When the Two Worlds’ Passage opened for the second time, ten Demon Saints of the Demon Race had crossed over into this world and scattered while the Great Emperors had pursued.
A few days later, a sudden change occurred. Tens of millions of the Demon Race had lost their sanity, fallen into confusion, and slaughtered each other. The entire invading army had been wiped out. At the same time, the Great Emperors vanished.
On the same day, signs of connection between the two Great Worlds had appeared in different locations across the four territories of the Star Boundary. The Star Boundary had been invaded by the Demon Realm, the World Barrier shattered, and a large portion of the environment had been turned into a Demon Land. Numerous Demon Race armies had crossed into the world from the various Demon Lands and gradually spread out to engulf the Star Boundary with the location of each Demon Land as their foundation.
The Star Boundary was in chaos!
Just during the time that Yang Kai spent sealing the Two Worlds’ Passage alone, the information received by each Army Commander from various sources indicated that more than thirty Demon Lands had been formed in various locations throughout the four Territories. More importantly, that was only what they had managed to detect within a short period of time. The real number was most likely much higher than that.
All of this was explained in the jade slip that the Lotus Sisters had handed to Yang Kai. The situation was extremely urgent, so Li Wu Yi and the various Army Commanders could not wait any longer. Leaving a jade slip behind to explain the entire situation, they had all departed. Li Wu Yi had also taken almost all of the Demon Race Half-Saints away with him, leaving only the Lotus Sisters who Yang Kai was familiar with to pass on this message.
Yang Kai had just finished reading the contents of the jade slip and had yet to digest this staggering information when the Space Beacon on his wrist suddenly flashed with light and another jade slip appeared out of thin air. The jade slip contained Bian Yu Qing’s aura, so it was clearly news sent from High Heaven Palace.
Several months ago, the Sixty-First Army had marched towards the Western Territory. Every cultivator in High Heaven Palace with even the slightest bit of strength worth considering had been taken away by Yang Kai, but somebody had to stay back to watch over and manage the Sect. Bian Yu Qing was the person he had chosen to stay behind this time. For Bian Yu Qing to send news at this time would undoubtedly mean that something had happened in High Heaven Palace.
Yang Kai stretched out his hand and grabbed the jade slip. Checking its content with his Divine Sense, his complexion turned deathly pale in the next moment as he roared, “They court death!”
He crushed the jade slip in his hand. With a flicker of his figure, he tried to return to the Sixty-First Army’s base camp when his vision unexpectedly went dark and he was struck by a wave of dizziness, nearly causing him to crash to the ground as a result.
Sealing the Two Worlds’ Passage just now had consumed a tremendous amount of his energy, so at this moment, the Demon Qi in his body was experiencing a chaotic flow. Fortunately, Bai Lian reacted quickly and caught him before he fell.
Yang Kai glanced at the sisters and quickly ordered, “Take me back to the camp!”
The Lotus Sisters nodded and pushed their Demon Qi in unison, transforming into a stream of black light that headed towards the Sixty-First Army’s base camp. On the other hand, Yang Kai hurriedly swallowed several Spirit Pills and concentrated on refining the medicinal efficacies in hopes of recovering his strength as quickly as possible.
An incense stick later, the Lotus Sisters appeared in front of the Sixty-First Army’s base camp with Yang Kai held between them. The Division Commanders immediately surrounded Yang Kai with Yao Si quickly asking, “Sir, what happened? Why have all the other armies withdrawn?”
At this moment, the other fifty-four armies of the Star Boundary were gone. Only the Sixty-First Army remained stationed in this place, waiting for orders; therefore, this group of people had no idea about what was going on at all.
Yang Kai raised his hand and tossed the jade slip Li Wu Yi had left behind to Yao Si, “See for yourself then inform the others. Also, pass on my orders, all troops are to assemble immediately. We are returning to the Northern Territory!”
Yang Xiao accepted the order and immediately relayed it to the rest of the army. In response, the entire army that had been at rest hurriedly got into their military formations.
A short while later, Yao Si handed the jade slip to Xie Wu Wei with a solemn expression before turning to Yang Kai with an incredulous expression, “Sir, is this for real?”
“How could it possibly be fake? In addition, Second Manager Bian has sent word that a Demon Land has appeared just three thousand kilometres away from High Heaven Palace. A large number of the Demons are currently attacking High Heaven Palace!”
Upon hearing those words, everybody became anxious.
Yang Kai lifted his hand, summoned the Sealed World Bead, and had it assume its Gun-Gun form. Gun-Gun subsequently took the entire Sixty-First Army into its belly with a ferocious bite. Having experienced this once before, no one panicked, much. Nobody resisted, even though Yang Kai had not said anything.
Finished, Yang Kai turned to look at Yao Si, pondered for a moment before he decided to say, “The Great Emperors are missing.”
This matter could not remain concealed for long, people would find out about it sooner or later, so since it was something that could not be hidden, Yang Kai decided to reveal the truth upfront. There might be no need for the others to know, but Yao Si was the son of a Great Emperor, so it was only right for him to learn of this.
Yao Si, however, just stared at Yang Kai with a blank expression, it was clear that he did not understand the meaning behind the latter’s words.
Yang Kai sighed, “Not too long ago, the auras of all the Great Emperors vanished. Supreme Commander Li and I have both tried, but we couldn’t connect to the Space Beacons the Great Emperors hold on to. They are no longer in this world.”
Yao Si turned deathly pale, unable to believe what he was hearing.
Yang Kai grabbed Yao Si’s shoulder and continued, “The Great Emperors are the strongest among us and exceptionally experienced, they won’t face any life-threatening dangers. It might just be that something has happened to them that makes it impossible for us to contact them.”
Yao Si nodded woodenly at those words.
The Sixty-First Army had been more than three hundred thousand men strong when they first set off on this campaign, but there were now fifty thousand fewer of them. Those fifty thousand people had been killed in battle and dyed the Western Territory with their blood. Even so, this rate of loss was still within an acceptable range compared to the relative losses experienced by the Demon Race and the other armies.
Yang Kai put the Sealed World Bead away once the entire Sixty-First Army had successfully been taken into the Small Sealed World. Taking a step forward, he vanished from that spot, and when he reappeared again, he had already arrived in his bedroom on High Heaven Peak. He had left a Space Beacon inside his room a long time ago, so it was only natural that he could return so quickly.
He felt an earthquake rumbling through the ground as soon as he reappeared and explosions rang out unceasingly without a single pause. Yang Kai flitted out of the door only to see High Heaven Palace in chaos, with streams of light scrambling about between the mountain peaks like headless flies.
He looked around and saw that High Heaven Palace’s Sect Defending Array had been activated. The Spirit Peaks were enveloped in a layer of World Energy, flashing with a white light. The Grand Array extracted power from the Earth Veins below and the Spirit Peak above to produce a light curtain that blocked enemy attacks.
Upon seeing this situation, Yang Kai couldn’t help breathing a small sigh of relief. He had been scared that he might return only to be greeted by the sight of a breached Grand Array. If that had been the case, countless people in High Heaven Palace would have died as a result.
The Main Sect and Branch Sects of High Heaven Palace had more than a hundred thousand disciples; furthermore, those with even the slightest bit of cultivation worth considering had been forced into the Sixty-First Army. The disciples remaining in High Heaven Palace’s Main Sect after the Sixty-First Army was deployed had been pitifully weak aside from Bian Yu Qing, who had some measure of strength in comparison; therefore, they would not have had the strength to fight back if the Sect Defending Array had been breached and the Demon Race had invaded.
Fortunately, the Sect Defending Array of High Heaven Palace had been personally arranged by Nanmen Da Jun and Yang Kai had spared no expense in preparing all the necessary manpower and materials requested during its construction. That was why the Array was practically impenetrable.
The Demon Race army had attacked aggressively but failed to breach the defences of the Spirit Array in short order. Although the Sect Defending Array had not been breached though, it looked like it was about to fall apart at any moment. There were fine cracks spreading out across the curtain of light and it would probably be completely broken in less than a quarter-hour. Spurred on by this situation, the attacks of the Demon Race army became even fiercer than before.
Bian Yu Qing held the Palace Master Command Token in her hand, mobilizing the World Energy of all the Spirit Peaks in High Heaven Palace to supply a steady stream of power to the Grand Array. She was doing her best to buy as much time as possible, but her cultivation wasn’t high enough. Activating the Palace Master Command Token without holding back like that had left her drenched in sweat. Her complexion was as pale as a sheet, and her figure swayed in mid-air as though she might lose consciousness at any moment.
Taking in the situation in an instant, Yang Kai hurriedly flew towards her. Along the way, a person knocked into him from the side. He grabbed the person by the neck and held the person up. Glancing at the person coldly, he noticed that this person was very unfamiliar to him. This person’s cultivation could not be considered powerful as he was only in the Third-Order Dao Source Realm.
Yang Kai had taken all the disciples in High Heaven Palace in the Origin King Realm and above with him, so how could there be any cultivators in the Dao Source Realm here? However, High Heaven Palace was the main logistics base of the Star Boundary, so many Alchemists and Artifact Refiners were stationed here as a result. This person was clearly an outsider, and there was a faint pill fragrance coming from his body, so he was probably a visiting Alchemist.
“Why are you panicking!?” Yang Kai shouted.
That person turned pale. He was so shocked that he didn’t even resist when he was caught. It was clear that he had been scared out of his wits. He instinctively answered upon hearing Yang Kai’s question, “I have to run! High Heaven Palace won’t hold out for much longer! It will be too late if I don’t run now!”
“Bullshit!” Yang Kai was livid, “Not only do you not think of killing the enemy in front of you, but you also create panic and spread chaos amongst our people! You should thank the Heavens you aren’t part of the Sixty-First Army; otherwise, I would have killed you myself!”
When the Alchemist heard those words, he raised his head and looked at Yang Kai, only then did he recognize who was before him and stutter, “Yang… Palace Master Yang!”
“Scram!” Yang Kai tossed the Alchemist aside without much care. He couldn’t be bothered to waste time on this person. Taking a step forward, he arrived next to Bian Yu Qing.
Bian Yu Qing had been struggling to hold on, so she couldn’t help jumping in fright when she detected somebody approaching her. Turning to look in that direction though, she became overjoyed, “Palace Master!”
Yang Kai nodded, “Leave this to me!”
While speaking, he gave a wave of his hand and Hua Qing Si appeared in front of him. He instructed, “Hear my orders, hold the line for a little longer.”
Hua Qing Si nodded at those words, taking over the Palace Master Command Token from Bian Yu Qing and continuing to maintain the Spirit Array.
On the other hand, Bian Yu Qing had long since been an arrow at the end of its flight. The reason she had persisted for so long was through pure force of will. Now that Yang Kai had appeared and Hua Qing Si had taken over the Command Token, she relaxed and immediately passed out, her body falling limply out of the sky.
Yang Kai reached out a hand, placed her into the Small Sealed World’s medicine garden, and asked the two Wood Spirits to take care of her. She was only experiencing great exhaustion so her life was in no danger and she simply needed to recuperate for a while to recover. As such, he was not too worried about her.
Somebody flew in this direction from below at that moment. When that person came closer, it was revealed to be Ji Ying. He looked at Yang Kai with a panicked expression as he shouted, “Brother Yang, w-what is going on!? Where did these Demons come from!? Also, why can’t I contact my Honoured Master!?”
He had sensed that something was wrong after the sudden appearance of the Demon Race and the unexpected attack on High Heaven Palace; hence, he immediately sent a message to Wondrous Pill Great Emperor in order to ask about the current situation. Who could have imagined that he would be unable to contact the Great Emperor? Ji Ying couldn’t even send out the jade slip containing his message. This was something that had never happened before.
Yang Kai replied, “The situation is rather complicated. I will explain the details to you after I resolve the immediate danger we are facing, Brother Ji.”
Lifting his hand again, he summoned three figures from the Small Sealed World. They were Qiong Qi, Yang Xiao, and Yang Xue, “Old Qiong, escort Xiao’er to Dragon Island. Tell the two Elders about the current state of affairs and request that Great Elder and Second Elder leave the island to take charge of the overall situation!”
That was Li Wu Yi’s plan as mentioned in the jade slip. He knew about the close relationship between Yang Kai and Dragon Island; therefore, he was certain Dragon Island could not turn a blind eye if Yang Kai was the one who came forward with the request.
All the Great Emperors were currently missing and nobody knew what had happened to the Demon Saints. If the Demon Saints were still in the Star Boundary, then the only people in this world who could stand up to them were the two strongest Elders of Dragon Island. Unfortunately, the Dragon Clan abided by their ancestral rules and rarely left the island without reason. That might not be the case for a normal member of the Dragon Clan, but the Great Elder and Second Elder had not left the island for tens of thousands of years. Naturally, that was if one discounted the last time Second Elder Fu Zhun left the island because she had been worried about Yang Xiao.
Li Wu Yi had no idea whether they could get the two Elders to leave the island. Even so, he could only leave this matter to Yang Kai.
Yang Xiao was obviously aware of the urgency of the matter, so he immediately saluted, “Yes! This child will definitely live up to your trust, Adoptive Father!”
“Go!” Yang Kai waved Yang Xiao away.
“Be careful, Big Brother! Take care of our parents!” Yang Xue warned. Now that the Demon Race had attacked, the only thing she couldn’t help but worry about were her parents’ safety.
Yang Kai smiled and rubbed her head, “Don’t worry. As long as your Big Brother is around, nobody can harm a single hair on our parents’ head.”
She nodded at his words. Only then did she set off with Yang Xiao and Qiong Qi. They were heading towards the hall where the Cross-Territory Space Array was located. Dragon Island was also a Sealed World in itself, so Space Beacons could not connect from the Star Boundary; hence, they could only use the Cross-Territory Space Array to arrive just outside Dragon Island before heading into the island.
After watching the three people leave, Yang Kai finally turned around to look in a certain direction.
In that direction stood Nanmen Da Jun, who was busy leading a group of disciples as they made urgent repairs to the Spirit Array. He was the one who arranged the entire Sect Defending Array of High Heaven Palace, so nobody knew the various secrets of it better than him. Under normal circumstances, he could have completed repairs on the Grand Array by himself without much effort, but although he was not slow when it came to making repairs, his speed was unfortunately not enough to make ends meet with the Demon Race army constantly attacking.
He was currently scolding several disciples that were slightly slower than the others in his anxiety. While he was in the middle of his scolding, he suddenly felt a pat on his shoulder. He was furious, “Who the Hell… P-Palace Master? Palace Master, you’re back!?”
His furious expression turned into one of pleasant surprise. At the same time, he felt the anxiety in his heart receding. Now that Yang Kai was back, the immediate crisis would soon be resolved. After following Yang Kai for so many years, Nanmen Da Jun had inexplicable confidence in his Palace Master.
Yang Kai gazed through the light curtain formed by the Grand Array. Staring forward, his gaze pierced through the void. There was an extremely powerful aura on the other side. It was like a bright light in the darkness of the night, which made it stand out among the many other members of the Demon Race. It was a Half-Saint!
It turned out that there was a Half-Saint leading the Demon Race army that attacked High Heaven Palace.
The Half-Saint sensed somebody spying on him and a powerful Divine Sense subsequently poured out and transformed into a vicious attack that pierced the depths of Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea like waves crashing against the shore.
Yang Kai coldly snorted in response and his Divine Sense surged as the black flames in his Knowledge Sea swirled and turned into a gigantic vortex. At the same time, he opened his defences and took the initiative to welcome the Half-Saint’s Divine Sense that was attacking him.
An invisible and intangible power fell into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, but before it had time to do any damage, it was completely devoured by the vortex.
Several tens of kilometres away, a burly Demon Race Half-Saint riding a tall Demon Beast grunted in response. His body swayed unsteadily on top of his mount, and a look of horror swept over his face.
When he perceived a fairly powerful aura appearing out of nowhere, he wanted to use the other party as an example to demonstrate his strength; therefore, he launched a Soul attack without hesitation. Who could have expected that his Divine Sense would be cut off without warning? Even his mind had been shaken greatly by the encounter as a result.
A look of incredulity appeared on his face. He had clearly sensed that the opponent was no stronger than a High-Rank Demon King, but unexpectedly, this person’s Soul turned out to be much stronger than his own. Something that went against common sense like this left him feeling utterly confused.
Before he could figure out the situation, he felt his vision going blurry for a moment. Then, a figure suddenly stood in front of him. That person stood on the head of his mount, less than a metre away from him, and watched him quietly.
Looking at that face, the Half-Saint couldn’t help thinking that that person looked rather familiar. [He looks like that Yang Kai who caused a huge fuss in the Demon Realm before. But why does he have grey hair now?]
Caught up in his thoughts, the Half-Saint missed Yang Kai forming several hands seals before pushing his palms out towards him. When the palms came at him, the Half-Saint felt as though everything around him became slow. Even his thoughts seemed to have become sluggish. The only thing in the world that moved was that palm in front of him that was rapidly becoming larger and larger.
Time Flows on Infinitely, Like a Mighty Stream, Like an Unending Dream!
Yang Kai had only managed to scratch the surface of the Dao of Time, but that did not hinder the power of the Time Flies Seal.
Just as the palm print was about to strike the Half-Saint, he suddenly let out a deafening roar. He roared so loudly that his face flushed beet-red. Forcefully freeing himself from the influence of the Time Flies Seal, his large hand reached out to grab something in the void. A spear appeared in the palm of his hand and with a flick, the spear stabbed toward Yang Kai like a Flood Dragon heading out to sea.
A burst of Demon Qi followed as a loud explosion sounded. Yang Kai grunted and at the same time, his body was sent flying backwards like a paper kite.
He was the one to suffer a loss in the head-to-head confrontation even though he had the advantage of taking the initiative. There was a large gap between their cultivations after all. Even so, Yang Kai had fought against a Half-Saint with the cultivation of a High-Rank Demon King before, so nobody could have done better than him in this situation.
Staggering backward, pale-faced, Yang Kai found himself in quite a predicament.
On the other hand, the Demon Race Half-Saint refused to let up after succeeding once. Straightening his body, he flew off his mount and struck out viciously with his spear. His imposing attacking aura enveloped Yang Kai so much that even the world was sealed off as he grinned savagely and shouted, “Die!”
He didn’t care whether the person in front of him was Yang Kai, who had caused a huge fuss in the Demon Realm or not. As long as he killed this person and brought the corpse back for his clansmen to identify, everything would eventually be resolved.
As soon as the words left his mouth though, the Half-Saint felt a throbbing in his heart as though something bad was about to happen. At his cultivation, he would get a vague but mysterious feeling whenever he was faced with an imminent crisis. He himself might not be aware of what the crisis he was about to face was, but he would become aware of it just before it struck him. Thus, he could act to avoid the disaster.
The last time he experienced this feeling, he had only been a High-Rank Demon King. At the time, he had faced a strong enemy and nearly lost his life to his opponent. After so many years, this feeling struck his heart again. He reacted rather decisively and immediately drew back his spear the moment the throbbing began, just in time to see a sinister smile curling the corners of Yang Kai’s lips.
*Shua shua shua…*
When Yang Kai waved his hand, several figures appeared out of thin air, each figure exuding the aura of a Half-Saint.
That Demon Race Half-Saint had just landed on his mount again. Turning his head to the side, he saw that he had been surrounded by several people. He swept his gaze over those faces, his expression changing as he did so, “Bai Zhuo, Bai Ya…”
Aside from these two Half-Saints, there was also a pair of twins. If his guess was correct, they were the twin Sisters of Hundred Spirits Continent, Hei Lian and Bai Lian! Each of these figures was not inferior to him in terms of strength; thus, his expression turned grim in an instant. A faint sheen of sweat oozed out of his forehead as he finally recalled a rumour, the brat known as Yang Kai was not only proficient in the Dao of Space but also had a storage artifact that could store living beings in his possession!
After seeing these four Demon Race Half-Saints mysteriously appearing around him, how could the Half-Saint remain oblivious to the fact that the person he had sent flying with his spear just now was Yang Kai? Moreover, these four had most likely come out of Yang Kai’s storage artifact, so he lamented in his heart. [I‘d have nothing to fear if it was only one Half-Saint, but four… Two fists can’t block four punches! Could my luck be so bad that I accidentally barged into Yang Kai’s territory right after I arrived here from the Demon Realm? Why else would that damn plague be here?]
“I’ll leave him to you!” Yang Kai released the four Half-Saints, borrowed their strength, and flew away, landing directly in the middle of the Demon Race army.
From the moment he stepped out of High Heaven Palace to the moment he attacked the Half-Saint, everything had taken place in the briefest of moments. It was so fast that most of the Demon Race army had yet to react to his presence. Besides, there were several hundreds of thousands in the Demon Race army. They covered the mountains and the plains, practically surrounding most of High Heaven Palace. It was on such a large scale that the commotion had not spread far even though it was a confrontation between Half-Saints. Therefore, only some of the nearby Demon Race members had noticed the anomaly when Yang Kai landed amongst them. The ones located further away were unable to see anything at all and continued to launch attacks at the Sect Defending Array of High Heaven Palace.
When Yang Kai landed on the ground, the surrounding Demon Race army was taken aback for a moment; then, they immediately attacked him without hesitation. He was surrounded by many people in an instant. A furious roar rang out in response and an earth-shakingly violent burst of power erupted outwards. The Demon Race army surrounding Yang Kai suffered a crushing blow that left them in a miserable state. Many of them were thrown into the sky, exploding into a blood mist that rained down on the others below them. In the blink of an eye, there was no one left within three hundred metres of his vicinity.
He lifted his hand and Zhui Feng appeared with a series of neighs. Mounting Zhui Feng, Yang Kai lifted his hand again to summon the Embodiment.
The moment the Embodiment appeared, he sped out to a place several kilometres away and transformed into a giant in mid-air before landing among the Demon Race with a crash. There was another loud explosion. An earthquake spread out, causing the loose rock in the surrounding mountains to come tumbling down. Reaching out his hand, the Demonic War Hammer appeared in his grip and he swung it horizontally. Nobody could get to within a thousand meters of the Embodiment. Just the powerful Demon Qi vibrations he released were enough to kill any Demon with no chance for them to resist.
When the Embodiment began his slaughter, a large number of people appeared around Yang Kai. The space was not that vast, so the Sixty-First Army could not be brought out all at once. Yang Kai could only take out the ten Divisions worth of people from the Small Sealed World in batches.
There was no need to say anything. When he left High Heaven Palace, Yang Kai had communicated with the Small Sealed World with his mind to inform the Division Commanders and the army of more than two hundred thousand about the current situation. For that reason, the Sixty-First Army was already fully-equipped and prepared for battle as they appeared. Under the leadership of the Division Commanders and Vice Division Commanders, the army began cutting down the enemy with great vigour while making their way toward a certain direction.
An army of two hundred and seventy thousand spread out in ten separate directions, ploughing through the battlefield outside High Heaven Palace and leaving ten empty spaces in their wake. Everywhere they passed, the opposing Demon Race army was killed on the spot.
There were many among the Demon Race army too, more than the Sixty-First Army in fact; however, none of them could have imagined that their enemies would launch an attack from the middle of their ranks and they were caught off guard as a result. On the other hand, the Sixty-First Army was well prepared in advance, so it was only natural that it turned into a one-sided battle under these circumstances. Especially since Emperor Realm Masters and above were everywhere to be found in the Sixty-First Army.
The pressure on High Heaven Palace’s Sect Defending Array dropped sharply as the Demons attacking it had stopped their actions after hearing strange noises coming from behind them. When they turned to look behind them, their expressions turned blank in shock.
Both Hua Qing Si, who was preceding over the Grand Array, and Nanmen Da Jun, who was repairing the Grand Array, couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when they noticed the changes.
Just days after the Great Emperors disappeared and the two Great Worlds were connected, hundreds of thousands of Demons and Humans fought a desperate battle outside High Heaven Palace. This battle left rivers of blood and mountains of corpses behind. It was a tragic scene comparable to the Western Territory battlefield.
In this battle, the Sixty-First Army killed countless enemies while the Demon Race army of hundreds of thousands lost nearly half of their numbers. Even an enemy Half-Saint was killed in battle. It was not an overstatement to say that it was extremely devastating for the Demon Realm’s side.
The Demon Half-Saint leading the Demon Race army to besiege High Heaven Palace was not weak. He was a Stone Demon with inherently powerful defensive abilities, but even so, Bai Zhuo, Bai Ya, and the Lotus Sisters were working together against him, so how could he fare well when he had to face all four of them on his own?
By the time the Sixty-First Army rushed in from all sides and laid waste to the enemy, the Stone Demon Half-Saint had already been killed on the spot by Bai Zhuo and the others. A Stone Demon’s defensive abilities were truly outstanding, but even if he had a powerful defence and equally strong offence, it was a given that a one-against-four battle would end in tragedy.
Unfortunately, Bai Ya had been injured quite severely in the process. The Stone Demon Half-Saint had desperately retaliated with everything he had when he saw that he had no hope of surviving this battle. Even the four Half-Saints working together could not come out of the battle unscathed.
The moment the Stone Demon Half-Saint died, the Demon Race army that was already at an absolute disadvantage fell into even greater panic. Despite having the courage to take on thousands of enemies, nobody was willing to voluntarily seek death when they could survive instead; hence, they immediately scattered and fled in all directions.
The Sixty-First Army pursued the enemy force for thousands of kilometres before withdrawing.
When Yang Kai next saw Bai Ya again, the latter was sitting cross-legged on the ground with a pale complexion and a bloody gaping hole in his abdomen that almost penetrated right through his body.
“How are you?” Yang Kai asked.
Bai Ya opened his eyes and shook his head weakly, “I won’t die from this, but I will need to recuperate for a year or so to fully recover.”
Yang Kai said, “The most prominent Alchemists in the entire Star Boundary are currently gathered in High Heaven Palace, so we have the best Spirit Pills available. Why don’t you rest and recuperate here? You can also take care of High Heaven Palace for me while you are at it…”
Bai Ya had no objections to this arrangement, so Yang Kai had Hua Qing Si lead him into the palace and settle him down somewhere.
“Sir, look at the surroundings…” Yao Si stepped forward and murmured solemnly.
There was no need for Yao Si to mention it, Yang Kai had already noticed the anomaly in their immediate vicinity. This battle had caused the deaths of many Demons, and it could be said that the mountains and plains outside High Heaven Palace were littered with corpses.
In the past, nothing special had occurred when a Demon died in the Star Boundary; however, Demon Qi was escaping from these Demon Race corpses at this moment. It would have been nothing if it had been limited to only one or two corpses, but it would turn into a terrifying situation if all the Demon corpses were showing similar signs. What’s more, the sinister Demon Qi that was released by the two or three hundred thousand fallen Demons seemed to be drifting in a certain direction under the influence of some invisible force.
Demon Qi was surging violently outside High Heaven Palace, shrouding the entire area in darkness. Even though it was in the middle of the day, it made a person feel like they were standing in the dark of night.
Yang Kai looked in the direction the Demon Qi was travelling and saw an enormous black spot in the sky. It was as though somebody had splashed a large blot of ink on the once blue sky. Moreover, the entire area under the black spot had become a piece of Demon Land!
The black spot was located some distance away from High Heaven Palace, at least a few thousand kilometres. Nevertheless, it was so large that it was already a plate-sized patch in Yang Kai’s vision. One could only imagine how large it would be if they were standing in the middle of it.
Yang Kai frowned. A Demon Land had appeared several thousand kilometres away from High Heaven Palace. The situation was identical to the situation near the battlefield of the Western Territory. Furthermore, he did not know how many other areas in the entire Star Boundary had been eroded and turned into Demon Lands.
After going all out just now, the Sixty-First Army was resting and recuperating. They would not be able to fight again in short order.
Yang Kai pondered in silence for a moment, but just as he was about to go and check out the situation in the newly appeared Demon Land, he saw Hua Qing Si running towards him in a hurry, “Palace Master, the Branch Sect has been attacked! In addition, Temple Master Wen of Azure Sun Temple has asked for support! There is a Demon Race army attacking Azure Sun Temple! There is a Half-Saint among them, and nobody at Azure Sun Temple can hold that person back!”
Yang Kai’s expression turned icy at those words. The Star Boundary had just achieved a great victory in the battle at the Western Territory and he thought that it would be the battle that determined the victor once and for all. Who could have known that the chaotic situation had only just begun? At present, the entire Star Boundary was like a house with a broken roof that leaked badly from everywhere. It gave off a precarious vibe that was threatening to fall apart at any moment. If High Heaven Palace and Azure Sun Temple were having so much trouble, it was easy to imagine how the other Sects were faring in comparison.
The Sixty-First Army could not be deployed again, so mulling over the situation for a moment, Yang Kai ordered, “Those in the Emperor Realm and above who can still fight, follow me to the Branch Sect.”
Then, he turned to look at the Lotus Sisters, “Please head to Azure Sun Temple to help. I will head there shortly.”
The Lotus Sisters did not object to his orders. Now that Chang Tian was not here, they had no choice but to obey him.
Yang Kai still had the Space Beacon to contact Gao Xue Ting in his possession; therefore, he immediately drew upon the power of the Space Beacon and sent the Lotus Sisters to Gao Xue Ting’s side. After that, he placed all the Emperor Realm Masters that had gathered around into the Sealed World Bead and arrived at the Space Array with a flicker. Stepping onto the Spirit Array, Yang Kai instantly arrived at the Branch Sect in the Southern Territory.
High Heaven Palace had more than a hundred thousand disciples, too many for the Main Sect to accommodate despite the large area it occupied. Therefore, half of the disciples had been placed in the Branch Sect in the Southern Territory. It was just that the situation at the Branch Sect was similar to the Main Sect. There were no Masters standing guard, so they only relied on the Sect Defending Array to fend off foreign enemies.
When Yang Kai arrived at the Branch Sect, rumbling sounds were constantly coming from the Sect Defending Array. Even so, it still looked solid and showed no signs of damage. The main reason was that Yang Kai had arrived soon after the Demon Race army started attacking. Otherwise, the Grand Array of the Branch Sect would not have lasted for long without support.
The disciples of the Branch Sect were still in a positive state of mind and had not fallen into panic. Moreover, those with some measure of ability were getting ready for battle under the instructions of their Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters. Everyone was preparing to face the enemy should the Sect Defending Array be forcefully broken; hence, they were oblivious to the fact that Yang Kai had appeared at the Space Array.
Time was short, so Yang Kai didn’t spare any time to talk to the Branch Sect’s disciples. He quickly flew out of the Branch Sect’s shield and stood in the middle of the Demon Race army, his Divine Sense sweeping outward and giving him an almost complete grasp of the situation. Their numbers were not overwhelming, but not few either. There were around a hundred thousand Demons here but no Half-Saint leading them. The ones with the highest cultivation were High-Rank Demon Kings.
Zhui Feng appeared with a loud neigh. Yang Kai mounted the beast and gave a wave of his hand. Then, hundreds of Emperor Realm Masters along with several Half-Saints appeared next to him. Holding the Myriads Sword in the palm of his hand, he pointed forward and roared, “Kill!”
A group of Emperor Realm Masters wore savage smiles as they scattered in all directions, forming groups of three to five to cover each other’s blind spots. Organized, they rushed into the midst of the Demon Race army. Like wolves running wild in a sheep’s pen, the Demons were unable to fight back wherever these Masters passed. Some Demon Kings managed to persist for a short while, but they ultimately could not escape their fate of being slaughtered.
Although Yang Kai hadn’t brought many people with him, each one he did was an Emperor. Furthermore, his side included three Demon Race Half-Saints, Bai Zhuo, the Embodiment, and Zhui Feng, as well as three Dragon Clan members, Zhu Qing, Zhu Lie, and Fu Ling. How could the Demon Race army withstand such a powerful lineup?
Zhui Feng galloped through the army, and regardless of whether it was a Demon Great General or a Demon King in front of him, they all exploded into blood mist. There was no exception whatsoever. Riding on Zhui Feng, Yang Kai swung with his Myriads Sword wantonly, sending out waves of Sword Qi, beheading Demons and slicing off their limbs.
It wasn’t until the Demon Race army was fleeing in all directions that the Branch Sect’s disciples hiding inside the Sect Defending Array reacted and realized that reinforcements had arrived. Looking out into the distance, they recognized the figure riding on the strange beast to be none other than their Palace Master. Cheers immediately shook the sky. Following that, the shield was deactivated and they rushed out to clean up the straggling enemies.
The strength of the disciples who remained in the Branch Sect was honestly not that powerful. Those who had some strength had been recruited into Sixty-First Army by Yang Kai after all, so it was only natural that only the less powerful remained. A group of people like this would have been wiped out by any random Demon King. Even so, they rushed out fearlessly and chased the Demon Race members with great enthusiasm. On the other hand, the Demons being chased fled desperately without even looking back.
Fortunately, the Branch Sect’s disciples still had their wits about them to a certain extent. They knew that their strength was lacking and they would surely suffer if they chased the enemy too far, so they only pursued them for a few hundred kilometres before turning back. Upon meeting Yang Kai, they bowed in unison.
Yang Kai nodded in acknowledgement, “Wait until the Demon Qi dissipates completely from the Demon corpses before cleaning up the battlefield; otherwise, there is a risk of demonification.”
The many disciples nodded in acknowledgement.
Then, Yang Kai waved his hand, “Return to the Sect. If the enemy comes again, don’t forget to send a message to Head Manager.”
After some organizing, he placed all the people he brought with him back into the Small Sealed World. A Space Beacon flashed with light next as Yang Kai teleported to another location again.
When he reappeared, Yang Kai was already inside Azure Sun Temple. A beautiful figure with a longsword in hand was fighting a Demon King next to him. He had teleported here through the Space Beacon he used to keep in contact with Gao Xue Ting, so it was only natural that he appeared beside her.
The longsword in Gao Xue Ting’s hand flourished, and her Sword Qi slashed in all directions. There was also a round mirror hanging above her head. The mirror’s surface was shining brilliantly like the sun as bursts of flame shot out in the form of vicious fiery snakes, striking the Demon King. Yang Kai immediately recognised her Natal Emperor Artifact, the Radiant Sun Mirror. The mirror was so powerful that he had not seen her use it many times himself.
Gao Xue Ting’s opponent was a High-Rank Demon King with powerful cultivation, so logically speaking, he should be stronger than her; however, her Emperor Artifact was extraordinary and this was the Star Boundary, so the Demon invaders had yet to adapt to the slight differences in World Principles here. As a result, the High-Rank Demon King was flustered and panicked even though he was marginally stronger than Gao Xue Ting. While it was not a life-threatening situation for him, he was still in terrible condition.
The Demon King, seemingly realizing he was losing momentum, suddenly became resolute, but just as he was about to unleash a Secret Technique he kept as a trump card, he saw a slightly grey-haired youth riding a strange beast appearing in front of him. The youth was nothing special, but the strange beast was giving off the aura of a Half-Saint.
Their abrupt appearance at such a close distance and in such a strange manner frightened the Demon King greatly and left him feeling flustered. In addition, a glance from Zhui Feng caused the Demon Qi in his body to churn chaotically.
When Gao Xue Ting noticed this, she did not let the opportunity slip by her. The flames of the sun burst out from the Radiant Sun Mirror, burning so fiercely that the Demon King had to strain himself just to block them. At the same time, a longsword appeared in his blinded field of vision and stabbed straight at him. A pain spread out in his chest as the sword pierced his body.
Pushing her Emperor Qi wildly, Gao Xue Ting unleashed a burst of Sword Qi from her weapon and cut the Demon King in front of her into pieces. She then retracted her sword and gave it a light swing to remove the Demon Blood on the blade. Looking Yang Kai up and down, she commented, “You look quite majestic like that.”
Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, “Many thanks for the praise, Senior Sister.”
His expression then turned serious, “What’s the situation?”
She sighed softly, “Thankfully you sent those two Half-Saints over to help, otherwise, the Temple would have been in serious trouble.”
Yang Kai then swept his gaze around and saw that everywhere in the Azure Sun Temple was burning with the flames of war. It was clear that the Demon Race army had broken past the Temple’s Sect Defending Array.
That was an inevitable situation. Even High Heaven Palace’s Sect Defending Array, which was extremely sturdy, was about to fall apart at any moment under the Demon Race army’s siege. In fact, it would have been breached if Yang Kai had arrived any later.
Although Azure Sun Temple’s Sect Defending Array was not to be taken lightly either, it was slightly inferior compared to High Heaven Palace’s. How could it hold up against the Demon Race army?
When the Sect Defending Array had been breached, Wen Zi Shan had taken decisive action to send a message to High Heaven Palace for help. That was because he knew that numerous wars had broken out everywhere in the Star Boundary and all the armies were probably exhausted from defending against the enemy, so asking for help from them might not be of use. The Sixty-First Army was the only force still in excellent condition. What’s more, Yang Kai had as many Masters under him as the clouds in the sky; therefore, asking Yang Kai for help was the only chance Azure Sun Temple had of surviving this crisis.
Not long after the request for help was sent out, the Lotus Sisters were sent over to help with repelling the invading Demon Race Half-Saint leading the enemy forces. Wen Zi Shan then led his army into a fierce battle against the Demons inside Azure Sun Temple and gradually stabilized the situation.
Yang Kai glanced over and took in the situation within the Temple before swiftly shouting, “Senior Sister, take care of yourself!”
Yang Kai clamped his knees around Zhui Feng, and Zhui Feng charged forward. Meanwhile, the Myriads Sword flashed with a cold light, rushing straight at the nearest Demon King.
When the Demon King saw Zhui Feng bearing down on him, his expression changed to one of horror and he made a decision on the spot. A cloud of blood burst out from his body and transformed into a ray of blood light to escape.
Yang Kai reached out to grab the Demon King and Space Principles flared. The space around the Demon King hardened and he was instantly frozen in place, unable to move. On the other hand, Yang Kai galloped away on horseback, swinging the Myriads Sword slightly and speeding into the distance several kilometres away without even looking back at the Demon King. Behind Yang Kai, the Demon King swayed unsteadily, his eyes widening for a moment before he exploded, leaving no corpse behind.
The hundreds of people that Yang Kai had placed back into the Sealed World Bead just a short while ago were released again. There was no need for him to say anything. They immediately scattered in all directions and slaughtered the Demons.
Riding on Zhui Feng for a while, Yang Kai could sense his companion’s bloodthirsty aura; thus, he decided to let Zhui Feng simply run wild. As Zhui Feng charged, Yang Kai’s figure flashed erratically as he slashed at his enemies with his sword.
The Myriads Sword was seemingly unstoppable as one after another, the members of the Demon Race fell to its blade. Needless to say, most of the Demon Great Generals and the Demon Generals lost their lives before they even realized what was going on. There were few even among the Demon Kings who could last three strikes against Yang Kai.
Yang Kai cut down a Demon King who was fighting Murong Xiao Xiao, but just as she was about to thank him, he suddenly turned his head and looked at something several kilometres away.
Xia Ning Chang’s figure was whirling about in that direction like a dancing butterfly. She was struggling hard to keep up with the fierce attacks of a Mid-Rank Demon King. Her flying figure was akin to a willow branch swaying in the storm, unable to control herself.
Although she was also an Emperor Realm Master, she rarely engaged in battle throughout her cultivation journey, much less fought on the frontlines of a war. Among Yang Kai’s many women, Xia Ning Chang was by far the one with the least actual combat experience. Moreover, her opponent’s cultivation was higher than hers so it was only natural that she was struggling to match up against her opponent. Even though she was moving about nimbly, she was still stuck in a dangerous and hard-pressed situation against this Demon King.
In comparison, the Demon King had a savage expression on his face and put up a frenzied offensive as though he wanted nothing more than to kill this annoying woman on the spot.
Just as Yang Kai looked over, the Demon King sent out a fierce punch. The Demon King’s huge fist, which was almost half the size of her face, flew straight at her chest. That punch was so heavy that even a mountain would have collapsed under that impact, much less her delicate body.
Murong Xiao Xiao screamed and instantly rushed over to help. Unfortunately, there was a distance of several kilometres between them, so it would be too late no matter how fast she moved.
On the contrary, Yang Kai remained motionless, his mental state strung so tight that he was on the verge of a breakdown. Still, he was prepared to rescue her the moment the situation turned dire.
Faced with this punch that was powerful enough to break a mountain, a trace of panic inevitably flashed across Xia Ning Chang’s beautiful eyes. There had never been a time when she felt so close to death before, not even during the time when Grand Desolation Star Field invaded Heng Luo Star Field and defiled Tong Xuan Realm. With danger so close at hand, she lifted her hand and a longan-sized bead was clamped between two jade-like fingers. That bead looked rather unremarkable, a dull brown with not the slightest bit of energy fluctuation.
The words Yang Kai had told her when he first handed this bead to her flashed in her mind at that moment, “If you are ever in danger, throw this at your opponent. It will turn the situation around!”
Xia Ning Chang naturally held complete trust towards her Junior Brother; therefore, she did as she was told at this moment of desperation and threw the bead at the Demon King in front of her.
When the Demon King saw her throwing a bead at him, he instinctively reacted warily; however, when he realized that there was nothing special about that bead and saw the panicked look on his opponent’s face, he sneered, [This weak Human woman in front of me is so frightened that she lost her wits! Does she even know what she threw at me?]
The force behind the fist that blasted forward became more and more powerful, slamming straight into the oncoming bead.
*Kacha…*
A clear sound came from his fist the next moment, followed by severe pain. The Demon King paled in extreme horror as he wondered what was happening. When his fist came into contact with the seemingly unremarkable bead, he felt an oppressive and unstoppable force smashing into him.
His fists that he was so proud of and his body that could withstand even the forces of a Demon Artifact were as fragile as paper in front of this strange bead. An overwhelming strength washed over him from the front and his arm shattered. Even so, the bead did not stop and continued to crush half of his body before flying out and striking a mountain behind them.
The Demon King howled in agony as the expression on his face no longer held any contempt when he looked at Xia Ning Chang; instead, his eyes were full of horror and disbelief. However, his scream was covered by a deafening noise that followed. The entire world shook for an instant, and the chaos inside Azure Sun Temple went silent as everyone who could turned to look at the source of the sound.
A mountain that was several thousand metres tall had been struck by something and exploded with a deafening roar. In the next instant, rubble and dirt rained down from the sky as though the world itself was collapsing. When the noise subsided, the tall mountain was reduced to a height of only several dozen metres while a giant crater had formed. It was a scene of absolute destruction.
Xia Ning Chang stared in a daze at the scene before her. Others might not understand what had happened, but she was well aware of the situation. She had simply thrown out the bead Yang Kai had given to her, and it had severely damaged a Mid-Rank Demon King before crashing into that mountain and reducing it to a blasted crater filled with rubble…
[That bead… actually contained that much power!?] She knew that what Yang Kai had given her was definitely no ordinary bead and it would definitely be something that could protect her in a moment of crisis. Still, she never imagined its power to be so great. For a moment, she was unable to recover from her shock and even forgot about her opponent who had been trying to kill her just now.
Feeling two gazes on her, Xia Ning Chang turned to look in that direction and saw Murong Xiao Xiao, who had the same blank expression she did, and Yang Kai, who was smiling gently at her. Seeing his look, she couldn’t help sticking her tongue cutely before focusing her mind and reaching out her hand. The bead she threw out earlier instantly flew back to her in response and she gripped it between her fingers again.
The Mid-Rank Demon King had not died yet even though half his body had been crushed, and he had quickly taken the opportunity just now to put some distance between himself and Xia Ning Chang. Seeing her appearance as she held the bead between her fingers at this moment, he gave a cry of despair and turned to run. He had just suffered a huge loss, so how could he make the same mistake again?
Xia Ning Chang narrowed her sapphire eyes and unrelentingly chased after her opponent. He had been severely injured and lost most of his strength as a result, so when else would she kill him if not now? She threw the bead in her hand continuously, unleashing a terrifying force with every attack. The Demon King desperately dodged those attacks a few times but eventually couldn’t avoid them in the end. The moment the bead landed on his body, he died a horrible death on the spot.
Shan Qing Luo watched Xia Ning Chang hunting down a Mid-Rank Demon King with her own eyes. Those attacks were so fierce that the Demon King was fleeing desperately. In her curiosity, she couldn’t help taking out a bead. That bead was practically identical to the one in Xia Ning Chang’s possession, and it was not the only one. Xue Yue, Su Yan, and Zhu Qing each had one too.
Shan Qing Luo glanced about her surroundings and found a High-Rank Demon King who was currently locked in a melee with Xi Lei. Curious, she casually tossed the bead in her hand at the High-Rank Demon King.
The bead silently approached the Demon King, but be that as it may, his cultivation was not poor, so how could he fail to notice a sneak attack from behind? Making a feint, the Demon King opened some distance with Xi Lei and grabbed at the bead, fully intending to catch this ‘hidden weapon’ in the palm of his hand. He had not seen what happened to the poor Mid-Rank Demon King just now; otherwise, he would never have been so careless.
As soon as the bead touched his hand, the sound of bones breaking immediately rang out. Starting from his palm, the Demon King’s entire arm exploded into pieces. That unremarkable bead actually carried such unimaginable weight and power behind it!
Feeling extremely shocked, the Demon King hastily withdrew what remained of his arm in an attempt to dodge the attack instead. Xi Lei’s attack struck him during that momentary distraction. Lightning in the sky turned into a pillar of light, encasing him inside. The lightning snakes danced wildly with a loud crackling sound and his entire body stiffened in response, but it was too late to escape now.
At that moment, the strange bead landed on his body and there was a loud bang, after which his body exploded into pieces. However, the power of the bead was unabated and smashed into the ground nearby, causing the earth to shake for a moment. Xi Lei even lost his balance and nearly fell to the ground as he was too close to the epicentre.
The surface of the ground sunk and an enormous crater appeared out of nowhere.
*Kacha…*
Deep cracks in the ground appeared, spreading outward like spiderwebs with the crater as the centre.
“What the hell is that!?” Xi Lei’s expression changed drastically, turning his head to look at Shan Qing Luo.
Shan Qing Luo bore the bloodline of the Heavenly Moon Demon Spider; hence, she could be considered as a member of the Monster Race. That was why the Monster Kings from the Ancient Wild Lands regarded her as one of their own and took good care of her. As such, they also knew just how strong she was. It was impossible for her to unleash such a powerful attack even if she was desperate, but she had undeniably performed that attack just now. Moreover, Xi Lei had the feeling that he would not have ended up any better than that Demon King if he had been hit by that blow just now.
Meanwhile, Shan Qing Luo was stunned. She had simply tossed out the bead casually out of curiosity. It never even crossed her mind that a High-Rank Demon King would die by her hands just like that. Seemingly not hearing Xi Lei’s question, she blinked and stretched out her hand to summon the bead back to the palm of her hand before studying it carefully.
Xi Lei rushed over to her side in the next moment, glanced at the bead in her hand, and murmured, “What is that?”
“It’s something my Husband gave me…” she replied, “All my Sisters have one too.”
Xi Lei’s eyes narrowed at those words as he stared at the bead intently. Something so powerful could only be an incredible artifact; however, from what she just said, it would seem that each of Yang Kai’s wives had one in their possession.
[When did High Heaven Palace get so wealthy it could afford to produce so many treasures?]
Under careful observation, Xi Lei could not detect any energy fluctuations coming from the bead. It looked no different from a random stone bead picked up by the roadside; however, as he probed further with his Divine Sense, this unremarkable bead suddenly enlarged at a rapid pace in front of his eyes, to the point it appeared to become an enormous Star that was extremely vast and desolate in an instant.
As his Divine Sense rapidly tried to expand to cover this Star, he couldn’t help panicking, feeling like his mind was trapped in a cage. Biting his tongue hard, Xi Lei felt a sharp pain which allowed him to escape from his predicament, his forehead covered in a sheen of sweat as he shouted, “A World Bead!”
“This is a World Bead?” Shan Qing Luo was astonished. She had not known what it was either until now. Before the Sixty-First Army set off for the Western Territory, Yang Kai had specifically called his wives over and gave each of them a bead. After that, he had done something to help them refine it. He also taught them how to use it. They had not quite understood what it was, however, until they brought it out to attack their enemies…
“I can’t be wrong. This is definitely a World Bead!” Xi Lei nodded. Although he had never been in contact with a World Bead before, he had at least heard of them. From what he experienced during his previous contact with it, he could immediately conclude that it was definitely a World Bead refined by Yang Kai. It was just that this World Bead was slightly different from the ones he knew about.
It was naturally different, as what Yang Kai had handed over to Shan Qing Luo and the others were his earliest works. In order to separate the second region in the Small Sealed World, he had refined many Dead Stars and large meteorites. These initial World Beads that he created did not have the function of accommodating living people. If any living being was stuffed into these World Beads, they would only be crushed into dust by chaotic World Principles inside.
Only the batch of World Beads that he later refined could contain living creatures, but those had all been handed over to Li Wu Yi to distribute to the Army Commanders. The reason the Star Boundary’s armies could move so quickly when evacuating from the Western Territory was that they had used the World Beads. How else could the army of several hundred thousand have withdrawn so rapidly?
While the World Beads that Shan Qing Luo and the others had in their possession did not have the ability to hold living creatures, they were still refined from gigantic Dead Stars. Moreover, Yang Kai had helped them to refine the World Beads so that they could control them freely. Throwing the World Bead was equivalent to throwing an entire Dead Star at their enemies. How could a Mid-Rank or even High-Rank Demon King block such an attack when they were completely unprepared?
Yang Kai had many other similar World Beads in his possession and was planning to find an opportunity to distribute them to the Sixty-First Army. If these World Beads were used correctly, it would definitely give the Masters from the Demon Race a huge surprise. Unfortunately, there was not enough time. He could have refined more of them if he was given enough time and they would surely become a powerful weapon for the Sixty-First Army.
“We’ll know once we question him later.” Shan Qing Luo smiled and clenched the bead in her hand. She had originally been upset that her cultivation was too low to help share Yang Kai’s worries and burdens; however, she could even kill an unsuspecting High-Rank Demon King in an instant with this treasure in hand. Therefore, she was happy from the bottom of her heart. She held the bead in her hand and moved about the battlefield, frequently throwing the World Bead out and killing countless enemies as easily as if she were chopping vegetables.
The stalemate in Azure Sun Temple had been broken. Before Yang Kai brought reinforcements, the Demon Race army had breached the Sect Defending Array, invaded Azure Sun Temple, and engaged in an all-out melee with Wen Zi Shan’s army. When Yang Kai led hundreds of Masters to this place, it was as though a handful of salt was thrown into a pan of boiling oil. The whole situation had swiftly turned around.
Demon Race Masters were constantly being killed while on the other hand, the Half-Saint leading the Demon Race army was unable to do anything due to the interference of the Lotus Sisters. He could only protect himself now with no means of fighting back.
Seeing that the situation was not looking too good, the Half-Saint let out a howl. He intentionally took one of the Lotus Sisters’ attacks and used the momentum to leap out of range of the battle before escaping in a miserable state. The Lotus Sisters naturally gave pursuit.
With the most powerful among them fleeing the battle, the rest of the Demon Race army fell into a greater panic. The ground was littered with corpses for tens of kilometres as few among them managed to escape alive.
Approximately an hour passed before the noisy Azure Sun Temple finally quietened down.
Wen Zi Shan was covered in blood as he stood in the sky and looked out at the Temple’s inheritance that had been there for hundreds of years, eventually letting out a long sigh. They might have killed many of the Demons in this battle, but the loss Azure Sun Temple had incurred was not small either. Corpses belonging to the Sect’s disciples were lying all over the ground, their deaths particularly miserable. In just one battle, Wen Zi Shan had lost nearly thirty percent of the army under his command.
Demon Qi was gradually escaping from the corpses of the Demons who had died in this place. It wafted away and converged in a certain direction, causing Azure Sun Temple to be covered in a fog of darkness.
Wen Zi Shan met with Yang Kai next and the two exchanged a few words. Only then did he learn that High Heaven Palace had also been attacked by the Demon Race. It was just that High Heaven Palace had a mighty army and powerful defences, so it had not suffered a great loss. The Demon Race army was routed instead.
Upon seeing that Yang Kai had several Demon Race Half-Saints gathered around him, Wen Zi Shan couldn’t help feeling jealous. He pulled a face and coughed lightly, “Yang Kai, I have something to discuss with you.”
“I’ll ask the Lotus Sisters to accompany you,” Yang Kai declared.
Wen Zi Shan was stunned when he heard the words, and then he immediately became overjoyed, “Good good!”
He had originally wanted to try and gain one of the Half-Saints over from Yang Kai’s side. The army under him was not weak, but unfortunately, there were no Masters in the Pseudo-Great Emperor or Half-Saint Realm. It might not seem like much under normal circumstances, but having no one who could challenge an enemy Half-Saint if one appeared was indeed an issue.
He only wanted Yang Kai to leave one Half-Saint with him, so he never imagined that Yang Kai would directly give him two instead. A feeling that they were all part of one family washed over Wen Zi Shan all of a sudden as he realized that Yang Kai was similarly anxious about what he himself was worried about.
Yang Kai did not remain in Azure Sun Temple after cleaning the battlefield and counting the casualties, choosing to lead his men home instead. Back at High Heaven Palace, he immediately sent a message to Li Wu Yi to report the Demon Race army’s attack on High Heaven Palace’s Main Sect, Branch Sect, and Azure Sun Temple.
Not long after that, Li Wu Yi replied with a message of his own. Yang Kai’s expression turned solemn after reading the message. As he had expected, the entire Star Boundary was swept up in a storm. The two Great Worlds were connected, and numerous Demon Lands had popped up all over the four territories. As a result, many Demon armies continued to cross over into this world and invade the Star Boundary to burn, kill, and loot without mercy.
The situation at the moment was much more serious compared to the situation where the Demons had first crossed over into the Western Territory back then. There had only been one Two Worlds’ Passage in the past, and although the Demon Race was powerful, the Star Boundary only needed to defend one location. In contrast, the Demon Race was spread out everywhere now. The flames of war had broken out across the entire Star Boundary, and all fifty-five armies were exhausted from defending against those attacks.
The attacks were not limited to High Heaven Palace and Azure Sun Temple. In just half a day, Li Wu Yi had received no fewer than thirty requests for help. There were seven in the Northern Territory alone. Even if he was extremely strong and experienced, he no longer knew how to deal with the enemy and could only handle one crisis at a time. He had to do his best to preserve the Star Boundary’s forces until the Great Emperors returned.
Upon learning that Yang Kai was free to help out now, Li Wu Yi became overjoyed and asked him to provide reinforcements to those seven places that had asked for help in the Northern Territory. Yang Kai did not raise any objections to the request and immediately began gathering his troops.
The Sixty-First Army had only rested for half a day, so they were not completely recovered from their battle fatigue, but there was no helping it under these circumstances. He placed the army into the Small Sealed World and stepped onto the Space Array at High Heaven Palace.
At this moment, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling thankful for the many preparations he made in the past. In order to unify the Northern Territory, he had set up many Space Arrays and they were now coming in handy. If not for this extensive network of Space Arrays, it would have taken him a lot of time to travel to and from various places.
The Demons invaded in massive numbers, but they had also spread out widely; therefore, there were not too many in each place which in turn gave Yang Kai the opportunity to defeat them one at a time.
Yang Kai led the Sixty-First Army on a killing spree. Everywhere they went, the Demon Race armies suffered heavy casualties. No less than a million Demons had been eliminated by the Sixty-First Army in the span of just a few days; however, Yang Kai also saw countless situations throughout the world where the Demon Race had struck the world like a star of calamity. Many cities were completely obliterated, and countless villages were razed to the ground. Even the small and medium-sized Sects that were on the weaker side had been slaughtered.
There were corpses everywhere. At the same time, an uncountable number of Humans were fleeing for their lives. Even so, where could they go in the midst of this troubled world? They were simply running around like headless flies. The only fate waiting for them if they encountered any of the Demons was death. For that reason, Yang Kai began accepting these fugitives into the Sixty-First Army if they had enough strength whenever he came across them. If they didn’t have enough strength, they were placed into the Small Sealed World for their safety.
This killing spree expanded the Sixty-First Army’s lineup considerably and restored their numbers to three hundred thousand as a result. Meanwhile, Yang Kai had taken no fewer than a million refugees into the Sealed World Bead.
Today, Yang Kai stood in front of a private residence in one of the dilapidated cities. Flames were raging around him as corpses littered the streets. Almost half of the homes in front of him had collapsed and inside this one, a naked woman was lying on the ground without a single piece of clothing on her. Her lower body was a mess, and there were many wounds all over the rest of her body as well. Her corpse had gone cold, but her eyes remained wide open. Before she died, her eyes had been filled with fear and horror. She had turned her head to the side, and a hint of nostalgia was mixed in with her eyes that were brimming with fear. There was a young child around three years old lying in a pool of blood in the direction she was looking; furthermore, the child had a large gaping hole in his chest that was now completely empty.
Yang Kai could imagine what had happened even without witnessing the scene with his own eyes. The Demons had come attacking and this mother had protected her child desperately, but what could a powerless woman do against the powerful Demons from a foreign world? The woman had been defiled and died a violent death! In addition, her child had been killed!
Even though he had become accustomed to seeing all sorts of tragedies recently, Yang Kai still couldn’t help feeling absolutely furious at the sight. A wave of murderous intent brewed in his chest like a volcano that could erupt at any time.
Many of the cities and villages he passed by recently had been obliterated, but the Demons had only slaughtered the people within those cities. They had not done anything else to the people there. On the contrary, he noticed something different in this city. The scene in front of him left him feeling slightly overwhelmed by his emotions.
“Brother-in-Law!” Fu Ling rushed over from a distance, her beautiful eyes red and wet with tears. Before she could get close to him, the murderous intent he was exuding stopped her in her tracks. She followed in his gaze and bit her lip hard at the sight.
“Speak!” Yang Kai took a deep breath and did his best to withdraw his murderous intent into his body, causing his clothes to flap wildly in response.
“There are no survivors in this city. Everyone has been slaughtered. Furthermore, all children under ten years…” She scowled deeply, seeming to find it hard to finish her sentence.
“What happened to the children?”
She pointed inside the house.
“Like that child, all of them had their hearts dug out of their chests. Brother-in-Law, do Demons… eat Humans?” She turned to look at him when she asked that question.
He glanced at her, frowning.
She continued, “If they don’t eat Humans, then why did they carve out their hearts? And they were all children too. Not to mention, there are too few corpses for a city this size. It seems like some have been taken away.”
Yang Kai had not considered that possibility before. He had lived in the Demon Realm for several years after all, so he had never seen the Demon Race practising such preferences during his time there; however, it seemed possible now that he heard Fu Ling mentioning it.
It made sense that he had never seen this kind of activity in the Demon Realm before because only Demons lived in the Demon Realm. It was a completely different scenario now that they have invaded the Star Boundary. It would not be surprising if any unusual preferences were exposed under these circumstances.
“Let’s go!” He spun around and let out a loud whistle. A moment later, a figure fell from the sky. It was Ying Fei who cupped his fists in greeting, “Sir!”
Yang Kai nodded. Space Principles surged and enveloped the two of them. Then, they instantly disappeared from the spot.
At this moment, Yang Kai had divided the Sixty-First Army into two groups. Bai Zhuo led one of the groups, heading from the south to the north while the Embodiment headed the other group, travelling from the east to the west.
Bai Ya was still recuperating inside the Small Sealed World and it would take quite a while before he could recover, so he was unable to bring out his strength at the moment.
It wasn’t that Yang Kai wanted to divide his troops. The Sixty-First Army might be powerful, but the Demon Race was no easy prey either; moreover, all the Half-Saints had been dispatched in this venture. It was just that the entire Northern Territory was aflame with battles. There were too many places that required assistance so the efficiency would be higher if the troops were divided. It was simply a necessary move.
The army split in two and headed towards the various areas in the Northern Territory while Yang Kai and Ying Fei went ahead to scout the way and gather information on the enemy. Fu Ling stubbornly insisted on following them, claiming that, as the Standard-Bearer of the Sixty-First Army, she could not stray too far away from the Army Commander. Yang Kai couldn’t be bothered to argue with her, so he simply agreed to bring her along. They had only just arrived at the first city to search for information when they came across such a tragedy.
“The blood in the city has yet to dry. The Demon Race army probably left not too long ago. Sir, please head this way!”
Ying Fei was an expert when it came to tracking, to the point where Yang Kai couldn’t hope to compete at all; thus, he simply followed in the direction Ying Fei pointed. Space Principles fluctuated continuously as his figure flashed and hurried off into the distance.
Yang Kai soon saw a huge black spot in the sky from a great distance away. It was as dark as ink, and Demon Qi loomed from within. Moreover, the aura of another world seeped out from within the black spot.
Ying Fei suddenly exclaimed in realization, “It looks like they are trying to return to the Demon Stronghold!”
Yang Kai snorted, “Let’s go pay them a visit then!”
Ever since returning from the Western Territory, Yang Kai had led his army on a frantic campaign to various parts of the Northern Territory as though he was putting out fires everywhere; therefore, he had not had the time to investigate the Demon Land under those black spots.
Although he had seen a similar situation in the Western Territory before, he had sealed the black spot in the Western Territory almost as soon as it opened. The Demons that crossed over into this world there had either died or fled. It was just that the erosion of the black spot had not disappeared even though the passage between the two worlds had been sealed. For that reason, Yang Kai was very curious to know how these black spots in the Northern Territory were different from the other side.
Since he had chased his enemies this far, he might as well investigate a little while he was at it. There was no need for Ying Fei to continue giving directions as there were traces of the Demon Race army’s path along the way and their destination pointed towards the Demon Stronghold.
It was a distance of thousands of kilometres, but Yang Kai’s figure only flickered a few times before he arrived at his destination. He stood in the sky and looked out into the distance; then, he frowned. Everywhere he looked was Demon Land. The trees were withered and the plants were dead inside the Demon Land. It gave him an extremely uncomfortable feeling, almost as though he was actually standing in the Demon Realm.
Having received Bright Moon’s legacy, Yang Kai was recognized by the Will of the Star Boundary; therefore, he had an unmatched perception anywhere in the Star Boundary. However, he couldn’t perceive any of the Star Boundary’s aura in the Demon Land in front of him! In other words, the area where the Demon Land expanded could no longer be considered as part of the Star Boundary but rather belonged to the Demon Realm!
That wasn’t all. Invisible to the naked eye, the World Principles in the Demon Land throbbed ever so slightly. In addition, the Demon Land quietly expanded a little more with every pulse. Yang Kai was the only one who could perceive what was happening here. Even a Pseudo-Great Emperor would not have noticed anything standing in this spot. The Demon Land was expanding at an extremely slow rate, but it was definitely expanding and constantly eroding away at the Star Boundary’s territory.
This place should have been the foundation of a Sect in the past. There were great mountains everywhere, and among the mountains and forests were many pavilions and terraces. It had clearly been a place with beautiful mountains and clear waters. Unfortunately, the black spot just happened to appear in the sky above that Sect. The entire Sect’s territory, along with the area spanning a radius of ten thousand kilometres around it, had long since been turned into a Demon Land.
All of a sudden, Yang Kai heard a vague mournful cry coming from one of the mountain peaks. He was stunned, thinking that he was experiencing an auditory hallucination. Nevertheless, after listening carefully, he realized there really was a sound coming from that direction.
[I don’t believe it! There are survivors!] Yang Kai had always believed that the Demon Race killed all the living creatures in the Star Boundary ruthlessly wherever they went. Even if they didn’t kill them, they would let their Demon Qi corrupt Humans, turning them into Demons. Contrary to his expectations though, there seemed to be survivors here. It was just that he did not know what they were experiencing at the moment for them to cry out so miserably.
Yang Kai cocked his ears to the side and listened closely to determine the location of the sound. A moment later, his body shifted, and he vanished from the spot. When he reappeared again, he was standing in a mountain valley. The mountain valley was very lively as there were many Demons gathered in this one place, all of them seemingly extremely busy at the moment.
Many big pots had been set up within the mountain valley. Most of these pots contained boiling water, but some contained boiling oil instead. Some of the Demons carried numerous cleaned and gutted Human corpses and threw them into either the boiling water or boiling oil. There were loud crackling sounds of frying coming from the pots and the entire mountain valley was filled with a strange and disgusting smell.
On the other hand, hundreds of Humans were bound tightly on the other side of the mountain valley. These people were closely guarded by a single Demon. From time to time, another Demon, holding a sharp weapon, would go over, grab one from among the crowd, kill that person on the spot, and drag that person aside to be cleaned.
The surviving people looked extremely pale after watching their clansmen being killed in front of them and their bodies being thrown into the pots. They had long since been scared out of their wits. The miserable cries Yang Kai heard just now came from this place. They were cries of terror and despair, mixed with begging and cursing.
When Yang Kai arrived in this place, he swept his gaze around and instantly felt his scalp going numb. Fu Ling had asked whether the Demon Race ate Humans back in the ruined city. He had been unsure how to answer at the time, but how could he not know that the Demon Race truly ate Humans after seeing this sight before him?
Three unfamiliar figures had suddenly appeared in the mountain valley, so how could the busy members of the Demon Race fail to notice them? One of them immediately shouted, “Who’s there!?”
Yang Kai glanced at that Demon coldly before he ordered, “Kill them all!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he arrived in front of the Demon who shouted, reached out, and grabbed the other party by the neck. His Demon Qi surged, pouring into the Demon’s body, destroying the latter’s meridians in an instant. Then, Yang Kai raised his hand and tossed the body aside.
His meridians had been destroyed, his entire body was in pain, and his Demon Qi was leaking; however, this Demon was not dead yet. He simply couldn’t move at all. When he was tossed aside by Yang Kai, he fell straight into one of the pots filled with oil. Splashing sounds rang out as he writhed about in the boiling oil, screaming miserably but failing to die for quite some time. Afterwards, muffled thuds rang out as countless Demons fell into the pots in succession. For a time, their cries and howls reverberated through the world.
When Yang Kai made his move, Ying Fei and Fu Ling took action too. One went left and the other went right. Ying Fei’s figure moved so fast that he was practically a bolt of lightning. He only moved a few times, but a large number of Demons collapsed to the ground as a result. He did not act in the same way as Yang Kai, choosing to simply slaughter as swiftly as possible.
The same held true for Fu Ling. Her petite body contained enormous strength. Although not as elegant as Ying Fei, she left a mess of broken bodies in the wake of her tender fists.
There were no Masters among the Demons in the mountain valley, not even a single Demon King, so how could they resist the slaughter of these three? It only took ten breaths for the hundreds of Demons in the mountain valley to be slaughtered.
The people who had been bound by the side had originally been in a state of panic, thinking that they would not escape tragedy today. Who could have known that three saviours would appear out of nowhere? They were overjoyed and many cried even louder from their undulating emotions.
The Demons that Yang Kai had thrown into the pots of boiling water and oil were still screaming. Nonetheless, their voices were getting softer and softer until they were barely audible.
Under normal circumstances, boiling water and oil would not have killed these Demons. Since they were capable enough to invade the Star Boundary, it was only natural that their cultivation was not low. Boiling water and oil might be dangerous for ordinary people, but it would not have done anything to them. They only needed to push their Demon Qi to prevent themselves from getting burned; however, Yang Kai had crippled their cultivations when he subdued them, so they were unable to use any of their strength as a result. Their bodies might be tough, but even a blunt knife could cut through flesh given enough time. There would eventually come a moment when they died from this torture.
“Go and rescue them,” Yang Kai instructed. His gaze was fixed on the mountain peak to his left. There was a loud ruckus coming from that direction.
“Sir, shouldn’t you wait for the army to arrive and join up with them?” Ying Fei quickly asked. Yang Kai might be powerful, but he was only an Emperor in the end. He would be helpless if he encountered a Half-Saint. What’s more, this place was the Demon Stronghold. Who knew how many enemies were gathered here?
“No need!” Yang Kai shook his head and took a step forward.
Ying Fei looked like he was going to speak again, but Yang Kai had already vanished. Fu Ling advised, “It’s not like you don’t know how capable Brother-in-Law is. It’s not a problem for him to escape even if he encounters a Half-Saint.”
Ying Fei pondered for a moment and realized it was true. Unless the enemy had a way to counter Yang Kai’s Space Secret Techniques, the only ones in this world who could actually threaten his life were the Demon Saints and Great Emperors. Feeling relieved, he and Fu Ling headed toward the group of captive people.
The group of hundreds had long since been frightened out of their minds. Some had even lost consciousness. Ying Fei flicked his fingers and released the people in the front rows from their bindings; then, he asked them to save the rest of their comrades. These people naturally obeyed the orders of their two saviours. After thanking the two profusely, they tremblingly got to work.
There was a middle-aged man among the crowd who was pale-faced but was faring much better than the others, still fairly calm in comparison. At this moment, he walked forward and cupped his fists, “Water Cloud Sect’s Yuan Wen Long greets the two Benefactors. May I know your honourable names?”
Ying Fei frowned and looked around, “Is this Water Cloud Sect?”
Although he had known that this place used to be the foundation of a Sect, he had not known which Sect it belonged to. The realization only dawned on him after listening to Yuan Wen Long’s self-introduction.
Yuan Wen Long replied respectfully, “Indeed.”
Ying Fei looked Yuan Wen Long up and down with a meaningful grin, “You bear the surname ‘Yuan’. What is your relationship with Yuan Mao?”
Yuan Wen Long suppressed his grief and said, “Benefactor, do you know my father?”
Ying Fei pursed his lips, “I don’t know him. I’ve only heard of him before.”
In the Northern Territory, the Water Cloud Sect could only be considered a second-class Sect, in no way comparable to High Heaven Palace. However, it did have one Emperor Realm Master, its Sect Master Yuan Mao.
Any Emperor Realm Master had the qualifications to establish a Sect, and it was not long since Water Cloud Sect was founded, so there was only one Emperor in the Sect. That was the Sect Master, Yuan Mao.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for Ying Fei to know of this person. He was one of the thirty-two Monster Kings of the Ancient Wild Lands whose cultivation was comparable to Third-Order Emperor Realm Masters. A trivial First-Order Emperor would not have been worthy of his notice.
It was just that the Sixty-First Army had been recruiting troops in the Northern Territory over the past ten years, and Ying Fei just happened to have been instructed by Yao Si to send somebody with a letter of recruitment to Water Cloud Sect, requesting Water Cloud Sect to provide some manpower.
Unfortunately, the messenger sent to Water Cloud Sect had returned to High Heaven Palace without a single soldier. He only brought some supplies back, claiming that they were the offerings from Water Cloud Sect to the Sixty-First Army.
The recruitment of the Sixty-First Army was not compulsory. It was completely on a voluntary basis. Those who wanted to come could come, and those who did not want to come didn’t need to come. Hence, Yao Si had not forced the issue. It was a decision he had made at the time out of consideration for the reputations of Yang Kai and the Sixty-First Army.
For that reason, Ying Fei had ignored the issue after Water Cloud Sect rejected Sixty-First Army’s request for recruitment. Having been in charge of that matter, it was only natural that he remembered it. Besides, it wasn’t just Water Cloud Sect. Many Sects and Clans, like Water Cloud Sect, were indifferent to the war between the two Great Worlds. The battlefield was located in the Western Territory after all. Everybody believed that nothing would happen to them even if the sky came crashing down because they had the Great Emperors to hold it up for them. Moreover, the battlefield was so far away. Why would they risk their lives to go to the Western Territory to wage a desperate war against the vicious Demon Race?
Nobody could have imagined that the situation would completely change one day. The Western Territory was no longer the battlefield where the armies of both Great Worlds clashed; instead, war had broken out across the entire Star Boundary.
“Where’s your father?” Ying Fei asked. He did not detect the presence of an Emperor Realm Master within this group; therefore, he knew that Yuan Mao was not here. Judging by Yuan Wen Long’s sad expression, he had the feeling that Yuan Mao had met with a disastrous ending.
Sure enough, Yuan Wen Long’s eyes reddened slightly as he gritted his teeth and said, “My father was killed by them!”
Ying Fei sighed, “If he had known that things would come to this, he would probably have acted differently back then.”
Yuan Mao had not accepted the Sixty-First Army’s recruitment request and Water Cloud Sect had not sent out a single cultivator to join the fight. It was obvious that Yuan Mao had chosen self-protection over the greater good. It was a self-serving approach, but who in this world would not put themselves first?
Ying Fei held no ill will for Yuan Mao or Water Cloud Sect, he simply looked down on them.
Even if the Water Cloud Sect had accepted the recruitment and sent their elites to join the Sixty-First Army, it would not have prevented the inevitable destruction of the Sect; however, they could have at least preserved some of their foundation. That way, they could have rebuilt themselves despite losing their inheritance.
Yuan Mao was dead now though, and most of the elites in the Sect had presumably suffered a similar fate. If that were the case, Water Cloud Sect would truly be wiped from the history of the Northern Territory. Hence why Ying Fei had sighed.
Yuan Wen Long was puzzled by those words. Even so, he asked again respectfully, “How should I address the two of you, Benefactors?”
Ying Fei glanced at Yuan Wen Long and replied lightly, “Sixty-First Army’s Flying Hawk Division Commander, Ying Fei.”
Fu Ling interjected just in time, “Standard-Bearer, Fu Ling!”
Yuan Wen Long was stunned for a while before his face flushed in shame. It was clear that he could recall how his father had rejected the Sixty-First Army’s recruitment at the time. A wave of remorse washed over him, and he burst into tears.
Fu Ling looked irritated, “You’re a man! Why are you crying!? Answer me this, are these people all that’s left of your Sect?”
Yuan Wen Long choked back his tears with some effort and nodded in reply, “Yes, they are all that remain. Everyone else… everyone else was either killed or eaten.”
Abruptly pointing in a certain direction, he continued, “There’s a cave along the cliff outside the mountain valley. I heard some crying sounds coming from that direction earlier. The Demons must have brought in others from the outside and locked them there.”
Ying Fei turned his head to look in that direction. That was in line with the information he had gained from tracking the Demon Race army to this place. Those who had been taken captive were probably the residents of the previous city.
In the end, he and Fu Ling decided to split up. One would stay behind in this place while the other rushed towards that direction to investigate.
…..
It was extremely lively inside the hall. Hundreds of the members of the Demon Race were gathered here, among which Demon Kings abounded. This place was probably the Main Conference Hall of Water Cloud Sect. Water Cloud Sect might not have been a large Sect, but its Main Conference Hall was magnificent and grand enough to accommodate hundreds of people without feeling crowded.
Seated majestically at the head of the main table inside the hall was a High-Rank Demon King with scarlet eyes, emanating a bloody aura from his body. In addition, a bloodthirsty light flashed across his scarlet eyes from time to time.
To the left and right of the main table were two rows of tables arranged side-by-side. Demons were seated behind each table and there were all sorts of dishes placed before them. Judging by the look of the food, it seemed to be the bits and pieces cut from Human bodies. Some had been served half-cooked, bloody, and bright red, while some were deep-fried a golden brown and gave off a strange aura.
The hundreds of Demons were munching away at their tables, eating with great relish. Some of them even commented on which method of cooking was more delicious, which led to many others nodding repeatedly in agreement.
A group of pale-faced Human women were dancing in the middle of the hall. They were surrounded by the intermittent music of gongs, drums, and other instruments. It was impossible to tell whether these people were from Water Cloud Sect or if they had been captured by the Demon Race army from somewhere else. At this moment though, they were being forced to sing, dance, and entertain the Demons. Every one of them was extremely terrified, but none of them dared to resist when their lives were at stake. Their dancing movements were very stiff and there was not the slightest bit of elegance to them. Similarly, the beating of the gongs, drums, and the orchestra were a mess too. Nobody could act normal under these circumstances.
The food eaten by the Demon Race army were all cooked at the bottom of the mountain and sent up to the hall; however, the High-Rank Blood Demon sitting in the main seat was feasting on something different. Several platters were placed on the table in front of him and numerous fresh crimson ‘fruits’ were stacked up high on the platters. An enchanting Charm Demon with dishevelled clothes was lying in his arms. The Demon King reached his large hand into her clothes and fondled her wantonly, causing her to giggle and laugh in response.
“Sir, do you want some more?” The Charm Demon stretched out her jade white hand, picked up a bright red ‘fruit’ from the platter, and brought it to his mouth.
The High-Rank Demon King opened his mouth and bit down. ‘Juice’ spurted out in an instant, or rather, fresh blood splattered all over the place. That crimson fruit was no fruit, it was the heart of a person that had been removed not too long ago. The Demon King finished off the heart in her hands in a few bites and the bloodlust in his eyes became more and more terrifying as he shouted, “Delicious! Truly delicious! As expected, nothing beats the taste of a Human’s heart!”
Following his sudden roar, the women in the centre of the hall, who were fighting back their fear to sing and dance, were so terrified that their beautiful faces went pale. Some of the more timid ones fell on their bottoms while others broke into tears.
“Hmm?” The Blood Demon lowered his head to look at them. The bloodlust in his eyes flashed as he spoke in a serious tone, “Who allowed you to stop?”
Stretching out his hand, a powerful suction force dragged one of the women who had fallen toward him. Then, his large hand wrapped around her neck as he grinned savagely.
That woman’s expression changed greatly as she shook her head continuously and begged, “No! No!”
But why would he listen to her pleading cries? The Demon swiftly reached out and ripped her clothes apart. Opening his mouth, he clamped his teeth down on her snow-white neck and under the fluctuation of his Demon Qi, the woman in his hands turned into a mummified corpse in a matter of moments. He released his grip and the mummified corpse fell to the ground, her vitality completely gone.
On the other hand, the Demon King closed his eyes as though he was enjoying a euphoric high. His entire body trembled uncontrollably, obviously feeling extremely excited and pleased. Even the muscles of his face twitched slightly.
Screams broke out in the hall. How could those Human women remain calm after personally witnessing what happened to their companion? They had already been wallowing in fear, but they were now in a state of complete panic.
The Demons around them burst into laughter as though the scene before them pleased them very much; however, the laughter stopped abruptly when a figure wrapped in a chilling aura barged in from the outside. The Demon Qi around that person churned like boiling water and the place where he stood had practically turned into a black hole that devoured everything around it. Nobody could get a clear glimpse of this person’s face, all they could see were a pair of scarlet eyes burning with the flames of rage in the midst of the boundless black Qi.
“Who goes there!?” One of the Demon Kings stood up and shouted. The newcomer had an unpleasant aura that indicated his cultivation was equivalent to that of a High-Rank Demon King, but even so, the Demon King from before was not very afraid. They were all from the same Race after all, so what was there to fear?
Yang Kai ignored that Demon King as his gaze swept across the hall and landed on the Blood Demon sitting in the main seat. Then, he glanced at the mummified corpse at the feet of the Blood Demon and waved his hand gently.
A gentle force swept out, wrapping around all the surviving Humans in the hall and sending them into the Small Sealed World amidst their panicked screams.
The Demon King who had asked the question before stood up abruptly and asked fiercely, “Who are you!?”
Meanwhile, he wondered curiously in his heart, [Why did those people in the hall suddenly disappear?]
Yang Kai turned and glanced at the Demon King and a strange power flashed across his eyes for an instant before crashing into the latter’s Knowledge Sea.
That Demon King let out a strange grunt, as though he had been strangled, before falling on his butt. His expression was dazed for a moment, but in the next instant, he rolled up his sleeves under the stunned gazes of all those in the hall and bit down on his arm. Fresh blood dripped from that bite he took, but he didn’t seem to feel any pain; instead, a foolish grin appeared on his face as he chewed on the flesh of his own arm with great relish.
*Shua…*
Everyone in the hall stood up in unison, scattering all the dishes on the tables to the ground. Some were watching their companion, who was eating his own arm, with a look of horror, while others were looking at Yang Kai fearfully. They were not fools. The person who arrived carried the same Demon Qi as them, but how could they not realize that he held no goodwill towards them? Moreover, his strength was clearly extraordinary. They had not seen him making any moves at all, and yet their companion was now chewing on his own flesh. Such power was simply incomprehensible!
“Is it tasty?” Yang Kai asked lightly, glancing at the feasting Demon King with a blank expression.
That Demon King mumbled a vague answer while still chewing, “It’s delicious. It’s delicious.”
“Eat more if it’s delicious!” Yang Kai nodded. He then ignored that Demon King and let his gaze sweep across the Demons present in the hall, his Spiritual Energy surging to the extreme.
One by one, the other Demons sat down, and like the first Demon King, they raised their arms to their mouth, bit into their own flesh, and chewed. There were hundreds of them inside the hall; furthermore, they were all Demon Kings. Yang Kai looked around and saw that only ten remained standing. These ten were either among the most outstanding of the Mid-Rank Demon Kings or were High-Rank Demon Kings. Only those in this Realm had the power to resist Yang Kai’s Spiritual Energy.
After obtaining the power of Yu Ru Meng’s Primordial Yin, Yang Kai’s Soul cultivation soared to the point that even Half-Saints and Pseudo-Great Emperors could not compare, much less the Demon Kings who had gathered in this hall.
If he really wanted to kill them, he could obliterate most of the Demon Kings’ Souls in an instant and kill them on the spot with the barest surge of his Spiritual Energy; however, he had witnessed such a vile tragedy in the mountain valley, then entered the hall only to see a bunch of Demon Kings feasting on Humans. How could he allow them to die so easily when he had so much fury festering in his heart?
If they liked eating flesh so much, he would allow them to eat all they wanted! It would only be over when they finished devouring themselves! Two lines of blood slipped down Yang Kai’s cheeks from his scarlet eyes that were flickering like burning flames. It was much more laborious to use this method just now compared to directly using his Spiritual Energy to attack. Even if his Soul cultivation was unimaginably powerful, targeting hundreds of Demon Kings at once was beyond his current ability, so his Spiritual Energy had been poured out to the extreme.
The expressions of the ten or so Demon Kings who remained sane changed drastically. They quickly drew up their defences to resist. Among them, a few of the top Mid-Rank Demon Kings were finding it very difficult to fight back. Their bodies were trembling uncontrollably, and they gritted their teeth without making a single noise, for fear that the slightest negligence would leave them in the same predicament as their companions.
While the remaining High-Rank Demon Kings had a slightly easier time, they were by no means relaxed. A voice kept echoing in their minds, tempting them to eat their own flesh. They couldn’t suppress it no matter what they did.
“Arrgh!” A furious roar rang out as a Mid-Rank Demon King, who couldn’t bear the pressure, chose to seize the initiative. If he did not act now, he would not be able to hold on much longer. Having seen with his own eyes what happened to his companions, how could he not know what fate would befall him once the defences of his Knowledge Sea collapsed? He would rather die at the hands of the enemy than literally eat himself to death.
The furious roar was like a fuse that set off an explosion. When the Mid-Rank Demon King lunged toward Yang Kai, the other Demon Kings that were still standing in the hall lunged forward too. Suddenly, Demon Qi surged violently, and a murderous intent flooded the hall.
Yang Kai felt wrath washing over him but only became even more livid when he saw the Demon Kings taking the initiative to attack. Due to the great shock to his mind, his mental state suddenly became incredibly tranquil. His body and will united and resonated with the world around him. Something seemed to move inside his mind, as though it was about to break out of its shell.
All of a sudden, a glimmer of the Grand Dao flashed across Yang Kai’s mind. His vision was no longer filled with approaching enemies, his body was no longer standing in the Main Conference Hall of Water Cloud Sect, instead, he seemed to be standing in a vast, endless expanse. His mind was constantly being elevated, climbing infinitely into the skies to overlook all the living beings in the world.
He felt the World Principles pouring into his body in this peculiar state, tempering his mind and spirit. Meanwhile, World Energy flooded his form like a thousand streams gushing into the sea, causing his cultivation to climb rapidly!
Because he received Bright Moon’s legacy in the Demon Realm, Yang Kai broke through to the Third-Order Emperor Realm. Because of the Demon Realm’s World Principles, his Emperor Qi was transformed into Demon Qi and he became a High-Rank Demon King as a result. Since escaping from the Demon Realm and returning to the Star Boundary, he had been fighting countless battles up until today.
Suddenly, an enormous pressure bore down on him, causing his rising cultivation to gradually stabilize.
After returning to the Star Boundary for more than ten years, Yang Kai had spent much of his time in the Lower Star Field to refine worlds. It had been of great help in furthering his comprehension of the Dao of Space. He was showing such great improvement that even Li Wu Yi felt humbled; however, he had not experienced much improvement in terms of cultivation.
But now, Yang Kai suddenly felt something change as he stood in the Main Conference Hall of Water Cloud Sect. It was as though his very being had been transformed to become a part of this world. He was furious, and the world was furious too!
Lightning cracked and thunder boomed, rumbling in all directions as Yang Kai’s already powerful aura had clearly soared to the point where it was considerably more powerful than before.
Without even consciously acting, Yang Kai instinctively lifted his fist and struck out. He did not strike at any of the Demon Kings but rather at the empty space before him instead. The world collapsed the moment he struck and the Void appeared. A mighty and unparalleled suction force emerged with his fist acting as its core, drawing everything in the surroundings towards it.
There was the sound of something shattering loudly as the tables, chairs, benches, walls, and even pillars in the hall flew towards the Void and vanished. The Demon Kings who had charged at him just now, be they Mid-Rank Demon Kings or High-Rank Demon Kings, were unable to control their bodies at this moment. All of them were looking absolutely horrified, waving their arms about manically as they flew towards the Void along with all the tables, chairs, and benches. Even the Blood Demon sitting in the main seat was not spared. After Yang Kai’s fist struck, the Blood Demon felt his body flying towards the impact point regardless of his will, even though he had been almost a hundred metres away from Yang Kai at that moment. It felt like a large hand had reached out, grabbed his body, and was drawing him in.
As for the Charm Demon that had been sitting in his lap, she was only a Demon Great General and was completely unable to resist such a huge suction force at all. Thus, her body flew towards the Void, and in the midst of her screams, she was pulled into the chaotic nothingness and disappeared without a trace, her life or death unknown.
Following a loud roar, blood mist burst from the Blood Demon’s body. Burning his Blood Essence desperately, he turned into a cloud of blood light as he tried to break free from that suction force. Be that as it may, he couldn’t escape no matter what he did and could only watch helplessly as his body moved forward, little by little.
Turning his head to look around, the Blood Demon saw that the hall was a complete mess. The magnificent building was in ruins, as if an invisible beast from the Void was devouring everything. Everything that entered the mouth of that beast, be it a dinner plate or a Demon King, mysteriously vanished without a trace.
With his life on the line, he bit his tongue and condensed much of what remained of his Blood Essence into a blood arrow which shot towards Yang Kai’s direction.
Yang Kai frowned slightly as his mind was abruptly dragged out of that strange state when he detected murderous intent closing in on him. He tilted his head to the side and avoided the attack of the blood arrow. Following this movement of his, the mysterious fist strike that he sent out suddenly erupted.
The Void Crack Yang Kai had opened shrank rapidly into a tiny black hole and the entire hall around him subsequently disintegrated and collapsed in the direction of the singularity. Even a large piece of the mountain went missing. Only then did the terrifyingly powerful suction force subside and the Blood Demon regain his freedom.
Ecstatic, he used his Blood Escape Secret Technique and transformed into a ray of blood light to flee.
Only slightly more than ten breaths had passed since Yang Kai entered the hall, but even so, the Divine Abilities that he displayed were simply astonishing. Hundreds of Demon Kings had been wiped out even without him touching a single thread on their clothes. How could the Blood Demon not know that he was no match for Yang Kai? Only death awaited him if he did not escape now. Having the cultivation of a High-Rank Demon King and brimming with Demon Qi, and yet nursing a hatred for the Demon Race. At this point, he finally understood Yang Kai’s identity. Only ‘that’ Human who once ran rampant in the Demon Realm had such means.
Even if the Blood Demon wanted to escape though, how could Yang Kai possibly allow him to leave? Reaching out his hand, Yang Kai grabbed at something in the sky. In response, the Blood Demon froze in mid-air. Under the restraints of Space Principles, he couldn’t even move a finger. It wasn’t until that moment he realized just how vast a gap between a High-Rank Demon King like himself and a High-Rank Demon King like Yang Kai was; thus, he instantly lost all hope and despaired.
Yang Kai maintained his gesture of grasping something while lowering his head, mulling over the feeling he experienced just now. Unfortunately, he couldn’t enter that mysterious state of enlightenment again no matter how hard he tried. He knew that he had missed an opportunity due to this Blood Demon’s interruption just now. But, upon thinking about it some more, he realized that if he had not come here and been stimulated by the sight in front of him, he would not have come across the opportunity in the first place. It might have been interrupted in the middle of the process, but it wasn’t as though he hadn’t gained anything.
As soon as that thought crossed his mind, Yang Kai immediately calmed down. The fury in his heart just now dissipated into nothingness, and when he looked up again, he raised his brow in astonishment. He had no sense of what had happened in the hall just now as he had been completely immersed in that peculiar feeling up until the moment the Blood Demon interrupted him.
Hence, it wasn’t until now when he looked up that he realized the Main Conference Hall was gone. Even the mountain where the main hall was located was missing a large chunk. Moreover, the only Demon left alive was the Blood Demon he had imprisoned.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai comprehended what had happened. Although he was immersed in his perception just now, he was not ignorant of the outside world, he had simply ignored what was going on around him. Therefore, it was only natural that he could recall what had happened when he concentrated on remembering.
It was a pity. Even though those Demon Kings were ultimately killed, his original intention was for them to eat themselves to death. They were supposed to die after suffering a bit of the brutal torment they had inflicted on others. Unfortunately, those Demon Kings had all died without even leaving corpses behind, so there was no way to force them to eat themselves anymore.
“Rupture!” Yang Kai murmured softly. The Demon Qi lingering around his body converged to reveal his true appearance.
“What?” The imprisoned Blood Demon was stunned upon hearing this. He had absolutely no idea what Yang Kai meant.
Yang Kai turned to look at the Blood Demon and laughed savagely. Why would he bother explaining anything to a dead man?
‘Rupture’ was the name he had given his newly created Space Secret Technique. All of his Space Secret Techniques were self-created; after all, the Dao of Space was rarely successfully cultivated by anyone. Not many people had set foot on this Grand Dao, so there was no experience he could borrow from as a reference. Aside from discussions with Li Wu Yi, there was nobody in this world who could teach Yang Kai anything about the Dao of Space; therefore, he could only rely on himself for everything.
Following Moon Blade, Nihility, Exile, and Instantaneous Movement, Rupture was born.
Moon Blade was a means of attack. By condensing Space Principles into a blade, Yang Kai could send out a blade which could cut through anything.
Nihility was a means of concealment and self-preservation. By integrating oneself into the Void and suppressing his aura to the minimum, even people with greater cultivation than him would have a hard time locating his whereabouts unless they were concentrating hard. Nihility could also be used to avoid fatal attacks by phasing out of the material plane. Yang Kai relied on this technique many times over the years to protect himself when he encountered strong enemies.
Exile used the Space Principles to connect with the Void and then send his enemies inside.
There was no need to explain Instantaneous Movement. It was the most practical Secret Technique for escape or rapid travel.
The newly cultivated Rupture was somewhat similar to Exile in execution; however, it was very different in effect. Exile sent his enemies into the Void Crack, banishing them from the world. If his enemies were lucky enough though, they might still be able to survive in the Void Crack. Although their death was basically an inevitable fate, there was a small chance of survival. If they were very lucky, like a blind cat striking a dead mouse, they might even escape from the Void Crack and regain their freedom.
There were many miracles in the world after all, and it was not impossible for something like that to occur.
Take Sheng Yu Zhu, for example, a peak level Master who competed with Wu Kuang for the position of Great Emperor. She had survived in the Void Crack for tens of thousands of years before Yang Kai rescued her back at Luo Sha Sect.
Rupture was completely unrelated to the Void Crack as it did not send enemies anywhere and instead shredded space directly. Everything would be ripped apart by the immense Space Principle waves, eventually grinding both people and objects into dust. This process could not be seen by the naked eye nor by Divine Sense as even light and Spiritual Energy would be drawn in and torn apart. It was truly a Secret Technique meant purely for destruction. This was how Rupture differed from Exile. If Exile still presented a chance of survival, then Rupture guaranteed death.
Yang Kai walked towards the Blood Demon.
The Blood Demon trembled uncontrollably, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Ever since he crossed over into this world from the Demon Realm, he had a mighty army under his command and had conquered all who he came across. Moreover, the Star Boundary cultivators he encountered in the past few days were simply too weak and vulnerable. There had been nobody who could even put up a fight within the surrounding hundred thousand kilometres.
It wasn’t until now that he finally understood what despair and fear meant. How could he have known that most of the elites in the Star Boundary had joined the armies and travelled to the Western Territory, leaving no worthwhile Masters behind in the other lands?
The Blood Demon couldn’t even move under the restraint of the Space Principles, so he could only watch helplessly as Yang Kai reached out a hand to grab him by the neck and hoist him up.
“Yang Kai!” He bellowed, “You are part of the Demon Race now! Why…”
Before he could finish his sentence, his eyes widened as Yang Kai stabbed his hand into his chest. An unbearable pain made the Blood Demon’s blood-coloured complexion turn bloodless and his entire body tremble uncontrollably. He could feel the large hand grasping his heart inside his chest, which made him gasp for breath.
Yang Kai looked at the Blood Demon calmly and enunciated each word clearly, “I am Human!”
He slowly withdrew his hand from the Blood Demon’s chest and the latter shuddered even more violently in response. There was a muffled sound as though something had been ripped out. When Yang Kai pulled his hand back fully, there was a fist-sized Demon Heart in his grasp. Demon Qi surrounded the pitch-black Demon Heart that was still beating despite being removed, making an audible thumping sound.
Next, Yang Kai brought the Demon Heart to his mouth. Although the Demon Heart had been removed from the Blood Demon’s chest, he did not die immediately as the more powerful Demons would always cultivate more than one Demon Heart. Upon seeing Yang Kai’s actions, the Blood Demon was horrified and exclaimed in shock, “What are you doing!?”
Yang Kai did not answer and instead smiled grimly as he took a large bite. A hole appeared in the Demon Heart in his hand and blood splattered everywhere.
The Blood Demon was shocked. Although he had a taste for Human hearts, it was something he had only discovered recently; after all, where would he find Human hearts to eat back in the Demon Realm? He had not felt anything when eating somebody else’s heart, but now, he was watching somebody else eating his own heart right in front of him! The terror he experienced at the sight was indescribable. Looking at the savage grin on Yang Kai’s face, he only felt as though Yang Kai was far more of a Demon than himself.
Yang Kai might not have fully undergone demonification, but his Emperor Qi had been fully converted into Demon Qi, so it was only natural that his personality had been slightly affected. It might not be obvious under normal circumstances, but he would turn more violent and malicious if he was agitated by something which aroused his anger.
Yang Kai fiercely took several bites before opening his mouth and spitting out the chewed-up pulp on the Blood Demon’s face. The force was so powerful that it knocked the Blood Demon’s head back.
“Disgusting!” He glared at the Blood Demon gloomily, “You should feel honoured! I was going to eat your Demon Hearts, one by one, but they’re so unpalatable that I can’t even bear to swallow. So… I’ll give you a quick death!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, his Demon Qi surged and rushed into the Blood Demon’s body.
The Blood Demon’s figure immediately began swelling up like a balloon. The entire process took no more than five breaths before he transformed into a round ball. Looking at this scene, it was as if the Blood Demon could fly away as soon as Yang Kai let go of him. In a state of complete panic and anxiety, the Blood Demon suddenly exploded and turned into a cloud of blood mist.
Yang Kai’s Demon Qi surged, keeping the filth that splattered in his direction away from him. He then looked behind and saw that the mountains were filled with members of the Demon Race staring in his direction with shocked expressions.
Several tens of thousands of Demons were stationed here. The only reason precautions were so lax was that Yang Kai and the others had sneaked in quietly and moved quickly. The Demon Race army might be numerous, but they were unable to react whatsoever. It wasn’t until Yang Kai’s Rupture Secret Technique had caused the entire Main Hall and a large chunk of the mountain to vanish that the Demons scattered across this Demon Land noticed the presence of an intruder.
Even so, Yang Kai had wiped out over a hundred Demon Kings gathered inside the hall; as a result, not many Masters were left among the remainder of the Demon Race army. There was nobody to give them orders either; hence, they simply stared at Yang Kai at a loss for what to do.
On the other hand, Yang Kai summoned Zhui Feng, mounted the beast, brought out the Myriads Sword, and charged forward. He had been hiding Zhui Feng’s existence as a preventive measure against any Half-Saints who might be guarding this place, but who could have known that not a single Half-Saint could be found in this Demon Stronghold? What else was there to say? Zhui Feng immediately understood what was happening and neighed loudly. His four hooves kicked against the ground, flames burning from his legs, and with just a few strides, he carried Yang Kai into the middle of the Demon Race army.
Following that charge, Yang Kai cut and slashed a path through the enemy like a tidal wave. The Sword Qi of the Myriads Sword surged, slashing wave after wave while at the same time, his empty right hand kept striking the Void.
The world collapsed wherever his fist impacted and everything within a large area would collapse in on itself, falling into the tiny black spots that had appeared before vanishing without a trace. Oftentimes, the Demons standing within range would find their vision going dark and disappearing before they could even figure out what was going on.
In the beginning, the Demon Race army seemed to have planned to rely upon their superior numbers to fight a prolonged battle and exhaust Yang Kai to the death; however, they soon realized that nobody could even get within a thousand metres of Yang Kai without being cut to pieces of vanishing from existence. His overwhelmingly powerful Sword Qi slashed out in all directions and everywhere it passed, Demons fell like straw. At the same time, the Ruptures that were sent out silently devoured the lives of untold numbers of Demons.
The Demons who didn’t even have a single Demon King among them lost their courage to fight in the face of such a terrifying enemy. They scattered and fled in all directions, just trying to get as far away as possible; however, there were tens of thousands of Demons scattered across Water Cloud Sect’s former territory, so how could all of them manage to escape in such a short time?
Yang Kai and Zhui Feng split up and hunted down the escaping Demons, leading to large numbers of the enemy keeling over and dying at every given moment.
Yang Kai was in the midst of his killing spree when he suddenly heard the sound of fighting coming from more than a dozen kilometres away. The movements of his hands stopped abruptly, and he cocked his ear to listen attentively. A short moment later, his figure flashed and disappeared from the spot. When he reappeared again, he was standing at the source of the sounds of battle.
He was standing in front of a cave where a Demon Race army of tens of thousands were gathered outside. They were constantly launching attacks at the cave, causing the mountain where the cave was located to crumble and teeter on the brink of collapse.
At the front of the cave stood Fu Ling and Ying Fei. The two of them were killing non-stop and the corpses of Demons they slew had piled up like mountains in front of them. Although their cultivations weren’t weak and it would be easy for them to escape, it was beyond their ability to wipe out all of the enemies in this place. What’s more; there were many Humans who had been captured by the Demons inside the cave.
They had arrived at the mountain valley under Yuan Wen Long’s guidance to save the people held in this cave, but before they could finish their rescue mission, they had been surrounded by the Demons and were trapped at the entrance of the cave. As a result, it immediately turned into a large-scale battle.
A cracking sound came from behind the pair. The mountain peak behind them looked like it was about to collapse, causing them to become anxious. If the mountain were to collapse, not many of the people who had been kidnapped and held captive in the cave would survive; however, there was nothing Ying Fei and Fu Ling could do to stop it from happening. In their moment of desperation, they felt Yang Kai’s aura appearing beside them. They turned to look in that direction and saw Yang Kai’s figure appearing and all their worries vanished in an instant. Now free of extraneous concerns, they concentrated on crushing the enemies in front of them.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai shot into the cave and came back out again a couple of breaths later. He had placed all of the people who had been held captive inside the cave into the Small Sealed World. He nodded lightly at Ying Fei and Fu Ling. Receiving confirmation, the two of them abruptly released the shackles binding them and pushed their strength wildly. They had been worried about the people behind them previously, so neither Ying Fei nor Fu Ling had dared to use their full strength. Now that there was nothing holding them back, their fury instantly erupted.
There was a roar as Ying Fei assumed his True Form, an enormous Monster Beast that was several dozen metres long and tall. His entire body was surrounded by cyan winds and as he spread his wings, wind blades slashed in all directions. Before he even got close, the Demon Race members standing around him were cut to pieces and their corpses collapsed to the ground in broken pieces. Wherever he flew, the wind blades followed. Hence, the Demon Race army soon turned into a sea of blood.
Similarly, Fu Ling had taken on her Dragon Form. A Seventh-Order Purple Dragon soared into the sky, spewing out large swaths of purple Dragon Breath from her mouth. In the wake of her Dragon Breath, any Demon Race member that was touched, even if just slightly, was turned into a purple crystal statue. They would become frozen in place and unable to move.
Tens of thousands of the Demons scattered in an instant and fled for their lives.
It was at that moment that a rumbling sound came from the distance and a group of several hundred people came charging in from afar. The person leading the group was none other than the Young Sect Master of the Water Cloud Sect, Yuan Wen Long. After being rescued by Yang Kai and the others, he rested in the mountain valley for some time, so how could he not know what was going on when he heard the commotion coming from this direction?
Although he had not completely recovered, the Demon Race had slaughtered his family and destroyed his Sect. His hatred for the Demons was so deeply ingrained into his bones that he immediately led everyone who could fight out to avenge their dead Sect Brothers and Sisters.
Under normal circumstances, these few hundred people would not have made much of a difference; however, the Demon Race army was currently routed and running for their lives in all directions. Moreover, no Master was leading them, so Yuan Wen Long and the others managed to kill many with their reckless charge, which helped relieve some of the pent-up emotions in their hearts.
A quarter of an hour later, the situation inside Water Cloud Sect gradually returned to calm. Demon Race corpses could be seen everywhere, and the Demon Qi in their bodies was slowly escaping into the air.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai stood in the sky and sent out jade slip after jade slip with his hands. There were a great number of Demons here, so just him, Xi Lei, and the others alone were not enough to kill them all. Even if tens of thousands of the Demons had died at their hands, a large part of the army had still managed to escape. The remaining Demons had scattered and formed groups of stragglers. They would be vulnerable if they encountered a Master or a coordinated army, but more tragedies would undoubtedly occur if they came across any small Sects or villages.
Since Yang Kai had destroyed this Demon Stronghold, it was only natural for him to ensure that he did a thorough cleanup job. The two groups from the Sixty-First Army were not far away, so at this moment, Yang Kai issued orders to split up the formation and mop up all the Demon stragglers in a thorough fashion. It was essential for all the fleeing Demons to be completely eliminated before he could consider this issue over.
Ying Fei and Fu Ling stood beside Yang Kai, looking at the mountain in the distance that had been hollowed out with wide eyes. That mountain was where Water Cloud Sect’s Main Conference Hall was located, but the shape of the mountain seemed a bit peculiar now. There was a huge semi-circular hole in the side of the mountain, one that was oddly smooth.
The edges around the semi-circular gap were flat and smooth, as though it had been cut by a sharp tool, which made the top of the mountain look like an upside-down crescent moon as a result.
Both Ying Fei and Fu Ling were stunned, and they wondered how Yang Kai accomplished this. It would not have been surprising for Yang Kai to smash the mountains to bits given his strength; however, it was truly baffling how a semi-circular gap had been carved into the mountain instead.
“Sir, can we leave this place quickly? I’m afraid… they might not be able to withstand this if it goes on any longer.” Yuan Wen Long glanced at the several hundred survivors of Water Cloud Sect with a worried expression.
These several hundred people were not very strong and their cultivations had been sealed when they were captured by the Demon Race so they had begun to show symptoms of illness after staying in the Demon Land for so long. Most of them were breathing heavily and their bodies gave off a faint malevolent aura.
The Demon Essence permeating the Demon Land was quietly eroding away at their minds the whole time. This process was not fast, but it was definitely not slow either; moreover, they had just experienced a battle, which had agitated their aggression and accelerated the rate at which the Demon Essence was corrupting their thoughts. If they continued to stay here for much longer, most of them would probably undergo demonification. That was why Yuan Wen Long wanted to get them out of here quickly.
Yang Kai understood what Yuan Wen Long was worried about, so he nodded and ordered, “Relax and don’t resist!”
Reaching out a large hand to the front, his Divine Sense covered those hundreds of people as he placed them into the Small Sealed World.
A short while later, three figures rose into the sky. The passage in the sky that was connecting the two worlds had been sealed by Yang Kai, but the black spot and the Demon Land could not be eliminated. The situation was exactly the same as what had happened in the Western Territory a few days ago, which made Yang Kai a little uneasy.
It didn’t take the Sixty-First Army more than five days to round up and wipe out all the remaining Demons that had fled from Water Cloud Sect. If the enemy army had gathered together in one place, they might have stood a fighting chance against the Sixty-First Army, but spread out, it only gave the Humans a chance to pick them off one by one. There was not much of a resistance at all and hundreds of thousands of Demons were annihilated as a result, with few slipping through the net.
Even so, the army did not stop advancing. They divided into two groups again and continued heading deeper into the Northern Territory. During their journey, Yang Kai sealed more than ten Two Worlds’ Passages.
The Sixty-First Army was a formidable force, so they rarely encountered any enemies that could put up a decent fight. Only the armies led by Half-Saints could stall the Sixty-First Army’s advance. Some places even had more than one Half-Saint, which gave a real challenge.
At the same time, the fifty-five armies of the Star Boundary were like fifty-five blades sweeping across the Eastern, Southern, and Western Territories. They charged through the entire Star Boundary, engaging in large-scale battles almost every day. Both Humans and Demons suffered heavy casualties, countless cities and Sects were destroyed, and millions died as a result.
Approximately half a month later, the situation had become clear. There were exactly one hundred and eight of those ink-like spots scattered across the Star Boundary, evenly distributed throughout the four territories!
There was still no news from the Great Emperors; however, the people in the Star Boundary confirmed that the Demon Saints had also disappeared without a trace. Back when the ten Demon Saints crossed into this world from the Demon Realm, the seven Great Emperors, along with Yu Ru Meng and the others, had separated to pursue the enemy. Whenever they exchanged blows with each other, the commotions were so great that it wouldn’t be wrong to call them catastrophic. It was hard not to notice their fights, so it drew the attention of many and in the end, those people witnessed the world split apart, and a gigantic arm emerge from the crack. That sight was personally witnessed by many; therefore, it was easy to learn about what had happened back then with a little investigation.
The Great Emperors and the Demon Saints had been taken away by those gigantic hands, a story nobody wanted to believe. Li Wu Yi secretly guessed that the gigantic hand was not caused by some Divine Ability as there was nobody in this world who could accomplish that. It must have been something the Demon Saints had secretly set up in the Demon Realm, which would activate when those cracks opened.
That conjecture was quite reasonable. The disappearance of the Great Emperors had caused many people to panic, but learning that the Demon Saints had also gone missing slightly mollified their anxiety. They had been afraid that the Demon Saints had remained in this world while the Great Emperors were missing. If that had been the case, nobody in the Star Boundary could have fought back. Regardless of how powerful the fifty-five armies of the Star Boundary were, there would come a day when they were completely wiped out by the enemy.
The black spots in the sky were enormous, and a faint black light could be seen glowing and flashing from within. Every time the light flashed; the black spots would expand at an imperceptible rate. Nothing would be detected in the short term, but if this continued for long enough, the entire Star Boundary would eventually be devoured.
A certain Demon Land stretched out three hundred thousand kilometres in every direction beneath with an army totalling over a million stationed on its periphery, the camps seemingly going on forever with no end in sight.
How high-spirited had the fifty-five armies been back when they gathered in the Western Territory to await the opening of the Two Worlds’ Passage so they could assault the Demon Race?
An attack had indeed happened, but it was the Demon Race that had opened the Two Worlds’ Passage. The Demon Race suffered more than twenty million casualties on the Western Territory battlefield, which was a significant loss, but the Demon Race corpses had released rich Demon Qi which spread out across various territories of the Star Boundary. Under some sort of blessing from an unknown force, one hundred and eight passages had been opened in the Star Boundary that day, bringing unimaginable disaster with it.
In the beginning, nobody could have imagined that the war would progress in this direction. Under the will of the Heavens, countless wars had broken out everywhere in the Star Boundary.
It had been more than a month since the incident at the Western Territory, and during that time, the Sixty-First Army had fought in various places across the Northern Territory. Instead of decreasing in numbers, however, the Sixty-First Army had expanded considerably instead. At present, there were three hundred and fifty thousand people among its ranks.
This was a natural result. When Li Wu Yi first sent out recruitment letters to the entire Star Boundary, most of the cultivators had the same mindset as those from Water Cloud Sect. They chose self-preservation, thinking that somebody higher up would hold up the sky for them even if it came crashing down. Besides, the Western Territory was very far away and the war would never affect them, so they turned a blind eye to it.
But now, the Demon Race’s methods had shattered their illusions. In this one month alone, countless people had lost their homes and families while numerous Sects and Clans had been slaughtered. Of those who survived, some were frightened out of their minds and fled in a panic. There were also some who carried the burning desire for revenge in their hearts and volunteered to join the armies in order to fight.
That was how the Sixty-First Army expanded. Even so, the Sixty-First Army was strict in selecting people. Even though many people volunteered themselves to the army, only a few tens of thousands were accepted mainly as a means of replenishing their ranks.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai’s Small Sealed World was dangerously full. The space in the first region of the Small Sealed World had always been limited and he had taken in many people during his month. At this point, there were tens of millions of refugees inside the Small Sealed World. Only the piece of land where the medicine garden was located was relatively empty; everywhere else was simply filled to the brim.
The second region of the Small Sealed World had been stripped away. On the other hand, the remaining third region was vast and could accommodate many times more people with no trouble at all, but it was formed from devouring various Demon Realm continents. It could be considered as a second incomplete Demon Realm, so how could weak Humans from the Star Boundary survive there? If Yang Kai really put them in there, it would not be long before they were eroded by the Demon Essence and reduced to Demons themselves.
Since the Small Sealed World could not take in any more people, they could only provide directions to the fleeing refugees they came across so that they could escape towards High Heaven Palace. As for whether they survived or not, nobody could afford to care; after all, war had always been a cruel affair.
Meanwhile, the Thirty-Fifth Army under Bing Yun had expanded to more than six hundred thousand people at this point. In comparison, the Sixty-First Army had not expanded by much, with the reason being that the heritage of the Thirty-Fifth Army was not as strong as that of the Sixty-First Army. They suffered great casualties every time they encountered Demon Race armies, so it was only natural for them to replenish and expand their ranks as much as possible. For that reason, they welcomed anybody who had the will to fight and kill the enemy.
Whether it was the Sixty-First Army or the Thirty-Fifth Army, they were both primarily formed from Northern Territory cultivators and had returned to the Northern Territory after the incident at the Western Territory. Just like the Sixty-First Army, the Thirty-Fifth Army had been constantly fighting during the past month or so.
Five days ago, the two armies joined forces outside Blue Wave City. Blue Wave City was a small town. According to the stories, an Emperor Realm Master came here in the past and created a prosperous home in this place. His presence attracted people from all over the world, which gradually led to the formation of this city. As the Emperor Realm Master’s name contained the characters for ‘Blue Wave’, the city was named after him. Still, this was something that happened a long, long time ago and there was no way to verify if it was the truth.
Blue Wave City was originally an unknown little town in the vast Northern Territory with a population of several tens of thousands. Moreover, the strongest in the city was only in the Dao Source Realm. There was not a single Emperor Realm Master and it was inferior to even Maplewood City back then. Nevertheless, it was now very famous. That couldn’t be helped though as this was the place where Demon Saint Huang Wu Ji and Iron Blood Great Emperor Zhan Wu Hen had fought each other and gone missing together.
When the Demon Saints and Great Emperors vanished, the sky cracked open and the black spots came into being. The surroundings of Blue Wave City turned into a Demon Land, and this place became one of the hundred and eight Demon Strongholds.
A Demon Race army of nearly three million was stationed inside this Demon Stronghold. In addition. There was no end to them at a glance. With so many of the Demon Race gathered in one place, it caused the world to fill with Demon Qi.
Over the past five days, the Sixty-First and Thirty-Fifth Army had joined forces and fought against the Demon Race army in this place three times, but each attempt to wipe the enemy out had ended in failure.
This Demon Stronghold was clearly different from all the others that Yang Kai had encountered recently. The Demon Race seemed to place great importance on this place. Not only was there a Demon Race army of three million stationed here, but there were also as many as five Half-Saints assuming command.
There were quite a few Masters under Yang Kai’s command. Like the enemy, there were four Half-Saints, namely Zhui Feng, the Embodiment, Bai Zhuo, and Bai Ya, in addition to himself, who was almost equivalent to a Half-Saint in terms of combat power. What’s more, Bing Yun was a Pseudo-Great Emperor.
Comparing the numbers of Half-Saints, the two armies combined were not inferior to the Demon Race army. The only disadvantage they had was in terms of the number of troops. An army of one million might not be small, but the Demon Race army had three times that number of soldiers. Furthermore, the Demons were defending from inside the Demon Land. The Demon Qi that was ubiquitous in the Demon Land had a negative effect on the combat power of ordinary Humans while it provided a boon to the Demons.
During the first confrontation, the two parties had fought for a full day and night. The corpses of both sides could be seen everywhere within a radius of three hundred thousand kilometres. When the order to withdraw finally came, only several hundred thousand remained of the one million strong army.
Unable to break through the Demon Race army’s defences, Yang Kai and Bing Yun had no choice but to retreat when they saw that the Bloodlust Spell’s effect was about to end. That night, Yang Kai placed Bing Yun and all the Half-Saints under his command in the Small Sealed World. Then, he infiltrated the Demon Race camp all on his own to take down the enemy leaders. As long as they could get rid of the five Half-Saints, the rest of the Demon Race army would have nothing left but numbers.