The melee dragged on into the night, and the entire sea had become a battlefield, the number of Bone Race clansmen rapidly decreasing from originally more than two thousand during the day until only several hundred now, and this number was still falling.
From the original thousand Human, Demon, and Monster Race masters, less than half remained.
All who had fallen on this battlefield had no hope of survival.
Whether they were Transcendents or Saints, in this kind of tangled melee, their individual strength mattered not, only the Third Order Saints could move somewhat unscrupulously throughout the battlefield.
After Yang Kai transformed into a Golden Dragon, it was as if his bloodthirst had been awoken and he madly slaughtered all the Bone Race clansmen around him. Intense burning heat was the Bone Race’s biggest nemesis and the heat which naturally overflowed from the Golden Dragon was enough to melt any Bone Race clansmen below the Saint Realm.
The situation gradually changed from a balanced stalemate to a one-sided slaughter.
As soon as the Three Clans gained the advantage, they pressed it hard until the Bone Race was unable to resist, reducing them to pigs waiting for the slaughter.
However, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a sense of discomfort.
For some time now, he had been looking for the leader of the Bone Race, Ke Luo, but ever since the melee began, he had never appeared and no one knew where he had gone.
All of the masters present were busy fighting the enemies in front of them and had no time to pay attention to this oddity.
Yang Kai flew high up into the sky, ignoring all the commotion around him.
Fully releasing his Divine Sense, Yang Kai began searching for Ke Luo’s trail.
This person was the leader of the Bone Race and should be the most powerful among them. If he didn’t die here today, even wiping out the rest of the Bone Race would become meaningless.
As time passed, Yang Kai’s frown deepened.
Ke Luo seemed to no longer be here, as if he had long ago fled. No matter how Yang Kai pushed his Divine Sense, he simply couldn’t feel his aura!
Yang Kai’s heart sank but not believing such a ridiculous possibility, he persisted in his search.
After a cup of tea worth of time, Yang Kai finally found some clues.
All the Bone Race, Human, Demon, and Monster Race masters who died on this battlefield had their flesh and blood transformed into vital essence which then invisibly sank into the ground before gathering towards a certain spot where a formidable aura was concealing itself.
Ke Luo!
Yang Kai dove down without hesitation, his Golden Dragon form transforming into a streak of golden light, like the sun itself was falling from the sky, slamming into the ground in the next instant.
*Hong…*
The earth trembled violently as a wild strength passed through the soil and sank underground.
A cold snorted came out and Ke Luo’s figure smashed out from the ground, his face dyed in an unusual red light as he stood overlooking the crowds down below, his flaming green eyes filled with a contemptuous and self-satisfied light.
An astonishing energy fluctuated around him.
Yang Kai’s eyes shrank as his instincts screamed out in alarm.
He saw that something was wrong!
Just as Ke Luo came to a halt, a black demonic hand emerged from the void and grabbed towards him. This black hand grew bigger and bigger and soon seemed as if it was able to grasp the entire world in its palm.
Naturally, this hand belonged to Demon Commander Zhang Yuan!
Ke Luo seemed to have not realized at all and simply remained hovering mid-air.
“Zhang Yuan, fall back!” Yang Kai quickly shouted.
Unfortunately, he was too late; Zhang Yuan was the Demon Commander, the strongest master in the Demon Land, naturally he held absolute confidence in his own strength, but just as his black hand was about to seize Ke Luo, it was as if it was pierced by something and he hastily withdrew it.
The next moment, Zhang Yuan appeared beside Yang Kai, his expression incredibly solemn as red blood dripped from his right hand and a potent stench of death wrapped around his arm.
In that instant, he had been injured by Ke Luo.
A thick sense of dread flashed across Zhang Yuan’s eyes and he quickly circulated the Demonic Qi in his body to expel the malevolent energy Ke Luo had injected into his arm.
In a flash of light, Li Rong, Meng Wu Ya, Chu Ling Xiao, Thunder Dragon Great Senior appeared.
At this moment, the Saint Realm masters of the Bone Race had almost been completely eliminated and the remaining Transcendent Realm cultivators were fleeing. The Human, Demon, and Monster Masters were in pursuit, vowing to not let a single one escape alive.
Only the top powerhouses remained behind to deal with Ke Luo.
“Saint King Realm?” Meng Wu Ya asked in amazement.
The strength of Zhang Yuan was something he was clearer about than anyone else; after all, he had fought against Zhang Yuan hundreds of years ago. Naturally, he was incomparable to an ordinary Third Order Saint, but Zhang Yuan had still been easily wounded by Ke Luo.
Ke Luo’s strength at this moment seemed to be above everyone else here, and even as he faced the top masters from the Three Clans, he didn’t show any signs of panic.
“He’s not a Saint King yet, but he’s on the verge of breaking through!” Yang Kai said while maintaining his Golden Dragon form.
Ke Luo’s aura was truly earth-shaking, significantly more potent than anyone else present, but he had definitely not reached the Saint King Realm yet because his strength was still fluctuating wildly, a clear sign of imminent breakthrough.
“I must thank you!” Ke Luo looked down at the crowd arrogantly and said in a cold voice, “Thanks to your efforts I was able to obtain this opportunity! If it wasn’t for so many masters dying here, I would never have been able to break through to the Saint King Realm so quickly! Thousands of years ago, you had a powerful Saint King masters on your side who slaughtered my clan’s leaders, but now, I’d like to see what you plan to fight me with!”
With a shout, a great suction force erupted from his body, like an invisible vortex that spun madly.
The vital essence of the countless dead bodies down below flowed towards him at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The rivers of blood and essence continuously poured into Ke Luo’s body, transforming into his own strength, fueling his ever-rising momentum.
Most embarrassing of all was that the majority of this fresh blood came from the corpses of the deceased Human, Demon, and Monster Race masters!
The sky clouded over as Ke Luo breakthrough drew closer!
“This was your objective all along!” Chu Ling Xiao shouted.
The faces of the masters present all became gloomy as they suddenly understood.
This time, when the Three Clans collaborated to attack the Bone Race, the Bone Race had fought back without the slightest fear. The Human, Demon, and Monster Race masters had thought that these Bone Race invaders had simply been overconfident, but it was only now that they realized that Ke Luo didn’t care at all about the lives of his clansmen. The past six months, he had only expanded his clan’s numbers in order to force the Three Clans to confront him.
During this battle, both his clansmen and this world’s masters died in droves!
Ke Luo was aiming at this opportunity to obtain a massive amount of vital essence.
The dead Human, Demon, and Monster Race masters had all at least reached the Transcendent Realm and there was no shortage of fallen Saints.
With such a huge amount of vital energy injected into his body, Ke Luo wouldn’t have any trouble breaking through.
This was all one giant plot; while the Three Clans had thought victory was within their grasp, they were actually being manipulated into doing Ke Luo’s bidding.
“You can exterminate my clansmen to the last! As long as I live, I can spawn as many of them as I want!” Ke Luo seemed to think he had already won, turning his head towards the sky and letting out a victorious laugh.
Everyone’s face instantly darkened as they stared up at the terrifying swirl of World Energy gathering in the sky. Naturally this energy was the makings of the baptism one would receive when they broke through from the Saint Realm to the Saint King Realm; none of the masters here dared test its power.
If they were caught up in it, they may very well be reduced to dust.
“You plan to live on?” Yang Kai dismissed his Golden Dragon form and stared towards Ke Luo coldly, a grin quickly forming on his face, “Wishful thinking!”
Saying so, Yang Kai flipped his hand and summoned an item out from the Black Book space.
It was a dark red stone roughly the size of a fist.
Pouring his True Qi into this stone, it immediately released a brilliant red light as well as an astonishing attractive force, one many times stronger than the one Ke Luo was emitting.
The fresh blood which had been gathering rapidly toward Ke Luo instantly froze, as if it was grasped by a giant invisible hand, and then began flowing faster and faster through the air towards the red stone before being swallowed up by it.
Not a single drop of vital essence flew towards Ke Luo anymore.
The source of energy he was using to break through had been abruptly cut off.
“Blood Essence Stone!” Ke Luo’s green eyes shook violently and he couldn’t help calling out in alarm, a hint of panic flashing across his face, “How could you have a Blood Essence Stone?”
At this moment, he even seemed afraid of this strange stone.
Yang Kai grinned mockingly, “Without any energy to support you, I’d like to see how you break through to the Saint King Realm!”
As if to echo Yang Kai’s words, the gathering World Energy high up in the sky suddenly began to disperse.
Ke Luo raised his head to the sky and upon realizing he had no hope of breaking through, he finally began to panic.
Yang Kai held tightly to the Blood Essence Stone, constantly pouring his True Qi into it, absorbing every last drop of vital essence and fresh blood from the surrounding dozens of kilometre radius, refusing to give Ke Luo a single opportunity.
Sneering deeply, Yang Kai taunted, “What’s wrong, you suddenly seem afraid?”
The eyes of the masters gathered around Yang Kai also brightened as they once again saw hope of wiping out the Bone Race.
All of them were secretly rejoicing; if Yang Kai had not promptly discovered traces of Ke Luo, after he had gathered enough energy, no one would have been able to resist him.
Ke Luo’s eyes flashed as a thick murderous intent burned within them; glaring at Yang Kai, he gnashed his teeth and shouted, “Even if I have not arrived at the Saint King Realm, none of you are my opponent! I’ll kill you first then seize your Blood Essence Stone!”
Saying so, a cold, gloomy Spiritual Energy suddenly burst out from Ke Luo and flew towards Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, clearly trying to extinguish Yang Kai’s Soul.
Realizing that this was a pure Divine Sense attack, Yang Kai didn’t show the slightest fear and stood his ground.
“Burn!” With a low shout, Yang Kai unleashed his Conflagrated Divine Sense and incinerated Ke Luo’s malevolent Spiritual Energy before it could even get close.
Not pausing for an instant, Ke Luo lifted his hand and palmed towards Yang Kai.
A pale, skeletal had suddenly appeared, giving people the illusion that it was the hand of death itself, causing everyone present to shudder.
This bone hand was massive and seemed to be comprised of the hardest jade, it gave off a strange power and terrifying pressure, its five fingers curling into hooks as it pressed down towards Yang Kai.
The surrounding world seemingly couldn’t withstand this pressure and began to crack and collapse, a huge palm print appearing on the ground.
“In your dreams!” Li Rong shouted as her pretty face was instantly filled with dense Demon Crests, giving her a wild look as a dreadful Demonic Qi overflowed from her tender body and shot like a barrage of arrows towards this giant bone hand.
“Go!” Yang Kai also shouted, summoning his Silver Leaf Grade Top-Rank artifact and transforming it into a silver shield to block the oncoming attack.
The ground below caved in as brilliant light shone; it was as if the entire world was trembling.
The skeletal hand shattered into fragments and before the pieces could hit the ground they disintegrated and disappeared.
Li Rong’s tender body shivered as her face flushed red; in the confrontation with Ke Luo’s just now, she had clearly suffered a slight loss.
At some point during this exchange, the other masters around Yang Kai had disappeared.
Zhang Yuan once again appeared mysterious right beside Ke Luo, his body wrapped in a thick black cloud and a jet black halberd in his hand. This weapon exuded terrifying energy and seemed able to swallow all light in its surrounding.
The long halberd pierced out, as if breaking the shackles of space, and stabbed towards Ke Luo’s chest.
This strike was made silently, but actually contained the full might of Zhang Yuan’s strength!
Until now, the Demon Commander had never displayed his full strength, causing Yang Kai to secretly marvel.
The tip of the halberd was filled with Zhang Yuan’s comprehension of the Martial Dao and Demonic Qi, creating an attack that tore through the world itself.
“Paltry tricks!” Ke Luo seemed to have already detected this attack and coldly snorted, showing neither panic nor anxiety as he summoned a bone shield beside him.
The halberd struck the centre of this bone shield and a shockwave of energy burst forth, forcing Zhang Yuan to retreat a dozen steps while the bone shield itself shattered.
Ke Luo was unscathed, causing Zhang Yuan’s eyes to flash with shock, he had never imagined this Bone Race leader’s strength would be this tyrannical.
His current strength, although not reaching the Saint King Realm, definitely exceeded the limits of this world, forcing Zhang Yuan to unwillingly admit his inferiority.
A cold gale whipped up and a dozen floating skulls suddenly appeared around Ke Luo. These skulls rapidly grew to become big as a houses and riding the swirling wind, rapidly surrounded Zhang Yuan, their eye sockets and mouths spurting out eldritch power as they closed in.
They were trying to swiftly kill Zhang Yuan!
Zhang Yuan didn’t even have time to dodge before he was struck by this mysterious power and a look of pain surfaced on his face. Even given the intrepid strength of his Demon body, he was unable to completely withstand this violent attack.
Not daring to delay, Meng Wu Ya flew in and pushed his Saint Qi to the limit, shielding Zhang Yuan from the next wave of attacks. Without saying a word, Zhang Yuan immediately began cooperating as he wielded his long halberd, sending out waves of black energy towards the giant skulls.
These two rivals who had competed against one another for hundreds of years were unexpectedly capable of perfectly coordinating with one another.
“The Saint King Realm expert from all those years ago only hit me once, leaving me severely wounded, I must see whether his descendants inherited any of his strength!” Ke Luo shouted, waving his hands and sending out a deep green rope from his sleeve. This rope seemed to have a mind of its own and quickly began to inflate, soon becoming even bigger than Yang Kai’s Golden Dragon incarnation.
When it revealed itself, everyone realized it was a powerful artifact.
No one knew how Ke Luo had managed to maintain the power of this artifact over thousands of years.
This artifact soon transformed into an incredibly realistic flying serpent with a pair of wings on its back.
When this flying snake artifact appeared, it gave Yang Kai an immense pressure and he couldn’t help give birth to the illusion that he was being crushed beneath a mountain, his body becoming heavy and difficult to move.
The flying snake danced through the air, sending out mysterious ripples from its body that seemed to contain a magical force that bound everyone present, like they were tied up with ropes.
At this moment, the masters present all felt as if they had been shackled and sunk into a muddy swamp, finding it difficult to move or even circulate their strength.
Chu Ling Xiao flew forward to confront this flying snake artifact, summoning his Demon Sealing Chain and releasing a brilliant golden light from it to block these ripples.
Thunder Dragon Great Senior also rushed up, wantonly releasing the power of flames, thunder, and lightning from his body, cooperating with Chu Ling Xiao to finally hold back the power of this flying snake artifact.
Ke Luo himself had not yet moved, only relying on the dozen skulls and his flying snake artifact to tie down four of Tong Xuan Realm’s top masters.
The four masters had each unleashed their full strength and were still only capable of dealing with the problem in front of them, having no spare ability to deal with Ke Luo himself.
Only Li Rong remained to guard Yang Kai.
Ke Luo turned his eyes towards Yang Kai and smiled coldly, “You should have escaped! You should have run away as far as you could, but since you’ve chosen to remain, you can have the honour of dying by my hand.”
Saying so, he leisurely stepped towards Yang Kai.
As he approached, Li Rong’s expression became heavier and heavier, an inexplicable pressure pressing down on her, making her bones creak, threatening to force her to the ground at any moment.
Yang Kai also noticed that something was wrong and quickly whispered in a low voice, “Devil Transformation!”
With these words, the True Yang Yuan Qi flowing through Yang Kai’s meridians madly retreated to his dantian and was replaced by a rich Demonic Qi. Demon Crests, which could not be seen by the naked eye, flickered before disappearing into his physique, forming a profound and shocking array inside his body.
Yang Kai’s strength of vitality soared and the energy fluctuations coming from his body sharply rose in intensity, become many times stronger than a moment ago.
Ke Luo steps paused briefly as he stared at Yang Kai with some surprise. In the blink of an eye, the young man in front of him who was supposed to only be a Third-Order Transcendent actually began giving off an aura similar to that of a Third Order Saint, a shocking phenomenon.
“Unexpectedly you are still able to summon out this kind of strength, impressive!” Ke Luo gently nodded, maintaining an aloof attitude as he grinned, “But you will still die! Without arriving at the Saint King Realm, no one can rival me!”
Saying so, he gently pushed his palm forward, sending a terrifying invisible strike towards Yang Kai, as if he was planning to crush him to dust.
Yang Kai dragged Li Rong behind him and also sent out palm strike of his own.
A massive palm print that seemed capable of blotting out the sky emerged.
Heaven Covering Hand, the hand that covers the Heavens!
This was the Heaven Covering Hand Yang Kai displayed while in his Devil Transformation state, causing it to be many times more powerful than normal.
*Hong…*
A loud explosion erupted, rattling everyone’s eardrums as shockwaves visible to the naked eye spread out in all directions, sending massive tidal waves racing across the sea down below.
“Hm?” Ke Luo expression changed once more, seemingly not having expected Yang Kai to so easily counter his blow and even remain uninjured.
He was clear just how much power was behind his attack just now, and though the young man in front of him gave off an aura equivalent to a Third-Order Saint, he had only been able to achieve this by borrowing some kind of external force.
In the end, he should still have just been a weak Third Order Transcendent.
But the reality was that this youth had managed to block his attack. The only explanation was that his body could fully utilize this external force without any reservations!
[Just how powerful is his physique?]
Ke Luo’s eyes lit up as he suddenly gained a strong interest in Yang Kai’s physique. He secretly felt that if he could extract all of this youth’s vital essence, his own strength would improve by leaps and bounds.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, didn’t stop moving for an instant, swiftly condensing a number of dark spears above his hand and hurling them out.
Li Rong followed immediately behind this rain of spears, waiting for an opportunity to deliver a critical blow to Ke Luo.
The bone shield once again appeared in front of Ke Luo.
This bone shield seemed to be condensed purely of Ke Luo’s energy, so it could be used over and over again as long as he still had enough strength.
The storm of Heaven Punishing Spears landed on this bone shield, breaking it to pieces once more, but Ke Luo remained unharmed.
Li Rong saw that the situation was unfavourable and rapidly pushed her Demonic Qi to send out two black spikes towards Ke Luo’s eyes as she fell back and returned to Yang Kai’s side, their joint offensive producing no appreciable results.
Ke Luo smiled lightly, “Is this the extent of your ability? If you only have such skill, I’m afraid your luck has run out.”
“You spew too much nonsense!” Yang Kai sneered and said impatiently.
At the same time, he hurriedly sent a Divine Sense Message to Li Rong, “His goal right now is the Blood Essence Stone in my hand. He wants to absorb the Blood Qi inside it to help him achieve a breakthrough. You don’t have to worry about me here, quickly help Treasurer Meng, Zhang Yuan and the others. As long as they can break that snake artifact and those skulls, we can encircle Ke Luo.”
Li Rong was startled and immediately understood what Yang Kai was planning.
Right now, the other four top masters present were completely tied down, leaving only her and Yang Kai to face this Bone Race leader. Obviously with just the two of them there was nothing they could do to Ke Luo, but if the other four could be freed up and all six of them joined forces, even if this Bone Race leader was strong he wouldn’t be able to resist.
After all, he hadn’t yet reached the Saint King Realm!
Li Rong’s pretty face filled with hesitation, “But…”
“No buts, just hurry,” Yang Kai cut her off.
A look of struggle flashed across Li Rong’s beautiful eyes.
Yang Kai was the master of the Ancient Demon Clan, so she naturally wanted to protect him above all else, but she also understood the correctness of Yang Kai’s proposal, causing her to temporarily not know what decision to make.
If any kind of accident happened to Yang Kai…
She almost didn’t dare to imagine it.
But after a moment, her look became firm as she grit her teeth, “Then Master must be careful!”
Saying so, her tender body flickered and flew off towards Zhang Yuan and Meng Wu Ya.
The two men were constantly trying to distance themselves from the dozen strange skulls but were unable to escape, only barely managing to avoid the strange energy which was being released by them as they exchanged blows. However, as they were withdrawing, they had managed to destroy a number of these skulls so their efforts were not totally in vain.
Li Rong had decided to help them first; as long as they were freed up and were able to assist Thunder Dragon and Chu Ling Xiao, the flying snake artifact was would be nothing to fear.
Seeing Li Rong depart, Ke Luo grinned towards Yang Kai, remaining in place, not taking any obvious actions.
He also understood what Yang Kai’s plan was and couldn’t help snickering, “Before they return, I can easily kill you!”
“Go ahead and try,” Yang Kai grinned back, “Let’s see if you can catch up to me!”
Ke Luo slowly shook his head, “Don’t think you can use that Star Shuttle in front of me, that’s useless, I told you as such the last time we met.”
Pausing for a moment he continued, “En, don’t think you can tear space either, I’ve blocked the surrounding area with my Divine Sense. Your cultivation is far lower than mine so you won’t be able to use that Divine Ability of yours. If I had previously known you possessed such a skill I would never have allowed you to escape!”
“I wasn’t planning on tearing space,” Yang Kai smiled meaningfully.
“Then how do you plan on dragging for time?” Ke Luo seemed quite interested in what methods Yang Kai was still hiding and wasn’t in a hurry to act.
“Guess!” Yang Kai’s eyes became cold as the strength of wind burst from his body and tiny arcs of lightning flashed across his form, this wind and thunder quickly condensing on his back to form a pair of semi-transparent wings.
The Wind and Thunder Wings!
Since obtaining his Star Shuttle, Yang Kai had only used this extremely fast flight type artifact to travel long distances.
His Wind and Thunder Wings had been left untouched for quite some time.
However, these wings which had almost transformed into a part of his body still played an irreplaceable role.
As the wind and thunder swirled around him, Yang Kai transformed into a streak of light and flew away.
Yang Kai understood the gap in strength between himself and Ke Luo, so he never had any intention of fighting him head-on, he only had to stall him long enough for Meng Wu Ya, Chu Ling Xiao, Zhang Yuan, and Thunder Dragon to defeat their opponents and return to assist him.
He had also determined that Ke Luo would not let him escape because he had the Blood Essence Stone in his hand, and Ke Luo’s breakthrough to the Saint King Realm depend on him obtaining the massive amount of Blood Qi stored within it.
As long as Ke Luo was still thinking normally, he would never let him escape.
Yang Kai had already seen through Ke Luo’s intentions.
Sure enough, when he quickly flew away, Ke Luo’s eyes shrank, a stunned look appearing on his face as his green glowing eyes stared at Yang Kai’s back, a thick murderous intent welling up from his body.
His figure flickered and he quickly chased after Yang Kai.
His speed was incredible, not in any way inferior to Yang Kai’s even when he was using his Wind and Thunder Wings.
The shackles of space seemed to have no effect on him and every step he took allowed him to cross a thousand meters at once, each pace bringing him ever closer to Yang Kai.
The palpable murderous intent behind him sent cold shivers up Yang Kai’s spine as he continued to flee. Yang Kai tried to tear space, but quickly discovered that the space around him had somehow become viscous and a strange force was solidifying his surroundings, making it impossible to open an entrance to The Void.
Ke Luo should have some understanding of the principles of space, otherwise, even if his cultivation was much higher than Yang Kai’s, it would have been impossible for him to have achieved this. This caused Yang Kai to become even more vigilant.
One chased while the other escaped, a seemingly endless cycle.
Yang Kai purposefully flew in circles, not rushing in any particular direction; he needed to buy enough time for the others to come help him. If he were to run far away, they’d have to catch up, wasting even more time.
The aura of death brushing against his back gave him an enormous sense of pressure.
Yang Kai had never experienced such a difficult battle before. Ke Luo was far stronger than Zhang Yuan, Meng Wu Ya, or any of the other masters present, he was truly the strongest in this world.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
Slicing sounds rang out behind him, and even before the attack arrived, Yang Kai felt as if his body had been sliced apart, the illusion causing his soul to tremble.
Not daring to hesitate, Yang Kai summoned his Silver Leaf artifact and transformed it into a protective shield while simultaneously changing direction, his body twisting like a snake midair.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
The attacks still landed extremely accurately on his back, causing him severe pain. Yang Kai felt warm liquid leak out from the places he had been struck.
The Silver Leaf Saint Grade Top-Rank artifact’s defensive barrier was also instantly broken.
“You can’t run away! Surrender without a fight and I’ll grant you a swift death!” Ke Luo’s voice rang in his ears with haughtiness in his tone as if he had already won.
The next moment, he appeared alongside Yang Kai and sent him a mocking look, extending his finger towards him as a shocking amount of energy gathered at its tip.
Not waiting for him to attack, Yang Kai pushed both his palms forward and used his Beast Soul Skill, sending a roaring White Tiger and bellowing Divine Ox towards Ke Luo, while he himself changed direction again and flew off.
This attack gained Yang Kai a brief moment of time that he used to once again open the distance between Ke Luo and himself.
In his heart Yang Kai was secretly growing anxious, praying emphatically for Meng Wu Ya and the others to quickly finish their fights.
“I want you to die without burial!”
Ke Luo howled fiercely, his expression twisted with anger.
It seemed that because he had been unable to catch Yang Kai even after so long, he had finally become enraged.
A malevolent aura erupted as Ke Luo began using his full strength, obviously refusing to continue playing this game of cat and mouse.
The sky suddenly dimmed as a blinding red light as thick as blood surrounded Ke Luo and he shot out towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s instincts screamed out in warning and he hurriedly summoned his Silver Leaf artifact once again while at the same time condensing several Grand Heavenly Shields to defend himself.
But the great sense of crisis he felt had not abated, as if the strongest defence he had just erected could not play any role.
“Ice Seal!” Suddenly, a tender voice called out and a figure rapidly approached from in front of Yang Kai. Naturally, it was Han Fei.
Han Fei’s expression was indifferent, like an ancient iceberg, her elegant face covered in Demon Crests making her seem even colder than usual.
In her hand was an ice crystal sword that she waved repeatedly, sending out a burst of cold air that frozen the very space behind Yang Kai.
*Kacha…*
The blood-red light froze along with the rest of the world and came to a halt.
Han Fei passed beside Yang Kai and shot forward, apparently intending to resist Ke Luo for him.
Yang Kai hastily grabbed her arm and pulled her away, shouting as he did, “We cannot fight him!”
It was impossible for Han Fei to be Ke Luo’s opponent, the best possible result of her facing him would be severe injuries while the most likely one would be death.
Cracking sounds spread out, and although Han Fei’s attack had indeed blocked Ke Luo, sealing him in a thick layer of ice, this only lasted for the briefest of moments before he broke free.
Ke Lu’s pursuit became even more violent.
“Master!” Han Fei stared behind with amazement and shouted, “Who is this person, how is he so powerful?”
“The Bone Race leader!” Yang Kai released her and urgently asked, “What’s the situation on your side?”
“The Bone Race cultivators that ran away have basically been exterminated and the masters who pursued them are quickly returning!” Han Fei replied swiftly.
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up and he couldn’t help but smile.
At that moment, four figures flew in from the distance and caught sight of Yang Kai and Han Fei escaping from Ke Luo, startling them greatly.
It was the four Demon Generals!
Two more figures followed and soon came up beside the four Demon Generals.
Naturally, they were the other two Monster Race Great Seniors!
The six of them had gone to hunt down the escaping Bone Race cultivators thinking the battle had already been won, but the moment they returned they were actually greeted by this scene.
The six of them stood side by side and stared towards Ke Luo menacingly, gathering their strength and sending a combined world crushing pressure towards Ke Luo.
Ke Luo finally noticed them and abruptly halted his pursuit of Yang Kai, turning a cold stare towards these six newcomers.
A cold snort came out and he slowly closed his eyes, remaining motionless, his whole body sending out a dangerous aura, seemingly summoning something.
A moment later, from the distance, six house-sized skulls flew over.
They were the strange skulls which had been tying down Zhang Yuan and Meng Wu Ya, but of the original dozen, only half remained.
The snake-like artifact also flew back at the same time and disappeared into Ke Luo’s body, causing his brutal aura to grow even stronger.
“Ke Luo, it’s over!” Yang Kai also came to a stop and stood together with Han Fei, staring coldly towards him.
Just as his words fell, more figures appeared beside him; it was Meng Wu Ya and the others who had been pursuing the skulls and flying snake.
Eleven Third Order Saints, a Second Order Saint, and Yang Kai, a total of thirteen people formed this unprecedentedly powerful lineup.
These thirteen people quickly surrounded Ke Luo in a watertight formation, each of them applying the greatest pressure they could to him to prevent any chance of his escape.
“Over?” Ke Luo calmly laughed, “Not necessarily.”
Saying so, he shot a look over towards Yang Kai and said, “Do you think I didn’t know what you were planning? All you wanted was to buy enough time to gather together and oppress me with numbers.”
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled, a sense of uneasiness rising in his heart.
Ke Luo was too calm, causing Yang Kai to wonder what kind of trick he had left.
“I said, without reaching the Saint King Realm, no one in this world is my opponent, it doesn’t matter how many of you there are!” Ke Luo declared.
“Enough idle boasting, in front of this Senior you’re not qualified to act impudently!” Zhang Yuan said coldly, his expression dim and gloomy.
“If you have some kind of magical means left, please feel free to demonstrate,” Meng Wu Ya stared at him with cold eyes, although his words seemed calm and relaxed, he was silently circulating his Saint Qi rapidly while maintaining the highest level of vigilance.
“As you wish!” Ke Luo laughed, suddenly sitting down cross-legged, his pair of green eyes violently flickering as they sent out blinding pulses of light.
His hands formed a series of unfamiliar seals as a stream of inaudible words left his lips.
The strength of his Blood Qi and vitality rapidly climbed and his skin took on a strange red glow, as if he would begin leaking fresh blood at any moment.
A thin crackling sound suddenly emerged from all over his body, as if his bones had all simultaneously broken while at the same time, cracks spread all across the surface of his skin.
Dark red fresh blood overflowed from these cracks turning him terrifying blood man.
“Be careful!” Chu Ling Xiao shouted hastily.
This must be Ke Luo’s last resort, and from the self-confidence in his voice, this method was definitely powerful. Before they knew the extent of this ability, no one dared to recklessly step forward and attack him.
Everyone wore a dignified expression as all of them secretly felt incredibly nervous.
The blood inside Ke Luo’s body was constantly flowing out, as if he possessed an endless supply, enough to dye the world red.
A suffocating Blood Qi filled the surrounding sky.
Suddenly, Ke Luo wore a treacherous grin and shouted, “Forcing me to demonstrate my Bone Race’s forbidden technique, Blood Pond Flesh Forest, you can all die without regrets!”
As he shouted, his figure suddenly burst open and pieces of flesh flew out, his body collapsing, bones and all.
“Self-destructing?” Everyone was dumbstruck.
None of them had expected that after making such imposing claims, Ke Luo would actually choose to explode his flesh body.
“Wrong, fall back!” Yang Kai suddenly shouted, feeling a great sense of crisis wash over him and hurriedly retreating.
“Too late!” Ke Luo sneered, his grating laughter resounding in everyone’s ears, his scattered flesh, blood, and bones suddenly seeming to come alive and gather together into a great blood sea that swallowed the group of thirteen people whole.
The blood sea was boundless and seemed to envelop the entire world.
In an instant, everyone’s heart sank; wherever their eyes passed, all they could see was red, their surroundings filled with thick blood which greatly hindered their movements.
The blood sea was also filled with a strange force that suppressed the flow of energy through their bodies.
All thirteen of them seemed to have fallen into a huge blood pond which they couldn’t find a way out of.
Instantly, they all summoned their defensive artifacts to shield themselves while searching for an exit.
Ke Luo had disappeared, but the blood sea was filled with his aura.
He seemed to be everywhere!
This was the Bone Race’s forbidden technique, the Blood Pond Flesh Forest.
Inside the thick sea of blood, a number of blood dragons took shape and began circling, each one exuding a dangerous aura. Obviously, these blood dragons were being controlled by Ke Luo who seemed to not be in a hurry to attack, apparently intending to appreciate the struggles of his prey.
Yang Kai stood shoulder to shoulder with Han Fei. Han Fei tried releasing the ice-cold strength within her body but failed to freeze any of the surrounding blood. Her Qi was being strongly suppressed.
Yang Kai took out the Blood Essence Stone and poured his True Qi into it, trying to absorb the fresh blood from this Starry Sky invader.
But he was quickly disappointed.
The Blood Essence Stone didn’t work here, it was completely unable to absorb any of the surrounding blood.
This discovery filled him with bitterness.
He had used the Blood Essence Stone many times before and understood that it could only absorb the blood of the dead, the blood of the living could not be taken.
Even if the person was badly wounded, he still couldn’t suck the blood from their wounds because the living person could circulate their own strength to resist the suction of the Blood Essence Stone.
Ke Luo was not dead, so the Blood Essence Stone had no effect.
On top of that, this whole Blood Pond Flesh Forest was formed from his exploded body. Realizing this, Yang Kai suddenly understood why Ke Luo’s aura seemed to be coming from all around.
“Figured it out?” Ke Luo’s voice sounded next to Yang Kai’s ear and was followed by a burst of wicked laughter, “That’s right, you’re all inside my body. In here, I am in control! If I want you to live, you live, if I want you to die, you die, none can resist!”
As if to prove the validity of his claim, just as his arrogant words fell, a tender scream rang out.
“Yu’er…” Thunder Dragon Great Senior shouted out nervously.
The scream just now came from Ice Jade Python Great Senior. Clearly, she had just been attacked.
“I’m fine!” Yu’er’s voice rang out from a certain direction which Thunder Dragon hurriedly rushed over to, but even tracing the sound to its source, he couldn’t find any trace of Ice Jade Python.
Inside this blood sea, it was impossible to even grasp one’s bearings.
Of the thirteen people, Yang Kai and Han Fei stood together while the other eleven had been separated, each of them cut off from everyone else.
The situation was extremely dire.
Yang Kai’s thoughts turned rapidly as he tried to find a solution to this crisis, but nothing came to mind.
“Your aura is similar to that man from thousands of years. It’s disgusting, so I’ll kill you first!” Ke Luo’s annoyingly calm voice sounded again, sounding as if he really could control whether one lived or died inside this blood sea.
Yang Kai clearly felt a huge amount of energy flow through the Blood Sea and gather towards a particular direction. Immediately after, the sounds of combat rang out.
A short three breaths later, Demon General Ba He’s scream echoed, “Want to kill me? Don’t think you’ll feel any better!”
A dreadful Demonic Qi surged up and the sounds of fighting grew even louder.
A muffled snort sounded and Ba He’s aura rapidly faded. A loud wheeze echoed throughout the blood sea as if Ba He’s heart and lungs had been crushed and he was unable to aspirate clearly.
“Ba He!” Zhang Yuan called out angrily.
“Sir, take revenge for this subordinate!” Ba He roared towards the sky, his voice trembling before a loud burst rang out and his aura completely disappeared.
Faintly, the others could sense the remnants of his Soul disappear into the Blood Sea.
“Ba He died?” The other Demon Generals who were scattered across the blood pool exclaimed, each of their faces filled with amazement.
Of the four Demon Generals, Ba He was the youngest and most junior.
But although his strength was the lowest, he was still a Third-Order Saint Realm master.
However, he had only managed to fight Ke Luo for less than ten breaths of time before perishing. Just how shocking was this blood pool ability Ke Luo displayed?
Meng Ge, Gou Qiong, and Xue Li all dashed back and forth, fearing that it would be their turn next, each of them shuttling through the blood sea looking for Zhang Yuan’s figure, hoping to find some kind of shelter.
At the moment Ba He died, Yang Kai madly poured his True Qi into the Blood Essence Stone.
A huge attractive force came out and from a certain spot inside the blood sea, a mass of Blood Qi flew over and disappeared into the Blood Essence Stone.
Naturally, this was Ba He’s Blood Qi!
The Blood Essence Stone was finally able to play a certain role, at least keeping Ke Luo from immediately becoming stronger.
“Hmph, I’ll deal with you soon enough!” Ke Luo’s cold snort rang in Yang Kai’s ears. It seemed Ke Luo was not in a hurry to take Yang Kai’s life. Yang Kai was the weakest one inside this blood sea, so Ke Luo felt it would be easy to kill him at any point.
“Sir,” Gou Qiong’s voice rang out from a certain location, a thick sense of joy contained within it.
“What is it,” Zhang Yuan’s voice responded from a different position though.
Gou Qiong gawked before he let out a cry, “You…”
He seemed to have seen something inconceivable, his Demonic Qi bursting out in the next moment as he shouted, “Inside this blood sea, he can change his appearance into anyone else, everyone be careful!”
Everyone’s faces paled even further.
Only then did they comprehend why Gou Qiong’s voice had been mixed with excitement a moment ago. Obviously, he thought he had found Demon Commander Zhang Yuan, but it had actually just been a fake that Ke Luo had formed from the energy within the blood sea.
Catching Gou Qiong off guard, Ke Luo had launched a sneak attack.
“Gou Qiong!” Xue Li shouted, but she didn’t receive any response.
The Blood Essence Stone in Yang Kai’s hand once again drew in a huge amount of Blood Qi, clearly illustrating Gou Qiong’s fate.
“Gou Qiong!” Meng Ge also called out.
Although the four Demon Generals were closer to enemies than friend, with two of their companions falling in such rapid succession, Meng Ge and Xue Li’s mood became very grim, and they couldn’t help giving birth to a sense of grief.
Somewhere in the blood sea, Zhang Yuan’s complexion became incredibly gloomy as he gnashed his teeth and exclaimed, “I’ll make you pay, this Senior swears he will make you pay for this!”
“You don’t have the skill!” Ke Luo snorted and ridiculed, “If that powerhouse from your race was still alive, my clan would not have dared reveal itself, but his aura has disappeared and he has clearly fallen. Now, in this world, none can resist me; rest assured, after I kill you, I will use your Blood Essence and bones to create a clansmen with your appearance so you can live on as one of us.”
Ke Luo clamoured wildly; after displaying the Bone Race’s forbidden technique, he felt like he had complete control over the situation.
“You’ve constantly been getting in my way. Evidently, I should kill you next!” Ke Luo’s voice once again sounded in Yang Kai’s ear. He had already killed two people but failed to obtain any Blood Qi from them, all of it having been sucked up by the Blood Essence Stone in Yang Kai’s hands. This annoyed Ke Luo to no end.
After killing two Demon Generals to sooth the hatred he had been harbouring for thousands of years, he finally turned his attention to Yang Kai.
A sharp bone spear flew through the blood sea and pierced accurately towards Yang Kai.
Silent and stealthily.
By the time Yang Kai noticed, the bone spear was already too close to dodge.
“Master, watch out!” Han Fei had been maintaining the highest level of vigilance and upon noticing the approaching danger shouted.
*Pu…*
A muffled sound came out, and Yang Kai’s incredibly formidable body was actually run through by the sharp bone spear, a small hole opening in his torso out of which golden blood began to flow.
“Master!” Li Rong immediately noticed something was wrong and began calling out in alarm, “Han Fei, how is Master?”
Han Fei didn’t answer because she couldn’t see Yang Kai’s situation. Even if she was standing nearby Yang Kai, the thick blood fog had cut off her sight, leaving her only able to see a sea of red.
However, under her Divine Sense’s perception, she discovered fluctuations in Yang Kai’s aura; obviously he had been hit.
In that instant she nearly fell into a panic.
“I’m fine!” Yang Kai shouted, trying to maintain the calmness of his voice as he gripped tightly to the bone spear which had passed through his body, his eyes stubbornly staring forward.
Among the blood sea, a humanoid figure had appeared, holding the other end of the spear.
Yang Kai felt Ke Luo was coldly gazing at him from this figure.
“I heard you mention the supreme powerhouse from thousands of years more than once. Are you afraid of him?” Yang Kai face became solemn as he asked.
“Of course!” Ke Luo replied without hesitation, “I am nowhere near worthy to be his opponent! With a single casual strike, he had severely wounded me and robbed me of my consciousness. The masters of my clan were also exterminated by him, so how could I not fear him?”
As he spoke, his indistinct hand twisted the bone spear, torturing Yang Kai with unbearable pain.
He seemed to be venting his anger for the embarrassment Yang Kai had caused him.
“However, it was thanks to that incident that I was able to avoid the fate of being slaughtered by him; to enter a state of stasis for thousands of years, waiting for him to fall!” Ke Luo laughed wildly, “In terms of lifespan, no race can compare with my clan!”
The essence of their lives was completely contained within their bones, so as long as their skeletons weren’t destroyed, they were nearly immortal.
“What if I told you, he didn’t fall?” Yang Kai muttered quietly.
The blood figure in front of Yang Kai noticeable shivered, Ke Luo’s state of mind clearly suffering a severe impact as a feeble and terrified aura leaked out from him. Ke Luo immediately shouted, “Impossible, his aura has truly vanished, it’s not possible for him to still be alive. In the past, after that war, he was already an arrow at the end of its flight, he’s already dead, you can’t deceive me!”
“Then open your eyes wide and see if he is still alive!” Yang Kai’s expression became fierce as he wiped the wound on his abdomen with his fingertips before lifting his hand toward his left eye.
The golden blood was absorbed into his left eye like a drop of water falling into the sea, disappearing without a trace.
Yang Kai’s black and white eyeball flashed and instantly became a frightening pure white.
Soon after, a majestic golden radiance appeared, transforming this pure white pupil into a golden eye, one that seemed to disdainfully overlook all mortal beings.
Great Demon God’s Demon Eye of Annihilation had long been integrated into Yang Kai’s left eye.
The Demon Eye of Annihilation contained one of Great Demon God’s Divine Abilities, the soul extinguishing golden light.
Yang Kai didn’t know how this mysterious golden light worked, or even the principles behind it, but he did know that Great Demon God was able to use this golden light to purify and erase all kinds of Soul.
However, when this demon eye appeared in his left eye’s socket, Yang Kai’s perception of the entire world became a little different.
The outside world also trembled as the blood sea became turbulent, seeming suffering a heavy blow. Amidst the roiling blood sea, a faint figure gradually became clear.
Naturally, it was Ke Luo’s figure.
This figure had no physique but was instead comprised of Spiritual Energy, Ke Luo’s Soul Avatar.
His body had already exploded, forming the Blood Pond Flesh Forest, and his bones were scattered across the entire blood sea, becoming his sharpest and deadliest weapons.
At this moment, Ke Luo’s Soul Avatar stood in front of Yang Kai, holding a bone spear which was pierced through Yang Kai’s abdomen. The golden blood flowed out from the wound and dropped into the blood sea, but instead of merging together, the blood sea actually separated and automatically gave way for this golden blood.
Ke Luo’s eyes trembled fiercely as he stared at Yang Kai’s left eye, its majestic glint giving him the illusion that he was seeing the proud and invincible master for thousands of years.
In the past, when that master had passed by him, a simple wave of his hand was all that was necessary to make Ke Luo slam into the ground and pass out.
From beginning to end, that master had never looked at Ke Luo, obviously never caring about him in the slightest.
That scene had left an indelible mark on Ke Luo’s heart. Even when he was slumbering away the millennia, he had remained fearful and uneasy, worried that the master would track him down and finish him off.
Ke Luo had hidden for thousands of years until that master’s aura finally disappeared from this world, only then daring to wake up along with the rest of his clansmen.
But now, that aura which filled him with terror from the bottom of his heart had appeared once more.
That same overbearing and domineering eye from thousands of years ago was now right before him.
From this eye a mysterious power emerged and gradually condensed into a great vortex seemingly capable of swallowing the entire world. Ke Luo instantly felt like his Soul Avatar had been seized by a giant invisible hand that was drawing him into this whirlpool, dragging him down into a purgatory from which there was no return.
“Impossible!” Ke Luo screamed desperately as he went all out to withdraw, pushing his Spiritual Energy frantically to resist the attraction of the golden eye.
“Ke Luo, your time of death had arrived. Obediently accept your fate!” Yang Kai stepped heavily towards him, not caring at all about the wound on his abdomen, constantly using words to further influence Ke Luo’s chaotic state of mind and make him lose focus.
“You’re not him!” Ke Luo cried out in panic, “Even if you have one of his eyes, you’re not him, he’s already dead!”
Ke Luo’s Soul Avatar quickly plunged into the blood sea to hide, howling as he controlled innumerable bone spears throughout the blood sea to fly towards Yang Kai.
He had listed Yang Kai as the most dangerous enemy present and immediately tried to kill him.
The masters from the Three Clans scattered throughout the blood sea instantly felt the pressure on them decrease and released their Divine Senses to seek out everyone else’s position.
At this moment, all of Ke Luo’s attention was concentrated on Yang Kai and he had no spare capacity to suppress the others, causing the effects of his Blood Pond Flesh Forest to drop sharply.
“Ice Crystal Shield!” Han Fei shouted as she swung her long sword as she simultaneously cut through the blood sea and condensed a giant shield of ice in front of Yang Kai to protect his safety.
Li Rong also flew in from the side, reaching out with her jade hand to grab one of the bone spears which was piercing towards Yang Kai, tightly wrapping it in her Demonic Qi to prevent it from advancing.
Zhang Yuan, Meng Wu Ya, Chu Ling Xiao, Thunder Dragon and the others all raced over as well, displaying their methods to intercept the bone spears one after another.
In front of Yang Kai, the ten masters worked together to block Ke Luo’s crazed offensive, allowing Yang Kai to remain completely unharmed despite not taking a single step.
Moreover, seemingly because of the appearance of the Demon Eye of Annihilation, all illusions and fabrications were broken, allowing everyone’s vision of the surrounding fifty meters to become clear.
Ke Luo was still hiding in the blood sea, far from Yang Kai, not daring to come out and expose himself.
He had exploded his own flesh and bones to display the Bone Race’s forbidden technique, leaving only his Soul Avatar behind in the blood sea. He thought he was the master here, but this development had shattered that belief.
The Demon Eye of Annihilation had an unparalleled ability to suppress Souls. Without a physical shell to protect himself, he dared not show himself.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
The bone spears danced through the sky, each one carrying an incomparably sharp and imposing momentum. The red blood also gathered together to form several blood dragons which bared their fangs and roared towards Yang Kai’s group, recklessly attacking them.
The ten masters met these attacks head-on, no longer showing any signs of distress. Standing next to Yang Kai, they would not be lost in the blood sea again, so everyone’s nerves had relaxed as they once against saw hope of victory.
“Over there, use Divine Sense attacks. Right now, he’s only a Soul Avatar!” Yang Kai shouted as he pointed towards a certain position.
“Only a Soul Avatar?” Zhang Yuan was startled for a moment but immediately wore a fierce grin, “Good, then this will be easy. I’d like to see how long he manages to preserve his feeble existence!”
As he spoke, the Divine Sense attacks of all ten masters shot towards the direction indicated while Yang Kai also strengthened the power of his Demon Eye of Annihilation to constrain Ke Luo’s actions.
This silent and invisible attack burst out, causing a terrifying explosion of Spiritual Energy.
Ke Luo screamed out miserably.
He had finally been injured.
Even if he was close to breaking through to the Saint King Realm, he was unable to resist the simultaneous Divine Sense attacks of ten top-level masters.
“Over there!” Yang Kai pointed to another position and the Divine Sense attacks of the ten masters flew in that direction.
The blood sea once again trembled unstably and the bone spears and blood dragons which Ke Luo was originally controlling to suppress the ten masters lost all the force behind them. The blood dragons collapsed and merged back into the blood sea while all the bone spears were taken back by Ke Luo and disappeared.
Ke Luo obviously didn’t have any energy to spare on controlling them as evading the Divine Sense attacks of the ten masters was currently all he could do.
“Here!” Yang Kai pointed once more.
The attacks of the ten masters were akin to a sharp sword that slashed towards Ke Luo with extreme accuracy, causing him to remain constantly on edge.
After a half cup of tea’s time, the blood sea which had been surrounding everyone burst apart.
Everyone’s vision became clear and the Bone Race forbidden technique, the Blood Pond Flesh Forest, disappeared.
Not far from their position, the bone spears and fresh blood re-integrated and Ke Luo’s figure gradually formed.
Unexpectedly, he could still restore his original shape.
“Without that strange forbidden technique of yours, I’d like to see what you plan on fighting us with!” Zhang Yuan eyes flashed as he taunted.
The other masters also stared towards Ke Luo with thick malicious intent. Inside that blood sea, they were forced to dance on the top of his palm. Everyone here was a top master with their own sense of pride, what they just experienced was nothing short of a great disgrace.
Now that they had escaped from the blood sea, naturally they had to seek revenge for this slight.
Not waiting for Ke Luo’s figure to fully reform, the ten masters dispersed and surrounded him, leaving him no path the Heaven or gate to Hell.
Ke Luo finally began panicking, his face pale and his green eyes overflowing with fear and regret.
He felt that he should not have been so eager to wake up and instead remained asleep for another thousand years.
“Ke Luo, haven’t you forgotten something?” Yang Kai stared at him indifferently and asked.
Ke Luo turned his attention to Yang Kai and his eyes shrank.
What he saw was the bone spear he had inserted into Yang Kai’s stomach!
This spear was like fine white jade, seemingly carved from the most beautiful Crystal Stone, and inside it was fearsome energy. He had stabbed it into Yang Kai not too long ago and it was even now still there.
The instant he saw this spear, Ke Luo’s expression changed greatly and became more and more alarmed. This spear was a part of his body and contained a large amount of his life essence, if he lost this bone spear, his strength would be greatly reduced.
Yang Kai’s expression became fierce as he reached out and grabbed hold of the spear, slowly pulling it out of his abdomen.
His eyes were firm and never left Ke Luo, not a single rippled appearing in his vision despite the severe pain he was experiencing.
Golden blood flowed out as soon as the bone spear was removed, and Yang Kai’s wound automatically began to heal.
Ke Luo’s eyes stared fixedly on the bone spear, his lips trembling, seemingly wanting to say something but unable to form the words.
Yang Kai grinned as he stared towards Ke Luo in a calm and composed manner, lightly saying, “For your Bone Race, your bones are the basis of your life, right?”
“What about it?” Ke Luo grit his teeth and snapped back angrily.
“Very good!” Yang Kai gently nodded before a devastating Demonic Qi emerged from the palm of his hand and wrapped around the bone spear. In a flash, as if it had been lit on fire by these dark flames, the bone spear rapidly burned down and changed to ashes, slipping through Yang Kai’s and scattering into the wind.
Right before his eyes, Yang Kai had incinerated his bone spear.
Ke Luo’s expression warped madly, as if his most precious possession had been destroyed by Yang Kai, his face twisting horribly as he screamed, “For destroying my bones, I’ll make you pay the price!”
“You won’t get the opportunity!” Meng Wu Ya shouted, his hands wildly clawing at the void.
From the sky above, as if a meteor had been caught by Meng Wu Ya, a bright sphere of light containing a terrifying destructive force fell towards Ke Luo, as if it was trying to destroy the world together with him.
“For killing my Demon General, I’ll ground your corpse to ashes today!” Zhang Yuan’s long halberd pulsed with thick darkness and shot out like a great dragon towards Ke Luo.
Meng Ge and Xue Li immediately followed behind Zhang Yuan, looks of intense hatred and hostility filling their faces as they pushed their strength to its limits.
The three Monster Race Great Seniors all transformed into their Beast Forms and attacked towards Ke Luo.
Chu Ling Xiao’s Demon Sealing Chain flew out and entangled Ke Luo, restricting his actions.
Bone shields condensed all around Ke Luo as he felt a huge sense of crisis. He knew if he was unable to resist this blow, he would without a doubt die. He was counting on these bone shields to buy him a moment of time.
He still had ample strength to fight!
Even surrounded by his bone shields, Ke Luo was extremely nervous.
Han Fei’s figure flashed and appeared directly before him, slashing her ice crystal sword to create a light barrier engulfing him.
When she attacked, Li Rong also acted.
The leader of the Ancient Demon Clan swung her pair of jade fists repeatedly, smashing Ke Luo’s bones shields as easily as one would crush dry weeds and smash rotten wood, opening up a path to him and slamming her fist down.
An astonishing destructive force suddenly surrounded her fist as she punched forward.
Ke Luo’s face changed greatly and was just about to defend himself when Zhang Yuan’s black halberd stabbed towards him from behind. Unable to deflect both attacks, he could only hurriedly avoid Zhang Yuan’s strike while meeting Li Rong’s head-on.
*Hong…*
The earth shook and a deafening sound spread out; Ke Luo’s just reformed flesh body seemed to be incapable of bearing such a violent blow and began to show cracks.
Chu Ling Xiao’s Demon Sealing Chain wrapped around his body at that moment and further restricted his movements.
The other masters seized this opening and rushed in together, exerting their full strength to wantonly bombard Ke Luo’s figure.
Ke Luo was immediately thrust into a dangerous situation, the cracks on his flesh rapidly expanding and pieces of it soon blowing off entirely, exposing his skeleton, the root of his existence, to the enemies surrounding him.
*Kacha…*
His skeleton was unable to bear the ten masters endless storm of attacks and soon too began to crack.
Ke Luo was finished!
This time he had truly reached a dead end.
He had counted on his Bone Race’s Blood Pond Flesh Forest to wipe out the top Tong Xuan Realm masters, but at the last minute this plan was destroyed by Yang Kai; now, Ke Luo didn’t dare use this forbidden technique, and subsequently was no longer a match for these ten masters.
All his various means had been restrained, and he no longer had any hope of victory.
Ke Luo’s green eyes flashed with annoyance, anger, and unwillingness, all kinds of intertwined emotions. Zhang Yuan’s long halberd directly penetrated his head, puncturing his eyes.
As his flesh and blood flew apart, Ke Luo suddenly came to a halt.
The next moment, as if he was violently dismembered, his entire physique exploded, bones and all, scattering in all directions.
An illusory ethereal figure suddenly emerged from Ke Luo’s head the moment before it exploded, shrank down into a ball of faint light, and quickly flew away.
“His Soul is trying to flee!” Meng Wu Ya shouted.
With his body completely destroyed, Ke Luo’s Soul decisively escaped, striving only to survive.
No matter how powerful it was, a pure Soul could not remain in the world for very long unless it was placed inside a specially refined artifact designed to store a Soul, otherwise, the only option was for it to find a compatible body to occupy.
Old Demon was a perfect example of this.
If Ke Luo was allowed to escape and he found the right body, with the strangeness of the Bone Race, it wasn’t impossible for him to stage a comeback.
How could the ten masters possible give him such an opportunity? All of them had long been guarding against this possibility.
Just as Meng Wu Ya’s voice fell, ten Divine Sense attacks crashed towards Ke Luo’s escaping Soul.
The next moment, Ke Luo’s pitiful screams resounded and his Soul Avatar came to a halt mid-air, his semi-transparent face filled with terrible wrath as a dangerous aura pulsed from his form.
Feeling the strangeness of his state, the ten masters didn’t dare act rashly, instead using their Spiritual Energy to surround Ke Luo and prevented him from continuing to flee.
Battles between Souls were far too dangerous. One wrong move could result in injuring one’s own Soul, and naturally, none of them could bear such a cost.
All the masters were worried about Ke Luo lashing out in one last desperate attack and dragging them down with him.
If they truly forced Ke Luo into a hopeless situation and he detonated his Soul right on top of them, none of them would emerge unscathed.
“Don’t force me, or we’ll all perish together here!” Ke Luo hysterically screamed, the dangerous aura radiating from his Soul Avatar became more and more dangerous, seemingly like it was on the verge of exploding.
The ten masters couldn’t help but frown, feeling the situation had become a bit tricky.
“Ke Luo!” Yang Kai’s voice suddenly sounded.
Hearing this shout, Ke Luo turned his gaze towards Yang Kai, but in the next instant, he realized that the situation was bad. The moment he saw the golden eye, a huge suction force enveloped him and pulled his Soul Avatar in.
Regardless of how Ke Luo tried to break free, he could not. In fact, the more he struggled, the faster he was drawn in.
*Xiu…*
In a flash, the ten masters felt the Ke Luo’s incredibly volatile Soul get directly sucked into Yang Kai’s left eye, all of them hearing the unwilling echo of Ke Luo’s voice as it happened.
Everyone was stunned.
Before anyone even had time to ask Yang Kai about the situation, he had closed his eyes and sat down cross-legged.
Inside his Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar appeared and faced the terrified Ke Luo who was gazing about in fear. Feeling the burning hot temperature of the world around him, Ke Luo couldn’t help screaming, “A mutated Knowledge Sea? You actually have an attributed Spiritual Energy?”
With his eyesight, Ke Luo could naturally see how extraordinary Yang Kai Knowledge Sea was.
This was a Soul filled with blazing flames.
Even if one considered an entire Star Field, there were very few people would possess a mutated Knowledge Sea. Ke Luo had never expected to find such an individual in this backwater world.
“Right here, right now, I’ll extinguish your Soul!” Yang Kai didn’t speak any nonsense, condensing the full strength of his Knowledge Sea the moment his Soul Avatar appeared and burning Ke Luo’s Soul Avatar.
At the same time, the Demon Eye of Annihilation reappeared inside his Knowledge Sea, and from it, a golden beam of light shot forth.
Ke Luo screamed and struggled, but was ultimately powerless to resist. Faced with the Conflagrated Knowledge Sea’s flames and the Demon Eye’s Golden Light, his consciousness and lifetime worth of experiences were quickly purified, leaving behind only a pure mass of Spiritual Energy.
Yang Kai reached out and drew in this mass of Spiritual Energy. Feeling its intensity, his expression changed greatly.
Worthy of a master on the verge of breaking through to the Saint King Realm, Ke Luo’s remnant Spiritual Energy was far more powerful than any Yang Kai had ever absorbed before.
Floating above Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea was a large number of pure energy masses.
These were remnant Souls Yang Kai had inadvertently absorbed during the previous fight.
As long as someone died nearby him, their remnant Soul would be drawn into his Knowledge Sea regardless of whether Yang Kai intended it to be or not.
However, thanks to this, he had managed to obtain an unimaginable amount of benefits.
Yang Kai didn’t rush to return his consciousness to his body. In any case, the overall situation had been decided. The Bone Race had been stamped out and all that remained was to clean up the battlefield and count the casualties.
Yang Kai began to absorb the countless masses of energy.
These energy masses mostly belonged to Transcendent Realm cultivators, but there was no shortage of those which came from Saints either.
Inside each of these masses of energy were the comprehensive insights into the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao of that particular cultivator.
Yang Kai absorbed what was useful and discarded the rest, transforming all of it into his own strength.
Gradually, a kind of ethereal door appeared before him, and as he opened this door, Yang Kai caught a glimpse of a wider world behind it.
His heart and mind shook violently and his Knowledge Sea began to churn as a frightening energy fluctuation immediately erupted from his body.
Outside, everyone who was sitting in meditation felt Yang Kai’s change and opened their eyes in shock, quickly turning their attention towards him.
A moment later, Li Rong’s tender body trembled as she exclaimed, “Master is about to break through!”
Meng Wu Ya expression stiffened, “So fast?”
Previously he had inquired to Li Rong about when Yang began undergoing True Qi Sanctification and learned that it had only been about a year since the process had started.
According to his estimations, even with Yang Kai’s outstanding aptitude, it would still take two or three years of hard work after his True Qi underwent Sanctification before he could spy on the mysteries of the Saint Realm.
When that time came, whether he could make a breakthrough or not would be up to fate.
But now, after only a single year, Yang Kai had already begun to break through.
He would soon become a Saint Realm master.
Meng Wu Ya was somewhat unable to accept the scene in front of his eyes, staring towards Yang Kai as if he was seeing some kind of monster, muttering something under his breath, a look of shock mixed with a trace of jealousy covering his face.
He believed himself to be a rare genius, but compared with Yang Kai, he couldn’t help feeling inferior.
“It really looks like he’s about to break through,” Chu Ling Xiao smiled and nodded, his old face showing a gratified look, “It seems that he harvested much during this battle. En, we should clear the area to ensure we do not bother him.”
Saying so, the two of them took the initiative to withdraw.
The Demon Race and Monster Race masters also fell back, and after everyone else had left, Li Rong and Han Fei also stepped back.
They still did not feel relieved leaving the Demon and Monster Race masters nearby; although everyone had just been collaborating to deal with the Bone Race, now that the threat that bound them together was gone, no one could guarantee that they wouldn’t take this opportunity to kill Yang Kai to prevent him from fully maturing.
As such, Li Rong and Han Fei remained vigilant.
After some time, from all directions, many masters from the Three Clans returned. They had been chasing down the last remnants of the Bone Race, pursing every one of them relentlessly, ensuring that none of these Starry Sky invaders remained, eliminating any possibility for them to rise again.
After half a day, everyone who was still alive had gradually returned, and the Three Clans began to assess their casualties.
When the results came out, everyone’s heart grew heavy. When the Three Clans masters had set out, there were just over a thousand of them in total, but after this great war ended, only about five hundred remained.
Nearly half of Tong Xuan Realm’s top masters had perished here, including many Saints.
Although this war had secured the future of the world, rooting out a fatal catastrophe, each of the three races had suffered a serious decline in strength, with the Demon Race having taken the worst hit. In the battle with Ke Luo, two Demon Generals had fallen. This kind of loss was something even Zhang Yuan was unable to withstand. Together with the surviving Xue Li and Meng Ge, all three of them were both worried and depressed.
The most sorrowful aspect of the aftermath though was that those who had died had been stripped of all their flesh and blood, leaving behind only bleached bones. No one could even identify which skeleton belonged to who.
The Three Clans jointly collected the remains of the dead and buried them on Water Spirit Temple’s main island while consoling one another.
The surviving masters paid homage to their fallen brethren for their contributions in this war.
One day later, the sky suddenly clouded over and a terrifying pressure began to condense.
“Yang Kai’s about to break through!” On the island down below, Meng Wu Ya’s eyes lit up as he shouted excitedly.
“Let’s go take a look,” Chu Ling Xiao said and flew straight over, the various masters from the Monster Race and Demon Race following close behind.
The masters of the Human Race who heard the news were also filled with curiosity and rushed over to watch.
A few years ago, no one had heard the name Yang Kai, but after a mere decade, he had become famous throughout the Tong Xuan Realm.
At the age of 30, he was about to break through to the Saint Realm. This kind of cultivation was enough for the entire world to pay attention to him.
What’s more, Yang Kai’s status was not low, and during this time’s battle against the Bone Race, he had taken on the role of commander.
No one dared look down on him.
Everyone believed that from today on, his name would echo across the entire world, becoming the topic of discussion of commoners and experts alike as the most dazzling talent in history!
His future achievements would definitely be higher than anyone else’s.
When the Human, Demon, and Monster Race experts arrived, the Ancient Demon Clan’s clansmen, led by Li Rong and Han Fei, had already cordoned off a ten-kilometre radius around Yang Kai, forbidding anyone from approaching any closer.
Everyone could only settle for watching from a distance.
After clearly seeing Yang Kai’s current condition though, all of them changed continence.
The violent World Energy storm that seemed capable of tearing the earth asunder was repeatedly slamming down and smashing into Yang Kai’s body.
The clothes on his upper body had already been shredded, revealing his solid figure.
He remained sitting in a cross-legged position, not circulating a trace of his Qi, relying solely on the strength of his physique to endure the World Energy baptism.
The energy of Heaven and Earth that fell was not wasted by him in the slightest, every last drop of it sucked into his body and transformed into his own strength.
His flesh shivered and tensed, fully demonstrating its formidability, shocking everyone who saw it.
Everyone present could feel that his flesh body was rapidly becoming more powerful and was already comparable to even the strongest of defensive artifacts.
The masters from the three races were dumbstruck.
“Brother Meng, when you broke through to the Saint Realm…” Chu Ling Xiao whispered, “How much of the World Energy baptism were you able to endure?”
“Half,” Meng Wu Ya replied in a low voice, “I could not withstand anymore.”
“I was slightly worse than Brother Meng then,” Chu Ling Xiao breathed a light breath and silently compared his own performance to the one Yang Kai was showing right now, causing him to let out a sigh.
Zhang Yuan’s face was constantly twitching, secretly thinking to himself that he really had to build a better relationship with Yang Kai.
This time, two Demon Generals had fallen, causing his Demon Race’s total strength to drop precipitously. If he failed to grasp the opportunity in front of him, the Demon Race’s very future would become very uncertain.
The potential of the young man who was breaking through right now far surpassed any of the forces or races present.
In the past, Zhang Yuan couldn’t understand why top-level masters like Li Rong and Han Fei expressed such unwavering loyalty to Yang Kai, who was but a mere Transcendent at the time. Even considering his relationship with Great Demon God, that shouldn’t have been the case.
This was nothing short of demeaning themselves. With their strength, they could easily stand on their own; with none in this world that could take advantage of them.
However, at this moment, Zhang Yuan finally understood: Li Rong and Han Fei simply had greater vision than he did.
Because this young man could give the Ancient Demon Clan a grander, and farther future than any other.
Just as everyone was recovering from their initial shock, Yang Kai suddenly took an action which astounded them once again.
Under that unbearable pressure, in a state where the world itself was battering his body, Yang Kai suddenly stood up, directed a cold look towards the sky, and immediately flew up, soaring into the very heart of the World Energy baptism.
In the blink of an eye, his figure disappeared into the violent storm clouds filled with World Energy high up in the sky.
“This…” Everyone was dumbstruck, their jaws all going slack.
Simply withstanding the World Energy baptism was already a difficult task, but if one were to directly break into the World Energy storm, the pressure they would need to bear would increase exponentially.
If one acted carelessly, they would end up dying a pitiful death.
Everyone close to Yang Kai couldn’t help wearing a nervous look, worried that his reckless actions would lead to unbearable consequences.
But in the next moment, high up in the sky, a strange phenomenon suddenly occurred.
The seemingly unstoppable swirling storm of power, as if something was hindering it, suddenly came to a stop and the massive storm none dared to approach actually began rotating in reverse, as if there was a powerful vortex at its centre pulling it in the opposite direction.
The speed of the rotation grew faster and faster and the devastating power of the storm rapidly began to reduce.
Or rather, it was being absorbed.
After the time it would take to boil a cup of tea, the World Energy storm disappeared entirely and at what was once its centre, Yang Kai’s figure was revealed, a faint look of disappointment upon his face.
“This little brat…” Meng Wu Ya laughed helplessly, “He’s too rash.”
“There is actually someone who can enter the centre of a World Energy storm to withstand its baptism. Holy Master Yang is truly an astonishing man!”
“Congratulations Elder Brother Cu, Soaring Heaven Sect has produced an exceptional character, all of us are deeply envious.”
“Many congratulate to Great Elder Xu Hui as well, with this Holy Master, your Holy Land will surely become even more magnificent in the future.”
A series of compliments echoed, causing Xu Hui’s smile to stretch from one ear to the other.
After this battle, and witnessing Yang Kai’s breakthrough, everyone present realized just how great Yang Kai’s personal strength was.
Those who didn’t care much about him as a single cultivator were forced to re-examine their evaluations of him and correct their attitudes.
Yang Kai slowly walked down from the sky.
The Three Clans’ masters all congratulated him sincerely.
Yang Kai cupped his fists, “Many thanks to all of you as well for your efforts in this great war. I believe that future generations will not forget the sacrifices made today and will forever remember them in gratitude.”
On many people’s face, a look of glory and fulfilment rose.
“Holy Master Yang…” Dragon Phoenix Palace’s Palace Master Chen Zhou suddenly walked up and hesitantly spoke, “Can this Chen ask you something?”
Since the beginning of the battle with the Bone Race, many doubts had filled his heart which he no choice but to temporarily suppress, but now that he had a chance, he certainly wished to clear them up.
Yang Kai glanced over at him and knew what he wanted to ask, nodding as he said, “Can Palace Master Chen wait a moment? I too have some things I need to discuss with you, but before that, I wish to speak with Sir Demon Commander first.”
“Good, this Chen will be waiting,” Chen Zhou’s shoulders trembled, faintly realizing the truth of the matter.
“Does Holy Master Yang have something to say to me?” Zhang Yuan turned a somewhat puzzled look towards Yang Kai.
“Let’s step away for a moment,” Yang Kai said before beckoning to Li Rong, “You come too.”
Li Rong and Han Fei both exchanged a confused glance, neither of them knowing what Yang Kai wanted to do, but quickly following after him.
The other masters remained where they were, enjoying the aftertaste of victory while chaotically discussing what to do next.
“What matter does Holy Master Yang wish to discuss with this Senior?” Zhang Yuan asked Yang Kai after they had walked a fair distance away, unable to hold back his curiosity any longer.
Yang Kai took out a new set of robes from the Black Book Space and dressed himself before saying, “Gou Qiong and Ba He died, I hope Demon Commander can restrain his grief.”
Zhang Yuan gawked for a moment before letting out a helpless laugh, “They died a worthy death, many thanks for Holy Master Yang’s consideration.”
“En, I wanted to tell you that although I had the idea to use the Demon Eye of Annihilation to restrain Ke Luo from the beginning, without him showing himself to me, I had no way to act, rendering me powerless to prevent Gou Qiong and Ba He’s deaths.”
“Holy Master Yang need not pay it any mind, I understand your difficulties,” Zhang Yuan nodded lightly.
“That’s good,” Yang Kai smiled before continuing, “Now that your Demon Land has lost two Demon Generals and your overall strength has dropped, what are you planning on doing?”
“What do you mean?” Zhang Yuan frowned, coldly snorting, “If you’re mean to imply that the other two races might take this opportunity to invade my Demon Land, you are mistaken. As long as this Senior still breathes, none should have any ideas about my Demon Land!”
“You misunderstand me,” Yang Kai shook his head, “I just wanted to ask you if you were interested in finding another Demon General to fill the vacant position?”
“Finding another Demon General?” Zhang Yuan brow furrowed for a moment before suddenly understanding, turning his eyes to Li Rong and asking, “You mean this lady?”
“Naturally. Li Rong belongs to the Demon Race, and her strength is not worse than your own, is there any problem with her becoming a Demon General?”
“Of course there’s no problem, but… is Holy Master Yang willing to part with her? Is this lady willing to go to my Demon Land?” Zhang Yuan smiled deeply as he stared at Yang Kai deeply, seemingly wanting to peer into his heart and understand what his true intentions were.
Li Rong becoming a Demon General truly wasn’t an issue; in fact, with her strength, she was already qualified to compete for the position of Demon Commander, but Yang Kai suddenly proposing this inevitably elicited a hint of caution from Zhang Yuan.
He thought Yang Kai was having ideas about seizing the Demon Land.
“I refuse!” Li Rong decisively cut in.
Yang Kai raised his hand to stop her though and said, “Listen to everything I have to say first before you decide. En, soon after this, I’ll be leaving this place.”
“Leaving?” Zhang Yuan, Li Rong, and Han Fei all asked simultaneously.
“Wherever Master goes, we will go,” Li Rong declared firmly.
Yang Kai pointed his figure towards the sky, “I must go to the Starry Sky, so I can’t take you together with me.”
“The Starry Sky?” Zhang Yuan paled, “What do you intend to do by travelling to the Starry Sky? That place is filled with crisis upon crisis! You’ve only just broken through to the Saint Realm, and if you go there you won’t even have the ability to protect yourself.”
“That’s right, Master, if you really must go, take me with you,” Li Rong hurriedly stated.
“Me as well!” Han Fei quickly chimed in.
Yang Kai however just slowly shook his head, “I’ll be going alone. More than a decade ago, when I came to Tong Xuan Realm, I was only an Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivator and didn’t have the strength to protect myself, but I persisted. If I hadn’t come here at that time but instead stayed back in my old world, I definitely wouldn’t have my current strength. When the people from this side invaded my homeland, I might have degenerated into a slave with no ability to resist, but because I came here that year, when crisis befell my home, I was able to defuse it and even bring my friends and family here to settle near Nine Heavens Holy Land while guaranteeing their safety and livelihood. The present situation is the same as it was ten years ago.”
“How is it the same?” Zhang Yuan was puzzled.
“Great Demon God sealed this world and concealed it from the rest of the of Starry Sky’s view, but now that the seal has been lifted. Perhaps, one day, there will be a master at the Saint King Realm or higher that arrives here. At that time, how will we resist them?”
Zhang Yuan paled as he instantly recalled the chilling images he had seen from Great Demon God’s memories.
Thousands of years ago, Great Demon God had been here to resist the Starry Sky invaders, but if that situation were to repeat itself now, with the current level of Tong Xuan Realm’s masters, all of them would really be reduced to slaves in an instant.
Just killing Ke Luo had cost two Demon Generals their lives, and Ke Luo’s cultivation was only close to the Saint King Realm, not actually having achieved it.
If a true Saint King Realm powerhouse came, no one would be able to stop them.
Zhang Yuan somewhat understood Yang Kai’s meaning.
“By going to the Starry Sky, perhaps I can find a way out of this crisis, so even if a strong enemy invades, we’ll at least be able to protect ourselves. Of course, this is only a possibility, no one can guarantee what the future holds,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders.
The current situation really was quite similar to his previous experiences over the past decade.
In short, it wasn’t wrong to plan ahead.
“So… Holy Master Yang, out of consideration for the future safety of the world, plans to venture out into the Starry Sky?” Zhang Yuan stared at him strangely for a moment before grinning meaningfully, “Were you always a man of such high-minded ideals and righteousness?”
Although he had not had much contact with Yang Kai and had only known him for a short time, Zhang Yuan thought he had a fairly good understanding of the youth in front of him. As Demon Commander, Zhang Yuan’s eyes were naturally far sharper than ordinary people’s.
He thought that Yang Kai so desperately wanting to go to the Starry Sky had nothing to do with what he had just said, but rather something else.
Yang Kai laughed and nodded, “There really is a more important reason for my decision, but that’s my personal business is not something to be disclosed so easily. I can only guarantee you that I have no ill intentions towards the Demon Land.”
“I believe you!” Zhang Yuan gently nodded before glancing over at Li Rong, a hint of anticipation appearing on his face.
If Yang Kai really left Tong Xuan Realm, he wouldn’t necessarily be unable to accept Li Rong as a new Demon General. The Ancient Demon Clan was an extremely strong force and each of its leaders was a powerful expert in their own right, if they joined the Demon Land, it would certainly be reassuring.
Most importantly, he may be able to persuade the Ancient Demon Clan to truly integrate into the Demon Race while Yang Kai was away.
Zhang Yuan was naturally tempted.
“Li Rong, you are a member of the Demon Race. The Demon Land’s environment is far more suitable for you cultivation, and going there will allow your clansmen to grow faster. En, if one day, I can return, and you are still willing to follow me, I will definitely bring you to experience the wider world,” Yang Kai suddenly wore a nostalgic look, “More than a decade ago, I said the same words to the people of the Great Han Dynasty.”
Li Rong and Han Fei’s beautiful eyes brightened.
“Master, are you really not bring us together with you?” Li Rong made one last attempt.
Yang Kai shook his head.
The Starry Sky was too vast and dangerous, and he had no idea what his destination was or even which direction he should even go, how could he bring others along with him?
“Then my Ancient Demon Clan will calmly await good news from Master!” Li Rong nodded heavily, no longer saying anymore. She knew that since Yang Kai had made a decision, it would be useless to try to change his mind, “Before then, my family will temporarily reside in the Demon Land. I don’t know if Sir Demon Commander is willing to accept us.”
“This Senior will gladly welcome you!” Zhang Yuan smiled heartily.
After returning back to the place where the Three Clans’ masters had gathered, a brief discussion and celebration were held before everyone began to split up.
Every force here had come from a different place, and after some time, most of them had split off and headed back to their respective bases. This time, every force had suffered huge losses, so most of them couldn’t wait to return to their Sects to rest and recover.
After ten days, Yang Kai separated from Xu Hui, telling him, Li Rong, and the others that he needed to visit Dragon Phoenix Palace for a short time and for them to return to the Holy Land first.
Xu Hui nodded and took the lead.
“Let’s go,” Yang Kai said to Chen Zhou after the masters from Nine Heavens Holy Land and the Ancient Demon Clan departed.
Chen Zhou wore a somewhat cautious, somewhat puzzled look upon his face, but he didn’t dare ask anything right now and simply lead the way.
After a while, Yang Kai suddenly said, “Does Palace Master Chen want to ask about the Dragon Emperor’s matters?”
Chen Zhou was startled for an instant but his expression quickly became solemn as he cupped his fists and said, “If it is convenient, could Holy Master Yang please explain?”
During the war with the Bone Race, the Dragon Emperor had reappeared, but Sun Yu, the recognized inheritor of the Dragon Emperor’s legacy, had not come to the battlefield.
And after the great Golden Dragon disappeared, Yang Kai was the one who appeared.
Also, when Yang Kai returned from breaking through to the Saint Realm, Cheng Zhou had seen the vivid Golden Dragon Tattoo on his back!
This series of events had gradually allowed Chen Zhou to come to a vague understanding of the truth of the matter, but he was still not certain of his speculations.
Naturally, he wished to ask Yang Kai directly about this matter.
“I suppose it is time I gave you a proper explanation,” Yang Kai gently nodded, his face also turning serious, “Before that, I must apologize to Palace Master Chen and your noble Sect, until now, I have been deceiving you.”
Chen Zhou’s body shook, his face revealing a look that seemed to say ‘it really is so’.
“Sun Yu is not the Dragon Emperor’s successor, I am.”
“Ah?” Elder Xiao Ling was stunned as he directed a look of shock towards Yang Kai.
“That year, when the inheritance in Dragon Valley opened, it was not because of Sun Yu, but rather because I had accidentally entered it. Sun Yu just happened to be present at the time and was caught up in the Dragon Emperor’s inheritance. For two years, I stayed with him in the depths of Dragon Valley.”
“I didn’t know much about Dragon Phoenix Palace back then, but with Sun Yu there, I was able to ask him about various things while directing his cultivation while convenient.”
“Then Sun Yu being able to make such huge strides in his cultivation during those two years was completely because of his relationship with Holy Master Yang?” Chen Zhou was shocked and suddenly realized why after Sun Yu had exited from Dragon Valley, the progress of his cultivation had been somewhat unsatisfactory; although it was quite a bit faster than an average person, it was far from what one who had succeeded the Dragon Emperor should have.
“That’s half right. It was also thanks to his hard work,” Yang Kai denied.
“After that, when Frozen Nether Cave Heaven attacked…”
“It was also I who secretly resolved the issue,” Yang Kai admitted frankly.
“No wonder Dragon Emperor… Sun Yu worshipped and admired Holy Master Yang so greatly. It was for such a reason,” Xiao Ling suddenly understood, “Both I and Great Elder Ling Jian were suspicious about when he had made friends with a character like Holy Master Yang, now everything makes sense.”
“However, there is a point I am still not clear about,” Chen Zhou frowned, “Since Holy Master Yang is the Dragon Emperor’s true inheritor, why would you try to conceal this fact?”
Just what kind of identity was the Dragon Emperor? Sun Yu had reached the sky in a single bound and become the highest-ranking person in all of Dragon Phoenix Palace simply by receiving this title, so Chen Zhou really couldn’t understand why Yang Kai would want to conceal his own existence and instead let Sun Yu attract everyone’s attention.
With some embarrassment on his face, Yang Kai explained, “Mainly because I had just become the new Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land. You should have heard that at that time, Nine Heavens Holy Land was suffering from a number of worries, so before all of those issues could be tidied up, I truly had no ability to handle other matters. En, the most important point though was that I was not a member of Dragon Phoenix Palace, I didn’t know how you would react if I had come out and told you that I had obtained Dragon Phoenix Palace’s core inheritance. Perhaps it would have let to more troubles.”
“All of this is my responsibility and has nothing to do with Sun Yu. I was the one who told him to help me conceal this matter.”
Yang Kai chose not to conceal anything and honestly explained the reasons behind his actions.
Chen Zhou, Xiao Ling, and the other masters from Dragon Phoenix Palace all look around at each other with somewhat complicated expressions.
Sometime later, Chen Zhou finally let out a laugh, “Holy Master Yang willingly informing us of the truth at this moment is more than enough. En, there’s just one thing this Chen doesn’t quite understand. How was it that Holy Master Yang was able to open the Dragon Emperor’s inheritance? Is there some special reason?”
“En, because I have cultivated the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art.”
Chen Zhou’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Yang Kai briefly told them the story of what happened in the Inheritance Heaven’s Cave that year, causing the masters from Dragon Phoenix Palace to show looks of excitement as they listened with rapt attention.
“It is the inheritance left behind by the previous Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress! No wonder Holy Master Yang was able to open the array inside Dragon Valley, everything makes sense now!” Chen Zhou nearly danced with joy, “In other words, Holy Master Yang is by no means an outsider.”
“Yes yes, strictly speaking, Holy Master Yang should be considered my Dragon Phoenix Palace’s person!” Xiao Ling also said enthusiastically.
Yang Kai encouraging good relations between Nine Heavens Holy Land and Dragon Phoenix Palace was all because of this connection. At this moment, Chen Zhou and Xiao Ling finally understood everything.
“Right, what about the Phoenix Empress?” Chen Zhou suddenly remembered, “Since Holy Master Yang has cultivated the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art, there must be a Phoenix Empress as well! Where is she? Why have I never met her?”
“She is no longer in Tong Xuan Realm,” Yang Kai’s expression suddenly became low-spirited, “She went to the Starry Sky.”
“The Starry Sky…” Chen Zhou stared dumbfounded.
“Soon, I am going to depart to search for her, and I don’t know when I will be back; as such, I wish to take the Phoenix Empress inheritance from Phoenix Nest with me so that when I do find her, I can pass it to her it.”
“Take it away?” Chen Zhou parroted, “Can that inheritance be taken away?”
Yang Kai shook his head, “I’m not sure, I just wish to try… Of course, only if Palace Master Chen agrees.”
“There’s no problem, but the difficulty of what you wish to do is quite high. The inheritance has been hidden inside the Phoenix Nest for thousands of years, no one knows what or where it is… Well, it can’t hurt to try.”
“Many thanks,” Yang Kai nodded sincerely.
After confirming that Yang Kai was the real Dragon Emperor, Chen Zhou and Xiao Ling’s attitude suddenly became more respectful. Yang Kai asked them not to blame Sun Yu and they easily agreed, saying they would not take this matter to heart. For the entire Dragon Phoenix Palace, as long as the identity of the Dragon Emperor was inherited by someone, everyone in the Sect would stand on their side. As for who it was that gained the inheritance, it mattered little.
What’s more, Yang Kai obtaining the status of Dragon Emperor was a matter that was determined long ago.
The two of them also pledged that although Sun Yu was not the real Dragon Emperor, they would not mistreat him in the future and that the Sect would continue to pour their resources into him.
Sun Yu’s current aptitude was already far beyond that of an ordinary cultivator, so regardless of his identity, he was worth the training.
After more than a month, the group arrived at Dragon Phoenix Palace.
All of Dragon Phoenix Palace came forward to welcome them.
Sun Yu had long ago received word that they would be arriving and had led a group of people outside Dragon Phoenix Palace to congratulate Chen Zhou and the others on their triumphant return as well as to welcome Yang Kai.
Chen Zhou hosted a grand banquet and the entire Sect was filled with drink and merriment.
After three rounds of drinking, Yang Kai pulled Sun Yu aside and told him about everything.
Sun Yu became slightly nervous and asked, “Senior Yang, although I can now have peace of mind, afterwards, will Palace Master and the others bear a grudge towards me?”
“How could they?” Yang Kai laughed, “Cultivate diligently, even if you aren’t the Dragon Emperor, you are still the Sect’s future hope, Palace Master Chen and the others won’t mistreat you.”
“Really?”
Yang Kai nodded.
“That’s good,” Sun Yu smiled carefreely, the great psychological burden he had been carrying these past few years finally lifting from his shoulders. Every day he spent shouldering the false identity of Dragon Emperor caused him great worry, fearing he would slip up and be discovered. Now though, he could finally relax and hold his head up high.
The Phoenix Nest was a world of Ice and Snow, with frigid air blowing through the forest that was covered in a layer of pure white fog, creating a kind of illusory fairyland.
The inheritance belonging to the Phoenix Empress was hidden somewhere inside this forest and for thousands of years, no one had managed to obtain it.
Only some disciples who cultivated Ice or Cold Attribute Secret Arts would regularly come to the Phoenix Nest to take advantage of the natural environment to cultivate.
Frozen Nether Cave Heaven had previously acted against Dragon Phoenix Palace mainly to seize the Phoenix Nest from them.
Yang Kai sat cross-legged in a certain place inside Phoenix Nest, his Saint Qi keeping the icy wind from affecting his body.
After breaking through to the Saint Realm, Yang Kai could feel an extraordinary energy circulating through this place, which left a layer of frost clinging to his hair and clothes, seemingly capable of affecting both the physical and spiritual world.
If Su Yan could come to this place, she would likely need only circulate the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art to absorb all the Ice Attribute Energy throughout the entire Phoenix Nest.
However, she couldn’t come here.
Yang Kai constantly released his Divine Sense into the surroundings, trying to communicate with this ice domain and have it accept him.
After all, Yang Kai had no idea when he would be able to return from this trip to the Starry Sky. If he could take away the Phoenix Empress Inheritance that resided here and was lucky enough to find Su Yan, he could directly pass it to her to help her improve her cultivation.
However, Yang Kai wasn’t even certain this was possible.
The intense ice-cold power exerted by this place was completely incompatible with the Yang Qi he has cultivated within his body.
He could try his best but this wasn’t something that could be forced.
Time passed by and Yang Kai had sat inside the Phoenix Nest for half a month without making any progress.
But that did not mean he didn’t have any gains. Yang Kai had taken advantage of the situation to consolidate his recent breakthrough to the Saint Realm.
Just after breaking through to a new Great Realm was the time one most needed to avoid advancing recklessly.
The Cold Qi in the environment forced Yang Kai to resist it with his own hot Saint Qi, allowing him to continuously circulate the energy within his body while experiencing the difference between his previous True Qi and current Saint Qi.
Yang Kai had reaped a great harvest from this experience and did not mind it continuing, instead splitting his attention between communicating with the Phoenix Empress Inheritance and stabilizing his Saint Realm cultivation, allowing his Saint Qi to become purer and denser.
This period of time gave Yang Kai an opportunity to lay down a solid foundation, enabling the strength within his body to slowly grow stronger as he comprehended the mysteries of the Saint Realm.
During this process, the Golden Dragon Tattoo swam vigorously across his back while interacting with the energy contained inside the Phoenix Nest, seemingly obtaining some special form of nourishment from it. Over time, it became more and more excited, as if it wanted to leap out from Yang Kai’s body and blend directly with the ice-cold strength in the surrounding air.
The Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress were the twin pillars of Dragon Phoenix Palace, the two were inextricably linked.
The Golden Dragon Tattoo contained a massive amount of energy and was the ultimate inheritance of the Dragon Emperor. It being able to elicit a reaction from the Phoenix Nest was only natural.
Another half a month later, the Phoenix Nest still showed no signs of movement.
During this time, Yang Kai had constantly been releasing his Divine Sense into the surrounding, trying to understand the mysteries of the Phoenix Nest.
But ultimately, he had failed.
After spending an entire month on this without any gains, Yang Kai could only reluctantly give up.
He concluded that he was unable to take the Phoenix Empress Inheritance from here.
Just as he opened his eyes and prepared to leave though, the ice-cold strength inside the Phoenix Nest suddenly underwent some unusual changes, seemingly coordinating with the Golden Dragon Tattoo on Yang Kai’s back and establishing a kind of subtle connection between them.
Yang Kai’s trembled, and recalling his movements just now, he quickly calmed his breathing and stopped circulating any of the strength within his body, allowing the Golden Dragon Tattoo to act completely freely.
The subtle connection became clearer and clearer, and Yang Kai’s expression grew brighter, as if he had understood something.
The huge icy strength within Phoenix Nest gathered towards a certain spot not far away from Yang Kai’s current position.
Gradually, the layer of frost and fog which had covered Phoenix Nest for thousands of years began to condense into a single small spot directly in front of Yang Kai, forming a cloud of astonishingly rich Ice Attribute Strength.
It seemed that all the ice-cold strength had gathered here now.
An Ice Phoenix phantom soon appeared in front of Yang Kai.
It was a gorgeous, pure-white, crystal-clear, flawless image, that exuded the nobles of auras, as if it was aloof of the mortal world.
It reminded Yang Kai greatly of Su Yan.
Their two auras were so similar it was almost as if they had been carved from the same mould.
Hu Jiao’er had once commented that Su Yan was like an ice fairy. This evaluation was not an exaggeration, anyone who saw Su Yan’s first impression would be similar to this; only when facing Yang Kai would her icy demeanour soften and melt.
A tremendous heat burst out, one seeming hot enough to burn down the entire world.
At the same time, a resounding dragon roar echoed throughout the Heavens and the Earth while the Ice Phoenix phantom lifted its head up high and released a piercing phoenix cry towards the sky above.
Yang Kai stretched out his hand and gazed at it gently, just as if he was seeing Su Yan.
He sent out his most sincere invitation to the Ice Phoenix phantom at that moment.
The Ice Phoenix stared at him as if it possessed its own sentience, peering into Yang Kai’s eyes straight to his heart and understanding the importance she had to him.
Understanding his sincerity, she responded.
Her luminous body shattered into a million brilliant points of light that swept towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai didn’t move, allowing this rush of cold energy flood into his body, a thick layer of frost instantly condensing on his skin in the process.
The influx of ice and cold attribute energy had instantly caused his body temperature to plunge.
Yang Kai’s Saint Qi unconsciously began to riot, trying to resist this invasion of Cold Qi, but he quickly suppressed it, withdrawing all of it into his dantian.
In an instant, Yang Kai’s teeth began chattering and his lips turned purple as signs of frostbite appeared all over his body.
The massive amount of Ice Attribute Energy continued to flow in, and only after quite some time did the Cold Qi in the surroundings completely disappear.
Yang Kai’s tight and trembling body suddenly relaxed at this moment as the unbearable chill he had just been feeling vanished.
There seemed to be something more inside his body now, swimming across the surface of his skin, giving him an icy cool feeling that shook his spirit.
Untying his robes and lowering his head, Yang Kai saw both a dragon and a phoenix tattoo, frolicking and chasing one another.
Contained within these two tattoos was an unimaginable amount of power.
Yang Kai smiled with satisfaction and no small amount of surprise.
He had come here just to try his luck, never having imagined he would actually succeed; this result had far exceeded his expectations.
The Phoenix Empress’ Inheritance had really responded to his invitation and entered his body.
Closing his eyes, Yang Kai felt the Phoenix Empress’ aura and sensed its intentions of using his body to temporarily take shelter.
Till the end, it was a foreign entity, so despite the massive amount of energy it contained, Yang Kai was unable to access it, the only thing he could do was carry it for Su Yan for the time being.
After carefully confirming that the Ice Phoenix Tattoo would not adversely affect him in any way, Yang Kai got up and strode out of the Phoenix Nest.
The sun shone in, unsealing the Phoenix Nest.
The world of ice and snow which had existed for thousands of years finally began melting today.
After spending some time in Dragon Phoenix Palace to inform Chen Zhou about the Phoenix Nest’s situation, Yang Kai bid him farewell, summoned out his Star Shuttle, and headed back to Nine Heavens Holy Land.
When he arrived at the Holy Land, Xu Hui and the others had long since returned.
The entire Holy Land was still immersed in a jubilant mood.
Yang Kai summoned his friends and family and informed them about his plans to travel to the Starry Sky.
But to Yang Kai’s surprise, none of them showed many reactions after hearing the news, as if they all already knew.
Yang Kai turned to Li Rong and figured that she should have told them beforehand, allowing them to psychologically prepare themselves.
“Have you decided?” Meng Wu Ya asked calmly.
“En,” Yang Kai nodded gently.
“If you’ve decided, there’s no need to say anything more. Just concentrate on taking care of yourself out there. Don’t worry about here, this old master will look after it for you,” Meng Wu Ya nodded back.
“I’ll leave it to Treasurer Meng,” Yang Kai nodded sincerely. With Meng Wu Ya’s commitment, he could feel at ease even if he left.
Nine Heavens Holy Land was on a steady path now and didn’t require the Holy Master’s presence, the only thing Yang Kai had to worry about was his friends and relatives living in the former War Spirit Temple site, but as long as Meng Wu Ya was here, none would dare bully them.
“You head out first. Perhaps sometime later, this old master will follow suit; if that happens, I’ll definitely go looking for you,” Meng Wu Ya smiled.
“I’ll be waiting.”
Suddenly, a burst of sobs came from nearby as Dong Su Zhu’s eyes became red and puffy, an imploring look upon her face, clearly saying she didn’t want Yang Kai to go.
More than a decade ago, Yang Kai had left the Central Capital and she had lost all contact with him.
It wasn’t until very recently that their family had finally reunited.
Dong Su Zhu hadn’t even had enough time to sit down and have a long chat with her son before Yang Kai had decided to embark on a new journey, this time heading out in the vast Starry Sky.
How could she be willing?
The Yang Family Fourth Master wore the face of iron, but the tears threatening to fall from the corners of his eyes gave away his true thoughts.
Yang Kai’s heart filled with guilt and was just about to try comforting them when Yang Ying Feng spoke first, “Go. Father supports your decisions and believes in you!”
Yang Kai’s shoulders trembled as he nodded strongly.
The Yang Family Fourth Master’s words greatly relieved Yang Kai. Now he could finally put down all his burdens and focus on the matters he wanted to accomplish.
“Before you go, you should go talk with Ning Chang,” Meng Wu Ya sighed slightly, “She has refused to leave her room for the last half-month.”
“I know.”
It was late at night, and the pale moon hung in the night sky, sending down pure gentle rays.
Yang Kai walked into the Holy Master Court just in time to see An Ling’er walk out. Upon seeing Yang Kai, An Ling’er couldn’t help letting out a giggle as she stepped aside, allowing him to pass, with a mischievous look on her face.
Yang Kai stared at her briefly before continuing towards Xia Ning Chang’s room.
Outside the door, Du Wan and the other five Grandmasters had gathered together and were constantly calling out, each one speaking words of persuasion, trying to tempt Xia Ning Chang out.
However, there was no movement from inside the room.
“Grandmasters, good evening,” Yang Kai coughed lightly to attract their attention.
In the darkness, five pairs of eyes simultaneously turned towards him, disgruntled looks upon their faces.
“You little brat…” Chang Bao fat body trembled as he immediately took advantage of his seniority to reprimand, “You really don’t know how blessed you are! Little Xia having a liking for you is simply more than you deserve, yet you actually dare make her sad, you really know how to anger this old master!”
Outside Xia Ning Chang’s room, the fat Chang Bao interrogated Yang Kai, his spit flying all over the place as he loudly scolded.
“Xia girl hasn’t left her room for half a month now, even refusing to perform Alchemy, and it’s all your fault!” Hong Fang also said unceremoniously.
Kong Ruo Yu coldly snorted and continued, “As a man, it is your responsibility to make your woman feel safe and secure, not cause her grief. As Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land, you’re fine, but in this area, you have a long way to go.”
Even Du Wan, who had the best relationship with Yang Kai, solemnly said, “Hurry up and think about how to comfort her.”
At this moment, the five Grandmasters seemed to be firmly standing on Xia Ning Chang’s side, vigorously protecting her while blaming Yang Kai.
Yang Kai froze up like a wooden chicken.
He hadn’t anticipated that the relationship between Little Senior Sister and the five Grandmasters would become so close.
He clearly remembered when the five Grandmasters first came to the Holy Land and were willing to put down their pride just to ask him to allow them to study the Alchemic Way with him.
Back then, he had received much respect from these five Grandmasters.
But now, it seemed Xia Ning Chang’s status far surpassed his own in the minds of the five Grandmasters.
“Uh…” Yang Kai opened his mouth but before he could say anything to defend himself was cut off by Hong Fang.
Hong Fang squinted with displeasure towards him and snorted, “Boy, I heard you insisted on going to the Starry Sky to chase a woman, yes? What kind of woman can compare with Xia girl?”
“That’s right, Little Xia is already the best girl in the world. Don’t try to eat from the pot with your bowl already full.”
“Xia girl is kind, gentle, understanding, pure, innocent, and cute; it really makes one wonder how she could take a liking to a little bastard like you?”
Facing a second round of reprimands, Yang Kai was again struck speechless.
“Xia girl, don’t be sad!” Kong Ruo Yu suddenly turned to the door and shouted, “You don’t need to care about such an indecisive man, another day this old lady will introduce you to a fine young man, although he may not be as good as Yang Kai, he is still a dragon among men.”
Yang Kai’s face instantly went black as he said flatly, “Old Kong, if you don’t want that person to have an ‘accident’, it would be best if he never appeared in the Holy Land.”
Kong Ruo Yu stared back at him defiantly, “What? So you’re allowed to act half-hearted but Xia girl can’t even make her own choice?”
“That’s not what I meant…” Yang Kai felt a headache coming on as he was unable to explain clearly, wondering just what these five Grandmasters had taken to cause them to interfere in the love of a man and woman.
*Zhiya…*
The door suddenly opened and in the darkness, Xia Ning Chang appeared in front of everyone, her pair of beautiful eyes shining brightly without the slightest trace of impurities.
However, everyone could tell that her eyes were a little red and swollen.
“Don’t say such bad things about Junior Brother…” Xia Ning Chang spoke in a voice as quiet as a mosquito as she turned to stare at Yang Kai faintly, biting her thin lip as she said, “The one Junior Brother is going to find is Senior Sister Su Yan. Senior Sister is a very good person.”
“Ha, you’ve finally decided to come out great aunt,” Chang Bao sighed as he wiped the sweat from his forehead while hurriedly asking if Xia Ning Chang was alright.
“Junior Brother, come inside so we can talk!” Xia Ning Chang pulled Yang Kai into her room.
Yang Kai turned around as they walked in and somehow squeezed out a smile, “Five Grandmasters also rest early!”
Before they could reply, the door was quickly closed.
“This smelly brat…” Hong Fang snorted before letting out a helpless laugh.
“Good, Yang Kai should be fine on his own from here on out,” Du Wan chuckled, “We should also retire.”
The Grandmasters were all seasoned people and naturally understood the pain in Xia Ning Chang’s heart. Them harshly reprimanding Yang Kai just now was mostly to arouse Xia Ning Chang’s sympathy and force her to come out.
Any issues young people had just needed them to open their hearts and discuss to resolve.
Inside the room, after the five Grandmasters drifted away, Yang Kai stared towards Xia Ning Chang with a look of apology.
“I am going to find Su Yan, I came here tonight to tell you,” he said.
“I know!” Xia Ning Chang gently nodded, “I won’t stop you, I’m just a bit reluctant to part.”
Saying so, her crystal clear eyes became misty and she plunged herself into Yang Kai’s arms, burying her head in his chest.
Tears began to wet Yang Kai’s clothes as Xia Ning Chang’s voice came out, “You don’t need to worry about here, just find Su Yan and bring her back.”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded heavily, embracing the beautiful woman tightly, feeling the softness and heat of her body. Yang Kai surprisingly felt not the slightest hint of arousal, only a sense of reluctance and guilt.
Xia Ning Chang seemed to sense his concerns and softly whispered, “You don’t have to feel guilty because I know that if Master had taken me to the Starry Sky, you would also search for me, right?”
“Of course!” Yang Kai tightened his embrace, feeling especially gratified for Little Senior Sister’s understanding.
“I also believe that you will find her,” Xia Ning Chang suddenly raised her head and stared at him with her beautiful crescent-shaped eyes.
“Why?”
“Because you already found us once!” Xia Ning Chang declared firmly, “This time you will certainly not fail. If two people are destined to be together, no matter how far apart they are, no matter how much time passes by, they will inevitably reunite. I used to think so, and now I believe so because in my most hopeless and isolated moment, you…” Speaking until here, Xia Ning Chang’s voice became incredibly quiet, as if she was ashamed to even say her next words.
“What about me?” Yang Kai stared at her intently, a strange smile forming on his lips.
Xia Ning Chang’s face flushed with embarrassment, her eyes sinking slightly as her delicate hands gripped Yang Kai’s clothes and whispered in a nearly inaudible voice, “You appeared like a hero.”
As soon as she spoke these words, Little Senior Sister’s cheeks blushed bright red and her heart began racing, causing her tender body to heat up even further.
She was not the kind of person who would easily reveal their inner thoughts, especially the ones close to her heart. Speaking her true feelings just now was already her limit.
She suddenly recalled the time they traveled together to the Nine Yin Mountain Valley in order to obtain the Nine Yin Yuan Condensing Dew, when she and Yang Kai had suffered an ambush.
Inside that mountain valley, when she fell into mortal danger, Yang Kai had stood tall in front of her, becoming battered and bloody all to protect her.
At that time, his back wasn’t nearly as broad as it was now, even seeming a bit weak and unreliable, but he still stood a firm as a mountain, shielding her from the wind and rain.
From that point on, his figure had quietly been imprinted into her heart, greatly moving her heartstrings.
Every time she thought about to that scene, Xia Ning Chang’s heart filled with a warm sweetness.
After that, for ten years she had been separated from Yang Kai, and as she followed her Master east and west, she had met no shortage of talented young men, heirs of big Sects and families, many of whom expressed their admiration to her without any disguise.
However, she had always remained indifferent, her heart never moving for any of these men.
She was waiting.
And finally, after many years, she achieved her wish.
When her Master had been trapped, unable to escape, and she had been plunged into the depths of desperation and helplessness, that same figure from her memories appeared in front of her again, breaking open the dark clouds that blinded her to all hope and showering her in endless light.
At that moment, she felt that even if she were to immediately die, it would be worth it, such was the excitement and joy that filled her heart.
Today, he was leaving, and what she needed to do was wait.
Waiting calmly and expectantly. Xia Ning Chang felt that she was not lacking in patience. Even if the seas dried up and the mountains crumbled to dust, she would continue to wait.
Suddenly, her body felt light and Xia Ning Chang couldn’t help but shout tenderly. By the time she reacted, she found that she had already been lifted up by Yang Kai’s.
His arms were strong and powerful, making her feel comfortable and safe, as if she was afloat in the most peaceful of harbours, all her weariness and anxiety melting away.
“Junior Brother, what are you doing?” Xia Ning Chang called out tenderly as she noticed that Yang Kai was staring at her with a meaningful smile and walking step by step towards her bed.
Under his soft gaze, Xia Ning Chang felt like she was melting like snow in the early spring.
She was faintly aware of what was happening and her heart began pounding fiercely. Her breathing quickened and an astonishing amount of heat rose from her tender body.
Yang Kai still just smiled meaningfully, causing Xia Ning Chang to involuntarily close her beautiful eyes, bite her lip and tuck her head into his chest, not daring to face him.
Feeling a softness on her back, Xia Ning Chang found herself lying on the bed, the bright moonlight pouring down onto her from the nearby open window.
Yang Kai sat on the edge of the bed and stared at this beautiful scene, his hands gently brushing Little Senior Sister’s hair.
“Little Senior Sister, do you remember that time in High Heaven Pavilion when I went out on a mission and returned at night to find you lying in my bed, fast asleep?” Yang Kai asked suddenly.
Xia Ning Chang opened his eyes slightly and whispered, “That was so long ago, I don’t remember.”
How could she not remember? She was clearly just too ashamed to admit it.
On that day, she had come to deliver a message to Yang Kai. Back then, the two of them weren’t familiar with each other and had never even exchanged greetings before. She had waited inside his small wooden house but Yang Kai never came back.
While she was waiting, she had at some point fallen asleep.
When she awoke, she found Yang Kai standing by the bed, staring at her with an infatuated gaze.
Xia Ning Chang didn’t know when he had come back, but she could still clearly remember that Yang Kai’s eyes at the time contained no obscenity, only admiration.
It seemed like he was unable to bear to wake her from her rest.
“That time was almost exactly the same as right now,” Yang Kai’s voice was soft and his eyes filled with love, “The gentle moonlight shining down on you, the sapphire gem on your forehead reflecting their radiance. At that time, Junior Brother was startled by your beauty. Junior Brother was very envious back then, wondering which lucky man you would choose to be with in the future. How could I have known that lucky man would be me?”
His sincere words filled with tender affection were like a sharp sword which pierced through Little Senior Sister’s defences, causing her to become lost in their honeyed sweetness, unable to extricate herself from this blissful happiness.
Her eyes blurred, and her delicate ears become bright red, a pink flush dying her neck as her heart beats rapidly, a burning flame bursting from her body as she directed a look of anticipation towards Yang Kai, reaching up and wrapping her delicate arms around his neck and gently pulling him towards her.
Her defences broke and she fell to the enemy’s hands in an instant.