Yang Kai sighed and said, "Since you understand, then you should know the purpose for which I brought you here. Make your choice—stay and guard this place to benefit the masses, or leave and live free."
Wu Kuang glanced at the Azure Dragon Spear Yang Kai was idly toying with, his eye twitching. "If I say I don't want to stay, are you going to stab me to death?"
Yang Kai shook his head. "How could I? Shi is Shi, and you are you—they can't be conflated. Shi was one of the Ten Martial Ancestors, a man who carried the world in his heart. He guarded the Primordial Heaven Great Restriction for hundreds of thousands of years without respite, and even in his final moments he gave everything he had. He is truly a model for the rest of us. You, Wu Kuang, are infamous across the world—your reputation alone in the Star Boundary is enough to stop children from crying at night. If you say you don't want to stay, I can certainly understand. After all, guarding this place is not a matter of a day or two. It could be thousands of years, tens of thousands, or even longer. Such prolonged solitude is not something just anyone can endure."
A flash of cold light glinted along the Azure Dragon Spear.
Wu Kuang sneered. "Save the theatrics! You spent over a decade bringing me all the way here. If I dared utter a single word of refusal, I probably wouldn't leave this place alive today."
Yang Kai said flatly, "I couldn't possibly. You seem to have rather a wrong impression of me."
Wu Kuang snorted coldly and glanced toward the Primordial Heaven Great Restriction, then burst into laughter. "But there's no need for you to threaten me. I'll be the one guarding this place!"
Yang Kai raised an eyebrow. "I won't force you into this."
Wu Kuang shook his head. "There's no forcing involved. If I truly didn't wish to stay, you could kill me and I still wouldn't remain. This is… my own choice."
Yang Kai immediately put away the Azure Dragon Spear, his expression solemn, and bowed deeply to Wu Kuang. "Senior's magnanimity is truly admirable. On behalf of the billions upon billions of living beings across the Three Thousand Worlds, I offer my gratitude. When the day comes that we extinguish the Ink and purge the evil, Senior shall be credited with the greatest merit!"
Wu Kuang snorted repeatedly.
When things were quiet, the brat called him Wu Kuang by name, but now suddenly he was "Senior." This kid's thick skin was really something else.
Yang Kai asked again, "May I ask Senior why you are willing to endure thousands or tens of thousands of years of solitude to guard the Primordial Heaven Great Restriction?"
Wu Kuang glanced at him, knowing full well the kid still wasn't at ease. After all, saying he'd guard the Primordial Heaven Great Restriction was one thing—once Yang Kai left, he could simply find an opportunity to slip away. So he replied lightly, "Fine. Consider this reassurance for you. My cultivation is only at the Seventh Order Open Heaven. While it's passable, it's still not strong enough. You know the nature of the Heaven Devouring Battle Art better than most. I can use it to rapidly advance my cultivation. And in all this vast cosmos, where else could possibly provide me with greater benefits than the Primordial Heaven Great Restriction?"
Understanding dawned on Yang Kai in an instant. "You intend to devour Mo's power?"
Wu Kuang smiled with a sinister edge. "Mo's power is the source essence of the Ink Clan. To devour even a fraction of it would be far more beneficial than killing a few Lords out there."
Yang Kai praised, "Senior's foresight is truly remarkable."
"Stop flattering me. It's pointless."
Yang Kai pressed on. "Mo is dormant at present, but who knows when it might awaken? With your cultivation at the Seventh Order Open Heaven, even if you're willing to guard the Primordial Heaven Great Restriction, how much of its power can you actually wield?"
This was a very practical question. Wu Kuang at the Seventh Order likely couldn't unleash even a tenth of the Primordial Heaven Great Restriction's full power. If that were the case, it might not be enough to contain Mo.
Wu Kuang declared proudly, "Within three thousand years, I can advance to the Ninth Order. As long as Mo doesn't awaken within those three thousand years, there won't be any major problems."
Three thousand years—from the Seventh Order to the Ninth Order. In this world, no one but Wu Kuang would dare make such an audacious claim.
But for Wu Kuang, who practiced the Heaven Devouring Battle Art, it might not be empty boasting. With the power of the Primordial Heaven Great Restriction to help him devour Mo's energy, he was confident he could achieve it.
And once Wu Kuang truly advanced to the Ninth Order, he would be able to fully control the Primordial Heaven Great Restriction.
After all, he was no ordinary martial artist—he was the reincarnation of Shi. The Primordial Heaven Great Restriction had been forged by Shi together with his nine old companions. No one in the present era was more familiar with it than he was.
Three thousand years—that was a threshold.
For Wu Kuang, certainly. But for humanity, was it any different?
Even if Wu Kuang advanced to the Ninth Order within three thousand years and gained complete control of the Primordial Heaven Great Restriction, if humanity itself lacked the corresponding strength and failed to find the First Light in the world, Mo's problem still wouldn't be solved.
Yang Kai nodded. "Then I wish Senior great prosperity on the martial path, and may your wishes come true."
"That First Light…" Wu Kuang furrowed his brow. "Did you go and meet Zhuo Zhao and You Ying?"
Earlier, when Wu Kuang had asked about the First Light, Yang Kai had simply said it was nothing he needed to concern himself with.
But now, having inherited Shi's spiritual essence and combined it with his own life experiences, it was hardly surprising that Wu Kuang could guess there was some connection between Zhuo Zhao and You Ying and the First Light.
"I did."