The more than ten teams that consisted of several hundred people had gathered in this nameless valley outside the Four Seasons Realm. They had hidden everywhere in this valley and it wasn’t certain what they were up to.
The cultivation of the more than ten Emperor Realm Masters ranged from First-Order to Third-Order. If Yang Kai hadn’t gone to the Demon Realm in the past, he would have to be more cautious so that his whereabouts wouldn’t be exposed, but now, his Soul cultivation had strengthened dramatically, to the point that no Pseudo-Great Emperor or Half Saint could compare. If he wanted to hide his aura, those in the valley wouldn’t be able to notice him.
There was nothing special about these people except for the fact that they were all from Demon Heavenly Dao.
With a frown, Yang Kai investigated the surroundings and decided to observe them before making a move. This matter was serious as it had something to do with the Four Seasons Realm. If he took action now, with the help of Bai Zhuo and Bai Ya, Yang Kai was confident he could defeat the force here with ease, but it wouldn’t be easy to find out their intentions for coming here. After all, the Emperor Realm Master, who had been thrown into the Small Sealed World earlier, didn’t even know the reason why he was told to come here, so these Emperor Realm Masters in the valley might not have any idea either.
These people were probably summoned to this place; in which case, someone must have given them the order to gather here.
This person must hold an important position in Demon Heavenly Dao and was most likely a Pseudo-Great Emperor. It wasn’t difficult to decide that he should catch the big fish rather than kill these insignificant shrimp.
For the following ten days, Yang Kai remained hidden outside the Four Seasons Realm as he observed these people from Demon Heavenly Dao. He had thought about sneaking into one of the teams, but all of them seemed to know each other so he refrained.
In the morning, these people were extremely quiet as they cultivated and meditated in their respective locations; however, they started becoming busy at night.
After observing them for over ten days, Yang Kai realised that they were arranging some kind of Grand Spirit Array that could encompass the entire entrance of the Four Seasons Realm in this nameless valley.
Naturally, not everyone could arrange a Spirit Array. Nevertheless, there was a skilful Array Master among these people, and under his guidance, an array slowly took shape.
Yang Kai memorised all the key points of the Spirit Array as it was being arranged and engraved them into a jade slip. In the morning, he would send the jade slip back to High Heaven Palace through a Space Beacon to ask Nanmen Da Jun about it.
However, the arranging of the Spirit Array in this valley was slow and gradual, and the information Yang Kai had gathered was incomplete; therefore, despite the fact that Nanmen Da Jun was an Emperor Array Master, it was still difficult for him to guess its purpose right away.
A few days later, Nanmen Da Jun sent a message to inform Yang Kai that it was likely a Summoning Array, but it had been modified in some way. Since the array was incomplete, he couldn’t tell what these people from Demon Heavenly Dao were trying to summon; thus, Nanmen Da Jun requested to come over from High Heaven Palace to have a closer look.
He was keen to learn everything about Spirit Arrays, but Yang Kai directly rejected him.
Nanmen Da Jun was only a First-Order Emperor, so he wouldn’t be able to hide his aura if he came here. Even if Yang Kai tried to hide him, his whereabouts might still be exposed.
Nanmen Da Jun felt helpless at the fact that his request had been rejected, so he could only warn Yang Kai by saying, “Regardless of how powerful that array is, that is a Summoning Array, so Palace Master must be on guard in case they try to summon some kind of ferocious, uncontrollable beast.”
Yang Kai replied, “En.”
Nanmen Da Jun wasn’t aware that there were three Half-Saints inside Yang Kai’s Sealed World Bead, so even if Demon Heavenly Dao was really going to summon some kind of ferocious beast, it wasn’t certain who would be the one to die in the end. Yang Kai doubted that the thing they were going to summon could be more powerful than the combined force of three Half-Saints.
Noticing Yang Kai’s perfunctory tone, Nanmen Da Jun said solemnly, “Palace Master, please carefully observe them for the following days. I suspect that a key item is missing from that array. If you discover anything, please inform me immediately.”
Yang Kai wasn’t sure what the missing key was, but since Nanmen Da Jun had made such a judgement, he must have a valid reason. Hence, Yang Kai could only redouble his observation efforts.
A few days later, the array was seemingly almost completed. The bases of the array were hidden beneath the valley, so everything appeared normal on the surface, though the entire valley seemed to be engulfed in a strange aura now that could make anyone feel depressed.
Just then, Yang Kai received a message from the Embodiment, who was in the Small Sealed World. Noticing that, Yang Kai was elated. As he observed the changes in the array, he used his Divine Sense to send a projection into the Small Sealed World.
Seeing Yang Kai, Bai Ya and Bai Zhuo cupped their fists, “Brother Yang.”
Yang Kai looked down at a middle-aged man who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, then he arched his brow, “Did you manage to extricate him?”
This middle-aged man was the Emperor Realm Master who had been captured some time ago. Recently, Bai Zhuo had been trying to come up with a way to break the Secret Technique the Blood Demons had used on those from Demon Heavenly Dao. It wasn’t until this day that he finally achieved success.
Presently, the middle-aged man was pale, and his aura was unstable. It seemed that he was still very weak.
Hearing Yang Kai’s voice though, this man quickly opened his eyes and struggled to get up. With a smile, Yang Kai gently clapped his shoulder to motion for him to sit properly. This man really seemed to have no energy left, so he could only cup his fists at Yang Kai while he sat on the ground, “Palace Master Yang, many thanks for saving this pitiful one’s life.”
“He’s become clear-headed?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
Bai Zhuo turned his palm over and revealed a drop of blood, which was squirming like it was a living creature; however, the drop of blood was filled with Demon Essence and a sense of ferocity. Obviously it was Demon Blood. Bai Zhuo said, “This is the culprit.”
Yang Kai took a look at the drop of Demon Blood and frowned, “What do you mean?”
Bai Zhuo explained, “A Blood Demon planted his own Blood Essence in this fellow, and that blood then circulated through all his veins. It’s not usually visible, but the Demon Essence would be ignited when he entered battle; therefore, in order to save him, I had to completely extract the drop of Blood Essence out of him, which was a difficult feat to pull off. Fortunately, it seems he didn’t willingly join Demon Heavenly Dao, so he subconsciously resisted this drop of Demon Blood and that’s why I was able to cure him. Despite this, before treating him, I knew that there’s only a fifty-fifty chance that he could survive.”
Upon hearing that, Yang Kai knitted his eyebrows together, “You mean, even if we catch more people from Demon Heavenly Dao in the future, it’s not guaranteed that they can be saved?”
Bai Zhuo shook his head, “I’m not capable enough to do so.”
He was a Half-Saint, but even he said that he wasn’t capable enough to handle this, and it wasn’t like they could look for Xue Li to help them. At the thought of this, Yang Kai heaved a sigh. Nevertheless, they had saved a person, which could serve as a bit of a consolation. Then, he turned to look at Du Juan, who was still unconscious, “How about her? Can she be saved?”
Bai Zhuo wouldn’t dare to make any promises so he simply said, “I’ll try my best.”
Yang Kai knew that there was nothing else he could do, so he turned to look at the middle-aged Emperor and asked, “What’s your name?”
The man lethargically replied, “Zhou Quan.”
After a talk, Yang Kai learned that Zhou Quan was an Elder in a medium-sized Sect in the Western Territory. When the war in the Western Territory broke out, he fell into the hands of the Demons because he tried to help his disciples escape. He thought that he was doomed, but unexpectedly, the Demons had only imprisoned him. Sometime later, a Master from the Demon Race brought him to a secret room and used some kind of Evil Secret Technique on him, after which he became a member of Demon Heavenly Dao.
That was why Bai Zhuo said that Zhou Quan hadn’t willingly joined Demon Heavenly Dao, he simply fell into the hands of the Demons because he wanted to save his disciples.
According to him, many cultivators who had been captured by Demons would be implanted with Blood Demon Blood Essence, which turned them into members of Demon Heavenly Dao. A large number of them couldn’t bear the Demon’s Blood Essence though and died directly.
Those who survived would become loyal to the Demons, as though they had transformed into entirely different people.
Now that the Blood Essence had been removed from Zhou Quan’s body, he became clear-headed again. Looking back, he couldn’t believe that he had worked under the Demons.
Despite the fact that he was weak, his eyes still turned bloodshot and he gnashed his teeth together as he spoke about it.
A smiling Yang Kai said, “There’s a chance for you to get your revenge. Do you dare to come with me?”
Zhou Quan immediately replied loudly, “Why wouldn’t I dare to? As long as I can kill those wretched Demons, this Zhou doesn’t mind losing his life! I was supposed to have passed away a few years ago anyway!”
“You won’t die. I just need you to bring me into the core of Demon Heavenly Dao.” Yang Kai put on a smile.
He had intended to infiltrate Demon Heavenly Dao, but he couldn’t find a way in. Now that Zhou Quan had been saved by Bai Zhuo, the chance presented itself.
Zhou Quan was an intelligent person, so his gaze brightened when he heard that, “Palace Master Yang, are you talking about the Four Seasons Realm?”
“That’s right. I’m just outside the Four Seasons Realm right now. To be honest with you, many people from Demon Heavenly Dao have gathered there.”
Zhou Quan nodded, “Good. I’ll go with you.”
“Good, rest for now though. I’ll summon you out of this place when the time is right.” Yang Kai turned his palm around and passed him a jade bottle, which contained some pills that could help him restore his strength.
Zhou Quan took it and thanked him before swallowing the pills and meditating.
The people in the valley were still very busy as the Array Master kept walking around and giving instructions to everyone. It seemed the array would be completed within a day or two.
At the break of dawn, they dispersed and returned to their respective hiding places.
At the same time, a thousand kilometres away from the Four Seasons Realm, Yang Kai revealed his figure and waved his hand, after which Zhou Quan appeared beside him.
“Palace Master Yang!” Zhou Quan cupped his fists. He had had a proper night’s rest, and although his face was still pale, he was already in a better state than he was on the previous night. At the very least, he could walk around with ease and protect himself.
Yang Kai briefly told him what had been going on near the Four Seasons Realm, then he said, “You’ll take the main role and I’ll follow you. There’s nothing else you need to do besides getting their acknowledgement and making them accept us.”
Zhou Quan replied, “That will be simple, Palace Master Yang. Just be ready when I signal you.”
“Good. Let’s go,” Yang Kai put on a smile.
Zhou Quan then led the way while Yang Kai followed from a short distance behind. At the same time, he put on some clothes that had been prepared beforehand to cover himself fully. He had no other choice because he was too famous in the Star Boundary. If he came across anyone who recognised him, his identity would be exposed.
Although Yang Kai’s outfit was rather dubious, he believed that there wouldn’t be any problem as long as he could handle it appropriately. After some days of observation, he realised that many of those from Demon Heavenly Dao had also put on disguises and some of them were even fully covered just like him. Apparently, even though these people were ordered to gather here, they wouldn’t want to expose their own background and identity, so his outfit didn’t look too out of place.
Finished with preparations, they headed straight to the entrance of the Four Seasons Realm in the mountain valley.
After flying for a bit, Yang Kai said with a gentle smile, “Brother Zhou, we’re trying to infiltrate the core of Demon Heavenly Dao, not kill all of them. Please curb your murderous intent.”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Quan took a series of deep breaths to calm himself down. After his murderous intent lightened, he said, “This Zhou can’t help getting furious whenever he thinks about what has happened to his fellow Sect members. Please forgive me, Palace Master Yang.”
Yang Kai replied, “I understand, and you’ll certainly get your revenge, just not today.”
Following that, they continued moving forward. After getting a reminder from Yang Kai, Zhou Quan managed to compose himself. When they reached the valley near the Four Seasons Realm entrance, they felt someone’s Divine Sense probing them.
Yang Kai could clearly feel that the Divine Sense was coming from a place where the Array Master was located. Before the big fish revealed himself, all the matters in this place were handled by the Array Master.
Zhou Quan turned to look in that direction while receiving Yang Kai’s message in his mind. Without hesitation, he led Yang Kai to head inside.
Soon, they reached a cave where there was a pale-faced, beardless and sturdy man standing at the entrance. He looked like a blade that had been unsheathed as his Sword Intent swirled around him, giving him a very dangerous vibe. He was also fairly powerful as he was in the Third-Order Emperor Realm. This man was the one who had been following the Array Master around to ensure his safety.
According to Yang Kai’s observation over the past few days, this man always remained in close proximity to the Array Master.
Seeing Zhou Quan and Yang Kai approaching, the pale-faced man was unfazed as just stared coldly at them.
When they arrived at the entrance, Zhou Quan remained silent and fished out a black token before tossing it over. The pale-faced man took the token and made sure that there was nothing wrong with it before passing it back to Zhou Quan. However, he didn’t seem to have the intention of stepping aside as he made a ‘next’ gesture with his hand.
Zhou Quan turned to look at Yang Kai, who got his hint and pushed his Demon Qi. At that instant, a thick layer of Demon Qi could be seen engulfing him.
Instead of exposing his High-Rank Demon King’s cultivation, Yang Kai only showed the aura of a Low-Rank Demon King. He wasn’t worried that anyone would see through him. Unless a person’s Soul cultivation was stronger than his, no one could see through his disguise.
As a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master, the pale-faced man was unable to do that.
Seeing that Yang Kai was able to reveal his Demon Qi, the pale-faced man set his mind at ease. All those from Demon Heavenly Dao possessed Demon Qi. Even if they didn’t know each other, they would know that they were from the same organisation by showing their Demon Qi. The token Zhou Quan had just fished out was just proof of his identity.
After Yang Kai revealed his Demon Qi, Zhou Quan said, “I was injured because I was ambushed on the way here, so it’s difficult for me to use any Secret Techniques right now.”
The Demon Blood in his body had been drawn out by Bai Zhuo, so there was no way he was able to reveal any Demon Qi; however, he indeed appeared severely injured, so there was nothing wrong with his statement.
In any case, Yang Kai had revealed his ‘identity’. Presently, no one in the Star Boundary was willing to side with anyone from Demon Heavenly Dao.
As expected, the pale-faced man didn’t doubt him as he frowned, “Who were the ones that ambushed you? Did you leave behind any traces?”
Zhou Quan lowered his head a little, “Rest assured, all of them are dead. However, the people who came with me were all killed. Now, only my Junior Brother and I remain.”
The pale-faced man gently nodded, “It’s fine. The two of you are enough. Come in and meet Grandmaster Sun before discussing anything else.”
After that, he turned around and led Zhou Quan and Yang Kai to move further into the cave.
The path in the cave became wider as they moved forward. Several dozen people had gathered inside the cave as they were busy arranging the Spirit Array alongside the Array Master, the ‘Grandmaster Sun’ that the pale-faced man had mentioned.
Presently, Grandmaster Sun had sat down cross-legged as he was adjusting his breathing. The pale-faced man brought Yang Kai and Zhou Quan to meet him and then spoke up. Following that, Grandmaster Sun nodded gently and said, “This King has asked all of you to come here to help me arrange this Grand Spirit Array. Now that the array is almost complete, just stay here to recuperate. In three days, I will require your assistance.”
“En, we will obey Grandmaster Sun’s command.” Zhou Quan replied, then he wanted to leave with Yang Kai.
When he was about to turn around, Grandmaster Sun suddenly stared at Yang Kai and asked, “Why has your Junior Brother covered himself up? What is he hiding?”
Zhou Quan cupped his fists, “My Junior Brother’s face was damaged in a fire when he was a young kid, so he isn’t willing to show his face.” He didn’t hesitate when he replied to him. Apparently, he had thought about this question before coming here.
Grandmaster Sun took one more look at Yang Kai, but he didn’t have the intention to harp on this issue. He didn’t have a problem with it since Yang Kai and Zhou Quan had passed the pale-faced man’s test. Earlier, he had just randomly asked a question.
On the other hand, the pale-faced man activated his Divine Sense in an attempt to find out whether what Zhou Quan had said was true, but there was no way he could see anything. Realising that Yang Kai’s face was blurred, he frowned and thought that the latter was wearing some kind of artifact. Since Grandmaster Sun didn’t pursue this matter though, he wasn’t willing to cause any trouble either.
Although there was a hiccup, they had passed the test. It seemed like a simple test, but if Yang Kai couldn’t show any Demon Qi, he wouldn’t have been able to come to this place. Those from Demon Heavenly Dao would never have expected that an oddity like Yang Kai existed.
However, this could only be used right now. When the fact that Yang Kai had returned to the Star Boundary was exposed, those from Demon Heavenly Dao would be alerted, and this trick would no longer work.
They found a quiet corner in the cave and sat down with their legs crossed. Zhou Quan’s wounds hadn’t healed yet, so he indeed needed to recuperate. On the other hand, Yang Kai was secretly observing the cultivation of the people around the cave.
In fact, he had figured everything out before coming here, but he knew that he had to be extra careful, and it wouldn’t cost a thing to have one more look.
Just now, Grandmaster Sun had said that they would be needed in three days. Yang Kai speculated that the array would be completed in three days, but he wasn’t sure what they would have to do when the array started operating.
Nanmen Da Jun said that this was a Summoning Array which might be used to call upon some kind of ferocious beast; however, was there such a beast in the Four Seasons Realm? Moreover, if they did this, they would have to pay a sufficient price. The Spirit Array was just a base, so what would the sacrifice be?
Could it be that those from Demon Heavenly Dao had to sacrifice themselves for this to work? It was unlikely but currently, it was the only possibility Yang Kai could think of.
Whatever the case, the truth would be revealed in three days, so Yang Kai could only wait patiently.
Over the following days, those from Demon Heavenly Dao lurked in their respective hiding places during the day, and would go out to finish the Spirit Array at night. However, Grandmaster Sun didn’t seem to have the intention of assigning any task to Yang Kai and Zhou Quan. First of all, they had expressed that they were injured, secondly, the array was about to be completed, so it didn’t matter if they participated or not. They just had to expend some energy when the array started running.
Hence, they managed to spend a few quiet days in the cave.
When the moon rose in the sky on the third night, Grandmaster Sun suddenly got to his feet. Yang Kai, who had been secretly observing him, realised that the latter had become evidently agitated. Grandmaster Sun took a deep breath and said loudly, “All of you, come with me.”
After he finished speaking, he shuffled out of the cave, followed swiftly by several dozen people.
Upon leaving the cave, Yang Kai realised that those from Demon Heavenly Dao, who had been hiding elsewhere in the valley, had all shown up.
In just a short moment, several hundred people had gathered together.
Grandmaster Sun swept a glance over them and said with a smile, “All Emperor Realm Masters, step forward!”
After he finished speaking, over twenty people stepped forward. Yang Kai and Zhou Quan were among them.
Seeing this, Grandmaster Sun nodded and lifted his hand as over twenty jade slips shot towards the corresponding Emperor Realm Masters. At the same time, he said, “These jade slips contain information on how to run the array and your respective positions in it. Memorise them.”
Yang Kai took the jade slip and infused his Divine Sense into it. Just like what Grandmaster Sun had said, the jade slip contained information on how to run the array and the position Yang Kai would have to take later.
All of them were supposedly going to use the same method to power the array, but the positions they had to take were different. Over twenty Emperor Realm Masters were required to run this array.
Regardless of the array’s use, this kind of setup was indeed incredible. It was no wonder that they had spent so much time and energy simply arranging the array.
Yang Kai took a look at Zhou Quan and sent him a message through his Divine Sense.
Zhou Quan imperceptibly nodded his head.
It wasn’t difficult to understand the method that had been branded in the jade slip. Those who could reach the Emperor Realm were not fools, so they memorised the instructions quickly.
Just then, Grandmaster Sun leapt into the air and landed on a spot before saying loudly, “We will definitely achieve our goal today. After that, I will reward all of you handsomely. Please assemble now!”
Upon hearing this, over twenty Emperor Realm Masters flew over and landed on their assigned spots.
Yang Kai and Zhou Quan were a few kilometres apart as they were standing in different directions. In that case, Yang Kai would be unable to protect the other should anything happen. However, he had used his Divine Sense to tell Zhou Quan to flee on his own should they fall into danger.
The array was about to be activated and all the Emperor Realm Masters were ready; however, Yang Kai was puzzled.
According to Nanmen Da Jun, a key was missing from this array. Over the past few days, he hadn’t seen Grandmaster Sun make any special preparations, so could the old man have placed the missing item down when Yang Kai wasn’t paying attention?
It was difficult to ask Nanmen Da Jun about it at this point, so Yang Kai could only see how things went. Furthermore, the big fish still hadn’t shown up, so he wondered whether his speculation was wrong, or the time hadn’t come yet.
The former outcome wouldn’t matter as he could easily kill all the people here despite their large number. If it was the latter, he would have to keep observing for now.
Things had come to such a point that Yang Kai didn’t find it necessary to be rushed. He wanted to find out what this array’s true purpose was.
While all the Emperor Realm Masters were standing on their respective spots, the other cultivators were ordered by Grandmaster Sun to head to the middle and sit down cross-legged. Several hundred cultivators were not a lot of people, but they looked intimidating when gathered together.
After everything was ready, Grandmaster Sun yelled in an agitated voice, “Begin!”
Upon hearing that, all Emperor Realm Masters started performing their own hand seals and circulating their power. At that instant, lights could be seen shining at their feet and then shot into the air, which illuminated the entire valley.
The dazzling lights soon curbed and turned into patterns in the array as they flowed towards the centre.
Right then, someone could be heard spraying out liquid from his mouth as the array started buzzing and trembling, as though he was about to collapse. The expression on Grandmaster Sun’s face changed as he turned to look in a particular direction, only to see that Zhou Quan had turned pale and he was staggering. The blood streaming out of his mouth suggested that he was the one who had sprayed out blood earlier.
Grandmaster Sun’s face fell when he saw that.
Feeling guilty, Zhou Quan said, “It’s because of my injury…”
Grandmaster Sun cut him off by calling him ‘waste’, then he motioned for the pale-faced man to replace him. This Spirit Array required everyone to join forces to activate it. Since there was a problem with Zhou Quan, it would affect the entire array. If they didn’t make up for it quickly, the array would fall apart in no time.
Fortunately, he still had a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master as his bodyguard who would be useful now.
The pale-faced man flew into the array before he clenched Zhou Quan’s collar and hurled him away. As he performed a hand seal, the array was soon put under control.
In the valley, the array patterns shone again and slowly began rotating. If anyone were to look at it from a bird’s-eye view, he would see that the patterns in the valley had formed into a huge Yin Yang symbol, which looked like two lively fish as they roamed around the valley.
Right then, a beam of lightning struck in the clear sky and a deafening thunder was heard. Following that, a person appeared out of thin air, hovering above the centre of the array.
Inside the array, Yang Kai became both elated and agitated because the person who appeared was a Pseudo-Great Emperor!
He almost couldn’t contain his urge to laugh. Over the past few days, he had been waiting patiently because he anticipated the arrival of a big fish like this man. When Grandmaster Sun was about to activate the array earlier, he thought that his speculation was wrong and there was no big fish at all. He almost decided to directly kill them all. Fortunately, he had waited for a while longer.
Now, it seemed that there was indeed a big fish behind all this, but this man had been extremely cautious and hidden his aura, lurking in the dark for a long time before showing up at the last moment.
Yang Kai secretly sized up this newcomer and realised that the person was elegantly dressed, as though he was a scholar of some kind. He also kept an amiable smile on his face all the time. Nobody who came across this person would think that he was from Demon Heavenly Dao.
In order not to expose himself, Yang Kai quickly retracted his gaze.
After that person appeared, Grandmaster Sun hurriedly saluted him, “Greetings, Wind Lord!”
Wind Lord lifted his hand, “Good work so far.”
Grandmaster Sun replied, “It is this Sun’s honour to work for Sir. Thanks are unnecessary.”
Wind Lord nodded, pleased with Grandmaster Sun’s attitude.
As Yang Kai listened to them, he immediately figured out who the person was. It had only been a short time since he returned to the Star Boundary, so he knew little about Demon Heavenly Dao. Despite the limited information he had, he knew that the leader of Demon Heavenly Dao was Night Shadow Great Emperor, Can Ye. Can Ye had Four Great Lords, whose names were Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain. All of them were Pseudo-Great Emperors.
Since this person was a Pseudo-Great Emperor, and Grandmaster Sun had called him Wind Lord, it was apparent that he was one of the Four Great Lords that worked directly under Can Ye.
There was no doubt that a big fish had been hooked. Yang Kai lowered his head as he was worried that his excited expression would expose him.
Grandmaster Sun went on to say, “Wind Lord, everything is prepared.”
“Very good.” Wind Lord put on a faint smile, “If this mission is successful, you’ll be the biggest contributor. This King will definitely put in a good word for you in front of my Master.”
An elated Grandmaster Sun hung his head low and cupped his fists, “Many thanks, Wind Lord!”
Without speaking further, Wind Lord turned solemn and lifted both his hands. His expression was that of a pilgrim who was holding a sacred item, but there was nothing in his palms.
The next moment, a piece of white bone that was about a palm’s length long and curved on both sides appeared in his grasp. There was nothing extraordinary about it as it wasn’t a treasure. Besides the fact that it wasn’t a bone from a precious beast, it also didn’t seem to have any spirituality.
However, Wind Lord was treating this bone as though it was the most precious item in the world.
Yang Kai frowned as he had no idea what the secret hidden behind the bone was. If he wasn’t mistaken, it should be a Human rib. Judging from the colour, the owner of the rib must have passed away a long time ago. It wasn’t certain how this ordinary-looking bone could remain intact until now.
After summoning the rib, Wind Lord suddenly lifted his hand and then forcefully pushed it down.
Below him was the spot where the hundreds of Demon Heavenly Dao’s disciples were meditating with their legs crossed. Presently, all of them had closed their eyes to adjust their breathing, so they couldn’t have expected that they would be killed.
These people were not even Emperor Realm Masters though, so even if they had figured out in advance that Wind Lord would make a move on them, they wouldn’t have been able to resist.
Following his strike, a gale turned into a tornado and engulfed all those below in an instant, drawing shrieks of pain and terror from below.
The over twenty Emperor Realm Masters had their expressions change drastically as they looked at Wind Lord in horror. Apparently, they had no idea Wind Lord would do such a thing. These disciples were brought over by them, but were all dead now. Why would Wind Lord kill them so ruthlessly?
Although they had been demonified and become part of Demon Heavenly Dao, they still treasured their lives. In a life-or-death moment like this, all they would consider were themselves.
Grandmaster Sun immediately bellowed, “All of you, settle down. If the array is interrupted now, all of you will suffer severe backlash. Wind Lord has obtained enough blood from the sacrifice, so your lives are not required. All you must do is help maintain the array.”
Regardless of whether what he had said was true or not, the Emperor Realm Masters relaxed slightly upon hearing this. However, they were still displeased that such information had been hidden from them until now.
They were also frustrated at the fact that this array couldn’t be interrupted without all of them suffering backlash.
The only person who was unfazed was Yang Kai, because he was powerful enough to battle against Wind Lord. Furthermore, this array indeed required Human lives as sacrifices. Yang Kai already had this speculation, but he hadn’t been certain. What Wind Lord had done had basically proved him right.
Inside the tornado, the shrieks only lasted a short time before they died down. Although there were hundreds of Demon Heavenly Dao’s disciples, they were totally no match for the Pseudo-Great Emperor and were all killed with just one strike.
Wind Lord curled his finger, after which a gap appeared in the tornado. Through the gap, a river of blood streamed out and was then drawn towards him before flowing into the rib in his hand.
As soon as the blood came into contact with the bone, it disappeared.
It was a very strange sight. There didn’t seem to be anything extraordinary about the piece of bone, but it was able to devour so much blood without its colour changing. The blood collected from hundreds of people was abundant, but under Wind Lord’s lead, it continuously streamed into the rib.
Gradually, the rib went through some changes. Some complicated patterns started appearing on the rib. It seemed that these patterns were already on the rib, but they were hidden by someone using an abstruse technique. Following what Wind Lord had done, they finally resurfaced.
Upon seeing the patterns, Wind Lord became excited. As the bone kept devouring the blood, more patterns appeared and slowly covered the entire rib. At the same time, a very special aura started exuding from it.
Yang Kai shuddered and his expression was transformed by horror. Although the aura was weak, he could clearly feel that it belonged to a Great Emperor!
After so much blood was devoured, many patterns started appearing on the ordinary-looking rib, which was now exuding a Great Emperor’s aura.
Initially, Yang Kai thought that he was mistaken, but the aura slowly got stronger.
The reason it had turned weak was that a long time had passed since the true owner of this rib died. Despite that, the core power within the bone never changed.
Yang Kai was dumbfounded. He was already surprised that a big fish had taken the bait, but he couldn’t have expected such a turn of events.
A Great Emperor’s aura wouldn’t appear for no reason. Since it had something to do with the rib, it meant that the bone belonged to one of the Great Emperors!
[Who? Who does it belong to?]
He had met all ten Great Emperors of the Star Boundary, and he had also come into contact with Heaven Devouring Great Emperor, Wu Kuang, so he was certain that this rib didn’t belong to any of the Great Emperors he knew because the aura didn’t match.
Since it wasn’t a rib from the present Great Emperors, it meant that it must belong to one of the Great Emperors from the past.
All of a sudden, a Great Emperor’s name sprang into Yang Kai’s mind.
Just then, Wind Lord abruptly grunted.
Yang Kai shot him a secret glance and realised that the rib in Wind Lord’s hand was buzzing and shaking, as though it was about to fly away. Certainly, Wind Lord wouldn’t allow that to happen, so he grabbed the bone instead and firmly held it in his right hand.
The bone was still shaking, and a grunt was heard again. Yang Kai could clearly see that Wind Lord’s right hand, which was holding the rib, was ageing rapidly as his skin withered and became dull.
At that instant, it seemed that a thousand years had passed for his right hand.
It was then Yang Kai became certain that his speculation was right. They were now at the entrance of the Four Seasons Realm, and the person related to this place was none other than Flowing Time Great Emperor!
It wasn’t certain how Wind Lord managed to obtain one of the ribs from Flowing Time Great Emperor, but he had summoned others to arrange a Grand Array here and used some kind of Evil Secret Technique to reignite the hidden spirituality in the bone. It was apparent that he had a very aggressive goal.
Although many years had passed, and it was just a rib, the power of the Great Emperor’s Time Principles had been branded into every part of his body. The Power of Time within the rib was still enough to make Wind Lord suffer a setback.
Wind Lord was a Pseudo-Great Emperor while Flowing Time Great Emperor was someone who had passed away countless years ago; however, only a single rib from the Great Emperor’s body was able to manifest so much power, so his capabilities were obviously inconceivable. It was no wonder people always said that throughout the history of the Star Boundary, only Flowing Time Great Emperor was an equal match for Heaven Devouring Great Emperor, Wu Kuang. Nevertheless, they were not born in the same era; otherwise, there would’ve been an epic competition for the top position.
Although Flowing Time Great Emperor’s rib was powerful, it was ultimately a dead object; therefore, Wind Lord was able to resist it. As he pushed his immense Demon Qi to resist the Time Principles within the bone, his withered right hand started restoring in a rapid manner. Seeing that, he sneered and raised the bone in his hand.
At that instant, all the lights in the valley seemed to focus on that single rib. Wind Lord performed a hand seal with one hand, and as his figure contorted, he flew down to the array, standing at its core. In just a moment, the Great Emperor’s bone became an indispensable part of the array.
Following that, the over twenty Emperor Realm Masters pushed their Demon Qi into the array and infused it into the rib.
Just then, all the Emperor Realm Masters were startled while Yang Kai’s expression changed.
That was because when the array became complete, everyone could feel that they had become a part of the array. Their energy streamed into the array and flowed around before entering the Great Emperor’s bone.
The situation was just like what Grandmaster Sun had said. Once the Spirit Array started running, no one could stop it as they pleased; otherwise, they would suffer a serious backlash. The power of the backlash was equivalent to a collective strike from all the Emperor Realm Masters attached to the array, so no one could resist it.
Even Wind Lord wouldn’t be able to parry the strike.
Yang Kai felt frustrated as he was just here to find out the intention of those from Demon Heavenly Dao. Earlier, he joined the array just to conceal his identity; however, he hadn’t expected that he would be in a tight spot now, which was quite embarrassing for him.
Although he was powerful, and his Half-Dragon body was incredibly tough, he would still end up in a miserable state if he were to bear the array’s backlash. Nevertheless, he was displeased at the thought that he would have to spend so much effort to maintain the array for Demon Heavenly Dao.
Even though it looked like a deadlock, there was still a way to resolve the situation. Yang Kai came up with several possible solutions before he managed to calm down and decided to keep observing until the critical moment.
The array’s power continued flowing into the Great Emperor’s bone as the spirituality within the rib was slowly awakened. The Great Emperor’s aura became thicker and more conspicuous. Time Principles were wreaking havoc in a particular space in the sky as the flow of time alternated between fast and slow, which made that area of space warp unnaturally.
When the aura around the bone reached its peak, a glint flashed across the eyes of the unmoving Wind Lord as he shouted, “Open!”
With the bone in his right hand, he pointed at the space in front of him. Following that, a ripple spread from that region of space. With the bone as the centre, it expanded as more ripples continuously spread out, which made the area look somewhat surreal.
In the bizarre-looking space, something massive slowly took shape.
Initially, the contours of the object were very blurred, so no one could tell what it was. It was like a mirage, but as Wind Lord continued channelling his technique and forming new hands seals, the image quickly became clear.
All the Emperor Realm Masters, who were sustaining the array, looked up in horror as they couldn’t move their eyes away from the contour.
It was apparently the contour of a palace. Wind Lord was pulling out a gigantic palace from the Void. As the palace became clear, everyone was engulfed by an incredible pressure. It was as though Wind Lord was drawing out a ferocious beast instead of a palace, and it was going to devour everyone at the scene.
Grandmaster Sun guffawed and yelled, “The almighty Wind Lord has drawn out the Flowing Time Temple! Demon Heavenly Dao will unify the entire Star Boundary and rule over it for eternity!”
[Flowing Time Temple! It’s really the Flowing Time Temple!] It wasn’t until this moment that all the Emperor Realm Masters realised what palace Wind Lord had just pulled out from the Void. It was the legendary palace of Flowing Time Great Emperor, Flowing Time Temple!
They were aware that they were in a valley where the entrance of the Four Seasons Realm was located, so it wasn’t that strange for the Flowing Time Temple to appear from inside the Void. Nevertheless, it wasn’t until this moment that they realised what an important event it was that they had just participated in. At that instant, all of them were excited, as they knew that they would be rewarded handsomely in the future for their efforts. The hundreds of disciples who were killed by Wind Lord as sacrifices didn’t matter anymore.
Yang Kai played along and pretended to be agitated. As he stared at the familiar Flowing Time Temple, he thought that what Nanmen Da Jun had said was right.
The Spirit Array Grandmaster Sun had arranged was indeed a Summoning Array, but he intended to summon Flowing Time Temple from the Four Seasons Realm instead of some beast.
The cultivators from Demon Heavenly Dao were truly greedy as they even had their eye on the palace of Flowing Time Great Emperor. Nevertheless, Can Ye was a Great Emperor himself. Although the Flowing Time Temple was an amazing treasure, it might not be useful to him at all. However, it was a different case for Wind Lord. As a Pseudo-Great Emperor, if he were able to obtain the Flowing Time Temple, he might stand a chance to comprehend the secrets of Time Principles and reach the peak of the Grand Dao. That was the reason why Wind Lord was in charge of this matter instead of Can Ye.
Furthermore, Nanmen Da Jun had said that a key item was missing from this Spirit Array, which was now obviously the Great Emperor’s bone in Wind Lord’s hand.
The Flowing Time Temple was hidden within the Four Seasons Realm, but it wouldn’t open up before the time came; however, a bone from Flowing Time Great Emperor could be used to communicate with it.
With over twenty Emperor Realm Masters infusing their energy into the array, and using Flowing Time Great Emperor’s bone as a medium, Wind Lord was able to pull off such a feat even though he was just a Pseudo-Great Emperor. Those from Demon Heavenly Dao had an ambitious goal, and they were willing to spend lots of time and effort to accomplish their objectives.
As the huge palace became clear as every brick and tile exuded an ancient aura, Yang Kai slowly closed his eyes.
Finally, he understood what those from Demon Heavenly Dao were up to. He had been holding back for a long time for a moment like this.
Swiftly, he communicated with the Small Sealed World using his Divine Sense, and as he opened his eyes again, a murderous intent could be seen brimming from his gaze.
All of a sudden, three figures appeared around Yang Kai. One of the figures directly pounced on the Emperor Realm Masters closest to Yang Kai, while the other two figures launched themselves at Wind Lord.
Three Half-Saints had joined forces for a surprise attack, so no one was able to resist them. At the very least, the Emperor Realm Master closest to Yang Kai was unable to parry the attack. He was only a First-Order Emperor Realm, and he was engrossed in watching the manifestation of the Flowing Time Temple in the sky, so he had never expected that the person beside him would summon someone to attack him.
Nevertheless, even if he had figured it out in advance, he wouldn’t have the power to resist.
When Bai Ya reached him and extended his finger, that person then appeared shocked and turned to look at Bai Ya as he wondered why a man had appeared out of thin air.
Bai Ya didn’t have any murderous intent at all as his intention was to destroy the array; however, when his finger came into contact with that person, the latter exploded into mist without even a chance to grunt. In an instant, he was killed and not even a single bone was left.
It wasn’t that Bai Ya had killed him. Instead, he had lost his life due to the backlash of the array. As a First-Order Emperor Realm Master, he was unable to parry the collective strike from over twenty Emperor Realm Masters.
Besides him, Bai Ya was also sent flying backwards like a wet rag. The Demon Qi around him undulated as he coughed up some blood in mid-air before he landed on the ground, looking quite battered.
One by one, the Emperor Realm Masters in the array grunted and suffered backlash as well. The stronger ones only felt dizzy and staggered, while the weaker ones sprayed out blood and collapsed to the ground.
When the backlash broke out, no one was spared. It seemed that Grandmaster Sun didn’t lie to them.
However, the backlash didn’t have the same effect on everyone. The stronger cultivators were able to bear it while the weaker cultivators were most severely affected, especially the one who was disturbed by Bai Ya’s finger. It could be said that he had destroyed the array, so the backlash he was stricken with was the harshest. That was why he exploded on the spot.
The backlash did not spare Yang Kai either as he began seeing stars and felt dizzy.
Fortunately, the Soul Warming Lotus in his Knowledge Sea exuded lights of seven colours and swept a cooling sensation over him, which allowed him to pull himself together.
However, he was shocked when he looked up.
While Bai Ya was destroying the array, the Embodiment and Bai Zhuo had pounced on Wind Lord. Both Half-Saints were fairly powerful. Bai Zhuo was one of the Half-Saints who worked under Yu Ru Meng, and it had been a long time since he reached his current realm, so his foundation was solid. On the other hand, even though the Embodiment was a new Half-Saint, he had the body of a Stone Spirit and had obtained Shi Huo’s Source. Furthermore, he had cultivated the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, so his heritage was immense as well. Either one of them was an equal match for Wind Lord, so the expected result was them easily defeating the latter when they worked together.
Hence, Yang Kai thought that even if Wind Lord wouldn’t lose the battle that quickly, he would be in a terrible state as the Embodiment and Bai Zhuo could easily suppress him. When Bai Ya managed to pull himself together, it would be three people against one, and if Yang Kai also joined the battle, they could easily defeat Wind Lord.
However, reality was different from what Yang Kai had imagined. At this moment, the Embodiment and Bai Zhuo were just three hundred metres away from Wind Lord; however, Bai Zhuo was rooted to the spot, still in a lunging posture.
It wasn’t that he had frozen in place as he was still moving forward, but his speed was incredibly slow. Judging from his current speed, it would take him at least three years before he reached Wind Lord.
On the other hand, the Embodiment reached Wind Lord and launched into an intense battle with him. Both of their movements were unbelievably fast, far beyond what they should have been capable of. In fact, their movements were accelerated manifolds by an invisible power. In the blink of an eye, they had traded several thousands of moves as the world seemed to be shaking and explosions happened everywhere due to their battle.
Countless afterimages had been left behind as well, and at first glance, it was as though an innumerable number of Embodiments and Wind Lords were clashing all at once.
If it wasn’t for Yang Kai’s powerful cultivation, he wouldn’t have been able to see what was happening at all.
On one hand, the Embodiment and Wind Lord were unbelievably fast, while on the other hand, Bai Zhuo was incredibly slow. The stark contrast looked very odd to the beholder.
With just one look, Yang Kai immediately understood that the time within a radius of three hundred metres around Wind Lord had been warped, which caused this kind of fantastical scene. At this moment, what was perceived from the outsider’s perspective, was not the same as what was perceived by those inside the field.
This had something to do with the Great Emperor’s bone instead of Wind Lord’s own power.
Without hesitating, Yang Kai leapt into the air and launched himself at Wind Lord.
He sported a solemn expression as his Demon Qi swirled around him. With a thick layer of Demon Qi that had engulfed him, he performed a hand seal with both hands and yelled, “Time Flows on Infinitely, Like a Mighty Stream, Like an Unending Dream!”
Just three hundred metres away from the battle, Yang Kai pushed out his palms.
In an instant, time and space around Wind Lord became orderly again. Although Yang Kai wasn’t an expert in the Dao of Time, he knew a thing or two about it. His Divine Ability, Time Flies Seal, was inherited from Flowing Time Great Emperor, and it was good enough to resist the disruptive power of the Great Emperor’s bone.
At the same time, Bai Zhuo broke free from the chains of Time Principles. As he howled and lifted his hand, a blood river shot towards Wind Lord. In the blood river, wraiths could be seen rolling and wailing, which gave off a horrifying aura.
The Embodiment extended his hand and summoned out the Demonic War Hammer. Following that, he brandished his hammer at Wind Lord.
Two Half-Saints and one High-Rank Demon King used their Divine Abilities and attacked Wind Lord. The power of their collective strike was stunning.
The turn of events caused Wind Lord’s expression to change drastically. As a Pseudo-Great Emperor, he had incredibly sharp senses, so he knew that both the Embodiment and Bai Zhuo were not easy to deal with. There was also Bai Ya who was sent flying backwards after suffering from the array’s backlash. Now, there were three Half-Saints ganged up on him, how was he supposed to battle against them?
At such a critical moment, a thought sprang into his mind as he stared at Yang Kai and bellowed through clenched teeth, “Yang Kai!”
As one of the Four Great Lords in Demon Heavenly Dao, he was able to gather information that most people wouldn’t have access to. When Yang Kai, Yu Ru Meng, and the others returned from the Demon Realm, they had come across Can Ye in the Two Worlds’ Passage, so Night Shadow Great Emperor spread the news. Wind Lord obtained this information from Can Ye directly.
Hence, he wouldn’t doubt why Half-Saints from the Demon Race would make a move against him because he knew that they were enemies.
He indeed lived up to his status as a Pseudo-Great Emperor as he was able to remain unfazed. As a thought flashed across his mind, a gale was suddenly formed. Following that, countless wind blades swirled around him and served as a protective shield. At the same time, he summoned a shuttle-shaped artifact and hurled it at Bai Zhuo.
The artifact was only a palm’s length long and it looked very ordinary; however, Bai Zhuo hurriedly stopped in his tracks as though he was facing a formidable foe. Then, the blood river returned to protect him.
With a loud boom, the shuttle-shaped artifact exploded and caused the blood river to scatter apart. As a consequence, Bai Zhuo staggered back more than a thousand metres, looking quite battered.
Wind Lord lifted his hand again and pressed his palm against the Embodiment’s Demonic War Hammer. Upon impact, the Embodiment was sent flying backwards while Wind Lord turned into a gust of wind and easily neutralized the violent attack.
In the blink of an eye, Wind Lord was able to push back two Half-Saints, so it was apparent that he was truly powerful.
On the other hand, Yang Kai managed to land his Time Flies Seal on Wind Lord’s chest.
Wind Lord grunted as his facial features contorted. His face could be seen ageing rapidly, but it soon stopped, and his face was quickly restored to its original state. Although the Time Flies Seal was a powerful technique, it would be rendered useless if the difference in strength was too great.
Wind Lord was a Pseudo-Great Emperor, and he was even able to resist the corrosion of Time Principles within the Great Emperor’s bone, so it was expected that he could counter Time Flies Seal as well.
Nevertheless, he wasn’t totally fine. Yang Kai’s attack had slightly injured him.
Just then, the Embodiment and Bai Zhuo returned while Bai Ya suppressed the turbulent vitality in his body and flew over. The entire sky seemed to be filled with the three Half-Saints’ murderous intent as Yang Kai cast Time Flies Seal again.
Wind Lord appeared helpless. He was able to parry the collective attack by two Half-Saints and Yang Kai once, but he couldn’t do it again. Moreover, Bai Ya joined the battle this time.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t strong, but rather that he was facing four opponents, who were all individually his equal. He had some Emperor Realm Masters who worked for him, but due to the Spirit Array’s backlash, they were either dead or injured, so they were useless right now. The only healthy one was Grandmaster Sun, but he was an Array Master, so he wasn’t adept at fighting. Clenching his teeth, he blamed Yang Kai and the others for being shameless as they oppressed him with more people on their side, which wasn’t what top cultivators were supposed to do; however, he didn’t intend to raise the white flag here. With determination written all over his face, he bit his tongue and sprayed his Blood Essence on the Great Emperor’s bone.
A dazzling light shone as a golden character shot out of the Great Emperor’s bone. The character looked odd, and no one could recognise what it was.
Yang Kai and the others had their expressions changed. Even though they couldn’t recognise this character, they could feel a very dangerous aura coming from it. At the critical moment, Yang Kai narrowed his eyes and charged forward instead of retreating, sending out his Time Flies Seal again. At the same time, the Embodiment wielded his Demonic War Hammer while Bai Zhuo and Bai Ya used their respective Divine Abilities.
Right then, a golden light flashed across their eyes as all their minds seemed to have turned blank.
When Yang Kai recovered a moment later, he realised that Wind Lord’s face had aged slightly. He looked like a thirty-year-old man previously, but he now looked like he was in his forties.
The Time Flies Seal had dispersed while the attacks from the Embodiment, Bai Ya, and Bai Zhuo disappeared as well. Just now, only a breath of time seemed to have passed, but none of them knew what had happened during that brief period.
Wind Lord, whose appearance seems to have aged by ten years, sported an inscrutable smile.
As a thought flashed across Yang Kai’s mind, he quickly examined himself, and upon making sure that he was fine, he set his mind at ease. However, he was still drenched in cold sweat. Just now, Wind Lord must have done something, but no one saw it or detected it.
Then, he turned to look at the Half-Saints and found the problem.
Bai Zhuo was rooted to the spot as he was as unmoving as a sculpture. There was a faint golden glow on his chest. It was apparent that he was struck by an attack!
Bai Ya realised the problem earlier than he did and with a dark expression, he said, “He’s not dead.”
Indeed, the vitality within Bai Zhuo was still vibrant, and there was no trace of any injury on him; however, for some reason, he had become as stiff as a statue.
The golden character that had flown out from the Great Emperor’s bone had vanished as well. Certainly, the state Bai Zhuo was in must have something to do with that golden character.
“Are you still going to fight?” Wind Lord put on a smile as though he was certain that he would win, “All of you will lose your lives here. Flee now, and perhaps you can live a while longer.”
“Kill!” Yang Kai bellowed in response, swinging his arms widely, sending out a Moon Blade towards Wind Lord. At the same time, the Embodiment and Bai Ya launched themselves at Wind Lord from opposite sides.
Once more, Wind Lord spat a mouthful of Blood Essence on the Great Emperor’s bone.
Seeing this, Yang Kai widened his eyes in disbelief. The strange golden character which contained an immense power appeared once more. Apparently, it was a Divine Ability hidden in the Great Emperor’s bone. Even though Bai Zhuo had been petrified, it wouldn’t affect the situation as Yang Kai still had two Half-Saints with him; however, he hadn’t expected that Wind Lord could use the same trick more than once. It seemed that they were powerless to counter his attack.
Although Wind Lord had sacrificed his own Blood Essence to launch this strike, he was able to petrify a Half-Saint with the golden character. If he kept coughing up mouthfuls of Blood Essence, all of them would be doomed.
The Great Emperor’s bone shone again as the golden character shot out. Just like what had happened earlier, when the golden character appeared, all their minds seemed to freeze.
When Yang Kai came to his senses, he realised that he and the Embodiment were still fine; however, just like Bai Zhuo, Bai Ya had turned into a sculpture. The price Wind Lord had to pay was that he had aged even more. Earlier, he was an elegant-looking middle-aged man, but now, he had become an old man in his fifties or sixties.
Yang Kai stared at the bone in Wind Lord’s hand with narrowed eyes and said grimly, “If you’re still able to use the same trick one more time, I’ll cut my head off for you!”
Wind Lord coughed and shook his head with a bitter smile, “Palace Master Yang’s vision is indeed sharp. Given my ability, I’m only able to use this move twice.”
It wasn’t that Yang Kai had the eyes of an eagle, it was just that after the golden character appeared for the second time, a lot of small cracks started appearing on the Great Emperor’s bone. Obviously, this kind of move would also damage the Great Emperor’s rib, and it couldn’t be used for a third time.
Yang Kai arrogantly lifted his chin and said callously, “Come then. How would you like to die?”
At this moment, he was completely incensed. They were in an advantageous position as they had more people on their side, so supposedly, it shouldn’t have been hard for them to capture this Pseudo-Great Emperor. However, their opponent managed to strike first and petrify Bai Zhuo and Bai Ya. The two Half-Saints still had very strong vitality and there were no signs that they were wounded. Nevertheless, no one knew what kind of Divine Ability the golden character was, all Yang Kai knew was that he would have to spend a lot of time and effort to undo its effects.
That was the reason Yang Kai was infuriated. However, they were still in a favourable position presently. Wind Lord had activated the Great Emperor’s Divine Ability twice and he had paid a hefty price. On the other hand, Yang Kai and the Embodiment were still in top form. If they got into a fight, there was no way Wind Lord would be able to defeat them.
Despite being in an unfavourable position, Wind Lord still kept a smile on his face, “Palace Master Yang, are you sure you’ll win? Although I can’t use the same move again, it doesn’t mean I’m weak. Please think twice before you decide to make things difficult for me.”
Yang Kai snorted, “Cripple your cultivation and this King might consider letting you off.”
Wind Lord shook his head and burst into laughter, “Palace Master Yang, you think too highly of yourself.”
As he spoke, he raised the slightly cracked bone in his hand, “There’s still a Secret Technique in this bone; however, I wouldn’t want to use it unless I’m left with no other choice. So, I’d like to discuss terms with you.”
“No need. We are enemies and cannot be friends. Today, either you die or we perish!”
Appearing to be helpless, Wind Lord lowered his head and fell into his thoughts for a moment before he gazed at Yang Kai and asked, “Palace Master Yang, do you insist on forcing this King?”
“Pass me the Great Emperor’s bone and I may consider letting you off.”
Wind Lord shook his head, “No. Other than that, we can discuss anything else.”
“There’s no need for a discussion, then.” After Yang Kai finished speaking, his figure blurred. The next moment, he already reached Wind Lord as he pushed out a finger at him.
Yang Kai had exerted all his might in this finger. It wasn’t a Divine Ability or a Secret Technique; however, if a Pseudo-Great Emperor was struck with this attack, there was no way he would still be fine.
The Embodiment and Yang Kai had their Souls connected, so as soon as Yang Kai made a move, the Embodiment appeared behind Wind Lord. As Demon Qi swirled around his Demonic War Hammer, he attempted to smash it down.
This time, Wind Lord didn’t spray out some Blood Essence, nor did a golden character appear from the Great Emperor’s bone. However, at the critical moment, he flashed a smile at Yang Kai.
At that instant, Yang Kai was alarmed as he pushed his finger forward faster. Even the Embodiment became more ferocious as he wielded his Demonic War Hammer.
Just then, a snapping sound was heard as an invisible power engulfed Wind Lord.
The sound came from Flowing Time Great Emperor’s rib bone in the Wind Lord’s hands. The palm-length rib bone suddenly shattered in half. The first half turned into fine dust and scattered away.
At the same time, Yang Kai sensed that the Wind Lord was suddenly tens of thousands of kilometres away from him even though he had clearly been within arm’s reach…
Both his full-powered attack and the Embodiment’s Demonic War Hammer smashed into nothing but empty space. Yang Kai lifted his gaze and saw that the Wind Lord’s body had blended into the outline of the Flowing Time Temple. It was as though the Wind Lord had entered another world and was staring back at him through the transparent layer of the World Barrier that separated them.
Standing under the plaque of the Flowing Time Temple situated in front of the magnificent gate, the Wind Lord gritted his teeth with a terrifying expression and shouted, “Yang Kai, how dare you ruin this King’s plans!? This King swears to obliterate High Heaven Palace once he emerges from retreat!”
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes at those words. How could he not know that the Wind Lord had entered the Four Seasons Realm? It was not easy to open the Four Seasons Realm before the predetermined time. Be that as it may, Qiong Qi had managed to enter that place, which would mean that the Sealed World had not been completely isolated. There were other ways to enter, and Wind Lord had mastered one of those methods.
The outline of the Flowing Time Temple that was gradually being revealed had frozen mid-motion when the Spirit Array was interrupted just now; however, the Flowing Time Temple became indistinct and vanished from sight again when Wind Lord used Flowing Time Great Emperor’s remains in his hands as a medium to send himself into the Four Seasons Realm.
Wind Lord had set up a Spirit Array before coming here with that rib bone. His original plan was to summon the Flowing Time Temple from the Four Seasons Realm and refine it into his own palace. Unfortunately, that plan had been ruined by Yang Kai and the Demon Race Half-Saints he brought with him. The original plan was no longer viable as a result. Hence, Wind Lord had no choice but to settle for second best and entered the Flowing Time Temple himself instead. That was why he resented Yang Kai so deeply and left behind such hateful words.
Looking at the situation, the Sealed World of the Four Seasons Realm would be completely isolated from the Star Boundary the moment the outline of the Flowing Time Temple disappeared completely.
Meanwhile, the Flowing Time Temple faded away quickly. The outline had almost completely disappeared in the time the Wind Lord took to finish his last threat.
Yang Kai stepped forward, Space Principles surging around his body as his Divine Sense spread outward like the flowing tide. At the same time, he shouted, “Stay here!”
Those words were directed at the Embodiment. The reason Yang Kai couldn’t enter the Four Seasons Realm previously was that he could not find any weaknesses in the World Barrier around it. However, a small connection currently remained between the Four Seasons Realm and the Star Boundary thanks to the power of Wind Lord and the rib bone. With his mastery over the Dao of Space, this slight and practically undetectable connection was enough for Yang Kai to break through the World Barrier of the Sealed World, enter the Four Seasons Realm, and pursue his enemy.
Regardless of what Wind Lord was plotting, he was still one of the Four Great Lords of the Demon Heavenly Dao. Yang Kai could not turn a blind eye to the situation now that he had encountered him. Not to mention, those that he was looking for were still inside the Four Seasons Realm.
He could give chase, but the Embodiment could not go with him. Bai Zhuo and Bai Ya had been hit by the Great Emperor’s Divine Ability which had turned them into motionless statues. Somebody needed to stay and look after them. Although he could place Bai Zhuo and Bai Ya into the Small Sealed World, the Emperor Realm Masters of Demon Heavenly Dao were not all dead yet, so the Embodiment had to stay back and deal with the clean-up.
Upon hearing those words, the Embodiment understood that the situation did not allow him to follow Yang Kai; thus, he immediately nodded, “Be careful.”
Nobody knew better than him just what his main body was capable of; therefore, he was not too worried even though Wind Lord was a Pseudo-Great Emperor. Not to mention, Wind Lord had activated the Divine Ability hidden within that rib bone of Flowing Time Great Emperor twice. This would have exhausted a lot of his energy, so how much strength he could exert right now remained questionable.
Furthermore, the two children, Yang Xue and Yang Xiao, were not the only ones inside the Four Seasons Realm. Masters such as Liu Yan and Qiong Qi were there too. Wind Lord might be unaware, but how could the Embodiment not know? Wind Lord had assumed that he would be safe if he could just escape into the Four Seasons Realm, but the reality was that he had barged right into the lion’s den. [I wonder how Wind Lord will react when he meets them inside the Four Seasons Realm? He will obviously be… rather pleasantly surprised, I guess.]
The best thing about communicating with the Embodiment was that Yang Kai did not need to use many words to get his point across. All they needed was a single thought to understand each other’s thoughts.
Nevertheless, the outline of the Flowing Time Temple had completely disappeared in the time it took for Yang Kai to speak that sentence. Wind Lord’s figure had also disappeared along with it. The connection between the Four Seasons Realm and the Star Boundary was about to be severed.
Space Principles fluctuated wildly as Yang Kai took three steps forward. He remained in place for the first two steps, looking as though he had not taken a single step forward. It was an extremely strange sight to behold. On the third step though, he somehow vanished without warning.
The Embodiment lost his mental connection with Yang Kai at the same time, so he understood that Yang Kai had entered the Four Seasons Realm.
The battle between a Pseudo-Great Emperor and the Half-Saints began abruptly and ended just as hastily. It wasn’t until this moment that Grandmaster Sun, who had been watching from the sidelines all this while, suddenly turn paled and tried to flee.
A figure was already blocking his way though. Zhou Quan’s expression was icy, and he held two enormous copper hammers in his hands. His posture gave off the impression that he could hold back an army of thousands all by himself as he questioned, “Grandmaster Sun, where do you think you are going?”
When the Spirit Array had been activated, Zhou Quan had circulated his Emperor Qi the reverse and forced himself to cough up a mouthful of blood. He had managed to escape from the Spirit Array with that method thanks to a suggestion Yang Kai had given him. Otherwise, it would have been difficult for him to leave once the Spirit Array was fully operational.
Looking at the fate of all the other Emperor Realm Masters lying on the ground at the moment, it was easy to tell that if somebody with as low a cultivation as himself had been caught in the Spirit Array, they would either be dead or gravely injured by now. Escaping early had allowed him to remain alive. As such, he was in the best condition among all the other Emperor Realm Masters present, except for Grandmaster Sun.
Although Grandmaster Sun was also a First-Order Emperor Realm Master with profound knowledge in Spirit Arrays, his combat power was quite poor. A Demon Race Half-Saint had been glaring at him from the side in the first place, and now his escape route was blocked by Zhou Quan, so he immediately looked panicked. Putting on a strong act though, he threatened, “Make way, or this King won’t spare you.”
Zhou Quan shook his head slowly, “It’s best if Grandmaster Sun remains here until Palace Master Yang returns.”
He did not immediately move to kill, as his own experience was the best example. As long as they could remove the Blood Demon’s Blood Essence from the body, those of Demon Heavenly Dao would be able to recover their original selves and stop serving the Demon Race. Unless those people had sincerely and voluntarily joined the Demon Race’s side, most who had their dispositions modified by the Evil Secret Technique would greatly regret their actions and repent. Zhou Quan did not know about the others, but he had heard people saying that Grandmaster Sun had been captured by the Demon Race and subjected to the Evil Secret Technique.
Seeing that words were useless, Grandmaster Sun made a decisive move. He tossed a Jade Token into the air and aimed it at Zhou Quan. The method commonly used by Array Masters in a fight was to summon Array Plates. The Spirit Array sealed in the Array Plate was quick and convenient to activate after all.
Zhou Quan waited attentively. Before the Array Plate flew in front of him, a figure appeared out of nowhere and grabbed it. He looked over and saw that it was one of the helpers Yang Kai had summoned previously.
Squeezing slightly, the Array Plate exploded in a cloud of dust. A violent burst of energy spilled out from the Embodiment’s hands, but it did not harm him one bit.
Grandmaster Sun’s expression changed drastically at the sight, and he took out a few more Array Plates.
The Embodiment couldn’t be bothered to fight with Grandmaster Sun, so with a quick rush, he threw a punch and smashed Grandmaster Sun into an unconscious heap on the ground.
Zhou Quan watched by the side, cold sweat dripping down his back… When one was strong enough, fighting seemed so simple and violent at the same time.
……
Yang Kai appeared leisurely inside the Sealed World that was isolated from the outside world but saw neither hide nor hair of the Flowing Time Temple or Wind Lord. Although he had immediately chased after Wind Lord, a difference of a single step was equivalent to several thousand kilometres when moving through the Void; therefore, the current situation was not surprising. He came to the Four Seasons Realm once before when his cultivation was still very low. In contrast, he was a Third-Order Emperor now when he came back.
The Four Seasons Realm originally did not allow cultivators above the Dao Source Realm to enter. The Sealed World had its own Principles that all should be subjected to unless a person was able to surpass the limits of these Principles.
However, Qiong Qi had opened one of the back doors to this place previously and brought Liu Yan into this place. And now, Wind Lord had barged into this space with the remains of the Great Emperor who created this place, in his hands. As a result, the Principles governing the cultivation restriction had been broken. If not for that, Yang Kai would not have been able to enter this place safely.
Nevertheless, this place was indeed the Four Seasons Realm. Glancing around, he had the vague feeling that the surrounding scenery seemed very familiar. He probably came here before in the past. Mulling over it some more, it suddenly dawned on him.
[This was the Two Seasons Mountain Range!]
The Four Seasons Realm was divided into four major domains, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. The Two Seasons Mountain Range ran through the entire Four Seasons Realm, dividing the world into four domains. For that reason, the left side and the right side of the Two Seasons Mountain Range experienced two different seasons. It was very mysterious.
Upon recognizing his current position, Yang Kai concentrated on recalling where The Flowing Time Temple was located. Then, he flew off after determining the correct direction. He had only taken a single step forward when he suddenly froze mid-motion with a look of shock on his face. That was because the environment around him had changed drastically with that one step he took.
When he first entered this place, it had been scorching hot, as though in the middle of summer. To his surprise, the scorching heat instantly disappeared after he took that step. It was immediately replaced by a cold wind whistling in his ears and a blanket of white snow covering everything in his vision. He seemed to have walked right into the middle of winter. The biting cold of winter seeped into his body through his pores. An ordinary person would have frozen to death if they experienced this for more than a few breaths.
He had not encountered changes like this when he last came here, so Yang Kai couldn’t help frowning in response. Even though the seasons had changed abruptly across boundaries in this Sealed World, there had been no sense of abruptness. The scenery he saw before him was completely in line with the season he was experiencing. It was almost as though the step he took had taken him into a whole other world.
Pondering in silence for a moment, he took another step. The moment his foot landed on the ground, the biting cold vanished and was replaced by a bleak autumn wind. The snow around him vanished, the leaves withered, and the trees in the jungle became laden with fruits…
After summer and winter, it was now autumn!
He lifted his foot again. This time around, he did not step forward but took a step back instead. Logically speaking, he should have been brought back to the winter sight that greeted him just now. Contrary to Yang Kai’s expectations, however, his step backwards brought him not to the winter scenery he expected to see but spring, where everything was coming back to life!
He did not hesitate and walked forward again. Step after step, the scenery around him changed like flipping the pages of a book. It no longer felt as though it was just his vision. Rather, it was the entire Sealed World that was experiencing one season with every step he took. Moreover, there was no fixed pattern to it. The four seasons seemed to change at random.
At this point, Yang Kai was scowling more deeply than ever. Although he did not know what had happened within the Four Seasons Realm, it would seem that some great change had occurred. What worried him was whether the change had been caused by Wind Lord or if it had existed prior to this incident. If it was the former, then it was not a big deal. He only needed to find and get rid of Wind Lord to solve the issue. If it was the latter… That would mean that Qiong Qi and the others might have encountered some sort of trouble. Why else would such a change occur in the Four Seasons Realm for no reason?
The seasons in the Four Seasons Realm kept changing every time Yang Kai took a step forward. If he came across such a phenomenon in the past, he would’ve been elated; after all, it was normally difficult to see such wonderful sights. If he stopped to comprehend the wonder around him, he would definitely gain some insights.
However, he was in a rush now, so he didn’t have the heart to comprehend anything. Feeling frustrated, he headed straight to the Flowing Time Temple.
As time passed, his expression became solemn.
That was because he could feel that he was ageing. It had only been over a hundred years since he started cultivating, and cultivators absorbed World Energy to increase their own strength which allowed them to stay youthful. Hence, Yang Kai only looked like a young man in his twenties or early thirties. Perhaps his appearance still wouldn’t change after hundreds or even thousands of years.
Normally, it was impossible for anyone to feel that they were ageing, unless the speed at which it was happening was incredibly rapid, and that was the situation Yang Kai was in presently.
As the seasons kept changing for every step he took, and as he charged forward, he could clearly feel that time was passing quickly.
He had only moved for several dozen kilometres, but he felt as if several dozen years had passed. This wasn’t an illusion or his mind playing tricks on him either. He was certain that several dozen years had truly passed. In other words, he had only moved forward in the Four Seasons Realm for several dozen kilometres, but he had also aged by several dozen years for seemingly no reason!
That revelation made his heart sink. He wasn’t sure whether it was due to the abnormality in the Four Seasons Realm, or he had really aged by so many years. Whatever the reason, he could not stop. Despite knowing that time was truly flying, he had to keep moving forward rapidly. He decided to pull himself together and stopped letting the passing of time bother him.
A long time later, Yang Kai stopped in his tracks when he saw a huge palace in front of him. Looking up, he felt an ancient aura coming at him, which caused him to fall into a dazed state. At that instant, he had forgotten why he had come all the way to this place, and could not remember who he actually was.
He had crossed a thousand kilometres, which translated to a thousand years of time having passed. Whatever had happened in the outside world, Yang Kai could perceive that a thousand years had passed for him. He had basically stopped thinking while instinctively flying forward. It could be expected that he would feel lost when he reached his destination.
However, when the words ‘Flowing Time Temple’ came into his sight, his blurred vision brightened and his mind became clear again. He finally remembered who he was and the reason he had come to this place.
Since the door was open, he decided to step right in. The moment he moved past the door, he entered the Flowing Time Temple.
Before he managed to investigate the surroundings, he saw a figure coming at him. With a grim expression, he circulated his Demon Qi and was ready to make a move. However, when he made out the person’s face, he widened his eyes in disbelief.
That was because the person’s outfit and demeanour were identical to those of his own. If there were a mirror in front of him, he would have thought that he was looking at his own reflection.
Upon closer look, he realised that there were still some differences. The other person looked older than him by a few years. Moreover, he was apparently injured as blood was still streaming out of his mouth.
Certainly, both of them could see one another. As their eyes met, the other person didn’t wait for Yang Kai to speak as he shouted, “Cut the crap. Look for your son this instant!”
After he finished speaking, he whizzed past Yang Kai like a gust of wind and disappeared into a Void Crack.
It wasn’t until this moment that Yang Kai realised the hall was filled with Void Cracks. The cracks came in different sizes, but they all looked like the hideous mouths of beasts as though they were ready to devour anyone who approached.
Yang Kai was befuddled by what ‘he’ had just said. Although he had a few wives, he still didn’t have a son. Nevertheless, he did have an adoptive son, who was a member of the Dragon Clan. He thought that he could see that brat upon entering the hall, but he could not have expected that this strange sight was what awaited him.
Whatever the case, Yang Kai couldn’t stop minding it after a person that looked identical to him had shown up. Without hesitation, he followed that person and charged into the Void Crack.
The next moment, he saw the world around him spinning, then he appeared in a hall again. The hall looked just like the one earlier, as though he hadn’t moved at all. The place was still filled with Void Cracks; however, ‘he’ was no longer in sight, which made Yang Kai frown. He had stepped into the same crack, so why had ‘he’ gone missing?
While he was puzzled, a Void Crack beside him could be seen fluctuating. Yang Kai turned his head to look at it, only to see another person that looked identical to him rushing out.
This person looked even more severely injured as he was drenched in golden blood. All his clothes had become tattered and his face was as pale as a white sheet. Presently, he was running toward Yang Kai.
At that instant, Yang Kai was shocked. He was stumped when he saw his first ‘self’ earlier. Although he was astounded, he didn’t read too much into it as he thought that it might just be an illusion; however, when his second ‘self’ appeared, he immediately examined him, and the result was horrifying.
That was because the other person was really himself! Besides the identical outfit and aura, the energy fluctuation and Divine Sense from that person were also exactly the same. It was impossible that two identical people existed in this world. Even if they were twins, there would still be some minor differences between them. However, the two ‘selves’ he had come across were totally identical to him, except that they looked slightly older.
Nevertheless, the older appearance suggested that he hadn’t just become older by a few years. When he was flying across the Four Seasons Realm earlier, he sensed that a thousand years had passed. When he was affected by the Power of Time previously, which caused him to age by a thousand years, his appearance still didn’t change one bit. It had to be more than a thousand years for him to start showing signs of ageing. Perhaps two thousand or even three thousand years had passed for his other ‘selves’.
Furthermore, after a careful examination, Yang Kai realised that the present ‘self’ looked slightly different from the first ‘self’ he just saw.
Yang Kai didn’t have the heart to make a move on himself, so he quickly shouted, “Stop!”
The second ‘self’ turned to look at him and grinned, “Run! Are you waiting for death by just standing there?”
Yang Kai felt odd as his other ‘self’ had just spoken to him, so he was lost for words. While he was hesitating, the second ‘self’, just like the first one, had disappeared into a Void Crack.
The next moment, a figure shot out from the crack where his second ‘self’ had gone into. He was elegantly dressed, and his demeanour seemed gentle. He was none other than Wind Lord!
Earlier, Wind Lord had repeatedly coughed out Blood Essence to activate the Divine Ability hidden in Flowing Time Great Emperor’s rib bone, which caused serious damage to himself. He had also aged by twenty to thirty years, so he had turned from a man in his thirties to someone in his old age.
However, at this moment, Wind Lord had returned to his original state. Moreover, his aura was abundant, which suggested that it had been fully restored. In fact, his aura had become even more imposing than in the past.
Yang Kai was stunned as he didn’t understand how Wind Lord managed to achieve this. After Wind Lord activated the Divine Ability in the rib bone by using his own Blood Essence, supposedly, it would take him eighty to a hundred years of meditation to recover from the damage. Even if he had some Emperor Grade Pills or Artifacts that could help him shorten the time needed, he couldn’t have recovered so soon.
Although Yang Kai could feel that a thousand years had passed when he was moving across the Four Seasons Realm, he thought that it was just what he had perceived, not what had actually happened.
[Damn it!] Yang Kai cursed in his heart. The reason he entered the Four Seasons Realm on his own instead of letting the Embodiment follow him was that the latter had to stay in the outside world to clean up the mess. Also, he was confident of his own capabilities.
While he was fine, Wind Lord was severely injured. Moreover, Liu Yan and Qiong Qi were supposedly inside the Flowing Time Temple. Wind Lord barged into this place because he wasn’t aware of this fact; therefore, Yang Kai would just have to call out to Liu Yan and Qiong Qi. When they joined forces, they could easily defeat Wind Lord.
However, it turned out that Liu Yan and Qiong Qi were missing as he couldn’t detect their presence. On the other hand, Wind Lord was as imposing as a tiger. This was different from what Yang Kai had expected.
While Yang Kai was lost in his thoughts, Wind Lord saw him but didn’t immediately make a move; instead, he chuckled and said, “Which Yang Kai are you?”
Yang Kai frowned and fell silent mainly because he didn’t know how to reply to him.
Wind Lord went on to say, “Whatever. It makes no difference. I just have to kill any one of you.”
Upon finishing his words, he lifted his hand and pushed out a palm towards Yang Kai’s forehead.
Yang Kai hurriedly activated his Demon Qi and bellowed as his Mountains and Rivers Bell shot out to intercept the attack.
When a loud boom was heard, the Mountains and Rivers Bell shone brightly and was sent flying back. Upon impact, Yang Kai felt the vitality in his chest weltering. Before he managed to pull himself together though, Wind Lord raised his hand, after which a delicate hourglass appeared on his palm.
The hourglass might appear harmless, but Yang Kai’s expression changed as he instinctively felt a dangerous aura coming from it.
He didn’t know what the hourglass could do, but he was certain that Wind Lord was truly powerful; moreover, he had no idea what had been going on in this place, so he decided to stop fighting with him and quickly stored his Mountains and Rivers Bell. Before Wind Lord could activate the hourglass, Yang Kai hurriedly moved and disappeared into the Void Crack nearest to him.
When he reappeared, he realised that he was still in the hall that was full of Void Cracks. It was as though he had returned to the starting point.
After he calmed the vitality in his chest, he looked around vigilantly. When he saw a fluctuation from a nearby crack, he quickly turned to look at it.
As expected, a moment later, his third ‘self’ dashed out of it. Seeing that, Yang Kai frowned because the third ‘self’ looked even more battered than the previous two ‘selves’. There were no changes to his appearance as he looked like he was in his thirties; however, some of his hair had turned grey. How old must he be to have grown some grey hair?
After the third ‘self’ appeared, he shot toward Yang Kai, and before Yang Kai could speak, he hurriedly said, “You are me, and I’m also you. Time and space in this place have become a mess. What you’re seeing now is the future you. Do you get it now?”
Yang Kai wasn’t sure whether he should nod or shake his head because he wasn’t certain if the person in front of him was really himself. If that was true, he had basically met his future self in the same place.
Nevertheless, if time and space around this area had truly become chaotic, what his future self had said was possible.
The universe was made up of space and time, so the secrets of the universe were also the secrets of space and time, which contained many profundities and abstrusities. Although Yang Kai was an expert in the Dao of Space, he had only touched on one part of the universe. As for the Dao of Time, he had only learned the Time Flies Seal.
The sight before his eyes had something to do with space and time, so he wasn’t able to distinguish the true from the false. At least, not right now.
After the third ‘self’ finished speaking, he suddenly turned around. With his expression changing, he yelled, “Wind Lord is coming. Run!”
Then, he directly took Yang Kai’s arm and dashed into the nearest Void Crack. Right before they entered the crack, the third ‘self’ hurriedly said, “The power of the hourglass in Wind Lord’s hand is inscrutable. You have to be careful of it.”
After Yang Kai emerged from the crack, he realised that he was alone again. He had run into the crack with his third ‘self’, but the latter was now nowhere to be seen.
However, when he looked around, he became elated because the hall he was in now was different from the previous one. He had stepped into the same hall several times prior to this and it was always filled with Void Cracks. This time, the hall didn’t look so eerie anymore.
Yang Kai let out a breath. If he kept seeing the same scene no matter how many times he moved, he wouldn’t know how to deal with it. He was relieved that there were finally some changes.
There was no one in the spacious hall, nor were there any traces of battle. The doors on both sides were open. Yang Kai investigated the surroundings with his Divine Sense but couldn’t find anything useful, so he decided to randomly choose a door and walked out of the hall.
Outside the hall, there was a corridor that was lined with two rows of rooms. The corridor was so long that there didn’t seem to be an end. Lights of different colours could be seen flowing on the floor, which made the place look strange.
Yang Kai walked up to the nearest room and kept his guard up before pushing the door open. Upon examination, he realised that there was basically nothing in the room, nor were there any people.
As he checked out more rooms, he still couldn’t find any useful clues. Furthermore, he realised that he couldn’t feel the flow of time in this place. Perhaps several dozen to over a hundred years had passed, or maybe the time had actually frozen.
The trip to the Flowing Time Temple this time was starkly different from his previous one. Soon, Yang Kai lost track of how many rooms he had checked out. When he pushed open the door of one of the rooms though, his gaze brightened.
Finally, the room wasn’t empty as a hideous giant beast was lying on the floor. At first glance, it looked like a tiger with two horns on its forehead and a pair of wings on its back.
The giant beast seemed oblivious to Yang Kai’s arrival as its snoring was as deafening as thunder. He was none other than Qiong Qi!
An elated Yang Kai walked over and called out to him, “Old Qiong! Old Qiong!”
After calling out to him several times, Yang Kai realised that Qiong Qi just wouldn’t respond to him, which made him scowl. Qiong Qi was a very powerful Divine Spirit. Even if he was cultivating in seclusion, he would awaken immediately if someone barged into his place, to say nothing of the fact that he was just asleep.
However, Qiong Qi wouldn’t respond no matter how Yang Kai called out to him, which was really odd.
Since shouting was ineffective, Yang Kai decided to go over and smack his head, but it was still useless. Qiong Qi seemed to be sound asleep, his snoring not stopping for a single breath.
With a few thuds, Yang Kai thumped the old tiger’s head several times with a force that was neither too light nor powerful. It wouldn’t hurt Qiong Qi, but it should be enough to force him awake. However, the outcome shocked Yang Kai because Qiong Qi remained unmoving even after getting punched by him.
Yang Kai was horrified because Qiong Qi still wouldn’t wake up despite such harsh treatment. [What happened to him?]
Qiong Qi was the one who led Liu Yan, Yang Xiao, and Yang Xue into the Four Seasons Realm, but he was the only one here now. Meanwhile, the other three had gone missing. [Where are they?]
Since Yang Kai was unable to make Qiong Qi wake up, he decided to put him in the Sealed World Bead. However, after several attempts, Yang Kai realized he couldn’t move him at all. It wasn’t his fault though as there was a layer of invisible power around Qiong Qi, which had blocked off Yang Kai’s Divine Sense. If he couldn’t break this layer of invisible power, he wouldn’t be able to put him in the Small Sealed World.
After a few more failed attempts, Yang Kai shook his head helplessly and gave up.
Although Qiong Qi was sound asleep, he appeared to be healthy, so there was nothing to worry about.
Since Yang Kai was able to find Qiong Qi here, Liu Yan and the others would surely be somewhere around this place as well. With this thought in mind, he accelerated his pace and searched more rooms.
In the Flowing Time Temple, the passing of time was a very vague thing. Even a strong cultivator like Yang Kai was unable to get a good sense of how much time had actually passed. A long time later, he found Liu Yan in another room.
Liu Yan still looked like a little girl, but just like Qiong Qi, she had fallen into a deep sleep. Presently, she had curled up on the ground and appeared quite serene.
After several attempts, Yang Kai realised that Liu Yan couldn’t be awakened, just like what had happened to Qiong Qi.
Both Qiong Qi and Liu Yan had fallen into a state of deep slumber, making Yang Kai wonder what they had come across after they entered the Four Seasons Realm. He thought that he could also find Yang Xiao and Yang Xue here, but even after searching all the rooms he could find, the two kids were still nowhere to be seen.
At the end of the corridor, there was another hall. Upon entering it, Yang Kai fell into a dazed state again because the hall looked just like the previous one, so he thought that he had returned to the starting point.
Nevertheless, there was a person in this room. He was elegantly dressed and had the look of a scholar. He was none other than one of the Four Great Lords under the Master of Demon Heavenly Dao, Wind Lord!
Presently, Wind Lord seemed to be in peak condition as all his wounds had been healed. At this moment, he was seated with his legs crossed on a platform where there was a translucent light screen that served as a barrier around him.
Conspicuous fluctuations of Time Principles could be seen exuding from the light screen. Wind Lord had closed his eyes, so it seemed that he was still recuperating, unaware of Yang Kai’s arrival.
After staring at him with narrowed eyes for a while, Yang Kai took a deep breath, and when he let it out, Demon Qi could be seen roiling around him as he prepared for battle.
Earlier, he had come across three ‘selves’ who looked battered as they were hunted down by Wind Lord. One of them had even told him to look for Yang Xiao quickly. However, the situation in the Flowing Time Temple was peculiar. If he wanted to break free from it, he had to directly deal with Wind Lord; therefore, Yang Kai decided to make a decisive move.
Following that, he leapt and disappeared from his spot. When he reappeared, he was already above Wind Lord as he infused his Demonic Qi into the Myriads Sword and forcefully brought it down.
The light screen around the platform was actually the masterpiece of a Great Emperor, so someone like Yang Kai was naturally unable to break it. When his sword met the barrier, the light screen became a little dented, but failed to break.
Hearing the noise, Wind Lord, who was meditating, abruptly opened his eyes. As their eyes met, Wind Lord grinned, “You could’ve stayed out of this place and lived, but you’ve decided to ask for death instead. You’ve come at the perfect time!”
He lifted his hand and penetrated the light screen before grasping the Myriads Sword. As he pushed his Emperor Qi, he sent a shock wave across the sword.
Yang Kai directly released the hilt to abandon the sword though as he pushed his Divine Sense, causing the pupil in his left eye to become a golden whirlpool that seemed able to absorb anyone’s Soul. A budding lotus shot out from his eye and penetrated Wind Lord’s Knowledge Sea.
Seeing the Blossoming Lotus, Wind Lord shuddered. Although he was strong, he was no match for Yang Kai when it came to Soul cultivation. He wasn’t careful enough, which was why he was hit by this move.
The white lotus started blooming and absorbing the power of his Soul. Wind Lord grunted as the water in his Knowledge Sea tumbled to resist the Soul Secret Technique.
However, the lotus was unable to fully bloom. In the end, Wind Lord wasn’t a pushover. Although he had fallen into a trap, he was still able to resist. Just when he sneered and was ready to mock Yang Kai’s lack of ability, his expression changed again.
That was because the lotus started expanding all of a sudden. From what he perceived, the lotus was so huge that it was able to engulf him in it, and then it rapidly began closing up.
Although Yang Kai was unable to achieve his goal with Blossoming Lotus, he still had Sealed Lotus. He was ruthless and resolute in his attack as he used two Soul Secret Techniques in a consecutive manner.
“Break!” Wind Lord’s Divine Sense surged. As he growled, he managed to break free from the chains of the lotus and escape, only to unexpectedly see a sword light flashing across his eyes.
Soul Splitting Saber, Heaven Severing Slash!
Following Blossoming Lotus and Sealed Lotus, Yang Kai went on to use his Soul Splitting Saber.
At that instant, Wind Lord was unable to fend off the strike and his Knowledge Sea was slashed by Soul Splitting Saber. It felt terrible to have one’s Soul cut apart, so Wind Lord’s face became contorted. At the same time, his Emperor Qi became chaotic.
The entire world seemed to be shaking as Yang Kai was sent flying backwards. His face turned pale while he was in mid-air, but he still manipulated his Space Principles and launched himself at Wind Lord. At the same time, he quickly performed a hand seal with both hands. Following that, the Mountains and Rivers Bell appeared and fell towards Wind Lord.
Then, Yang Kai shouted, “Dragon Transformation!”
As a high-pitched Dragon Roar was heard, his entire body shone with a golden gleam. Following a series of crackling sounds, his figure was covered in Dragon Scales and two horns protruded from his forehead. His hands had turned into pointed Dragon Claws and he had grown larger by three metres. There was also a Dragon Tail behind him.
In just a short moment, he had transformed into a Half-Dragon.
Wind Lord was still in a dazed state after he was slashed by the Soul Splitting Saber when Yang Kai reached him and clenched his shoulders with his Dragon Claws. The next moment, the Mountains and Rivers Bell was about to engulf them inside.
Yang Kai reckoned that he was no match for Wind Lord when it came to cultivation. He came to this conclusion after he saw how his three ‘selves’ ended up beaten and bloody. Hence, he didn’t even consider competing with Wind Lord using his cultivation as he had his own advantage, which was his Half-Dragon Form.
Wind Lord was no match for him in this regard. As long as Yang Kai could narrow down the battlefield and force Wind Lord into a battle of fists, he would stand a chance of winning.
Therefore, he decided to trap Wind Lord and himself inside the Mountains and Rivers Bell. Previously, he had used this tactic to kill the Half-Saint Yin Si in the Demon Realm. Although Yang Kai became half-dead after that battle, it was better than him allowing Wind Lord to use his full power.
Yang Kai’s series of moves made Wind Lord suffer a major setback. He had heard about the Mountains and Rivers Bell as it was a natal artifact left behind by Yuan Ding Great Emperor, so he knew that if he was trapped inside it, he probably wouldn’t be able to flee.
Therefore, as soon as Wind Lord saw the falling Ancient Exotic Artifact, he knew what Yang Kai was up to.
Since Wind Lord knew what Yang Kai was up to, he certainly wouldn’t allow the latter to have his way.
However, with his shoulders clenched, he was unable to move. While he was shocked by how much physical strength Yang Kai could exert, he remained unfazed as he roared, “Wind!”
After his shout, Wind Lord transformed into an incarnation of wind and disappeared. Realising that Wind Lord was no longer in his grip, Yang Kai stopped the Mountains and Rivers Bell from falling. Since Wind Lord had escaped, there was no point.
The wind looked odd as it was visible to the bare eyes, and soon, Wind Lord reappeared at a nearby spot with a nonchalant smile, “Do you know how long this King has been waiting for you?”
Without waiting for Yang Kai to reply, he went on to say, “Exactly one hundred years!” There was a gleeful expression on his face, “This place is truly abstruse. Flowing Time Great Emperor indeed lives up to his name. Now that this King has fully recovered, there’s no way you can defeat me!”
Yang Kai entered the Four Seasons Realm right after he did, but he had Flowing Time Great Emperor’s rib bone, which was why he was able to directly reach the Flowing Time Temple. It had been a hundred years since he started recuperating, so he was able to fully heal himself and wait for Yang Kai.
Although what he had said was ambiguous, Yang Kai understood what he meant.
Time and space had been confused inside the Flowing Time Temple. The reason Wind Lord had fully recovered must be that one hundred years had really passed; however, Yang Kai didn’t experience the passing of time in the space Wind Lord was in.
Looking at it from another perspective, Wind Lord was also not aware of what had happened to Yang Kai. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said this.
Wind Lord was confident that he was able to defeat Yang Kai since his cultivation was far more powerful, so he wasn’t in a rush to make a move. Instead, he stared at Yang Kai and said, “This King has heard that you’re related to the Dragon Clan on Dragon Island and that you possess a Dragon Source. Now, it seems that it’s indeed true, but that is an external boost in the end, nowhere near as profound as one’s own power. Where’s that helper of yours? Aren’t you going to summon him?”
Earlier, Yang Kai was able to summon three Half-Saints from the Demon Race in one go. Bai Zhuo and Bai Ya had been petrified by Wind Lord; however, the Embodiment, who was still fine, was nowhere to be seen.
Wind Lord couldn’t ignore the Embodiment’s existence. If Yang Kai had also brought the Embodiment into this place, it was bound to be a tough battle.
“I’ll summon him when I have to,” Yang Kai put on a faint smile, “That’s not up to you to worry about.”
Wind Lord nodded, “Although you’re young, you’re indeed powerful. To be honest, this King doesn’t have the heart to kill you.”
Yang Kai arched his brow, “Why don’t you just kill yourself, then? It’ll save us both the trouble.”
Ignoring his sinister suggestion, Wind Lord went on to persuade him by saying, “This is what I think. This King does not want to kill you, but you simply insist on going against me. This has caused me some headaches. Why don’t you just join Demon Heavenly Dao? If we become one family, all these worries will go away. By doing so, you can save your life while I will have no regrets. Won’t that be a win-win solution? Moreover, I’m sure my Master is willing to accept a young and talented person like you.”
Yang Kai gave him an awkward look, “You want me to join Demon Heavenly Dao?”
“I’m being sincere.” Wind Lord sported a solemn expression, “Given your capabilities, I’m sure Master will take you seriously if you join. Although you won’t be as powerful as the Four Great Lords, you’ll hold the highest position below us. When the Demons rule over the Star Boundary in the future, you’ll enjoy all the wealth and fame in the world.”
“Haha…” Yang Kai couldn’t help but guffaw.
Wind Lord asked grimly, “What are you laughing at?”
Yang Kai shook his head, “I’m laughing at all of you who still look so proud even though you’re just someone else’s lackeys. I’m also laughing at all of you for not being able to live the life you want despite the fact that you’ve cultivated for so many years. You want to win me over by offering me a position that’s below the Four Great Lords, but do you know who I am?”
“Who do you think you are?” Wind Lord stared dispassionately at him.
Yang Kai straightened up and put on a haughty smile, “This King is Army Commander of the Sixty-First Army of the Star Boundary, so why would I be interested in becoming a lackey for Demon Heavenly Dao?”
Upon finishing his words, Yang Kai lifted his hand to summon a Command Token.
Wind Lord’s expression changed drastically when he saw that as he also lifted the petite hourglass in his hand. At the same time, a glint flashed across the token as a burly figure appeared.
A Command Token wasn’t just a status symbol for an Army Commander, but also a weapon that could kill the enemy as it contained the strike of Great Emperor within. The token in Yang Kai’s hand was forged by Zhan Wu Hen, which was why it contained his Divine Ability.
Faced with a Pseudo-Great Emperor on his own, Yang Kai had failed in his attempt to launch a sneak attack; therefore, he decided to use the Command Token and activated the Divine Ability inside it. He was doing it because he wanted to kill Wind Lord quickly.
It was difficult to end a Pseudo-Great Emperor’s life; moreover, Wind Lord had been in this place for a hundred years, so it wasn’t certain what treasures he had obtained. Also, Wind Lord had fully recovered, so he appeared confident presently. Given Yang Kai’s power, he might not be able to gain an upper hand, so he directly called upon the power of the Command Token.
Zhan Wu Hen’s figure solidified as though the real person had really come out from the Command Token. Feeling the Great Emperor’s aura, Wind Lord felt as though he was suffocating. Guided by Yang Kai’s aura, Zhan Wu Hen’s image reached Wind Lord in a short moment and pushed out his fist.
It was just a very simple strike, like that of an ordinary mortal throwing a punch.
However, Wind Lord’s expression was transformed by shock as he quickly turned the hourglass upside down. Fine sand started trickling down inside the hourglass as a glow spread from it. Engulfed by the glow, Zhan Wu Hen’s figure froze on the spot as though he had been struck with a Binding Technique.
Yang Kai widened his eyes in disbelief as this was exactly what had happened to Bai Zhuo and Bai Ya.
After his move succeeded, Wind Lord chuckled and taunted, “That’s it?”
After he finished speaking though, he suddenly heard a series of cracking sounds. The illusionary Zhan Wu Hen, who was rooted to the spot, could be seen with his fist moving forward slowly as the barrier around him started cracking apart. Before his fist even reached the enemy, space could be seen crumbling apart.
Wind Lord exclaimed as he had lost his composure. While he was retreating rapidly, Zhan Wu Hen’s strike broke free of its constraints and followed him closely. Just when Wind Lord was about to be struck, he pushed his Emperor Qi again and turned the hourglass over once more.
Just like what had happened previously, as the glow undulated, Zhan Wu Hen’s figure froze again. This time, Wind Lord wasn’t in the mood to mock Yang Kai as he kept retreating with a solemn expression.
As expected, Zhan Wu Hen was able to move again by breaking free from the restriction a moment later. He was still several dozen metres away from Wind Lord, but when he moved, his fist appeared right in front of Wind Lord, which terrified the latter.
Then, Wind Lord turned the hourglass for the third time and Zhan Wu Hen was rooted to the spot again.
After the third time, Zhan Wu Hen’s figure started fading all of a sudden. In just three breaths’ time, the figure disappeared. Apparently, the power of the Divine Ability had been exhausted, but it hadn’t been able to harm Wind Lord one bit!
Despite that, it was obvious that Wind Lord had also lost a lot of energy. Yang Kai could clearly see that every time Wind Lord turned the strange hourglass, his face would become paler and his aura became less imposing. Apparently, there was a price to pay for activating the hourglass.
[Just what is that hourglass?] Yang Kai could barely believe such a horrifying item existed in this world. He couldn’t help but recall that the third ‘self’ had told him to be careful of the hourglass as its power was inscrutable.
That indeed seemed to be the case. The Command Token only contained a Great Emperor’s Divine Ability, so it wasn’t as powerful as when a Great Emperor personally attacked; however, no ordinary Pseudo-Great Emperor should have been able to stop such a strike. Despite that, Wind Lord still ended up alive and kicking, which went to show how terrifying the treasure was.
Presently, the hall was filled with lots of cracks. They weren’t just Void Cracks though as both time and space seemed to have turned into a mess. The situation was just like what Yang Kai had come across when he just entered the Flowing Time Temple.
“Hahaha!” Wind Lord guffawed as he was extremely pleased with himself. That was because he had just escaped unscathed from a Great Emperor’s attack. Even though he appeared somewhat exhausted, he was still proud of himself. That was why he was laughing riotously as he lifted his hourglass, “Brat, do you know what this is?”
With a dark expression, Yang Kai asked, “Did you obtain it from this place?”
Given Wind Lord’s own power, there was no way he was able to parry the Divine Ability of Zhan Wu Hen; however, he had done just that, which went to show how extraordinary he was despite the fact that he had made use of an artifact.
This treasure appeared all of a sudden, so it was apparent that Wind Lord didn’t own it prior to their initial confrontation; otherwise, he would’ve used it on the Embodiment and the others instead of coughing up Blood Essence to activate the power within that rib bone.
Since he didn’t already own it previously, the only explanation was that Wind Lord had obtained it from the Flowing Time Temple. It was an artifact left behind by Flowing Time Great Emperor!
It was basically a Great Emperor’s Artifact going against another Great Emperor’s Divine Ability, which was how Wind Lord managed to save his own life. He didn’t break Zhan Wu Hen’s Divine Ability; instead, the figure vanished because it had run out of power.
“Indeed!” Wind Lord grinned from ear to ear, “This King has obtained this treasure from that platform over there. You may not be aware of it, but this item was the Natal Artifact of Flowing Time Great Emperor. After he passed away, this item was left behind in the Flowing Time Temple. It awaited the chosen one to obtain it, and that is this King!”
Yang Kai remained unfazed while listening to him, but he was cursing at Qiong Qi in his heart. Qiong Qi was Flowing Time Great Emperor’s mount and he had protected the Flowing Time Temple for countless years, so he must be very familiar with this hourglass. In that case, why didn’t he take it with him when he left?
Moreover, he had brought Yang Xiao and the others to this place. Since there was a treasure, why did he leave it here for others to take? Now that the hourglass had fallen into Wind Lord’s hand, and the Divine Ability in his Command Token had been rendered useless, Yang Kai was put in an awkward position. He was utterly incensed because he felt that Qiong Qi was the one who had caused all of this.
Wind Lord had just obtained a new, powerful artifact and used it to neutralize the Divine Ability of a Great Emperor, so of course he was very pleased with himself. Just when he lamented that no one could share his joy, Yang Kai asked the right question at the right time, which was why he told Yang Kai everything he knew.
As he fiddled with the hourglass, Wind Lord said with a smile, “This is the Infinite Hourglass, which contains ten thousand and eight grains of Flowing Time Divine Sand. Every grain was personally refined by Flowing Time Great Emperor and every one of them is able to activate the power of one month. Ten thousand and eight grains are equivalent to the power of over eight hundred years! Iron Blood Great Emperor’s Divine Ability is indeed mighty, but it’s still no match for this treasure!”
When Zhan Wu Hen’s image appeared just now, Wind Lord was almost terrified to death. Now that he was safe though, he was shamelessly speaking as though this was all predestined.
The Infinite Hourglass contained ten thousand and eight grains of Flowing Time Divine Sand, and every one of them was personally refined by Flowing Time Great Emperor, so they were all infused with Time Principles. Every grain could be used to activate the power of one month, so ten thousand and eight grains indeed had the power of over eight hundred years.
The might of Time Principles was profound and peerless. Even though the power of the Great Emperor’s Divine Ability within the Command Token was inscrutable, it would still wear down under the influence of the time. That was the reason Wind Lord was able to fend off Iron Blood’s Divine Ability. In an instant, Yang Kai understood everything.
“Do you want to give it a try?” Wind Lord looked smilingly at Yang Kai. Despite his question, he didn’t really intend to give Yang Kai a choice. As he activated his Emperor Qi, he turned the hourglass upside down again and the fine sand started trickling down. A visible glow expanded and engulfed Yang Kai in it, giving him no chance to react.
Following that, Yang Kai could feel that he was closely connected to something. Then, he traced it back and stared fixedly at the hourglass in Wind Lord’s hand.
At this moment, the Infinite Hourglass had targeted him with its aura. It was as though there were a pair of invisible eyes that were staring at him, which caused him to feel that he would never be able to break free of its gaze.
Without thinking, Yang Kai directly dashed into the nearest Void Crack. The Infinite Hourglass was even able to ward off a Great Emperor’s Divine Ability, so he wasn’t interested in trying to oppose its power. Presently, his best option was to run for his life.
Moreover, even though the hourglass was powerful, it was impossible for Wind Lord to use it continuously. When he reached his limit, it would be the time for Yang Kai to counterattack.
After emerging from the crack, Yang Kai realised that he was inside the same hall again just like what he had come across when he first entered the palace. Everything had returned to the starting point. Presently, time and space had become a mess, and the reason for that was the clash between the Infinite Hourglass and the Great Emperor’s Divine Ability.
However, Yang Kai soon found out that the aura that had targeted him hadn’t been cut off just because he had fled. It was still closely connected to him. The next moment, Wind Lord also emerged from the crack that Yang Kai had come out of. With the hourglass in his hand, Wind Lord was able to accurately locate him. Smiling wickedly, he said, “It’s pointless to flee. With the hourglass in my hand, I’ll be able to locate you wherever you are. Surrender without a fight and you can avoid suffering.”
“Even if you can follow me, let’s see if you’re able to catch me!” Yang Kai said through clenched teeth before shooting into a nearby crack.
Wind Lord slowly shook his head as his lips curved into a sneer. It was as though he was laughing at Yang Kai for not knowing his limitations. Despite his slow pace, he was able to follow Yang Kai closely as his voice broke through space and time, seemingly speaking into Yang Kai’s ears, “Why torture yourself like this? Although you’re not bad, it’s impossible for you to escape this treasure’s aura. Haven’t you realised yet? I suggest that you should stop struggling now.”
Upon hearing that, Yang Kai indeed detected something. To be precise, he had confirmed something because he had suspected it earlier, but he wasn’t certain until now.
After Wind Lord turned the Infinite Hourglass upside down, the treasure’s aura immediately targeted Yang Kai. When Flowing Time Divine Sand trickled down inside the hourglass, Yang Kai could feel the flow of time washing over him. It was a similar feeling when he headed from the Two Seasons Mountain Range to the Flowing Time Temple.
Noticing a change in Yang Kai’s expression, Wind Lord laughed, “What do you think is being affected by Flowing Time Divine Sand? Foolish boy. The thing that’s trickling down inside the hourglass is your life!”
Yang Kai’s face fell not because Wind Lord was trying to frighten him but because he could confirm that what the latter had said was true.
When the Infinite Hourglass targeted him and the Flowing Time Divine Sand started trickling down, Yang Kai could feel himself ageing rapidly. Every grain of Flowing Time Divine Sand that fell represented a month of his life.
After fleeing for a while, Yang Kai realised that several dozen to over a hundred years of his life had left him. It was snatched away by the Infinite Hourglass just like that! The existence of such an artifact that could literally drain someone’s life away made his body go cold. He couldn’t help but wonder if he would die of old age in this place if this dragged on.
Of course, Yang Kai wasn’t afraid of death. Although it had only been a short time since he started cultivating, he had lived his life to the fullest as he had experienced countless exciting events in the world. Even if he was killed in battle right now, he would have no regrets. Nevertheless, he couldn’t accept it if his life was sucked dry without even being able to put up a fight.
With this thought in mind, Yang Kai turned around and balled up his fists. Staring fixedly at the crack he had just come out of, he pushed it with an immense force.
He had exerted all his might with his Half-Dragon form. Even if his opponent was a Great Emperor, the other party would be injured.
The next moment, Wind Lord dashed out of the crack. He didn’t appear surprised at all as he shot Yang Kai an impassive look.
Yang Kai’s heart sank after he pushed out his fists because his violent strike had basically hit the air instead of his opponent. Just now, he could clearly see that Wind Lord accelerated time around himself and nonchalantly dodged his strike.
Before he even had the time to react, Yang Kai felt a great force coming at him from behind, as though a mountain was crashing towards him. Upon impact, he was sent flying forward as he sprayed out a mouthful of blood. At the same time, he was pushed into the crack in front of him.
After passing through the crack, Yang Kai realised that he had returned to the same hall and there was someone else present.
A healthy ‘self’ was standing there in a dazed state. Yang Kai could see the shock and vigilance behind his gaze, just like when he first entered the palace.
He had practically come across his past ‘self’. His face twitched as he wasn’t even sure what expression he should put on. Oddly enough, he wiped the blood off his mouth and said, “Cut the crap. Look for your son now!”
After he finished speaking, he realised that it was exactly what he had heard when he stepped into the hall initially, but he had no idea why he had said such a thing. However, Yang Kai didn’t have the time to explain anything as Wind Lord was chasing after him, so he quickly dashed into the nearest crack.
Before he entered the crack, he could feel his past ‘self’ anxiously running after him, but he soon lost track of the latter.
Surprisingly, Wind Lord was standing in front of him this time, as though he had been waiting for a long time. His burning gaze was that of a person who had come across an old friend he deeply missed, “Where do you think you can go? Stop your futile resistance.”
Upon finishing his words, he pushed out a palm at Yang Kai.
His speed wasn’t rapid. At the very least, Yang Kai was able to see it clearly, thus he lifted his hand to retaliate. As Space Principles undulated, over ten dark Moon Blades shot forward and left scars on the surrounding space.
Just then, Yang Kai’s mind turned blank for a moment, and when he came to his senses, he realised that his Moon Blades had disappeared and he was struck with a palm, which caused the vitality in his chest to roil and all his bones to crack.
After being sent flying, Yang Kai struggled for a moment before getting to his feet, then, he stared grimly at Wind Lord as he narrowed his eyes and muttered, “I see. It’s not that you’ve become faster.”
They had clashed twice now, which allowed Yang Kai to understand some things. Initially, he thought that it was Wind Lord’s speed that had accelerated, which was why the attack landed on his back as he was caught off guard; however, now it seemed that it wasn’t the case. It was Yang Kai who was affected rather than Wind Lord.
Wind Lord replied with a smile, “The Infinite Hourglass doesn’t only have the power to drain a person’s time. It’s Flowing Time Great Emperor’s Legacy Artifact after all, so it isn’t so simple.”
Yang Kai nodded, “I see. It seems that it has affected my perception of time.”
“There’s a saying that a day drags past like a year, which isn’t totally unfounded. If one is powerful enough, he definitely can achieve that.” Then, Wind Lord shook his head, “However, this treasure is truly abstruse, and I’ve not completely refined it yet. Although I’ve still not reached that kind of realm, I’ve already gained some insights.”
“So, it lengthened my perception of time.” Yang Kai spat a mouthful of blood. If something could be dealt with in a breath’s time, it would take Yang Kai ten breaths or even a hundred breaths to react to it, which was why he was unable to handle it. He had been struck by the opponent’s attacks twice exactly because of this.
“So, are you not going to admit defeat yet?” Wind Lord stared dispassionately at him, “I really don’t want to kill you.”
Yang Kai grinned, “If you were powerful enough, you could have just frozen me completely. By doing so, you would be able to do whatever you wanted to me.”
Wind Lord heaved a sigh, “Your barking is becoming grating.”
With the Infinite Hourglass on his left palm, he performed a hand seal with his right and then pointed at Yang Kai.
At that instant, a deafening thunder was heard in the hall as Yang Kai was engulfed in a whirlwind, which turned into a storm of razor-sharp blades as it continuously slashed at his figure. If an ordinary Emperor Realm Master was trapped in this whirlwind, he would have been cut to pieces in an instant.
Although Yang Kai wasn’t killed, he was drenched in blood and his clothes had become tattered. Amidst the howling of wind, a high-pitched Dragon Roar was heard as a gigantic figure appeared. A three-hundred-metre-long Dragon was seen standing tall in the centre of the whirlwind and sparks were seen around his Dragon Scales.
Yang Kai opened his mouth and sucked the gale around him into his mouth like he was slurping a bowl of noodles. In just three breaths’ time, the whirlwind disappeared.
Wind Lord was shocked because Yang Kai was the strongest cultivator he had ever seen whose cultivation was below that of a Pseudo-Great Emperor. He could easily kill any Emperor Realm cultivator, but the boy in front of him was far more extraordinary. Further proof was how Yang Kai had survived until now.
Just then, a cracking sound was heard. Yang Kai’s lips could be seen wriggling as though he was chewing something. As he stared at Wind Lord with his big Golden Dragon eyes, he bellowed, “You can have this back!”
His last word turned into a Dragon Roar which seemed powerful enough to shake the world. Following that, he spat out a gust of Wind Qi towards Wind Lord.
It was useless, however. In Yang Kai’s eyes, he had managed to hit Wind Lord, but after blinking, he realised that the latter was already standing far away. What he had struck was just the Wind Lord in his sight, but as his perception of time had been affected, it was difficult to accurately locate his opponent.
However, Yang Kai didn’t stop as he started chanting in an ancient and abstruse Dragon language. When he opened his mouth again, he spat a breath of raging flames.
Fire Dragon’s Breath!
The reason the Golden Divine Dragon’s Source was so highly revered was that, with its Source Strength, its owner was able to use all sorts of Dragon Clan Secret Techniques, whether he had the appropriate bloodline or not. For example, Yang Kai could use Fire Dragon attacks, or those of a Water Dragon, Wind Dragon, Ice Dragon and so on. As long as Yang Kai wanted, he could achieve this. In the past, Yang Kai had no idea how to do it, but after a visit to the Dragon Temple, he had learned about this ability by studying one of the Dragon Clan’s ancient records.