“What did you say?” Luan Feng looked at Yang Kai with a frown.
Yang Kai explained, “When we noticed the emergence of the Demon Qi, Star Soul Palace sent several of its Emperor Realm Masters to warn the top Sects of the Western Territory and to seek reinforcements, but out of those who left, only one came back alive, and the news that man brought back was that all of Pointed Star Sect had been Demonized!”
Loud gasps rang out in the main hall as everyone looked at Yang Kai with a look of incredulity hanging on their faces.
Out of all the people present here, only a few might have been to the Western Territory personally, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t heard of Pointed Star Sect; after all, it was one of the top Sects of the Western Territory. But now, every member of that Sect had been corrupted by Demon Qi!
Combined with what Yang Kai had just said, everyone immediately understood what he was implying.
Fan Wu asked with an ugly look on his face, “Could it be that all those Sects of the Western Territory have all fallen to the Demon Race’s vicious plans?”
Yang Kai replied, “Although this information has not been confirmed, based on what little we do know, there is an eighty to ninety percent chance that is the case. Most of you participated in the matter of the Southern Territory’s Orthodoxy Temple and should be able to understand what would have happened if we hadn’t acted back then. By now, the entire Southern Territory might have followed in the Western Territory’s footsteps, with all the great forces long becoming Demon nests. The Western Territory… wasn’t blessed with such luck.”
“Then we are plagued by internal troubles and foreign aggression!” Fan Wu bitterly smiled.
Yang Kai loudly proclaimed, “That is the general situation. I am telling you this to let you have an understanding of everything, not to make you fear the Demon Race or their schemes. Although the Demon Race is aggressively invading, our Star Boundary is guarded by the Great Emperors, and even as we speak, cultivators from the other three territories are rallying. As long as everyone works together, what can the trivial Demon Race do? Today is the day for you to make a name for yourselves and go down in history as heroes. You must not miss this rare opportunity.” He then fiercely swept a glance over everyone before asking aloud, “Are there any more questions?”
The hall remained completely quiet.
Yang Kai nodded before waving his hand, “Fellow Brothers and Sisters, please orderly marshal your respective disciples at the main Space Array. This King will send you to the Western Territory shortly!”
The crowd dispersed to convene with their respective Sects’ disciples.
The Space Array was located just off the main square and was soon surrounded by a dense crowd. At least 100,000 cultivators at the Origin King Realm or above had been gathered and were standing with their respective Sects and families’ in groups of varying strength and size. The number of people in each group might be lacking, but all together they formed an impressive army, just like how many grains of sand would eventually pile up to form a mountain.
Of course, this didn’t mean that there were only 100,000 cultivators at or above the Origin King Realm in the Northern Territory, far from it in fact, but naturally, it was impossible for the various Sects and families to send out all of their members. All of them had left a large part of their manpower to guard the foundation of their forces.
These 100,000 cultivators were nothing more than a vanguard that could be rapidly assembled, that’s all; after all, no one knew the exact extent of the Demon Realm’s invasion. If the situation was worse than expected, they could always send more manpower over. In any case, there was a network of Space Arrays across much of the Northern Territory thanks to Yang Kai now, so it was quite convenient to travel vast distances in short order, meaning more forces could be marshalled in short order should they be necessary.
High Heaven Palace itself had over 10,000 disciples qualified to participate in this excursion, but for now, they were only committing about half that number. Of course, this was the single largest contribution of manpower from any Sect or force present.
Before the Space Array, Yang Kai kept urging his Space Principles to send batches of cultivators to the Western Territory. Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion, with no one complaining or making trouble. Fortunately, Yang Kai had the foresight when he had arranged this Array to make it extra large, so it could teleport about a hundred people at once.
Even so, he had to activate the Array a thousand times before all 100,000 people could be teleported.
Two days and two nights later, when Yang Kai finished sending the last batch to the Western Territory, he was thoroughly exhausted. Finally, he had some time to recover. Taking some pills, he sat down cross-legged and began adjusting his breathing.
Yu Ru Meng was naturally standing by his side.
After a while, Yang Kai opened his eyes, and turned to Hua Qing Si, “Sister Hua, I will be leaving the Sect to you.”
Hua Qing Si earnestly nodded, “En, leave it to me!”
Finally, Yang Kai, together with Yu Ru Meng, stepped onto the Space Array.
After a bright flash of light, the duo reappeared in the Western Territory.
The place they appeared was jam-packed with the 100,000 Northern Territory cultivators who were sent over before, all of them having remained in the vicinity. Many of them were currently standing high up in the sky, staring into the distance, solemn looks on their faces.
As Yang Kai swept the surroundings with his Divine Sense, he actually found that only the cultivators of the Northern Territory and Ancient Wild Lands were gathered here while he couldn’t find any cultivators from the Southern and the Eastern Territory.
This wasn’t surprising though as although the Southern Territory and Eastern Territories had Star Soul Palace and Serene Soul Palace respectively managing them, the number of Space Arrays arranged by Yang Kai in the two territories were far fewer, so the speed of gathering cultivators was naturally much slower.
However, it shouldn’t be long before the cultivators of the other two territories arrived.
Yang Kai looked around, and after finding Mo Huang standing at the front of the crowd, he immediately flew forward and greeted, cupping his fists, “Senior.”
“You’re back,” Mo Huang lightly nodded to him.
Yang Kai glanced into the distance as he inquired, furrowing his brow, “What’s the situation now?”
Mo Huang answered in a heavy voice, “The Demon Qi isn’t spreading anymore, but the Demon Race is assembling over there. I went to check things out, and the Demon Race’s army is constantly pouring out of that Void Corridor. A million have already gathered.”
“A million!” Yang Kai was shocked.
Originally, he believed that he might be able to solve the Western Territory’s crisis after the Northern Territory had gathered 100,000 people in such a short time, but how could he have anticipated that such terrible news would be waiting for him the moment he arrived?
A hundred thousand vs a million, that was a ten-fold difference.
Mo Huang glanced at him before explaining, “The size of the Demon Race army might be bigger, but most of them are just paper soldiers, not worth fearing. Although only 100,000 have come from your Northern Territory, all of their cultivations have at least reached the Origin King Realm. If the two sides really fought, the Demon Race might not be their opponents.”
Yang Kai felt relieved after hearing this.
In other words, the million figure might be terrifying, but judging by the fact that they had gathered so many in such a short time, most of them were from the weaker subordinate clans among the Demon Races while the real main force was probably still lying in wait.
Mo Huang then added, “But we can’t take them lightly either. We don’t know the exact situation of the Demon Race, and since their side was able to gather so many people in such a short time, I’m afraid that there will be more arriving soon.”
Yang Kai nodded his agreement.
After pondering for a while, Yang Kai asked, “Then what are our plans? Do we wait and see or take the initiative to attack?”
Mo Huang thought for a moment before replying, “We are adopting a defensive stance and observing for now. Right now, delaying is to our advantage as the cultivators from the Southern and Eastern Territory still need to arrive. For now, our priority is to protect the Space Array. When reinforcements from the other two territories gather, it won’t be too late to take action.”
Yang Kai thought about it and soon agreed, so he didn’t raise any objections.
Mo Huang remained silent for a while before continuing, “Night Shadow is a descendant of the Demon Race!”
“What!?” Yang Kai was shocked by this revelation. He had been wondering all this while why Night Shadow Great Emperor, who literally stood at the apex of the Star Boundary, would collude with the Demon Realm. What could the Demon Realm possibly give him that made him not hesitate to betray the Star Boundary and seek refuge with the enemy?
After Mo Huang revealed this piece of information though, realization finally dawned upon Yang Kai.
It wasn’t what the Demon Realm could give him, but rather that Night Shadow himself was related to the Demon Race!
He was actually a descendant of the Demon Race!
“A Shadow Demon?” Yang Kai’s expression changed.
Mo Huang looked at him in surprise this time as he asked, “You actually know about the Shadow Demon Clan?”
Yang Kai explained with a nod, “Reporting to Senior, I once fought with the Demon Race inside a certain Sealed World.”
Mo Huang was even more shocked when he heard this. With his experience and insight, he still couldn’t figure out which Sealed World in this world actually sheltered members of the Demon Race; however, he didn’t ask any questions and simply suggested in a deep voice, “It’s fine if you know this, but don’t publicize it.”
Yang Kai earnestly replied, “Junior will keep that in mind.”
[No wonder when the three Great Emperors returned from the Demon Realm that day, they kept silent about Night Shadow Great Emperor. It turns out it was because of such a reason. If the cultivators of the Star Boundary came to know that one of the ten Great Emperors actually had the blood of the Demon Race flowing through his veins, it would shake their confidence and faith greatly.]
The Great Emperors had always been the totems of the Star Boundary’s Martial Dao, object of worship of hundreds of billions of cultivators across the world. How could such a revered figure be related to the Demon Race?
If any other Emperor Realm Master had asked about this, Mo Huang certainly wouldn’t have explained it, but how could Yang Kai’s heritage be compared to an ordinary Emperor Realm Master? Mo Huang probably believed that Yang Kai was qualified to know such secrets.
Mo Huang heaved a sigh and added, “The reason why Night Shadow has always acted so mysterious and never interacted with we Great Emperors is probably because of his origins.”
Since he was a descendant of the Demon Race, if he really had frequent contact with the other Great Emperors, they might have noticed something off about him. As such, it was only natural that Night Shadow isolated himself from them.
“We also have no idea when he got in touch with the Demon Realm or plotted the Western Territory and Southern Territory incidents, drawing Iron Blood and Bright Moon out and then relying on their strength to shatter that Sealed World, weakening the barriers between the two Great Worlds so that a corridor could be established between them.” Mo Huang bitterly smiled, “That world happened to be located right between the Demon Realm and the Star Boundary. It would have been fine if it was intact, but now that it has been shattered, an extremely stable passage has been formed.”
Yang Kai stated with a weird look on his face, “So to say, Iron Blood and Bright Moon were used by Night Shadow?”
Mo Huang immediately warned, lowering his voice, “Don’t mention this before them, or your end won’t be pretty.”
Yang Kai involuntarily nodded, “Then take it as if I never asked.”
Mo Huang added, “After that, Serene Soul and I entered the Demon Realm through the rift between the two worlds. There, we saw Iron Blood and Bright Moon fighting and immediately stepped in to help them. However, in the end… as you know, Bright Moon fell into the Demon Realm, while we three fled back in embarrassment.”
Yang Kai asked with some trepidation, “Four Great Emperors were actually not their opponents?”
Mo Huang explained, “The other side was well prepared. They gathered six Demon Saints! En, Demon Saints are the Demon Realm’s equivalent of our Great Emperors.” He thought that Yang Kai knew nothing about the division of realms of the Demon Race so he especially explained to him.
“Six!” Yang Kai gasped in shock.
But having said that, the fact that three of them safely returned when they were at such a disadvantage and fighting on someone else’s turf was proof in itself of the strength of the Great Emperors. Of course, their successful escape was also largely thanks to the sacrifice of Bright Moon Great Emperor.
Considering all this, Yang Kai couldn’t help but feel a profound sense of awe and respect as he anxiously asked, “Senior Bright Moon stayed behind in the Demon Realm. He wouldn’t… have any accidents, right?”
“Not for the time being, he should have escaped.”
Yang Kai curiously asked, “Why can Senior say so with such certainty?” After Bright Moon Great Emperor offered to stay behind, allowing Mo Huang and the others to escape, he would have been in a six vs one situation. How could Bright Moon possibly have escaped? Death was by far the most likely outcome.
Mo Huang, however, just smiled and replied, “In any case, Bright Moon is also a Great Emperor, so it’s no easy feat to capture him. Furthermore… if he really died, I would be able to sense it.”
He didn’t explain how he would sense it, but Yang Kai presumed that it might be related to the Star Boundary itself. The ten Great Emperors were all recognized by this world, so if one of them fell, it would definitely trigger a Heavenly Manifestation.
While the two were talking, Mo Huang suddenly raised his brow and stared into the distance before stating with a grim voice, “There are some movements on the Demon’s side.”
Yang Kai’s face turned serious as he too raised his head to peer forward. A moment later, as expected, he saw countless Demons slowly advancing towards the outer ring of the Demon Land. By the looks of their stances, it seemed that they were preparing to attack.
Mo Huang’s face sank, “I’m afraid that they’ve discovered the Space Array and want to destroy it to delay us from gathering our forces here.”
After all, a few days ago, there were only a few Masters on the Star Boundary’s side, but now, 100,000 powerful cultivators had suddenly appeared. The Demon Race wasn’t blind, so there was no way they hadn’t noticed this sudden surge in enemy forces. Anyone with the slightest intelligence would not let this go on and would definitely think of some way to destroy the Space Array.
Almost the entire Demon Race army of a million soldiers moved out, and that too in a neat and orderly manner. The sound of their synchronized footsteps even caused the ground to quake.
How could the Northern Territory cultivators fail to notice this development? All of them hurriedly started running around like they were about to face a fearsome enemy.
The entire scene looked a little chaotic, forming a diametrically opposite contrast to the Demon Race.
Mo Huang glanced back before ordering, “It’s your Northern Territory’s cultivators, go and control them. Don’t let them fall into confusion.”
Yang Kai solemnly nodded before flying back and shouting as he hovered high up in the air, “Prepare for war!”
Someone immediately came over and greeted him, cupping his fists, “Palace Master Yang, the Demon Race is approaching.”
This man was a First-Order Emperor Realm Master and appeared to be in his fifties. Yang Kai found him a little familiar, but he couldn’t remember which Sect he belonged to. All he could recall was that this man was a Sect Master who had brought some three hundred or so disciples with him.
At this moment, this person had a fearful look on his face and was obviously a little panicked.
For the cultivators of the Star Boundary, it was common to battle enemies one on one or in small groups, and no one who reached the Emperor Realm had not been baptized by blood.
However, even for most of the Emperor Realm Masters present, this was the first time they would be fighting as part of an army. There were 100,000 people present on their side with no clear chain of command, so it was only natural that the situation soon became a bit disorderly.
The moment everyone saw the Demon Race army marching toward them, their first reaction was to retreat. Everyone knew that two fists were no match for four palms. The number of people on their side was obviously lacking compared to the enemy who had ten times as many soldiers. How were they going to even fight such a lopsided battle?
If even the Emperor Realm Masters were thinking like this, there was no need to mention the Dao Source Realm and Origin King Realm cultivators. If it weren’t for Mo Huang overseeing the situation, perhaps everyone would have scattered like birds and animals.
Yang Kai coldly swept his glare over everyone present before he fixed his gaze on the Emperor Realm Master who had come up to warn him and indifferently spoke, “This King isn’t blind! This King can see that the Demon Race’s army is on the march, that is why I asked you to prepare for battle!”
Immediately, someone asked, “Palace Master Yang, can you see how many there are on the Demon Race side?”
Yang Kai indifferently replied, “Senior Martial Beast says that there are a million of them!”
“A million!” Everyone present on the scene was stunned. Although they knew that there were a lot of soldiers on the Demon Race’s side, they weren’t clear about the specifics, but now, they immediately shuddered when they heard the true figure.
“Are you afraid?” Yang Kai swept a glance across the crowd.
No one answered but the panic on their faces was clear enough.
“So what if there are a million of them!?” Yang Kai shouted, “Most of them are nothing but paper soldiers. Although they have numbers, they will still fall in one blow. All 100,000 of you are at least Origin Kings, why should you fear them? Senior Martial Beast has surmised that the enemy has discovered our Space Array and intends to destroy it, but this Space Array is critical for bringing in reinforcements from the Southern and Eastern Territory. We can’t lose it! We have one goal and one goal only today, we must repel the Demon Race and safeguard this Array no matter what!”
Everyone remained completely silent. All of them were from the Northern Territory, where High Heaven Palace held the position of leader, and with Yang Kai raising the banner of Martial Beast Great Emperor, no one would dare to sing a different tune even if they were afraid, but that didn’t stop them from worrying, wondering whether this day next year would be their death anniversary.
[Morale is too low!] Yang Kai furrowed his brow as he observed the situation. Thankfully, the Eastern and Southern Territory cultivators hadn’t arrived yet, otherwise, he would have lost all face with this kind of cowardly display.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai continued, “This is the first battle between our Star Boundary and the Demon Realm, thus it is of far-reaching and wide-ranging significance. If we lose this battle, how will we face the Demon Race in the future again? The Demon Race is vicious and cruel; if we allow them to conquer the Star Boundary, they will burn your homes, seize your wives and daughters, and kill all your descendants! How will you show your face to your ancestors in Heaven if you allow such a tragedy to occur!?”
Yang Kai’s shout reverberated like the clap of thunder, rumbling in the ears of the hundred thousand cultivators below. Although these words sounded unpleasant, it had the desired effect of turning many men’s eyes red with fury. The scene described by Yang Kai was indeed unacceptable to all of them, even if they knew that he was blowing things out of proportion just to scare them, but if the Demon Race really took over the Star Boundary, such scenes would definitely happen.
“We need to win this battle!” Yang Kai shouted, “And it must be a complete and thorough victory. The billions of cultivators and trillions of mortals of the Star Boundary will all remember today’s battle, they will remember your contributions and efforts! This glory belongs to us, the Northern Territory’s cultivators!”
“In addition…” Yang Kai glanced in the direction of Mo Huang, “With Senior Martial Beast with us, what do we need to fear?”
Seeing that the time was right, Li Jiao immediately stepped out from the crowd and cupped his fists as he shouted, “This Li and Fire Dragon Palace wish to join Palace Master Yang in battle, slaughter the million-strong Demon Race Army, and show the might of our Northern Territory to the world!”
Mi Qi was taken aback before he hurriedly cupped his fists and echoed, “This Mi and Full Sky Sect are willing to fight with the Palace Master Yang to destroy the Demon Race!”
Bing Yun slightly smiled as she called out, “Although Ice Heart Valley’s disciples are women, we can’t fall behind you men…”
The Sect Masters of the Northern Territory’s top Sects had spoken, and even Ice Heart Valley had expressed their intent to fight, so how could other Sects be willing to fall behind. Whether they were really willing or not, they all raised their voices one after another to rally their spirits.
“For victory!” Li Jiao raised his arms and shouted before the disciples of Fire Dragon Palace immediately joined after.
After a few breaths, the voices of 100,000 cultivators reverberated like a wave!
“Prepare for battle!” Yang Kai roared once more.
This time, the Sect Masters of the major Sects and families began to convene their respective disciples and descendants, finally organizing themselves into a somewhat orderly formation.
Yang Kai also put his hanging heart to rest a little. Despite his best efforts, this was the best he could do for now to raise morale and control everyone’s fears. Now, the rest would be up to the result of the battle. If they managed to crush the enemy underfoot without suffering significant losses, morale would soar and remain high, but if the Northern Territory’s forces collapsed at the first blow, no amount of inspiring words would be enough to salvage the situation.
However, Yang Kai believed that the Northern Territory’s side had a greater chance of winning this first battle. Without even mentioning the huge difference in the quality of soldiers, the Ancient Wild Lands’ Masters were also here, so it would be really unreasonable if they lost against the vanguard of the Demon Race.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
The sound of thousands upon thousands of horses and soldiers marching forward began to echo as, while Yang Kai had been organizing the 100,000 cultivators of the Northern Territory, the Demon Race Army was madly charging towards them, accelerating as they got closer.
Everyone could clearly see the ugly faces of the Demon Race at the forefront. There was a group of deformed Red Demons and Green Demons that were only half as tall as an average human. If it was someone who wasn’t aware of these clans’ inside information, he or she might have directed his own army to charge forward to meet the enemy.
At that time, even a moron could easily tell what the result would be.
But Yang Kai just sneered in his heart. He had participated in the Two Races’ Great War in the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld and witnessed Red Demons and Green Demons acting as suicide soldiers innumerable times, so how could he easily fall for such an obvious trap?
The Northern Territory cultivators had also learned from Yang Kai about the characteristics and the Innate Divine Abilities of the major clans of the Demon Race, so at this moment, when they saw a group of round red and green Demons charging over, they immediately realized that they were the so-called Burst Demons.
The Red Demons’ self-destruction would cause deadly explosions while the Green Demons’ would release highly-toxic poison when they blew up. As such, the most effective method to deal with them was to not let them approach.
There were many Red Demons and Green Demons, about 100,000 in total, all of them charging straight ahead and in a disorderly manner.
Yang Kai, leading the 100,000 Northern Territory cultivators, advanced ten kilometres before forming a line and waiting for the enemy’s arrival.
In the sky, amid the howling winds, Yang Kai was hovering with a solemn look on his face while behind him the 100,000 army of the Northern Territory also wore serious expressions.
*Hong long long…*
The Red Demons and Green Demons quickly closed the distance, but nonetheless, Yang Kai didn’t make a move, despite hearing the nervous gulps constantly coming from behind him.
[Closer, just a little closer…]
Suddenly, after determining that the enemy had reached the optimal distance, Yang Kai’s eyes flashed a fearsome light as he shouted, “Attack!”
All together, the cultivators of the Northern Territory sent out long-ranged attacks using their various artifacts and Divine Abilities. The sudden eruption of force caused the local World Energy to churn and space to warp.
Of course, Yang Kai did not remain idle either as he released a horizontal slash from his Myriads Sword.
Channelling his Emperor Qi into the sword, Yang Kai unleashed a massive sword wave that shot off into the middle and Demon Race’s vanguard.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
One after another, Red Demons and Green Demons began to explode. When the Red Demons blew up, small mushroom clouds would appear where they fell, shaking the earth around them. As for the Green Demons, green clouds of smoke would burst forth, covering dozens of meters in a thick fog that could not be blown away even by the strong whipping winds.
Immediately after, beams of all kinds of shapes and colours poured down on the Demon Race army.
There were hundreds of Emperor Realm Masters on the Northern Territory side while the rest were either Origin Kings or Dao Source cultivators, so their initial barrage was nothing less than spectacular.
Looking from a distance, it was as if the Northern Territory’s camp had rained down a curtain of light towards the Demon Race’s army.
The next moment, deafening explosions continuously rang out without end.
When all the dazzling flashes disappeared, the front row of the Demon Race army was nowhere to be found. All that was left was ditches of varying shapes and sizes and green clouds of poisonous mist!
Of the 100,000 Red and Green Demons, at least 30,000 had lost their lives in this salvo.
“Weak!” Yang Kai let out a cold snort. Although he wasn’t loud, owing to his Emperor Qi, it was sufficient for the 100,000 Northern Territory cultivators below to hear it loud and clear.
The Northern Territory Army’s spirit was immediately lifted. What you hear may be false, but what you see must be true. Before, Yang Kai had said that they didn’t need to worry about the fact that there were a million soldiers on the Demon Race’s side, but most still didn’t believe him. Now though, when they personally saw the Demons collapsing at the first blow, the timidity and fear in their hearts dissipated greatly.
If this remained true for the entire Demon Race, then there would be no difficulty in winning this battle.
Having gained much confidence, everyone’s attacks became more brutal. After the reverberating battlefield went calm for a short three breaths, a second salvo of beams was fired, hitting the Red and Green Demons again, blowing them up non-stop.
After three or four barrages, the Red and Green Demons that were charging at the forefront had been completely wiped out.
The frontline of the Demon Race army was completely shrouded in clouds of green mist, making it practically impossible to see what was behind it. All everyone could do was listen to the rumbles advance closer and closer. Obviously, the main force of the Demon Race was pressing forward. 100,000 pairs of eyes stared at the green fog bank, tightly clenching the artifacts in their hands.
Yang Kai raised the Myriads Sword and ordered in a loud and reverberating voice, “Protect the flanks!”
Having been warned by him, everyone finally turned their attention away from what was directly in front of them and focused on their left and right sides.
Right at that moment, two groups of Demon Race cavalry charged out from behind the smokescreen like an unstoppable flood.
Yang Kai’s knowledge of the enemy’s tactics played a huge role at this moment.
The Northern Territory cultivators, who were already prepared, also didn’t need any orders at this moment. Qi surged as they fired their long-range attacks at the Demon cavalry.
In a flash, the advancing troops were thrown off their mounts as Demons and Demon Beasts painfully cried out. Black and red blood dyed the ground in many places, but it was apparent that this group of Demon cavalry was not mere cannon fodder. Although there were a lot of casualties, others soon filled the gaps and continued pressing the attack, a far different sight compared to the quick disruption and destruction of the Red and Green Demons.
While they were charging forward, the Demon Race finally began to counterattack. The Masters of the Demon Race launched fearsome strikes, shooting pitch-black balls of energy in rapid succession, each of which carried great lethality.
At that moment, Yang Kai turned his head to Luan Feng and the others. Luan Feng immediately understood his intent and let out a resounding phoenix cry as the Ancient Lands’ three Divine Venerables and thirty-two Monster Kings advanced forward together, using their respective techniques to block the Demon Race’s incoming attacks.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
One after another, the pitch-black balls blew up midway, not one of them managing to even touch the Northern Territory Army.
With the Ancient Lands’ Masters in charge of the defence, the Northern Territory’s position was absolutely impregnable. Even if some attacks slipped through the net, the Northern Territory cultivators weren’t vegetarians, so the Masters naturally stepped up to defend, leaving the rest to only focus on attacking.
For the 100,000-strong army of the Northern Territory, this was undoubtedly something to rejoice about.
The Demon Race continued to push ahead, treading upon the corpses of their fallen clansmen, appearing unafraid of death. With every passing moment, hundreds of Demons died in this barren wilderness, but even as the corpses piled up, the Demons did not slow their charge. On the contrary, the deaths of their comrades only stirred up their aggression and hostility, making their auras even more brutal.
After the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the two armies finally entered close-combat range.
The Northern Territory Army, however, was still in peak condition and ready to face the battered enemy. They had already killed over 200,000 Demons without taking a single loss on their side, and although at least half of those kills were of mere fodder, such a performance was still extremely astonishing.
This kind of result also boosted the morale of the Northern Territory cultivators to a peak.
All of their timidity and fear were gone as the shouts and explosions on the battlefield now caused everyone’s blood to boil instead. Anyone with even the slightest heat in their heart wanted to rush out and fight the Demon Race to the death, as if dying here on this battlefield would leave them with no regrets.
Yang Kai’s aura suddenly changed at that moment, becoming ancient and desolate, like he had strolled out from primordial times.
Yu Ru Meng stared at him in amazement when he underwent this transformation, but before she could figure out what was happening, an abstruse chant began to echo throughout the sky.
Yu Ru Meng’s expression changed ever so slightly as her beautiful eyes deeply stared at Yang Kai, seemingly trying to peer into the depths of his heart so she could dig up all the secrets he was hiding from her still.
Suddenly, a halo of light bloomed from Yang Kai’s hands and spread towards the Northern Territory Army, shrouding all 100,000 of them at once.
In the next moment, apart from the ones with higher cultivation than Yang Kai, everyone else felt their blood suddenly start boiling as a red glow began to shine from their bodies. At that point, everyone couldn’t help but feel that their fighting spirit had been set ablaze. Even their breathing became rapid and heavy.
Many people spread their palms and checked them repeatedly, experiencing the changes in their bodies in shock. There was nothing wrong with them though; in fact, they seemed to have grown stronger all of a sudden.
“Bloodlust Spell!” Yu Ru Meng’s pupils shrank as she stared at Yang Kai in a daze.
Yang Kai profoundly glanced at her as a smile bloomed on his face. Then, his chants changed as he raised his hand again, whereupon another ray of light bloomed, enveloping thousands of people in his camp. He kept raising his hands, shooting rays of light in succession, enveloping thousands at a time.
At this moment, everyone, who had been enveloped in this light, had an extremely strange feeling. They felt as if they were closely connected with the others around them, almost as if their lives had been tied together in some way, making it difficult to distinguish where they ended and their neighbours began.
“Life Chains!?” Yu Ru Meng’s beautiful eyes widened as she simply couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
She might have misunderstood the Bloodlust Spell just now, but she could definitely not be wrong about the Life Chains.
[The Bloodlust and Life Chains are both Ancient Shamanic Spells, Secret Techniques that only the ancient Shamans should be able to display. How can anyone still cultivate them and even cast them in this era where the World Principles have dramatically changed?]
[Furthermore, judging by how easily Yang Kai just cast them, it’s quite apparent that he is extremely proficient in the use of Shamanic Strength.]
[He must be a Shaman King at least!]
Yu Ru Meng thought she knew enough about Yang Kai, but only now did she realize that she had barely scratched the surface. There were far more secrets he was still hiding from her.
Today’s battle was a clash between the armies of the two worlds, and as Yang Kai had said before, it had far-reaching and wide-ranging significance. This battle could not be lost. Although their lineup was strong and there were countless Masters overseeing things, Yang Kai still went all out to bless the army of 100,000 men with two Shamanic Spells to make sure that nothing went wrong.
Originally, these two Shamanic Spells were weapons of war that the Ancient Barbarian Race relied on most against the Demon Race.
The Barbarian Race focused on cultivating their bodies. They had ample vitality, and coupled with the Bloodlust Spell, they could freely move about inside clouds of Demon Qi for a short period of time without worrying about being corroded by it. Today, although rarely anyone in the Star Boundary focused on Body Tempering due to the shift in World Principles, everyone present from the Northern Territory was at least an Origin King. Even if they didn’t focus on cultivating their physiques, their vitality was extremely exuberant at this level, so it wasn’t any worse than average Barbarians.
As such, what the Barbarian Race could do, the Star Boundary’s cultivators could also do.
The army of 100,000 cultivators had been blessed with two Shamanic Spells within a short period of a dozen breaths.
The Bloodlust Spell stimulated one’s Blood Qi and made people brave and fearless while Life Chains allowed hundreds or even thousands of people to link their vitalities together. As long as someone wasn’t fatally injured, such as having their head chopped off, any damage one suffered would be borne equally by the group they were linked to, dramatically improving survivability on the battlefield.
As the Demon Race cavalry closed in, Yang Kai swung his sword and shouted, “Charge!”
All by himself, he shot straight into the Demon Race army, shooting sword wave after sword wave from the Myriads Sword at the enemy before him. Wherever he went by, no one could block him as severed bodies of the Demons flew out in all directions.
Right behind him were the 100,000 Northern Territory cultivators. Each and every one seemed to have been injected with boiling chicken blood. They let out fierce roars as they used all the strongest techniques and skills they had cultivated over their lives. In a flash, dazzling artifact attacks and Secret Techniques flew everywhere, injuring if not killing the Demon Race members wherever they passed.
If one looked down from a high altitude, the 100,000 Northern Territory cultivators appeared like a sharp knife, piercing through the Demon Race army with Yang Kai at its tip. Mowing down Demons like they were cutting wheat in a field.
Although the Demon Race army was many times bigger, how could it be compared with the Northern Territory’s elites who were blessed with two Shamanic Spells. The Northern Territory army grew braver and braver as the battle progressed. Even though the Demon Race had them surrounded from all sides, the Northern Territory Army showed no fear or slowing of momentum.
The scale of victory had been tilted towards the Northern Territory from the beginning.
Even so, the Demon Race had no intention of retreating. Each of the Demon Race’s members didn’t seem to fear death in the slightest.
The enormous battlefield had been instantly transformed into a huge meat grinder, one that tramped Demons to paste one after another.
Mo Huang was hovering mid-air, indifferently watching the entire scene. Even if some Northern Territory cultivators lost their lives, he had no plan of taking action as his focus remained on the centre of the Demon Land up ahead.
He could sense someone in that Demon Land that was in no way inferior to him, glaring at him like a ravenous tiger.
If he made a move, the opponent would definitely make a move as well, and when that happened, no matter whether it was the Demon army or the Northern Territory army, neither side would be spared. If not for this, why would he still stand idly by? With his ability, it would have been simple to crush the entire Demon Race army.
Although there was no communication between the two sides, it was as if they had reached an agreement. The two top Masters would only act as deterrents; they would never easily take action until the last moment.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Yang Kai’s murderous intent was soaring straight to the Heavens. He had already lost track of how many Demons he had killed, but the enemies around him never seemed to decrease despite his efforts. The enemy was still densely packed and their huge advantage in numbers began to vividly manifest at this moment.
“Be careful!” At that moment, Yu Ru Meng’s warning rang in his ear.
Yang Kai didn’t even lift his head to look though as he stretched out his hand and grabbed the air behind him.
*Xiu…*
Yang Kai’s hand reached out and caught a trembling arrow that had been soaring through the air just moments ago. The sharp arrow was made of an unknown material but was incomparably tough, so much so that Yang Kai couldn’t immediately shatter it even with his strength.
He coldly swept a glance behind himself and noticed a woman in revealing clothes standing a thousand metres away, a large pair of black wings flapping on her back. She happened to be coldly staring at him as well.
Feather Demon! And it was a Demon King-level Feather Demon at that!
The Feather Demons were quite rare in the Demon Realm, so a Feather Demon who could become a Demon King, was naturally rarer. Of course, this information was something Yang Kai had obtained in the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld so he couldn’t say for sure whether it was also true for the current Demon Realm.
But among the Demon Realm’s hundred clans, the Feather Demons were unparalleled when it came to archery, and the arrow shot by a Demon King Feather Demon was powerful enough to destroy even the hardest of defences.
Obviously, Yang Kai’s wanton havoc had drawn the attention of the Demon Race, so it wasn’t surprising a Demon King Feather Demon was finally dispatched to deal with him.
Four eyes suddenly met as Yang Kai grinned at the Feather Demon, his smile causing the other party’s heart to clench tightly, as if she was no longer the one in control of her life.
She was also extremely decisive, so the moment she noticed that something was wrong, she promptly decided to retreat.
But how could Yang Kai simply let her go? The moment she moved, he grasped towards her.
“Heh heh heh!” Right at that moment, a peal of cold, heartless laughter suddenly rang in his ear and at the same time, a cold metallic gleam of light flashed at the corner of Yang Kai’s eyes as a pitch-black dagger stabbed at his neck.
No one had noticed when a blackened blur appeared behind Yang Kai.
Shadow Demon!
The Shadow Demons had always been famous for assassination. They rarely took action, but when they did, they struck like a bolt of silent thunder. If their target was someone of the same level as them, few could escape with their lives.
Yang Kai simply turned a deaf ear to the movements of the Shadow Demon behind him, though, as Space Principles fluctuated around him and he grasped towards the Feather Demon, clenching the air as he shouted, “Get back here!”
Just as his voice fell, the beautiful face of the retreating Feather Demon turned pale, because at that instant, she felt the space around her turn solid, like an enormous invisible hand had gripped her. The next moment, she flew back towards Yang Kai, completely out of her control, arriving before him in the blink of an eye.
A Feather Demon’s strength lay in their archery skills, so even though this Feather Demon was a Demon King, her strength in close-quarters was extremely limited; therefore, as soon as she was caught and pulled back in front of Yang Kai, the blood all drained from her face. She was in panic and was struggling very hard to free herself, but she was unable to get rid of the strange confinement.
Immediately after, Yang Kai punched straight toward her.
With a gruesome sound, as if a watermelon had been smashed, the head of the beautiful Feather Demon King exploded into a blood mist, leaving behind a headless corpse that crashed towards the ground. But Yang Kai didn’t stop there as he stamped his foot down, completely smashing her corpse into paste before finally stopping.
Demons had extremely tenacious vitality, and as long as their Demon Heart remained, they would never die. What’s more, it was all but impossible to tell where a Demon King was hiding his or her Demon Heart, or how many Demon Hearts he or she had cultivated. Only by completely destroying the corpse till nothing was left could one be certain they had killed them.
At that moment, the Shadow Demon’s dagger struck Yang Kai’s neck, the sharp energy around the blade sending chills down Yang Kai’s back.
But the moment the blade touched his skin, a slender hand reached out and gently pinched the tip of the dagger with incomparable accuracy. The jade white hand didn’t seem to have pinched that dagger that hard, but it rendered the dagger completely immobile.
The Shadow Demon’s face drastically changed as he turned his head to look towards the side and saw the owner of that hand.
Yu Ru Meng, on the other hand, was staring at the Shadow Demon with an indifferent look on her face, her gaze aloof and arrogant, like a deity looking down at a mortal.
The moment their eyes met, the Shadow Demon suddenly shuddered, but before he could react, Yang Kai had already swung his sword back, silently splitting the Shadow Demon in two.
Yang Kai’s sword then flickered and chopped up the Shadow Demon into countless fragments. Finally, he turned his head, glancing at Yu Ru Meng with a cold and imposing gaze. At the same time, he reached out and touched his neck where only a faint scratch was felt.
Even if Yu Ru Meng hadn’t intervened, he would have been fine as the defensive strength of a 300-metre Half-Dragon wasn’t so easy to pierce. If not for this, Yang Kai wouldn’t have outright ignored the Shadow Demon King’s sneak attack.
However, Yu Ru Meng’s attitude was a bit strange. After Yang Kai had charged into the Demon Race army, she hadn’t moved a half step away from him. However, she had only been closely following Yang Kai, never intervening in the fight at all. She only acted when Yang Kai was in danger.
“Is there a flower on my face?” Yu Ru Meng asked with a slight smile, seemingly a little uncomfortable being stared at so aggressively by him.
Yang Kai suddenly burst into laughter and said, “You are the most beautiful flower in the world!”
The next moment, he turned around, flicked his sword, and charged back into the Demon Race army. Yu Ru Meng behind him, on the other hand, furrowed her brow before following after him as before.
…
At the Space Array, a team of people suddenly appeared like ghosts. There weren’t many in this team, just a hundred or so, but all of them were Emperor Realm Masters, a few of them even having reached the Third Order.
It was just that all of them had Demon Qi lingering around their figures. Obviously, they had already been demonified.
After they showed up, they respectively launched attacks toward the Space Array without speaking a word, their intentions incredibly obvious.
“Yang Kai is really farsighted. He knew you would come!” A cold snort suddenly came as seven beautiful figures rushed out from the sides. These seven women appeared and dressed exactly the same, wearing white robes and exuding a frigid cold aura. Obviously, they were cultivating Ice Attribute Secret Arts; furthermore, they were all Emperor Realm Masters as well.
In the Northern Territory, only Ice Heart Valley could deploy such a lineup.
Impressively, the speaker was none other than the Ancestral Founder of Ice Heart Valley, Bing Yun, who was here together with her Disciples, An Ruo Yun, Sun Yun Xiu, Ji Yao, Chang Sun Yun and several others.
Since Martial Beast Great Emperor had warned Yang Kai that the Demon Race was coming to destroy the Space Array, how could Yang Kai not take precautions at all? Now that the army of 100,000 Northern Territory cultivators had all moved out to meet the enemy, someone would naturally need to remain behind to guard the Array.
Yang Kai hadn’t forgotten the fact that the Western Territory had already fallen to the enemy and that the Masters from the top Sects had already been demonified. Now that the war has started, those demonified cultivators would certainly not sit idly by.
This team of Ice Heart Valley’s Emperors was the contingency Yang Kai had quietly prepared.
Obviously, with seven vs a hundred, Ice Heart Valley was severely outnumbered. Even if Bing Yun was a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master, she too was powerless to overturn such a difference in strength, but with a certain Formation backing them up, things were completely different.
As soon as Bing Yun’s team appeared, they promptly arranged themselves and tied together their formation. Their auras resonated with each other as an enormous Black Tortoise phantom appeared around them and covered the Space Array.
Black Tortoise Seven Points Formation!
This formation was the core inheritance from the Eastern Territory’s Black Tortoise Sect and was quite renowned throughout the world. When Ice Heart Valley was attacked by Seeking Passion Sect, it had been severely outnumbered and outmatched. At that time, Yang Kai had passed the Black Tortoise Seven Points Formation to Ice Heart Valley, allowing them to significantly boost their strength even without increasing their numbers. As such, almost all of Ice Heart Valley’s disciples were well versed in this formation. Now, this formation was being used by Bing Yun in combination with her six Emperor Realm Disciples, enhancing their might by a dramatic amount.
Even if a Pseudo-Great Emperor came, they could still fight on par with them!
Not to mention, although over a hundred Emperor Realm Masters had turned into Demons, only a few among them had their bodies truly seized by Demon Spirits, the others were simply corrupted by Demon Qi and were currently akin to mindless puppets. The latter Demons only knew how to follow orders, so the strength they could display was greatly reduced.
After a round of deafening rumbles, the Black Tortoise illusory phantom stood tall, only rippling slightly on its surface. Although Bing Yun and the others all let out a grunt, the formation wasn’t destroyed and none of them had suffered any serious harm.
“Ice Heart Valley’s Bing Yun?” A white-haired elderly man among the Western Territory Demon camp slowly spoke as he coldly stared at Bing Yun, “I have heard so much about you.”
Bing Yun indifferently responded, “Should this Queen address you as Lian Zheng, or do you go by another name now?”
This old man was none other than Pointed Star Sect’s Sect Master, but he had clearly been taken over by a Demon Spirit, so the real Lian Zheng had already ceased to exist. Now, he was just a Demon occupying this body.
Lian Zheng smiled, “It’s just a name, that’s all, you may call this King whatever you want. In any case, your Ice Heart Valley is in the far Northern Territory, why are you intervening in things here? It would be better for all of you to leave here as soon as possible, so as not to have a tragic end.”
Bing Yun snorted, “The only one meeting a tragic end here today will be you.”
Lian Zheng stated with a sneer, “There are only seven of you, and even if this formation of yours is impressive, is it enough to allow you to face over a hundred of us all on your own? This King has always been compassionate towards women, so he would prefer not to have to get rough.”
Bing Yun just stared back at him with an indifferent look on her face as she spoke, “Since Yang Kai was sure that you would come, how can you say for sure that there are only seven of us here?”
Just as she said this, Lian Zheng’s face immediately changed, but before he could determine the truth of the matter, gigantic palms suddenly protruded out from the ground and grabbed towards them with earth-shattering might.
The size of each and every palm was a little outrageous, and they clearly did not belong to Humans. Not only were the palms enormous, but they were also made from stone!
The Western Territory’s demonified cultivators were caught off guard and hurriedly tried to retreat. Unfortunately for them, many did not move fast enough and were caught by these palms. All those who were were swiftly pulverized into clouds of blood mist, not leaving behind even a single bit of bone.
*Hualala…*
The ground quaked as enormous figures suddenly emerged from the sand one after another, each and every one of them exuding an ancient and fearsome aura.
Lian Zheng and the rest of his companions were dumbfounded, their eyes filled with disbelief.
Only because the ones that had suddenly emerged from the ground were actually a group of Stone Men. With their tall, robust figures literally made from angular stones, it was clear that these stone men all had extremely powerful bodies. One of them looked extremely old, but he also gave off the strongest sense of oppression. One other among this group was covered in sharp spines and had his entire body surrounded by sinister flames.
“Shi Huo!” Lian Zheng’s pupils shrank as he stared at the big guy covered in barbs, immediately realizing that things were going to be a little troublesome.
If it was just the seven members of Ice Heart Valley guarding this place, even if they had the Black Tortoise Seven Points Formation supporting them, Lian Zheng was still confident he could behead all of them and destroy the Space Array.
But the opponent suddenly had so many reinforcements, and even a Divine Spirit joining the fray. The situation had instantly been reversed.
“Retreat!” Lian Zheng took decisive action. After realizing that the situation wasn’t favourable, he immediately decided to withdraw.
It was easy to come here, but retreating from this place was going to be far more difficult.
The nine Stone Spirit Clansmen, along with the Embodiment, and the seven Emperor Realm Masters of Ice Heart Valley were the force that Yang Kai had mobilized to set up this ambush, hoping to lure the enemy into a trap and destroy them all at once. Now that the trap had been sprung, how could they let the enemy leave so easily?
The Embodiment immediately reached out, its enormous hand seemingly leaping across space and grabbing towards Lian Zheng.
In a flash, Lian Zheng felt as if the sky was shrouded. Before even exchanging any moves, he knew that he definitely wasn’t Shi Huo’s opponent; after all, Shi Huo was a Divine Spirit while he was only a Third-Order Emperor. The difference in strength was too great.
Lian Zheng promptly raised his hand and summoned out a shield artifact to protect himself.
As the Embodiment grabbed it though, the shield shattered into pieces, causing Lian Zheng to break into cold sweat in shock. But thanks to this short delay, he managed to find a chance to escape. His body moved rapidly as he burned his Blood Essence without hesitation, fleeing into the distance as fast as he could.
Seeing their leader fleeing like this, the other Demons naturally wouldn’t remain either and immediately fled in all directions.
The Stone Spirit Clan immediately gave chase…
But they didn’t dare to chase too far, lest they fell in the trap of luring the tiger away from the mountain. Their and the Ice Heart Valley team’s main responsibility was to guard the Space Array. Even so, more than thirty of the hundred or so attacking demonized cultivators had fallen before the rest could safely escape.
On the frontal battlefield, Demons and Humans continued to fall on both sides. In such a large-scale battle, even though the Northern Territory cultivators had a strong lineup and were blessed with two Shamanic Spells by Yang Kai, it was still impossible for them to not have any casualties. Only, compared to the casualties of the Demon Race, their side’s losses were inconsequential.
Rivers of blood flowed everywhere and corpses had piled up into mountains here and there. So many of the two races had died that the sky and earth had lost their colour and the sun and moon had dimmed.
Yang Kai kept charging ahead, losing track of how many Demons he had killed. Even seven or eight Demon Kings had lost their lives at his hands, and that was only his record. Obviously, Luan Feng and the other top Masters had scores not inferior to his.
Finally, at some point, a war bugle loudly sounded from the Demon Land.
The Demon Race members promptly started retreating after hearing the bugle, but even when they were in retreat, they did so in a neat and orderly manner. They didn’t blindly run for their lives, rather they covered each other as they alternately withdrew, appearing well-trained and disciplined.
The Northern Territory cultivators naturally pursued.
After the time it took to brew a cup of tea, the entirety of the Demon Race army had retreated back into Demon land and Yang Kai promptly halted his footsteps, raised his sword, and shouted, “Do not push a cornered rat!”
The blood-thirsty Northern Territory cultivators finally stopped after hearing this shout, staring straight in the direction of the Demon Land. Only after a brief silence did everyone let out a loud cry of joy.
Before this, they had never thought that they would be able to defeat the million-strong Demon Race army with merely 100,000 on their side, and so easily at that. After the facts were laid in front of them though, they finally realized that the Demon Race… was just so-so.
They too were living beings, and they could be killed. They didn’t have three heads and six arms, their bodies weren’t indestructible. The Demon Race was just like them, made of flesh and blood.
This was the first battle between the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm, and the Star Boundary had achieved a dominating victory, one that would surely affect the trend of future battles.
The cheers resounded like waves, one after another, but there was only dead silence on the Demon Land side. There was no response at all, not even a bit.
Many Emperor Realm Masters flew to Yang Kai’s side, requesting to continue pursuing the Demon Race army. They wanted to completely annihilate the remaining soldiers of a defeated army.
Of course, Yang Kai refused.
Not to mention that they had no idea about anything inside the Demon Land, but the Bloodlust Spell and Life Chains weren’t omnipotent either. The Northern Territory cultivators were indeed brave and fearless when the Bloodlust Spell was in effect, but once it wore off, they would suffer a period of weakness from overtaxing their Blood Qi. Even if the aftereffects of the Bloodlust Spell of a Shaman King like Yang Kai weren’t too severe, it would still drop the combat effectiveness of the Northern Territory cultivators by a large margin.
For now, the best choice was to return and recuperate, adjust their states, and wait for the arrival of the Southern and Eastern Territory’s cultivators.
The Northern Territory’s army celebrated for a while before triumphantly following Yang Kai back. On their way back, many people were whispering to each other, excitedly talking about how brave and fearless they were, or how many Demons they had killed. It appeared as if they could not wait to announce the result of this battle to the entire world, and let all know of the magnificent feats they had achieved.
Finally, Yang Kai had the time to check on Su Yan and the others.
Among his four wives, except for Xia Ning Chang, who hadn’t come here as she wasn’t good at fighting, Su Yan, Shan Qing Luo, and even Xue Yue had all come; after all, each of them was a Dao Source Realm cultivator, with Su Yan even reaching the peak of the Third-Order, a step away from advancing to the Emperor Realm. They could all participate in the battlefield where even Origin Kings were fighting.
It was just that Yang Kai didn’t have time and energy to spare to keep track of them during the battle.
All three of them turned out to be fine though as the Monster Kings of the Ancient Lands were all aware of their identities and had naturally spared some attention to safeguard them. With the Monster Kings protecting them, how could the Demon Race hurt them?
In a newly erected tent, Yang Kai cleaned himself with the help of his three wives before changing his clothes and walking out.
Mo Huang, who still stood high up above, gazed down and lightly nodded at him, his gaze filled with approval.
He had been paying attention to the entire battle from beginning to end, and in his opinion, Yang Kai’s performance was quite remarkable. This young man wasn’t blinded by a momentary victory at the critical moment, especially during the Demon Race’s retreat, which was quite a rare talent. He felt that rather than an inexperienced lone wolf, Yang Kai was a veteran commander who had years of experience leading an army, knowing how to maintain morale, what tactics to use, and when to advance and retreat to maximize damage to the enemy while minimizing it to his own troops. Naturally, aside from impressive, Mo Huang also found this a bit strange and couldn’t help but wonder what kind of experiences this boy had to obtain such a temperament.
Yang Kai nodded back at him but didn’t mean to go up and talk to him. Meanwhile, Li Jiao had already rushed over to him with a happy look on his face.
Yang Kai asked, looking at him, “What are our casualties?”
Li Jiao’s entire body was covered in blood as he obviously hadn’t had time to clean himself up yet, but he still excitedly replied, “Less than 5,000 are dead while about 20,000 have suffered injuries, but most only have minor cuts and bruises. The others are all fine.”
5,000 killed and 20,000 injured in a single battle sounded extremely horrifying, but considering the enemy side had a million combatants, it was actually an incredible achievement.
In this battle, the Demon Race had suffered as many as 300,000 casualties, and that didn’t include the Red and Green Demons that were used as fodder in the opening battle. The corpses lying everywhere was the best proof of this. Whereas the Northern Territory cultivators had only paid the price of 5,000 deaths and 20,000 injured. It was almost a miracle.
Yang Kai lightly nodded his acknowledgement. This casualty count was within his acceptable range.
Li Jiao added, “It’s just that everyone feels a little weak right now. I’m afraid that it will take them a few days to recover completely.”
This was the drawback of using the Bloodlust Spell, and it was only so mild because a Shaman King like Yang Kai was the one who cast it. If it was performed by a Shaman of lower realm, it would have been pretty normal for them to need half a month or an entire month to return to full strength.
Li Jiao couldn’t help but voice out his worries, “If the Demon Race takes advantage of this and attacks…”
Yang Kai patted his shoulder and suggested, “Why don’t you stay here and enjoy watching Senior Martial Beast take care of things?”
Just as he didn’t dare to take people into the Demon Land at will, the Demon Race definitely didn’t dare to attack at will. If the Northern Territory Army couldn’t hold on, Mo Huang would definitely take action.
Li Jiao’s spirits were immediately lifted as he finally put down the worries in his heart.
Over the next few days, there really weren’t any movements on the Demon Race side. Who knows whether they were gathering their forces or something else, but be that as it may, the Eastern Territory cultivators and Southern Territory cultivators continued to arrive during this time, one after another.
Both the Eastern Territory and the Southern Territory had Space Arrays arranged by Yang Kai, while Li Wu Yi could also arrange them now, so although they arrived a few days after the Northern Territory, they still came to provide assistance at the fastest speed.
Both the territories had recruited about 100,000 cultivators each with their strength distribution about on par with that of the Northern Territory. One after another, familiar and unfamiliar faces appeared before Yang Kai.
The newly arrived reinforcements were naturally afraid of the Demon Race, but when they heard that the Northern Territory army had fought a battle just a few days ago and defeated the million-men-strong Demon Race army, they were all shocked with no exception. All of them sought the Northern Territory cultivators out to clearly inquire about the battle.
Naturally, the Northern Territory cultivators spiced up the details as many couldn’t wait to brag about themselves as conquering heroes, unparalleled under the Heavens.
It is easier to believe what you see than what you hear though, so even though the recently arrived cultivators naturally didn’t trust all the boasting of the Northern Territory cultivators, the hundreds of thousands of corpses of the Demon Race lying in the wilderness not far away could not be faked.
Before they arrived, the Northern Territory army had really fought with the Demon Race army and had really killed a few hundred thousand Demons!
At this moment, their fear of the Demon Race diminished greatly and many people were even secretly looking forward to the next battle. Heroes will appear in troubled times, and this kind of battle between the two worlds was a rarity only seen once in a hundred thousand years, or perhaps even longer. Who knows who might be the one to go down in history? This was a great opportunity for everyone.
The Great Emperors also arrived one after another.
Yang Kai didn’t have any idea about how many Great Emperors had arrived either, but by a rough estimate, there were at least six or seven of them. One of them was a woman wearing a flower dress and had a calm look on her face that gave off a sense of holiness and purity.
Yang Kai reckoned that she was the only female among the ten Great Emperors, Flower Shadow Great Emperor, Hua Ling Long.
And his guess was completely correct. Flower Shadow Great Emperor summoned Yu Ru Meng the moment she arrived; after all, Yu Ru Meng was impersonating Li Shi Qing, her Legacy Disciple.
[Yu Ru Meng is going to meet a tragic end!] Yang Kai thought in his heart. No matter what Yu Ru Meng’s origins were or how skilful her illusion techniques were, even if she could fool others, she definitely couldn’t fool Flower Shadow Great Emperor; after all, they were Master and Disciple. How could Hua Ling Long not see through her disguise?
Outside a certain tent, a group of Emperor Realm Masters were gathered around Yang Kai, all of them either in the Second or Third Order.
Some of these Emperor Realm Masters were Yang Kai’s acquaintances, while others he was meeting for the first time. They were all Masters from the Southern and Eastern Territory.
All of these Emperors had heard about Yang Kai having great knowledge about the Demon Race, so they came to ask him for advice lest they remain ignorant when they fought in the near future.
Yang Kai didn’t hide anything and repeated everything he had told to the Northern Territory cultivators before setting off, explaining the characteristics and Divine Abilities of each clan of the Demon Realm in detail to everyone.
The crowd of Emperor Realm Masters very attentively listened to him, silently jotting down this precious information while once in a while someone would ask a question. Yang Kai patiently answered all the doubts he could, which everyone found quite admirable. No one had any idea how Yang Kai came to know so much about the Demon Race, but this was undoubtedly extremely valuable information. Without Yang Kai, they might have to pay with the lives of a hundred thousand or even a few hundred thousand men to finally obtain this information.
After half a day, the crowd of Emperor Realm Masters finally bid farewell. Having obtained such precious information, they naturally couldn’t wait to share it with the disciples of their respective Sects and families.
“Brother Yang, this is what we agreed upon before. My Temple Master has asked me to hand it over to you.” Chi Gui of Ahan Temple came up to Yang Kai after everyone had left and handed him a Space Ring.
Yang Kai suspiciously took it and swept it with his Divine Sense before raising his brow and lightly nodding his acknowledgement, “How thoughtful of Temple Master Chen.”
The things in the Space Rings were nothing special, just a huge amount of resources, that’s all. Source Crystals, pills, Secret Books, and even artifacts. Almost everything was there, like the complete treasury of a top Sect.
In fact, this was indeed a treasury, but not from one Sect, but two!
Included were half of all the wealth of the Eastern Territory’s Netherworld Sect and Brahma Holy Land.
In the past, when Yang Kai wiped out the high-level figures of Netherworld Sect and Brahma Holy Land outside Heavenly Wolf Valley, he once told Chi Gui that he wanted half of everything these two Sects owned. He also knew that with the high-level figures of Netherworld Sect and Brahma Holy Land killed, the Sects’ headquarters were destined to remain unprotected, and Ahan Temple would definitely make a move on them.
At that time, only Ahan Temple of the three top Sects of the Eastern Territory remained, so it wasn’t too much for him to ask for his half.
But later he went to Dragon Island, and then to Spirit Beast Island, and from there, he directly returned to the Northern Territory. He simply didn’t have the time to go to Ahan Temple.
Now, Chi Gui had delivered the spoils in person.
In fact, among the crowd of Emperor Realm Masters who were asking Yang Kai for the information on the Demon Race, the Temple Master of Ahan Temple was also there. Yang Kai didn’t know about his exact name, but he heard people call him Temple Master Chen.
Temple Master Chen didn’t make this delivery, probably feeling embarrassed to hand over such wealth; after all, those were Ahan Temple’s war spoils, and Yang Kai had demanded half. If Temple Master Chen had personally handed over these resources, it would be as if he was afraid of Yang Kai.
But now, the two worlds were at war, and he would need Yang Kai’s assistance many times in the days to come, so he couldn’t easily offend him either. As such, Temple Master Chen could only send Chi Gui, who had dealt with Yang Kai in the past, to offer this Space Ring up as a show of good faith.
Chi Gui pursed his lips into a smile as he looked around before lowering his voice, “Sir Temple Master said that if there is another battle in the future, he hopes Brother Yang can look after Ahan Temple a little.”
Yang Kai squinted his eyes at him as he replied, “Ahan Temple has deployed its finest Masters for this matter; in addition, Temple Master Chen is personally overseeing things. On top of that, Ahan Temple is under Serene Soul Palace’s command. How exactly should I take care of it?”
Chi Gui sheepishly laughed as he added, “I heard people say that during the battle a few days ago, Brother Yang cast some special Secret Techniques that stimulated everyone’s Blood Qi, allowing them to resist the erosion of Demon Qi, and also bound their lifeforce together, allowing them to withstand far more punishment than would normally have been possible…”
[So he was talking about this.]
Yang Kai remained noncommittal, “I will try my best.” He didn’t promise anything, not because he only wanted to take care of the cultivators of his territory, but rather… he was constrained by the limits of his energy.
He was truly a Shaman King, but blessing 100,000 men with the Bloodlust Spell and Life Chains was his limit. No matter how much anyone pleaded, he was powerless to do anything more. At present, the coalition army of three territories had reached 300,000 in size. If all of them were truly deployed, Yang Kai alone would be unable to aid them all.
“Then I will offer our thanks in advance.” Chi Gui cupped his fists and left.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, stood on his spot, pondering for a time before an idea came to mind. The more he thought about it, the more he found it promising. He hadn’t thought about it before because the Demon Race hadn’t invaded, but now that the circumstances had changed, it was necessary to use any available resource on hand.
Just when he was thinking about this, a fragrant breeze blew over as a stunning figure with a veil on its face and a smiling look in its beautiful eyes appeared before Yang Kai, “What are you thinking?”
Yang Kai was taken aback, [She’s still fine!?]
[How could she be fine? She was summoned by Hua Ling Long earlier!] Yang Kai thought that Yu Ru Meng’s disguise would be seen through in an instant and was just waiting for the good show to start, but contrary to his expectation, she appeared in front of him, completely intact.
“Are you okay?” Yang Kai quickly composed himself and promptly showed a worried look as he asked via Divine Sense transmission.
The corner of Yu Ru Meng’s eyes rose as she asked back, “Were you worried about me?”
Yang Kai rolled his eyes at her as he went all baloney, adopting a dead-serious look, “What nonsense, of course I’m worried about you. She…didn’t do anything to you, right?”
Yu Ru Meng smiled, “If something did happen to me, could I still be standing before you?”
“Good, good!” Yang Kai put on an expression as if a weight on his heart was lifted. In truth though, he was quite puzzled. [What the hell happened? Could it be that Hua Ling Long didn’t see through her disguise? Or was it that she did see through it but has other plans in mind?]
“I’ll be fine, you don’t need to worry,” Yu Ru Meng’s face turned serious.
[Who would worry about you!?] Yang Kai rebuked in his heart. Since the Heart Seal had been passed by him to the Soul Warming Lotus, he was no longer affected much by this Secret Technique, but Yu Ru Meng didn’t seem to have gotten rid of the restraints of the Heart Seal. Her attitude towards him was still the same as before, but if one gave it another thought, that wasn’t surprising either. Although the Heart Seal was isolated by the Soul Warming Lotus, it was still within Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, so as long as it wasn’t broken, it would always have an impact on Yu Ru Meng.
“Go inside, the Great Emperors have something to ask you,” Yu Ru Meng suddenly told him.
Yang Kai replied with a nod, “Then I’ll be right back. Don’t run too far.”
Yu Ru Meng sweetly responded, “En.”
Yang Kai turned around and walked into the main tent.
Seven figures were gathered inside the tent, their auras completely converged, making them appear just like ordinary people, but these seven were no doubt the top figures standing at the peak of the Star Boundary.
Among the seven, Yang Kai only knew three, Serene Soul, Martial Beast, and Iron Blood, while he had never met the other four. One of them was a beautiful woman and was easily identifiable as Flower Shadow Great Emperor, Hua Ling Long. Another one didn’t appear that old, only in his thirties; he had silvery snow-white hair and was wearing robes that looked as if they were woven from the finest ice. Yang Kai reckoned that he should be the Ice Feather Great Emperor!
There was also a kind-looking old man with a smile on his face, giving everyone a sense of mystery.
Heaven Revelations Great Emperor!
The last one was an old man with a long beard that hung down to his chest and a ruddy complexion. There was a strong pill fragrance lingering on his robes and his figure, one so ingrained that it couldn’t be gotten rid of.
Wondrous Pill Great Emperor!
From the ten Great Emperors, apart from Bustling World Great Emperor, who was currently in the Ancestral Realm, Night Shadow Great Emperor, who had colluded with the Demon Race, and Bright Moon Great Emperor, who was trapped in the Demon Realm, the remaining seven were all gathered here.
Such a majestic lineup could be considered a once in a lifetime event.
The Great Emperors lived all over the world and were normally hidden dragons who showed their tails but never their faces. If it weren’t for the invasion of the Demon Realm, why would they ever need to gather in one place?
Yang Kai cupped his fists and bowed, looking serious and earnest, “Greetings, Seniors.”
These seven were idols of worship in the hearts of the billions of cultivators of the Star Boundary so Yang Kai didn’t dare to be neglectful. Even if these seven weren’t releasing their auras, Yang Kai still felt pressured just by standing in their presence.
Wondrous Pill Great Emperor nodded lightly. As he was related to Xia Ning Chang, he would naturally look at Yang Kai in a different light.
Flower Shadow Great Emperor, on the other hand, had an intrigued look on her face as she swept a glance over Yang Kai before asking in an enchanting voice, “Are you Yang Kai?”
Her voice was very gentle and all-embracing like water, making all who listened to it feel very comfortable and relaxed.
Yang Kai earnestly replied, “Yes!”
A smile appeared on Hua Ling Long’s face as she asked, “What kind of love potion did you give to Qing’er that makes her insist on following you around everywhere these days?” She wasn’t blind or deaf, so obviously she knew about such things. But judging by her tone of questioning, she didn’t appear to be even a bit angry. Had it been another Great Emperor, perhaps he would have put Yang Kai in his place first and shouted, “How dare you seduce my Disciple! Boy, are you courting death!?”
It was quite apparent that Hua Ling Long herself was a very gentle and mild-tempered person.
Yang Kai couldn’t understand what Li Wu Yi had done to be hunted down by her back then.
Yang Kai immediately straightened his back, however, and sonorously replied, “Qing’er and I are in love with each other. We fell in love at first sight!”
Mo Huang’s face darkened right away. He was well aware that his precious daughter, Mo Xiao Qi, also had some feelings for Yang Kai, but Yang Kai had several wives already, and now, he even had Hua Ling Long’s Disciple completely enchanted. If Xiao Qi came to know about this, what would her reaction be? Sometimes, Mo Huang felt like killing Yang Kai with a slap to the face.
Hua Ling Long giggled and commented, “You’re quite courageous.”
Yang Kai added in a dead-serious tone, “When a man and woman are in love, everything is right and proper. Senior, did you ask this because you intend to stop us?”
Hua Ling Long answered, shaking her head, “That’s not what I mean. Don’t misunderstand. Qing’er is not a child, so she can do as she pleases. However, as her Master, it is only right that I ask about it, isn’t it?”
[She’s not Li Shi Qing, she’s Yu Ru Meng!] Yang Kai really wanted to pluck out Hua Ling Long’s eyeballs to see if she was blind.
Hua Ling Long, however, just sternly declared, “Since she chose you, make sure not to disappoint her!”
Yang Kai repeatedly nodded, “Junior will keep that in mind.”
“Alright, the chit chat ends here,” Mo Huang intervened as he focused his gaze on Yang Kai and asked, “Boy, we called you this time to ask you about the Secret Techniques you used the other day.”
Yang Kai replied, “I was actually hoping to discuss this matter with Seniors.”
“Oh?” Mo Huang raised his brow, “What do you want to say?”
Yang Kai earnestly replied, “Senior Martial Beast witnessed the battle with your own eyes so you should be able to tell that the two techniques I used have great utility, so it is only natural you wished to ask me about them.”
Mo Huang lightly nodded as he replied, “Indeed! The Secret Technique that can inspire Blood Qi isn’t of too much concern as many Sects have similar methods to achieve such a result, but the one which connects the lives of over a thousand cultivators is truly unbelievable. This King has been mulling over it these days but still couldn’t think of what Secret Technique that might have been. After discussing with the others though, we finally determined that your Secret Technique is somehow similar to a certain legendary Ancient Shamanic Spell.”
Yang Kai nodded his agreement, “Senior’s knowledge is indeed profound. That was indeed the Ancient Shamanic Spell, Life Chains!”
Everyone present here was a Great Emperor, yet they couldn’t help but show some surprise.
Iron Blood, furrowing his brow, asked, “You can cast Ancient Shamanic Spells?”
Yang Kai smiled lightly as the aura around him suddenly changed, becoming ancient and desolate. He then looked at the Great Emperors and stated, “In this state, I can be considered a Shaman King.”
Heaven Revelations Great Emperor asked, stroking his beard, “Shaman Kings were high-level existences in the ancient times, roughly equivalent to our Emperor Realm cultivators; however, the current World Principles are different from that period, so how were you able to cultivate Shamanic Spells?”
Yang Kai explained, “Senior’s question is reasonable. The reason this Junior was able to cultivate Shamanic Spells was because of a certain opportunity. I once entered a Sealed World, one that had the incredible effect of stretching time. In that Sealed World, I experienced several years worth of events, but in reality, only a few days had passed. It was in that Sealed World that I learned the secret of the Shamanic Spells.”
Heavens Revelations Great Emperor was shocked and moved, “So to say, that Sealed World has preserved the ancient environment!?”
“Correct!”
The Great Emperors immediately brightened as Iron Blood anxiously asked, “Where is that Sealed World? Can it be opened again?”
Yang Kai smiled after hearing this as it seemed that his thoughts coincided with those of the Great Emperors, so he immediately replied, nodding, “That Sealed World is currently in my High Heaven Palace and can be opened at any moment!”
“Good!” Iron Blood broke into laughter and suggested, rubbing his hands, looking at Yang Kai with scorching eyes, “If that’s the case, we need you to take a group of people into that Sealed World to cultivate those Shamanic Spells. Is that possible?”
“I was just about to suggest doing so as well!” Yang Kai nodded.
The war between the two worlds was undoubtedly the most pressing issue at hand, and Shamanic Spells would play a huge role in it. In any case, just Life Chains alone would be enough to reduce the casualties on the Star Boundary’s side by a large degree.
Yang Kai naturally couldn’t manage everything by himself. Before, he could barely take care of 100,000 with his Shaman King cultivation, but as the number of combatants increased and the number of battlefields grew, he would be powerless to help everyone.
As such, he could only pin his hopes on the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld. If he could really let others cultivate Shaman Strength, it would definitely be beneficial to the war effort. So, Yang Kai didn’t even consider hiding his advantages. The Thousand Illusions Dreamworld could be considered part of the foundation of High Heaven Palace, so if it weren’t for the upcoming war, why would he be so generous?
After pondering for a while, Yang Kai added, “But it would be best to do this in secret; furthermore, only reliable people should be chosen.”
Iron Blood affirmed with a nod, “But of course. Don’t worry about the candidates, we will give you a list within ten days. At that point, you can bring them to High Heaven Palace and send them into that Thousands Illusions Dreamworld. Are there any special requirements in terms of cultivation or otherwise?”
Yang Kai answered, “The higher the better, but even in ancient times, not everyone could master Shamanic Spells, so I can’t guarantee that everyone who enters can successfully cultivate them. Maybe only one in ten, or one in a hundred, or even just one in thousand will be successful. And even if they can succeed, we can’t say for sure as to what extent they could cultivate Shaman Strength to.”
“Where there is a will, there is a way. Since there is an opportunity like this, how can we simply abandon it?”
Yang Kai nodded before adding, “Nevertheless, we can’t pin all our homes on the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld.”
He knew better than anyone about the difficulty of cultivating Shaman Strength. The reason why the Shamans were few in number in ancient times was because of the extreme difficulty in cultivating Shaman Strength. The prevalence rate was far lower than that of today’s cultivators. If a thousand cultivators went in, only a few Shamans would appear, or even Shamans of very low-level, such as Shaman Warriors and Shaman Masters. And in that case, it would all be meaningless.
“What are you thinking?” Mo Huang looked at him.
Yang Kai replied, “In the Northern Territory’s Frozen Earth, there is a Sealed World called the Revolving World. It used to be a battlefield of the Barbarian Race and Demon Race in ancient times. Inside, there are many already trained Shamans, including a number of Shaman Kings!”
“Shaman Kings? Just like you?” Everyone’s eyes lit up.
“In terms of the Shamanic Spells’ mastery, they are indeed on par with me. If they can help us, then things would be much better for the Star Boundary this time.”
Hua Ling Long asked, looking at him, “Can you invite them?”
“This Junior can try,” Since Yang Kai suggested this, he naturally had a plan in his mind. There were indeed many Shamans in the Revolving World. Last time, when Yang Kai went to the Frozen Earth in search of Zhu Qing, he accidentally entered the Revolving World, and getting out of there wasn’t easy either.
He thought that he would never enter that damned place in his life ever again, but who knew that he would be returning so soon.
“Good!” Mo Huang’s spirit was lifted, “If you can, you will be the biggest hero of the Star Boundary.”
Yang Kai humbly responded, “Junior is simply doing what little he can.”
Iron Blood added in a heavy voice, “This matter is very important. I will accompany you.”
Yang Kai failed to hold his laughter, shaking his head, “That’s unnecessary. I’ve been to the Revolving World once, and no one or no thing there can pose any threat to me. Junior can go there by himself. Senior Iron Blood, it’s better for you to stay here and oversee the war situation.”
Hearing this, Zhan Wu Heng gave his agreement with a nod after pondering for a while, “Take care then.”
After the discussion, Yang Kai left the tent and returned to his place of residence to wait.
In accordance with his discussion with the Great Emperors, the Star Boundary would transfer 3,000 men from the 300,000 army to High Heaven Palace with Yang Kai, where he would arrange for them to enter the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld to cultivate Shaman Strength. These 3,000 men would be the first batch to test things out. If it was effective, it wouldn’t be too late to send more people to cultivate Shamanic Spells. After that, Yang Kai would set off for the Frozen Earth where he would enter the Revolving World.
Just three days later, 3,000 men had been arranged, and among them, over a hundred were Emperors while the rest were Dao Source Realm and Origin King Realm Masters who were also proportionally distributed.
Obviously, the Great Emperors also knew that it would be impossible for everyone to cultivate to the level of Shaman King like Yang Kai, but even if they could only cultivate to the level of Shaman Warriors, it would still be helpful for the future battles.
As long as 300 of these 3,000 could become Shamans, they would meet the expectations of the Great Emperors.
Yang Kai had nothing to do on the Western Territory battlefront. Since the seven Great Emperors were overseeing things, the Demon Race would obviously not take any rash actions.
For now, the plan was to wait for the 3,000 men to return, and for Yang Kai to invite the Shamans from the Revolving World, after which, they would have a decisive battle with the Demon Race.
These 3,000 naturally came from all three territories of the Star Boundary, each territory contributing 1,000 men. For the time being, they had no idea what they were doing; all they knew was that they were returning to the Northern Territory with Yang Kai.
The order was given by the Great Emperors themselves, so no one dared to disobey or even question.
Naturally, Yu Ru Meng was not going to let Yang Kai out of her sight, and Yang Kai didn’t have any intention of stopping her.
At the Space Array, Yang Kai arranged for everyone to return to High Heaven Palace before finally stepping onto the Array himself.
After an hour, before the entrance of the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld, Yang Kai stood silently with 3,000 cultivators silently standing behind him.
The Thousand Illusions Dreamworld wasn’t so much a Sealed World as it was an artifact. It was an artifact that had given birth to an Artifact Spirit which assumed the form of the Thousand Illusions Butterfly. It actually contained records of all kinds of worlds, none of which were static either. Anyone who entered it would receive their own opportunity.
Yang Kai spent a long time trying to persuade the Thousand Illusion Butterfly before she finally agreed to open the specific ancient world for everyone, at which point Yang Kai tossed all 3,000 people inside.
Whether these three thousand could become Shamans, and what level they could cultivate to, it would only be known after about a month.
After dealing with this, Yang Kai finally took a deep breath and said to Yu Ru Meng, “Let’s go.”
Yu Ru Meng obediently followed after him after a nod.
After returning to the Space Array, Yang Kai stood on it with Yu Ru Meng. Space Principles started to fluctuate, and after a blinding flash of light, Yu Ru Meng disappeared while Yang Kai’s figure distorted a bit before stabilizing again, a grin appearing on his lips.
The disciples, who were guarding the Array, stood dumbfounded. They couldn’t understand what joke their Palace Master was playing, but before they could ask any questions, Yang Kai rushed out of the hall and rose into the sky.
In the Western Territory, the Space Array surrounded by an army glowed brightly before Yu Ru Meng suddenly appeared.
She blankly looked around, and when the familiar scenery entered her eyes, her pretty face immediately twisted.
With her intelligence, how could she not tell that she had been dumped by Yang Kai.
[Damn it!] Yu Ru Meng’s pretty face suddenly turned gloomy as she ground her teeth in anger, secretly vowing that she would take ‘good care’ of Yang Kai when she met him again.
It was just that she couldn’t understand why Yang Kai had dumped her here, was it because he was worried about her safety, or was it…?
…..
Where the bitter cold wind blew and the ground was perennially covered in snow…
The Frozen Earth of the Northern Territory was famous throughout the world. It was an extremely dangerous place where even Great Emperors wouldn’t rashly trespass its depths. In the past, even a Dragon Clan member had fallen here, which showed how harsh the environment was.
Last time, when Yang Kai, Zhu Lie, and Li Jiao came here in search of Zhu Qing, they had faced a lot of hardships.
This time, Yang Kai was tracing his old footsteps, which made things a lot easier. What’s more, the entrance to the Revolving World wasn’t in the deepest region, so there wasn’t any real danger.
But last time, he had accidentally entered the Revolving World, not through a fixed entrance but rather by being swallowed by the Frozen Tide which sucked him straight into the Revolving World.
The Frozen Tide was a natural phenomenon unique to the Frozen Earth, and even an Eighth-Order Fire Dragon like Zhu Lie was unable to resist its biting cold chill for long.
This time, he might not be lucky enough to encounter the Frozen Tide, but since all three of them were sucked into that world from here, it meant that there must be an entrance to the Revolving World in the Frozen Earth somewhere. As long as he could find the entrance, Yang Kai could easily open it with his mastery of the Dao of Space.
This search took another month, and Yang Kai almost gave up numerous times because blindly looking for an entrance that may not even exist in this frigid cold, bleak white world, was mentally and physically exhausting.
In this cold, lifeless place, which was covered in a deathly silence, Yang Kai was all alone. Apart from the rustling of his own footsteps, there was no other sound around. He kept using his Emperor Qi to resist the severe cold at every moment, even losing track of the passage of time as he just kept mechanically repeating his actions.
After who knows how long, Yang Kai abruptly halted his footsteps and closed his eyes, silently sensing his surroundings.
He felt that something was off here.
After a long time, he suddenly opened his eyes and ran in a certain direction.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he stopped before a vast and empty snowfield. Large snowflakes were falling everywhere, but about ten meters away from him, there was a place that was not disturbed by the falling snow as all of it seemed to simply vanish without a trace.
Void Crack!
Yang Kai could also feel the obvious Space Principle fluctuations in front of him.
His face immediately lit up as he slightly urged his Space Principles.
Whether this was the entrance to the Revolving World or not, he wasn’t sure, but since a clue had finally appeared before him, he had to take a chance.
After a short while, a gap slightly opened as a dark and bottomless hole appeared, one which Yang Kai jumped into boldly and without hesitation, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
As soon as he regained his senses, he found himself mid-air, falling straight down. Yang Kai quickly pushed his Emperor Qi to stabilize himself before finally taking a good look at the surrounding environment.
The entire world was dim and surging with Demon Qi, while he could hear faint cries and howls ringing in his ears, ones that seemed to claw at his soul.
In such a gloomy environment though, Yang Kai happily smiled, for this was definitely the Revolving World. This was the strangest Sealed World that Yang Kai had ever seen as it was constantly switching back and forth between two completely different sets of World Principles.
One set of World Principles belonged to that of the Star Boundary, and the other belonged to the Demon Realm.
Back when he first entered this place, Yang Kai guessed that this Small World was sandwiched between the Demon Realm and the Star Boundary, which was the cause of this strange phenomenon.
The Sealed World where he went to find Lan Xun, Yu Ru Meng, and the others was also in a similar situation, allowing the two worlds to be connected after it was shattered. It was just that the latter Small World didn’t have the strange characteristics of the Revolving World.
In any case, Yang Kai couldn’t let the Demon Realm residents know about this place; otherwise, the Star Boundary would have to deal with a second invasion route!
The Revolving World wasn’t that big, but it wasn’t small either. Last time, Yang Kai, the Zhu brother and sister duo, and Li Jiao stayed in this world for several months, but even if they weren’t familiar with this place, they wouldn’t be too unfamiliar with it either.
Hovering in the sky, Yang Kai calmly found his bearings before he made a beeline toward the location of the Human Imperial City.
After half a day, an inverted bowl-like green curtain of light appeared in his sight as he sensed a familiar aura from it.
That was the Human Imperial City’s protective shield.
Yang Kai also knew that it was the power of the Sacred Tree.
Since the Demon Realm Principles were currently dominant in the Revolving World, it was the time the Demon Race could run rampant. On the other hand, the residents of Human Imperial City were unable to leave the protection of the Sacred Tree, otherwise, their minds would be corrupted by the Demon Qi and they would degenerate into Demons.
Every time this happened, the Humans, who had ventured out of Human Imperial City, would return to avoid the Demon Qi.
Yang Kai recalled all the information about Human Imperial City and the Sacred Tree in his mind, and after a short while, he arrived outside its gates.
However, the next moment, the warning bell on the tower on the city wall suddenly started ringing as someone shouted in a loud voice, “The Demon Race is attacking, the Demon Race is attacking!” Although the cultivation of the person shouting wasn’t that high, he was still a Dao Source Realm so his cultivation was sufficient to make his voice resound throughout Human Imperial City.
The endless streams of people suddenly fell into a strange state of stillness in an instant, and after three breaths, everyone started running around, shouting in a panic.
Yang Kai was momentarily stunned. [The Demon Race is attacking? Where is the Demon Race?]
He turned his head left and right, looking around, but suddenly, realization dawned upon him, […He’s not referring to me, is he?]
Yang Kai lowered his head, gazing down at the tower that rang the warning bell, and discovered that the Dao Source Realm cultivator, who was shouting, was looking at him with deep hatred and pain on his face.
Yang Kai’s facial muscles momentarily twitched. He really wanted to pluck this fool’s eyeballs out and let him have a closer look at himself. [How do I look like a Demon Race member?]
But after giving it another thought, Yang Kai couldn’t blame this man for this misunderstanding; after all, the Demon Realm Principles were flowing outside, so only the Demon Race could move about freely.
Him showing up now would inevitably cause others to have a misunderstanding.
Having thought this through, Yang Kai shouted aloud, “This King is not a member of the Demon Race, everyone does not need to panic!”
The Dao Source Realm cultivator completely ignored him and kept ringing the bell, warning everyone.
People kept flying towards the city wall close to Yang Kai, all of them on edge, as if they were about to face a difficult enemy. There were even several Emperor Realm cultivators among this crowd.
This caused Yang Kai’s eyes to immediately light up as although the population of Human Imperial City wasn’t that big, due to its special environment, the number of Emperors here was actually quite high. When Yang Kai came here last time, he had met several Third-Order Emperors, and if he could bring such a force out of this place, it would provide a big help to the Star Boundary in its current predicament.
While he was thinking this, he heard someone suddenly shout in anger, “Who goes there!?”
Yang Kai focused his gaze towards the source of the voice and saw a Second-Order Emperor Realm elderly man, so he lightly nodded to him and replied, “This King is Yang Kai, not a member of the Demon Race. I ask the Old Sir to lower the barrier. This King is here to discuss some business with the Human Sovereign.”
That elderly man immediately shouted in anger, “How dare a Demon like you speak of honourable Human Sovereign through your dirty mouth! If you have any sense of propriety, you will quickly retreat, or you will definitely lose your dog life here!”
Yang Kai’s brow twitched involuntarily as he tried to explain himself again, “Old Sir, take a close look at this King! Does this King look like a member of Demon Race to you?”
The elderly man harrumphed before shouting back, “You can’t fool me with your lies! I will give you three breaths, and if you don’t retreat by then, the consequences will be yours to bear!”
Yang Kai heaved a long sigh before asking with a helpless look on his face, “Are you really not going to remove the barrier?”
“Scram!” The elderly man lashed out.
A smile emerged on Yang Kai’s lips as he slowly stretched his hand towards the green light screen, speaking, “In that case, I will come in by myself.”
The elderly man kept sneering, showing no intention of stopping him; after all, the blessing of the Sacred Tree suppressed the Demon Race to a great degree. Once a Demon was exposed to this aura, they would be heavily injured if not dead; otherwise, Human Imperial City would not have remained safe and sound even after so many millennia; it would have long been trampled flat by the Demon Race.
In his opinion, this ignorant Demon was plain dumb by trying to intrude on the Sacred Tree’s protected area, an act akin to courting death.
But the next moment, the sneer on the old man’s face suddenly stiffened as his eyes bulged in disbelief.
Because when Yang Kai’s hand pressed on the green light screen, he didn’t suffer any damage at all. And not only that, a series of ripples appeared, giving the impression that the shield was about to be torn open.
[How is this possible!?]
The shield was formed from the Sacred Tree’s blessing and had been sheltering Human Imperial City for over a hundred thousand years, but now it had actually accepted a member of the Demon Race!?
The defensive power of the Sacred Tree was incredibly strong, so even if the Demon Race really attacked the city, it was absolutely impossible for them to break in. Fortunately, Yang Kai never intended to break this barrier, he only wanted to cross it; after all, the resources here were of great value to him.
He was a Shaman King, so from the start, he was like kin to the Sacred Tree. As such, when he tried to enter the city, why would the Sacred Tree stop him?
Before, he just didn’t want to make the residents of Human Imperial City too nervous, but now, he was left with no choice but to make a move himself.
The ripples continued to spread and soon Yang Kai’s arm slipped through the barrier, followed by half of his body, then his entire self.
In just ten breaths of time, Yang Kai was already inside Human Imperial City.
On the ground below, the countless residents of Human Imperial City were aghast at the sight of this and felt that the sky was about to fall.
Since this Demon Race member could easily pass through the protection of the Sacred Tree and enter Human Imperial City, it meant that other Demons could do so as well. In other words, Human Imperial City was no longer safe! But in this world, where could they go except for Human Imperial City? If they left the shelter of Human Imperial City and the Sacred Tree, they would really be standing at the end of their road.
The crowd of people, who had arrived at the tower, finally came to their senses as the elderly man furiously shouted, “The Demon Race has invaded, attack!”
Just as his voice fell, he was the first one to charge at Yang Kai. Even now, he still believed that Yang Kai was a member of the Demon Race.
Halfway up, the elderly man blasted a punch straight at Yang Kai. A faint tiger roar suddenly rang out as an almost tangible White Tiger illusory phantom rushed at Yang Kai with extraordinary momentum.
Others also hurriedly flew up, casting their respective techniques one after another.
Bulging blue veins appeared on Yang Kai’s forehead as he promptly raised his hand and palmed downward.
A deafening dragon roar reverberated throughout the sky, shaking the entire Human Imperial City. The next moment, an enormous Dragon’s illusory phantom manifested, biting down on the White Tiger in one go. The White Tiger illusion let out a miserable howl before it collapsed while the enormous Dragon still had plenty of energy left. It rushed straight into the crowd, swimming left and right, knocking away the cultivators who dared to challenge it.
The elderly man was shocked. As soon as Yang Kai made a move, he noticed Yang Kai’s cultivation was that same as his own, Second-Order Emperor Realm!
[But his Second-Order Emperor Realm seems… a little unusual, I’m not his opponent.]
In his momentary lapse, a figure suddenly appeared right before his face. When the elderly man regained his focus, he realized that the one standing before him was none other than the Demon who had just invaded the city.
The old man was struck with panic and hurriedly tried to retreat.
But could he leave so easily? By the time the old man realized, Yang Kai had already grabbed him by his collar, pulled him in front of him, and viciously glared at him.
[My end has come!] The elderly man sorrowfully cried in his heart, but the next thing he heard was Yang Kai’s furious shout, “Tell me, do I look like a Demon to you? Open your dog eyes and take a good look at this King!”
The elderly man had lost his wits, feeling like he had just escaped from the clutches of death, so where would he have the composure to observe Yang Kai?
“Stop right there!” Right then, a furious shout rang over as several figures flew over from the centre of Human Imperial City. The person leading the team had a fair complexion and was extremely handsome. There were several Emperor Realm Masters beside him, one of which was a Third-Order Emperor. Presumably, they had noticed the commotion here and had hurriedly come over to investigate.
After hearing this voice, Yang Kai turned his head and smiled at the young man leading the team as he shouted, “Third Imperial Prince, long time no see.”
The young man was none other than the third son of the Human Sovereign. Yang Kai had seen him the last time he came here, but hadn’t had any real dealings with him. Still, it wasn’t hard to recognize such a memorable figure.
The Third Imperial Prince glanced at Yang Kai in amazement, then cried out with a look of incredulity hanging on his face, “I was wondering why this voice sounded so familiar, it turns out that Senior Yang has returned.”
“It is this Yang!” Yang Kai nodded to him before he let go of the elderly man’s collar. He even smoothed out the old man’s wrinkled robes before he asked in a still unhappy tone, “Old Sir, didn’t I say that I am not a member of Demon Race? Do you believe me now?”
The elderly man subconsciously nodded before faintly recalling the name ‘Yang Kai’ from over a decade ago.
[Yes, there was indeed an outsider, who came to Human Imperial City, and had some kind of conflict with the Imperial Family, but what actually happened, the Imperial Family remained tight-lipped about. Then, the outsider had suddenly disappeared without a trace and the turmoil slowly subsided.]
[So it turns out that he is that guy.]
[But… why did Third Imperial Prince address him as Senior? What’s going on? Is it possible that this man is on equal footing with the Human Sovereign?]
“Since it’s Senior Yang, everything is a misunderstanding. Everyone, please disperse.” The Third Imperial Prince waved his hand and the people who were completely hostile a moment ago, put down their worries and left.
“I haven’t seen you for so many years, yet Third Imperial Prince’s noble bearing still remains the same,” Yang Kai smiled at him and commented casually.
The Third Imperial Prince, on the other hand, had his nerves stretched taut. Although he was the Third Imperial Prince of Human Imperial City, the most outstanding heir of the Human Sovereign and the most qualified to inherit the position of Human Sovereign in the future, he dared not put on any airs before Yang Kai. After all, the Sacred Tree gave special treatment to Yang Kai. Even the Human Sovereign didn’t dare to show any arrogance before Yang Kai back then, not to mention a mere prince like him.
Forcing a smile out somehow, the Third Imperial Prince replied, “Senior Yang, welcome back. How long are you planning to stay in Human Imperial City this time?”
He still believed that Yang Kai had been in the Revolving World all these years, and had never left; after all, Yang Kai and Zhu Qing had gone directly to Demon Fury City after they departed to look for the exit. He had no idea of what had transpired after that, so it was pretty normal for him to act like this.
Yang Kai stated, looking at him, “It seems that Third Imperial Prince doesn’t welcome me.”
The Third Imperial Prince hurriedly denied, “How could that be possible? Senior Yang is Imperial Father’s most honoured guest. If Senior Yang were to remain in Human Imperial City, it would be extremely good news for our Human Race. Why would this Prince not welcome Senior?”
Yang Kai didn’t bother to haggle with him and indifferently commented, “Then I’m afraid I will have to disappoint Third Imperial Prince. This Yang came in from outside just today and doesn’t plan to remain in Human Imperial City for long. I’m afraid I will be leaving in just a few days.”
Hearing this, the Third Imperial Prince heaved a long sigh of relief, but very soon, he asked, looking at him in shock, “Senior Yang, you mean to say you can freely enter and leave this world?”
Not only him, but the other Emperor Realm Masters, who were following him, looked stunned.
The Revolving World had a unique environment, one that had persisted for over a hundred thousand years. Many outsiders had inadvertently entered this world over this time, but they had never heard of anyone leaving it. There were rumours that there was an exit near Demon Fury City’s side, but it was basically impossible for the Humans to pass through there.
So now, how could the Third Imperial Prince and the others not be shocked after hearing Yang Kai’s words.
Yang Kai replied, “This King indeed has such a method.”
It was tantamount to admitting that he could freely leave and enter this world. The Third Imperial Prince’s face suddenly turned gloomy and uncertain as who knows what was going through his mind. Suddenly, he asked, smiling, “I wonder what business Senior Yang has come to Human Sovereign City for then?”
A confounding smile appeared on Yang Kai’s lips as he declared, “This King is here to offer you a great opportunity.”
The Third Imperial Prince’s brow twitched as obviously he didn’t believe Yang Kai, but he still patiently asked, “Would Senior be willing to explain?”
Yang Kai stated, “I will explain everything to the Human Sovereign, I only ask Third Imperial Prince to lead the way.”
The Third Imperial Prince couldn’t help but feel a little depressed. He knew that Yang Kai was indirectly saying that he wasn’t qualified to discuss such matters and was unhappy, but without letting his displeasure show on his face, he opened the way and beckoned, “In that case, please follow me, Senior Yang!”
With the Third Imperial Prince leading the way, the subsequent journey was extremely smooth; no one mistakenly took him for someone else a second time.
Along the way, the Third Imperial Prince subtly inquired about whether Yang Kai could really enter and leave this world freely. At first, Yang Kai didn’t want to say too much, but suddenly, a thought came to mind and he began freely speaking about the beauty of the outside world, his speech full of colourful descriptions and praise. The Third Imperial Prince just smiled, responding somewhat absent-mindedly.
Not long after, everyone arrived at the Imperial Palace and entered the main hall where they finally met the Human Sovereign.
The Human Sovereign hadn’t changed much since the last time Yang Kai saw him, he was still a fat elderly man at the Second-Order Emperor Realm, that’s all. His Blood Qi was already showing signs of decay, but the old man was still enjoying his life to its full extent; he had beautiful women standing on either side of him, serving him, each of whom was extremely stunning and charming in their own manner. Chances were that the old man would end up dying under the skirt of one of these women someday.
There wasn’t just Human Sovereign in the main hall though; most of the Imperial Family was present. Obviously, they had received the message from the Third Imperial Prince and each and every one of them had arrived and was now looking at Yang Kai with a complicated gaze.
Yang Kai even caught sight of hatred in the depth of the muddy eyes of the Human Sovereign.
Yang Kai certainly knew that this old guy didn’t welcome his arrival, but he didn’t care either way.
Taking a few steps forward, Yang Kai cupped his fists, “Greetings, Human Sovereign.”
He didn’t do this because he was afraid of this old man, but rather because he was here to ask him for something, and if his request was really granted, he would still need to rely on the opposite party many times in the upcoming war between the two worlds. Naturally, Yang Kai couldn’t act rashly.
And apparently, such a gesture from him caught the Human Sovereign and the Imperial Princes and Princesses by surprise; after all, the last time Yang Kai was here, he was extremely arrogant and disdainful of their Imperial Family. The First Imperial Prince, Fu Shu, was even beaten by him, while the Second Princess, Fu Yu was taught a harsh lesson.
But it was precisely because of this that the Human Sovereign’s expression eased up a little. He then raised his hand and invited him to sit down, “Senior Yang, there’s no need to be so polite, please have a seat.”
Immediately, a beautiful maidservant took out a chair and set it down behind Yang Kai.
While Yang Kai generously took his seat, the Third Imperial Prince stepped up, leaned forward, and whispered something in the Sovereign’s ears. The Human Sovereign’s expression flickered ever so slightly before recovering the next moment. After the Third Imperial Prince had retreated, the Human Sovereign finally looked at Yang Kai and spoke, “Senior Yang, I have heard from my Third Son that you just came in from the outside world, is that true?”
“Indeed!” Yang Kai nodded his agreement.
The Human Sovereign asked, “So to say, Senior Yang really left this world over a decade ago?”
Yang Kai replied, “Thanks to your guidance, this King went to Demon Fury City and was able to locate the exit of this Revolving World.”
“Senior Yang’s methods and ability are truly remarkable!” The Human Sovereign praised liberally, “There have only ever been rumours about an exit, and no one knew whether they were true or false. Senior Yang being able to actually find an exit and leave is surely the first in these hundred thousand years.”
Yang Kai smiled lightly, “The last time this King left, he faced many twists and turns, but as the saying goes, the first time is always the hardest, but it becomes easier after. If this King gives it another try, this King will definitely not face any problems and everything will definitely go smoothly.” After having finished speaking, he quietly observed everyone’s expression and body language. Seeing no unusual reaction in the Imperial Princes and Princesses, Yang Kai immediately grew disappointed.
The Human Sovereign didn’t continue with this topic either. He just smiled and asked, “My Third Son also said that Senior Yang is here to offer us a great opportunity. I wonder what that is?”
Yang Kai gazed at him with a scorching gaze and answered in a meaningful tone, “Why, to take all of you out of here to see the wider world outside!”
The Human Sovereign slightly smiled but didn’t make any comment. All the Imperial Princes and Princesses remained indifferent as well, as if they didn’t understand what Yang Kai just said; on the contrary, the Third Imperial Prince furrowed his brow as a sliver of worry flashed across his eyes.
Yang Kai acted as if he hadn’t noticed their reaction and loudly continued, “All of you were born and raised in this world, subjected to its ever-changing Principles and constantly living under the threat of the Demon Race of Demon Fury City. You have never known the vastness and beauty of the outside world. Now, this King presents a rare opportunity to you. Do you not want to go out and enjoy a whole new world outside?”
Fu Yu pursed her lips into a sneer and asked, “What’s so good out about the world outside?”
Yang Kai turned his gaze at her and smiled, “Second Princess is asking this because you have not yet seen the wonders of the wider world. If you had, such a question wouldn’t have come to your mind.”
Fu Yu didn’t dare to quibble with him; after all, she had suffered at his hands last time, so at this moment, even if she didn’t agree, she still remained silent.
The Human Sovereign then asked with a chuckle, “Then may I ask what price we need to pay? Senior Yang has come back after going out, which must have been a lot of trouble. You must have something else in your mind to suddenly come here with such a… generous offer.”
Yang Kai’s smile immediately vanished as he stood up and proclaimed with a pained look on his face, “This King simply cannot stand by and continue watching as hundreds of thousands of fellow Humans suffer in this environment at the hands of the Demon Race. This King harbours nothing but the best of intentions.”
The Human Sovereign praised in astonishment, “Senior Yang has a strong sense of integrity and righteousness. This Sovereign admires you.”
Yang Kai raised his hand and proposed, “If Human Sovereign is really interested, then we should not delay things any longer, please order the residents of the city to prepare and we will set off immediately.”
As soon as these words came out of Yang Kai’s mouth, the Human Sovereign almost coughed up blood, [I have not promised you anything, what do you mean by setting off!?]
At the same time, he was a little curious and asked, “Senior Yang, you mean to say, you can take everyone in Human Imperial City out with you?”
Yang Kai faintly smiled, “Such trivial matters are really not worth mentioning.”
Regardless of whether it was true or not, the Human Sovereign couldn’t help but be shocked as he muttered, “Senior Yang’s methods are truly profound.”
After pondering for a while, he added, “Senior Yang, you must be fatigued by the long journey, you should take a few days rest first. As for your proposal, this Sovereign will give it serious consideration.”
Yang Kai asked, staring at him, “What else is there to consider? A lost chance will never return.”
The Human Sovereign, controlling his temper, explained himself, “This is related to the future of the entire population of Human Imperial City. This Sovereign cannot make a rash decision by himself. I have to ask the opinions of the residents of the city, don’t I? If someone doesn’t want to leave, this Sovereign cannot simply force them.”
It was a valid reason, one Yang Kai couldn’t come up with a better reason to refute, so all he could do was agree, “As expected, the Human Sovereign understands the principles of right and wrong. In that case, this King will be waiting for the good news.”
“Good.” The Human Sovereign lightly nodded, and then gave an eye signal to the Third Imperial Prince, “Take Senior Yang down to rest, show him the utmost hospitality.”
“Yes, Imperial Father!” The Third Imperial Prince agreed and then made an inviting gesture to Yang Kai, “Senior Yang, please.”
Yang Kai slightly smiled, “En, sorry to trouble you.”
After bidding goodbye to the Human Sovereign, Yang Kai walked to the depths of the Imperial Palace under the guidance of the Third Imperial Prince.
After Yang Kai left, the Human Sovereign’s face turned gloomy all of a sudden. All the Imperial Princes and Princesses together looked at him with the First Imperial Prince cupping his fist and stating, “Imperial Father, we can never agree to what that Yang Kai proposes.”
Fu Yu also added, “Yes, Imperial Father. Human Imperial City is the foundation of our Imperial Family, how can we just abandon it and leave with him? If we really went to the outside world, how would our Imperial Family have any advantage at all?”
“We have to be as cruel as the wolf. We should kill him!”
“Imperial Father, give us the order!”
The Imperial Princes and Princesses started clamouring one after another. They couldn’t wait to cut Yang Kai into a thousand pieces as if they had an irreconcilable enmity with him.
“Shut up!” The Human Sovereign was irritated after hearing his children’s babbling. At this moment, his muddy eyes gleamed with a terrifying light as he swept his gaze over his sons and daughters before asking in a cold voice, “Do you really think that this Sovereign is senile?”
The Prince and Princess replied, trembling, “Your child would never dare.”
The Human Sovereign lightly snorted, “Do you think that this Sovereign doesn’t know that my Imperial Family’s foundation is here? Our Imperial Family will gain no benefit from leaving this place. It’s not that this Sovereign doesn’t want to take his life and avoid future troubles, but rather that there is no way to do so! With the Sacred Tree’s favour, no one can kill him in Human Imperial City.”
If not for this fact, how could he have allowed Yang Kai to act so arrogantly last time? It wasn’t that there wasn’t anyone in Human Sovereign City with cultivation higher than Yang Kai as there were several Third-Order Emperors in the city. If they all attacked him together, how could Yang Kai survive? But under the blessing of the Sacred Tree, no matter how many Third-Order Emperors attacked him, they wouldn’t be able to take his life.
Fu Shu’s eyes rolled as he proposed, “We don’t have to do it in Human Imperial City. It would be better to lead him outside the city where he won’t be protected by the Sacred Tree.”
The Human Sovereign agreed, nodding, “It is indeed an option, but how do we lead him out of the city?”
Fu Shu had just made a random proposition, but when the Human Sovereign asked him how to implement it, he could not provide a clear answer, simply standing there and scratching his head in embarrassment.
The Fourth Imperial Prince proposed, “Why don’t we demonize him?”
Fu Yu’s eyes immediately nodded as she repeatedly nodded, “Good! If he is transformed into a Demon, then the Sacred Tree won’t shelter him anymore and we won’t have to let him order us around.”
Apparently, others also felt that this was a pretty good idea and they all eagerly looked at the Human Sovereign.
The Human Sovereign pondered for a long time before he finally looked up and gave his order, “Fourth Son, I will leave this matter to you, there cannot be the slightest mistake.”
The Fourth Imperial Prince excitedly cupped his fists, “Imperial Father, rest assured, you won’t see your son’s face again until he has successfully completed this task.”
The Human Sovereign gently nodded before closing his eyes and slightly waving his hands; whereupon, the Imperial Princes and Princesses respectfully retreated.
Yang Kai stayed in the Imperial Palace for three days. During these three days, he had been completely safe and sound, staying in the guest room and showing no intention of going out, let alone having any intention to persuade the Human Sovereign, making the Human Sovereign, who had been paying attention to his movements, a little perplexed.
If Yang Kai had behaved impatiently, he would have still understood, but Yang Kai’s calm and serious act made him suspicious.
He had no idea what in the hell Yang Kai was planning, but no matter what scheme this boy was up to, he would never leave Human Imperial City with him and go to the outside world.
In Human Imperial City, the Imperial Family was blessed by the Sacred Tree and could stand above all others. Just the fact that he was the Human Sovereign with only a Second-Order Emperor Realm cultivation while there were a number of Third-Order Emperors at his beck and call was enough to illustrate the point.
The Human Sovereign had no idea what the outside world was like, but he still knew that no matter the place, strength was respected above all else.
The Imperial Family had smoothly prospered here for over a hundred thousand years, so how could they easily leave for some world he had no knowledge of.
…..
Late one night, everything was completely quiet.
In the guest room, Yang Kai suddenly opened his eyes and waved his hand to the side.
The two beautiful maids, who had been in the room, serving him, bowed and retired. Yang Kai had to admit that although Human Imperial City wasn’t that big and its population was just in the tens of millions, it had many beautiful women. Presumably, these two maids were carefully selected by the Third Imperial Prince, and whether it was their face or figure, it was top notch. What was rarer was that they still retained their youthful, innocent aura, indicating they had not yet been tainted.
Presumably, they were ordered to serve Yang Kai and make him lower his guard. Unfortunately, even though Yang Kai had been talking and laughing with them over these three days, he had no intention of making a move on them.
After the two beautiful maids had stepped back, Yang Kai flicked his wrist, opening the window as he casually invited, “Since you’re here, why don’t you show yourself?”
Just as he said this, an elderly man wrapped in black robes flew in through the window after ten breaths. The old man looked about fifty years old and had a ruddy complexion. He was hale and hearty, and stood completely straight, his aura converged, but Yang Kai could still tell that this man was a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master.
As soon as the man appeared, he cupped his fists and greeted, “Greetings, Senior Yang.”
Yang Kai smiled and waved him over in an inviting manner. At the same time, he picked up the teapot and filled the two cups before him.
The visitor glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, then sat down opposite to Yang Kai and took a sip from the teacup. After relishing the taste of the tea, he finally asked, “Is this tea brought by Senior Yang from the outside world?”
Yang Kai replied, nodding, “En, it seems that this friend is an appreciator of good tea.”
The visitor proudly smiled, “A person who has lived a long life will always have one or two hobbies. Some people like having power and influence, some prefer beauties; as for this Old Master, he likes tea. Unfortunately, there aren’t many good teas in this world and certainly none that can compare to what Senior Yang has served here today.”
Yang Kai responded with a sneer, “There is nothing superb about this tea; in fact, in the world outside, there are far better teas.”
The visitor’s eyes lit up after hearing this; a look of fascination appeared on his face.
Yang Kai, holding the teacup, calmly asked, “If my memory serves me right, you are the one who was following the Third Imperial Prince that day, yes?”
When Yang Kai arrived at Human Imperial City three days ago, the Third Imperial Prince rushed over with several Emperor Realm Masters. One of them was an elderly man, and the only Third-Order Emperor Realm Master of the group. How could Yang Kai not remember him?
The elderly man cupped his fists and replied, “This Old Master is Zhou Yu Chuan, a highly regarded subordinate of the Imperial Family. This Old Master currently serves as head of the Imperial Guard.”
“So, it is Old Zhou, I apologize for my disrespect!” Yang Kai placed the teacup down before slightly cupping his fists and continuing with a smile, “I wonder why Old Zhou has come to secretly meet me in the middle of the night?”
Zhou Yu Chuan remained silent for a while before suddenly raising his eyes, staring at Yang Kai with a scorching gaze, “As the popular adage goes, it’s foolish to have an intimate talk with a mere acquaintance, but this Old Master will still ask Senior Yang a question, and Senior Yang, I hope you will answer it honestly.”
Yang Kai took a sip of tea and stated, “I really did come from the outside, and I can take you out of here.”
Zhou Yu Chuan’s eyes lit up as he added, “So Senior knows why this Old Master is here.”
Yang Kai smiled slightly, “When I arrived here a few days ago, I said as much to Third Imperial Prince, and Old Zhou was standing next to him. So, naturally, I would pay attention. The Imperial Family may not be interested in this matter because they are the Imperial Family. They are blessed by the Sacred Tree here and possess a unique advantage. They stand tall above everyone in this place, but it might be different outside. However, those who are not from the Imperial Family, such as Old Zhou… are different. Your standing is different, and as such, your consideration will be different as well.”
Zhou Yu Chuan nodded after hearing this, “Senior Yang is correct. The Imperial family is really not interested in this matter. Not only are they not interested in it, I’m afraid Senior’s words have made them extremely uncomfortable.”
Yang Kai stated, “Since I’m here, and since I have said something like that, I naturally know how they will react. But… is that important?”
Zhou Yu Chuan furrowed his brow as he asked, “Sir, are you planning to settle things the hard way?”
“If they make a wise choice, that would be for the best, but if they disappoint me, why should I care about their feelings?”
Immediately, Zhou Yu Chuan frowned so tightly that three vertical lines appeared between his brow as he added in a heavy voice, “Forgive this Old Master for being blunt, but although Sir is blessed by the Sacred Tree, if the Imperial Family is unwilling to cooperate, Sir might not be able to do anything about it.”
“Where there is a will, there is a way,” Yang Kai lightly chuckled. He then quickly changed the subject, “Actually, I want to know how many people are thinking like you?”
Zhou Yu Chuan replied, “Several of my fellow brothers also have the same intention, and I believe that most of the other Emperor Realm Masters would be very happy to see this matter come to fruition. Not only the Emperor Realm Masters, but about eighty to ninety percent of the population of Human Imperial City would more than welcome the opportunity to leave this world with Sir. Sir hasn’t lived in this world for long, so Sir doesn’t know about how sinister it is.”
Yang Kai’s lips rose into a smile, “Would the Imperial Family go against the will of all the people? If they follow popular opinion, all will be well, but if they try to oppose it, this King doesn’t mind standing up for the common folk.”
Zhou Yu Chuan immediately declared with a serious look on his face, “If Sir attacks the Imperial Family, this Old Master cannot stand idly by. Although this Old Master wants to leave this world, this Old Master owes the Imperial Family a great deal. Not only I, but my fellow brothers feel the same.”
Yang Kai stated, “I’ll go easy on you when the time comes then.”
Zhou Yu Chuan still had something to say, but suddenly, Yang Kai turned his gaze out of the window before suggesting with a slight smile, “I have guests, Old Zhou, perhaps you would like to leave for the time being?”
Zhou Yu Chuan was taken aback after hearing this, because he hadn’t noticed anything at all, but seeing Yang Kai’s firm and confident tone gave him no room for doubt. He didn’t dare to linger any longer, so he immediately cupped his fists and bid his farewell, “Then this Old Master will take his leave first.”
Having said this, he flew out of the window, soon disappearing from sight.
Yang Kai put the teacup down and calmly waited.
After a short while, the surrounding door and windows suddenly opened wide as seven or eight figures flew in, smashing the doors and windows all at once. Violent gusts of wind promptly swept through the room, causing the candles to flicker and dimming the room.
When the candlelight finally stabilized, he found eight figures emanating fearsome Demon Qi in the room, looking quite fierce and malevolent.
“Demon Race!” As Yang Kai swept a glance over the figures, his brow slightly rose and he couldn’t help but laugh inwardly.
[So they want to infect me with Demon Qi so that I turn into a Demon! I don’t know who in the Imperial Family came up with this, but this is indeed a good way to deal with me. As long as I am demonized, I would lose the blessing of the Sacred Tree and the Imperial Family won’t need to fear me anymore.]
He knew that his speech a few days ago would have made the Imperial Family uncomfortable, and they would secretly use some means to deal with him, but he still found the situation in front of him a little unexpected.
Obviously, these Demon Race members had been thrown in here by someone. Presumably, their cultivation had been sealed before. One of them was a Demon King, comparable to a First-Order Emperor, while the rest were all Demon Great Generals. Judging by this lineup, it was quite apparent that the Imperial Family had put in a lot of effort for this plot.
Demons being prisoners in Human Imperial City wasn’t anything to be surprised about; after all, the two races had fought in this world for over a hundred thousand years. It was normal for each side to have some captives from the other side; otherwise, where would the Imperial Family have caught so many Demons to deal with him in such haste?
In the room, the evil aura emanating from the Demon Race members suddenly soared. After they crawled back up, they immediately focused their gaze on Yang Kai, a fierce gleam flashing through their eyes. Although they had no idea why they were released, since there was a Human before them, their first choice was naturally to kill him and think about what to do next after.
Their Demon Qi promptly surged as the Demon King and the Demon Great Generals together pounced at Yang Kai. In an instant, billowing Demon Qi flooded the room, making the entire scene quite frightening.
Nonetheless, Yang Kai continued sitting, not even raising his eyes to look at them as he waved his hand and summoned out a certain black puppy.
When he returned to High Heaven Place previously, Yang Kai had brought the Abyssal Returner with him, and now was the perfect moment for it to show its strength.
Clearly, Ah Wang still had no idea what was going on, but under the stimulation of such rich Demon Qi, she instinctively opened her mouth wide and swallowed almost half of the room in a single bite.
With just one bite, the room was completely cleared. Whether it was the Demon King or the Demon Great Generals, all of them disappeared.
The next moment, Ah Wang’s enormous mouth returned to its original size, whereupon she stretched out her tongue and licked the corner of her mouth. She then turned to Yang Kai and let out a bark, looking at him with puppy eyes as if saying ‘I did a good job, didn’t I’?
Yang Kai just drank the rest of his cup of tea in one go before placing it back down and patting Ah Wang’s head. He then stood up and coldly smirked, sharply staring in a certain direction and muttered, “Idiots.”
As soon as this word left his mouth, his figure flickered and disappeared from sight.
Outside the room, the Fourth Imperial Prince was paying close attention to the movement in Yang Kai’s room with a few Emperor Realm Masters, but rather than the sound of battle, the only thing he heard after the initial clatter was a dog’s bark.
Everyone couldn’t help but look at each other and wonder what was going on?
And… where did a bark come from? Since when was there a dog in the Imperial Palace?
Just as they were racking their brains, a gust of wind brushed past their faces as a figure suddenly appeared before them.
Everyone’s face turned pale in shock as they focused their gaze on this figure, but after they clearly saw who was standing before them, they couldn’t help gasping in horror. The Fourth Imperial Prince even backed away a few steps in fright, almost falling back onto his butt.
Yang Kai proclaimed as he indifferently stared down at him, “Since the Human Sovereign is finding it hard to make up his mind, this King will make the decision for him.”
The Fourth Imperial Prince stuttered in shock, “W-What are you going to do?”
“This King is going to take you all out of this world, you don’t need to thank me for this. It has always been my mission in life to help others!” After having said so, Yang Kai walked in a certain direction in large strides.
The Fourth Imperial Prince was stunned and confused, but soon after, he slowly regained his wits and turned in the direction Yang Kai was walking. The next moment, his expression changed as he shouted, “Damn it! Hurry and inform Imperial Father that Yang Kai is heading towards the Sacred Tree.”