Black Prison was perilous, concealing countless natural restriction grand formations. This was merely the outermost fringe, and even so, the environment was this hostile. Deeper in, it would undoubtedly be far worse.
Yet under Luan Baifeng's guidance, the tower ship navigated safely through the void, skirting one grand formation after another. Their path was anything but linear — sometimes Yang Kai felt they had taken an enormous detour, and other times they seemed to spin in place for ages. There was no discernible pattern to it.
But despite all the near-misses, they made it through unscathed. Luan Baifeng had clearly traversed this route more than once, so she knew exactly where the dangers lay and could dodge them perfectly.
After roughly a day, a shattered spirit continent suddenly appeared ahead. It was presumably a fragment of some celestial body — not large in area, far smaller than Void Land. From a distance, one could clearly make out traces of artificial construction: a sprawling complex of palaces stood upon its surface.
The tower ship landed before the palace complex, and a handmaiden immediately came out to greet them. She was a Fifth-Order Open Heaven cultivator, no less. The woman asked in surprise, "My Lady, how did you return so quickly?"
Luan Baifeng's face was dark as she stood in silence, too embarrassed to admit she had been ambushed on this outing — and worse, subdued by someone wielding the Tome of Loyalty.
The handmaiden clearly sensed something was off. She stole a curious glance at the unfamiliar Yang Kai but, wisely, asked no further questions.
"All of you, get lost! Go back to whatever you were doing! If any of you breathe a word about what happened the other day, I'll make you wish you were dead!" Luan Baifeng swept her gaze across her subordinates and barked the order.
The crowd scattered like startled birds and beasts, vanishing in moments.
"You too. Leave," Luan Baifeng waved at the Fifth-Order woman, who bowed and withdrew into the main hall.
Soon only she and Yang Kai remained. She glanced at him, then turned and walked off in a certain direction.
Yang Kai looked around with curiosity as he followed. After a short while, he couldn't help but ask, "The environment in Black Prison really is harsh, but isn't it said that staying here for extended periods causes your World Force to continuously dissipate, eventually leading to the collapse of your Small World and total loss of cultivation? Why don't I feel any of that?"
Without turning her head, Luan Baifeng replied, "Of course you wouldn't feel it here — this is only the outermost fringe. If it were like that even here, how could I possibly live in Black Prison? Venture deeper and you'll experience it for yourself."
She halted, turned to face him, and said with a goading tone, "Want to try? The deeper you go, the more intense the sensation becomes!"
Yang Kai flashed a grin. "Even if I went, I'd drag you along with me."
Luan Baifeng's face turned pitch black. She snorted coldly, turned back around, and continued leading the way.
Before long, the two arrived before a palace. Its construction was extraordinarily solid, clearly shrouded behind layer upon layer of restriction formations.
Luan Baifeng produced a jade tablet, infused it with power, and waved it gently toward the palace doors. A streak of light shot from the tablet, and the doors rumbled open with a clattering sound.
She led Yang Kai inside and repeated the process, opening three successive gates — each one heavier and more imposing than the last, with visible traces of grand formations activating upon every opening.
Yang Kai clicked his tongue in admiration. "Your mastery of formation arts really is remarkable."
To date, the greatest expert in formation arts he had ever encountered was undoubtedly Master Wuliang, the one who had laid the Nine Heavens Grand Formation. But Luan Baifeng was in no way inferior to him. Back when the Hundred Sects Alliance had besieged Void Land, she had studied the mysteries of the Nine Heavens Grand Formation in order to dismantle it.
Though the Hundred Sects Alliance had ultimately suffered devastating losses — even Kong Feng had been killed — that outcome had nothing to do with Luan Baifeng's inability to break the formation. It was simply a case of the ambushers being outmaneuvered, given Void Land's immense underlying strength.
The fact that Luan Baifeng had managed to discern some of the Nine Heavens Grand Formation's secrets in such a short span of time was itself a testament to her formidable expertise in the field.
As they talked, the two entered a great hall. Inside, row upon row of white jade racks stretched out as far as the eye could see, each one laden with containers of all manner of strange shapes. The containers themselves were crafted from a variety of materials — many from rare jade and precious minerals.
"What is this place?" Yang Kai raised an eyebrow and asked.
Luan Baifeng snorted. "You know perfectly well! Didn't you say you needed a great deal of cultivation resources? Everything you see here is just that!"
Though he had already guessed as much, hearing Luan Baifeng confirm it still brought a smile to Yang Kai's face. "This is your treasure vault? Excellent!"
His spiritual sense surged outward, instantly blanketing the entire hall and taking in every detail within.
Even having braced himself, Yang Kai was thoroughly shaken by the extent of Luan Baifeng's hoard. The cultivation resources stored here had to number at least ten thousand sets.
That was a staggering figure. Void Land could certainly produce that many resources today, but only because it had the Star City as a backbone, drawing merchants from across the myriad Great Domains who brought countless goods through its gates.
For a single woman to amass such a fortune was nothing short of terrifying.
Then again, sitting on top of a treasure land like Black Prison and accumulating wealth over untold years, such a haul was to be expected.
"What grades are these materials, and how many of each?" Yang Kai asked, his eyes gleaming.
Luan Baifeng loathed seeing that look on his face — these had been her possessions, and having them snatched away by someone else left an unpleasant taste in her mouth. She turned her head away and said, "Nothing below Fourth-Grade is worthy of being stored here. Everything you see is Fourth-Grade or above. The ones on the left are Fourth-Grade — over eight thousand sets. The ones in the middle are Fifth-Grade — over two thousand sets. And the ones on the far right are Sixth-Grade — roughly two hundred. I've never bothered to count the exact numbers."
Yang Kai clicked his tongue in admiration. "You might just be the wealthiest woman in all the Thirty-Thousand Worlds!"