High Heaven Palace, High Heaven Peak, on the main peak. Inside a room, a large bed was littered with bodies. Yang Kai struggled to pull out his arm, put on a robe, and walked over to the window. When he opened it, a refreshing scent wafted over.
Last night, there was rain, and after the rain, High Heaven Peak was shrouded in mist, the distant pavilions faintly discernible.
The sound of footsteps rang out from behind him as a warm and tender figure appeared and wrapped her arms around his waist. Su Yan asked softly, “How long will you be in a secluded retreat this time?”
“It shouldn’t be long, but on the day I come out, I’m afraid I’ll have to leave.”
Su Yan’s body trembled slightly.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back,” Yang Kai turned around and embraced her.
“En, we’ll wait for you,” Su Yan nodded.
“I really can’t bear to part with you,” Yang Kai kissed her forehead. Throughout his life, he had been separated from her many times and reunited with her many times. Originally, he had thought that he had settled down and would no longer run about, but who would have thought that he would end up in such a situation.
However, for the sake of the Star Boundary, he had no choice but to do so.
After returning to High Heaven Palace from the Azure Sun Temple, Yang Kai had asked Zhang Ruoxi about the World Tree, but Zhang Ruoxi had never heard of it. Although she had inherited a lot of memories from her Ancestor, it was still just an inheritance and not a complete one. Perhaps Heaven Punishment herself knew about the World Tree, but the memories Zhang Ruoxi had obtained were incomplete, so she had no idea. However, although she did not know, she had given him a direction.
In the Outer Universe world, there was a huge force that controlled a place called Star City. As long as one had enough resources, they could buy anything they wanted and go to that Star City, perhaps he could obtain some information about the World Tree there.
The Star Boundary was now in ruins. Although countless living beings had been transferred from the Lower Planes Star Field to restore its vitality and nourish its Spirit, no one knew if it would be effective. Even if it did, it would take at least a thousand or tens of thousands of years.
The Giant Spirit, Ah Da, was eyeing the Star Boundary from outside the Star Boundary, and at any moment, he would treat the Star Boundary like a food. Yang Kai couldn’t guarantee that he would absolutely obey.
So, in addition to self-cultivating in the Star Boundary, he had to find a way to restore the vitality of the Star Boundary as soon as possible.
The World Tree was the only clue he could find.
On top of that, Yang Kai also wanted to escape from the Universe World's shackles and see the outside world. An injured Great Demon God had nearly destroyed the entire Star Boundary. If another powerful figure appeared next time, how could the Star Boundary resist? Only self-improvement was the best way out. Did he expect those powerful existences to never come to the Star Boundary? This was obviously unrealistic.
Outer Universe, there was a higher realm of martial dao and a stronger power. Whether it was his own wish or the circumstances forcing him to leave the Star Boudary and head to a more exciting world, it was necessary.
Since he had made his decision, there was no need for him to hesitate, but before that, he had to deal with this matter.
The most important thing was to go into seclusion and digest what he had obtained from the final battle. Yang Kai’s current realm was already at the limit of the Emperor Realm. With the support of the Star Boundary, the Universe World, he was able to become a Great Emperor. However, just as Great Demon God had said, the Great Emperor Realm was not a higher realm. Above the Emperor Realm was the Open Heaven Stage.
Breaking free from the world's shackles, his body formed a world of its own, splitting apart the Heavens and Earth, that is Open Heaven Stage.
The Open Heaven Stage, even if it didn’t have the support of a Universe World, could still display a strength stronger than a Great Emperor’s. This was a power that belonged to one’s own body, not the support of the Heavens and Earth.
Yang Kai had experienced the feeling of being able to split the Heavens and Earth apart. When he swallowed the World Source Liquid, he felt as if his world had just been created.
This kind of feeling was extremely rare, and unless one truly experienced the changes of the world together since it was birthed, it was impossible to experience at all.
The world of the Outer Universe was indeed vast, but the birth of a new world was extremely harsh, and the World Source Liquid would only appear when the world was first born. As the world grew, the World Source Liquid would gradually disappear.
The Star Boundary’s World Source Liquid had been preserved all thanks to the Profound Heaven Temple’s World Secret Realm. If it weren’t for that Secret Realm preserving the most primitive part of this world, the World Source Liquid would not have existed.
However, experiencing this feeling of being able to split the Heavens and Earth didn’t mean much to the current Yang Kai. This kind of feeling would only bring him many benefits when he broke through to the Open Heaven Stage, and now he didn’t know how far away he was from breaking through.
According to Zhang Ruoxi, in order to reach the Open Heaven Stage, one needed to gather all Yin-Yang Five Elements, because any world was derived from the foundation of the Yin-Yang Five Elements. Only by gathering all of these forces would one have a chance of completely breaking free from the world's shackles.
The limit of the Emperor Realm to the Open Heaven Stage was a long accumulation process, and no one was an exception. Moreover, the more solid the accumulation, the stronger one’s strength would become after advancing to the Open Heaven Stage.
Even if it was the same Open Heaven Stage masters, the disparity in strength between them was still extremely great. In the Outer Universe world, perhaps the battle between two Open Heaven Stage masters would only take half a move to determine the victor.
The accumulation of the Yin-Yang Five Elements was mainly based on one’s own Dao Seal. The existence of a Dao Seal was the biggest difference between an ordinary Emperor Realm master and a master expected to break through the Open Heaven Stage.
In the entire Star Boundary, only the Great Emperors possessed Dao Seal, and the others, like Li Wuyi, did not have their own Dao Seal. Only by possessing a Dao Seal would one have the qualifications to comprehend the Dao and have the right to see through the mysteries of the Open Heaven Stage.
As for the Dao Seal, it was condensed from a person’s lifetime of cultivation essence, so if Yang Kai didn’t use his strength now, he would look no different from an ordinary person.
When he had used his Divine Sense before, the Demonic Qi had been dense, but now it was no longer there. All the Demonic Qi in his body, along with his Divine Sense, had been condensed by the Dao Seal into the purest form of energy.
The condensation of the Yin-Yang Five Elements, with the Dao Seal as the foundation, Yang Kai didn’t have any idea what to do, but Zhang Ruoxi’s words enlightened him.
Putting the other forces aside, at the very least, Yang Kai already possessed the Wood Attribute, and the source of the Wood Attribute was the Eternal Tree!
In all of the Three Thousand Worlds, the Eternal Tree was a supreme world treasure. In the final battle, the Great Demon God saw Yang Kai refine the Eternal Tree and was so jealous that he almost went crazy. One could only imagine how precious the Eternal Tree was.
According to Zhang Ruoxi, the Eternal Tree was one of the best choices to condense the power of wood in the three thousand worlds, and there was almost no better choice than the Eternal Tree.
Moreover, Yang Kai had already refined it, saving him the process of refining it.
When Yang Kai learned of this, he couldn’t help feeling a bit overjoyed. Previously, he had no choice but to refine the Eternal Tree. At that time, he had been beaten to a pulp by the Great Demon God, so he really had no choice but to try his best to refine it. Who would have thought that he would obtain such benefits?
This time, he had gone into seclusion to digest all the gains he had obtained from the previous battle and to consolidate the power of the Five Elements.
Refining the power of the five elements was something Yang Kai had experienced before. When he lived on Heng Luo Star Field’s Shadowed Star, he had cultivated a Secret Technique called the Five Elements Indestructible Sword, which also required him to refine the power of the five elements. At that time, he still had a small piece of True Gold the size of a baby’s fist, but in order to refine the Five Elements Indestructible Sword, he had basically exhausted it.
The power of the Five Elements Indestructible Sword was indeed extraordinary. As long as he had enough materials to refine it and improve his control over the Five Elements, the power of this Secret Technique was almost limitless.
However, after coming to the Star Boundary and coming into contact with a higher level of Martial Dao, he had gradually abandoned the Secret Technique of Five Elements Indestructible Sword. Now it seemed that he had made a wrong decision.
If he had accumulated enough Five Elements force before, it might have been easier for him to break through to the Open Heaven Stage now. However, after thinking about it, when he condensed his Dao Seal, all of his strength had been refined into it, so no matter how much he had accumulated, it would have been useless.
However, now it seemed that when the time was right, this Secret Technique could become one of his killing moves, but before that, he needed to accumulate the power of the five elements first.
It was all thanks to Zhang Ruoxi, otherwise Yang Kai would still be confused about his future path, at least now he had a clear direction.
The condensation of the Yin-Yang Five Elements did not have a specific choice at the beginning, but once one of the five elements was chosen, it would have to be done step by step.
For example, Yang Kai had chosen to condense his Wood Attribute first, so what he needed to condense next was the Fire Attribute. Because the five elements mutually supported and countered each other, only wood could produce fire, so it was not impossible for him to condense the other five elements. However, if Yang Kai chose to condense his Gold Attribute, it might even affect the stability of his Dao Seal, because Gold restrained Wood.
However, this was something he had to consider in the future. Yang Kai didn’t have any materials to condense the power of five elements, now that he know the secrets of the Open Heaven Stage, he would try his best to choose the best path to advance and become the strongest Open Heaven Stage cultivator.
With a loud bang, the door closed and the stone fell to the ground. Many restrictions were opened and Yang Kai walked into the secret room, isolating himself from the outside world.
From today onwards, he would be going into seclusion. In the next ten or even a hundred years, this place would be his retreat.
Everything outside had been arranged. Although the Great Emperors and the Dragon Race’s two Great Elders were in seclusion, and Grand Mountain was also recuperating, it was not as if the Star Boundary did not have any forces left behind.
Zhang Ruoxi was in her semi-cultivation state and could be summoned at any time, while Yu Rumeng was overseeing the Star Boundary. With her around, as long as it wasn’t a Great Demon God level, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Moreover, the task of appeasing Ah Da was handed over to her. Before Duan Hongchen went into seclusion, he had deliberately left behind many dead stars that he had refined into chess pieces for Yang Kai. Yang Kai had even handed them over to Yu Rumeng, instructing her to deliver some food to Ah Da every once in a while so that he wouldn’t forget his promise to him.
After the world-destroying battle, the entire Star Boundary fell silent. Many masters were pursuing their own path of strength, and countless living beings began to multiply throughout the Star Boundary.
In the blink of an eye, fifty years had passed.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Martial Peak