Yang Hong, though unaware of the island's specifics, knew he had to head for the most remote areas.
Deeper into Mount Gaizhu, over a hundred *li*, Yang Hong discovered an excellent spot.
Beneath a cliff, a hundred-zhang-high waterfall cascaded down. The rocks on either side were a verdant green, appearing incredibly slick.
At the base of the cliff lay a deep pool, only a hundred *zhang* wide. A small stream, about a *zhang* wide, flowed gently,
forming a small plain a hundred *zhang* wide and over four hundred *zhang* long.
The other three directions of this small plain were comprised of towering mountains and giant trees. Only this small plain was covered in lush green grass, creating a small basin.
From the outside, it was easy to overlook.
Had Yang Hong not heard the roar of the waterfall, he would never have found this place.
"A truly excellent spot. Fortunately, in recent years I've learned several formations, including soundproofing, illusion, and isolation arrays. With a little arrangement, this place will become a natural hiding spot."
Measuring the small basin with his feet, Yang Hong grew more pleased the more he looked.
Though its area was less than a square kilometer, the surrounding dense forests effectively concealed the basin.
Even more ingenious was the stream's flow. After reaching the mountains to the west, it directly entered an underground river,
further enhancing its secrecy.
Even flying overhead, one would not easily notice this place.
Coupled with ample sunlight, it was highly suitable for cultivation,
making it an absolutely ideal place for reclusion.
It would be even better if he could bring his family and loved ones to live here in seclusion.
Gazing at the picturesque small basin, Yang Hong even conceived of a desire to withdraw from the world and live in solitude.
However, he quickly cast this thought aside.
"Reclusion can wait. I'll consider it when I'm invincible under heaven;
for now, I must recover from my injuries."
Due to his previous carelessness, his recently healed wounds had worsened.
His body, thanks to various spiritual herbs and medicines, had recovered to forty percent.
His divine sense, which had already recovered to twenty percent, had now dropped back to less than ten percent.
His actual combat strength was only around twenty percent.
The most pressing matter was healing.
"Right, what's this scale on my wrist?"
Just as Yang Hong was about to find a place to establish a simple cave dwelling, he suddenly remembered something.
He raised his right hand. On his wrist was a dark gray "scale," about an inch long and six *fen* wide, shaped like a teardrop.
Applying force, it was incredibly hard, and his wrist felt no pain.
This scale had slowly begun to appear when he was being stewed in the iron pot.
Now it was fully distinct and stable.
"Huh? What's happening? It can even absorb divine sense?"
Yang Hong probed with his divine sense and immediately became ensnared. The scale began to absorb his divine sense.
Fortunately, it didn't absorb much. After only about ten breaths, the suction force disappeared.
"A storage space!
This large?"
While Yang Hong was in disbelief, his divine sense entered the scale, revealing a vast space.
A colossal space with a length, width, and height of 100 *zhang*!
The storage equipment on the Taiyuan Continent typically had cubic spaces with equal length, width, and height.
This was likely designed by the refiners who made the storage equipment for ease of calculation and charging.
Thus far, Yang Hong had only seen one spherical storage equipment, the storage ring belonging to the Golden Core cultivator of the Blazing Flame Sect.
Apart from that, all other storage equipment he had encountered had cubic spaces.
And the largest had a side length of only 10 *zhang*.
Now, this mutated storage space of his was the largest, measuring a full 100 *zhang*.
In terms of volume, that was 100,000 cubic *zhang*.
Converted to cubic meters, it was a staggering 360,000 cubic meters.
The space was incredibly vast.
"Wait, could this be my storage scale?"
Suddenly, Yang Hong realized that the position where the scale appeared was the same position where he originally wore his storage scale.
Although the shape of the scale differed somewhat from the storage scale, the resemblance was significant.
"Is this because after absorbing a large amount of gray substance in that gray space, it grew directly onto me?"
Recalling the scene in the gray space, Yang Hong believed that space was likely a legendary sub-space or teleportation space.
And that gray substance was likely spatial elements, which combined with his storage scale to birth this super-large storage equipment.
"Hiss—it really grew onto me."
The teardrop-shaped scale protruded from Yang Hong's skin; he could clearly feel it, but he couldn't remove it, nor could he conceal it.
"Though it's a bit troublesome, it looks quite good."
The scale's shape was beautiful, a perfect teardrop. Although dark gray, it wasn't unattractive.
Seeing that he couldn't hide it, he realized that with clothes on, it would be invisible.
Thinking of clothes, Yang Hong then realized he wasn't wearing any.
In the gray space, his clothes had been torn to shreds by spatial winds. Afterward, he had been stewed continuously; no demon beast would have dressed him.
He then found a set of human clothing in Hu Li's storage bag and put it on simply.
Hu Li's storage bag was only a *zhang* wide and surprisingly contained several sets of human clothes and some low-level magic artifacts.
It was evident that this storage bag had been plundered from a human cultivator.
After emptying all its contents into his own storage scale, Yang Hong began searching for a suitable spot to carve out a temporary cave dwelling.
...
Unbeknownst to Yang Hong, as he was sucked into the teleportation space,
deep beneath the earth of the Great Sui Dynasty, a vague figure slowly opened its eyes.
"How did I feel the world rejecting me for an instant?
It seems I must be careful and not let the heavens discover my existence."
Simultaneously, within the void-hidden Hong Dong Secret Realm, a slumbering consciousness also abruptly awakened.
"My will? My split-off will!
Excellent, I shall reclaim my will!"
Under the control of this mysterious consciousness, the Hong Dong Secret Realm slowly departed its original spatial coordinates,
and in the endless chaotic teleportation space, it relentlessly approached Yang Hong.
The reason Yang Hong was able to break free from the teleportation space was that the Hong Dong Secret Realm's approach to Yang Hong created immense spatial ripples.
Yang Hong, protected by his destiny, was able to break through at the critical moment.
The reason the Hong Dong Secret Realm suddenly generated such enormous spatial ripples was not only its own size but also Yang Hong.
When he opened his storage scale, endless spatial elements surged into the scale, beginning to destroy everything within.
This included one storage ring, fifteen storage bags, all with spaces ten *zhang* wide,
as well as the items within these storage artifacts.
This encompassed various items Yang Hong had obtained in the Hong Dong space: spiritual plants, demon beast materials, magic artifacts, spirit stones, and demon cores,
and most importantly, two mutated Enlightenment Fruits!
This was what allowed the mysterious consciousness in the Hong Dong Secret Realm to pinpoint Yang Hong's coordinates.
This was fate, indescribably marvelous.
As for why Yang Hong's storage scale could store storage equipment, that had to be attributed to the Sky-Devouring Unicorn Wolf King, the great black dog Yang Hong had killed.
The Sky-Devouring Unicorn Wolf race itself could cultivate spatial rules. Furthermore, he had refined a World-Breaking Stone into its demon core, causing the demon core to mutate in unknown ways.
This demon core, which Yang Hong mistook for a gallstone, was then placed into his storage scale, and subsequently merged with the storage scale.
Later, Yang Hong placed the demon core of an eighth-tier Crimson Flame Flying Tiger demon, which contained a primordial spirit, into it. This granted the storage scale a vast amount of energy and sentience, enabling it to store storage equipment.
The primary reason Yang Hong survived his entry into the teleportation space this time was that the storage scale absorbed most of the spatial elements.
Otherwise, even a Mahayana cultivator, without array protection, entering the teleportation space would be assimilated by spatial elements and become part of the space.
As for his escape, it was due to the items within his storage scale that Yang Hong had always been hesitant to take out.
The price for this was the nullification of all the resources Yang Hong had diligently collected over the past few years.
Thus, Yang Hong's unintentional actions became the key to his survival.
One could only say,
Fate,
is indescribably marvelous.