Xia Linlang scoffed. "You don't actually think you have the leverage to bargain with me, do you?"
Yang Kai frowned, pondered for a moment, then said calmly, "I don't?"
Xia Linlang snapped, "Boy, don't push your luck. My patience is limited, and provoking me won't do you the slightest bit of good!"
Yang Kai sighed again. "Looks like there's no avoiding a fight." He reached out and grasped at the void, seizing a spear in one hand and pointing it at Xia Linlang. "Granny, please grace me with your guidance!"
"GRA! NNY!" Xia Linlang, who looked like a young girl, reacted as though someone had stabbed her through the heart. Her expression twisted with fury.
Qin Fen and the others, who were gazing up at the scene from outside Linlang Palace, instantly broke into a cold sweat.
The next instant, a furious battle erupted.
Xia Linlang slammed a devastating palm strike toward Yang Kai from three zhang away. The world force of a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator exploded from her slender hand like a tidal wave. The blow, fueled by genuine rage, held nothing back — clearly, Yang Kai's choice of address had truly set her off.
Yang Kai's expression remained focused as he raised his spear to meet the attack.
When their world forces collided, the massive shockwave rippled outward in visible undulations, booming in all directions.
The Azure Dragon Spear bent grotesquely, on the verge of snapping, as the overwhelming force crashed down upon him. Yang Kai used the momentum to pull back, using the retreat to bleed off Xia Linlang's berserk power.
But Xia Linlang's assault was relentless — blow followed upon blow without pause, a storm of fury that refused to relent.
Yang Kai retreated again and again, appearing to have no way to fight back.
Three breaths later, he had been driven back tens of thousands of li. With a towering mountain at his back and nowhere left to go, his body was sent tumbling like a ragdoll, crashing straight through the mountain and splitting it in two.
The mountain crumbled, burying Yang Kai beneath its ruins. Dust billowed into the air as Xia Linlang stood suspended in the sky, her aura overwhelming, gazing coldly down below.
Moments later, Yang Kai's figure shot out from the devastated mountain. Apart from looking somewhat disheveled and a thin trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth, his aura remained steady.
He planted the spear before him, exhaled a long breath, and remarked with genuine admiration, "The Qiankun Four Pillars — truly worthy of their reputation!"
Had he not fully refined the Heaven and Earth Spring before this, enduring such a ferocious barrage from a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator would have sent his Small World into violent upheaval. When he had fought Zuo Quanhui earlier, he had been at a disadvantage at every turn, constantly constrained — and the instability of his Small World had been the root cause.
But now, with the Heaven and Earth Spring suppressing his Small World, no matter how fierce Xia Linlang's attacks became, his Small World remained perfectly stable, without the slightest tremor.
With the Heaven and Earth Spring holding it down, his Small World was like having a layer of iron armor wrapped around it. Even against an enemy with deeper foundations, he wouldn't suffer too great a disadvantage.
Of course, if the enemy had the power to shatter even that iron armor, then no matter how extraordinary the Heaven and Earth Spring was, it could not guarantee his Small World's stability. Xia Linlang was a Seventh-Order cultivator, but she did not possess the ability to shake the Heaven and Earth Spring. Not only she — even an Eighth-Order Open Heaven might not be capable of that.
It could be said that Yang Kai's combat strength, having obtained the Heaven and Earth Spring, had risen to yet another level. He now had the capital to go head-to-head with powerful foes.
"So this is your crutch?" Xia Linlang regarded him coldly. "If you think that having the Heaven and Earth Spring suppress your Small World means I can't do anything to you, you're sorely mistaken."
With only defense and no offensive capability, the best outcome was a draw — victory was absolutely out of reach.
Yang Kai wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and flashed her a grin. "The Heaven and Earth Spring is wondrous indeed, but it's ultimately just an external tool. If I, Yang Kai, were the type to rely on outside help and gamble on luck, I wouldn't have survived to this day."
Xia Linlang's brows furrowed slightly, and for the first time, a glimmer of genuine regard appeared in her gaze toward Yang Kai.
Yang Kai raised his spear, settling into a starting stance, and spoke softly: "Pear Blossom!"
Xia Linlang instantly went on high alert, because the moment Yang Kai raised his spear, the entire Qiankun Grotto-Heaven resonated with him. Looking around, Yang Kai's very figure seemed to have merged into an indestructible spear.
As half the master of this Qiankun Grotto-Heaven, Xia Linlang immediately let out a cold snort, attempting to suppress the resonance between this world and Yang Kai.
Yang Kai chuckled. "You're half the master, and so am I. But it seems this world favors me more!"
Xia Linlang's expression soured — she actually couldn't suppress that resonance.
It wasn't that she, as half the master, was inferior to Yang Kai. In truth, their control over the Qiankun Grotto-Heaven was perfectly evenly matched, with neither holding an edge over the other.
That was precisely why Xia Linlang had never considered borrowing this Grotto-Heaven's power against Yang Kai, and Yang Kai had no such intention either — doing so would be entirely pointless, only draining the Grotto-Heaven's reserves in the end.
When it came to wielding this world's power, they were truly on equal footing. But this world undoubtedly felt closer to Yang Kai, the outsider, than to Xia Linlang, the long-time resident.
That was because Yang Kai had absorbed the Spear Dao insights of this place, effectively inheriting the legacy left behind by its former master.
Yang Kai's expression turned solemn. "The former master of this place styled himself the Pear Blossom Divine Lord. That building over there is not the Linlang Palace — it is the Pear Blossom Palace!"
Xia Linlang retorted angrily, "If I want to call it Linlang Palace, what's it to you?"
Yang Kai said coolly, "Before, it wasn't my concern. But now that I've inherited the predecessor's legacy, it is my duty to restore his proper name!"