Yang Kai only knew that his cultivation speed was already fast enough, but Wu Kuang was no slower. When they met again, he had reached Sixth-Order Open Heaven, and so had Wu Kuang.
After that, Wu Kuang had hidden in the new great domain for a while before Yang Kai eventually brought him to the Shattered Heaven.
A person of Wu Kuang's caliber could only make a real impact in an environment like the Shattered Heaven.
After that, Wu Kuang vanished without a trace.
Sometimes Yang Kai would wonder—if Blood Crow hadn't been subdued by that old Fisherman ancestor from Ming Wang Heaven back then, when Wu Kuang set foot in the Shattered Heaven, the two of them would surely have had an epic clash.
One wielded the Heaven Devouring Battle Art, the other the Great Evolution Indestructible Blood Radiance Scripture—both techniques that refined others' power for one's own use, strikingly similar in principle. If they ever met, the sparks would certainly fly.
But relatively speaking, the Heaven Devouring Battle Art was undoubtedly more formidable. There was nothing in this world containing energy that the Heaven Devouring Battle Art couldn't refine and devour.
The Great Evolution Indestructible Blood Radiance Scripture also possessed some refining and devouring capabilities, but it primarily relied on vital blood, making it considerably inferior to the Heaven Devouring Battle Art.
However, Blood Crow had been subdued by Ming Wang Heaven's experts early on and taken there as a prisoner. By the time Wu Kuang entered the Shattered Heaven, all that remained of Blood Crow was legend.
Yang Kai reckoned that if the two had truly met, Blood Crow would more likely have been the one to suffer.
Several hundred years had passed in the blink of an eye. Yang Kai had no idea how Wu Kuang was faring in the Shattered Heaven. Given the sinister nature of his technique, he was probably in a situation where everyone wanted him dead…
How pitiful.
"Wu Kuang..." Cang murmured again, then burst into hearty laughter, laughing so hard that tears were nearly streaming down his face. "Wu Kuang!"
Yang Kai was greatly surprised. "Senior, do you know Wu Kuang?"
Cang shook his head repeatedly. "No, no. This is the first time I've heard the name Wu Kuang."
Yang Kai was bewildered. If he didn't know Wu Kuang, why was he laughing so happily?
Little did he know, Cang didn't know Wu Kuang, but he did know another person—the Heaven Devouring Battle Art had been that other person's primary cultivation technique back in the day.
The technique was indeed sinister, but truthfully speaking, techniques themselves had no morality—it was the people who wielded them that were good or evil. Regardless of what technique it was, it all depended on who was using it.
Shi's plan back then had succeeded.
Otherwise, the Heaven Devouring Battle Art could never have spread.
But from another perspective, Shi's plan had also failed.
Though Cang had never had any contact with this Wu Kuang, judging from Yang Kai's account alone, Wu Kuang had not inherited that trace of Shi's spiritual consciousness.
Perhaps during the long journey away from this place, the dangers along the way had eroded and destroyed Shi's spiritual consciousness, so Wu Kuang knew nothing of his past life—only the Heaven Devouring Battle Art, that singular extraordinary technique, remained in his memory.
Regardless, this was the best news Cang had heard in a million years.
"Have you been to the Taixu Realm?" Cang suddenly asked.
The abrupt change of topic caught Yang Kai off guard, and Cang's question stunned him even more. "How does Senior know?"
Cang smiled. "I sensed the aura of the World Tree on you."
Yang Kai suddenly understood.
"Just now, as I watched you charge across the battlefield without any fear of being corroded by the power of Ink, I figured you must have a World Tree subsidiary tree sealing your Small Universe."
Yang Kai nodded. "Senior's perception is truly sharp. I do indeed have a World Tree subsidiary tree within my Small Universe, but this tree was not obtained from the Taixu Realm—I acquired it from a World Cave Heaven left behind on an ancient battlefield."
The subsidiary tree he had obtained from the Taixu Realm had been planted in the Star Boundary, which was why the Star Boundary no longer faced the threat of annihilation and had become a cradle for the Open Heaven Realm.
Only after finishing did Yang Kai belatedly realize, and he asked in astonishment, "The Taixu Realm and the World Tree already existed in Senior's era?"
Cang had been stationed here for a million years, completely cut off from the world, yet he still knew about the World Tree and the Taixu Realm. This truly surprised Yang Kai.
Cang chuckled. "The antiquity of the Taixu Realm and the World Tree may exceed your imagination. The World Tree in particular—they say it was born when heaven and earth first separated."
Another entity born at the dawn of creation...
Lately, Yang Kai had heard more hidden secrets than he had ever known before.
"As for the Taixu Realm..." Cang frowned slightly. "No one knows anymore how it was formed. As I mentioned before, in the late ancient era, a great power took pity on the hardships of the human race's struggle for survival and disseminated the Dao through ten individuals. Only then could humans begin to cultivate."
Yang Kai nodded. Cang had indeed said this before. Those ten individuals were Cang and the other nine Martial Ancestors who had created the Primordial Great Restriction. Now, a million years later, the other nine had all perished, leaving only Cang to stand vigil here alone.