"So I was originally a living being of this realm?" Yang Kai frowned slightly, gradually grasping what Xu Linggong meant.
When he had first entered the Divine Weapon Realm, he had opened his eyes to find himself the eldest disciple of the Void Spirit Sword Sect—a youth of seventeen or eighteen. Such a person naturally could not have sprung from thin air; he must have truly existed.
After all, everyone in the Void Spirit Sword Sect had memories of him.
"But if that's the case, why do his appearance and name bear no difference from my own?" Yang Kai asked, puzzled.
Xu Linggong replied, "He may have originally borne a different name and a different appearance. However, once you entered the Divine Weapon Realm to train, the realm adjusted itself to reflect your information. This adjustment operates at the most fundamental level, so anyone who knew this person would feel nothing out of the ordinary."
Yang Kai contemplated this. "So you're saying that during all my years in the Divine Weapon Realm, I was essentially possessing this person's body?"
Xu Linggong nodded. "You could put it that way, though it's not entirely accurate. In short, these small source realms are truly peculiar places. The Divine Weapon Realm works this way, and so do the others. After a few more trips in and out, you'll get the hang of it."
Yang Kai accepted the lesson with a nod, then turned his gaze toward the scene swirling within the vortex.
Since that version of Yang Kai in the realm was an originally existing being, he would naturally remain after Yang Kai's departure. All those years, Yang Kai had worried about what would become of the Void Spirit Sword Sect once he left, even setting up fallback plans. Now it seemed those concerns had been unnecessary.
The flow of time inside the Divine Weapon Realm differed drastically from the outside world, and in just this brief span, events on the other side had already progressed enormously.
The Profound Pill Sect's leadership had surged into the forbidden grounds, only to find not a single Divine Weapon. Not only had the five great Divine Weapons Yang Kai brought in vanished, but even the Medicine King Cauldron that had originally been stored there was gone.
Naturally, everyone was thrown into a panic.
But soon, word came from the Qiantian Sect and several other sects that held Divine Weapons—the weapons under each sect's control had disappeared almost simultaneously.
Half a day later, a strange phenomenon appeared in the sky. Ten streaks of light fell in different directions, each carrying the aura of a Divine Weapon.
Only then did the people of the Divine Weapon Realm realize that a new round of the Divine Weapon Contest had begun!
This was entirely unprecedented. The Divine Weapon Contest was held once every hundred years, yet barely fifty-odd years had passed since the last one ended.
Though they couldn't fathom why this upheaval had occurred, every Divine Weapon Contest was an event that shook the world. Every sect with the qualifications to vie for a Divine Weapon would mobilize all their forces, fighting for their sect's fortune over the coming century!
The Profound Pill Sect was no exception. Through the swirling images in the vortex, Yang Kai saw himself leading a host of the sect's alchemy masters and Spirit-grade powerhouses out of the sect, clashing with several other major alchemy sects. Standing alone against their combined might, he ultimately reclaimed the Medicine King Cauldron!
Then, without missing a beat, he plunged into the scramble for the next Divine Weapon—the Ten Directions Evil Shadow Spear.
It wasn't that he specifically wanted that weapon; it simply happened to be nearby.
This move seemed to have stirred up a hornets' nest. The Profound Pill Sect had always been an alchemy-focused sect. Throughout its history, even when participating in the Divine Weapon Contest, it had only ever competed for the Medicine King Cauldron, since that artifact contained the ultimate principles of the Dao of Alchemy and was of little practical use to other sects even if they seized it.
But this time, because the Profound Pill Sect's alchemy standards had improved so dramatically, the ownership of the Medicine King Cauldron had been decided unusually early. That left the sect with the time and energy to compete for another weapon.
The forces vying for the Ten Directions Evil Shadow Spear could hardly tolerate this. They rose up almost unanimously, trying to force the Profound Pill Sect to back down.
However, in the fifty-plus years under Yang Kai's leadership, the Profound Pill Sect's improvements had gone far beyond alchemy. The sect's overall strength had ascended several entire tiers.
Especially the two guards who had followed Yang Kai all those years—Yang Huai and Hua Rong—each possessing the ability to take on a hundred. And that was before Yang Kai himself stepped into the fray.
A brutal battle ensued, raging so fiercely that heaven and earth turned dark and the sun and moon lost their light.
The Ten Directions Evil Shadow Spear ultimately fell into the Profound Pill Sect's hands!
The Divine Weapon Contest seemed to last several months. Flames of war blazed across the entire Divine Weapon Realm. Of the ten great Divine Weapons, aside from the Medicine King Cauldron and the Ten Directions Evil Shadow Spear, the others changed hands multiple times. The various powers schemed openly and covertly, each taking their turn on the stage, in an endless spectacle.
But the Divine Weapon Contest finally drew to a close.
The greatest winner was, naturally, the Profound Pill Sect. Not only had it reclaimed the Medicine King Cauldron, it had also seized the Ten Directions Evil Shadow Spear. Throughout all of history, no single power had ever claimed two great Divine Weapons at once.
The Profound Pill Sect's strength left the world in shock, and the prowess of Yang Kai and his two personal guards inspired even greater astonishment.
No one had ever known that a sect famous for alchemy could possess such power. And Yang Kai himself was hailed as the foremost individual under heaven!