Green mountains stretching high into the sky, birds singing among fragrant flowers, a picturesque landscape brimming with an aura of serenity.
Deep within the belly of one such mountain, inside a natural stone cave, Yang Kai sat cross-legged. A stream of memories flowed through his mind, flashing one after another. With his Divine Sense, Yang Kai absorbed every scene and figure contained within those memories, as though experiencing them firsthand.
This stream of memories was what Wu Jie had transmitted to him—his account of the extraordinary encounter he had stumbled upon all those years ago.
After shaking off Zhang Ao and the others, Yang Kai had no particular urgency to return to the Heavenly Xiao Sect. Instead, he simply found a nearby spot to study that miraculous technique capable of tearing through space.
He was deeply interested in it.
If he could truly master it, then no matter how powerful an enemy he might face in the future, he could always escape with ease.
However, judging by Wu Jie's warning before departing, the use of this technique came with enormous risks.
With his mind stilled, the scenes from the memory stream unfolded before Yang Kai's eyes with perfect clarity, as vivid as reality.
In just a day or two, Yang Kai had grasped everything.
He chuckled to himself, realizing why Wu Jie had been so generous in sharing this experience with him—it turned out the limitations on its use were equally enormous.
He had originally suspected Wu Jie of harboring some hidden agenda, but once he understood everything, he immediately realized that was not the case. Wu Jie had shared this technique because even if Yang Kai knew it, it would make no difference.
This miraculous technique sounded extraordinary, yet it was deceptively simple.
It was part martial technique, part soul technique, because using it consumed both True Yang Energy and Divine Sense simultaneously—and the amount consumed was staggering.
Even someone as powerful as Wu Jie would be left drained for quite some time after a single use.
Yang Kai was only at the second layer of the Exalt Realm. In Wu Jie's estimation, even if Yang Kai fully comprehended it, he would be unable to actually use it in the short term.
But Wu Jie was wrong. The True Yang Energy and Divine Sense within Yang Kai were many times stronger than he had estimated—more than sufficient to support the use of this technique.
The more True Yang Energy and Divine Sense one expended, the farther one could travel through the torn space.
Yang Kai immersed his mind, quietly contemplating this mystical ability.
There were rumors that the Void Corridors across this continent, along with all the Minor Mystic Realms, had been created by the supreme powerhouses of antiquity during their great battles.
While these rumors might not necessarily be true, Yang Kai could well imagine what kind of heaven-defying abilities those warriors of old must have possessed.
Tearing space, creating spatial dimensions—for them, it may not have been difficult at all.
It was simply that as so many ages had passed, the martial path had gradually declined, and this knowledge had been lost to time.
Perhaps in the present day, the peak powerhouses at the top of the Saint King Realm might be able to glimpse the threshold—they could teleport a dozen or even several dozen li in an instant. But they absolutely could not tear space apart to arrive a thousand li away in a single breath.
Only a Void Corridor could achieve that.
Time flowed on, the sun hid and the moon rose. Yang Kai sat motionless in the stone cave for roughly half a month, gradually feeling that he had thoroughly digested this mystical ability. A look of eager anticipation crept across his brow.
Though Wu Jie had warned him to exercise extreme caution, having obtained such a technique, Yang Kai would never forgive himself if he didn't at least give it a try.
Only through firsthand experience could he confirm whether he could truly tear space apart, and whether Wu Jie had been exaggerating.
Otherwise, if he found himself in real danger someday and only then placed his hopes on this technique, it would be far too late.
After a long period of contemplation, Yang Kai rose to his feet.
True Yang Energy surged within him while his Divine Sense erupted outward. The two forces merged as one, undergoing an incredibly subtle transformation, and then slammed into the empty void before him.
Layer upon layer of ripples spread outward from where Yang Kai faced, like pebbles tossed one after another into the surface of a still lake.
The ripples expanded. Yang Kai continued channeling his True Yang Energy and Divine Sense, his consciousness riding the spreading waves as he searched.
A long, long time passed. Suddenly, his vision brightened. In this state of perfect mental stillness, he detected that the space before him seemed subtly different from usual.
When he tried to examine it more closely, the traces vanished in a flash.
Yang Kai took a soft breath, remaining patient and unhurried. He withdrew his outward flow of True Yang Energy and Divine Sense, taking a moment to regulate his breathing and recover.
Although he had fully comprehended the theory of this technique, the moment he actually attempted to put it into practice, he discovered just how difficult it truly was.
He simply could not fathom how the powerhouses of antiquity had created Void Corridors and Minor Realms—and that they had done so almost inadvertently in the heat of battle.
Compared to them, Yang Kai felt he was still far too weak.
Perhaps in their eyes, he was nothing more than an ant.
Half a day later, having restored his vitality, spirit, and mind to their peak, Yang Kai tried once more.
True Yang Energy and Divine Sense burst forth simultaneously as he searched through those expanding ripples for a flaw in the barrier of space.
This time, his perception was much clearer, and his heart stirred with delight. He focused even more intently.
Gradually, the world before his eyes began to change. The space warped in a strange and alien way, folding and twisting like a transparent sheet of fabric being creased by an unseen hand.
From those folds, a strange and unfamiliar aura leaked through.