Qu Huashang led Tao Lingwan away, and Yang Kai vaguely caught the latter's hushed, frightened voice: "Junior Sister Qu, my husband... does he really eat people?"
"Eat!" Qu Huashang said, clearly enjoying stirring up trouble. She grasped the girl's delicate hand and intoned in a chilling voice, "I'll start with your hands first — nice and soft — then your arms, then your belly..."
Tao Lingwan's face drained of color with every word.
Yang Kai couldn't help but sigh, wondering whether Tao Lingwan would be able to handle spending much more time around Qu Huashang.
The flying ship pressed onward. The journey to the Star Boundary would take at least a few months.
If Yang Kai had been traveling alone, he could have drawn upon the Space Laws to make the trip in short order. But traveling with three women made that impossible — he simply couldn't sustain the Space Laws while transporting others for that long.
A few months was bearable enough.
During the journey, Yang Kai spent his time refining Open Heaven Pills. Even without actively cultivating, the many living beings and Small Stone Race members within his Small Universe were constantly bolstering his foundation. But cultivation at the Open Heaven Stage was always this tedious — it required the slow, steady accumulation of strength, drop by drop.
The saying "many grains of sand build a tower" fit perfectly.
A few days later, while refining an Open Heaven Pill, Yang Kai suddenly furrowed his brow.
That feeling of unease had swept over him once again, putting him on high alert.
He had experienced this same feeling a few days prior and had carefully inspected himself, finding nothing amiss. He had dismissed it as a fluke, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.
Once could be an illusion. A second time could absolutely not be.
He examined himself thoroughly once more, but found nothing wrong. His Divine Sense swept the surroundings, detecting no threatening presence anywhere.
This left him utterly baffled — he had no idea where this feeling of unease was coming from.
After a moment's contemplation, Yang Kai rose and stepped outside, stopping before a cabin door and knocking.
The door opened quickly, and Yang Kai entered to find Luo Tinghe sitting cross-legged, apparently having been cultivating before he interrupted her.
"Rather than spending time with your two fiancées, you come looking for me. Something the matter?" Luo Tinghe looked at him curiously.
Yang Kai nodded and laid out his concerns.
Luo Tinghe frowned. "When was the last time?"
"Three days ago."
"Let me see." Luo Tinghe extended a hand and placed it on his wrist. In the next instant, a gentle force surged into his body, inspecting him inch by inch.
But Luo Tinghe found nothing either. After withdrawing her hand, she said, "There's nothing abnormal with your body. Could it be a problem within your Small Universe?"
Yang Kai shook his head. "That's exactly what I don't understand — there's nothing wrong with the Small Universe either. I've checked thoroughly."
His Small Universe was sealed and stabilized by the Heaven and Earth Spring, flawless and whole. Unless he himself perished, nothing could possibly go wrong with it. And upon inspection, there truly was nothing amiss.
Luo Tinghe frowned in thought, and after a moment said, "If it's not a problem with you, then it's possible something happened to someone close to you. When two people are intimately connected, their minds can resonate with one another. If one is in danger, the other will sense it no matter how far away or where they are!"
Yang Kai's expression shifted.
If what Luo Tinghe said was true, could something have happened to Su Yan?
He had several partners, but the only one with whom he shared that mental connection was Su Yan. After all, from the very beginning of their cultivation, they had been bound together through their paired techniques.
This was something Shan Qingluo and the others simply couldn't compare with.
Su Yan was currently in the Ancestral Land, and the only beings there who could pose a threat to her were the other Sacred Spirits — especially those of the Kun Clan.
But thinking more carefully, that didn't seem likely either. The Kun Clan's enmity was directed at the Dragon Clan, and their relationship with the Phoenix Clan was actually rather decent. Moreover, Su Yan carried the Origin Power of the previous Phoenix Empress, which meant the Four Phoenix Pavilion would surely place great importance on her. How could they let her fall into danger so easily?
If the Kun Clan truly intended to harm Su Yan, Honghu and the others would never allow it.
Within the Ancestral Land, the Phoenix Clan's power was formidable — even the Kun Clan couldn't disregard it.
Should he make a trip to the Ancestral Land? Yang Kai hesitated. He felt that his path to the Seventh Order had been fraught with setbacks. He had planned to go into seclusion and attempt the breakthrough years ago, but various matters always kept getting in the way.
Detouring through the Shattered Sky to reach the Ancestral Land now wasn't impossible, but the round trip would consume considerable time.
Besides, Yang Kai had a vague feeling that with the Four Phoenix Pavilion looking after them, Su Yan and the others should be fine.
But if it wasn't because of Su Yan, then why had he been struck by this unease twice in three days?
Luo Tinghe had no answer. After leaving her, Yang Kai tried his best to quiet his mind and focus, but he simply couldn't do it. Rather than fading, the feeling of unease only grew worse.