"Madman!" Qin Fen suddenly gnashed his teeth and roared.
Another Sixth-Order cultivator wore an expression of anguish and disbelief: "He's draining the pond to catch all the fish!"
The remaining Fifth-Order cultivators said nothing, but their lips were pressed tight and their expressions were grim.
The companions nearby had finally noticed something was off. The woman who had helped Qin Fen to his feet earlier now stood beside him and asked softly, "Senior Brother Qin… is that person extracting the Spear Dao marks?"
Qin Fen nodded, his eyes red.
The woman let out a soft sigh.
The former master of this Qiankun Grotto-Heaven had been highly proficient in the Dao of the Spear — something they all knew. The Spear Dao marks contained within this place were extraordinarily dense, so whether it was the few Open Heaven realm cultivators like themselves or the many creatures that had been raised here over the years, a great number of them used spears as their favored Artifacts.
Xia Linlang, the mistress of Linlang Palace, was the one exception — she had no particular mastery of the Spear Dao.
In the past, whenever Qin Fen and the other two Open Heaven cultivators proficient in the Spear Dao went into secluded cultivation here, they would always make progress in the Dao. This was entirely thanks to the Qiankun Grotto-Heaven's unique and bountiful conditions.
If one were to call this Qiankun Grotto-Heaven a fish pond, then the rich Spear Dao marks would be the fat, succulent fish within it. Those who excelled in the Spear Dao were the anglers on the bank — how many fish they could catch depended entirely on their own comprehension and fortune.
Qin Fen's fortune and comprehension were both considerable, and he had achieved real mastery in the Dao of the Spear. Xia Linlang had once told him that if he could push his understanding one step further, there was a chance he might one day inherit the legacy left behind by the Grotto-Heaven's former master.
That was the legacy of an Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivator. Who wouldn't covet that? Qin Fen had always considered himself the natural and only candidate for that inheritance.
But here and now, in this pond brimming with fat fish, someone had waded in with an airtight net!
After such a sweep, even if a few fish remained in the pond, they would surely be few.
How could Qin Fen not be heartbroken? The other two Open Heaven cultivators skilled in the Spear Dao felt exactly the same.
Inside Linlang Palace, Yang Kai sat cross-legged at the center of the grand formation. He could clearly feel wave after wave of mystical energy pouring into him from every direction, pushing his comprehension of the Dao of the Spear ever higher. It was an exhilarating sensation — as though enlightenment was being poured directly into his mind.
Ever since Xia Linlang had brought him here, Yang Kai had sensed that the Spear Dao marks in this place were extraordinarily dense. That was the only reason his proficiency in the Spear Dao had leapt forward by two full levels in a mere ten years.
But he was not satisfied. His goal was to make all the Spear Dao marks here his own. Whether that constituted draining the pond to catch all the fish was something Yang Kai could not have cared less about.
If Xia Linlang meant to do him harm, why on earth would he show her any courtesy?
Originally, even if he had harbored this idea, he would have had no way to carry it out. But now, having refined half of Linlang Palace, he had the means.
Linlang Palace was not merely an Artifact in the form of a grand residence — it was the central nexus of this entire Qiankun Grotto-Heaven. Along the edges of the grand formation, countless streams of mystical energy were intimately connected to the Grotto-Heaven itself. Pull one thread and the whole thing moved.
Linlang Palace's position within this Qiankun Grotto-Heaven was analogous to the Blood Demon Divine Palace's position within the Blood Demon Grotto-Heaven. Hadn't Blood Crow once tried to refine the Blood Demon Divine Palace precisely so he could control the Blood Demon Grotto-Heaven?
Though Yang Kai had only refined half of Linlang Palace, with the other half offering no resistance, he was now the one calling the shots in this Grotto-Heaven.
The invisible yet tangibly real Spear Dao marks — one after another — flowed into Yang Kai's grasp. His mastery of the Dao of the Spear climbed rapidly. Being force-fed such a deluge meant he could not immediately absorb the true essence of it all, but in time he would digest it.
The transformation within the Qiankun Grotto-Heaven was silent and imperceptible to most. Only the Open Heaven cultivators who were skilled in the Spear Dao noticed the change most acutely. As time passed, the Spear Dao marks that had once saturated heaven and earth grew sparse, until at last they became nearly impossible to find.
Qin Fen's face was stricken with grief. If Yang Kai's usurpation of Linlang Palace was something that could be reversed once Xia Linlang returned, then the extraction of the Spear Dao marks was a loss that could never be repaired.
Inside Linlang Palace's central formation, Yang Kai — still seated cross-legged — let out an involuntary belch, as though he had stuffed himself to the bursting point.
The result was that he sat there radiating an exceedingly sharp and piercing Spear Intent, his entire being resembling an unrivaled spear. So many Spear Dao marks could certainly not be digested all at once, but once he had truly made them his own, Yang Kai estimated his mastery of the Dao of the Spear would climb at least one or two more levels — making it second only to the Dao of Space among his paths.
He had refined half of Linlang Palace and seized the Spear Dao marks of this Qiankun Grotto-Heaven. Though he had been dragged in here against his will, by any measure he had come out far ahead.
A place of trouble was not one to linger. He certainly wasn't foolish enough to sit here and wait for Xia Linlang to return and settle accounts.
He couldn't take Linlang Palace with him. Well — it wasn't strictly impossible to do so by force, but if he did, this Qiankun Grotto-Heaven would likely collapse entirely. Leaving aside the fate of all the creatures raised here, Xia Linlang herself would pursue him to the ends of the earth.
Yang Kai activated the Laws of Space and vanished in a flash.
When he reappeared, he was standing before the gateway through which he had originally entered this place.
It was here that Xia Linlang's aura had vanished when she departed previously.
Yang Kai had assumed that, whatever effort it might take, he could force the gateway open without too much trouble. But when he actually arrived, he was stunned to discover that there was not the slightest trace of a gateway to be found.