Author: Silavin
Naturally, the two were Yang Kai and Su Yan.
Little Eleven had only noticed them after he had assimilated with Mo. He did not know when they had come, but he knew that they had been watching the twins before they had gone to the battlefield.
It was most likely the case where all the other Mo fragments knew of the twos’ presence, which was why they avoided a full-force siege. One had sent out additional trump cards like that new Royal Lord, but they had not personally shown themselves.
In fact, Little Eleven believes Yang Kai was already here, before he assimilated with Mo. After all, the assimilation process was not immediate and during that time, his domain would be vulnerable. Despite this, there was no attack from the other two sides.
Yang Kai, seeming to be able to read into Little Eleven’s thoughts, gave an awkward smile. As for Su Yan, she took no time to rush up to her children to give them a big hug. She had watched everything unfold, but could not do anything to help because Yang Kai had stopped her.
Back before the Royal Lord had taken Yang Ji’s hand, she was moments away from unleashing all her might to confront it. Yang Kai had to step in at the time to stop any energy fluctuations from her, else the twins would have spotted them.
Despite showing a cold front, Yang Kai had his fist clenched till his knuckles turned white. He had also wanted to act out but he chose to be objective there.
In fact, he had expected the little worm to intervene for the children’s sake, but she did not. Perhaps she had sensed them, or perhaps she understood the true strength of the twins. Regardless, even in that precarious situation, the little worm did not do anything to protect her ‘host’.
Seeing as even that did not force her out, Yang Kai did not believe they could do anything else. He could try to wait it out further, and have the children be in even more dangerous situations to have the little worm act. However, seeing Su Yan’s frosty eyes the moment he tried to stop her from helping, and his own palm, which had his nails dug into, he knew that was impossible for them to tolerate anymore than this.
To be fair, Yang Kai sort of knew this would have happened. After all, the Yang Family tradition of raising their children like Cuckoo Birds has ended in their generation. Even if Yang Kai wanted to toughen his children up, would his Wives let him? He was certain his bed would be cold for the next few decades if he were to forcibly impose. What more, when his Mother, Dong Su Zhu, vehemently objected to it, who else in the Family could oppose her?
As a Mother, Dong Su Zhu had suffered greatly when forcibly separated from Yang Kai when he was sent to High Heaven Pavilion. Her Son had been forced to go through such hardship, how could she let her Grandchildren suffer the same fate?
With her spearheading the opposition, even the Yang Family Elders had to lower their heads.
However, the merits of facing and overcoming hardship could not be undermined. Even if the women within the Family did not like it, the children had to grow in harsher environments to polish themselves and grow to be independent. They could not always be sheltered throughout their lives.
So, a middle-ground had to be reached. The children would have to experience the outside world, and learn independence. From now on, they need not force them into another Sect, and the parents were allowed to watch over them.
With Yang Kai and his Wives abilities, this would not be a problem (in most cases).
There were issues though. For one, the Yang Family, despite wanting to keep a low profile, had far reaching influence and resources. Most cultivators know of them, and naturally, the eldest of Yang Kai’s children, twins at that, were sure to be recognised. Even if they wore disguises, and competed for resources, their Phoenix and Dragon Forms or their mastery in the two extremely abstruse Dao of Space or Dao of Time, if exposed, would make their identity obvious. But the most important reason was: ‘is there even a need to do so?’
The basis of the Yang Family’s Cuckoo tradition was to make use of the resources of other Sects, to raise their young using these resources. However, they were born and raised in High Heaven Palace, with their Sect Master being the only World Creation Realm expert. They were incomparable to other Sects. In terms of cultivation resources, which place could compare to their High Heaven Palace?
Furthermore, all of Yang Kai’s children were monsters in their own right. Their cultivation speed far surpassed their own Father. With their Eldest, Yang Ji and Yang Xu, being monsters within that pool of monsters. They were already in the Dao Source Realm before they turned thirteen, what kind of concept was that?
In a way, deciding on their ‘training ground’ was tough. Regardless of the limited resources of the place, these two would certainly outgrow it within a couple of years (at worst) to a couple of months. Even if Yang Kai had wanted them to experience an independent life, they realistically could blow through most issues through brute force if necessary. Though their cultivation could not be said to be at the highest, they could already defeat opponents above their cultivation realm. In fact, Yang Kai was quite confident that if those two worked together, with all their Artifacts and Pills, and shared mastery over Daos, only those above Half-Step Open Heaven Realm could oppose them.
Those monstrous twins had even progressed so much in the Dao of Space that even Yang Kai found it hard to hide from their notice – something Yang Kai was both proud of and embarrassed about. This was not Yang Kai being inapt. Rather, it was their exceptional ability to sense Space Fluctuations.
That was why, in the outside world, during this period, Yang Kai had never appeared close to them. He was always a few steps behind them, monitoring them through other third parties. It was only after the two entered the Profound Source Gate that he could follow them more closely.
Also, though it had decided upon that they would go past the Profound Source Gate for training, this space was truly strange, with its whole existence shrouded in mystery. Yang Kai had tried to uncover its secrets before, but the truth remained obscure.
Even when asking Mo, he could not receive any answers. There was a Restriction placed on him, one which disallowed him from speaking about its history. Naturally, Yang Kai had both explored and questioned those with ancient memories.
Sun’s Burning Light and Moon’s Serene Glimmer seem to have no recollection of how the Profound Source Gate came to be formed, nor when this place was created.
Shi also did not know, since Mu was the only one out of the ten of them that went past the Profound Source Gate. From his recollection, Mu did not explore that place for long, and did not seem to be aware of its secrets.
However, Shi did once tell Yang Kai that the twins might be able to uncover some of the truth behind the Profound Source Gate. This was due to the special existence of their Cultivation Technique, which even he was unable to fully comprehend the mysteries behind it. Certainly, he did help refine it, at least those parts of the Heaven Earth Symmetry Cultivation Technique which he could understand to make it simpler. However, a large portion of it still remained a mystery.
Like the Profound Source Gate, which had mysterious ancient markings on it that they could not comprehend, this Cultivation Technique was similar. Thus, Shi could not help but draw a connection between the two.
Yang Kai was initially reluctant to have them go beyond the Profound Source Gate, but with him alone having no clues – trying multiple times to explore it, with nothing substantial coming up even after weeks of exploration, he eventually had to pin his hopes on the twins.
Furthermore, they just so happen to need a place to train, and Yang Kai could follow them to keep them safe. So, with the idea of killing two birds with one stone, Yang Kai set out to arrange everything.
As for why he did not deal with the other Mo fragments, that was because he believed it was up to Little Eleven to deal with them. Since they could no longer cause any harm to the 3,000 Worlds, it was best to leave this for Little Eleven to deal with his own karmic ties. Also, if Little Eleven could get back all the power of Mo, Yang Kai believes he could act as another vanguard for the 3,000 Worlds once he goes off to venture outside the 3,000 Worlds.
So far, this whole trial has been fruitful: his children have basically grown immune to Black Ink Strength; he had uncovered hints of more ‘gates’, most likely connecting to other places besides the 3,000 Worlds; Little Eleven had assimilated with one of the three major Mo fragments, with the ability to still use the Dao he had mastered as a Human; and the strangest thing of all was the existence of that worm.
Yang Kai was certain that Little Eleven had an inkling as to what it was. Otherwise, Little Eleven would not leave it with the twins. However, there was no point in asking him since the Restriction would now affect him like it had with Mo.
Regardless, Yang Kai believes it was time to end the trial – not because Su Yan had been giving him frosty glares after Yang Ji got injured, certainly not.