With the number suddenly halved to just over two hundred, the pressure on Yang Kai was greatly reduced. Moreover, those who remained were all Third-Order or above in the Open Heaven Realm. Should they encounter any danger after leaving the Shadowless Grotto-Heaven, they would be able to lend their strength.
Everything prepared, Yang Kai teleported to the spot where he had torn through space last time. He turned back, gave the crowd a slight nod, and gestured for them to remain alert.
Under the surging of spatial laws, Yang Kai formed a series of hand seals and let out a low shout: "Open!"
A sound like something being ripped apart rang out, and from the empty void, a spatial rift suddenly appeared, rapidly expanding.
The instant that rift opened, the howling Shadowless Gale poured through, and every one of the hundred-plus faces drained of color.
Yang Kai activated Undying Evergreen at just the right moment. Emerald light scattered outward as the massive canopy blotted out the sky, branches drooping down to envelop all hundred people within its reach.
Within the bounds of this wood-element divine ability, every person felt the rich, surging vitality that permeated their surroundings. Even their minds and spirits grew incomparably tranquil in that instant.
The panic swept clean from their hearts, and they craned their necks upward in wonder.
Hua Yong had never seen such a technique before. Listening to the howling wind at his ears, he glanced around and muttered to himself in disbelief: "It actually blocked it!"
Sheltered beneath the great tree, he felt not the slightest touch of the Shadowless Gale's assault. He was safer here than he had been on the Twin Islands.
His eyes filled with shock, and secret excitement stirred within him. He suddenly felt that his decision to follow Yang Kai out had been the right one after all.
With such means, Yang Kai could ensure their safe passage through the gale. If they stayed behind, putting aside the fact that the Shadowless Grotto-Heaven would inevitably wither and collapse one day, the unborn child would have no hope of proper cultivation, its future bleak. When that time came, it would truly be as his wife had said — the grey-haired burying the young.
Mao Zhe and the other two had experienced this before, so the moment Yang Kai raised Undying Evergreen, they were the first to move to his side.
"Move!" Yang Kai shouted in a low voice as his figure shot toward the spatial rift. The Open Heaven cultivators followed without hesitation, making sure at all times to stay within the canopy's protection.
The rift Yang Kai tore this time was sizable — it had to accommodate over a hundred people in a single pass, after all. A narrow crack simply would not suffice.
A sensation of spatial disorientation washed over them, and in but a heartbeat, they had left the Shadowless Grotto-Heaven.
Far more savage gales assailed them from every direction, setting the great tree's branches to swaying. Yang Kai's expression shifted slightly as he finally understood why Mao Zhe and the others had charged out before, only to rush back in haste.
The place where one landed after leaving the Shadowless Grotto-Heaven was indeed the gales' point of origin. The winds here were fiercer and more violent than any that had blown into the grotto.
In an environment like this, even Mao Zhe and the other Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivators would not last long before their Small Universes collapsed and they perished body and soul.
The Undying Evergreen that Yang Kai was channeling was visibly straining, its branches clattering loudly. The sight set everyone's hearts racing with dread, terrified that the technique might be shattered and they would all be exposed to the howling wind.
Fortunately, though the great tree's branches swayed unpredictably, they held firm.
Yang Kai turned and once more channeled spatial power, sealing the rift he had torn open.
Some people had remained behind in the Shadowless Grotto-Heaven. If he did not close the rift, the Shadowless Gales would continue to blow through without cease, and those left inside would have no hope of survival.
Only after finishing this did Yang Kai become aware of the pairs of eyes all fixed upon him.
They had technically left the Shadowless Grotto-Heaven now, but just as they had anticipated, the moment they stepped out, they had landed in the gales' point of origin. Only by escaping this place would they truly have a path to survival.
No one knew which direction to take.
Yang Kai extended his spiritual sense, but the moment it passed beyond the protection of Undying Evergreen, it was shredded to nothing by the gale. A sharp pain lanced through his mind, and he could not perceive anything in their surroundings at all.
With no other option, he gritted his teeth and led the group toward an arbitrary direction.
This point of origin could not stretch on forever. If they kept pressing forward in a single direction, they would eventually break free of the gale.
The wind raged violently, and every person's heart was clenched with fear. This feeling of having one's life balanced on a knife's edge was truly miserable to endure.
Yang Kai maintained Undying Evergreen, and the power within his body drained away like floodwaters through a broken dam. He silently congratulated himself for having used the Wishful Bag to stow a hundred people beforehand — otherwise, the expenditure would have been even greater.
The great towering tree's hanging branches swayed without cease, looking as though they might be torn apart at any moment, yet they steadfastly held their ground, keeping the gale at bay.
After advancing for only a short while, Yang Kai's expression suddenly changed.
The Madam, who had been following closely at his side, noticed his altered expression and quickly asked: "What is it?"
"There's something outside!" Yang Kai's gaze grew dark and piercing as he stared ahead, trying to peer through the raging wind to see beyond the illusion. But the endless gale shook the very void so violently that he could not make out a single thing.
His words set every person on edge.
Hua Yong said, "With a gale this fierce, surely only High-Order Open Heaven cultivators could withstand it. What could possibly exist in this wind?"