Yang Kai's mind churned with a storm of disbelief. If these Bone Clan were telling the truth, then they were extraterrestrial visitors from the Star Field itself.
How inconceivable was that?
There had always been those who theorized that somewhere within the vast expanse of the starry sky, other forms of life might exist. But since no one had ever been able to enter the Star Field, the notion remained unproven—nothing more than speculation.
Until now. Now Yang Kai was certain that the suspicions of his predecessors had not been baseless.
The Bone Clan were creatures from the Star Field. They were not natives of the Tongxuan Continent.
"Boy, how much did you just see?" Kor's sinister eyes locked onto Yang Kai with a cold stare as he spoke in a low voice.
"Almost everything."
Yang Kai had seen the eerie blood pool, the formation diagram flickering at its bottom, and the bones assembling into skeletal forms with the aid of medicinal ingredients and the Bone Clan's life essence—then rising from the pool as though reborn.
Those newly born Bone Clan were exceedingly fragile, and he had wiped them out with a single strike, but every one of them had possessed the aura of the Transcendent Realm. Given enough time, each could have become a Transcendent powerhouse—and a Transcendent powerhouse that was nearly impossible to kill, at that.
"Hmph!" Kor snorted coldly. "Doesn't matter that you saw it. You're dying today regardless!"
Yang Kai grinned. "When I first arrived, I heard you lot shouting about conquering the world. Do you really think a handful of Transcendent Realm puppets are enough to pull that off?"
Kor gazed at Yang Kai with undisguised contempt, wearing the expression of a man who had already won. He made no move to attack, instead using his spiritual sense to seal the space around Yang Kai, preventing him from using his Star Shuttle to escape. Then he spoke in a flat tone: "Transcendent Realm? The meager resources here can only grant my newly created kin the strength of the Transcendent Realm."
"You can create Enter Saints as well?" Yang Kai's face darkened.
Kor burst into laughter. "Kill enough powerful cultivators, obtain their flesh and blood, combine them with sufficiently high-grade medicinal ingredients—and what difficulty is there in reaching the Enter Saint Realm?"
Yang Kai's expression turned ashen.
He had underestimated how bizarre this race truly was. Never had he imagined that such an abominable form of life could exist.
But the price they paid for their craft was far from insignificant.
The bottom of the blood pool was littered with leftover medicinal ingredients and bones. Presumably, every one of the two thousand disciples of the Water God Temple had been cast into that pool—yet the final output was only a hundred-odd Bone Clan.
"Enough talk. Hand over the Star Shuttle. As a reward, I'll let you choose a comfortable way to die." Kor's patience was visibly wearing thin.
"One last question. Answer it, and the Star Shuttle is yours." Yang Kai's voice was low and steady.
"You're in no position to bargain with me!" Kor's expression turned vicious. "With your pathetic strength, I can take your life in the snap of my fingers!"
"Then try it—and see whether I can destroy this Star Shuttle before I die!" Yang Kai showed no fear. His grip on the Star Shuttle tightened as True Yuan surged unpredictably in his palm, like a serpent baring its fangs. He looked ready to go down fighting, no matter the cost.
Kor's face shifted, a flicker of wariness crossing his features. Yang Kai's words had struck a nerve.
Star Shuttles were indeed common in the vast Star Field. When the Bone Clan had first arrived on the Tongxuan Continent millennia ago, many of their clansmen had possessed Star Shuttles. But thousands of years had passed, and without flesh and blood, they had been unable to nurture their artifacts. The Star Shuttles had long since deteriorated beyond use.
The one in Yang Kai's hands was likely the only functioning Star Shuttle on the entire Tongxuan Continent.
If they ever wished to leave the continent and return to the Star Field, they would need its power.
That was why Kor wanted Yang Kai's Star Shuttle so desperately. Without it, they could never return to where they had come from.
"Easy now, lad, let's talk this through!" Kor's expression flickered between shadow and light, and a cold gleam secretly flashed in his eyes. He had already decided that once the Star Shuttle was in his hands, Yang Kai would know every torture the mortal world had to offer.
"Then shall we negotiate?"
"Go ahead!"
"Glacier-covered world—there's a passage to the Star Field there. Tell me, what happened to the people who originally lived there?"
"You mean those who cultivated ice arts?" The ghostly flame in Kor's eyes flickered.
"Yes. Tell me where they went!"
"What's your connection to them?" Kor answered with a question of his own.
"Drop the games, or I'll destroy the Star Shuttle right now and you'll never get your hands on it!" Yang Kai roared.
Kor's face twisted with fury, on the verge of erupting, but he forced himself to restrain it. He said through gritted teeth, "Most are dead. The rest fled!"
"Fled where?"
"The Star Field!"
"Bullshit!" Yang Kai's expression turned savage as he snarled, "You think I don't know what the Star Field is like? The pressure out there is enormous—only powerhouses of your caliber can survive it. Don't try to fool me. I've been to the Star Field, more than once!"
Kor stared at Yang Kai with evident surprise, clearly not expecting someone like him to possess such courage and experience.
The Star Field was not a place that ordinary people dared to venture into.
Kor shrugged and broke into a smile. "Believe it or not, they really did flee into the Star Field. Because… they had a Star Shuttle too."
"They did?" Yang Kai froze on the spot, then quickly put it together. The Ice Sect had clashed with the Bone Clan on multiple occasions in the past. Capturing a Star Shuttle in the process was entirely plausible.