Several figures hovered in the void.
Yang Kai looked around for a moment and asked, "This is the place?"
The middle-aged man with Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivation nodded. "Yes!"
"Knock on the door, then," Yang Kai instructed.
The middle-aged man's expression flickered with a brief struggle before he called out in a loud voice, "Divine Lord, Yang Kai has been brought. Please open the formation!"
His words fell into silence. The void offered no response.
The man called out again, but still there was not the slightest movement.
Yang Kai turned to look at him, narrowing his eyes slightly. He saw that the man's face had gone pale, ashen as though mourning the death of his parents, his voice trembling as he called out once more: "Please open the formation, Divine Lord!"
"Are you certain this is the right place?" Yang Kai asked, a touch of impatience in his tone.
The middle-aged man nodded, looking as though his soul had wandered off. "This is the right place, without a doubt."
Yang Kai frowned, somewhat puzzled by the man's reaction. But if Divine Lord Shengyang truly was hidden here and refusing to open the formation, then he was most likely wary of Honghu.
He probably hadn't expected the Phoenix Clan to intervene this time. He was an Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivator, yes, but going up against a powerhouse like Honghu would not end well for him.
With a flicker of thought, the Laws of Space surged outward like a stone cast into a still lake, ripples of spatial energy radiating outward in concentric circles from Yang Kai's position. Where the ripples passed, the void warped and distorted.
Beside him, Honghu's eyes gleamed with interest. She raised a hand slightly, feeling the wondrous nature of the spatial power. It was her first time witnessing such a peculiar force, and she couldn't help but feel curious.
At first, there was little change in the void, but as time passed, the ripples of spatial energy began to encounter faint, almost imperceptible fluctuations—like a river flowing with the current and striking a boulder lodged in its path.
Yang Kai directed his gaze toward that spot, driving the Laws of Space with even greater intensity.
Gradually, the faint fluctuations grew more and more pronounced.
After half an hour, even Honghu and the Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivator—who had no understanding of the Laws of Space—could discern the anomaly.
At a certain position in the void, the churning of spatial laws clearly revealed a vast stretch of space that was entirely different from its surroundings.
And that position was none other than the entrance connecting Divine Lord Shengyang's Qiankun Cave Heaven to the outside world!
Just as Yang Kai was about to press further and force the entrance open, the space twisted and shifted, and the entrance itself swung open of its own accord. A figure stepped out from within—Divine Lord Shengyang himself—his voice booming: "I was unaware that Venerable Honghu had graced us with her presence. Shengyang failed to welcome you at the gate, and I humbly beg your forgiveness!"
With that, he turned to glare at his two subordinates, his voice turning cold as frost: "Useless things who can't accomplish a single task without botching it—what use are you to me?"
The two men's faces drained of color at his words, and they fell to their knees in unison, begging for mercy.
But Divine Lord Shengyang paid them no heed. He raised a hand and brought it crashing down. The power of Eighth-Order Open Heaven erupted forth, the might of heaven and earth flooding the void.
A single palm strike—two Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivators had their skulls shattered on the spot. Their headless bodies swayed, their Minor Caves Heavens collapsed, and the power of their worlds burst free, scattering into nothingness.
Yang Kai's eyes narrowed slightly.
Honghu let out a cold snort. "What impressive authority the Divine Lord displays!"
Shengyang had slain his own two subordinates without a moment's hesitation, right in front of her—clearly a show of force. Though she had spent her life in the Ancestral Grounds and this was her first time venturing into the outside world, Honghu was well aware that Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivators were not the sort of weeds one could pluck at random.
Anywhere across the Three Thousand Worlds, a Sixth-Order Open Heaven could hold their own. Without the involvement of the higher-ups from the Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands, Sixth-Order cultivators were the strongest around!
"Please calm your anger, Venerable Honghu. Shengyang's actions were not what you might think. It is simply that, having resided in the Sacred Spirit Ancestral Grounds for so long, you are unfamiliar with the situation in the Broken Sky," Shengyang said.
A glint flashed through Yang Kai's eyes as he roughly pieced things together. He moved close to Honghu and explained in a low voice: "For the many powerful figures hiding in the Broken Sky, their place of concealment is their best and last line of defense. If that location is exposed, it invites endless trouble. If these two had only brought me here, that would have been one thing—but this time they also brought Honghu along. Divine Lord Shengyang had no way to silence them by killing them, so in his frustration, he could only vent his anger on them."
"This time they could bring me and Honghu. But what if next time they're captured by cultivators from the Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands? Wouldn't that be leading the wolves right to his door? Where would Divine Lord Shengyang hide then?"
Though he said this, Yang Kai knew that the only person in this world capable of forcibly opening the gates of a Qiankun Cave Heaven was likely Yang Kai himself, with his mastery of the Laws of Space. Even other Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivators from the Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands, even if they knew the location, probably couldn't do a thing to Shengyang.
Divine Lord Shengyang had been hiding precisely because he feared Honghu. But once he saw that his very lair was truly about to be forced open, he had no choice but to show himself.
"Distant guests are honored guests. Please, Venerable!" Divine Lord Shengyang extended his hand in invitation.
Honghu gave a faint nod and stepped inside. Yang Kai shot Qin Fen a meaningful glance and followed close behind.