The birth of the human race's strongholds could be traced back to an incredibly ancient era. Over countless years, generation after generation had expanded upon the foundations left by their predecessors, eventually giving rise to the scale of what existed today.
Though there had been expansions, the core locations of each stronghold had never been substantially altered. For one, these positions were supremely critical—the slightest shift could set off a chain reaction that affected everything. For another, the decline in talent over the ages meant no one had the ability to change anything even if they wanted to.
Take the great hall where the spatial formation was housed, for example.
This hall exuded an extremely ancient aura, bearing the handiwork of mighty powerhouses from the primordial age. Its mysteries were no longer something warriors of the current era could casually peer into.
Throughout the Thirty Thousand Worlds, the Qiankun Halls in each of the great domains were the same—all relics left behind by those primordial powerhouses.
That was why, when the Qiankun Halls in several great domains had been damaged in the past, the various Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands had been powerless to repair them, leaving them to fall into ruin. That was, until Yang Kai had stepped in, using the Qiankun Grand Formation within the Qiankun Halls to comprehend the Dao of Space, thereby elevating his attainments in the Dao of Space to soaring new heights.
The Qiankun Grand Formation in the Qiankun Halls and the spatial formation in the stronghold were products of the same era, sharing considerable similarities between them.
Since Yang Kai had been able to arrange the Qiankun Grand Formation, repairing the spatial formation here was naturally no problem at all.
All it required was time and effort.
Busying himself without rest, it took a full half year before the work was finally complete.
Inside the great hall, several highly respected formation masters had gathered together, watching Yang Kai as he stood at the center of the formation. A bald master called out, "Kid Yang, is it going to work this time or not?"
This formation master's cultivation was no ordinary thing—he had reached the Seventh-Order Open Heaven realm. Logically speaking, he should not have suffered any mortal ailments, and yet somehow his head had gone completely bare.
Yang Kai gave him a thumbs up. "It'll definitely work!"
Another formation master, plump as a sphere, curled his lip the moment he heard this. "That's exactly what you said last time, and the time before that, and you nearly destroyed the whole place. Kid Yang, don't do anything you're not confident about."
Over the course of this half year, repairing the formation had been fraught with setbacks. Multiple times, after the repairs seemed complete and they activated the formation to test it, unexpected problems would crop up in places no one anticipated. Sometimes the issues were minor, sometimes they were severe.
Minor problems were fine—no real harm would come of it. But if a major problem arose, it could very well cause the entire formation to collapse.
That was exactly what had happened the time before last. When the formation had been activated, a black hole that devoured everything had spontaneously appeared in the middle of the great hall, nearly swallowing everyone inside.
Fortunately, Yang Kai had reacted quickly, activating the spatial formation to smooth out that black hole. Otherwise, these masters might well still be wandering through the cracks between spatial rifts to this day.
That was why, every time Yang Kai activated the formation now, the masters would keep their distance, terrified that something might go wrong.
"It'll absolutely work this time," Yang Kai stated with certainty.
He had indeed encountered some issues during the previous attempts, but after identifying their causes, he had made the necessary repairs. This time, he was certain there were no problems left. If it still didn't work, then all those years of cultivating the Dao of Space would have been for nothing.
The grooves in every corner of the formation were packed with energy crystals of various attributes. Every single one of these crystals was extraordinarily precious, extracted from cultivation resources through special methods.
When Xiang Shan had deployed his puppet army earlier, those puppets had utilized these same energy crystals.
However, each puppet needed at most a crystal the size of a fingernail to operate for a long period of time. The energy crystals arranged within this formation for the teleportation, on the other hand, numbered well over a hundred portions' worth.
It was precisely because the energy consumption was so enormous that the spatial formations at each of the human strongholds were never activated casually.
His divine sense surged outward as he performed one final inspection. Once he was certain nothing had been overlooked, Yang Kai channeled the power of heaven and earth, connecting himself to the great formation beneath his feet.
The formation hummed to life. Line after line of runic patterns lit up in rapid succession, linking and interconnecting. The energy crystals nestled in their grooves began to drain at a swift pace.
Under the tense watch of the formation masters, the space at the center of the formation began to twist and warp.
The bald master's eyebrows shot upward. "There's something!"
None of the previous attempts had produced such a sight. The warping of space meant the Space Gate was being opened—which in turn meant the formation was operating without issue. This was a sign that success was imminent.
The spatial distortion grew more and more intense. As the energy continued to drain, the Space Gate at the center of the formation showed faint signs of taking shape.
And yet it always seemed to fall just short, never quite managing to solidify.
With the energy crystals nearly depleted, if the Space Gate failed to fully materialize before they were exhausted, this attempt would end in failure once more.
The formation masters couldn't help but hold their breath.
But after waiting a long while, the Space Gate remained nothing more than a swirling distortion. Just as the last of the energy crystals were about to be consumed, Yang Kai suddenly stepped forward and thrust his hand into the constantly twisting, unstable Space Gate, kneading and pressing it as if working dough—spatial law surging in response to his touch.
This spectacle left the esteemed masters utterly dumbstruck.
What shocked them even further was that Yang Kai's seemingly reckless action actually produced an unexpected result.
The Space Gate solidified.
Immediately after, Yang Kai stepped into it. At the same time, the formation's energy was completely spent, and the Space Gate dissolved into motes of light before vanishing without a trace.
Yang Kai's figure disappeared along with it!