With the sudden rush of information in his head, the Demon Half-Saint suddenly shouted, “How dare you profane Madam Saint! You court death!”
Raising the palm of his hand, a Blood Qi wave was shot at Yang Kai. The Blood Qi palm seemed unremarkable, but in fact, it was incredibly fast and powerful; after all, it was a move made in anger from a Half-Saint. How could it be underestimated?
Yang Kai’s expression, however, remained indifferent and he did not even try to evade.
When the Blood Qi palm was about to hit him, a jade white hand suddenly appeared out of thin air, accurately grasping it, and shattering it with a light pinch.
Yu Ru Meng then shouted, “Yue Sang, don’t be rude!”
The Demon Half-Saint, Yue Sang, suddenly widened his eyes and said in disbelief, “Madam…”
If he was only suspecting before, Yu Ru Meng’s attitude now was enough for him to confirm the Human’s statement earlier. [Does Madam really have an extraordinary relationship with this lowly Human? How can this be? How can this Human be favoured by a Demon Saint?]
Yue Sang’s heart was filled with rage and he was barely suppressing the urge to rip Yang Kai into ten thousand pieces. However, under Yu Ru Meng’s watch, he did not have this chance at all.
Yu Ru Meng did not even bother to explain herself as she simply raised her chin slightly and shouted in an authoritative tone, “Get out!”
Yue Sang’s face turned hideous as he glared at Yang Kai fiercely for a while before lowering his head, cupping his fists, and leaving.
Staring at his back, Yang Kai narrowed his eyes slightly. [Damn, I just got here and I already have a love rival. This is not a good sign. It would still be fine if he was just an ordinary Demon King, but it’s not going to be easy to deal with a Half-Saint.]
It seemed like Yang Kai would have to be more aware of this guy from now on.
Yu Ru Meng turned to Yang Kai, “The Demon Realm is not the same as the Star Boundary. Demons are straightforward and frank, we don’t try to conceal our intentions or use subtlety like you Humans. Don’t meet him when I’m not by your side in the future.”
“Would he dare to kill me?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.
“Didn’t you see it just now?”
Yang Kai felt even more strange, “Why would he? Isn’t he afraid that you might punish him? Isn’t he one of your subordinates?”
Yu Ru Meng chuckled, “The Demon Realm advocates strength above all else. Whoever is stronger is right, and whoever is weaker is wrong in everything they do. If he kills you, I have no standing to punish him. At most, I could only avenge you in secret.”
Yang Kai rolled his eyes, “Then what if I kill him?”
“As long as you have the ability, you can kill whoever you want.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, his eyes beaming, “The law of the jungle, survival of the fittest. The Demon Realm indeed is really a good place.” The fierce environment gave birth to a fierce race, and Yang Kai began to understand how the Demons cultivated their death-defying resilience and spirit.
“Let’s go, let’s get you settled first.”
After saying this, she led Yang Kai toward the palace.
The palace was huge, and the interior decoration was luxurious. Along the way, maidservants and guards constantly bowed and saluted them while simultaneously casting curious eyes at Yang Kai.
It could only come as a surprise when a Human suddenly appeared in the Demon Realm, and moreover, in the palace of a Demon Saint; however, nothing like the unpleasant scene before happened again.
Yang Kai deliberately walked side by side with Yu Ru Meng, putting up an air of arrogance.
After some twists and turns, the pair came to a garden where Yu Ru Meng turned around to look at Yang Kai, “What do you think of this place?”
Yang Kai circled around with a hand on his back with a calm expression. The environment was good and the area was quite large, he naturally did not have any opinions, so he turned around and asked Yu Ru Meng, “Are you living here too?”
Yu Ru Meng smiled lightly, “Do you want me to live here?”
Yang Kai stepped forward and took her hand, feigning shyness, “If you are not by my side, what if Yue Sang comes to make trouble again? I’m no match for him.”
Yu Ru Meng watched him and smiled, “Don’t worry. He doesn’t have the guts to cause any trouble in the palace, yet.”
“It’s always best to play it safe.” Yang Kai winked at her.
Yu Ru Meng poked his head with her finger in annoyance, shook her hand from his grip, and turned around, “You can stay without any worries, and I will see you when I am settled.”
“Don’t go, you!” Yang Kai yelled at her graceful back, “Why are you leaving when we haven’t finished talking?”
But Yu Ru Meng had already vanished. Yang Kai touched his chin and smacked his lips, inwardly rejoicing in her departure. It would be really inconvenient to follow Yu Ru Meng around all the time.
Turning around, he walked into a large hall, feeling refreshed, and asked a maidservant for some information, then found a room and went in.
After entering the Demon Realm, he discovered that the World Principles here were slightly different from those of the Star Boundary. It was still a Great World after all though, so there was no issue with strength suppression.
However, if he wanted to unleash his full power, he would need to familiarize himself with the local World Principles; otherwise, he would be at a loss when he really had to fight with others here.
Yang Kai stayed in his room with the door shut tightly for a few days, trying hard to coordinate his cultivation with the Demon Realm’s World Principles.
Days passed peacefully. Yu Ru Meng was nowhere to be seen, and no one knew what she was doing. Yue Sang did not come to make trouble either; it was just as Yu Ru Meng said, he did not have the guts to cause trouble in this palace.
A few days later, Yang Kai walked out of the room.
The few days of hard work had eliminated the adverse effects of the Demon Realm’s World Principles on him, and now it was time for him to get to work.
He did not come to the Demon Realm for sightseeing, nor did he come to enjoy himself. The Great Emperors had sent him here to rescue Bright Moon Great Emperor. Heaven’s Revelations had also said that Yang Kai would have to overcome a tribulation in the Demon Realm, and he would be able to soar into the skies if he succeeded. It would be simple to brush this off as nonsense if it was said by others, but it was a different story if it came from Heaven’s Revelations Great Emperor.
Yang Kai did not know what kind of trial he would be facing, but now he could only take one step at a time.
After pondering for a while, Yang Kai decided to start with the geography of the Demon Realm. The Demon Realm was like a broken mirror, comprised of countless fragmented continents. He had to, at the very least, understand the arrangement of these fragments and which continents were connected to each other, otherwise, even if he could locate Bright Moon Great Emperor, he would not know how to go forward from there.
Settling his thoughts, Yang Kai came to the main hall and took a seat on a chair big enough to lie down in. The chair seemed to be made up of bones, with several hideous skulls decorating it, giving the chair a wild and ferocious look.
As he sat on the chair boldly, he stretched out his hand to pat the armrest. [Not too bad. Maybe I should get one just like this when I return to High Heaven Palace. It would definitely boost my supremacy.]
Clearing his throat lightly, Yang Kai opened his mouth and shouted, “Come in!”
There was a bustle of whispers outside the door, then five maidservants entered, all with their heads bowed down. They stopped several tens of meters away and knelt down on the ground.
“All of you get up,” Yang Kai raised his hand a little irritably. He did not like to practice such customs in High Heaven Palace, and his feeling did not change even when he came to the Demon Realm.
The several maidservants hesitated for a moment before they stood up shakily, their heads still lowered, not daring to look up.
Yang Kai saw this and couldn’t help laughing, “What are you afraid of? I don’t eat people, so just raise your head.”
The few maidservants continued to tremble while dawdling, causing Yang Kai to slap the armrest, “Are you all deaf?”
Seeing that he was angry, the maidservants finally raised their heads carefully.
Chills ran up Yang Kai’s spine with just a single glance, and he almost slipped off his chair. His stomach churned sickly as he watched the few people in front of him.
His adverse reaction was not caused by shock, but by disgust.
The maidservants were all hideous, and on top of that, they had strange features. One had lips split up to the roots of her ears, revealing jagged fangs, another one had eyeballs so protruded it looked like they would pop out at any time. Another one had tiny, densely packed holes all over her face like a honeycomb.
The only one with a relatively normal appearance had hideous earthworm-like scars all over her face.
[What a weird group of maidservants!]
Yang Kai knew that countless Clans inhabited the Demon Realm, each of which had its own characteristics, but he never thought that there were such ugly female Demons in this world.
Sensing Yang Kai’s less than pleasant expression, the several maidservants quickly lowered their heads again.
Yang Kai gave a dry cough as the corners of his mouth twitched, “Which one of you is the one in charge here?”
The maidservant with the hideous scars on her face stepped forward, answering in a small voice, “Replying to Sir, this maidservant is currently in charge of the palace’s affairs.”
[Oh good, it’s the most normal one.]
If it was one of the other women, Yang Kai would have lost all motivation to talk. He was not one to judge others based on their appearance, but these female Demons were just too strange. No one would have the courage to converse with them.
Clearing his throat, Yang Kai stated in a deep voice, “I don’t seem to recall seeing you when I arrived the other day.”
When he arrived with Yu Ru Meng just a few days ago, all the maidservants he met were beautiful and charming, so why were they so different now?
The maidservant answered, “This maid is not clear. This maid was only been transferred here a few days ago.”
Yang Kai frowned, “Were they transferred here a few days ago too?”
“Yes.”
[Damn, Yu Ru Meng did this!] Yang Kai finally understood. These maidservants were probably transferred by that bitch to serve Yang Kai, while the other maidservants with good figures and faces must have been transferred away.
[What kind of person do you think I am!?] Yang Kai was furious. Yu Ru Meng was obviously trying to prevent him from fooling around, so she deliberately transferred all the weird-looking women here because no one would be interested in such women.
However, Yang Kai had always been anxious and lustful towards Yu Ru Meng, and she had never let him succeed in getting what he wanted, so it was inevitable for her to be so defensive.
Fortunately, Yang Kai didn’t have such intentions in the first place, so he just steadied himself after taking a deep breath, “What’s your name?”
The maidservant answered obediently, “This maid is Xiao Wu!”
“What happened to your face?” Yang Kai asked next.
Xiao Wu answered in a small voice, “I was punished for doing wrong.”
[Those scars were a form of punishment?] Yang Kai initially thought a fight caused it. It could be seen that behind these scars, Xiao Wu had pleasant features, but they were completely disfigured now. This was undoubtedly a very cruel punishment for a woman.
Since it was none of his business, Yang Kai did not ask her about what she did wrong. After exchanging a few words, he changed the topic, “Good, this King is a newcomer, and not familiar with the places in the Demon Realm. Where can I get a map?”
“A map?” Xiao Wu thought for a while, “If Sir wants a map, you can ask the Holy Venerable. She must have one.”
The Holy Venerable that she mentioned probably meant Yu Ru Meng.
Yang Kai twitched his lip and waved his hand, “There’s no need to bother the Holy Venerable with such a trivial matter.”
He did not want Yu Ru Meng to know what he was doing to avoid her being suspicious. Although the possibility was small, he wanted to be as safe as he could.
Xiao Wu thought for a moment before nodding and continuing, “Then Sir can try to look for one in the Holy City. I believe they should be for sale.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows, “Can it be purchased outside?”
Xiao Wu replied, “The Holy City has everything available.”
Yang Kai smiled, revealing his bared teeth, “Very good. Take me out.”
“Does Sir want to go out?” Xiao Wu looked up at Yang Kai in surprise, and quickly lowered her head again.
Yang Kai asked, “Why? Can I not go out? Did the Holy Venerable tell you not to let me out?”
“No…” Xiao Wu hesitated for a moment, “But if Sir wants to go out, let me ask the Holy Venerable for permission.”
“Ask for permission!?” Yang Kai stood up from his chair and strode towards the outside, “If the sky falls, I will hold it up. Follow me.”
Xiao Wu could not help being anxious when she saw Yang Kai’s determination and persistence; however, she could not stop him either, so she could only order the other maidservants to inform the Holy Venerable about Yang Kai’s plans while she hurriedly chased after him.
The two went out one after another, shuttling back and forth in the palace.
Although Yang Kai was not familiar with this place, he memorized the way when he came in with Yu Ru Meng the last time, so he quickly left the palace in the same manner. The maidservants and bodyguards along the way looked at him in surprise, and quickly exchanged whispers with each other after he walked a good distance away, but he did not encounter any obstacles.
Outside the palace was a wide road that could allow more than ten carriages to pass side by side that led straight to a prosperous city more than ten kilometres away. By the look of the city from a distance, it was no worse than the biggest cities in the Star Boundary, and in fact, looked even better in some ways.
The city had eight main gates, two in each cardinal direction. The gates were magnificent and the city wall was colossal.
Yang Kai led the way while the maidservant, Xiao Wu followed closely behind. They travelled more than ten kilometres and soon reached the nearest gate.
Yang Kai was worried that he would encounter some trouble when entering the city, for he was a Human and this was the Demon Realm. The Demon Race was naturally not friendly to Humans, and not every Demon was aware that he was brought here by Yu Ru Meng.
But when he arrived at the gate, he found that he had worried too much. Even if he was a Human and had no characteristics of the Demon Race, as long as he did not use his strength, most Demons were clueless about him.
They had never seen Humans before, so how would they know what Humans looked like? The Demons who had seen Humans were all in the Star Boundary now.
The reason why those Demons in the palace were astonished to see him was not due to his identity as a Human, but because he was a man brought back by the Holy Venerable!
Several ferocious-looking Demons guarded the city gate, and everyone who passed through had to pay something called Demon Crystals to enter.
The role of Demon Crystals in the Demon Realm was equivalent to that of Source Crystals in the Star Boundary. They were hard currency for transactions.
Of course, Yang Kai did not have any Demon Crystals, but he did not need to pay.
When several Demon guards approached them, Xiao Wu took out a token and showed it to them. After seeing this token, the Demons immediately made way for them respectfully.
After all, anyone who was from the palace of the Holy Venerable did not need to pay any fees.
Yang Kai was amazed by the lively atmosphere as he entered the city. The Demon Race was warlike and bloodthirsty, so he thought that life here would be primitive and brutal, but he now realized that whatever they had in the Star Boundary, the Demon Realm had too. For example, in this Holy City, there were many straight and spacious streets connecting the north and south, and there were a variety of shops lining the roadways, which bustled with people, shouting and bargaining with one another.
If it were not for the weird appearances of the Demons on the streets, Yang Kai would have thought he had returned to the Star Boundary.
“Sir!” Seeing him standing still, Xiao Wu called softly behind him.
“En,” Yang Kai answered casually, and immediately strode forward, looking around with great interest as he walked.
However, after walking just a few steps, a low cry came from Xiao Wu behind. When he turned around, he saw that Xiao Wu was on the ground, her hands covering her shoulders in pain.
Not far behind him, a burly Demon was seen striding on the street, swaying left and right, and the crowd in front of him was forced to make way for him.
Yang Kai was stunned for a moment but immediately understood what was going on. With a single step, he arrived behind the burly Demon and patted him on his shoulder.
Yang Kai’s pat sent the Demon’s back bending. Infuriated, he immediately turned his head around, but he saw no one behind him…
“Over here,” Yang Kai looked up at him with a darkened face while thinking, [What the Hell? This guy is so tall!]
The Demon followed the voice and saw Yang Kai, who was two heads shorter than him. He slowly turned his body around, breathed out hot air from his nostrils, and looked down at Yang Kai, “What are you doing!?”
Yang Kai raised his thumb and pointed at his back, “You knocked my companion down.”
The Demon looked up, saw Xiao Wu slowly getting up from the ground, and sneered with a toothy grin, “So what?”
“Apologize!” Yang Kai returned with a smile.
The Demon was stunned for a moment before he suddenly burst out laughing. His laughter sounded like thunder, and his huge body was shaking violently, as if he had heard the best joke in the world.
Xiao Wu hurried over and remarked in fear, “Sir, I’m fine.”
She was clueless about Yang Kai’s strength and only knew that they should not provoke the Demon in front of them. If Yang Kai was injured in a conflict with him, she would be punished. Naturally, she wanted to end the matter peacefully.
“Even if you’re fine, he should still apologize for knocking you over.” Yang Kai waved to her and signalled her to stand aside.
Xiao Wu pursed her lips and was speechless, her face full of anxiety.
Hearing what Yang Kai said, the burly Demon snorted coldly, “What if I don’t want to apologize?”
Yang Kai nodded gently, “If we can’t settle this with words, we can settle it with fists.”
The Demon stared at Yang Kai in shock, “You want to fight me?”
“Only if you don’t apologize…”
The Demon guffawed again, but this time, not only was he laughing, but he also spoke to the Demons passing by, “This little brat wants to fight me!”
As soon as those surrounding Demons heard this, they all became excited and came closer one after another to watch the show, some even began cheering, “Fight!”
“Break his bones and pull out his guts!”
“This guy has delicate skin and tender meat. His blood must be delicious!”
…..
A group of Demons clamoured as the burly Demon retracted his smile and replaced it with a ferocious look. Glaring at Yang Kai, he challenged “If you want to fight, I’ll fight!”
When the words fell, he clasped his fists together and held them up high before slamming them down at Yang Kai with a force as powerful as a thunderbolt. With such a burly figure and his advantageous height, the blow was as ferocious as a meteor and actually caused an air-ripping sound as it fell.
As soon as the burly Demon took action, the spectators became exhilarated, as if they found something fun and could not turn their eyes away.
Only Xiao Wu exclaimed, “Be careful, Sir!”
Yang Kai found all this to be incredibly funny of course. Although the Demon looked huge and muscular, he was actually just a Demon Great General, which was equivalent to a Human Dao Source Realm cultivator. What’s more, the Demon was a Mid-Rank Great General at best, yet he still dared to attack Yang Kai without realizing the difference between them.
But since the other party had already made a move, it was impossible for Yang Kai to just receive the blow.
Yang Kai raised his hand gently and held the fists that smashed down at him. His figure did not move an inch, but the floor under his feet cracked. He then slightly tightened his grip and sent a kick directly at the Demon’s ankle.
Before the burly Demon could react, his tall body had already fallen to the ground involuntarily with a bang, and the impact sent dust flying.
Yang Kai slowly squatted in front of the Demon, who was still in a daze, grabbed him by his collar with one hand and punched him as quick as wind with another hand.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
In the blink of an eye, the burly Demon’s face was badly battered, and he was seeing stars spin above his head.
Behind him, Xiao Wu covered her red lips and looked at Yang Kai in shock.
Those Demon onlookers were also stunned as the initial clamour suddenly ceased, but soon, they called out with even exciting shouts, “Kill him! Kill him!”
“Smash his head and beat his brains out!”
“Dig out his Demon Heart, it must be delicious!”
……
Yang Kai raised his eyes and looked around with a weird face.
In his mind, he suddenly recalled something Yu Ru Meng mentioned before. [In the Demon Realm, whoever is stronger is right, whoever is weaker is wrong in everything they do.]
The experience that he had at this moment was the best portrayal and interpretation of this sentence.
If this were the Star Boundary, this kind of fight would never happen. Even if the onlookers came to watch the show, they would never shout such violent words and show such excited looks.
The burly Demon passed out after receiving several tens of punches from Yang Kai, and even if Yang Kai did not use his full strength, the burly Demon was already half dead.
Losing interest, Yang Kai got up and kicked the Demon out of the way before he beckoned to Xiao Wu, “Let’s go!”
As soon as their eyes met, Yang Kai’s brow twitched slightly as he found that Xiao Wu was looking at him in awe. Not only she, the surrounding Demons who joined in the party too, revealed a look of respect, and many even smiled kindly at him.
This was the Demon Realm!
The more Yang Kai wandered around, the more he enjoyed the Demon Realm’s interesting customs and many novel sights that surprised him. However, some things, although good, were of no use to the cultivators of the Star Boundary, and were only useful for those from the Demon Realm, so he had no intention of buying these things. Besides, he did not have any Demon Crystals.
After walking around for a long time, he came to a shop. According to Xiao Wu, there should be maps for sale here.
There was no shop clerk outside the door, but many Demons still came and went.
Upon entering the shop, Yang Kai’s gaze was immediately attracted by the exquisite and small items on the counters on both sides. Those items looked like chariots, but each was only the size of a palm.
A Demon on the side seemed to be very interested in them too. He examined the goods, while a shop clerk beside him introduced the properties of the goods enthusiastically, showering the products in the shop with endless praise.
Yang Kai listened for a while and confirmed that these things were really War Chariots.
The Demon selected one of the War Chariots, and the shop clerk immediately took it with one hand, poured Demon Qi into it, and then threw it in front of them. With a swish, the War Chariot expanded into an object about six meters in length, with a hideous shape and sharp edges and spikes. On top of the War Chariot was a terrifying-looking, lifelike tiger head with its jaws opened widely.
The Demon customer circled the War Chariot a few times, reached out and touched it multiple times, and even sat on it to test it out, before finally revealing a satisfied expression. Then he began bargaining with the shop clerk and finally sealed the deal.
After sending the customer off, the shop clerk turned to Yang Kai and smiled, “What does Sir want to buy?”
Yang Kai motioned at the door and replied, “Bring me one of those things that guy was looking at just now.”
He was a little interested in this War Chariot. Such things were uncommon in the Star Boundary, but were often encountered when he was in the Star Field.
The shop clerk immediately took out the same model and enthusiastically introduced, “This customer has a good eye. This Tiger Head Chariot is a new model launched by the shop this year. Compared with the old model, its performance is much improved, and the speed is also greatly increased. Customers can go wherever they want with this at speed and in luxury.”
This was no different from what he said to the Demon just now, and Yang Kai was too lazy to listen to the whole pitch again, so he took the so-called Tiger Head Chariot into his own hand, poured his Emperor Qi into it, and threw it in front of them, just like how the shop clerk did.
The War Chariot immediately enlarged in front of them.
Yang Kai was startled. He merely gave it a try just now and did not expect that his Emperor Qi would actually have an effect on it. It seemed that both Humans and Demons could activate this thing.
Yang Kai immediately withdrew his power and the shop clerk did not perceive anything out of the ordinary and continued enthusiastically, “This customer may give it a try, if you are unsatisfied, we can offer you something else.”
Yang Kai had the same intention. Immediately sitting on it, he found that the interior design of this War Chariot was quite user-friendly, and it was very comfortable as well. The only drawback was the space, which could only accommodate two to three people, or a single person if they were someone burlier.
After testing it for a while, Yang Kai got up nodding, “How is its defence?”
The shop clerk laughed, “Rest assured, it’s made by Twelfth-Order Demon Iron, and its defensive power is enough to pass through the Territory Gates unaffected. It can even withstand the full-powered blow of a Demon King.”
Yang Kai had no clue what Twelfth-Order Demon Iron was, but since it could withstand a strike from a Demon King, the defence was obviously not bad. He continued questioning, “What about its attack power? Why don’t I see any parts that can be used offensively? Could a special Spirit Array have been inscribed?”
As soon as he said this, the shop clerk’s expression suddenly became weird, and he looked at Yang Kai suspiciously.
Behind him, Xiao Wu walked up awkwardly, and whispered in Yang Kai’s ear, “Sir, this thing is not used for fighting. It’s used for travelling. There are countless fragmented continents in the Demon Realm, and not every Demon knows the routes leading to and from those fragmented continents. This War Chariot is inscribed with the locations of the Territory Gates between the continents and the routes leading to them. You only need to enter your destination in advance to travel without any trouble.”
[So it’s a flight-type artifact!] Yang Kai realized suddenly why the shop clerk was looking at him with a strange expression…
Reaching out and patting the shop clerk’s shoulder, he spoke solemnly, “Just kidding.”
“Haha…” the shop clerk returned with a slightly stiff smile.
Yang Kai turned his head and looked around, clearing his throat, “Do you have maps for sale in your store?”
“Maps?” The shop clerk frowned, “What kind of map does Sir want to buy?”
“What kind of maps do you have to offer?” Yang Kai asked rhetorically.
The shop clerk answered, “We have all the maps of the territories of every Holy Venerable. There are twelve in total. Which Holy Venerable’s territory would you like?”
[Even the maps are split among the twelve Demon Saints in the Demon Realm?]
Yang Kai inquired, “Isn’t there a map that includes all continents?”
“There is, but the price…” The shop clerk smiled at Yang Kai. After the previous incident, he was very suspicious of this customer’s purchasing power. He entered this place without even understanding the purpose of a War Chariot. Obviously, he was not sincere in purchasing anything.
“Price is not a problem.” Yang Kai remained calm.
The shop clerk hesitated for a while before nodding, “Please wait a moment, I’ll get it for you.”
While speaking, he turned and walked into the inner hall.
After he left, Xiao Wu leaned in and asked him cautiously, “Sir, this maid forgot to ask you, how many Demon Crystals do you have?”
“I don’t have any,” Yang Kai glanced at her.
Xiao Wu was stunned when she heard the words, but quickly took off the ring from her hand, “I have some Demon Crystals here, but I don’t know if it’s enough. Sir, take these first.”
Yang Kai smiled and stretched out his hand to push the ring back to her, “Don’t worry, I have my own plans.” Since he dared to come, he naturally had a way around this minor issue.
Seeing his confidence, Xiao Wu did not persist but secretly prayed that nothing bad would happen today, otherwise she would definitely not be able to escape punishment.
After a short wait, the shop clerk returned, holding a round black ball in his hand supported by a stand underneath.
The shop clerk approached them, “Dear customer, this is the best map our shop has. Please take a look and check if this is what you need.”
Yang Kai reached out to take the black ball and began observing it. The object was about the size of a fist and was considerably heavy, made up of an unknown material. Although it was his first time coming into contact with this object, it was obviously similar to the Mountains and Rivers Projections in the Star Boundary, so he immediately poured his Divine Sense into it.
With a swoosh, a continent appeared in his mind, and an inconspicuous little black dot hovered over a certain spot on this continent. Yang Kai guessed that the little black dot represented his position, and the continent that appeared in his Knowledge Sea should be the land he was standing on.
Enchantment Continent!
The name of each continent was also marked on this map.
Yang Kai only knew now that the continent he was on was actually called Enchantment Continent, which was obviously named that way because Yu Ru Meng was a Charm Demon.
There were seven red dots hovering around the continent, which Yang Kai knew at a glance represented the locations of the Territory Gate. A thin white line also connected each red dot into the distance.
Yang Kai immersed his Divine Sense and followed one of the thin white lines to its other end, quickly reaching another red dot in a different continent.
After experimenting a bit, Yang Kai figured out how to utilize the map.
This was a good product, and it was exactly what he needed right now. With this map, he could grasp how to get to enter and exit the fragmented continents in the Demon Realm. Without this map, it would be extremely difficult to travel from one continent to another.
The shop clerk continued, somewhat hesitantly, “This customer should try to silently recite the names of two continents in your mind.”
Yang Kai raised his eyes at him but heeded decisively, muttering Enchantment Continent and Black Earth Continent in his heart.
He had heard about Black Earth Continent when he was exploring earlier. Apparently, it was far away from Enchantment Continent, separated by several fragmented continents.
But at that moment, starting from a certain red dot on Enchantment Continent, the connected white lines suddenly burst with bright light and lit up a path that spread all the way from one red dot to another, entering the adjacent continent, and through the Territory Gate of that continent into another continent…
In the blink of an eye, the fastest route from Enchantment Continent to Black Earth Continent was outlined clearly before him. If Yang Kai really needed to go to Black Earth Continent, he would only need to follow this route and pass through a few Territory Gates.
“Good, good, good!” Yang Kai praised readily. The person who refined this map was definitely a genius. It was particularly useful for a newcomer like him.
“How many Demon Crystals is this?” Yang Kai held onto the ball tightly, and turned to look at the shop clerk.
[Does he really want to buy it?] The shop clerk was a little surprised. He initially thought that Yang Kai had little purchasing power, but who would have thought that he was actually a big customer. He immediately smiled and said, “It will be five million High-Rank Demon Crystals!”
Demon Crystals were also graded into Low, Mid, and High-Rank, and had the same conversion ratio as Source Crystals, ten to one from one grade to the next.
However, Yang Kai had no concept of the value of five million High-Rank Demon Crystals. He just estimated that it was not much different from five million High-Rank Source Crystals.
Five million High-Rank Source Crystals were not much for him, so he nodded and added, “What about that Tiger Head Chariot?”
The shop clerk was gleeful, “This would only be one million High-Rank Demon Crystals.”
The total was six million.
Yang Kai nodded, but Xiao Wu’s face turned pale, “It’s too expensive.”
The shop clerk persuaded, “Good quality products would naturally be priced highly. This customer can inquire anywhere in the Holy City. If there is a store that sells better quality War Chariots and maps than we do, we will gift you these two items for free.”
“I want them,” Yang Kai did not even try to bargain. Since these things were useful to him, he naturally wanted to buy them.
The shop clerk lit up at once.
“But I don’t have any Demon Crystals.” Yang Kai continued.
The shop clerk’s smile stiffened on his face, and he looked at Yang Kai with a look that said ‘are you kidding me?’.
Yang Kai swiftly took out a bottle gourd half the height of a man that was pulsing with Demon Qi. The shop clerk was taken aback, for he thought that he was about to get robbed, but then he heard Yang Kai saying, “Would you accept this instead?”
Only then did the shop clerk understand Yang Kai’s intention. He wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, and replied awkwardly, “This shop doesn’t accept this kind of bartering, but your Demon Artifact seems to be of good grade, so I can ask the Shopkeeper for you.”
“Good,” Yang Kai replied and the clerk turned around and walked towards the counter.
There was no one at the counter, but the shop clerk went there and stayed for a while. After that, he quickly came back and looked at Yang Kai with a smile, “The shopkeeper wants to meet you.”
Yang Kai glanced at him curiously before following him to the counter where the shop clerk pointed below and stated, “This is our shopkeeper.”
Yang Kai followed and finger and found a dwarf behind the counter. He was only half the average height of a Human and was completely blocked by the big counter, making it obvious why Yang Kai hadn’t seen him just now. It was unknown which Clan this dwarf came from. He had a funny appearance, with a big head and short stature, but also with a pair of shrewd eyes. He eyed Yang Kai up and down and asked, “I heard that you wanted to leverage your Demon Artifact in exchange for the map and War Chariot?”
Yang Kai put the bottle gourd on the counter and nodded, “Yes, have a look at this. How much is this worth?”
The dwarf reached out and touched the gourd before releasing his Divine Sense to examine it slightly. Immediately after, he raised his brow and uttered, “King Grade Demon Artifact!”
The so-called King Grade Demon Artifact was probably the Demon Artifact that could only be used by Demon Kings. Yang Kai had many of them, all of which he had plundered from the many Demon Kings he had killed a while back.
The cultivators in the Star Boundary could not use the artifacts of the Demon Race, but they would collect a lot of them after each battle in Tiger Roar City, as did Yang Kai.
Now that he thought of it, he should have looted a lot of Demon Crystals too, but those things were full of Demon Qi and were useless for him, so he did not keep them. If he had known he would end up in this situation, Yang Kai would have kept those Demon Crystals and saved some trouble like this.
The dwarf carefully checked the quality and grade of the bottle gourd, and nodded gently, “This shop usually doesn’t accept these things, but since it is a King Grade Demon Artifact, we can make an exception for it. However, this thing is only worth a million High-Rank Demon Crystals, which is far from enough. Do you have other things that can be leveraged?”
If it were not for the sake of this King Grade Demon Artifact, the shopkeeper would not bother to pay attention to Yang Kai; however, if Yang Kai could offer this thing up so casually, he would certainly have other good things. If the shopkeeper could trade and resell them, he would make a fortune.
“One million?” Yang Kai turned to look at Xiao Wu questioningly. He really did not know the market here in the Demon Realm, so he could only ask this maid for advice.
Xiao Wu transmitted him a message quickly, “It’s a little low. Sir can try to raise the price a bit.”
If it was just a little low, then it was still acceptable.
Yang Kai nodded and waved his hand. Immediately, a few clanking sounds rang out as five Demon Artifacts of different shapes and sizes were presented in front of him. Turning to the dwarf, Yang Kai asked plainly, “Are these enough?”
The dwarf shopkeeper and the shop clerk were dumbfounded. The several newly presented Demon Artifacts were rich in Demon Qi, not inferior to, and in some cases even better, than the bottle gourd from just now.
In other words, these were all King Grade Demon Artifacts!
A King Grade Demon Artifact could only be used by a Demon King, so seeing this unknown man take out so many of them at once could only mean that they weren’t all his. In other words, this unassuming young man must have killed and robbed others to get them.
If each Demon Artifact here represented a Demon King…
For a moment, the way the dwarf shopkeeper and the shop clerk looked at Yang Kai changed, as they felt a gloomy, bloody aura was enveloping them.
The dwarf shopkeeper did not dare to delay and hurriedly said, “Wait a moment, Sir. Let me have a look at them first.”
After some inspection, the dwarf was sure that these were all King Grade Demon Artifacts, and each of them was worth at least a million High-Rank Demon Crystals. Perhaps, he knew that Yang Kai was not a person that could be offended, so he even took the initiative to raise the price of three of the Demon Artifacts.
In the end, the six Demon Artifacts were valued at 6.9 million High-Rank Demon Crystals, more than enough to leverage for the map and Tiger Head Chariot.
A short time later, Yang Kai came out of the shop with Xiao Wu. He stored the map and the Tiger Head Chariot into his Space Ring while at the same time holding another Space Ring in his hand which contained the extra 900,000 High-Rank Demon Crystals.
His purpose of this trip was mainly for the map, so now his goal has been achieved, Yang Kai had nothing else to buy.
While strolling with Xiao Wu, he took out the map and probed it with his Divine Sense to get familiar with the geography in the Demon Realm. His Divine Sense shuttled through the map, and the names of one continent after another appeared before him. Yang Kai memorized this information silently, thinking it was time to inquire about the whereabouts of Bright Moon Great Emperor.
Since Heavens Revelations Great Emperor and the others wanted him to rescue Bright Moon Great Emperor, he needed to find out the latter’s location first before he began making other plans.
Just as he was deep in thought, Yang Kai suddenly heard a roar of cheers which drew his attention.
As Yang Kai looked up, he saw a huge dome-like building not far away near the centre of the Holy City. This place’s doors were guarded by several powerful Demons, and the previous sound was clearly coming from within, making it seem quite lively.
“What is that?” Yang Kai asked while pointing to the dome. The buildings that he had seen before were not that large, but this one actually covered a vast plot of land and obviously had some great backing.
“The Blood Arena.” Xiao Wu pursed her lips and glanced over to that side, a hint of fear in her eyes, as if she was quite afraid of that place.
“What is it for?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
Xiao Wu explained, “Replying to Sir, it is a place for battles. Many powerful Masters enter to compete, and the winner obtains prizes provided by the Blood Arena, while those who lose may lose everything, even their lives.”
“There are prizes to take?” Yang Kai was amazed.
Xiao Wu nodded, “En, and many times the prizes are very grand. One can also enter purely to bet and gamble. Some got rich overnight, while some became completely broke!”
“You can bet too!” Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly lit up. He spent 6 million on the map and Tiger Head Chariot just now while his several Demon Artifacts were leveraged for 6.9 million High-Rank Demon Crystals. Now, he had only 900,000 left. He would certainly have to stay in the Demon Realm for a long time, and it would not be easy for him to move about without Demon Crystals. He was thinking of a way to get more Demon Crystals just now, but he did not expect a solution to present itself in front of him.
“Let’s have a look inside.” Yang Kai immediately led Xiao Wu to the Blood Arena with great interest.
There was a guard at the door and one had to pay the fee to even enter the Blood Arena. There were exciting and fierce fights inside, so it was impossible for people to watch them for free day and night. This entrance fee was one of the sources of income of the Blood Arena.
Ten thousand High-Rank Demon Crystals were charged for each person, a number that ordinary people couldn’t afford.
Fortunately, Yang Kai had some Demon Crystals on him now; otherwise, he would have had to sponge off of Xiao Wu.
After paying the fee, Yang Kai received two entry tokens and went straight inside.
It was Xiao Wu’s first time actually entering this place, so she was a little nervous and followed closely behind Yang Kai.
Through a long corridor, the two quickly came to an extremely large internal space. It was a circular arena covering a few dozen acres of land. Snowflakes fluttered in the sky, coating the ground with thick snow, and to Yang Kai’s surprise, there were a few towering and rugged mountains inside the arena.
The surrounding auditorium was arranged in a trapezoid manner, rising step by step. It could roughly accommodate forty to fifty thousand audience members to watch the battle at once.
At this moment, although it was not full, roughly eighty percent of the seats were occupied.
Everyone had to pay an entrance fee of ten thousand High-Rank Demon Crystals, and with eighty percent of the seats filled, it meant the Blood Arena collected hundreds of millions in fees alone from those present.
Before, Yang Kai was wondering what kind of grand prizes the Blood Arena would be able to provide, and how they would make a profit from this business. But now, he understood this was definitely a ‘no lose’ business.
Not only this, but what surprised Yang Kai more was that the space inside the Blood Arena was obviously different because the scene inside the arena was more than ten times smaller than it should have been. In other words, the Blood Arena’s several tens of acres stage before him was actually hundreds, if not thousands of acres in size, just shrunk down manyfold using some special method.
[Space Folding?]
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes. [Didn’t Yu Ru Meng say that none of the Demons in the Demon Realm was proficient in the Dao of Space? If so, who compressed the space of the Blood Arena here?]
He turned around and asked Xiao Wu, only then did he find out that it was not like what he thought.
The space in the Blood Arena was originally a small fragmented continent, which was moved here by Yu Ru Meng using her powerful Divine Abilities then integrated into the arena by powerful Array Masters to achieve this effect.
[I knew this Blood Arena had a serious backer.] It turned out that this was Yu Ru Meng’s private enterprise. She was the ruler of Enchantment Continent, so it was not surprising for her to do such a thing.
Xiao Wu continued, “This maid is also here for the first time, but she has heard that there are several tens of choices of environments and terrains in this Blood Arena which can be transformed by activating various Spirit Arrays.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai raised his brow. [Does she mean that the snowy scenery in front could actually be changed to another environment and venue?]
If so, the variety of fields the Blood Arena could sport would be truly great. Fighters might be of equal strength, but one might have the upper hand if a certain environment or terrain was favourable to them.
While they were talking, another roar erupted from the surrounding audience. It seemed that the result of the battle in the Blood Arena had been decided.
The majority of the battles in the Blood Arena would end up with the death of one side. At this moment, the winning Demon was holding a blood-drenched severed head up high and a beating Demon Heart in his hand on a mountain peak, turning around to show the audiences his triumph. The Demons seemed to love this bloody and cruel scene, and they cheered loudly.
After a long time, the winning Demon stuffed the beating Demon Heart into his mouth and chewed on it with a delighted look on his face, as if he was eating the most delicious delicacy, all while blood seeped out of the corners of his lips…
The field in the center suddenly went pitch-black, and nothing could be seen. The cheers from all around gradually subsided at this moment, but no one was surprised. Yang Kai followed the crowds, and watched quietly for a moment before he and Xiao Wu found their seats and sat down.
While waiting, some women who were dressed in revealing clothing went through the audience seats with a tray. There were cups on the tray, which were filled with scarlet liquid. He had no idea what this liquid was; however, Yang Kai saw that many Demons holler at those women, bought this beverage in exchange for some Demon Crystals and drank it with great relish.
Out of curiosity, Yang Kai also bought a cup for a thousand High-Rank Demon Crystals.
Yang Kai took a sip of the drink and found it tasted a bit like blood, so he turned to Xiao Wu and asked, “What is this?”
Xiao Wu answered with a pale face, “When certain women make… mistakes, they are imprisoned and are fed with some special types of food. After a few years, their blood will undergo certain changes, then their fresh blood will be drawn out and after some modifications…”
She did not dare to go on, but Yang Kai already understood it.
“What an eye-opener.” He nodded slightly.
After saying so, he gulped down the liquid in one go and revealed a face looking like he still wanted more.
Xiao Wu was flabbergasted! [Isn’t he a Human? Why is he as bloodthirsty just like us Demons?]
After waiting quietly for a moment, the field in the centre below suddenly lit up again, but this time it was no longer a world of ice and snow, but a field covered with yellow sand. Sure enough, as Xiao Wu mentioned before, a Spirit Array was arranged in the Blood Arena, and the field could be changed freely by activating it.
A Demon King soared into the air and shouted excitedly, “The next battle is between Du Feng and Kuang Mang. If Du Feng wins this battle, it will be ten consecutive victories for him and he will win the rich prizes provided by the Blood Arena! Du Feng is experienced and cunning; however, although Kuang Mang has only fought three times in the Blood Arena, he cannot be underestimated, for he has crushed each of his opponents in the past three battles! Let us watch and witness which of them is stronger in this battle!”
When the voice fell, two Demons came out from opposite sides of the Blood Arena respectively.
Both Demons were Demon Kings and from the fluctuations of their Demon Qi, it was apparent they had almost the same cultivation. One was thin and small in size, while the other was burly and tall, forming a very sharp contrast between them.
The entire environment of the desert could be seen, and the two Demon Kings looked at each other from across the sand with cold, murderous eyes. Neither of them moved, seemingly waiting for something quietly.
Many audience members started getting busy, taking out their entry tokens and sending their Divine Senses into them.
Yang Kai looked at this curiously, and Xiao Wu explained, “They are betting. If Sir wants to bet, just pour your Divine Sense into the entry token. After everyone is done placing their bets, the battle should begin.”
[I see!] Yang Kai immediately immersed his Divine Sense into the entry token and sure enough, he found that there were some changes in the information inside. Betting options were added; however, by the look of the odds, the Blood Arena was obviously biased towards Du Feng, because the compensation was one to one for him, while the compensation for Kuang Mang were two to one.
Other than that, there was Yang Kai’s personal betting information, but everything was zero at the moment.
Yang Kai only had 900,000 Demon Crystals on hand and he was a newcomer who had never seen these two fighters before, so he was not ready to bet. Therefore, he planned to just spectate for now.
He at least had to understand the rules here before taking action.
After a short while, the Demons in the audience seats finished placing their bets and there was no need to further delay.
The gong sounded twice, and the battle began.
The two Demon Kings quickly soared towards the centre of the desert and came into contact with each other in just ten breaths of time. Just like the Demon emcee said, Du Feng was more experienced in battle. His moves were extremely tricky, and coupled with his dexterity, he suppressed the burly Kuang Mang as soon as the fight began.
However, Kuang Mang was probably a Stone Demon and with his copper skin and a strong physique, his defence was excellent. Although he was always on the defensive and did not attack, the scattered attacks of Du Feng had no effect on him.
For a time, the two were locked in a heated battle in the centre of the desert.
The battle between the two Demon Kings was naturally extremely electrifying. Their Demon Qi surged and trembled, which kicked up dust and sand into a storm.
However, after watching for a while, Yang Kai already had an answer. He knew that although Kuang Mang had good defence, his opponent was too flexible and agile, so he could not effectively retaliate. On the contrary, his opponent was constantly pushing him to consume his energy and Demon Qi. If he did not have some kind of superb method to reverse the situation, the outcome would be worrying.
The battle lasted half an hour, and seeing Kuang Mang exhausted, Du Feng rushed in rashly with a dagger in hand, ready to land the fatal blow. However, against expectations, Kuang Mang’s body burst out a golden light, covering an area of a thousand meters in an instant.
Du Feng’s body suddenly stiffened, exposing an opening.
Kuang Mang grinned, strode forward, and smashed a heavy round Demon Artifact in his hand onto Du Feng’s head, with a look of victory on his face.
Du Feng, however, laughed too as just when the Demon Artifact was about to land on his head, his body suddenly split into two, then four, then eight, surrounding Kuang Mang.
The eight cloned figures flashed towards the centre and merged together again.
The scene seemed to have frozen at this moment, and Du Feng’s figure was revealed again with his back facing Kuang Mang, his hand slowly playing with the dagger in his grip.
Kuang Mang remained in his attacking stance, but his body was petrified in place. The smile on his face was still frozen there, but his eyes were filled with disbelief.
Followed by a cracking noise… The burly body collapsed onto the ground, sending the sand flying everywhere. There was no wound on him, but neither was there any vitality coming from his body!
A burst of cheers came out from the audience. The Demons who won their bet were naturally elated, while the faces of the Demons who lost their Demon Crystals turned ugly as they started cursing. If Kuang Mang had not died, perhaps they would charge up and rip him into ten thousand pieces to vent their frustration.
The central field darkened again, and the preparation for a new round of combat began.
The participants of both sides of each battle always had almost equal strength. At least, they were in the same Great Realm; after all, if there was a wide gap in their strength, the show would be boring. Countless Demons bet each round, but the Blood Arena was there to adjust the odds too. Naturally, the Blood Arena would be the biggest winner in the end.
[This place is really a money tree!] Yang Kai admired Yu Ru Meng secretly, wondering how rich this woman was.
After watching several rounds of battles, Yang Kai became familiar with the rules here, so he was done with waiting. He also bet several times in the next few battles. He thought that he had good insight, and he did not expect to stumble this time.
He initially was counting on the several hundreds of thousands of Demon Crystals to earn him a pot full of money, but it turned out that he had lost them all in just a few bets.
Seeing this, he almost cursed out of anger.
If he could sense the condition of the two sides, Yang Kai believed that he would not have lost so badly. It was mainly because of the isolation of the Spirit Array that he could not properly analyse the capability of the two fighters each time and he could only observe them with his naked eyes. After a mistake or two, there was nothing for him to bet any more.
His plan to earn Demon Crystals failed, and Yang Kai did not want to stay anymore, so he called Xiao Wu to get ready to leave.
Xiao Wu did not seem to like it here either, so seeing that Yang Kai wanted to leave, she naturally was delighted and quickly followed him.
Although he had been betting before, no one came to collect the Demon Crystals of the bet from him, because when each guest left the Blood Arena, their entry token would be taken back. The entry token recorded all their betting information, and the result of winning or losing would be clear at a glance. If he lost, he just needed to compensate the Demon Crystals to the Blood Arena before leaving. It was the same for winning.
No one dared to repudiate a debt in the Blood Arena, unless they were eager to die.
Yang Kai had 880,000 Demon Crystals left in hand, and the debt in his entry token was just about equal to that.
However, Yang Kai only took two steps towards the exit before the central field lit up again. At this time, the surrounding audiences let out sounds of surprise, as if they saw something incredible.
Yang Kai turned back to look casually, but his eyes suddenly widened and he stopped his feet as he stared at the centre of the stage for a moment.
Xiao Wu, who was following behind him, did not pay attention for a moment and crashed into his back directly. She immediately apologized in fear.
Yang Kai just waved his hand, indicating that it was fine as he took a closer look at a figure in the central stage.
[That’s Yu Ru Meng over there!]
[No, no, that’s not Yu Ru Meng, that’s…]
[Li Shi Qing!]
Yu Ru Meng had been using Li Shi Qing’s face in the Star Boundary, so this face was naturally familiar to Yang Kai. For a moment, he thought that it was Yu Ru Meng when he suddenly saw this face in the central stage, but he quickly realized that it was actually Li Shi Qing.
Yang Kai had tried to probe Yu Ru Meng about Li Shi Qing’s whereabouts before, but she had never disclosed anything to him. Only now did Yang Kai realize that this young woman had been brought to the Demon Realm, the Blood Arena of Enchantment Continent to be specific.
He and the real Li Shi Qing had never been in contact, and neither of them knew the other, but this woman was the Disciple of Flower Shadow Great Emperor. Since Yang Kai encountered her in the Demon Realm, he naturally could not just ignore her.
[But what does this scene mean? Don’t tell me the Demon Race is letting Li Shi Qing participate in battles in the Blood Arena?]
Yu Ru Meng was a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master when she impersonated Li Shi Qing, so the real Li Shi Qing certainly had the same cultivation; otherwise, how could Yu Ru Meng have fooled Flower Shadow Great Emperor and the others? Such cultivation was not bad at all, but this was the Demon Realm, and Li Shi Qing did not possess Yang Kai’s ability to ignore the erosion of Demon Qi, so how could she fight against Demon Kings in the Blood Arena?
Li Shi Qing was standing quietly beside the announcer Demon King. Her cultivation did not seem to be sealed, and she did not seem to be restricted in any way, but she remained unmoved with her eyes closed. The shimmering Emperor Qi on the surface of her body made it evident that she was resisting the intrusion of Demon Qi.
If she did not do this, she most probably would have devolved into a Demon in a short time. It was not clear how long she had persisted in this state, but she did look weary at the moment.
In the central field, the Demon King who brought Li Shi Qing out announced with a faint smile, “I believe everyone here has noticed that this woman looks different from others. That’s right, she is indeed different, because… this woman is a Human from the Star Boundary!”
As soon as the remark was made, the crowd went into an uproar. Many Demon Kings already guessed it when they noticed that Li Shi Qing had been resisting Demon Qi with her Emperor Qi, but they were unsure until this moment.
The Demon King confirmed their suspicions of her being a Human, a rare being to them. Due to the World Principles and the omnipresent Demon Qi in the Demon Realm, it was naturally not safe for any Human to come here. They would most likely fall into the Demon path in short order; however, by the look of Li Shi Qing’s appearance, even though she was tired, she obviously had not lost her mind. In addition, Li Shi Qing’s appearance and figure were incredibly charming, which naturally attracted many Demons.
“I was told that this woman has the cultivation of the Second-Order Emperor Realm in the Star Boundary, which is equivalent to a Mid-Rank Demon King here!” The Demon King paused for a moment, then suddenly raised his voice, “The prize for the next Blood Fight is this woman. Whoever wins the next Blood Fight can take this woman home with him. Heh heh heh, even this King hasn’t experienced the taste of a Master from the Human Race before, how truly envious!”
Li Shi Qing’s brow twitched as sadness filled her face. She could not believe that as a Disciple of Flower Shadow Great Emperor, she had actually fallen to become a prize in the Blood Arena for the Demon Race. She never thought that there would be one day like this and secretly planned that if things went beyond her control, she would immediately end her own life so that she would not embarrass her Honoured Master even in death.
The audiences were quiet for a moment, before it suddenly burst into unimaginable enthusiasm and cheers.
Similar to the announcer Demon King, no one present had tasted a Master from the Human Race. Li Shi Qing had an outstanding appearance and figure, and her cultivation was high too. It would be a great honour if one could really obtain her.
For a moment, the Demons were exhilarated and horrifying howls came up from the audience.
The Demon King then continued, “This Blood Fight has no rules. It will be a free for all. Anyone who signs up can participate, and the only task they have is to survive until the end! Preparation time is a stick worth of incense. What are you waiting for?”
After saying this, he pulled Li Shi Qing’s arm and brought her back down, disappearing without a trace.
As soon as he left, many Demons got up from the audience seats and rushed in the same direction. They were all Demon Kings. Anyone who had cultivation lower than the Demon King Realm was not qualified to participate in such a Blood Fight. This Blood Fight was different from the previous Blood Fight which arranged opponents with similar cultivation. With Li Shi Qing as the prize this time, anyone with low cultivation would only end up being slaughtered in the field, but since it was a free for all, there would still be a chance for them to slip through, so it really depended on their performance later.
Yang Kai turned to Xiao Wu and asked, “Where do I sign up?”
Surprised, Xiao Wu reached out and pointed in a certain direction, “It should be over there.”
Yang Kai looked in that direction and found a group of Demon Kings gathered. Without hesitation, he hurriedly rushed over.
When he first saw Li Shi Qing, Yang Kai immediately began trying to figure out a way to save her, but unexpectedly, the Blood Arena offered him this opportunity. As long as he won, he could bring the beauty home. This was a ready-made solution given to him.
The registration place was crowded, noisy, and chaotic. The Demon Kings with higher cultivation tried hard to push in, while those with weaker cultivation could only back away for now. Fortunately, they were not allowed to start a brawl on their own in the Blood Arena, otherwise, it would probably cause a big mess here.
Yang Kai spent enormous effort to squeeze his way to the front, and slammed on the table at the registration place, “I want to sign up!”
The Demon King in charge of registration looked up at him with a strange look in his eyes, then he nodded, “A hundred thousand Demon Crystals!”
Yang Kai ground his teeth and took out a hundred thousand Demon Crystals from his Space Ring to pay for the registration fee. He was not the only one who had to pay for it, as Yang Kai had noticed that the Demon Kings who signed up before him had done the same; therefore, he was naturally prepared for this.
However, he had bet all his Demon Crystals earlier, so if he spent a hundred thousand Demon Crystals now, he definitely could not settle his debt. He was not sure whether he could bet again later, but if he could, he would bet on himself and try to get some Demon Crystals back.
The Demon received the Demon Crystals, recorded Yang Kai’s entry token number and cultivation, and completed the registration process.
When he left, the Demon in charge of registration looked up at his back again, took out an object, and pinched it in his hand.
Deep in the Blood Arena, a Demon with a profound aura sat on a chair in a room with slightly narrowed eyes. A female Demon knelt beside him, serving him wholeheartedly, while on the other side, a High-Rank Demon King listened carefully to a message of some sort, then turned around to report, “Sir, that guy signed up.”
The Demon seated on the chair nodded gently, showing no other expression.
The High-Rank Demon King hesitated for a while before he questioned, “Why does Sir pay so much attention to this person? What’s special about him?”
Originally, there was no free-for-all planned for the Blood Arena today, let alone with a female Human prize. It was this Sir who suddenly arrived with the female Human to tell him to hold such an event, and also instructed him to pay attention to a certain strange-looking man.
[Now it seems that Sir deliberately used that female Human as bait to attract that guy to sign up for the fight.]
[But how was Sir certain that this man would participate?]
The Demon seated on the chair looked up at him and the heart of the High-Rank Demon King clenched. Quickly, he lowered his head for fear that he had said something wrong. As he was trembling in fright, the Demon seated on the chair suddenly got up and strode outside, disappearing in the blink of an eye, but not before his voice drifted over, “Find ways to kill him!”
The Demon King was stunned for a moment, then replied respectfully, “Yes Sir!”
…..
“Sir, do you know that woman?” Xiao Wu asked while looking at Yang Kai. If this was not the case, why would he suddenly sign up for such a battle? Since both of them were Humans, it seemed likely they knew each other.
“In a sense,” Yang Kai did not explain much.
“Sir, you shouldn’t have signed up.” Xiao Wu was a little anxious, “Those Demon Kings are very cruel. What if something happens to you?”
Yang Kai smiled at her, “It is they who should be worried, not me!”
Xiao Wu persisted though, “Why don’t we leave now? Otherwise, Holy Venerable will put the blame on this maidservant when she finds out about this, and this maid will die miserably.”
Yang Kai shook his head, “I can’t leave. I just paid the registration fee of a hundred thousand Demon Crystals and can’t clear my debt now, so we can’t leave this Blood Arena.”
Xiao Wu’s face turned green when she heard this. Although she had some Demon Crystals on her, it was far from a hundred thousand. Even if she took them out, she could not fill the debt.
Yang Kai further added, “We should be able to bet again though, so you can just bet on me.”
Xiao Wu was appalled, “Why are we still betting? We don’t have any Demon Crystals!”
Yang Kai reached out his hand and gave a knock on her head, “Silly girl. It will be fine as long as we settle the accounts before we leave. Who will know if you don’t have Demon Crystals now? As long as we win, we just need to collect our prize and no one will demand Demon Crystals from us.”
Xiao Wu wanted to tell Yang Kai that it was not like no other Demon has done this before, but they usually had a miserable ending. However, since Yang Kai had already paid, there was no turning back. Now, they could only go all out and place all their hopes on the next bet.
After hesitating for a while, Xiao Wu asked, “Do you want to bet on yourself?”
Yang Kai answered confidently, “Of course, otherwise who else can I bet on?”
“How much?”
“A hundred thousand… No, no, no, bet a hundred million Demon Crystals!”
“One… One hundred million?” Xiao Wu was dumbfounded, looking a little silly with her jaw slightly dropped.
At this time, the central field lit up again. The Demon who had appeared before emerged again, and shouted loudly, “The time has come, all applicants please enter the stage now. Those who have not entered by the time the Spirit Array is opened will automatically forfeit.”
When the voice fell, many figures shot out from the audience seats, and landed on the central field.
Yang Kai urged Xiao Wu, “Remember to bet!”
He straightened his back, flew into the sky, rushed through a light curtain in the blink of an eye, and landed on an open field.
Yang Kai only realized how vast the internal space of this field was after entering it, and he could no longer see the outside scene from the inside. Right now, he was standing on hilly land, surrounded by rubble and weeds.
Before he could check the terrain in detail, five figures suddenly appeared and landed not far from him.
Yang Kai frowned. He was not sure whether he was being paranoid, but he felt hostility towards him from these five Demons, and from the way they arranged themselves, it looked as if they had come here specifically to besiege him.
Looking around, some people dodged eye contact while others grinned menacingly, even directly drawing lines on their necks with their fingers as they stared at Yang Kai.
[Are they thinking I’m some easy target?] Yang Kai chuckled softly and slowly gave them a thumb up, then turned his wrist and pointed his thumb to the ground.
All the Demons around him were maddened as the hostility in their eyes intensified.
In the audience seats, Xiao Wu covered her eyes with her hands, and dared not watch anymore. She really did not understand what her Sir was doing. Such a free for all battle was already dreadfully dangerous in the first place as there were absolutely no rules. Yet, he still provoked so many people just when he entered the field. Did he want to die so badly?
Despite being worried, Xiao Wu remembered Yang Kai’s previous orders clearly. Quickly taking out her entry token and pushing her Divine Sense into it, she saw the betting information for this free-for-all battle in the entry token.
The betting system was different from the previous ones. The previous bets only had two options, but this time, there were as many as seventy or eighty choices. In other words, there were at least seventy Demon Masters in the Blood Arena at the moment, and they were basically all Demon Kings.
Each Demon participating in the fight had their own identity number listed in rows and columns, followed by a simple introduction of their cultivation. Some famous ones even had their own nicknames. Du Feng, who won the Blood Fight before, was impressively listed.
Yang Kai naturally did not have any nicknames. Xiao Wu browsed column by column and quickly found Yang Kai’s number. She glanced at the odds at the back and was startled, thinking she must have read it wrongly.
She took a closer look and confirmed that she did not misread. Yang Kai’s odds were ten to one!
She felt a little odd because the odds are a bit too skewed and seemed very abnormal. Looking at the odds of other Demons, they were all within a normal range. There were a few others whose odds were also ten to one, but those Demons were all Demon Great Generals so it was basically impossible for them to survive to the end.
However, the odds for Demon Kings basically fluctuated in the range of one to one, to two to one at worst.
But the information marked beside Yang Kai’s name listed him as a Mid-Rank Demon King! What was happening? With such unreasonable odds, it was as if the Blood Arena was sure that Yang Kai was bound to die and deliberately decreased the odds to scare off betters.
Xiao Wu didn’t understand it, but she could not afford to contemplate too much at this point. If she delayed any further, the time for betting would end.
She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, then followed Yang Kai’s instructions and bet one hundred million on him!
After doing all of this, Xiao Wu fell limp, as if all her strength had escaped from her body. She had never felt this much pressure in her life.
On the other hand, in the Blood Arena, Yang Kai stood calmly, gazing at the Demon Kings gathered around him. He swept his Divine Sense over them, getting a full view of their details. There were four Low-Ranks and one Mid-Rank…
Converting their cultivation to Human standards, it was equivalent to four First-Order and one Second-Order Emperor.
[What gave them the confidence to surround me here?]
He intertwined his fingers, stretched his arms downwards, shook his neck, and loosened his shoulders, seemingly stretching before a big fight. The several Demon Kings looked at him with a grin, as if they were looking at a dead man.
With two loud bangs, the free-for-all battle had officially begun!
A Low-Rank Demon King on the left, who seemed to be angered by Yang Kai’s provocation earlier, immediately launched at Yang Kai, wanting to teach him the cost of being so rampant. He grinned cunningly as he approached Yang Kai in just two steps, thickly coated in Demon Qi, as if he could not wait a moment longer. He drew his fist, and threw a punch with a dark ball condensed in front of it towards Yang Kai’s chest.
The destructive aura spread out suddenly, and the Demon King smiled triumphantly.
At the same time, Yang Kai threw out a punch, but there was no flutter of power or fancy display of light, it was just a simple punch.
*Hong… *
The smile on the Demon King’s face instantly stiffened, and a look of disbelief surfaced in his eyes. An unimaginable sense of crisis enveloped him as time seemed to freeze at that moment.
Inexplicably, he felt that everything around him became extremely slow, and he could even clearly see his opponent’s punch smashing his fist into a mist of blood. The violent power did not stop there though as it travelled up his arm, crushing it as easily as dry weeds and rotten wood until it reached his chest.
In an explosion of blood mist, the Demon King vaporized. The Low-Rank Demon King was instantly blasted into nothing by Yang Kai.
Everyone was slow to react.
The other four Demon Kings who were standing nearby, planning to get a better understanding of Yang Kai’s capabilities before making their next move, failed to even come to their senses before Yang Kai, wrapped in a cold murderous intent, charged through that cloud of blood mist and rushed towards another Low-Rank Demon King.
He threw another casual punch, then without taking a second look, turned and flew towards a third Low-Rank Demon King.
When the force of his punch landed on the second Demon King, he too exploded into a blood mist.
The remaining Demon Kings’ faces turned pale in horror as they could hardly believe their eyes. In a brief moment of hesitation, the third Demon King who was punched by Yang Kai had already followed the footsteps of their previous two companions.
[Run!]
The last two Demon Kings instinctively wanted to distance themselves from Yang Kai, but before they could, Yang Kai glanced back suddenly, and grinned at the two of them, sending chills up their spines.
Stretching out his hand, Yang Kai grasped towards these two and with a flicker of Space Principles, the retreating figures were immediately frozen in place, as if they were bound by some invisible shackles. Not only could they not move, but the two Demon Kings were also quickly drawn towards Yang Kai by a strong, irresistible force. Their eyes darting around in panic, the two Demon Kings struggled violently, but only got even more desperate when they watched themselves getting closer and closer to the murderous monster.
Yang Kai leaned back slightly and withdrew his arms. He looked like a stretched bow, and released his fists when he was stretched to the limit.
With two loud bangs, and almost simultaneously, two fists hit the two remaining Demon Kings. The Mid-Rank Demon King and Low-Rank Demon King were almost indistinguishable at this moment as their bodies burst into raining chunks of flesh and blood, dying the ground around them blood red.
In the audience, many Demons witnessed this shocking scene and applauded madly with wild excitement. The abnormality of the situation attracted the attention of others, and more and more Demons began paying attention to Yang Kai’s situation.
Even though most of these Demons did not see the scene where Yang Kai crushed and killed five enemies alone, the condition of the battlefield showed that a bloody battle had broken out here a moment ago, and it did not look like a solo fight, because the battle traces left behind definitely were not left by the death of a single person.
The one who was still alive was undoubtedly the only survivor, which surprised many Demons; after all, the free-for-all battle had only begun three breaths ago. How did so many Demon Kings die so quickly?
After a little inquiry, these Demons learned about the situation, and their curiosity turned into amazement. They paid extra attention to Yang Kai, wanting to see if this guy was really that strong that he could kill five Demon Kings by himself in the blink of an eye.
Some Demons even started investigating Yang Kai on their entry tokens. After discovering the horrible ten-to-one odds, they instantly became upset. Had they known that this guy was so powerful, they would not have hesitated to place their bets on him. Who knows, they just might have gotten rich overnight!
In the corner of the auditorium, Xiao Wu covered her eyes with trembling hands. She did not dare to watch the scene in the Blood Arena. If Yang Kai died here today, she would be doomed. The best she could hope for was a swift execution, but her most likely fate was having her Soul extracted and tortured day and night in excruciating agony for a thousand years!
She did not dare to remove her hands even when cheers erupted all around her, lest she was shown the scene that she dreaded most.
A hand suddenly patted her shoulder gently as a Demon sitting behind her told her kindly, “Hey, your Sir isn’t dead.”
“Not dead?” Xiao Wu was stunned, and slowly removed her hands from her face. She opened one eye anxiously and glanced into the Blood Arena. Yang Kai stood there safe and sound, but the Demon Kings who had gathered around him before had disappeared.
[Where are those Demon Kings?] Before the free-for-all started, there were clearly several Demon Kings near Yang Kai, so Xiao Wu could not help feeling a little confused.
As if seeing through her doubts, the Demon behind her explained, “They were all killed by your Sir.”
Xiao Wu was even more surprised now. Those were five Demon Kings! How were they killed by her Sir so quickly? She then turned around to look at the Demon behind her with a look of shock. She really could not believe it and did not dare to believe it.
The Demon behind her was just a Demon Great General, and when he saw the hideous scars on Xiao Wu’s face, he was taken aback for a moment but quickly returned a smile, “Where did your Sir come from? He looks quite strong.”
Xiao Wu shook his head slowly, she obviously would not answer this question.
That Demon seemed to be unusually chummy so he just asked a different question, “Do you think he will win till the end?”
“I don’t know.”
“I hope he can hold on to the end.” The Demon Great General stared at Yang Kai with bright eyes, his expression exuberant, “If he can live till the end, it will be my lucky day.”
Xiao Wu frowned, “What does it matter to you?”
The Demon Great General gave a low sneaky laugh, “Because I bet two million Demon Crystals on him!”
[So that’s why.] Xiao Wu was speechless for a moment. No wonder this guy cared so much about her Sir, it was because he was betting on him! On second thought, maybe he overheard their conversation before and decided to take a chance; otherwise, with such fishy-looking betting odds, which Demon Great General would be willing to bet on Yang Kai, and with many Demon Crystals at that?
If this man really won his bet, he would be getting twenty million out of his two million bet, which would be enough to purchase many King Rank Demon Artifacts! For a Demon Great General, this was a huge windfall.
Xiao Wu’s guess was accurate. The Demon Great General indeed had overheard the dialogue between Yang Kai and Xiao Wu, which was why he bet on Yang Kai. In his opinion, since Yang Kai dared to wager a hundred million on himself, he must have been very confident about winning. As such, the Demon Great General took decisive action to put all the Demon Crystals he could afford at stake.
Originally, he was still a little worried and felt that he had been too impulsive just now. The odds of ten to one were never seen here in the Blood Arena for a true competitor, so since the Blood Arena dared to offer such odds, it was almost assured that Yang Kai would not survive till the end.
But as soon as he saw Yang Kai’s terrifying power displayed right at the beginning of the battle, this Demon Great General burst into laughter.
With such strength, no regular Demon King would be a match for Yang Kai!
In the Blood Arena, Yang Kai blew a whistle and looked down at his feet. A big withered hand with Demon Qi condensed in its palm appeared out of nowhere around his ankles, attempting to catch him off guard; however, the owner of the big withered hand seemed to have noticed something wrong as his hand was frozen under Yang Kai’s feet and could not move an inch.
When Yang Kai looked toward it, the big hand immediately retracted back into the ground and vanished without a trace.
Yang Kai grinned and stomped his foot on the ground.
*Kacha…*
The ground where his foot landed immediately split apart with a huge crack that spread forward like a spirit snake coming out of its hole, swaying its head and tail at a rapid speed.
A dull grunt was heard from the ground, and a skinny figure soared into the sky from the tip of the crack, covered with sand and dust that concealed his appearance.
It was a Sand Demon, and it was unknown when it started to hide under Yang Kai’s feet. It seemed that this Demon King was waiting for an opportunity to ambush Yang Kai and give him a fatal blow, but the previous five Demon Kings died so fast that they failed to create a suitable chance for him. At the moment, since he was forced to expose himself, the Sand Demon had lost his biggest advantage.
The Sand Demon dashed frantically in one direction as soon as he was exposed. The sand spinning around him shook violently. Wrapped by the trembling Demon Qi, the gravel cast over the entire sky and ground shrouded Yang Kai. Each gravel stone was the product of countless years of cultivated Demon Qi, and their lethality was as powerful as the full blow of a Demon Great General at his peak.
Countless gravel stones bombarded together, forcing even the Demon Kings to retreat.
*Chi Chi Chi… *
A persistent noise filled the air as the Sand Demon turned back to look in a fluster. However, he soon frowned because there was no one behind him, and all his effort struck only air.
Just when he was lost in confusion, a grim aura suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking his way.
The Sand Demon was taken aback and quickly turned his head back towards the front, only to see Yang Kai, who should have been behind him, had now appeared just ten metres in front of him, looking at him mockingly.
[Since when?]
There was no time for him to think about it as he reacted instinctually. Followed by a shake, the Sand Demon came to a halt before trying to sweep past Yang Kai from the side.
Yang Kai lightly stretched out his hand and gently grabbed at the fleeing Demon King, as if he was catching a fly.
The next moment, the Sand Demon felt that his neck was being held by a big hand, his breathing completely obstructed. He hovered high above the ground and was drawn involuntarily towards Yang Kai.
He struggled hard, but he lost his strength to resist the moment a violent Emperor Qi poured into his body.
“You…” Only now did the Sand Demon realize the true extent of Yang Kai’s overwhelming power. What poured into his body was not Demon Qi at all, but rather the Emperor Qi of the Human Race. At this moment, the Sand Demon could not help staring at Yang Kai with his eyes widened in bewilderment.
[Is this guy really a Human?]
Before he could finish his thought, the power that poured into his body began to roil, destroying his flesh, bones, and internal organs. A painful look filled the Sand Demon’s face before a few breaths later he burst into pieces.
Within this short moment, six Demon Kings had died at Yang Kai’s hands.
As if he sensed something, Yang Kai suddenly turned his head to the side and looked into the distance.
A graceful figure stood quietly on the top of a mountain far away, watching him from a distance.
Yang Kai was confused.
[What the Hell? Isn’t the final prize of this fight Li Shi Qing? How come there is a female Demon King contesting for her? Does this female Demon King have some special interests? It could be… After all, the world is so big and anything is possible.]
They exchanged looks across a distance and Yang Kai instantly recognized the female Demon King to be a Feather Demon, because she carried a pair of delicate wings behind her. He grinned at her, but the female Demon King just turned around and left, with a hint of fear flashing across her eyes.
She obviously witnessed Yang Kai’s actions in crushing the Demon Kings just now, and listed Yang Kai as her one of the strongest enemies here, otherwise, she would never have retreated so quickly.
In the audience seats, Xiao Wu covered her red lips with her hands and looked at Yang Kai with a blank mind.
She did not see the scene of Yang Kai killing the previous five Demon Kings, but now she clearly saw how he finished off the Sand Demon. The Sand Demon was also a Demon King, but he was just as vulnerable as a three-year-old child in Yang Kai’s hands.
Her confidence in Yang Kai rose as she suddenly felt that it was not impossible for him to live to the end, so she immediately began paying close attention to his movements. As for the Demon Great General behind her, he remarked with a hearty chuckle, “See, your Sir is really strong. I didn’t bet wrongly this time!”
…..
It seemed that in order to accommodate this large-scale free-for-all battle, the space inside the Blood Arena had become much larger than before. After Yang Kai killed the six Demon Kings, he started to roam around curiously.
To him, the ultimate goal was to win Li Shi Qing, so he treated all the Demons in the Blood Arena as enemies and planned to kill all of them.
Perhaps due to his harmless appearance, in contrast to the vicious looks of the other Demon Kings, he came off as an easy target. Nevertheless, all the Demons who challenged him were killed miserably without exception.
Yang Kai was unstoppable. Besides the achievements of the first six Demon Kings, Yang Kai also killed an additional eight Demon Kings in the following hour.
In other words, more than a dozen Demon Kings had died at his hands in the Blood Arena.
This was an extremely horrifying score. The total number of people participating in this chaotic battle was only between seventy and eighty, so Yang Kai’s actions attracted the attention of countless Demons in the audience seats. All of them kept asking where this guy came from and why they had never seen him before.
Many Demons rooted for Yang Kai with excitement, hoping he could kill more and more and survive to the end.
These were naturally the people who bet on Yang Kai. The Demon Great General behind Xiao Wu was not the only one who bet on Yang Kai. Many Demons wished to become rich overnight too. In the previous betting information, only Yang Kai and several foolish Demon Great Generals had ten to one odds of winning. Those Demon Great Generals definitely could not be relied on, but Yang Kai seemed like a possible winner.
At least a thousand among the tens of thousands in the audience in the Blood Arena had bet on Yang Kai, so at this moment, these thousand people were watching Yang Kai closely, praying he would not die.
After two hours, the chaos in the Blood Arena gradually subsided as less than half of the eighty or so participants were still alive, while the rest were dead.
Nevertheless, those who could live up to now basically had their own life-protecting skills, or were simply far more powerful than the others.
“Eh, what are those guys doing?” The Demon Great General behind Xiao Wu looked at a certain place in surprise as if he suddenly noticed something.
After hearing it, Xiao Wu looked around the Blood Arena, and soon, she found something wrong too.
She had been paying attention to Yang Kai before and did not see the movements of the others at all. Now that her attention was attracted by the Demon Great General though, she suddenly saw many Demon Kings had gathered together in a serious discussion.
[What is this? Is such a scene really happening in the Blood Arena?]
Xiao Wu was astonished. This was her first time coming to the Blood Arena, so she did not understand the rules and norms of this place. She could only turn around and ask the Demon Great General, “Are they teaming up? Are they allowed to do so?”
The Demon Great General smiled, “This fight is a free-for-all and there are no rules. As long as you can survive until the end, nothing is forbidden. It’s just that…”
“Just what?”
“There are too many of them,” The Demon Great General frowned. There was no precedence for such a sight. It was normal for a few people to form temporary alliances in a free-for-all battle, advancing and retreating together, and then decide the victor at the last moment.
But usually, only two or three people would work together while even four would be considered too many; after all, there were more uncertainties in a large group of people and no one could guarantee that the others had no ill intentions. What if they were betrayed by their own ‘allies’ at a critical moment?
However, there were not just three or four Demons gathering together now, but seven or eight of them.
“Someone else is going that way!” Xiao Wu pointed to that place.
The Demon Great General looked in that direction and found that it was true. A Demon King was speeding towards the place where those people gathered. After a while, he arrived at the place and joined them while the initial Demon Kings over there just glanced at him and accepted his presence.
[What are they doing?] The Demon Great General was puzzled. [Even if they wanted to team up, there is no need to gather so many people, right? Moreover, who is the one who managed to bring them all together and make them seek common ground?]
Vaguely, he could feel a conspiracy brewing, and then looked at Yang Kai with a frown.
No matter who these people ultimately wanted to deal with, it would be difficult for Yang Kai. If he wanted to survive until the end, Yang Kai had to break the joined force of these people. Although Yang Kai had killed more than a dozen Demon Kings already with his outstanding skills, it was unclear whether he could pass through this obstacle.
At this time, the group of Demon Kings seemed to have come to an agreement. They all straightened up and flew off in one direction, reaching a certain mountain peak in just a short while. They then executed their own Divine Abilities one after another and hid in different parts of the mountain peak, leaving only one Demon King standing mid-air.
“Are they planning an ambush?” The Demon Great General gaped at them with a dumbstruck look.
They were already almost invincible given that so many Demon Kings had teamed up, yet they were still setting up an ambush? Who deserved so much of their attention?
When everyone was done hiding, the remaining Demon King suddenly flew out into the distance with a flicker.
“Ah?” The Demon Great General behind Xiao Wu suddenly shouted, his face ashen, as he cried with a sad face, “It’s over, it’s over!”
Xiao Wu was startled by his excessive reaction and could not help turning back to glare at him.
The Demon Great General smacked his mouth and looked at Xiao Wu sympathetically, “My condolences!”
“What are you talking about!?” Xiao Wu was extremely infuriated. At this time, she was dreadfully worried for Yang Kai, but this guy behind her was making it worse by talking nonsense. He was cursing her Sir!
“Can’t you see?” The Demon Great General pulled a long face. He looked so depressed and distressed as if someone had shaved a few pounds of flesh off him.
“See what?” Xiao Wu frowned even harder.
The Demon Great General kneaded his forehead in frustration, [It’s so obvious, how can she not see it? This woman is really stupid.]
Still, he immediately explained, “Those guys are targeting your Sir!”
“What?” Xiao Wu was shocked when she heard the words. She quickly fixed her stare at the field and sure enough, something was not right. The Demon King who flew out from that mountain peak made a beeline towards Yang Kai, and it was only a matter of time before they met each other.
She clearly saw the setup made by this group of Demon Kings. A group of malicious Demons set up an ambush on the top of a mountain, but only one of them rushed out. It was obviously bait to lure someone into the trap.
Now that she received a hint from the Demon Great General behind her, Xiao Wu finally understood.
Yang Kai was their prey!
It could be accidental, or it may be intentional. If it was just a coincidence, it could only be said that Yang Kai was out of luck, but in the case it was intentional, it meant that Yang Kai’s previous record of killing more than a dozen Demon Kings had stirred up fear in the Demon Kings who participated in the free for all battle, leading to so many of them teaming up to deal with him.
Nevertheless, her Sir was in a dangerous situation now, so Xiao Wu could not help clenching her fists and screaming silently inside, hoping that Yang Kai would change direction or see through the enemy’s trap in advance.
Unfortunately, she got the opposite of what she hoped for as it was impossible for Yang Kai to perceive the trap ahead.
The Demon King who rushed out came to face Yang Kai after a bit more than ten breaths. Xiao Wu watched the Demon King initiate the first round of attacks without saying a word. Yang Kai easily resolved these attacks, and the Demon King immediately turned around and transformed into a blood beam, escaping at an extremely fast speed. It seemed like he had no intention to fight Yang Kai to the death, and was obviously just trying to lead him into the encirclement.
This was a Mid-Rank Demon King, and he was a Blood Demon!
In the Blood Arena, Yang Kai chased after this Demon with a grin. He did not want to show his hand up until the last moment, so he never used his Space Divine Abilities in any obvious manner. Even so, his speed was much faster than the Blood Demon’s, and it did not take long for him to reach a distance close enough for him to throw a killing move.
However, at that exact moment, a stream of light whizzed towards Yang Kai from the side with an ear-piercing sound.
Yang immediately came to a sudden stop as a strong wind swept across his cheek.
After another deep thud, an arrow was shot right next to Yang Kai’s feet. It was four metres long and as thick as a child’s arm, like an indestructible spear. The tail trembled slightly as the Demon Qi arrow buried itself almost a metre into the ground, radiating a heart-palpitating power, demonstrating the extraordinary strength of the shooter.
Yang Kai turned his head to look around coldly, and sure enough, a few kilometres away stood a graceful figure clothed in a tight black suit with a large bow in her hand, its bowstring vibrating slightly.
Due to the sudden change, the fleeing Blood Demon stopped as well and turned back to look with a frown on his face.
His purpose this time was to lure Yang Kai into the trap that has been set up, but an unexpected variable had suddenly sprung up, leading to a hiccup in the original plan. This naturally put him in a foul mood.
Taking a closer look at the Feather Demon who shot the arrow, the Blood Demon seemed to recognize her and instantly felt a headache coming on.
It was a problem to stay here; after all, his role was to bait Yang Kai into the trap and stopping to look for too long would only cause the latter to become suspicious, so after a brief hesitation, the Blood Demon turned around and flew away again.
There would always be a next time if the plan failed this time, but it would all be ruined if Yang Kai found out about their machinations.
Yang Kai did not continue his pursuit of the Blood Demon. It did not matter to him who it was, everyone in this Blood Arena was ultimately going to die, it was just a matter of time.
At this moment, he recognized the person who shot at him with an arrow in the distance. It was the same Feather Demon that he saw from a distance when he first came in.
A female Demon King, and a Feather Demon too. Who else could it be besides her?
Reaching out to grab the tail of the arrow at his feet, Yang Kai pulled it out with slight effort, dispersing the Demon Qi around it, revealing a normal-sized arrow. Weighing this arrow in his hand, Yang Kai raised his head and smiled at the Feather Demon who was a few thousand metres away.
In the next moment, he pulled back his arm and hurled the arrow in that direction.
*Xiu… *
The tip of the arrow flashed into a sharp ray of light and seemed to leap across space as it blasted towards the Feather Demon with a Heaven-destroying and Earth-shattering power.
In the blink of an eye, the arrow was right in front of the Feather Demon.
However, she remained unmoved and calm. With the bow in her hand raised up in front of her, she twirled it slightly and brushed against the oncoming arrow. With a pull, the bowstring was pulled taught in an instant and with another twirl, the arrow was nocked on her bow once more.
At this moment, Yang Kai was already only three hundred metres away from the Feather Demon, having advanced towards her at the same time he hurled that feather arrow.
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up in surprise and silently admired her skill.
The fluctuation of Demon Qi coming from the Feather Demon indicated that she only had a Mid-Rank Demon King cultivation, but her reflexes and her ability to respond quickly to situations was by no means something an ordinary Mid-Rank Demon King could possess.
The power of his hurl was immense, but she only used a slight twirl of her bow to nullify most of his strength. Such a superb skill executed so boldly in the heat of battle proved that this Feather Demon was outstanding and a rare talent.
Yang Kai even felt that he might have underestimated this female Demon King.
No sooner had the arrow been nocked on the bowstring again did it fire. Yang Kai did not back down, however, and just tilted his head slightly, evading the arrow by a hair as he charged towards the Feather Demon at lightning speed.
As an excellent archer, the Feather Demon naturally knew what her greatest advantage was and she did not give Yang Kai a chance to close in further. With minimum movement, her figure floated up and retreated. Tightening all five of her slender fingers, the bowstring was pulled taut again, releasing arrow after arrow in a constant barrage.
In an instant, more than ten sharp arrows were released, breaking through the barrier of space, piercing fiercely towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai evaded the first few shots but was unable to dodge the latter ones. His opponent’s archery was better than he expected and with no other choice, he stretched out his hand and grabbed in front of him. Space Principles fluctuated and a dark black hole suddenly appeared.
Although he also used Space Principles when he killed off some Demons earlier, he always did so inconspicuously so as not to be noticed by others.
But the appearance of this black hole would no doubt expose the cards in his hands.
However, this was not a big deal as he had many tricks up his sleeves, so exposing a few of them would not cause major damage.
The black hole devoured everything, and even the next few arrows were sucked into it and disappeared.
Yang Kai looked up and saw the Feather Demon show a trace of amazement on her face. She obviously did not expect Yang Kai to resolve her killing moves so easily, but she regained her composure a moment later and drew her bow again, releasing another arrow.
This time was different though as after three breaths, the released arrow released a dazzling light as it whizzed towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai was unmoved by the sudden development and once again extended his hand, summoning the same black hole again.
However, when the black hole was just about to swallow the arrow, a slight pop was heard and the four-metre-long arrow exploded into a rain of black arrows that covered a wide area.
This move caught Yang Kai off guard as he stared at the scene in a daze.
*Ding Ding Dang Dang… *
Countless crisp sounds echoed, but while the number of arrows increased greatly, the power behind each one was proportionally decreased, so Yang Kai was able to defend against all of them with his Emperor Qi alone.
As the clinking sounds gradually faded, Yang Kai broke through the rain of arrows wrapped in a chilly aura, his face grimacing in pain before he disappeared from that place with a flicker.
The Feather Demon was admiring her own masterpiece with a smile, but her complexion changed slightly at this odd scene and she hurriedly flipped her bow behind her back.
At the same time, Yang Kai’s figure had reappeared behind her, throwing a punch with all his strength, but the blow landed on the opponent’s bow instead of her head
The bow groaned hard and bent severely, but it successfully nullified most of the blow’s strength. The Feather Demon flipped up and around, taking advantage of the force of Yang Kai’s blow as she tightly gripped her bow and pulled hard, drawing her bowstring towards his neck, gracefully arching herself to increase the speed to its maximum.
Yang Kai’s eyes widened as he quickly lifted his hand to protect the front of his throat.
With a twang, Yang Kai felt a sharp pain on his palm from the cut of the bowstring.
Even though he knew that the cut was not lethal, Yang Kai still broke out into a cold sweat. The instincts and reflexes of this female Demon King… were simply superb. He initially thought that all Feather Demons would be easy to kill in close quarters, but this particular Feather Demon seemed like an exception. Whether it was in long-range or close quarters, her combat prowess was outstanding and her flexible use of her own strength led Yang Kai into trouble just now.
With a push of his palm, Yang Kai knocked the bowstring away and clenched his free hand into a hammer fist that he swung backwards with full force.
The punch smashed nothing but air as the female Demon King swiftly released one hand from her bow, executed a half spin, and leaned back greatly in order to dodge.
Yang Kai glanced over his shoulder and saw the female Demon King’s towering chest facing towards the sky as she arched her back, while his fist brushed across the tip of her nose. Even from this angle, he could clearly see the fair white valley between her proud peaks.
In no position to appreciate this glorious sight though, Yang Kai sent out a spin kick towards his opponent.
The female Demon King kicked off of Yang Kai and rebounded upwards, flipping up her bow and tightening her grip around her bowstring again. Another arrow manifested and was pulled taut, but this time it was only one metre long. It was obviously made especially for close combat, and the tip of the arrow was green, probably laced with poison. The bowstring shook as the tip of the arrow pressed up against Yang Kai’s temple and the female Demon King looked at Yang Kai provocatively and mockingly, “You’re dead!”
Yang Kai faced her sideways, with the same provocative expression and grin, “We’ll see who dies first!”
As soon as his words fell, the female Demon King frowned and looked down at her chest. Yang Kai’s hand, that was bent into a claw, just touched onto her left peak, his fingertips flickering with a dangerous light.
“Tsk…” The female Demon King spat in frustration as Yang Kai had managed to gain the upper hand because of her carelessness.
However, realization dawned on her when she felt the fluctuation of Yang Kai’s power in close proximity. She looked at Yang Kai curiously with a slight frown, “Are you the Human who was brought back from the Star Boundary by the Holy Venerable?”
Yang Kai raised his brow and asked, “Do you know me?”
The female Demon King giggled, “It is rumoured that a Master from the Human Race had fallen to the Demon path, had no place to stay in the Star Boundary, and had to follow the Holy Venerable to Enchantment Continent. Looks like it’s you.”
“News spreads fast,” Yang Kai looked disgruntled, as if something he wanted to keep a secret was exposed, and a hint of murderous intent flashed across his eyes, like he was about to silence all witnesses to his crime.
The female Demon King sensed his intent, but remained unafraid and even pressed on faintly, “There’s no use in killing me alone. Many in the Holy City already knew about you; after all, you are the one who the Holy Venerable brought back herself.” After a pause, she continued, “Furthermore, if you really want to kill me, who knows who will die first.”
Yang Kai’s eyes flickered ferociously in hesitation and struggle, but behind his act he was actually wondering who was the one who spread this news.
[I just arrived in the Demon Realm a few days ago, and it’s impossible that Yu Ru Meng publicized such a matter recklessly, so it could only have been done by someone else, but for what purpose?]
“Hey, you should let go now.” While Yang Kai was still immersed in his thoughts, the female Demon King called out to him.
Yang Kai snorted and quickly retrieved his hand. No matter the circumstances, it was inappropriate for a man to lay his hand on a woman’s chest in public. A hint of surprise flashed across the other party’s eyes, but at the same time, she retracted her arrow too.
This strange scene confused the tens of thousands of audience members in the Blood Arena. The two were fighting with the intent to kill each other just now, so how was it that they were now coexisting peacefully all of a sudden?
Nevertheless, Xiao Wu and the Demon Great General behind her were relieved at the same time. When they saw Yang Kai with a sharp, poisoned arrow pressed against his head, they almost forgot how to breathe, for they were afraid of seeing the scene that they did not wish to see happen next. With the heavy stone lifted from their hearts, they sat down on the seats limply together. It was truly thrilling just now.
Inside the Blood Arena, Yang Kai looked sideways at the female Demon King with a complicated look.
The reason why he stopped his actions just now so readily was not out of compassion for women, but because he noticed something in her previous series of attacks. Although each one seemed sharp and vicious, there was no murderous intent behind any of them, as if she was probing him just now; or rather, she was testing him.
Besides, he also wanted to find out what this female Demon King was trying to achieve.
“Why didn’t you stay in the Holy Venerable’s palace and instead come out to this Blood Arena?” The female Demon King asked as she looked Yang Kai up and down a few times. After questioning, she suddenly was enlightened, “Oh, I see. Are you here for the prize?” She leaned closely in excitement, “How did you know there would be such a prize in the Blood Arena? Do you have any inside information? Can you let me in on the secret?”
[Inside information my ass!] Yang Kai cursed in his heart and replied impatiently, “If you want to say something, just spit it out!”
The female Demon King was obviously annoyed by his rude attitude and clicked her tongue, but as she played with the bow in her hand, she raised her eyes and remarked softly, “You owe me your life, shouldn’t you say thanks first?”
Yang Kai stared at her with a trace of pity appearing in his eyes, “Insane woman!” He muttered before turning away and leaving.
The female Demon King was stunned momentarily, but after she regained her wits, with a flicker, she blocked Yang Kai’s path and glared at him fiercely, “Did you just curse me?”
“Go away!” Yang Kai threatened her with a huge fist and a ferocious look, “I don’t like beating women, but it doesn’t mean I won’t. If you dare pester me endlessly, I’ll immediately take your life!”
He did not mind killing this unknown female Demon King here and now; after all, there would be one less enemy for Star Boundary to face if he did.
The female Demon King looked like she had choked and her big eyes widened. So angry she had to laugh, she snapped, “Do you think I’m playing with you? Do you know if I hadn’t stopped you just now, you would already be a dead man?”
“Oh?” Yang Kai was surprised, but he maintained a calm composure, and asked as he looked at her coldly, “Do you mind telling me how I would have died then?”
The female Demon King snickered, “You were being led into a trap where more than ten Demon Kings were waiting to ambush you, including three High-Rank Demon Kings. Do you still think that you could have kept your life?”
Yang Kai frowned, gazing thoughtfully in the direction that the Blood Demon had fled towards before, and then looked back at the Feather Demon, “How did you know?”
It would truly put him in trouble if he was besieged by more than ten Demon Kings, with several High-Rank Demon Kings among them. Even if he could break out of such a siege, he would certainly need to expose many of his cards to do so.
Yang Kai really did not want this situation to happen in front of everyone’s eyes. He came to the Demon Realm for a purpose, and while Yu Ru Meng knew about his skills already, others did not know yet. Yu Ru Meng was not so bored she would go around exposing his information; therefore, it was better to keep his abilities unrevealed for his own convenience in the future.
The Feather Demon sneered, “Are you afraid now?”
“Afraid?” Yang Kai guffawed, “This King betrayed the Star Boundary and escaped from the grip of a Great Emperor. He has also fought with and escaped from a Pseudo-Great Emperor, so there is nothing in this world I need fear.”
The Feather Demon was stunned. Although she was a Demon, she knew about the Great Emperors and Pseudo-Great Emperors. They were existences on par with the Holy Venerables and Half-Saints of the Demon Realm. To her, Yang Kai must be an extremely audacious guy who dared to betray the Star Boundary and fight against a Great Emperor and Pseudo-Great Emperor.
Not willing to be entangled in this matter any further, she curled her lip and said, “You don’t need to care about how I know about it. Anyways, in this current situation, some people have begun to work together to stop you from getting the final victory.”
Yang Kai stroked the stubble on his chin and nodded lightly, “If things are really as you said, this King owes you a favour. If you get into trouble in the future, look for me in the Holy Venerable’s Palace and this King will not refuse to help you if he can.”
He did not doubt what this Feather Demon stated because it was meaningless to deceive him in such a place. Moreover, the Feather Demon had excellent eyesight and archery skills. Some powerful Feather Demons could even cultivate an amazing Pupil Technique that allowed them to see many things that others could not see.
Of course, everything would be pointless if she could not survive this battle. Even if Yang Kai was not killing her now, it did not mean that he would not attack her at the end of this battle. If he really had to, he would not hesitate at all.
“Why would I still need your favour if you die?” The Feather Demon sneered.
“Then, what do you want?” Yang Kai glanced sideways at her, for he believed she did not stop him from falling into the trap after noticing some situation out of the goodness of her heart. She must have other intentions.
“Let’s team up,” Although the Feather Demon was a woman, she was notably straightforward and disclosed her purpose directly.
“You? Team up with me?” Yang Kai blinked his eyes, pointing his finger at her, then back to himself. The corners of his mouth slowly curved into a smile.
The Feather Demon’s face darkened, and she jumped like thunder, “Bastard, how dare you look down on me!?” After saying so, she pulled back the arrow nocked on the bowstring of her weapon, preparing to teach Yang Kai a lesson.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Yang Kai raised his hands, indicating to her not to make any impulsive move, “I didn’t mean anything like that.”
“Then what did you mean?” The Feather Demon gnashed her teeth, for she surely saw a trace of disdain in the bastard’s smile.
“I’m a Human, while you’re a Demon. It’s strange for us to work together…” Yang Kai simply made an excuse. However, thinking about it carefully, having such a helper would save him a lot of effort and perhaps he would not have to expose too many of his abilities later.
“Really?” The Feather Demon looked sideways at Yang Kai, with her bright eyes full of distrust.
Yang Kai raised his three fingers to the sky and shouted seriously, “I swear!”
The Feather Demon then put away the arrow and snorted, “You better not be lying to me, otherwise, your end won’t be pretty.” After a pause, she continued, “What do the Human Race and the Demon Race have to do with this? You’ve already been demonified and betrayed the Star Boundary anyway. Although you’re not a pure Demon, you have the attributes of a Demon. Sooner or later, you’ll be a member of our Demon Race! Besides, so what if you’re still a Human? This Lady wants to team up with you and I’ll beat whoever can’t accept this!”
“Good!” Yang Kai gave her a thumbs-up, and touched his head, “I have another question.”
“Speak!”
“If you and I really work together to defeat our enemies, what should we do in the end?”
The Feather Demon pursed her lips and replied with a cruel, cold smile, “Of course, whoever manages to live to the end gets the prize.”
“Oh!” Yang Kai put on a face as if realization just dawned on him and he snapped his fingers, “That means there will be a fight between you and me in the end.”
The Feather Demon looked at him cheekily, “You can kill yourself too, since you are no match for me!”
Yang Kai cackled, “Keep up that confidence, it will be your downfall!”
An upset look etched on the Feather Demon’s face…
Yang Kai suddenly stretched out his hand to her, and introduced himself solemnly, “Yang Kai!”
The Feather Demon frowned, and it took her a while to react to the situation, but she, too, stretched out her hand to shake his a moment later, “Bo Ya!”
The palm of her hand was suddenly scratched. Feeling itchy, Bo Ya immediately castigated Yang Kai, “Bastard, are you taking advantage of me?”
After saying so, she quickly retracted her hand out of Yang Kai’s palm, wiping it on her clothes, shivering like she was disgusted to the core…
Yang Kai stared at Bo Ya dumbfounded and asked, “Are you only fond of women?”
At the first sight of this woman, Yang Kai already wondered why a female Demon King would sign up for this battle, so he was curious if she had any other ‘special’ interest.
Now, after such a test, he found that it was really like what he thought. This enchanting and beautiful female Demon King in front of him, who had an ample and alluring figure, actually had a different type of fetish.