Star Boundary were still living here. If something went wrong, how could he face the Star Boundary?
But after days of searching, he had found absolutely nothing.
Come to think of it, he had lived here for quite some time in the past and had never noticed anything unusual about the Void Land. At best, it was nothing more than the headquarters of a second-rate power — what could possibly be special about it?
The only reason he'd taken Zhu Jiuyin's words seriously was that she was a Sacred Spirit after all, and might have sensed something.
But now it seemed that this woman was either deliberately misleading him or simply didn't have the ability to tell. Yang Kai figured the former was more likely, which left a sour taste in his mouth.
Muttering a few disgruntled words, Yang Kai gave up on further investigation and found the Second Steward, Bian Yuqing, to inform her that he would be going into seclusion for a while and was not to be disturbed unless something major came up.
Bian Yuqing naturally agreed respectfully.
Yang Kai returned to his residence, entered his private chamber, activated the protective formations, and sat cross-legged. He spent three full days calming his mind before solemnly taking out the Seventh-Order Gold-attribute inner core.
The inner core was about the size of a fist, entirely golden in color, with rich and pure Gold-attribute energy swirling around it. When he probed it with his Divine Sense, he could clearly feel the vast power contained within.
Yang Kai's heart was delighted, but his expression remained calm as still water.
Obtaining something like this was no easy feat — it could be attributed entirely to luck. He had originally hoped to find the resources he needed inside the Blood Demon Cave Heaven, but that hadn't worked out. When the Blood Demon Cave Heaven collapsed, he had completely given up on the idea. Yet just when all hope seemed lost and a new path opened up, he happened upon the severely wounded Gold Wolf King. And as it turned out, the Gold Wolf King had devoured the Gold Baboon King's inner core, barely managing to advance from peak Sixth-Order to Seventh-Order.
He still had the Divine Ability Pearl that the Landlady had bestowed upon him!
And truth be told, the Gold Wolf King's ability to defeat the Gold Baboon King and advance to Seventh-Order was partly thanks to Yang Kai himself. If he hadn't fought the Gold Baboon King in Dingfeng City, those two peak Sixth-Order demon beasts might never have fought to the death. After all, they had been clashing for years without either gaining a decisive advantage — their strength had always been evenly matched.
It was precisely because Yang Kai had battled the Gold Baboon King in Dingfeng City, greatly weakening it, that the Gold Wolf King had seized its opportunity!
A string of fortunate coincidences — that was how he had come to possess this Seventh-Order Gold-attribute inner core.
Now it seemed there was no need to visit the Golden Antelope Blessed Land either. Yang Kai had originally planned to pay it a visit if the Blood Demon Cave Heaven came up empty, hoping to find something there. But now, there was no need to bother.
No matter how calm he appeared on the surface, Yang Kai was still a little excited inside. Once he refined this inner core, he would be only one step away from the Open Heaven realm. All he needed then was to find suitable Yin-attribute resources and refine them, and he could open the heavens and earth, achieving the Open Heaven realm. At that point, with his foundations, he would finally have the means to protect himself across the entire Three Thousand Worlds.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Before refining this Gold-attribute inner core, he still needed to make some preparations.
Of the Yin-Yang Five Elements forces, he had first refined Wood-attribute, then Fire-attribute, and then Earth-attribute. But when it came time for Gold-attribute, he had gotten stuck. Fortunately, Zhu Jiuyin had taught him the Reverse Yin-Yang Five Elements Profound Universe Heart Sutra, which allowed him to skip Gold-attribute entirely and condense Water-attribute instead, then go on to refine Yang-attribute.
However, despite how remarkable the Reverse Yin-Yang Five Elements Profound Universe Heart Sutra was, it required the practitioner to constantly dedicate a sliver of consciousness to maintain it. If it was ever interrupted, the Five Elements would fall into disorder and the Dao Seal would tremble.
When refining Water-attribute, Yang Kai had dedicated one thread of consciousness to continuously circulate the Reverse Yin-Yang Five Elements Profound Universe Heart Sutra. When refining Yang-attribute, he had dedicated yet another thread.
It could be said that Yang Kai had been maintaining at least three simultaneous trains of thought at all times. For any other cultivator, this would place an enormous burden on the body, because sustaining three parallel streams of thought at every moment was tremendously taxing on the mind. Without sufficiently powerful Divine Sense, it would be impossible to achieve — let alone fighting while in such a state.
Perhaps maintaining three trains of thought for a short while wasn't too difficult, but the challenge lay in the fact that it couldn't be interrupted — it had to be maintained at every single moment.
Fortunately, Yang Kai's Divine Sense was more than a tier above his peers, which was why he hadn't made any mistakes.
Now, as he prepared to refine the Gold-attribute, he would need to dedicate yet another thread of consciousness.
His Divine Sense surged, his consciousness split apart, and the Reverse Yin-Yang Five Elements Profound Universe Heart Sutra activated. Yang Kai gripped the Seventh-Order inner core with both hands, channeled the power of his Dao Seal, and began drawing out the Gold-attribute energy within.