Thirty-odd people weren't exactly a large group, but having seven 6th-rank cultivators among them was enough to give anyone pause. When the rest saw them banding together, they might have been displeased, but nobody said a word.
The burly man standing not far from
Yang Kai smiled but gave no answer, and Xu Wang naturally had no interest in speaking either.
The burly man took their silence for cowardice and sneered openly. "The likes of you couldn't even catch a hot meal — let alone a shit! You're destined to scavenge nothing but whatever scraps others leave behind!"
With that, he stopped paying them any attention, his gaze drifting as he searched for a more reliable ally.
But Yang Kai suddenly looked up and forward, transmitting in a low voice, "It's about to start!"
In the void, an extremely faint ripple of Space Laws pulsed outward. Others might not have sensed a thing, but to Yang Kai's perception, it blazed like a lantern in the dark.
Sure enough, the moment his voice fell, a black dot abruptly appeared at the spot where the gateway had opened several times before.
In that instant, hundreds of pairs of eyes snapped toward the dot. The burly man abandoned his search for allies entirely, his gaze locking onto the black point with laser focus.
The dot expanded rapidly, swelling to the size of a fist in the blink of an eye. Based on how the gateway had opened previously, this time it would definitely be large enough to pass through.
The thirty-odd cultivators who had temporarily formed an alliance to monopolize the gateway's location all displayed expressions of eager anticipation laced with tension.
Just then, from one direction, a solitary middle-aged man stepped forward. His first step was no different from an ordinary person's. By the second, he was moving twice as fast. By the third, twice as fast again—
After a dozen steps, he had transformed into a streak of light, like a meteor plummeting earthward, hurtling straight toward the gateway.
His movements immediately put all thirty-plus Open Heaven cultivators guarding the entrance on high alert. The seven 6th-rank cultivators fixed their gazes on him in unison, and one of them called out in a low voice, "Friend, please be patient!"
They hadn't intended to prevent anyone else from entering the Qiankun Grotto-Heaven — they merely wanted to go in first. But with the gateway not yet fully opened, someone was already making a move to challenge them, so naturally he had to put up some resistance.
As he spoke, he raised a hand and sent a casual palm strike drifting toward the approaching man. The blow carried no killing intent — it was clearly meant only to make the middle-aged man think better of it.
The middle-aged man paid no heed whatsoever. Facing a 6th-rank Open Heaven's strike, he didn't even bother to dodge. He simply waved his sleeve casually as he walked.
A torrent of World Force erupted outward like a tsunami — the might of a 7th-rank Open Heaven cultivator flooded the entire area!
The expression of the 6th-rank who had struck changed drastically. He felt an irresistible force crash toward him like a headwind. His body became a kite with its string cut in a gale, and in an instant he lost all control, his entire figure sent tumbling away.
It wasn't just him — every last one of the thirty-odd cultivators monopolizing the gateway entrance was blown away. The weakest among them, a few 5th-rank cultivators, coughed up blood, their faces pale as paper.
The whole thing happened in a flash, leaving everyone dumbstruck. Nobody had expected a 7th-rank Open Heaven to be lurking here.
After the middle-aged man struck, the area around the gateway was completely cleared. By the time he arrived at the entrance, it had fully opened. Without a moment's hesitation, he flickered inside and vanished without a trace.
Right on his heels, several more figures came streaking in from every direction — a white-haired old woman, a youth with flawless jade-like features, and a graceful, shapely woman.
Without exception, each one radiated the aura of a 7th-rank Open Heaven. And every one of them had originally arrived here alone.
The several hundred Open Heaven cultivators who should have been fighting tooth and nail over the gateway entrance now shrank in place like quail in the dead of winter, trembling and not daring to move!
The figures filed into the Qiankun Grotto-Heaven's gateway one after another and vanished.
The moment the last person entered, the wide-open gateway snapped shut and disappeared in an instant!
Those left behind could only watch with a mix of frustration and resentment. After all, they had waited here for days, only to not even get a chance to step inside. Still, after seeing several high-rank cultivators enter the Qiankun Grotto-Heaven, even if the gateway had remained open, none of these people would have had the nerve to follow. Trying to snatch food from the jaws of high-rank Open Heavens — wasn't that just asking for death?
Yang Kai stared, slack-jawed. "That many high-ranks?"