A crack roughly the width of a finger and several feet long had appeared on the house-sized formation disc, the result of repeated use pushing it beyond its limits.
Yang Kai studied it for a moment, then retrieved some rare minerals from his Space Ring and channeled his Golden Crow True Fire in an attempt to repair it.
But he was barely a novice when it came to artifact refining — how could he possibly fix it? After several days, not only had the crack failed to close, it had actually grown wider.
Yang Kai scratched his head in frustration and had no choice but to pull out a second damaged formation disc and continue his hopeless efforts.
Another few days passed, and the crack on the second disc had likewise expanded considerably.
Yang Kai brought out a third!
A pair of eyes hidden deep in the void apparently could no longer bear to watch. privately concluding that Yang Kai was doing nothing short of wasting precious treasures. A ripple of spatial law fluctuations suddenly emanated from the void, and a swirling portal resembling a vortex materialized without warning not far from Yang Kai.
Immediately after, a massive emerald-green hand reached out from the vortex and snatched away all three formation discs Yang Kai had laid out.
Yang Kai made no attempt to stop it. He merely turned his head toward the vortex portal and let out a visible sigh of relief. Rising to his feet, he walked leisurely through.
His vision blurred for an instant as he entered an entirely different world. Looking around, he saw countless stars of varying sizes strewn across the void, with a great sun hanging high above — unmistakably, this was an entire Great Domain.
The first time he had come here, Yang Kai's strength had been too low and his vision too narrow to perceive anything noteworthy. Now, however, he could discern certain clues.
This sealed-off space had been carved directly out of the Great Abundance Domain by a mighty figure wielding extraordinary divine abilities, then sealed away.
It could be said that this was the true foundation of the Great Abundance Domain — the ruins of the Great Abundance Blessed Land — and also the fundamental reason why the domain had never changed its name.
Tianwu Studio had always assumed it was the paramount power within the Great Abundance Domain, never suspecting that an entire domain-within-a-domain existed right under its nose.
Carving out such a vast expanse of void from the Great Abundance Domain and sealing it into a self-contained world — that would require nothing less than the intervention of an Eighth Order Open Heaven master, and certainly not just one or two.
One could only imagine how glorious the Great Abundance Blessed Land must have been at its peak! Yang Kai could not fathom how a top-tier power of the Thirty Thousand Worlds had fallen so suddenly.
He had once asked Xu Linggong about it. The old man apparently knew something, but declined to go into detail, saying only that the vicissitudes of life were unpredictable — sometimes one had to act despite knowing the odds were against them. The predecessors of the Great Abundance Blessed Land, he said, were people worthy of one's deepest, most heartfelt respect.
It was precisely during those casual conversations with Xu Linggong that Yang Kai, while asking about this troublesome senior, had learned some of the Blessed Land's closely guarded secrets.
Following a familiar aura, he looked to the side. An elderly man with streaks of gray in his hair was sitting cross-legged on the ground, with the three damaged formation discs Yang Kai had brought out arranged before him, examining each one with care.
"Senior!" Yang Kai bowed respectfully.
The last time the Proprietress had brought him to meet this artifact-refining master, Yang Kai had harbored a vague suspicion that he was a High-Order Open Heaven cultivator, but his own strength had been far too low to verify it. Now, arriving as a Sixth Order Open Heaven, one glance confirmed that his guess had been correct.
Master Mafan was indeed a Seventh Order Open Heaven!
Yang Kai felt a surge of deep respect. A High-Order Open Heaven who, for ten thousand years, had endured the loneliness and crushing pressure of single-handedly guarding the Sect's legacy — the old man's back had grown slightly stooped with the weight of it all.
"You knew I can't stand watching people ruin perfectly good artifacts, so you brought them out on purpose to lure me here, didn't you?" Master Mafan shot Yang Kai a sidelong glance.
Yang Kai chuckled. "I wouldn't dare try to play tricks in front of you, Master."
"Hmph!" Master Mafan curled his lip. "Same disposition as that Lan Youruo girl — so sharp it's practically unpleasant!"
Yang Kai rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Senior flatters me."
"Last time she brought you here, I knew I'd be seeing you again sooner or later. What a nuisance!"
Yang Kai straightened up and spoke solemnly. "Senior, you seem to have forgotten — I still owe you a favor. Naturally, I would have to come back." The last time he had asked Master Mafan to refine the Heaven Executing Sword and the Heavenly Net Umbrella, the old man had accepted no payment whatsoever, instead having Yang Kai owe him a personal debt.
Getting something for nothing was a deal Yang Kai had naturally been happy to accept.
Master Mafan was noncommittal, merely furrowing his brow. "A mere Sixth Order Open Heaven — what use would I have for your favor? Back then, I saw you had exceptional talent and thought you could advance straight to the Seventh Order. Who knew I'd end up making a losing bargain!"
Yang Kai bared his teeth, finally understanding why this artifact-refining master had made that peculiar request years ago — he had been banking on Yang Kai's potential to advance directly to the Seventh Order.
How Yang Kai wished he could have done so! But human plans were no match for the will of heaven. In the end, forced into a corner within the Broken Heaven, he had settled for becoming a Fifth Order Open Heaven. A single mid-grade World Fruit had salvaged the situation somewhat, but without further fortuitous encounters, his ultimate ceiling would be the Eighth Order at best.
Eighth Order Open Heaven — were there ever any shortage of those among the great Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands? Never mind others — even Master Mafan before him might well advance to the Eighth Order one day.
When he said Yang Kai's favor was of no use to him, it was quite possibly the truth.