Compared to losing one’s life, that was undoubtedly an acceptable outcome.
“This is bad,” Zhan Wu Hen stared at the enormous figure blocking out the sky in front of him with a grim expression. Likewise, Yang Kai’s expression was not much better.
Ever since the Demon Saints plunged themselves into Great Demon God’s body, Great Demon God’s aura had been increasing at a continuous rate. His already exceptional aura was becoming more and more terrifying with every passing moment, and that was not all. The wounds inflicted upon Mo Sheng’s body previously were healing at a speed that was visible to the naked eye and it didn’t take long before they vanished without a trace. The Demon Saints’ actions that were akin to moths flying straight into open flames seemed to have not only replenished but also greatly enhanced Mo Sheng’s strength.
Based on Yang Kai’s perception, the 8,000-metre-tall body really did seem to contain an entire Universe World as a burst of World Force rushed out at him.
[The Open Heaven Realm is so terrifying…]
*Shua shua shua…*
Numerous figures appeared beside Yang Kai, each of them exuding the aura of a Great Emperor. Aside from Night Shadow, who was killed by Yang Kai earlier, the remaining nine Great Emperors of the Star Boundary were gathered here. That wasn’t all, of course, as there were also the two Elders of the Dragon Clan, Heavens Order’s descendant, and Divine Spirit Tai Yue…
All the most powerful people in the Star Boundary were gathered here. Nobody was missing from the group and their combined momentum was no less than that of the Great Demon God.
Great Demon God’s eyes slowly opened amidst the body shrouded in darkness. His eyes no longer held any anger like before, there was only indifference as his gaze swept across the ten or so figures before him. This look was not unfamiliar, as even ordinary people would be dismissive when looking at mere insects on the ground.
“Although this King does not want to admit it, you have all performed admirably. To push this King to this point is beyond my expectations. However… that stops here. This King has been plotting this for longer than all of you put together have been alive! How can my plans be destroyed by insignificant ants!? It is an honour for you to die at this King’s hands!”
When his words rang out, his cheeks bulged slightly and a snort-like sound came out of his mouth. His breath blew towards the place where the Great Emperors were gathered in a slashing motion, an invisible and intangible but extremely destructive power accompanying it.
The expressions of many Great Emperors changed drastically at the sight. They felt the aura of death looming over them from the front, so how could they dare to hesitate? Thus, they hurriedly took action to defend themselves.
A large Moon Blade slashed forward, and with Yang Kai in the lead, the Great Emperors fully displayed their Divine Abilities. World Force gathered and pushed these attacks to their utmost limit.
Following a loud explosion, the world turned pale. Countless Void Cracks split the sky, slithering out like Spirit Snakes. The world seemed to shatter at that moment, as if it were a sign that the end was nigh.
Everybody combined their strength and successfully fended off Great Demon God’s attack, but even so, there was no joy on their faces. That was only just the breath of the Great Demon God. His power was so tyrannical that they could scarcely imagine what kind of scene would ensue if he were to go all out.
Being Great Emperors meant that everyone present on this battlefield had gone through countless battles and challenges where their lives were at stake. Nevertheless, none of those previous experiences could compare to this in terms of danger and intensity. Even the Great Emperor War in the Shattered Star Sea was dwarfed by this experience.
In the face of such a powerful enemy, attacking was always the best defence, all the more so when the enemy was in a higher Realm. How could the Great Emperors be unaware of this simple truth? Following their joint defence, they simultaneously rushed toward the Great Demon God without the slightest hesitation whatsoever. There was not a single word of discussion among them, not even the slightest eye contact; even so, their actions were completely in-sync with each other. That was because every one of them knew that defending would only drag out their deaths, no matter how tenaciously they held on. The only way out of this desperate situation was to attack head-on with all their might.
The figures of the nine Great Emperors travelled across the sky like nine meteors to slam into the Great Demon God. Each figure carried the Will of the Star Boundary, as well as the hopes of all the survivors of the Human Race.
On both sides of the nine figures were the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan in their more than 1,000-metre-long Dragon forms. Their Dragon Roars shook the sky and their Dragon Pressure was awe-inspiring.
Above them all stood Zhang Ruo Xi with the Heaven’s Order Sword in her hands. The illusory phantom of the gigantic woman behind Zhang Ruo Xi seemed to come alive at that moment, and the giant sword in her hands radiated with a dazzling light.
The ground rumbled as Tai Yue ran forward, every step surpassing the barriers of space and leaving a deep imprint on the ground.
This grand battle that was destined to be passed down over tens of thousands of years began with the slash of the Heavens Order Sword. Only the brilliance of this sword remained in the world the moment that attack was unleashed and its radiance caused everybody to be blinded for a moment.
In the face of this terrifying sword wave, the Great Demon God simply swung his fist to counter. The sword light shattered upon coming into contact with his fist and Zhang Ruo Xi groaned as the illusory phantom of Heaven’s Order behind her wavered.
“Your ancestor might have been powerful, but she was too inflexible. If she had emulated this King’s actions, she would have already recovered from her injuries by now and would not have died in this backwater Universe World. This King will send you to Hell first, so as not to tarnish the prestige of your ancestor!” Great Demon God’s voice rang out like thunder and the power behind the fist slammed out unabated, arriving in front of Zhang Ruo Xi in an instant.
Zhang Ruo Xi was as small as a mosquito in front of that incomparably huge fist and there was no doubt that her slender body would shatter to pieces if she was hit.
“You don’t have the right to criticize my ancestor!” Zhang Ruo Xi coldly snorted through gritted teeth. The Heaven’s Order Sword shook all of a sudden and the broken sword light turned into a sword rain that blasted forward.
Countless years ago, Great Demon God and Heaven’s Order had encountered each other in the Outer Universe. They fought and competed against each other on multiple occasions until finally, both sides ended up with severe injuries.
Great Demon God had landed on the Peerless World while Heaven’s Order came to the Star Boundary. In order to heal from his injuries, Great Demon God turned his attention toward the Auspicious Spirit Essence of the Peerless World. He spent a great deal of energy draining the Peerless World and transforming it into the Demon Realm, but just as he was about to succeed, Flowing Time Great Emperor appeared. The two fought each other to the death, and although Flowing Time Great Emperor’s Soul was extinguished in the fight, he managed to destroy the body of the Great Demon God.
Great Demon God was capable of using the Peerless World’s Auspicious Spirit Essence to heal himself, so it only made sense that Heaven’s Order was also capable of doing so since she was in the same Realm and possessed similar strength to him.
It would seem that Heavens Order had not chosen to go down that route, and instead, she left behind a shocking legacy after arriving in the Star Boundary. Even though she was feared by the Ancient Divine Spirits and rumoured to be their natural enemy, she had not done anything to endanger the Star Boundary itself. It could be seen from this that she was not one to harm innocents indiscriminately. Rather, she must have been quite kind-hearted; otherwise, how could she choose death over harming the Universe World known as the Star Boundary?
The Peerless World has turned into the Demon Realm because of Great Demon God’s existence, its World Principles twisted over millennia of time. Even the remaining survivors living in the Peerless World gradually transformed into the Demon Race. If nobody had stopped Great Demon God’s plans, the Star Boundary would have become the second Peerless World.
Flowing Time Great Emperor had been very far-sighted. When he left the Flowing Time Temple back then, he once mentioned that he gained some insight into the Outer Universe. As for what the mystery was, Qiong Qi had not known. Looking at it now, it would seem that the so-called mystery was related to the Star Boundary’s crisis.
If Great Demon God had recovered from his injuries at the time, he would surely search for Heaven’s Order. Unfortunately, Heaven’s Order had already passed away by then, so who in the Star Boundary could have stopped him once he recovered completely and came looking for her? It would surely have led to the annihilation of all life and the collapse of the Star Boundary.
Amidst the pouring light of the sword rain, Zhang Ruo Xi’s expression was solemn. She had inherited the many memories and experiences of her ancestor that came with the Heaven’s Order bloodline inheritance; therefore, she knew what happened back then better than anybody else in this world. She could proudly say that her ancestor had not done anything that would harm the Star Boundary. Her ancestor had chosen to die a slow and painful death rather than harm this splendid universe. As such, Zhang Ruo Xi had to protect this world, even if she died in the process!
The mighty and powerful sword rain could not stop Great Demon God in the slightest. That giant fist caused space to collapse and everything shattered upon contact. If Zhang Ruo Xi had been alone, she would have died in the next moment as Mo Sheng’s power had been enhanced greatly after the Demon Saints fused themselves into his body. However, she was not alone… Beside her were the nine Great Emperors from the Star Boundary, two Elders of the Dragon Clan, and Tai Yue, who had accompanied her for several dozen years in the Blood Gate.
Taking advantage of Great Demon God’s lack of vigilance, Xiao Xiao swung his fist and punched Great Demon God in the gut. A huge vibration force surged and spread outward when his fist connected. It was so strong that even somebody as powerful as Great Demon God was knocked sideways.
The giant fist that was blasting towards Zhang Ruo Xi was involuntarily deflected slightly and the murderous intent locked onto her also let up for an instant. With such a good opportunity at hand, she stepped aside like a butterfly and narrowly dodged the attack by a hair.
Great Demon God abruptly turned his head and raised his other hand high. It felt as though the sky was collapsing on itself as his hand came slapping downward.
Xiao Xiao raised his arms to block, but the palm strike contained an overwhelming power. The 1,000-metre-tall Divine Spirit Tai Yue was smacked so hard that he fell on his face and collapsed head-first to the ground. When his enormous body crashed into the ground, the earth split apart and formed countless cracks. Hot magma gushed out of these cracks in the ground and splashed against his body with fizzling sounds.
A Dragon Roar sounded as the two Dragon Clan Elders charged forward from both sides. Following the ancient and mysterious chant in the Dragon Language, a Dragon Clan Secret Technique came crashing down. A cyan light and a white light intertwined, transforming into an invincible Divine Ability that instantly enveloped the Great Demon God.
Boundless Demon Qi erupted outward and blocked the blue and white light from approaching, but still, a huge Dragon Claw protruded from amidst the dazzling light and swiped at the body of Great Demon God viciously. The sharp Dragon Claw tore off a huge chunk of flesh in its wake.
“You two worms court death!” Great Demon God roared furiously, reaching out his hand to grab at something, capturing a pure-white Dragon’s body. He squeezed his hand tightly and the Dragon roared in agony. Still, the Dragon in his grip turned around to bite at the hand grabbing her while at the same time, an even bigger Dragon came from the side and smashed into the chest of the Great Demon God with a Divine Dragon Tail Sweep.
Great Demon God ignored the attack and with a flick of his hand, he shook the white Dragon in his hand so that her body straightened like a spear. Then, he used her like a whip to lash out in front of himself. The two Dragons became tangled together as a result and tumbled into the distance.
Meanwhile, World Force gathered. In the middle of that vortex of power, a spear came stabbing forward. The body of the spear hummed, sounding faintly like a Dragon Roar, and the power behind that attack was magnificent.
Eight figures rushed out from behind Yang Kai’s more than 1,000-metre-tall Half-Dragon Body. The Divine Abilities of the Great Emperors that were enough to shatter the universe blasted toward the Great Demon God, causing the light of the world to dim!
Even if Great Demon God was unparalleled in terms of strength, the combined attack of all Great Emperors integrated with the World Force of the Star Boundary supporting them was not something that could be easily ignored.
Great Demon God’s furious howls shook the sky. The air that he exhaled with every howl formed violent sound waves that crashed outward. These sound waves in turn became shockwaves visible to the naked eye. It wasn’t until this howl of fury that everybody realised the true horror of the Great Demon God. The power of that howl felt like a storm blowing past the Starry Sky from the Outer Universe. The soil and the rocks on the ground instantly flew tens of thousands of kilometres away and disintegrated in mid-air.
The Divine Abilities of the Great Emperors were affected by the shockwave passing over them and their power decreased significantly. By the time they struck Great Demon God, they failed to cause much damage. Only Yang Kai’s spear that was stabbing straight at Great Demon God was barely affected as a large black ball appeared out of thin air at the tip of the spear, emitting an aura that could destroy everything.
Great Demon God reached his hand out towards the Azure Dragon Spear, causing Yang Kai to raise his brow at the sight. The spear became even more deadly as he poured all his strength into the thrust. Even if he could not do much against the powerful enemy in front of him, he was determined to at least open a hole in the enemy’s palm!
In the next moment, the giant fist closed around the spear. The black ball at the tip of the Azure Dragon Spear was crushed and the Space Principles were wiped out by an overwhelming force. Grinning at Yang Kai, Great Demon God jerked the spear backward with great force. Yang Kai involuntarily stumbled towards the Great Demon God as a result and a giant fist came straight at him, rapidly becoming larger and larger in his field of vision.
His 1,000-metre-tall Half-Dragon Body was imposing in its own right, but in front of Great Demon God, it felt like the difference between an adult and a child. If he took this punch head-on, he would not get away lightly even with his resilience. In the worst case, his head would be smashed open. At best, his Soul would be shaken…
In that instant, Space Principles fluctuated wildly. His entire being suddenly merged with the Void and all that was left in place was an illusory figure. The giant fist smashed into the spot where Yang Kai’s head had been previously and the violent force shook space itself, oscillating through his body.
Yang Kai coughed up a mouthful of blood, as although he had used Nihility at the last moment and avoided the lethal blow coming from the Great Demon God, the power that shook the entire Void still caused him some damage.
Yang Kai used all his strength to pull on his spear but could not retrieve it no matter how he tried; thus, his complexion became ashen. He considered abandoning the Azure Dragon Spear, but his heart was extremely reluctant to do so. There was a huge gap between his strength and the Great Demon God’s in the first place, so if he lost a powerful weapon like the Azure Dragon Spear, it would be difficult for him to even cause any damage to Mo Sheng.
Fortunately, this momentary respite allowed the other eight Great Emperors to attack once more.
Iron Blood’s banner fluttered in the wind and a crimson red light that looked like it was formed from a fountain of fresh blood burst forth. Zhan Wu Hen charged forward and his ant-like figure swung a tiny fist at Great Demon God.
This scene looked like an ant was trying its best to slap an elephant. Normally, the elephant would not feel anything; however, Zhan Wu Hen’s punch caused a loud explosion to come from the Great Demon God’s arm. Consequently, Great Demon God’s enormous figure reeled backwards slightly from the impact. There might be a huge difference in their body sizes, but how could Zhan Wu Hen be compared to an ant? How could the all-out attack of a Great Emperor be completely ineffective?
“Falling Flower Decay!” A light cry rang out as Flower Shadow Great Emperor wore a stern expression on her face. She raised an unadorned hand and waved, causing a Heavenly blossom rain to scatter in the air, gathering to form a colourful light that swarmed towards Great Demon God’s left eye.
“Ice Avalanche!” The Ice Feather Great Emperor held a crystal longsword in his hand. Sliding his finger down the length of the blade, he slashed down with his blade, unleashing a chill that penetrated the heart. At the same time, a sword light that seemed capable of splitting Heaven and Earth apart slashed towards Great Demon God’s other eye.
“Serene Soul Finger!” Wrapped in an ethereal aura, a pure Spiritual Energy burst forth as Serene Soul Great Emperor thrust his finger out at Great Demon God. All the power in his body was gathered into a single point that while unable to harm the physical body, directly affected Great Demon God’s Soul.
“Beasts of the world, obey my command! Myriad Beast Stampede!” Martial Beast Great Emperor shouted, punching out multiple times with his fists. Numerous strange beast phantoms appeared from his fist shadows, ones that were extremely life-like and of numerous shapes and sizes. There was no shortage of Divine Spirits among these beast phantoms and in the blink of an eye, a veritable horde was charging towards Great Demon God with ferocious roars. They attacked with fangs and claws, using everything they had in their arsenal.
“Chaos!” Wondrous Pill Great Emperor lightly shouted as he used a Secret Technique that condensed a flame in his palm. That flame seemed extremely weak, giving off only a faint yellow light that flickered like a candle. Even in the dark of night, that flame could only illuminate a radius of several tens of metres at most.
However, everywhere the flame passed, space itself was burnt black. It was as though even the World could not withstand the scorching heat of this flame. The Divine Chaos Flame was a kind of Heavenly Flame, one that was no less potent than the Phoenix True Fire and was capable of burning down everything in inexistence.
Wondrous Pill Great Emperor did not specialize in combat as he devoted his entire life to the Alchemic Dao, but not specializing in combat did not mean he could not fight.
The Divine Chaos Flame was his strongest weapon and it was something he came across by chance during his youth. Having nurtured this flame over tens of thousands of years, the power of the Divine Chaos Flame was so great that even the other Great Emperors did not dare to take it on directly.
The Great Emperors held nothing back in the face of an enemy as powerful as Great Demon God. They attacked with all their strongest methods right from the beginning, hoping that they could either inflict heavy damage on Mo Sheng or even kill him as quickly as possible; otherwise, even if they could persevere, the World could not and would collapse completely at some point. If that really were to happen, then the Star Boundary would cease to exist.
Things hadn’t ended yet, however, as at some point in time, Wu Kuang had arrived on top of Great Demon God’s head and slammed his palm downward as he shouted, “Earth Prison!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, an enormous Divine Tree appeared out of thin air. The Divine Tree was even taller than Great Demon God and the gigantic canopy enveloped the latter completely. Simultaneously, numerous roots burst out from the ground and wound themselves around the Great Demon God like Flood Dragons. It only took an instant for Great Demon God to be wrapped as tightly as a dumpling.
“Wind!” Wu Kuang shouted again, unleashing a gale from his mouth. An Astral Wind blew and turned into wind blades that slashed at Great Demon God’s figure. Although the wind blades looked plain and ordinary, their destructive power was not something even Great Demon God could take lightly.
Astral Wind! Divine Tree Bai Yi!
These two methods were familiar to Yang Kai. He abruptly recalled the battle between Duan Hong Chen and Wu Kuang in the Shattered Star Sea back then, where they had each used one of these moves, and even now that they were two Souls residing in one body, there was not the slightest sense of obscurity in their control of these techniques.
The eight Great Emperors attacked all at once, and aside from the Heaven’s Revelations Great Emperor who only threw out several punches, the remaining eight Great Emperors had revealed all their hidden trump cards. That was not to say Heavens Revelations was not contributing, though, as his eyes were as deep and profound as the sea, seemingly peering into the vague trajectories of fate.
Such violent attacks and decisive moves made the entire Star Boundary shudder.
Taking this opportunity, Yang Kai struggled to free his spear and finally broke out of Great Demon God’s grip.
The Astral Wind suddenly condensed and sliced into Great Demon God’s shoulder, sending blood splattering everywhere.
The attacks of Flower Shadow and Ice Feather each slashed at one eye. In response, Mo Sheng simply closed his eyelids, forming an extremely powerful defensive barrier. He simply allowed the two Great Emperors’ Divine Abilities to run rampant on his eyelids, creating showers of sparks.
Meanwhile, the Divine Chaos Flame flew over and left long burnt marks all over Mo Sheng’s body, creating a terrible stench of something burning in the air.
That was not all. Countless strange beasts were gathered around his enormous body, biting and scratching at his flesh.
“Begone!” Great Demon God roared furiously and an unparalleled force erupted from his enormous body. The Divine Tree Bai Yi rustled and crackled as its roots were shattered. Then, the enormous tree suddenly dissipated and vanished. The countless strange beasts biting at his flesh also disintegrated at this moment, turning into faint wisps of light that filled the sky like fireflies.
Mo Sheng then punched out. It was a straight punch with nothing fancy to it, looking extremely casual to the outside observer. Even so, everyone’s expression changed drastically at the sight of this punch. That was because they each felt as though the punch was aiming directly at them. Moreover, it sealed the world and locked onto their aura, preventing them from escaping or avoiding the blow.
*Peng peng peng…*
There was a series of groans and grunts as numerous figures were sent flying backwards. Everybody coughed up blood and the vitality in their bodies was churning wildly as their minds shook.
“I’ll start with you!” Great Demon God spread open his fist and slammed his palm down viciously. That gigantic hand covered the sky and blocked out the sun, while the person underneath his hand was none other than Flower Shadow Great Emperor!
Flower Shadow Great Emperor had never experienced such a dangerous moment in her life before and her beautiful face could not help but turn pale at the sight. Still, she reacted swiftly, drawing the Heavenly Blossom Rain back to wrap around herself to form layers upon layers of defence. Nevertheless, the Heavenly Blossom Rain fell apart rapidly like snowflakes in the sun when that palm strike came crashing down.
At that critical moment of life-and-death, a figure sped through the sky and Heavens Revelations Great Emperor stood in front of Flower Shadow. He lifted a hand and tossed out an object. That item immediately swelled rapidly in the wind and quickly turned into a large Tortoise Shell that shielded the two beneath it. The Tortoise Shell was covered in natural complex patterns and exuded an extremely ancient aura.
At the same time, Yang Kai’s figure flickered and he arrived with his spear to stab at Great Demon God’s hand. This attack finally achieved something as his spear pierced through Great Demon God’s palm and caused a great deal of blood to gush out. However, he was also sent flying by that palm strike. Several bones in his body were broken and the sound of an explosion came from his body while he was suspended in mid-air.
*Hong…*
Although his attack had slowed the palm strike somewhat, it still came smashing down in the end.
A Black Tortoise illusory phantom suddenly appeared above the large Tortoise Shell, roaring up at the sky. The Black Tortoise shattered when the giant palm slammed down and the light coming from the Tortoise Shell dimmed considerably. When Great Demon God withdrew his palm, the Tortoise Shell turned into a stream of light to reveal the figures of Heaven’s Revelations and Flower Shadow. Fortunately, the two Great Emperors did not look worse for wear even though their expressions were ugly.
On the other side, Yang Kai was thrown out several thousand kilometres before he could stabilise his figure. He looked up at the sky with a bitter taste in his mouth.
[Is this the absolute difference in strength?] The truth was that Great Demon God was forced to bring forward his plans and seize Huang Wu Ji’s physical body to revive himself. He even fused with all the other Demon Saints to enhance his strength. It was just that he did not have a single treasure or weapon in his possession, so all his attacks had been made with only his body.
Be that as it may, his overwhelming strength made all the Great Emperors’ attacks ineffective against him. They could not inflict a fatal injury on him and their defences were as flimsy as paper against his attacks. It was fortunate that Heavens Revelations Great Emperor was keeping an eye on the battle situation at all times. If he had not come to her timely rescue, Flower Shadow Great Emperor would have died just now.
In the face of such a powerful enemy, it felt like the Star Boundary had no choice but to resign itself to its fate and die.
Be that as it may, Yang Kai refused to accept it. Likewise, the Great Emperors refused to lie down and die. Regardless of whether the enemy was unstoppable or everybody was killed in the process, they stubbornly continued to fight with great spirit. This was the world where they were born and raised, how could they just abandon it? What’s more, a Great Emperor would no longer be a Great Emperor without the blessing of this World!
Since Great Demon God had revealed himself, the Star Boundary would die if they did not kill him here and now. If the Star Boundary was destroyed, then the only future waiting for the people was death!
Strictly speaking, it was not as if Great Demon God was invincible in the eyes of the Great Emperors. Their previous attacks had caused some damage to him and although the injuries were not serious, it still gave them hope. The main reason for their current predicament was that the seven Great Emperors, who had only just escaped the shackles of their prison, were unable to bring out their full strength.
They had been trapped in that inexplicable space for many years and exposed to the Demon Saints strange Secret Technique during that time. Hence, they were no longer at their peak. At this moment, the seven Great Emperors led by Zhan Wu Hen could only bring out about 70% of their peak strength. They might not lose when facing the Demon Saints whose strength had also decreased sharply, but they were slightly overwhelmed when facing Great Demon God who had absorbed all the Demon Saints. In that case, they could only fight with their lives on the line!
*Weng…*
A strange humming sound came out suddenly, and it was followed by an extremely powerful force that suddenly erupted out of nowhere. Yang Kai turned to look and saw that the space around Zhan Wu Hen was becoming distorted, his long hair flying without any wind and his clothes flapping wildly. Moreover, a layer of crimson blood light was being emitted from the surface of his body.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly at the sight. He was worried at first, but he soon became relieved.
Zhan Wu Hen’s actions undoubtedly indicated that he had burned his own Blood Essence in exchange for more power. His actions were akin to drinking poison in order to quench his thirst as Blood Essence was the foundation of a person’s vitality. It was not something that should be used so easily. Once burned, it would severely damage his foundation afterward, regardless of whether he won or not. If the damage was too serious, it might even cripple his cultivation. As a Great Emperor, why would he do something like that unless he was forced to?
It was just that he could no longer afford to have such scruples at this point in time. If the Star Boundary was destroyed, everything would perish along with it. For the sake of his home, forget something as trivial as burning his Blood Essence, Zhan Wu Hen wouldn’t even bat an eye if he had to sacrifice his life for this cause.
*Weng…*
As if they had discussed this in advance, the other Great Emperors followed suit after Zhan Wu Hen began burning his Blood Essence. In an instant, their declining momentum started rising steadily. Not only did they recover their peak strength, but they even surpassed their original limits.
The power of the Great Emperors’ vitality was so strong that the entire world immediately shone with dazzling rays of light that were as dense as blood the moment they started burning their Blood Essence!
Yang Kai felt excitement stirring in him and an unstoppable impulse flooded his chest. With a deafening Dragon Roar, his Blood Essence also began to blaze; however, his situation was different from the other Great Emperors. Zhan Wu Hen and the others were surrounded by a red glow after burning their Blood Essence, but Yang Kai gave off a brilliant golden light instead. It was almost as though he had transformed into a blazing sun that dispelled the darkness covering the world.
The dazzling golden sun suddenly rose into the sky where it paused for a moment before charging straight towards Great Demon God. The Azure Dragon Spear stabbed out from within the golden glow, forming countless spear shadows that seemed to cover the sky. Every thrust contained extremely strong Martial Truth, and each spear shadow that stabbed forward carried a -pitch-black ball at its tip that hollowed out space itself.
Struck by this blow, Great Demon God staggered back, roaring in rage, “How dare you miserable ants continue to resist!?”
He swung his fists and a violent force came sweeping out which Yang Kai lifted his spear to block. His entire body shuddered and a mouthful of blood rose up in his chest, only to be forcefully swallowed back down.
Dragon Roars shook the sky as the two Dragon Clan Elders attacked from opposite sides. Their more than 1,000-metre-long Dragon Forms were impressive and magnificent. Opening their mouths, they sprayed the huge body of Great Demon God with their Dragon Breaths.
Great Demon God did not evade these attacks. Rather, it could be said that he had no intention of dodging in the first place. He simply allowed the Dragon Breaths to wash over his body while stretching out his arm, his right hand suddenly becoming abnormally dry and shrivelled but now radiating with an extremely dangerous aura.
Fresh blood suddenly splattered into the sky as the Great Elder screamed in agony and retreated. A large piece of flesh had been gouged out of his chest and his abdomen, Dragon Scales and all. If Fu Zhun had not come to his rescue at the last moment, it was doubtful whether he would have survived that blow.
Yang Kai was also thrown backward by the impact. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the right hand of Great Demon God, unable to shake the faint feeling that something was unusual about this limb. The right hand of Great Demon God was not like this previously. It was only at that moment that his right hand seemed to change all of a sudden.
“Be careful of that right hand! It’s probably the remains of his original body!” Zhan Wu Hen’s voice entered Yang Kai’s ears. Nobody knew the horrors of that hand better than Zhan Wu Hen. Back then, Huang Wu Ji had once used a shrivelled severed palm to deal with him when he was still trapped in that inexplicable space. The severed palm might be shrivelled and decayed, but the destructive power it could wield was extremely terrifying. He once wondered about how powerful the owner of the severed palm could be when just a severed palm was so powerful. That was, until he met Great Demon God!
That severed palm undoubtedly belonged to Mo Sheng. When he fought Flowing Time Great Emperor in the past, the latter’s Soul had been extinguished while Great Demon God’s physical body was destroyed. Only this severed palm remained and survived to this day.
Having possessed Huang Wu Ji’s body, it was only natural that Mo Sheng had taken back the severed palm that was in the care of Huang Wu Ji. It wasn’t until this moment that the severed palm finally revealed its appalling true appearance. In Huang Wu Ji’s possession, that severed palm was nothing more than a dead hand, so the power that could be wielded was limited, but the power of this severed palm had undoubtedly been triggered fully in the hands of Great Demon God.
With a single palm strike, everything was broken in an instant.
While sending out transmissions to the others, Zhan Wu Hen had already rushed forward. He reached out, grabbed the Iron Blood War Banner behind him, and charged towards Great Demon God. The banner flapped wildly, instantly expanding to cover a radius of 50 kilometres around him and enveloping the huge space inside.
Unexpectedly, there was a ripping sound in the next moment, accompanied by a large hand reaching out from within the area covered by the banner. Great Demon God had broken free of the restraints and the Iron Blood War Banner was torn to pieces.
All the other Great Emperors took this opportunity to rush forward like shooting stars. Countless Divine Abilities of the Great Emperors blasted out from within the clumps of dense blood light.
Great Demon God might be almighty and invincible, but in the end, two fists could not block four strikes, so even he failed to defend against all the attacks under the joint efforts of all the Great Emperors. There were several loud explosions and Mo Sheng’s 8,000-metre-tall body swayed slightly as a large amount of blood spurted from his injuries.
Wounded and in pain, his eyes became filled with rage. Then, he suddenly ignored all incoming attacks, completely abandoned all of his defences. Instead, he reached his hand out to grab at something.
In that direction, Fu Zhun was currently protecting Zhu Yan so that he could retreat first, and when she saw the giant palm that blocked out the sky reaching towards her, she realized she was unable to avoid or dodge. Thus, she was caught by the Dragon Tail. Her more than 1,000-metre-long body was no more than a small snake in the hands of Great Demon God as he dragged her back to him.
Shocked, Zhu Yan instantly rose to resist regardless of the condition of his body.
“This King will rip out your spine and skin you alive!” Great Demon God roared and really did just as he declared, thrusting his right hand into Fu Zhun’s back. The Dragon Clan’s defences that they were so proud of was as frail as paper in front of Mo Sheng and blood splattered in all directions as she screamed in agony. Following that, Mo Sheng firmly gripped onto something and viciously yanked. With a massive chunk of her flesh torn off, Fu Zhun’s spine was now exposed, visible to the naked eye, and seemed as if it was going to be ripped out in the next moment.
Space Principles surged violently at that moment as Yang Kai arrived in front of Great Demon God and smashed his spear into his left eye with all his might.
In response, Great Demon God leisurely closed his eyes while at the same time, billowing Demon Qi converged towards his left eye. The Azure Dragon Spear struck against the closed eyelid as though it had stabbed into the hardest metal in the world, resulting in a harsh grating sound and metallic sparks flying everywhere. This menacing attack only managed to leave a faint trace of blood on Mo Sheng’s eyelid and did not manage to cause any substantial damage to him.
At that moment, a small flame flew over, wrapped around Mo Sheng’s right wrist, and instantly transformed into a ring of fire. The Divine Chaos Flame burned fiercely, releasing a burning smell into the air.
Great Demon God roared in pain, involuntarily loosening his grip. Taking this opportunity, Fu Zhun turned around and sank her sharp Dragon Fangs into his arm before tearing off a large chunk of flesh.
Tai Yue threw a punch heavy enough to shatter space into the back of Great Demon God at that moment…
The other Great Emperors also followed up with a barrage of Divine Abilities. All of them were aimed at Great Demon God’s right hand. One person’s strength might be insignificant, but the combined force of all the Great Emperors was not to be underestimated.
No matter how reluctant Great Demon God was, his movements couldn’t help but freeze for a moment. Fu Zhun took this opportunity to lash out against his chest with her Divine Dragon Tail Sweep and a loud bang rang out. Mo Sheng staggered backwards several steps while on the other hand, Fu Zhun finally broke free of his grip, her Dragon Blood raining down from the sky.
Great Demon God had struck twice since the changes occurred to his right hand, and both times, the two Dragon Clan Elders had been severely wounded. One had a large chunk of his flesh gouged out from his chest and abdomen. The other almost had her spine ripped out of her back. The situation was extremely dire and heart-wrenching to see.
Be that as it may, no one backed down… Not even the heavily wounded Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun withdrew from the battlefield. After the husband and wife reunited, they turned around and charged towards Great Demon God again. The auras surrounding the two Dragons seemed to become one at this moment and their resonance with each other became stronger. The two Dragons struck at Great Demon God from both left and right.
The battle had already been joined, so unless one side was completely defeated, it was impossible for them to even rest for a moment. Therefore, the furious howls and roars reverberated across every corner of the Star Boundary as the fight raged on. The tremors in the world even spread to the most remote corners of the Star Boundary.
Yang Kai bled, the two Elders of the Dragon Clan bled, the other Great Emperors bled, even Great Demon God bled…
Tai Yue’s body that seemed to be formed from a cluster of rocks had broken open to reveal countless terrifying cracks…
In this battle, everybody was going all out. Nobody dared to hold back in the slightest. This battle would only end when one side lay dead!
Heavens Revelations Great Emperor had saved the others at critical moments on multiple occasions with the Black Tortoise Shield that had accompanied him for so many years having been shattered by Great Demon God as the price of his actions.
The light of the Divine Chaos Flame was growing dimmer, like the flickering flame of a candle in the rain that was threatening to go out at any moment. At this moment, it was being trapped inside a mass of pure Demon Qi. Wondrous Pill Great Emperor was constantly forming seals with one hand, controlling the Divine Chaos Flame to burn away the Demon Qi while consuming Great Demon God’s energy with his other. His complexion was as pale as a sheet of paper despite stuffing handfuls of Spirit Pills into his mouth like they were common candy.
One of Tai Yue’s arms was hanging limply by his side, and his overwhelming momentum from before had decreased sharply.
Yang Kai was dripping with blood; furthermore, the blood light shrouding the surface of the Great Emperors’ bodies was becoming extremely dim…
The Great Emperors were violently gasping for breath, while on the other hand, the Great Demon God was covered in countless wounds.
The battle had reached its most critical juncture. Great Demon God was acting like he stood above the rest, calling them ants with every sentence he spoke; however, the ‘ants’ in front of him were indeed qualified to threaten his life.
He was not at his peak after all! Even if his plan had been completed perfectly and he devoured the Auspicious Spirit Essence of the Star Boundary, the only effect that would achieve was that he would be reborn anew. If he wanted to recover completely, it would still require many years of accumulation and cultivation, so what more need be said when even his original plans had suffered many setbacks? Nobody could say for sure how much of his original power he could bring out in his current condition, but even that small portion of his strength was enough to make the entire Star Boundary throw everything it had against him to even stand a chance.
There were loud rumbling noises occasionally interspersed with ferocious roars and furious howls. Numerous figures fluttered about in the sky and various Divine Abilities shone brightly. The power that each participant in this battle could exert was gradually declining. This was the case for the Great Demon God, as well as the Great Emperors; after all, a battle as intense as this one would be extremely taxing for anybody.
At a certain moment, Zhan Wu Hen suddenly charged forward resolutely and his weakening momentum increased sharply as he shouted, “Break his arm!”
After fighting for so long, everybody could tell that the power the Great Demon God could exert would reduce greatly without the right hand from his original body. It was just that the power of this right hand was simply too horrifying, so much so that it had blocked all their attacks for a time. As long as they could chop off his palm though, it would be equivalent to depriving Mo Sheng of his sharpest weapon. That would definitely cause a change in the current situation.
It was with that aim that Zhan Wu Hen targeted the right hand of the Great Demon God. Naturally, everyone else understood his intentions.
Wondrous Pill Great Emperor bit his tongue and sprayed out a mouthful of Blood Essence which merged with the Divine Chaos Flame that had been tightly wrapped in pure Demon Qi, causing it to burst with a dazzling radiance that burned away all the surrounding darkness. Then, the Divine Chaos Flame shot out and wrapped itself around the right hand of Great Demon God like a Fire Snake.
Martial Beast Great Emperor swung his fists wildly while both Ice Feather and Flower Shadow attacked with their swords. Even Heavens Revelations Great Emperor, who had been in charge of defence all this time, summoned a simple-looking bronze coin and channelled his strength into it, causing it to turn into a blue light that slashed at the right hand of Great Demon God.
The Spiritual Energy of Serene Soul Great Emperor poured out of his body and slammed into the Knowledge Sea of Great Demon God, causing blood to flow from Yao Jin’s seven orifices as his complexion went so pale that it was scary.
The two Dragon Clan Elders also charged forward together, intertwining with each other as they released a brilliant cyan and white light. They were shrouded in the resolute determination that they would succeed or not return at all.
Wu Kuang let out a strange cackle, “Satisfying! This is too much fun! Hahahahaha!”
He laughed maniacally and attacked even more enthusiastically. The illusory phantom of the Universe World behind him had completely integrated into his body at this point as he struck forward with his entire cultivation.
The expression of Great Demon God finally changed. Although he had been fighting all the strongest Masters in the entire Star Boundary with his strength alone, he had always held the upper hand in the battle. It wasn’t until now that he finally felt a sense of crisis looming over him. Even he could feel a shudder running through his heart in the face of this fierce onslaught.
The enormous Tai Yue swooped down from the sky at that moment and punched out.
Mo Sheng let out a furious roar and swung his fists to parry Tai Yue’s attack. The two mountain-like fists collided with each other and made a deafening bang. Mo Sheng felt his feet sinking downward as his entire being sank into the ground, splitting it into a spiderweb of bottomless ravines.
On the other hand, Xiao Xiao was thrown backwards and horrifying cracks appeared on his 1,000-metre-tall body. Large pieces of his figure crashed to the ground and disintegrated while he flew out several hundred kilometres…
Yang Kai felt as though his eyes were going to pop at the sight. Unfortunately, he could not spare the effort to check on Xiao Xiao’s condition as he aimed his spear directly at the Great Demon God’s right hand which was still stretched out after the encounter with Xiao Xiao.
Blood splashed in all directions as the enormous Azure Dragon Spear pierced forward with unstoppable momentum, slicing a huge wound across Great Demon God’s wrist and exposing the bones inside.
“Scram!” Great Demon God roared, unleashing a Qi wave out from his mouth that sent Yang Kai tumbling into the distance.
At that moment, Zhan Wu Hen arrived. Likewise, Ice Feather and Flower Shadow’s attacks also landed. There were several ripping and slicing sounds that resulted in Great Demon God’s right hand being severed to a great extent. Blood and Demon Qi gushed out of his wound forming a red black cloud.
The two Elders of the Dragon Clan struck next, their Dragon Claws stretched out as they stubbornly restrained Great Demon God’s movements. They opened their bloody mouths and bit down on the exposed wound, tearing off chunks of flesh. In return, Mo Sheng’s left hand came smashing down on them. The two Elders let out roars of agony as they crashed to the ground.
The Divine Chaos Flame subsequently shot forth and wrapped around the broken section of the severed palm. Accompanied by crackling sounds of flame, the wound on the severed palm rapidly enlarged while even bones were shattered.
Great Demon God was furious. Stretching out his other hand, he grabbed the Divine Chaos Flame and yanked fiercely. He unexpectedly managed to dislodge the Divine Flame that could burn all creation, and to everybody’s disbelief, he shoved the flame into his mouth and chomped down on it. Flames shot out of his nose and mouth, but Mo Sheng forced himself to endure with a grim look on his face.
Wondrous Pill Great Emperor’s complexion immediately turned as pale as a sheet and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. Having been refined by him for tens of thousands of years, the Divine Chaos Flame had long since become one with him; thus, Great Demon God’s actions caused a lot of damage to his body.
“Break!” Wu Kuang roared as he focused all the strength into his finger and pierced at the wound on Great Demon God’s right hand.
*Kacha…*
A crisp sound rang out and Great Demon God’s right hand was separated from his arm, sending an ocean of blood splattering all over the ground.
[We did it!]
This blow was the result of all their concerted efforts. Having practically played all their cards, their efforts were finally paying off; however, a sense of unease suddenly permeated the entire world.
Even though Great Demon God’s right hand had been severed, he actually grinned wickedly and roared, “Die!”
After that, a terrifying aura emerged from the severed hand as it began to swell up rapidly…
Everybody’s pupils instantly contracted to the size of pinpoints at the sight. Nobody could have imagined that Great Demon God would use his own severed palm to play such a dirty trick on them. The signs of swelling and the dangerous aura undoubtedly indicated that he planned to make his original palm explode. Although this would cause great damage to his body, the price the Star Boundary would have to pay would be infinitely greater in comparison.
At this point, everyone was an arrow at the end of its flight and no one was confident that they could survive the detonation of the severed palm. It was hard to even say whether the Star Boundary itself would survive.
The aura of death enveloped the entire Star Boundary and a hint of sadness flashed across Zhan Wu Hen’s eyes. They had given their all, risking their lives, but in the end, still failed to save the world… Even so, they resolved to die alongside the Star Boundary!
His figure did not retreat; instead, he charged toward Great Demon God as he gathered his strength to unleash his greatest attack yet.
At that moment though, a figure appeared out of nowhere and arrived next to the severed palm. He grabbed the severed palm and vanished once more with a flicker of his body. Everyone could clearly tell that the figure that appeared so suddenly belonged to Yang Kai. Besides, only a person proficient in the Dao of Space like him could arrive in time at such a critical juncture. Nobody else had that ability.
There was no doubt that he had taken that dangerous severed palm into the Void Crack at this moment. In the next moment, a huge shockwave emerged from the spot where Yang Kai had vanished. Immediately after that, a black hole appeared at that spot and expanded rapidly, devouring a huge part of the surrounding space in the blink of an eye…
Everyone was stunned as they stared blankly at the dark void that continued to expand outward. Even though their enemy was still before them, they could not help feeling a deep sense of loss. The spreading Void was undoubtedly caused by the explosion of the severed palm. It was so powerful that the impact directly affected the Star Boundary through the Void Crack. That power turned out to be more horrifying than they initially imagined and they understood that if that severed palm had exploded in the Star Boundary, the World itself would have broken apart and ceased to exist!
It was all thanks to Yang Kai taking that severed palm into the Void Crack at the last moment that this Universe World was saved.
But, what had happened to Yang Kai? The power of the severed palm’s explosion was so great, so could he have withstood the impact? There was no way he could! Nobody could escape unscathed from such terrifying destructive power. At this moment, it was likely that the only thing left of him were broken fragments. Even if nobody wanted to admit it, the Great Emperors had no choice but to accept this cruel reality.
“No!” A mournful cry resounded throughout the world.
Su Yan, Xia Ning Chang, Shan Qing Luo, Xue Yue, and Zhu Qing had been watching the battle from among the crowd below and all of them screamed hysterically at that moment. If not for the people around them holding them back, they would have rushed forward immediately.
In a battle among Great Emperors, no one could intervene except for other Great Emperors. Not even the Pseudo-Great Emperors or other Divine Spirits were qualified.
Xiao Xiao was a special case as he had fully stimulated the Source Strength of his ancestor in the Heavens Order Palace, so his strength was comparable to the Great Emperors, allowing him to participate in this battle. Even so, he had been constantly sent flying during the fight and at this moment, his body had been badly broken. It was unknown whether he would survive.
So what could Su Yan and the others do? They had been watching the battle anxiously from below, feeling extremely nervous whenever they saw Yang Kai cough up blood or becoming excited whenever Great Demon God was wounded badly. Who could have thought that they would witness such a scene without any warning? There had been no signs whatsoever telling them in advance that the man who was supposed to accompany them for the rest of their lives would simply vanish into the Void Crack just like that.
Su Yan’s tender body trembled violently as she could not feel Yang Kai’s existence at all. Even the Spiritual Connection between them that would never vanish was completely cut off at this moment.
On the other side, Dong Su Zhu’s eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted on the spot.
Yang Kai had only just become a Great Emperor a few days ago. How could he die so young? Wouldn’t that make him the shortest-lived Great Emperor in the history of the Star Boundary?
Likewise, Zhan Wu Hen and the others were mourning the loss of Yang Kai in their hearts. They were distressed by the death of one of their companions, but unfortunately, they had no time to grieve. Each of them composed their emotions as quickly as possible and resumed attacking with the dying breaths in their bodies! Void Great Emperor had perished. Nevertheless, they would not hesitate to give up their lives as long as they could protect this world.
The rumbling noises of battle resounded throughout the world again, shaking the entire Star Boundary.
As they had previously guessed, Great Demon God instantly became as weak as an old tiger without fangs after his right arm was chopped off. Not only did his aura reduce significantly, but even his attacks were not as fierce as before. It would seem that losing his original palm had inflicted a great deal of damage to him.
Unfortunately, the same could be said for the Great Emperors. The joint attack they unleashed just now had basically exhausted the majority of their remaining strength. Nobody could tell how things would turn out until the battle actually ended. It was just that, based on the current situation, there was a heavy price to pay regardless of who won the battle in the end.
The world was on the brink of collapse and the World Energy itself churned chaotically. Several figures constantly threw themselves at Great Demon God, only to be knocked back. Then, they would struggle to get up and rush forward once more. The cycle repeated over and over again, causing the entire sky to be dyed red with blood.
…..
Yang Kai floated inside the Void, falling into a peculiar state. It felt as though he had broken free of an invisible shackle and his entire being was filled with a deeply profound sense of peace. He no longer experienced the pain from before nor any other senses for that matter. When he tried to clench his fist, he discovered that he could not move as he wished. When he tried to move his head, he found that he was similarly powerless in that regard. All of a sudden, he realised that his body was gone…
He suddenly recalled what had happened to him. He brought the severed palm into the Void Crack with him; then, he felt a violent shock slamming into him. After that, he found himself in this current situation.
[What is this? Was my physical body completely destroyed?] He was completely at a loss. [No way! I don’t want to become the shortest-lived Great Emperor in the entire history of the Star Boundary! I only just became a Great Emperor not too long ago. Besides, I’m still so young, I still have a long future ahead of me!]
When he sensed the critical danger contained within that severed palm, his mind blanked out completely. Only one thought remained in his head, [I have to get it away from here as soon as possible; otherwise, a huge catastrophe will befall the Star Boundary!]
Nevertheless, he couldn’t help finding the result of his actions rather difficult to accept now that he was faced with the consequences.
[Do I regret my actions?] He asked himself. [Not really. If I had to do it all over again, I would have made the same choice even if I knew what was going to happen to me as a result.]
In the Star Boundary, there were many people who cared for him, loved him, and regarded him as the most important person in their lives. What was the loss of his physical body compared to the safety of those people?
[But… If I was blasted to pieces… Then, what is this situation? My physical body was destroyed, but my Soul remained intact? But, my physical body was turned to dust by the explosion of the severed palm. How is it that my Soul is fine?]
At this moment, he could clearly sense that his Soul was unharmed and perfectly intact. Next, he realised that his Soul was not floating aimlessly in the Void Crack. He was shielded within the petals of a seven-coloured lotus. The flower petals were wrapped around him, isolating him from the dangers in the surrounding.
[The Soul Warming Lotus!] Yang Kai immediately understood the situation. [So that’s how it is! It was the Soul Warming Lotus that protected my Soul from that terrifying blast which had allowed me to survive.]
The Soul Warming Lotus was a Supreme Treasure that possessed unimaginable abilities and effects. He had obtained it when he was still very weak and placed it inside his Knowledge Sea. It had continuously nourished his Soul for many years, which allowed his Soul to grow at a steady pace without him intentionally cultivating it. It was not surprising that it could protect his Soul when he was in a pinch.
After figuring this out, Yang Kai calmed down. As long as his Soul was indestructible, it was not scary even if his physical body was smashed to bits. In the worst case, he could do what Great Demon God did and possess somebody else’s body instead. He would still be able to start over anew.
It was just that this place was the Void Crack, and aside from him, very few people would venture into a place like this; hence, there was no hope of possessing somebody else’s body.
[This is difficult… I don’t have a physical body at the moment, so I can’t exert much of my strength. I don’t have the power to leave this Void Crack even if I wanted to. By the way, what happened to the situation in the Star Boundary? Great Demon God should be at his limits by now. I wonder if the rest of them can manage to kill him? What price would they have to pay to achieve that?]
Too many thoughts swirled about in his head, but he could not be bothered to think about it anymore. After losing the shackles of his physical body, leaving only his Soul behind, his entire being seemed to become lazy and carefree. Furthermore, the surroundings wrapped around him with a warmth that reminded him of home even though he had no physical body. It was an extremely comfortable feeling.
[Falling asleep here just like this doesn’t seem like such a bad choice…] Whilst thinking like that, Yang Kai’s cognitive processes gradually slowed, as though he was going to fall into eternal slumber. All of a sudden, the image of several tear-stricken women flashed across his mind and he jerked awake, a great sense of fear enveloping his heart.
[How are Su Yan and the others doing right now!? They probably saw what happened to me, so they must be heartbroken and in great despair! If I don’t go back, how much grief would they be in!? I have to go back! Even if I don’t have a physical body, I need to tell them that I’m fine! Besides, as long as I can return, I can get Wondrous Pill Great Emperor to refine a Flesh Incarnation Pill for me!]
Back then, Tian Yan did not have a physical body either, and it was precisely by relying on the Flesh Incarnation Pill that he could create a physical body for himself.
[If he can do it, then so can I!]
As for the Flesh Incarnation Fruit needed to refine a Flesh Incarnation Pill, Yang Kai currently did not have one; however, he had a fruit tree in the medicine garden of his Small Sealed World. He was the one who personally brought the fruit tree into the medicine garden back then; therefore, he only needed to wait and there would definitely come a day when the fruit tree would bear fruit.
After considering all this, Yang Kai froze in shock for a moment before gasping to himself, [Where is the Sealed World Bead!?]
All this while, the Sealed World Bead had been contained within his body, so now that his physical body had been torn to pieces, the Sealed World Bead might not be in good condition either. In the worst case, it might have shattered along with his physical body! The moment that thought crossed his mind, Yang Kai panicked and desperately began searching his surroundings.
A sweep of his Divine Sense revealed that the Void was filled with mashed pieces of flesh. There were also large patches of Golden Blood… [The appearance of my shattered physical body sure is an ugly sight.]
On the other hand, his mood brightened and he felt relieved. He did not see any traces of a shattered Sealed World Bead. The interior space inside the Sealed World Bead was extremely large, so if it had truly been shattered, then this Void Crack would surely contain a large portion of the Sealed World Bead’s remains. Since he did not see any such traces, that could only mean that the Sealed World Bead was safe.
[Everything will be fine as long as the Sealed World Bead is safe. It can even be considered a blessing amidst all the misfortunes.]
Relying on the invisible connection in his mind, Yang Kai soon found the Sealed World Bead among the messy Void. It was not too far away from him, so he locked his mind onto it and with a flash of his thoughts, the Sealed World Bead responded, flew over to him, and dropped into the Soul Warming Lotus.
Afterwards, Yang Kai transformed into his Soul Avatar, picked up the Sealed World Bead, kissed it fiercely and repeatedly, and heaved an emotional sigh. It was not a fluke that the Sealed World Bead was safe. It had always been hidden within his body, and when the severed palm self-detonated, the blast caused his body to explode into little pieces. That had to have cushioned most of the impact, so not much force would remain to affect the Sealed World Bead.
The Soul Warming Lotus and the Sealed World Bead were the two treasures that had accompanied Yang Kai the longest on his cultivation journey, so he could not bear to lose either of them.
At this moment, he did not know the situation in the outside world and he was powerless to affect it; therefore, he decided to abandon that thought and focus on his own future.
His top priority right now was to check on the condition of the Flesh Incarnation Fruit Tree. The growth cycle of the fruit was extremely long, but he could not wait for tens of thousands of years for the fruit to grow. If everything else did not work, then he could only ask the two little Wood Spirits to find a way to hasten the growth. With their abilities, that should be something they were capable of doing.
His thoughts flashed and his Soul Avatar slipped into the Small Sealed World and appeared directly within the medicine garden. Mu Zhu and Mu Lu came to greet him when they heard his arrival, “Master!”
Nothing about the situation was strange to them as Yang Kai constantly entered the medicine garden with his Soul Avatar, so they were used to this sight. They could never have imagined that, this time around, he could not come in the flesh even if he wanted to.
Yang Kai nodded lightly, then, he continued with a solemn expression, “I ran into a little trouble. No, it’s a very big problem. As the saying goes, ‘A King nurtures his army to use when necessary’. The time has come for the two of you to help me.”
Mu Zhu and Mu Lu exchanged a glance with each other before the former retorted wryly, “Master, you have never nurtured us…”
It had always been the two of them slaving away in the medicine garden and unless Yang Kai needed their help, he basically never came to visit them. The two little Wood Spirits were no different from two hard labourers ever since they started serving under him. Not to mention, they had to help heal him every time he got hurt.
Shamelessly as always, his Soul Avatar did not even blush at those words as he raised his hand and said, “Only the two of you can help me with this.”
“Master, what do you want us to do? Don’t hesitate to ask!” His words kindled a spark of enthusiasm in the innocent Mu Lu. She clenched her fists tightly, looking as though she would devote her best efforts even if she died for the cause.
In contrast, Mu Zhu stretched out a hand, covered her forehead in exasperation, and shook her head with a sigh.
“I died!” He looked at them with a stern expression.
Mu Zhu blinked in astonishment.
On the other hand, Mu Lu’s eyes immediately reddened and she anxiously cried out, “What!? What do we do now!? Are you alright, Master!?”
Mu Zhu slapped her in the back of her head and chastised her, “Why do you believe everything he says!? Can’t you use your brain a little!?”
“But… But… Master has been killed!” Her tears flowed uncontrollably.
Mu Zhu snapped in frustration, “If he was truly dead, then how did he enter this place to talk to you!?”
Mu Lu was a little stunned, but she soon came back to her senses and cried out excitedly, “That’s right!” Turning back to look at Yang Kai, she asked, “Master, you’re joking, right?”
“I wish I were joking with you, but I’m not in the mood for that right now.” He shrugged, “I’ll say it again in all seriousness. I was beaten to death.”
Mu Zhu frowned, looking him up and down, “Are you serious?”
“It’s not a lie.”
“Then, you…”
“I have the protection of the Soul Warming Lotus, so even if my physical body is gone, my Soul survives!” He gave a wave of his hand and an image appeared beside them. It was an image of the Void Crack.
After looking at the pieces of flesh and puddles of blood scattered throughout the Void, the two little Wood Spirits turned pale as they finally realised that he was not playing a joke on them. The body of the person in front of them had really been shattered to pieces!
“Master… Does it hurt?” Mu Lu’s tears began to flow again. That terrible scene made her heart go cold with fear. What more for him, the one who actually experienced it?
“What do you want us to do?” Mu Zhu’s expression became serious. The destruction of a person’s physical body was an extremely serious matter. If it were anybody else, they would really be dead right now. It was only thanks to the protection of the Soul Warming Lotus, Yang Kai was in fairly good shape despite being in such terrible condition.
“The Flesh Incarnation Fruit!” He looked her in the eye, “I need to find somebody to help me refine the Flesh Incarnation Pill.”
Mu Zhu’s expression sank as she replied, “It takes a thousand years to flower, a thousand years to fruit, and a thousand years to ripen. Since it has not been long since the last fruit was picked, you will need to wait for at least three thousand years…”
“Is there a way to shorten the growth period?” Yang Kai frowned. Although he had already guessed that this might be the case, he still felt troubled when he actually heard the words coming out of Mu Zhu’s mouth.
“I’ll try!” After saying that, Mu Zhu turned around and flew into the depths of the medicine garden. Judging by her behaviour, she did not even want to delay matters for a single breath. She would surely do her best to shorten the growth cycle of the Flesh Incarnation Fruit.
Then, she suddenly turned back and smiled wryly, “Even if we do our best, we can only shorten the time by half at most.”
“That will still take 1,500 years…” Yang Kai couldn’t help gnashing his teeth in response. That was such a long time to wait. Although waiting for 1,500 years was nothing with his current cultivation, it had to be reiterated that he had only lived for over a hundred years but less than two hundred years so far. In comparison, 1,500 years was a little scary to imagine.
“Who did you encounter? A Demon Saint?” She was a little curious about the person who killed him.
“He is even stronger than a Demon Saint,” Yang Kai smiled bitterly. That was the Great Demon God, from whom the entire Demon Race in the Demon Realm was born. A single command from him was all it took for the Demon Saints to obey his orders regardless of their will. They even disregarded their lives and allowed him to devour them.
Mu Zhu exclaimed in surprise, “There’s somebody like that in the world!?”
Yang Kai nodded, “En. I don’t know how long he has lived, but his situation is somewhat similar to my current situation. His physical body was destroyed but his Soul remained until today. But, that guy does not have the Soul Warming Lotus. I wonder how a mere Soul could survive for tens of thousands of years. Could it be that his Soul is so powerful that it has become immortal and indestructible?”
“Tens of thousands of years…” Mu Zhu’s shock increased with those words.
The Soul was a mysterious thing. Every single living creature had a Soul, but Souls were also extremely fragile. No matter how powerful the Soul was, it would not take long for it to be extinguished once exposed to the world without the protection of a physical body. Even somebody as powerful as Tian Yan had to form a physical body first before he could leave the Divine Ascension Mirror.
It was difficult for Mu Zhu to even imagine how a person could survive without a body for tens of thousands of years with their Soul alone. Not to mention, this person was even more powerful than a Demon Saint. Just what kind of existence was he?
She was just about to ask for more details when she saw that Yang Kai’s eyes were practically shining with light. He was looking very pensive and muttering about something under his breath; thus, she listened carefully and heard what he was muttering to himself.
“Immortal and indestructible… Immortal and indestructible…” The light in his eyes was getting brighter and brighter. All of a sudden, he burst out laughing, “How did I forget about it!?”
“Master, what are you referring to?” Mu Zhu was puzzled. She did not know what was going through his head that would make him so ecstatic.
He looked at her with bright eyes and heavily emphasised his words, “Immortal and indestructible. Immortal and indestructible! Doesn’t that remind you of something!?”
Mu Zhu was starting to grasp what he meant; however, she saw his Soul Avatar floating over to the side before she could even react. He soon came to a stop in front of a small tree only as tall as a person and stared at it with a scorching gaze.
For some reason, there was not a single leaf on that small tree. It was so bare that it looked like it might die at any moment, but contrary to appearances, the small tree was overflowing with vitality. It could even be said that the vitality of all the plants in the medicine garden combined could not compare to the vitality within this small tree.
“The Immortal Tree!” Mu Zhu gave a surprised cry, instantly understanding why Yang Kai had been so excited just now. Legend claimed that a person who refined the Immortal Tree would gain an immortal and indestructible body. At that time, that person would be able to live for as long as the world.
The Wood Spirit Clan was a Race that had been dealing with all kinds of Spirit Flowers and exotic grasses since ancient times; thus, they were not unfamiliar with the legends surrounding the Immortal Tree. Nevertheless, that was just a legend and nobody knew whether it was true or false. It could even be said that both Mu Zhu and Mu Lu doubted whether there was such a thing as the Immortal Tree in the world until they came here.
“You want to refine it!?” Mu Zhu looked at Yang Kai.
“Of course.” Yang Kai nodded, “Is there any other way?”
The Flesh Incarnation Fruit was certainly one way, but he would need to wait for at least 1,500 years before it was ready. He could not afford to linger that long.
“But, didn’t you try refining it before?” She frowned.
Yang Kai grinned, “I did try once in the past, but not in this state. Who knows? I might just receive an unexpected but pleasant surprise this time!”
“In that case, be careful!”
Yang Kai did not say anything more. Seeing as he had already found a different method, then there was no reason to hesitate. The worst that could happen was that he would fail. It would still be better than sitting around and twiddling his thumbs. His Soul Avatar turned into a mass of pure Spiritual Energy that slowly wrapped around the Immortal Tree and soon, the entire Immortal Tree was enveloped in his Soul.
He had obtained the Immortal Tree from a peculiar Sealed World in the Lower Star Field, and even now, he could still remember that there was a Seven Coloured Divine Peacock guarding the tree inside that Sealed World. The Seven Coloured Divine Light that the Divine Bird unleashed had been devastating…
At the time, he felt that the Divine Peacock had been incomparably powerful, and looking back on his experience now that he was a Great Emperor, he still believed that the Divine Peacock might be unbeatable even from the perspective of a Great Emperor… That was definitely not a Divine Bird that should have existed in a Lower Star Field. It was a mystery as to why it appeared in such a place.
Yang Kai had tried many times to refine the Immortal Tree after obtaining it, but his efforts had all been to no avail. On the other hand, the leaves of the Immortal Tree had allowed him to save the lives of many people. The price of his actions was that the entire Immortal Tree had become as bare as it was today without a single leaf. It was precisely because of his repeated failed attempts and all the leaves were gone that Yang Kai no longer paid any attention to the Immortal Tree. He had also forgotten all about the legends surrounding it. If it wasn’t for the fact that his body had been destroyed, he would not have recalled this matter either.
A person’s physical body was not only just for the protection of the Soul, it was also a kind of shackle.
Immersing his mind, Yang Kai let go of the many distracting thoughts in his head. The destruction of his physical body was indeed a great loss, but it also allowed him to look at this problem from a completely new angle.
Everything in this world started without a form. Just like the moon reflected in a well and the flowers reflected on the surface of the pond, only the Heavens remain unchanging. The Heavenly Way was unchanging as it was neither living nor dead, neither pure nor defiled… The difference between life and death might be terrifying, but rebirth could only be achieved after death.
As his mind sank deep into his thoughts, Yang Kai gradually seemed to gain insight into some profound mystery.
Inside the medicine garden, Mu Zhu watched in amazement as Yang Kai wrapped his Soul around the Immortal Tree. His Spiritual Energy seeped into the small tree that was only as tall as a person at a rate that was visible to the naked eye. There was no resistance whatsoever and his entire being soon vanished from sight. It looked as though the Immortal Tree had completely devoured his Soul.
Shocked, she desperately called out, “Master! Master…”
How could she receive a response though? She could not even detect his aura with her perception anymore. At this point, she was truly panicking. He still had hope of recreating a new body for himself after his physical body was destroyed, but it would mean true death for him if even his Soul was gone. She never imagined that refining the Immortal Tree would result in this situation. If she had known earlier, she would have stopped him no matter what she had to say.
Mu Zhu’s shouts alarmed Mu Lu, who had been in the depths of the medicine garden trying to stimulate the growth of the Flesh Incarnation Fruit Tree; thus, her small figure hurriedly rushed over. After asking about the situation, she too was frozen on the spot in shock. A long while later, the two sisters looked at each other, hugged each other, and wept.
Mu Lu cried, “What are we going to do now that Master is gone!?”
Mu Zhu was also weeping but she still did her best to console Mu Lu despite the tears flowing down her face, “Don’t panic. Something probably happened to him. There’s no reason for him to disappear just like that.”
Mu Lu said, “We need to think of a way to rescue him quickly!”
“Right! We should think of a way! Think of a way!” Mu Zhu nodded repeatedly.
The two of them looked at each other, their minds churning in their small heads rapidly. After a while though, Mu Zhu finally said, “I can’t think of anything.”
Then, the two little people hugged each other and wept again…
Tired of crying. Mu Zhu gradually stopped weeping. She rubbed her red and swollen eyes, “Matriarch would know what to do if she were here.”
Mu Lu mumbled, “But, Master isn’t here. We don’t have a way to leave this place. How can we look for her?”
The Small Sealed World was a world of its own. Only Yang Kai and the Embodiment could open this world, and although the two of them had lived inside here for many years, they did not possess the ability to open the world.
“Then, we can only work hard to cultivate. When we become stronger, we can tear the World Barrier open and escape; after that, we can search for Matriarch…”
While Mu Zhu was talking, Mu Lu suddenly reached out to tug at her sharply. She looked at Mu Lu and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Big Sister Mu Zhu, look!” Mu Lu pointed in the direction of the Immortal Tree.
Mu Zhu looked in that direction and couldn’t help becoming surprised. It was because the branches of the Immortal Tree were swaying gently, as though somebody was stretching lazily. It was an amazing sight to see.
Her eyes lit up at the sight, “Master is fine!”
There was no wind in the medicine garden and the Immortal Tree had never moved before despite being here for so many years. For the branches to move now could only mean that it was related to the integration of Yang Kai’s Soul.
Under the watch of the two little Wood Spirits, the bare branches danced more and more violently. It was as though the tree was throwing a tantrum, so much so that the branches were cutting through the air with whooshing sounds.
In the next moment, a familiar voice rang out in the minds of the two little people, “What the Hell is going on!? Why did I become a tree!? What is this!?”
That voice belonged to Yang Kai!
“Master?” Mu Zhu widened her eyes and stared at the Immortal Tree in front of her with disbelief.
“That’s right! It’s me!” Yang Kai responded as the branches of the Immortal Tree continued to flail wildly, his voice sounding rather gloomy.
There was no way he could not be depressed! He had felt a shackle binding him out of nowhere after he immersed his mind into the Immortal Tree. Immediately following that, he found himself in his current situation.
It was true that he wanted to refine the Immortal Tree so that he gained an immortal and indestructible body, but even so, he never expected to succeed in this way! He had literally turned into the Immortal Tree and become immortal and indestructible, but what could this body do? Was he supposed to use his branches to flail at his enemies when he was in danger? Not to mention, the tree was so bare that it did not have a single leaf. It made him feel as if he was naked. There was no need to say just how uncomfortable that felt.
Mu Zhu couldn’t help laughing at the funny scene in front of her even though she knew that now was not the time to laugh. On the other hand, Mu Lu flew over and circled around the Immortal Tree, “Master, are you okay?”
“How can I be okay in this situation?” He replied with a stomach full of grievances.
Mu Lu shrank back slightly after being told off. As a Wood Spirit, she was naturally close to all sorts of flowers, plants, and trees. Be that as it may, even she would find it difficult to accept if she was turned into a flower or a tree. What more Yang Kai who was a living Human?
Mu Zhu comfortingly said, “Don’t panic, Master. Now that you have refined and used the Immortal Tree as your body, you might be able to take on a Human form in the future if you work hard on your cultivation. You must know about how plants and trees become Spirits, right? There are many plants and trees in this world that cultivate for many years to become Spirits and assume Human form. Besides, the Immortal Tree is a Supreme Treasure, so it might be a blessing in disguise. Who can say? When you take on a Human form one day, you might find that you not only regain your former strength but also experience tremendous growth.”
“That makes sense!” Yang Kai wanted to nod his head but could only make the branches of the Immortal Tree sway from side to side, “But, you must know that cultivation is much more difficult for plants and trees compared to those with flesh and blood. No matter how hard I try, it will take thousands of years for me to assume a Human form!”
Mu Zhu was struck speechless. Just as she was about to say something though, Yang Kai raised a branch to stop her, “No need for words of comfort. I’ll try and figure out a way to leave the tree.”
After saying that, the Immortal Tree fell silent again.
The two Wood Spirits looked on eagerly from the side and a short while later, the aura of Yang Kai’s Soul appeared above the Immortal Tree. Immediately after that, Spiritual Energy that was visible to the naked eye flew out of the Immortal Tree and turned back into Yang Kai’s appearance.
It was just that Yang Kai’s expression seemed to contain some lingering fears. More than that, he seemed to be contemplating something. The process of refining and coming out of the Immortal Tree had been unexpectedly smooth and easy, almost as though there were no obstacles at all. It was completely unlike his numerous attempts in the past that failed so miserably that he believed all the legends to be false.
The biggest difference between now and before was that he no longer had a physical body. In that case, the condition to refine the Immortal Tree seemed to be undergoing destruction in order to experience creation. Only by completely removing the shackles of the physical body could the Immortal Tree be truly refined. As such, Yang Kai failed to meet the requirements for refining the tree in the past because he had a physical body.
When that thought crossed his mind, he smiled bitterly. Leaving aside whether his theory was correct, even if somebody other than him had gotten their hands on the Immortal Tree instead, who would willingly abandon their physical body just to refine it? It was a lucky coincidence that his body had been smashed to pieces and he had no other choice but to attempt this feat. It was surprising that it turned out to be such an easy success.
[If that’s the case…] Yang Kai frowned deeply, sinking deep into contemplation. Soon though, his eyes brightened and all of a sudden, he seemed to make up his mind about something and declared, “I’m going out for a bit.”
After saying that, his Divine Sense surged and he plunged headfirst into the Immortal Tree, vanishing out of sight. A short while later, the Immortal Tree pulled up its own roots and broke free of the ground in the medicine garden. The bare branches swayed and danced, sweeping through the air and leaving the Small Sealed World in an instant.
Back in the Void, where the Soul Warming Lotus was floating, a small tree the size of a person appeared out of nowhere. It was the first time for the two Supreme Treasures to meet each other. The Soul Warming Lotus had always been contained within his Knowledge Sea, so this chance had never presented itself before.
Yang Kai reached out a branch and wrapped the Soul Warming Lotus in his embrace. The seven-coloured light enveloped the entire small tree, protecting his Soul from being affected by the erosion of the Void.
The small tree then began emitting a surging vitality as it navigated through the Void. Everywhere this vitality passed, the pieces of scattered flesh and severed limbs seemed to gather together. It didn’t take long before the pieces of flesh completely enveloped the Immortal Tree.
From an outside perspective, the Immortal Tree quickly disappeared from view. All that moved through the Void was a huge meatball. The meatball was composed of countless pieces of flesh and looked extremely weird, but the pulse of life was slowly growing inside of it.
Yang Kai was ecstatic! He never imagined that the fanciful idea he tried on a whim would actually work. As time went by, the meatball became larger and larger, gradually turning into a several-dozen-metre-diameter behemoth. A slow and heavy thumping sound came out from within the fleshy mass, beating rhythmically, and with every rise and fall of the sound, the entire meatball gently expanded and shrank in response.
Finally, all the scattered pieces of meat had been gathered in one place and the meatball was quietly suspended in the Void, the thumping sound beating loudly and strongly. The surface of the meatball bulged from time to time as though something was about to break out of it.
Inside the meatball, Yang Kai felt as though his entire body was overflowing with vitality. The density of the life aura was simply unprecedented. The Immortal Tree that was as tall as a person seemed to dissolve into pure vitality and merge together with the pieces of flesh. Then, the flesh began to squirm and the severed limbs began to reassemble themselves.
Yang Kai soon felt his head forming, then his hands, followed by his torso, and then his legs… The entire process took less than half a day in total. At this moment, he could finally perceive his existence once more. It wasn’t just the ethereal existence of his Soul, but a rebirth in the truest sense. The feeling of being born anew gave him an indescribable sense of joy.
Afterwards, he spread his arms out in front of him, his actions accompanied by a loud explosion as the enormous meatball burst open to reveal a strong, brave, and heroic figure!
Closing his eyes, Yang Kai scanned the internal condition of his body and quickly determined there were no hidden dangers. Rather, his body was in a better than peak state. Not only was his physique reformed completely, but even the wounds he suffered from the previous battle with the Great Demon God were gone. In addition, the vitality surging through his body was so dense that even he found it difficult to believe. Since he had a Dragon Source, his vitality had always been stronger than others; even so, the difference was like clouds and mud when comparing his previous self and his current self.
The Immortal Tree was nowhere to be seen, seemingly having integrated itself into every piece of his body and every drop of his blood. He felt as though even the Void itself would shatter in his grip if he so much as gently clenched his fist.
Opening his eyes, Yang Kai studied his appearance. After this resurrection, his skin was fair and clear, like that of a newborn. Even the spattering of grey hair he had recently acquired was replaced with a head of black that was as dark as night itself.
His grey hair had come from the time when he fought Wind Lord in the Flowing Time Temple. The Time Principles that had been used at the time had eaten away at him and drained a lot of his lifespan, leading to damage to his foundation. Yang Kai had failed to recover from that damage even after becoming a Great Emperor, but the damage was now gone without any treatment whatsoever. It was quite an unexpected but pleasant surprise.
The fact that his grey hair had turned black again meant that the lifespan he lost had been returned to him once more. Thinking about it again, the legend claimed that a person would become immortal and indestructible after refining the Immortal Tree. If that were the case, would a person’s lifespan still have any meaning?
Yang Kai didn’t know whether he was immortal and indestructible now, but refining the Immortal Tree had definitely increased his lifespan by a great extent; otherwise, a change like this would never have occurred.
The corners of his mouth broke into a wide grin and he laughed heartily before he shouted, “I’m alive again!”
The two small Wood Spirits were waiting nervously inside the medicine garden of the Small Sealed World, but when the voice entered their ears, an image of Yang Kai standing in the Void immediately appeared in front of them. The two of them widened their eyes in surprise, but in the next moment, Mu Zhu lifted her hands and covered Mu Lu’s eyes as she blushed furiously and exclaimed, “Clothes! Your clothes!”
Yang Kai slapped his forehead and quickly cut off the connection with the Small Sealed World before hastily taking out a set of clothing and getting dressed. After thinking about it, he added another snow-white mantle on top of his clothes. The erected collar stood tall, almost covering the back of his neck. A Dragon and a Phoenix was sewn into the back of the mantle to form a ‘Kill’ character. Wearing this mantle made him look extremely bloodthirsty.
Back when the Sixty-First Army had been founded, Shan Qing Luo and the others had asked Hou Yu to refine this mantle. The raw materials they selected were all extremely precious materials and it could be considered a fairly good artifact. In addition, it provided a certain level of protection and could work well together with his Dragon Transformation Secret Technique since it could be enlarged or minimised at will.
Their original intention was that it would resonate with the ‘Kill’ character on the banners when he led the Sixty-First Army against their enemies and thereby increase his intimidating factor. Unfortunately, Yang Kai had found it too ostentatious and never wore it. It would come in handy at a time like this though as a newcomer arriving on the scene definitely needed a decent sense of style!
His Divine Sense surged and spread around to his surroundings. He soon detected an aura that was connected to his heart and reaching out his hand into the Void, he shouted, “Spear, come!”
There was a humming sound and a stream of light sliced through the air towards Yang Kai. He grabbed that light in the palm of his hand. It was none other than the Azure Dragon Spear he lost after his body was blasted to bits.
With the spear in hand, his aura suddenly became sharp and fierce. He fixed his gaze forward as though he could look into the war-torn world through the barriers of space and time.
“Time for round two, Mo Sheng!” The moment those words left his mouth, Yang Kai took a step forward and vanished from that spot in an instant.
…..
Shan Qing Luo looked at Su Yan with red and swollen eyes inside High Heaven Palace in the Star Boundary and asked, “Big Sister, are you sure Husband is not dead?”
Likewise, Su Yan’s eyes were red and there were still traces of tears on her cheeks, but she firmly affirmed those words, “I’m certain!”
Xue Yue said, “Big Sister, please don’t lie to us. We… We…”
Su Yan lifted her hand to wipe her face as she explained, “He is now a Great Emperor. If he truly did die, then an anomaly would have occurred in the world. But, half a day has passed since then and the world has not shown any changes. So, he can’t be dead yet. Did you forget what happened when Can Ye was killed previously?”
After hearing her explanation, the other women also cheered up. Her words were the truth. A Heavenly Manifestation had indeed appeared in the world when Can Ye was killed. Everybody in the Star Boundary, regardless of their strength, had instantly known that a Great Emperor had fallen. Looking at it in this way, there was a high possibility that Yang Kai was fine after all. The world would have shown a reaction otherwise.
“But… He is in the Void Crack. What if it was because of the World Barrier…”
Su Yan shook her head and replied, “Don’t forget about Bright Moon Great Emperor!”
The other women were stunned for a moment, then the realisation struck them suddenly. Bright Moon Great Emperor lost his life in the Demon Realm, but even so, his death still caused an anomaly in the Star Boundary. If something had truly happened to Yang Kai, then there would be signs even if he was in a Void Crack. On the contrary, there had been no strange signs appearing in the world up until now. That undoubtedly indicated that Yang Kai was still alive and well. It was just that he had not been able to return for some reason.
If it were somebody else, they might have been worried; however, Yang Kai was the Void Great Emperor who became a Great Emperor through the Dao of Space. It was impossible for anything to happen to him in the Void Crack no matter how dangerous it might be. The reason he had not returned might be that he was healing from his injuries. He had brought the severed palm into the Void Crack after all, so it was a certainty that he had been hurt.
[It’s just…] Su Yan glanced at the battle in the distance with a worried look, secretly praying in her heart, [Please come back quickly. If you don’t come back soon, the Star Boundary won’t be able to hold on anymore.]
The world shook as numerous figures flew about and fresh blood rained down from the sky as the fallout from the fierce battle swept out. Even the Pseudo-Great Emperors did not dare to approach carelessly.
Li Wu Yi had tried to lend a helping hand in the battle on multiple occasions but was forced back by the terrifying shockwaves. Even the strongest Master beneath the Great Emperors like him was unable to participate in the battle, what more the other Pseudo-Great Emperors? Besides, there were many Half-Saints among the Demon Race that were still eyeing them menacingly, so they could not let their guard down.
The situation of the battle was not looking too optimistic. Great Demon God’s right hand had been severed, which indeed caused heavy damage to him, almost equivalent to pulling out his fangs. Even so, the Great Emperors had paid a huge price to achieve that feat. The auras of every one of them were weak and unstable, with the only one in relatively better condition being Wu Kuang.
The Heaven Devouring Battle Law was certainly worthy of being called the greatest Evil Art in history. The ability to devour the enemy’s strength and convert that power into the user’s own strength to keep fighting was obvious to all. If the Heaven Devouring Battle Law had not possessed such Heaven-defying power, Wu Kuang could not have fought against nine other Great Emperors all by himself during the Great Emperor War in the Shattered Star Sea. At that time, he had also killed four Great Emperors with his strength alone!
The current Great Demon God was extremely powerful, so much so that he single-handedly caused all top Masters in the Star Boundary to fall into a wretched state. However, nobody died in this battle. Aside from Void Great Emperor who had gone missing, the others were still alive and well. Just from this point alone, Wu Kuang in his heyday might not necessarily lose to Great Demon God at this moment.
The Great Emperors had managed to tide through the battle in the Shattered Star Sea, but they were having hard time overcoming this challenge. Great Demon God’s cultivation surpassed that of the Great Emperors after all, and that was a gap that could not be erased.
Countless Dragon Scales fell off the bodies of the two Dragon Clan Elders and many huge wounds all over their bodies dripped with Dragon Blood. The drops of Dragon Blood that weighed several thousand kilograms crashed into the ground to form deep pits.
The banner behind Zhan Wu Hen had become dim and dull while his vitality was also weakened to the extreme. Ice Feather’s sword had broken. Flower Shadow had a wound that penetrated her abdomen from front to back that still oozed Demon Qi. Wondrous Pill was breathing heavily, constantly coughing up blood. Heavens Revelations’ hair was dishevelled and his eyes were bloodshot. Martial Beast Great Emperor’s fists were trembling uncontrollably and all ten of his fingers were broken.
Xiao Xiao was still present, but had shrunk to under half the size of his original appearance. His aura was also much weaker than when he was at his peak. It would seem that the disintegration he experienced previously had greatly diminished his strength.
Zhang Ruo Xi, Heavens Order’s descendant, was also covered in fresh blood. Nevertheless, her eyes were blazing with the fiery flames of rage and the murderous intent she was releasing was so strong that she almost scorched the Heavens and Earth.
It was an unimaginably brutal battle, and the universe screamed in agony under its weight. The world trembled as the Star Boundary was vaguely showing signs of collapsing. Countless large Void Cracks stretched across the world and the World Principles themselves were completely in a disarray.
If the Great Emperors themselves could barely hold on anymore, how could the world last much longer? Initially, the Star Boundary was eroded by Demon Essence and lost much of its Auspicious Spirit Essence. Then, World Force was constantly being mobilised during this battle, bringing the Star Boundary to the brink of exhaustion.
Similarly, the Great Demon God seemed to be an arrow at the end of its flight. His enormous body was covered in various wounds and the more severe injuries had gouged out large chunks of his flesh to reveal the white bones inside. No matter how powerful he was, he still had to pay a price to fend off the Great Emperors’ ferocious offensive.
“In the end, it is still this King’s victory. Why did you even bother struggling so hard in the first place?” Great Demon God sneered while gasping for breath.
Nobody responded, and their lack of response made him look like a bumbling clown performing foolish antics. Understanding this, Mo Sheng coldly snorted and raised his huge palm to cover the sky, “Let’s end this. Although you have fought valiantly, the difference in our strength is not something that can be compensated for with courage alone.”
His huge palm came slamming down, blocking out the light in front of everybody’s eyes. The aura of death enveloped all of them at this moment, causing them to feel a chill running down their backs and their limbs to go cold.
In that moment of despair, Zhan Wu Hen suddenly raised his head and looked up at a certain Void Crack. Likewise, Great Demon God halted his actions and hurriedly looked behind him.
A cold light glinted from the depths of the pitch-black Void Crack, and in the next moment, a spear came flying out as a terrifying aura descended from the sky, accompanied by a burst of laughter, “I’m… back!”
Great Demon God’s pupils shrunk as he shouted, “How can you still be alive!?”
Nobody knew better than Great Demon God just how much power was contained in the explosion of his severed palm. A trivial Yang Kai could not possibly come out of that explosion unscathed. Even if the latter was proficient in the Dao of Space, there was no way he could escape the destructive force of the severed palm’s detonation. At best, he would be smashed to pieces by the impact.
And yet, the person leaping out of the Void Crack was completely unhurt. Even the injuries he previously sustained in the battle were completely healed. Moreover, his aura was stronger than before. The power behind the current attack gave Great Demon God a sense of danger, as if something very bad would happen to him if he did not stop that blow.
The wind blew wildly around Yang Kai, making his white mantle flap as he descended from the sky like a divine warrior, causing all the Great Emperors’ eyes to brighten.
Meanwhile, the Great Demon God hurriedly pulled back his hand that had been slamming down on the Great Emperors and swatted at Yang Kai instead. In the next moment, a furious howl came out of his mouth as his giant palm had been pierced through by a violent force.
Wrapped in a layer of murderous intent, Yang Kai spilled the blood of his enemy across the sky but remained spotless throughout it all. He subsequently arrived at the top of Great Demon God’s head, gripped his spear firmly, raised it up high, and chopped down fiercely.
*Hong…*
The ant-like figure’s ferocious blow made the several thousand-metre-tall Great Demon God stagger from the impact. His knees bent and he nearly knelt down on the ground. That blow from the spear stunned him slightly and his enormous body swayed as if he was drunk.
How could the others allow such a good opportunity to slip by?
A Dragon Roar rang out as the two Elders of the Dragon Clan joined forces and attacked. Meanwhile, Zhan Wu Hen and the others charged forward from all directions to unleash the last of their strength.
*Hong hong hong…*
Great Demon God’s body staggered from the impact as all those attacks and new wounds were added before his old ones could heal. Blood splashed everywhere and he subconsciously let out a roar of pain. However, he quickly regained his composure in the short span of three breaths. His body jerked slightly and a formidable burst of Demon Qi rushed outward, sending all the Great Emperors flying into the distance.
When they crashed to the ground, none of them could get up again. Flower Shadow and Ice Feather fell unconscious on impact and nobody could tell if they were even still alive. Tai Yue’s enormous body disintegrated once more and a small figure escaped from the enormous pile of rubble, plunging into the ground and disappearing out of sight.
Li Wu Yi hurried over to where the Great Emperors had crashed, rescuing them one by one.
Only Yang Kai remained.
With a flick of the Azure Dragon Spear, innumerable spear shadows shot at the Great Demon God and blood splattered everywhere. Every single spear blasted a hole in Great Demon God’s body, gouging out large pieces of his flesh.
“I’ll kill you!” Great Demon God roared, reaching for the tiny figure in front of him with his giant hand.
“Kill me? How? By talking me to death!?” Yang Kai sneered. When he saw the giant palm grabbing at him, he didn’t even bother to dodge as he shouted, “Dragon Transformation!”
There was a crackling sound, Dragon Scales covered his entire body and Dragon Horns grew out of his head. Both his hands turned into Dragon Claws and a Dragon Tail flicked behind him. A supreme Dragon Pressure descended in the next moment.
After assuming his Half-Dragon Form, Yang Kai’s aura soared. However, he was stunned for a moment because he noticed that there was something wrong with his field of vision. He seemed to stand much higher than the last time he underwent his Dragon Transformation.
His thoughts flashed and he immediately understood what had happened. He had grown taller after performing the Dragon Transformation Secret Technique. Not only that, but it was a tremendous growth spurt! His formerly 1,000-metre-tall Half-Dragon Body had increased to an incredible 2,000 metres! He had doubled his original size! Such a huge change made it difficult for him to adapt to his body quickly as he wondered if this was another benefit of refining the Immortal Tree.
The root of the Dragon Transformation Secret Technique was to develop the Dragon Source in his body. The more his Source Strength was developed, the larger his body became after taking on his Dragon Form. When Yang Kai previously gained insight into the Martial Truth back at the ancient battlefield, he had managed to improve his Dragon Source and obtained his more than 1,000 metre-tall Dragon Body through several dozen years of intense cultivation.
After the incident where his body was shattered and reformed, it turned out that refining the Immortal Tree actually stimulated the Dragon Source to a great extent. If not, how could Yang Kai now possess a 2,000-metre Dragon Form?
It only took a moment for those thoughts to run through Yang Kai’s head before he re-focused and thrust out his spear.
With a stab, the Azure Dragon Spear penetrated the body of the Great Demon God from front to back.
At the same time, Great Demon God’s palm impacted Yang Kai’s head. An overwhelming force came from that palm strike and Yang Kai felt as though his head was about to explode. His entire being was stunned by the impact. However, he quickly realised that it was not just a feeling. Half of his head was really smashed to pieces.
Great Demon God could not stop laughing, “Overconfident!”
If Yang Kai had not fought him head-on, he might have needed to spend some effort to kill the former in his current state. Unfortunately, the gap in their cultivation could not be overcome in such a direct confrontation even if Mo Sheng was an arrow at the end of its flight. He might not know how Yang Kai managed to escape death before, but there was no chance of survival now that his head had been smashed in.
“Seal!” Yang Kai was also grinning, however, his smile particularly creepy given that half his face was mashed up.
World Force moved in accordance with his will, infusing into the Azure Dragon Spear. Yang Kai clutched the spear with both hands and thrust forward fiercely, directly pinning Great Demon God to the ground.
Lifting his head, Yang Kai stared forward grimly and shouted, “Let’s see where you run now!”
With the might of the world intertwined around the Azure Dragon Spear to form a shackle, there was no way for Great Demon God to break free unless he could destroy the entire Star Boundary.
“You…” Great Demon God widened his eyes and stared at Yang Kai in disbelief. Despite all his knowledge and experience, despite travelling the universe for so many years, he had never seen a person who could still behave so energetically after having their head bashed in.
Immediately after he spoke though, his expression changed and he muttered, “This vitality…”
He could sense an unimaginable vitality coming from the wound on Yang Kai’s head. That vitality was so strong that even he couldn’t help feeling moved. When the words left his mouth, he saw the edges of the wound on Yang Kai’s head squirming slightly before the latter quickly returned to normal.
Mo sheng’s eyes widened even further at the sight.
Even the Great Emperors watching from the sidelines were incredibly surprised.
“Regrowing flesh and bone… Reviving from the dead…” Su Yan’s complexion brightened as he realized something and shouted, “The Immortal Tree!”
Only the Heavens knew how much despair she had felt when she personally saw half of Yang Kai’s head being destroyed. Now that she understood that Yang Kai had managed to refine the Immortal Tree, however, she finally felt a sense of relief washing over her.
“Immortal Tree! You actually refined the Immortal Tree!” Great Demon God finally reacted. Everything in front of him indicated that this person who had ruined all his plans had refined the legendary Supreme Treasure, drawing an extreme sense of jealousy from Mo Sheng’s heart.
[If I had the Immortal Tree back then, I would have been resurrected and reborn a long time ago! Why would I need to wait and plan for tens of thousands of years!? Why would I have to suffer such a difficult battle today!?]
“Why do you have the Immortal Tree!?” Great Demon God felt as though he was about to go mad from envy.
The only answer he received was Yang Kai’s fist swinging at him fiercely. That punch landed squarely on his temple, causing his vision to black out for an instant. His head buzzed slightly from the impact. He instinctively raised a hand, grabbed Yang Kai’s arm, and tore off a large piece of flesh.
Yang Kai ignored the attack and unleashed a storm of punches, his fists raining down on the Great Demon God. It was followed by a series of booming sounds that rang out incessantly.
Similarly, Great Demon God ignored those attacks. He stuffed the flesh he tore off from Yang Kai’s body into his mouth and chewed before swallowing. Since Yang Kai had refined the Immortal Tree, it could be said that his entire body was the Immortal Tree itself. Yang Kai’s flesh was full of the Immortal Tree’s essence, and as the surging vitality entered Mo Sheng’s abdomen, it began suppressing all the terrible injuries that were inflicted on his body.
The final battle had arrived at its climax, but nobody could have expected this outcome. The enormous body of the Great Demon God was nailed to the ground by Yang Kai using the Azure Dragon Spear that was infused with the Star Boundary’s Will. Great Demon God was completely immobilised as a result. Yang Kai’s 2,000-metre-tall Half-Dragon Form was practically riding on top of Great Demon God as he desperately launched attack after attack. On the other hand, Great Demon God flailed his hands above him to tear off Yang Kai’s flesh and stuff the meat into his mouth.
Every punch was accompanied by a muffled grunt that spread throughout the world. Great Demon God felt as though his head was about to become deformed and there were countless cuts and bruises all over his face. Yang Kai wasn’t in any better condition. His body was missing quite a few chunks of meat, exposing his Golden Dragon Bones.
Their injuries were quickly being healed by the essence of the Immortal Tree, and for a time, they were stuck in a stalemate. Neither could do anything to the other, and at this point, it was simply a matter of who could persevere the longest.
A figure flew over unsteadily from not too far away and finally came to a stop above Great Demon God’s head. It was Wu Kuang, who was chuckling under his breath with an expression of madness on his face. His hands danced swiftly, forming a set of complex seals before he suddenly slammed one palm downward and shouted, “Heaven Devouring… Battle Law!”
It did not look like he had exerted much strength into his palm strike; however, waves of pure vitality visible to the naked eye were being extracted from the Great Demon God’s body and integrated into his body. Wu Kuang’s expression was ecstatic as he looked like he was sampling the most delicious delicacies in the world, causing his laughter to become more and more insane by the moment.
“Bastard!” Great Demon God glared at the ant above his head and roared.
Wu Kuang met Great Demon God’s eyes with a mocking look and provocatively taunted, “Glare me to death if you can!”
Under normal circumstances, his actions would not have bothered Great Demon God as Wu Kuang had been devouring his strength with the Heaven Devouring Battle Law since the battle had begun. It was just that the results had not been significant before.
Be that as it may, the current situation was different. Great Demon God was stuck in a difficult situation with his body pinned down by the Azure Dragon Spear and Yang Kai’s attacks raining down on him like a storm. With Wu Kuang devouring his strength on top of that, it became somewhat overwhelming for Mo Sheng. The power in his body flowed out quickly, vanishing into thin air just like that. Even the essence of the Immortal Tree could not replenish his strength in time.
A feeling of panic bloomed in Mo Sheng’s heart and his expression changed greatly. He raised his palm to grab at Wu Kuang, but a Dragon Tail curled around him without warning at that moment. The mighty force imprisoned one of his arms, and despite struggling to break free of the restraints, Great Demon God found he could not move in the slightest. Howling furiously, he slapped Yang Kai’s chest with his other arm. Halfway through his attack, he used his hand like a knife to stab straight into Yang Kai’s chest and grab his still beating heart.
Before Great Demon God could exert any strength, however, Yang Kai grinned and grabbed Great Demon God’s large hand with both his hands, tightened his grip, and spat out a single word, “Explode!”
Space Principles fluctuated violently and erupted at the base of Great Demon God’s arm. Blood splattered everywhere as Great Demon God’s arm was completely severed by the blow, drawing a miserable howl from his lips. On the other hand, Yang Kai casually tossed the huge arm behind him and continued his barrage of punches.
Demon Qi flourished where Great Demon God’s arm was severed and his flesh squirmed as though a new arm would soon grow back. However, Wu Kuang’s Heaven Devouring Battle Law continuously devoured the blood and pure energy that gathered at the fresh wound; consequently, Mo Sheng’s injury showed no signs of healing, much less regenerating.
Amidst the loud rumbling, Great Demon God’s monstrous aura continued to fall while Yang Kai’s aura was also declining. Even though Yang Kai had refined the Immortal Tree and fully recovered from his previous battle before fighting a second round, it was still difficult for him to withstand such a brutal confrontation.
“Scram!” Great Demon God seemed to recover all of a sudden and his weakening aura suddenly erupted with great vigour. When he opened his mouth to shout, a violent force was unleashed that turned into a deadly attack that slammed into Yang Kai’s body.
Yang Kai’s 2,000-metre body was sent flying from the impact without the slightest ability to resist. The sound of bones breaking came from his body while he was suspended in mid-air. Numerous wounds exploded across his chest and golden blood gushed out of his numerous wounds.
Yang Kai crashed into the ground heavily, but immediately tried to get back up on his feet. Before he could stand up fully, however, he stumbled and half-kneeled on the ground again while gasping for breath. His vision was blurred by blood and the entire world looked as though it was shrouded in gold.
“It’s time!” Wu Kuang had been hovering above Great Demon God’s head all this time, unceasingly devouring Great Demon God’s power, when all of a sudden, he exclaimed softly and raised his arms above his head, he shouted, “Brat, don’t hesitate to rip this corpse into ten thousand pieces if the situation seems off! The consequences will be dire otherwise!”
After saying that, he plummeted headfirst from the sky and inserted his hand into one of the wounds on Great Demon God’s head. Immediately after that, Wu Kuang’s body shuddered slightly. His eyes dimmed for a moment, but they soon brightened once more and he hurriedly pulled out his hand, backed away from Great Demon God, and came to Yang Kai’s side, staring forward with a solemn expression.
These actions did no harm at all, but unexpectedly, Great Demon God, who was on his back, nailed to the ground, looked as though he had been struck by lightning after Wu Kuang’s odd move. His eyes widened in astonishment and he roared furiously, “Ignorant ant! You truly do not fear the Heavens! Get out!”
As those words left Mo Sheng’s mouth, however, his weak aura fluctuated erratically. The Demon Qi in his body also surged and fell violently as though he was going through an intense battle.
Yang Kai panted heavily as he watched. At first, he did not understand what was happening; however, he soon thought of something and turned to look to the side with a frown, “Sir Hong Chen?”
Duan Hong Chen gently nodded and replied in a solemn voice, “Prepare yourself. If the situation turns bad, you will need to cooperate with this Old Master to kill him immediately!”
Yang Kai was shocked, “Wu Kuang is trying to possess the Great Demon God!?”
Duan Hong Chen and Wu Kuang shared the same body ever since the last time the Shattered Star Sea opened. Wu Kuang seemed to dominate the body most of the time, but the person standing in front of Yang Kai at this moment was none other than Duan Hong Chen. As such, it was not hard to guess where Wu Kuang had gone.
Yang Kai couldn’t help being shocked by Wu Kuang’s audacity. That was Great Demon God! How could Wu Kuang even think about possessing such a Master?
Upon further consideration, however, Yang Kai was reminded of the saying ‘the greater the risk, the greater the reward’. Bustling World Great Emperor and Heaven Devouring Great Emperor could not remain as two Souls sharing one body forever. If he were standing in Wu Kuang’s shoes, he would not let such a rare opportunity slip him by either. Even if he had to take a huge risk, the reward if he succeeded was undoubtedly worth it.
Duan Hong Chen shook his head slowly, “He is not possessing the body. He is devouring Great Demon God!”
Yang Kai immediately understood. Possession was very different from devouring, and the latter was what Wu Kuang excelled at doing. Great Demon God was practically a dry oil lamp after fighting several consecutive battles while on the other hand, Wu Kuang had the Heaven Devouring Battle Law on his side. He might actually stand a chance at succeeding in his endeavour.
“What are the odds?” Yang Kai asked in a grim voice.
“Less than 30%!”
Yang Kai drew in a breath of cold air at those words. He couldn’t believe Wu Kuang dared to attempt this feat with less than a 30% chance of success! Did he not take his own life seriously?
Duan Hong Chen had shared one body with Wu Kuang for so many years, so nobody knew the characteristics of Wu Kuang’s Heaven Devouring Battle Law better than he did. If he claimed the chances were less than 30%, then it must be so.
“Do we need to guard against Wu Kuang?” Yang Kai asked another question.
Needless to say, they would have to face a third battle against Great Demon God if Wu Kuang failed in his attempt. They had to kill Great Demon God even at the cost of their lives. On the other hand, how they dealt with Wu Kuang if he actually succeeded was another problem altogether. Duan Hong Chen had restrained Wu Kuang in the past, so the latter could not act recklessly and cause unnecessary trouble. Once Wu Kuang escaped Duan Hong Chen’s body and obtained Great Demon God’s, however, the damage he could cause if he turned hostile would be no less than Mo Sheng himself.
The Star Boundary could not withstand any more conflict. Yang Kai was the Void Great Emperor who possessed part of the World’s Will now; hence, he knew better than anybody that this battle would cause the Star Boundary to suffer endless hardships in the future.
“No need!” Duan Hong Chen shook his head slowly, “If he succeeds, there will be nothing here he cares about. His pursuit of the Martial Dao has always been firm. It was different because he had no clue in the past how to progress; but, do you think he will remain in this place after learning that there are people stronger than him out there?”
Yang Kai pondered for a while before he nodded and agreed, “That’s true. In that case, I hope he succeeds.”
He was not afraid to fight Great Demon God again. After refining the Immortal Tree, his healing abilities had become quite terrifying. The injuries he suffered just now were mostly healed and he would recover completely with a little more time. Comparatively, how much could Great Demon God recover even if he ate a few chunks of Yang Kai’s flesh?
The second battle had ended with both sides suffering injuries, but Yang Kai was confident that he could kill Great Demon God by himself in their third confrontation! Still, he immediately began meditating and adjusting his breathing to recover his strength as much as possible. At the same time, he paid attention to the movements of the Great Demon God.
Great Demon God had been struggling and roaring continuously ever since Wu Kuang’s Soul barged into his body, it was just that the Azure Dragon Spear had pierced his chest, so he was powerless to escape even if he wanted to.
There were clearly two different auras clashing with each other inside that enormous body. They intertwined and blended with each other so that it was very difficult to distinguish between the two. An overwhelming power swept out from the body in all directions and the Qi waves propagated into the surroundings with Great Demon God at the centre.
In the meantime, several figures flew into the sky unsteadily to surround Great Demon God. They were none other than the Great Emperors who were exhausted from the previous fight. They had recovered as best as possible while Yang Kai was fighting Great Demon God alone, and it wasn’t until now that they finally regained enough strength to move once more. Even Flower Shadow and Ice Feather who had fainted previously had woken up.
Yang Kai looked up. His gaze swept over the familiar faces and he smiled knowingly. Removing his Dragon Transformation, he flew into the sky with Duan Hong Chen.
Nine figures; nine Great Emperors. They were connected to each other in spirit. The power of the entire Universe World circulated among the nine people as they quietly looked at the Great Demon God below them, ready to act at a moment’s notice!
Time had never passed so slowly before. Every moment, every breath that passed by seemed agonisingly long. Nine figures stood in the sky, waiting quietly. The two auras in the body of Great Demon God, who was pinned to the ground by the Azure Dragon Spear, clashed with each other fiercely and continuously. With time, the confrontation gradually weakened and finally subsided altogether.
No one knew how long had passed, but Great Demon God closed his eyes and lay there motionless, almost as though he was dead. Nevertheless, Yang Kai and the others could still perceive through their Divine Sense that there was a weak trace of vitality remaining in Mo Sheng’s body. Great Demon God was not dead yet, but he was certainly a lamp running out of oil. The current Great Demon God was nowhere near as imposing as he had been when he was first resurrected. His current appearance was incomparably wretched and gruesome.
All of a sudden, he opened his eyes without any warning. His appearance might be miserable, but his eyes were burning brightly. The corners of his mouth lifted as he started to laugh. His laughter started out soft but the volume increased steadily until it became riotous, filled with elation.
The Great Emperors simply watched coldly from above.
Yang Kai turned to glance at Duan Hong Chen while the latter’s expression was as tranquil as an ancient well. There was no way to determine who was currently in control of Great Demon God’s body.
“Mo Sheng?” Yang Kai called out in a cold voice.
The laughter disappeared abruptly and Great Demon God looked up, “What do you think?”
He then hissed softly and snapped in annoyance, “Hey brat, hurry up and remove this damned spear from this King’s body!”
Yang Kai glanced at Duan Hong Chen once more. He had no way of determining whether Wu Kuang had successfully devoured the Great Demon God. The only person who could accurately make a judgement here was Duan Hong Chen, who lived with Wu Kuang for many years. Likewise, the others also turned to look at Duan Hong Chen.
Duan Hong Chen shook his head, “I can’t tell!”
Yang Kai grinned, “That makes things easy. Better to kill an innocent than let an enemy go free!”
Besides, Wu Kuang was anything but innocent. He had destroyed countless Lower Star Fields when he dominated the Star Boundary in the past; killing him here would simply be revenge for all those who lost their lives back then.
‘Great Demon God’ was enraged, “Hong Chen, you Old Ghost! You have to take responsibility for the words you speak! Do you think this King won’t spill all your secrets!” Then, he turned to look at Flower Shadow Great Emperor, “Hua Ling Long! Do you remember the time you stayed at Azure Sun Temple…”
“You shut up!” Duan Hong Chen’s expression changed dramatically as he raised a hand to interrupt the rest of the sentence. To everybody’s surprise, cold sweat was oozing out of his forehead.
Flower Shadow Great Emperor frowned deeply at those words and her beautiful eyes were filled with suspicion.
“Well?” ‘Great Demon God’ raised an eyebrow and looked at Duan Hong Chen with a wicked grin.
Duan Hong Chen glared at ‘Great Demon God’ fiercely for a moment before sweeping his gaze over the others and affirming, “He’s Wu Kuang!”
“What happened to Mo Sheng?” Yang Kai asked.
Wu Kuang grinned, “This King is still alive. What do you think happened to him?”
Yang Kai was amazed. He never imagined that Wu Kuang would succeed. In this defeat, Mo Sheng not only got his resurrected body possessed by another, but he also had his Soul devoured. No matter how talented Mo Sheng was, there was no way he could cause trouble again as he could not be more dead.
As soon as Yang Kai calmed down, an indescribable wave of exhaustion swept over him. He heaved a sigh of relief and his body slowly sank downward.
Yang Kai was not the only one. All the others who remained floating in the air, including the Great Emperors, the two Elders of the Dragon Clan, and even Heavens Order’s descendant Zhang Ruo Xi, fell to the ground like dumplings being dropped into a pot of soup.
This Earth-shaking battle had not lasted for long as only a few days had passed since Great Demon God revealed himself. The Great Emperors had all gone through countless life-or-death battles after traversing the Star Boundary for so many years, so forget battles that lasted several days, they had even fought battles that spanned several months or even several years. It was just that there had never been a battle as difficult nor as exhausting as this one.
Upon confirming that Mo Sheng was dead and victory belonged to them, their tensed nerves loosened so suddenly that all their strength seemed to drain from their bodies. Fortunately, their cultivation was not just for show and they did not fall headfirst to the ground but simply sank downward unsteadily and stood weakly on their feet.
Yang Kai was in the best shape out of them all, having refined the Immortal Tree and possessing a Dragon Source, granting him restorative abilities far higher than the others. As such, he still had some strength left. His Divine Sense swept out, imprinting everything in the world in his heart.
All of a sudden, he sensed numerous gazes staring at him and noticed the anxiety everybody in the Star Boundary was feeling, so he shouted loudly, “Mo Sheng is dead! We have won!”
His voice was not loud, but it spread to every corner of the Star Boundary with the blessing of the World and entered the ears of all those who remained alive at this moment.
There was a short pause of silence, followed by a loud cheer that shook the Heavens. All those inside and outside High Heaven Palace celebrated wholeheartedly as a sense of joy from finally seeing the light of dawn permeating the air.
Grinning, Yang Kai then lay spread-eagle on the ground and looked up at the sky which remained gloomy and filled with churning Demon Qi. Gathering his strength, Yang Kai blew out a breath of air. A huge gap instantly broke through the Demon Qi that covered the whole world and dazzling sunlight shone down. The sunlight dispelled the darkness in the world, giving off a sense of warmth.
Numerous figures rushed over from within High Heaven Palace, their tender bodies leaping into his embrace, sobbing endlessly. Xia Ning Chang was crying the hardest and her eyes were as swollen as peaches. Xue Yue was also crying profusely while although Shan Qing Luo was trying to hold back, she could not stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks uncontrollably.
Zhu Qing and Su Yan were slightly better, but the light of lingering fear remained in their beautiful eyes. When Yang Kai brought the severed palm into the Void with him, the following explosion had even crossed over into the material world, nearly stopping their hearts. At that moment, Su Yan and the others had felt as though the sky had come crashing down on them. Fortunately, Yang Kai returned half a day later. Moreover, he was alive and well. Even thinking about it now still felt like a nightmare.
Yang Kai hugged them and consoled them for a while but his efforts did not seem to have much of an effect. In the end, Su Yan scolded them with a stern expression and only then did the women stop crying.
“Hey, boy! If you’re done fooling around, can you come and help this King? This King is still being pinned to the ground. This King is going to die if you don’t come soon!” An unhappy voice sounded from not too far away.
Yang Kai didn’t even bother to look in that direction, “Why are you in such a rush? It’s not like you’ll die so quickly. Let me rest for a bit!”
He was exhausted; completely exhausted. After refining the Immortal Tree, his body rapidly recovered from any injuries so his physical form was basically unharmed and fully intact; however, the energy he consumed could not be replenished so easily. If he did not rest for at least ten to fifteen days, Yang Kai would not have the strength to fight anybody again. Unfortunately, the Star Boundary was still a huge mess that needed to be cleaned up even though Mo Sheng was dead.
Things were far from over.
Yang Kai enjoyed the warmth and tenderness for a while before he asked Su Yan to lead the others away. Only then did he force himself to stand up again and slowly walk towards the enormous body of the Great Demon God. When he got closer, he took to the air and grabbed the butt of the Azure Dragon Spear. His thoughts flashed and the Azure Dragon Spear swiftly shrank, soon returning to its original three-metre length.
Wu Kuang suppressed a grunt as the spear was pulled out. Blood shot out from the wound in his chest, but nevertheless, he could finally sit up again now that the Azure Dragon Spear was gone.
Looking down at his body, he coughed.
“How is it?” Yang Kai glanced sideways at Wu Kuang.
Wu Kuang replied angrily, “I’ll live.”
“I mean, how is your new body?” Yang Kai snickered.
After quietly perceiving for a bit, Wu Kuang grinned, “It’s excellent! It’s a thousand times better than Old Ghost Hong Chen’s rotting body!”
“I guess you got a good bargain.”
With this body, Wu Kuang would immediately become an Open Heaven Realm Master as long as he could recover from his injuries. He had devoured Mo Sheng’s Soul after all, so it stood to reason that he inherited Mo Sheng’s everything.
Doing this would have certain potential dangers and it was not as good as if he had cultivated to this level by himself; however, for Wu Kuang, the pros outweighed the cons at the moment. He would have had to continue sharing a body with Duan Hong Chen otherwise, something both he and Duan Hong Chen could not tolerate.
There were two reasons why Wu Kuang had not possessed another body for so many years. One reason was that he could not find a suitable vessel. He was a Great Emperor after all, so how could he be satisfied with the body of an ordinary person? The second reason was that Duan Hong Chen did not dare to let him leave easily; therefore, this was a rare chance that even Duan Hong Chen did not object to.
While these two were conversing with each other, an unusual aura suddenly emerged from a distant land. The aura was so powerful that only a Great Emperor or a Demon Saint could compare. Besides, judging by the special characteristics of the aura, it belonged to one of the Demon Saints.
All the Great Emperors were shocked. They were all powerless to do anything at this point, so even if it was a single Demon Saint, nobody had the strength to fight back.
Yang Kai lifted his head and looked in that direction, but upon seeing the stream of light rushing over, he couldn’t help bursting into laughter. [This woman sure woke up at just the right time. She perfectly missed out on this entire fatal disaster.]
The stream of light stopped in mid-air in front of everybody to reveal Bei Li Mo’s figure. Her beautiful eyes swept over the scene below her, taking in the miserable state of the Masters below. Her gaze soon landed on Yang Kai and Wu Kuang, a look of surprise flashing across her face.
[What… is this situation?] She was stunned to see Yang Kai chatting leisurely with ‘Great Demon God’. They were less than a thousand metres apart and Yang Kai was holding the Azure Dragon Spear, but there was no hostility between them. On the other hand, Great Demon God was sitting on the ground with not the slightest shred of murderous intent either. There were no signs of the rest of the Demon Saints while in contrast, the Great Emperors of the Star Boundary were all dry oil lamps, their auras extremely weak.
[What the Hell happened during the time that I was unconscious? Could it be that the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm made peace with each other? But, how is that possible?] Bei Li Mo felt extremely dizzy, almost as if she was dreaming.
“Your luck is impressive!” Yang Kai nodded lightly at her.
His words left her feeling even more confused. Her memories had stopped at the moment when Yang Kai knocked her unconscious. At the time, she remained conscious even though she was under Great Demon God’s control and could not move her body at will. She, Yu Ru Meng, and Chang Tian had walked out of the inexplicable space, but before she could do anything, the Soul Imprint Yang Kai had planted in her Knowledge Sea had activated and instantly knocked her unconscious. Even now, the pain in her head was so intense that it felt like her head was splitting apart.
She could tell that her Soul had been damaged slightly.
Yang Kai had been extremely anxious at the time, so how could he spare the thought to control the strength of the Soul Imprint under those circumstances? He simply wanted to knock Bei Li Mo out as soon as possible. Later, Great Demon God became overwhelmed and fused with all the other Demon Saints as a last resort. Bei Li Mo missed out on the call due to her being in a comatose state; otherwise, she would have faced the same fate as Xue Li and the others, becoming part of the Great Demon God’s power. If that had happened, she would no longer have existed at this moment.