Yang Kai found a moment to take out the Universe World Map and study it, quickly identifying a route.
Though this path to the Star Boundary was two full Great Domains longer than the one from the Flying Smoke Domain, Yang Kai possessed Space Divine Ability. His travel speed would be far faster than the Heavenly Sword Palace's. If everything went smoothly, they would arrive in the Star Boundary's Great Domain well ahead of schedule.
Once there, he would lead Void Land's Open Heaven cultivators to blockade the Domain Gate and wait for Zuo Quanhui to walk right into the trap.
They traveled nonstop, chasing stars and racing the moon, passing through Domain Gate after Domain Gate.
After crossing just three Great Domains, Yang Kai's face had turned pale, his body swaying unsteadily on the verge of collapse. Sustained activation of the Space Laws to teleport nearly twenty Sixth-Order cultivators over such distances exacted a staggering toll on him.
Left with no choice, he handed himself over to the others and let them carry him forward while he quietly recovered. Fortunately, the Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivators weren't slow themselves, so they didn't lose too much time.
Once he had recovered enough, he would activate the Space Laws once more and lead everyone onward.
Round and round they went.
Such a large group of Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivators traveling together was a rare sight indeed. Any passing warrior who happened to encounter them along the way was struck with terror and gave them a wide berth.
Yang Kai couldn't recall how long it had taken him to return from Void Land to the Star Boundary last time, but this journey took only three months.
In the distance, a Domain Gate spanning the void came into view — the gateway leading to the Great Domain where the Star Boundary resided.
The closer they drew, the more anxious Yang Kai became.
Though he hadn't wasted a single moment along the way, he couldn't guarantee they had beaten the Heavenly Sword Palace there. After all, his group had taken a longer route, and it was entirely possible that the Heavenly Sword Palace had arrived in that Great Domain before them.
His greatest fear was that passing through that Domain Gate would reveal a scene of devastation and slaughter.
In the blink of an eye, the Domain Gate loomed before them. Yang Kai took a deep breath and called out: "Everyone, stand ready!"
The group nodded in unison, silently channeling their World Force and gathering their strength.
Yang Kai enveloped the group and plunged into the Domain Gate. The world spun, heaven and earth inverted, and in the next moment they had passed through the gate into another Great Domain.
All twenty immediately fanned out, scanning their surroundings with heightened vigilance.
But soon, every one of them let out a long breath of relief.
The ambush and attack they had imagined never came. There was a very high likelihood the Heavenly Sword Palace had not yet reached this place.
"Is this the Great Domain where the Lord's homeland lies?" Grey Bone asked in a low voice beside the Red Dust Great Emperor.
The Red Dust Great Emperor gazed in a particular direction. That stretch of void was empty — nothing was visible to the eye — yet he could faintly sense something calling out to him. It was the unbreakable bond between a Great Emperor acknowledged by the Star Boundary's Heavenly Dao and its Universe World.
Within the same Great Domain, Red Dust could immediately sense where the Star Boundary lay.
"Yes," the Red Dust Great Emperor said with a smile. "This is our homeland."
"Rather desolate!" Grey Bone remarked bluntly. The closer they had gotten to this Great Domain, the more barren it became — nothing like the prosperity found in other Great Domains. As he spoke, Grey Bone took out his own Universe World Map to study it, only to find that even the map had no detailed information about this particular Great Domain. It was simply marked as an Unnamed Domain.
There weren't many Great Domains labeled as Unnamed Domains on the Universe World Map. Each one was a corner of existence forgotten by Open Heaven cultivators, because there was nothing of value here. Under normal circumstances, no Open Heaven cultivator would waste their time visiting such an Unnamed Domain.
After all, every Great Domain was vast beyond measure. Time spent exploring an Unnamed Domain was far better invested in refining Open Heaven Pills to strengthen one's own foundation.
Red Dust smiled. "If it weren't for that, we would have broken free from the shackles of the Universe World long ago. We wouldn't have spent all those years suppressing our cultivation."
And yet it was precisely because this Great Domain was a forgotten corner that the numerous Great Emperors had been able to slowly temper their foundations over countless ages, giving them the opportunity to advance directly to the Sixth-Order.
Other Universe Worlds had their own Great Emperors acknowledged by the Heavenly Dao as well — every Universe World did. But how many of those Great Emperors had been able to advance directly to the Sixth-Order? Those who had broken free from the Universe World's constraints early on hadn't spent extensive time consolidating their cultivation. The stability of their Dao Seals naturally couldn't compare to the Star Boundary's Great Emperors, and so their achievements fell slightly short.
But even knowing these hidden truths, how many Great Emperors would willingly spend ten thousand years — even tens of thousands of years — to solidify their Dao Seals? Even a Great Emperor would likely struggle to endure such loneliness, unable to resist the temptation of achieving Open Heaven sooner.
The achievements of the Star Boundary's Great Emperors today were a matter of serendipitous circumstance, yet also an inevitable outcome!
While the two were conversing, Yang Kai gazed toward the Star Boundary's position with a look of astonishment, his eyes blazing with sharp light.
He still remembered his last return to this Great Domain and the ordeal he had gone through searching for the Star Boundary.
Back then, though he had arrived in this Great Domain, he had spent considerable time locating the Star Boundary's position, since he couldn't even be certain it was in this domain at all. Before that, he had already searched through several other Great Domains.
But now, the moment he set foot here, he could already perceive the connection between himself and the Star Boundary!