Zhai Yao had never seen Yang Kai's true face, so it was hardly surprising that he didn't recognize him now.
Yang Kai chuckled and offered a greeting.
Hearing his voice, Zhai Yao immediately realized the truth and shook his head with a bitter smile. "So you've never shown your real face this whole time. You really are cautious enough."
As he spoke, his eyes narrowed. His expression remained calm, but the shock in his gaze was impossible to hide. "I say, Brother Yang, you seem quite different from before. Don't tell me you've already advanced to the Transcendent Realm?"
His eye for detail was remarkably sharp—he'd spotted the change at a single glance.
"I got lucky," Yang Kai replied with a modest smile, not denying it.
Both Cang Yan and Fei Yu started. Only now did they realize that Yang Kai had indeed reached the Transcendent Realm. Earlier, they'd been too overjoyed by his safe return to notice.
Both of them grew excited.
"You brat—give you another ten or twenty years and you'll probably catch up to your martial uncle here." Cang Yan laughed heartily, slapping Yang Kai on the shoulder with an expression that said Tianxiao Sect's future was secure.
"Brother Yang, you couldn't possibly have actually spent a full year in the Starry Sky, could you?" Zhai Yao asked uncertainly. Even having witnessed Yang Kai's formidable physical body, he couldn't believe the other had survived the Starry Sky for that long without incident.
But if not, how else could Yang Kai's cultivation have broken through an entire major realm?
"Yeah. I ran into a bit of trouble out there and only found my way back a few days ago," Yang Kai nodded.
Zhai Yao looked utterly crestfallen, rendered completely speechless.
He himself had barely hung on for three months in the Starry Sky before finally retreating through the Void Passage back to the Tongxuan Continent. Even so, his master had praised him considerably upon his return.
Zhai Yao had considered that accomplishment something to be proud of.
But compared to Yang Kai, the gap was immediately obvious!
"The Starry Sky?" Cang Yan and Fei Yu exchanged astonished looks, barely able to believe what they'd just heard. "You two were saying 'the Starry Sky'? Don't tell me you actually went there?"
"Have a seat and I'll tell you about it," Yang Kai said with a chuckle.
The mysteries of the Starry Sky were something anyone would want to know about. Cang Yan and Fei Yu were no exception.
The four of them sat down, and Yang Kai recounted the various wonders he'd encountered during his time in the Starry Sky one by one. Not only were Cang Yan and Fei Yu completely enthralled, even Zhai Yao—who had also been to the Starry Sky—listened with rapt attention and focused expression.
There were many of Yang Kai's adventures that he had never witnessed himself.
During his three months in the Starry Sky, Zhai Yao had spent most of his time camped beside the Void Passage, tempering his physical body while remaining ready to retreat at any moment. That was nothing like Yang Kai, who had charged around recklessly as if he had no regard for life or death—running here and there, and even encountering an apocalyptic Starry Sky Storm.
When they heard that the Starry Sky Storm had pulverized hundreds or even thousands of meteorites in an instant, the color drained from their faces.
They could barely imagine how Yang Kai had survived such a catastrophe. In a Starry Sky Storm of that magnitude, even a Sacred Realm powerhouse caught in its midst would surely meet their end.
Yet Yang Kai had not only survived—he'd emerged even stronger than before.
Yang Kai didn't go into detail about what had happened during the Starry Sky Storm, explaining only that he'd grazed its edge and sustained some injuries. After all, it concerned the Great Demon God's skeletal remains and the Demon God's Blood. He didn't dare share that information lightly.
He produced four drops of the liquid extracted from the Thousand-Year Demon Flower, placing them in a jade vial and handing it to Cang Yan.
Even the normally composed Cang Yan's hands trembled slightly as he accepted the four drops, his expression one of intense emotion.
With this liquid, the four of them—their sect's protectors—had a very good chance of advancing to the Sacred Realm!
Although the Sacred Realm and the Transcendent Realm differed by only a single tier, the gulf between them was vast—far greater than the gap between the Transcendent Realm and the Shenyou Realm.
The Tongxuan Continent was not lacking in Transcendent Realm experts. Sacred Realm powerhouses, however, were exceedingly rare. Every Sacred Realm cultivator served as a pillar of their sect, an irreplaceable treasure.
Even a massive sect like Tianxiao Sect seemed to have only two Sacred Realm experts. Besides the founder Chu Lingxiao, there was another Grand Martial Uncle who had remained in seclusion the entire time. As for forces like the Thunderlight Divine Sect, they didn't have a single Sacred Realm powerhouse to anchor them.
"Now that we've obtained the Thousand-Year Demon Flower's liquid and our junior nephew has returned, Cang Yan, we should head back to the sect," Fei Yu said softly. She was eager to return to Qixiu Peak and enter seclusion to assault the greatest bottleneck of her life.
"Agreed," Cang Yan clearly felt the same way. "But before that, Junior Nephew, you should go pay your respects to Elder Li and say goodbye. If it weren't for Elder Li's help this time, things wouldn't have gone so smoothly."
"That was exactly my intention," Yang Kai nodded. Even without Cang Yan's suggestion, he would have sought out Elder Li for a proper conversation. After all, in all the world, alchemists who possessed Divine Sense Fire were probably limited to just the two of them. Yang Kai felt he could learn a great deal of useful knowledge from Elder Li.
"My teacher specifically asked me to bring you over," Zhai Yao added with a grin. "Shall we head out then? Let's not keep him waiting too long. Would you two elders like to come along?"
"We'll pass," Cang Yan shook his head. "Give our regards to your teacher."
"Will do!" Zhai Yao agreed, and the two of them left the inn, heading in the direction of the City Lord's Manor.