Bixi chuckled. "You've already figured it out, so why bother asking?"
Yang Kai swallowed hard, the shock in his eyes growing ever deeper. He had assumed this Bixi was hidden somewhere within the Void Land, having slumbered for countless years. Now it seemed he had been sorely mistaken about something.
He scrambled to his feet, tossing out a hurried remark: "I'll be right back!"
His figure blurred. With the Space Laws surging beneath him, he vanished from the cave palace and appeared high above the Void Land in an instant. He produced the Grand Formation jade token, poured his power into it, and swept his hand outward. The roiling clouds shrouding the Void Land parted swiftly, laying the entire territory bare before Yang Kai's eyes.
He stared blankly for a long while, drawing in sharp breaths through clenched teeth, his face a mask of stunned disbelief.
"Sect Master!" Bian Yuqing suddenly shot up from below, her voice tinged with alarm. "What happened?"
She had been sorting through the spoils of the recent great battle, cataloguing and categorizing them, when she sensed a disturbance in the Nine-Layered Heaven Grand Formation and hurried up to investigate. She had assumed some new enemy was invading the Void Land, but upon arrival she found no sign of any foe.
Yang Kai didn't answer. His gaze just kept sweeping across the entirety of the Void Land. Bian Yuqing frowned in confusion and quickly moved to his side, following his line of sight downward.
"Second Steward, look carefully—what does our Void Land look like?" Yang Kai suddenly pointed downward and asked.
Without a moment's hesitation, Bian Yuqing answered: "It looks like a turtle!"
Yang Kai stared at her wide-eyed.
Bian Yuqing smiled. "Isn't that right? Our Void Land has seven great spirit lands. The Earth Spirit Land sits in the center and is the largest—that's the turtle's shell. The Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire Spirit Lands are arrayed around the four sides of the Earth Spirit Land, corresponding perfectly to four limbs. The Yin and Yang Spirit Lands are positioned at the head and tail of the Earth Spirit Land—isn't that just a turtle's head and tail?"
"Yes… it really does look like one." Yang Kai nodded faintly, a self-deprecating smile crossing his face. "How did I never notice before?"
Bian Yuqing said: "The Sect Master has been burdened with countless affairs—when would you have had the leisure to observe such things?" She paused. "Sect Master, is there something wrong with the Void Land?"
Yang Kai broke into a wide grin. "No, no, nothing's wrong at all! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Laughing heartily, he swooped back down in high spirits. Bian Yuqing watched him go, utterly bewildered, unable to fathom what he was up to.
Back in the cave, Yang Kai returned and settled himself before Bixi once more. He drew a slow, calming breath and asked respectfully: "Senior, may I ask your age?"
Bixi replied: "I've lost track! After living this long, who still cares about counting the years?"
"Then Senior, this…" Yang Kai extended a finger toward Bixi, struggling to find the right words.
Fortunately, Bixi understood what he was trying to ask and smiled faintly. "This is my dharma body."
Yang Kai's expression turned solemn, his appreciation of this being's power deepening further. Back during the battle, that Upper Open Heaven cultivator from the Myriad Demons Heaven had fired a full-powered spear strike at this very dharma body, yet all Bixi had done was retract slightly into his shell and emerge completely unscathed—not a single scratch on that carapace. If a mere dharma body possessed such formidable defenses, what about his true form?
And Bixi's true form was the entire Void Land!
In other words, Bixi was not hidden within the Void Land. Rather, the Void Land had been built upon Bixi's body. Beneath that vast expanse of territory lay his true form—but because his body was simply too colossal, he presented himself to the world in the form of this dharma body.
No wonder Bixi had said that Zhu Jiuyin was hopping about on top of him—beneath the entire Void Land was his body. Zhu Jiuyin had indeed been hopping around on him the whole time.
This was a genuine colossus! Yang Kai had no idea how many ages Bixi must have lived to achieve such an incomprehensible size.
But the thought that his own Void Land was situated atop a Sacred Spirit like this left Yang Kai caught between embarrassment and elation. The embarrassment stemmed from the fact that Bixi was, after all, a living being—building a Sect on someone's body without knowing how they felt about it was rather awkward. Though from the look of things, Bixi didn't seem to mind much. Had the recent battle not been so violent, he probably would still be fast asleep.
The elation came from knowing that with Bixi being this powerful, as long as he remained unharmed, the Void Land would never face any serious calamity.
Still, caution was warranted. If Bixi ultimately didn't want a Sect existing on his body, the Void Land would need to find somewhere else to relocate.
After probing a few more conversational openings, Yang Kai finally put his mind at ease—Bixi clearly had no objections to any of this.
With that worry settled, Yang Kai spoke again: "Senior, as a descendant of the Dragon Clan with such extraordinary longevity, there is something I wish to ask!"
Bixi said: "Go ahead."
"Senior, do you know where the Dragon Altar is?"
Yang Kai had been searching for the Dragon Clan for some time now. Setting aside the fact that he himself carried Dragon Clan blood, there were also over a dozen dragons residing in the Void Land who had come from Dragon Island. If he could locate the Dragon Altar, he could formally acknowledge his lineage. Establishing ties with the Dragon Clan would surely deter anyone else from daring to cause trouble in the Void Land.