The moment Yang Kai settled in, his Small Universe experienced a sudden, inexplicable surge. The World Spring had indeed stirred once more, and the power of the world flooded into it frenziedly.
He could only suffer in silence, having no idea when this ordeal would end. All he could do was hold his breath and focus while swallowing Open Heaven Pills to replenish what he was losing.
After a short while, his Small Universe calmed down. After resting a bit longer, Yang Kai finally rose to his feet.
Though this place seemed safe enough for the moment, he absolutely could not stay long. The World Spring, one of the Four Pillars of Heaven and Earth, was far too enticing to those High-Rank Open Heaven cultivators — they would not give up easily and would track him down sooner or later.
That he had stumbled upon the World Spring during this trip through the Broken Sky counted as a tremendous harvest, and he was already thinking about heading home.
Stepping out from his hiding place and orienting himself, Yang Kai was about to flash away when his body suddenly went rigid. He turned his head to look and saw, not far away, a slender figure standing there like a phantom. Her clear, luminous eyes were fixed steadily on him. Their gazes met, and the girl — who looked to be no more than sixteen — giggled with an innocent, guileless smile.
A chill raced down Yang Kai's spine!
He had indeed been distracted by the disturbance in his Small Universe, but he had not actually lowered his vigilance around him — and yet he had failed to detect when this girl had arrived.
If the girl was here, what about the white-haired old woman and the middle-aged man?
Yang Kai braced himself as though facing a great enemy, looking around in every direction while silently circulating his world power.
If all three High-Rank cultivators were lying in ambush here, then no matter how well-versed he was in the Dao of Space, he feared he would not escape alive today.
He could not quite figure it out — he had clearly shaken off all three of them, so how had they tracked him here without a sound!
The girl's clear voice rang out: "Don't be so nervous. I split up with the other two a while ago. It just so happens that I was luckier — I was the first to find you."
Yang Kai's face immediately broke into a smile: "Just you alone? You should have said so sooner — you nearly scared me to death."
The girl tilted her head, regarding him: "You're rather amusing. Is just me not enough?"
Yang Kai shrugged noncommittally, putting on a sincere expression: "Miss, we have no grievances and have never even met before. How about letting me go?"
The girl nodded readily: "Sure. I wasn't planning to take your life anyway. Return what you snatched earlier and I'll leave right away."
"What a straightforward young lady!" Yang Kai gave her a thumbs up, but as the last word left his mouth, he suddenly flashed forward until he was practically face-to-face with her. The Azure Dragon Spear surged with world power as he thrust it straight at her.
Had he encountered this girl before his life-and-death battle with Zuo Quanhui, Yang Kai might have exercised more caution. But after several rounds of brutal combat with Zuo Quanhui and the tempering that came with them, Yang Kai now had experience fighting Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivators.
When your strength was inferior, seizing the initiative was all you could do.
A look of surprise appeared on the girl's delicate face, as if she had not expected Yang Kai to be so audacious — knowing full well she was a High-Rank Open Heaven cultivator, he still dared to strike first.
Her body seemed to move yet not move at the same time. The Azure Dragon Spear, thrust straight at her, somehow grazed past her body and pierced empty air. She raised a palm and slapped it toward Yang Kai.
The instant Yang Kai thrust the spear, a look of surprise just like the girl's appeared on his own face as well. This was because he had suddenly discovered that the world power in his Small Universe was far more sluggish to mobilize than usual, reducing the power of his strike to a mere sixty percent of its normal strength.
This discovery startled him more than anything — more even than the initial shock of seeing this girl appear.
Sluggish world power meant he simply could not unleash his full strength. He had not even begun to figure out why this was happening.
Before he could think further, that slender jade palm struck hard against his chest.
The girl's blow was delivered in anger, and even without using her full strength, it carried eighty percent of her power.
An ordinary Sixth-Order cultivator who took such a hit would suffer severe turbulence in their Small Universe, and in the worst case, their body would explode on the spot.
Yang Kai was not in mortal danger, however. The moment he sensed something was wrong with his condition, he spat out a mouthful of golden blood that dispersed into a cloud of bloody mist, shrouding toward the girl's face. At the same time, he retreated rapidly, unleashing the Dao of Space in a rippling wave.
An invisible wall seemed to materialize before the girl, blocking the incoming mist. Her beautiful eyes regarded Yang Kai with a trace of surprise — apparently astonished by his physical toughness, having taken her blow head-on with seemingly no serious injury. She formed a hand seal with both hands and cried out: "Rise!"
Streaks of golden light suddenly materialized from every direction. In an instant, they enveloped the entire fragmented Spirit Continent so tightly that not a sliver of space remained open. The heavens and earth were sealed off, and Yang Kai's body, which had been about to flee, jerked to a halt as though an invisible hand had yanked him back to where he stood.
With the Azure Dragon Spear in hand and blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, Yang Kai watched the girl advancing toward him step by step, his mouth filled with a bitterness that surpassed even the most wretched herb.
Now he had truly capsized in a ditch! His strength had been inexplicably suppressed, he could not even execute a teleportation, and in this cage-like place, facing a High-Rank Open Heaven cultivator — there was no path up to heaven and no way down into the earth.