When the Two Worlds’ Passage opened for the second time, ten Demon Saints of the Demon Race had crossed over into this world and scattered while the Great Emperors had pursued.
A few days later, a sudden change occurred. Tens of millions of the Demon Race had lost their sanity, fallen into confusion, and slaughtered each other. The entire invading army had been wiped out. At the same time, the Great Emperors vanished.
On the same day, signs of connection between the two Great Worlds had appeared in different locations across the four territories of the Star Boundary. The Star Boundary had been invaded by the Demon Realm, the World Barrier shattered, and a large portion of the environment had been turned into a Demon Land. Numerous Demon Race armies had crossed into the world from the various Demon Lands and gradually spread out to engulf the Star Boundary with the location of each Demon Land as their foundation.
The Star Boundary was in chaos!
Just during the time that Yang Kai spent sealing the Two Worlds’ Passage alone, the information received by each Army Commander from various sources indicated that more than thirty Demon Lands had been formed in various locations throughout the four Territories. More importantly, that was only what they had managed to detect within a short period of time. The real number was most likely much higher than that.
All of this was explained in the jade slip that the Lotus Sisters had handed to Yang Kai. The situation was extremely urgent, so Li Wu Yi and the various Army Commanders could not wait any longer. Leaving a jade slip behind to explain the entire situation, they had all departed. Li Wu Yi had also taken almost all of the Demon Race Half-Saints away with him, leaving only the Lotus Sisters who Yang Kai was familiar with to pass on this message.
Yang Kai had just finished reading the contents of the jade slip and had yet to digest this staggering information when the Space Beacon on his wrist suddenly flashed with light and another jade slip appeared out of thin air. The jade slip contained Bian Yu Qing’s aura, so it was clearly news sent from High Heaven Palace.
Several months ago, the Sixty-First Army had marched towards the Western Territory. Every cultivator in High Heaven Palace with even the slightest bit of strength worth considering had been taken away by Yang Kai, but somebody had to stay back to watch over and manage the Sect. Bian Yu Qing was the person he had chosen to stay behind this time. For Bian Yu Qing to send news at this time would undoubtedly mean that something had happened in High Heaven Palace.
Yang Kai stretched out his hand and grabbed the jade slip. Checking its content with his Divine Sense, his complexion turned deathly pale in the next moment as he roared, “They court death!”
He crushed the jade slip in his hand. With a flicker of his figure, he tried to return to the Sixty-First Army’s base camp when his vision unexpectedly went dark and he was struck by a wave of dizziness, nearly causing him to crash to the ground as a result.
Sealing the Two Worlds’ Passage just now had consumed a tremendous amount of his energy, so at this moment, the Demon Qi in his body was experiencing a chaotic flow. Fortunately, Bai Lian reacted quickly and caught him before he fell.
Yang Kai glanced at the sisters and quickly ordered, “Take me back to the camp!”
The Lotus Sisters nodded and pushed their Demon Qi in unison, transforming into a stream of black light that headed towards the Sixty-First Army’s base camp. On the other hand, Yang Kai hurriedly swallowed several Spirit Pills and concentrated on refining the medicinal efficacies in hopes of recovering his strength as quickly as possible.
An incense stick later, the Lotus Sisters appeared in front of the Sixty-First Army’s base camp with Yang Kai held between them. The Division Commanders immediately surrounded Yang Kai with Yao Si quickly asking, “Sir, what happened? Why have all the other armies withdrawn?”
At this moment, the other fifty-four armies of the Star Boundary were gone. Only the Sixty-First Army remained stationed in this place, waiting for orders; therefore, this group of people had no idea about what was going on at all.
Yang Kai raised his hand and tossed the jade slip Li Wu Yi had left behind to Yao Si, “See for yourself then inform the others. Also, pass on my orders, all troops are to assemble immediately. We are returning to the Northern Territory!”
Yang Xiao accepted the order and immediately relayed it to the rest of the army. In response, the entire army that had been at rest hurriedly got into their military formations.
A short while later, Yao Si handed the jade slip to Xie Wu Wei with a solemn expression before turning to Yang Kai with an incredulous expression, “Sir, is this for real?”
“How could it possibly be fake? In addition, Second Manager Bian has sent word that a Demon Land has appeared just three thousand kilometres away from High Heaven Palace. A large number of the Demons are currently attacking High Heaven Palace!”
Upon hearing those words, everybody became anxious.
Yang Kai lifted his hand, summoned the Sealed World Bead, and had it assume its Gun-Gun form. Gun-Gun subsequently took the entire Sixty-First Army into its belly with a ferocious bite. Having experienced this once before, no one panicked, much. Nobody resisted, even though Yang Kai had not said anything.
Finished, Yang Kai turned to look at Yao Si, pondered for a moment before he decided to say, “The Great Emperors are missing.”
This matter could not remain concealed for long, people would find out about it sooner or later, so since it was something that could not be hidden, Yang Kai decided to reveal the truth upfront. There might be no need for the others to know, but Yao Si was the son of a Great Emperor, so it was only right for him to learn of this.
Yao Si, however, just stared at Yang Kai with a blank expression, it was clear that he did not understand the meaning behind the latter’s words.
Yang Kai sighed, “Not too long ago, the auras of all the Great Emperors vanished. Supreme Commander Li and I have both tried, but we couldn’t connect to the Space Beacons the Great Emperors hold on to. They are no longer in this world.”
Yao Si turned deathly pale, unable to believe what he was hearing.
Yang Kai grabbed Yao Si’s shoulder and continued, “The Great Emperors are the strongest among us and exceptionally experienced, they won’t face any life-threatening dangers. It might just be that something has happened to them that makes it impossible for us to contact them.”
Yao Si nodded woodenly at those words.
The Sixty-First Army had been more than three hundred thousand men strong when they first set off on this campaign, but there were now fifty thousand fewer of them. Those fifty thousand people had been killed in battle and dyed the Western Territory with their blood. Even so, this rate of loss was still within an acceptable range compared to the relative losses experienced by the Demon Race and the other armies.
Yang Kai put the Sealed World Bead away once the entire Sixty-First Army had successfully been taken into the Small Sealed World. Taking a step forward, he vanished from that spot, and when he reappeared again, he had already arrived in his bedroom on High Heaven Peak. He had left a Space Beacon inside his room a long time ago, so it was only natural that he could return so quickly.
He felt an earthquake rumbling through the ground as soon as he reappeared and explosions rang out unceasingly without a single pause. Yang Kai flitted out of the door only to see High Heaven Palace in chaos, with streams of light scrambling about between the mountain peaks like headless flies.
He looked around and saw that High Heaven Palace’s Sect Defending Array had been activated. The Spirit Peaks were enveloped in a layer of World Energy, flashing with a white light. The Grand Array extracted power from the Earth Veins below and the Spirit Peak above to produce a light curtain that blocked enemy attacks.
Upon seeing this situation, Yang Kai couldn’t help breathing a small sigh of relief. He had been scared that he might return only to be greeted by the sight of a breached Grand Array. If that had been the case, countless people in High Heaven Palace would have died as a result.
The Main Sect and Branch Sects of High Heaven Palace had more than a hundred thousand disciples; furthermore, those with even the slightest bit of cultivation worth considering had been forced into the Sixty-First Army. The disciples remaining in High Heaven Palace’s Main Sect after the Sixty-First Army was deployed had been pitifully weak aside from Bian Yu Qing, who had some measure of strength in comparison; therefore, they would not have had the strength to fight back if the Sect Defending Array had been breached and the Demon Race had invaded.
Fortunately, the Sect Defending Array of High Heaven Palace had been personally arranged by Nanmen Da Jun and Yang Kai had spared no expense in preparing all the necessary manpower and materials requested during its construction. That was why the Array was practically impenetrable.
The Demon Race army had attacked aggressively but failed to breach the defences of the Spirit Array in short order. Although the Sect Defending Array had not been breached though, it looked like it was about to fall apart at any moment. There were fine cracks spreading out across the curtain of light and it would probably be completely broken in less than a quarter-hour. Spurred on by this situation, the attacks of the Demon Race army became even fiercer than before.
Bian Yu Qing held the Palace Master Command Token in her hand, mobilizing the World Energy of all the Spirit Peaks in High Heaven Palace to supply a steady stream of power to the Grand Array. She was doing her best to buy as much time as possible, but her cultivation wasn’t high enough. Activating the Palace Master Command Token without holding back like that had left her drenched in sweat. Her complexion was as pale as a sheet, and her figure swayed in mid-air as though she might lose consciousness at any moment.
Taking in the situation in an instant, Yang Kai hurriedly flew towards her. Along the way, a person knocked into him from the side. He grabbed the person by the neck and held the person up. Glancing at the person coldly, he noticed that this person was very unfamiliar to him. This person’s cultivation could not be considered powerful as he was only in the Third-Order Dao Source Realm.
Yang Kai had taken all the disciples in High Heaven Palace in the Origin King Realm and above with him, so how could there be any cultivators in the Dao Source Realm here? However, High Heaven Palace was the main logistics base of the Star Boundary, so many Alchemists and Artifact Refiners were stationed here as a result. This person was clearly an outsider, and there was a faint pill fragrance coming from his body, so he was probably a visiting Alchemist.
“Why are you panicking!?” Yang Kai shouted.
That person turned pale. He was so shocked that he didn’t even resist when he was caught. It was clear that he had been scared out of his wits. He instinctively answered upon hearing Yang Kai’s question, “I have to run! High Heaven Palace won’t hold out for much longer! It will be too late if I don’t run now!”
“Bullshit!” Yang Kai was livid, “Not only do you not think of killing the enemy in front of you, but you also create panic and spread chaos amongst our people! You should thank the Heavens you aren’t part of the Sixty-First Army; otherwise, I would have killed you myself!”
When the Alchemist heard those words, he raised his head and looked at Yang Kai, only then did he recognize who was before him and stutter, “Yang… Palace Master Yang!”
“Scram!” Yang Kai tossed the Alchemist aside without much care. He couldn’t be bothered to waste time on this person. Taking a step forward, he arrived next to Bian Yu Qing.
Bian Yu Qing had been struggling to hold on, so she couldn’t help jumping in fright when she detected somebody approaching her. Turning to look in that direction though, she became overjoyed, “Palace Master!”
Yang Kai nodded, “Leave this to me!”
While speaking, he gave a wave of his hand and Hua Qing Si appeared in front of him. He instructed, “Hear my orders, hold the line for a little longer.”
Hua Qing Si nodded at those words, taking over the Palace Master Command Token from Bian Yu Qing and continuing to maintain the Spirit Array.
On the other hand, Bian Yu Qing had long since been an arrow at the end of its flight. The reason she had persisted for so long was through pure force of will. Now that Yang Kai had appeared and Hua Qing Si had taken over the Command Token, she relaxed and immediately passed out, her body falling limply out of the sky.
Yang Kai reached out a hand, placed her into the Small Sealed World’s medicine garden, and asked the two Wood Spirits to take care of her. She was only experiencing great exhaustion so her life was in no danger and she simply needed to recuperate for a while to recover. As such, he was not too worried about her.
Somebody flew in this direction from below at that moment. When that person came closer, it was revealed to be Ji Ying. He looked at Yang Kai with a panicked expression as he shouted, “Brother Yang, w-what is going on!? Where did these Demons come from!? Also, why can’t I contact my Honoured Master!?”
He had sensed that something was wrong after the sudden appearance of the Demon Race and the unexpected attack on High Heaven Palace; hence, he immediately sent a message to Wondrous Pill Great Emperor in order to ask about the current situation. Who could have imagined that he would be unable to contact the Great Emperor? Ji Ying couldn’t even send out the jade slip containing his message. This was something that had never happened before.
Yang Kai replied, “The situation is rather complicated. I will explain the details to you after I resolve the immediate danger we are facing, Brother Ji.”
Lifting his hand again, he summoned three figures from the Small Sealed World. They were Qiong Qi, Yang Xiao, and Yang Xue, “Old Qiong, escort Xiao’er to Dragon Island. Tell the two Elders about the current state of affairs and request that Great Elder and Second Elder leave the island to take charge of the overall situation!”
That was Li Wu Yi’s plan as mentioned in the jade slip. He knew about the close relationship between Yang Kai and Dragon Island; therefore, he was certain Dragon Island could not turn a blind eye if Yang Kai was the one who came forward with the request.
All the Great Emperors were currently missing and nobody knew what had happened to the Demon Saints. If the Demon Saints were still in the Star Boundary, then the only people in this world who could stand up to them were the two strongest Elders of Dragon Island. Unfortunately, the Dragon Clan abided by their ancestral rules and rarely left the island without reason. That might not be the case for a normal member of the Dragon Clan, but the Great Elder and Second Elder had not left the island for tens of thousands of years. Naturally, that was if one discounted the last time Second Elder Fu Zhun left the island because she had been worried about Yang Xiao.
Li Wu Yi had no idea whether they could get the two Elders to leave the island. Even so, he could only leave this matter to Yang Kai.
Yang Xiao was obviously aware of the urgency of the matter, so he immediately saluted, “Yes! This child will definitely live up to your trust, Adoptive Father!”
“Go!” Yang Kai waved Yang Xiao away.
“Be careful, Big Brother! Take care of our parents!” Yang Xue warned. Now that the Demon Race had attacked, the only thing she couldn’t help but worry about were her parents’ safety.
Yang Kai smiled and rubbed her head, “Don’t worry. As long as your Big Brother is around, nobody can harm a single hair on our parents’ head.”
She nodded at his words. Only then did she set off with Yang Xiao and Qiong Qi. They were heading towards the hall where the Cross-Territory Space Array was located. Dragon Island was also a Sealed World in itself, so Space Beacons could not connect from the Star Boundary; hence, they could only use the Cross-Territory Space Array to arrive just outside Dragon Island before heading into the island.
After watching the three people leave, Yang Kai finally turned around to look in a certain direction.
In that direction stood Nanmen Da Jun, who was busy leading a group of disciples as they made urgent repairs to the Spirit Array. He was the one who arranged the entire Sect Defending Array of High Heaven Palace, so nobody knew the various secrets of it better than him. Under normal circumstances, he could have completed repairs on the Grand Array by himself without much effort, but although he was not slow when it came to making repairs, his speed was unfortunately not enough to make ends meet with the Demon Race army constantly attacking.
He was currently scolding several disciples that were slightly slower than the others in his anxiety. While he was in the middle of his scolding, he suddenly felt a pat on his shoulder. He was furious, “Who the Hell… P-Palace Master? Palace Master, you’re back!?”
His furious expression turned into one of pleasant surprise. At the same time, he felt the anxiety in his heart receding. Now that Yang Kai was back, the immediate crisis would soon be resolved. After following Yang Kai for so many years, Nanmen Da Jun had inexplicable confidence in his Palace Master.
Yang Kai gazed through the light curtain formed by the Grand Array. Staring forward, his gaze pierced through the void. There was an extremely powerful aura on the other side. It was like a bright light in the darkness of the night, which made it stand out among the many other members of the Demon Race. It was a Half-Saint!
It turned out that there was a Half-Saint leading the Demon Race army that attacked High Heaven Palace.
The Half-Saint sensed somebody spying on him and a powerful Divine Sense subsequently poured out and transformed into a vicious attack that pierced the depths of Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea like waves crashing against the shore.
Yang Kai coldly snorted in response and his Divine Sense surged as the black flames in his Knowledge Sea swirled and turned into a gigantic vortex. At the same time, he opened his defences and took the initiative to welcome the Half-Saint’s Divine Sense that was attacking him.
An invisible and intangible power fell into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, but before it had time to do any damage, it was completely devoured by the vortex.
Several tens of kilometres away, a burly Demon Race Half-Saint riding a tall Demon Beast grunted in response. His body swayed unsteadily on top of his mount, and a look of horror swept over his face.
When he perceived a fairly powerful aura appearing out of nowhere, he wanted to use the other party as an example to demonstrate his strength; therefore, he launched a Soul attack without hesitation. Who could have expected that his Divine Sense would be cut off without warning? Even his mind had been shaken greatly by the encounter as a result.
A look of incredulity appeared on his face. He had clearly sensed that the opponent was no stronger than a High-Rank Demon King, but unexpectedly, this person’s Soul turned out to be much stronger than his own. Something that went against common sense like this left him feeling utterly confused.
Before he could figure out the situation, he felt his vision going blurry for a moment. Then, a figure suddenly stood in front of him. That person stood on the head of his mount, less than a metre away from him, and watched him quietly.
Looking at that face, the Half-Saint couldn’t help thinking that that person looked rather familiar. [He looks like that Yang Kai who caused a huge fuss in the Demon Realm before. But why does he have grey hair now?]
Caught up in his thoughts, the Half-Saint missed Yang Kai forming several hands seals before pushing his palms out towards him. When the palms came at him, the Half-Saint felt as though everything around him became slow. Even his thoughts seemed to have become sluggish. The only thing in the world that moved was that palm in front of him that was rapidly becoming larger and larger.
Time Flows on Infinitely, Like a Mighty Stream, Like an Unending Dream!
Yang Kai had only managed to scratch the surface of the Dao of Time, but that did not hinder the power of the Time Flies Seal.
Just as the palm print was about to strike the Half-Saint, he suddenly let out a deafening roar. He roared so loudly that his face flushed beet-red. Forcefully freeing himself from the influence of the Time Flies Seal, his large hand reached out to grab something in the void. A spear appeared in the palm of his hand and with a flick, the spear stabbed toward Yang Kai like a Flood Dragon heading out to sea.
A burst of Demon Qi followed as a loud explosion sounded. Yang Kai grunted and at the same time, his body was sent flying backwards like a paper kite.
He was the one to suffer a loss in the head-to-head confrontation even though he had the advantage of taking the initiative. There was a large gap between their cultivations after all. Even so, Yang Kai had fought against a Half-Saint with the cultivation of a High-Rank Demon King before, so nobody could have done better than him in this situation.
Staggering backward, pale-faced, Yang Kai found himself in quite a predicament.
On the other hand, the Demon Race Half-Saint refused to let up after succeeding once. Straightening his body, he flew off his mount and struck out viciously with his spear. His imposing attacking aura enveloped Yang Kai so much that even the world was sealed off as he grinned savagely and shouted, “Die!”
He didn’t care whether the person in front of him was Yang Kai, who had caused a huge fuss in the Demon Realm or not. As long as he killed this person and brought the corpse back for his clansmen to identify, everything would eventually be resolved.
As soon as the words left his mouth though, the Half-Saint felt a throbbing in his heart as though something bad was about to happen. At his cultivation, he would get a vague but mysterious feeling whenever he was faced with an imminent crisis. He himself might not be aware of what the crisis he was about to face was, but he would become aware of it just before it struck him. Thus, he could act to avoid the disaster.
The last time he experienced this feeling, he had only been a High-Rank Demon King. At the time, he had faced a strong enemy and nearly lost his life to his opponent. After so many years, this feeling struck his heart again. He reacted rather decisively and immediately drew back his spear the moment the throbbing began, just in time to see a sinister smile curling the corners of Yang Kai’s lips.
*Shua shua shua…*
When Yang Kai waved his hand, several figures appeared out of thin air, each figure exuding the aura of a Half-Saint.
That Demon Race Half-Saint had just landed on his mount again. Turning his head to the side, he saw that he had been surrounded by several people. He swept his gaze over those faces, his expression changing as he did so, “Bai Zhuo, Bai Ya…”
Aside from these two Half-Saints, there was also a pair of twins. If his guess was correct, they were the twin Sisters of Hundred Spirits Continent, Hei Lian and Bai Lian! Each of these figures was not inferior to him in terms of strength; thus, his expression turned grim in an instant. A faint sheen of sweat oozed out of his forehead as he finally recalled a rumour, the brat known as Yang Kai was not only proficient in the Dao of Space but also had a storage artifact that could store living beings in his possession!
After seeing these four Demon Race Half-Saints mysteriously appearing around him, how could the Half-Saint remain oblivious to the fact that the person he had sent flying with his spear just now was Yang Kai? Moreover, these four had most likely come out of Yang Kai’s storage artifact, so he lamented in his heart. [I‘d have nothing to fear if it was only one Half-Saint, but four… Two fists can’t block four punches! Could my luck be so bad that I accidentally barged into Yang Kai’s territory right after I arrived here from the Demon Realm? Why else would that damn plague be here?]
“I’ll leave him to you!” Yang Kai released the four Half-Saints, borrowed their strength, and flew away, landing directly in the middle of the Demon Race army.
From the moment he stepped out of High Heaven Palace to the moment he attacked the Half-Saint, everything had taken place in the briefest of moments. It was so fast that most of the Demon Race army had yet to react to his presence. Besides, there were several hundreds of thousands in the Demon Race army. They covered the mountains and the plains, practically surrounding most of High Heaven Palace. It was on such a large scale that the commotion had not spread far even though it was a confrontation between Half-Saints. Therefore, only some of the nearby Demon Race members had noticed the anomaly when Yang Kai landed amongst them. The ones located further away were unable to see anything at all and continued to launch attacks at the Sect Defending Array of High Heaven Palace.
When Yang Kai landed on the ground, the surrounding Demon Race army was taken aback for a moment; then, they immediately attacked him without hesitation. He was surrounded by many people in an instant. A furious roar rang out in response and an earth-shakingly violent burst of power erupted outwards. The Demon Race army surrounding Yang Kai suffered a crushing blow that left them in a miserable state. Many of them were thrown into the sky, exploding into a blood mist that rained down on the others below them. In the blink of an eye, there was no one left within three hundred metres of his vicinity.
He lifted his hand and Zhui Feng appeared with a series of neighs. Mounting Zhui Feng, Yang Kai lifted his hand again to summon the Embodiment.
The moment the Embodiment appeared, he sped out to a place several kilometres away and transformed into a giant in mid-air before landing among the Demon Race with a crash. There was another loud explosion. An earthquake spread out, causing the loose rock in the surrounding mountains to come tumbling down. Reaching out his hand, the Demonic War Hammer appeared in his grip and he swung it horizontally. Nobody could get to within a thousand meters of the Embodiment. Just the powerful Demon Qi vibrations he released were enough to kill any Demon with no chance for them to resist.
When the Embodiment began his slaughter, a large number of people appeared around Yang Kai. The space was not that vast, so the Sixty-First Army could not be brought out all at once. Yang Kai could only take out the ten Divisions worth of people from the Small Sealed World in batches.
There was no need to say anything. When he left High Heaven Palace, Yang Kai had communicated with the Small Sealed World with his mind to inform the Division Commanders and the army of more than two hundred thousand about the current situation. For that reason, the Sixty-First Army was already fully-equipped and prepared for battle as they appeared. Under the leadership of the Division Commanders and Vice Division Commanders, the army began cutting down the enemy with great vigour while making their way toward a certain direction.
An army of two hundred and seventy thousand spread out in ten separate directions, ploughing through the battlefield outside High Heaven Palace and leaving ten empty spaces in their wake. Everywhere they passed, the opposing Demon Race army was killed on the spot.
There were many among the Demon Race army too, more than the Sixty-First Army in fact; however, none of them could have imagined that their enemies would launch an attack from the middle of their ranks and they were caught off guard as a result. On the other hand, the Sixty-First Army was well prepared in advance, so it was only natural that it turned into a one-sided battle under these circumstances. Especially since Emperor Realm Masters and above were everywhere to be found in the Sixty-First Army.
The pressure on High Heaven Palace’s Sect Defending Array dropped sharply as the Demons attacking it had stopped their actions after hearing strange noises coming from behind them. When they turned to look behind them, their expressions turned blank in shock.
Both Hua Qing Si, who was preceding over the Grand Array, and Nanmen Da Jun, who was repairing the Grand Array, couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when they noticed the changes.
Just days after the Great Emperors disappeared and the two Great Worlds were connected, hundreds of thousands of Demons and Humans fought a desperate battle outside High Heaven Palace. This battle left rivers of blood and mountains of corpses behind. It was a tragic scene comparable to the Western Territory battlefield.
In this battle, the Sixty-First Army killed countless enemies while the Demon Race army of hundreds of thousands lost nearly half of their numbers. Even an enemy Half-Saint was killed in battle. It was not an overstatement to say that it was extremely devastating for the Demon Realm’s side.
The Demon Half-Saint leading the Demon Race army to besiege High Heaven Palace was not weak. He was a Stone Demon with inherently powerful defensive abilities, but even so, Bai Zhuo, Bai Ya, and the Lotus Sisters were working together against him, so how could he fare well when he had to face all four of them on his own?
By the time the Sixty-First Army rushed in from all sides and laid waste to the enemy, the Stone Demon Half-Saint had already been killed on the spot by Bai Zhuo and the others. A Stone Demon’s defensive abilities were truly outstanding, but even if he had a powerful defence and equally strong offence, it was a given that a one-against-four battle would end in tragedy.
Unfortunately, Bai Ya had been injured quite severely in the process. The Stone Demon Half-Saint had desperately retaliated with everything he had when he saw that he had no hope of surviving this battle. Even the four Half-Saints working together could not come out of the battle unscathed.
The moment the Stone Demon Half-Saint died, the Demon Race army that was already at an absolute disadvantage fell into even greater panic. Despite having the courage to take on thousands of enemies, nobody was willing to voluntarily seek death when they could survive instead; hence, they immediately scattered and fled in all directions.
The Sixty-First Army pursued the enemy force for thousands of kilometres before withdrawing.
When Yang Kai next saw Bai Ya again, the latter was sitting cross-legged on the ground with a pale complexion and a bloody gaping hole in his abdomen that almost penetrated right through his body.
“How are you?” Yang Kai asked.
Bai Ya opened his eyes and shook his head weakly, “I won’t die from this, but I will need to recuperate for a year or so to fully recover.”
Yang Kai said, “The most prominent Alchemists in the entire Star Boundary are currently gathered in High Heaven Palace, so we have the best Spirit Pills available. Why don’t you rest and recuperate here? You can also take care of High Heaven Palace for me while you are at it…”
Bai Ya had no objections to this arrangement, so Yang Kai had Hua Qing Si lead him into the palace and settle him down somewhere.
“Sir, look at the surroundings…” Yao Si stepped forward and murmured solemnly.
There was no need for Yao Si to mention it, Yang Kai had already noticed the anomaly in their immediate vicinity. This battle had caused the deaths of many Demons, and it could be said that the mountains and plains outside High Heaven Palace were littered with corpses.
In the past, nothing special had occurred when a Demon died in the Star Boundary; however, Demon Qi was escaping from these Demon Race corpses at this moment. It would have been nothing if it had been limited to only one or two corpses, but it would turn into a terrifying situation if all the Demon corpses were showing similar signs. What’s more, the sinister Demon Qi that was released by the two or three hundred thousand fallen Demons seemed to be drifting in a certain direction under the influence of some invisible force.
Demon Qi was surging violently outside High Heaven Palace, shrouding the entire area in darkness. Even though it was in the middle of the day, it made a person feel like they were standing in the dark of night.
Yang Kai looked in the direction the Demon Qi was travelling and saw an enormous black spot in the sky. It was as though somebody had splashed a large blot of ink on the once blue sky. Moreover, the entire area under the black spot had become a piece of Demon Land!
The black spot was located some distance away from High Heaven Palace, at least a few thousand kilometres. Nevertheless, it was so large that it was already a plate-sized patch in Yang Kai’s vision. One could only imagine how large it would be if they were standing in the middle of it.
Yang Kai frowned. A Demon Land had appeared several thousand kilometres away from High Heaven Palace. The situation was identical to the situation near the battlefield of the Western Territory. Furthermore, he did not know how many other areas in the entire Star Boundary had been eroded and turned into Demon Lands.
After going all out just now, the Sixty-First Army was resting and recuperating. They would not be able to fight again in short order.
Yang Kai pondered in silence for a moment, but just as he was about to go and check out the situation in the newly appeared Demon Land, he saw Hua Qing Si running towards him in a hurry, “Palace Master, the Branch Sect has been attacked! In addition, Temple Master Wen of Azure Sun Temple has asked for support! There is a Demon Race army attacking Azure Sun Temple! There is a Half-Saint among them, and nobody at Azure Sun Temple can hold that person back!”
Yang Kai’s expression turned icy at those words. The Star Boundary had just achieved a great victory in the battle at the Western Territory and he thought that it would be the battle that determined the victor once and for all. Who could have known that the chaotic situation had only just begun? At present, the entire Star Boundary was like a house with a broken roof that leaked badly from everywhere. It gave off a precarious vibe that was threatening to fall apart at any moment. If High Heaven Palace and Azure Sun Temple were having so much trouble, it was easy to imagine how the other Sects were faring in comparison.
The Sixty-First Army could not be deployed again, so mulling over the situation for a moment, Yang Kai ordered, “Those in the Emperor Realm and above who can still fight, follow me to the Branch Sect.”
Then, he turned to look at the Lotus Sisters, “Please head to Azure Sun Temple to help. I will head there shortly.”
The Lotus Sisters did not object to his orders. Now that Chang Tian was not here, they had no choice but to obey him.
Yang Kai still had the Space Beacon to contact Gao Xue Ting in his possession; therefore, he immediately drew upon the power of the Space Beacon and sent the Lotus Sisters to Gao Xue Ting’s side. After that, he placed all the Emperor Realm Masters that had gathered around into the Sealed World Bead and arrived at the Space Array with a flicker. Stepping onto the Spirit Array, Yang Kai instantly arrived at the Branch Sect in the Southern Territory.
High Heaven Palace had more than a hundred thousand disciples, too many for the Main Sect to accommodate despite the large area it occupied. Therefore, half of the disciples had been placed in the Branch Sect in the Southern Territory. It was just that the situation at the Branch Sect was similar to the Main Sect. There were no Masters standing guard, so they only relied on the Sect Defending Array to fend off foreign enemies.
When Yang Kai arrived at the Branch Sect, rumbling sounds were constantly coming from the Sect Defending Array. Even so, it still looked solid and showed no signs of damage. The main reason was that Yang Kai had arrived soon after the Demon Race army started attacking. Otherwise, the Grand Array of the Branch Sect would not have lasted for long without support.
The disciples of the Branch Sect were still in a positive state of mind and had not fallen into panic. Moreover, those with some measure of ability were getting ready for battle under the instructions of their Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters. Everyone was preparing to face the enemy should the Sect Defending Array be forcefully broken; hence, they were oblivious to the fact that Yang Kai had appeared at the Space Array.
Time was short, so Yang Kai didn’t spare any time to talk to the Branch Sect’s disciples. He quickly flew out of the Branch Sect’s shield and stood in the middle of the Demon Race army, his Divine Sense sweeping outward and giving him an almost complete grasp of the situation. Their numbers were not overwhelming, but not few either. There were around a hundred thousand Demons here but no Half-Saint leading them. The ones with the highest cultivation were High-Rank Demon Kings.
Zhui Feng appeared with a loud neigh. Yang Kai mounted the beast and gave a wave of his hand. Then, hundreds of Emperor Realm Masters along with several Half-Saints appeared next to him. Holding the Myriads Sword in the palm of his hand, he pointed forward and roared, “Kill!”
A group of Emperor Realm Masters wore savage smiles as they scattered in all directions, forming groups of three to five to cover each other’s blind spots. Organized, they rushed into the midst of the Demon Race army. Like wolves running wild in a sheep’s pen, the Demons were unable to fight back wherever these Masters passed. Some Demon Kings managed to persist for a short while, but they ultimately could not escape their fate of being slaughtered.
Although Yang Kai hadn’t brought many people with him, each one he did was an Emperor. Furthermore, his side included three Demon Race Half-Saints, Bai Zhuo, the Embodiment, and Zhui Feng, as well as three Dragon Clan members, Zhu Qing, Zhu Lie, and Fu Ling. How could the Demon Race army withstand such a powerful lineup?
Zhui Feng galloped through the army, and regardless of whether it was a Demon Great General or a Demon King in front of him, they all exploded into blood mist. There was no exception whatsoever. Riding on Zhui Feng, Yang Kai swung with his Myriads Sword wantonly, sending out waves of Sword Qi, beheading Demons and slicing off their limbs.
It wasn’t until the Demon Race army was fleeing in all directions that the Branch Sect’s disciples hiding inside the Sect Defending Array reacted and realized that reinforcements had arrived. Looking out into the distance, they recognized the figure riding on the strange beast to be none other than their Palace Master. Cheers immediately shook the sky. Following that, the shield was deactivated and they rushed out to clean up the straggling enemies.
The strength of the disciples who remained in the Branch Sect was honestly not that powerful. Those who had some strength had been recruited into Sixty-First Army by Yang Kai after all, so it was only natural that only the less powerful remained. A group of people like this would have been wiped out by any random Demon King. Even so, they rushed out fearlessly and chased the Demon Race members with great enthusiasm. On the other hand, the Demons being chased fled desperately without even looking back.
Fortunately, the Branch Sect’s disciples still had their wits about them to a certain extent. They knew that their strength was lacking and they would surely suffer if they chased the enemy too far, so they only pursued them for a few hundred kilometres before turning back. Upon meeting Yang Kai, they bowed in unison.
Yang Kai nodded in acknowledgement, “Wait until the Demon Qi dissipates completely from the Demon corpses before cleaning up the battlefield; otherwise, there is a risk of demonification.”
The many disciples nodded in acknowledgement.
Then, Yang Kai waved his hand, “Return to the Sect. If the enemy comes again, don’t forget to send a message to Head Manager.”
After some organizing, he placed all the people he brought with him back into the Small Sealed World. A Space Beacon flashed with light next as Yang Kai teleported to another location again.
When he reappeared, Yang Kai was already inside Azure Sun Temple. A beautiful figure with a longsword in hand was fighting a Demon King next to him. He had teleported here through the Space Beacon he used to keep in contact with Gao Xue Ting, so it was only natural that he appeared beside her.
The longsword in Gao Xue Ting’s hand flourished, and her Sword Qi slashed in all directions. There was also a round mirror hanging above her head. The mirror’s surface was shining brilliantly like the sun as bursts of flame shot out in the form of vicious fiery snakes, striking the Demon King. Yang Kai immediately recognised her Natal Emperor Artifact, the Radiant Sun Mirror. The mirror was so powerful that he had not seen her use it many times himself.
Gao Xue Ting’s opponent was a High-Rank Demon King with powerful cultivation, so logically speaking, he should be stronger than her; however, her Emperor Artifact was extraordinary and this was the Star Boundary, so the Demon invaders had yet to adapt to the slight differences in World Principles here. As a result, the High-Rank Demon King was flustered and panicked even though he was marginally stronger than Gao Xue Ting. While it was not a life-threatening situation for him, he was still in terrible condition.
The Demon King, seemingly realizing he was losing momentum, suddenly became resolute, but just as he was about to unleash a Secret Technique he kept as a trump card, he saw a slightly grey-haired youth riding a strange beast appearing in front of him. The youth was nothing special, but the strange beast was giving off the aura of a Half-Saint.
Their abrupt appearance at such a close distance and in such a strange manner frightened the Demon King greatly and left him feeling flustered. In addition, a glance from Zhui Feng caused the Demon Qi in his body to churn chaotically.
When Gao Xue Ting noticed this, she did not let the opportunity slip by her. The flames of the sun burst out from the Radiant Sun Mirror, burning so fiercely that the Demon King had to strain himself just to block them. At the same time, a longsword appeared in his blinded field of vision and stabbed straight at him. A pain spread out in his chest as the sword pierced his body.
Pushing her Emperor Qi wildly, Gao Xue Ting unleashed a burst of Sword Qi from her weapon and cut the Demon King in front of her into pieces. She then retracted her sword and gave it a light swing to remove the Demon Blood on the blade. Looking Yang Kai up and down, she commented, “You look quite majestic like that.”
Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, “Many thanks for the praise, Senior Sister.”
His expression then turned serious, “What’s the situation?”
She sighed softly, “Thankfully you sent those two Half-Saints over to help, otherwise, the Temple would have been in serious trouble.”
Yang Kai then swept his gaze around and saw that everywhere in the Azure Sun Temple was burning with the flames of war. It was clear that the Demon Race army had broken past the Temple’s Sect Defending Array.
That was an inevitable situation. Even High Heaven Palace’s Sect Defending Array, which was extremely sturdy, was about to fall apart at any moment under the Demon Race army’s siege. In fact, it would have been breached if Yang Kai had arrived any later.
Although Azure Sun Temple’s Sect Defending Array was not to be taken lightly either, it was slightly inferior compared to High Heaven Palace’s. How could it hold up against the Demon Race army?
When the Sect Defending Array had been breached, Wen Zi Shan had taken decisive action to send a message to High Heaven Palace for help. That was because he knew that numerous wars had broken out everywhere in the Star Boundary and all the armies were probably exhausted from defending against the enemy, so asking for help from them might not be of use. The Sixty-First Army was the only force still in excellent condition. What’s more, Yang Kai had as many Masters under him as the clouds in the sky; therefore, asking Yang Kai for help was the only chance Azure Sun Temple had of surviving this crisis.
Not long after the request for help was sent out, the Lotus Sisters were sent over to help with repelling the invading Demon Race Half-Saint leading the enemy forces. Wen Zi Shan then led his army into a fierce battle against the Demons inside Azure Sun Temple and gradually stabilized the situation.
Yang Kai glanced over and took in the situation within the Temple before swiftly shouting, “Senior Sister, take care of yourself!”
Yang Kai clamped his knees around Zhui Feng, and Zhui Feng charged forward. Meanwhile, the Myriads Sword flashed with a cold light, rushing straight at the nearest Demon King.
When the Demon King saw Zhui Feng bearing down on him, his expression changed to one of horror and he made a decision on the spot. A cloud of blood burst out from his body and transformed into a ray of blood light to escape.
Yang Kai reached out to grab the Demon King and Space Principles flared. The space around the Demon King hardened and he was instantly frozen in place, unable to move. On the other hand, Yang Kai galloped away on horseback, swinging the Myriads Sword slightly and speeding into the distance several kilometres away without even looking back at the Demon King. Behind Yang Kai, the Demon King swayed unsteadily, his eyes widening for a moment before he exploded, leaving no corpse behind.
The hundreds of people that Yang Kai had placed back into the Sealed World Bead just a short while ago were released again. There was no need for him to say anything. They immediately scattered in all directions and slaughtered the Demons.
Riding on Zhui Feng for a while, Yang Kai could sense his companion’s bloodthirsty aura; thus, he decided to let Zhui Feng simply run wild. As Zhui Feng charged, Yang Kai’s figure flashed erratically as he slashed at his enemies with his sword.
The Myriads Sword was seemingly unstoppable as one after another, the members of the Demon Race fell to its blade. Needless to say, most of the Demon Great Generals and the Demon Generals lost their lives before they even realized what was going on. There were few even among the Demon Kings who could last three strikes against Yang Kai.
Yang Kai cut down a Demon King who was fighting Murong Xiao Xiao, but just as she was about to thank him, he suddenly turned his head and looked at something several kilometres away.
Xia Ning Chang’s figure was whirling about in that direction like a dancing butterfly. She was struggling hard to keep up with the fierce attacks of a Mid-Rank Demon King. Her flying figure was akin to a willow branch swaying in the storm, unable to control herself.
Although she was also an Emperor Realm Master, she rarely engaged in battle throughout her cultivation journey, much less fought on the frontlines of a war. Among Yang Kai’s many women, Xia Ning Chang was by far the one with the least actual combat experience. Moreover, her opponent’s cultivation was higher than hers so it was only natural that she was struggling to match up against her opponent. Even though she was moving about nimbly, she was still stuck in a dangerous and hard-pressed situation against this Demon King.
In comparison, the Demon King had a savage expression on his face and put up a frenzied offensive as though he wanted nothing more than to kill this annoying woman on the spot.
Just as Yang Kai looked over, the Demon King sent out a fierce punch. The Demon King’s huge fist, which was almost half the size of her face, flew straight at her chest. That punch was so heavy that even a mountain would have collapsed under that impact, much less her delicate body.
Murong Xiao Xiao screamed and instantly rushed over to help. Unfortunately, there was a distance of several kilometres between them, so it would be too late no matter how fast she moved.
On the contrary, Yang Kai remained motionless, his mental state strung so tight that he was on the verge of a breakdown. Still, he was prepared to rescue her the moment the situation turned dire.
Faced with this punch that was powerful enough to break a mountain, a trace of panic inevitably flashed across Xia Ning Chang’s beautiful eyes. There had never been a time when she felt so close to death before, not even during the time when Grand Desolation Star Field invaded Heng Luo Star Field and defiled Tong Xuan Realm. With danger so close at hand, she lifted her hand and a longan-sized bead was clamped between two jade-like fingers. That bead looked rather unremarkable, a dull brown with not the slightest bit of energy fluctuation.
The words Yang Kai had told her when he first handed this bead to her flashed in her mind at that moment, “If you are ever in danger, throw this at your opponent. It will turn the situation around!”
Xia Ning Chang naturally held complete trust towards her Junior Brother; therefore, she did as she was told at this moment of desperation and threw the bead at the Demon King in front of her.
When the Demon King saw her throwing a bead at him, he instinctively reacted warily; however, when he realized that there was nothing special about that bead and saw the panicked look on his opponent’s face, he sneered, [This weak Human woman in front of me is so frightened that she lost her wits! Does she even know what she threw at me?]
The force behind the fist that blasted forward became more and more powerful, slamming straight into the oncoming bead.
*Kacha…*
A clear sound came from his fist the next moment, followed by severe pain. The Demon King paled in extreme horror as he wondered what was happening. When his fist came into contact with the seemingly unremarkable bead, he felt an oppressive and unstoppable force smashing into him.
His fists that he was so proud of and his body that could withstand even the forces of a Demon Artifact were as fragile as paper in front of this strange bead. An overwhelming strength washed over him from the front and his arm shattered. Even so, the bead did not stop and continued to crush half of his body before flying out and striking a mountain behind them.
The Demon King howled in agony as the expression on his face no longer held any contempt when he looked at Xia Ning Chang; instead, his eyes were full of horror and disbelief. However, his scream was covered by a deafening noise that followed. The entire world shook for an instant, and the chaos inside Azure Sun Temple went silent as everyone who could turned to look at the source of the sound.
A mountain that was several thousand metres tall had been struck by something and exploded with a deafening roar. In the next instant, rubble and dirt rained down from the sky as though the world itself was collapsing. When the noise subsided, the tall mountain was reduced to a height of only several dozen metres while a giant crater had formed. It was a scene of absolute destruction.
Xia Ning Chang stared in a daze at the scene before her. Others might not understand what had happened, but she was well aware of the situation. She had simply thrown out the bead Yang Kai had given to her, and it had severely damaged a Mid-Rank Demon King before crashing into that mountain and reducing it to a blasted crater filled with rubble…
[That bead… actually contained that much power!?] She knew that what Yang Kai had given her was definitely no ordinary bead and it would definitely be something that could protect her in a moment of crisis. Still, she never imagined its power to be so great. For a moment, she was unable to recover from her shock and even forgot about her opponent who had been trying to kill her just now.
Feeling two gazes on her, Xia Ning Chang turned to look in that direction and saw Murong Xiao Xiao, who had the same blank expression she did, and Yang Kai, who was smiling gently at her. Seeing his look, she couldn’t help sticking her tongue cutely before focusing her mind and reaching out her hand. The bead she threw out earlier instantly flew back to her in response and she gripped it between her fingers again.
The Mid-Rank Demon King had not died yet even though half his body had been crushed, and he had quickly taken the opportunity just now to put some distance between himself and Xia Ning Chang. Seeing her appearance as she held the bead between her fingers at this moment, he gave a cry of despair and turned to run. He had just suffered a huge loss, so how could he make the same mistake again?
Xia Ning Chang narrowed her sapphire eyes and unrelentingly chased after her opponent. He had been severely injured and lost most of his strength as a result, so when else would she kill him if not now? She threw the bead in her hand continuously, unleashing a terrifying force with every attack. The Demon King desperately dodged those attacks a few times but eventually couldn’t avoid them in the end. The moment the bead landed on his body, he died a horrible death on the spot.
Shan Qing Luo watched Xia Ning Chang hunting down a Mid-Rank Demon King with her own eyes. Those attacks were so fierce that the Demon King was fleeing desperately. In her curiosity, she couldn’t help taking out a bead. That bead was practically identical to the one in Xia Ning Chang’s possession, and it was not the only one. Xue Yue, Su Yan, and Zhu Qing each had one too.
Shan Qing Luo glanced about her surroundings and found a High-Rank Demon King who was currently locked in a melee with Xi Lei. Curious, she casually tossed the bead in her hand at the High-Rank Demon King.
The bead silently approached the Demon King, but be that as it may, his cultivation was not poor, so how could he fail to notice a sneak attack from behind? Making a feint, the Demon King opened some distance with Xi Lei and grabbed at the bead, fully intending to catch this ‘hidden weapon’ in the palm of his hand. He had not seen what happened to the poor Mid-Rank Demon King just now; otherwise, he would never have been so careless.
As soon as the bead touched his hand, the sound of bones breaking immediately rang out. Starting from his palm, the Demon King’s entire arm exploded into pieces. That unremarkable bead actually carried such unimaginable weight and power behind it!
Feeling extremely shocked, the Demon King hastily withdrew what remained of his arm in an attempt to dodge the attack instead. Xi Lei’s attack struck him during that momentary distraction. Lightning in the sky turned into a pillar of light, encasing him inside. The lightning snakes danced wildly with a loud crackling sound and his entire body stiffened in response, but it was too late to escape now.
At that moment, the strange bead landed on his body and there was a loud bang, after which his body exploded into pieces. However, the power of the bead was unabated and smashed into the ground nearby, causing the earth to shake for a moment. Xi Lei even lost his balance and nearly fell to the ground as he was too close to the epicentre.
The surface of the ground sunk and an enormous crater appeared out of nowhere.
*Kacha…*
Deep cracks in the ground appeared, spreading outward like spiderwebs with the crater as the centre.
“What the hell is that!?” Xi Lei’s expression changed drastically, turning his head to look at Shan Qing Luo.
Shan Qing Luo bore the bloodline of the Heavenly Moon Demon Spider; hence, she could be considered as a member of the Monster Race. That was why the Monster Kings from the Ancient Wild Lands regarded her as one of their own and took good care of her. As such, they also knew just how strong she was. It was impossible for her to unleash such a powerful attack even if she was desperate, but she had undeniably performed that attack just now. Moreover, Xi Lei had the feeling that he would not have ended up any better than that Demon King if he had been hit by that blow just now.
Meanwhile, Shan Qing Luo was stunned. She had simply tossed out the bead casually out of curiosity. It never even crossed her mind that a High-Rank Demon King would die by her hands just like that. Seemingly not hearing Xi Lei’s question, she blinked and stretched out her hand to summon the bead back to the palm of her hand before studying it carefully.
Xi Lei rushed over to her side in the next moment, glanced at the bead in her hand, and murmured, “What is that?”
“It’s something my Husband gave me…” she replied, “All my Sisters have one too.”
Xi Lei’s eyes narrowed at those words as he stared at the bead intently. Something so powerful could only be an incredible artifact; however, from what she just said, it would seem that each of Yang Kai’s wives had one in their possession.
[When did High Heaven Palace get so wealthy it could afford to produce so many treasures?]
Under careful observation, Xi Lei could not detect any energy fluctuations coming from the bead. It looked no different from a random stone bead picked up by the roadside; however, as he probed further with his Divine Sense, this unremarkable bead suddenly enlarged at a rapid pace in front of his eyes, to the point it appeared to become an enormous Star that was extremely vast and desolate in an instant.
As his Divine Sense rapidly tried to expand to cover this Star, he couldn’t help panicking, feeling like his mind was trapped in a cage. Biting his tongue hard, Xi Lei felt a sharp pain which allowed him to escape from his predicament, his forehead covered in a sheen of sweat as he shouted, “A World Bead!”
“This is a World Bead?” Shan Qing Luo was astonished. She had not known what it was either until now. Before the Sixty-First Army set off for the Western Territory, Yang Kai had specifically called his wives over and gave each of them a bead. After that, he had done something to help them refine it. He also taught them how to use it. They had not quite understood what it was, however, until they brought it out to attack their enemies…
“I can’t be wrong. This is definitely a World Bead!” Xi Lei nodded. Although he had never been in contact with a World Bead before, he had at least heard of them. From what he experienced during his previous contact with it, he could immediately conclude that it was definitely a World Bead refined by Yang Kai. It was just that this World Bead was slightly different from the ones he knew about.
It was naturally different, as what Yang Kai had handed over to Shan Qing Luo and the others were his earliest works. In order to separate the second region in the Small Sealed World, he had refined many Dead Stars and large meteorites. These initial World Beads that he created did not have the function of accommodating living people. If any living being was stuffed into these World Beads, they would only be crushed into dust by chaotic World Principles inside.
Only the batch of World Beads that he later refined could contain living creatures, but those had all been handed over to Li Wu Yi to distribute to the Army Commanders. The reason the Star Boundary’s armies could move so quickly when evacuating from the Western Territory was that they had used the World Beads. How else could the army of several hundred thousand have withdrawn so rapidly?
While the World Beads that Shan Qing Luo and the others had in their possession did not have the ability to hold living creatures, they were still refined from gigantic Dead Stars. Moreover, Yang Kai had helped them to refine the World Beads so that they could control them freely. Throwing the World Bead was equivalent to throwing an entire Dead Star at their enemies. How could a Mid-Rank or even High-Rank Demon King block such an attack when they were completely unprepared?
Yang Kai had many other similar World Beads in his possession and was planning to find an opportunity to distribute them to the Sixty-First Army. If these World Beads were used correctly, it would definitely give the Masters from the Demon Race a huge surprise. Unfortunately, there was not enough time. He could have refined more of them if he was given enough time and they would surely become a powerful weapon for the Sixty-First Army.
“We’ll know once we question him later.” Shan Qing Luo smiled and clenched the bead in her hand. She had originally been upset that her cultivation was too low to help share Yang Kai’s worries and burdens; however, she could even kill an unsuspecting High-Rank Demon King in an instant with this treasure in hand. Therefore, she was happy from the bottom of her heart. She held the bead in her hand and moved about the battlefield, frequently throwing the World Bead out and killing countless enemies as easily as if she were chopping vegetables.
The stalemate in Azure Sun Temple had been broken. Before Yang Kai brought reinforcements, the Demon Race army had breached the Sect Defending Array, invaded Azure Sun Temple, and engaged in an all-out melee with Wen Zi Shan’s army. When Yang Kai led hundreds of Masters to this place, it was as though a handful of salt was thrown into a pan of boiling oil. The whole situation had swiftly turned around.
Demon Race Masters were constantly being killed while on the other hand, the Half-Saint leading the Demon Race army was unable to do anything due to the interference of the Lotus Sisters. He could only protect himself now with no means of fighting back.
Seeing that the situation was not looking too good, the Half-Saint let out a howl. He intentionally took one of the Lotus Sisters’ attacks and used the momentum to leap out of range of the battle before escaping in a miserable state. The Lotus Sisters naturally gave pursuit.
With the most powerful among them fleeing the battle, the rest of the Demon Race army fell into a greater panic. The ground was littered with corpses for tens of kilometres as few among them managed to escape alive.
Approximately an hour passed before the noisy Azure Sun Temple finally quietened down.
Wen Zi Shan was covered in blood as he stood in the sky and looked out at the Temple’s inheritance that had been there for hundreds of years, eventually letting out a long sigh. They might have killed many of the Demons in this battle, but the loss Azure Sun Temple had incurred was not small either. Corpses belonging to the Sect’s disciples were lying all over the ground, their deaths particularly miserable. In just one battle, Wen Zi Shan had lost nearly thirty percent of the army under his command.
Demon Qi was gradually escaping from the corpses of the Demons who had died in this place. It wafted away and converged in a certain direction, causing Azure Sun Temple to be covered in a fog of darkness.
Wen Zi Shan met with Yang Kai next and the two exchanged a few words. Only then did he learn that High Heaven Palace had also been attacked by the Demon Race. It was just that High Heaven Palace had a mighty army and powerful defences, so it had not suffered a great loss. The Demon Race army was routed instead.
Upon seeing that Yang Kai had several Demon Race Half-Saints gathered around him, Wen Zi Shan couldn’t help feeling jealous. He pulled a face and coughed lightly, “Yang Kai, I have something to discuss with you.”
“I’ll ask the Lotus Sisters to accompany you,” Yang Kai declared.
Wen Zi Shan was stunned when he heard the words, and then he immediately became overjoyed, “Good good!”
He had originally wanted to try and gain one of the Half-Saints over from Yang Kai’s side. The army under him was not weak, but unfortunately, there were no Masters in the Pseudo-Great Emperor or Half-Saint Realm. It might not seem like much under normal circumstances, but having no one who could challenge an enemy Half-Saint if one appeared was indeed an issue.
He only wanted Yang Kai to leave one Half-Saint with him, so he never imagined that Yang Kai would directly give him two instead. A feeling that they were all part of one family washed over Wen Zi Shan all of a sudden as he realized that Yang Kai was similarly anxious about what he himself was worried about.
Yang Kai did not remain in Azure Sun Temple after cleaning the battlefield and counting the casualties, choosing to lead his men home instead. Back at High Heaven Palace, he immediately sent a message to Li Wu Yi to report the Demon Race army’s attack on High Heaven Palace’s Main Sect, Branch Sect, and Azure Sun Temple.
Not long after that, Li Wu Yi replied with a message of his own. Yang Kai’s expression turned solemn after reading the message. As he had expected, the entire Star Boundary was swept up in a storm. The two Great Worlds were connected, and numerous Demon Lands had popped up all over the four territories. As a result, many Demon armies continued to cross over into this world and invade the Star Boundary to burn, kill, and loot without mercy.
The situation at the moment was much more serious compared to the situation where the Demons had first crossed over into the Western Territory back then. There had only been one Two Worlds’ Passage in the past, and although the Demon Race was powerful, the Star Boundary only needed to defend one location. In contrast, the Demon Race was spread out everywhere now. The flames of war had broken out across the entire Star Boundary, and all fifty-five armies were exhausted from defending against those attacks.
The attacks were not limited to High Heaven Palace and Azure Sun Temple. In just half a day, Li Wu Yi had received no fewer than thirty requests for help. There were seven in the Northern Territory alone. Even if he was extremely strong and experienced, he no longer knew how to deal with the enemy and could only handle one crisis at a time. He had to do his best to preserve the Star Boundary’s forces until the Great Emperors returned.
Upon learning that Yang Kai was free to help out now, Li Wu Yi became overjoyed and asked him to provide reinforcements to those seven places that had asked for help in the Northern Territory. Yang Kai did not raise any objections to the request and immediately began gathering his troops.
The Sixty-First Army had only rested for half a day, so they were not completely recovered from their battle fatigue, but there was no helping it under these circumstances. He placed the army into the Small Sealed World and stepped onto the Space Array at High Heaven Palace.
At this moment, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling thankful for the many preparations he made in the past. In order to unify the Northern Territory, he had set up many Space Arrays and they were now coming in handy. If not for this extensive network of Space Arrays, it would have taken him a lot of time to travel to and from various places.
The Demons invaded in massive numbers, but they had also spread out widely; therefore, there were not too many in each place which in turn gave Yang Kai the opportunity to defeat them one at a time.
Yang Kai led the Sixty-First Army on a killing spree. Everywhere they went, the Demon Race armies suffered heavy casualties. No less than a million Demons had been eliminated by the Sixty-First Army in the span of just a few days; however, Yang Kai also saw countless situations throughout the world where the Demon Race had struck the world like a star of calamity. Many cities were completely obliterated, and countless villages were razed to the ground. Even the small and medium-sized Sects that were on the weaker side had been slaughtered.
There were corpses everywhere. At the same time, an uncountable number of Humans were fleeing for their lives. Even so, where could they go in the midst of this troubled world? They were simply running around like headless flies. The only fate waiting for them if they encountered any of the Demons was death. For that reason, Yang Kai began accepting these fugitives into the Sixty-First Army if they had enough strength whenever he came across them. If they didn’t have enough strength, they were placed into the Small Sealed World for their safety.
This killing spree expanded the Sixty-First Army’s lineup considerably and restored their numbers to three hundred thousand as a result. Meanwhile, Yang Kai had taken no fewer than a million refugees into the Sealed World Bead.
Today, Yang Kai stood in front of a private residence in one of the dilapidated cities. Flames were raging around him as corpses littered the streets. Almost half of the homes in front of him had collapsed and inside this one, a naked woman was lying on the ground without a single piece of clothing on her. Her lower body was a mess, and there were many wounds all over the rest of her body as well. Her corpse had gone cold, but her eyes remained wide open. Before she died, her eyes had been filled with fear and horror. She had turned her head to the side, and a hint of nostalgia was mixed in with her eyes that were brimming with fear. There was a young child around three years old lying in a pool of blood in the direction she was looking; furthermore, the child had a large gaping hole in his chest that was now completely empty.
Yang Kai could imagine what had happened even without witnessing the scene with his own eyes. The Demons had come attacking and this mother had protected her child desperately, but what could a powerless woman do against the powerful Demons from a foreign world? The woman had been defiled and died a violent death! In addition, her child had been killed!
Even though he had become accustomed to seeing all sorts of tragedies recently, Yang Kai still couldn’t help feeling absolutely furious at the sight. A wave of murderous intent brewed in his chest like a volcano that could erupt at any time.
Many of the cities and villages he passed by recently had been obliterated, but the Demons had only slaughtered the people within those cities. They had not done anything else to the people there. On the contrary, he noticed something different in this city. The scene in front of him left him feeling slightly overwhelmed by his emotions.
“Brother-in-Law!” Fu Ling rushed over from a distance, her beautiful eyes red and wet with tears. Before she could get close to him, the murderous intent he was exuding stopped her in her tracks. She followed in his gaze and bit her lip hard at the sight.
“Speak!” Yang Kai took a deep breath and did his best to withdraw his murderous intent into his body, causing his clothes to flap wildly in response.
“There are no survivors in this city. Everyone has been slaughtered. Furthermore, all children under ten years…” She scowled deeply, seeming to find it hard to finish her sentence.
“What happened to the children?”
She pointed inside the house.
“Like that child, all of them had their hearts dug out of their chests. Brother-in-Law, do Demons… eat Humans?” She turned to look at him when she asked that question.
He glanced at her, frowning.
She continued, “If they don’t eat Humans, then why did they carve out their hearts? And they were all children too. Not to mention, there are too few corpses for a city this size. It seems like some have been taken away.”
Yang Kai had not considered that possibility before. He had lived in the Demon Realm for several years after all, so he had never seen the Demon Race practising such preferences during his time there; however, it seemed possible now that he heard Fu Ling mentioning it.
It made sense that he had never seen this kind of activity in the Demon Realm before because only Demons lived in the Demon Realm. It was a completely different scenario now that they have invaded the Star Boundary. It would not be surprising if any unusual preferences were exposed under these circumstances.
“Let’s go!” He spun around and let out a loud whistle. A moment later, a figure fell from the sky. It was Ying Fei who cupped his fists in greeting, “Sir!”
Yang Kai nodded. Space Principles surged and enveloped the two of them. Then, they instantly disappeared from the spot.
At this moment, Yang Kai had divided the Sixty-First Army into two groups. Bai Zhuo led one of the groups, heading from the south to the north while the Embodiment headed the other group, travelling from the east to the west.
Bai Ya was still recuperating inside the Small Sealed World and it would take quite a while before he could recover, so he was unable to bring out his strength at the moment.
It wasn’t that Yang Kai wanted to divide his troops. The Sixty-First Army might be powerful, but the Demon Race was no easy prey either; moreover, all the Half-Saints had been dispatched in this venture. It was just that the entire Northern Territory was aflame with battles. There were too many places that required assistance so the efficiency would be higher if the troops were divided. It was simply a necessary move.
The army split in two and headed towards the various areas in the Northern Territory while Yang Kai and Ying Fei went ahead to scout the way and gather information on the enemy. Fu Ling stubbornly insisted on following them, claiming that, as the Standard-Bearer of the Sixty-First Army, she could not stray too far away from the Army Commander. Yang Kai couldn’t be bothered to argue with her, so he simply agreed to bring her along. They had only just arrived at the first city to search for information when they came across such a tragedy.
“The blood in the city has yet to dry. The Demon Race army probably left not too long ago. Sir, please head this way!”
Ying Fei was an expert when it came to tracking, to the point where Yang Kai couldn’t hope to compete at all; thus, he simply followed in the direction Ying Fei pointed. Space Principles fluctuated continuously as his figure flashed and hurried off into the distance.
Yang Kai soon saw a huge black spot in the sky from a great distance away. It was as dark as ink, and Demon Qi loomed from within. Moreover, the aura of another world seeped out from within the black spot.
Ying Fei suddenly exclaimed in realization, “It looks like they are trying to return to the Demon Stronghold!”
Yang Kai snorted, “Let’s go pay them a visit then!”
Ever since returning from the Western Territory, Yang Kai had led his army on a frantic campaign to various parts of the Northern Territory as though he was putting out fires everywhere; therefore, he had not had the time to investigate the Demon Land under those black spots.
Although he had seen a similar situation in the Western Territory before, he had sealed the black spot in the Western Territory almost as soon as it opened. The Demons that crossed over into this world there had either died or fled. It was just that the erosion of the black spot had not disappeared even though the passage between the two worlds had been sealed. For that reason, Yang Kai was very curious to know how these black spots in the Northern Territory were different from the other side.
Since he had chased his enemies this far, he might as well investigate a little while he was at it. There was no need for Ying Fei to continue giving directions as there were traces of the Demon Race army’s path along the way and their destination pointed towards the Demon Stronghold.
It was a distance of thousands of kilometres, but Yang Kai’s figure only flickered a few times before he arrived at his destination. He stood in the sky and looked out into the distance; then, he frowned. Everywhere he looked was Demon Land. The trees were withered and the plants were dead inside the Demon Land. It gave him an extremely uncomfortable feeling, almost as though he was actually standing in the Demon Realm.
Having received Bright Moon’s legacy, Yang Kai was recognized by the Will of the Star Boundary; therefore, he had an unmatched perception anywhere in the Star Boundary. However, he couldn’t perceive any of the Star Boundary’s aura in the Demon Land in front of him! In other words, the area where the Demon Land expanded could no longer be considered as part of the Star Boundary but rather belonged to the Demon Realm!
That wasn’t all. Invisible to the naked eye, the World Principles in the Demon Land throbbed ever so slightly. In addition, the Demon Land quietly expanded a little more with every pulse. Yang Kai was the only one who could perceive what was happening here. Even a Pseudo-Great Emperor would not have noticed anything standing in this spot. The Demon Land was expanding at an extremely slow rate, but it was definitely expanding and constantly eroding away at the Star Boundary’s territory.
This place should have been the foundation of a Sect in the past. There were great mountains everywhere, and among the mountains and forests were many pavilions and terraces. It had clearly been a place with beautiful mountains and clear waters. Unfortunately, the black spot just happened to appear in the sky above that Sect. The entire Sect’s territory, along with the area spanning a radius of ten thousand kilometres around it, had long since been turned into a Demon Land.
All of a sudden, Yang Kai heard a vague mournful cry coming from one of the mountain peaks. He was stunned, thinking that he was experiencing an auditory hallucination. Nevertheless, after listening carefully, he realized there really was a sound coming from that direction.
[I don’t believe it! There are survivors!] Yang Kai had always believed that the Demon Race killed all the living creatures in the Star Boundary ruthlessly wherever they went. Even if they didn’t kill them, they would let their Demon Qi corrupt Humans, turning them into Demons. Contrary to his expectations though, there seemed to be survivors here. It was just that he did not know what they were experiencing at the moment for them to cry out so miserably.
Yang Kai cocked his ears to the side and listened closely to determine the location of the sound. A moment later, his body shifted, and he vanished from the spot. When he reappeared again, he was standing in a mountain valley. The mountain valley was very lively as there were many Demons gathered in this one place, all of them seemingly extremely busy at the moment.
Many big pots had been set up within the mountain valley. Most of these pots contained boiling water, but some contained boiling oil instead. Some of the Demons carried numerous cleaned and gutted Human corpses and threw them into either the boiling water or boiling oil. There were loud crackling sounds of frying coming from the pots and the entire mountain valley was filled with a strange and disgusting smell.
On the other hand, hundreds of Humans were bound tightly on the other side of the mountain valley. These people were closely guarded by a single Demon. From time to time, another Demon, holding a sharp weapon, would go over, grab one from among the crowd, kill that person on the spot, and drag that person aside to be cleaned.
The surviving people looked extremely pale after watching their clansmen being killed in front of them and their bodies being thrown into the pots. They had long since been scared out of their wits. The miserable cries Yang Kai heard just now came from this place. They were cries of terror and despair, mixed with begging and cursing.
When Yang Kai arrived in this place, he swept his gaze around and instantly felt his scalp going numb. Fu Ling had asked whether the Demon Race ate Humans back in the ruined city. He had been unsure how to answer at the time, but how could he not know that the Demon Race truly ate Humans after seeing this sight before him?
Three unfamiliar figures had suddenly appeared in the mountain valley, so how could the busy members of the Demon Race fail to notice them? One of them immediately shouted, “Who’s there!?”
Yang Kai glanced at that Demon coldly before he ordered, “Kill them all!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he arrived in front of the Demon who shouted, reached out, and grabbed the other party by the neck. His Demon Qi surged, pouring into the Demon’s body, destroying the latter’s meridians in an instant. Then, Yang Kai raised his hand and tossed the body aside.
His meridians had been destroyed, his entire body was in pain, and his Demon Qi was leaking; however, this Demon was not dead yet. He simply couldn’t move at all. When he was tossed aside by Yang Kai, he fell straight into one of the pots filled with oil. Splashing sounds rang out as he writhed about in the boiling oil, screaming miserably but failing to die for quite some time. Afterwards, muffled thuds rang out as countless Demons fell into the pots in succession. For a time, their cries and howls reverberated through the world.
When Yang Kai made his move, Ying Fei and Fu Ling took action too. One went left and the other went right. Ying Fei’s figure moved so fast that he was practically a bolt of lightning. He only moved a few times, but a large number of Demons collapsed to the ground as a result. He did not act in the same way as Yang Kai, choosing to simply slaughter as swiftly as possible.
The same held true for Fu Ling. Her petite body contained enormous strength. Although not as elegant as Ying Fei, she left a mess of broken bodies in the wake of her tender fists.
There were no Masters among the Demons in the mountain valley, not even a single Demon King, so how could they resist the slaughter of these three? It only took ten breaths for the hundreds of Demons in the mountain valley to be slaughtered.
The people who had been bound by the side had originally been in a state of panic, thinking that they would not escape tragedy today. Who could have known that three saviours would appear out of nowhere? They were overjoyed and many cried even louder from their undulating emotions.
The Demons that Yang Kai had thrown into the pots of boiling water and oil were still screaming. Nonetheless, their voices were getting softer and softer until they were barely audible.
Under normal circumstances, boiling water and oil would not have killed these Demons. Since they were capable enough to invade the Star Boundary, it was only natural that their cultivation was not low. Boiling water and oil might be dangerous for ordinary people, but it would not have done anything to them. They only needed to push their Demon Qi to prevent themselves from getting burned; however, Yang Kai had crippled their cultivations when he subdued them, so they were unable to use any of their strength as a result. Their bodies might be tough, but even a blunt knife could cut through flesh given enough time. There would eventually come a moment when they died from this torture.
“Go and rescue them,” Yang Kai instructed. His gaze was fixed on the mountain peak to his left. There was a loud ruckus coming from that direction.
“Sir, shouldn’t you wait for the army to arrive and join up with them?” Ying Fei quickly asked. Yang Kai might be powerful, but he was only an Emperor in the end. He would be helpless if he encountered a Half-Saint. What’s more, this place was the Demon Stronghold. Who knew how many enemies were gathered here?
“No need!” Yang Kai shook his head and took a step forward.
Ying Fei looked like he was going to speak again, but Yang Kai had already vanished. Fu Ling advised, “It’s not like you don’t know how capable Brother-in-Law is. It’s not a problem for him to escape even if he encounters a Half-Saint.”
Ying Fei pondered for a moment and realized it was true. Unless the enemy had a way to counter Yang Kai’s Space Secret Techniques, the only ones in this world who could actually threaten his life were the Demon Saints and Great Emperors. Feeling relieved, he and Fu Ling headed toward the group of captive people.
The group of hundreds had long since been frightened out of their minds. Some had even lost consciousness. Ying Fei flicked his fingers and released the people in the front rows from their bindings; then, he asked them to save the rest of their comrades. These people naturally obeyed the orders of their two saviours. After thanking the two profusely, they tremblingly got to work.
There was a middle-aged man among the crowd who was pale-faced but was faring much better than the others, still fairly calm in comparison. At this moment, he walked forward and cupped his fists, “Water Cloud Sect’s Yuan Wen Long greets the two Benefactors. May I know your honourable names?”
Ying Fei frowned and looked around, “Is this Water Cloud Sect?”
Although he had known that this place used to be the foundation of a Sect, he had not known which Sect it belonged to. The realization only dawned on him after listening to Yuan Wen Long’s self-introduction.
Yuan Wen Long replied respectfully, “Indeed.”
Ying Fei looked Yuan Wen Long up and down with a meaningful grin, “You bear the surname ‘Yuan’. What is your relationship with Yuan Mao?”
Yuan Wen Long suppressed his grief and said, “Benefactor, do you know my father?”
Ying Fei pursed his lips, “I don’t know him. I’ve only heard of him before.”
In the Northern Territory, the Water Cloud Sect could only be considered a second-class Sect, in no way comparable to High Heaven Palace. However, it did have one Emperor Realm Master, its Sect Master Yuan Mao.
Any Emperor Realm Master had the qualifications to establish a Sect, and it was not long since Water Cloud Sect was founded, so there was only one Emperor in the Sect. That was the Sect Master, Yuan Mao.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for Ying Fei to know of this person. He was one of the thirty-two Monster Kings of the Ancient Wild Lands whose cultivation was comparable to Third-Order Emperor Realm Masters. A trivial First-Order Emperor would not have been worthy of his notice.
It was just that the Sixty-First Army had been recruiting troops in the Northern Territory over the past ten years, and Ying Fei just happened to have been instructed by Yao Si to send somebody with a letter of recruitment to Water Cloud Sect, requesting Water Cloud Sect to provide some manpower.
Unfortunately, the messenger sent to Water Cloud Sect had returned to High Heaven Palace without a single soldier. He only brought some supplies back, claiming that they were the offerings from Water Cloud Sect to the Sixty-First Army.
The recruitment of the Sixty-First Army was not compulsory. It was completely on a voluntary basis. Those who wanted to come could come, and those who did not want to come didn’t need to come. Hence, Yao Si had not forced the issue. It was a decision he had made at the time out of consideration for the reputations of Yang Kai and the Sixty-First Army.
For that reason, Ying Fei had ignored the issue after Water Cloud Sect rejected Sixty-First Army’s request for recruitment. Having been in charge of that matter, it was only natural that he remembered it. Besides, it wasn’t just Water Cloud Sect. Many Sects and Clans, like Water Cloud Sect, were indifferent to the war between the two Great Worlds. The battlefield was located in the Western Territory after all. Everybody believed that nothing would happen to them even if the sky came crashing down because they had the Great Emperors to hold it up for them. Moreover, the battlefield was so far away. Why would they risk their lives to go to the Western Territory to wage a desperate war against the vicious Demon Race?
Nobody could have imagined that the situation would completely change one day. The Western Territory was no longer the battlefield where the armies of both Great Worlds clashed; instead, war had broken out across the entire Star Boundary.
“Where’s your father?” Ying Fei asked. He did not detect the presence of an Emperor Realm Master within this group; therefore, he knew that Yuan Mao was not here. Judging by Yuan Wen Long’s sad expression, he had the feeling that Yuan Mao had met with a disastrous ending.
Sure enough, Yuan Wen Long’s eyes reddened slightly as he gritted his teeth and said, “My father was killed by them!”
Ying Fei sighed, “If he had known that things would come to this, he would probably have acted differently back then.”
Yuan Mao had not accepted the Sixty-First Army’s recruitment request and Water Cloud Sect had not sent out a single cultivator to join the fight. It was obvious that Yuan Mao had chosen self-protection over the greater good. It was a self-serving approach, but who in this world would not put themselves first?
Ying Fei held no ill will for Yuan Mao or Water Cloud Sect, he simply looked down on them.
Even if the Water Cloud Sect had accepted the recruitment and sent their elites to join the Sixty-First Army, it would not have prevented the inevitable destruction of the Sect; however, they could have at least preserved some of their foundation. That way, they could have rebuilt themselves despite losing their inheritance.
Yuan Mao was dead now though, and most of the elites in the Sect had presumably suffered a similar fate. If that were the case, Water Cloud Sect would truly be wiped from the history of the Northern Territory. Hence why Ying Fei had sighed.
Yuan Wen Long was puzzled by those words. Even so, he asked again respectfully, “How should I address the two of you, Benefactors?”
Ying Fei glanced at Yuan Wen Long and replied lightly, “Sixty-First Army’s Flying Hawk Division Commander, Ying Fei.”
Fu Ling interjected just in time, “Standard-Bearer, Fu Ling!”
Yuan Wen Long was stunned for a while before his face flushed in shame. It was clear that he could recall how his father had rejected the Sixty-First Army’s recruitment at the time. A wave of remorse washed over him, and he burst into tears.
Fu Ling looked irritated, “You’re a man! Why are you crying!? Answer me this, are these people all that’s left of your Sect?”
Yuan Wen Long choked back his tears with some effort and nodded in reply, “Yes, they are all that remain. Everyone else… everyone else was either killed or eaten.”
Abruptly pointing in a certain direction, he continued, “There’s a cave along the cliff outside the mountain valley. I heard some crying sounds coming from that direction earlier. The Demons must have brought in others from the outside and locked them there.”
Ying Fei turned his head to look in that direction. That was in line with the information he had gained from tracking the Demon Race army to this place. Those who had been taken captive were probably the residents of the previous city.
In the end, he and Fu Ling decided to split up. One would stay behind in this place while the other rushed towards that direction to investigate.
…..
It was extremely lively inside the hall. Hundreds of the members of the Demon Race were gathered here, among which Demon Kings abounded. This place was probably the Main Conference Hall of Water Cloud Sect. Water Cloud Sect might not have been a large Sect, but its Main Conference Hall was magnificent and grand enough to accommodate hundreds of people without feeling crowded.
Seated majestically at the head of the main table inside the hall was a High-Rank Demon King with scarlet eyes, emanating a bloody aura from his body. In addition, a bloodthirsty light flashed across his scarlet eyes from time to time.
To the left and right of the main table were two rows of tables arranged side-by-side. Demons were seated behind each table and there were all sorts of dishes placed before them. Judging by the look of the food, it seemed to be the bits and pieces cut from Human bodies. Some had been served half-cooked, bloody, and bright red, while some were deep-fried a golden brown and gave off a strange aura.
The hundreds of Demons were munching away at their tables, eating with great relish. Some of them even commented on which method of cooking was more delicious, which led to many others nodding repeatedly in agreement.
A group of pale-faced Human women were dancing in the middle of the hall. They were surrounded by the intermittent music of gongs, drums, and other instruments. It was impossible to tell whether these people were from Water Cloud Sect or if they had been captured by the Demon Race army from somewhere else. At this moment though, they were being forced to sing, dance, and entertain the Demons. Every one of them was extremely terrified, but none of them dared to resist when their lives were at stake. Their dancing movements were very stiff and there was not the slightest bit of elegance to them. Similarly, the beating of the gongs, drums, and the orchestra were a mess too. Nobody could act normal under these circumstances.
The food eaten by the Demon Race army were all cooked at the bottom of the mountain and sent up to the hall; however, the High-Rank Blood Demon sitting in the main seat was feasting on something different. Several platters were placed on the table in front of him and numerous fresh crimson ‘fruits’ were stacked up high on the platters. An enchanting Charm Demon with dishevelled clothes was lying in his arms. The Demon King reached his large hand into her clothes and fondled her wantonly, causing her to giggle and laugh in response.
“Sir, do you want some more?” The Charm Demon stretched out her jade white hand, picked up a bright red ‘fruit’ from the platter, and brought it to his mouth.
The High-Rank Demon King opened his mouth and bit down. ‘Juice’ spurted out in an instant, or rather, fresh blood splattered all over the place. That crimson fruit was no fruit, it was the heart of a person that had been removed not too long ago. The Demon King finished off the heart in her hands in a few bites and the bloodlust in his eyes became more and more terrifying as he shouted, “Delicious! Truly delicious! As expected, nothing beats the taste of a Human’s heart!”
Following his sudden roar, the women in the centre of the hall, who were fighting back their fear to sing and dance, were so terrified that their beautiful faces went pale. Some of the more timid ones fell on their bottoms while others broke into tears.
“Hmm?” The Blood Demon lowered his head to look at them. The bloodlust in his eyes flashed as he spoke in a serious tone, “Who allowed you to stop?”
Stretching out his hand, a powerful suction force dragged one of the women who had fallen toward him. Then, his large hand wrapped around her neck as he grinned savagely.
That woman’s expression changed greatly as she shook her head continuously and begged, “No! No!”
But why would he listen to her pleading cries? The Demon swiftly reached out and ripped her clothes apart. Opening his mouth, he clamped his teeth down on her snow-white neck and under the fluctuation of his Demon Qi, the woman in his hands turned into a mummified corpse in a matter of moments. He released his grip and the mummified corpse fell to the ground, her vitality completely gone.
On the other hand, the Demon King closed his eyes as though he was enjoying a euphoric high. His entire body trembled uncontrollably, obviously feeling extremely excited and pleased. Even the muscles of his face twitched slightly.
Screams broke out in the hall. How could those Human women remain calm after personally witnessing what happened to their companion? They had already been wallowing in fear, but they were now in a state of complete panic.
The Demons around them burst into laughter as though the scene before them pleased them very much; however, the laughter stopped abruptly when a figure wrapped in a chilling aura barged in from the outside. The Demon Qi around that person churned like boiling water and the place where he stood had practically turned into a black hole that devoured everything around it. Nobody could get a clear glimpse of this person’s face, all they could see were a pair of scarlet eyes burning with the flames of rage in the midst of the boundless black Qi.
“Who goes there!?” One of the Demon Kings stood up and shouted. The newcomer had an unpleasant aura that indicated his cultivation was equivalent to that of a High-Rank Demon King, but even so, the Demon King from before was not very afraid. They were all from the same Race after all, so what was there to fear?
Yang Kai ignored that Demon King as his gaze swept across the hall and landed on the Blood Demon sitting in the main seat. Then, he glanced at the mummified corpse at the feet of the Blood Demon and waved his hand gently.
A gentle force swept out, wrapping around all the surviving Humans in the hall and sending them into the Small Sealed World amidst their panicked screams.
The Demon King who had asked the question before stood up abruptly and asked fiercely, “Who are you!?”
Meanwhile, he wondered curiously in his heart, [Why did those people in the hall suddenly disappear?]
Yang Kai turned and glanced at the Demon King and a strange power flashed across his eyes for an instant before crashing into the latter’s Knowledge Sea.
That Demon King let out a strange grunt, as though he had been strangled, before falling on his butt. His expression was dazed for a moment, but in the next instant, he rolled up his sleeves under the stunned gazes of all those in the hall and bit down on his arm. Fresh blood dripped from that bite he took, but he didn’t seem to feel any pain; instead, a foolish grin appeared on his face as he chewed on the flesh of his own arm with great relish.
*Shua…*
Everyone in the hall stood up in unison, scattering all the dishes on the tables to the ground. Some were watching their companion, who was eating his own arm, with a look of horror, while others were looking at Yang Kai fearfully. They were not fools. The person who arrived carried the same Demon Qi as them, but how could they not realize that he held no goodwill towards them? Moreover, his strength was clearly extraordinary. They had not seen him making any moves at all, and yet their companion was now chewing on his own flesh. Such power was simply incomprehensible!
“Is it tasty?” Yang Kai asked lightly, glancing at the feasting Demon King with a blank expression.
That Demon King mumbled a vague answer while still chewing, “It’s delicious. It’s delicious.”
“Eat more if it’s delicious!” Yang Kai nodded. He then ignored that Demon King and let his gaze sweep across the Demons present in the hall, his Spiritual Energy surging to the extreme.
One by one, the other Demons sat down, and like the first Demon King, they raised their arms to their mouth, bit into their own flesh, and chewed. There were hundreds of them inside the hall; furthermore, they were all Demon Kings. Yang Kai looked around and saw that only ten remained standing. These ten were either among the most outstanding of the Mid-Rank Demon Kings or were High-Rank Demon Kings. Only those in this Realm had the power to resist Yang Kai’s Spiritual Energy.
After obtaining the power of Yu Ru Meng’s Primordial Yin, Yang Kai’s Soul cultivation soared to the point that even Half-Saints and Pseudo-Great Emperors could not compare, much less the Demon Kings who had gathered in this hall.
If he really wanted to kill them, he could obliterate most of the Demon Kings’ Souls in an instant and kill them on the spot with the barest surge of his Spiritual Energy; however, he had witnessed such a vile tragedy in the mountain valley, then entered the hall only to see a bunch of Demon Kings feasting on Humans. How could he allow them to die so easily when he had so much fury festering in his heart?
If they liked eating flesh so much, he would allow them to eat all they wanted! It would only be over when they finished devouring themselves! Two lines of blood slipped down Yang Kai’s cheeks from his scarlet eyes that were flickering like burning flames. It was much more laborious to use this method just now compared to directly using his Spiritual Energy to attack. Even if his Soul cultivation was unimaginably powerful, targeting hundreds of Demon Kings at once was beyond his current ability, so his Spiritual Energy had been poured out to the extreme.
The expressions of the ten or so Demon Kings who remained sane changed drastically. They quickly drew up their defences to resist. Among them, a few of the top Mid-Rank Demon Kings were finding it very difficult to fight back. Their bodies were trembling uncontrollably, and they gritted their teeth without making a single noise, for fear that the slightest negligence would leave them in the same predicament as their companions.
While the remaining High-Rank Demon Kings had a slightly easier time, they were by no means relaxed. A voice kept echoing in their minds, tempting them to eat their own flesh. They couldn’t suppress it no matter what they did.
“Arrgh!” A furious roar rang out as a Mid-Rank Demon King, who couldn’t bear the pressure, chose to seize the initiative. If he did not act now, he would not be able to hold on much longer. Having seen with his own eyes what happened to his companions, how could he not know what fate would befall him once the defences of his Knowledge Sea collapsed? He would rather die at the hands of the enemy than literally eat himself to death.
The furious roar was like a fuse that set off an explosion. When the Mid-Rank Demon King lunged toward Yang Kai, the other Demon Kings that were still standing in the hall lunged forward too. Suddenly, Demon Qi surged violently, and a murderous intent flooded the hall.
Yang Kai felt wrath washing over him but only became even more livid when he saw the Demon Kings taking the initiative to attack. Due to the great shock to his mind, his mental state suddenly became incredibly tranquil. His body and will united and resonated with the world around him. Something seemed to move inside his mind, as though it was about to break out of its shell.
All of a sudden, a glimmer of the Grand Dao flashed across Yang Kai’s mind. His vision was no longer filled with approaching enemies, his body was no longer standing in the Main Conference Hall of Water Cloud Sect, instead, he seemed to be standing in a vast, endless expanse. His mind was constantly being elevated, climbing infinitely into the skies to overlook all the living beings in the world.
He felt the World Principles pouring into his body in this peculiar state, tempering his mind and spirit. Meanwhile, World Energy flooded his form like a thousand streams gushing into the sea, causing his cultivation to climb rapidly!
Because he received Bright Moon’s legacy in the Demon Realm, Yang Kai broke through to the Third-Order Emperor Realm. Because of the Demon Realm’s World Principles, his Emperor Qi was transformed into Demon Qi and he became a High-Rank Demon King as a result. Since escaping from the Demon Realm and returning to the Star Boundary, he had been fighting countless battles up until today.
Suddenly, an enormous pressure bore down on him, causing his rising cultivation to gradually stabilize.
After returning to the Star Boundary for more than ten years, Yang Kai had spent much of his time in the Lower Star Field to refine worlds. It had been of great help in furthering his comprehension of the Dao of Space. He was showing such great improvement that even Li Wu Yi felt humbled; however, he had not experienced much improvement in terms of cultivation.
But now, Yang Kai suddenly felt something change as he stood in the Main Conference Hall of Water Cloud Sect. It was as though his very being had been transformed to become a part of this world. He was furious, and the world was furious too!
Lightning cracked and thunder boomed, rumbling in all directions as Yang Kai’s already powerful aura had clearly soared to the point where it was considerably more powerful than before.
Without even consciously acting, Yang Kai instinctively lifted his fist and struck out. He did not strike at any of the Demon Kings but rather at the empty space before him instead. The world collapsed the moment he struck and the Void appeared. A mighty and unparalleled suction force emerged with his fist acting as its core, drawing everything in the surroundings towards it.
There was the sound of something shattering loudly as the tables, chairs, benches, walls, and even pillars in the hall flew towards the Void and vanished. The Demon Kings who had charged at him just now, be they Mid-Rank Demon Kings or High-Rank Demon Kings, were unable to control their bodies at this moment. All of them were looking absolutely horrified, waving their arms about manically as they flew towards the Void along with all the tables, chairs, and benches. Even the Blood Demon sitting in the main seat was not spared. After Yang Kai’s fist struck, the Blood Demon felt his body flying towards the impact point regardless of his will, even though he had been almost a hundred metres away from Yang Kai at that moment. It felt like a large hand had reached out, grabbed his body, and was drawing him in.
As for the Charm Demon that had been sitting in his lap, she was only a Demon Great General and was completely unable to resist such a huge suction force at all. Thus, her body flew towards the Void, and in the midst of her screams, she was pulled into the chaotic nothingness and disappeared without a trace, her life or death unknown.
Following a loud roar, blood mist burst from the Blood Demon’s body. Burning his Blood Essence desperately, he turned into a cloud of blood light as he tried to break free from that suction force. Be that as it may, he couldn’t escape no matter what he did and could only watch helplessly as his body moved forward, little by little.
Turning his head to look around, the Blood Demon saw that the hall was a complete mess. The magnificent building was in ruins, as if an invisible beast from the Void was devouring everything. Everything that entered the mouth of that beast, be it a dinner plate or a Demon King, mysteriously vanished without a trace.
With his life on the line, he bit his tongue and condensed much of what remained of his Blood Essence into a blood arrow which shot towards Yang Kai’s direction.
Yang Kai frowned slightly as his mind was abruptly dragged out of that strange state when he detected murderous intent closing in on him. He tilted his head to the side and avoided the attack of the blood arrow. Following this movement of his, the mysterious fist strike that he sent out suddenly erupted.
The Void Crack Yang Kai had opened shrank rapidly into a tiny black hole and the entire hall around him subsequently disintegrated and collapsed in the direction of the singularity. Even a large piece of the mountain went missing. Only then did the terrifyingly powerful suction force subside and the Blood Demon regain his freedom.
Ecstatic, he used his Blood Escape Secret Technique and transformed into a ray of blood light to flee.
Only slightly more than ten breaths had passed since Yang Kai entered the hall, but even so, the Divine Abilities that he displayed were simply astonishing. Hundreds of Demon Kings had been wiped out even without him touching a single thread on their clothes. How could the Blood Demon not know that he was no match for Yang Kai? Only death awaited him if he did not escape now. Having the cultivation of a High-Rank Demon King and brimming with Demon Qi, and yet nursing a hatred for the Demon Race. At this point, he finally understood Yang Kai’s identity. Only ‘that’ Human who once ran rampant in the Demon Realm had such means.
Even if the Blood Demon wanted to escape though, how could Yang Kai possibly allow him to leave? Reaching out his hand, Yang Kai grabbed at something in the sky. In response, the Blood Demon froze in mid-air. Under the restraints of Space Principles, he couldn’t even move a finger. It wasn’t until that moment he realized just how vast a gap between a High-Rank Demon King like himself and a High-Rank Demon King like Yang Kai was; thus, he instantly lost all hope and despaired.
Yang Kai maintained his gesture of grasping something while lowering his head, mulling over the feeling he experienced just now. Unfortunately, he couldn’t enter that mysterious state of enlightenment again no matter how hard he tried. He knew that he had missed an opportunity due to this Blood Demon’s interruption just now. But, upon thinking about it some more, he realized that if he had not come here and been stimulated by the sight in front of him, he would not have come across the opportunity in the first place. It might have been interrupted in the middle of the process, but it wasn’t as though he hadn’t gained anything.
As soon as that thought crossed his mind, Yang Kai immediately calmed down. The fury in his heart just now dissipated into nothingness, and when he looked up again, he raised his brow in astonishment. He had no sense of what had happened in the hall just now as he had been completely immersed in that peculiar feeling up until the moment the Blood Demon interrupted him.
Hence, it wasn’t until now when he looked up that he realized the Main Conference Hall was gone. Even the mountain where the main hall was located was missing a large chunk. Moreover, the only Demon left alive was the Blood Demon he had imprisoned.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai comprehended what had happened. Although he was immersed in his perception just now, he was not ignorant of the outside world, he had simply ignored what was going on around him. Therefore, it was only natural that he could recall what had happened when he concentrated on remembering.
It was a pity. Even though those Demon Kings were ultimately killed, his original intention was for them to eat themselves to death. They were supposed to die after suffering a bit of the brutal torment they had inflicted on others. Unfortunately, those Demon Kings had all died without even leaving corpses behind, so there was no way to force them to eat themselves anymore.
“Rupture!” Yang Kai murmured softly. The Demon Qi lingering around his body converged to reveal his true appearance.
“What?” The imprisoned Blood Demon was stunned upon hearing this. He had absolutely no idea what Yang Kai meant.
Yang Kai turned to look at the Blood Demon and laughed savagely. Why would he bother explaining anything to a dead man?
‘Rupture’ was the name he had given his newly created Space Secret Technique. All of his Space Secret Techniques were self-created; after all, the Dao of Space was rarely successfully cultivated by anyone. Not many people had set foot on this Grand Dao, so there was no experience he could borrow from as a reference. Aside from discussions with Li Wu Yi, there was nobody in this world who could teach Yang Kai anything about the Dao of Space; therefore, he could only rely on himself for everything.
Following Moon Blade, Nihility, Exile, and Instantaneous Movement, Rupture was born.
Moon Blade was a means of attack. By condensing Space Principles into a blade, Yang Kai could send out a blade which could cut through anything.
Nihility was a means of concealment and self-preservation. By integrating oneself into the Void and suppressing his aura to the minimum, even people with greater cultivation than him would have a hard time locating his whereabouts unless they were concentrating hard. Nihility could also be used to avoid fatal attacks by phasing out of the material plane. Yang Kai relied on this technique many times over the years to protect himself when he encountered strong enemies.
Exile used the Space Principles to connect with the Void and then send his enemies inside.
There was no need to explain Instantaneous Movement. It was the most practical Secret Technique for escape or rapid travel.
The newly cultivated Rupture was somewhat similar to Exile in execution; however, it was very different in effect. Exile sent his enemies into the Void Crack, banishing them from the world. If his enemies were lucky enough though, they might still be able to survive in the Void Crack. Although their death was basically an inevitable fate, there was a small chance of survival. If they were very lucky, like a blind cat striking a dead mouse, they might even escape from the Void Crack and regain their freedom.
There were many miracles in the world after all, and it was not impossible for something like that to occur.
Take Sheng Yu Zhu, for example, a peak level Master who competed with Wu Kuang for the position of Great Emperor. She had survived in the Void Crack for tens of thousands of years before Yang Kai rescued her back at Luo Sha Sect.
Rupture was completely unrelated to the Void Crack as it did not send enemies anywhere and instead shredded space directly. Everything would be ripped apart by the immense Space Principle waves, eventually grinding both people and objects into dust. This process could not be seen by the naked eye nor by Divine Sense as even light and Spiritual Energy would be drawn in and torn apart. It was truly a Secret Technique meant purely for destruction. This was how Rupture differed from Exile. If Exile still presented a chance of survival, then Rupture guaranteed death.
Yang Kai walked towards the Blood Demon.
The Blood Demon trembled uncontrollably, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Ever since he crossed over into this world from the Demon Realm, he had a mighty army under his command and had conquered all who he came across. Moreover, the Star Boundary cultivators he encountered in the past few days were simply too weak and vulnerable. There had been nobody who could even put up a fight within the surrounding hundred thousand kilometres.
It wasn’t until now that he finally understood what despair and fear meant. How could he have known that most of the elites in the Star Boundary had joined the armies and travelled to the Western Territory, leaving no worthwhile Masters behind in the other lands?
The Blood Demon couldn’t even move under the restraint of the Space Principles, so he could only watch helplessly as Yang Kai reached out a hand to grab him by the neck and hoist him up.
“Yang Kai!” He bellowed, “You are part of the Demon Race now! Why…”
Before he could finish his sentence, his eyes widened as Yang Kai stabbed his hand into his chest. An unbearable pain made the Blood Demon’s blood-coloured complexion turn bloodless and his entire body tremble uncontrollably. He could feel the large hand grasping his heart inside his chest, which made him gasp for breath.
Yang Kai looked at the Blood Demon calmly and enunciated each word clearly, “I am Human!”
He slowly withdrew his hand from the Blood Demon’s chest and the latter shuddered even more violently in response. There was a muffled sound as though something had been ripped out. When Yang Kai pulled his hand back fully, there was a fist-sized Demon Heart in his grasp. Demon Qi surrounded the pitch-black Demon Heart that was still beating despite being removed, making an audible thumping sound.
Next, Yang Kai brought the Demon Heart to his mouth. Although the Demon Heart had been removed from the Blood Demon’s chest, he did not die immediately as the more powerful Demons would always cultivate more than one Demon Heart. Upon seeing Yang Kai’s actions, the Blood Demon was horrified and exclaimed in shock, “What are you doing!?”
Yang Kai did not answer and instead smiled grimly as he took a large bite. A hole appeared in the Demon Heart in his hand and blood splattered everywhere.
The Blood Demon was shocked. Although he had a taste for Human hearts, it was something he had only discovered recently; after all, where would he find Human hearts to eat back in the Demon Realm? He had not felt anything when eating somebody else’s heart, but now, he was watching somebody else eating his own heart right in front of him! The terror he experienced at the sight was indescribable. Looking at the savage grin on Yang Kai’s face, he only felt as though Yang Kai was far more of a Demon than himself.
Yang Kai might not have fully undergone demonification, but his Emperor Qi had been fully converted into Demon Qi, so it was only natural that his personality had been slightly affected. It might not be obvious under normal circumstances, but he would turn more violent and malicious if he was agitated by something which aroused his anger.
Yang Kai fiercely took several bites before opening his mouth and spitting out the chewed-up pulp on the Blood Demon’s face. The force was so powerful that it knocked the Blood Demon’s head back.
“Disgusting!” He glared at the Blood Demon gloomily, “You should feel honoured! I was going to eat your Demon Hearts, one by one, but they’re so unpalatable that I can’t even bear to swallow. So… I’ll give you a quick death!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, his Demon Qi surged and rushed into the Blood Demon’s body.
The Blood Demon’s figure immediately began swelling up like a balloon. The entire process took no more than five breaths before he transformed into a round ball. Looking at this scene, it was as if the Blood Demon could fly away as soon as Yang Kai let go of him. In a state of complete panic and anxiety, the Blood Demon suddenly exploded and turned into a cloud of blood mist.
Yang Kai’s Demon Qi surged, keeping the filth that splattered in his direction away from him. He then looked behind and saw that the mountains were filled with members of the Demon Race staring in his direction with shocked expressions.
Several tens of thousands of Demons were stationed here. The only reason precautions were so lax was that Yang Kai and the others had sneaked in quietly and moved quickly. The Demon Race army might be numerous, but they were unable to react whatsoever. It wasn’t until Yang Kai’s Rupture Secret Technique had caused the entire Main Hall and a large chunk of the mountain to vanish that the Demons scattered across this Demon Land noticed the presence of an intruder.
Even so, Yang Kai had wiped out over a hundred Demon Kings gathered inside the hall; as a result, not many Masters were left among the remainder of the Demon Race army. There was nobody to give them orders either; hence, they simply stared at Yang Kai at a loss for what to do.
On the other hand, Yang Kai summoned Zhui Feng, mounted the beast, brought out the Myriads Sword, and charged forward. He had been hiding Zhui Feng’s existence as a preventive measure against any Half-Saints who might be guarding this place, but who could have known that not a single Half-Saint could be found in this Demon Stronghold? What else was there to say? Zhui Feng immediately understood what was happening and neighed loudly. His four hooves kicked against the ground, flames burning from his legs, and with just a few strides, he carried Yang Kai into the middle of the Demon Race army.
Following that charge, Yang Kai cut and slashed a path through the enemy like a tidal wave. The Sword Qi of the Myriads Sword surged, slashing wave after wave while at the same time, his empty right hand kept striking the Void.
The world collapsed wherever his fist impacted and everything within a large area would collapse in on itself, falling into the tiny black spots that had appeared before vanishing without a trace. Oftentimes, the Demons standing within range would find their vision going dark and disappearing before they could even figure out what was going on.
In the beginning, the Demon Race army seemed to have planned to rely upon their superior numbers to fight a prolonged battle and exhaust Yang Kai to the death; however, they soon realized that nobody could even get within a thousand metres of Yang Kai without being cut to pieces of vanishing from existence. His overwhelmingly powerful Sword Qi slashed out in all directions and everywhere it passed, Demons fell like straw. At the same time, the Ruptures that were sent out silently devoured the lives of untold numbers of Demons.
The Demons who didn’t even have a single Demon King among them lost their courage to fight in the face of such a terrifying enemy. They scattered and fled in all directions, just trying to get as far away as possible; however, there were tens of thousands of Demons scattered across Water Cloud Sect’s former territory, so how could all of them manage to escape in such a short time?
Yang Kai and Zhui Feng split up and hunted down the escaping Demons, leading to large numbers of the enemy keeling over and dying at every given moment.
Yang Kai was in the midst of his killing spree when he suddenly heard the sound of fighting coming from more than a dozen kilometres away. The movements of his hands stopped abruptly, and he cocked his ear to listen attentively. A short moment later, his figure flashed and disappeared from the spot. When he reappeared again, he was standing at the source of the sounds of battle.
He was standing in front of a cave where a Demon Race army of tens of thousands were gathered outside. They were constantly launching attacks at the cave, causing the mountain where the cave was located to crumble and teeter on the brink of collapse.
At the front of the cave stood Fu Ling and Ying Fei. The two of them were killing non-stop and the corpses of Demons they slew had piled up like mountains in front of them. Although their cultivations weren’t weak and it would be easy for them to escape, it was beyond their ability to wipe out all of the enemies in this place. What’s more; there were many Humans who had been captured by the Demons inside the cave.
They had arrived at the mountain valley under Yuan Wen Long’s guidance to save the people held in this cave, but before they could finish their rescue mission, they had been surrounded by the Demons and were trapped at the entrance of the cave. As a result, it immediately turned into a large-scale battle.
A cracking sound came from behind the pair. The mountain peak behind them looked like it was about to collapse, causing them to become anxious. If the mountain were to collapse, not many of the people who had been kidnapped and held captive in the cave would survive; however, there was nothing Ying Fei and Fu Ling could do to stop it from happening. In their moment of desperation, they felt Yang Kai’s aura appearing beside them. They turned to look in that direction and saw Yang Kai’s figure appearing and all their worries vanished in an instant. Now free of extraneous concerns, they concentrated on crushing the enemies in front of them.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai shot into the cave and came back out again a couple of breaths later. He had placed all of the people who had been held captive inside the cave into the Small Sealed World. He nodded lightly at Ying Fei and Fu Ling. Receiving confirmation, the two of them abruptly released the shackles binding them and pushed their strength wildly. They had been worried about the people behind them previously, so neither Ying Fei nor Fu Ling had dared to use their full strength. Now that there was nothing holding them back, their fury instantly erupted.
There was a roar as Ying Fei assumed his True Form, an enormous Monster Beast that was several dozen metres long and tall. His entire body was surrounded by cyan winds and as he spread his wings, wind blades slashed in all directions. Before he even got close, the Demon Race members standing around him were cut to pieces and their corpses collapsed to the ground in broken pieces. Wherever he flew, the wind blades followed. Hence, the Demon Race army soon turned into a sea of blood.
Similarly, Fu Ling had taken on her Dragon Form. A Seventh-Order Purple Dragon soared into the sky, spewing out large swaths of purple Dragon Breath from her mouth. In the wake of her Dragon Breath, any Demon Race member that was touched, even if just slightly, was turned into a purple crystal statue. They would become frozen in place and unable to move.
Tens of thousands of the Demons scattered in an instant and fled for their lives.
It was at that moment that a rumbling sound came from the distance and a group of several hundred people came charging in from afar. The person leading the group was none other than the Young Sect Master of the Water Cloud Sect, Yuan Wen Long. After being rescued by Yang Kai and the others, he rested in the mountain valley for some time, so how could he not know what was going on when he heard the commotion coming from this direction?
Although he had not completely recovered, the Demon Race had slaughtered his family and destroyed his Sect. His hatred for the Demons was so deeply ingrained into his bones that he immediately led everyone who could fight out to avenge their dead Sect Brothers and Sisters.
Under normal circumstances, these few hundred people would not have made much of a difference; however, the Demon Race army was currently routed and running for their lives in all directions. Moreover, no Master was leading them, so Yuan Wen Long and the others managed to kill many with their reckless charge, which helped relieve some of the pent-up emotions in their hearts.
A quarter of an hour later, the situation inside Water Cloud Sect gradually returned to calm. Demon Race corpses could be seen everywhere, and the Demon Qi in their bodies was slowly escaping into the air.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai stood in the sky and sent out jade slip after jade slip with his hands. There were a great number of Demons here, so just him, Xi Lei, and the others alone were not enough to kill them all. Even if tens of thousands of the Demons had died at their hands, a large part of the army had still managed to escape. The remaining Demons had scattered and formed groups of stragglers. They would be vulnerable if they encountered a Master or a coordinated army, but more tragedies would undoubtedly occur if they came across any small Sects or villages.
Since Yang Kai had destroyed this Demon Stronghold, it was only natural for him to ensure that he did a thorough cleanup job. The two groups from the Sixty-First Army were not far away, so at this moment, Yang Kai issued orders to split up the formation and mop up all the Demon stragglers in a thorough fashion. It was essential for all the fleeing Demons to be completely eliminated before he could consider this issue over.
Ying Fei and Fu Ling stood beside Yang Kai, looking at the mountain in the distance that had been hollowed out with wide eyes. That mountain was where Water Cloud Sect’s Main Conference Hall was located, but the shape of the mountain seemed a bit peculiar now. There was a huge semi-circular hole in the side of the mountain, one that was oddly smooth.
The edges around the semi-circular gap were flat and smooth, as though it had been cut by a sharp tool, which made the top of the mountain look like an upside-down crescent moon as a result.
Both Ying Fei and Fu Ling were stunned, and they wondered how Yang Kai accomplished this. It would not have been surprising for Yang Kai to smash the mountains to bits given his strength; however, it was truly baffling how a semi-circular gap had been carved into the mountain instead.
“Sir, can we leave this place quickly? I’m afraid… they might not be able to withstand this if it goes on any longer.” Yuan Wen Long glanced at the several hundred survivors of Water Cloud Sect with a worried expression.
These several hundred people were not very strong and their cultivations had been sealed when they were captured by the Demon Race so they had begun to show symptoms of illness after staying in the Demon Land for so long. Most of them were breathing heavily and their bodies gave off a faint malevolent aura.
The Demon Essence permeating the Demon Land was quietly eroding away at their minds the whole time. This process was not fast, but it was definitely not slow either; moreover, they had just experienced a battle, which had agitated their aggression and accelerated the rate at which the Demon Essence was corrupting their thoughts. If they continued to stay here for much longer, most of them would probably undergo demonification. That was why Yuan Wen Long wanted to get them out of here quickly.
Yang Kai understood what Yuan Wen Long was worried about, so he nodded and ordered, “Relax and don’t resist!”
Reaching out a large hand to the front, his Divine Sense covered those hundreds of people as he placed them into the Small Sealed World.
A short while later, three figures rose into the sky. The passage in the sky that was connecting the two worlds had been sealed by Yang Kai, but the black spot and the Demon Land could not be eliminated. The situation was exactly the same as what had happened in the Western Territory a few days ago, which made Yang Kai a little uneasy.
It didn’t take the Sixty-First Army more than five days to round up and wipe out all the remaining Demons that had fled from Water Cloud Sect. If the enemy army had gathered together in one place, they might have stood a fighting chance against the Sixty-First Army, but spread out, it only gave the Humans a chance to pick them off one by one. There was not much of a resistance at all and hundreds of thousands of Demons were annihilated as a result, with few slipping through the net.
Even so, the army did not stop advancing. They divided into two groups again and continued heading deeper into the Northern Territory. During their journey, Yang Kai sealed more than ten Two Worlds’ Passages.
The Sixty-First Army was a formidable force, so they rarely encountered any enemies that could put up a decent fight. Only the armies led by Half-Saints could stall the Sixty-First Army’s advance. Some places even had more than one Half-Saint, which gave a real challenge.
At the same time, the fifty-five armies of the Star Boundary were like fifty-five blades sweeping across the Eastern, Southern, and Western Territories. They charged through the entire Star Boundary, engaging in large-scale battles almost every day. Both Humans and Demons suffered heavy casualties, countless cities and Sects were destroyed, and millions died as a result.
Approximately half a month later, the situation had become clear. There were exactly one hundred and eight of those ink-like spots scattered across the Star Boundary, evenly distributed throughout the four territories!
There was still no news from the Great Emperors; however, the people in the Star Boundary confirmed that the Demon Saints had also disappeared without a trace. Back when the ten Demon Saints crossed into this world from the Demon Realm, the seven Great Emperors, along with Yu Ru Meng and the others, had separated to pursue the enemy. Whenever they exchanged blows with each other, the commotions were so great that it wouldn’t be wrong to call them catastrophic. It was hard not to notice their fights, so it drew the attention of many and in the end, those people witnessed the world split apart, and a gigantic arm emerge from the crack. That sight was personally witnessed by many; therefore, it was easy to learn about what had happened back then with a little investigation.
The Great Emperors and the Demon Saints had been taken away by those gigantic hands, a story nobody wanted to believe. Li Wu Yi secretly guessed that the gigantic hand was not caused by some Divine Ability as there was nobody in this world who could accomplish that. It must have been something the Demon Saints had secretly set up in the Demon Realm, which would activate when those cracks opened.
That conjecture was quite reasonable. The disappearance of the Great Emperors had caused many people to panic, but learning that the Demon Saints had also gone missing slightly mollified their anxiety. They had been afraid that the Demon Saints had remained in this world while the Great Emperors were missing. If that had been the case, nobody in the Star Boundary could have fought back. Regardless of how powerful the fifty-five armies of the Star Boundary were, there would come a day when they were completely wiped out by the enemy.
The black spots in the sky were enormous, and a faint black light could be seen glowing and flashing from within. Every time the light flashed; the black spots would expand at an imperceptible rate. Nothing would be detected in the short term, but if this continued for long enough, the entire Star Boundary would eventually be devoured.
A certain Demon Land stretched out three hundred thousand kilometres in every direction beneath with an army totalling over a million stationed on its periphery, the camps seemingly going on forever with no end in sight.
How high-spirited had the fifty-five armies been back when they gathered in the Western Territory to await the opening of the Two Worlds’ Passage so they could assault the Demon Race?
An attack had indeed happened, but it was the Demon Race that had opened the Two Worlds’ Passage. The Demon Race suffered more than twenty million casualties on the Western Territory battlefield, which was a significant loss, but the Demon Race corpses had released rich Demon Qi which spread out across various territories of the Star Boundary. Under some sort of blessing from an unknown force, one hundred and eight passages had been opened in the Star Boundary that day, bringing unimaginable disaster with it.
In the beginning, nobody could have imagined that the war would progress in this direction. Under the will of the Heavens, countless wars had broken out everywhere in the Star Boundary.
It had been more than a month since the incident at the Western Territory, and during that time, the Sixty-First Army had fought in various places across the Northern Territory. Instead of decreasing in numbers, however, the Sixty-First Army had expanded considerably instead. At present, there were three hundred and fifty thousand people among its ranks.
This was a natural result. When Li Wu Yi first sent out recruitment letters to the entire Star Boundary, most of the cultivators had the same mindset as those from Water Cloud Sect. They chose self-preservation, thinking that somebody higher up would hold up the sky for them even if it came crashing down. Besides, the Western Territory was very far away and the war would never affect them, so they turned a blind eye to it.
But now, the Demon Race’s methods had shattered their illusions. In this one month alone, countless people had lost their homes and families while numerous Sects and Clans had been slaughtered. Of those who survived, some were frightened out of their minds and fled in a panic. There were also some who carried the burning desire for revenge in their hearts and volunteered to join the armies in order to fight.
That was how the Sixty-First Army expanded. Even so, the Sixty-First Army was strict in selecting people. Even though many people volunteered themselves to the army, only a few tens of thousands were accepted mainly as a means of replenishing their ranks.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai’s Small Sealed World was dangerously full. The space in the first region of the Small Sealed World had always been limited and he had taken in many people during his month. At this point, there were tens of millions of refugees inside the Small Sealed World. Only the piece of land where the medicine garden was located was relatively empty; everywhere else was simply filled to the brim.
The second region of the Small Sealed World had been stripped away. On the other hand, the remaining third region was vast and could accommodate many times more people with no trouble at all, but it was formed from devouring various Demon Realm continents. It could be considered as a second incomplete Demon Realm, so how could weak Humans from the Star Boundary survive there? If Yang Kai really put them in there, it would not be long before they were eroded by the Demon Essence and reduced to Demons themselves.
Since the Small Sealed World could not take in any more people, they could only provide directions to the fleeing refugees they came across so that they could escape towards High Heaven Palace. As for whether they survived or not, nobody could afford to care; after all, war had always been a cruel affair.
Meanwhile, the Thirty-Fifth Army under Bing Yun had expanded to more than six hundred thousand people at this point. In comparison, the Sixty-First Army had not expanded by much, with the reason being that the heritage of the Thirty-Fifth Army was not as strong as that of the Sixty-First Army. They suffered great casualties every time they encountered Demon Race armies, so it was only natural for them to replenish and expand their ranks as much as possible. For that reason, they welcomed anybody who had the will to fight and kill the enemy.
Whether it was the Sixty-First Army or the Thirty-Fifth Army, they were both primarily formed from Northern Territory cultivators and had returned to the Northern Territory after the incident at the Western Territory. Just like the Sixty-First Army, the Thirty-Fifth Army had been constantly fighting during the past month or so.
Five days ago, the two armies joined forces outside Blue Wave City. Blue Wave City was a small town. According to the stories, an Emperor Realm Master came here in the past and created a prosperous home in this place. His presence attracted people from all over the world, which gradually led to the formation of this city. As the Emperor Realm Master’s name contained the characters for ‘Blue Wave’, the city was named after him. Still, this was something that happened a long, long time ago and there was no way to verify if it was the truth.
Blue Wave City was originally an unknown little town in the vast Northern Territory with a population of several tens of thousands. Moreover, the strongest in the city was only in the Dao Source Realm. There was not a single Emperor Realm Master and it was inferior to even Maplewood City back then. Nevertheless, it was now very famous. That couldn’t be helped though as this was the place where Demon Saint Huang Wu Ji and Iron Blood Great Emperor Zhan Wu Hen had fought each other and gone missing together.
When the Demon Saints and Great Emperors vanished, the sky cracked open and the black spots came into being. The surroundings of Blue Wave City turned into a Demon Land, and this place became one of the hundred and eight Demon Strongholds.
A Demon Race army of nearly three million was stationed inside this Demon Stronghold. In addition. There was no end to them at a glance. With so many of the Demon Race gathered in one place, it caused the world to fill with Demon Qi.
Over the past five days, the Sixty-First and Thirty-Fifth Army had joined forces and fought against the Demon Race army in this place three times, but each attempt to wipe the enemy out had ended in failure.
This Demon Stronghold was clearly different from all the others that Yang Kai had encountered recently. The Demon Race seemed to place great importance on this place. Not only was there a Demon Race army of three million stationed here, but there were also as many as five Half-Saints assuming command.
There were quite a few Masters under Yang Kai’s command. Like the enemy, there were four Half-Saints, namely Zhui Feng, the Embodiment, Bai Zhuo, and Bai Ya, in addition to himself, who was almost equivalent to a Half-Saint in terms of combat power. What’s more, Bing Yun was a Pseudo-Great Emperor.
Comparing the numbers of Half-Saints, the two armies combined were not inferior to the Demon Race army. The only disadvantage they had was in terms of the number of troops. An army of one million might not be small, but the Demon Race army had three times that number of soldiers. Furthermore, the Demons were defending from inside the Demon Land. The Demon Qi that was ubiquitous in the Demon Land had a negative effect on the combat power of ordinary Humans while it provided a boon to the Demons.
During the first confrontation, the two parties had fought for a full day and night. The corpses of both sides could be seen everywhere within a radius of three hundred thousand kilometres. When the order to withdraw finally came, only several hundred thousand remained of the one million strong army.
Unable to break through the Demon Race army’s defences, Yang Kai and Bing Yun had no choice but to retreat when they saw that the Bloodlust Spell’s effect was about to end. That night, Yang Kai placed Bing Yun and all the Half-Saints under his command in the Small Sealed World. Then, he infiltrated the Demon Race camp all on his own to take down the enemy leaders. As long as they could get rid of the five Half-Saints, the rest of the Demon Race army would have nothing left but numbers.
Unfortunately, those Demon Race Half-Saints seemed to have prepared in advance for this scenario. They stuck together as a group and never separated from each other. When the Half-Saints on both sides engaged in battle again, it ended with only one of the Half-Saints on the Demon Race’s side being severely injured.
Two days later, an assassination attempt was carried out on Yang Kai in the General’s tent of the Sixty-First Army. The person who carried out the assassination attempt was a Shadow Demon Half-Saint, who quietly snuck into the Sixty-First Army alone and attacked.
It would surely have ended in tragedy if not for how extraordinary Yang Kai’s Soul cultivation was. Even so, the experience left him drenched in a cold sweat. He had always known that the Shadow Demon Clan was talented and proficient in stealth and assassination, and among them, a Shadow Demon Half-Saint was considered the best among the best. Despite knowing this, it wasn’t until he actually experienced it for himself that Yang Kai had a clear and profound understanding of what it meant.
It was almost impossible to prevent the Shadow Demon Half-Saint from infiltrating and carrying out a sneak attack. Even Yang Kai could not detect the Shadow Demon Half-Saint’s presence, so how could the others? Fortunately, there were traces that could be seen at the exact moment the other party attacked. Yang Kai immediately used Nihility on himself when he felt alarm bells ringing in his heart, which was what allowed him to avoid the crisis.
The Shadow Demon Half-Saint immediately fled far away when his attack missed its mark. Yang Kai had urged the Space Principles to solidify the area but failed to restrain the enemy; hence, the Shadow Demon was nowhere to be seen by the time Bai Ya, the Embodiment, and the others heard the commotion and rushed over.
There was a head-on battle and two sneak attacks, coming to a total of three confrontations in a span of five days; thus, Yang Kai and Bing Yun realized that the enemy in front of them was a tough nut to crack. It was going to be difficult to defeat this Demon Race army of three million with just the power they had on hand.
Yang Kai and Bing Yun stood side by side on top of a solitary mountain where the clouds gathered, looking out in the direction of Blue Wave City that was located thousands of kilometres away. Even though it was thousands of kilometres away; even though more than a month had passed since the incident, the aftermath of the battle between the Great Emperor and the Demon Saint was still clearly discernible. Somewhere above the Demon Land and below the black spot, the Great Emperor’s Emperor Qi swirled, and the Demon Saint’s Demon Qi raged. They formed two dazzling rays of light and darkness that kept clashing with each other in mid-air.
It had been many years since such powerful Masters had fought against each other in this world. The battlefield left behind from their battle would definitely become a cultivation paradise of the Grand Dao in later years. If anybody had the opportunity to perceive the confrontation between the two forces, they would surely gain great benefits from the experience that would improve their cultivation by leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, that place was currently dominated by the Demon Race, so who would dare approach? On the contrary, many Masters in the Demon King Realm and above were taking the opportunity to gain insight there.
“Senior, have you received any news?” Yang Kai squinted in that direction for a while before asking.
Bing Yun sighed, “None of the others can come. They all have their own enemies to deal with.”
He nodded at her words. The results were within his expectations.
The two sides had clashed three times, but both sides were unable to do anything about the other. Wondering if she could ask for help from elsewhere, Bing Yun had turned to the other armies in the Northern Territory for assistance in order to remove the eyesore in front of them before moving on to obliterate the rest of the Demons in the remaining Demon Strongholds.
However, the armies of the Star Boundary were all busy fighting their own battles, so who could come forward to provide support? Li Wu Yi had received countless requests asking for support, but unfortunately, he couldn’t send out more helping hands. The only thing he could do was ask the respective Army Commanders to figure out a solution for themselves.
At present, there were one hundred and eight Demon Strongholds scattered across the four territories of the Star Boundary with Demon Race armies stationed at each one. Although many of the Demon Strongholds had been wiped out along with the defenders stationed there over the course of the past month, the Demon Lands remained. Even the World Principles of the Star Boundary could not repair themselves.
The Demon Race armies would sometimes evacuate a stronghold before the arrival of the Star Boundary’s armies and converged towards another larger Demon Stronghold, causing the Star Boundary’s armies’ aggressive and high-spirited march to be in vain.
Most Demon Strongholds were not too hard to deal with as the number of Half-Saints in the Demon Realm was limited, so not every Demon Stronghold had a Half-Saint guarding it. Take the Demon Stronghold at Water Cloud Sect for example. There were no Half-Saints stationed there, so Yang Kai succeeded in turning the place upside down practically all alone.
In contrast, those Demon Strongholds with Half-Saints guarding them were rather difficult to deal with. Among them, there were a total of ten Demon Strongholds with more than one Half-Saint! The Demon Race highly valued these ten spots, and each spot had at least four or five Half-Saints stationed there. Blue Wave City happened to be one of them! Furthermore, these ten Demon Strongholds were the places where the seven Great Emperors, Yu Ru Meng, and the others had disappeared together with the Demon Saints.
Just Blue Wave City alone had been keeping the Sixty-First and Thirty-Fifth Army completely tied down. The other nine Demon Strongholds were probably facing a similar situation. At the very least, thirty of the Star Boundary’s armies were required to siege these ten Demon Strongholds. The rest could only divide their troops to confront the remaining Demons.
Anyone could tell that these ten Demon Strongholds were of great importance to Demon Race. They could ignore all the other Demon Strongholds and Demon Lands but defeating those ten locations was a must. As long as they could capture these ten locations, it would be difficult for the Demon Race to implement whatever tricks and conspiracies they had planned, but it was extremely difficult to capture those locations. Judging from the current situation of the Star Boundary’s various armies, it was nothing short of a dream.
These ten Demon Strongholds were scattered throughout the four territories of the Star Boundary. There were three in the Northern Territory, three in the Southern Territory, and two each in the Eastern and Western Territory!
“It’s not necessarily a bad idea to gather all the Masters in one place and accomplish everything in one go.” Yang Kai pondered in silence for a moment.
Bing Yun nodded, “I’ve already considered that option. We have the Space Beacons and the World Beads, so our mobility is much greater than that of our enemy. If we can gather ten Masters in the Pseudo-Great Emperor Realm, we might just be able to defeat the opponents in front of us, but what happens to the armies under their command during their absence? The Demon Race forces will not miss this opportunity to retaliate. Without the protection of a Pseudo-Great Emperor, those armies will definitely suffer heavy casualties. The losses will outweigh the gains. It might work if we place the armies into the World Beads as well, but that would mean abandoning vigilance towards some of the Demon Strongholds altogether.”
He nodded, “You are right, Senior. What are Supreme Commander Li’s opinions on this matter?”
She replied, “Supreme Commander Li said to wait for the news from Dragon Island. All our problems will be solved if the two Elders of Dragon Island are willing to come forward.”
Yang Kai smiled slightly, “I see. It shouldn’t take too long then.”
Upon returning to High Heaven Palace from the Western Territory, he had asked Qiong Qi to escort Yang Xiao and Yang Xue to Dragon Island. Now that one month had passed, the results should present themselves soon.
The Star Boundary was in critical condition, and while Dragon Island was technically a Sealed World of its own, it was still based in the Star Boundary. No matter how detached the Dragon Clan was towards the matters of the world, they could not stand idly by in this situation. The reasoning behind the saying ‘without lips, the teeth would go cold’ was still something they understood very well.
“I hope that’s the case,” Seeing his confident expression, Bing Yun smiled slightly in response.
He suddenly reached out his hand while they were conversing. At the same time, Space Principles fluctuated briefly, then, a jade slip appeared in the palm of Yang Kai’s hands when he opened his hand again. Li Wu Yi’s aura emanated from that jade slip.
She asked, “Is that a message from Supreme Commander Li?”
Yang Kai nodded, immersing his Divine Sense into the jade slip. After checking the contents of the jade slip, he smiled bitterly, “Senior, I’m afraid I won’t be able to fight alongside you anymore.”
“What did the Supreme Commander ask you to do?” She asked.
He tossed the jade slip to her and said, “Senior Li wants me to head into the Demon Realm to search for the whereabouts of the Great Emperors and… devour the rest of the Demon Realm while I’m at it.”
Bing Yun swiftly finished reading the contents of the jade slip, and knowing that what he was saying was the truth, she nodded in response, “That’s not a bad idea. Just looking at the number of Demons in the world today, it’s easy to tell that most of the strongest Masters have been deployed. Those that remained are probably the weak and infirmed. You probably won’t face much danger if you head to the Demon Realm now…”
She suddenly laughed, “The Demon Race invaded the Star Boundary in hopes of seizing new land… Supreme Commander Li’s little scheme is truly giving them a taste of their own medicine.”
If Yang Kai went deep behind the enemy lines and devoured the Demon Realm continents, the Demon Race would definitely not ignore his actions; thus, he alone would be able to distract the Demon Race’s attention. It would be even better if he managed to lure some of the Half-Saints away. What’s more, according to Li Wu Yi’s conjecture, the Great Emperors were probably in the Demon Realm at the moment; hence, the main purpose of this trip was to inquire about their whereabouts and current situation.
Yang Kai said solemnly, “Please take care of the Sixty-First Army after I leave, Senior.”
Bing Yun laughed, “The Sixty-First Army is the mightiest in the Star Boundary. They don’t need me to take care of them. Rather, my Thirty-Fifth Army will be relying on the Sixty-First Army.”
“Although Yao Si acts prudently, he is still young. I’m worried that he might lose his composure now that the Great Emperors are missing.”
Bing Yun nodded and replied in a serious tone, “Rest assured. I will watch over him carefully.”
He nodded in thanks.
“When are you going? Where will you depart from?”
Yang Kai thought for a moment before answering, “I’ll leave after making some arrangements.” He glanced at the black spot located thousands of kilometres away and grinned, “As for where, I’ll just depart from here.”
Following his gaze, Bing Yun felt stunned for some time and secretly sighed to herself. [His courage isn’t small…] “If you intend to leave from there, then you should probably make some proper arrangements.”
He glanced at her for a moment, mulling over her words before understanding her intentions and nodding, “I’ll do as you say, Senior.”
The two of them then set off immediately and returned to the camp.
A short while later, the Division Commanders of both armies gathered together in the Commander’s tent of the Sixty-First Army. When Yang Kai told them about his intentions to set off for the Demon Realm, the news caused an uproar among them; however, they fell silent after learning that Yang Kai was acting under Li Wu Yi’s orders.
Bai Ya and Bai Zhuo naturally requested to follow him. They were sent by Yu Ru Meng and Bei Li Mo to protect him after all, so it was only logical that they were wherever he was. Nevertheless, the war situation was very precarious at the moment, so how could Yang Kai cut off the supporting pillars of the two armies at such a critical juncture? Hence, he immediately rejected their request. Even the Embodiment was to stay behind.
Following a brief discussion, everybody dispersed.
That night, the two armies joined forces and launched a fierce attack on Blue Wave City. Having already taken precautions in advance, the Demons were able to respond to the attack quickly, but what puzzled them was that the Human’s attack this time around was extremely flashy but seemed to lack substance. Hundreds of thousands attacked with great vigour, only to quickly withdraw their forces after an hour or so. It left the Demon Race extremely puzzled.
Staring at the Human Race army retreating like the receding tide, the Demon Race Half-Saints stood in the sky with a frown on their faces. They instinctively felt that the Humans were carrying out some sort of plot, but they could not sense anything.
All of a sudden, the Shadow Demon Half-Saint who previously snuck into the Sixty-First Army to assassinate Yang Kai looked up at the black spot in the sky with a glint in his eyes.
“There’s an easy path to the Heavens but you refused to take it; instead, you force your way into the Gates of Hell!” The Shadow Demon gave a soft, cold laugh before his figure suddenly faded, and vanished from sight.
“Qian Zhong, where are you going!?” A Half-Saint shouted after him.
“To kill!” His voice came from the direction of the black spot.
The other Half-Saints raised their eyebrows at those words; then, the realization of the meaning behind that strange feeling they experienced just now suddenly struck them. They had not seen any traces of Yang Kai during this battle! Yang Kai held a high position among the Human Race; he seemed to be an Army Commander or something of the sort, so it was impossible for him not to show up during such an important battle. Thinking back to the Human Race army’s movements just now, how could they not realize that the attack was all a feint? It was simply to distract them. Besides, Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space, so it was not impossible for him to sneak into the Demon Realm through this place amidst all the chaos.
“He is proficient in the Dao of Space. I’m afraid it won’t be easy to kill him! Qian Zhong attempted it once before but failed,” One of the Half-Saints frowned.
“If he really snuck into the Demon Realm, then he would surely feel smug about himself and become complacent as a result. It might just work out this time.”
“Let’s hope it does. It’s just that the Human brat has a storage artifact. There are always traitors around him to protect him.”
“Bai Ya, Bai Zhuo, and that strange Stone Man made an appearance just now. I believe he only has that beast, Zhui Feng, with him at the moment. It’s difficult for even you and I to guard against Qian Zhong’s sneak attacks, so as long as that boy lets down his guard even just a little, Qian Zhong will have a great chance of succeeding.”
“That’s true. Let us hope Qian Zhong can bring back some good news.”
At this point, the Half-Saints stopped talking. They simply watched the Human Race army’s movements warily, preparing to defend against another attack at any time.
The Shadow Demon Clan was inherently proficient in concealment and assassination. Like a rabbit eating grass or a jackal eating meat, it was an ability that came innately to them. Moreover, a Shadow Demon Half-Saint stood at the peak of this field.
Qian Zhong concealed his figure and aura, passed through the enormous black spot in the sky, and quietly snuck back into the Demon Realm.
Yang Kai infiltrated the Demon Realm in order to cause mayhem. That was simply his suspicion born from the fact that he had not seen Yang Kai anywhere on the battlefield just now. He had not been too confident whether it was the truth or not, but be that as it may, he became certain that his guess was correct the moment he returned to the Demon Realm. That was because traces of Yang Kai’s aura clearly remained at the place where he appeared, which made him ecstatic.
All the Half-Saints, and even the Demon Saints themselves loathed Yang Kai. It was just that Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space, so despite being weak, his skill at escaping was unmatched. Even the Demon Saints had failed to capture him when they tried to hunt him down after the battle on Eternal Sky Continent.
Later, Yang Kai wreaked havoc in the Demon Realm, destroyed a vast swatch of territory, and instigated two Demon Saints, a Master on par with the Demon Saints, and a large number of Demon Race Masters to defect. Those actions left the Demon Race nursing an irreconcilable grudge against him.
Before this recent invasion of the Star Boundary, the Demon Saints announced that they would personally guide and assist in the cultivation of the meritorious person who managed to take Yang Kai’s head so that that person could reach the peak as soon as possible. The Half-Saints might not have been tempted by the offer if it had been just any ordinary reward; however, who wouldn’t covet being taught by the Demon Saints themselves?
[The credit is mine!] Qian Zhong thought to himself; even so, he did not show his excitement outwardly. A good assassin was able to precisely control the fluctuations of their emotions so that not even the slightest turbulence would be revealed.
There was no need to track the trail carefully. He only needed to lift his head to see Yang Kai riding on Zhui Feng at a distance of no more than two kilometres away from him. They were travelling at leisure, acting so relaxed and carefree that it was almost as if their purpose in coming to the Demon Realm was for a casual stroll.
For Qian Zhong, a distance like that was practically no different from standing face-to-face with each other, he could launch a sure-kill strike at any time. Before he could take any action though, he suddenly saw Yang Kai, who was two kilometres away, turning to look back in his direction with a bright smile, one filled with cunning.
Qian Zhong felt his heart skip a beat, instinctively thinking that something bad was going to happen, but before he could react, a gentle force slammed into his body. That force was invisible and undetectable, so well-hidden that he failed to notice until it was too late. Besides, the power behind this strike was harmless and clearly only for reconnaissance purposes. It was just that his figure, which was concealed, was immediately revealed when that force struck.
“I’ve been waiting for you!” A voice sounded from the side. Following those words, a figure dressed in white stepped out of the Void with one hand behind his back, his aura calm and relaxed like that of an aloof Master!
[Li Wu Yi!] Qian Zhong froze in surprise and his eyes widened from the shock. His head was full of questions, the most prominent one being, [Why is he here!?]
There were few Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary, far less than the number of Demon Race Half-Saints. Even with the subordinates of Yu Ru Meng and the others, there was still a large gap between the number of Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary and the number of Demon Race Half-Saints. Nevertheless, the gap was not as wide as before.
Among all the Pseudo-Great Emperors though, Li Wu Yi was the most famous. He was also the person most feared by the Half-Saints, that was because three Half-Saints had died at his hands. He was an existence that stood above the rest of the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints. His reputation of being the strongest beneath the Great Emperors of the Star Boundary was well warranted.
Although Qian Zhong was powerful enough that he could look down on any other Pseudo-Great Emperor of the Star Boundary, he did not dare to underestimate Li Wu Yi; therefore, he instantly realized that this was a trap the moment he saw the latter appear! It was a trick to deceive the opponent into walking into the trap themselves! And, he had fallen right for it!
Without any hesitation, Qian Zhong abruptly retreated. The Two Worlds’ Passage was not far behind him, and as long as he could return, he could reach the stronghold in the Star Boundary. At that time, Li Wu Yi would not be able to touch a single hair on his head. On the contrary, he could try and unite with his companions on the other side to kill Li Wu Yi here.
However, a scorching heat came from behind him the moment he tried to make a move. That scorching heat seemed to be able to burn everything in the world, causing Qian Zhong’s expression to fill with horror even before the attack landed on him.
His figure that was withdrawing backwards stopped abruptly. There had been no pause between his sudden movement and equally sudden halt, showing how solid his foundation was. He dodged to the side and turned back to look in the middle of all the havoc.
A slender and bright-eyed young woman was standing in front of the Two Worlds’ Passage, showing a row of pearly teeth as she smiled at him. Forming a set of seals with her hands, she sent out another Secret Technique, manifesting a flame that danced like a Fire Dragon to chase after him. While casting the Secret Technique, she laughingly said, “Yang Kai, there really was an idiot who walked right into our trap!”
Yang Kai rode over and laughed loudly, “How could I show off my intelligence if he wasn’t so stupid?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he struck his palm at Qian Zhong from a distance. Space Principles fluctuated violently as he shouted, “Solidify!”
At the same time, Li Wu Yi raised a palm slowly and brought it down in Qian Zhong’s direction with a stern expression. He might be powerful, but his opponent was a Half-Saint; thus, he attacked with all his strength.
Combining their strength, the space around Qian Zhong suddenly froze!
Qian Zhong, who was escaping like a fleeting shadow, felt as though a mountain was suddenly pressing down on him. The vitality in his heart churned, and his breathing became laboured. His originally unpredictable figure became extremely sluggish too.
At that moment, scorching heat swiftly descended on him. He broke out in cold sweat and let out a roar, his Demon Qi surging violently. Like a mirror that was broken by a huge force, the sound of something shattering rang out as cracks suddenly appeared in the space surrounding him.
Qian Zhong took advantage of the situation to escape his shackles, but the burst of flames had already rushed up to him during that momentary delay. At this moment, he was in the middle of recovering from the last attack and could not gather more strength to defend. It was such a short gap that it was practically negligible, but even so, the young woman had managed to time her attack perfectly.
The flames suddenly enveloped him and turned into a ring of fire that quickly shrank. Then, it tightened abruptly and bound Qian Zhong in place. With the ring of fire wrapped around his body, the Demon Qi covering his body burned with a crackling sound. In his horror, he bit his tongue hard and his aura surged violently, causing the ring of fire binding him showed signs of cracking.
*Xiu Xiu…*
Two more bursts of flames shot out from the young woman’s hands. Similar to the first burst of flame, they struck out like a Fire Dragon and shrouded over Qian Zhong’s head. After that, the three bursts of fire turned into three rings of flame and bound themselves around his chest, waist and legs. He had been on the verge of breaking free previously, but now he was locked down tightly, a look of despair filling his face.
Yang Kai and Li Wu Yi attacked at the same time. Li Wu Yi’s clothes were flapping in the wind, the Emperor Qi in his body surging madly as he pointed at Qian Zhong from a distance. That movement seemed incredibly slow, yet at the same time, it was over in an instant. Qian Zhong reacted as if struck by lightning when that finger pointed at him and his head jerked back, a finger-sized hole appearing on his forehead. Strangely, no blood came out. Only his entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Yang Kai also pointed a finger forward. It was different from the slow-moving action that Li Wu Yi had made as he thrust forward rapidly, causing space to shudder and the world to tremble. It was incredibly majestic and terrifying to watch.
Meanwhile, Qian Zhong’s chest sank sharply, then his whole body shrank rapidly and collapsed towards the dent in his chest.
Rupture!
Li Wu Yi’s eyes lit up. As an expert proficient in the Dao of Space, he instantly knew that this attack was very powerful the moment Yang Kai used it. It involved the essence of the Grand Dao of Space itself.
The scene of a living person collapsing in on himself at a rapid pace was an extremely strange sight to behold. If Yang Kai had been alone, he could never have won against this Shadow Demon Half-Saint, but by launching a surprise attack, which combined his strength with Li Wu Yi and Yang Yan, they managed to defeat this opponent so quickly that he had no chance to retaliate.
In a span of three short breaths, Qian Zhong’s whole body collapsed in on itself completely and a small black spot suddenly formed in his place.
The three rings of fire turned into bracelets that flew towards Yang Yan, where she wore them on her fair wrists. Just as she was about to turn around with a smile on her face to say something to Yang Kai, her expression changed drastically and she shouted, “Watch out!”
There was a loud explosion. Following that, the small black spot expanded without warning and countless figures erupted from within. Each figure was similar to Qian Zhong in appearance. There were thousands of those figures and each one of them had identical auras, making it impossible for anybody to discern which was real and which was not. Then, those thousands of figures fled in all directions.
Li Wu Yi and Yang Yan attacked in unison. Most of the figures were wiped out before they could take more than a few steps. Meanwhile, Yang Kai felt his skin tingling with a sense that he was being watched by a dangerous beast. Lifting his head, he saw a figure rush towards him at a high speed. The eyes of that figure were filled with a hatred that was carved deep into his bones and a resolute determination to drag Yang Kai down to hell with him.
“A cornered beast will undoubtedly fight back!” Yang Kai coldly snorted, and with a flick of his wrist, he summoned the Mountains and Rivers Bell. He gave a gentle shake of his wrist and a melodious and ancient sound tolled. At the same time, a force of suppression swept out in all directions.
As soon as Qian Zhong appeared, he was besieged by Yang Kai, Li Wu Yi, and Yang Yan. He was beaten half-to-death before he could even use any of his Divine Abilities, so it was inevitable that he came out severely injured despite his desperate attempts to escape. Therefore, his combat power at this moment was less than half of what it usually was at his peak.
When the Mountains and Rivers Bell rang out, the sound of the bell went straight into his mind and caused him to spit out a mouthful of blood. The melodious bell echoed throughout the Demon Realm, shattered space, and even spread to the Star Boundary. Logically speaking, it should have been impossible for the commotion in the Demon Realm to reach the Star Boundary even if the two Great Worlds were connected by a channel, but even so, the sound of the Mountains and Rivers Bell was clearly transmitted to the other side.
When the bell rang out, the expressions of many Half-Saints in the Demon Land brightened as a single thought appeared in their hearts, [Success!]
The Demon Race was fairly knowledgeable when it came to Yang Kai. They knew that he had a treasure like the Mountains and Rivers Bell in his possession. A treasure as precious as that would never be used unless he was in a crisis where his life was at stake; hence, the Half-Saints believed that he was near the end of his road when they heard the bell toll. They were certain it wouldn’t be long before Qian Zhong returned with good news.
While secretly rejoicing in their hearts, they also envied Qian Zhong for his good luck. Killing Yang Kai was a great merit and the person who succeeded would receive personal guidance from the Demon Saints.
Coincidentally, Bing Yun and the others also had the same thought in their hearts.
The Demon Race army did not know about Yang Kai’s plans, but Bing Yun and the other leaders were aware of it. Yang Kai had vanished for some time just before the two armies launched their attack on the Stronghold. Needless to say, he had gone looking for reinforcements.
Inside the Demon Realm, Qian Zhong vomited blood violently, his figure no longer swift and agile.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai galloped towards Qian Zhong on horseback as the Mountains and Rivers Bell in his hand spun smoothly and rapidly expanded to cover Qian Zhong’s head.
Qian Zhong wanted to dodge to the side, but the force of suppression coming from the Mountains and Rivers Bell made his entire body feel extremely heavy. He couldn’t avoid the blow no matter what he did, so with a loud bang, the bell dropped down and enveloped Qian Zhong.
Following that, Yang Kai jumped off Zhui Feng’s back and came to stand next to the Mountains and Rivers Bell. He struck the bell with a palm, resulting in another loud clang. Sound waves that were visible to the naked eye propagated out. Then, the illusory phantoms that were fleeing in all directions turned into nothingness.
Qian Zhong’s screams could be heard coming from within the Mountains and Rivers Bell. Nevertheless, Yang Kai continued without stopping. He struck the Mountains and Rivers Bell again and again, causing the bell to ring out incessantly. Qian Zhong’s furious screams soon turned to ones of agony, then into tortured howls…
After several dozen palm strikes, Qian Zhong’s voice gradually disappeared. Yang Kai retrieved the Mountains and Rivers Bell and Qian Zhong’s body no longer existed inside. There was only a pool of bloody remains left behind with no humanoid form distinguishable. A magnificent Shadow Demon Half-Saint died in such a vexing manner. He probably never imagined this outcome when he first came chasing after Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s Divine Sense swept over the bloody remains to confirm that not the slightest bit of aura remained. Only then did he make a grab with his large hand to store the remains inside the Sealed World Bead.
Yang Yan frowned, “Why are you keeping that filth?”
Yang Kai said, “What if he isn’t dead yet? At the very least, he won’t be able to do anything inside the Small Sealed World, regardless of what amazing abilities he might have.”
Yang Kai was the Master of the Small Sealed World so he immediately used his authority to turn Qian Zhong’s bloody corpse into dust.
Yang Yan nodded in agreement, “It’s better to be careful.”
Li Wu Yi said, “Take care of yourself kid. We’re leaving.”
“Have a safe journey,” Yang Kai grinned and cupped his fists. He knew that he had taken up a lot of their time and it would be terrible if something happened to the armies under their command during their absence.
Seeing his smiling face, Yang Yan reached out a finger and poked his forehead.
Li Wu Yi added, “Please send word as soon as possible if you obtain any information on the Great Emperors!”
Having said that, he wrapped Yang Yan in his Emperor Qi and retreated towards the Two Worlds’ Passage.
Several Half-Saints stood above Blue Wave City, looking gloomy and uncertain. When the first toll of the Mountains and Rivers Bell sounded, they all thought that Yang Kai was about to meet his end, but contrary to their expectations, the bell continued to ring incessantly. Despite ringing for several dozen times in quick succession, the sounds coming from the bell were showing no signs of weakening. As such, they began to realize that something was wrong.
Now that the bell had stopped ringing, they were discussing whether to send somebody to check on the situation when all of a sudden, they saw two figures appearing in the area below the black spot.
The Half-Saints were shocked and focusing their gaze on that direction, one of them shouted, “Li Wu Yi!”
Li Wu Yi glanced at them coolly; then, with a flash of his figure, he disappeared into thin air.
The Half-Saints watched as Li Wu Yi vanished, but none of them tried to stop him. Part of the reason was that he was so powerful that they were a bit frightened of him, but more importantly, they knew they would not be able to stop him even if they tried. Nobody could stop Li Wu Yi from coming and going as he pleased in this world, not unless the Demon Saints themselves stepped forward.
Similar to Yang Kai, Li Wu Yi was proficient in the Dao of Space, so he came and went like the wind. He was even more terrifying than Yang Kai because he was an actual Pseudo-Great Emperor.
The Half-Saints exchanged glances with each other and realized something. Qian Zhong had met a disastrous end!
After Li Wu Yi and Yang Yan left, Yang Kai sealed the Two Worlds’ Passage as quickly as possible. He had the feeling that the Demon Race army was unlikely to send anybody else to hunt him down, but it was better to proceed cautiously.
Once he finished sealing the Two Worlds’ Passage, he finally had the time to study his surrounding environment. The continent he was on was not small, and the World Principles were not bad either. Nevertheless, he couldn’t be sure where he was exactly. Although he had travelled through almost all the continents in the entire Demon Realm, they all looked pretty similar to each other except for the occasional special and obvious characteristics. It was impossible for him to distinguish between them unless he asked somebody. Still, it didn’t matter much to him. Regardless of which continent it was, they were all going to be devoured anyway.
Before taking action to devour the continent, Yang Kai tried using a Space Beacon to contact Yu Ru Meng and the seven Great Emperors. He already had a Space Beacon in his possession to contact Yu Ru Meng in the first place and later received another seven from Li Wu Yi to contact the seven Great Emperors. As long as any one of them were on this continent, he would be able to get in touch with them.
However, none of the Space Beacons he tried received any response. Yang Kai wasn’t disappointed though as there were many Demon Realm continents. If the Great Emperors were really in the Demon Realm, he would definitely find them one day.
Summoning the Sealed World Bead, he transformed it into Gun-Gun. Then, he stood on Gun-Gun’s huge head and stomped his feet, “Let’s get to work.”
He was devouring the Demon Realm continents again after so many years, but there were no obstacles this time around and Gun-Gun’s devouring speed was extremely fast. Its gigantic mouth was like a bottomless pit, leaving an empty Void in its wake wherever it went.
The swallowed continents would fall into the Small Sealed World where they would integrate with it, perfecting the World Principles and expanding the territory within.
As time passed though, Yang Kai’s brow furrowed. He could not detect the aura of any living beings on this continent. Rather, the entire continent was heavily shrouded in Death Qi.
One hundred and eight connected passages had appeared between the Demon Realm and the Star Boundary. At each location, a Demon Race army had passed through the corridor and invaded. Each army ranged from several hundred thousand to several million. Moreover, there were a total of One hundred and eight armies, which amounted to an unimaginably large number.
The territories of the Demon Realm were vast and had extremely large populations, but so many Demons had crossed over to invade so it wouldn’t be surprising if only the old, weak, and infirmed were left behind. Still, those who remained should still constitute an enormous number of Demons.
At least, that was what Yang Kai originally thought; however, what he saw was different from what he expected. There were no living Demons that could be found on this continent, not even a single living creature. It was extremely strange. This piece of Demon Land could best be described as an empty nest.
At first, he thought that it was just a phenomenon unique to a specific region. He had started devouring the continent from the Two Worlds’ Passage after all, so even if the Demon Race wasn’t guarding this place, bystanders would not have dared to approach it. However, he finally came to the conclusion that there was nothing alive on this continent after several days of Gun-Gun devouring the continent.
Sitting on top of Gun-Gun’s head, Yang Kai separated a part of his consciousness and entered the Small Sealed World. He transformed into his Soul Projection and examined the situation of the Demon Land Gun-Gun had recently devoured.
A short while later, he frowned and stretched out his hand. With a wave, a mountain of bones appeared in front of him with a loud clatter. Why were there millions of bones here? Moreover, this was only what he summoned at random. Who knew how many more were buried deeper underground? Not to mention, some of these skeletons were only the size of babies, so it was clear they were infant Demons.
Yang Kai’s scowl deepened as a look of bewilderment appeared on his face. From what he could see, other than those that had invaded the Star Boundary, all the other Demons on this continent had probably died. But just what was the reason for so many deaths? What puzzled him even more was that there was no Demon Essence in any of these bones.
Logically speaking, that was an impossible situation. It had only been ten years or so since he left the Demon Realm, and everything had been fine up to that point. There had still been countless Demons living on each continent at the time. In other words, these Demons had only been dead for less than ten years. Their physical body might have perished, but it was impossible for the Demon Essence hidden inside their bodies to dissipate so quickly, and yet, the situation was exactly that!
This was all extremely strange and Yang Kai had the vague feeling that things were not as simple as they seemed on the surface.
While he was trying to make sense of the situation, his expression suddenly changed. His main body turned to look in a certain direction the moment his Soul Avatar returned.
A thousand kilometres away, a figure was hastily escaping. He must have noticed Gun-Gun and panicked.
Yang Kai’s hand waved and suddenly there was another figure standing in front of him. It was the Demon who had been fleeing for his life just now.
This Demon obviously did not understand what was going on. He had felt the ground shaking beneath him and ran out of his hiding place only to see a huge creature in the sky devouring the entire world. It scared him so badly that his Soul nearly left his body and he quickly ran away. Immediately after that, he felt something squeeze around his body and his vision spun dizzily. By the time he recovered, there was somebody standing in front of him. He was clearly taken aback for a moment, then he suddenly gritted his teeth and let out a roar while throwing a punch at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai secretly found the situation rather amusing. If this Demon was ranked according to Human cultivation standards, he would only be in the True Element Boundary Realm, equivalent to having just barely taken the first steps in the Martial Dao. He didn’t even have the qualifications to be a disposable pawn on the battlefield.
It was actually quite shocking that such a Demon had the courage to attack him. It had been a long time since Yang Kai last experienced something as novel as this. Too lazy to even bother fighting back, he simply smiled gently and said, “Let’s sit down and have a chat.”
As soon as the words left Yang Kai’s mouth, the Demon sat down on the ground with a plop. Even then, he maintained the posture of his fist flying forward at Yang Kai with a look of horror on his face.
Yang Kai was a High-Rank Demon King. Although his cultivation had not reached a Realm where every word he spoke became law, the weight of his words varied depending on who he was facing. The power of his Divine Sense was concealed within his words just now, so how could the Demon in front of him, who was barely in the True Element Boundary, resist?
Having fallen to a sitting position on the ground, the Demon’s complexion was ashen with fear. The person in front of him had not even moved a single finger. Just a single word from that person was enough to leave him incapable of fighting back; therefore, he understood that he was no match for his opponent. Despair washed over his heart, and he sighed, “In the end, I still couldn’t escape.”
Yang Kai chuckled, “What were you trying to escape from?”
The Demon, however, just lifted his neck slightly and prepared himself, “Do it.”
After saying that, he closed his eyes, as if resigned to his fate. He had no choice but to accept. Trying to confront the person in front of him was equivalent to an ant trying to fight a Dragon, there was zero chance of resistance whatsoever.
“Did you think I was going to kill you?” Yang Kai studied the Demon with interest. Judging by the faint burning aura coming from the Demon’s body, he was probably a Flame Demon.
“Are you not?” The Flame Demon opened his eyes and frowned deeply.
Yang Kai couldn’t be bothered to explain himself, so he bluntly stated, “I have some questions for you. I’ll let you live if you answer my questions. If you don’t cooperate, I’ll make you wish you were dead!”
The Flame Demon’s brow twitched slightly at those words. A sliver of hope had appeared in a situation where he originally thought his life was forfeited, so he didn’t try to negotiate with Yang Kai for any conditions and simply answered readily, “Please ask.”
“What happened on this continent? How did everyone on this continent die?”
“You don’t know?” He was stunned. [What happened on this continent was such a major incident that almost all of the Demon Race knows about it. How is this guy unaware of it?]
“Would I still need to ask you if I knew?” Yang Kai’s expression turned cold.
Seeing the change in Yang Kai’s expression, the Flame Demon felt his heart clench in fear. He did not dare to show disrespect and hurriedly told Yang Kai everything he knew.
The changes on this continent began ten years ago.
Ten years ago, the Half-Saint in charge of this continent recruited all of the Demons in the Demon Spirit Realm and above. The Demon Spirit Realm corresponded to the Human Race’s Origin Returning Realm. An army of three million was formed from the recruitment.
Afterwards, the army of three million was split into ten equal parts and went around slaughtering all the remaining Demons living on the continent under the command of that Half-Saint. All the Demons that were in the Demon Spirit Realm or above had been recruited and taken away, leaving only the weak ones behind, so what could they do against such powerful enemies even if their numbers were greater?
For eight whole years, there was a reign of terror on this continent. Hundreds of millions of the creatures that used to live here had been slaughtered, and all of those slaughtered were buried into the ground.
Another two years passed and a tremor ran through the world as the Two Worlds’ Passage opened and things gradually became the situation today.
The Flame Demon’s cultivation was low, but even so, he managed to escape unscathed as he had been cultivating underground in a stream of magma. By the time he came out of retreat, he slowly realized that the situation on this continent had changed greatly; hence, he immediately returned to the place he had been cultivating and hid away again.
When Yang Kai arrived and Gun-Gun appeared to devour the world, he couldn’t continue hiding anymore and had no choice but to flee. In the end, he was captured by Yang Kai instead.
Yang Kai looked surprised after hearing the story, “Are you saying that everyone on this continent was killed by their own kind? They committed fratricide?”
The Flame Demon frowned. [What do you mean by ‘their own kind’ and ‘they’? Aren’t you part of the Demon Race too?]
He had automatically assumed that Yang Kai was part of the Demon Race after seeing the Demon Qi overflowing from Yang Kai’s body. It was just that his cultivation was too low for him to discern Yang Kai’s origins.
“That’s right!” The Flame Demon nodded in response.
Yang Kai frowned. [I thought some sort of natural disaster befell the continent and caused all the Demons to go extinct as a result. Who could have known that the truth was something like this?]
He was not worried that the Flame Demon might try to deceive him. The gap between their cultivation was so large that he would be able to tell if the other party was lying at a glance, but… what exactly was the reason for the Demon Race to do something like this? Why would they do something so insane as to kill their own clansmen? Not to mention that the numbers were on such a large scale too…
Recruiting Demons above the Demon Spirit Realm was clearly a means to form an army to pass through the Two Worlds’ Passage and invade the Star Boundary, but even if the remaining Demons were unable to contribute to the war, they were still the foundation of the Demon Race as a whole. Just what was the reason that made the Demon Race do something so drastic as to cut off their roots? Weren’t they afraid that their entire Race might go extinct?
“During the collapse of the world several days ago, I stepped out to check on the situation and saw a large amount of Demon Qi appearing all over the continent. It gathered in that direction.” The Flame Demon pointed in a certain direction. It was the direction from whence Yang Kai came. It was also the location of the Two Worlds’ Passage.
“Where did the Demon Qi come from?” For some reason, Yang Kai suddenly thought about the Demons who were killed in the Star Boundary. After their death, the Demon Qi in their bodies leaked out, travelled towards the Two Worlds’ Passage, and enriched the Demon Essence within the Demon Land.
The Flame Demon sighed, “Probably came from the clansmen who were killed. The Demon Qi came up from the ground.”
Yang Kai had a moment of epiphany. The explanation was reasonable indeed. He had just been wondering why the skeletons he retrieved from the Small Sealed World had contained no Demon Essence at all. It turned out that the Demon Qi and Demon Essence inside those bodies had already been drawn out.
“Sir, why did the Holy Venerables do this?” The Flame Demon regarded Yang Kai as part of the Demon Race and secretly believed that Yang Kai was a Demon Half-Saint; therefore, he couldn’t stop himself from asking Yang Kai about the reason behind such a major incident.
“You’ll have to ask them yourself,” Although Yang Kai had given an oblique answer, he could already guess the reason for the Demon Race’s massacre. The Demon Saints had broken into the Star Boundary by using themselves as the bridge to connect the two Great Worlds; even so, a bridge was just a bridge, they still needed another kind of force to break through the World Barriers completely.
The Blood Sacrifice of tens of millions of Demons on the battlefield located in the Western Territory had been in preparation for this. Those Demon Race armies had been sent to die on that battlefield because the Demon Saints needed their Demon Qi. That was why the Demons went insane and killed themselves at the last moment, causing the annihilation of the entire army.
Meanwhile, the preparations had already been made in the Demon Realm continents a long time ago. The bones of billions of Demons who died were buried deep underground. Their Demon Qi had condensed together without dispersing. It was so that it could break out of the ground when the time was right, and the moment the Demon Saints made their move was the time for the Demon Qi to erupt.
With the power from both sides, the World Barriers had been broken and the Two Worlds’ Passages appeared. It was also due to the abundance of Demon Qi that one hundred and eight Demon Lands had emerged in the Star Boundary.
[The Demon Race has completely burned all their bridges. They fully intend to fight to the end by cutting off all their escape routes. How are they so confident that they can take over the Star Boundary? Even if they escape back into the Demon Realm after suffering utter defeat, it will be very difficult for them to recover from the losses without their vast population as a foundation.]
Yang Kai’s expression was extremely solemn. He had the vague feeling that the Demon Race was planning something very big, but the current situation was so complicated and confusing that the goals on the board were unclear.
The Flame Demon looked like he wanted to ask something else; however, Yang Kai reached out to grab him and tossed him into the third region of the Small Sealed World before he could speak. Thinking that Yang Kai was going to go back on the promise and attack him, a look of despair swept across the Flame Demon’s face, but to his surprise, he soon found himself completely unscathed and stunned by the sight in front of him.
There were many other Demons living in the third region of the Small Sealed World, most of them residents who used to live in the territories under Yu Ru Meng and Bei Li Mo. As there were no disputes within the Small Sealed World, these Demons had established many cities in the third region and settled down peacefully.
The Flame Demon had appeared in the centre of a city, and seeing so many of his clansmen living peacefully around him, he suddenly had the sense of being reborn and couldn’t help bursting into tears.
Meanwhile, Yang Kat sat on Gun-Gun’s enormous head while forming seals with one hand. His eyes were tightly shut, and his Divine Sense surged. Combined with all the information he obtained today, he was trying to figure out the Demon Race’s intentions. It was a pity that he failed to make sense of their plans even after puzzling over it until his head hurt.
He was certain that the Demons were planning something huge, and it was definitely something that would be detrimental to the Star Boundary. Unfortunately, the information he had was limited so it was extremely difficult for him to grasp the entire situation.
Gun-Gun’s devouring movements had stopped, and its huge body seemed slightly swollen. Yang Kai looked around only to chaos and nothingness in his surroundings. The continent they had arrived on had been cleanly devoured. Standing up, he stomped his foot and Gun-Gun’s body immediately began to shrink and transform back into the Sealed World Bead, which he then put away.
Several days had passed by the time Yang Kai arrived on the next continent where he released Gun-Gun and continued the process of devouring. Similar to the first continent, all the Demons on this continent had been wiped out. Although it was an outcome he had expected, he still couldn’t help frowning when his suspicions were confirmed.
The two Races were at war. They were each other’s enemies. Logically speaking, as part of the Human Race, Yang Kai shouldn’t feel anything regardless of how many Demons died. Rather, he should be wishing for even more of them to die.
However, dying in battle was one thing while this was another. Nobody would falter and hesitate to kill an enemy who stood on the battlefield, they would only wish that they could kill even more of their enemies. Be that as it may, the Demon Race did not hesitate to destroy their foundation and slaughter their own people in order to break through the barrier between the two Great Worlds. That was quite a difficult truth to swallow.
However, thinking about it again, Yang Kai realized that the Demon Race had always been brutal. Back then, they arranged the Blood Sea Grand Array and even offered up all Demon Race living on Eternal Sky Continent as sacrifices just to subdue Bright Moon Great Emperor.
[Once the Two Worlds Great War settles down in the future, I need to carefully explain this to Yu Ru Meng and the others. At the very least, they have to restrain their subordinates to prevent such a thing from happening again.]
While Gun-Gun was devouring the continent, Yang Kai was not idle. War had broken out all over the Star Boundary and the demand for mobility for the Star Boundary’s armies was very high. Therefore, he wanted to take advantage of the rare free time he had to refine some more World Beads. With enough World Beads, the Star Boundary’s armies would be able to come and go as they pleased. At some point, they might even be able to take the Demon Race army by surprise.
Yang Kai initially worked with the Dead Stars and large asteroids found in the Lower Star Field to refine them into World Beads. The size of the Dead Stars and the asteroids corresponded to the size of the interior space of the World Bead he refined.
Unable to leave his current position, however, he had no way of travelling to the Lower Star Field. As a result, he could only look for a solution from the Sealed World Bead itself. Fortunately, the stripping of the second region had given him sufficient experience. Once he calmed down and considered it, he believed that it should not be too difficult.
The first region was off-limits. Except for the area around the medicine garden, everywhere else in the first region was overcrowded with Star Boundary refugees. There was already not enough space for him to use, so how could he strip away land for other purposes?
In that case, he could only target the third region. The third region was formed by devoured Demon Realm continents so they naturally contained the World Principles of the Demon Realm, allowing Demons to survive comfortably on it. On the contrary, non-Demons would inevitably be corrupted by the omnipresent Demon Essence and experience demonification if they remained there for too long. Those with insufficient Soul cultivation were even more likely to become confused and degenerate into Demons unable to recognize their family and friends.
Fortunately, Yang Kai ruled over everything in the Sealed World Bead. All it took to strip an area out of the third region was a single thought. The hard part was purging the Demon Essence from said land. If the Demon Essence was not removed, the Human Race armies would not be able to stay inside the World Bead for a prolonged period of time.
After several attempts, several failures, and a lot of wasted time, Yang Kai finally found a suitable method.
One month later, the first World Bead separated from the Small Sealed World was born. This World Bead was different from the ones he had made in the past with the largest difference being its size. The space was not big, but fitting fifty thousand people into it wouldn’t be a problem.
It wasn’t that Yang Kai couldn’t refine a World Bead with a larger space but rather that he was taking the Star Boundary’s current situation into account. These smaller World Beads were not only more effective but also took less time to refine.
Continent after continent was devoured by Gun-Gun, and every time they came to a new continent, Yang Kai would activate the Space Beacons to try and contact Yu Ru Meng and the seven Great Emperors. Unfortunately, he had not been able to reach any of them so far.
This made him wonder whether the Great Emperors were truly in the Demon Realm. If the Great Emperors weren’t here, then where else could they be? There was no trace of them in the Star Boundary after all.
…..
Two rays of light shone dazzlingly inside a bizarre space. One was red while the other was black. Two burly and heavyset figures sat silently inside the light rays. Their auras were deep and profound, they were both casting Secret Techniques; and the power in their bodies surged violently. Following the fluctuations in their power, the black and red lights continued to clash against each other. It was obvious just from looking at those two lights that the red light had the upper hand while the black light seemed to be in a suppressed state.
Neither one of them knew how long this confrontation had lasted. It felt like only an instant had passed, but at the same time like thousands of years had gone by. Be that as it may, it did not matter to them how much time had passed. They were only focused on the enemy in front of them.
All of a sudden, a resounding voice came from the black light, “Iron Blood Great Emperor, your reputation is truly well-deserved!”
Inside the red light, Zhan Wu Hen calmly responded without a change in his expression, “The First Demon Saint isn’t much.”
Among the Twelve Demon Saints of the Demon Realm, Huang Wu Ji was recognized as the First Demon Saint. In comparison, the ten Great Emperors of the Star Boundary had no rankings, much less an existence known as the First Great Emperor. However, Zhan Wu Hen was undoubtedly the strongest in terms of combat power. That was also a tacit understanding among the Great Emperors. It was just that they no longer cared for titles or rankings anymore, so there was no need to make any kind of distinction between them.
It would seem that Zhan Wu Hen had the edge in the confrontation between the First Demon Saint and the First Great Emperor. If that were not the case, the black light would not be in a suppressed state.
Huang Wu Ji burst out laughing, “So what if you are mighty!? The Star Boundary will never escape the fate of being eroded away. Zhan Wu Hen, you should know what’s good for you and admit defeat; otherwise, things will only end in tragedy.”
Zhan Wu Hen said lightly, “You want to devour the Star Boundary? Be careful your teeth don’t break when you try!”
Huang Wu Ji coldly snorted, “Do you seriously think this King can’t defeat you?”
Zhan Wu Hen didn’t say much in response, “Do it if you can!”
Huang Wu Ji sneered, “Fine! I’ll do just that!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he abruptly stretched out his hand into the void and something suddenly appeared in his palm.
The moment this item appeared, Zhan Wu Hen’s expression, which had been as tranquil as an ancient well all this time, changed dramatically. He felt a wave of monstrous hostility hitting him in the face, and the aura coming from that item gave him a sense of déjà vu.
He couldn’t help flashing back to the large hand that came out of the Void Crack in the skies above Blue Wave City that day. The hostile feeling he was experiencing at this moment was identical to the one given off back then! He hadn’t been able to figure out just where that giant hand had come from, but now he understood.
Focusing his gaze, a bright red light flashed across his eyes to penetrate the layers of obstacles and catch a clear glimpse of what Huang Wu Ji was holding. It was a pale, mummified, severed palm. The severed palm had been cleanly severed at the wrist by some kind of sharp weapon. Zhan Wu Hen didn’t know how long it had been since this hand had been separated from its owner, but clearly, it was long ago; even so, a monstrous aura overflowed from it even now.
Zhan Wu Hen was shocked. He could only imagine how powerful the cultivation of the severed palm’s Master must have been just from looking at the power of this severed palm. Even Iron Blood Great Emperor, who thought he had already reached the peak of the Martial Dao, felt as though he saw a new door opening in front of him when he laid eyes on this severed palm. For a moment, his mind and emotions churned violently and he couldn’t hold himself back, his entire body trembling slightly.
Huang Wu Ji sneered, “Are you scared now? It’s not too late to beg for mercy!”
Zhan Wu Hen’s body trembled even more as his head was lowered and his hair shaded his eyes, laughing softly to himself as he muttered, “So that’s how it is! So that’s how it is! It was true after all!”
Huang Wu Ji could see Zhan Wu Hen muttering something under his breath but could not make out the words. Even so, Zhan Wu Hen’s manner of not taking him seriously irked him greatly.
Huang Wu Ji roared, “Bastard!”
While speaking, he lifted the severed palm and brought it down in Zhan Wu Hen’s direction. A blue light flashed out of the severed palm, which then transformed into a giant green palm that slammed violently into the red light. A brilliant light flared in an instant, causing a huge change in this inexplicable place. It felt as though the space could collapse at any time.
Following that palm strike, the red light that originally had a slight upper hand shuddered erratically and retreated all of a sudden. Meanwhile, the black light immediately took advantage of the situation and seized the initiative.
Inside the red light, Zhan Wu Hen’s body was slumped slightly and his complexion was extremely pale. Even so, a formidable fighting spirit erupted out of him as he forcibly straightened his back and let out a furious roar. At the same time, the erratically flashing red light swiftly stabilized.
“Courting death!” Huang Wu Ji was amazed by Zhan Wu Hen’s willpower. Holding the severed palm, he swung the severed palm down again.
The red light contracted once more. Three palm strikes later, blood was trickling from Zhan Wu Hen’s mouth. The red light that used to hold the upper hand had been suppressed to the point it was clearly at a disadvantage. Iron Blood Great Emperor, who had not been injured for the past ten thousand years, was now terribly wounded just from parrying these three attacks. Nevertheless, he was still smiling extremely happily, almost as if he had seen something novel and interesting after many millennia of monotony.
Huang Wu Ji shouted, “Zhan Wu Hen, this King appreciates talented people. I’ll ask you one more time, will you surrender!?”
“Again! Come again!” Zhan Wu Hen shouted.
Huang Wu Ji’s eyes widened to the size of copper bells. Furious, he was about to attack again when his expression suddenly changed and he hurriedly put the severed palm away, looking as though he was scared of something dangerous. Lowering his head to look, he saw a bruise the size of a fingernail on the palm of the hand that was holding the severed palm just now.
Zhan Wu Hen waited for a while, but seeing that Huang Wu Ji was not attacking, he became impatient and shouted, “Why aren’t you attacking? What are you waiting for?”
Hearing those words incensed Huang Wu Ji. He did not say a word as he changed the Secret Technique he had been casting. Black Qi surged like a tide, crushing down on Zhan Wu Hen, but contrary to his wishes, Zhan Wu Hen immediately countered the attack.
The strongest Great Emperor and a First Demon Saint fought each other to the death inside this bizarre space. Although there were no earth-shaking explosions or overbearing methods used, the slightest bit of carelessness could lead to death.
…..
Nobody was aware of the ongoing battle between the Great Emperors and the Demon Saints. The people in the Star Boundary believed that the Great Emperors had entered the Demon Realm and that was why they could not contact the latter. Who could have known that the Great Emperors were not in the Demon Realm at all?
Yang Kai had a nagging suspicion of the possibility, but he couldn’t be certain until he devoured every last continent.
Since Yang Kai’s departure, the conflict would arise every single day between the two Races across all four territories of the Star Boundary. In the beginning, the Demon Race suffered great losses. Many of the Demon Lands did not have Half-Saints guarding them while on the other hand, the Star Boundary’s armies killed many of the Demon Race while nursing a hatred in their hearts over the invasion and destruction of their homeland. Quite a number of Demon Strongholds were even completely cleaned out. Take the Northern Territory for example where the Sixty-First Army destroyed more than one such stronghold.
Be that as it may, the Demon Race did not simply sit back and wait for death. The locations without the protection of Half-Saints were often evacuated before the Star Boundary’s armies arrived. The Demons would consolidate towards the ten Primary Demon Strongholds and little by little, the armies stationed in those ten locations became a mighty force which gave the Star Boundary a huge headache.
One year after Yang Kai entered the Demon Realm, ninety-eight out of the one hundred and eight Demon Strongholds in the Star Boundary had been obliterated. Only the ten Demon Strongholds could not be destroyed.
Each of these ten Demon Strongholds had at least seven or eight Half-Saints assuming command now. With such a powerful force, it was impossible for just one or two armies to defeat them. The only way the Star Boundary could guarantee victory was by gathering at least twenty Pseudo-Great Emperors to attack a Demon Stronghold.
Moreover, even though the Demon Race armies at the various minor Demon Strongholds had either been wiped out or driven away, the Demon Lands never turned back to normal. What’s more, with the passage of time and the increasing deaths among the Demon Race army, the Demon Lands in various parts of the Star Boundary had been steadily expanding in size.
Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun, the Great Elder and Second Elder of Dragon Island respectively, had come forward two months after Yang Kai’s departure. Many members of the Dragon Clan left Dragon Island too at that time. For the first time in tens of thousands of years, Dragon Island was directly and completely intervening in the Star Boundary’s affairs.
True to what Yang Kai had said, the Dragon Clan might not care about what kind of chaos occurred in the Star Boundary, but they understood the principle behind the saying ‘without lips, the teeth go cold’. Even if it had been just any other random person and not Yang Xiao who personally requested help, the Dragon Clan would not have ignored the issue. The two Elders mobilized essentially the entire Dragon Clan upon learning that the Star Boundary was in such grave danger.
The people of the Star Boundary originally believed that they would soon quell the war with Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun taking action, but who could have known that a Demon Saint would show up without warning just when the two Dragon Clan Elders charged into one of the Demon Strongholds?
This greatly surprised everyone. The Great Emperors and Demon Saints had gone missing together after all. Now that the Demon Saints had shown themselves, where did the Great Emperors go? Immediately following that incident, it was discovered that not all the Demon Saints were in the Star Boundary. There were only three Demon Saints who appeared specifically to deal with the two Elders of the Dragon Clan. These three were Blood Demon Xue Li, Feather Demon Fu Yu, and Red Demon Huo Bo. Aside from these three, the other Demon Saints remained missing.
Li Wu Yi carefully thought back to the scene on the battlefield of the Western Territory and recalled that the ones who gave chase to these three Demon Saints were Yu Ru Meng, Bei Li Mo, and Chang Tian.
Meanwhile, the opponents pursued by the Great Emperors did not show up. It was impossible to write this off as mere coincidence; thus, it would seem that something had happened for the three Demon Saints, Xue Li, Fu Yu, and Huo Bo, to appear again while Yu Ru Meng, Bei Li Mo, and Chang Tian remained missing. These three Demon Saints had probably returned to the Star Boundary a long time ago, but even so, they had remained hidden so that they could wait for a chance to wipe out the leadership of the Star Boundary in one stroke.
The two Elders of the Dragon Clan struggled desperately in a battle of two against three. In the end, Fu Zhun suffered a serious injury. Fortunately, there were many Dragon Clan members and Pseudo-Great Emperors accompanying them so they managed to retreat safely.
After the battle, Li Wu Yi broke out in cold sweat. It was fortunate that they had managed to bring the two Elders of the Dragon Clan out in time; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Fu Zhun’s injuries were not too serious, but they couldn’t be considered small either. Fortunately, the Dragon Clan was blessed with strong bodies and equally powerful regenerative abilities. She would only need to recuperate for some time to recover fully.
Following this battle, they entered a strange period of calm.
Out of the Demon Racs armies in the one hundred and eight Demon Strongholds in the Star Boundary, ninety-eight of these locations had been wiped out completely. Only ten locations were left untouched. Unfortunately, nobody dared to act rashly due to the presence of the Demon Saints. Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun, who was still recuperating, kept a close eye on the movements of the three Demon Saints, for fear that they would suddenly strike out and turn the world upside down.
They were clearly in the Star Boundary; however, the sudden appearance of the three Demon Saints ultimately resulted in the Demon Race seizing the initiative in the war. With this advantage, the Demon Race seemed content with the current status quo for the moment and did not rashly start another fight.
This rare moment of tranquillity in the midst of such a chaotic world was tainted by the sense of apprehension that only served to hint at the storm that was brewing.
A group of five currently stood on the mountain located a thousand kilometres away from Blue Wave City in the Northern Territory, where Yang Kai and Bing Yun once stood side by side. All of them were staring solemnly at a certain spot a thousand kilometres away. These five people were Sixty-First Army’s Adjutant Yao Si, Thirty-Fifth Army’s Army Commander Bing Yun, Fifty-Third Army’s Army Commander Fu Ren Jie, Nineteenth Army’s Army Commander Pan Geng Nian, and Twenty-Seventh Army’s Army Commander Shen Tu Xing.
There was no need to explain much about Fu Ren Jie as he was originally somebody from the Northern Territory. It was just that he had been secluding himself from the world before the outbreak of the war, hoping that one day he could suddenly gain enlightenment in the Grand Dao amidst the bounties of nature. As everybody knew, he received an invitation from Li Wu Yi after the outbreak of the war between the two Great Worlds and came out of seclusion to take up the post of Army Commander of the Fifty-Third Army. He was a friendly and good-natured man that Yang Kai had struck up a friendship with in the Western Territory.
The origins of the Nineteenth Army’s Army Commander, Pan Geng Nian, were even more outstanding. He had served under Ice Feather Great Emperor since he was a child as both a Servant and a Disciple. Although he could be regarded as Ice Feather Great Emperor’s Disciple, they did not have a formal Master Disciple relationship between them. Ice Feather Great Emperor had a quiet temperament, so he had always lived in seclusion in the Northern Territory’s Heavens’ Borderline. If the Two Worlds Great War had not been such a huge affair that involved so many, he would not have returned to society so easily. Seeing as Ice Feather Great Emperor would be showing himself though, it was only natural for Pan Geng Nian to follow along.
As for the Twenty-Seventh Army’s Army Commander, Shen Tu Xing, he was a member of Star Court. The people of the Star Boundary’s Northern Territory today might not have heard of him, but if it was ten thousand years in the past, his name would have been a household name. It was rumoured that he started his journey on the Martial Dao at the age of ten, became an Emperor Realm Master at the age of a hundred, and became a Third-Order Emperor at the age of three hundred. He was unrivalled in the whole of the Northern Territory and had even established a Sect. However, he only stayed for two hundred years before leaving without a trace. His whereabouts had been unknown ever since. Moreover, the Sect he left behind was not deeply rooted and fell apart after a few hundred years. That was why nobody in the Northern Territory remembered the name ‘Shen Tu Xing’. Who could have imagined that he had entered Star Court instead and had long since become a Pseudo-Great Emperor?
Most of the battles in the Star Boundary had ceased. Only the last ten Primary Demon Strongholds were left, like nails stuck deep into the flesh of the Star Boundary’s four territories. As a result, the fifty-five armies of the Star Boundary had gradually converged in those places.
The five armies of the Northern Territory had come together in this place. The armies numbered in the millions and were aggressively preparing to confront the Demons in Blue Wave City.
“Adjutant Yao, how long has it been since Commander Yang entered the Demon Realm?” Fu Ren Jie stared out into the distance for a while before abruptly asking the question.
Yao Si replied, “It’s been more than a year now.”
“More than a year…” Fu Ren Jie frowned. [It has been more than a year now. There should have been some news, but Yang Kai has not sent any information from the Demon Realm up until today. It would seem that he has not found any traces of the Great Emperors.]
At present, the entire Star Boundary was relying on the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan for support. Unfortunately, there were only two of them while the enemy had three Demon Saints. Even if the Elders managed to tie down one Demon Saint each, who would be able to keep the last one from running rampant? The consequence of being unable to restrain the third Demon Saint was that nobody could stop them from unleashing a killing spree!
In reality, the Demon Saints had done just that when they first showed up more than ten months ago. Huo Bo and Fu Yu had remained inside the Demon Stronghold, restraining the movements of the two Elders of the Dragon Clan while Xue Li had quietly snuck out, found the place where the Star Boundary’s armies were stationed and began a wanton slaughter.
Fortunately, there were many Space Arrays in the Star Boundary and Space Beacons were even more prevalent. All available Pseudo-Great Emperors had blocked Xue Li’s attacks for a while so the two Dragon Clan Elders could rush over.
Xue Li had been frightened by the arrival of the two Dragon Clan Elders. He quickly exchanged a few blows with Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun before he turned into a bloody ray of light and fled. Afraid of falling into his trap, Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun did not dare to chase him too far and could only watch helplessly as he escaped.
After that, Xue Li travelled around the four territories and tried to attack the Star Boundary’s armies many times; however, his attempts turned out to be fruitless. The two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan would soon appear seemingly out of thin air the moment he made his move. At this point, how could he not figure out the reason for their prompt arrival? Although he was gnashing his teeth in resentment, there was nothing he could do.
If that were not the case, why else would the Demon Race remain so quiet even though they had three Demon Saints on their side? It was simply due to the fact that the mobility of the Star Boundary’s forces was too strong. Even if all three of them worked together, they were not confident they could kill the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan. At most, the battle would end with both sides suffering great losses. Who would be willing to do something so foolish?
It was all thanks to the Space Beacons and Space Arrays that the Star Boundary could experience this momentary tranquillity during these troubled times.
“Just what is the Demon Race trying to achieve?” Bing Yun frowned, staring out at Blue Wave City which was located a thousand kilometres away. At this moment, a strange building was taking shape inside Blue Wave City. Nobody cared when they first saw the building being constructed a few months ago, but now it had unexpectedly surpassed the height of a thousand metres, and as time went on, it had only gotten higher and higher.
The building looked like a tower from a distance, but how could such a tall tower exist in this world? Moreover, this tower was brimming with Demon Qi. There were Demon Race members hustling and bustling around it at all times as though trying to make the tower tall enough to reach the Heavens above.
The Demon Tower was an oddity. Nobody knew what the Demon race was trying to achieve. The only thing they could be sure of was that this Demon Tower was detrimental to the Star Boundary. Besides, the reason why the three Demon Saints were willing to keep the peace for now was most likely related to this Demon Tower.
According to the information from Li Wu Yi, identical towers were being built at each of the ten Primary Demon Strongholds in the Star Boundary. Not only were the shapes exactly the same, but even the construction progress was more or less identical. The construction of the Demon Towers was a sign that a storm was about to come, which created an ominous feeling among the people.
At this moment, Pan Geng Nian’s expression suddenly changed. He reached out his hand to grab at something. At the same time, a jade slip appeared out of thin air and was accurately caught by him. The other four noticed the familiar aura coming from the jade slip and immediately understood that this was a message from Li Wu Yi; thus, they turned to him and waited.
Pan Geng Nian immersed his Divine Sense into the jade slip, and after a while, he raised his head and said, “Supreme Commander Li asked me to organize an attack to see if we can destroy the Demon Tower.”
While speaking, he tossed the jade slip to Bing Yun, who was standing next to him. All five of them fell into a deep contemplation after taking turns to read the contents of the jade slip.
Fu Ren Jie frowned, “The Demon Tower will not be easy to destroy.”
“We have to try anyway,” Yao Si replied.
Shen Tu Xing nodded, “We need to come up with a plan. We can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
At present, the Star Boundary was more or less being led by the nose by the Demon Race regarding the war situation. Who could endure such humiliation in their own homeland?
They had wanted to pay a visit to the Demon Race Masters in the Demon Stronghold for a while now, it was just that they didn’t dare to act rashly. Now that Li Wu Yi had given the order though, it gave them a justifiable reason to take action.
They also understood the reason why Li Wu Yi had specifically chosen this group of people to attack the Demon Tower. It was because the Sixty-First Army was the strongest. There were five or six armies gathered at each of the nine other Demon Strongholds, and their numbers were not few. Even so, the Sixty-First Army was unrivalled in terms of the number of Masters among its ranks.
There were three Demon Race Half-Saints; a Divine Spirit, Qiong Qi, a Ninth-Order Red Dragon, Zhu Qing, and an abundance of Emperor Realm Masters. Just with this fact alone, it was unmatched by all the other armies. If the four other Army Commanders were included in the count, then there would be almost nine Pseudo-Great Emperor level Masters gathered here. Aside from lacking a Great Emperor to lead them, how was this force inferior to any of the Demon Race’s army?
The group of five immediately returned to the camp to discuss various details regarding the plan. Although Yao Si’s cultivation was low, he was the representative of the Sixty-First Army, which meant that his status was equal to that of the other four people in the room. There was no awkwardness when he participated in the discussion. Rather, he was very eloquent and his words regarding quite a few matters even made the eyes of Bing Yun and the others shine.
…..
Yang Kai remained seated on top of Gun-Gun’s head in the Demon Realm. He was constantly refining World Beads as not only were they beneficial to the Star Boundary’s armies, but it was also of great benefit to him in improving his comprehension of the Dao of Space.
It had been more than a year since he first entered the Demon Realm, but the entire time all he was met with was silence. All the living creatures on every continent he came across had been exterminated. There were only a few lucky Demon Race survivors that managed to escape the disaster; even so, he had not seen more than ten such survivors over the past year.
Hence, there was nobody to stop him. He simply needed to arrive on those continents and let Gun-Gun devour them one by one. It would seem that the Demon Race had completely abandoned their homeland.
The more Gun-Gun devoured, the larger its body became. Simultaneously, the speed of devouring became faster and faster. Yang Kai could clearly sense that the third region in the Small Sealed World was gradually becoming more and more complete. He had never felt this way before and the realization had simply struck him one day when the Demon Realm continents had been devoured to a certain extent.
The entire Demon Realm used to be a whole; however, it was later split apart for unknown reasons and turned into distinct continents that were separated by the void. The only way to travel back and forth between the various continents was by using the Territory Gates. Therefore, Gun-Gun’s devouring and integrating the land was simply a process of making the Demon Realm whole again.
When this feeling truly reached its apex would be when the last continent in the Demon Realm had been devoured, and that moment was just around the corner.
Unfortunately, Yang Kai had still not been able to contact any of the Great Emperors or Yu Ru Meng up until now; therefore, he was becoming certain that they were not in the Demon Realm.
If they are neither in the Star Boundary nor the Demon Realm though, then where could they have gone? Could it be that they were stuck inside a Void Crack? The Void was a boundless existence filled with chaotic nothingness. Even with the Space Beacons in his possession, Yang Kai was not sure if he could contact the Great Emperors. Regardless of the reason, he was prepared to enter the Void to search for them once he finished his matters in the Demon Realm. It would be best if he could find them. If not, he could only come up with another solution when it was necessary.
On this day, Yang Kai was refining a World Bead with his mind immersed in the mystery of the Dao of Space when his expression suddenly changed. Letting out a soft cry, a strange expression crept onto his face.
There seemed to be an abnormality in a certain place inside the Small Sealed World.
Without moving, Yang Kai separated a thread of his consciousness, slipped into the Small Sealed World, and manifested a Soul Avatar once he discerned the direction of the source of the anomaly.
It turned out to be a huge continent fragment that had been devoured by Gun-Gun; moreover, it was something that had just been devoured moments ago.
Generally speaking, the continent fragments that Gun-Gun devoured would quickly dissolve into the surroundings to enrich the third region; however, this continent fragment seemed to be rather unusual in the sense that Gun-Gun could not fully dissolve and integrate it. Hence, it remained separate.
This fragment stretched ten thousand kilometres, so it couldn’t be considered big. From the looks of it, it seemed to have been buried deep underground and was rarely seen. After being devoured, the outer layer had dissolved to reveal an inner part that remained.
Moreover, this continent fragment was filled with World Principles that were both familiar and shocking to Yang Kai. He didn’t even need to study it carefully to tell that they were Time Principles. It was precisely because it was flooded and protected by Time Principles that this continent fragment had been safely preserved from the assimilation of the Small Sealed World.
Yang Kai was stunned. This continent fragment was part of the Demon Realm, so why was it brimming with Time Principles? Not to mention, they stretched out over such a wide area!
What surprised him even more was that the aura of the Time Principles was exactly the same as the one he perceived in Flowing Time Temple. Raising his brow in thought, Yang Kai pondered, [Don’t tell me that these Time Principles are a legacy left behind by Flowing Time Great Emperor? If so, that would mean that Flowing Time Great Emperor once came to the Demon Realm in the past.]
Yang Kai couldn’t help recalling what Qiong Qi once mentioned. When Flowing Time Great Emperor was cultivating in retreat inside his palace, he suddenly perceived some mystery of the Outer Universe and ventured out to explore it as a result. Unfortunately, he never returned. Only his Natal Artifact, the Infinite Hourglass, eventually returned to the temple. It was obvious that Flowing Time Great Emperor had encountered a powerful enemy and met with an untimely end.
[Could it be that Flowing Time Great Emperor left the temple and came to the Demon Realm? Perhaps, he encountered a powerful enemy in the Demon Realm and fought a great battle, and this place was the battlefield where that battle had taken place? How else could such dense Time Principles be remaining in such a place?]
Even so, it was just a guess and there was no way to confirm it. Who could be certain about something that had happened so many tens of thousands of years ago? Everything was bound to change over time since the future was unpredictable. Following the Demon Realm’s collapse, this battlefield had been buried deep underground where nobody could see; thus, it had been preserved to this day. If he had not driven Gun-Gun to devour the Demon Realm continents, this ancient battlefield would never have seen the light of day again.
[Does it really belong to the Flowing Time Great Emperor?] Yang Kai pondered for a while; then, he stepped forward onto the ancient battlefield. Having spent some time in the Flowing Time Temple, he was very familiar with the aura of Flowing Time Great Emperor’s remnant power; therefore, he only needed to get a feel of the inside to know whether or not the Time Principles in this place were a legacy from Flowing Time Great Emperor.
Yang Kai had not sensed anything when he stood outside the ancient battlefield, but he suddenly felt as though his mind went stagnant the moment he stepped onto it. Not only did his thinking seem to stop, but everything in his surroundings also seemed to slow down. Yang Kai instantly knew that he was under the influence of the Time Principles and his Divine Sense immediately surged in response to protect himself. Only then did he barely manage to escape from their influence.
As he continued forward, the Time Principles around him became increasingly dense. Yang Kai had only proceeded across a distance of a thousand metres before he was overcome with a sense of being unable to move. It was not a restraint or some sort of suppression, it was simply that the thoughts in his head were being infinitely slowed down. Oftentimes, it would take a long time for his body to even react once a thought was formed.
Therefore, Yang Kai couldn’t help being amazed by how terrifyingly powerful Flowing Time Great Emperor was. Despite so many years having passed, Flowing Time Great Emperor’s residual strength remained so strong. Just what was he like at the peak of his cultivation? Nevertheless, there was one thing Yang Kai could be sure of, the Time Principles in this place were a legacy left behind by Flowing Time Great Emperor. In other words, Flowing Time Great Emperor had entered the Demon Realm when he left his palace. Afterwards, he encountered an unknown Master and fought a world-shattering battle here before leaving this place with serious injuries. Unfortunately, he died of his injuries before he could return to the Star Boundary. Following the death of the Great Emperor, the Infinite Hourglass returned to the temple on its own. Meanwhile, the Great Emperor’s corpse fell into the East Sea. Over the years, his remains were scattered throughout the East Sea and became trophies for the Monster Race.
All sorts of thoughts flashed across Yang Kai’s mind, but he couldn’t confirm them. Then, a strange idea appeared in his mind. [Could the Demon Realm breaking apart and forming fractured continents have something to do with the battle at the time? Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows?]
Suppressing the distracting emotions, Yang Kai forged onward. His pace was extremely slow and every move he made was jerky, almost like he was a wooden marionette controlled by strings. As the Time Principles washed over his Soul Avatar, he felt an inexplicable sense as though time was being stretched out to the point where one day felt like a year.
It took him a whole day to walk the first thousand metres, but walking another thousand metres took him another ten whole days. However, Yang Kai’s expression changed when he got to that point. That was because there was another force present on this ancient battlefield that was clashing with the Time Principles that were left behind here. Yang Kai had failed to detect it before because he had been standing on the edge of the battlefield, but now that he had walked a little further inward, he immediately became aware of it.
The battle that occurred tens of thousands of years ago had led to the death of a Great Emperor. Although the fate of the Great Emperor’s opponent remained unknown, from the aura left behind by those two who had been fighting here, it was clear that they were unable to determine a winner up till this day.
Nothing would have happened if Yang Kai had not appeared in this place. The two forces raging across this ancient battlefield had long since formed a strange balance between themselves, but his decision to enter and investigate the situation had inadvertently broken this balance and given these two terrifying forces a solution to this stalemate.
Although these two mysterious and unparalleled forces were extremely powerful, they lacked a host to focus and guide them, and thus, had no way to determine the victor between them. Strictly speaking, these two forces in the ancient battlefield were upholding their Masters’ will in life but could only clash and antagonize each other since they had no real ability to do any substantial damage to one another. On the contrary, Yang Kai’s arrival gave them a chance to settle things once and for all.
Suddenly, Yang Kai felt two forces invading his Soul Avatar without any apparent reason or prior approval. Those forces were so strong that he couldn’t fight back at all as they collided and clashed with each other with his Soul Avatar as their battlefield. As a result, his Soul Avatar flickered erratically, as if it might break apart at any time.
Yang Kai’s Soul cultivation was now stronger than any Pseudo-Great Emperor’s or Half Saint’s; even so, he had only split off a small portion of his consciousness to check out the situation here, so how could he withstand such a powerful force? His Soul Avatar was much too weak to act as a medium for this battle. It was akin to having two gigantic Dragons trying to fight in a small pond. No matter what happened to the two Dragons, the pond would definitely shatter from the fallout.
Yang Kai’s expression changed drastically while at the same time he hurriedly poured all his Spiritual Energy into his Soul Avatar. It was no longer just a sliver of his conscience this time around; instead, he was giving it everything he had. He knew that he had accidentally encountered a critical moment where his life was at stake and if he was not careful, he could end up dying here.
The tragic ending of being killed by the remnant auras of an ancient battlefield that formed tens of thousands of years in the past was something he absolutely could not accept.
Yang Kai’s Spiritual Energy flooded out from his Knowledge Sea in a rapid torrent, allowing his Soul Avatar that had been flickering erratically to finally stabilize. Nevertheless, his brow creased deeply in pain.
The two forces in his avatar couldn’t care less about his feelings. The impact of every collision between the two forces felt as though it was going to tear him apart. Fortunately, he was still only on the periphery of the battlefield. If he had gone any deeper, the forces would have been even more terrifying.
Even though Yang Kai found himself in a dangerous situation, it was not without a chance of survival. He would be fine as long as he left this ancient battlefield before his Soul Avatar was destroyed. It was a pity that it was extremely difficult to actually put his thoughts into action.
It had taken him ten days to travel a distance of two thousand metres under the influence of the Time Principles, and he had only been under a superficial interference at the time. Now that the Time Principles had invaded his body, the influence was much stronger than before.
Despite his intentions to retreat, it took Yang Kai a long time just to turn around and slowly trudge towards the outside. He only managed to walk no more than three metres before showing a pained expression. The strange thing was that even this pained expression appeared at an unusually slow speed, as though his own time had been extended indefinitely.
A soft cracking sound rang out from the depths of his Soul Avatar at that moment as all Yang Kai felt was a sharp pain coming from between his temples, as if something had been ripped apart. If anybody else had been around, they would have seen a real crack appearing between his eyebrows.
The crack was only the beginning. More and more cracks began to appear all over his avatar as time went by, making him look like a porcelain doll that was about to shatter and fall apart. He looked like he would break into pieces at the slightest touch.
It took a long time for Yang Kai to realize what kind of crisis he was in. Then, another long while passed before his anxious thoughts bloomed in his mind; however, his Soul Avatar was already covered in cracks by this time, causing his entire person to look extremely weird and terrifying.
When it really came down to the moment where his life was hanging by a thread, Yang Kai’s mental state calmed down all of a sudden. His steps might be slow, but he steadfastly continued to return along the path he came from. His consciousness was linked to his physical body outside the Small Sealed World, but what originally took no more effort than a single thought now required tremendous effort.
The moment he could establish a connection, he immediately urged the power of the Soul Warming Lotus. A seven-coloured light glowed brilliantly inside his Knowledge Sea as the seven-coloured island shrank and returned to its original Soul Warming Lotus form. Spinning steadily in the sky, the lotus continuously sent out a dazzling seven-coloured radiance.
It felt as though a barren land finally received the blessing of rain. Yang Kai felt his sluggish mind recovering to its normal condition in an instant while at the same time, a seven-coloured light bloomed out from the cracks on his projection, shot out from his nose and mouth, and then enveloped his entire Soul Avatar.
The majestic power of Soul Warming Lotus immediately cut off the influence the ancient battlefield had on him. The moment he broke free of the influence, Yang Kai immediately moved his Soul Avatar and rushed out of the ancient battlefield. Only then did he finally recover completely and escape the effects of the Time Principles.
Having escaped from the ancient battlefield, Yang Kai swiftly returned to his physical body.
Yang Kai, who was sitting cross-legged on top of Gun-Gun’s head, abruptly opened his eyes and gasped for breath like a drowning man that was rescued from the ocean. There was a trace of fear lingering on his face as his clothes were soaked in sweat.
Before he could examine himself carefully, he gave a muffled grunt and two streams of golden blood flowed out of his nose as a dull ache threatened to split his head open, causing him to howl in pain. The encounter just now might not have killed him, but it had injured his Soul. The pain from this kind of injury was many times more difficult to bear compared to ordinary physical wounds.
After a narrow escape from death, Yang Kai’s complexion was pale. Reaching up a hand to wipe at his nose, he found that the palm of his hand was covered in blood.
Although he had successfully escaped the crisis, he couldn’t help experiencing some lingering fears when he recalled his experience just now. More importantly, he only had one question in his heart, who was the one who had fought against Flowing Time Great Emperor back then? One must understand that, at the time, Flowing Time Great Emperor stood at the peak of the Star Boundary. Even the other Great Emperors that stood in the same Realm could only look up at him in awe. Just like how Heaven Devouring Great Emperor, Wu Kuang, had stood above his peers, the same held true for Flowing Time Great Emperor; therefore, a person who could fight on equal terms with Flowing Time Great Emperor could only be a genius on par with him.
[Could it be the legendary Great Demon God?] Yang Kai frowned. The first time he learned about the title of ‘Great Demon God’ was in the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld. Joining the Barbarian Race in war, he had fought against the Demons in a life-and-death campaign. In the end, the Evergreen Divine Tree sacrificed himself to seal the passage between the two worlds. However, a giant palm had shot out through that rift in the sky and nearly ruined everything at the last moment.
Everything in the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld was based on what had really taken place throughout the various eras. The battle between the Barbarian Race and the Demon Race during those ancient times had really happened, it was just that the process was somewhat different from what Yang Kai had experienced. Even so, Great Demon God’s palm from the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld really must have existed back then, which would mean that Great Demon God had really existed in that era.
Later, Yang Kai employed every trick he had to convince Yu Ru Meng to bring him to the Demon Realm. Once there, he had asked her about Great Demon God, but to his surprise, her expression had changed drastically at the mere mention of the name and she had warned him never to mention those three words ever again. These three words seemed to be taboo in the Demon Realm!
Afterwards, Yang Kai forgot to inquire about Great Demon God again because he never heard anyone talking about him despite spending so many years in the Demon Realm. The strongest in the Demon Realm was none other than the Twelve Demon Saints, in addition to the Continent Lord of Hundred Spirits Continent, Demon Dragon Chang Tian.
It wasn’t until today that Yang Kai began doubting that fact. It would make sense if the person who fought against Flowing Time Great Emperor back then was the Great Demon God.
Judging from the current situation, Flowing Time Great Emperor had died after that battle; likewise, it would seem that Great Demon God fared no better.
Why else would there be no news at all about that person for so many years?
While Yang Kai mulled over this matter, all sorts of thoughts flashed through his mind. After a while, he jerked upright in surprise and made a soft exclamation of astonishment as he carefully examined his memories. Although he had lingered in the ancient battlefield for more than ten days, it was only his mind that was immersed in it; hence, he had not paid much attention to the condition of his physical body. Just because he did not pay any attention to his body did not mean that he would not notice changes in it eventually. Even ordinary people could sense when something changed about themselves, much less Yang Kai who was a top cultivator.
His mind had been so unstable just now that he did not notice anything; however, he now discovered something interesting. His Soul Avatar had spent more than ten days in the ancient battlefield, but less than an hour had passed for his physical body. In other words, the flow of time in the ancient battlefield was many times faster than normal.
He had experienced something similar before. Not only did he experience it, but Yang Xiao and Yang Xue had also benefited greatly because of it.
The two little ones had only been a few years old when they entered Flowing Time Temple with Qiong Qi; however, they had already reached incredible heights in cultivation when Yang Kai went looking for them just a few years later. He later learned that it was because the two little ones had been cultivating for hundreds of years inside the Flowing Time Temple.
Naturally, among the legacies of Flowing Time Great Emperor, there was a certain area within the Restricted Area of the temple that was overflowing with intense Time Principles. The rate at which time passed inside that area was very different from the outside world., which was how Yang Xiao and Yang Xue lived hundreds of years in just a few years. Not only did they mature during that time, but their cultivations also reached extraordinary heights.
Unfortunately, the legacy of the Great Emperor was not limitless and would cease to exist once it was completely consumed. Yang Xiao and Yang Xue had inherited the mantle of Flowing Time Great Emperor and also received the treasure known as the Flowing Time Temple. Even so, it was still difficult for them to achieve the glory that Flowing Time Great Emperor had enjoyed back in his heyday. It was impossible unless they reached the same level as Flowing Time Great Emperor in terms of cultivation and obtained extremely high attainments in the Dao of Time. The time distortion which allowed them to rapidly cultivate was probably the welcome gift Flowing Time Great Emperor had specially reserved for his Legacy Disciple.
When Yang Kai heard about this, he was very happy for the two of them. Nevertheless, he had been very envious too. He himself had only cultivated for more than a hundred years since he began his journey on the Martial Dao. If he was given another few hundred years to cultivate, he was confident he would become a Pseudo-Great Emperor. Nonetheless, the Dao of Time still eluded him.
Be that as it may, just being a Pseudo-Great Emperor would be of great help in the current situation. As a High-Rank Demon King, he was capable of matching a Pseudo-Great Emperor or Half Saint in battle. Following that logic, he would even have the strength to fight a Demon Saint if he were to become a Pseudo-Great Emperor!
He never imagined that such an amazing opportunity would fall into his lap one day.
It was a pity that he did not know which continent Gun-Gun had just devoured. If he had known earlier, he would have devoured that continent back then, during his first visit to the Demon Realm, no matter the circumstances. If he had done that, his strength would have already undergone earth-shaking changes by now after more than ten years had passed.
For a moment, Yang Kai was overjoyed, but it seemed the good things didn’t end there. His emotions were tumbling in excitement when he suddenly realized that his Soul had become stronger. Moreover, there was something extra in his Knowledge Sea.
Back on the ancient battlefield, his Soul Avatar had been used as a medium through which the two terrifying forces permeating the land had clashed. He had felt unimaginable pain at the time, and his Soul nearly collapsed as a result. It was only thanks to the protection of the Soul Warming Lotus that he was saved. As the saying went, ‘Those who survive a catastrophe are bound to enjoy good fortune later’. He was tasting the sweetness of his good fortune right now.
His Soul had been damaged and later repaired by the Soul Warming Lotus; thus, it was stronger than before after being broken and rebuilt. The power of his Divine Sense had also been significantly improved as a result. That aside, the power of the Soul Warming Lotus had swept through his Knowledge Sea and washed away the hidden murderous intent of the two forces that invaded his Soul Avatar, leaving behind pure energy. This energy carried the Martial Truth that belonged to Flowing Time Great Emperor and the person who might be the Great Demon God.
This Martial Truth was the condensed essence of a lifetime’s cultivation belonging to the two Masters. Under normal circumstances, Yang Kai would still have needed to spend a lot of energy and effort to comprehend this Truth even if he had the two Masters personally instruct him in its profundities; however, the situation right now was different. The two Masters were both long dead and only the pure Martial Truth remained in his Knowledge Sea. It was equivalent to directly enlightening him.
All kinds of mysteries were contained inside this Martial Truth, and he had an unobstructed view into it as it was literally branded into his Soul. It was as though these two people were holding a lychee in their hands and inviting him to feast upon it. Even if he took the lychee from them, he would still need to remove the skin and peel it to eat the flesh within. Be that as it may, the existence of the Soul Warming Lotus had done the job for him instead. Like a caring maidservant, the Soul Warming Lotus had stuffed the sweet flesh of the fruit directly into his mouth; now, he only needed to chew and digest it.
It was said that pie does not simply fall from the sky, but Yang Kai was lucky enough to come across just such a situation.
In his joy, he couldn’t be bothered that his head felt like it was being split in two anymore. He quickly immersed himself and carefully examined the Martial Truth left in his Knowledge Sea. It truly was an amazing thing left behind by Flowing Time Great Emperor and the suspected Great Demon God. If he could make it his own, the benefits it would bring towards improving his strength would be astronomical.
Yang Kai had only meditated for a short moment when he abruptly opened his eyes again. His mind flashed and he communicated with the Small Sealed World. Another person appeared in front of him. It was a tall and curvaceous figure with a pair of delicate wings behind her back.
Who else could it be but Bo Ya?
“Sir!” Bo Ya cupped her fists.
He had kept Bo Ya inside the Small Sealed World ever since he first placed her there. She was a Mid-Rank Demon King, so although her strength was excellent for her Realm, her presence or absence made no major difference among the many Masters of the Sixty-First Army. For that reason, Yang Kai had not recruited her into his army. Besides, she seemed to have… special fetishes and he did not want her hanging around his wives all day long.
More importantly, he had kept her in the Small Sealed World so that he would have a handy subordinate for himself when he needed one. It was also to deal with some unexpected situations. For example, it would be more convenient to have a helping hand in his present situation.
After greeting him, she seemed surprised, “Are we back in the Demon Realm again?”
They were standing on top of Gun-Gun, whose huge body was so large that one couldn’t see the end at a glance. As Gun-Gun moved forward, the continents were being devoured. This scene was something she had gotten used to seeing after many times.
“En.” Yang Kai nodded before saying to her, “Keep watch. If anything happens, just call for me.”
After saying that, he entered the Small Sealed World without giving her a chance to object.
He was gone before she even had the chance to speak; thus, she was extremely annoyed at him, [I’m just a Mid-Rank Demon King! What can I guard against? This is the Demon Realm! What if I run into a Half-Saint or something!? Won’t I be dead!? It wouldn’t have mattered so much in the past, but I’m a traitor to the Demon Race right now! I will definitely suffer a terrible fate if I get captured by any of the Demon Saints!]
Nevertheless, she soon discovered that the continent was devoid of any vitality. Gun-Gun’s devouring speed was so fast that it could cover a thousand kilometres in an instant, but she did not see a single living thing in the process. It puzzled her greatly.
[What happened to this continent?]
The reason why Yang Kai had entrusted the Gun-Gun to Bo Ya for safekeeping was that Gun-Gun lacked a certain level of sentience. Therefore, Gun-Gun could only obey simple orders and act on its instincts. Once this continent had been cleanly devoured, they had to head towards another continent. At that time, somebody would need to remind Yang Kai, who was inside the Small Sealed World, about this, and Bo Ya was just the right person for the job.
While Bo Ya was in distress, Yang Kai had already returned to the ancient battlefield. The difference was that he had come to this place with only a thread of his consciousness during his last visit while this time he came in his true body.
The flow of time on the ancient battlefield was very different from the outside world, so needless to say, choosing to cultivate inside this place would rapidly improve his strength.
For him, what he needed the most now was time. Being a High-Rank Demon King wasn’t bad, but he was still greatly disadvantaged when facing off against Half-Saints. Even so, he had only become a High-Rank Demon King less than twenty years ago. He did not know how long it would take for him to become a Half-Saint; hence, the appearance of the ancient battlefield was like giving a drowsy man a pillow. It was exactly what he was looking for.
Yang Kai’s damaged Soul had not recovered completely. No matter how powerful the Soul Warming Lotus was, it would still take time for it to repair such injuries. Nevertheless, the purified Martial Truth that gradually accumulated in his Knowledge Sea was just waiting for him to absorb its insights.
Yang Kai stepped forward without any hesitation and entered the ancient battlefield again. Just like before, the Time Principles in the surroundings wrapped around him and gave him a sense that time was being distorted confusingly.
Having come here with just a thread of his consciousness during his last visit, it had been very inconvenient to be affected by the Time Principles. Unlike last time, he arrived with his true body this time. It was only natural that the resistance he had towards those effects was on a different level altogether compared to before. At the very least, he no longer felt a disconnect between his thoughts and his body.
Forging ahead one step at a time, he travelled a distance of a thousand metres in just a quarter hour, causing him to raise his brow slightly. When he first came here, it had taken him a whole day just to travel the first thousand metres. The advantages of coming to this place in his true body were showing.
Yang Kai did not proceed any further inward this time though. That was because he knew that the two forces clashing against each other in this ancient battlefield would definitely wreak havoc on him again if he took one more step forward. His damaged Soul had yet to recover completely, so he had to wait until he was fully recovered before making plans to proceed further. Besides, he only entered this ancient battlefield to gain more time to cultivate.
After calculating the distance, Yang Kai sat down cross-legged and let the Soul Warming Lotus repair his Soul. In the meantime, he studied the pure insights that were gathered in his Knowledge Sea and absorbed the Martial Truth of the two Masters.
Time passed in a blink of an eye. His damaged Soul returned to a complete state after several days, and after experiencing this disaster, his already powerful Soul had gotten stronger by a slight margin. It might not be much, but it already saved him many days of hard cultivation.
The moment his Soul recovered was the moment Yang Kai also completely comprehended all the Martial Truths that were gathered in his Knowledge Sea. The two forces belonging to the two Masters were originally of different Principles and Attributes, so it should have been impossible for them to be fully integrated with each other. However, the purification of the Soul Warming Lotus had stripped away all extraneous components, leaving behind just the purest Martial Truth. That was the only reason why he could absorb both of them together.
As the saying went, ‘All Grand Daos led to the same truth’. This was no different.
Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, which had originally turned black due to his partial demonification, now glimmered with a slight golden light. It seemed insignificant in that pitch-black environment, but it was also extremely conspicuous, like an ember that would ignite into a raging fire one day.
Yang Kai stood up and discovered that his thoughts flowed smoothly now with no sense of blockage whatsoever. Although the Time Principles were still flowing around him, they no longer had any effect on his body. He knew that this was part of the benefits of comprehending and absorbing the Martial Truth.
Be that as it may, this was only the outermost periphery of the ancient battlefield where the residual Time Principles were the weakest. If he went deeper into the ancient battlefield, it would definitely be a different scene.
Yang Kai took a step forward, and as he had expected, the two overwhelming forces in the surroundings immediately attacked him. It was the Flowing Time Great Emperor’s Time Principles and another power belonging to another Master.
When Yang Kai came here with his thread of consciousness previously, he had been afraid of encountering unexpected events, which was why what he had perceived had not been very clear. It wasn’t until now that he discovered under careful examination that the other force contained deep-rooted Demon Essence, which was incredibly compatible with the Demon Qi in his body.
It was becoming more and more certain that the one who fought Flowing Time Great Emperor on this battlefield was one of the Masters of the Demon Realm, even if it was not Great Demon God himself. A clear understanding bloomed in Yang Kai’s heart as he realized why he was able to comprehend and absorb the Martial Truths of those two.
He originally thought a free pie had fallen from the Heavens, but he now knew that this piece of pie was not something that just anybody could eat.
Although he had failed to obtain Flowing Time Great Emperor’s true inheritance, Yang Kai had managed to cultivate the Time Flies Seal and scratched the surface of the Dao of Time. This gave him a relationship with Flowing Time Great Emperor, albeit a superficial one. With this foundation, it was only natural that he could comprehend and absorb the Martial Truth left behind by Flowing Time Great Emperor.
Similarly, he had been influenced by the World Principles of the Demon Realm when he became a High-Rank Demon King, undergoing demonification and having his Emperor Qi converted into Demon Qi. It was only because the Soul Warming Lotus protected the last pure land in his Knowledge Sea that he did not truly become part of the Demon Race. Even so, he could now be regarded as partially a member of the Demon Race! That was why he could comprehend and absorb the Martial Truth belonging to this ancient Demon Race Master.
Everything seemed to be a lucky coincidence, but who could say whether it was an opportunity or the work of the Heavens? If anybody else other than Yang Kai had arrived at this place, they would not have obtained any benefits; instead, they would have been eroded away by the Martial Truth and their cultivation would have been destroyed.
Even if Yang Xiao and Yang Xue had come here, they would only be capable of absorbing the part of the Martial Truth that belonged to Flowing Time Great Emperor. They would not have been able to gain anything from the ancient Demon Race Master. The consequences of not being able to comprehend and absorb that portion of the Martial Truth would likely be disastrous for them instead.
After giving it some thought, Yang Kai couldn’t help breaking out into a grin as he kept walking without pausing, taking one step at a time.
When he came here via his thread of consciousness before, it had been underqualified to act as a carrier; therefore, he only persisted for a short while before he was unable to bear the pain and quickly retreated instead. Now that he arrived here with his true body, it was proving to be a much stronger carrier than a mere wisp of consciousness had been. If the previous Soul Avatar was equivalent to a small pond, then his true body was a lake that could withstand much more. Even so, it still could not contain the attacks of the two giant Dragons, that was simply beyond his current limits.
Five thousand metres! The strength of his true body, coupled with the Martial Truth that he had absorbed before, allowed Yang Kai to advance five thousand meters before he had to stop. At this point, he could no longer move forward. He would probably sustain indelible injuries if he tried to force his way forward.
His Soul felt like it was tearing apart and the pain in his physical body was unbearable. His entire body shuddered uncontrollably as traces of Golden Blood oozed out of all his pores. Still, he grit his teeth and clenched his fists with a savage expression that was rather terrifying.
The Soul Warming Lotus was already emitting a seven-coloured glow, constantly repairing the damage done to his Soul. Accompanied by the Soul Warming Lotus, Yang Kai did not have to fear dying here, so he quietly inspected his condition. His Soul had not reached its limits yet, but his physical body could not withstand anymore, which was only to be expected. His Soul already exceeded the level of a Half-Saint due to his relationship with Yu Ru Meng, but his body was only that of a High-Rank Demon King. The gap between these two was simply too large.
Pondering in silence for a while, Yang Kai let out a low roar, “Dragon Transformation!”
It was a pity that his physical body could no longer withstand the pressure even though his Soul had not reached its breaking point, so the simplest solution was to strengthen his body.
A Dragon Roar sounded and a dazzling Golden Dragon head appeared and vanished in a flash. Then, Yang Kai’s body rapidly swelled up. Following a series of crackling sounds, Dragon Scales covered his entire body, two short Dragon Horns appeared on his forehead, his hands turned into sharp Dragon Claws, and a Dragon Tail flicked behind him. His transformation stirred up a cloud of smoke and dust on this ancient battlefield.
His Half-Dragon Form still retained some resemblance to his Human form, but his Dragon Clan features were clearly more defined than before. After the Dragon Transformation, Yang Kai breathed heavily. The air that blew out of his nostrils formed gusts of wind, giving him an extremely majestic impression.
He was stunned for a moment and scratched his head, vaguely feeling as though he had… grown slightly taller. Examining himself carefully, he discovered that it was not just his imagination. He had certainly grown taller than before; thus, he couldn’t help feeling amazed by the changes.
The last time he performed the Dragon Transformation Secret Technique was during his deadly battle against Wind Lord in the Flowing Time Temple. He had been wandering about in recent years and was so busy that he had no time to cultivate the Dragon Transformation Secret Technique. Nevertheless, he had been consuming Dragon Blood Pills regularly so his body had been growing larger without his knowledge, even though he had not deliberately tried to cultivate the Dragon Transformation Secret Technique.
It was just that this process took a very long time. The Dragon Clan had always been long-lived; therefore, growth had never been a matter of urgency for them. Since his battle on Dragon Island, despite consuming so many Dragon Blood Pills and Dragon Blood Flowers over the years, he had only grown to about 320 metres.
During the fight with the Wind Lord in the temple, he had given it his all. After that, he went to the Lower Star Field to refine World Beads. He didn’t even have the time to consume more Dragon Blood Pills he had refined, so logically speaking, he shouldn’t have grown much at all.
But now, he estimated that he had grown to 400 metres in height, which could only be described as a huge eruption in growth.
For the Dragon Clan, a bigger body undoubtedly signified greater strength. The largest among the Dragon Clan Elders in the Dragon Temple throughout the generations had been just shy of 1,000 metres, a length that none of the current Dragon Clan could compare to.
Yang Kai had the Golden Divine Dragon Source, and the more he integrated with the Source, the bigger his body would become. Now that his body had increased in size, it would mean that his Source Strength had been stimulated again somehow.
After giving it some thought, Yang Kai guessed that his rapid growth was probably due to the benefits he received during his battle with Wind Lord. He had gone all out after executing the Dragon Transformation, so his Golden Divine Dragon Source Strength must have been developed without his knowledge at the juncture of life and death. He had been so exhausted at the time that he had not noticed anything; therefore, it wasn’t until today that he discovered the benefits. This discovery could be regarded as a pleasant surprise as the stronger his physical body was, the more punishment it could withstand.
The surrounding pressure that was crushing his body suddenly became lighter after he assumed his Half-Dragon form. He had been struggling to take another step forward before, but now, he had no trouble continuing forward again. With this, he travelled another five thousand metres.
Yang Kai finally stopped in his tracks. This was his limit. His large body sat down cross-legged, looking like a small hill. Then, he opened up his mind in the middle of this ancient battlefield, allowing the two forces to enter his body while he quietly comprehended this phenomenon.
Three months passed just like that. During that period, Yang Kai did not move in the slightest. It wasn’t until three months later that he abruptly opened his eyes. His majestic Dragon Eyes were brimming with energy and it was clear that he had benefited greatly from this endeavour. He couldn’t stop himself from breaking into a grin; however, what came next was a rumbling sound that shook the world itself. If a timid person had witnessed this scene, they might have been scared to death by the sight of his horrifyingly large mouth spreading out in a grin.
The two forces that had been raging against each other in the outer periphery of the ancient battlefield for countless of years had vanished completely. They had been absorbed into his body and refined into his strength.
Without the influence of the Time Principles here, the flow of time in this area returned to normal. A thought flashed in Yang Kai’s mind and in the next moment, Bo Ya, who was sitting on top of Gun-Gun’s head with her chin resting on both hands and a bored expression on her face, suddenly heard Yang Kai’s voice, “How long has it been?”
Although she didn’t understand why he was asking her such a strange question, she still answered seriously, “It’s been five days.”
[Good. It has only been five days.] Inside the ancient battlefield, Yang Kai stood up and strode forward. His steps were unhurried, but every step made the Earth tremble slightly. At the same time, the scabs covering his body fell off with every step he took. He had not taken many steps when a doubtful expression appeared on his face. [Why does it feel like… I’ve grown a little taller again?]
Yang Kai touched the top of his head and made a slight gesture to measure his height. Then, he discovered that it was not his imagination. He had indeed grown taller. It wasn’t much, only about 10 metres or so, but this was already an incredible achievement.
The longer the Dragon, the harder it was for them to make further progress. With his current 410-metre-tall body, it would be difficult for him to grow by 10 metres even if he cultivated the Dragon Transformation Secret Technique assiduously for 3 to 5 years. Contrary to his expectations, he easily achieved such growth just by meditating in this ancient battlefield for 3 months, and it wasn’t even on purpose.
[Could it be that the Martial Truth also has the effect of improving the Dragon Clan’s Bloodline Power? It’s not necessarily impossible. The Masters of those two forces had both reached the absolute pinnacle after all. The Martial Truth contained in their power is difficult even for the current Demon Saints and Great Emperors to fathom, it’s not surprising if it has some unique effects attached to it. Perhaps, it might even be related to how the two forces keep clashing with each other.]
These two forces had been clashing with each other while using his body as a carrier, allowing him to comprehend the mysteries with a detached feeling. Since his body was in the battlefield and was constantly being stimulated and damaged before being repaired, it was only natural that it would help to develop and improve the bloodline in his physical body.
[This is a good thing.] Yang Kai smiled happily and continued moving forward. This time, he only reached his limit after traversing a distance of 5,000 metres. Although it was said that the two forces would grow stronger the deeper he went, the suffering he experienced previously had not been in vain. 3 months of intensive cultivation had allowed his body to grow stronger, and he could go further as a result.
During the time Yang Kai was devoted to his cultivation in the ancient battlefield, a war had broken out in the Demon Land around Blue Wave City.
By the order of Li Wu Yi, the Sixty-First, Thirty-Fifth, Fifty-Third, Nineteenth, and Twenty-Seventh Armies had launched a full-scale attack. They were practically going all out in their attempt to destroy the Demon Stronghold in Blue Wave City.
On the other hand, the Demon Race was waiting in trepidation in the Demon Land of Blue Wave City. Both parties had been fighting fiercely for the past several days and as a result, each side suffered terrible casualties. There were corpses everywhere on the battlefield, and rivers of blood ran in every direction.
In the end, the Demon Race army faltered first and showed signs of defeat. The Sixty-First Army immediately took advantage of this opening and charged to within thirty kilometres of the tall Demon Tower.
By this point, the Demon Race army had long since set up an iron-clad defence around the periphery of the Demon Tower. Countless Demons were desperately fending off the advance of the Star Boundary’s army while defending the Demon Tower to the death.
A majestic palace flew out from the rear at that moment with Yang Xiao and Yang Xue standing side by side at its main entrance. Strong winds blew at them, making their clothes flap wildly in the wind. Even so, they each continued executing their respective Secret Techniques. Amidst a loud humming sound, the palace slammed into the Demon Tower.
The Flowing Time Temple was a great gift from Flowing Time Great Emperor to his descendants. This temple was not something as simple as a mere palace, it was in fact an extremely powerful flight-type artifact with astonishing offensive and defensive capabilities. Borrowing the power of the temple, the pair prepared to destroy the Demon Tower in the most direct manner possible. The distance between the huge palace and the Demon Tower quickly narrowed, and all the Demon Race members blocking the way were smashed into blood mist.
At the same time, a barrage of attacks rained down on them from all directions but were blocked by the light barrier that surrounded the outside of the temple. The curtain of light was very sturdy, and those attacks only caused a light ripple to appear on the barrier’s surface, leaving both Yang Xiao and Yang Xue completely unharmed. The barrier surrounding the mobile palace of Flowing Time Great Emperor was not something an ordinary attack could destroy even if these two little ones could only draw upon a small part of its power.
Upon seeing this situation, three Demon Race Half-Saints immediately launched into the sky and headed towards the temple. They made their move before the temple could even get close, slamming directly into it with terrifying strength.
Following that, two figures rushed out from the temple, one big and old, one small and young. Wherever Yang Xiao and Yang Xue were, it was a given that Qiong Qi and Liu Yan would be there too.
A tiger’s roar and a phoenix’s cry rang out. When Qiong Qi and Liu Yan clashed with the three Half-Saints, space itself shattered. Qiong Qi was a veteran Divine Spirit, and among all the Divine Spirits in the Half-Saint and Pseudo-Great Emperor Realm in this world, only Li Wu Yi was capable of suppressing him. Nobody else was worth anything in his eyes. If it had been a one-on-one fight, no Half-Saint would have been capable of defeating him.
Unfortunately, Liu Yan was slightly inferior in that aspect. Although she had the Phoenix True Fire and had become a true Divine Spirit, it had not been long since she started cultivating this new strength. In the first place, a Divine Spirit was an existence that relied on the accumulation of time to become strong, so while she might be much stronger than a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master, she did not have much of a winning chance against the likes of a Half-Saint. For that reason, she immediately fell into a disadvantageous position when she faced three Demon Race Half-Saints as her opponents in battle despite having Qiong Qi beside her.
Fortunately, they were not required to kill these Half-Saints, they just needed to buy some time.
The Flowing Time Temple rushed forward with a loud rumble while the three Demon Race Half-Saints were tied down. The other Half-Saints were similarly held up in their own respective battles, so there were no other available Masters to hinder the pace of the temple. At that moment, the pandemonium on the battlefield seemed to quiet down and the entire world froze in place. Under millions of gazes, the Flowing Time Temple slammed into the pitch-black Demon Tower.
Yang Xiao and Yang Xue, who were standing at the entrance to the temple, were the first ones to react to the impact. First, their complexion paled significantly; then, they both coughed up a mouthful of blood. In the next moment, a dull thunderous explosion boomed out. The curtain of light surrounding the temple crumpled inward but did not shatter. A circle of light subsequently flashed out, spreading in all directions. The Demon Tower vibrated slightly from the impact before returning to its original state.
The Demon Race Half-Saints, who had been staring so intently that their eyes nearly exploded, instantly felt relieved to see that the Demon Tower was safe. They rushed towards the Demon Tower without regard for their safety, intent on protecting it even if that meant allowing their opponents to injure them.
How could the Star Boundary not realize just how important the Demon Tower was to the Demon Race after witnessing such a scene? When the Demon Towers first appeared, nobody in the Star Boundary knew what they were for so they didn’t pay too much attention to it. By the time they started taking notice of the Demon Towers, they had already taken shape.
Li Wu Yi had vaguely guessed that these Demon Towers would be of great use to the Demon Race, which was why he had ordered the five armies gathered in this place to try attacking to see if there was a chance for them to destroy one of them. After this attempt, the Star Boundary learned that the Demon Towers were much more important to the Demon Race than they had ever expected.
Contrary to their expectations, the Half-Saints had even disregarded their own safety to protect the Demon Tower. How could the many Pseudo-Great Emperors that were present allow the Half-Saints to do as they pleased? They hurriedly chased after the Half-Saints to deal even more damage to their enemies.
Standing above the temple, Yang Xiao and Yang Xue exchanged a glance with each other. After so many years together, there was no need for discussion for them to understand each other. Forming new hand seals, the temple retreated at an extremely fast speed, moving back more than a dozen kilometres in the blink of an eye. Then, pushing their Qi madly, they sent the temple hurtling towards the Demon Tower once more.
Although the first blow had not managed to destroy the Demon Tower, that did not mean their attack was ineffective. They knew better than everybody else that the Demon Tower might be sturdy, but it was definitely incapable of withstanding three collisions with the temple. They were certain that they could completely demolish this Demon Tower with three strikes. Regardless of what the Demon Race was originally planning, there was nothing they could do to prevent the destruction.
Another explosive collision rang out! The Demon Tower shuddered as if it were about to fall, but eventually stabilized itself again. The Half-Saints on the battlefield became even more desperate at the sight and went so far as to use Forbidden Techniques, draining their own life force and vitality just to increase their strength in order to break free from their opponents as soon as possible to stop Yang Xiao and Yang Xue’s actions. It wasn’t just the Half-Saints, even the Demon Kings were acting in desperation.
For a time, the already stormy battlefield became even more chaotic than before.
The might of the Sixty-First Army was fully displayed at a time like this. There were always benefits to having an abundance of Masters in their ranks, and in the face of the various counterattacks coming from so many Masters of the Demon Race, they immediately responded by taking up positions to block any threat from disturbing Yang Xiao and Yang Xue.
When the Flowing Time Temple slammed towards the Demon Tower for the third time, Yang Xiao and Yang Xue’s faces were as pale as sheets. Even so, their gazes were fixed resolutely on the Demon Tower.
At the last moment, a halo of light spun as energy gathered in one place, opening a huge vortex in front of the Demon Tower.
Two pairs of eyes involuntarily narrowed at the sight from where they stood on top of the temple. Yang Xiao and Yang Xue had no idea what this vortex was, but they understood that victory and defeat all hinged on this next attack; thus, they poured all of their strength out without reserve.
A delicate foot suddenly stepped out from the vortex, followed closely by a slender figure that appeared in mid-air. Her skin was as smooth as a baby’s and her looks were as gorgeous as the finest jade. There were a pair of delicate wings behind her back.
*Weng…*
As soon as both her feet stood in the air, the entire world seemed to shudder in response.
Yang Xiao was stunned for a moment before his expression changed greatly and he exclaimed in astonishment, “Fu Yu!”
There were currently three Demon Saints in the Star Boundary and each of them was extremely famous. Even if he had never seen any of them up close before, Yang Xiao had caught a glimpse of them from afar back at the Western Territory. What’s more, the characteristics of the Feather Demons were so obvious, how could he fail to recognize the truth?
[Why is she here!? How did she get here!? Wasn’t she guarding a Demon Land in the Eastern Territory!?] The Eastern Territory was located millions upon millions of kilometres away. Even if Fu Yu was a Demon Saint, it would take her several days just to fly here from there. There was no way she should be able to appear out of nowhere just like that.
Thinking back to what he just saw though, Yang Xiao felt a shudder in his heart. [That Demon Tower… It can’t be… Does it function like a Cross-Territory Space Array!? That’s the only way to explain the current situation!]
The moment Fu Yu appeared, most of the Masters in the Star Boundary paled in unison. Yao Si, who was in charge of the main army, immediately took out a Space Beacon and contacted the two Elders of the Dragon Clan.
The reason he didn’t go into battle was not out of cowardice or the fear of death, it was just that somebody needed to take charge of the overall situation since all five armies had been deployed. The other Army Commanders were Pseudo-Great Emperors who were needed in battle to restrain the movements of the enemy Half-Saints. On the other hand, Yao Xi was far weaker. Be that as it may, it was not a problem for him to coordinate and command the army, which was why Bing Yun and the others had handed over the command of the entire coalition to him.
In reality, he had done an excellent job and thanks to his superb tactical command an opportunity for Yang Xiao and Yang Xue to launch their attacks twice had been created. Unfortunately, the third attack was doomed to fail.
Just as Yao Si was sending a message to the Elders of the Dragon Clan, Fu Yu’s crystal-like eyes swept over Yang Xiao and Yang Xue lightly. Her gaze was completely indifferent, almost as if she was looking at two insignificant ants in front of her; however, a small change finally came over her expression when she saw the Flowing Time Temple. She made a soft sound of surprise as she could clearly tell just how extraordinary this flying temple was.
The distance between the Flowing Time Temple and the Demon Tower was rapidly shortening as after Yang Xiao and Yang Xue’s initial moment of surprise, they neither retreated nor changed their trajectory. Instead, they concentrated even harder to direct the temple toward the Demon Tower. That was because they knew that there was no chance of escaping in the presence of a Demon Saint. Instead, it might be more beneficial to try and snatch their lives back from the gates of death by staking everything they had on a single attack.
The Flowing Time Temple thrummed as it slammed forward with great power. Even a mountain would be smashed to pieces by such force.
Compared to that gigantic palace, Fu Yu’s figure was extremely small; however, her aura as a Demon Saint seemed to cover the sky. She reached out a jade white hand and grabbed at something. A five-coloured divine bow carved with dragons and phoenixes appeared in her grip, and with a slight twist of her other hand, she drew the string back, condensing an equally radiant feathered arrow.
A sense of great crisis suddenly enveloped both Yang Xiao and Yang Xue. They had obtained the Flowing Time Great Emperor’s true inheritance, and in addition, their cultivation had reached quite a high level. Nevertheless, there was a sense of suffocation pressing down on them at this moment. They could sense the murderous intent and overwhelming power rushing towards them from the front, stabbing directly into their minds, and causing them to be agitated and unable to control themselves.
Even Bo Ya, who was a Mid-Rank Demon King, could kill a High-Rank Demon King if she had enough time to prepare, so what more needed to be said about a Demon Saint like Fu Yu? The only people in this world who could withstand an arrow from Fu Yu without dying were those on the level of Great Emperors and Demon Saints. Anybody weaker than that would surely die in the face of this arrow.
For that reason, the two little ones couldn’t help feeling like they were directly exposed to danger despite being sheltered within the Flowing Time Temple.
The arrow shot out as soon as it was formed. As the distance between them was too close, Fu Yu could not afford any delays. A ray of light that was visible to the naked eye shot out from her hand and struck directly at the oncoming temple. They collided with each other in the blink of an eye and it was as though the whole world exploded with a deafening bang.
When the loud explosion sounded, a violent force of vibration burst out and spread across the entire battlefield. Countless Humans and Demons lost their balance. Even the Demon Kings had to push their Demon Qi to defend themselves. Meanwhile, the expressions of the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints became incredibly solemn.
Fu Yu staggered back by two steps before she managed to stabilize her figure again, letting out a soft sound of astonishment as she looked extremely surprised. As far as she could see, the huge palace was intact and had only been knocked backwards by her arrow. Amidst a series of cracking sounds, countless fissures appeared in the light curtain that had been enveloping the Flowing Time Temple all this time; then, the shield shattered before the temple could stabilize itself again.
The complexions of both Yang Xiao and Yang Xue that had already been pale in the first place became even more colourless as both of them coughed up blood at the same time.
That light curtain had been the primary defence of the Flowing Time Temple, and although they were unable to draw out the full power of the temple yet, it was still not something that could be broken so easily. That could be seen just by looking at how it remained intact after the first two collisions with the Demon Tower.
However, the curtain of light was shattered by Fu Yu’s arrow, proving just how terrifyingly powerful the force of her shot was. Without the protection of the Flowing Time Temple, forget the weak Yang Xiao and Yang Xue, even the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints would have been turned into dust.
The temple flew back like a beast that had lost control of its body, and since both Yang Xiao and Yang Xue were connected to the temple, they were also sent tumbling along with it. Unfortunately, a great sense of crisis, as if they were about to die, befell them again before they even had time to catch their breath.
Standing in front of the Demon Tower, Fu Yu drew the five-coloured divine bow again. The feather arrow nocked on the bowstring trembled slightly, pointing directly at the Flowing Time Temple. Her crystal-like eyes were filled with cold indifference. She had been in too much of a hurry just now, so she had failed to exert her full strength when she shot the first arrow. Be that as it may, she was still a Demon Saint. Even a haphazard attack held the power to destroy the Heavens and shatter the Earth, and yet, those two Human children did not die. That was something she found rather intolerable.
Under normal circumstances, she would not have bothered to attack those two insignificant ants a second time. It was just that she could tell that the temple was not something to be trifled with, so she made up her mind to destroy it. As for the life or death of the two Humans hiding within the temple… Why would she care about that?
If it was said that she only had time to exert 50% of her true strength with her first arrow, then the second arrow contained at least 80% of her full power. She was not confident that she could destroy the palace with any less.
The moment the arrow was loosed, only its brilliance shone in this world. All the other movements on the battlefield were eclipsed by the soaring radiance of this arrow.
Yao Si, who was in command of the entire army, could only watch this scene helplessly. Even though he was staring so hard that his eyes were about to pop out, there was nothing he could do. With just his strength, how could he rescue somebody from a Demon Saint? He no longer knew how he was supposed to explain what happened here to Yang Kai and Dragon Island.
Yang Xue was Yang Kai’s biological sister, if she died here, Yang Kai would surely fly into an uncontrollable rage; however, this was not the worst that could happen. Yang Xiao was the only son of the two Elders of the Dragon Clan. If he were to die in this place, the Great Elder and Second Elder would surely go insane. The entire Star Boundary were currently relying on these two Masters to control the overall situation. If they lost their minds in grief and rage, the entire Star Boundary would be placed in peril.
The Flowing Time Temple was still tumbling away while at the same time, the feather arrow was rapidly approaching. It wouldn’t take long before the arrow hit its mark. Just as the feather arrow was about to strike, a pale golden light suddenly flew out from the temple. The light was formed from tiny grains of sand that converged together, dancing lightly as it wrapped around the feather arrow.
Flowing Time Divine Sand!
At a critical life-or-death moment, Yang Xiao and Yang Xue had endured their various discomforts to jointly activate the power of the Infinite Hourglass. The Flowing Time Divine Sand stored in the hourglass was released en masse and Time Principles burst forth.
The whole world seemed to freeze at that moment as Time Principles eroded away the power of the arrow. Time flowed swiftly, delaying the arrow’s speed and weakening its power.
A short moment later, everything returned to normal. Although they had activated the power of the Infinite Hourglass, their strength was not enough. Just being able to delay the attack of a Demon Saint for a moment was already an incredible achievement. The power behind the arrow had been considerably reduced under the erosion of the Time Principles, but unfortunately, it still wasn’t something the two of them could withstand in such a weakened state.
“Little Aunt!” Yang Xiao turned to look at Yang Xue, who was close at hand; then, a smile appeared on his pale face. He was about to die, but even so, he had no regrets if he could spend his last moments with his family.
Similarly, Yang Xue looked at him and smiled warmly.
Still standing at the entrance of the temple, the two of them tightly clasped each other’s hands, their expressions as calm as a pool of water despite the fear they felt of their impending death.
All of a sudden, a large hand reached out and grabbed hold of that flowing stream of light.
*Weng…*
The feather arrow struggled like a snake in the grasp of that large hand; however, it couldn’t break free of its grip. The large hand suddenly clenched tightly and the feather arrow broke apart, scattering into particles of multi-coloured light.
When that large hand grabbed the feather arrow, countless gazes from all directions had focused on it. More so than the others, Fu Yu scowled fiercely.
It wasn’t until the feather arrow had shattered into nothingness that a figure entered into view. That figure was neither tall nor large, only the size of an ordinary Human. Even so, he seemed to give off an indomitable spirit just by standing there. It was enough to make everybody look up at him.
Yao Si let out a long breath of relief. [They made it in time! Thank the Heavens!]
“Father!” Yang Xiao was overjoyed.
Without turning around, Zhu Yan said lightly, “You’ve done well.”
The moment he received the message from Yao Si, Zhu Yan immediately rushed over via the Space Beacons only to be greeted by the sight of Fu Yu releasing her second arrow. His spine immediately went cold with fear and the mental composure that he had spent tens of thousands of years cultivating nearly collapsed at that moment because he had no way of stopping that arrow in time.
Fortunately, Yang Xiao and Yang Xue managed to buy him a moment of time by activating the power of the Infinite Hourglass. That short moment made all the difference between life and death.
Yang Xiao had not lost his fighting spirit despite facing a Demon Saint; rather, he had tried his best to struggle to survive. That was not something just anybody could manage to do; thus, he truly had the qualifications to make Zhu Yan proud.
“You dare hurt my son! Die!” Another figure swiftly materialized beside Zhu Yan. Who else could it be but Fu Zhun? She immediately charged at Fu Yu as soon as she appeared, her Dragon Eyes filled with a malevolent aura and her beautiful face covered in a layer of frost. The temperature in the entire world seemed to drop sharply as a result.
All Dragons had a reverse scale, and Yang Xiao was undoubtedly hers. She would kill anybody who dared to harm her precious Lin’er. Ice Principles erupted from Fu Zhun’s body as she transformed into a giant Ice Dragon, flooding the entire world with her Dragon Pressure. At the same time, she unleashed her Dragon Breath at Fu Yu.
Huo Bo and Xue Li appeared mysteriously next to Fu Yu at that moment. Seeing the beam of ice rushing towards them, Huo Bo let out a strange laugh as his round, squat, and ball-like body shot straight into the sky with unexpected agility,
*Hong…*
A huge ball of fire exploded in the sky, intercepting Fu Zhun’s attack.
A Dragon Roar rang out as Zhu Yan also assumed his true form. He fought side-by-side with Fu Zhun, facing off against the three Demon Saints. A loud rumbling rose up to the clouds, and his figure soon vanished out of sight.
Meanwhile, Yang Xiao and Yang Xue were arrows at the end of their flight. They didn’t even have the strength to remain standing inside the temple. Qiong Qi speedily separated from his opponent and arrived at the temple in a flash. Hurriedly examining any injuries that the both of them might have sustained during the fight, he finally let out a breath of relief when he discovered that there were no traces of hidden dangers in their bodies. They were simply exhausted from the battle.
As soon as Qiong Qi withdrew, the situation on the battlefield subtly changed. The slight advantage that the Star Boundary held in the beginning was gradually levelled out. On the contrary, the Demon Race army organized a counterattack and began to push the Star Boundary’s armies back, little by little.
Yao Si slammed his fist down hard in frustration before hurriedly issuing the order to withdraw! The purpose of this battle had been to destroy the Demon Tower, and seeing that it was no longer possible to achieve that objective, there was no point in continuing. Prolonging the fight would only increase the number of casualties on their side. In any case, the army was unable to continue fighting after so many days of battle, so it was best that they withdrew while they still held a slight advantage.
In this battle, the number of casualties among both the Demon Race and the Human Race numbered in the millions. It took the Demon race army three whole days just to clean up the battlefield afterwards.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai was oblivious to the battle in the Star Boundary as he was currently meditating quietly in the ancient battlefield. Such a good opportunity was very rare to come by. The flow of time in the ancient battlefield was different from the outside world with a difference of several tens of times. Thus, it was only natural that he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.
At first, there had been a purpose to what he was doing. Unfortunately, he became immersed in the experience as time passed and in the end, he was simply enjoying the feeling of becoming stronger.
During this period, he spent all his time inside the ancient battlefield aside from the occasional summons from Bo Ya to head towards another continent to continue the devouring process.
The area in which the two forces were raging rampantly in the ancient battlefield would shrink slightly every few months. When the two forces that had been clashing for so many years entered his body, Yang Kai would willingly act as their battleground so he could refine and absorb portions of the strength and insight they left behind. Thus, they became his capital and nutrients to increase his strength exponentially.
Furthermore, he could not feel any signs of his foundation becoming unstable after cultivating in this manner. Every step he took was unbelievably solid and steady. The reason for that lay in the flow of time in the ancient battlefield. The benefits he received there were not something he achieved overnight. On the contrary, it was something he steadily polished, bit by bit, so it was only natural that there were no hidden dangers to his cultivation.
Continent after continent disappeared from the Demon Realm. Accordingly, the third region of the Small Sealed World was gradually being perfected. Yang Kai, who was cultivating in the ancient battlefield, had long ago lost track of time. He only knew that he was slowly but surely becoming stronger.
When only half of the ancient battlefield that once covered over ten thousand kilometres was left, an unexpected change took place.
On that day, Yang Kai opened his eyes and silently examined the changes in his body; then, he questioned Bo Ya about the situation in the outside world. Upon learning that the current continent would require at least another few days before it could be completely devoured, he re-focused and took a step forward.
Only when Yang Kai reached his limit did he sit down cross-legged and open his mind. As usual, the two forces that filled the ancient battlefield immediately poured into his body as though they had finally found an outlet. They used his body as a carrier and battlefield as they clashed with one another, continuing the grand battle that began in ancient times as though they were finally about to determine a victor among them.
Yang Kai, however, furrowed his brow feeling as though something was different this time. It felt like there was something extra, but he couldn’t determine anything even when he examined himself carefully; thus, he couldn’t help wondering whether he was simply overthinking things.
Just as he was thinking that though, two figures suddenly imprinted themselves in his mind. One was tall and large, towering above the skies. On the other hand, the other figure was one ten-thousandth of the size of the other. Nevertheless, it was clear that the small figure was fighting the giant. In addition, their battle was raging with no distinct winner between them.
Yang Kai’s expression stiffened in surprise. Although he was nearly shaken out of his meditative state, he soon managed to stabilize his emotions. Upon a closer look, he realized that those two figures felt rather familiar to him. They were not visible to the naked eye. Rather, they were something he could only sense with his mind. For some reason, he could neither get a clear read on the gigantic figure nor the miniature figure. It didn’t matter whether it was their faces or the shape of their bodies, they were all blurry and chaotic to him. All he could tell was that they were fighting, but he had no idea what kind of overwhelmingly powerful attacks or Secret Techniques they were using; hence, he suddenly felt anxious to know more.
This ancient battlefield was where Flowing Time Great Emperor had fought with a Master from the Demon Race, and now, two figures had materialized in his mind while he was quietly meditating in cultivation. There was no way Yang Kai couldn’t guess who they were at this point. They were Flowing Time Great Emperor and the Master who he suspected was the Great Demon God!
Yang Kai had absorbed the Martial Truth left behind by those two Masters, and now, his mind had travelled through time and space to witness their original fight. If he could watch their fight closely to observe and emulate their movements and methods, he was certain that he would receive great benefits from this experience. It was just that he could only ‘see’ two vague figures. Forget what methods they were using in their fight, he couldn’t even get a proper glimpse of their faces, so what could he comprehend from such a scene? It would have been one thing if he had been oblivious to the entire situation; however, he could already guess who these two were but could not investigate the situation, making him feel as if he had an itch that could not be scratched.
On second thought, Yang Kai realized he had never ‘seen’ such a scene before. He believed that it was because he had been meditating in this place for a while now and consequently obtaining a vague essence of the Martial Truth belonging to these two Masters that he could receive this opportunity today. If that was the case, he would eventually be able to see their battle clearly if he continued to cultivate.
Once this thought crossed his mind, Yang Kai concentrated on his own cultivation and stopped paying attention to the two fighting figures.
By the time the area of the ancient battlefield shrunk by half again, more than 30 years had passed since Yang Kai began cultivating in this place. The difference in the flow of time had given him a unique advantage as with Bo Ya’s confirmation, it turned out that it had only been less than a year since he first entered the Demon Realm.
Following 30 years’ worth of cultivation, Yang Kai shed his former self and was reborn as a result. He was thankful that the fight between the two Masters had not disappeared since the day he was first able to ‘see’ them in his mind. Every time he felt himself growing stronger, he would try to observe the battle between the two Masters. Unfortunately, it had always failed.
But, it was going to be different this time. When Yang Kai tried to watch the ancient battle once more, at first the two figures remained blurry and he could not see much, but a short while later, it seemed to become slightly clearer. His spirits lifted while at the same time he concentrated on studying the fight. His Divine Sense surged inside his Knowledge Sea, causing the black and gold flames inside to churn tumultuously while large waves overlapped each other. It was clear that he was going all out.
Just when Yang Kai felt a pain in his head and was struck by a wave of drowsiness, he suddenly saw the small figure forming a set of hand seals. Time Principles surrounded the small figure who then slowly sent his palm forward.
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up at the sight. Those seals and the power of that palm strike were all exceedingly familiar to him. That was the Time Flies Seal! Moreover, it was the Time Flies Seal that Flowing Time Great Emperor himself executed!
That Secret Technique was Flowing Time Great Emperor’s most famous Divine Ability which Yang Kai coincidentally obtained in the Four Seasons Land in the past. He had learned a little bit about the Dao of Time during his time in the Four Seasons Land and obtained the Time Flies Seal through a certain opportunity rather than through his own comprehension. Who could say for sure whether he had actually obtained the essence of the Divine Ability or not?
Yang Kai originally believed that the Time Flies Seal he obtained would not embarrass Flowing Time Great Emperor even if he might not have fully comprehended its essence, but it wasn’t until he witnessed the Great Emperor using this move personally that Yang Kai finally realized just how ridiculous his previous confidence was.
It was the same Time Flies Seal, but even so, the difference in power and effect between Yang Kai’s and the Great Emperor’s version was like the difference between the light of a firefly and the brilliance of the moon. Naturally, part of the reason was the difference in strength between them, but clearly, the root cause stemmed from Yang Kai’s failure to understand Time Principles to a high enough degree. Not to mention, the illusory phantoms that remained in this place were only a manifestation of the remnant Martial Truth of the Great Emperor, not an actual attack from him. Despite being no more than an illusory phantom, the Time Flies Seal displayed was already far beyond Yang Kai’s comprehension. If that attack struck Yang Kai, he was certain he would be reduced to dust in an instant.
Staring at that palm strike blankly, Yang Kai felt as though his entire mind was filled with its majesty. Then, a hint of enlightenment was born in his heart as he realized just how the Time Flies Seal should be cast.
He had not given it much thought when there was nothing to compare to before, but now that he had an example before him, he realized that the Time Flies Seal that he had been using up until now was like the imitation of a naïve child at best.
After that palm strike, another Time Flies Seal came out, seemingly repeating over and over again like a looping recording. The real battle was definitely not like this as these two illusory phantoms were simply a manifestation of his comprehension of the two Masters’ Martial Truths. It was only because he had also cultivated the Time Flies Seal that he could even see this scene.
After repeatedly observing and emulating, Yang Kai suddenly understood something. His body, which was still under the Dragon Transformation subconsciously began to move in the ancient battlefield and performed hand seal after hand seal. Time Principles faintly lingering around his body gradually thickened…
It wasn’t until the two illusory phantoms suddenly broke apart that Yang Kai stopped moving. Looking down at his Dragon Claws, he clenched them tightly without warning and a savage smile broke out across his face. Although it was impossible for him to reach the level of Flowing Time Great Emperor, the power of his Time Flies Seal would definitely have undergone a dramatic improvement now.
Yang Kai stood up and strode forward, the look in his eyes as firm as the steps he took. He only managed to see the Time Flies Seal this time, but he was certain he could see even more next time.
As time passed, the area of the ancient battlefield shrunk little by little. Meanwhile, Yang Kai indeed began to see more and more things as he continuously grew stronger. It was no longer limited to just the Time Flies Seal. The scene of battle between the two Masters fascinated him greatly. It felt as though the world would collapse and the universe would turn upside down every time they collided with one another. The only thing that infuriated him was that he could not see what the Two Masters truly looked like as their faces remained a blur.
Just like that, several decades passed by in the blink of an eye. Only the core region of the enormous ancient battlefield now remained. Coincidentally, there was also only one last continent left in the Demon Realm that had yet to be devoured.
The two forces that flooded this last piece of the ancient battlefield could only be described as violent. Even Yang Kai had trouble guiding them into his body. Numerous cracks appeared on his sturdy Dragon Body and his Golden Blood flowed freely from his wounds. The Soul Warming Lotus spun desperately inside his Knowledge Sea, sending out a soothing power to keep him lucid and mend his damaged Soul.
Yang Kai had become indifferent to everything else and was now completely immersed in the battle between those two figures. Over the years, the battle had only gotten clearer and clearer to him; thus, he was very curious to see the final outcome. Although he had already guessed that Flowing Time Great Emperor would eventually die of serious injuries, he wanted to know what would happen to the suspected Great Demon God. The answer surely lay in this last scene.
Under the full focus of his Divine Sense, Yang Kai saw the two figures fighting fiercely with each other. The World Principles were chaotic; space itself was constantly being torn apart by their clashes. Yang Kai seemed to witness the collapse of the world and the division of an entire universe the longer he watched.
His brow twitched at that realization and he secretly thought to himself, [As I suspected… The collapse of the Demon Realm was indeed related to Flowing Time Great Emperor.]
In ancient times, the Demon Realm had been one whole; however, it was broken into countless pieces and scattered into the Void after the battle between Flowing Time Great Emperor and the Master who he suspected was the Great Demon God.
Nevertheless, the two Masters turned a blind eye to their surroundings. They had nothing but each other in their sights as they fought to the death for reasons unknown to the world. Time and space were turned upside down, and the final collision finally arrived.
It was the Time Flies Seal again. The Great Emperor struck out with his palm, and in response, the giant froze without warning. Raising his head, he let out a silent roar as numerous cracks appeared on his towering figure.
Yang Kai’s heart tightened at that moment, secretly rejoicing. This situation indicated that the outcome of the battle ended with Flowing Time Great Emperor winning by just a slight margin. Although he was mortally wounded in the end, he still managed to return to the Star Boundary so his remains could be buried in his homeland.
Just when Yang Kai was secretly rejoicing over the Great Emperor’s victory, he suddenly saw two rays of light appearing in the huge figure’s eyes. All this while, he had not been able to see the appearances of the two Masters. Their faces had always been a chaotic mess as if there was a layer of something covering their faces like a veil. At least, that was the case… until now!
The huge figure opened his eyes and two rays of light shot out from them. One was gold while the other was black! The golden eye was filled with a golden pillar of dominance. Just looking at it would cause a person to feel a sense of trembling in his heart. It felt as though his Soul had to surrender under such majesty. On the other hand, the black eye was like a bottomless abyss. There was no white nor pupil. Instead, it seemed to embody endless darkness that threatened to drag one in and never allow them to escape.
Yang Kai felt as though he had been struck by lightning and stood frozen on the spot in shock.
The last traces of the forces on the ancient battlefield had completely disappeared. Even so, Yang Kai continued to sit in the same spot blankly, unable to come back to his senses. His mind was filled with the image of those eyes he had seen at the last moment.
One golden eye and one black eye. The golden eye was extremely intimidating while the black eye was deep and unfathomable. If a normal person had seen those eyes, they would simply marvel at the wonder and power behind them. Yang Kai, however, was completely taken aback by the sight. That was because that one golden and one black eye were very familiar to him.
[Weren’t those the Demon Eye of Annihilation and the Black Purgatory Eye?] Even though he had only caught a glimpse of those eyes, he was sure that he was not mistaken. They were definitely the same Demon Eye of Annihilation and Black Purgatory Eye that he had. It was precisely because he had those same eyes that he was so familiar with them and could recognise them at a glance.
[It was just… Why did those eyes appear on that Master who is probably the Great Demon God?] Ever since he started cultivating, those eyes of his had brought great benefits to him. They had helped Yang Kai turn danger into safety countless times, saving his life more than once.
Of the two eyes, Yang Kai had obtained the Demon Eye of Annihilation in Tong Xuan Realm. It was said that there was once a Great Demon God in Tong Xuan Realm and the Demon Eye of Annihilation was a relic he had left behind.
It was just that the cultivation of Tong Xuan Realm’s Great Demon God was rather low. That was why, even though Yang Kai later learned about the existence of the Demon Realm’s Great Demon God when he was in the Star Boundary, he had not associated the two with each other. The gap in their cultivation was simply too large. Contrary to his earlier beliefs though, it would seem that there really was some sort of a connection between the two, especially if Flowing Time Great Emperor’s opponent was really the Great Demon God.
Thinking about it carefully again, Tong Xuan Realm’s Great Demon God might have been known as a Demon, since he stemmed from the Demon Clan, but his conduct in life had been the epitome of righteousness. After fighting with his life on the line to save his homeland, he had sacrificed himself to set up an Earth-shakingly powerful Grand Array that concealed Tong Xuan Realm, protecting it from the dangers of the vast Starry Sky, lest this Star with a weaker Martial Dao was discovered and subsequently conquered by malicious Masters.
It could even be said that the only reason Tong Xuan Realm survived to this day without being enslaved by other Masters in the Star Field was all thanks to the Great Demon God. Therefore, Yang Kai had a hard time connecting such a magnificent and benevolent person to the Great Demon God of the Demon Realm.
As for the Black Purgatory Eye, it was something he had obtained in the place where the Ancient Demon had been defeated outside of Maplewood City. A One-Eyed Great Demon had run rampant in the world during ancient times, causing great devastation. Consequently, Ancient Masters had come together to kill it. Even though they managed to destroy the Ancient Demon’s physical body, a single eye had been left behind. They were unable to destroy that eye, regardless of what means they used; hence, they had no choice but to seal it away in what would one day become Maplewood City.
The seal later weakened and allowed the Ancient Demon’s aura to seep out, nearly causing the fall of Maplewood City. Yang Kai and six others had used the Seven Points Black Tortoise Formation to charge out of the city to repair the seal. After an accident of sorts, Yang Kai was contaminated by the Demon Qi and somehow obtained the Black Purgatory Eye as a result.
He could still recall how great the commotion had been at the time. It had even caused Star Soul Palace to take action. In the end, Yang Kai ended up fighting against Gao Xue Ting, Xiao Yu Yang, and Chen Wen Hao under the effects of a kind of Demon Transformation when they came to investigate the situation. Yang Kai had only been a First-Order Dao Source Realm at the time while Gao Xue Ting and the others were already in the First-Order Emperor Realm. Nevertheless, Yang Kai still managed to escape safely in a situation where his enemies were much stronger than him and he was fighting in a three-against-one battle. That just went to show just how powerful the Black Purgatory Eye was. Truth be told, he would have lost himself in demonic impulses a long time ago if he had not relied on the gold and silver power of the Firmament Tree to seal that ancient Demon Qi away.
In addition, the Demonic War Hammer that the Embodiment was currently using was a Demon Artifact that used to belong to the One-Eyed Great Demon. Both the Demonic War Hammer and the Black Purgatory Eye belonged to the One-Eyed Great Demon, so how were they related to Great Demon God?
The final scene that Yang Kai had seen at the end of the battle left him feeling rather dazed, but there was no way he could mistake the Demon Eye of Annihilation and the Black Purgatory Eye. He couldn’t come up with a possible explanation even after careful consideration though, so he could only sigh sadly to himself. These events had happened much too long ago, and without witnessing what really happened, who could say what was the truth?
Unfortunately, Yang Kai failed to see how the battle ultimately ended. Two rays of light, one golden and one black, flashed brightly when the Master who he suspected to be the Great Demon God opened his eyes. The entire scene had fallen apart after that, so Yang Kai had no idea what happened to the two Masters as a result. It was fortunate that he had finished absorbing all the forces within the ancient battlefield, so this trip was not without gains.
At that moment, Yang Kai suddenly raised his brow with an expression of joy. He vaguely felt that the third region of the Small Sealed World had become complete. In other words, Gun-Gun had also finished devouring the last continent.
The Demon Realm was originally one whole but later broke up under the impacts of the battle between Flowing Time Great Emperor and the supposed Great Demon God. As the Void was blocked, the Demon Race could only rely on the existence of the Territory Gates to navigate between the continents for countless years. Although no issues had arisen in the short term, the Territory Gates gradually became unstable over time. Likewise, the connection between the continents in the Demon Realm became weaker and weaker. In the end, many continents vanished from the Demon Realm’s territory and were lost to the Void.
Yang Kai, who could shatter the Void and leap across space, managed to find and devour many of those lost continents. It was a process of breaking something in order to rebuild it again. Now that all the continents had been swallowed and merged together once more, the third region was completely transformed into a second Demon Realm. The world hummed softly as the originally flawed World Principles became perfect again. The newly reborn world might not be very impressive at the moment, but this place would become a scene of great beauty given 10,000 or 100,000 years.
As the Master of the Small Sealed World, the birth of this new world had given Yang Kai a faint sensation of rebirth. His mind felt extremely comfortable for inexplicable reasons. There was also a sense of being separated from the chaos just as the world was being born. Moreover, a power that was generally very difficult to grasp became incredibly clear to him at this very moment, World Force!
The biggest difference between Great Emperors, Emperor Realm Masters, and even Pseudo-Great Emperors lay in this point. Great Emperors were capable of connecting with the world and borrowing the power of World Force. Every action they took carried the prestige of the world with it. Emperor Realm Masters and Pseudo-Great Emperors were limited to exerting their own strength, but Great Emperors were beyond that category. They were on a completely different level altogether.
Under normal circumstances, a person would not be able to feel World Force until he or she became a Great Emperor, no matter how strong that person was. Even Li Wu Yi had never felt it before. However, Yang Kai was uniquely blessed in this aspect. The existence of the Small Sealed World allowed him to comprehend and even use World Force in advance. The Small Sealed World was a world in and of itself after all, and now that the third region was complete, it gave him a deeper understanding of this mysterious power.
Any other Third-Order Emperor or High-Rank Demon King would have been confused and at a loss for how to comprehend the mysteries of the situation even if they had the opportunity to experience something like this, and Yang Kai himself had been no better in the past. It was just that he had spent several dozen years on the ancient battlefield, greedily devouring and absorbing the Martial Truth of two peak-level Masters. In turn, it had allowed the scope of his vision to exceed the level it should have been at. Standing at a height that did not belong to him, it was not difficult for Yang Kai to comprehend a little about these mysteries. Those two Masters were undoubtedly the strongest in their respective Great Worlds, so who could surpass them in terms of their perception of World Force? It could be said that although these dozens of years of hard work had not propelled Yang Kai into the Half-Saint Realm, his true strength had undergone earth-shaking changes nevertheless.
In the midst of his joy, Yang Kai suddenly frowned and turned his head to look in a certain direction. The perfection of the Small Sealed World and the improvement of his state of mind had made him extremely sensitive to the world as a whole. Not to mention that he was the Master of this world in the first place. As long as Yang Kai focused, not even the movement of a blade of grass in a gust of wind could escape his attention.
The image that entered Yang Kai’s eyes was a figure coming toward him from afar. This person moved like the wind itself, his hands behind his back as he strolled leisurely, seemingly just taking in the beautiful scenery around him. Travelling through the skies, this figure was looking around his surroundings with a hint of nostalgia in his expression. Soon, he seemed to notice Yang Kai watching him and glanced over from a distance, smiling slightly.
Yang Kai couldn’t help narrowing his eyes as there was a distance of at least ten thousand kilometres between the two of them still. The only way he could see that person across such a distance was by relying on his advantages as the Master of this world, so how was the other party able to see him?
“As expected, he’s suspicious!” Yang Kai coldly snorted to himself. When he first saw this person, he couldn’t shake the vague feeling that something was not right about him; however, he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong which was why he left Bo Ya hiding nearby to monitor the situation. Even so, Bo Ya had not noticed anything out of place.
It wasn’t until this moment that this person finally revealed his true self. Yang Kai’s mind arrived at the Three Peaks with a single thought, the place where Li Shi Qing used to stay. Li Shi Qing had left the Small Sealed World a long time ago while Huo Lun was even now refining the power of the Myriad Demon Pills he acquired in the past. Therefore, the last owner of the mountain peak was gone and the place was empty.
Originally, Yang Kai had left Bo Ya here to monitor the situation, but right now she was taking care of Gun-Gun in the outside world, so there was nobody monitoring this place. For that reason, nobody knew when this person had left the Three Peaks.
Yang Kai was the Heavens themselves inside the Small Sealed World, so he was not afraid that this person might be hiding some form of malicious intent towards him. He could turn this person into ashes with the slightest motion of his hands after all.
A distance of ten thousand kilometres could neither be considered far nor near. Moreover, the other party was only a Mid-Rank Demon King, so it made sense that it would take the other party at least a quarter-hour to arrive. But, when Yang Kai looked up, he noticed that that person’s method of travelling seemed to be extremely profound, as though he was capable of borrowing the World Strength around him, allowing him to travel far faster than the average Demon King.
Less than an incense stick later, a familiar Demon arrived not far away from Yang Kai. This person stood with his hands behind his back and nodded at Yang Kai with a smile, as though he was greeting an old friend who he had not seen for many years.
Likewise, Yang Kai returned a look of interest. Although he could tell that the other party was no ordinary person, the layer of mystery shrouding this figure made him even more curious to see just what the other party was hiding under that veil.
The person glanced around himself and let out a soft sigh, “Truly, what a nostalgic sight this is.”
The tone behind that sigh was not deliberate. Rather, it was truly filled with a sense of nostalgia, his eyes full of melancholy.
Yang Kai raised his brow in surprise, “You’ve been here before?”
The Demon Race member looked at Yang Kai and smiled without smiling, “After being here for so long, I’m sure you can discern a little something. Whether I’ve been here before or not… Others might not know, but… are you saying you don’t know either?”
Those were mystifying words, but they made Yang Kai frown deeply. He studied the man in front of him carefully. Then, his expression changed drastically a moment later and he exclaimed with a strange expression, “Mo Sheng… Demon God… You can’t be implying that you are Great Demon God, right?”
When Yang Kai first heard the name ‘Mo Sheng’, he couldn’t help feeling a little strange. The names of the Demon Race were very different from the names of Humans of the Star Boundary. They held a strongly unique and noble bearing. Even if he was not familiar with the way the Demon Race decided on their names, he could tell that the name ‘Mo Sheng’ was somewhat inappropriate. It was too similar to the title of ‘Demon Saint’. He had initially been a little surprised that Mo Sheng managed to survive until now without being killed by any of the other Demon Race members. It truly was a miracle.
If that were all it was, he would only have associated this matter with the Demon Saints. It was just that he couldn’t help thinking that there was more to this situation than he previously thought now. The words ‘Mo Sheng’, ‘Demon Saint’, and ‘Demon God’ all sounded very similar after all.
It had simply been a casual remark. At first, Yang Kai believed that he was overthinking things, but who could have expected Mo Sheng to wave his hand dismissively in response, “Demon God? That’s just what they call me. Mo Sheng is my real name.”
Yang Kai involuntarily took two steps back before he remembered that he was in his own world. There was no reason to fear this Mo Sheng even if what he was saying was true. Composing himself, Yang Kai asked, “So, you really are the Great Demon God?”
If that were the case, then all the strange occurrences so far would make sense. It was precisely because he had the vague feeling that something was wrong that he had always kept an eye on Mo Sheng all these years.
Mo Sheng smiled slightly without giving an answer, which made him seem very mysterious and hard to predict.
On the other hand, Yang Kai did not know what kind of expression he should show on his face. Both the inhabitants of the Demon Realm and the Star Boundary were currently at war with each other and there had been countless deaths on both sides. As such, the hatred between the two Races was as deep as the sea. Under such circumstances, the legendary Great Demon God of the Demon Race just had to appear right in front of him. No matter how quick-witted Yang Kai was, he was still at a loss for what to do. What he had even more trouble accepting was that the situation was very different from what he had imagined.
This self-proclaimed Great Demon God was not as savage, bloodthirsty, cruel, or violent as Yang Kai had imagined. On the contrary, he had a leisurely bearing that made him seem rather warm and friendly.
“Are you really the Great Demon God?” Yang Kai repeated his question.
Mo Sheng fell silent for a moment before replying, “Yes and no.”
“What do you mean?” Yang Kai looked confused, but before Mo Sheng could answer, a look of realization crept across Yang Kai’s face as he posited, “A Soul Clone?”
If this person really was the Great Demon God, then he would not have the qualifications to even converse with him. Instead, Yang Kai would have been killed immediately on the spot. Besides, how could a Mid-Rank Demon King possibly be Great Demon God?
This reminded him of the Embodiment. Even he had an existence like the Embodiment, so it would not be surprising if the Great Demon God, who had a cultivation that vastly exceeded his own, had a Soul Clone.
“Well, something like that.” Mo Sheng did not explain, acting as though he tacitly agreed with what Yang Kai had said. Smiling brightly, he turned to look at Yang Kai, “You have something of mine.”
Yang Kai pointed at his eyes, “Are you referring to these?”
Mo Sheng nodded, “Those eyes were originally mine.”
Yang Kai grinned, “They are not yours. They belonged to the Great Demon God, and now… They belong to me.”
He could finally be sure that this person in front of him was the Great Demon God’s Soul Clone; moreover, the person who fought against Flowing Time Great Emperor on the ancient battlefield during the ancient times was none other than the Great Demon God.
Mo Sheng didn’t appear annoyed and pondered for a moment before saying, “True. What I lost is no longer mine.”
Sighing, he continued, “Humans are amazing.”
Yang Kai did not know what Mo Sheng was reminiscing about, but the nostalgic expression appeared on the latter’s face again.
In any case, he did not care that Mo Sheng was the Great Demon God’s Soul Clone. Not only was Mo Sheng just a Mid-Rank Demon King, the other party was also in his territory. It was only natural that Yang Kai was not afraid of Mo Sheng. Seeing that Mo Sheng was so easy to talk to though, he couldn’t help wanting to inquire more about the situation so he commented while stomping his foot slightly, “I saw many things here.”
Mo Sheng nodded in reply, “It was your opportunity that allowed you to see what you saw. It is also your ability.”
“But, I couldn’t see the outcome of the battle. Can you tell me how it ended?”
Mo Sheng smiled at those words and replied, “What else could have happened? The battle ended in death. That’s why I said that Humans are amazing.”
Although Mo Sheng did not specify who had died in that battle, Yang Kai understood that the only person he could be referring to was the Great Demon God, and for a moment, Yang Kai felt his spirits lifting. Even though he had long since guessed the outcome of the battle, he couldn’t help feeling a sense of pride when Mo Sheng confirmed the truth. The person who killed the Great Demon God was Flowing Time Great Emperor!
“If he’s dead though, why are you still alive?” He frowned at Mo Sheng. The main body was dead; hence, it didn’t make sense for the Soul Clone to survive. Yang Kai was certain that if anything were to happen to him, the Embodiment would die as well.
Mo Sheng replied, “The physical body might have been destroyed, but the Soul remains! Flowing Time Great Emperor was powerful indeed, but he was still a long way off from destroying my Soul.”
Yang Kai understood immediately. Leaving aside that the Great Demon God’s cultivation was overwhelmingly powerful; given the chance, even the average Emperor Realm Master and Demon King could escape with their Soul despite having their bodies destroyed. Nevertheless, Mo Sheng’s manner of speaking rubbed him the wrong way. It was Flowing Time Great Emperor who destroyed the opponent’s physical body, and yet, Mo Sheng made it sound as though he had the upper hand in the fight back then. He was acting as though Flowing Time Great Emperor had been helpless against him.
Mo Sheng seemed to have seen through Yang Kai’s thoughts so he calmly added, “I was injured at the time; otherwise, I would not have fallen into such a pitiful state.”
Yang Kai’s expression stiffened at those words. Although it was his first time coming into contact with Mo Sheng, he knew that there was no reason for a Master like the Great Demon God to deceive him. If Mo Sheng claimed that he had been injured, then he must have been injured. Since he was injured, it stood to reason that he could not exert his full strength. That being the case, he still managed to force Flowing Time Great Emperor into a battle where both sides ended up perishing. If that had happened under the condition that he was in an injured state, what would have happened if he had been in peak condition!? More importantly, who could have injured him in the first place!?
Although they had only exchanged a few words, Yang Kai felt as though this Demon Race member’s legends and myths had gently opened a door in front of him. Furthermore, it would seem that there was another vast world beyond that door. Suppressing the shock in his heart, he asked, “What happened to this pair of eyes?”
Mo Sheng blinked in response, “That’s what I want to know too. How did they fall into your hands? If you don’t mind, can you tell me?”
That answer was beyond Yang Kai’s expectations. He had believed that the other party would have the answers he sought; however, that one question and momentary puzzlement instantly made Mo Sheng topple off the lofty pedestal Yang Kai had initially placed him on.
[You’re nothing special after all!] Yang Kai secretly thought to himself. Seeing as there was nothing to hide, he recounted the story of how he obtained the Demon Eye of Annihilation and the Black Purgatory Eye to Mo Sheng.
Mo Sheng listened attentively, as though he was listening to an extremely moving story. It wasn’t until the story was over that he gave a laugh, “So that’s how it is. From what you’ve described, they seem to be similar to me.”
“They?” Yang Kai frowned at those words. Then, realization struck him, “Are you saying that those two were Soul Clones too?”
Mo Sheng nodded, “Perhaps, when my body shattered after the battle, my eyes broke through the Void and arrived elsewhere. They must have gained spirituality and became those two eventually.”
Yang Kai could barely accept what he was hearing. The One-Eyed Great Demon was bad enough as he had brought great devastation to the world and killed countless people back then. Moreover, it had taken many Great Experts working together just to kill him and seal his eye away.
Contrarily, the Great Demon God of Tong Xuan Realm had done a great service to the world. It was vastly different from the impression Yang Kai had of the Great Demon God. Not to mention, he had obtained a great many blessings from Great Demon God that ultimately contributed to his success today.
Mo Sheng suddenly spoke up quietly, “We are ourselves. The Great Demon God is the Great Demon God. We are different entities. If the true body had been here instead, you would not have had the chance to speak for so long.”
Yang Kai’s brow twitched upon hearing those words as he thought of the Embodiment again. The same went for him and the Embodiment. They were completely independent existences. It was only natural that the Embodiment had his own personality and manner of thinking that was different from Yang Kai’s.
It was true that Yang Kai had obtained the blessings of the Great Demon God in Tong Xuan Realm, but that Great Demon God was not the Great Demon God of the Demon Realm. It could even be said that the Great Demon God of the Demon Realm had died in that battle with Flowing Time Great Emperor. After understanding this point, Yang Kai felt his churning emotions relaxing slightly. He had received many benefits from the Great Demon God after all. Having to become enemies all of a sudden might not be an issue from a logical standpoint, but it was not acceptable from a moral one. Now that he understood the situation, he only needed to ask himself whether the person in front of him was an enemy or ally going forward.
“You’ve stayed hidden for so many years. Why show yourself now?” After putting aside his worries, Yang Kai felt a lightness in his heart. It was not easy to meet the Great Demon God’s Soul Clone, so it was only natural that he wanted to chat more with the other party. More importantly, he was very curious as to why Mo Sheng had been hiding inside the Small Sealed World.
Mo Sheng replied, “It’s the right timing. What else should I do if I don’t come out now?”
“What timing?” Yang Kai asked, his nerves becoming tense again as he considered whether he should defeat Mo Sheng before asking more questions. Regardless of how relaxed, carefree, and harmless Mo Sheng might seem, he was still Great Demon God’s Soul Clone. He must have some sort of agenda for hiding in the Small Sealed World, and people with different aspirations could never get along. When it came to matters of life and death, it was better to take the initiative in deciding the victor than to wait for others to make their move.
“Let me tell you a story,” Mo Sheng suddenly said.
Yang Kai was a little overwhelmed by Mo Sheng’s jumping thoughts, but after a moment of discomfort, he blinked his eyes and said, “Is it a good story? I’ll listen if it’s a good one.”
Mo Sheng ignored Yang Kai’s seemingly sarcastic remark and continued at his own pace, “In the past, there was a man who was extremely gifted and talented. He was a genius that stood above all others. Having reached the peak at a very young age, it was only natural that the young man was very arrogant due to his accomplishments. He travelled across the world and eventually made his way across the universe, acting unscrupulously.”
Yang Kai slandered in his heart, [That guy is you, right? I can almost guess the ending just by listening to the beginning of the story! I must say; this story is a terrible one!]
Nevertheless, the last sentence Mo Sheng said bothered him greatly. What did he mean by travelling across the universe?
“It was a very happy time.” A look of nostalgia appeared on Mo Sheng’s face again, “Unfortunately, good things don’t last forever. This young man eventually met his match. A woman.”
Yang Kai chuckled perfunctorily.
“That woman was also very powerful, and he had never seen a woman like that before. Despite exchanging blows on several occasions, their battles have been inconclusive…”
“And then, that guy fell in love with that woman?” Yang Kai glanced at Mo Sheng with a dull expression. He could effortlessly make up a bunch of stories about hatred-turning-into-love.
Mo Sheng glanced at Yang Kai, “Love meant nothing to that man. It’s just that his competitive spirit was aroused due to his opponent’s strength.”
Yang Kai coughed slightly, feeling embarrassed that he had guessed wrongly.
“The battles between those two continued on for over 10,000 years, until one day…” Mo Sheng’s sentence trailed off at this point, scowling deeply. A trace of a malevolent aura appeared on his usual indifferent expression. It made Yang Kai extremely vigilant. No matter how harmless this person seemed, he was still the Great Demon God’s Soul Clone!
“That woman’s strength increased all of a sudden, so it was only natural that she took the upper hand in their struggle. Nevertheless, that man was neither a coward nor a pushover. Despite being caught in a deadly battle, he managed to inflict critical injuries to his enemy as well.” Mo Sheng’s tone was flat, almost as though he was talking about somebody else’s affairs, “Fearful of each other, they agreed to a temporary truce to recover from their wounds. It was not easy for them to be wounded at their level of cultivation, so you can imagine just how difficult it was for them to heal once they were. They would not recover unless they devoured the Auspicious Spirit Essence of a Great World. That was the reason why that man came to this world.” While speaking, he gestured around to his surroundings with his hand.
Yang Kai’s expression changed. [That means that the Great Demon God wasn’t from the Demon Realm. Rather, he was an uninvited guest from the Outer Universe! And, the only reason he came to the Demon Realm was to devour this so-called Auspicious Spirit Essence in order to recover from his injuries.]
Yang Kai did not know what this ‘Auspicious Spirit Essence’ was. All he understood was that it could help the Great Demon God recover.
Mo Sheng smiled again and looked at Yang Kai, “Did you know? This world was not originally known as the Demon Realm. It had another name, ‘Peerless World’. It was only later that it changed its name to the Demon Realm. Moreover, the people that used to dominate the Peerless World were Humans, just like the Star Boundary.”
Yang Kai was surprised, “Really?” [If that was the case, then how did the current Demon Race come about in the first place?]
However, Mo Sheng did not bother to explain himself and simply continued speaking without regard for Yang Kai, “All the living creatures can be classified into four main categories: Humans, Monsters, Demons, and Spirits. As long as they are sentient and intelligent, they can be classified into any one of these four categories. There are 3,000 worlds that are dominated by one of these four Races. In the past, the Peerless World used to be dominated by Humans. It was just that the arrival of that man caused some changes to this world. That man came here to recover from his injuries by absorbing its Auspicious Spirit Essence, and as a result, the living creatures were affected and gradually became contaminated by his Demon Essence. Over time, they transformed into the Demon Race. Even the World Principles underwent subtle changes over time.”
Yang Kai was astonished. He never imagined that the Demon Race of the Demon Realm were originally Humans who were transformed due to the influence of the Great Demon God.
“After recuperating for tens of thousands of years in silence, the Peerless World underwent Earth-shaking changes. At the same time, that man’s injuries had significantly improved. He could have recovered fully given another ten or twenty thousand years, and if that happened, he could have come out of his retreat and resumed his fight with that woman.”
At this point, Mo Sheng frowned, revealing an annoyed expression, “It just so happened that an uninvited guest arrived at the Peerless World during this time. There was a disagreement between that man and the newcomer, and a great battle ensued. That man’s injuries might have gotten much better, but it was not a full recovery. Moreover, his opponent was not weak. Following this great battle, the Peerless World collapsed and that man’s body was smashed to pieces. It truly was an ill fate.” He shook his head and sighed endlessly.
Even though Mo Sheng did not name the parties involved, how could Yang Kai not realize that the uninvited guest he was referring to was Flowing Time Great Emperor? Moreover, as he had guessed before, the collapse of the Demon Realm was related to that huge battle back then.
“What happened afterwards?” Yang Kai asked. He had to admit; while the story was very straight to the point, it had captured his attention and he couldn’t wait to know what happened afterwards.
“His body might have broken apart, but his Soul remained. Although he was in a rather miserable state, it was not impossible for him to recover from those injuries one day.” Mo Sheng glanced at Yang Kai, “Unfortunately, this man had long since devoured the Auspicious Spirit Essence of the Peerless World. Even the whole world itself had been contaminated by his Demon Essence, so how could that world help with his recovery? Fortunately, there was another option.”
“The Star Boundary?” Yang Kai narrowed his eyes slightly.
Mo Sheng nodded, “Yes, the Star Boundary. These two universes had similar constitutions. If he could devour the Auspicious Spirit Essence of the Star Boundary, he would definitely have been able to recreate his physical body. Even if he couldn’t recover from his injuries completely, he could have at least escaped his current predicament.”
Yang Kai seemed to understand something, “It looks like that man has been planning this for a very, very long time now. It wasn’t just something he decided one or two thousand years ago, was it?”
If that were not the case, war would not have broken out between the Humans and the Demons in the past. Flowing Time Great Emperor probably noticed this point which was why he came to this world and caused trouble for the Great Demon God. Why else would Flowing Time Great Emperor come here as though he had nothing better to do?
“Recovery was never easy in the first place,” Mo Sheng replied nonchalantly.
Yang Kai pondered quietly for some time. Then, he asked a question that had been bothering him for a while now, “What will happen if the Star Boundary’s Auspicious Spirit Essence is devoured?”
Mo Sheng smiled slightly, “What happened to the Peerless World is what will happen to the Star Boundary. It won’t have much impact on the survival of the living creatures there, but their existing situation might undergo some small changes.”
Yang Kai chuckled, “It’s not ‘some small changes’ for Humans to all become Demons.”
“What does it matter?” Mo Sheng looked at Yang Kai with some pity, as if looking at a foolish rock, “Aren’t you currently partially someone from the Demon Race now?”
“It’s not the same.” Yang Kai shook his head repeatedly, “It’s not the same at all.”
Mo Sheng laughed at Yang Kai for a while before saying lightly, “If you say it’s different, then it’s different. Well, my story is over. It’s your turn.”
“Me?” Yang Kai reached out a finger and pointed to his nose, “I don’t have a story to tell.”
“Who asked you to tell a story? I simply want you to do me a favour.”
“What favour?” Yang Kai was amused. This world’s greatest enemy was currently residing in the Small Sealed World, standing in front of him, and asking him for help. It truly was a strange scene.
“Help me enter the Star Boundary,” Mo Sheng replied with an expression that seemed to say it was only a matter of course.
“Why should I?” Yang Kai raised an eyebrow.
Mo Sheng said, “Don’t tell me you want to watch all the living creatures in the Star Boundary die? The Demon Race has gone all out in their invasion. How can the Star Boundary even compare? The current persistence shown is no more than an ant trying to shake a tree.”
Yang Kai scowled, “How can you be so sure about what is happening outside when you have been inside here all this time?”
Mo Sheng had been placed into the Small Sealed World a long time ago and had not left this place since. Even so, what he just said seemed to indicate that he was very aware of the situation in the outside world.
“Of course, I know. But, that has nothing to do with you. Helping me is equivalent to helping yourself, as well as helping all the living creatures in the Star Boundary.”
“Do you plan on demonifying all of them?” Yang Kai’s voice gradually became cold. Although he had undergone demonification, the protection of the Soul Warming Lotus had preserved his original thoughts and feelings. However, there was no telling what would happen to all the other people in the Star Boundary if they underwent the same process.
“Why must you be so foolish and stubborn? I just don’t want to drag things out any longer.”
Yang Kai did not answer. After a long while though, he suddenly broke the silence and said, “Where are the Great Emperors?”
Mo Sheng said, “They’re not dead. They are still of great use to me.” Lifting his gaze, he looked at Yang Kai and smiled, “Yu Ru Meng is fine too. It’s just that she has to be punished.”
Judging by his expression, he knew about the relationship between Yu Ru Meng and Yang Kai.
“I’ll kill you if you dare to hurt her.” Yang Kai’s expression immediately turned hostile. Nevertheless, he was glad that the other party did not threaten him with Yu Ru Meng. It was obviously due to pride that Mo Sheng did not bother to resort to such lowbrow means.
“As long as you help me, you will be reunited once this is over.”
“What if I refuse?”
Mo Sheng smiled slightly, “It doesn’t matter. Life or death will simply be left in the hands of fate.”
For him, asking Yang Kai for help was only to shorten his recovery period. Nothing would change even if Yang Kai refused to help.
“I’ll think about it,” Yang Kai lowered his head.
“Consider it carefully. There’s no hurry,” Mo Sheng’s expression was calm. After waiting for so many years, why would he care about waiting for a little longer?
“I’ve decided,” Yang Kai abruptly raised his head.
Mo Sheng turned to look at Yang Kai only to see the latter baring a set of fangs at him. A hand reached out to grab at him, and a voice rang out, “I’ve decided to capture you first.”
Mo Sheng smiled in response. It was within his expectations. Even so, he didn’t move a muscle and was swiftly captured by Yang Kai.
Although Yang Kai’s opponent was only a Mid-Rank Demon King he was the Great Demon God’s Soul Clone, so who knew what kind of heritage he might possess? That was why Yang Kai did not hold back in his attack, not even hesitating to use the power of this independent world just to ensure victory in one move.
Who could have expected that Mo Sheng showed no signs of resisting whatsoever? Yang Kai’s hand wrapped around Mo Sheng’s throat, causing all the bones in the latter’s body to make cracking sounds as though they were about to break into pieces at any time.
Yang Kai was startled and subconsciously loosened his grip slightly. He only wanted to capture Mo Sheng for more information, not to kill him.
The next moment, however, a mighty force suddenly erupted from Mo Sheng’s body.
Yang Kai was in the middle of adjusting his strength, so it was too late by the time he noticed the change. With a loud boom, his body was sent flying into the air and his complexion turned pale as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Upon landing on the ground, Yang Kai stabilised his body and looked at Mo Sheng with a horrified expression, “World Force! How…”
With how powerful his physique and cultivation were, a trivial Mid-Rank Demon King like Mo Sheng should not have been capable of harming him no matter what methods the latter used. Unfortunately, the reality was that Yang Kai had been injured slightly during their momentary confrontation just now.
While being taken by surprise was part of the reason behind Yang Kai’s small loss, the main reason lay in the fact that Mo Sheng had mobilised not his own strength but the World Force of the Small Sealed World as well!
The Small Sealed World was Yang Kai’s territory. In this place, he was the Master. Even when Chang Tian and the others had entered this place, they were struck by the faint sense of suppression. To put it bluntly, the power of this world existed for Yang Kai to use, making him practically omnipotent in this place. Therefore, it never occurred to him that he would one day be injured by somebody else here, much less with his own power. How could he not be surprised?
Mo Sheng looked at Yang Kai in a carefree manner and chuckled, “The Peerless World was transformed because of me. My power has long since spread across every last piece of this world, so it is only natural that I can control the World Force here.”
Even if the Demon Realm had been devoured and recombined, it did not change this fact.
Yang Kai’s expression immediately became grim as he gritted his teeth and snarled, “Despicable!”
Mo Sheng had deliberately acted weak in front of his enemy. If not for that, Yang Kai would not have suffered such a loss.
Mo Sheng sneered, “It’s normal to use everything at one’s disposal in a fight between enemies. There are no such things as despicable or righteous means!”
There was truth in those words; thus, Yang Kai instantly took a deep breath and replied lightly, “Many thanks for your advice!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, the world hummed in response. He had already communicated with the Small Sealed World to mobilise its World Force to suppress Mo Sheng.
It was true that the Peerless World had changed because of the Great Demon God and that his power had seeped into every part of this land. Be that as it may, this place still existed inside the Small Sealed World and Yang Kai was still the Master of this place. If Mo Sheng could mobilise the World Force in this world, why couldn’t Yang Kai?
The intangible World Force pressed down on Mo Sheng, but even so, he turned a blind eye to it. It wasn’t until that force was almost upon him that he let out a soft chuckle. Reaching out his hand, he drew a circle around his body. The circle was not that big, only a radius of 10 metres at most; however, this area covering a radius of 10 metres was impenetrable. The World Force could not advance past that boundary.
Yang Kai grit his teeth at the sight. It was very troubling indeed. The third region of the Small Sealed World was originally formed from the continents of the Demon Realm, which also used to be the territory of the Peerless World. In that sense, Great Demon God was the previous Master of this land and Yang Kai was the current Master of this land. Be it the previous Master or the current Master, both of them had the ability to mobilise the World Force here.
Therefore, their battle gave off the impression of the left hand fighting the right hand. Even though Yang Kai’s cultivation was much stronger than Mo Sheng’s, there was nothing he could do to Mo Sheng unless his control over the World Force was greater than that of Mo Sheng’s.
However, Mo Sheng had been living in the Demon Realm for countless millennia and his power had literally spread everywhere. How could Yang Kai be stronger than him in this aspect? It was only thanks to the fact that the Demon Realm was a part of the Small Sealed World that he even had the qualification to fight here. Otherwise, this battle would have been a very one-sided battle instead of the current stalemate situation.
Yang Kai struggled to mobilise the World Force against Mo Sheng, but the area surrounding the latter remained impervious to invasion. Forget causing damage to Mo Sheng, Yang Kai couldn’t even get within 10 metres of him. A battle like this was all about their control over the world and cultivation no longer mattered. For that reason, Yang Kai had no intention of transforming into his Half-Dragon Form or using any other means in this battle, even if he could do so. Becoming distracted would only give Mo Sheng a chance to seize the initiative; thus, it was not helpful in his current situation.
The world hummed while the Heavens and the Earth trembled. Countless Demons in the third region looked up with panicked expressions at that moment, not knowing what was happening to this world.
“Not bad.” Mo Sheng looked at Yang Kai calmly, “Clearly you’ve come into contact with World Force in advance. Given some time to grow, you might have been able to jump out of this backwater wasteland. It’s a pity that you’re a bit too pedantic!”
While speaking, Mo Sheng suddenly raised both hands horizontally in front of him and slowly pushed out towards the sides. His movements were not fast and almost looked like he was pushing open a closed door.
Following Mo Sheng’s movements, Yang Kai’s expression changed slightly. He felt the World Force of the third region gathering towards Mo Sheng’s hand. At the same time, the area that originally covered only 10 metres expanded rapidly and stretched out towards him oppressively. No matter how hard Yang Kai struggled, he could not alleviate himself from this vulnerable position. A feeling of horror sprung up in his heart. [Is this the power of the Great Demon God!? He’s just a Soul Clone! How can he have such a great degree of control over World Force!?]
Even though his heart was shaken, Yang Kai was in no position to admire others in this situation. If he failed to control the world now, this battle would no doubt end tragically for him. Hence, he immediately concentrated his mind and communicated with the Small Sealed World.
The humming of the world became even more intense than before. Driven by both the previous and current Masters of the land, the World Force that was originally invisible and intangible manifested in a physical manner. The two collided and contested each other violently.
It wasn’t until a certain limit was reached that a deafening Dragon Roar rang out. A three-thousand-metre-long pitch-black Dragon appeared out of thin air. The Dragon Eyes, Dragon Beard, Dragon Claw, Dragon Scales, and Dragon Pressure almost seemed alive at a glance. At the same time, a towering giant appeared in the world with a furious roar, his eyes filled with hostility and his gaze was violent. However, his face was a blurry patch.
Be it the enormous Dragon or the giant, they were both the manifestations of World Force. It was just that Yang Kai and Mo Sheng had drawn on the World Force to the extreme, creating these phenomena as a result.
Yang Kai was hidden in the Dragon’s Head while on the other hand, Mo Sheng stood in the giant’s chest. These two enormous creatures approached each other at high speed, causing the world to break when they clashed.
There was a loud rumbling, similar to the sound of distant thunder travelling across the land. All the Demons living in this world could feel a force pressing down on their chests. Their vitality churned violently as a sense of doom bloomed in their hearts.
Yang Kai and Mo Sheng clashed and collided with each other repeatedly. Even so, neither could harm the other. They were both the Masters of this world, so the amount of World Force they could mobilise was the same. It was a battle with no way for them to determine a victor, not unless one of them made a mistake. Be that as it may, how could either Yang Kai or Mo Sheng commit such a careless slip-up?
Yang Kai roared furiously, “Mo Sheng, this independent world will fall apart if this battle continues any longer! As the Great Demon God, don’t you care!?”
Mo Sheng smiled slightly from where he stood in the giant’s chest, “What does this world have to do with me?”
The Demon Realm’s existence was only necessary for him to recover from his injuries. He had long since devoured the Auspicious Spirit Essence of the Demon Realm, so although the reason why the Peerless World became the Demon Realm and the Human Race was transformed into the Demon Race was somewhat related to him, he ultimately cared nothing about either! What he cared for right now was only the Star Boundary! That world contained the Auspicious Spirit Essence that he needed!
With a long sigh, the giant avoided the Dragon’s punch and retreated from battle. It appeared a thousand kilometres away in a flash. Then, a thunderous voice sounded, “Let’s stop this meaningless battle. I don’t want to kill you yet.”
There were many things Yang Kai still wished to ask Mo Sheng. For example, who was the woman who injured Mo Sheng? What concerned him even more was, what was the Outer Universe like? Even the Great Emperors did not know much about this subject. Mo Sheng was the only one who knew about these matters; therefore, it would be a pity to kill such a person.
When Mo Sheng heard those words, he reacted as though he had heard the funniest joke in his life. The calm and confident expression he had was replaced by a knowing smile, “Kill me? If you have that much confidence…”
Before he could finish his sentence, he turned his head to look in a certain direction with a frown furrowing his brow. He had been hiding in the Small Sealed World for many years, so not only was he able to mobilise the Demon Realm’s World Force, he could also control everything within the Demon Realm. For a long time now though, there was a place covered in a cloud of fog at the edge of the Demon Realm that he could not perceive. He once tried to investigate that place secretly but could not enter at all. All he could sense was that there was the aura of another world coming from beyond that mist. This had not been a big deal before; however, after listening to what Yang Kai said, he immediately understood that the place he could not perceive all this while would probably become the deciding factor of this battle.
“Come!” Mo Sheng did not say more than that and instead urged the giant he had merged with to throw a punch at the Dragon, covering a distance of a thousand kilometres in an instant.
With a long sigh, Yang Kai closed his eyes before abruptly opening them again in the next moment. When he closed his eyes, the large Dragon followed suit. Likewise, the Dragon Eyes snapped open again when he opened his eyes.
Meanwhile, Mo Sheng distinctly felt another World Force coming from a great distance away and injecting itself into the Dragon’s body. The source of that World Force was indeed coming from the direction of the place he had never been able to explore. What Mo Sheng didn’t know was that that place was the first region of the Small Sealed World, the original territory of the Small Sealed World.
In terms of size, the first region was completely incomparable to the third region; after all, the third region was made up of the entire Demon Realm. Nevertheless, the World Principles of the first region were perfectly complete and those perfect World Principles represented the essence of the Small Sealed World’s Strength.
When the Dragon Eyes opened once more, two golden lights shone brightly as though there were two large suns. The Dragon immediately seemed to come alive. It was said that the best artists in the world would always leave the eyes to the last moment when painting a Dragon. If their skills were high enough, the whole painting would gain spirituality after they put the finishing touches when drawing the eyes.
At this moment, it was as though Yang Kai was that painter. He was wielding the world as his brush and the World Force of the Small Sealed World’s first region as his ink to strengthen and complete the Dragon’s form.
The Dragon let out a roar as both Dragon Claws shot out and dug deep into the giant’s body while it lifted its head and bit down on the giant’s neck. On the other hand, the giant threw a punch only to have his fists entangled by the Dragon’s Tail. The 3,000-metre-long Dragon Body wrapped around the torso of the giant tightly, as though it was coiling around a pillar as it dug its fangs in even deeper.
“Astonishing!” Mo Sheng, who was hiding in the giant’s chest, exclaimed sincerely.
In the beginning, the battle between him and Yang Kai had been evenly matched. Both of them could mobilise the World Force in the new Demon Realm after all, so they could be considered equals. No matter how they fought against each other, there would not have been a winner between them and the battle would only end with both sides suffering losses.
On the contrary, the balance was broken the moment the World Force of the Small Sealed World’s first region infused itself into the Dragon Body; thus, victory was slowly leaning in Yang Kai’s favour. There might not be any observable changes in the short term, but with the balance broken it would only be a matter of time now.
As the Dragon tore into the giant, large chunks were ripped from the latter’s body. Of course, there was no physical body since it was not a physical being in the first place. What went missing was the strength that made up the body. Therefore, the body inevitably shrunk with every bite. In contrast, the Dragon was becoming increasingly nourished and reinforced, its body gradually growing bigger and bigger.
Despite knowing how this situation would end, Mo Sheng had no plans of staying silent without resisting. Instead, he urged the giant to retaliate against the Dragon fiercely. As time passed, however, the difference between the Dragon’s body and the giant’s body increased and Mo Sheng’s resistance grew feebler.
“Just give up,” Yang Kai looked at Mo Sheng coldly.
Mo Sheng said, “You won’t be able to save the Star Boundary, so why bother making such useless efforts?”
“Everything depends on our own efforts,” Yang Kai replied lightly, “Are you really going to die here?”
Mo Sheng laughed, “I’m just a Soul Clone.”
Yang Kai frowned at those words, “How many Soul Clones are there?”
Mo Sheng simply smiled without answering. In response, Yang Kai nodded and stopped talking. The Dragon let out a roar and sped up its efforts to gnaw away at the giant. Then, he threw a punch at Mo Sheng when the figure of the giant fell apart completely.
Without the supporting World Force, Mo Sheng was no more than an ordinary Mid-Rank Demon King. How could he defend against Yang Kai’s attack? As soon as the force of that punch slammed into Mo Sheng, his body exploded.
Even so, Yang Kai did not dare to be careless. He spread his palm open, reached out, and captured the blood mist before him. Under the blessing of the World Force, he completely vaporized this blood and scattered the remains across the entire world. Afterwards, the Dragon slowly dissipated, the golden light in its eyes floating away and returning to the first region of the Small Sealed World.
Although he had managed to kill Mo Sheng in this battle, Yang Kai did not feel any joy from his success. He had not wanted to kill Mo Sheng, if possible; after all, Mo Sheng was the Great Demon God’s Soul Clone and possessed a wealth of information that Yang Kai now had no access to.
Unfortunately, Mo Sheng was capable of mobilising the World Force of the Small Sealed World’s third region. Yang Kai would not have had any peace of mind if he continued to keep Mo Sheng in this world. Therefore, he could only choose to cut out the weeds and pull out the roots.
[As for what the Outer Universe is like…] He lifted his head and looked up into the sky. [I will be able to witness it for myself one day.]
All of a sudden, Yang Kai recalled that there were countless Demons currently living in the third region of the Small Sealed World and couldn’t help wondering if there were any other Soul Clones of Great Demon God among them.
When Mo Sheng was asked about how many Soul Clones there were just now, he simply smiled without answering the question. Not answering was also a kind of answer. In other words, he was not the only Soul Clone of the Great Demon God. He would not have been so careless with his life otherwise.
Having learnt a lesson from past experiences, Yang Kai immediately immersed his mind and carefully inspected all the places where the Demon Race members were gathered across the third region in search of any clues.
His intangible Divine Sense immediately swept out across every inch of the third region and for a moment, all the Demons felt as though a pair of invisible eyes were watching them. It was naturally the eyes of the world, and no secret could be hidden under their scrutiny.
Yang Kai retracted his Divine Sense an hour later with a slight frown. Despite inspecting all the Demon Race members with a fine-tooth comb, he did not find anything suspicious about any of them. Even so, he was mindful of Mo Sheng’s existence and did not dare to be completely certain that there were no other Soul Clones of the Great Demon God in the Small Sealed World.
Mo Sheng had concealed his existence perfectly for so many years after all. Yang Kai had scrutinised Mo Sheng more than once in the past, but he could only sense that something was off about him. He had never been able to pinpoint just what was wrong with Mo Sheng, much less realise that Mo Sheng was the Great Demon God’s Soul Clone.
If there were any other Soul Clones in the Small Sealed World, they were probably capable of hiding themselves as perfectly as Mo Sheng had. Upon further consideration though, Yang Kai came to the conclusion that the Small Sealed World was still his to command regardless. Even if there were others, the Soul Clones of Great Demon God would not be able to create much trouble so long as he had perfect control over the first region. It would be fine if they did not expose themselves, but if they did, Yang Kai was still capable of getting rid of them.
He felt slightly more relieved at that thought, but before he could catch his breath, he suddenly noticed something unusual happening in the outside world. Exiting the Small Sealed World in a flash, Yang Kai stood atop Gun-Gun. Next to him, Bo Ya’s beautiful face had gone deathly pale. She was staring blankly ahead while calling out his name over and over again. He did not know how long she had been shouting his name as he had just been engaged in battle with Mo Sheng and could not afford to be distracted, so he had not heard her calling out to him. It wasn’t until he finished dealing with Mo Sheng and earnestly inspected the entire third region that he noticed Bo Ya’s cries.
The moment Yang Kai appeared, Bo Ya immediately yelled, “Why did you only come out now!? We would have all been goners if you came out any later!”
Yang Kai frowned, “Why are you panicking?”
“See for yourself!” She pointed to the front.
Yang Kai then stared forward intently, unable to stop the furrow that creased his brow from appearing. The surrounding Void seemed to have transformed into the stomach of a huge monster. It was wriggling and squirming, gradually becoming more and more chaotic. There was a lot of turbulence everywhere, which gave off a dangerous sense of impending doom. It was clearly the Void Crack!
From Bo Ya’s point of view, the scene in front of them looked like the end of the world, literally; however, it was all too familiar to Yang Kai.
“When did these changes occur?” He asked solemnly.
“Half a day ago,” she quickly replied, “This happened soon after the Big Fish devoured the last piece of land. It wasn’t this serious at the beginning, but now… it’s as you can see.”
The ‘Big Fish’ she was referring to was none other than Gun-Gun. Based on its appearance, it certainly looked like a big, round fish. It was just that this fish was capable of devouring worlds.
From what she mentioned, it would seem that the Void began to destabilize after Gun-Gun devoured the last continent. Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling astonished by the news. Nothing of this sort had happened when Gun-Gun had swallowed so many other continents in the past after all. In this case, it probably happened because the whole Demon Realm had been devoured and an entire Great World had completely disappeared as a result.
The Great World had been cleanly devoured, causing an additional blank space to appear in the fabric of the universe. These changes resulted in the Void Crack expanding in this direction.
Hence, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling extremely troubled. He originally planned to return the same way he arrived after devouring the entire Demon Realm. For this reason, he had preserved all of the Territory Gates by specially ordering Gun-Gun not to devour them. As long as he passed through the various Territory Gates, he would be able to return to the Star Boundary safely. Unfortunately, this method would no longer work. The turbulence in the Void was pressing down on them and it appeared they had already fallen into the Void Crack, so there were no Territory Gates left to be found.
Fortunately, it was not his first time diving into the Void Crack. Although the situation at hand was a little tricky to handle and left Yang Kai feeling somewhat anxious, he had escaped from the Void numerous times before, so he simply instructed Bo Ya, “Go back first.”
Reaching out a hand, he grabbed her and stuffed her back into Gun-Gun’s body without giving her a chance to object. Instantly after that, his thoughts flashed and Gun-Gun’s huge body rapidly shrank and turned back into the Sealed World Bead, which he quickly put away. Right after finishing his preparations, the turbulence in the surrounding Void came rushing towards him like a storm to drown him in their depths.
Yang Kai was secretly frightened by the sight. He had encountered similar situations on several occasions before and each time had been extremely dangerous. Even so, he had never seen a situation like this within a Void Crack before. If he described the previous Void Cracks as slightly turbulent lakes, then the Void Crack this time was a raging sea. The difference between them could not be compared. His situation was equivalent to sailing a lone little boat amidst the raging storm, being at risk of capsizing and drowning at any time.
[Is this what happens when a Great World is destroyed?] He couldn’t be sure, but he was certain it had something to do with the devouring of the entire Demon Realm.
Fortunately, his accomplishments in the Dao of Space were not what they used to be. Even if danger was lurking everywhere, Yang Kai was capable of keeping himself safe from harm. He had to figure out the direction and pattern of the Void Turbulence at all times, but while it might seem dangerous, he was still leisurely and confidently navigating the Void Crack.
He secretly rejoiced that he had not entered a place like this when he had only just started comprehending the Dao of Space; otherwise, he did not know how many times he would have died by now.
During the following period, there were several instances of danger. The Void Turbulence here was so strong that Yang Kai barely managed to escape despite pushing his Space Principles to the extreme. It would surely lead to a tragic ending if he was swept away by the Void Turbulence.
Although Yang Kai was in the middle of escaping, this was still a disguised opportunity for him to cultivate. He was using the opportunity to verify the gains and losses he had obtained in the Dao of Space.
There was no sense of direction inside the Void Crack and even time seemed to stand still. Yang Kai had no idea how long had passed when he suddenly felt the Void Turbulence around him stabilising a little. Even though it could not be considered back to normal, at the very least, it wasn’t as violent and unpredictable as it had been at the beginning.
Bo Ya’s voice came from within the Small Sealed World at that moment, “Hey, Yang Kai! What’s the situation like right now? We won’t die here, right? Aren’t you proficient in the Dao of Space? Escaping is your forte, right?”
When he first met Bo Ya, she was quite a defiant and rebellious woman; however, her attitude changed slightly after the battle on Eternal Sky Continent. She learned to address him as ‘Sir’ and began acting more respectful. Now that their lives were at risk though, her old habits surfaced again.
Despite hiding within the Small Sealed World, she could instinctively sense the danger looming over them outside; thus, she constantly inquired about the situation. Naturally, Yang Kai outright ignored her. Her pestering was simply endless, as if she had not spoken in hundreds of years.
After enduring for a long while, he finally lost his temper and sent her a simple Divine Sense transmission, “Shut up!”
“I’m about to die! How can you ask me to shut up!?” She was livid, “Can’t I speak a few words!?”
They quarrelled for a bit before Yang Kai went back to ignoring her. In response, Bo Ya slumped down on the ground and wailed noisily, “Poor me! Great Aunt here was living her life freely all this time, but in the end, I will be destroyed at your hands! Yang Kai, let me tell you, if I die, I won’t ever forgive you even if I turn into a ghost!”
“Haa…” Yang Kai sighed and finally responded, “Don’t worry. We won’t die.”
Inside this dead silent Void Crack, he was not averse to a casual chat with somebody else. It would be far too boring otherwise.
She was overjoyed upon hearing his words, “Really!?”
“Yeah,” he replied, “We’re out of danger.”
“We are!?” She stood up, an expression of elation spreading across her face. Then, she immediately began flattering him, “I knew it! I knew you wouldn’t let me down, Yang Kai! Tsk. Tsk, the Dao of Space is truly magnificent! I can’t believe you managed to resolve even that situation! Great Aunt here is very impressed!”
“But…”
“But, what?” Her heart skipped a beat at that word, and the smile on her face stiffened.
“We seem to have lost our way!”
Inside the Small Sealed World, Bo Ya’s expression went blank with shock as a gust of wind blew past her, stirring up her hair.
“Seem to have… what?” After a long time, she finally asked softly.
“We’re lost.”
A few moments of silence passed by, then she jumped up and yelled, “Lost!? Aren’t you supposed to be proficient in the Dao of Space!? How could we have gotten lost!? Can’t you find the way out!?”
He replied, “It’s very difficult. Without a guide, it’s like having no direction at all.”
The situation this time around was different from before. Even if he had been lost inside the Void Crack in the past, he was still within the same world; however, this was a Void Crack that appeared because an entire Great World had disappeared. The Demon Realm and Star Boundary were two different Great Worlds in the first place. As he was currently inside a Void Crack where the Demon Realm once was, it was extremely difficult for him to figure out the direction to return to the Star Boundary.
He had tried to communicate with his Star Field Source just now to see if he could use it to guide him so as to break through this Void and return home. As long as he could return to the Star Field, it would be a breeze for him to return to the Star Boundary from there. To his disappointment, however, the Star Field Source did not respond. Likewise, he was unable to connect with Heng Luo Star Field.
Thinking about it, it made sense. The Star Field was one of the roots of the Star Boundary, so how could he perceive it when he was currently stuck in a Void Crack formed from the collapse of the Demon Realm?
Bo Ya fell back down to the ground and continued crying, “It’s over! It’s over! We’re going to die! I’m really going to die in this damned place!”
“It’s not that bad yet. Besides, you won’t face any life-threatening situations if you stay inside the Small Sealed World.”
“I’m still going to die in this place! What’s the difference!?” She paused for a moment before she added hesitantly, “Yang Kai, can I ask you something.” Her tone was extremely aggrieved.
Having never heard her talk in this manner before, he couldn’t help laughing a little as he asked, “What is it?”
“If we survive this crisis, let me visit Shi Qing. I miss her.”
Yang Kai snickered when he heard those words. Bo Ya’s interest was rather peculiar. She had always stuck to Li Shi Qing back when she had been in the Demon Realm. He couldn’t believe that she was still thinking about Li Shi Qing even though so many years had passed.
“Okay!”
Bo Ya was stunned for a moment. She never imagined that Yang Kai would agree to her request so readily. She recalled how wary he used to be of her in the past. He never allowed any chances for her to be alone with Li Shi Qing before when they were still in the Demon Realm.
“What did you say? Can you repeat it?” Afraid that she might have misheard him, Bo Ya desperately asked for confirmation.
“I said okay,” Yang Kai replied again via Divine Sense transmission.
Having heard it clearly this time around, Bo Ya couldn’t help bursting into a peal of laughter. Her previous depression and grievance were swept away immediately. She looked like a fox that had successfully stolen a chicken. If Yang Kai had been standing in front of her, she would definitely have slapped him on the shoulder and said, “I was right about you!”
Now that her wish had been granted, she was in a much happier mood than before. It stood to reason that she stopped making various complaints to him. On the contrary, she fell silent. The meaning behind her silence was clear, she did not want to disturb him so that he could concentrate on finding the way out of this place. Otherwise, they would really die trapped in this Void Crack.
Now that Bo Ya was silent, Yang Kai did not try to come up with something to say either. He simply navigated through the Void, looking for possible ways out. Unfortunately, he did not come across any leads. No matter how great his attainments in the Dao of Space were, now that he had gotten trapped in this place, it was practically impossible for him to leave unless he was blessed by extremely good luck.
All of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks. Space Principles lingered around his body, causing the surrounding Void Turbulence to be inadvertently guided by some kind of force to pass him by. It made him look as though he was passing through a field of flowers without a single petal sticking to his body.
The reason he had stopped so abruptly was not that he had given up. Rather, it was because he suddenly remembered something. He could not connect to the Star Field Source, so it could not provide him a direction as a guide for his return, but what about the Will of the Star Boundary? He had received Bright Moon Great Emperor’s legacy, which meant that he had the Star Boundary’s Recognition in his possession. Although the World’s Recognition did not have much effect on enhancing his strength, the advantages he received were fairly obvious. The greatest advantage was that his cultivation efficiency had increased significantly. This was something he noticed when he first returned to the Star Boundary from the Demon Realm after becoming a High-Rank Demon King.
The other advantage was that he could perceive any special changes that occurred in the Star Boundary; for example, he clearly perceived the barriers between the worlds breaking when the second battle between the two Great Worlds broke out and the ten Demon Saints entered the Star Boundary. That was an ability only the Great Emperors had. Not even Li Wu Yi had that ability.
In addition, there was another benefit that could not be seen. That was an increase in good fortune. Something like luck was vague and intangible, not something that could be described in concrete terms, but it definitely existed. Some people had great luck, while others were bogged down by misfortune. People with great luck would not die even if they fell off a cliff. They might even come across secrets to the Martial Dao left behind by a Senior expert at the bottom of the canyon. On the other hand, an unlucky person might suffer from cultivation dissonance even if they were in possession of a great treasure and lose their life as a result. There was a saying that luck was a part of one’s strength. At certain key moments, this intangible luck might be what turned a dangerous situation into a safe one, or even turn a terrible crisis into a fortuitous encounter.
Yang Kai’s luck had always been rather good. If it wasn’t for that, he would never have grown to his current level in just over a hundred years; however, that only stemmed from his own luck. After obtaining Bright Moon Great Emperor’s legacy, however, his luck was greatly amplified so long as he was in the Star Boundary.
Thinking about it, he had encountered Murong Xiao Xiao and Xiao Bai Yi on his way to the Four Seasons Realm from Star Soul Palace only to uncover Wind Lord’s conspiracy in the process. Were all of these incidents simply a series of coincidences? It might only have happened because he was blessed with good fortune.
Aside from that, there should have been other uses for the blessing from the World’s Will in his possession. It was just that he had yet to discover them. Now though, Yang Kai realized he could use it as a beacon to guide his way in the dark.
Both the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm were Great Worlds, so while he could not communicate with the Star Field Source because the Star Field and the Demon Realm were not on the same level, what if he borrowed the power of the World’s Will? He might even find the way out of the Demon Realm’s Void Crack!
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Yang Kai took action. Stopping in his tracks, he closed his eyes and immersed himself in his mind.
Speaking of which, he had always known that he was in possession of a piece of the Star Boundary’s Will; however, he had never felt it directly before. The World’s Will was similar to the so-called ‘luck’. It was intangible, much unlike the Star Field Source.
Under the present circumstances though, Yang Kai figured he might as well try everything at his disposal. There was nothing to lose anyway. He had done everything he could, so he could only leave the rest to the Heavens. If it really failed to work, then he would simply have to think of something else.
As time passed, Yang Kai cast aside all distracting thoughts and made his state of mind as tranquil as an ancient well. He did not know how long he spent in that state of emptiness, but at some point, a light seemed to pass through his Knowledge Sea. Ripples immediately appeared, swaying his calm state of mind and waking him from his meditation.
Yang Kai opened his eyes abruptly, turned around, and looked in a certain direction. It was completely pitch-black in that direction, filled with emptiness and chaos. Moreover, the Void Turbulence was abundant and he could neither see nor feel anything. There was no way for anybody to be certain that that was the way home, but even so, he took a step forward and strode in that direction simply because that direction he was walking conformed with his instincts.
There was no way to determine the direction nor was there any sense of time inside the Void; therefore, Yang Kai did not know how long he had been walking in that direction. During this period, Bo Ya talked to him a few times, and although she did not ask him anything directly, he could sense what she was thinking. She probably wanted to know if he had managed to find the way back yet but was too afraid of receiving a disappointing answer to ask.
On the other hand, he stopped several times during his journey and forced himself into that empty state of mind in hopes that he could obtain more hints. It was a pity that his efforts were all in vain. Aside from the first time, Yang Kai’s subsequent attempts were fruitless. This made him doubt himself, wondering if he had been mistaken. Was it really the Star Boundary’s Will that showed him the direction during his first attempt? Could it have been nothing more than wishful thinking?
At this point, he could only walk this path until the end.
One day, Yang Kai was having a casual chat with Bo Ya when he suddenly fell silent and looked in a certain direction with an expression of pleasant surprise.
Bo Ya noticed this difference and quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I found the way out,” Yang Kai replied.
She was overjoyed at those words, “Can we go back?”
He laughed, “Maybe, but it might also bring us somewhere else instead.”
He could sense that the barriers of the Void over there were slightly weaker compared to the other areas. With his current accomplishments in the Dao of Space, he should be able to break through. However, he could not know for sure where he would find himself after breaking the barrier.
“Let’s go and have a look,” Bo Ya urged.
Yang Kai had no objections to her suggestion; thus, he increased his pace and headed in that direction. It didn’t take long for him to arrive at the spot in the Void and stared ahead. Yang Kai’s perception had been right, the barriers of space were indeed weaker here than in other areas by a considerable margin. It was almost no different from a thin layer of film that would shatter at the slightest touch, allowing people to enter another world. Slowly stretching a hand out, Yang Kai pressed the space in front of him. Space Principles swirled around him, turning from a thin mist into a dense fog.
A short while later, Space Principles shuddered as his hand pressed against the weak spot in the Void. Then, his hand slowly passed through the barrier, and in the next moment, his arm and then body followed. Yang Kai did not panic since this situation was well within his expectations.
He took another step forward, and the moment his body completely passed through the barrier was the moment he completely left the Void Crack. His vision blurred. Likewise, his thoughts seemed to blank out for a moment, and by the time he recovered, he couldn’t help gaping with his mouth wide open as he looked around in a daze.
Bo Ya’s nervous but suppressed voice came from within the Small Sealed World, “Hey! What’s the situation!?”
After she shouted the question three times consecutively, Yang Kai finally replied to her, “I’m not sure.”
His words made her so anxious that she could die, “What do you mean by ‘You’re not sure’!? Are we back or not!?”
“No, we aren’t back, rather…” Yang Kai frowned deeply, uncertain as to how to explain the situation to her; hence, he simply said, “See for yourself.”
He reached out his hand while speaking, communicated with the Small Sealed World through his mind, and showed Bo Ya the scene he was looking at. Meanwhile, Bo Ya sat on the ground inside the Small Sealed World without any regard for her image and raised her head to look up at the sky. A magnificent scene was immediately reflected in the sky following Yang Kai’s actions. It was an image of a sky filled with Stars that seemed both very close and very far away at the same time. This Starry Sky was vast, incredibly vast, seemingly stretching out without end. Anybody would feel as insignificant as an ant when standing in the middle of such a vast Starry Sky.
“What is this damned place!?” Bo Ya was startled. She had originally counted on Yang Kai to bring her back to the Star Boundary so that they could visit Li Shi Qing, but who could have known that they would arrive at such a place after coming out of the Void Crack?
“A Star Field… No, that’s not it…” Yang Kai’s frown grew deeper than ever. He had seen something similar on many occasions in the past, but while this place looked similar to a Lower Star Field, after examining it carefully, he could tell that it was not a Star Field. That was because the power of the Stars here, along with the ambient World Energy was extremely rich, more so than any cultivation paradise in the Star Boundary.
There was no such place in any Star Field. The Starry Sky of the Star Field was mainly filled with a blanket of desolate silence. Moreover, Yang Kai had the vague feeling that there was a force pulling at him, as though trying to lead him somewhere. This force did not carry any malicious intent. Rather, he believed that he would be greeted with a pleasant surprise if he followed this force to the source.
Bo Ya was born in the Demon Realm, so it was only natural that she did not know what this place was. The only thing she could be certain of was that this was not the Star Boundary. Just as she was about to question him further, she suddenly heard a loud noise; then, the image that was reflected in the sky shattered into pieces. Shocked, she yelled, “What’s wrong!? Yang Kai, are you alright!?”
However, he didn’t hear her voice at all. At that moment, a rushing sound filled his ears, making him so dizzy that he nearly lost consciousness. After that deafening sound came a gust of strong wind that blew from behind. That wind was as sharp as blades, eliciting an unbearable pain as it sliced across his body.
It was only for an instant, but Yang Kai felt as though he lost a layer of skin off his back. It went to show just how violent that gust of wind had been. The raging flow of air swept him off balance and blew him away into the distance. Unable to control his body, he was swept along by the wind with a horrified expression on his face.
He was a High-Rank Demon King; moreover, he had gained an opportunity in that ancient battlefield and spent dozens of years cultivating there. At this point, even a Pseudo-Great Emperor or a Half-Saint would not make him flinch. Nevertheless, he was helplessly being blown about by a gust of wind in this strange Starry Sky.
In the midst of the strong wind, the odd sound continued thundering in his ears. It was so deafening that Stars were dancing in his eyes from the noise. Forcing himself to stabilize his mind, he shouted, “Dragon Transformation!”
In response, a Dragon Roar rang out and his body swelled rapidly, assuming his Half-Dragon Form.
Yang Kai had spent several dozen years cultivating intensively in that ancient battlefield. During that period, he had absorbed the Martial Truth of Flowing Time Great Emperor and the Great Demon God. That wasn’t all; the two extraordinary forces had also been polishing and purifying his body at all times. Combined with the fact that he had always maintained his Half-Dragon Form in the ancient battlefield, his Half-Dragon Form had been greatly tempered and enhanced without him realising. Similarly, the Golden Divine Dragon’s Source Strength in his body had also been developed significantly. As a result, his Half-Dragon Form was now 1,000 metres tall! At this length, it was enough to make all the Dragon Clan members in Dragon Island look up to him in admiration.
A clanging noise sounded in his ears as the wind blades hitting against his Dragon Scales created a sound similar to that of metal clashing against metal, sending a shower of sparks everywhere.
Despite assuming his Half-Dragon form, Yang Kai was still unable to stabilize his body completely. Although it was slightly better than before, the effects were still very limited.
[What the Hell is this wind!?] Gritting his teeth, Yang Kai somehow turned back to look. He wanted to see where the gust of wind was coming from; however, what he saw made his eyes widen in surprise and his brow twitch madly. He could barely believe what he was seeing, but even after rubbing his eyes and blinking furiously, he found that he had not seen wrongly.
There was a giant lying on his side behind Yang Kai. Yang Kai could not tell how tall the giant was, but it was as if he was looking at a rolling mountain range. In comparison, Yang Kai’s 1,000 metres Half-Dragon Form looked like an ant.
While the giant looked no different from an ordinary Human, his appearance was magnified countless times. In addition, the deafening sound he was hearing was not the sound of thunder, it was the giant snoring. Furthermore, the gust of wind that seemed to slice through Yang Kai’s flesh and bones was simply the breath exhaled through the giant’s mouth and nose.
Yang Kai only had one thought come to mind when he saw this sight, [So enormous!]
[What the Hell is this thing!?] Yang Kai’s thoughts immediately descended into chaos as he nearly believed that he was dreaming.
Meanwhile, the powerful Astral Wind blew him a distance of several thousands of kilometres before gradually dying down. The deafening snoring stopped ringing in his ears at the same time.
Yang Kai’s complexion at this moment was terrible. He felt as though he had just finished fighting a desperate battle. His entire body was exhausted and sore, especially the area on his back that had been cut by the wind blades. He even felt that his Dragon Scales seemed to have become much weaker after the encounter.
[This big guy is just sleeping but his snoring contains so much power! What would it be like if he were to attack!? Even the entire Star Boundary won’t be able to take more than two or three punches from him!] The giant in front of Yang Kai’s eyes had vastly exceeded the limits of his understanding and even imagination, so he had a hard time calming down.
Without warning though, a great sense of crisis enveloped him. Yang Kai only pondered for a moment before his expression changed greatly as he shouted, “Bad!”
Space Principles surged as he tried to leave this place immediately.
It was only natural for a sleeping person to inhale after exhaling, so if this giant’s exhalation had such destructive power, then what would his inhalation be like? Regardless of what it would be like, Yang Kai had no interest in sticking around to find out. Unfortunately, he was too close to the giant and it was too late for him to leave by the time he noticed this danger.
As expected, the sleeping giant breathed in. It felt as if a whale was sucking in water the moment he inhaled. Everything within a radius of ten thousand kilometres was pulled towards him by that sucking force. Even space itself seemed to be warping in response.
In the meantime, Yang Kai’s flickering figure solidified again, his Instantaneous Movement disrupted, terrifying him to the core. His body was involuntarily being pulled towards the giant. Even having been blown several thousand kilometres away when the giant exhaled just now, the giant’s inhalation instantly dragged Yang Kai back. He could only watch helplessly as he got closer and closer to the giant’s mouth. It was only a matter of moments before he was swallowed up by the giant. Yang Kai really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this situation.
[I finally managed to escape from the Void Crack and I haven’t even found out where the Star Boundary is located. I can’t believe I’m about to get swallowed by a random giant that I happened to bump into! Dying in this manner is too miserable!] Although Yang Kai had no idea what would happen to him if he entered the giant’s stomach, he was certain that it would not end well for him.
At the critical moment when his life was hanging by a thin thread, Yang Kai opened his mouth and let out a furious roar. A Dragon Roar boomed out, shaking the entire world. At the same time, his Half-Dragon Form twisted and instead of rushing into the giant’s mouth, shot up towards the giant’s enormous nostrils. Yang Kai reached out his claws and grabbed a nose hair that was thicker than a mountain peak. Going along with the momentum, he swung himself towards the wall of the giant’s nose and punched out hard.
*Puchi…*
“A… A… Achoo!”
A burst of air even more violent than previously exploded out. Yang Kai was swept away in confusion, his mind spinning dizzily. By the time he regained his footing, he was already out of the danger zone. Hence, he couldn’t help letting out a breath of relief as he thought to himself, [Thank goodness I have luck on my side. I can’t believe I managed to escape unscathed under those circumstances!]
Before he could rejoice though, he suddenly felt a stabbing feeling in his heart. He felt as if a thorn was piercing his back and instinctively turned around to look. The hair all over his body instantly stood on end as even his Dragon Scales covering him quivered in fright.
Yang Kai’s actions just now had probably disturbed the sleeping giant, and at some point in time, the giant had woken up and sat up cross-legged in the void. Although he had seemed very large even when lying down, he looked even more imposing now that he was sitting up; what’s more, he seemed quite unhappy. His mountain-like brows were furrowed deeply and he had a ferocious expression on his face, like a child who was rudely woken up from his sleep. In short, he looked extremely disgruntled.
[It’s a given that he is upset. If I was punched in the nose like that while I was asleep, I would react in the same manner too.]
Originally, Yang Kai had not paid much attention to the sleeping giant’s appearance, other than his enormous size, but now that the latter was sitting up, he noticed that the giant’s head was completely bald and shiny like the sun. However, Yang Kai was in no mood to pay attention to such trivial matters. As soon as he saw that the giant was awake, he refused to remain in this place and immediately sped off into the distance in a flash.
An existence like this was beyond his ability to face. Yang Kai had been extremely lucky to escape with his life just now and knew that if he did not escape, he would only be a sitting duck waiting for death to come. Besides, he still had no idea what that giant was. The only thing he could be sure of was that he could not afford to anger such a terrifying existence.
[Could that giant be some kind of sentient creature that lives in the Outer Universe? In that case, did I arrive in the Outer Universe after leaving the Void Crack?] Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a bit speechless. [I was thinking about going to the Outer Universe one day when I killed Mo Sheng previously. I can’t believe my wish came true so quickly, but I haven’t even had the chance to look at the scenery yet before running into this extremely terrifying giant.]
After consecutively performing several Instantaneous Movements, Yang Kai lost track of how far he travelled. It wasn’t until he felt safe that he stopped and turned back to look, but at that instant, he was so frightened that he felt as though his Soul was about to escape from his body.
An incomparably enormous face was bearing down at him, a pair of eyes filled with anger and dissatisfaction glaring directly at him, air coming from those nostrils that seemed hot enough to melt the universe.
At this moment, the giant was holding one hand up with his palm facing upwards. Meanwhile, Yang Kai was standing in the middle of that gigantic palm. The giant’s five fingers stretched out in the surroundings were like five towering mountains that covered the entire world.
Shocked, Yang Kai tried to push his Space Principles once more. Even though his figure flashed, he couldn’t leave and remained stuck in place, causing his expression to change greatly as he shouted, “A universe in the palm of his hand!”
The giant’s palm was like a world in and of itself, even having its own Principles! He couldn’t even escape from the palm of this giant’s hand. It was beyond naïve and foolish of him to believe he was safe just now!
A Divine Ability of this level was beyond the scope of Yang Kai’s comprehension. He did not know how many thousands of times stronger this giant’s cultivation was compared to his. In any case, he had the feeling that it was going to be impossible for him to escape from the giant’s grasp, so in his desperation, his fear turned into fury and he glared at the giant. He did not show any signs of weakness as he shouted, “You bastard! What are you capturing me for!?”
He activated his Dragon Pressure with a furious roar and his shout came out as a Dragon Roar. After letting out that roar, Yang Kai instantly felt a little regretful because the giant looked very angry. If he had spoken nicely, he might have had some chance of surviving this crisis. [Why did I suddenly yell at him!? What if I made him mad!? I won’t even be able to fill the gaps between his teeth if he decides to eat me!]
Just when Yang Kai was drowning in anxiety, he saw the giant’s large eyeballs growing even larger. Two gigantic eyebrows raised slightly to reveal an expression of fright, almost as though the giant had seen something terrifying.
Yang Kai was stunned. The main reason was that the giant’s facial expression changed so quickly that it was difficult for him to accept; moreover, such a ferocious-looking giant actually looked frightened now. It was simply too incredulous to believe.
Taking advantage of this situation, Yang Kai decided to just go with the flow and shouted once more, “I asked you a question! Are you deaf!?” [I wonder if this guy understands what I’m saying.]
The fear on the giant’s face grew even more pronounced as he opened his mouth and timidly replied, “Ah Da was sleeping!”
Seeing how large he was and how loud his snoring had been, it was hard to imagine that his voice was so soft when he spoke. At the very least, it did not make Yang Kai feel any sense of discomfort.
“Ah Da?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows at those words, “Is that your name?”
“Ah Da was sleeping…” The giant repeated.
Yang Kai frowned, “Who are you?”
“Ah Da was sleeping!”
Upon hearing those words, he became annoyed, “Are you stupid!?”
The giant’s reply was completely irrelevant to the question; hence, he couldn’t help seriously doubt whether there was something wrong with the giant’s head.
“Ah Da is not stupid! Ah Da was sleeping!” The giant glared at Yang Kai as if feeling a little angry. His expression became tight again.
“Are you really stupid?” Yang Kai was astonished. With just a few words, he could already tell that this giant was somewhat mentally challenged. Why else would the giant be unable to answer such a simple question? Moreover, he kept repeating the same sentence over and over again. That clearly indicated that he was a little lacking in intelligence.
“You say Ah Da is stupid? Ah Da is not stupid!” The giant seemed to have gotten angry for real and he opened his mouth and let out a roar. The violent flow of air that erupted from his mouth immediately sent Yang Kai flying several thousand kilometres away, his arms flailing wildly in the wind.
The giant named Ah Da was taken aback to see Yang Kai being blown away by his breath and hurriedly sucked in a breath in Yang Kai’s direction.
In response, Yang Kai came flying back with his arms flailing wildly again.
Ah Da blinked at the sight, the anger on his face melting away into a happy smile. He watched as Yang Kai was dragged backwards by that suction force, then he pursed his lips and blew out again.
In the next moment, Yang Kai was sent flying out again.
This cycle repeated again and again as Ah Da breathed out, breathed in, breathed out, breathed in… His hearty laughter rang out across the vast and empty Starry Sky. He was like a child who had gotten a new toy and was having a fantastic time playing with it, his eyes narrowing in happiness.
After repeating this process for who knows how many things, Yang Kai finally found the ability to roar, “That’s enough! Stop!”
“Cough, cough, cough…” Ah Da, who was having a good time playing, suddenly shuddered at the sound of that roar. Failing to exhale the air he had inhaled in time, he ended up choking himself and coughed loudly.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai took the opportunity to rush over to Ah Da and began attacking in a frenzy. He kicked and punched wildly like a madman. A series of thudding sounds rang out without pausing for an instant.
He was practically burning with fury. Ever since the day he began cultivating, Yang Kai had never been more humiliated than he had been today. He was the kind of man who could summon the will to fight his opponent even when he knew they were far more powerful than himself. Even if he could not win, he could still manage to escape. However, even the idea of escape was an extravagant hope in front of this giant. He was, quite literally, nothing more than a toy to Ah Da.
As the saying went, ‘some things must never be tolerated’. Despite knowing that he was no match for the giant, Yang Kai could not bring himself to endure this humiliation any longer; thus, he charged forward to fight to the death. He stopped a short while later and landed on the giant’s palm again. Lifting his head in fury, his eyes were filled with accusations of tears and blood, gritting his teeth as he choked out the words, “It’s not fair!”
Yang Kai attacked for quite some time, but even so, Ah Da neither retaliated nor gave any indication that he was going to stop Yang Kai. He simply endured it silently, or rather, he seemed to not realize Yang Kai was attacking him at all. Furthermore, his face remained intact and perfectly uninjured. On the contrary, it was Yang Kai’s Dragon Claws that were sore from the impact.
Ah Da scratched his head, his gaze constantly switching between Yang Kai and the void. He was blinking furiously as though he knew that he had done something wrong. He might not know what he had done wrong, but he could sense that Yang Kai was furious and inevitably felt a little guilty.
That funny expression entered Yang Kai’s eyes and he was stunned for a moment before he burst out laughing.
This giant named Ah Da was obviously mentally underdeveloped, but his strength was simply beyond fathoming. Why was he even picking a fight with him? It was just asking for trouble.
When Yang Kai laughed, Ah Da followed suit. The latter’s smile might be a little timid, but his large body shook from his laughter.
Yang Kai suddenly felt that the giant was a lot less annoying and became much less fearful as he asked, “Just what are you?”
If it had been anybody else in Ah Da’s shoes, that question would have sounded extremely provocative. A fight might even break out on the spot if they were ill-tempered; however, Ah Da didn’t care at all. He simply lifted a finger and pressed it against his lips while shrinking back slightly, “Shh. Keep your voice down. You are so noisy.”
Yang Kai immediately rubbed his hands together, hunched his waist in a suspicious-looking posture, and whispered, “Like this?”
Ah Da grinned in response. Unfortunately, the smile was so terrifying that Yang Kai’s scalp went numb at the sight. Suppressing the fear in his heart, he asked again, “Which Clan are you from? How did you grow so big? What is this place?”
What Yang Kai received in answer, however, was a loud rumbling sound. It sounded like thunder, booming out so deafeningly that his eardrums hurt.
Ah Da then proceeded to rub his stomach and whimper pitifully, “I’m hungry.”
The sound just now had been his stomach growling.
Yang Kai couldn’t help gulping nervously, the reason being that Ah Da was staring at him intently while he spoke those words. It made Yang Kai feel very insecure, [He can’t be thinking of eating me, right? Judging by his previous actions, he doesn’t seem like he would do something like that.]
Desperately resisting the urge to flee, Yang Kai lifted a fist to his mouth and coughed lightly, “Um, you see… Although I’m not small, my body doesn’t have much meat. I’m also not tasty, so…”
Before he could finish his sentence, he saw Ah Da turning to look down in a certain direction; then, Ah Da seemed shocked and exclaimed, “It’s gone!”
“What’s gone?” Yang Kai frowned, and following Ah Da’s gaze, his pupils suddenly contracted in fear. There was something pitch-black located in the Starry Sky a few hundred thousand kilometres away that was slowly squirming and shrinking. Even though it was several hundred thousand kilometres away, Yang Kai could still feel the familiar aura of chaos and nothingness.
Void Crack!
That mass of black nihility was massive Void Crack.
Was that where he escaped from? It was not impossible for that to be the case; however, the Void Crack was currently shrinking at a rapid pace and it would not take more than half a month before it vanished completely.
Just like how the World Principles would mend the spatial tears in the Star Boundary, the same went for this inexplicable Starry Sky too it seemed. At this moment, the Void Crack was gradually disappearing under some kind of influence from the ambient World Principles.
When the realisation struck him, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling terrified, [I’m so glad I escaped in time. If I failed to escape before the Void was completely repaired, I would have been trapped inside forever!]
According to his calculations, the location of the Void Crack should be where the Demon Realm had originally existed. Feeling unsure, he turned to look at Ah Da and asked, “What’s gone?”
“Food… It’s gone…” Ah Da’s huge face was scrunched up bitterly as though he was about to cry.
Yang Kai was confused. [If that is where the Demon Realm used to be located, then what is there for this giant to eat?] Frowning, he asked, “What do you want to eat?”
“Pieces…” Ah Da stretched out a finger that was bigger than the mountain peak and pointed at the Void, “There were lots and lots of pieces… But, now they’re all gone…”
Yang Kai pondered in silence for a while. Wasn’t the Demon Realm in pieces? What this giant calls food… He can’t be referring to the Demon Realm, right?
“Ah Da was sleeping. Ah Da was waiting until it died before he ate…” Ah Da turned to look at Yang Kai. The corners of his mouth drooped sadly and his eyes were misty, really looking like he was going to burst into tears, “But it’s gone now…”
Although the meaning behind those words were unclear, Yang Kai was horrified just listening to them. He had extracted a different kind of information from within those words.
[Wait until it died before eating…]
The Demon Realm had been spiralling towards its death, and even Yang Kai had always claimed that the Demon Realm was dying, but that fact was finally confirmed through Ah Da’s words.
Meanwhile, he had used the Sealed World Bead to devour the entire Demon Realm, so it was only natural that it was gone. Yang Kai then began to wonder just how long Ah Da had been sleeping here for him to not notice the changes at all.
*Gulululu…*
The deafening rumbling sounded again.
Ah Ga rubbed his stomach sadly, “Ah Da is hungry.”
“Haaa… There’s no helping it.” Yang Kai quickly took out a World Bead from the Small Sealed World and tossed it to Ah Da, “Is this what you eat?”
The first reason Yang Kai did this was to verify his conjecture. He wanted to see if Ah Da was really waiting in this place to eat the Demon Realm. The other reason… was simply that the giant’s expression was too scary. He was afraid that Ah Da might be so hungry that the latter became desperate and ate him instead.
If Ah Da was really waiting to eat the Demon Realm, then a single World Bead should not be a problem for him. Besides, Yang Kai had many World Beads in his possession. When he first entered the Demon Realm, he had created those World Beads by slicing off parts of the third region in the Small Sealed World and refining them. Strictly speaking, they were originally a part of the Demon Realm.
When the World Bead was tossed in Ah Da’s direction, his eyes brightened up… A light flashed across his gaze as his aggrieved expression turned into one of pure curiosity. He held the World Bead up in front of his eyes between two enormous fingers, examined it carefully, and sniffed at it with his nose. After a while, he grinned, “Round…”
Opening his mouth, he tossed it into his mouth. *Crunch!*
The muscles of Yang Kai’s face twitched hard at the sound of Ah Da’s chewing.
A short while later, Ah Da finished swallowing the World Bead and stared at Yang Kai with a look of anticipation.
Yang Kai laughed and flew over to Ah Da, “Open your mouth!”
“Ah…” Ah Da opened his mouth wide.
Yang Kai popped another World Bead into the giant mouth.
*Crunch. Crunch. Gulp*
“Ah…”
Yang Kai found all of this extremely interesting, thinking that the universe was truly full of wonders. Leaving aside the fact that he had encountered a giant larger than a mountain range, he couldn’t believe that this guy actually fed on worlds! It’s so incredible that he could barely believe it!
However, it quickly became too much for Yang Kai as Ah Da continued to eat. Although he had created many World Beads back then, the number was still limited. It didn’t take long for Ah Da to finish half of them. A little more time passed and the number was halved again. Even so, Ah Da still looked dissatisfied, even though his stomach was not growling any more.
[I can’t let him continue eating like this.] Yang Kai had the feeling that he was going to go bankrupt if he allowed Ah Da to continue. He still had uses for the remaining World Beads in his possession, mainly distributing them to the armies when he returned to the Star Boundary.
When Ah Da opened his mouth again, he saw that Yang Kai did not move for a long time; thus, he looked at Yang Kai expectantly again.
Yang Kai spread his hands and said, “There’s no more.”
The anticipation on Ah Da’s face suddenly turned to disappointment.
“What about eating this?” Yang Kai waved his hand. A pile of Spirit Fruits appeared in front of him. They were all taken from the medicine garden in the Small Sealed World. Ever since he placed the two small Wood Spirits in the medicine garden, it had been thriving and the number of Spirit Fruits had increased considerably; moreover, the medicine garden produced all sorts of other rare products year round.
Each of these Spirit Fruits was extraordinary and an ordinary person would surely burn with jealousy at the mere sight of them. Ah Da was a little surprised to see these Spirit Fruits. It was clear that he had never seen so many colourful items before. Be that as it may, he seemed to know that they were edible. Reaching out a hand, he grabbed a handful and stuffed them into his mouth. A moment later, his expression turned ecstatic.
Yang Kai was secretly relieved. It would seem that the giant was not a picky eater and could eat anything, similar to the Embodiment. After the Embodiment began cultivating the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, he could refine basically anything that had the slightest bit of energy. The principle behind them seemed to be the same. [But still… look at the size of this giant! Trying to feed him to satiety… will be more than a little difficult…]
The things inside the Small Sealed World’s medicine garden were not infinite, and at present, the two little Wood Spirits had already noticed that a lot of Spirit Fruits had gone missing and were questioning Yang Kai about who the dastardly thief was.
An hour later, Ah Da looked at Yang Kai eagerly again, still not satisfied.
Yang Kai spread his hands and said, “I really don’t have any more.”
A lot of the World Beads had been eaten and most of the spirit fruits in the medicine garden were gone. Yang Kai would go bankrupt if he continued feeding this giant. Besides, he was sceptical about something. He had the feeling that even if he brought out everything within the medicine garden, it still would not be enough to fill the giant’s stomach. Judging by Ah Da’s mountain-like body… it would probably be very difficult to ever truly satisfy him.
Yang Kai racked his brains for other ideas before he said, “Would you like to come with me? I’ll bring you to a place with delicious food.”
While it was true that Ah Da was simple-minded, his cultivation was shockingly powerful. If he could bring this big guy back to the Star Boundary, he could easily deal with the Demon Saints and their like. Yang Kai seriously doubted that even Great Demon God could compare to Ah Da. With Ah Da with him, the crisis in the Star Boundary could be resolved immediately and no more sacrifices would be necessary!
It had only been a flash of inspiration at the beginning, but the more Yang Kai thought about it, the more he felt that this was a good idea; therefore, he immediately tried to entice Ah Da earnestly, making a grand speech with many colourful images and descriptions that could all be summed up in one sentence, “Follow me and you will eat your fill!”
If he could bring Ah Da back to the Star Boundary with him, he would have the strength of an entire world behind him. In that case, was there really a need to fear not being able to satisfy this giant’s appetite?
Yang Kai talked until his mouth went dry, but on the other hand, Ah Da simply kept giggling stupidly without responding to his suggestions at all. It made Yang Kai wonder if he was only feigning his childlike mentality.
“I’ve already said so much? What do you think? Will you come with me?” Yang Kai wiped at his mouth and tried one last time.
“Hehehe.”
“Stop laughing! Tell me whether you are coming with me or not!” Yang Kai was feeling speechless now. He plopped himself down on Ah Da’s palm and glared at the other party in exasperation.
They stared at each other without saying anything for a time before all of a sudden, a look of joy flashed across Ah Da’s face and he turned his head to look in a certain direction.
Yang Kai followed the giant’s gaze but couldn’t see anything. All he could see was the vast Starry Sky.
A short while later, Ah Da suddenly got up and said excitedly, “Ah Da is going to find something to eat!”
“Where?” Yang Kai raised his hand to his forehead and stared out into the distance.
In the meantime, Ah Da had already strode away in that direction. Despite his mountain-like body, his movements were swifter than lightning. Yang Kai felt as though the surrounding scenery was passing by in a flash from where he sat on the giant’s palm and he couldn’t help shouting, “Hey! Hey! Where are you going!?”
Ah Da froze in surprise, only now seeming to remember that there was a person sitting on his palm. Pausing, he looked down at Yang Kai and chuckled, “You gave Ah Da food. You are a good person. Ah Da likes you.”
His smile was as pure as a child’s.
“If you like me, you should come with me! Just tell me what you want!” Yang Kai put more effort into his recruitment.
Contrary to Yang Kai’s expectations, however, Ah Da just reached out his hand and plucked something out from what looked like a giant pocket. Grasping what looked like an embroidery needle, he gently placed it in front of Yang Kai and declared, “Ah Da will give you this!”
Yang Kai grabbed hold of the ‘embroidery needle’ and felt a jolt running through his body. An ancient and desolate aura washed over him without warning, enveloping his entire body and giving him the illusion of being transported back to a prehistoric era.
By the time he broke free of this illusion and came back to his senses, he saw that Ah Da was already very far away. All that was left was a tiny speck in the distance. Then, even that back vanished out of sight in the blink of an eye.
[How fast!] It had not been particularly obvious when he was standing on Ah Da’s giant palm, but now seeing it from a distance, Yang Kai realized just how terrifyingly fast Ah Da was.
Even though Yang Kai quickly pushed his Space Principles and chased after him, how could he possibly manage to catch up to Ah Da? Ah Da had long since disappeared somewhere and it was practically impossible now to search for his whereabouts in this vast and boundless Starry Sky. Therefore, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling rather annoyed. It was rather regretful that he had failed to recruit such a powerful helper.
It wasn’t until this moment that he took the time to study the ‘gift’ in his hand. When Ah Da pulled this toy out, it looked like nothing more than a small needle. Even so, everything was relative. This item had looked no bigger than an embroidery needle in front of Ah Da’s enormous body, but became the size of a chopstick in Yang Kai’s hands. It should also be said that Yang Kai had been maintaining his Half-Dragon Form ever since he met Ah Da, which meant this chopstick-like item was at least 10 or 20 metres long.
Upon a closer inspection, Yang Kai discovered that this chopstick was actually a spear. The tip of the spear glinted with a cold light and a pattern of dragons coiled around the body of the spear. In addition, there were many engravings and embellishments that looked like Dragon Scales. There were also golden clouds at the butt of the spear. It looked quite magnificent.
Yang Kai’s expression brightened and after closing his eyes, he quietly examined the spear before becoming startled a short while later. His attention had been focused on Ah Da previously, so he had no time to figure out the wonders of this item. It wasn’t until now that he inspected the item and discovered what a rare and extraordinary treasure it was.
In particular, the ancient aura surging from the spear was even denser than that of the Mountains and Rivers Bell. Just from this fact alone, it could be seen that the spear was far older than the Mountains and Rivers Bell. What surprised him even more was that he could vaguely sense a familiar aura coming from the spear. It was none the aura of a Dragon.
Yang Kai immersed his mind into the spear and after a while, his expression froze in surprise. Under his intent stare, the spear transformed into an incomparably large Azure Dragon that stood proudly in the void.
A high-pitched Dragon Roar resounded from the spear, causing the entire body of the spear to tremble uncontrollably. Yang Kai blissfully poured his Dragon Aura into the spear, causing it to swell up rapidly from 15 metres to nearly 1,000 metres. It was now just as long as his Half-Dragon Form was tall. His Half-Dragon Form was already quite imposing on its own, but it looked even more overwhelming now that it was supplemented by the spear.
Yang Kai’s eyes flew open abruptly as he randomly tried out several spear techniques. The spear felt like it was a part of his arm, with no sense of obscurity whatsoever. Rather, his entire body felt as comfortable as could be; thus, his confidence soared. Even if the true body of the Great Demon God was standing in front of him, he was confident he could put a few holes in him in his current state!
Yang Kai focused his gaze and saw two large golden characters shining at a certain point on the shaft of.
“Azure Dragon!”
He read those words out loud as he gently caressed the spear. Only then did the spear that had been trembling all this while seem to calm down, as though appeased.
If it had been anybody else in Yang Kai’s shoes, they would not have dared to use the Azure Dragon Spear so casually despite obtaining it. On the contrary, Yang Kai’s examination had revealed to him that the Azure Dragon Spear was originally refined and crafted from the body of a Dragon. The body of the spear came from the Dragon Bones, the scale-like patterns on the body of the spear were originally the Dragon Scales, the spearhead was formed from a Dragon Fang, and the butt of the spear came from a Dragon Tail.
With the Golden Divine Dragon Source Strength in his body, Yang Kai just so happened to fulfil the conditions of the Azure Dragon Spear’s Will. Only when infused with a pure Dragon Source Strength could this spear unleash its full power without first refining it. Moreover, Yang Kai had the vague feeling that even the Great Elder and Second Elder of Dragon Island were not as powerful as the Dragon that this spear had been refined from.
Just who was Ah Da? How was he able to randomly and carelessly bring out something so precious? The World Beads and the spirit fruits from the medicine garden that Yang Kai had offered as payment previously were not worth mentioning in comparison. While those things were by no means ordinary, how could they compare with the Azure Dragon Spear?
[I can’t believe I’m still so blessed with luck even though I’m not in the Star Boundary!] Yang Kai could barely repress the urge to throw his head back in wild laughter. Thinking about it a little more though, he realized that Ah Da probably brought out the Azure Dragon Spear after seeing his Half-Dragon Form. In any case, he had gained far more than he invested.
Up until today, Yang Kai had always carried numerous treasures and artifacts with him. There was no need to mention the Soul Warming Lotus, the Immortal Tree, and the Firmament Tree which could be regarded as unique existences and Supreme Treasures of the universe. The Mountains and Rivers Bell was so powerful that it was capable of suppressing even World Strength. The Astral Wind blowing out of the newly-acquired Wind Gourd was not something to be underestimated either. When it came to the Soul, he also had the elusive Soul Splitting Sabre.
Comparatively, Yang Kai only lacked a personal weapon that could be used to fight in close combat. The Myriads Sword was decent, but it was just an ordinary Emperor Artifact. It used to provide a relatively powerful boost to him when his cultivation was not that high. Unfortunately, it was no longer capable of keeping up with his strength as he became increasingly more powerful.
Besides, the Myriads Sword was the Qin Family’s heirloom. Yang Kai once made an agreement with the Patriarch of the Qin Family, Qin Zhao Yang, to return the Myriads Sword when Qin Yu became an Emperor Realm Master. Qin Yu had been cultivating hard in High Heaven Palace over the years and her strength had greatly increased as a result. Although she had yet to become an Emperor Realm Master, it was only a matter of time.
The Qin Family might not say anything even if Yang Kai did not return the Myriads Sword, but how could he go back on his word? Once he returned the Myriads Sword, then he would really lack a personal weapon.
Although he had been looking for a weapon for himself all this time, he had never found one that was suitable. Furthermore, he had to take his Half-Dragon Form into consideration. Any ordinary artifact could be used in his Human form, but they could not be used when he turned into his Half-Dragon Form. Forget his current size, even when he was only 300 metres long, using the Myriads Sword would have been no different from holding a toothpick between his fingers. Was he supposed to prick his enemies to death in a life-or-death situation? Not to mention, the power of that toothpick could not compare to the strength of his Dragon Claws.
Not only should the weapon be suitable for close combat, but it also had to be suitable for his current cultivation. It would be even better if he could continue using the weapon when he reached the Great Emperor Realm. More importantly, it had to be suitable for his use in his Half-Dragon Form… Although there were many precious and mysterious artifacts in the world, it was extremely difficult for any one of them to fulfil all of these conditions.
If Yang Kai was no different from the average Emperor Realm Masters that needed to spend a long time cultivating, he might have been able to gather some materials and ask Hou Yu to tailor-make an artifact for his use; however, the speed at which his cultivation improved was much too fast for him to consider that option. Even if he could refine an artifact like that, he would not have the time to nurture and refine the weapon to its full potential before it became obsolete. Among all the powerful treasures in the world, which one of them did not require thousands of years of hard work and refinement from the Emperor Realm Masters that owned them?
Yang Kai never imagined that he would accidentally receive the Azure Dragon Spear in this strange place. This spear was refined from the body of a Dragon, so not just anybody could unleash its full strength. It was the Dragonic Nature to be arrogant. Even after death, there still existed a trace of its original nature that could not be extinguished. It was already a miracle if the backlash did not harm the people who used the Azure Dragon Spear; how could it willingly allow itself to be controlled by another? It just so happened that Yang Kai had the Golden Divine Dragon Source though, which resolved this problem perfectly.
[Even though that big guy only knew how to giggle foolishly, it would seem that he isn’t stupid.] Resisting the urge to continue chasing after Ah Da, Yang Kai looked in the direction where the former had disappeared and bowed with his hand on his chest. [I received such an amazing benefit from him. If I ever meet him again, I will definitely treat him to a full meal.]
“Yang Kai! Yang Kai, are you still alive!?” Bo Ya’s frantic voice came from within the Small Sealed World. She had been in the middle of a conversation with him when the projected image in the sky shattered to pieces without any warning. It was obvious that he had encountered some sort of attack.
She had been trying to contact him all this while, but there had been no response from him; thus, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy. [Could he have died? If he died, then won’t I be stuck in the Small Sealed World for the rest of my life?] Although the current Small Sealed World isn’t too bad, it was simply not as splendid as the world outside.
“I’m not dead yet. Stop screaming,” Yang Kai replied shortly.
Naturally, Bo Ya began cursing him furiously, “Why did you ignore me if you’re still alive!?” Falling silent for a moment, she anxiously asked, “What happened just now?”
“It’s nothing.” He gave a perfunctory reply, “I met a rather interesting guy.” [He even called me a good person and gave me a precious gift.]
His words stunned her into silence. She had a glimpse of the vast Starry Sky just now, so who could he meet in a place like that? Unfortunately, Yang Kai stopped answering her when she questioned him further. It drove her so mad that she nearly gnashed her teeth to bits.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai turned around and placed the Azure Dragon Spear horizontally across his shoulders. His hands were placed on the head and tail of the spear. Then, his 1,000-metre-tall Half-Dragon Form shrunk rapidly and turned back into his Human form. Following the sudden change in body size, the gigantic Azure Dragon Spear also changed according to his wishes. By the time his figure stabilised again, the Azure Dragon Spear had become no more than 3 metres long.
He took a large stride forward. With a flash of his figure, that one step brought him a thousand kilometres away. He was staring fixedly ahead. That direction was probably where the Star Boundary was located.
Ever since he escaped from the Void Crack, Yang Kai could feel a faint force pulling at him. At the time, he had not had the time to investigate before he was blown away by Ah Da’s snoring. Now that he thought about it, the force that was pulling at him and guiding him towards a certain direction could only be the Star Boundary’s Will. He had the recognition of the World’s Will after all. For him, the Star Boundary was his homeland, so no matter how far he went, his connection with the Star Boundary would never be completely cut off.
…..
An army of millions was gathered in the Southern Territory outside of Star Soul Palace. Both Humans and Demons were at war. The once beautiful mountains and rivers were a terrible mess. The mountains and fields in the surroundings were withered and Demon Qi ran rampant.
Several years ago, the second Two Worlds Great War had erupted with the sudden arrival of the 10 Demon Saints. Afterwards, 108 Two Worlds’ Passages appeared all over the Star Boundary. The land around the Two Worlds’ Passages turned into Demon Land. Consequently, countless families had been separated and destroyed
In the beginning, the Star Boundary relied on its Space Arrays and the World Beads that Yang Kai refined to gain a significant advantage in mobility. They slew numerous Demons and obliterated 98 of the Demon Strongholds. As such, only the 10 largest Demon Strongholds remained. These 10 Demon Strongholds were also the places where the Demon Saints and Great Emperors had once fought.
The Demon Race placed great importance on these 10 Demon Strongholds. Not only were they heavily fortified, but the Demon Race also spent large amounts of manpower and resources to build unknown Demon Towers at each one.
When construction of these Demon Towers started, nobody had taken notice of these structures. It wasn’t until the Demon Towers began to take shape that the Star Boundary realized what their purpose was.
There were 10 Primary Demon Strongholds and 10 Demon Towers, all of which were interconnected with each other and functioned in the same manner as Space Arrays. Hence, the Demon Race armies were able to travel quickly between these 10 Primary Demon Strongholds.
On that note, the Star Boundary’s armies lost their advantage in terms of mobility from then onward.
The construction of the Demon Towers never ceased. There were large numbers of Demons bustling up and down each Demon Tower at every moment of the day. Accordingly, the Demon Towers grew higher and higher by the day. At present, they had reached a height of over 10,000 metres.
Nobody knew how these Demon Towers were built, but these towers were incredibly sturdy. Back in Blue Wave City of the Northern Territory, Yang Xiao and Yang Xue once used the Flowing Time Temple to ram into a Demon Tower twice; however, their efforts failed to bear fruit. The Feather Demon Demon Saint, Fu Yu, had teleported to the scene before they could launch a third attempt and knocked the Flowing Time Temple back with a single arrow. Her counterattack caused Yang Xiao and Yang Xue to suffer a terrible loss.
As the Demon Towers continued to grow taller, the area around the 10 Primary Demon Strongholds expanded by more than 10 times their original size. Looking down from above, these 10 Primary Demon Strongholds were like 10 cancerous tumours in the Star Boundary that oozed with puss and rotted the flesh. They corroded away at the surrounding intact lands without pause. For that reason, people couldn’t help wondering, would the Star Boundary undergo complete decay and turn into Demon Lands if the Demon Towers continued to grow taller? That was probably what the Demon Race was planning.
With the 10 Primary Demon Strongholds and 10 Demon Towers acting as fortresses, and the protection of the 3 Demon Saints, the rest of the Demon Race had nothing to worry about whatsoever and were simply hiding away inside the Demon Strongholds over the past few years. Although the Star Boundary’s armies had attacked on various occasions, they always returned in defeat, suffering heavy casualties despite killing many of the Demon Race members in the process.
In the beginning, everybody had pinned their hopes on Yang Kai. They were hoping that he would locate the missing Great Emperors in the Demon Realm; however, it had been 3 years since he left and there had been no news from him since then. Everybody eventually realised something, the Demon Race must have done something on their end. The likelihood was high that the Great Emperors were not in the Demon Realm; otherwise, why had Yang Kai not sent word after so long?
In the current situation, the Star Boundary could only rely on the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan to provide support. Unfortunately, there were only two of them against the 3 Demon Saints. Now that both parties had a means of teleportation, there was no chance of carrying out a surprise attack. All they could compete with was their patience, determination, and strength.
The Demon Race had been lying low for a long while. It wasn’t until today that the Demon Race finally launched its first offensive; moreover, it was aimed directly at Star Soul Palace. It was not as though the Demon Race’s actions were intentional, it was just that one of the 10 Primary Demon Strongholds was located adjacent to Star Soul Palace. There had been some distance between them before the expansion, but the expansion during the recent years had begun to encroach upon the edges of Star Soul Palace.
If it were an ordinary place, it would have been abandoned; however, Star Soul Palace was a symbol of the Southern Territory. Bright Moon Great Emperor had protected the Southern Territory for many millennia when he was still alive, so how could the Star Boundary turn a blind eye to Star Soul Palace’s plight now that Bright Moon Great Emperor was gone? Officially, everything the Demon Race did had to be stopped. On a more personal level, Bright Moon Great Emperor had sacrificed himself in the Demon Realm for the sake of the entire Star Boundary, so it could be said that the Star Boundary was indebted to him. Therefore, this battle was an inevitable one.
The 14 armies stationed in the Southern Territory gathered in Star Soul Palace to discuss countermeasures in advance, but even so, what was there to discuss? The Demon Race’s attack was imminent, so all they could do in response was defend this place to death.
A huge battle was about to break out. The moment the Demon Land expanded to the edge of the Sect Defending Array of Star Soul Palace, the Demon Race army would charge out and attack. The ones leading the charge were a group of red, short, and rounded Red Demons. These Red Demons had low sentience and were the lowest existences among the Demon Clans. They had always been used as sacrificial pawns, and this time was no exception. Tens of thousands of Red Demons launched suicide attacks on Star Soul Palace’s Sect Defending Array while screaming wildly.
As the hegemon Sect of the Southern Territory, Star Soul Palace’s Sect Defending Array was refined and reinforced over many, many years. Moreover, it occupied the best Spirit Land in the Southern Territory, so it was only natural that it was absolutely extraordinary. Even the Grand Array of High Heaven Palace was inferior.
Nevertheless, the Grand Array only lasted for less than a day before it began cracking under the relentless self-destruction of hundreds of thousands of Red Demons.
Following right behind the Red Demons, a large wave of the Demon Race army charged forward and attacked the Grand Array.
Needless to say, the armies of the Star Boundary did not stand idly by. They summoned out their artifacts and activated their Secret Techniques to kill and disrupt the Demon’s charge.
As the number of dead Demons increased, the Demon Qi in the surroundings became more and more intense. The pitch-black aura seemed to gain a life of its own, slowly crawling towards Star Soul Palace’s Sect Defending Array and climbing up the Grand Array. Consequently, the Grand Array that originally resembled seven-coloured stained glass was gradually dyed a pitch-black colour that gave off an ominous vibe.
Three days later, the Grand Array finally collapsed when the curtain of light turned completely black. The Demon Race army then charged forward like a pack of starving wolves, stepping into the pure land that symbolised the pinnacle of the Martial Dao in the Southern Territory.
That was not the only Sect Defending Array of Star Soul Palace. Under the control of the many Elders of Star Soul Palace and the current Palace Master of Star Soul Palace, Lan Xun, the Grand Arrays of each Spirit Peak and various other areas were activated all at once to split the Demon Race army apart. Then, the Star Boundary’s armies that had been lying in wait instantly clashed with their enemies in a bloody battle.
Rivers of blood flowed in Star Soul Palace and mountains of corpses began piling up everywhere. Demon Qi escaped from the corpses of the dead Demons constantly, contaminating everything in the surroundings and staining the land with Demon Essence.
If this had only been a simple battle between the two armies, the Demon Race would be no match against the Star Boundary. The Demon Race army might be mighty, but there were 14 of the Star Boundary’s armies gathered in this place too. Even with as many as 15 Half-Saints and Pseudo-Great Emperors, they might not be enough to exhaust the strength of the entire Southern Territory.
Unfortunately, the defence line of the Star Boundary’s armies tightened little by little with the continuous expansion of the Demon Land and signs of failure gradually began to appear. While these signs were not obvious at first, the difference in momentum between the two armies only became more and more noticeable. Especially after the backlash of the Bloodlust Spell broke out, resulting in a sharp drop in the Star Boundary army’s combat power. On the other hand, the Demon Race seemed tireless and blessed by the Heavens as they stood in the Demon Land.
The situation on the battlefield was extremely unfavourable for the Star Boundary.
Three young women stood side by side on the battlefield, pale-facedly facing off against a Half-Saint Master. One of them was Lan Xun. Ten years ago, she had barely broken through to the Second-Order Emperor Realm, so even with her Special Constitution as Bright Moon’s daughter, she had no chance of surviving a direct confrontation with a Half-Saint. Even so, she had taken a risk to refine the World Pagoda previously and directly broke through to the Third-Order Emperor Realm in one fell swoop with the help of the Ancient Exotic Artifact.
She might be much weaker compared to a Half-Saint, but she at least had a slight chance in battle. Besides, the power of the World Pagoda was not to be underestimated. Even the Half-Saint was frightened of it, so combined with the help of her allies, Lan Xun somehow managed to hold on until now.
It was unfortunate that she was now an arrow at the end of its flight. Even with an ancient treasure in her possession, the gap in their cultivation could not be overcome so easily. There was a bitter taste in Lan Xun’s mouth. She had been determined to revive the power of Star Soul Palace, inherit the legacy of her father, and protect the Southern Territory for the rest of her life; however, Star Soul Palace was about to be eroded and turned into Demon Land. How could she realise this ambition of hers in the future?
Next to Lan Xun stood a young girl with an innocent and cute appearance. She had a big black wok on her head that made her look quite ridiculous. Be that as it may, the Half-Saint’s eyes couldn’t help twitching at the sight of the black wok. The Half-Saint had underestimated his opponents earlier. Consequently, he was nearly captured by the black wok and almost failed to escape. If it was not for the fact that his cultivation was much higher than his opponent, he would have died after being trapped inside that black wok a long time ago. The chaotic feeling of refining everything in that black wok was still fresh in his memory.
The third young woman had a pretty face and her whole body was filled with a youthful aura; even so, her beautiful eyes were filled with murderous intent. The butterfly wings on her back flapped gently behind her. She might only be in the Second-Order Emperor Realm, but her slender body was emanating a Divine Spirit’s aura.
Lan Xun, Lin Yun’er, and Mo Xiao Qi, two daughters of the Great Emperors, were fighting side by side with the disciple of another. Furthermore, they were stopping a Half-Saint’s killing spree with their slender bodies.
Logically speaking, it was impossible for the average Emperor Realm Master to fight a Half-Saint. Even a Third-Order Emperor could only flee for their lives in front of a Half-Saint. Be that as it may, not a single one among these three young women was ordinary. With the treasures in their possession and the heritage they bore, how could they be compared with ordinary Emperor Realm Masters?
Lan Xun’s World Pagoda was a core treasure of Star Soul Palace; moreover, inside Star Soul Palace, she could mobilize far more of the World Principles to assist her than normal. On the other hand, Lin Yun’er’s black wok known as Unlimited Return was even more mysterious and unpredictable. Although Mo Xiao Qi had no comparable treasure on hand, she was born on Spirit Beast Island and Martial Beast Great Emperor had long ago planted the spirit of the Heavenly Illusion Butterfly Divine Spirit in her. As her strength and cultivation became more powerful, it became easier and easier for her to wield the power of this Divine Spirit like it was a part of her body.
By fighting three against one, they barely managed to maintain a stalemate situation; however, it was delusional to think that they could kill the Half-Saint they were facing. It was impossible unless he made a fatal mistake.
“You three little bitches… Just wait until this King captures you! I will make you wish you were dead! You will beg for death by the time this King finishes with you!” The Half-Saint was tall and broad-shouldered. The muscles all over his body were bulked up and contained great explosive power while his skin was the colour of stone. It was obvious that he was a Stone Demon. The Stone Demon Clan had inherently powerful defensive abilities and could ignore most light injuries. In addition, their natural strength was incredible. Although they were not as strong as Strength Demons, they were by no means any less than the other Demon Clans.
Among the hundred Clans in the Demon Realm, Blood Demons were the fastest and most cunning, but Stone Demons were the most difficult to kill. The three young women in front of him were indeed extraordinary, but even so, he believed that as long as he did not give them an opening, they would not be able to do anything to him. All he needed to do was drag out this battle and he could get eliminate them one by one once they were exhausted.
“Talk after you prove you have the ability!” Lan Xun’s beautiful eyes flashed coldly. Her father had lost his life in the Demon Realm, and now, the legacy he left behind was being invaded by the Demon Race. It could be said that her hatred for the Demon Race was carved into her bones. At this moment, she was cursing the Heavens for not giving her enough time to fully grow into her potential.
While she spoke, Lan Xun extended her hand forward. A green vine suddenly shot out of her sleeve and wrapped around the Half-Saint. The Artifact Spirit of World Pagoda had taken the form of a mimosa plant; therefore, the power of the World Pagoda took on the appearance of a plant when Lan Xun activated its power. If the Half-Saint could be fully wrapped up in the green vines, she could figure out a way to drag him into the World Pagoda and fight him to the death. Her strength would be greatly improved inside the World Pagoda. On this point, it might not be comparable to the advantage Yang Kai received inside the Small Sealed World, but the principle was the same.
When Lan Xun made her move, Lin Yun’er and Mo Xiao Qi did not stand around idly.
Lin Yun’er took the black wok that she had always worn on her head like a hat and threw it forward in the direction of the Half-Saint, letting out an oddly cute cry, “Eat this!”
Her petite body rushed forward along with the black wok. What she cultivated was Iron Blood Great Emperor’s Iron Blood Record, so attacking her enemy with her bare fists was what she excelled at. Her fists were invincible, capable of crushing anything they struck. It was just that she must first put herself in a dangerous position in order to attack her enemies.
The butterfly wings behind Mo Xiao Qi fluttered gently; then, gleaming rays of light converged like fireflies and floated towards the Stone Demon Half-Saint. The combat effectiveness of the Heavenly Illusion Butterfly could not be described with mere words, more so since this Divine Spirit’s greatest ability was built upon a person’s achievements in Soul cultivation. The shining powder had the power to create hallucinations and the effects were so strong that even the Half-Saint could not ignore them.
It was clear that this was not the first time these three young women had joined forces. Through the battles over the past few days, they had connected together as though they were one entity. By now, they could work seamlessly to launch an attack without the need for any prior communication.
The Stone Demon Half-Saint’s expression turned incredibly cold at the sight and the Demon Qi in his body surged as he fiercely threw a punch in front of him.
The green vine shooting towards him was smashed to pieces before it could get close. Although it repaired itself immediately, it was still unable to approach due to the sharp impact of the punch.
In the meantime, the sky darkened. Unlimited Return descended from above and covered the Stone Demon Half-Saint. On the other hand, Lin Yun’er lunged at the Stone Demon under the cover of the green vines.
The power of the Heavenly Illusion Butterfly also came into play at this moment. The shining powder lingered around the Stone Demon. It was pervasive and the slightest touch would make the other party’s consciousness blank out for a moment; hence, the punch the Half-Saint was aiming at Lin Yun’er involuntarily paused for a moment.
That one moment was the key determining factor in deciding the victor of this clash.
With a loud explosion, Lin Yun’er’s fists landed on the Stone Demon Half-Saint’s chest. Her punch that was capable of smashing mountains only made the Stone Demon stagger backwards slightly, however. On the contrary, her face crumpled into an expression of pain; even so, she did not retreat. Lin Yun’er raised her fists again and prepared to continue her assault. Her Honoured Master had once said that there was no defence in this world that could not be broken, it only depended on whether the power of her punches was strong enough. Her little face was flushed red from her efforts. Wind and clouds gathered around her tender fists, indicating the vague appearance of the Grand Dao.
At that moment, an exclamation of surprise sounded. In the midst of what they were doing, Lan Xun turned to look in the direction of the sound and her beautiful eyes contracted abruptly at the sight. A swirling sand pit had appeared under Mo Xiao Qi’s feet without them noticing. Two large hands reached out from the sand pit, grabbed her by the ankles, and dragged her downward. Her feet were already sinking into the sand pit by the time Lan Xun glanced over.
Sand Demon!
This Demon Clan was similar to the Blood Demon Clan in that they were very difficult to deal with. Not to mention, the elusive Shadow Demons who were also very hard to guard against.
Lan Xun could not afford to spare any thought to attack the Stone Demon Half-Saint at that moment. She gave a flick of her wrist, and the green vine shooting outward immediately turned back and plunged directly into the depths of the ground. The earth subsequently began to heave as though a terrifying battle was taking place underground.
Meanwhile, Mo Xiao Qi was distracted by the sneak attack and lost control over the power of the Heavenly Illusion Butterfly. The Stone Demon Half-Saint immediately woke up from his confusion as a result, just in time to receive Lin Yun’er’s punch. Without any hesitation, he countered her fist with a punch of his own.
Lin Yun’er’s petite body was sent flying backwards as she coughed up a mouthful of blood in mid-air, dyeing the front of her shirt red. Unlimited Return was also sent flying backwards by the Stone Demon, just like its Master. Despite getting injured, Lin Yun’er deftly spun through the air three times like a swallow before landing at Mo Xiao Qi’s feet and striking the ground with her fist.
The ground that had been heaving violently stopped moving all of a sudden. At the same time, the force that was restraining Mo Xiao Qi loosened and she took the opportunity to break free from the trap. In addition, Lan Xun retracted the green vine.
Then, the three young women stood side by side once more. A stench of blood wafted out from the crack in the ground. It was obvious that the Sand Demon who had hidden in the ground and attacked Mo Xiao Qi was dead. The Sand Demon was only a Mid-Rank Demon King who seemed to believe that there was an opportunity here that he could take advantage of. Who could have known that he would end up in such a state in the blink of an eye? Even so, he had accidentally helped the Stone Demon Half-Saint. The Stone Demon Half-Saint would have been attacked by Lan Xun and the others otherwise. While he would not have been affected by those attacks, it would have been quite a disgrace and humiliation for him.
“Bitch!” He cursed furiously before frowning and turning to look around at his surroundings. At some point, the commotion in the battlefield had died down; in fact, it was dead silent. Everybody had stopped fighting at that moment, but he had been so focused on countering the attacks of Lan Xun and the others that he had not paid much attention to his surroundings before. It wasn’t until now that he noticed this odd change.
Similarly, Lan Xun and the others had noticed this too and they began looking around their surroundings and glancing at each other. Then, Lin Yun’er asked sheepishly, “What’s going on?”
Mo Xiao Qi looked up at the sky, “Look over there!”
Lin Yun’er looked in that direction and her mouth instantly fell open in surprise. A storm seemed to have gathered in the sky with lightning flashing and thunder rumbling. Furthermore, the dark clouds loomed so low that the sky looked like it was about to collapse. Amidst the flashing layer of clouds came an impressive sense of oppression, as if something terrible was about to be born.
It was obvious that this strange phenomenon had caught the attention of the tens of millions of Humans and Demons alike in Star Soul Palace, causing the two Races that were at war to fall into a temporary truce.
“Is it the Demon Race?” Mo Xiao Qi asked worriedly. They were currently at war. For there to be such movements coming from the sky at this kind of time… She simply could not remain calm under these circumstances. The Star Boundary was already at a disadvantage, so if this strange phenomenon was caused by the Demon Race, then the future was truly looking bleak.
“It doesn’t seem like it!” Lan Xun slowly shook her head. If it were something that was cooked up by the Demon Race, then they would not appear so clueless about the current situation; however, the Stone Demon Half-Saint whom they had been fighting had an apprehensive expression on his face now.
“What is it then?” Mo Xiao Qi frowned.
How could Lan Xun know what was going on? Even so, she felt a little relieved by the current situation and secretly winked at Mo Xiao Qi and Lin Yun’er, signalling for the three of them to take this opportunity to rest and restore themselves.
The tens of millions of Humans and Demons on the battlefield were not the only ones staring up at the commotion in the sky, there were another five pairs of eyes staring as well. The large-scale battle here would practically decide ownership of the Southern Territory, so how could the three Demon Saints and the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan be absent? It was just that none of these five people had intervened in the battle.
For the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan, they were outnumbered by their enemies. Their involvement in the battle would only draw the three Demon Saints into making a move, which would in turn worsen the situation in the Star Boundary; therefore, they had simply been hiding in the sky and watching the situation. They would not make a move unless the situation forced their hand. Their presence here was mainly a deterrent.
For the three Demon Saints of the Demon Race, they knew that they might not be able to harm the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan even if a battle broke out between them. They might hold the advantage in numbers in a three-against-two fight, but it was impossible for them to kill their opponents. Both parties had exchanged blows with each other on several occasions over the past few years, so they had a fair understanding of each other’s strength.
If the two from the Dragon Clan were willing to watch quietly, then the Demon Saints were more than happy to oblige.
While Lan Xun and her companions were conversing among themselves, the three Demon Saints were also looking at each other with astonishment in their eyes. They might not know what was behind the aura hidden in the clouds, but there was one thing they could be sure of, the Demon Realm was not behind this.
If it was not the Demon Realm, then could it be the Star Boundary? They frowned and glanced in the direction of the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan before quickly discovering that Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun were also frowning and looking at them suspiciously.
When the gazes from both sides met each other, Xue Li grinned wickedly while Fu Zhun gave a cold snort.
The dark, heavy clouds were looming lower than before, looking like they were really going to fall out of the sky.
All of a sudden, a huge vortex appeared in the middle of the thick, dark clouds. As the vortex swirled, the surrounding clouds swirled along with it and made the sky seem rather volatile.
Then, a small light appeared in the centre of the vortex. Zhu Yan’s expression changed at the sight as he raised his brow and muttered, “That’s…”
Fu Zhun also had a shocked expression on her face. Like Zhu Yan, she had caught a hint of a Dragon’s aura from that light at the very moment it appeared. The presence of a Dragon Aura indicated that there was a Dragon present. It was just that Fu Zhun and Zhu Yan had brought all of the pure-blood members of the Dragon Clan on Dragon Island here with them. There were only so many of them, so how could any of their clansmen appear from within the vortex in the clouds?
What’s more, that trace of Dragon Aura that they detected felt extremely ancient and desolate. It felt as though it came from a very distant era, leaping across time and space. Even they couldn’t help feeling inferior in comparison.
Before the two of them had time to understand the situation, the carefree light that had appeared leisurely began to fall like a meteor with a long tail dragging behind it. The dark clouds covering the sky were seemingly influenced by the falling light and started squirming for a bit before suddenly shrinking into a ball and falling towards the ground along with it.
The feeling as though the sky was falling bloomed in everybody’s hearts. Be they the Human Race or the Demon Race, all the living creatures in Star Soul Palace felt suffocated and anxious.
Soon though, everybody’s expressions changed once more. The light that was falling to the ground was heading directly towards Star Soul Palace! It approached as swiftly as lightning and before the armies of tens of millions could react, the light that was falling from the sky had already smashed into the ground.
There was a loud explosion and the world shook from the impact. The hundreds of Spirit Peaks in Star Soul Palace trembled slightly, causing loose gravel to fall all over. A force of vibration then spread out in a circle from the place where the light had fallen, violently extending outward in all directions. Both Humans and Demons were thrown off their feet everywhere that force of vibration passed; there was no discrimination. Only those in the Emperor Realm and above managed to maintain their balance.
Immediately following that, the dark clouds that came falling down with the light smashed into the ground and the entire Star Soul Palace was instantly shrouded in a layer of fog.
The beautiful faces of Lan Xun, Lin Yun’er, and Mo Xiao Qi turned pale. That was because the light that had fallen out of the sky had landed no more than several tens of metres in front of them, just so happening to separate them from the Stone Demon Half-Saint. Fortunately, the three young women were considered quite powerful now and were able to defend themselves. That was why they were not hurt by the force of vibration that erupted outward.
When they looked up, they saw a figure half-kneeling on the ground several tens of metres away. That figure was covered in ragged clothes and had dishevelled hair. Parts of his sturdy and muscular body were exposed through the gaps of his tattered rags. His embarrassed state was reminiscent of somebody who had just finished fighting a grand battle.
The hair hanging off his forehead covered his face so his appearance could not be seen clearly. He had one hand on his knee while the other hand was holding a 3-metre-long spear. There was a pattern of a Dragon coiling around the spear and it also seemed to be covered in Dragon Scales. Moreover, the head of the spear was glinting with a cold light and an ancient aura surged wildly from its body.
The three young women were dumbfounded by the sight. Similarly, all of the Humans and Demons who witnessed this sight had blank expressions too. Nobody could have imagined that the light that caused a Heavenly Manifestation when it fell from the sky would turn out to be a person. Literally millions of eyes had been watching intently only to witness this person’s arrival.
“Uncle Yang?” Lin Yun’er tilted her head to the side and called out with a slight frown.
“What?” Lan Xun turned to look at Lin Yun’er when she heard her speak. Unfortunately, she had not heard what Lin Yun’er said clearly.
At that moment, the half-kneeling figure on the ground finally moved. He slowly straightened up his body. When he was crouching on the ground, all light seemed to be focused on the 3-metre-long spear; however, he seemed to rob the entire world of its splendour the moment he stood up straight.
There was a series of cracking sounds coming from all over his body. Casually lifting the spear in his hand, he rested it on his shoulder before throwing his head back and laughed heartily as his voice rang out like a Dragon Roar, “I’m finally home! It feels so good!”
His long and dishevelled hair covered his face, making it difficult to see his true appearance; even so, his eyes gleamed as brightly as the sun from between the gaps of his fringe.
Lan Xun was taken aback, her eyes widening in surprise as she stuttered, “S-Senior Brother Yang?”
That voice might be deafening, but she was certain that it was definitely Yang Kai’s. Mo Xiao Qi also seemed to recognise his voice and her cold expression quickly dissolved into one of pleasant surprise, “Big Brother Yang?”
She had not met Yang Kai again ever since he brought her to meet the Third-Elder of Dragon Island, Fu Xuan. Although it had only been less than 20 years, those years were far too long for a young girl who was just beginning to fall in love. She had wanted to leave Spirit Beast Island many times to search for Yang Kai, but she had no opportunity to leave with Mo Huang around, and whenever Mo Huang wasn’t around, Jiu Feng would accompany her instead; therefore, her wish to see Yang Kai might have played a part in the reason she came to the Southern Territory this time.
It was a shame that she only learned that he had gone to the Demon Realm after she arrived at this place; moreover, there had been no news from him for the past 3 years. It never occurred to her that they would meet again under such circumstances.
[Didn’t they say he went to the Demon Realm? Why did he fall out of the sky?] Mo Xiao Qi could not make heads or tails of the situation. Similarly, Lan Xun and Lin Yun’er didn’t understand what was going on either. There was no Two Worlds’ Passage connecting to the Demon Realm in the sky here after all.
A few dozen metres away, Yang Kai stretched out his hand and brushed his hair back to reveal his face, smiling brightly as he called out, “Xiao Qi? Yun’er? Junior Sister Lan too? Why are you… Oh?”
The journey back from the Outer Universe had been fraught with perils. Just by looking at his dishevelled appearance, one could tell that his trip had not been smooth-sailing by any means. The many hardships he encountered during the journey were difficult for others to understand. Now that he had finally returned to the Star Boundary after overcoming those challenges, he had not had the time to take in the situation around him yet. It could even be said that his landing here had not been planned. It was simply a coincidence.
Yang Kai swept his Divine Sense across his surroundings and immediately understood the current situation, as well as where this place was.
[How did the war spread to Star Soul Palace?] He frowned slightly. [Has the situation in the Star Boundary gotten so bad in the few years that I was away?]
“Yang Kai!” Xue Li’s expression turned cold as he stood mid-air, staring down at Yang Kai’s figure with his scarlet eyes. Murderous intent was bursting out of his body. All the Demon Saints held a deep grudge against Yang Kai. If it wasn’t for Yang Kai, Yu Ru Meng, Bei Li Mo, Chang Tian, and many others would not have betrayed the Demon Realm. If these three had been around, conquering the Star Boundary would have been as easy as crushing an ant under their boot. It was precisely because Yang Kai had convinced these three to defect that the battle to conquer the Star Boundary was still stuck in a deadlock. Although the final victory would eventually belong to the Demon Race, the time and energy lost in this war were irreparable.
The moment his murderous intent burst out of him, the auras of the two Dragon Clan Great Elders immediately locked onto him. Turning around, Xue Li gave both Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun a cold sneer. The defeat of Star Soul Palace was already written in stone. There was no way to turn the situation around even if Yang Kai appeared all of a sudden, not unless Yang Kai had the strength of a Great Emperor. Hence, he would neither act rashly nor annoy the two Dragon Clan Great Elders even though he was itching to kill Yang Kai on the spot.
Below them, Yang Kai raised his head to look at the sky. There was nothing in his field of vision, but his gaze seemed to be capable of leaping across space. Then, he smiled slightly in the direction of the three Demon Saints.
“Interesting. I can’t believe he can see us,” Huo Bo chuckled, his round body shaking uncontrollably from laughter.
Fu Yu’s fingers twitched slightly. She was wondering if she should just shoot Yang Kai to death on the spot. After giving it some thought though, she decided that she probably would not have any chance of shooting him with the two Dragon Clan Great Elders around.
“Uncle Yang, watch out!” Lin Yun’er suddenly shouted.
At the exact moment Yang Kai raised his head to look up into the sky, the Stone Demon Half-Saint standing nearby leapt out to attack. Raising his hand and bringing it down on Yang Kai from a distance, the Stone Demon sent a gigantic pitch-black palm hurtling from the sky.
Yang Kai seemed unaware of the danger and didn’t even move a single muscle. The palm then came slamming down in the next moment. Immediately after that, a loud explosion rang out and the place where Yang Kai had been standing was completely crushed to pieces.
Lin Yun’er looked dazed, Mo Xiao Qi screamed in horror, Lan Xun went pale… Despite knowing that Yang Kai was proficient in the Space Principles and could not be killed so easily, they could not help worrying until they could be sure of his safety.
Yang Kai’s figure reappeared again in the next instant, his tattered clothes looking absolutely ridiculous. Meanwhile, he had already rushed towards the Stone Demon at some point, his expression stern. Thrusting his spear in the direction of the Stone Demon Half-Saint, he shouted, “You shall be the first sacrifice to my spear!”
Ever since receiving the Azure Dragon Spear, Yang Kai had been on the road all this time. Although he came across many thrilling and dangerous situations, his spear had yet to taste blood. A Half-Saint was good enough to become an offering!
The Stone Demon seemed stunned by Yang Kai’s bravery and ignorance, causing him to sneer and snap, “Don’t be so presumptuous!”
He then directly grabbed the head of the spear with his large hand. As a Stone Demon, his inherent defensive abilities were outstanding. Even other Half-Saints in the same Realm would not have an easy time breaking through his defences. While Yang Kai’s spear might appear powerful, a Demon King’s strength was simply not enough to be his opponent. It was only natural that he thought nothing of Yang Kai. He believed that as long as he grabbed the spear and dragged Yang Kai over to him, he could smash Yang Kai’s head in with a single punch.
The Demon Saints claimed that they would offer personal guidance to the person who managed to kill Yang Kai. With the Stone Demon’s current cultivation in addition to the teaching of the Demon Saints, it may not be impossible for him to become the new Demon Saint if the opportunity arose.
Unfortunately, all his beautiful hopes and dreams were shattered by the spear in front of him. The Stone Demon felt a stabbing pain in his palm the moment he grabbed the head of the spear. The defence he was so proud of tore apart like a piece of paper, completely useless in the face of this thrust. The spear pierced a hole through the palm of his hand and stabbed towards his head without losing any momentum.
Horrified by the sudden turn of events, the Stone Demon shouted incredulously, “How is this possible!?”
The defences that were strong enough to withstand the onslaught of even other Half-Saints like himself had been broken. He simply could not accept it. Although his mind was shaken, he was still a Half-Saint, so it was not so easy to kill him. Seeing the spear quickly looming larger in front of his eyes, he hurriedly dodged his head to the side and narrowly avoided this terrifying blow. At the same time, he swiftly retreated some distance away while the Azure Dragon Spear was pulled out of his palm, causing large amounts of blood to flow.
Yang Kai moved like a shadow, chasing after the Stone Demon relentlessly. His expression was as cold as ice as spear shadows enveloped his enemy.
Lan Xun and the others were dumbfounded by the sight. They knew that Yang Kai’s strength had always exceeded his own Realm; moreover, he constantly fought without regard for cultivation Realms and survived countless battles against many Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints in the past. Even so, how could he single-handedly push back a Stone Demon Half-Saint with nothing but his own strength?
The three young women were originally planning to step in to rescue Yang Kai; however, who could they dare to rashly intervene in this battle after seeing it play out? Stepping in at this moment would only disrupt Yang Kai’s momentum and, in the worst case, they might even ruin his chances of victory. Exchanging a look with each other, they immediately flew out to form a three-sided encirclement with the Stone Demon Half-Saint in the middle, ensuring he did not have a chance to escape.
A cold light flickered as the spear shadow flashed out. Every thrust of the spear frightened the Stone Demon Half-Saint. All other people could see were a series of dazzling spear techniques. In contrast, there was an Azure Dragon rushing at him with fangs bared and claws out in the Stone Demon’s vision. The Dragon Roars that penetrated into his Soul seemed to have a strange power of causing him to become anxious and uneasy. He was unable to defend himself against the enemy with all his strength as a result.
The swooshing sounds of the spear never stopped. Wound after wound was inflicted upon his tough body and he was soon covered in blood. The pain aroused his ferocious nature, causing his eyes to flash scarlet. Lifting his hand suddenly, he straightened his palm and pressed it down towards Yang Kai heavily. The speed of his movements was not fast. Rather, his movements seemed very slow, feeling as if there was an invisible force preventing him from moving.
As the Stone Demon’s palm came closer, Yang Kai’s expression changed. He pulled the spear back in defence, using the Azure Dragon Spear to create a wall of illusory phantoms that formed a solid defence that stood in front of him. There was a series of clanking sounds and a shower of sparks erupted. Even though there were no weapons that came attacking in his direction, the sound of metal clashing against metal rang out anyway.
All of a sudden, the spear shadows that covered the sky disappeared and Yang Kai held his spear horizontally in front of his chest. Following that, a force of incomparable power rushed at him with the approach of the Stone Demon Half-Saint’s palm. He subsequently looked down only to see his chest sinking downward slightly.
“Die!” The Stone Demon Half-Saint shouted angrily as he forcefully pressed his outstretched palm down towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai spat out a mouthful of Golden Blood while at the same time, his body was sent flying backwards.
“Senior Brother Yang!” Lan Xun was shocked and quickly flicked her wrist to send a green vine out from her sleeve to pull Yang Kai back towards her after he was sent flying. No matter how tough his body, his internal organs were churning after being struck by a Half-Saint. If any other Emperor Realm Master had been standing in his shoes, they would have died after taking such an attack. Yang Kai on the contrary only coughed up some blood. His life was not in danger; he was simply a little winded.
Leaning against Lan Xun’s body, Yang Kai felt something soft touching him. Her face flushed slightly in response. She had known him for many years by now and the relationship between them was also not too bad; even so, they had never been in such intimate contact before. More so since everybody’s eyes were on them on this battlefield. Lan Xun couldn’t help but feel a tormenting sense of embarrassment. Be that as it may, the concern in her heart trumped over everything else so she pushed down her shame and anxiously asked, “Are you alright, Senior Brother?”
“I won’t die,” He turned his head to the side and spat out another mouthful of blood. After stabilising himself, he glanced at the Stone Demon Half-Saint with a savage grin.
After the Stone Demon Half-Saint completed his attack, he involuntarily revealed a sense of lingering fear when he recalled Yang Kai’s powerful barrage of attacks just now. [Even from an enemy’s standpoint, I have to admit that this guy is quite strong. He is only a High-Rank Demon King, but he already has so much power. What if he becomes a Half-Saint? How will the other Half-Saints survive!?]
Thinking so, he became more and more determined to kill Yang Kai. Taking a step forward, he coldly snorted and said, “Did you really think you can do anything you want just because you have a little bit of skill? You had that slut Yu Ru Meng protecting you back in the Demon Realm, but now that she is gone, I wonder who will save you now!? Kneel down and beg for mercy, and this King might just let you live!”
Yang Kai held the Azure Dragon Spear with one arm and pointed it at the Stone Demon Half-Saint, laughing ferociously as he shouted, “I see. You will be the first to die today!”
“Shameless boasting!” The Stone Demon Half-Saint’s expression was cold and severe, but a moment later, his expression suddenly changed. Looking down at his palm in horror, his eyes trembled violently.
He was a Stone Demon; thus, he was born with extremely strong defensive abilities. Having strong defensive abilities also meant that he would have strong restorative abilities. Light injuries were nothing to him which was why he had not been bothered even though he was injured by Yang Kai several times just now. They were all just flesh wounds that would heal in the time it took for him to say a few words; however, he was only just discovering to his horror that his injuries showed no signs of healing. Not only was the wound not healing, but they were also showing signs of getting worse!
There was a strange force permeating the bloody holes that formed when Yang Kai’s spear cut him. That energy was constantly corroding the flesh surrounding the wounds. Even the restorative abilities that he was so proud of could not do anything against this corrosion and as the energy continued to eat away at his flesh, his wounds were slowly expanding.
Turning pale with fright, he hurriedly tried to use his Demon Qi to suppress this strange energy, but it failed to have any positive effect. On the contrary, his Demon Qi seemed to serve as nutrients for that inexplicable energy. The more he tried to fight it, the stronger the energy became and the faster the speed of corrosion, causing him to cry out, “What is this!? What the Hell is this!?”
“The dead don’t need to know!”
As a High-Rank Demon King, it should have been impossible for Yang Kai to perform such a feat. He did not have such abilities in the past either. It was just that he had spent several dozen years in intensive cultivation on the ancient battlefield within the Small Sealed World. During that time, he absorbed the Martial Truth of Great Demon God and Flowing Time Great Emperor. He also caught a glimpse into the secrets behind World Force. While these several dozen years of intensive cultivation had not led to a breakthrough in his cultivation, the benefits he obtained from his efforts were impressive.
Borrowing the strength of his predecessors, Yang Kai now had his own Martial Truth. This Martial Truth was born from the distilled essence of the Great Demon God and Flowing Time Great Emperor’s lifetime of cultivation, making it profound and unparalleled. Even a Demon Race Half-Saint could not hope to disperse this Martial Truth, so how could this Stone Demon Half-Saint recover from his wounds?
“I told you I would sacrifice you to my spear. I’m a man who always means what he says!” When the last word left Yang Kai’s mouth, he lunged forward. With a flick of his spear, he stabbed at the Stone Demon’s chest.
No matter how many Demon Hearts this Stone Demon had tempered, there would definitely be one in his chest; therefore, Yang Kai aimed for that one first.
At the same time that Yang Kai lunged forward, Mo Xiao Qi harnessed the power of the Heavenly Illusion Butterfly. The Stone Demon’s expression froze slightly amidst the flickering lights and it was clear that his consciousness was being disturbed. However, it only lasted for a moment before he broke free of the illusions. While the power of the Heavenly Illusion Butterfly was great, the gap between Mo Xiao Qi and the Half-Saint’s cultivation was simply too large, so the effect that it could produce was extremely limited.
Nevertheless, that one moment was enough. Lin Yun’er came falling out of the sky. Nobody knew when she made her move, but she had grasped the timing just right. The Half-Saint was caught off guard when she fell straight down headfirst and grabbed him by the shoulders with her two small hands.
Even though her body looked small and delicate, it felt heavier than a mountain at this moment. When she grabbed his shoulders with both hands, the Stone Demon’s body slumped slightly, his knees bent, and he nearly fell to the ground from the impact. The ground where he stood erupted with a muffled explosion as it cracked open.
It was at that moment Yang Kai arrived with his spear, a frozen expression on his face.
The Stone Demon wanted to avoid the attack, but how could he avoid it in time? There was a sharp stabbing sound as the spear pierced through his chest as Yang Kai’s Demon Qi surged and he shouted, “Die!”
*Hong…*
The Stone Demon Half-Saint staggered back as a terrifying wave of Demon Qi erupted from his body. Lin Yun’er let out a scream of surprise and was sent flying into the air. Fortunately, a green vine shot out suddenly and wrapped around her to bring her back. Lan Xun had taken action just in time.
Lin Yun’er simply nodded in acknowledgement as there was no need to say thanks. Over the past few days, the three young women had been fighting together in various deadly situations and had long since forged a special friendship among themselves.
When they looked back up, they saw a gaping hole appearing in the Stone Demon Half-Saint’s chest. They could see through his body from the front to the back as his organs squirmed within the bloody cavity.
How could any ordinary person survive such a severe injury? However, as long as the Demon Heart remained, the Demon Race would not die. This Stone Demon Half-Saint clearly had more than one Demon Heart, but be that as it may, he currently did not have the majesty of a Half-Saint. For the first time, an expression of fear surfaced on his angular face that looked like it was carved out of stone. He was staring at Yang Kai as though he had seen a ghost while involuntarily backing away from him.
When Yang Kai turned his cold gaze in the Stone Demon’s direction, the Stone Demon turned around and fled to the rear.
It was one thing if Yang Kai only wielded the combat prowess that he was currently showing. The Stone Demon might still stand a fighting chance if that were the case. Even if he suffered terrible losses as a result, Yang Kai would not fare any better either. It was just that the strange power surrounding his wounds terrified him greatly. He had no way of removing or suppressing that power. Death seemed like the only ending left for him once he was touched by that power.
That strange power completely shattered his confidence to battle Yang Kai. He had only taken a few steps in his attempt to flee when a large Dragon came swooping down on him from the front. It opened its mouth wide and bit down on him.
He had seen this scene many times before, so he knew that it was not a Dragon in front of him, it was simply an effect from Yang Kai’s attack which affected his mind and to experience these illusions.
[Yang Kai is proficient in the Dao of Space. Can I really manage to escape from…] Before he could finish his thought, he felt a buzzing sound in his head. It felt like he was being hit by a large sledgehammer. After that, his thoughts sank into the abyss as his surroundings went dark…
“He… really killed him.” Lan Xun’s small mouth fell open slightly. Her beautiful eyes were gleaming with a strange light as she stared blankly at Yang Kai, who had stabbed the Stone Demon through the head with the spear he was holding in one hand. The glory of that moment was simply awe-inspiring.
“We won! We won!” Lin Yun’er jumped up and down, cheering ecstatically. She, Lan Xun, and Mo Xiao Qi had been battling the Stone Demon Half-Saint for quite some time now and they had barely survived countless dangerous situations during that time. In the end, they had relied on the power of various exotic treasures to hold back the Half-Saint. In contrast, Yang Kai swiftly ended this Half-Saint with his spear after no more than a stick of incense worth of time after he appeared.
Lin Yun’er did not think much about the difference in strength between herself and Yang Kai, she was only focused on the fact that everybody had killed the Half-Saint together, so she was absolutely elated by the win.
The Stone Demon Half-Saint had been stabbed in the head, so even if he had other Demon Hearts in his body, it would take some time before he could move again. Hence, Yang Kai naturally took advantage of this opportunity to kill him for good. He stabbed the Stone Demon a few more times with the Azure Dragon Spear, causing half of the Stone Demon’s body to explode into dust. There was no way the Stone Demon could survive now. He was as dead as dead could be.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling amazed after experiencing the growth in his strength. If he had this strength back at the Flowing Time Temple, the battle with Wind Lord would not have been so arduous. With the help of the Azure Dragon Spear and the Martial Truth that formed from his enlightenment, he could clearly sense that the current version of himself stood a fighting chance against Half-Saints and Pseudo-Great Emperors. It was no longer like before where he had to consider his escape options above all else whenever he randomly encountered a Half-Saint or a Pseudo-Great Emperor.
The noise on the battlefield seemed to fall silent at that moment. The battle at Star Soul Palace had lasted for several days, but it was the first time a Master in the Half-Saint Realm had fallen! It was a chaotic mess inside Star Soul Palace, but the sudden disappearance of a Half-Saint’s aura was still perceived by many people. Besides, the anomaly that occurred when Yang Kai fell out of the sky previously had already drawn a lot of attention. Many of the Masters among the Human Race and the Demon Race were still keeping note of this area even while battling the enemies in front of them.
Needless to say, the scene where Yang Kai had murdered the Stone Demon was witnessed by many people. The morale among the Human Race was boosted in an instant while the faces of many Demon Race Masters turned ashen. The role a Half-Saint played on a battlefield, even one with tens of millions of soldiers fighting, was extremely terrifying; therefore, the loss of one such Half-Saint was very likely to change the entire course of the battlefield.
Most of the Half-Saints were cursing the Stone Demon in their hearts for being useless. How could he die just like that at Yang Kai’s hands? How did he even manage to cultivate this far?
Having said that, if one were to disregard the advantage of numbers, it was undeniable that the overall strength of the Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary was slightly stronger than that of the Demon Realm’s Half-Saints. This difference stemmed from the Myriad Demon Pills that were unique to the Demon Race.
The Demon Race Half-Saints had the habit of consuming Myriad Demon Pills when cultivating while on the other hand, the Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary did not have such a unique resource. They could not rely on the help of auxiliary supplements, so they could only increase their own strength one step at a time. It was only natural that their foundations and the mastery of their strength was superior to Half-Saints.
The expressions of all three Demon Saints, who were standing in mid-air, were very cold and stern. Even Huo Bo, who usually had a smiling expression, was frowning at this moment. There was no need to mention Fu Yu and Xue Li. The frequency of the former rubbing her fingers together had increased significantly. On the other hand, the latter was clenching his fists tightly.
If that Stone Demon Half-Saint had died at the hands of a Pseudo-Great Emperor, then there would have been nothing to say. Who could blame him if he died because his strength lost to an equal opponent? But, the one to kill him just had to be Yang Kai. The current situation felt like a slap to the face for the three Demon Saints who had been monitoring the battlefield, especially since the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan were still present.
Compared to the three Demon Saints, Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun also looked extremely shocked. They had some understanding of Yang Kai’s ability, but they were certain he had never been this strong before. Did he come across some sort of special opportunity during the three years he spent in the Demon Realm? How else could he show such a great increase in strength?
What bothered the two Dragon Clan Elders the most was the Azure Dragon Spear. They had been attracted by the Dragon Aura when Yang Kai first appeared, and after watching for some time, they became increasingly aware of how extraordinary the Azure Dragon Spear was. Other people might not be able to tell clearly, but how could they fail to notice when they were also a part of the Dragon Clan? The Azure Dragon Spear was actually refined from a Dragon’s remains; moreover, that Dragon was definitely more powerful than the both of them when it was still alive.
Which generation did the remains of that Senior belong to? Furthermore, who refined a weapon like this?
If it were anybody else wielding the Azure Dragon Spear, Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun would not have tolerated it. They would not allow the remains of a member of the Dragon Clan to be desecrated even after death; however, there was nothing they could do if Yang Kai was the current owner of this spear. Their hands were tied. Yang Kai had the Golden Divine Dragon Source, a power that even they could only look up to. If Yang Kai could develop his power to the maximum, the likes of a Demon Saint would be nothing to him. It was a pity that he had too little time to grow. The growth of a member of the Dragon Clan required a long, long time after all.
Soon, the two Dragon Clan Elders calmed down and began paying closer attention to the movements of the three Demon Saints. A variable like Yang Kai had suddenly appeared on the battlefield; in addition, he had taken the lead in killing a Demon Race Half-Saint. Who could say when Xue Li and the others might suddenly intervene in the battle? Therefore, they had to be prepared at all times.
Fortunately, Xue Li and the others had their own reservations too. They were unwilling to escalate the war any further. Even though their expressions were unkind and their murderous intent leaked out, they had no plan to get rid of Yang Kai themselves.
“Take care of yourselves!” Yang Kai shouted to Lan Xun and the others on the battlefield before raising his hand. Following that, a shrill neigh rang out as Zhui Feng appeared.
Yang Kai immediately swung himself onto the horse and pointed his spear towards the place where the Demon Race was gathered. Zhui Feng snorted, spraying a breath of hot air. Then, he charged forward with flames erupting from his hooves. A golden beam of light flashed by and nobody could see Yang Kai’s figure, but the Demons collapsed like straw everywhere the golden light passed.
Yang Kai travelled from one Spirit Peak to the next in a matter of breaths, leaving a road of corpses in his wake. By the time Zhui Feng reappeared, the Demons that had been sent flying just now exploded into mist in mid-air, leaving no bones behind.
On the other hand, Li Wu Yi was fighting two Half-Saints by himself on this particular mountain peak. Of these two Half-Saints, one was an elusive Shadow Demon and the other was a Blood Demon. The Blood Demon had transformed into a boundless Blood Sea, which enveloped Li Wu Yi in order to give the Shadow Demon a chance to kill him.
Yang Kai had the power to kill a Half-Saint, so the moment he arrived at this place, the boundless Blood Sea involuntarily formed a gap to let him pass. It might be that the Blood Demon did not want to confront Yang Kai directly, or it could be that he wanted to trap Yang Kai inside the Blood Sea. The second option was the more plausible reason.
Li Wu Yi might be known as the strongest beneath the Great Emperors, but his strength was still lacking in a two-on-one battle. He could protect himself, but it was difficult for him to kill his enemy.
When the two met, Li Wu Yi nodded lightly at Yang Kai, “You’re back.”
“En!” Yang Kai grinned, resting the Azure Dragon Spear on his shoulder as he looked around, “Do you have a plan?”
“We can’t hold on any longer. We have no choice but to retreat to conserve as much strength as possible.” Li Wu Yi sighed.
It wasn’t that the 14 armies of the Star Boundary were no match for the Demon Race. They were both about the same in terms of numbers and strength, so the battle would end with both sides suffering heavy casualties at most. Rather, the issue was that the Demon Land was rapidly encroaching upon Star Soul Palace. Star Soul Palace would be reduced to become part of the Demon Land in just a few more days, and once that happened, the Demon Race army would surely experience a significant increase in strength. In contrast, the Human Race armies would experience a great limitation on their strength. This battle would not end well.
Yang Kai said, “I understand. In that case, it’s better to issue the command early. Where there is life, there is hope.”
“En, lend me a hand!” Li Wu Yi took a step forward. Despite being trapped within the Blood Sea, he had felt the battle between Yang Kai and the Stone Demon Half-Saint just now, so he knew that Yang Kai was no longer the same person from three years ago and there was no need to worry about the latter’s safety.
Yang Kai grinned, “Good!”
Turning to Zhui Feng, Yang Kai pointed his Azure Dragon Spear and shouted, “Kill!”
Zhui Feng charged into the Blood Sea like a flash of lightning. This time around, the Blood Sea did not open up a path for them. The Blood Demon hiding inside the Blood Sea wished for nothing more than Yang Kai voluntarily walking into the trap, so how could he allow Yang Kai to leave so easily? Entering the Blood Sea was equivalent to walking right into his territory, so Yang Kai’s life was currently in his hands.
Yang Kai whirled round and round like a Dragon inside the Blood Sea, stirring up the Blood Sea to the point where it looked like it was boiling. Even so, he was unable to grasp a trace of the Blood Demon’s true whereabouts. Oftentimes, the Blood Demon would vanish without a trace the moment Yang Kai caught a glance of him. Coldly snorting, Yang Kai lifted the Azure Dragon Spear in one hand before he spread open his free palm and pressed down on the void with a sneer, “Devour it!”
Space Principles fluctuated wildly as a vortex appeared at the spot where his palm struck. Following that, the blood waters involuntarily poured into the vortex and disappeared in large waves.
The expression of the Blood Demon, who was hiding within the Blood Sea, turned cold. The blood waters surrounding Yang Kai became extremely viscous with a flash of his thoughts while at the same time, a giant, ferocious beast suddenly condensed in front of Yang Kai and swooped down to bite him. That wasn’t all however as a peculiar figure also appeared behind him, followed by a glint of cold light stabbing directly at his heart. The Shadow Demon hiding in the Blood Sea had made his move!
Yang Kai felt a chill running up his spine as all the hair on his body stood on end. He could sense the attack of the Shadow Demon, but he ignored it and simply stabbed his spear into the beast in front of him.
Just as the Shadow Demon was about to succeed in his assassination, Li Wu Yi suddenly appeared. His cold eyes stared indifferently at the Shadow Demon who had just revealed himself; then, he raised his palm and struck the Shadow Demon.
The black mist covering the Shadow Demon’s face subconsciously wavered slightly, indicating the emotional fluctuations that he was experiencing inside. If he pressed forward, he would succeed in heavily wounding Yang Kai; however, he would end up in even worse condition.
In the end, his life was more important, so the Shadow Demon Half-Saint pulled back at the last moment to counter Li Wu Yi’s attack. Afterward, his figure quickly dissolved as though he was planning to go back into hiding once again.
“Since you’re already here, why not stay for a while?” Li Wu Yi smiled slightly as Space Principles around him surged violently to shroud the Shadow Demon.
The Shadow Demon’s body that had gradually faded away solidified once more without his consent and the two immediately began exchanging a series of fierce blows.
Simultaneously, Yang Kai stabbed his spear into the giant beast before turning his head and looking to the side, “Found you!”
The Blood Demon had been hiding inside the Blood Sea with his aura completely concealed, so Yang Kai was unable to confirm the opponent’s position so long as they did not make a move. On the contrary, there would be traces that could be used to track the Blood Demon’s whereabouts if he attacked.
With Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, which surpassed that of a Half-Saint’s, it was not difficult for him to lock on to that fleeting aura. Leaping off from where he sat on top of Zhui Feng, Yang Kai stabbed at a certain spot in the Blood Sea. A figure suddenly appeared in the originally empty spot that looked like it was filled with blood waters. It was the Blood Demon who had been hiding in the Blood Sea all along, his scarlet eyes filled with astonishment.
The Blood Demon never imagined that Yang Kai could locate his whereabouts with such a low cultivation. Having learned from the Stone Demon Half-Saint’s mistakes, however, he clearly noticed that the Azure Dragon Spear that Yang Kai wielded was very powerful. How could he easily allow himself to be injured by that weapon? Even though he had not taken a single step, the Blood Demon’s figure still retreated in a strange manner.
Yang Kai grinned widely and shouted, “Extend!”
Before the Blood Demon realised what was going on, the Azure Dragon Spear suddenly grew in length and stabbed towards his chest at a high speed. He was absolutely shocked, but it was too late for him to defend against the attack in his state of unpreparedness. With no other choice, he lifted a hand to summon a hook-like Demon Artifact. Hooking one end with the Demon Artifact, he pulled the spear to one side. Although his response was not bad, he was still scratched by the Azure Dragon Spear and a wound opened up on his arm.
An injury like this was practically negligible under normal circumstances, but Yang Kai grinned wickedly at the Blood Demon and taunted, “You’re already dead.”
The Blood Demon felt uneasy, but could not pinpoint the reason behind that uneasiness. With no other choice, he activated the Demon Artifact in his hands to fight Yang Kai. He refused to be as careless as the Stone Demon. The Stone Demon had placed himself at an immediate disadvantage by having his palm pierced through by Yang Kai’s spear. For that reason, the Blood Demon was defending almost exclusively. It seemed like he was not aiming to achieve a clean victory; rather, he was trying to avoid making mistakes. His behaviour made Yang Kai extremely annoyed.
If somebody clueless of the current situation saw this battle, they would have mistakenly thought that Yang Kai was the Half-Saint while the opponent was a High-Rank Demon King instead. [His cultivation is clearly higher than mine, but he is fighting so cautiously. A person like this is indeed difficult to kill.]
There was a series of clashing sounds, but aside from the initial wound Yang Kai managed to inflict, he failed to cause any further damage to the Blood Demon. With his current strength, he was not inferior to any Half-Saint or Pseudo-Great Emperor, nevertheless, it was still very difficult for him to kill a Half-Saint who was taking a fully defensive stance in battle. It was impossible unless the opponent made a critical mistake.
Just as Yang Kai was debating taking a blow in order to land one on his opponent, the Blood Demon’s expression changed. He pushed Yang Kai back with a vicious attack before looking down at his arm. It was only a glance, but that was enough for the Half-Saint’s expression to change greatly.
Previously, the Blood Demon Half-Saint had been injured by Yang Kai’s Azure Dragon Spear; however, it had been nothing more than a small scratch. Forget a Half-Saint, it was an insignificant injury even for an ordinary mortal. Hence, the Blood Demon had not paid much attention to this scratch. It wasn’t until after he fought Yang Kai for a while that he realised that something was wrong with the wound.
“It’s too late for you to realise now,” Yang Kai grinned fiercely. Taking advantage of his opponent’s unpreparedness as he thrust at the other party’s chest with his spear.
The Blood Demon was very restless. With the precedent, he did not dare to block the spear directly. Not only did he not dare to block, but his resolve to continue fighting had also weakened. He only wanted to find a place to treat his wound as soon as possible. He had the feeling that if he did not treat his wound, it would become very troublesome later.
For that reason, he shifted his body and spun around, dodging repeatedly when faced with this spear containing the power of a Dragon. The boundless Blood Sea began to swirl in response and converge together quickly. A large part of the Blood Sea disappeared in the blink of an eye, and the Blood Demon escaped along with it.
Yang Kai’s spear stabbed into empty space, and although he was a little annoyed, he was not too disappointed. It was an unexpected joy for him to kill a Half-Saint with the help of Lan Xun and the others just now; how could he hope to kill another one?
On the other hand, the Shadow Demon’s situation became a little awkward the moment the Blood Demon escaped. He had originally concealed himself in the Blood Sea and borrowed its power to cause trouble for Li Wu Yi. Now that the Blood Sea was gone, he immediately fell into a disadvantageous situation in his one-on-one battle.
He saw Yang Kai, who was now unoccupied, rushing towards him out of the corner of his eye, and knew that he would not be able to leave if he did not leave now. The moment that thought crossed his mind, the idea to retreat bloomed in him and all his fighting spirit vanished as a result.
Just as the Shadow Demon was about to follow the Blood Demon’s footsteps and make his escape, Yang Kai soared into the sky to intercept him. The Azure Dragon Spear disappeared in a flash of light as Yang Kai stowed it and began forming hand seals. Then, he struck out his palm in the direction of the Shadow Demon with a stern expression and murmured a chant, “Time Flows on Infinitely, Like a Mighty Stream, Like an Unending Dream.”
Time seemed to stop flowing; likewise, all thoughts came to a stop at this moment. The entire world receded in all directions like a tidal wave and the only thing left in the eyes of the world was Yang Kai’s palm strike.
If it were Yang Kai from the past, the Time Flies Seal he cast might not have been so powerful, but now he had personally witnessed the majestic appearance of Flowing Time Great Emperor casting this Divine Ability countless times on the ancient battlefield. Although Yang Kai did not dare to say that he had completely comprehended the essence of this Divine Ability, it was still incomparable to what he could execute in the past.
By the time the Shadow Demon returned to his senses, he discovered that his chest had sunken inward. Li Wu Yi was pressing a hand against his chest with an unfeeling expression and the might of the Space Principles was running rampant inside his body. He had failed to notice Li Wu Yi’s attack during that moment of distraction; hence, he looked horrified as he spat out a mouthful of blood.
Yang Kai had already summoned the Azure Dragon Spear once more. A Dragon Roar reverberated across the Heavens as he slashed out with the spear. The Dragon Fang that was the head of the spear penetrated the Shadow Demon’s body and there was a loud noise as it exploded into a cloud of black fog before dissipating into the surroundings.
Li Wu Yi frowned. He lifted a finger and pointed at several spots in his surroundings a few times before a muffled groan came from the void, followed only by complete silence immediately after that.
Lowering his arm, Li Wu Yi gave a small sigh, “He escaped in the end.”
There were a few wonderful opportunities after he and Yang Kai joined forces; unfortunately, all their efforts ended in vain. It wasn’t because his or Yang Kai’s strength was lacking, it was simply too difficult to kill a person once their cultivation reached the Half-Saint Realm. It was precisely because of this reason that no Half-Saint had died previously even though the Human Race and the Demon Race had been fighting here for several days now. That was also why Yang Kai’s act of killing the Stone Demon Half-Saint just now had caused such a commotion.
The Shadow Demons were naturally talented in escaping and concealing themselves, so it was not surprising that he managed to escape alive during such a critical moment. If it had been a Stone Demon, Strength Demon, Bone Demon, or a Demon from some other Clan lacking in stealth, they might have ended up dying in this place.
Yang Kai nodded, “It’s a pity indeed.” He changed the topic of conversation, “But, that guy is heavily injured. It’s impossible for him to heal unless he recuperates for a year or more.”
Li Wu Yi nodded and looked around him, “Prepare to evacuate.”
“Here, take these. The others might have use for them.” Yang Kai brought out many World Beads and handed them to Li Wu Yi.
Li Wu Yi looked overjoyed at the sight and nodded happily, “You really came back just in time.”
He had been a little worried at first; after all, 14 armies of the Star Boundary were gathered here. There were simply too many people, so they would surely incur great casualties even though they were withdrawing from battle. Be that as it may, they could keep those losses to the minimum with the help of these World Beads.
The flag of the First Army fluttered as the orders were passed down to the people. The 14 armies of the Star Boundary swiftly retreated in unison and gathered in a mountain valley within Star Soul Palace, and despite their staggering numbers, their movements were orderly.
Upon seeing this, the Demon Race army pursued relentlessly. The confrontation became even more intense among the vanguard compared to the previous days. Without the suppression of the Star Boundary army, the speed of the Demon Land’s expansion seemed to accelerate significantly and the boundaries of Star Soul Palace were rapidly eroded.
…..
Three graceful figures stood on one of the Spirit Peaks in a triangular formation. They were completely surrounded by the Demon Race army and numerous hostile gazes were fixed upon them, a strange light glinting in those eyes from time to time.
After several consecutive days of fighting, these three young women were at their limit. Even though they came from extraordinary backgrounds with strong heritages, they were having a hard time holding on. Their Emperor Qi had been exhausted countless times, and they were completely relying on pills now to replenish their energy.
In order to create an opportunity for their companions to evacuate, these three had been holding back enemies that outnumbered them by more than a hundred times. At this moment, they were alone and helpless, like a tiny reef in the middle of a black tide that stretched out as far as the eye could see.
Green vines burst out of the ground, swaying back and forth like Flood Dragons, slaughtering anyone who carelessly approached. With this threat in place, the surrounding Demons did not dare to act rashly as they were prepared to wait for a Half-Saint to come and deal with the situation.
“Princess, I’m here to help you!” A shout rang out as a man appeared out of nowhere. The longsword in his hand glinted with a cold light, cutting down countless Demons. His originally handsome appearance had been reduced to a mess and he was covered in uncountable wounds, fresh blood blurring his eyes and his body. His complexion was as pale as a sheet and he was relying solely on willpower to remain standing.
One of the three girls in front of him was somebody he had grown up with all his life. He had been determined to marry her, watch over her, take care of her, and protect her from harm ever since he was a child. Unfortunately, this battle had forcefully woken him from his dream. Without him realising, the gap between them had grown so large that when she stood on the battlefield, he was unable to stand beside her at all. Hence, the only thing he could do for her was to do his best to slaughter the Demons around her. Now that he finally had the chance to shine, he naturally spared no effort to rush over.
“Don’t come over, Xiao Chen!” Lan Xun shouted sharply when she turned around and saw Xiao Chen’s figure stumbling toward her.
A smile appeared on Xiao Chen’s pale face, [Look at her anxious expression. It turns out she still cares for me.]
In his distraction, his already precarious situation became more and more critical. He saw a fire-breathing skeleton trying to bite him, but he didn’t even have the strength to dodge anymore. His expression changed drastically as he realized, [My destined end has come…]
“Hah!” Lan Xun shouted and pointed her hand in Xiao Chen’s direction. The ground churned like there was an Earth Dragon tumbling about and a green vine shot straight up from under his feet. The moment the green vine broke through the ground, it wrapped around the skeleton and shattered its bones.
However, this momentary delay made the three young women’s situation become more dangerous. Without the protection of the World Pagoda, the defence line they had barely been maintaining collapsed. More than a dozen Demon Kings in their surroundings led hundreds of other Demons towards them with savage grins.
“Xiao Qi! Yun’er!” Lan Xun turned around and glanced at her companions beside her, a trace of guilt in her eyes, [It’s my fault…]
Mo Xiao Qi smiled and shook her head, “Don’t mind it. We just need to kill our way out, right?”
Lin Yun’er piped up naïvely, “En, Uncle Yang will come and save us.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, everything in their surroundings seemed to become still as the Demons charging at them stopped in mid-air. Lan Xun and the others stared in astonishment before a cold light flashed before them and a tall figure appeared.
There was a series of swooshing sounds, following which the frozen world resumed moving again. More than a dozen Demon Kings and hundreds of other Demons exploded all of a sudden. Hundreds of bloody flowers bloomed in the sky in front of them. It was a poignant and beautiful sight.
“Look! I told you Uncle Yang would come!” Lin Yun’er excitedly glanced at Yang Kai, who had appeared out of nowhere, with a look that seemed to say she had expected this.
Meanwhile, Lan Xun and Mo Xiao Qi were slightly in shock.
Yang Kai held the Azure Dragon Spear in one hand and carried Xiao Chen by the collar in the other. Glancing at the three young women, he nodded gently and called out, “It’s time to go.”
Afterwards, Yang Kai turned to the side and gave a whistle. With a flash of golden light, Zhui Feng immediately galloped in this direction from a distance and appeared before Yang Kai almost instantly. Raising his front hooves, he gave a loud whinny.
“Get on!” Yang Kai called out.
Lan Xun and Mo Xiao Qi were still in a daze, but Lin Yun’er had already swung herself up on Zhui Feng’s back. Then, she bent down and pulled her companions up. Although there were three of them, Zhui Feng was an ancient beast with a tall stature, so it was not crowded riding him.
“Brother Xiao, do you still have the strength to move?” Yang Kai asked as he placed Xiao Chen down.
Xiao Chen stared at Yang Kai blankly before nodding in response.
“Good, then rendezvous with everyone else.” Yang Kai stretched out a hand and pointed them in a certain direction.
“What about you, Senior Brother?” Lan Xun lowered her head and asked from where she sat on Zhui Feng’s back.
“I haven’t had enough yet. I’m going to let loose for a bit,” Yang Kai grinned at her before slapping Zhui Feng’s bottom, sending him immediately into a gallop as swift as lightning.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai looked at Xiao Chen, who was still standing still without moving, and gave a small sigh. He could tell that Xiao Chen was completely exhausted and was just about to place him into the Small Sealed World for safe keeping when he saw Zhui Feng turning back. Zhui Feng snorted at Xiao Chen in dissatisfaction as if scolding the latter for not keeping up. He subsequently opened his mouth, gripped Xiao Chen’s collar with his teeth, and hoisted him up before galloping back towards the gathering point again.
The surrounding scenery passed by in a flash, and the sound of killing faded into the distance. Xiao Chen was indifferent despite being held in Zhui Feng’s mouth. His eyes seemed a little dull and his hands were spread out before him as he stared forward blankly.
He had always thought of himself as the favoured son of the Heavens, and in fact, he wasn’t wrong. He was born into a hegemon Sect like Star Soul Palace and his father, Xiao Yu Yang, was a powerful and respected Elder. He had cultivated in an extremely conducive environment with nearly unlimited resources since childhood; allowing him to become one of the representatives of the Southern Territory’s younger generation.
Unfortunately, his glory only lasted until he became an Emperor Realm Master…
When the Shattered Star Sea opened, the best among the younger generation of the Star Boundary broke through into the Emperor Realm in quick succession. Xiao Chen was no exception. Up until then, he firmly believed that his glory was bound to be part of the Star Boundary’s future; however, it would now seem that his short burst of brilliance in his youth was the last of his glory, akin to the afterglow of a sunset.
To date, the people among the younger generation with relations to the Great Emperors had all advanced into the Second-Order Emperor Realm. Take Yao Si, Lin Yun’er, Mo Xiao Qi, Li Shi Qing, and Gao Zhan for example. In particular, Lan Xun was even more incredible. After she refined the World Pagoda, she rose to become a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master in one fell swoop.
On the other hand, he was still stuck in the First-Order Emperor Realm, unable to advance.
It would have been fine if that were all. These people had unusual relationships with the Great Emperors after all. They were either the children or Disciples of Great Emperors, so it wasn’t a big deal if their cultivation progressed faster than his. His talent was still no less than anybody else’s, the only thing he lacked was the unique privileges that they had. It only served to inspire him to strive harder to catch up instead.
But, what about Yang Kai? He had no connection with any of the Great Emperors whatsoever. His cultivation had initially been much lower than Xiao Chen’s when they first met each other, but he was now at a level where Xiao Chen had to look up to him.
Xiao Chen couldn’t get close to Lan Xun despite trying his best; rather, he even caused her to become distracted and forced her to protect him instead. On the contrary, Yang Kai had easily slaughtered all the enemies around them.
Xiao Chen looked down at his hands, feeling extremely powerless for the first time. He longed for power. He wanted to become much stronger…
…..
The Star Boundary army evacuated to the mountain valley in an orderly manner and World Beads had long been distributed. Many Division Commanders placed their subordinates who had withdrawn to the mountain valley into World Beads in a rapid fashion.
Be that as it may, how could the Demon Race just sit back and watch as the Star Boundary army withdrew from battle? Countless Demons swarmed towards the mountain valley to keep the millions of the Star Boundary cultivators locked down.
Many Emperor Realm Masters were desperately defending the mouth of the mountain valley to buy more preparation time for the army behind them. Placing people into World Beads was not a simple feat and required the consumption of copious amounts of Spiritual Energy. At this moment, all the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints under the Star Boundary’s banner were fighting the Half-Saints of the Demon Realm so that these Demon Race Masters could not interfere with what was happening within the mountain valley. Therefore, the heavy burden of evacuating the Star Boundary army rested on the shoulders of the many Emperor Realm Masters.
It didn’t matter if it was Wen Zi Shan, Gao Xue Ting, Qiu Ran, Chen Qian, Ma Qing, Chen Wen Hao, or Wu Chang. Regardless of whether the names of the Emperor Realm Masters were famous or obscure, all of them were using their bodies to form an iron-clad defensive wall at the mouth of the mountain valley to prevent the invasion of the Demon Race army.
Fortunately, they had the advantage of topography on their side. Not many of the Demon Race army could swarm around them at one time; otherwise, they would not have been able to hold out against the millions of bloodthirsty Demons that swarmed towards them all at once.
Nevertheless, the situation was extremely precarious. None of the Emperor Realm Masters had much strength left after so many days of intense battle. If they were not careful, even a Demon Great General or Demon General would be able to kill them now.
They would incur injuries from time to time, but there was no time for them to treat the wounds. Despite the blood flowing freely from their wounds, they could only push through with gritted teeth. The lights coming from many Secret Techniques and artifacts flashed constantly, illuminating the area in front of the mountain valley with many blinding flashes of colour.
Amidst all the sounds of fighting, Zhui Feng went on a rampage. He did not know how many times he successfully cut off the Demon Race army’s violent attacks, but it was all thanks to him that Wen Zi Shan and the others managed to persist up until this point.
In a place without the interference of a Half-Saint or Pseudo-Great Emperor, Zhui Feng was an invincible existence. He simply charged back and forth from the mouth of the mountain valley to the back of the Demon Race army, repeating the same process over and over again. Every trip he made, he left countless Demon corpses in his wake. Killing them excited him greatly, so the sounds of his neighing never paused for a breath. The blood of the Demon Race flowed as thick as mud across the ground, and whenever Zhui Feng’s flaming hooves trod, red fumes evaporated, created a disgusting and nauseating stench.
Unfortunately, there was only one Zhui Feng, and as more and more of the soldiers were placed into the World Beads and sent away via the Space Array in the mountain valley, the people among the Star Boundary army who could stand up against the enemy dwindled.
“Little Xue Ting, take our people and leave!” Wen Zi Shan turned to shout at Gao Xue Ting while swinging his sword and clearing a huge area in front of him.
“I’m not leaving!” Gao Xue Ting stood firmly beside him, the Radiant Sun Mirror hanging high above her head. A scorching ray of light shot out from the mirror, burning with a crackling sound as it landed on the bodies of the Demon Race.
Wen Zi Zhan was furious and roared, “You’ve always been disobedient since you were a child, and you’ve only gotten worse as an adult! Will you just listen obediently for once!?”
She didn’t even look at him. She simply pale-facedly pushed the power of the Radiant Sun Mirror to the limit and replied lightly, “If you’re upset over my disobedience, then you shouldn’t have picked me up back then!”
“You’ll be the death of me!” The words had just left his mouth when he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Shocked, Gao Xue Ting quickly stepped forward to support his body, her red lips trembling slightly as she asked, “A-Are you okay?”
“I don’t think I can hold on any longer…” He currently looked very weak. The corners of his mouth twitched as though he was trying to smile, but he couldn’t manage even that. The light in his eyes was dimming rapidly, and he weakly said, “Be a good girl. Hurry up and go.”
She shook her head strongly, her hair flying in the wind as her eyes turned bloodshot, “Don’t drive me away. I’ll listen to whatever you say in the future.”
“Really? Don’t you lie to me now.”
She hugged him tightly, tears flowing down her face as she sniffed and said firmly, “Don’t you dare die. I’m not lying to you!”
He blinked, his dull and dim eyes quickly regaining their lustre as a smile formed on his lips, “Don’t forget what you just said! You better not regret those words later!”
Afterwards, he suddenly got up and swung his sword to the side. The sword light slashed through the void, cutting a Shadow Demon Demon King in two. Blood and organs spilled across the ground as the Shadow Demon looked down at his lower body with an expression of astonishment on his face.
Meanwhile, Wen Zi Shan spat out a mouthful of blood and sneered, “I knew you were hiding in the shadows. If I had not pretended to be dying, you probably wouldn’t have revealed yourself.”
While speaking, he gave a flick of his sword and the two halves of the Shadow Demon turned to mist. His weak and defeated appearance from before was gone, replaced by a triumphant look. All of a sudden, he felt a scorching gaze burning into the back of his head as though about to incinerate him to ashes. Flinching slightly, Wen Zi Shan dared not look back as he shouted to the people around him, “Stand strong! Don’t let these bastards through even if its cost your lives!”
The Emperor Realm Masters of Azure Sun Temple immediately responded, “Yes!”
Only Murong Xiao Xiao dared to throw a cautious glance at Gao Xue Ting.
There were tears in Gao Xue Ting’s beautiful eyes, but the corners of her mouth were curled into a cold smile. The Radiant Sun Mirror that had gone bleak above her head suddenly shone brightly once more. A blazing flame shot out from the mirror, brushing past Wen Zi Shan’s head to blast more than ten Demons into ashes.
There was an audible gulping noise as Wen Zi Shan swallowed nervously. He lifted a hand to touch his hair and felt a patch of ashes as the smell of burnt hair wafted into his nose.
“Brother Wen, something is happening in front!” Ma Qing suddenly shouted, looking in a certain direction with a solemn expression.
Wen Zi Shan had no time to think about other matters as he cocked his ear and listened carefully. There was a rumbling sound coming from the depths of the Demon Race army. Looking into the distance, he saw a plume of smoke and dust heading straight towards them. Everywhere that plume of dust passed, the Demons were forced to open up a path.
“It’s one of our own!” He frowned at the sight.
Ma Qing was stunned, “Is there anyone who has not withdrawn!?”
“Yang Kai isn’t back yet!” With just a few words, Wen Zi Shan could already confirm the identity of the incoming person. He couldn’t help feeling a burst of joy. Yang Kai’s current cultivation was extraordinary and his combat prowess was outstanding. If he could assist them, then the pressure to defend this mountain valley would reduce significantly.
His guess was right. The person rushing towards them from the back of the Demon Race army was Yang Kai indeed. However, he was not alone. He was charging ahead and forging a bloody path through the Demon Race army with the Azure Dragon Spear. Behind him were several dozen people. These were Star Boundary soldiers who had not been able to evacuate in time and were scattered across the battlefield with no support.
Yang Kai had spread out his Divine Sense to cover the entire Star Soul Palace, and after locating these people, he had gone to rescue them one by one. That was why it had taken him so long to return.
Most of the people had been placed into the Sealed World Bead while those who stayed behind were all in the Emperor Realm. Although there were only a few of them, they were akin to a thousand-man army wielding a torrent of deadly steel under Yang Kai’s lead. They made their way through the Demon Race army but suffered no casualties despite facing enemies that outnumbered them by tens of thousands of times.
Those Emperor Realm Masters were filled with admiration and finally understood why Yang Kai could become an Army Commander. His strength was simply not something an ordinary Emperor Realm Master could possess.
Yang Kai led those Emperors to penetrate the dense formation of Demons, swiftly clearing a path and breaking through the siege to arrive at the mountain valley.
When everybody was reunited, there was a sense of elation all around. Many of the Masters who remained to guard the mouth of the mountain valley nodded at Yang Kai with a look of gratitude in their eyes. Those Emperor Realm Masters that he brought back with him were their companions. They originally thought that those people had perished on the battlefield so it was only thanks to Yang Kai that they could return safely. How could they not be grateful towards him?
Carrying the momentum of having killed thousands of Demons, Yang Kai turned around and swept his eyes across the sight in front of him. The Demon Race army that had gathered in this place like a rising tide involuntarily took several steps back as if frightened by his murderous intent.
“Are there any others?” Wen Zi Shan wiped the fresh blood from his face, looking at Yang Kai when he asked the question.
Yang Kai shook his head, “This is the last of them.”
Wen Zi Shan calmed down, “That’s good.” Turning to the rest of the people, he shouted, “Those who are exhausted and injured will evacuate first. The rest will follow later.”
Contrary to expectations however, Yang Kai turned to Wen Zi Shan and said, “All of you should leave. I alone am enough.”
Ma Qing was taken aback by those words, “You alone!?”
Yang Kai grinned in response, “Indeed!”
Wen Zi Shan looked solemn, “Brat…”
Yang Kai raised his hand to stop Wen Zi Shan mid-sentence, “Senior Li and the others are still fighting the Half-Saints of the Demon Realm. If you don’t leave, they won’t be able to leave either. They can only escape safely once all of you have left.”
Wen Zi Shan hesitated, “But, with just you…”
Yang Kai smiled slightly, “Since I’ve decided to stay behind, it’s only natural that I’m confident in my ability. Besides… Once all of you have left, I can leave whenever I want.”
Upon hearing what Yang Kai said, Wen Zi Shan had to admit that those words were the truth. Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space, so even if he couldn’t win a battle, he could escape at any time. Nobody else had this advantage; therefore, Wen Zi Shan did not waste any more time and nodded, “Be careful.”
These were all men of action, so it was only natural that they did not procrastinate once they made their decision. With Wen Zi Shan in the lead, the Emperor Realm Masters of the Star Boundary’s 14 armies swiftly withdrew towards the mountain valley in quick succession. When they walked past Yang Kai, their murmurs of ‘Be careful’ and ‘Take care’ that entered his ears indicated their respect for him.
In just a short while, all the people that had been standing in front of the mountain valley were gone. Only Yang Kai was left standing there alone. Even so, there was a huge grin on his face. He held his spear by his side, facing millions of Demons alone without the slightest change in his expression.
There was a commotion in the front lines of the Demon Race army. Countless Demon Race members glared at him furiously. The Human in front of them had certainly shown extraordinary strength, even managing to kill a Half-Saint on the spot previously; even so, his arrogant behaviour at this moment was excessive. He was completely looking down on them.
More than 10 High-Rank Demon Kings stood in front of the Demon Race army with gloomy expressions. Their Divine Sense was surging between them as they exchanged a brief discussion among themselves.
Then, they suddenly attacked in unison. Their Demon Qi soared and the power of their Demon Artifacts burst forth. Before the Demon King in the lead could even approach Yang Kai, the overwhelming brilliance of the Demon Artifact behind him shrouded Yang Kai entirely.
No matter how strong Yang Kai was, he was only one person. So what if he could rival a Half-Saint in strength? Even a Half-Saint would be forced to back down when confronted by an army that numbered in the millions.
A series of explosions rang out as countless attacks rained down on Yang Kai, practically burying him in an instant. In front of everybody’s eyes, however, he neither dodged nor evaded those attacks. Instead, he allowed the power of the Demon Artifacts to land on him directly.
Most of the Demons were overjoyed by the sight. Similarly, the Demon Kings charging at him were also delighted. Even though he was acting extremely arrogant and looking down on all of them, it was still something to be celebrated in this situation; after all, he would surely be severely wounded after getting hit by so many attacks. Of course, that was if he was lucky enough to survive the barrage of attacks in the first place.
Those thoughts had barely finished forming in their heads when they saw Yang Kai’s figure fading slightly, making him seem like he was both real and illusionary. At the same time, the numerous attacks went straight through his body and exploded behind him. None of the attacks caused him any damage at all; thus, the Demon Kings couldn’t help but widen their eyes in shock.
At the same time, Yang Kai’s figure solidified again. He reached out, grabbed the Azure Dragon Spear, and thrust it forward without any hesitation. His attack was nothing special, and the speed wasn’t even that fast. Everybody could see the attack clearly; however, the High-Rank Demon Kings looked extremely horrified when the spear came at them. An illusion that the spear was stabbing into them had bloomed in their minds.
The power of the spear seemed to ignore the barriers of time and space, and a moment later, a blood-curdling scream rang out.
By the time the Demon Kings came back to their senses, they immediately noticed that one of them had been impaled on the spear. That person had been pierced through and the tip of the spear was protruding out of his back. His entire being was hanging from the spear as he struggled furiously. But, how could he break free?
A sense of fear crept over the Demon Race army. The person hanging from the spear was one of their companions after all. More importantly, more than 10 Demon Kings were present, but none of them had seen how the attack had been carried out.
In any case, there was no time for them to ponder over the question. The many Demon Kings lunging at Yang Kai had arrived in front of him, completely surrounding him in an instant. All the Demon Kings also pushed their Demon Qi in unison. The Sand Demon escaped into the ground; the Shadow Demon concealed his presence; the Stone Demon and the Strength Demon attacked with their fists or summoned Demon Artifacts; the Bone Demon raised his hand so that his fingers flew out and transformed them into 5 ghastly skulls; the Corpse Demon opened his mouth and spewed out a strong Corpse Poison; and the Flame Demon controlled the flames that could burn down the Heavens to pelt down attacks on him.
Sounds of metal clashing rang out, but aside from the Demons who were besieging Yang Kai, nobody could get a clear glimpse of the situation. All the others could see were figures being thrown all over the place and sparks flying everywhere.
Occasionally, a Demon King would scream after being sent flying backwards with a large hole somewhere on their body. The chaotic melee lasted no more than ten breaths before a spear shadow swept out in a wide circle, forcing all the Demon Kings to quickly retreat or be sent flying backwards.
For a moment, the world became silent.
Yang Kai was covered in blood as he stood in front of the mountain valley. His ragged clothes were even more tattered than before and his hair was further dishevelled. He was kneeling with one knee as his spear was thrust into the ground before him.
*Gululu…*
Blood emerged from the ground as though there was a pool of it deep underground.
Yang Kai lifted his spear and the Sand Demon hiding underground was dragged out. The spear had stabbed right through him and pain coloured his expression as he was being yanked out. Yang Kai gave a flick of the spear and the Sand Demon exploded into pieces. The remains of the corpse scattered across the ground and turned into dust.
The spectating Demons felt a chill running down their backs at the sight. Everything they had just witnessed left them silent in shock. Meanwhile, the High-Rank Demon Kings watching the scene had deep and profound expressions on their faces.
A dozen or so High-Rank Demon Kings had attacked all at once, so how were they unable to kill Yang Kai on the spot with such a powerful line-up? What did it matter if he was slightly injured during the confrontation? In that short ten-breath confrontation just now, he slaughtered at least 3 High-Rank Demon Kings and wounded 7 more of them!
This person in front of them actually managed to block the onslaught of at least a dozen High-Rank Demon Kings all by himself. It would not have been surprising for a Half-Saint to do so, but Yang Kai was nothing more than a High-Rank Demon King! Something like this was simply ridiculous!
They had not noticed anything before their confrontation with him; however, once they started battling Yang Kai in earnest, they discovered the horrors of the spear he wielded. Not only was the spear unimaginably sharp, but it also radiated with great majesty when wielded as a weapon. It affected their minds and made it impossible for them to exert their full strength.
*Xiu…*
A soft sound suddenly rang out and all the Demons felt their hearts clench up. A flowing stream of light shot straight towards Yang Kai’s heart at the speed of light. The initial soft sound seemed to be a signal and immediately following that, a series of swishing sounds rang out incessantly. Cold lights flashed, one after the other, as arrows wrapped in the aura of death shot towards him from all directions.
The Feather Demon Clan was proficient in archery while somewhat lacking in close combat. That was why there was no sign of a Feather Demon during the attack just now. A person’s vigilance was sure to relax after surviving a large battle, so it was the best time to launch a sneak attack.
Yang Kai had just turned the Sand Demon impaled upon his spear to mist when the first arrow came at him. The speed of the arrow was so fast that he couldn’t dodge it in time and a chill enveloped his body. At that moment, he pushed his Demon Qi and the flesh on his chest tightened rapidly.
There was a muffled thud as a metre-long feather arrow pierced a palm’s length into Yang Kai flesh. An overpowering force pushed him back, causing him to stagger several steps before he could stabilise himself again. Afterwards, his spear began dancing. All the remaining arrows raining down on him were sent flying.
The Demon Kings were shocked. Staring blankly at Yang Kai, they exclaimed in their hearts, [How is he not dead!?]
The feather arrow sticking out of his chest looked just like a normal arrow, but the red water caltrop hanging from the end of the arrow indicated the identity of its Master. The one who shot this arrow was the strongest among the Feather Demons, excluding the Demon Saints and Half-Saints. Even a Stone Demon, who had inherently powerful defensive abilities, would be pierced through by this arrow.
[Just how tough is this Human’s body!?]
Meanwhile, Yang Kai’s expression was gloomy. Reaching out a hand, he clutched at the arrow sticking out of his chest that was still vibrating slightly and forcefully pulled it out. He looked down at his chest while thinking to himself, [It truly is as the saying goes, ‘It is easy to dodge a spear in the light but difficult to guard against an arrow in the dark. If it had been me from before, I might not have been able to block this arrow even in my Half-Dragon Form.]
Several dozen years had passed in the ancient battlefield, as though it was only a day. After being tempered by the two forces on the ancient battlefield, Yang Kai’s physical body had become incomparable to how it used to be. Not to mention, his Half-Dragon Form had grown from 300 metres to 1,000 metres long during that period. The increase in the size of his Half-Dragon Form was also indicative of his Dragon Source’s development, so it was only natural that his physical body had gotten tougher as a result.
Even so, this feathered arrow had broken through his defences and penetrated his chest. He would have been in danger if it had pierced another palm’s length. [If a Feather Demon in the High-Rank Demon King Realm can do this much, then what about a Half-Saint? What about Fu Yu?]
Yang Kai’s fists clenched tightly and the feather arrow that was comparable to a Demon Artifact snapped into two. He then lifted his head abruptly. The look in his scarlet eyes was similar to that of a violent beast’s as his gaze passed through the barriers of space and landed on a figure located more than a dozen kilometres away. Then, Yang Kai smiled wolfishly.
The Feather Demon who launched the sneak attack from the shadows turned ashen-faced when she met the gaze of this horrifying man. Without any hesitation, she shifted her body and landed among the Demon Race army in hopes of blending into the crowd and erasing her presence.
A gust of wind came blowing from behind, inciting a wave of pain as the wind sliced her back. It felt like she had lost a layer of flesh, and when she turned back to look, she saw that Yang Kai, who had originally been more than a dozen kilometres away, had appeared without anybody noticing and was sweeping his spear around at the spot she was standing just now.
She had long known that a distance of a dozen kilometres was no different from standing face to face when it came to enemies proficient in the Dao of Space, which was why she fled the moment she noticed danger. From the situation right now, she was right to have reacted so quickly; otherwise, she would have faced a disastrous ending by now.
“Oh?” Seeing that the Feather Demon was smart enough to avoid him in advance, Yang Kai couldn’t help revealing an amused smile. His feet didn’t move but his body swayed as he chased after the Feather Demon who had slipped into the ranks of the Demon Race army.
For a moment, it was as though somebody had thrown a fistful of salt into a pot of boiling oil. There was chaos among the millions of the Demons as many of them were thrown into the sky, their bodies all exploding into blood mist one after the other.
The Feather Demon could sense a murderous intent locked onto her from behind, so how could she dare to look back? All she knew was that she could not stop moving, or the only ending waiting for her was death. She couldn’t care less about the deaths of those ordinary Demon Race members as she weaved her way to where the crowd was the densest in hopes of throwing Yang Kai off her tail.
“Bastard!”
A High-Rank Demon King, who had been wounded by Yang Kai in front of the mountain valley, flew into a rage. He was not mad at the Feather Demon. The other party was only a High-Rank Demon King after all. Instead, he was furious that Yang Kai was completely looking down on the Demon Race. How dare he charge right into their ranks!?
While cursing furiously, the Demon King turned back to challenge Yang Kai again; however, he was held back by a Strength Demon. The Strength Demon slowly shook his head and said, “That person is proficient in Space Principles. You saw his prowess for yourself. I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do against him unless a Half-Saint makes a move!”
Of course, there was a sentence in his heart that he had not said out loud. [Even if a Half-Saint makes a move, it might not make a difference either.]
“Compared to wasting our energy on him, we should chase after the remnants of our enemies instead!”
When the rest of the Demon Kings heard those words, they fervently nodded in agreement. The first reason was that this Strength Demon’s words made sense. Yang Kai was a man who had successfully escaped from the Demon Saints. Although the Demon Race army had great numbers, none of them could do anything to stop him if he was determined to escape. The second reason was that they had grown fearful of Yang Kai during their brief confrontation just now. They would rather face Wen Zi Shan and the others from the 14 Star Boundary armies than to exchange blows with Yang Kai again.
Fighting that Human would most likely lead to their deaths! The fear in their hearts combined with a justified reason gave the High-Rank Demon Kings in front of the mountain valley no reason to hesitate. Even though they knew that the Demon Saints were secretly watching them from the shadows, they immediately issued the command to the troops. The Demon Race army that had stopped in their tracks finally pressed forward in the direction of the mountain valley again.
Just then, a fearsome Dragon Roar reverberated across the sky. It was accompanied by a horrifying pressure that descended from above as though a huge mountain was pressing down on them. The Demon Race army rushing towards the mouth of the mountain valley felt their bodies sinking from the weight, making it very difficult for them to even lift their feet to step forward.
“This is…” Zhu Yan, who had been watching Yang Kai’s movements from the sky, suddenly widened his eyes in surprise. His eyes shone with a shocking light as he excitedly looked up at the figure falling from the sky and descending upon the mouth of the mountain valley.
Similarly, Fu Zhun’s beautiful eyes were gleaming with a strange light. She felt the Dragon Source in her body resonating with the Dragon Roar, giving her the strongest impulse to rush forward without regard for everything else to fight side by side with that person.
Under the gaze of the two Dragon Clan Great Elders, the figure falling from the sky began to swell rapidly all of a sudden. 100 metres… 300 metres… 500 metres… 700 metres… It continued expanding until it finally reached more than 1,000 metres!
Amidst the crackling sounds, the figure was completely covered in golden Dragon Scales. He had Dragon Horns protruding sharply from his forehead; his hands had transformed into sharp Dragon Claws, and a Dragon Tail swept out in all directions behind him.
“Who allowed…”
It really felt as though a small mountain had come crashing down. When the more than 1,000-metre-long Dragon Body came falling out of the sky, its enormous shadow obscured the sight of all the Demons, causing their vision to darken to the point where they could not see the slightest speck of light.
“YOU…”
There was a loud explosion when his feet touched the ground. The Earth trembled and loose rock came falling down from the mountain peaks on both sides. Numerous cracks split open the solid ground with the point where he landed as the source, countless Demons fell into those deep cracks.
“TO PASS!?”
A 1,000-metre-long spear swept out and it didn’t matter whether they were common Demon soldiers or powerful Demon Kings, anyone who was touched by the spear was either killed on the spot or heavily injured. It only took an instant for the entire Demon Race army swarming towards the mountain valley to be wiped out completely.
The Demons were so shocked that they paled in fright. Those who had rushed to the front were dead, and only a few quick-witted Demon Kings were lucky enough to escape alive. At this moment, those Demon Kings were fleeing in all directions, and when they looked up at the behemoth blocking their way, a sense of helplessness grew in their hearts. If the Demon Kings were already in this state, then it was even worse for the weaker Demon Race members, their whole bodies trembling, completely bewildered with terror.
Yang Kai was standing alone in front of the mountain valley, but was comparable to a mighty army of a million! He was so terrifying that the Demon Race army did not dare to take another step forward!
Moreover, he was holding a tiny body in one of his giant claws. That figure was struggling desperately to break free of his iron grip. Judging by her appearance and her unique characteristics, it was the Feather Demon Demon King who had launched the initial sneak attack on him previously. He had actually managed to capture her from amongst millions of enemy troops in a matter of breaths.
The Feather Demon turned around with a pleading and begging expression on her face, but contrary to her hopes, Yang Kai suddenly exerted more strength into his grip.
*Kacha…*
Like the sound of a nut being cracked open, various popping noises came from all over her body. Just listening to those sounds sent a chill up one’s spine. Fresh blood subsequently poured out from between the gaps of Yang Kai’s Dragon Claw, and when he spread his hand open again, what was once a Feather Demon no longer held a humanoid shape. She had been turned into a bloody pulp and the light in her eyes quickly vanished as her vitality disappeared while her remains slid from the palm of his hand and fell to the ground.
*Hu…*
Yang Kai exhaled hot steam from his nostrils as he grinned at the many Demons before him, gripped the shaft of the now giant Azure Dragon Spear, and swung it up high.
All the Demons felt their hearts clenching tight at this sight and the expressions of the Demon Kings also changed drastically as they shouted desperately, “Retreat!”
As soon as those words rang out, the Demon Kings desperately tried to withdraw from the battlefield. They might be able to escape, but how could the swarming Demon Race army manage? They were practically falling over each other in their haste to charge forward previously, but they found themselves facing countless obstacles in their way now that they wanted to retreat. The path behind them was packed with their own people; thus, chaos broke out among the army and they descended into chaos.
The Azure Dragon Spear arced through the air with a straight, cold light and slammed heavily towards the ground.
*Hong…*
When the spear landed, the ground below collapsed. Countless Demons were smashed to bits by the spear, leaving nothing behind. In addition, the violent shockwave swept out in all directions and caused the Demons in a long path to be cut down like wheat in a field. It was followed by a terrifying force of vibration that spread out, sending many fallen Demons into the sky where they exploded into blood mist.
The power of the spear literally created a death zone of more than a dozen kilometres in length and a few kilometres wide with a single smash, right in the middle of the Demon Race army. Any Demons standing within that range died; there were no survivors.
It was not over though. Instead of lifting his spear up again, Yang Kai instead gripped its tail tightly and swept it along the ground…
After a back-and-forth sweep with himself as the centre, the fan-shaped area in front of him fell into a dead silence.
*Gudong…*
There were endless gulping sounds as many Demons swallowed nervously. [Who can fight against such a terrifying existence if the Half-Saints refuse to move? We might have an army of millions, but can we really stop the slaughter of such a monster?]
Before Yang Kai could admire his handiwork in satisfaction though, Zhu Yan’s warning rang out in his ears, “Yang Kai, watch out!”
At the same time, a chill spread all over his body. Yang Kai could even sense the aura of death wash over him at that moment. At the critical juncture of life or death, he felt neither sorrow nor joy; rather, his mind mysteriously entered a state of perfect calm.
He straightened and stood upright, retracted the spear, and slashed out with all his might. He was aiming at a certain place in the sky, completely driven by instinct. He was in a state where he was neither thinking nor feeling; even so, he felt a sense of immense exhilaration when he performed that sweep. It felt as though all the power in his body flowed out along with the attack. He could tell that this was the strongest attack he had ever unleashed in his entire life and it felt as though it resonated with the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. Even if a Half-Saint stood before him, this attack would claim that Half-Saint’s life!
A small black light suddenly appeared at the tip of the Azure Dragon Spear and the power of the Space Principles surged within it. When it first appeared, it was only the size of a bean. Be that as it may, it rapidly expanded as his spear slashed out and transformed into a black mass with a radius of several tens of metres.
“Huh?” A surprised cry came from the front, and immediately after that, a fist appeared out of thin air and smashed at the Azure Dragon Spear.
Compared to the black mass with a radius of several dozen metres, this fist was so small that it was minuscule. Nevertheless, this was a fist belonging to a Demon Saint, so nobody in the world would dare to underestimate its power.
When this fist collided with the black mass, it strangely did not make any sound. The black mass suddenly shrank in on itself and became a black spot before disappearing with a flash. On the other hand, the fist shuddered from the impact to reveal a brave and heroic figure.
*Hong…*
Only then did a dull but thunderous noise resound from the bottom of everybody’s hearts. It was so deafening that it made one’s vitality churn.
Yang Kai’s Dragon Body fell backwards, crashing into the ground with a loud explosion. He practically filled the entire mouth of the mountain valley, and after crashing into the ground, his Dragon Body shrank rapidly and turned back into his Human form again. His complexion was pale as Golden Blood spewed out of his mouth and nose like flowing water. His aura was so weak that it was practically non-existent.
After being shaken by Yang Kai’s spear, Xue Li appeared and flashed to Yang Kai’s side in the blink of an eye. He subsequently struck out at Yang Kai with his palm without any hesitation whatsoever. As a Demon Saint, he felt genuine contempt for attacking a High-Rank Demon King, let alone performing a sneak attack on one.
However, he had noticed the horror of Yang Kai’s potential during the battle just now. Yang Kai was already so powerful even though he was only a High-Rank Demon King. It would be very bad if he was allowed to continue growing stronger. For that reason, Xue Li blatantly decided to take action without regard for his status. What he could never have expected was that Yang Kai actually survived a punch from him. Despite thinking to himself that Yang Kai was extremely blessed by fate, he did not hesitate to kill the opponent.
Two Dragon Roars sounded at that moment and two murderous intents locked onto Xue Li. A powerful gust of wind came from behind just as he was about to strike Yang Kai with his palm, causing him to furrow his brow so slightly that it was almost imperceptible.
If his attack landed, Yang Kai would suffer a disastrous end. Unfortunately, he would fare no better; the strength of the two Dragon Clan Elders was nothing short of extraordinary after all.
How could Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun continue standing on the sidelines after seeing Xue Li make the first move? The two Great Elders had pushed their Dragon Sources the moment the Demon Saint made his move, transformed into their true bodies, and charged fiercely at Yang Kai.
Likewise, Huo Bo and Fu Yu were not slow to react either. The former radiated a dangerous aura from his body as he rushed towards the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan. On the other hand, the latter pulled out an arrow, aimed at Zhu Yan’s Dragon Body, and shot without delay.
Zhu Yan seemed oblivious to that attack as he continued to slash at Xue Li with his Dragon Claws.
In the end, that palm strike did not land on its intended target. In the Demon Saints’ opinion, Yang Kai indeed had terrifying potential; however, it would still take a very long time for him to grow until he could stand on the same footing as them. Therefore, putting himself in danger just to kill a possible future threat was simply not worthwhile.
Xue Li shifted his body and vanished from the spot, transforming into a bloody ray as he escaped to the side. Zhu Yan’s Dragon Claws ended up grabbing at empty space, causing five deep gashes to appear in the air as a result. Meanwhile, Fu Zhun took the opportunity to open her Dragon Mouth and swallowed Yang Kai whole.
At the same time, Fu Yu’s arrow struck! Zhu Yan had no way to avoid the blow. He had only wanted to rescue Yang Kai before, so he ignored the attacks coming from behind him. Now that Yang Kai was saved, it was too late for him to defend himself. In his desperation, he flicked his Dragon Tail to slap the feather arrow that was aiming at him away.
The force caused the feather arrow to change its direction slightly, brushing past Zhu Yan’s chest and taking out a large piece of his flesh with it. A large amount of emerald green blood splattered in all directions as even the Dragon Clan’s defences could not stop the sharp edge of this arrow!
On another hand, Huo Bo rushed over with a wicked grin. His originally round body swelled like he was inflated with air. Despite his bloated body, his figure was indescribably agile and he headed directly to the place where Zhu Yan was injured.
*Hong…* Huo Bo exploded and Zhu Yan was struck by the impact and sent flying as a result, drawing a roar of pain from his mouth.
In the meantime, Huo Bo’s figure began reforming at the site of the explosion. He was born in the Red Demon Clan and his ability to self-destruct was innate. Unlike ordinary Red Demons, however, this ability of his was not suicidal since he could be reborn from the ashes. It was precisely because of his Innate Divine Ability that he was able to survive exploding again and again, which was also how he eventually cultivated until he became a Demon Saint.
For countless years, the Red Demon Clan had been the lowest Clan in the entire Demon Realm. Huo Bo was the only outlier.
A gigantic Dragon Claw came slapping down on Huo Bo’s head at that moment. His figure had only just reformed though, so how could he dodge in time? Huo Bo turned back just in time to see Fu Zhun, who had transformed into an Ice Dragon, her Dragon Eyes cold as her Dragon Roar resounded through the Heavens.
Huo Bo turned pale with fright. He never imagined that his impulsive whim would put him in danger. If he had known this earlier, he would not have rushed over without thinking first.
Ice Principles ran rampant, seeming to freeze the flames inside his body. He tried his best to dodge but was still slashed by the Dragon Claw in the end. Several long gashes instantly appeared on his body and a destructive cold energy raged around his wounds, not allowing a single drop of blood to flow despite the torn flesh.
Huo Bo gave a strange scream, and before Fu Zhun could attack a second time, his round body transformed into a red light and shot away into the distance.
He actually escaped!
“Waste!” Fu Yu gritted her teeth at the sight and was tempted to shoot him down. Now that Zhu Yan was injured by her attack and Fu Zhun was held back because she had Yang Kai in her mouth, it was the perfect opportunity to eradicate the two Great Elders. It was acceptable even if they had to pay a price for this mission. [I can’t believe Huo Bo! How dare he escape so pathetically!? This just proves that cowards are not qualified to participate in strategic planning!]
With Yang Kai as the trigger, the three Demon Saints and two Great Elders, all of whom had been watching from the sidelines until now, attacked each other in a flurry. Following that brief confrontation, Zhu Yan was injured and Huo Bo fled!
A Dragon Roar sounded once more. The huge bodies of an Azure Dragon and an Ice Dragon intertwined with each other in the sky as though they were one, their spirits connecting with each other. Two huge Dragon Heads reared up proudly, overlooking the whole world.
The two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan were husband and wife, so after spending countless years together, they had long since become connected with each other in heart and soul. It was only natural that they had developed their own set of Unified Secret Techniques.
Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun were comparable to Great Emperors in strength individually, and by using a Unified Secret Technique it was not as simple as ‘one plus one equals two’. How could they have been a match for the three Demon Saints over the past few years if not for these techniques?
Having fought each other more than once, both Xue Li and Fu Yu sighed in their hearts when they saw the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan in this pose. They knew that they had lost the perfect opportunity to make their move just now. At this moment, they would not be able to kill their opponents no matter how desperately they fought. At most, both sides would end up heavily wounded.
With their souls connected, the Ice Principles that permeated from Fu Zhun’s body helped to seal the wounds on Zhu Yan’s chest. Azure Dragons were known for their restorative abilities, and their bodies contained a virtually indestructible vitality, so they would not be affected by their injuries for a while even though the wounds seemed rather severe. It was fortunate that the target of Fu Yu’s arrow had been Zhu Yan. If she had aimed for Fu Zhun instead, it would be much more troublesome.
Inside the mountain valley, the Star Boundary’s 14 armies had almost finished their evacuation. With the help of the World Beads that Yang Kai previously refined as well as the ones he brought back with him this time, their mobility had increased dramatically compared to before, even though there were many more people in each army now.
*Shua shua shua…*
Numerous figures swooped through the sky to stand beside the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan. They were the Pseudo-Great Emperors that had been busy fending off the Demon Race Half-Saints previously. Led by Li Wu Yi, nearly twenty Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints under the Star Boundary had gotten rid of their opponents and came to stand before the mountain valley. They had been keeping an eye on the movements of the Star Boundary’s army, so there was no need for them to continue fighting the Demon Race Masters anymore once they saw that the moment had arrived.
Similarly, the Half-Saints of Demon Race were freed from their restraints and came to stand behind Xue Li and Fu Yu.
Glaring at each other across the sky, their invisible and intangible aura silently collided with each other. Space flickered constantly as a result, as though it could not withstand the pressure and was about to collapse at any time.
Xue Li stood with his hands behind his back, his scarlet eyes glowing with a cold light as he savagely snarled, “Sooner or later, you will die by our hands.”
Fu Zhun coldly snorted in response, “It won’t be too late for you to talk big when that day comes!”
After saying that, she slowly retreated to the rear of the mountain valley with Zhu Yan in tow. Li Wu Yi and others scattered to the sides and escorted them. What reassured them a little was that the Demon Race showed no movement as they retreated to the Space Array.
The Demon Race simply watched the people from the Star Boundary retreat quietly. They knew that it was meaningless to continue the battle now that things had come to this. Both parties were practically equal in strength, so neither could do anything to the other.
In truth, however, this battle was a complete defeat for the Star Boundary. It wasn’t that their strength was inferior to their enemies, it was just that the Demon Land had eroded all of Star Soul Palace and was still expanding outward without stopping. Star Soul Palace was the cultivation paradise of the Southern Territory’s Martial Dao for millennia. It symbolised the pinnacle of the highest Martial Dao in this territory, but at this moment, it had fallen into the hands of the Demon Race.
A brilliant light flashed at the Space Array before the last remnants of the army vanished from sight.
Xue Li watched coldly until the people from the Star Boundary had completely retreated before he muttered, “We should speed up our plans.”
Fu Yu put away her Divine Bow and replied, “It’s almost complete.”
“How much longer will it take?” He turned to look at her.
“According to the information from various sources, three months at the most.”
“Three months?” The corners of Xue Li’s mouth twitched to reveal a playful smile, “In that case, we should let them enjoy the next three months.”
..…
Yang Kai’s mind felt as though it was bobbing up and down on the vast ocean. All sorts of thoughts incessantly flashed through his head, conjuring various disjointed paragraphs of strange information. It was all the information he never understood before. For some reason, he could now understand them perfectly. He did not know how long had passed, but his eyes jerked open when a ray of light appeared in the darkness.
“Husband!” A soft cry rang out.
Yang Kai turned his head to the side and saw several pretty faces looking at him with anxiety and concern written all over their faces. Xia Ning Chang’s eyes were even red and swollen, making it obvious that she had been crying.
“Husband!” Su Yan called out softly again. Although she had tried her best to suppress it, her voice was still a little shaky. They had remained by his side throughout the period he had been unconscious. Now that he was awake again, it felt like a rock was finally lifted from their hearts.
Great Elder Zhu Yan had mentioned that there would be no problems as long as Yang Kai could regain consciousness; however, it would be rather troublesome if he remained in a coma. The injury he received this time was inflicted by a Demon Saint after all. It was a completely different situation from before, so nobody knew what would happen to him.
A small smile appeared on Yang Kai’s face as he reached out a hand and stroked Su Yan’s face. Su Yan seemed a little restrained in front of everybody, but even so, suppressing her shyness, she reached out to hold his big hand and allowed him to brush her cheek.
“Why are you still crying?” Yang Kai reached out his other hand and held Xia Ning Chang’s soft hands, “I’m fine now.”
It would have been fine if he had not said anything, but the moment he spoke, Xia Ning Chang’s tears started flowing again. She lay down on the bed, her shoulders shaking as she suppressed her sobs. As if influenced by her, the eyes of Luo’er, Xue Yue, and even Zhu Qing turned red. They quietly turned their heads away and wept secretly.
He comforted each one of them in turn, but he spoke until his mouth went dry to no avail. His efforts were ineffective, and just as he was feeling helpless, a person’s voice came from behind in a frosty tone, “Why are you all crying!? It’s not like he’s dead! Get out!”
If it were anybody else who spoke those words, Su Yan and the others would not have obeyed; however, it was Fu Zhun who had scolded them just now, so how could they dare to disobey? Fu Zhun was famous for being cold and harsh. It was only in front of Yang Xiao that she would display a touch of tenderness.
Anyways, nothing good would come from disobeying her, so after speaking to Yang Kai for a bit, the women reluctantly left the room.
Yang Kai then got up from the bed.
Zhu Yan, who had followed Fu Zhun into the room, hurriedly said, “Lie down; you’re still not fully recovered. Don’t move around unnecessarily.”
While speaking, he coughed lightly, making it obvious that his injuries were not healed either. He had taken an arrow from Fu Yu previously and was further injured by Huo Bo’s self-detonation. Although his life was not in danger, his injuries were not insignificant.
Yang Kai replied, “I’m not uncomfortable in any way. I feel fine.”
It was the truth. He did not feel the slightest discomfort anywhere even though he had just woken up from a coma. On the contrary, his body was overflowing with power. He did not understand the reason for this situation either.
Zhu Yan was stunned. He and Fu Zhun observed Yang Kai together and saw that he was indeed in perfect condition; thus, they couldn’t help but be amazed.
Ordinary High-Rank Demon Kings would not have survived being targeted by a Demon Saint; however, Yang Kai had stubbornly resisted a punch from Xue Li. Although he ended up in a rather miserable condition, it was a blessing just for him to survive. Who could have known that he would not suffer any drawbacks? That was simply unbelievable. What bothered the two Great Elders even more was that his eyes seemed to be much more profound than before. It was as though he became more reserved, which in turn made him hard to read.
“Was there something you needed from me?” Yang Kai had some speculations.
It was impossible for Zhu Yan to delay receiving treatment for his wounds and wait around for Yang Kai to wake up instead, unless there was something vital these two needed from him.
“I do have something to ask you,” Zhu Yan nodded affirmatively.
“Have a seat,” Yang Kai gestured. There was tea on the table, so he took out some cups and served them. Pushing the tea towards the pair, Yang Kai poured another cup for himself, sipped on it and thought back to the feeling he experienced when he blocked Xue Li’s punch with his spear. That scene had appeared in his dreams countless times while he was unconscious, which gave him a lot of inspiration and insight.
Fu Zhun got straight to the point, “The main reason we came looking for you is to ask about your spear…”
Before she could finish her sentence, Yang Kai suddenly reached out his hand and grabbed at something. The Azure Dragon Spear appeared in his hand, and he handed it to her with a smile, “Second Elder, please have a look for yourself.”
An ancient and desolate Dragon Aura flooded out of the spear as though a Dragon had stepped out of an ancient scroll to appear before them. The Dragon Source in her body trembled uncontrollably in response and her expression stiffened slightly and she hastily reached out to take the spear from him.
Likewise, Zhu Yan leaned closer to study the Azure Dragon Spear together with her.
Outside the palace, Su Yan and the others walked out one by one. A group of people immediately gathered around them to ask about Yang Kai’s situation. Su Yan informed them that Yang Kai was awake. Moreover, the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan were speaking to him. Only then did they feel relieved.
Shan Qing Luo saw a pretty figure among the crowd. Smiling, she walked over and gently nudged that person in the side, “Big Sister, Husband is all right.”
Ji Yao panicked before she nodded and said, “En, I heard.”
Shan Qing Luo sighed leisurely, “When Husband was in a coma, he kept muttering our names in a daze. It was really heartbreaking.”
Ji Yao forced a smile on her face, “Junior Brother holds you all dear in his heart. Despite being in a coma, he still thinks about you.”
Luo’er tilted her head to the side and looked at Ji Yao, “What you said makes sense, Big Sister.”
She raised a finger and pressed it against her red lips in an innocent and cute manner that somehow made her look enchanting instead, “But, Big Sister… Husband called out your name too…”
Ji Yao’s tender body trembled and a red flush crept up her face and she asked in a flustered voice, “R-Really?”
“En.” Shan Qing Luo blinked her big eyes and looked at Ji Yao innocently, “I wonder why. Big Sister, do you owe him money?”
“N-No,” Ji Yao’s face turned even redder as she had a sudden feeling that her ‘affair’ had been discovered, so she was at a loss for what to do.
Shan Qing Luo said pensively, “Oh. He must have been confused then.”
Ji Yao forced a smile and said, “It’s good that Senior Brother Yang is awake. Honoured Master is waiting for me to return so I will take my leave first.”
Watching Ji Yao fleeing in embarrassment, Shan Qing Luo pursed her lips and smiled coquettishly, [Honestly. What a thin-skinned woman.]
Both Demon Qi and Demon Essence were rich and dense in Star Soul Palace. What was once a cultivation paradise of the Southern Territory was now a Demon Land.
A Half-Saint and more than 10 Demon Kings sat cross-legged inside one of the palaces. The expressions on their faces were full of hardships and struggle. The Half-Saint and the Demon Kings were wounded during the battle several days ago; moreover, every one of them had been injured by Yang Kai without exception. Strictly speaking, their injuries could not be considered serious. The Half-Saint’s injuries could even be said to be negligible. It was the Blood Demon Half-Saint who was previously scratched on the arm by Yang Kai.
However, the Blood Demon Half-Saint discovered over the past few days that his wound would not heal no matter what he did. There was a strange force around his wound that eroded away at his flesh. It wasn’t just that that insignificant wound was failing to heal, it was also becoming larger and more aggravated. What made him despair though was that the more he tried to suppress his wound, the worst it got instead.
Xue Li stood in front of the Blood Demon Half-Saint, his eyes slightly lowered as his hand was placed on the Blood Demon Half-Saint’s shoulder. His mighty Demon Saint’s aura was overflowing from him. All of a sudden, Xue Li’s expression changed. Lifting his large hand, he formed a claw and grasped at the wound of the Blood Demon Half-Saint in front of him. A bloody arrow shot out of the wound and he caught it in the palm of his hand.
The blood arrow in his hand was like a living thing, even transforming into a blood-coloured Spirit Snake and trying to drill its way into his palm. Xue Li’s expression froze for a moment in surprise, though he wasn’t the least bit worried. Wrapping his Demon Qi around that Blood Snake, he held it in the palm of his hand.
Fu Yu, who was standing by the side, glanced at Xue Li in surprise. Although her expression gave nothing away, she knew that what Xue Li was doing had consumed a lot of his energy as there was a trace of exhaustion in the depths of those eyes.
[He is only treating a wound. I can’t believe it made Xue Li so tired. What the Hell is that?] Her expression subconsciously became serious. She looked at him and asked, “What happened?”
Xue Li stared at the Blood Snake in his hand deeply, letting it toss about on his palm but not daring to have any direct contact with it. His pupils contracted slightly and he grimly replied, “Martial Truth!”
“Martial Truth!?” Fu Yu was taken aback by his words. She felt like she had just heard something incredulous and her voice went one octave higher without her realising, “That little brat has realised a portion of the Martial Truth!? Did you make a mistake?”
Xue Li just glanced at her quietly and said nothing. The meaning behind his silence was clear. Even she knew that he would never make a mistake regarding something like this; thus, she took a shallow breath of cold air and murmured, “No wonder…”
She recalled the scene of battle between Yang Kai and the Stone Demon Half-Saint when Yang Kai first appeared. It was obvious that Yang Kai was not overwhelmingly powerful in any way, but he still managed to kill the Stone Demon Half-Saint on the spot. Although he had the support of the three young women, their help ultimately did not play a large role in that battle. The one who really determined the outcome of the battle was Yang Kai himself.
She initially believed that the Stone Demon Half-Saint was more useless than he seemed and his cultivation as a Half-Saint was a complete waste. Seeing as he ultimately died at the hands of a Demon King, his death was not even worth pitying. It would now seem though that she had wronged him. It wasn’t that he was not good enough, it was that Yang Kai had comprehended a part of the Martial Truth! Power of that level was something even the Demon Saints themselves feared. Even Xue Li did not dare to touch it carelessly, so what more need be said about a mere Half-Saint? How could they survive after being corroded away by the Martial Truth!?
“We missed an opportunity!” A cold light mixed with a hint of annoyance flashed in Xue Li’s eyes. If they had known that Yang Kai had already begun comprehending Martial Truth, he would have gone for the kill regardless of the costs that day.
While speaking, he lifted his hand and the wriggling Blood Snake shot out and vanished out of sight in the blink of an eye. Even though it was a weak piece of Martial Truth, it was not something Xue Li could disperse easily. With his strength, he could only extract this Martial Truth from the body of the injured Blood Demon at most. Although he could sense that Yang Kai’s Martial Truth was still quite feeble, a new door had opened up for Yang Kai nevertheless. If Yang Kai was allowed to continue growing, there might come a day in the future where he was strong enough to even kill them.
“That little brat is just a Demon King! How could he realise the Martial Truth?” Fu Yu’s complexion was ashen. Yang Kai had achieved what even a Demon Saint like her could not; thus, her fury stemmed mostly from envy. [If I could comprehend such power, then the First Demon Saint wouldn’t be Huang Wu Ji anymore. It would be me, Feather Demon Fu Yu!]
Xue Li narrowed his eyes slightly, “He disappeared for three years. It seemed he entered the Demon Realm during that period, but he did not have this power before. He must have encountered some kind of opportunity in the Demon Realm.”
“The Demon Realm…” She was surprised.
[If it was an opportunity in the Demon Realm, it should have come to us instead! How can it be wasted on a Human!?] Her heart was instantly filled with fury.
“Sir, please save me!” A cry came from the side, interrupting the conversation between the two Demon Saints. It was one of the Demon Kings who could no longer withstand the pain caused by the Martial Truth wreaking havoc on his body. Therefore, he opened his mouth to ask for help. He had seen Xue Li doing something, and then the pained expression on the Blood Demon Half-Saint’s face disappeared. It was obvious that the Demon Saint had the means and power to alleviate his pain.
That strange force was raging around his wounds and causing them to deteriorate at a constant pace. There were no signs of improvement whatsoever. It made no difference no matter how high his cultivation or how tough his body.
Xue Li walked over to the Demon King and raised a hand to pat the Demon King on the shoulder. His actions were very light, as though he planned to comfort the other party. However, the Demon King immediately turned into a pool of thick blood the moment Xue Li’s palm touched him. The stench of blood flooded the hall instantly.
The remaining Demon Kings waiting for treatment were stunned by the sight. They never imagined that Xue Li would not only refuse to provide treatment but also kill them without any hesitation. Unfortunately, they had no time to ruminate over the situation. Their faces suddenly distorted in agony as every one of them felt the blood in their bodies boiling all at once. Hence, they were horrified and shouted desperately, “Sir!”
Xue Li was indifferent to their pleas and simply watched them coldly. He was a Blood Demon and a Demon Saint on top of that. He was the greatest Master when it came to controlling fresh blood. It only required a flash of his thoughts and the blood in those Demon Kings’ bodies came under his control.
Fu Yu stood watching from the sidelines, showing no intention of stopping him. That was because she knew that it was impossible for him to waste his strength on these Demon Kings. Judging from his actions just now, expelling the Martial Truth inside the body of his clansman consumed a large amount of energy. A Half-Saint might be worth saving, but a Demon King was not.
The mournful pleas gradually turned into blood-curdling screams; then, a muffled sound rang out. All the injured Demon Kings had exploded into a mist of blood. Surprisingly, the blood mist did not disperse in all directions. Not a single drop of blood splashed out either. Instead, the blood mist condensed into a huge blood ball in front of him.
In the past, a blood ball like this would have been a great supplement to Xue Li. Even so, how could he invite trouble upon himself whilst knowing that remnant Martial Truth was hidden within? He thus lifted his hand and the blood ball flew out of the palace to some unknown place in the distance.
“Where is Huo Bo?” Xue Li wiped his hands. Those slender hands were like a woman’s, clean and without a single speck of dirt on them.
The moment he mentioned Huo Bo’s name, Fu Yu became livid and her face was covered in a malevolent aura, “Who knows? He vanished completely since his departure three days ago. He is probably hiding somewhere to tend to his wounds,”
“That waste!” It was clear that Xue Li was also furious at Huo Bo. The grudge and hatred between them had existed for many years, so they had always disliked each other, but now, Xue Li was even starting to entertain thoughts of murdering Huo Bo. He pondered in silence for a moment, “Find him. Make him go and kill Yang Kai.”
She said, “Finding him is not difficult, but making him do something is practically impossible. You know what a coward he is…”
Xue Li sneered in response, “I might not be able to order him around, but that person can. Right?”
A frenzied light flashed through Fu Yu’s eyes at those words and she nodded lightly, “I understand. He won’t dare to disobey if that’s the case. But, if he goes alone… We will lose what advantage we have if he dies in the hands of those two old Dragons.”
The corners of Xue Li’s mouth curled, “It’s fine. Can Ye is almost fully healed.”
“Then there’s nothing to worry about anymore.” Fu Yu smiled, looking extremely charming.
At the start of the second Two Worlds Great War, Can Ye had used himself as a bridge to connect the two worlds, forcibly opened the Two Worlds’ Passage, and led the Demon Saints and the Demon Race army into the Star Boundary. The price he had to pay for his actions was extremely heavy and he was severely wounded in the end. Therefore, he had secluded himself to heal from his injuries and did not reveal himself for the past few years.
The Star Boundary was already at a disadvantage regarding top Masters and were relying fully on the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan to maintain the current situation. If Can Ye were to come out of retreat, then it would undoubtedly make things worse for the Star Boundary.
…
“The Outer Universe?” Inside the room, Fu Zhun’s eyes widened in astonishment. It was quite funny to see the shocked expression on her face when she generally had such a cold demeanour.
“A towering giant?” Similarly, Zhu Yan also looked shocked.
The two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan had lived for a very long time, and although they spent most of their time on Dragon Island without involving themselves in worldly matters, they came from a noble Race that had existed since the beginning of the universe. When it came to the accumulation of knowledge and heritage, there was no other Race in the world that could compare to the Dragon Clan. There were many ancient books that recorded various unknown secrets on Dragon Island and the two Elders had spent much time reading those books when they had nothing better to do over the course of their lives. Not to mention that they all bore Dragon Sources, which carried the inherited memories and experiences of their ancestors.
It could be said that in the whole of the Star Boundary, even the Great Emperors could not compare to them in terms of experience. Even so, they couldn’t help feeling extremely shocked after listening to Yang Kai’s story.
“Did you really go to the Outer Universe?” Fu Zhun asked anxiously.
“I can’t guarantee it, but it is a great possibility.” Yang Kai thought back to what he experienced previously and felt that there was no other plausible explanation for that vast Starry Sky he arrived at except that it was the Outer Universe.
He had escaped from the Void Crack where the Demon Realm once existed. The Demon Realm was originally a universe in and of itself, so the entire universe had vanished without a trace after he devoured the whole Demon Realm with the Sealed World Bead. Perhaps, that had inadvertently forged a connection to the Outer Universe. Unfortunately, Yang Kai could not be sure of it.
“What is the Outer Universe like?” Fu Zhun asked enthusiastically.
Yang Kai scratched his head, clueless as to how to describe what he saw back then. Recalling everything he had seen though, he said emotionally, “It was incredibly vast. It felt like the sky outside a cage.”
She suddenly revealed an expression of longing at those words.
“Do two Seniors know about the Outer Universe?” Yang Kai looked at them and asked. From what Fu Zhun had said just now, it seemed that they had known that there was another sky beyond their world long ago.
Fu Zhun and Zhu Yan looked at each other before the former nodded in response, “It was briefly mentioned in the ancient books belonging to the Dragon Clan, but the description was very vague; therefore, we have never been sure about its existence.”
It was rumoured that the first generation of Dragons arrived on Dragon Island from the Outer Universe and eventually left behind their descendants in that independent world. Unfortunately, this matter had happened too long ago, so far back in history that even Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun could not be sure of the truth. It wasn’t until they heard Yang Kai’s story that they became more confident about what was recorded by their ancestors.
“What about the giant…” Zhu Yan caressed the Azure Dragon Spear, “Was this spear gifted to you by the giant?”
“That’s right.” Yang Kai nodded. He couldn’t help but smile when he thought about the giant named Ah Da. Looking back on it now, he still felt shocked by what he witnessed that day. His Half-Dragon form was enormous as it was, but he was no more than a bug in front of that charmingly naïve giant.
Yang Kai did not know what Race Ah Da belonged to for the latter to grow to such a humongous size, but fortunately, Ah Da was not hostile. Yang Kai would not have returned alive otherwise.
The two Elders exchanged a glance with each other and saw the shock reflected in each other’s eyes.
Yang Kai raised his hand and grabbed the Azure Dragon Spear. The spear covered in Dragon Scales suddenly flashed with a series of lights that was dazzlingly bright. The Dragon Aura within the body of the spear slowly emerged, like the awakening of an ancient Dragon that had been slumbering through the ages. It caused the Dragon Sources in Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun’s bodies to throb painfully.
Zhu Yan coughed again.
“Great Elder’s wounds…” Yang Kai looked at Zhu Yan’s abdomen and saw a faint trace of blood seeping out.
“It’s not a big deal, but it will take some time to heal,” Zhu Yan waved his hand dismissively, indicating that his injury was nothing serious.
Yang Kai smiled, “I might be able to help you heal faster, Great Elder. I might even be able to… make the two of you stronger.”
As soon as this statement came out, both Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun looked at him in astonishment. Both of them had cultivated for countless years, and after having reached their current Realm, it became extremely difficult for them to improve their cultivation any further. The advancement of the Dragon Clan’s strength did not come from hard work alone. Rather, it required the stimulation of their Source and the accumulation of time. The greater the awakening of their Source Strength, the greater their power!
Ordinary Dragon Blood Flowers no longer had any effect on them. Only Peak-Rank Dragon Blood Flowers could stimulate their bloodline and awaken their Source by a slight margin. Unfortunately, Peak-Rank Dragon Blood Flowers were treasures most people could only dream about owning. Even with the full power of Dragon Island, only a few such Spirit Flowers were cultivated over thousands of years. In addition, Yang Kai had taken all of them recently.
They were unable to rely on the Dragon Blood Flower and intensive cultivation was also proven ineffective; as such, they could only wait for the accumulation over time. Thus, when the pair heard what Yang Kai said, their first reaction was disbelief. Then, they recalled Yang Kai’s more than 1,000 metre-tall Half-Dragon Body that he displayed in Star Soul Palace three days ago and couldn’t help becoming excited.
They clearly remembered that Yang Kai was only around 300 metres long the last time they saw him performing the Dragon Transformation. It was incredible that he could grow to the size of more than 1,000 metres in just over ten years. If Yang Kai could do it, then why couldn’t they? All of a sudden, they realised that what he had in his body was the Golden Divine Dragon Source. As the Source Strength became increasingly integrated with him, he would certainly be able to obtain the inheritance and memories of the many Dragon Clan ancestors before him. It was possible that he had derived some sort of secret from them.
“What are the odds?” Fu Zhun suppressed the excitement in her heart; however, the sparkle in her eyes revealed everything she was trying to hide.
“That would depend on how much you can endure.” Yang Kai smiled slightly.
Zhu Yan gave a soft chuckle, “If something this good really does exist, then this Old Master will show you the Dragon Clan’s endurance.”
Both he and Fu Zhun had been pitched against the three Demon Saints, and over the years, they had barely managed to maintain the current situation. Even so, they suffered losses many times. There were also many occasions where the couple had to rely on their Unified Secret Techniques to make Xue Li and the others hesitant to take action lest they harm themselves in the process. That was how they managed to avoid catastrophic losses so far.
If they could increase their strength in addition to speeding up their healing process, then there was no need for them to suffer this abuse any longer. At that time, they might no longer be at a disadvantage in a two-against-three battle. Who could say? They might even manage to snatch the initiative back. At the very least, they would not be stuck in such a passive situation.
“Good. Let’s not delay this matter. Let’s set off once I’ve made some preparations.” Yang Kai retrieved the Azure Dragon Spear and stood up.
“Where are we going?” Zhu Yan looked at Yang Kai suspiciously.
“Dragon Island!”
At such a critical juncture, Yang Kai and the two Elders of the Dragon Clan were going to Dragon Island, and a conservative estimate indicated that it would take them a month at the very least to return.
Naturally, such a confidential matter could not be publicised. Nobody could guarantee that there were no remnants of Demon Heavenly Dao among the Star Boundary armies. If this news was leaked to the enemy, the Demon Saints would definitely make a move when the two Elders returned to Dragon Island; after all, there would be nobody to stop Xue Li and the others from attacking.
Therefore, Li Wu Yi was the only one who Yang Kai informed of the truth. It was only announced to the public that both Yang Kai and Great Elder Zhu Yan had gone into retreat to heal from their injuries.
Luckily, they had the Space Array which made coming and going easy and untraceable. After issuing some simple instructions, Yang Kai, Zhu Yan, and Fu Zhun embarked on the journey back to Dragon Island.
One day later, the group of three entered the Small World of Dragon Island and went straight to the Dragon Temple without stopping. At this point, Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun finally understood Yang Kai’s plan.
Huge Dragon Bodies coiled around the pillars of the cold and empty Dragon Temple. In the darkness, many pairs of Dragon Eyes watched them. The silhouettes of ancient Dragons loomed in and out of sight, filling the air with terrifying Dragon Pressure.
“Do you plan to borrow the power of the Ancestral Dragon Souls?” Zhu Yan turned to look at Yang Kai.
“Do you have any other methods apart from this?” Yang Kai did not deny. He had only just learned of this Secret Technique as it wasn’t something that he learned from others. Rather, it was something he comprehended from the Golden Divine Dragon’s Source Strength in his body.
The Source seemed to contain this Secret Technique from the beginning, but his integration with the Source had not been enough in the past; thus, he could not gain further insight at the time. After cultivating in the ancient battlefield for decades, however, his Dragon Transformation now allowed him to assume a 1,000 metres long form. Furthermore, the integration with his Source was greatly enhanced compared to before. Likewise, much of the information contained in the Source was no longer obscure.
There were two Restricted Areas on Dragon Island. One was the Dragon Temple and the other was the Dragon Grave.
The Dragon Grave was the burial place of all members of the Dragon Clan. That place had served as the Dragon Clan’s graveyard for countless aeons and the bones of many large and mighty Dragons were entombed there. With the exception of the Dragon Clan’s previous Great Elders, the Great Elder was the strongest of the Dragon Clan and shouldered the heavy responsibility of guarding and continuing the Dragon Clan’s inheritance. Following the death of each generation of Great Elder, their body would enter the Dragon Grave while their Dragon Soul would remain in the Dragon Temple where they would silently continue to guard it.
There were now more than ten generations of the heroic Souls belonging to former Dragon Clan Great Elders inside the Dragon Temple. These Dragon Souls still retained their majestic appearances, but their consciousness was no longer present. There was only a trace of instinct left in them, so they could be considered dead. Even if they were dead, however, these Souls were not to be desecrated.
Yang Kai said, “The Star Boundary needs both of you right now. If you can’t even protect yourselves, then how will you protect the Star Boundary? If anything happens to the Star Boundary, what will be left of your homes? No eggs can remain unbroken when the nest is destroyed. This plan is truly our last resort. I’m sure the Souls of the Great Elders in the Heavens above would not blame us for doing this. They would be proud of us instead.”
Zhu Yan frowned deeply, looking hesitant. Although he knew what Yang Kai was saying was true, it was inevitable that he would hesitate to take this step.
Surprisingly, Fu Zhun was more accepting of the idea and persuaded Zhu Yan via Divine Sense transmission, “Yang Boy is right. You are injured right now, and if we don’t heal your wounds quickly, the situation you and I will have to deal with will only be more difficult once those Demon bastards are free to come after us. Xiao’er is still so young. How will Xiao’er grow if there is no pure land left in this world?”
Having lived with each other for countless years, she was naturally the person who understood him the most and pulled out her secret weapon by mentioning Yang Xiao’s name. It was then that Zhu Yan finally let out a long sigh, “Forget it. I will bear the full responsibility if the Souls of our ancestors in Heaven were to blame us for this.”
Yang Kai smiled slightly, “We are doing this for the sake of the world. How could the Seniors blame you? Besides, this… is also the wish of the Seniors!”
His expression became solemn after saying that and a golden light filled the entire palace when a high-pitched Dragon Roar sounded. Instantly, the ice-cold Dragon Temple was flooded with a golden brilliance that added a touch of warmth to their surroundings.
A series of cracking sounds rang out as Yang Kai transformed. The Dragon Pressure radiating from him was immeasurable and a mysterious Dragon Language chant echoed from his mouth, seemingly resonating with something in the hall. Likewise, the Dragon Souls coiling around the surrounding pillars raised their heads and joined in the chant. One after another, the huge figures flew down, coiled around him, and wriggled about under his feet.
The two Elders were stunned by the sight. Despite knowing that Yang Kai had the Golden Divine Dragon Source, it was still shocking to see such a scene. The Dragon Clan was arrogant, claiming to be the Head of the Myriad Spirits; therefore, they would never bow their heads to any other creature. However, they were currently watching as Dragon Souls of generations of the Dragon Clan’s Great Elders seemed to be prostrating themselves at the feet of their King.
The mysterious Dragon Language became more rapid, sounding like a violent storm. As Yang Kai chanted, a strange sound seemed to reverberate from the depths of the Dragon Temple.
The two Elders were shocked and turned to look in that direction at the same time. What they saw was a piece of land slowly floating up from the deepest part of the Dragon Temple.
Zhu Yan couldn’t help widening his eyes in surprise. Although the Dragon Temple was one of Dragon Island’s Restricted Areas, he had entered and exited this place many times. Even so, it wasn’t until today that he learned that there was another mystery to the Dragon Temple. If even he did not know, Fu Zhun would have even less chance of knowing so she couldn’t help asking, “What is that?”
Zhu Yan could only shake his head in response.
There was a loud rumbling noise that accompanied the rising of the ground. The entire Dragon Temple shook as though it was going to collapse at any time. It wasn’t until a certain moment when the abnormal noise stopped abruptly along with the trembling of the hall. From what the two Elders could see, something that looked like a pool or pond had appeared in the depths of Dragon Temple. The pond seemed to be connected to the Dragon Temple as one entity and was filled with an ancient and desolate aura. At first glance, it seemed to be something with a long history; moreover, it was engraved with extremely complicated runes and patterns.
Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun immediately recognized at a glance that those intricate patterns were Dragon Language Characters, but even they could not figure out the meaning behind them.
“Did you really think that the Dragon Souls of the Great Elders in every generation stayed here just to protect Dragon Island?” Yang Kai’s booming voice echoed in the hall, “They remained here to guard against the downfall of the Dragon Clan. How many years have they been waiting? How many years of emptiness have they experienced? It was all just for today!” While speaking, he pointed with his finger and shouted, “Go!”
The moment the word left his mouth, the many Dragon Souls coiling around him seemed to receive some form of guidance. They raised their heads and roared, stretched their bodies to their full length, and rushed towards the pool. One after another, the Dragon Souls plunged into the pool and turned into little dots of fluorescent light before disappearing. In contrast, a thick amber liquid gradually appeared in the pool that was originally empty.
The pond was not large, only having a radius of about 100 metres. However, the Dragon Souls ranging from several tens of metres long to a thousand metres long plunged into the pong and vanished. At the same time, the viscous amber liquid in the pool gradually increased. By the time the last of the thousand-metre-long Dragon Souls plunged into the pond, the pond was almost filled to the brim with that liquid.
“Dragon Rebirth Pond… This is the Dragon Rebirth Pond…” Zhu Yan murmured to himself under his breath, his visage flushed red with excitement. Even his body was trembling slightly from emotion.
The Dragon Clan’s Dragon Rebirth Pond was different from the Dragon Rebirth Pond written in the legends of the outside world.
The rumours in the outside world claimed that there was a mysterious place located somewhere in the world that could help various beasts with Dragon Clan bloodlines flowing through their veins evolve so that they could transform into True Dragons and achieve success overnight. Be that as it may, the records left behind by the ancestors of the Dragon Clan indicated that the real Dragon Rebirth Pond was not like that at all; rather, what they were looking at right now was the real thing!
Even if Zhu Yan was initially clueless about the purpose of the pool hidden deep within the Dragon Temple, how could he not recall what he had read in the past after witnessing the Dragon Souls of the Great Elders across the generations merging into the pond and turning into pure Dragon Marrow with his own eyes?
It was rumoured that the Dragon God created the Dragon Rebirth Pond in ancient times, and so long as the Dragon Rebirth Pond remained, the Dragon Clan would never perish! Therefore, the importance of the Dragon Rebirth Pond to the Dragon Clan was self-evident. Zhu Yan had not understood the meaning behind these words in the past, and it wasn’t until now that the meaning became clear to him. How could the Dragon Clan be annihilated while the Dragon Rebirth Pond continued to exist? The Dragon Clan might face a declining period, but the time for them to rise again would eventually come once there enough resources were accumulated.
“When else would you enter the pond if not now?” Yang Kai turned to look at the two Elders of Dragon Clan.
Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun glanced at each other before flying out in unison to stand in mid-air. Dragon Roars shook the skies as an Azure Dragon and an Ice Dragon revealed their true bodies. Then, they plunged straight into the Dragon Rebirth Pond.
The two Great Elders had Tenth-Order Dragon Veins, so their true bodies were very long. Nonetheless, the size of their current bodies could not be compared to Yang Kai’s more than 1,000 metres long Half-Dragon Body or the First-Generation Dragon Clan Great Elder, who was of similar length. They were just that enormous.
Fortunately, the pond seemed to be infinitely large despite its apparent size. The enormous Dragon Form plunged into the pond and instantly vanished out of sight. Immediately afterwards, a muffled sound came from the Dragon Rebirth Pond, like the cries of someone suffering from great pain.
Yang Kai strode towards the Dragon Rebirth Pond. When he got closer, he looked down and saw two Dragons inside the pond. The two Dragons that had shrunk in size countless times were swimming and twisting about in the pond. Every twist or twitch that they made caused ripples to appear on the surface of the thick Dragon Marrow. Dragon Roars rang out incessantly; it appeared that Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun were not in as good a condition as they seemed from the surface.
Needless to say, it was impossible to obtain greater power without paying a cost. The Dragon Marrow within Dragon Rebirth Pond might be an amazing tonic, but how could they become more powerful if they could not withstand the torturous process of remoulding their bodies?
Yang Kai sat cross-legged beside the Dragon Rebirth Pond, grinning at the two dragons in the pond, “Enjoy yourselves, you two.”
That malicious smile made Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun shiver.
After that, Yang Kai began casting a Secret Technique. The mysterious Dragon Language resumed once more, giving Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun no time to think about anything else. An even louder Dragon Roar came from the pond. The two Dragons twitched constantly as countless small cuts appeared all over their Dragon Bodies. Then, the Dragon Marrow seeped into their figures through the open wounds and stimulated their Sources.
…..
On top of one of the Spirit Peaks in High Heaven Palace stood a graceful figure on a stone platform, overlooking the south. The afterglow of the setting sun scattered across her beautiful face, adding a touch of loneliness and sadness to her expression. A breeze blew past her, causing her black hair to fly in the wind. When she breathed in the slightly cold air, she felt a chill in her chest.
A little girl the size of a palm stood at Lan Xun’s feet. Pulling at Lan Xun’s dress, the little girl scrambled and climbed until she finally climbed up to Lan Xun’s shoulders with great difficulty. She panted heavily from the tiredness, then she sat down on Lan Xun’s shoulder and accompanied Lan Xun in looking out into the distance.
“I’m useless, aren’t I?” Lan Xun spoke up suddenly, her eyes reddened slightly. Her father was dead, the legacy he left behind for her was lost, and her lofty dream of reviving Star Soul Palace to its former glory was now nothing more than a fool’s dream. Having lost her direction, she was at a loss for what to do in the future.
Unable to speak, the little girl let out a string of wordless babble instead for some time. She panicked slightly when tears suddenly rolled down Lan Xun’s cheeks and raised her two little hands to catch the tears that were larger than her fist. She was so anxious that her face was flushed.
All of a sudden, Lan Xun abruptly lifted a hand to rub at her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her tumultuous emotions. Immediately following that, light footsteps came from behind and Xiao Chen’s weak voice sounded, “Princess, you are here again.”
Lan Xun stood with her back to him and replied softly, “The scenery at High Heaven Palace is beautiful.”
Xiao Chen came to her side and stood side by side with her. Looking out at the scenery for a bit, he smiled slightly, “It’s not quite as good as the Palace’s.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he realised his mistake and hurriedly added, “Princess, forgive me. I did not mean to…”
She waved her hand dismissively with a smile, “It’s fine. The Demon Race is powerful. Besides, the outcome of one battle doesn’t mean anything. The winner is the one who survives until the end.”
He nodded in agreement, “It is good if that is what you think, Princess. Star Soul Palace… We will get it back one day.”
“That’s right. We will get it back.” She agreed nonchalantly. [What won’t I do to get it back? But, what can I do even if I managed to get it back? Who can survive for long in that land without first dispelling the Demon Essence corrupting it?]
“En!” The little girl gritted her teeth and clenched her fist as though cheering Lan Xun on.
Lan Xun smiled and reached out to touch the little girl’s face. She was thankful for this little girl’s company over the past few days. She did not know whether she could have remained strong and persevered otherwise. A ray of hope remained in the darkness as long as this little girl was here with her.
Xiao Chen turned his head and looked at the little girl with an intent stare. Even though he knew that she was the Spirit of the World Pagoda, he still found it extremely difficult to believe.
The little girl seemed uncomfortable receiving attention from others, so when Xiao Chen stared at her intently, her face flushed red and she flailed her hands wildly. The little body twisted and transformed into a mimosa plant, and after that, she sank into Lan Xun’s body and vanished out of sight.
The afterglow of the setting sun draped against the side of Lan Xun’s face as a deep melancholy practically covered her visage. Not so long ago, she was just a young girl herself. Why did she have to shoulder the heavy responsibilities that would make most people despair now? The once carefree Princess of the Southern Territory now had more perseverance on her pretty face than many other people have ever had.
Years ago, a little boy had met a little girl for the first time in Star Soul Palace. The little boy had shouted, “Come with me in the future. I will protect you!”
That little girl giggled non-stop in response.
“I will become stronger! I will definitely protect you!” The little boy’s expression had been very serious.
Xiao Chen felt distressed. He wanted to pull her into his arms and shield her from the outside world! He wanted her to put down the heavy burden she carried on her shoulders!
“The sun has set. I’m heading back. Senior Brother, you should also head back soon. Your wounds… are not healed yet,” Lan Xun smiled at Xiao Chen and turned to leave.
The hand that Xiao Chen had just lifted fell back down again. Looking at the darkness that gradually swallowed all light, he clenched his hands into fists. [I have to become stronger. I must become stronger! Only when I become stronger can I help solve her worries. Only then will I stop feeling so helpless!]
…..
In the Ancient Wild Lands located in the Eastern Territory, the 3 Monster Race Divine Venerables were leading 3 Monster Race armies. Most of the soldiers were from the Monster Race or had Monster Race blood in them. In contrast, there were very few people from the Human Race among them.
The Stone Spirit Clan and the Wood Spirit Clan that used to live in the Ancient Wild Lands were also serving under Luan Feng and the others. The Stone Spirit Clan played a huge role in many of their battles against the Demon Race. The 9 Stone Spirits had slaughtered countless enemies while the healing abilities of the little Wood Spirits of the Wood Spirit Clan were highly valued by Luan Feng and the others. Many soldiers had been rescued by the Wood Spirit Clan’s medical treatment.
For the 3 Divine Venerables, both the Stone Spirit Clan and the Wood Spirit Clan were existences akin to precious treasures. In particular, the Wood Spirits would never be placed in danger and were generally given priority to receive protection instead. For that reason, neither the Stone Spirit Clan nor the Wood Spirit Clan had suffered any casualties no matter how the tragic battles had been in the past.
At this moment, Luan Feng, Fan Wu, and Cang Gou were all gathered in the Phoenix Nest Palace while a Monster General knelt before them and seemed to be saying something.
When the Monster General finished making his report, Luan Feng stood up abruptly and quickly asked, “Are you certain!?”
The Monster General hurriedly replied, “Yes, Divine Venerable. I’m certain I did not make a mistake. I have been watching the Blood Gate for all these years. Not long ago, I noticed some changes that occurred where the Blood Gate was located. Although it was not obvious, I dare say that my words are true.”
“Give us a detailed explanation.”
Not daring to disobey, he quickly recounted what he had seen. He had been instructed to monitor the situation at the Blood Gate for all these years, so nobody knew the situation there better than him. Nearly 30 years had gone by since the Blood Gate vanished and things had been unusually quiet all this time. To his surprise, he recently felt a strange force abruptly leak out from the place where the Blood Gate once stood. When he noticed the anomaly, he verified his findings several times to confirm that it was not just his imagination before hurriedly coming to report his findings. Unfortunately, he only knew so much. Anything else aside from that was unclear to him.
After listening to the report, Luan Feng glanced at Fan Wu only to see that Fan Wu was also looking at her. Their gazes met and there was no need for further communication. Fan Wu stood up and declared, “Let’s go have a look.”
In any case, any changes in the Blood Gate could be classified as a major incident to the Monster Race living in the Ancient Wild Lands. Since ancient times, there had been a saying in the Ancient Lands that went ‘Enter the Blood Gate and experience rebirth; stimulate the ancestral bloodline and become a Divine Spirit’. Hence, the Blood Gate was a Holy Land for all Monsters in the Ancient Wild Lands.
It was all because of the Heavens Order Palace located there. The Sources of countless Ancient Divine Spirits were sealed inside the Heavens Order Palace. Although the Monster Race living in the Ancient Wild Lands had more or less inherited the bloodlines of Ancient Divine Spirits, those bloodlines were buried deep within their bodies. Not only was it usually unnoticeable, but there was also no way to awaken their bloodline. However, if they could obtain a Divine Spirit Source sealed in the Heavens Order Palace, they could integrate with it perfectly and be reborn as a Divine Spirit to restore the glory of their ancestors.
That saying had been passed down through countless generations. It was just that nobody had ever managed to enter the Blood Gate after so many millennia. It wasn’t until several dozen years ago that a girl named Zhang Ruo Xi managed to enter Blood Gate with a small Stone Spirit. After that, the Blood Gate had vanished.
Thinking back to that day, Zhang Ruo Xi had only been in the Origin Returning Realm and was completely vulnerable in front of Luan Feng and the other Divine Venerables. Even so, she unexpectedly experienced a breakthrough and awakened her bloodline when Yang Kai was forced into a desperate situation. She had summoned the Heavens Order Sword, beheaded Shi Huo, and taken away Shi Huo’s Source. A Divine Spirit, who was also one of the four Great Divine Venerables that stood at the top of the Monster Race in the Ancient Wild Lands, had been completely powerless in front of her.
To this day, Luan Feng and the others still shuddered whenever they thought about what happened back then. It was rumoured that the power of Heavens Order would greatly restrain Divine Spirits, that they were the natural enemy of all Divine Spirits. At first, they had been sceptical of this statement, but after witnessing Zhang Ruo Xi reaching out and seizing Shi Huo’s Source like she was taking a toy from a three-year-old child, all doubts they had vanished.
The Star Boundary was currently in a critical situation and an anomaly had occurred at the Blood Gate. They had no idea whether it was a curse or a blessing for the Monster Race of the Ancient Wild Lands.
Although Zhang Ruo Xi seemed very close to Yang Kai at the time, so many years had passed in addition to the awakening of her bloodline. Nobody could tell what kind of attitude she would have towards the Divine Spirits upon coming out of the Blood Gate. What if she went and killed all the Divine Spirits in the world like her ancestor? If that was the case, Luan Feng and the other Divine Venerables would be the first among her victims.
The three Monster Race Divine Venerables moved swiftly and arrived at the place where the Blood Gate vanished in the past within four hours of leaving the Phoenix Nest Palace.
Luan Feng furrowed her brows together before they even got close, however, and looking down at the jungle and mountains below from where she stood in the sky, she saw countless Monster Beasts running in the same direction. Most of these Monster Beasts were not very powerful. They had yet to develop sentience, so they were simply acting according to instinct under the influence of something. The direction they were heading was none other than where the Blood Gate was located. From the looks of things, something really must have happened at the Blood Gate. Why else would these Monster Beasts act like this?
When they arrived at the mountain where the Blood Gate was located, the trio saw an uncountable number of Monster Beasts gathered around and even more Monster Beasts were rushing over.
“Sure enough; something has happened,” Cang Gou frowned, staring at the mountain where he could faintly feel wisps of energy leaking out. That trace of energy was weak and insignificant, but it had caused the Monster Beasts gathered in this place to compete between themselves for ownership over the power. As a result, a bloody fight had broken out and many Monster Beasts with insufficient strength were killed on the spot, their blood dying the entire mountain red.
“But, it doesn’t look like it will open for the time being.” Fan Wu seemed pensive. The Blood Gate was still nowhere to be seen and only a faint trace of the strange energy leaked out from the other side. These were indications that the Blood Gate was on the verge of opening once more; however, there was no telling when the Blood Gate would reopen completely.
“There will come a day when it reopens.” Luan Feng looked worried, “We have to inform Yang Kai.”
If there was anybody in this world who could stop Zhang Ruo Xi, it was Yang Kai. Several dozen years ago, Zhang Ruo Xi managed to kill Shi Huo even though her cultivation had been very low. Who knew what kind of power she would display after so many years of intensive cultivation inside the Blood Gate?
Luan Feng was afraid that Zhang Ruo Xi would kill her indiscriminately the moment the latter came out of retreat, and for that reason, it would be best if Yang Kai was around to monitor the situation.
“Let’s send somebody to High Heaven Palace!” Fan Wu nodded, “I heard that the Demon Race destroyed Star Soul Palace half a month ago. More importantly, he returned from the Demon Realm on the day of the grand battle.”
Now that they had the Space Arrays connecting all four territories, it became much more convenient for them to communicate with each other; hence, there was no reason for the Eastern Territory to remain clueless about what happened more than 10 days ago.
Luan Feng shook her head, “This is an important matter. I will go myself. No matter what I have to do, I need to get him to come here.”
Fan Wu pondered in silence for a bit after hearing those words before nodding, “Good.”
Afterwards, Luan Feng set off immediately and rushed towards High Heaven Palace. She couldn’t help but regret her foolish actions back then. [Why did I destroy the Space Array at Phoenix Nest Palace? Whenever I need to go somewhere else now, I have to go all the way to the place where the Stone Spirit Clan used to live. That was the only place where Yang Kai later arranged another Cross-Territory Space Array.
By the time she arrived at High Heaven Palace, half a day had passed. She met with Hua Qing Si and explained her reason for coming only to learn that Yang Kai was healing in retreat and could not be disturbed. After staying at High Heaven Palace for more than ten days and still seeing no sign of Yang Kai, she had no choice but to leave a message with Hua Qing Si asking him to go to the Ancient Wild Lands immediately after coming out of retreat.
Hua Qing Si naturally had no objections to that.
..…
Deep within the Dragon Temple, the roars of the Azure Dragon and the Ice Dragon coming from the Dragon Rebirth Pond never ceased for even a moment. Strong as the Dragon Clan’s Elders were, the agony they experienced during this past month had left their voices completely hoarse.
The Dragon Marrow remaining in the Dragon Rebirth Pond was only a metre deep at this point.
Inside the Dragon Temple, Yang Kai’s chanting in the Dragon Language had also been maintained the entire time. The complex patterns and runes inscribed around the surroundings of the Dragon Rebirth Pond flashed constantly and emitted a strange power which helped Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun absorb the Dragon Marrow.
It had taken much longer than expected.
It wasn’t until a month and a half after they began that Yang Kai finally stopped chanting. Deep exhaustion was etched all over his face. The more than 1,000-metre-long Half-Dragon Body that he had been maintaining all along also dissipated at this moment and he returned to his Human form.
There were no more movements coming from within the Dragon Rebirth Pond and Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun seemed almost dead, even their auras were extremely feeble.
All of a sudden, a high-pitched Dragon Roar sounded. The weak auras of the two Dragon Clan Elders suddenly surged violently. Two rays of light, one green and one white, shot out from the Dragon Rebirth Pond.
As soon as they broke free of their restraints, the Azure Dragon’s body swelled rapidly. His originally 600-metre-long body suddenly transformed into a more than 1,000-metre-long behemoth. On the other hand, the Ice Dragon’s body was slightly smaller, but the difference between them was not great.
An overpowering Dragon Pressure filled the entire Dragon Temple as the two enormous Dragon Heads intertwined with each other. Their Dragon Roars were brimming with joy and excitement.
Yang Kai watched them with widened eyes, casually popping a restorative Spirit Pill into his mouth with a smile.
The two Dragons seemed to notice his gaze and rushed over to him. When they got closer, they turned back into their Human forms and revealed their faces.
Yang Kai raised his eyebrows at them, “Congratulations to the two of you.” Then, he looked at Zhu Yan and added,” Great Elder, you look much younger than before.”
Although Zhu Yan’s original appearance could not be considered old, he had the appearance of an ordinary man in his 50s. After spending a month and a half in the Dragon Rebirth Pond though, he looked to be only in his 30s. He was back in his prime and his originally grey hair had also turned back to black. On the other hand, Fu Zhun had not changed much even though she obviously looked a few years younger than before.
The two Elders looked at each other before they knelt on the ground in unison and said respectfully, “Greetings, Sir Dragon God! Many thanks, Sir Dragon God!”
The only person capable of activating the Dragon Rebirth Pond and making the ancient Souls of the former Great Elders willingly enter to become Dragon Marrow was the legendary Dragon God. After all, the Dragon Rebirth Pond was created by the Dragon God in the past.
It would seem that the Golden Divine Dragon Source was none other than the Source left behind by the Dragon God. Legend claimed that he was the progenitor of the Dragon Clan’s bloodline and without him, there would be no Dragon Clan in this world! For that reason, he was also known as the Ancestral Dragon among the Dragon Clan.
It was naturally impossible to make the proud Dragon Clan members lower their heads toward a Human. Even when Martial Beast Great Emperor fell out with Dragon Island because of Fu Xuan, the Dragon Clan had never once backed down. However, Yang Kai was no longer just a simple Human to the Dragon Clan anymore. He was the inheritor of the Dragon God Source. Even the two Dragon Clan Elders did not dare to show him disrespect.
Yang Kai glanced at them before he raised his hand to indicate for them to be at ease, smilingly saying, “You don’t have to act this way. This was originally the legacy of the Dragon Clan, it is only right for you to use it. Besides, I am not the Dragon God. I was only lucky enough to inherit the Source he left behind.”
Following the development of the Golden Divine Dragon Source in his body, the vast amounts of information contained within had gradually become clear to Yang Kai; therefore, he was not too surprised by Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun’s current attitude. Still, he added with a soft laugh, “What’s more, I am Xiao’er’s Adoptive Father and the two of you are Xiao’er’s Biological Parents. We are not outsiders to each other.”
Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun got up smoothly and glanced at each other again before Zhu Yan smiled, “You’re right.”
The two of them secretly felt relieved. They did not dare to show disrespect towards the heir of the Dragon God, but when it came down to it, Yang Kai had yet to mature, so it would be very uncomfortable for them if they were told to be respectful towards him all the time in the future. Therefore, this was the best outcome.
“It’s about time. I still don’t know if anything has happened in the outside world. Let us leave without delay,” Yang Kai stood up and walked towards the outside. Although he was still weak, he swiftly recovered after taking another Spirit Pill.
Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun followed, but after a short hesitation, Zhu Yan asked, “Since you already know about the Dragon God Source, then the other one…”
“Are you talking about Su Yan?” Yang Kai paused and turned back with a smile, “Once I return, I’ll help her awaken the Ancestral Phoenix Source.”
“Sure enough; it’s her!” Fu Zhun exclaimed in realization. She had her doubts before, but she could not be certain. Hearing it from Yang Kai’s mouth now, she finally confirmed that what she had guessed all along was correct.
“How much do you know about the Dragon God and Ancestral Phoenix?” Yang Kai asked. Even though the Golden Divine Dragon Source in his body was greatly awakened and had taught him many things that he had not known about before, he was still completely clueless about the origins of the Dragon God and Ancestral Phoenix. What puzzled him even more was how the two of them had fallen to such a state. Not only that, but they also fell into a Lower Star Field and landed in the world of the Great Han Dynasty.
The Dragon and Phoenix inheritance that Yang Kai and Su Yan received was obtained in that world but was later completed in the Dragon Phoenix Palace in Tong Xuan Realm.
Zhu Yan shook his head in response, “We don’t know either. Nothing was written regarding this matter among the ancestral records.”
Yang Kai nodded, “It’s fine. We will figure it out one day.”
The Source in his body had yet to be fully integrated. He was certain that everything would become clear once it was fully awakened. In any case, what he needed to deal with right now was the matter regarding the Demon Race.
Upon leaving Dragon Island, Yang Kai parted ways with Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun.
The two Dragon Clan Elders had been suppressed by the Demon Saints for many years now; therefore, they had long been holding in their rage as they had nowhere else to vent their grievances. Now that their strength had greatly increased with Yang Kai’s help, it was only natural that they wanted to get revenge. At the same time, they could use the chance to verify their strength. A battle on that level was beyond Yang Kai’s ability to interfere with, so he did not accompany them.
After Yang Kai wished them well in their fight, he stepped onto the Space Array.
Once Yang Kai left, the two Dragon Clan Elders turned to look in a certain direction before their figures flickered and they transformed into their Dragon Forms and headed off into the distance. They were not afraid of failing to find Xue Li and the others as the ten Primary Demon Strongholds were guarded by Demon Towers that were all connected to one another. They only needed to cause trouble at any one of those Demon Strongholds and Xue Li and the others would definitely arrive after receiving the news.
Xue Li and the other Demon Saints probably never imagined that Zhu Yan would be able to recover from his injuries within such a short period. On the contrary, Huo Bo was still hiding in some corner and tending to his wounds after taking a hit from Fu Zhun more than a month ago. With a two-against-two battle and the sharp increase in their strength, Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun secretly decided to give Xue Li and Fu Yu a big pleasant surprise.
After returning to High Heaven Palace via the Space Array, Yang Kai didn’t even get the chance to sit down before Hua Qing Si came to report to him about the matter regarding the Ancient Wild Lands. He was shocked to hear the news and immediately set off towards the Eastern Territory without further delay.
The current situation was not very favourable for the Star Boundary. Although the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan had experienced a sharp increase in strength after being tempered in the Dragon Rebirth Pond, the overall situation in the Star Boundary remained in a precarious state. If they could obtain another powerful Master on their side at this time, the situation might become very different.
Yang Kai was unable to estimate just how powerful Zhang Ruo Xi was now after she awakened her Heavens Order bloodline; however, after spending so many years cultivating in retreat inside the Blood Gate, her strength would certainly be rather impressive.
Furthermore, she had brought Xiao Xiao along with her at the time. The Stone Spirit Clan was also one of the descendants of a Divine Spirit. Not to mention, that Divine Spirit was a famous existence. Therefore, Yang Kai was looking forward to seeing how much Xiao Xiao and Zhang Ruo Xi had grown.
He met with Luan Feng and the others when he arrived, and after a brief questioning, Yang Kai learned that only a slight anomaly had taken place and the Blood Gate had yet to reveal itself fully.
He could understand what Luan Feng and the others were worried about though. Heaven’s Order had slaughtered many Divine Spirits in ancient times, and even after so many years, the supreme deterrence still remained. It stemmed from the horror and fear that existed within their bloodlines. Hence, they maintained a somewhat defensive attitude towards the descendent of Heaven’s Order that was about to return.
On the other hand, Luan Feng and the others felt reassured when they saw Yang Kai. They wanted him to stay here no matter what, and he too did not want to leave before Zhang Ruo Xi returned.
Fortunately, he had nothing better to do at the moment. He had handed the matters related to the Sixty-First Army over to Yao Si, High Heaven Palace had Hua Qing Si taking care of matters, and the battle with the Demon Race was not going to end any time soon. Hence, he agreed readily. Besides, he also wanted to welcome Zhang Ruo Xi back properly when she came out of retreat.
Thinking about it, several dozen years have passed since then. The little girl he brought back from the Zhang Family was now an existence that even the Divine Spirits were extremely concerned about. He could almost hear her voice echoing in his ears when she called him ‘Sir’, as well as the warmth of her red lips when they parted.
He sent a message to High Heaven Palace informing Hua Qing Si that he would be staying in the Ancient Wild Lands for some time and also reminded her to contact him immediately if anything urgent came up.
One day later, he sat down cross-legged on a mountain peak located more than a dozen kilometres away from the Blood Gate, facing in its direction. A sound sliced through the air, followed by a set of light footsteps, and then a familiar fragrance entered his nose.
Yang Kai opened his eyes and looked at the woman that had landed next to him. She had a cold expression on her face and was dressed in a neat white dress which made her look like a pure lotus with not a speck of dust on her. He smiled at her, “Senior Sister.”
Su Yan glanced out into the distance, “Is that the Blood Gate over there?”
He nodded, “En, but it’s only showing the first signs of opening. It has yet to appear completely. I have no idea when it will finally open.”
“There are so many Monster Beasts. Were they attracted by that strange aura?” She observed the Monster Beasts covering the mountains and the wilderness.
Yang Kai smiled slightly, “All the Monster Beasts in the Ancient Wild Lands basically have bloodlines of Ancient Divine Spirits in them. Although these Monster Beasts have yet to gain sentience, their instincts are telling them that something over there can make them stronger.”
Su Yan nodded at those words and smiled, “Is that young girl named Zhang Ruo Xi inside there? I heard she is the descendent of Heaven’s Order.”
She did not know much about Zhang Ruo Xi as she had not met her before. She only heard Yang Kai mention the girl’s name once or twice in the past.
“En!” Yang Kai felt slightly amazed whenever he recalled the scene where Zhang Ruo Xi had killed Shi Huo. Who could have imagined that the body of such a weak-looking girl would contain such great power?
Su Yan turned to look at Yang Kai, “I also heard that Heaven’s Order is the natural enemy of all Divine Spirits. They wiped out all the Divine Spirits in the world during ancient times. My body also contains a Divine Spirit Source. Will she kill me once she comes out of retreat?”
Yang Kai burst out laughing at those words, “Why would she? What happened in the past is in the past. This is the present. Even if that little girl has Heaven’s Order’s bloodline, the Heaven’s Order of the past is not her.”
It was similar to how he remained himself despite inheriting the Dragon God Source.
“Who knows…” She seemed unconvinced, “She might kill me in a fit of rage when she sees me with you.”
Yang Kai glanced at her in astonishment and asked in disbelief, “Senior Sister… Are you jealous?”
Her clean and fair face flushed red, something that rarely happened. Turning her head to the side, Su Yan muttered, “Of course not. Don’t talk nonsense.”
Yang Kai grinned in response, laughing heartily. Reaching out his hand, he held her small hand and pulled her into his embrace, despite her exclamation of surprise.
Her face flushed even redder than before and she squirmed slightly, “Don’t… Ah…”
Before she could finish her sentence, her mouth was covered by his. Her beautiful eyes instantly widened in shock and the intensity of her resistance gradually died away. Sighing softly in her heart, she slowly closed her eyes.
Fortunately, he did not go too far. Yang Kai soon released her and held her gently in his arms. This rare moment of warmth and quiet made her body relax completely. She leaned her head against his chest and listened to the powerful heartbeat coming from within. She was curled up against his body like a kitten. There were neither words nor passionate movements. They were simply embracing each other quietly; however, it felt as though she had the entire world in her hands at this moment.
After a while, she opened her eyes, looking nostalgic as she said, “I should go back and continue cultivating.”
When she received his message, she rushed over immediately. She did not know what he wanted to do, but from the looks of it, he had no plans of doing anything to her. Although she was reluctant to leave, just having that short moment of warmth was a great gift in this chaotic world. How could she dare to ask for more?
Yang Kai sighed, “You don’t need to try so hard. You have me.”
The women by his side had been working extremely hard in their cultivation over the years, just to chase after him. They might never have said anything before, but it was impossible for him not to notice. In particular, Su Yan worked harder than everybody else as his First Wife.
Su Yan quietly leaned against Yang Kai’s shoulder and said softly, “You advance too quickly. We Sisters are unable to share your worries, but at the very least, we won’t become a burden to you.”
Yang Kai was about to say something, but she pressed a finger to his mouth to stop him, “This is our wish. You can’t stop us. Besides… We also walk the Martial Dao, how can we not cultivate earnestly?”
He grabbed her hand and gave a soft sigh, “Alright then. But, you have to watch over them. Don’t let them become too impatient. Haste is detrimental in the Martial Dao. It will be bad if they suffer from any hidden dangers.”
“I know.”
“The same goes for you.”
“Mmm.” She stood up, “I really have to go now.”
Nevertheless, he pulled her back and looked at her with a smile. The sweet and gentle look in his eyes nearly made her melt. She struggled against the temptation in her heart and practically begged, “Please let me go. If you feel lonely, I can ask the others to come and keep you company.” After saying that, she laughed to herself, “But, I don’t think they will.”
Shan Qing Luo and the others had gone into retreat. At a time like this, nobody would come even if she summoned them. The short-term separation was for the sake of being together forever in the future. Women had always been greedy creatures since time immemorial.
Yang Kai, however, shook his head and smiled mischievously, “It’s useless even if they come.”
She panicked slightly. Looking left and right, she showed a distressed expression, “What do you want?”
[Although there is nobody here, the mountains and wilderness are crawling with Monster Beasts. Who can say if any of these Monster Beasts will gain sentience one day and take on a Human form? What if they recall what they see here today!? I can relax my body and mind to allow him to do whatever he wants in the bedroom, but doing it here is absolutely impossible!] Su Yan was a little puzzled as to why her Junior Brother was clinging to her today. It was a little annoying, but she mostly felt that it was heart-warming.
He smiled slyly, “Senior Sister, you misunderstand. I called you here today for something important.”
She furrowed her eyebrows together and glanced at him with a look of disbelief on her face.
He took her hand and pulled her so that she sat opposite him. He gently said, “Focus your mind and empty your thoughts. Don’t let anything distract you!”
As a person who cultivated Ice Attribute Secret Arts, something like that was as easy as eating and drinking for Su Yan so she was able to enter an ethereal state almost instantly the moment she tried.
“Try not to let shock overwhelm you no matter what happens, okay?” While saying so, Yang Kai lifted a finger and pressed it against her forehead.
His action was both very slow and very gentle. It looked like he was caressing her; however, a high-pitched Dragon Roar rang out when that finger pressed against her forehead. A large golden Dragon rushed out of his body and plunged directly into Su Yan’s. Her beautiful eyes widened instantly and her body felt like it had been struck by lightning. Her pupils rapidly expanded and she felt as if the world had turned upside down.
There was a whooshing sound similar to the sound of wings flapping the next moment and behind her back, a beautiful, pure, flawless, and all-white Ice Phoenix that was inviolable appeared all of a sudden. It stretched its neck and let out a cry. The voice was clear and loud, piercing through the sky and resounding across the Heavens.
…..
Luan Feng was massaging her temples inside the Phoenix Nest Palace with an uneasy look. Fan Wu and Cang Gou were there too. Although they had managed to get Yang Kai to come, the three Monster Race Divine Venerables were still unable to relax completely. They were currently discussing what to do if the Heavens Order descendant no longer cared for her family anymore when she came out of retreat.
Before they could come to an agreement, however, the sound of a clear Phoenix Cry sounded. Luan Feng stood up abruptly and looked out in amazement. She could feel the Source Strength in her body throbbing and nearly going out of control.
“What is it?” Fan Wu asked nervously, his expression changing when he saw her reaction. Something that could make Luan Feng react as though she had encountered a great enemy could not be a trivial matter. His heart jumped in fright as he asked in a horrified voice, “Has Heaven’s Order returned?” [But, how did I not perceive anything if that was the case?]
Cang Gou’s face turned pale and the corners of his mouth twitched at those words, “Don’t scare me…”
“Didn’t you hear that?” Luan Feng looked at the two in amazement.
“Hear what?”
“A Phoenix Cry!”
Fan Wu and Cang Gou breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at each other again, they shook their heads in unison, “How could there be a Phoenix Cry?”
“But…” Luan Feng frowned, but halfway through her sentence, she suddenly realised something. She had not heard the loud Phoenix Cry with her ears. Rather, it came from within her own body, resonating with her Source and Soul.
It was a resonance between Sources, so how could Fan Wu and Cang Gou hear that?
“What’s going on?” Fan Wu looked at Luan Feng with a solemn expression, but the latter did not answer the question. She simply stepped outside of the palace with a shift of her body, staring intently in a certain direction, a hint of excitement in those beautiful eyes of hers.
…..
Jiu Feng was dressed in a fiery red dress, meditating and adjusting her breathing on Spirit Beast Island in the Eastern Territory. She had been injured by a Demon Race Half-Saint during the last battle at Star Soul Palace in the Southern Territory. Her injury might not be serious, but it was not something that could be ignored either. Fortunately, she was a Divine Spirit, so her body was tough and recovering from her wounds was not a difficult matter.
She slowly opened her eyes when the clear Phoenix Cry sounded from deep within her Soul and glanced in the direction of the Ancient Wild Lands, tilting her head to the side with a doubtful expression.
…..
Several kilometres underground, beneath High Heaven Palace in the Northern Territory, where the magma boiled up from the core of the world, large bubbles floated to the surface and burst with loud popping noises. A beautiful Fire Phoenix was devouring the Earth Fire energy of the lava to stimulate the Phoenix True Fire and develop the Phoenix Clan Source in her body.
All of a sudden, the figure of the enormous Fire Phoenix distorted and turned into a small humanoid figure standing on top of the magma. Liu Yan cocked her ears and listened attentively. Her exquisite eyebrows soon furrowed deeply.
…
When the Phoenix Cry rang out in the Ancient Wild Lands of the Eastern Territory, all living creatures throughout the Star Boundary with the Phoenix Clan bloodline in them felt the resonance. The purer the bloodline, the more deeply they were affected. The Source Strength in their body seemed to dance with an air of jubilation that left people scratching their heads and wondering what was going on.
…
Luan Feng rushed forth within the Phoenix Nest Palace, followed by a very bewildered Fan Wu and Cang Gou. When she flew closer to the Blood Gate, she immediately saw something shocking.
A humongous Phoenix phantom was suspended in the air above a mountain peak located more than a dozen kilometres away from the Blood Gate. It was pure white and flawless, as though it was completely carved from the finest ice jade. Various birds of all shapes and sizes surrounded the mountain peak around the Phoenix phantom. These birds flapping their wings constantly were Monster Beasts of the Ancient Wild Lands. Some were big while some were small. The big ones were as large as houses while the small ones were as small as sparrows. Most of them were the natural enemies of one another, but they were coexisting harmoniously at this moment, and even more birds were gathering in this direction from all over the Ancient Wild Lands.
It didn’t take long for the entire mountain peak to be surrounded by an impenetrable wall formed from tens of thousands of birds. The enormous Phoenix stood in the middle of it all like a moon surrounded by the stars. All sorts of strange cries rang out incessantly. Even so, there was not a hint of panic within those cries. Rather, they sounded elated.
“This is…” Fan Wu stared in astonishment.
“The Myriad Birds Greet the Phoenix!” A red tinge of excitement surfaced on Luan Feng’s fair visage for some reason.
If the Dragon Clan claimed to be the Head of the Myriad Spirits, then the Phoenix Clan was recognised as the Head of the Myriad Birds. Luan Feng had a Phoenix Clan bloodline and in addition, she was powerful enough to make all the Monster Race in the Ancient Wild bow down to her. Be that as it may, she was unable to make so many Monster Beasts that had yet to gain sentience to surround and worship her.
In the midst of everything, she had the feeling that something major was going to take place within the Phoenix Clan today. It was something so shocking that the entire Phoenix Clan would take notice.
Little spots of light suddenly began glowing like fireflies and a stunning light appeared out of thin air, filling everyone’s field of vision. That dazzling light was formed from the condensation of the purest World Energy. The splendid colours illuminated the entire Ancient Wild Lands, making it seem like part of the Heavens.
As the dancing lights converged around the body of the Phoenix standing in mid-air, the all-white figure slowly but surely became even purer and more radiant. At first, the difference was not obvious; however, it soon became more and more intense until the dazzling radiance filled the sky.
Luan Feng stared blankly at the scene in front of her and murmured, “When the first Phoenix was born, it brought light to the world…”
“What?” Unable to hear her clearly, Cang Gou turned to look at her.
She shook her head in response, indicating that she had no interest in explaining; even so, her beautiful eyes were burning with a frenzy that he couldn’t help being surprised at.
The Heavenly light shone brighter and brighter and soon became so dazzling that Luan Feng and the others couldn’t help squinting at the glare. As the World Energy converged in one spot, the pure white Phoenix in the sky gradually took on an ancient and noble air.
The birds flying around became even more excited, and their cries became louder and louder.
As time passed, Yang Kai maintained his posture of pressing one finger against Su Yan’s forehead without moving. The Golden Divine Dragon’s Source Strength in his body had been pushed to the limit. Sitting opposite him, various expressions flitted across Su Yan’s beautiful face. The Ancient Ice Phoenix behind her flapped its wings gently, revealing a light, majestic, and elegant figure.
It felt like the white light was the only light left that remained in the world. Before that beautiful existence, everything else appeared dull and inferior in comparison.
An unknown amount of time passed when finally, a high-pitched Dragon Roar and a clear Phoenix Cry rang out, the birds surrounding the mountain peak suddenly spread out in an orderly manner. Meanwhile, two enormous figures rose into the sky from the top of that mountain peak. One was an enormous Golden Dragon while the other was a pure white Ice Phoenix.
The Dragon and the Phoenix were an auspicious omen, and as they intertwined with each other, they soared towards the Heavens together with their Spirits connected as one. A gaping hole instantly appeared between the clouds in the sky, almost as if someone had ripped open the Heavens themselves.
Thunder rumbled across the skies and rain began to fall. The raindrops were brimming with pure World Energy, and as it came falling down, all the plants in the Ancient Wild Lands were covered in a layer of vitality that could be seen with the naked eye.
Cang Gou caught a few drops of rain in his hand and tasted them, his brow rising slightly as he muttered, “It’s sweet.”
Amidst the lightning and thunder, two enormous figures loomed in and out of sight among the layer of clouds. They seemed to be frolicking with one another, but all the living creatures in the world did not dare to look at them directly.
*Kacha…*
Following a strike of lightning, two gigantic figures swooped down from the sky, and even Fan Wu and the others couldn’t help paling in the face of the glorious majesty that descended from the sky.
The gigantic figures landed on top of a mountain peak located more than a dozen kilometres away from the Blood Gate and disappeared. Following that, Yang Kai and Su Yan opened their eyes in unison, looking at each other without saying a word. Everything was expressed in that silence.
Su Yan smiled, making Yang Kai fall into a daze. She had always been a great beauty who was highly blessed by luck during her creation. Now that she had awakened the Ancestral Phoenix Source, she had an air of awe-inspiring, inviolable, and sacred nobility about her. It was something that would make ordinary people feel blasphemous just by gazing upon her.
“Husband…” she called softly.
“Take your time to digest it.” He patted the back of her hand, “I will stand guard for you.”
She nodded, closed her beautiful eyes, and immersed herself in her mind. The Phoenix Clan Source in her body had always been extraordinary, on the same level as his Golden Divine Dragon Source. It was just that their cultivation had not been high enough all this while, so they could not draw out too much of its strength previously.
Yang Kai had undergone intensive cultivation in the ancient battlefield for decades which allowed his Dragon Source to greatly develop. He had now used his Source to stimulate Su Yan’s Ancestral Phoenix Source, so it was only natural that it would benefit her.
Be it the Dragon God Source or Ancestral Phoenix Source, the many Secret Techniques and cultivation methods contained within were extremely valuable treasures; however, the information related to these things would only gradually be known to them when their Source was integrated to a certain extent. Most Divine Spirits experience a similar manner of growth, which was why they relied on the accumulation of time and stimulation of bloodline to grow more powerful.
Therefore, when it came to Divine Spirits, their inheritance would never go extinct as long as their Source was not destroyed. Compared to other Races, the Divine Spirits had a greater advantage in these kinds of matters even though they had a much smaller population.
Not far away, Luan Feng looked on. She seemed to have a lot of questions to ask but hesitated to step forward; hence, Yang Kai got up, took a step towards her, and immediately arrived next to her.
“Yang Kai… The Source in Su Yan’s body…”
“En!” Before she could finish her question, he gave an affirmative answer.
Luan Feng was taken aback for a moment before she broke out into a smile, “It really is.”
When she saw the divine light just now, a guess had formed in her heart but she had not dared to be certain. Speaking of which, she had long known about the fact that Su Yan had a Phoenix Clan Source in her body as it was something she had discovered from the first time she met the latter. Moreover, Luan Feng vaguely felt very familial towards Su Yan at the time, similar to an urge to get close to her.
She had not understood the reason behind that feeling at the time, but the realisation dawned on her now. That was the Ancestral Phoenix Source. Seeing as she had the bloodline of the Phoenix Clan in her body, how could Luan Feng not sense something when they were in such close proximity to each other? Then, she remembered another little girl named Liu Yan who seemed to be very well-behaved in front of Su Yan.
Logically speaking, Liu Yan was almost equivalent to a Divine Spirit. In addition, she was much stronger than Su Yan. As arrogant as the Phoenix Clan was, there was no reason for her to be so obedient for no reason. Luan Feng had always assumed that Liu Yan was only so well-behaved on account of Yang Kai, but now it would seem that Liu Yan had experienced the same feeling she did. They couldn’t help but want to approach and protect the one who carried the Ancestral Phoenix Clan Source.
It was completely unexpected for the Phoenix Clan Source to be awoken under such circumstances, but at this rate, there was hope for the revival of the Phoenix Clan again.
Both the Dragon and Phoenix were highly respected existences in ancient times, which was a huge contrast to their inheritance nowadays. At the very least, the Dragon Clan still occupied Dragon Island and had their own gathering place. On the other hand, the Phoenix Clan was practically withered in terms of population. They each lived on their own, far from each other. It was a far cry from the prosperity and unity of the Dragon Clan.
While the Dragon Clan was scarce in numbers, there were at least more than ten adult Dragons on Dragon Island. On the contrary, Luan Feng and Jiu Feng of Spirit Beast Island were the only two who had ‘purer’ Phoenix Clan bloodlines across the entire Star Boundary. Liu Yan was later added to the mix, but even so, it was still incomparable to the Dragon Clan
But, it was different now. The person who had awoken the Ancestral Phoenix Source would definitely be able to bear the responsibility of reviving the Phoenix Clan’s former glory. Before that could happen, however, they first had to deal with the hidden dangers of the Demon Race. If the entire Star Boundary was taken over by the Demon Race, there would be no point talking about reviving the Phoenix Clan. It would be a miracle just for the Clan to not go extinct at that point.
Luan Feng’s beautiful eyes became slightly cold upon this realization. Her hands were clenched into fists as she stared in Su Yan’s direction. She secretly vowed to herself. [No matter what happens, I have to protect her. Even if the Star Boundary goes up in flames, even if I die in the process, as long as she survives, a ray of hope will remain for the future of the Phoenix Clan. I’m sure that person on Spirit Beast Island will have the same mindset as myself.]
The slight movement at the Blood Gate in the Ancient Wild Lands was followed by the awakening of the Ancestral Phoenix Source in Su Yan’s body. During such a chaotic period in the world, these were signs of great prosperity. As the saying went, ‘Turbulent times birthed Heroes’. While these incidents might seem unrelated, they were threaded together in a way that could be linked back to one person.
The Blood Gate was related to Yang Kai, as was the awakening of Su Yan’s Ancestral Phoenix Source and the rise of the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan…
Just as Su Yan was focused on digesting and absorbing the large amounts of information contained in the Ancestral Phoenix Source, an Earth-shaking battle broke out in the Southern Territory.
The fall of Star Soul Palace represented the loss of the entire Southern Territory. It was a huge mark of shame for any cultivator in the Star Boundary, but it was especially so for the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan. For that reason, Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun went straight to Star Soul Palace as soon as they left Dragon Island.
Xue Li and Fu Yu initially thought that there was something wrong with their eyes when they first noticed the arrival of these two uninvited guests. It had been many years since the second Two Worlds Great War broke out, but the Demon Race had always held the initiative. The Demon Saints had always attacked as they pleased and withdrew as they wished.
Meanwhile, the Star Boundary could only suffer in passive silence with no way of grasping the initiative. Xue Li and the other Demon Saints had been leading Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun around by the nose for all these years. When had there ever been a time when the latter party took the initiative to attack instead?
Therefore, Xue Li and Fu Yu were completely caught off guard when the two Dragon Clan Elders came charging into Star Soul Palace as they had thought that Zhu Yan was still in the middle of recovering from his injuries.
Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun did not waste time on nonsense or greetings. They immediately started attacking the moment they arrived. When the two 1,000-metre-long Dragons revealed their true forms, Xue Li’s scalp tingled with fear for a moment. Both he and Fu Yu immediately realised that they were in deep trouble.
In this earth-shattering battle, the two Dragon Clan Elders, who had experienced a sharp increase in strength, finally had a chance to vent their pent-up frustrations and carry out their vengeance. It was the first time they pushed the two Demon Saints into a corner. The fallout of the battle swept across the Demon Race camp, causing numerous Demons to die as a result.
No matter how much Xue Li racked his brains, he could not understand what was going on. Only a mere two months had passed since their last encounter, so how did these two old Dragons undergo such a significant increase in size that directly resulted in an absurd boost in their strength!?
The combination of the couple’s new-found strength and their Unified Secret Techniques oppressed the two Demon Saints so badly that they could not lift their heads at all. With no other choice, Fu Yu urgently summoned Huo Bo.
After the last battle at Star Soul Palace, Huo Bo had suffered injuries and fled as a result. He was currently in hiding to treat his wounds, but it had only taken Fu Yu half a month to track him down. She had planned to send him on a mission to kill Yang Kai when his injuries had gotten a little bit better, but how could they afford to worry about Yang Kai right now? The two old Dragons were the ones that needed to be dealt with urgently.
Huo Bo had to come and provide support even if he was reluctant because he knew that his life would become extremely difficult in the future if something were to happen to Xue Li and Fu Yu.
The combined strength of the three Demon Saints finally stopped the fierce momentum of the two Dragon Clan Elders. Many Half-Saints also provided support from the side. Even so, the battle lasted for 10 whole days before it stopped.
When the two Dragons retreated, Xue Li stared at the chaotic mess that remained of the Demon Race camp and his scarlet eyes turned even redder at the sight.
Scarcely a few days of calm went by before he received a message from the Eastern Territory. The two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan had shown themselves at another Demon Stronghold. Not daring to delay, he immediately headed there with Fu Yu and Huo Bo to stop them.
The Demon Towers were connected to each other and could facilitate instantaneous travel back and forth between them. Unfortunately, their arrival was still a little too late and two Half-Saints died at the Demon Stronghold in the Eastern Territory as a result.
In the following month, the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan travelled across the four territories of the Star Boundary, targeting various Demon Strongholds without warning and recklessly slaughtering numerous Demon Race Masters.
Although Xue Li, Fu Yu, and Huo Bo came to the rescue on many occasions, they still could not recoup the heavy losses they sustained.
The two Dragon Clan Elders’ sudden increase in strength resulted in an instant reversal of the current war situation. The Star Boundary now held complete control over the initiative in battle, and all 55 Star Boundary armies were jubilant to hear the news.
Even so, Demon Saints were still Demon Saints. How could they allow themselves to be led by the nose by the two Dragon Clan Elders?
10 days later, Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun came to one of the Primary Demon Strongholds in the Western Territory once more to attack. This time around, however, they did not see any signs of the three Demon Saints coming to provide support, which made them very uneasy.
The news soon came through the Space Beacon. While the two Dragon Clan Elders were on the move, the three Demon Saints had gone straight to a gathering place of the Star Boundary’s armies. It was a situation where ‘If you kill my clansmen, I’ll slaughter yours in return’.
They were shocked by the news and immediately returned to help. Unfortunately, they were one step too late. By the time the two Dragons arrived at the place, they saw a mournful scene all across the Star Boundary army camp. Two Army Commanders were also killed in battle.
Meanwhile, the three Demon Saints of the Demon Race had long since disappeared.
Both Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun had gloomy expressions on their faces when they saw the purgatory-like scene before them. The Demon Saints might not care about the number of casualties among the Demon Race army, but the two Dragon Clan Elders could not ignore the safety of the Star Boundary army. The three Demon Saints were undoubtedly using their actions to say, “You can kill, but so can we. Let’s see who breaks first.”
After this incident, Zhu Yan and Fu Zhu became more cautious about making a move lest they brought harm to the rest of the Star Boundary. They did not dare to act recklessly either. If news of them appearing somewhere were to spread, Xue Li and the others were bound to take action. On the contrary, Xue Li and the others would be hesitant to attack carelessly if they kept their whereabouts a secret.
One month quickly passed by in that temporary period of peace. Xue Li was sitting down cross-legged in a secluded room of Star Soul Palace in the Southern Territory when his expression suddenly changed. He opened his eyes and listened to something attentively, his attitude very focused. Furthermore, there was a faint hint of respect reflected in his scarlet eyes. A short while later, he grinned and laughed maliciously. He then transformed into a blood light and appeared next to Fu Yu with a slight shift of his body.
“What is it?” Fu Yu looked at him.
He laughed evilly, “It’s starting!”
She was taken aback for a moment, then she was overjoyed, “It’s finally starting.”
The two of them stood side by side on top of a mountain peak, looking out into the vast the Star Boundary. Xue Li slowly reached out his hand and grabbed at the air as if he was holding the entire world in his hand and gave a low laugh, “They are doomed!”
On the other hand, Fu Yu, who had been tense and nervous all this time, finally relaxed. She reached out a hand to push her hair behind her ear with a smile, “En, it’s over. It’s a pity they still don’t know anything. They really are ignorant!”
…..
In the Ancient Wild Lands of the Eastern Territory, Yang Kai, who had been keeping guard next to Su Yan suddenly opened his eyes. He furrowed his brow deeply and looked around his surroundings as an inexplicable sense of trepidation flooded him all of a sudden, almost as if something terrifying was about to take place.
This feeling came out of nowhere with no prior warning. Hence, his first reaction was to assume that there was a powerful enemy with malicious intentions towards him lurking nearby; however, he found nothing when he swept his Divine Sense around.
With his current cultivation, his Divine Sense was powerful enough that even a Demon Saint lurking in the vicinity would not be able to escape his detection completely. That was already the case for a Demon Saint, what more need be said for anybody else?
Since he could not detect anything, that could only mean that there were no enemies nearby. In that case, what was this sense of foreboding in his heart? After ten breaths, that ominous feeling not only did not reduce in any way but instead grew stronger. Additionally, he felt as though there was a huge mountain pressing down on his chest, making it hard to breathe.
Yang Kai’s expression became solemn and the more he thought about it, the more certain he became that something was about to happen. Unfortunately, he could not figure out the source of that feeling.
Just as he was about to investigate his surroundings carefully one more time, a loud buzzing sound rang out in his mind without warning. The noise was absolutely deafening, but more importantly, it resounded directly in the depths of his Soul. It instantly caused his mind to waver and he became dizzy as a result.
With a muffled grunt, he fell forward. Fortunately, a jade white hand stuck out and caught him as Su Yan exclaimed, “Husband!”
Although she had been absorbing the information contained within the Ancestral Phoenix Source, she was not unaware of the outside world; therefore, she immediately noticed when something happened to Yang Kai.
There was a whooshing sound as Luan Feng flew over. She was shocked to see Yang Kai bleeding from his seven orifices and looking extremely pale, “W-What happened!?”
Due to the appearance of the Ancestral Phoenix Source, Luan Feng had not left this place even once over the past few days. She was planning to wait until Su Yan woke up to have a good chat with the her, so she more or less witnessed Yang Kai’s abnormality with her own eyes.
“I don’t know,” Su Yan was completely flustered. Even so, she forced herself to calm down. Grabbing Yang Kai’s hand, she poured a thread of her Divine Sense and Emperor Qi into him to investigate his condition carefully. However, she felt an overwhelming power erupting out of his body and repelling her mind before she could even check anything. She couldn’t help grunting in a muffled voice and staggering backward a few steps in response.
Yang Kai was originally collapsed on the ground, but he suddenly sat up without warning. He opened his eyes wide as two streams of blood flowed out from them. His eyes were completely out of focus and filled with an air of indifference. In addition, an aura that made other people not dare to look at him directly surged from his body as he shouted, “Heavens’ Revelations, Profound Heavens Manifestation!”
He enunciated each word carefully. Those words sounded like thunder rumbling in the skies, so deafening that they hurt just to hear them.
“What?” Su Yan was shocked as she reached out a hand towards him. His current condition was clearly very strange, almost as if someone else was speaking through him.
“Don’t touch him!” Luan Feng screamed, grabbing Su Yan’s outstretched hand as she slowly shook her head, “Something’s wrong.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Su Yan’s small face was filled with anxiety and worry. Even her voice shook slightly from emotion.
“I don’t know,” Luan Feng shook her head, similarly confused. [Could it be a dissonance in his cultivation? But, he has not been doing anything recently, he was just sitting opposite Su Yan to guard her. Can one experience cultivation dissonance just like that? Besides, his body has already been contaminated by the Demon Qi, so it should be impossible for him to experience cultivation dissonance so easily.]
In front of them, Yang Kai suddenly collapsed to the ground again after saying those words. His wide-open eyes gradually closed and that overwhelming aura vanished without a trace. It seemed like everything had gone back to normal; even so, both Su Yan and Luan Feng knew that this seemingly normal condition was the biggest abnormality of them all.
“He should be fine now,” Luan Feng said hesitantly.
Su Yan hurriedly broke free from Luan Feng and threw herself in front of him. Helping him up, she leaned him against her body and reached out to wipe the blood on his face, her eyes reddening in response. Even though she did not know what was wrong with him, only one thought echoed in her heart when that anomaly occurred just now, [Please don’t let anything happen to him.]
When Yang Kai opened his eyes once more, he immediately saw Su Yan’s concerned and anxious expression and asked in a slightly dazed manner, “Senior Sister?”
He didn’t seem to have any recollection of what had happened just now.
Su Yan worriedly asked after his condition. Only when she confirmed that there was nothing wrong with him did she finally let out a breath of relief.
Finally able to relax slightly, she immediately asked, “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
Yang Kai slowly shook his head, “I can’t say. I just have a feeling that… the Great Emperors are in grave trouble.”
He didn’t even know where the Great Emperors were currently, but he could roughly sense their current state. It seemed that somehow or other, they had formed an indistinct connection between them and this connection gave him a slight sense of how they were doing at the moment.
“Do you not remember what happened just now?” Luan Feng asked from the side.
He raised his head to look at her and slowly shook his head.
She frowned slightly and recounted everything she saw and heard just now to him.
“Heavens’ Revelations, Profound Heavens Manifestation?” He looked confused, “I said that?”
Both Su Yan and Luan Feng nodded in unison, indicating affirmation.
Yang Kai was stunned as he had no idea when he said those words. Even now, he showed no signs of understanding the meaning behind them after Luan Feng brought them up.
While he was deep in thought, the world suddenly began to shudder. A loud rumbling came from within the clouds. Startled, Yang Kai hurriedly looked up but saw nothing unusual. The rumbling sounded like the world groaning in pain and it lasted for a whole quarter hour before disappearing.
Similarly, Luan Feng was baffled too, “What was that just now?”
But who could answer her?
At this moment, Space Principles fluctuated slightly and a jade slip appeared out of nowhere in front of them. Li Wu Yi’s aura came from within the jade slip.
Yang Kai reached out a hand and grabbed the jade slip. Sweeping it with his Divine Sense, his expression changed drastically after briefly checking the contents.
“What happened?” Luan Feng asked.
“The Demon Lands are expanding,” he quickly said.
She frowned at those words, “The Demon Lands have always been expanding.”
Ever since the 108 Demon Lands appeared in the Star Boundary, the corrupted land had been expanding outward without pause. Those lands seemed to have a strong corrosive nature and were constantly eroding their surroundings. This was especially true for the Demon Lands where the 10 Primary Demon Strongholds were located. The reason for the fall of Star Soul Palace was not that the Star Boundary army was weaker than the Demon Race army. It was just that the entire Star Soul Palace had been devoured by the Demon Land and became part of it as a result.
The Demons were like ducks in water within the Demon Land. On the other hand, the Star Boundary cultivators were terribly restricted in many ways. Under such conditions, it was only natural that they were unable to compete against the Demon Race. As a result, Star Soul Palace had already been eroded by the Demon Land. There was no point defending it to the last man as it would only add to the casualties.
“It’s different this time. The expansion is proceeding very quickly. Much faster than before.”
“How fast is it?” Her expression froze.
“I’m not sure. We’ll know once we have a look,” The information had come directly from Li Wu Yi. According to him, the Primary Demon Strongholds in the Northern, Southern, and Western Territories were showing the same signs. Therefore, he wanted Yang Kai to check on the situation at the Demon Strongholds in the Eastern Territory. Yang Kai wrapped Su Yan and Luan Feng in Space Principles while speaking before all of them vanished from the spot.
A quarter-hour later and a few million kilometres away, the trio arrived in the vicinity of one of the Primary Demon Strongholds.
Standing in the sky and looking down, Yang Kai’s complexion became incredibly pale. The boundaries of the Primary Demon Stronghold were madly expanding into the surroundings at an unstoppable pace that could be seen with the naked eye, advancing several hundred metres every breath. The speed of this expansion was absolutely appalling.
Even Luan Feng couldn’t help covering her red lips with her small hands, her beautiful eyes brimming with horror.
There was no need for comparisons. While the Demon Strongholds had been constantly expanding in the past, that speed could not be said to be particularly fast. However, the current speed they were looking at was at least a few hundred times faster than that!
At this speed, it would take less than two years for the entire Star Boundary to turn into a Demon Land. If that happened, how would the trillions of Humans survive? They would definitely be corroded by the Demon Essence and reduced to Demons.
Everywhere across both the land and the sky, countless birds and beasts were scrambling to flee for their lives. They seemed to have an instinctive sense of the approaching danger. When the Demon Land expansion came towards them, they all knew intuitively to stay away. Unfortunately, they could not escape from the expanding Demon Lands no matter how fast they were. The darkness spreading out behind them devoured the fleeing creatures in an instant. Under the corrosion of the Demon Essence, the generally well-behaved and docile creatures immediately lost their minds and began tearing into each other without regard for anything else.
It wasn’t just the birds and the beasts. There were also many Humans fleeing for their lives in the mountains and wilderness.
The second Two Worlds Great War broke out many years ago and the Demon Race ran rampant throughout all four Territories of the Star Boundary. Any cultivator with the slightest sense of valor or responsibility was recruited into the army to kill the enemy. Nevertheless, there would inevitably be people who narrowly survived in the cracks due to luck. They had been hiding out deep in the mountains and the wilderness to protect themselves while hoping for the Star Boundary armies to chase the Demon Race away so that they could restore their homes. There were quite a few people like these. Rather, it could be said that there were many, many such people.
The Star Boundary was very vast and contained trillions of living creatures. How many people were actually recruited in the fifty-five armies? Compared to the total population in the Star Boundary, the fifty-five armies barely even made up a fraction of a fraction of it. Some were too weak and ended up being refused by the various armies as a result, but there was also a small number of Masters among those who chose to only protect themselves.
At this moment, these people finally ran out of places to hide. The Demon Land was spreading out, eroding their shelters and forcing them to flee into the distance. But, where could they escape to? The Demon Land was expanding far too quickly.
Yang Kai personally witnessed as a First-Order Emperor Realm Master was overtaken by Demon Land expanding behind him. He had no choice but to push his Emperor Qi to resist the Demon Essence that constantly tried to eat away at him. With his cultivation as a First-Order Emperor Realm Master, he might be able to hold out for a while without losing himself, but be that as it may, he would eventually be reduced to a Demon so long as he failed to escape from the Demon Land.
Yang Kai retreated with Su Yan and Luan Feng in tow. The words Mo Sheng once told him echoed in his mind. The Demon Realm did not used to be called the Demon Realm, it was once known as the Peerless World. Additionally, the dominant Race in the Peerless World was once the same as the Star Boundary, Humans. It was just that the Peerless World became a Demon Realm after Mo Sheng devoured the Auspicious Spirit Essence of the world and the Humans living in that world turned into the Demon Race in the end.
Yang Kai did not know what the Peerless World had looked like when its Auspicious Spirit Essence had been devoured back then; however, he was currently witnessing the scene of the Star Boundary being devoured.
In other words, everything he was seeing in front of him was the process of the Star Boundary’s Auspicious Spirit Essence being devoured, as well as part of Great Demon God’s healing process!
The Auspicious Spirit Essence was being devoured and the Star Boundary was turning into a Demon Land. If the expansion was progressing so quickly, wouldn’t that mean that Great Demon God had reached a critical juncture in his healing process!?
He couldn’t help shuddering at the thought. Last time, Flowing Time Great Emperor had fought against the Great Demon God, with the former suffering fatal wounds and the latter losing their physical body. Who could fight on behalf of the Star Boundary this time?
There were no news from the Great Emperors. The only ones that could be relied on at present were the two Dragon Clan Elders, but they were being restrained by the three Demon Saints. They could not take action easily. What’s more; would it really make a difference if they stepped up now?
Without noticing, the Star Boundary had already reached the moment where life and death were at a critical point! Moreover, the Demon Race forces were bound to give the Star Boundary no respite this time around.
“I need to return to the Northern Territory for a bit,” Yang Kai quickly said. There were changes to the Primary Demon Stronghold in the Eastern Territory, but he did not know about the situation in the Northern Territory. Therefore, he had to check as soon as possible. If the Northern Territory was also facing a similar situation, then he had to find a way out for High Heaven Palace and the various armies as soon as possible.
After hesitating for a while, he turned to Luan Feng and said, “If it comes down to it, you should retreat as soon as possible too.”
Luan Feng smiled bitterly, “Where can we go?”
Yang Kai opened his mouth to answer but found himself speechless instead. The Star Boundary might be vast, but where would they find a pure land if this was the situation everywhere?
The only thing he could be certain about was that the rumbling sounds that lasted for around a quarter-hour just now were definitely related to the sudden expansion of the Demon Lands. Unfortunately, he still could not figure out the reason behind the sudden and rapid expansion of the Demon Land.
Parting with Luan Feng, Yang Kai took Su Yan back to High Heaven Palace in a flash. Hua Qing Si had already sent numerous messages to him; thus, she immediately came to greet him the moment he returned.
He lifted his hand, “I’ve heard about it. Head Manager, please ask all the Army Commanders to assemble at the Main Conference Hall. I’m going to check on the situation.”
“Yes!” She accepted his orders and left.
When the Star Boundary armies retreated after the fall of Star Soul Palace, about half of them withdrew to the Northern Territory and were stationed at High Heaven Palace. The other half had gone to the Eastern Territory.
Originally, High Heaven Palace could not have accommodated so many people, but they now had the World Beads that Yang Kai had refined which made things much easier. Most of the soldiers usually remained inside the World Beads. Although the environment there was no better than a Dead Star and there was no vitality in the surroundings, the soldiers did not need to obtain anything from their surrounding environment. If they needed to heal or cultivate, they could just use Source Crystals or Spirit Pills as a substitute.
After issuing some simple commands, Yang Kai set off again, quickly arriving outside Blue Wave City and staring down at the sight below him with a solemn expression.
Just like what he had seen in the Eastern Territory, the Demon Stronghold below was rapidly expanding. It had more than doubled in size within a short period of time; furthermore, its momentum continued unabated.
The Demon Race army was crowding around in the Demon Land and it seemed that one of the Demon Kings had noticed Yang Kai’s arrival and began calling out. In the next moment, a figure shot out from the Demon Land and came rushing straight at Yang Kai. The power of a Half-Saint coming from that figure was unmistakable.
Before the Half-Saint got closer, he let out a soft exclamation, “Yang Kai?”
His voice carried not only a hint of shock but also a thick sense of fear. His shock came from the fact that Yang Kai had arrived at this place alone. If he could get rid of Yang Kai, he would definitely win the appreciation of the Demon Saints. On the other hand, he was afraid of Yang Kai’s unusual combat power. News of Yang Kai killing a Stone Demon Half-Saint during the battle at Star Soul Palace had long since spread to all the Demon Race. Xue Li and the others had even warned all the Half-Saints sternly, “Never underestimate the enemy if you ever meet Yang Kai in battle. Do not be fooled by his cultivation. Do not underestimate him. He is comparable to any Half-Saint in terms of strength!”
No Demon would dare to ignore a Demon Saint’s warning; therefore, the Half-Saint who rushed over abruptly stopped in his tracks when he recognized Yang Kai’s identity. With several thousand metres between them, he raised his hand and summoned a Demon Artifact that looked like an ordinary axe.
The axe rapidly swelled in size after it was summoned and a horrifying Demon Qi radiated from it. It then transformed into a huge Shadow Axe and came slashing down at Yang Kai. The power behind this slash was so great that it even split the mountain in half.
Yang Kai stretched out his hand and summoned out the Azure Dragon Spear, calmly spinning it in his hands as he swung it up to intercept the Shadow Axe.
A Dragon Roar was heard amidst the slashing sound, which was followed by a deafening explosion. Both Yang Kai and the Half-Saint were involuntarily pushed backwards by the impact.
The Half-Saint who came rushing at Yang Kai widened his eyes in astonishment, shocked to the core. Xue Li and the other Demon Saints had already warned them about Yang Kai, so he knew that Yang Kai should not be taken lightly. Even so, it was a little unbelievable to see Yang Kai blocking his attack so easily.
[This bastard really does have the strength of a Half-Saint!] His gaze involuntarily fell upon the Azure Dragon Spear and his pupils contracted slightly. Among the warnings from Xue Li and the others, great emphasis had been placed upon this spear with unknown origins. It was said that the spear was extremely powerful, and it would seem to be true. Yang Kai had managed to block his attack despite only being a High-Rank Demon King. Perhaps, it was largely due to the power of this spear.
Yang Kai’s strength did not make him shrink in fear though; instead, it aroused the bloodlust and arrogance in his heart and he shouted, “Again!”
Raising the axe up high, the Demon Qi in his body surged as he poured it into the Demon Artifact before another Shadow Axe came smashing down again.
“Scram!” Yang Kai shouted. He only came here to check on the situation, so he had no time to fight a meaningless battle with this Half-Saint. With a shift of his body, he lunged toward his enemy. A spear shadow flashed out from the Azure Dragon Spear and loomed across the sky as he thrust out while ignoring the Shadow Axe that was slashing down on his head.
The Half-Saint paled greatly at the sight. Yang Kai acting so decisive right from the start left him feeling a little lost for what to do. If he didn’t dodge this attack, it would surely end in a lose-lose situation for both parties. Leaving aside the question whether he could kill Yang Kai with his strike, things would not end well for him if he was hit by Yang Kai’s spear.
It was said that Yang Kai had realised some sort of mysterious Martial Truth and if one received an injury from him, that Martial Truth would corrode their flesh and leave them in a half-dead state. Even a Half-Saint was helpless against it. Only the Demon Saints had the ability to disperse that power.
During the battle at Star Soul Palace previously, a Blood Demon companion had been injured by this Martial Truth, and in the end, Xue Li had stepped in to help remove the Martial Truth and save the Blood Demon’s life. As for all the other Demon Kings who were injured by Yang Kai, it was rumoured that they were abandoned by Xue Li and slaughtered on the spot. That was because even though Xue Li could remove the Martial Truth, it consumed too much energy. Wasting a Demon Saint’s energy on Demon Kings was obviously not worth it, so they were all killed instead.
All sorts of thoughts raced through this Demon Race Half-Saint’s head in that instant before he immediately made the decision to retreat from battle while retrieving his Demon Artifact Axe at the same time. The axe danced and formed a Shadow Axe in front of him, acting as a shield.
There was a series of clanging sounds and two figures rushed into the Demon Land at a high speed, one in front of the other.
There was a look of great horror on the Demon Race Half-Saint’s face. The power coming from the spear opposite him was so strong that he could barely fend off the attacks; thus, he couldn’t help widening his eyes in terror.
[Is this kind of power something a Human can have!? I heard that Yang Kai can transform into a more than 1,000-metre-long Dragon, and it looks like it’s true! I’m not fighting some ordinary Human, he’s clearly a giant Dragon! In that case, it’s not surprising for him to have such raw strength.]
What frightened him even more was the strange aura coming from the Azure Dragon Spear. Despite his experience and knowledge, he could not figure out what that aura was. The aura was extremely mysterious, almost as if it contained a great secret that left everybody scratching their heads in confusion. That was most likely the Martial Truth the Demon Saints mentioned before. Feeling even more frightened, he vowed to himself that he would never allow himself to be hurt by this Martial Truth.
Last time, a Demon Saint had been willing to step in and help remove the Martial Truth from the Blood Demon Half-Saint’s body because the situation had not been serious. Now that the strength of the two Dragon Clan Elders had exploded, however, the three Demon Saints had to maintain peak condition at all times to ward off these powerful enemies.
[If I get injured in this encounter, I won’t be lucky enough to receive help from the Demon Saints in resolving the Martial Truth. At that time, my life or death would depend entirely on myself!] Bogged down by fear, the Demon Race Half-Saint was unable to exert his full strength and soon fell into a complete disadvantage in his battle with Yang Kai as he retreated over a thousand kilometres.
Numerous figures rushed out from the depths of the Demon Stronghold, each of them emitting the aura of a Half-Saint. It was clear that they came to provide support after seeing their companion’s pathetic state.
Before they could approach, however, they heard an angry roar and a golden light erupted. Yang Kai’s figure swelled rapidly and soon a 1,000-metre-long burly figure stood in the sky. Even the Azure Dragon Spear had increased in size to 1,000 metres.
The horrifying pressure that burst out caused the Half-Saints to choke in fear and they involuntarily stopped in their tracks.
The humongous Dragon swung the 1,000-metre-long giant spear in a sweeping motion towards the Half-Saints, causing the world itself to shudder in response.
Who among those Half-Saints would dare to face such an attack head-on? When they saw the spear coming toward them, their expressions changed drastically and they all fled backwards.
On the other hand, the Half-Saint fighting Yang Kai could not avoid the attack and could only desperately activate the power of his Demon Artifact to form a huge axe to forcefully defend himself.
In the end, he was sent flying, coughing up blood mid-air. The light of the Demon Artifact Axe in his hands went dim and it was clear that its spirituality had been considerably damaged. When the Half-Saint finally stabilised his figure again, his expression was overflowing with unwillingness and rage.
It would have been one thing if Yang Kai was actually a Half-Saint as forcing him to retreat this much would have meant that his strength was inferior to his opponent; however, Yang Kai was nothing more than a High-Rank Demon King. It made him feel useless instead. He was a Half-Saint after all; when had he ever suffered such humiliation before?
Fortunately, although his organs had been shaken by the impact and he suffered light injuries, it was nothing serious. He had not been injured by the rumoured Martial Truth.
It wasn’t until he turned back to look at his companions that the ugly expression on his face dissipated significantly. They were also showing fearful expressions at this moment; moreover, nobody dared to come forward lightly. Their reactions relieved some of his embarrassment and humiliation from getting injured.
Yang Kai raised his spear. His mountain-like body stood on the ground as his cold gaze swept out. Nobody dared to meet those pale gold Dragon Eyes directly. His thunderous voice boomed, “Come at me if you want a fight! If not, then make way!”
Hearing those words left the Half-Saints fuming from anger.
This was a Demon Stronghold, the place where the Demon Race army was stationed, yet not only did Yang Kai barge into this place alone, he also dared to make such arrogant statements! If it were anybody else, they would not have tolerated such actions even if it were a Pseudo-Great Emperor standing there. They would definitely have come at him all at once and taught him the consequences of shameless boasting.
But, this was Yang Kai. Leaving aside the fact that he had just displayed strength comparable to a Half-Saint, he was proficient in the Dao of Space. Who could restrain him here? Moreover, they had to worry about getting hurt by the Martial Truth while fighting him…
Ordinary injuries would not have bothered them, but it was a kind of injury that even a Demon Saint would find troublesome. That was not something anybody would dare to experience. The only ones who could keep him in check at this point were the Demon Saints. Be that as it may, the Demon Saints would not take action so easily at this critical juncture; therefore, the Half-Saints simply stood frozen in place and stared at Yang Kai coldly despite their ashen complexions.
Yang Kai snorted but did not provoke them any further. He came here only to investigate the situation and quickly realized that the Demon Stronghold in the Northern Territory was identical to the one in the Eastern Territory. Nevertheless, he was still clueless as to why such a huge change had occurred.
Since he couldn’t figure it out from outside the Demon Stronghold, then he could only barge in and have a closer look. Why else would he have come here alone if not for that?
According to the information from his intelligence, Xue Li and the others were still in the Southern Territory’s Star Soul Palace. They seemed to have made that place their base. He did not know if they were purposely humiliating the Star Boundary by doing so, but although they could come here very quickly, Yang Kai planned to escape at the slightest hint of abnormality. He had no intention of giving Xue Li and the others a chance to attack him.
The Azure Dragon Spear stood beside him like a giant pillar that towered into the skies and seemed to have noticed his intentions. The body of the spear let out a Dragon Roar before an illusory Azure Dragon emerged from the giant spear and coiled around it. The enormous Dragon Head was held high, overlooking the world while monitoring all four directions.
Closing his eyes, Yang Kai relaxed his mind and spread out his Divine Sense like a tidal wave. Nobody else would dare to do something like this in the Demon Land as Demon Essence was abundant within the Demon Stronghold; moreover, it was highly likely for them to become corrupted by the Demon Essence when their Divine Sense left their body. Doing so might leave behind hidden dangers at the very least. However, Yang Kai was different from ordinary people. His Emperor Qi had been converted into Demon Qi, so why would he fear the Demon Essence in the Demon Stronghold?
His target was very obvious. He was aiming for the Demon Tower standing in the middle of the Demon Stronghold. Since the Demon Towers could connect to each other and produce an effect similar to Cross-Territory Space Arrays, allowing the Demon Race to travel back and forth in the blink of an eye, it was only natural that it could allow his Divine Sense to navigate between them.
By borrowing the Demon Tower, Yang Kai would be able to clear the fog in front of him and look at the overall situation by standing at a greater height. He would be able to figure out the reason behind the Demon Land’s sudden expansion.
He had no intention of concealing his intentions, so it was only natural that the Half-Saints watching him hungrily from nearby would notice what he was doing.
One of them was a Bone Demon. He twisted his skull and glanced at the Demon Tower. The emerald Ghost Fire in his eye sockets danced slightly as his teeth made metallic noises when they knocked against each other, “Clever bastard. I can’t believe he even thought of using this method.”
“Hey, should we stop him? If this goes on, he will probably notice something.”
“How?” Another Half-Saint sneered, “Do you plan to go up and fight him?”
“Why not?” The Half-Saint who spoke previously looked eager, “He is alone after all.”
“What’s the point of fighting when we know we can’t kill him? Not to mention, we have to be wary of getting injured by him. As you all know, that Martial Truth…”
“The Demon Saints are about to make their move. Besides, the Star Boundary will figure out the truth sooner or later. What difference does it make whether it’s a little earlier or a little later? Let’s just leave this guy to the Demon Saints.”
“That’s right. I’ve already sent a message to the three Venerables. If they plan to stop him, then they will definitely come. If they don’t come, then we don’t need to do anything unnecessary either.”
Following a simple discussion, the Half-Saints quickly came to an agreement to stand back and watch how things unfolded. It wasn’t that they were cowardly. It was just that… the Martial Truth was much too troublesome. Nobody was willing to stand on the frontlines and risk their life. With nobody leading them, it was only natural that they could not become united. Furthermore, they had the Demon Saints to decide for them. Why would they need to take the risk?
Yang Kai’s Divine Sense fluctuated and moved about, and he soon noticed something that could not be seen by the naked eye.
The 10 Primary Demon Strongholds were connected to each other with the Demon Towers serving as the foundation. This allowed the Demon Race army to travel back and forth rapidly. Moreover, the 10 Demon Towers seemed to be closely related to each other. To destroy one Demon Tower, one had to destroy all 10 Demon Towers at the same time for any chance of success. The Demon Towers might be tall, but they were constructed in a mysterious way that made them extremely strong. It was no wonder even the two Dragon Clan Elders were helpless against them.
Now that the strength of the two Dragon Clan Elders had grown significantly, they might be able to destroy the Demon Towers if they were allowed to attack with all their strength. Unfortunately, the three Demon Saints were not dead, so they were bound to rush over to stop them the moment Zhu Yan and Fu Zhu tried.
Upon further investigation, Yang Kai realized that what connected the 10 Primary Demon Strongholds were not just the 10 Demon Towers but also a dense network of nodes. After counting them, there turned out to be 108 in total.
The realisation struck him and the 108 Demon Strongholds in the Star Boundary immediately came to mind. 108 Demon Strongholds had appeared in the Star Boundary in the past. Be that as it may, apart from the 10 Primary Demon Strongholds, the Demon Race armies at the remaining 98 Demon Strongholds were either wiped out by the Star Boundary armies or abandoned. Even so, those Demon Strongholds and the Demon Lands that had been devoured remained until now. It was something even the World Principles of the Star Boundary could not repair.
This number had long made many Masters in the Star Boundary secretly wary. The number ‘108’ just happened to coincide with the number in the Heavenly Orbit after all; thus, they couldn’t help wondering if the Demon Race had some sort of secret conspiracy going on. Now it would seem that it was indeed part of a greater plot after all.
Furthermore, the Demon Race had used some sort of unknown method to make these 108 Demon Strongholds into the base of an enormous Spirit Array. They had secretly arranged this inexplicable Heaven Shaking Grand Array, and once it was activated, it rapidly eroded the Star Boundary.
This move was something the Demon Race had planned for from the moment the second Two Worlds Great War broke out, but it wasn’t until today that those plans were put into action. It could be said that they had been plotting far ahead from the beginning.
Under Yang Kai’s investigation, the 108 Demon Strongholds were now rapidly expanding at an astonishing rate. At every moment, there was a large piece of the Star Boundary being transformed into a Demon Land and the Auspicious Spirit Essence was lost as a result.
There was only one thing he could not understand. The foundation for this Grand Array had been arranged several years ago, so why did the Demon Race wait until today to activate it? What was the Grand Array lacking that made the Demon Race hold back for so long?
Yang Kai extended his Divine Sense to probe even deeper, reaching out into the distance when all of a sudden, a shocking image flashed through his mind for a moment before quickly disappearing.
He abruptly jerked his eyes open in shock and cursed, “Damn it!”
Then, he reached out to grab the Azure Dragon Spear and flew up into the sky without warning. Holding the spear straight, he condensed every last bit of strength he could muster as he charged straight at the Demon Tower.
The Demon Race Half-Saints in the surrounding area jumped in surprise. They never imagined that Yang Kai would suddenly turn violent, and by the time they came back to their senses, all of them turned pale together. The Bone Demon Half-Saint from before was the first to shout, “Stop him!”
As soon as those words rang out, the Half-Saints attacked in unison. Various Demon Artifacts and Secret Techniques blasted in Yang Kai’s direction.
Although Yang Kai’s body was as big as a small mountain now, he was strangely agile and nimble. He flickered about erratically, avoided several terrifying attacks one after another and arrived in front of the Demon Tower in the blink of an eye.
Under the horrified gazes of those Half-Saints, Yang Kai gathered everything he could into his spear and thrust forward viciously. A huge black ball with a radius of several tens of metres appeared at the tip of the spear, Space Principles rampaging from it. It was filled with chaos and nothingness, similar to the aura of a Void Crack.
*Hong…*
A wave of vibrations spread out from the Demon Tower as the black ball shrank abruptly. At the same time, both the Heavens and Earth collapsed violently in the direction of the black ball.
*Kacha…* A series of crackling sounds that set one’s teeth on edge rang out from the Demon Tower.
Just then, a ferocious attack landed on Yang Kai’s shoulder. A powerful force erupted and sent his enormous body flying. Despite being thrown into the air, he continued to glare fiercely at the movements of the Demon Tower.
The huge black ball violently shrank into a small black spot and vanished with a flash. At the same time, a large circular hole appeared where the Demon Tower had been struck. The hole was so large that it practically cut the Demon Tower in half. On the other hand, the Demon Tower became extremely unstable after being subjected to this heavy blow. It swayed slightly several times before falling to the ground with a loud creaking sound.
The Half-Saints were so horrified that both their bodies and souls trembled. They never imagined that Yang Kai’s attack would be so powerful that he could cause such damage to the Demon Tower with just a single blow. More importantly, the Demon Tower currently played a key role in the Demon Race’s plans. The Demon Saints would never spare their lives if the Demon Tower was destroyed.
Yang Kai frowned, watching the Demon Tower falling to the ground and did not feel the slightest bit of joy in his heart. Rather, a sense of unease bloomed in him. His current strength might be strong, but it should only be comparable to a Half-Saint. It was also true that he had exerted all of his strength when he wielded his spear to attack just now; otherwise, he would not have been unable to dodge the enemy attack.
But… could an attack like that really destroy the Demon Tower? As far as he knew, it wasn’t as if the two Dragon Clan Elders had not tried to attack the Demon Towers in the past. They actually carried out several attempts, but even they were unable to cause any damage to the Demon Tower in a short time despite using their Unified Secret Techniques.
Yang Kai knew his own power best and was well aware he was no match for either Zhu Yan or Fu Zhun, so how could he possibly do something that they together couldn’t? Even so, there was no denying that the Demon Tower was about to collapse at any moment because of his attack. The slanted Demon Tower only lasted for less than 10 breaths before it collapsed under his gaze. The earth trembled and a haze of dust rose from the impact.
Those Half-Saints felt their limbs going cold and their complexions turned as pale as sheets. Meanwhile, Yang Kai closed his eyes and spread his Divine Sense out again to check the situation in his surroundings, a short while later grinding his teeth in frustration.
The Demon Stronghold’s expansion did not stop just because one Demon Tower had been destroyed. The 108 Demon Strongholds remained closely linked. Not a single thing had changed. It would seem that once the inexplicable Grand Array that was arranged by the Demon Race was activated, the existence of the Demon Towers became irrelevant.
It was no wonder he could knock down the Demon Tower in a single blow. It wasn’t because he was stronger than the two Dragon Clan Elders, it was simply because the Demon Towers had become an existence that was no longer necessary.
All the pieces that the Demon Race required were already in place, so they only needed to wait for the Demon Land to expand until it completely devoured the Star Boundary. At that time, the Star Boundary would become a paradise for the Demon Race. It would become the second Demon Realm!
On the other hand, the Star Boundary would follow in the footsteps of the Peerless World.
Yang Kai coughed lightly as the sweet taste of blood rose in his throat before he turned his head to the side and spat. Even with his more than 1,000-metre-long Half-Dragon Body, taking a blow from a Half-Saint wasn’t something he could just shrug off.
At this moment, the ashen-faced Half-Saints seemed to notice something. Their Divine Senses fluctuated as they communicated between themselves for a moment before their pale faces gradually returned to normal. The expressions on their faces as they looked at Yang Kai also became mocking.
He stared at them coldly, gripped the Azure Dragon Spear tightly, and turned to leave. Having achieved his purpose in coming here, there was no need to stay any longer. He might not be afraid of any Half-Saint in a one-on-one battle, but his strength was lacking if he had to face many of them at once.
Swiftly, he returned to High Heaven Palace. He didn’t even take the time to treat his wounds and teleported directly to the Main Conference Hall.
A familiar figure was waiting for him at the entrance.
Stepping forward, Yang Kai cupped his fists in greeting, “Supreme Commander Li!”
“I heard you went to investigate the situation at the Demon Stronghold. Did you learn anything?” Li Wu Yi asked anxiously. He had rushed over after receiving a report from Hua Qing Si. If there was anybody in the Star Boundary who could get accurate information regarding the Demon Race, it would be Yang Kai; thus, he had come anxiously. Unable to bear waiting for a reply, he decided to come out and ask in person instead.
“A little bit. Let’s go in and talk,” Yang Kai responded and entered the hall together with Li Wu Yi.
Inside the hall, Hua Qing Si had summoned all the top leaders of the various armies to this place and served them tea while waiting for Yang Kai to return. Be that as it may, who would be in the mood to sip tea when the Star Boundary’s survival was on the line? All of them were glancing outside anxiously, and when they saw Yang Kai appear, they quickly stood up.
“Palace Master, are you hurt?” Hua Qing Si noticed the smear of blood at the corner of Yang Kai’s mouth and his slightly pale complexion.
“It’s nothing,” Yang Kai waved his hand dismissively. After asking everybody to return to their seats, he shared all the information he obtained during his investigation.
Everybody inside the hall had ugly expressions on their faces after listening to the information Yang Kai brought back.
The Fifty-Third Army’s Army Commander, Fu Ren Jie, spoke through gritted teeth, “I knew there was something strange about those 108 Demon Strongholds, but I never expected this. The Demon Race really played us for fools.”
“Devouring the Star Boundary… Their appetite is certainly big.” Somebody coldly snorted.
“I just wonder if they can actually succeed!” The Twenty-Seventh Army’s Army Commander, Shen Tu Xing, smiled deviously, “Do they really take the Star Boundary’s army for decorations!?”
The Nineteenth Army’s Army Commander, Pan Geng Nian, frowned at those words, “Now that the Demon Lands are expanding, the Star Boundary will really fall if we don’t contain the expansion soon. It wouldn’t matter how large or how strong our armies are, once that happens, everything would be useless.”
Shen Tu Xing turned to look at Pan Geng Nian, “Brother Pan, why do you have to boost the enemy’s prestige and lower our morale?”
Pan Geng Nian shook his head and simply said lightly, “It’s the truth.”
Shen Tu Xing was about to retort when Yang Kai interrupted the conversation, “Although you might be reluctant to admit it, the Demon Race is truly capable of devouring the Star Boundary whole.”
Everybody turned to look at him. Standing up, he swept his gaze over the crowd and spoke in a ringing voice, “Have any of you ever heard of the Great Demon God?”
“Great Demon God?”
“What is that?”
“A Master from the Demon Race? Which Demon is so bold as to use such a title?”
The group of Pseudo-Great Emperor Army Commanders muttered in astonishment. It was obvious that they had never heard of this ‘Great Demon God’. Even Li Wu Yi looked at Yang Kai in surprise, making it apparent that he too was unaware.
It could not be said that the Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary were ignorant and uninformed. If Yang Kai had not entered the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld by chance and returned to the time when the ancient war between Humans and Demons took place, he would not have known about the Great Demon God either. Not to mention, this existence was a taboo in the Demon Realm. He had tried to learn more about the Great Demon God from Yu Ru Meng when he first entered the Demon Realm, but she had immediately stopped him and avoided the topic as though it was cursed.
It would seem that Yu Ru Meng probably had some knowledge about the Great Demon God. She was a Demon Saint after all. When her strength reached a certain level, she gained access to certain secrets that other Demons did not know about. Be that as it may, she did not seem to know much either; otherwise, she would not have withheld the information from Yang Kai.
They were supposed to be discussing the crisis that the Star Boundary was currently facing, but Yang Kai had brought up this ‘Great Demon God’ out of nowhere. Everybody was confused, but they were in no hurry to question him. Since he mentioned the Great Demon God at a time like this, then he must be related to the situation at hand.
Everybody was waiting for Yang Kai to explain about who or what the Great Demon God was, but to their surprise, he changed the topic and brought up another conversation, “The Demon Realm was not always called the Demon Realm in the past. It was previously known as the Peerless World. In addition, the people living there were not part of the Demon Race. The Peerless World was no different from the Star Boundary. It was a place where the Human Race dominated the world.”
“The Peerless World was vast and beautiful, in no way inferior to the Star Boundary. Rather, it might even have been better in some aspects. Unfortunately, an uninvited guest came to the Peerless World one day. This person was named Mo Sheng! Mo Sheng had been seriously injured in a fight against his enemy, so he hid in the Peerless World to treat his wounds by devouring the Peerless World’s Auspicious Spirit Essence.”
“As countless years passed, the Peerless World lost its Auspicious Spirit Essence and the entire world was contaminated by Demon Essence and turned into a Demon Land as a result. It was eventually reduced to become a Demon Realm. Meanwhile, the living creatures in the Peerless World were gradually transformed into the Demon Race, which continues to this day.”
“And, Mo Sheng is none other than that Great Demon God!”
“However, another Master entered the Demon Realm at a critical juncture of Mo Sheng’s healing process. The two of them fought a grand battle that caused the Demon Realm to collapse and break apart into countless continents. Mo Sheng’s physical body was destroyed during that battle, while the other Master died from his wounds shortly after.”
“The Demon Race is currently eroding the Star Boundary in order to devour the Star Boundary’s Auspicious Spirit Essence and give Mo Sheng a chance to revive once more. If the Demon Race succeeds in their endeavour, then the Star Boundary will eventually become the second Peerless World. It will be identical to the Demon Realm.”
Yang Kai’s ringing voice echoed throughout the hall, and the Masters there were stunned by what they just heard. They had never heard of anything like this before. Besides, how did Yang Kai learn about the Great Demon God and the Peerless World?
Seeming to sense their doubts, he solemnly continued, “I spent the past three years in the Demon Realm, devouring its continents. Inside one of the continents was a piece of an ancient battlefield. That ancient battlefield was where Mo Sheng’s physical body had been destroyed. I saw images of Mo Sheng fighting another Master in that ancient battlefield. In addition… one of Mo Sheng’s Soul Clones came to find me and told me all these things himself.”
“Mo Sheng’s Soul Clone?”
“That Great Demon God’s?”
Another round of exclamations rang out.
Li Wu Yi frowned, “Didn’t you say that Mo Sheng’s physical body was destroyed?”
Yang Kai looked at Li Wu Yi and said, “His physical body was indeed destroyed, but his Soul remained. As long as the conditions are met, he will be able to make a comeback again, and the Star Boundary’s Auspicious Spirit Essence is exactly what he needs.” Yang Kai paused for a moment before he continued, “It’s obvious now that Mo Sheng is behind the Demon Race’s invasion this time. You might not know this, but there was not a single living creature left in the Demon Realm when I travelled there previously. All the living creatures on all the continents were dead, slaughtered by the Demon Race in order to release the Demon Essence in their bodies.”
“I’m sure you’ve not forgotten the time when the Demon Race army went insane and started killing each other three years ago. I didn’t know the reason behind this phenomenon at the time. It wasn’t until after I questioned some Demon Kings that I learned about the voice that had sounded in their minds at the time. Driven by that voice, they gradually lost their sanity and thought only about killing. That voice was not something any Demon Race member below a Half-Saint could resist.
“The Demon Saints were fighting the Great Emperors at the time, so it wasn’t the doing of the Demon Saints. Thinking about it now, even the Demon Saints might not have the ability to do something like that. I’m afraid only that guy by the name of Mo Sheng has the ability to influence the minds of so many Demons at once. The entire Demon Realm was created because of him and the Demon Race was born from his essence. It wouldn’t be impossible for him to have the means to influence the minds of the entire Demon Race.”
“Tens of millions of the Demon Race army died for this reason. Their deaths were for the same reason as those of Demons who were killed in the Demon Realm. It was to release all their Demon Essence to act as a catalyst to establish the Demon Lands in the Star Boundary. That’s why even the World Principles of the Star Boundary are unable to fix the places where the Demon Strongholds are located after so many years. It wasn’t until today when the Demon Race finally finished their secret preparations and attacked the Star Boundary in earnest.”
Inside the hall, everybody felt cold sweat oozing out of them after listening to Yang Kai’s explanation. They exchanged glances with each other, and although they didn’t want to believe Yang Kai’s rhetoric, they could not find any flaw in his words after carefully comparing the cause and effect.
Shen Tu Xing said bitterly, “Brother Yang, if it is as you say, then the Great Demon God… Mo Sheng’s true strength…”
“En, above a Demon Saint’s!”
The sound of various people gasping in shock rang out. Even though they had guessed as much after hearing what Yang Kai said, it was still difficult for them to accept the truth when Yang Kai confirmed the fact.
The Demon Saints were already an existence that they had to look up to, and yet, the Demon Race still had another Master whose strength was above that of a Demon Saint’s! Even if Mo Sheng’s body had been destroyed, his Soul remained. That meant that he had a chance of being resurrected. If such an existence were to return to life, who in the Star Boundary could stand in his way? At this rate, the Star Boundary would be following in the footsteps of the Peerless World to become the next Demon Realm.
A trace of worry flashed across Li Wu Yi’s eyes.
The changes in the Demon Strongholds and their consequent rapid expansion had left the Star Boundary panicking, and now Yang Kai had thrown out such shocking information at a time like this and without any warning whatsoever; all this was very likely to dramatically affect morale.
On second thought, however, the situation had already reached this point, so even if Yang Kai had kept quiet about this, morale would not be any better. At the very least, choosing to tell them meant that they would know who their enemy was. Perhaps, it was out of this consideration that Yang Kai decided to reveal and divulge these secrets now.
“Everyone, you don’t need to worry too much. The Great Demon God might be far stronger than a Demon Saint, but his body has been destroyed. Even if his Soul Clones are causing trouble out in the world, they won’t even have 1% of his original’s strength at his peak; otherwise, they would have shown themselves a long time ago. Why would they need to hide so furtively that nobody knows about their existence?”
If Mo Sheng’s Soul Clone inside the Small Sealed World had not been overconfident about being able to take over Yang Kai’s Small Sealed World, he would not have shown himself either. Then, Yang Kai would not have been able to obtain this information.
Pan Geng Nian said, “Brother Yang, just who in the world was the one who destroyed Mo Sheng’s physical body back then?”
The Great Demon God was powerful, but there was a precedent of him being defeated; hence, they were very curious about the Master who managed to kill him.
Yang Kai glanced at Pan Geng Nian and replied in a pensive voice, “This person’s title is one that you are familiar with. Back then, the one who fought Mo Sheng and destroyed his physical body was Flowing Time Great Emperor!”
The Masters raised their brows and immediately showed a proud look at those words. Mo Sheng’s true strength was above that of a Demon Saint’s, but Flowing Time Great Emperor had successfully destroyed his physical body. Wouldn’t that mean that Flowing Time Great Emperor’s cultivation had reached the same Realm?
Somebody frowningly said, “Brother Yang, you mentioned just now that Mo Sheng’s body was destroyed after that battle while his opponent perished from his wounds. Could it be that…”
Yang Kia nodded affirmatively, “Yes. Flowing Time Great Emperor died at Mo Sheng’s hands.”
There was another round of gasps. Flowing Time Great Emperor was practically a legend in the long history of the Star Boundary. There had been many Great Emperors in the Star Boundary throughout the ages, but not many remained famous to this day. Wu Kuang could be considered one of them, and Flowing Time Great Emperor was definitely another.
Even though everybody knew that the Flowing Time Great Emperor was no longer alive, how he died had remained a mystery. They all thought that he had died in the Flowing Time Temple of old age. It wasn’t until now that they learned that the Flowing Time Great Emperor had actually died in battle.
Li Wu Yi said thoughtfully, “It would seem that the disappearance of the Great Emperors is also related to Mo Sheng.”
At first, he had doubts about how and why the Great Emperors had gone missing without reason. Although the same number of Demon Saints had gone missing, such a large-scale effort could not have been easy to pull off. However, it would not be strange if Mo Sheng was involved in this matter.
Yang Kai nodded, “I was just about to speak about this. I saw the Great Emperors when I went to investigate the nearby Demon Stronghold.”
There was a brief commotion and many people jumped up in shock, some even knocking over their teacups in surprise.
Yang Kai swiftly raised his hand to quiet them before continuing, “It’s not what you think. The Great Emperors are neither in the Star Boundary nor the Demon Realm. Their location is very vague and I only saw a very brief glimpse of them, so I can’t determine their exact location.”
When Yang Kai immersed his Divine Sense into the Demon Stronghold previously, a blurred image had flashed through his mind all of a sudden. He did not know whether it was by chance or intentional; however, that image contained the many figures of the Great Emperors.
“How are the Great Emperors currently?” Li Wu Yi asked. Now that the Star Boundary was in this situation, the only hope for them was if the Great Emperors could return. Simply relying on the strength of the two Dragon Clan Elders left them too vulnerable as they were outnumbered and overwhelmed even though their strength had grown considerably.
Yang Kai shook his head slowly, “Not good. The changes in the Star Boundary are apparently related to them. The Demon Saints seem to be holding them in a strange isolated space which has various Grand Arrays set up all around them. The Demon Saints appear to be refining the Great Emperors’ World’s Will.”
The Demon Race had tried something similar more than 20 years ago. The target of their attempt was none other than the late Bright Moon Great Emperor. Bright Moon Great Emperor had been trapped on Eternal Sky Continent. During that time, the Demon Saints had blood sacrificed all the living creatures on Eternal Sky Continent and even set up the Twelve Pinnacles Grand Demon Array in order to refine Bright Moon. It was all so that the Demon Realm could devour the part of the World’s Will in his body.
If the Demon Saints had succeeded in their attempt back then, then the Star Boundary’s Will would forever lose a piece of itself. The impact that would cause was difficult to imagine. It might cause the Star Boundary’s Heavenly Way to become incomplete, or the World Principles to shatter, or the capacity of the World’s Bottle to shrink. In contrast, there was a chance for a new Demon Saint to be added to the Demon Realm!
It was just that the Demon Race’s attempt at the time ended in failure. In the end, Bright Moon managed to hand over the World’s Will to Yang Kai before he died.
Many years had passed since then and a similar incident was taking place again; moreover, it was on a much larger scale this time. The seven Great Emperors were trapped in that inexplicable space surrounded by Spirit Arrays as though they were being held inside a Refining Furnace and the World’s Will in their bodies were being slowly corrupted at all times.
The Demon Race had secretly put their plans into place several years ago. The only reason they had waited until now to take action was in preparation for the refining process.
The World’s Wills that the Great Emperors had were equivalent to the Star Boundary’s self-protection mechanism. The Demon Land would be unable to expand rapidly without refining those World’s Wills; therefore, the current rate of the Demon Lands’ expansion was practically equivalent to how far the refining of the Great Emperors’ World’s Wills had progressed. Once they were completely refined, then the entire Star Boundary would be at stake.
It was precisely because of this plan that the Demon Saints immediately dragged the Great Emperors into that strange place as soon as the battle between the two Great Worlds broke out a few years ago. The first reason was to prevent the Great Emperors from interfering in the subsequent battles and limit the strength of the Star Boundary. The second reason was to refine the World’s Wills in their bodies and break through the Star Boundary’s defences.
Now that everything was in place, the Star Boundary would be powerless to resist once the Demon Race made their move. Large pieces of land would be devoured and turned into Demon Land.
A solemn atmosphere enveloped the hall. What Yang Kai had said today was a great shock to their minds. Even they had trouble digesting this piece of information.
“How do we stop it?” Someone finally asked.
Yang Kai shook his head slowly in response. Even though the Demon Race’s plans had been revealed, the Star Boundary was still completely powerless to resist. Unless the Great Emperors had a way to escape or stop the refining process, the Star Boundary would fall sooner or later.
“Heaven’s Revelations, Profound Heavens Manifestation…” A soft voice came from a corner of the hall.
Yang Kai lifted his head abruptly and looked in that direction, a strange look in his eyes. The person who spoke turned out to be Gao Zhan, so Yang Kai hurriedly asked, “Brother Gao, where did you hear this from?”
Gao Zhen was somebody Yang Kai did not have much contact with. They only spent a short time together in a Sealed World between the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm more than 20 years ago. He was the Legacy Disciple of Heavens Revelations Great Emperor. Although Gao Zhen’s ability to see the secrets of the Heavens, gaze into the future, and look back into the past was not as great as the Great Emperor, he had received the true inheritance of the Great Emperor.
Back in that Sealed World, Gao Zhen had warned Yang Kai to be careful. Those words were later proven to be not without reason. Yu Ru Meng had pretended to be Li Shi Qing to plant a Soul Secret Technique in Yang Kai. It was only after that that the various entanglements between him and Yu Ru Meng occurred.
Gao Zhan had been staying in High Heaven Palace for the past few years, but he was not recruited into any of the armies because he was the Disciple of Heavens Revelations Great Emperor. Thus, he was a free man. Despite participating in this meeting, he had remained silent all this while; therefore, it was unexpected to hear him speaking those words at this time.
It would have been different if he had said anything else. The key point was that Yang Kai had heard those words recently. Moreover, those words had come from his very own mouth.
He had previously lost consciousness for a moment in the Ancient Wild Lands. According to Su Yan and Luan Feng, he had said those words before fainting, although he himself had no recollection of doing so.
It would now seem that it was some kind of warning from the Star Boundary. This beautiful world that was the Star Boundary had sensed the impending crisis when the Demon Race made their move, and as he received Bright Moon Great Emperor’s legacy and part of the World’s Will, it was only natural that Yang Kai could somewhat observe the movements of the Heavens.
Upon hearing Yang Kai’s question, Gao Zhan solemnly cupped his fists, “Sir, these were the words Honoured Master left with me before his departure. He predicted this revelation several years ago and figured out that the Star Boundary was going to fall into danger. Thus, he told me that I should tell you these words when the time came.”
“Tell me?” Yang Kai frowned deeply. He added in astonishment, “Did the Great Emperor say anything else?”
Gao Zhan shook his head slowly.
Yang Kai’s scowl deepened even more. He had observed a trace of the Heavens’ Revelations while unconscious and subconsciously spoken those ambiguous words out loud. Now, to his surprise, Heaven’s Revelations Great Emperor had already left a message regarding this several years ago.
[Just what is the profound meaning behind these words?]
It was easy to understand what it meant by ‘Heavens’ Revelations’. Now that the Demon Race had all their pieces in place, the Demon Land was expanding rapidly while devouring the Auspicious Spirit Essence of the Star Boundary. With the Star Boundary facing great danger, the situation was changing and the course of the future became unpredictable.
Even so, what did ‘Profound Heavens Manifestation’ mean? From the literal meaning of the words, it sounded like something was going to appear. Unfortunately, the Profound Heavens’ words were too vague for Yang Kai to make sense of even after racking his brains.
Inside the hall, everybody discussed the matter noisily for a bit, but there was nothing they could do in the current situation.
Some suggested launching an all-out attack immediately, dispatching all fifty-five armies to ruthlessly kill the Demon Race in cooperation with the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan. Others suggested that they do nothing at all. They wanted to study the mysteries of the expanding Demon Land in hopes that the Great Emperors might have a way to stop this from happening.
For a time, the hall was filled with noise. Li Wu Yi finally managed to calm everybody down, and then issued a command for all the armies to monitor the situation of the Demon Strongholds closely and prepare for battle at any time.
An hour later, the crowd dispersed; however, Li Wu Yi did not leave.
Yang Kai cupped his fists, “Sir, do you need anything else?”
Li Wu Yi studied Yang Kai deeply, a complicated emotion behind his gaze, which made the latter very confused.
Yang Kai had known Li Wu Yi for a long time now, but he had never seen the latter showing such emotions before. It seemed like there was a trace of regret and envy in that gaze…
“Senior?” He frowned slightly.
Li Wu Yi sighed softly and murmured under his breath, “Heaven’s Revelations, Profound Heavens Manifestation… Who knows if it will be a blessing or a disaster for the Star Boundary?”
Yang Kai’s expression changed, “Sir, do you know something?”
Li Wu Yi did not answer and simply smiled slightly in response, “Come take a walk with me.”
While speaking, Li Wu Yi headed out of the hall with a flash of his figure. Yang Kai pondered for a moment before hurrying to catch up.
They were both proficient in the Dao of Space, so with every flicker of their figures, vast stretches of land flashed beneath their feet and the scenery around them changed constantly.
They flew for an hour without stopping before they arrived somewhere in the wilderness. This place was desolate and uninhabited. Most of the places in the Northern Territory were cold and frozen, and this place was no exception. It was covered in a blanket of snow, and their breaths misted visibly in front of them.
Li Wu Yi stood mid-air with his hands behind his back as he looked up at the sky. Similarly, Yang Kai lifted his head to look. However, all he saw was a blur of white in the sky as goose feather-like snow fell around them.
He did not know why Li Wu Yi had brought him to this place all of a sudden, but the latter obviously had something to tell him. Besides, what Li Wu Yi said just now bothered him greatly. The other party seemed to understand the meaning hidden behind those cryptic words.
“Sir…” Yang Kai called out, intending to get a clearer understanding of the situation.
However, Li Wu Yi suddenly turned around with a chilling expression on his face. The murderous intent radiating from his body was practically palpable. Raising a hand, he struck at Yang Kai without warning.
Yang Kai was caught off-guard by this action. He never imagined that Li Wu Yi would attack him. In all the time that he had known Li Wu Yi, the latter had always been gentle and cordial. Li Wu Yi had never shown him any contempt even when he was still very weak and powerless.
Li Wu Yi was the kind of person that would give anybody the impression of a gentle spring breeze when interacting with him. He was not arrogant despite being recognised as the strongest Master below the Great Emperors. Rather, he had always treated others warmly and amicably.
Moreover, the Star Boundary army had won numerous battles against the Demon Race army under his command over the years. It could even be said that he held most of the credit as to why the Star Boundary managed to persevere until today. There was no telling what kind of situation the Star Boundary would be in right now if not for him.
From Yang Kai’s standpoint, Li Wu Yi was a noble Senior who was willing to teach and guide his Juniors without reserve. He learned a lot from Li Wu Yi through various discussions and exchanges regarding their thoughts and experiences on the Dao of Space. Therefore, a person like Li Wu Yi was both a teacher and a friend to him. Yang Kai held great respect for Li Wu Yi, so he never imagined that Li Wu Yi would try to kill him one day!
The attack that came rushing down at him was extremely terrifying. Space Principles fluctuated violently and it was clear it was no ordinary attack. It was an attack that truly meant to take his life.
Although this attack came without warning, Yang Kai’s reaction was not slow either. He hurriedly raised his palm to counter.
When their palms came into contact, Yang Kai’s expression changed drastically. He could feel the Principles surging at him in an unpredictable manner. Although he was familiar with Space Principles, this attack still gave him an overwhelming feeling.
Li Wu Yi had been immersed in the study of the Dao of Space for a long, long time, so it was not surprising that his control over the Space Principles was superb.
Yang Kai pushed his Demon Qi madly, causing the Space Principles to warp even more madly, literally shaking the world around them. The Heavens and Earth between the pair began to crumble and shatter, piece after piece. Afterwards, there was a loud explosion and Yang Kai was sent flying. His body trembled uncontrollably before he managed to purge the Principle Strength that had invaded his body.
On the other hand, Li Wu Yi only staggered backward by three steps before stabilising his figure once more. This clash of strength clearly indicated who was stronger between them!
“Sir, what is the meaning of this!?” Yang Kai shouted. He did not wish to fight Li Wu Yi, especially in such an unreasonable battle.
“Enough nonsense! Today, either you die or I perish!” Li Wu Yi’s expression was cold, and while speaking, he lunged forward and punched at Yang Kai. A figure in his image was still standing in place, but it was only an afterimage.
Yang Kai brought both hands up in front of him and blocked this attack. His body was blasted over a thousand kilometres backwards and his complexion paled slightly as a result. He shouted through gritted teeth, “Sir, have you been affected by demonification!?”
Li Wu Yi’s sudden change in temperament made him wonder if the other party had accidentally been infected by Demon Essence at some point in time. While speaking, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense surged and wrapped around Li Wu Yi as though to check the latter’s condition.
Li Wu Yi replied solemnly, “Do I look like I’ve undergone demonification?”
The Space Principles around his body fluctuated and cut off Yang Kai’s probing Divine Sense.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai felt a slight pain in his head. The Soul Warming Lotus fortunately came into play to repair his damaged Divine Sense.
On the opposite side, Li Wu Yi raised his hand and pointed a finger at Yang Kai. Intangible Principle Strength transformed into an attack that was visible to the naked eye and shot straight towards Yang Kai’s forehead. If this attack landed, Yang Kai’s head was bound to explode on the spot.
Yang Kai had always known that Li Wu Yi was the strongest beneath the Great Emperors, as well as a pinnacle existence among the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints. Even so, he had never really exchanged blows with the latter before. Therefore, he did not have a clear understanding of what being the strongest meant. It wasn’t until this moment that he properly understood what it was to be second only to the Great Emperors!
This person in front of him was clearly different from all the other Half-Saints and Pseudo-Great Emperors that he fought in the past. The fierce offensive coming at him barely gave him any time to catch his breath. He only managed to barely lift his hand and send out a Moon Blade when the arrow of Principle Strength was almost upon him.
The collision was silent, then the two bursts of Space Principles vanished. He spoke with a serious expression, “Sir, please stop!”
He really did not wish to fight Li Wu Yi at a time when the Star Boundary’s survival was at stake. No matter who won in the end, it would be a loss for the Star Boundary. Besides, he was not confident he could win against Li Wu Yi even if he brought out everything he had. At most, he would only just barely escape alive.
“Bring out everything you have! Otherwise, you will die here today!” Li Wu Yi shouted while clapping both hands together in front of him at the same time. Following that action, Yang Kai immediately felt space tightening around him, as though he was being held in place by an invisible force.
The space surrounding Yang Kai became compressed. Every part of his body was placed under great pressure and creaking sounds rang out from his bones. All this while, he had always used Space Principles to restrain his enemies’ movements. Now that he was facing Li Wu Yi, he finally got a taste of what it was like for those people he had restrained in the past.
The Space Principles that pressed down from all directions were not something he could resist with his physical body alone. If he continued to endure by willpower, he would eventually be squashed into paste.
Giving a furious roar, Space Principles fluctuated above his hands as he slowly pushed them out to the sides, as though he was pushing open a set of invisible doors. Following his movements, a ripple that was visible to the naked eye spread out into the surroundings. The Space Principles pressing down on him immediately eased up considerably.
A trace of appreciation flashed across Li Wu Yi’s eyes before he suddenly flattened his palms that were pressed together and swiped out horizontally at Yang Kai.
In the next moment, Yang Kai saw a Void Crack forming out of nowhere at the spot between his waist and abdomen. It was as though that Void Crack had always existed in that spot and was only just rearing its ugly head at this moment. His expression twitched involuntarily.
[I see. So Space Principles can also be used in this way.]
Before he could fully appreciate Li Wu Yi’s ingenuity, that several-metre-long Void Crack sliced through his skin like an indestructible blade. A stabbing pain came out as even the physique he was so proud of could not withstand an attack like that.
The pressure surrounding him was still in place, causing him to struggle to move. It was too late for him to retreat at this point. Even though his life was at stake, his mind was strangely calm and he was not the slightest bit panicked. Reaching out his hand, he grabbed at the Void Crack.
His large hand transformed into a Dragon Claw when his fist closed in a grip. He was grasping the Void Crack in his hand, causing it to struggle as if it had a life of its own. Exerting more force, Yang Kai’s claw closed tightly and the Void Crack shattered.
He was the only one who could do something like this because he was also proficient in the Dao of Space. How could just anyone grab a Void Crack with their bare hands? It would surely end in tragedy the moment they came into contact with it.
On the other side, the admiring light in Li Wu Yi’s eyes grew stronger when he saw Yang Kai easily dealing with his sure-kill attack. It was just that he concealed his emotions very well, so the depths of his eyes remained as cold as ever. He looked like he would not stop until he killed Yang Kai on the spot. His palms that were placed flat against each other suddenly pulled apart. He slowly moved his palms in a spinning motion, rotating his hands against each other…
Yang Kai’s expression changed drastically. He felt as though the space he was standing in had undergone Earth-shaking changes. The space around his upper body turned in a clockwise direction while the space around his lower body turned in an anti-clockwise direction. The spinning motion was slow but firm and unyielding. As a result, the space he was standing in became disjointed.
His body was twisted into a very strange posture in an instant. Both his upper body and his lower body were twisted in opposing directions and a painful creaking sound rang out from all his bones.
Feeling greatly horrified, he pushed his Space Principles madly once more to restore the chaos to order. Creaking sounds rang out incessantly. Concurrently, the Void within a radius of a thousand metres centred around Yang Kai became frayed as countless tiny cracks flashed and disappeared erratically.
Li Wu Yi’s expression became solemn. His slowly spinning palms seemed to face some kind of resistance and their speed of rotation became slower and slower until it finally came to a stop.
When a furious howl sounded, space shattered and Yang Kai’s body, which was twisted strangely, returned to normal. At the same time, Li Wu Yi clapped his palms together again.
“Sir, take this!” After receiving multiple fierce attacks from Li Wu Yi, Yang Kai no longer held back. He had lost his temper. It didn’t matter why Li Wu Yi was doing this; he could not stand to allow himself to passively receive these attacks forever.
The best way to deal with the strongest Master beneath the Great Emperors who, like himself, was also proficient in the Dao of Space was to go on the offence, not passively try to escape. There was no point in trying to escape from Li Wu Yi and simply defending would only hasten his death and defeat. Only by attacking could he stand a chance of victory!
Flicking his ten fingers one after the other, pitch-black Moon Blades flew out towards Li Wu Yi with the last one being much larger and containing an extremely horrifying power.
Despite facing the overwhelming attack, Li Wu Yi’s expression remained calm. He simply raised his hand and gave a light wave in front of him. His actions were elegant, almost as if he was sweeping dust away, but the power of the Space Principles was instantly flattened. The Moon Blades didn’t even manage to approach Li Wu Yi before dissipating into nothing. Only the last and largest Moon Blade carried on; however, even that was deflected to the side, brushed past his body, and flew away.
“Your Moon Blades are useless against me!” Li Wu Yi glanced at Yang Kai and spoke in a calm tone. He had discussed the Dao of Space on numerous occasions with Yang Kai; hence, he was familiar with the latter’s Moon Blades. What’s more, it was not his first time seeing Yang Kai using this move.
Unaffected by those words, Yang Kai threw a punch, “If the Moon Blades won’t work, then what about this!?”
While Yang Kai was speaking, a black ball suddenly appeared in front of Li Wu Yi. The aura of chaos and nothingness fluctuated within the black ball, similar to the aura of a Void Crack.
Li Wu Yi raised his brow at the sight. He could clearly sense that this attack was much stronger than the previous Moon Blades; thus, his desire to learn the secret behind it was stimulated. To his surprise, the Divine Sense he released to examine it was devoured by the black ball.
In the next moment, the black ball shrank abruptly and turned into a small black point. The surrounding space collapsed inwards at that moment and Li Wu Yi was hit by the brunt of the attack. He had a hard time fending off the collapsing force and his entire body consequently twisted and rushed towards the rapidly shrinking black spot.
There was a loud whooshing sound as the black spot vanished with a flash. The collapsing world disappeared too. When everything calmed down, there was a large circular crater on the previously flat ground that was the size of several thousand metres wide.
Meanwhile, Li Wu Yi remained standing in his original position, the Space Principles around his body pulsing strongly. He had managed to defend against that horrifying power at the last moment and his distorted figure returned to normal when the black spot vanished.
He finally let out a sliver of a smile and commented, “Although it’s not bad, it’s not enough!”
By the time the last word left his mouth, he had already arrived in front of Yang Kai and thrust out with his palm.
Yang Kai’s figure abruptly retreated and flashed straight into the Void, leaving an afterimage in place.
As Yang Kai’s afterimage scattered into nothing, Li Wu Yi stepped forward and chased after him.
Two figures appeared one after the other above that vast, empty plain, mysteriously appearing and disappearing again without any discernible pattern. If anybody else were to witness this sight, they would think that there was something wrong with their eyes. The erratically flickering figures were extremely elusive. They might be here one moment only to appear a thousand kilometres away the next.
During their clash, their positions kept interchanging with each other. It was no longer possible to determine just who was chasing and who was being chased. What bystanders could not see were the countless manoeuvres and numerous confrontations that happened inside the Void…
At a certain moment, there were two whooshing sounds accompanied by the shift of both Li Wu Yi and Yang Kai’s figures, turning from illusory images to solid matter. They appeared together, standing in their original starting position with the original distance between them. It was almost as if they had not moved at all.
Looking at each other, Yang Kai furrowed his brow tightly. On the other hand, Li Wu Yi smiled with a hint of relief in his eyes, the previous coldness and murderous intent from before nowhere to be seen.
Yang Kai licked his somewhat dry lips and asked, “Sir, what is the meaning of this?”
At the very beginning, Li Wu Yi had truly released a terrifying murderous intent as though he wanted to kill Yang Kai on the spot; however, after fighting the other party, Yang Kai soon realised that the battle had many elements to it that were much closer to a test than a fight. The intense murderous intent was only to force him to go all out.
Moreover, Li Wu Yi only used Space Principles from start to finish. As strong as he was, how could he not have any powerful Secret Techniques or artifacts on hand? If he really wanted to kill Yang Kai, he would surely use everything at his disposal.
There was only one thing Yang Kai could not understand. [Why is he testing me at this time? If there’s something going on, why can’t he just tell me about it properly?]
Li Wu Yi smilingly said, “Heaven’s Revelations, Profound Heavens Manifestation! The battle of the Grand Dao is upon us!”
Yang Kai blinked, then his expression froze slightly before he exclaimed, “Sir, do you mean…”
Li Wu Yi nodded, “It’s exactly what you are thinking.”
Seeing Li Wu Yi’s affirmation made all the blood in Yang Kai’s body boil. He couldn’t stop his mouth from going dry. Suppressing the excitement in his heart, he asked, “Is the Grand Dao battle related to those words?”
Li Wu Yi chuckled, “The place where the battle for the Grand Dao will take place is precisely the Profound Heavens Temple.”
“Profound Heavens Temple?” Yang Kai glanced at Li Wu Yi in surprise, “Where is that?”
“I have no idea. I’ve only heard of it myself.” Li Wu Yi frowned.
It seemed like there was no way to ascertain just what the Profound Heavens Temple was. Still, since it was called the Profound Heavens Temple, it had to be some sort of mysterious place.
When Yang Kai had been trying to guess what those words meant before, the words ‘Profound Heavens’ had completely baffled him. It wasn’t until Li Wu Yi explained it to him that he finally understood what it meant. [‘Profound Heavens’ was probably referring to the Profound Heavens Temple.]
Seeing as both he and Heavens Revelations Great Emperor had received insight into the movements of the Heavens and spoke these words as a result, it had to be an indicator that the Profound Heavens Temple was about to appear.
Li Wu Yi stood with his hands behind his back and leisurely explained, “The Profound Heavens Temple opened up a hundred years after the Great Emperor War in the Shattered Star Sea. All those qualified in the Star Boundary had entered the Profound Heavens Temple to seek their own opportunities and compete for the Grand Dao. The opening of the Profound Heavens Temple at that time saw the rise of Senior Martial Beast, Senior Bright Moon, Senior Ice Feather, Senior Flower Shadow, and Can Ye. They all broke through the final barrier to become Great Emperors.” He paused for a moment and smiled, “Do you know why there are five of them?”
Yang Kai pensively replied, “Because five Great Emperors died in the Great Emperor War?”
The Great Emperor War in the Shattered Star Sea was the battle where all the Great Emperors in the Star Boundary had besieged Wu Kuang. In that battle, Wu Kuang had fought against nine other Great Emperors who were working together with his strength alone. Although he was ultimately defeated, Wu Kuang managed to kill Cyan Lotus Great Emperor, Yuan Ding Great Emperor, Martial Flame Great Emperor, and Azure Sea Great Emperor before his death by relying on the Heaven-defying might of his Heaven Devouring Battle Law.
That unprecedented battle had shaken the Heavens and the Earth. There had never been a more intense battle in the long history of the Star Boundary.
The Mountains and Rivers Bell that was currently in Yang Kai’s possession used to be the natal artifact of Yuan Ding Great Emperor. Meanwhile, the Phoenix True Fire that Liu Yan obtained was the legacy of Martial Flame Great Emperor.
During the Great Emperor War in the Shattered Star Sea, Wu Kuang had killed four Great Emperors while he himself was torn to pieces in the battle. Although his Soul had escaped to hide deep within the Shattered Star Sea, as far as the Star Boundary was concerned, half of the ten Great Emperors had lost their lives in that battle, leaving exactly five behind.
The capacity of the World’s Bottle was limited. The Demon Realm’s limit was twelve while the Star Boundary’s limit was ten. For that reason, only five would have a chance to rise even though there were many competitors who were qualified to become Great Emperors when the Profound Heavens Temple opened at the time.
Li Wu Yi smiled and nodded, “That’s right. Five Great Emperors died in the Shattered Star Sea, so it was reasonable that another five were born in the Profound Heavens Temple at that time. And now, the Profound Heavens Temple is going to open again soon. Unfortunately, the situation this time will be unlike last time. There won’t be as many Great Emperors being born again. I’m afraid… only one will be born.”
Yang Kai understood immediately. Among the ten Great Emperors of the Star Boundary, Bustling World Great Emperor was missing while Night Shadow Great Emperor had defected to the Demon Realm. Nevertheless, they were still alive. Only Bright Moon Great Emperor had lost his life, so only one space had been freed up in the World’s Bottle. Even if the Profound Heavens Temple opened and the day of the Grand Dao battle grew closer, only one person would succeed in becoming a Great Emperor in the end. So, the competition was going to be extremely fierce!
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Yang Kai understood what Li Wu Yi meant previously. The Star Boundary was at a critical juncture where its survival was at stake. If the Profound Heavens Temple were to open, there was no saying whether it would be a blessing or a curse for the Star Boundary.
If somebody could finally obtain the only opportunity and fill in the missing spot among the Star Boundary’s Ten Great Emperors, it would be very beneficial for the overall situation in the Star Boundary. At present, the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan were already capable of fending off the three Demon Saints if they joined forces. If another Great Emperor was added to the mix, then that person would be equivalent to an unrivalled existence. Unfortunately, there would be a bloody and cruel war before anybody could become a Great Emperor.
There weren’t many Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary, but their numbers were not that few either. Who would not strive to reach the peak of the Martial Dao? Who would not be tempted by such a great opportunity in front of them? If everybody was tempted by the opportunity and joined the Grand Dao battle at the Profound Heavens Temple, then what would happen to the fifty-five armies of the Star Boundary? Without these Pseudo-Great Emperors, the Demon Race army would obliterate the Star Boundary army in an instant.
Participating in the Grand Dao battle at the Profound Heavens Temple would surely lead to internal conflict. That was something the Star Boundary could not afford at present. For the sake of the Star Boundary’s survival, the Army Commanders and the Pseudo-Great Emperors had been willing to obey Li Wu Yi’s commands, lead the armies into battle, and kill their enemies. But, how effective would Li Wu Yi’s commands be when it came to their own opportunities and lifelong cultivation goals?
Besides, Li Wu Yi would never order the Pseudo-Great Emperors to not participate in the Grand Dao battle. He could not bring himself to hinder a person’s Martial Dao journey.
Thinking about it further, Yang Kai quickly understood the reason for Li Wu Yi’s gloomy mood. The timing of the Profound Heavens Temple’s opening was more than a little awkward, leaving them in an extremely passive situation.
The enthusiasm and excitement from before cooled as though he had been doused in cold water, and after a short period of silence, Yang Kai asked, “Sir, can we be sure that the Profound Heavens Temple will be opening?”
If all of this turned out to be a misunderstanding, then their current concerns were completely meaningless.
Li Wu Yi sighed softly, “From what I know, there has never been a precedent where Senior Heavens Revelations had made a mistake in his predictions. Since he left that message so many years ago, that must mean the Profound Heavens Temple will definitely reappear in this world.”
He paused before continuing, “Leaving aside Senior Heavens Revelations’ observances, it is only natural that the Profound Heavens Temple will open soon given the Star Boundary’s current situation. Since you carry the World’s Will in you, you can obviously sense it more acutely than others. The Star Boundary might be a world, but it is not dead.”
Yang Kai nodded solemnly. It wasn’t to say that the Star Boundary was a sentient, living creature, but rather that it was alive.
“Even ordinary birds and beasts have a self-defence mechanism to protect themselves when their lives are threatened, so what more need be said about an entire world? Now that the Star Boundary’s survival is at stake, it is defending itself by urgently creating another Great Emperor to fight the invading enemies.”
Yang Kai nodded again, “I understand what you mean, Sir.”
“So, the Profound Heavens Temple is bound to open. Moreover, it will happen soon. The only thing is that nobody can be certain when it will start showing signs.” Li Wu Yi sighed again. In all the years that they had known each other, Yang Kai had practically never heard him sighing. However, it seemed to be happening rather frequently today, “Although very few know about the existence of the Profound Heavens Temple, it is not a secret either. Many Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary are aware of this.”
Yang Kai’s expression changed, “If that’s the case, why did everybody react that way back in the…” At this point, he suddenly understood and smiled wryly, “So that’s how it is.”
After Gao Zhan spoke those words back in the hall just now, the Pseudo-Great Emperors present had not shown any particular reaction; therefore, Yang Kai had assumed that they were unaware of the meaning behind those words. Now, however, it would seem that while a large number of people had not known what those words represented, there were definitely some who did. Keeping silent despite understanding the meaning behind those words could only mean that they had their own plans.
The Profound Heavens Temple had yet to reveal any signs of itself; even so, just one sentence from Heavens Revelations Great Emperor was enough to make the Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary, who had been through thick and thin together all this while, begin to have different agendas. It was easy to imagine how great an impact this news would be on the current situation once word got out completely.
As the Supreme Commander of the fifty-five Star Boundary armies, Li Wu Yi had to be under unimaginable pressure right now. Figuring out how to mitigate the impact of the Profound Heavens Temple’s opening would most likely be his biggest headache in the coming days.
Yang Kai exhaled softly, “Sir, if it can help to lessen your worries, I am willing to help share your burdens by commanding the Star Boundary’s armies in your stead!”
“You?” Li Wu Yi turned to look at Yang Kai and chuckled, “You are already a well-known arm-flinging shopkeeper with the Sixty-First Army, pushing all your management responsibilities onto Yao Si. If you were put in command of all fifty-five armies, it won’t take longer than three months before the Demon Race wipes us out.”
Yang Kai was naturally unconvinced, “Sir, don’t you think you’re looking down on me a little too much? How do you know I’m incompetent without even giving me a chance? There’s probably still some time until the Profound Heavens Temple opens. Why don’t you let me try? We can think of a different solution if it really doesn’t work out.”
Li Wu Yi said, “Let you try doing what? What am I supposed to do in the meantime if I give you a chance to try?”
Yang Kai was confused by this response and asked the obvious question, “Sir, do you not plan to compete for the Grand Dao?”
It was precisely for this reason that Yang Kai proposed this idea. It was not as if he had nothing better to do than to seize power from Li Wu Yi and take over command of the fifty-five armies. Just as Li Wu Yi had said, he was an arm-flinging shopkeeper with the Sixty-First Army. In fact, the whole reason he even made Yao Si his Adjutant was because he was afraid of being tied down by troublesome matters.
If the Profound Heavens Temple opened, it was certain that Li Wu Yi would enter, given his level of strength. Moreover, he was the strongest Master beneath the Great Emperors and was definitely the best candidate to compete for the one and only empty spot. The situation in the Star Boundary might change for the better if he became a Great Emperor.
Contrary to Yang Kai’s expectations, however, Li Wu Yi slowly shook his head and declared, “I won’t go. I can’t go.”
Yang Kai looked shocked, but before he could say anything, Li Wu Yi raised a hand to interrupt him and solemnly added, “The army will panic if I leave. It will be over for the Star Boundary if that happens, so… Regardless of whether everybody else goes, I absolutely cannot.”
Yang Kai wanted to persuade him otherwise, but upon seeing the solemn expression on Li Wu Yi’s face, he knew that it was useless to say anything.
Just as Li Wu Yi himself had said, he was the Supreme Commander of the Star Boundary’s armies. If he left, the army would literally be without a leader. All the armies that had finally united would collapse again. Who could soothe the hearts of the people when that happened? More importantly, if Li Wu Yi set such a precedent, then the other Pseudo-Great Emperors with some scruples would also head towards the Profound Heavens Temple without reserve.
Thus, Yang Kai sighed bitterly, “Sir is indeed righteous. I hope everyone will one day understand how great your sacrifice today is.”
He deeply understood what kind of resolution Li Wu Yi needed to come to this decision.
Li Wu Yi had spent a lifetime cultivating just for this day, but now that the opportunity was in front of him, he had to harden his heart and abandon it without even trying. That was equivalent to giving up on the possibility of further progress in his cultivation. It was probably more painful for him than dying.
The Profound Heavens Temple was not an ordinary place. Its opening was entirely dependent on whether a Great Emperor fell. The last time the Profound Heavens Temple had opened was more than twenty thousand years ago. If Li Wu Yi missed this opportunity, he might have to wait tens of thousands more years, or even longer for the next one.
There was no saying whether he could even live that long. Even if he could, there was a high probability that he would no longer have the same vigour and vitality to engage in such an intense competition. Therefore, giving up on this opportunity was equivalent to giving up on the goal that he had been chasing all his life and the possibility of improving himself in the Martial Dao. How large a sacrifice was that? How noble was that? And, what had prompted him to make this decision was the current turbulent world and the hundreds of millions of living creatures struggling to survive within that world?
Yang Kai was in awe of that resolve.
Li Wu Yi chuckled lightly, “It doesn’t matter whether the others understand. It’s enough if you understand.”
Yang Kai clenched his fists tightly and quickly said, “This Junior understands…”
Li Wu Yi nodded, “It’s good if you understand. You better prepare yourself well during this period. Don’t do anything else; just wait for the Profound Heavens Temple to open!”
Yang Kai looked up with a puzzled expression and saw Li Wu Yi smiling at him, “You need to go to the Profound Heavens Temple and seize that one and only opportunity!”
“Me?” Yang Kai pointed to himself. If he had to be honest, it wasn’t as if he had not thought about it when Li Wu Yi first mentioned the Profound Heavens Temple and the Grand Dao battle. It was just that he was only a High-Rank Demon King, equivalent to a Third-Order Emperor. He had yet to even reach the Pseudo-Great Emperor Realm, so how could he have the qualifications to enter? Hence, he quickly rejected the thought after it came up.
Who could have known that Li Wu Yi would suggest it instead?
“Don’t look down on yourself. You carry Senior Bright Moon’s legacy with you. Anybody else with your level of strength would not have the qualifications to enter the Profound Heavens Temple; however, you have the World’s Will in your body, so the Profound Heavens Temple will not reject you. It can even be said that the World’s Will in your body will be your greatest advantage when competing for this opportunity. Your cultivation might be lacking, but your chance of success is higher than anybody else.”
He paused, then looked at Yang Kai with a smile, “Besides, are you willing to watch as this opportunity passes you by? Or, are you hoping to wait until the next time the Profound Heavens Temple opens?”
Yang Kai blurted out, “Of course not.”
Li Wu Yi said in satisfaction, “Since that is not the case, then go ahead and do it without inhibitions. The ultimate power lies in the Dao. At first, I was quite worried about you. No matter how excellent you are, your low cultivation is your greatest shortcoming. But, after testing you just now, I discovered that your achievements in the Dao of Space are no less than mine. With this ability, it’s enough for you to join the competition.”
The reason he suddenly brought Yang Kai over for a test was to see how deep Yang Kai’s achievements were in the Dao of Space. Otherwise, he would not have used only Space Principles in that battle just now. He would have used everything in his arsenal instead.
The results of the test left him feeling both relieved and astonished. Putting aside the fact that Yang Kai’s strength had grown to become comparable with that of a Pseudo-Great Emperor or a Half-Saint, just Yang Kai’s achievements in the Dao of Space alone did not lose to him in any way. That was also the biggest reason why he gave up on entering the Profound Heavens Temple. Since Yang Kai had the ability, then letting Yang Kai enter the Profound Heavens Temple would not result in a performance that was any worse than if he went himself.
“There is one thing you need to pay attention to!” Li Wu Yi’s expression turned stern, “After you enter the Profound Heavens Temple, you will most likely become the enemy of most people!”
Yang Kai raised his eyebrows, “Because of the World’s Will?”
Li Wu Yi nodded, “That’s right. The World’s Will you inherited from Senior Bright Moon will certainly give you a lot of advantages in the upcoming Grand Dao battle, but it will also put you in all sorts of dangerous situations. There will definitely be people who will try to harm you. Moreover, these people won’t just include the Demon Race Half-Saints but also the Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Star Boundary!”
Yang Kai’s expression froze, “The Half-Saints can also enter the Profound Heavens Temple?”
Li Wu Yi burst out laughing, “Who said they can’t? Can Ye is the best example. If he can become a Great Emperor, then so can the Demon Race Half-Saints. This world might have a self-defence mechanism that opens up the Profound Heavens Temple at a time of crisis, but anybody can snatch that opportunity. It doesn’t care. The Heavenly Way is merciful in that it gives us a chance to turn the situation around, but at the same time, the Heavenly Way is cruel in that it gives the invading Demon Race the same opportunity. It’s all up to us whether we can take hold of the opportunity given to us.”
Yang Kai exhaled gently and smiled bitterly, “I get it now. In other words, if I enter the Profound Heavens Temple and participate in the Grand Dao battle, it will be like throwing a piece of meat to a pack of hungry wolves.”
Li Wu Yi smiled, “Although not quite accurate, that’s the general gist of it.”
“That’s really quite… exciting.” Yang Kai grinned. Although he was smiling, the scorching gaze in his eyes looked like blazing flames.
There had never been such a precedent before. It had always been the Pseudo-Great Emperors who participated in the Grand Dao battle and won their own opportunities that would receive the World’s Recognition, obtain the World’s Will, and become the World’s Representative!
In contrast, Yang Kai’s current situation was unique throughout the ages. There was nothing that could be done about this though. Bright Moon Great Emperor had died at his hands on Eternal Sky Continent. The World’s Will in the Great Emperor’s body had no other choice and was automatically transferred to him as a result. That was why he received the World’s Recognition before he even became a Great Emperor. This was the advantage he obtained in the Grand Dao battle, but while it might allow him to observe the Heaven’s Revelation more clearly and effectively bring him closer to his end goal, it also brought various disasters his way.
In the past, there might have been some who were envious of the Great Emperor’s legacy in Yang Kai’s possession; even so, they stopped at merely feeling envious. Unfortunately, it was possible that their envy would evolve into action the moment he entered the Profound Heavens Temple. Furthermore, if somebody wanted to snatch the World’s Will, they would have to kill Yang Kai with their own hands.
Li Wu Yi slapped Yang Kai on the shoulder, “Rest assured. You won’t be fighting alone. I will arrange for someone to assist you when the time comes.”
Yang Kai cupped his fists, “Many thanks, Sir.”
“You shouldn’t go around as you please for the time being, lest you give somebody the chance to harm you. Return to High Heaven Palace and enter retreat. I will let you know when the Profound Heavens Temple opens.”
Yang Kai smiled, “Sir, why ask me to hide if you want me to participate in the Grand Dao battle? I can hide before the Profound Heavens Temple, but what about after it opens?”
Li Wu Yi was taken aback for a moment, then he burst out laughing, “You’re right. I was overthinking things. Good, do whatever you want, just be careful of all the people who approach you in the near future.”
“I understand.” Yang Kai grinned, “If somebody with malicious intentions approaches me, I will not hold back.” After pondering for a moment, he added, “But, Sir, what do I need to do once I enter the Profound Heavens Temple? What am I supposed to snatch?”
Li Wu Yi shook his head slowly, “I don’t know. All I know is that the key to becoming a Great Emperor is hidden within the Profound Heavens Temple. As for what is inside the Profound Heavens Temple… I’m afraid there is nobody in the Star Boundary at the moment who knows.” He frowned, “Maybe, you can try asking the two Dragon Clan Elders. They have lived longer than any of us, so they should have some knowledge about the situation.”
“I will ask them if I get the chance.” Yang Kai nodded. Then, he seemed to recall something and asked, “By the way, Sir, there’s something I need to ask of you.”
“Speak.” Li Wu Yi nodded.
“I don’t know how long I will spend inside the Profound Heavens Temple once it opens; however, there have been some unusual movements at the Blood Gate in the Eastern Territory’s Ancient Wild Lands. I suspect that the Heaven’s Order Palace will open soon…”
“The Heaven’s Order Palace?” Li Wu Yi raised his brow at the news.
“Sir, please keep an eye on the situation there. If the Heaven’s Order Palace opens, please ask the young woman who comes out not to worry. I will visit her the moment I get back.”
Li Wu Yi nodded, “En.”
Half a day had passed by the time Yang Kai returned to High Heaven Palace again. He did not know whether it was because he was aware of certain things now, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a gaze lingering upon him when he returned. It made him sneer in his heart. [It looks like Li Wu Yi’s worries are not without reason. Something unusual is already happening just half a day after those words were revealed. The situation will surely become even more serious if the news spreads widely.]
Giving a small sigh, Yang Kai mused, [I’m afraid the Star Boundary is going to face a great turmoil in the near future. This is undoubtedly an unbearable disaster for an already turbulent world.]
It was eerie how the war between the two Great Worlds eased up during this period.
For the Star Boundary, it might be because news about the imminent opening of the Profound Heavens Temple had secretly been leaked. It might also be that Li Wu Yi was observing the situation, so all the armies were not taking aggressive action. On the other hand, the Demon Race was more than happy to delay. The 108 Demon Strongholds were rapidly expanding outward at all times, eroding away at the Star Boundary. All they needed to do was wait. Once the Star Boundary was completely transformed into Demon Land, it would be simple for them to take over.
Therefore, there were no conflicts between the two Races recently. According to the information from various sources, the erosion of the Demon Strongholds everywhere had even accelerated. Combined with Yang Kai’s explanation previously, everybody could tell that the state of the Great Emperors who were trapped in that mysterious space was only getting worse. Once the World’s Will in their bodies were completely corrupted, the entire Star Boundary would be powerless to resist.
Approximately 10 days later, Yang Kai received a secret letter. The letter was delivered through one of High Heaven Palace’s disciples. There was no name and not even the slightest trace of aura on the letter. There was no way to determine the sender either. Moreover, not much was written in the letter, only the name of a specific place. That place was located within the Northern Territory and was not far from High Heaven Palace, only about five thousand kilometres away.
Holding the letter, Yang Kai sneered lightly. [Are they finally running out of patience? Are they planning to attack me before the Profound Heavens Temple even shows signs of opening? I’m curious to see just who is so eager!]
He tightened his fist and the secret letter turned to dust.
……
The moon was high in the sky when Yang Kai climbed out of bed without a sound. There were several tender bodies lying across the bed, their curves fully on display as their snow-white skin was exposed to the gentle moonlight. Furthermore, the room was filled with an amorous scent.
Yang Kai could not be certain that he would return alive since he was going to participate in the Grand Dao battle and compete against numerous Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saint for the Great Emperor opportunity. This time around, his only choice was to succeed. He could not afford to lose, so there was no room for him to shrink back in fear. In the past, he had the option of escaping if he ever encountered an enemy beyond his ability to deal with. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to forge forward bravely this time around.
However, he did not inform Su Yan and the others about this matter. Telling them about this would only cause them to worry. All he could do was give them the most precious memories during this period before his departure.
A small hand gently grabbed his finger at that moment. He turned to look in that direction and saw Xia Ning Chang holding him lightly with a blush on her face.
Yang Kai smiled, leaned down, and kissed her on the forehead, “Rest.”
She responded obediently and closed her eyes.
Afterwards, he pushed the door open and left.
Following the soft sound of the door closing, Shan Qing Luo sat up abruptly. Her long hair draped down her front and covered her ample peaks as she snarled through gritted teeth, “Sneaking out in the middle of the night, he must be having a secret rendezvous with some bitch!”
She kicked Xue Yue, who was lying next to her, “Stop pretending to sleep! Our husband is about to be stolen away!”
Xue Yue buried her head under the pillow and her muffled voice came out, “Why don’t you follow him then, Luo’er? You can tell us who he is meeting when you return, and we sisters can join forces to expel her.”
Shan Qing Luo pouted, “I refuse! If anything, Elder Sister and Big Sister Zhu Qing should go!”
While speaking, she turned her gaze towards Su Yan and Zhu Qing.
Zhu Qing lowered her head, fumbling around the bed. She soon found her undergarments and got dressed, blushing furiously without making a single sound…
Su Yan simply pursed her lips and smiled, however, reaching out a hand as she pulled Shan Qing Luo to lie down in her embrace, “Don’t be so nosy. Husband knows his boundaries. Have a good rest. Aren’t you tired?”
Shan Qing Luo widened her eyes, her lashes fluttering slightly, “Elder Sister, I noticed that you’re too lenient with him…”
Seeming to discover something amazing, she reached out, grabbed Su Yan’s twins and exclaimed, “Elder Sister, have you gotten bigger?”
*Pa…* Su Yan slapped Shan Qing Luo’s naughty claws away and chided, “Stop it.”
“En,” Shan Qing Luo responded obediently, found a comfortable spot in Su Yan’s arms, and closed her beautiful eyes. She didn’t sleep quietly for long, however, as her small hand began secretly climbing the nearby mountains. Seeing that Su Yan did not stop her, she let out a small, happy smile.
Strong Wind City was a small city in the Northern Territory. It was comparable in size to Maplewood City before the latter’s great expansion. If Yang Kai had not run around the entire Northern Territory some years ago, he would not have even known where Strong Wind City was located.
With his current speed, it took him less than a quarter-hour to travel 5,000 kilometres and arrive at his destination even at a leisurely pace. He looked around and let out a soft sigh. There were many places like Strong Wind City in the Star Boundary nowadays. The small city was dilapidated. Everywhere he looked was a mess. Although the Demon Race army had not reached this place, the residents of the city had long since escaped; thus, the city that could not be called prosperous fell into greater derelict.
This was just a single example representing countless places across the Star Boundary. The flames of war between the two worlds had spread far and wide. Once this war was over, who knew how long it would take for the world to recover even if the Star Boundary was victorious? It might take several thousand years, several tens of thousands of years, or even longer… But, as long as the possibility of recovery existed, it was enough to make all the people in the Star Boundary give their lives to prevent the Demon Race’s victory.
Above the city wall, Yang Kai stood with his hands behind his back and raised his head to look at the sky. The moonlight could not shine through the dense layer of dark clouds that covered the sky and grinned. [It’s a dark and windy night; the perfect time for murder.]
Rustling sounds came from behind him at that moment, so he turned around to look with an expression of surprise. He could not believe that the person who invited him here was revealing themselves so openly. That person did not seem to have any intention of concealing their presence.
[Could it be that I was mistaken?] He frowned slightly after getting a clear glimpse of that person’s face.
“I was afraid you might not come, but it seems I underestimated your courage. Why are you recklessly running around outside at a time like this? What would you have done if I had invited three or four powerful helpers here and set up a trap in this place?” A melodious voice rang out, one that was clear and pleasant. Not far away, a beautiful figure appeared, landing about 15 metres in front of him, a smile on her face. A faint fragrance in the wind blew towards him, mesmerising him.
This distance was definitely an extremely dangerous distance for the person who just arrived. Proficient as he was in the Space Principles, Yang Kai could land a fatal blow in the blink of an eye and she would not be able to avoid no matter how strong she was.
“Senior Sheng!” Yang Kai exclaimed in surprise, “That secret letter… Was it from you?”
Standing in front of him was Sheng Yu Zhu of Luo Sha Sect! She was the person he rescued from the Void Crack, a Pseudo-Great Emperor who lived for several tens of thousands of years and once experienced the Grand Dao battle in the past!
Strictly speaking, the Grand Dao battle she experienced was the one before the last Grand Dao battle. She was somebody from the same era as Wu Kuang after all. When he first rescued her from the Void Crack, he had wanted to verify her identity; however, she had casually brought up the names of Wu Kuang, Yao Jun, Chu Tian Ji, Duan Hong Chen, and Zhan Wu Hen…
Before that incident, he would not have dared to believe that a person could survive in a Void Crack for so long; furthermore, she claimed that she fell into the Void Crack because she had been set up by Wu Kuang.
Back then, her true strength had been on par with Wu Kuang and they both had the potential to become a Great Emperor. In order to reduce the competition by one, Wu Kuang had tricked her into the Void Crack before the arrival of that Grand Dao battle. She had been stuck there until Yang Kai found her; therefore, she had failed to participate in the Grand Dao battle even though she experienced it once before. It could be said that she had perfectly missed everything.
Many years ago, Yang Kai had rescued her from the Void Crack in the Luo Sha Sect, but they had rarely been in contact with each other after that.
When the Two Worlds Great War broke out later, he had thought about her and tried to inquire about information on Luo Sha Sect since he still held the title of Luo Sha Sect’s High-Rank Guest Elder. After asking around, however, he learned that Luo Sha Sect had vanished without a trace more than 20 years ago. A swift calculation indicated that the timing was a few years after he rescued her from her predicament. The entire Luo Sha Sect, along with Sheng Yu Zhu, had been missing ever since then. It wasn’t until today that they finally met again.
Upon learning that it was Sheng Yu Zhu who was looking for him, Yang Kai immediately realised that he had over-thought things. She clearly had no malicious intentions towards him since she had revealed herself so openly and even spoke about such things to him. Besides, it wasn’t as if he had not asked around about her after he rescued her.
There was once when Yang Kai mentioned her name to Zhan Wu Hen, and the latter had been quite astonished when he learned that she was still alive. Tens of thousands of years had passed, so not many of his old acquaintances from back then still remained in this world. Only a few old friends were still alive. Therefore, he smiled after learning that she was alive even though they were not very well-acquainted. He only had one thing to say about her, “She is a good person!”
Since Zhan Wu Hen had said as much, then that was enough proof about what kind of person Sheng Yu Zhu was.
“If not me, who did you think sent that letter?” Sheng Yu Zhu tilted her head and looked at Yang Kai with a bright smile. If he did not consider the fact that she had lived for more than tens of thousands of years, he would have thought that she was no more than 28 years old just by looking at her appearance and mannerisms.
[Old Monster!] He slandered in his heart. On the surface, however, he smiled and said, “It’s precisely because I didn’t know who sent the letter that I came to have a look.” He paused and continued, “It seems that you know something, Senior. Am I right?”
If not, she would not have mentioned his boldness.
She glanced at him in astonishment, “If you can ask me that question, then it means that you also know something! Good! That saves me the effort of explaining.”
“How did you know, Senior?” He was puzzled. The news shouldn’t have spread so quickly.
She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and pursed her lips into a smile, “Did you forget what I told you before? I experienced something similar before, so I’m very sensitive to the changes in the World Energy. I can sense that that thing is going to appear soon.”
“Do you mean the Profound Heavens Temple?” His expression stiffened. First, he experienced an insight into the Heavens’ Revelations. Then, the message from Heavens Revelations Great Emperor, and now, what Shen Yu Zhu just mentioned. It would seem that there was no doubt the Profound Heavens Temple was going to open soon.
“Indeed!” She nodded. She didn’t seem surprised by the fact that he knew about the existence of the Profound Heavens Temple. It might be a secret, but it was not as if nobody knew about it. The Pseudo-Great Emperors who stayed by the Great Emperors’ sides all this time would surely have heard about this matter from them. That was also how Li Wu Yi learned about the existence of the Profound Heavens Temple.
She stared at him steadily, “Seeing as you know so much, does that mean that you are planning to enter?”
He gave a nod.
“As expected…” She showed an expression of understanding, “I knew you would enter.”
Although she had led Luo Sha Sect into seclusion for all these years, it wasn’t as if she was completely unaware of the matters in the outside world. In particular, she had put effort into inquiring about information on Yang Kai.
He smiled, “How can I miss out on such an auspicious matter? But, Senior, do you know when the Profound Heavens Temple will open?”
If she knew the approximate time, then it would give him an even greater advantage.
“Within the month,” she replied, “The last time the world experienced such changes, the Profound Heavens Temple appeared within the month. It’s a pity that I was tricked by Wu Kuang before that happened.”
It was a grudge from tens of thousands of years ago, so her tone was indifferent when she spoke about it now. Compared to the other Pseudo-Great Emperors from the same era who had already fallen into the long river of history, she had at least lived until today. She managed to wait until the Profound Heavens Temple opened once more and gained another chance to participate in the Grand Dao battle.
“Then, did you come looking for me to join forces with me?” He asked.
She slowly shook her head, “I will have to apologise to you in advance regarding this matter. Back when you rescued me, I certainly did mention that we could join forces if the conditions were suitable. Unfortunately, cooperation will be impossible under the current circumstances. For one, the Profound Heavens Temple appeared too quickly this time. It’s probably related to the invasion of the Demon Realm, which gave the world a sense of crisis. In the end, only one person can become a Great Emperor. If I join forces with you, we will still need to confront each other at the end. If that’s the case, we might as well not join forces from the beginning, lest we end up with bad blood between us. For another, I don’t dare to join forces with you in your current situation. I’m sure you know the reason why.”
Yang Kai was practically a tempting piece of meat to the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints. Sheng Yu Zhu would need to be kicked in the head by a donkey for her to join forces with him and invite trouble upon herself.
While speaking, she looked slightly apologetic as it was as if she was going back on her word.
Yang Kai, however, just nodded, “I understand.”
He wasn’t too bothered; rather, he felt that it was already quite righteous of her to be so frank with him, “So, the reason you called me out here…”
“This jade slip contains information about the Profound Heavens Temple. Read through it carefully when you get back,” While speaking, she tossed a jade slip over.
He reached out to catch it with a joyful expression, “Senior, do you know about the inside of the Profound Heavens Temple?”
She shook her head, “Not really. I’ve never been inside after all. It’s just something I heard from others back then, so I myself can’t distinguish between how much of the information is real and how much is fake. You will have to judge at your own discretion.”
Despite what she said, Yang Kai was still overjoyed and cupped his fists, “Many thanks, Senior.”
She waved her hand dismissively, “I owe you a life debt. It’s not something that can be repaid easily. If it wasn’t for you, I would still be stuck in the Void Crack, slowly waiting for death.”
He grinned, “Although you say you owe me a life debt, I only saved you in passing.” He raised the jade slip in his hand, “Now, this is what I currently need most. Let’s consider it even with this.”
Sheng Yu Zhu sighed softly as she muttered to herself, “How can one’s life debt be repaid so easily?”
After a moment of silence, she continued, “If we meet in the Profound Heavens Temple by chance, just speak up if you need any help. I will not refuse to provide help before the start of the final battle, as long as it is within my abilities.”
“At the time, I might need to trouble you a little more.” He grinned.
“Also, there’s something else I need to ask of you,” She said.
He immediately showed an expression of attentiveness, “Please speak, Senior.”
“Although it was not my intention to pass down my teachings to the Luo Sha Sect, their roots can be traced back to me. Throughout the years I spent recuperating, they did their best to honour me as an Ancestor. I don’t know if I can return to them after this trip. Besides, the situation in the Star Boundary is ever-changing. If these little girls are left outside without anybody to protect them, they will eventually die a tragic death. I ask that you bring them back to High Heaven Palace. It doesn’t matter whether you recruit them into the army or leave them to fend for themselves; it’s up to you.”
“That’s a simple task.” Yang Kai smiled, “I tried to inquire about Luo Sha Sect in the past, but there was nothing to be found. Seeing as it is a request from Senior, they can follow me back to High Heaven Palace. Please rest assured, Senior. As long as High Heaven Palace remains safe and sound, they will be safe too.”
“Many thanks.” Sheng Yu Zhu revealed a grateful expression. Although she knew that he would not reject a request from her, she was still surprised to see him agree so readily. [I didn’t misjudge him after all.]
“You should have a good rest during this period. Once the Profound Heavens Temple opens, the situation is bound to change again. At that time, the enemies you will face won’t just be from the Demon Race,” she said sternly. Then, her figure gradually faded away as though she had entered a layer of thin mist, her melodious voice drifting to and fro, “Take care!”
He cupped his fists, “Take care, Senior.”
A short while later, Sheng Yu Zhu’s aura vanished completely. The dark clouds in the sky scattered and the moonlight shone down, dyeing the land in silver.
Yang Kai let out a gentle sigh, “I only came out for a bit, why did you all follow me? Also, Old Qiong, your hostility is too strong. I could smell you from a thousand kilometres away.”
As Yang Kai said so, a ripple spread out not far away from him and three figures were gradually revealed.
“Smelly brat, I’m surprised you noticed us.” Jiu Feng was dressed in a fiery red dress, studying Yang Kai in astonishment, “Do you really have the abilities of a Pseudo-Great Emperor?”
Qiong Qi frowned, “Is this Old Man’s hostility so strong?”
Yang Yan pursed her lips into a small smile, “It’s not that your hostility is strong, it’s that his perception is sharp. I’m afraid his Soul Cultivation is beyond that of a Pseudo-Great Emperor. Tsk, tsk…”
“Did Supreme Commander Li send you?” Yang Kai looked at them, rubbing his head with a slight headache.
He had noticed three people tailing him the moment he left High Heaven Palace, and although they were very well-concealed, how could they escape Yang Kai’s careful probing? Just in terms of Soul Cultivation alone, he was far beyond them; hence, some traces would remain no matter how well they hid.
It was precisely because Yang Kai realised that it was the three of them that he did not expose them. He knew that it was most likely Li Wu Yi’s directive. Even so, sending out a veteran Pseudo-Great Emperor and two powerful Divine Spirits to ensure his safety was a little too much for him to accept despite how grateful he was.
“Right now, you are the key to the Star Boundary’s survival. It’s good to be on the cautious side,” Jiu Feng said.
“I understand,” Yang Kai nodded.
“Who was that just now? Why does it feel like we heard something unbelievable?” Yang Yan stared in the direction Sheng Yu Zhu had gone, narrowing her eyes slightly.
That Pseudo-Great Emperor was completely unknown to her, which was incredible in and of itself. It had to be said that, at this point, the flames of war between the two worlds had spread across the entire Star Boundary and there was no pure land left in the world. All the Masters of any measure of strength were no longer concealing themselves as a result. Even so, it wasn’t until today that Yang Yan discovered this Pseudo-Great Emperor.
Moreover, the conversation between that woman and Yang Kai just now was very concerning. It even involved the Profound Heavens Temple. What’s more, that woman seemed to have a relatively greater understanding of the Profound Heavens Temple than they did. That was enough to make anybody wary. Although the woman’s attitude indicated that she did not hold any malicious intentions towards Yang Kai, those who knew so many unknown secrets would definitely be a strong opponent in the coming Grand Dao battle.
Therefore, Yang Yan was already considering if she should act ruthlessly and eliminate that person first.
Yang Kai seemed to realise what Yang Yan was thinking and explained, “Senior Sheng is somebody from Senior Iron Blood’s era.”
Three pairs of eyes turned to gawk at him.
“You must be joking!” Yang Yan exclaimed.
Yang Kai shrugged in response, “I’ve brought her up with Senior Iron Blood before and he confirmed her story.”
“Sii…” The sound of cold air being inhaled rang out. If even Zhan Wu Hen had confirmed it, then it could only be the truth. It was just… How could a Pseudo-Great Emperor from that era survive until now? That was the era of two Grand Dao battles ago! Up until today, at least 20,000 years had passed! How did she survive until now!?
Yang Kai briefly recounted Sheng Yu Zhu’s origins, then he talked about how he accidentally discovered her whereabouts and rescued her from the Void Crack.
Yang Yan, Jiu Feng, and the others listened with expressions of amazement.
“That’s the reason why Senior Sheng invited me out for a secret meeting and gave me this.” He lightly tossed the jade slip in his hands.
“Inspect it carefully. Who knows if she did something to the contents inside.” Jiu Feng said sternly.
Yang Kai nodded, “You don’t need to worry about that. I inspected it just now and the only thing recorded inside is some information.”
He had not had the time to study the specifics of the content and was planning on waiting until he returned to High Heaven Palace first to do so.
“That would be for the best. In any case, it’s not too much no matter how careful you are under the current circumstances.”
Yang Kai then asked, “Are you planning to follow me into the Profound Heavens Temple?”
Yang Yan smiled, “I am, but they can’t enter.”
She pointed at Jiu Feng and Qiong Qi.
“Why?” Yang Kai did not understand, “Why can’t they go in?”
Once again, Yang Yan answered, “I don’t know the exact reason. It’s just that there have been no Divine Spirits in any of the previous Grand Dao battles. It might be that the Divine Spirits have their own Source Inheritance and as long as they continuously develop their bloodlines, there will come a day when they reach the peak of the Grand Dao. Hence, the Profound Heavens Temple does not allow them entry.”
“So, no Divine Spirits will be able to enter?”
She nodded, “That’s right.”
Yang Kai rubbed his chin after hearing those words. [If that’s the case, then Zhui Feng definitely won’t be able to enter. He might be a Demon Beast from the Demon Realm, but he is still a Divine Spirit. What about the Embodiment? He has the body of a Stone Spirit, and Stone Spirits are descendants of a Divine Spirit. He also has Shi Huo’s Source in his body… If I think about it this way, then I don’t think the Embodiment can enter. And, neither can Liu Yan… Tsk… If that’s the case, then I will need to change my plans.]
Yang Kai originally wanted to bring all the powerful helpers around him into the Profound Heavens Temple. He himself was not weak, and combined with Zhui Feng, the Embodiment, Liu Yan, and Qiong Qi, they would be a force that would certainly give the Demon Race a huge headache. Unfortunately, all his helpers would be stuck outside the door if Divine Spirits were unable to enter the Profound Heavens Temple, leaving him on his own once inside.
After pondering in silence for a moment, Yang Kai abruptly lifted his head to look at the three people in front of him and grinned, “Since you’re already here, would you like to get some light exercise?”
Yang Yan frowned, “What are you planning now?”
“Tag along and you’ll find out,” Yang Kai did not explain himself, turning to head in a certain direction instead.
Yang Yan and the others looked exasperated as they hurriedly caught up to him.
An hour later, a shocking battle broke out in the Demon Stronghold located at Blue Wave City. Yang Kai charged into the Demon Stronghold together with Yang Yan, Jiu Feng, and Qiong Qi. They ran rampant, slaughtering countless Demons and enraging many Demon Race Half-Saints. However, they quickly retreated after a brief scuffle, leaving a mess in their wake before the Half-Saints could complete their encirclement. It caused the Half-Saints guarding the Demon Stronghold to grind their teeth and curse furiously.
The huge commotion might have killed a lot of Demons, but it did nothing for the general situation. Not a single Demon Race Half-Saint had been injured in the process; therefore, Yang Yan and the others had no idea what Yang Kai was planning. They simply assumed that he was facing too much stress and went to vent out some of his pent-up frustrations.
Upon returning to High Heaven Palace, Yang Kai immediately entered a cultivation room to study the contents of the jade slip that Sheng Yu Zhu had given to him.
Although Sheng Yu Zhu had experienced the Grand Dao battle once before, she had not participated directly in it, she simply had more knowledge about the Profound Heavens Temple compared to others. Even so, the information she had was limited.
In this world, the only ones who knew anything about the Profound Heavens Temple were the Great Emperors; however, most of the Great Emperors were currently trapped in that inexplicable space, so who could contact them?
On the other hand, the Demon Race had the traitor, Can Ye, on their side. The Half-Saints might receive more comprehensive information, which was definitely not something the Pseudo-Great Emperors could compete against.
Can Ye had gone into hiding after he was injured and nobody knew where he was secluded to treat his injuries. Be that as it may, there was no way he did not notice that the Profound Heavens Temple was going to open when even Sheng Yu Zhu could sense it. Hence, the Demon Race were certainly already making preparations for the Grand Dao battle.
The information contained inside the jade slip was not much as Sheng Yu Zhu knew nothing about the internal situation of the Profound Heavens Temple. All she knew was that many people would die every time a Grand Dao battle took place. Only Pseudo-Great Emperors could enter, but no more than one-third of them would return alive. Moreover, how many among that one-third could aspire to reach the Grand Dao and become a Great Emperor would depend on the capacity of the World’s Bottle.
It could even be said that many of the Masters who participated during the Grand Dao battle were simply foils. The main protagonists only consisted of a select few who were favoured by the world.
According to the jade slip from Sheng Yu Zhu, the Profound Heavens Temple was a Sealed World self-generated by the Star Boundary itself. This Sealed World existed from the moment the world was born and would die when the world perished. There was no set time for it to be opened and it would only become accessible when the world felt that it was necessary.
In addition, there was an Illusionary Heavenly Furnace located in the depths of the Profound Heavens Temple. The Illusionary Heavenly Furnace was extremely mysterious. Only by locating the Illusionary Heavenly Furnace could one have hope of becoming a Great Emperor.
“The Illusionary Heavenly Furnace in the Profound Heavens Temple…” Yang Kai rubbed his temples and frowned deeply, “What am I supposed to do after locating it?”
Unfortunately, even Sheng Yu Zhu did not know what to do after locating the Illusionary Heavenly Furnace. Perhaps, it was a Supreme Treasure of some kind and everything would be over once somebody managed to refine it. Then again, the Illusionary Heavenly Furnace might be a kind of sentient treasure which was meant to carry out the Will of the World…
Although the information within the jade slip was not much, it had at least served to point Yang Kai in the right direction; otherwise, he would have been completely lost when he entered the Profound Heavens Temple.
Just from this aspect alone, Sheng Yu Zhu had helped him a lot. What’s more, she also mentioned in the jade slip that the key to becoming a Great Emperor, the Illusionary Heavenly Furnace, was not the only thing that could be found inside the Profound Heavens Temple. There were also all kinds of other opportunities. It was a place which was linked to the birth and death of the world after all. There were countless good things inside that place. Since ancient times, the Pseudo-Great Emperors who failed to become Great Emperors yet survived the Grand Dao battle would generally experience a great increase in strength after they returned.
After a series of inspections, Yang Kai decided on a plan of action for this trip. He was going to kill as many Demon Race Half-Saints as possible while doing his best to compete for the Grand Dao! The latter was the main objective of course. Even if he was unlucky enough to let the one and only opportunity slip through his fingers though, he could not let it fall into the hands of the Demons; otherwise, the Star Boundary would become powerless to resist.
Once he decided on his goal, his mind became clear. He put away the jade slip and adjusted his condition. This was going to be a difficult mission where his life and death were uncertain. It was only natural that he welcomed the opening of the Profound Heavens Temple in his best condition.
The night Sheng Yu Zhu secretly invited Yang Kai out, she had told him that the Profound Heavens Temple would open within the month. In reality, the Profound Heavens Temple started showing signs just three days later.
Somewhere in the sky, a trace of a mysterious aura surged out of nowhere. The aura resonated with the Grand Dao of the world. People with lower cultivation might not notice anything, but those in the Emperor Realm and above could clearly perceive this aura. Furthermore, their understanding of the Martial Dao and Heavenly Way seemed to become much more thorough under the influence of this aura. That was followed by an explosive increase in strength.
Under the influence of that mysterious aura, many Emperor Realm Masters and Demon Kings from the Demon Realm whose cultivation had been stagnant suddenly broke through the shackles that had troubled them for so many years in an extremely short time. They broke through their bottlenecks and advanced to a higher Realm.
The numbers were low at the beginning; however, the aura that leaked out of the void became more and more intense with the passing of time. This resulted in more and more Masters achieving a breakthrough. Every day, a rising storm would surge through the places where the Star Boundary armies were stationed and the Ten Primary Demon Strongholds occupied by the Demon Race. World Energy Baptisms boomed endlessly.
Even some of those in the peak of the Third-Order Emperor Realm seemed to receive enlightenment over the past few days and hurriedly entered retreat. If they successfully comprehended these new insights, then they would surely break through to become Pseudo-Great Emperors.
An omen of great prosperity had appeared when the world was in great chaos. Like a dying old man, the hidden potential of the Star Boundary burst out at a critical life-or-death moment. It thus blanketed the world without discriminating between Humans and Demons.
The Profound Heavens Temple had yet to open, but be that as it may, the effects of its impending advent were already miraculous. What kind of situation would arise if the Profound Heavens Temple were to open or if they went inside?
This abnormal phenomenon left many people bewildered. Meanwhile, those Pseudo-Great Emperors with a slight understanding of the situation became more and more confident in their conjectures; thus, they quietly made intensive preparations for the future.
Five days later, the illusory phantom of a large palace suddenly appeared in the sky. The palace appeared out of thin air without any warning beforehand, looking like a projection with no real substance. The appearance of the palace was simple, but it gave off a desolate aura, as though it passed through the river of time from an extremely ancient era. It appeared just like that in front of everybody’s eyes.
Both the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm sent people to investigate the situation; however, nobody could get close to that ethereal palace, regardless of who went or what methods they used. It wasn’t as though the palace had a barrier around it that made it impossible to approach. It clearly looked like it was not far away, almost as though they would arrive if they flew for a little while longer. Even so, the distance remained the same an hour later. Yet another hour later, the distance still remained the same. Helpless, both sides gave up on investigating the phenomenon. Besides, the higher-ups on both sides knew that nobody would be able to obtain any useful information before the Profound Heavens Temple opened completely.
When the illusory phantom of Profound Heavens Temple appeared, the World Energy of the entire Star Boundary began gathering in its direction. It happened so fast that there was a frenzy of energy in every corner of the Star Boundary.
As the days passed, the palace became clearer and clearer. It also became more and more tangible. In comparison, the World Energy in the Star Boundary had reduced considerably. It would seem that the opening of the Profound Heavens Temple was not without a price. It needed the World Energy of the entire world as its foundation to reveal its true appearance.
At this point, the existence of the Profound Heavens Temple could no longer be hidden. It was not as if it was a top-secret matter. It was just that only a small number of Pseudo-Great Emperors knew about it. Most people were completely unaware since information regarding this matter had been contained among a handful of people in order to prevent a huge ruckus. But now, the matter regarding the Profound Heavens Temple was exposed. Anybody could see it as long as they were not blind. It was just that nobody knew when it would open.
At the place where the Star Boundary armies were stationed, the matter regarding the Grand Dao battle was gradually revealed with the appearance of the Profound Heavens Temple, more so when they connected the words ‘Heavens’ Revelations, Profound Heavens Manifestation’ to this phenomenon. The hearts of the people surged. Some with more straightforward personalities went directly to Li Wu Yi to ask if it was the truth while others secretly planned to watch how the situation would unfold.
The matter relating to the Profound Heavens Temple could not be covered up any longer; thus, Li Wu Yi decided to gather all the Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary in one place to disclose the matters regarding it and the Grand Dao battle. Everybody was in an uproar and the hall instantly became chaotic.
Li Wu Yi smiled bitterly. What he worried about the most had happened in the end. Now that the matter regarding the Profound Heavens Temple was known to all, the problem the Star Boundary faced was who would go and who would stay.
If everybody decided to enter the Profound Heavens Temple, then the Star Boundary armies would immediately collapse. The Demon Race’s Grand Array had been activated and the Demon Strongholds were continuously devouring the Star Boundary’s territory. Without Pseudo-Great Emperors leading the armies, who could block the charge of the Demon Race army? Even the few territories left would be lost.
Even so, which Pseudo-Great Emperor would be willing to back down when the greatest opportunity and event in their lives appeared right in front of them? It wasn’t that they were selfish, it was just that they had worked hard to cultivate until today. How many times had they wandered between life and death during this process? Was it not for this very moment? Even with the pressure of total annihilation bearing down on them, it could not stop their determination and desire to reach even greater heights in the Martial Dao.
Nobody could deprive them of this right. Not even the Great Emperors would have had the qualification to do so if they were still here. For that reason, it would surely cause the people’s hearts to chill if this matter was not handled carefully. The Star Boundary could not withstand any more unrest at this point. Unfortunately, Li Wu Yi, who could calmly deal with matters in the face of the pressure from the Demon Race army, had no idea how to begin persuading the Pseudo-Great Emperors within the hall.
The commotion continued with everyone expressing their respective opinions, but their discussions led nowhere even after five days.
It was unrealistic for nobody to go in. The Profound Heavens Temple was right before them and judging by the speed it was solidifying, it wouldn’t take long before it formed completely. The doors of the palace would open when that happened. Even if the Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary did not enter, the Demon Race Half-Saints would not hold back. What else would remain for the Star Boundary if the Half-Saints got their hands on the World’s Recognition? Similarly, it was unrealistic for everybody to go in together.
Fortunately, the Demon Race was most likely facing the same problem. It was just that their situation was slightly better in comparison as they did not have as many worries as the Star Boundary.
At this critical moment, Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun appeared together. When their Dragon Pressure spread out, the entire hall fell silent and stopped bickering. In the end, it was decided that fate would decide.
They would draw lots.
Some had to enter the Profound Heavens Temple while others had to stay behind and guard the Star Boundary. They could only rely on their respective luck since nobody was willing to miss this opportunity.
According to the two Dragon Clan Elders, this method might be a little foolish, but it was still a matter of destiny. If a person could not even draw a winning lot, then that could only mean that fate was not on their side and things would probably end badly for them even if they entered the Profound Heavens Temple.
There was no logic behind these words, but the strength of the two Dragon Clan Elders was a powerful deterrent. Who would dare to object to their suggestion when they had already made it?
After some preparations, the final results came out. A total of 30 Pseudo-Great Emperors received the honour of entering the Profound Heavens Temple when the doors opened. Thus, they were both elated and worried at the prospect.
They had heard from Li Wu Yi that countless Pseudo-Great Emperors had fallen during every Grand Dao battle up until today. In the end, only about one-third would safely return from the Profound Heavens Temple. The rest would be buried there. In other words, only 10 out of these 30 Pseudo-Great Emperors with the qualifications to enter were expected to survive to the end. Looking around at each other, they wondered to themselves. [Who will be among those that will survive? Will it be you? Or me?]
With that, this matter was settled. The 30 Pseudo-Great Emperors immediately returned to their respective residences to undergo intensive cultivation in retreat while waiting for the day to arrive. Although the remaining Pseudo-Great Emperors were unhappy, they could only resign themselves to their fate. Under the watch of Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun’s Dragon Eyes, anybody who showed the slightest hint of disobedience would immediately be killed on the spot. At such a critical juncture, the two Dragon Clan Elders would not be the least bit merciful.
The Demon Strongholds expanded outward rapidly every single day, eroding large swaths of the Star Boundary’s territory. Similarly, the Profound Heavens Temple devoured the World Energy from the world at a terrifying speed, solidifying its existence.
Day after day, the World Energy in the Star Boundary weakened. This weakening was not permanent of course and only needed time to recover; however, the time required would not be just three or five years but rather several dozen years or even several hundred years!
Half a month after Yang Kai’s meeting with Sheng Yu Zhu, a humming sound rang out in the world. Yang Kai, who was in retreat, abruptly opened his eyes as though he could sense something and appeared outside with a slight flicker of his body. Lifting his head to look, he saw the huge palace shining with millions of points of light in the sky. It illuminated the entire world and even the most intense of darkness could not resist. The humming sound was naturally coming from the palace.
All the blood in his body began boiling uncontrollably and he could sense something calling out to him from the shadows to enter the palace. Yang Kai lightly pressed his hand against his chest, knowing that the World’s Will in him was surging, surprising himself slightly. [I can’t believe the Profound Heavens Temple opened at this time!]
Sheng Yu Zhu had said that the Profound Heavens Temple would open within the month, but even so, he had not expected it to happen so soon.
Yang Kai next frowned slightly as he could clearly sense that the World Energy in the surroundings had grown weaker by a considerable amount. Although he had been in retreat during this period, he had remained aware of what was going on outside. He also knew about the dispute over the qualifications to enter between the Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary.
After sensing his surroundings at this moment, he immediately understood that the opening of the Profound Heavens Temple had, at the very least, consumed a hundred years’ worth of World Energy from the Star Boundary.
In other words, it would take at least a hundred years for the World Energy in the Star Boundary to recover completely.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling amazed. [It is indeed a Small Sealed World. The cost of its opening is so great.]
At the same time, numerous powerful auras came out of retreat in all the places where the Star Boundary armies were stationed. These figures looked up into the sky with an excited look in their eyes.
When the thousands of lights vanished, a corporeal palace appeared in front of everybody’s view. It was no different from the illusory phantom that they saw previously, but now it gave off a great sense of oppression after having solidified completely. It was almost as if what was in front of them was not a palace but an entire world.
*Kacha…*
Following that sound, a heavy set of doors at the front of the palace slowly swung open. The inside of the doors was dark and deep, leading to a completely unknown world. The opened door was like the eyes of the World, looking down on everything. All the living creatures were as insignificant as ants before it.
A high-pitched Dragon Roar rang out as two figures, one blue and one white, rose to the sky. The two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan moved out at once, transforming into two more than 1,000-metre-long Dragons and flew towards the Profound Heavens Temple.
At the same time, the three Demon Saints with Xue Li in the lead rushed out of Star Soul Palace in the Southern Territory and headed towards the Profound Heavens Temple.
There had been no prior indications of the Profound Heavens Temple’s opening, so even Zhu Yan, Xue Li, and the other peak Masters had been caught off guard. Having sensed it at this moment, nobody was willing to be left behind. They were not going to enter the Profound Heavens Temple and had no need to enter in the first place, but many Masters from both the Human and Demon Races would gather this time around. Therefore, they had to provide protection to their respective camps.
The Profound Heavens Temple clearly looked very far away, but to everyone’s surprise, they found that they only took about half a cup of tea’s time to reach its entrance. Landing in front of the Profound Heavens Temple that was located several thousand metres up in the sky, the two Dragon Clan Elders and the three Demon Saints glared at each other coldly. It felt as though sparks were flying in the air between them.
Following a humming sound, a jade slip appeared out of thin air in front of Yang Kai.
Yang Kai reached out a hand to grab the jade slip. Scanning it with his Divine Sense, he found that it was a message from Li Wu Yi. Then, he lifted his head to look at the sky. It was time. Although the opening of the Profound Heavens Temple came much earlier than he expected, everything he needed to prepare had been prepared in advance; hence, there was no need to delay anything. He took a step forward, climbing upward as though there was a flight of invisible stairs beneath his feet, his figure flickering slightly with every step he took.
Seeming to sense something, he lowered his head to look and saw countless soldiers from High Heaven Palace and the Star Boundary armies watching him from the hundred Spirit Peaks at High Heaven Palace. In particular, his parents, Su Yan, Xia Ning Chang, Xue Yue, Shan Qing Luo, Zhu Qing, and his other close friends and family were staring at him intently. Their gazes that were filled with worry and reluctance never shifted away from him even once. Dong Su Zhu was sobbing softly, her shoulders shaking slightly while being held in Yang Ying Feng’s embrace.
All of a sudden, the voices of more than a hundred thousand disciples of High Heaven Palace shook the Heavens, “We wish Palace Master swift success!”
“We wish Palace Master a prosperous journey to become a Great Emperor!”
Shan Qing Luo even lifted her hands to form a circle around her mouth, activated her Emperor Qi, and shouted, “Come back quickly! We will wait for you!”
Yang Kai smiled and waved at them. Then, he took another step and his figure vanished from sight.
On this trip, he was shouldering the heavy responsibility of the Star Boundary’s survival. He was going to do everything in his means to kill his enemies. It was all or nothing! He would either return as a corpse or return to dominate the world!
When Yang Kai made his move, several jade slips appeared out of thin air all over the Star Boundary where armies were stationed. Following that, those Pseudo-Great Emperors that had managed to obtain the qualifications to enter the Profound Heavens Temple and participate in the Grand Dao battle rushed into the air.
Numerous figures and rays of light gathered in this place from all directions. No matter where they came from or how far they were from the Profound Heavens Temple, they only needed a cup of tea’s time to arrive at this place. The Profound Heavens Temple looked extremely far, but it also felt as though it was right in front of them. Just this mysterious phenomenon alone was enough to confuse and awe people.
Yang Kai was the first to arrive where Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun nodded at him lightly. With all eyes in the world on them, they could not behave overly humble, not even if they had already recognised Yang Kai as the Dragon Clan’s Dragon God.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
More and more figures appeared, and it didn’t take long before 30 of the Star Boundary’s Pseudo-Great Emperors gathered in this place. When they arrived, they bowed respectfully to the two Dragon Clan Elders, then gazed at Yang Kai in astonishment. Just as Yang Kai himself had no intention of joining the Grand Dao battle in the beginning, many Pseudo-Great Emperors never expected to see him appearing in this place. He was only a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master after all. Still, it was not surprising when they recalled that he once obtained the legacy of Bright Moon Great Emperor and had the recognition of the World’s Will in his body.
Excluding the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan, there were 31 people from the Star Boundary, including Yang Kai.
“Elders, I don’t understand,” Somebody suddenly stepped forward from among the crowd.
Yang Kai glanced in the direction of the voice and discovered that the person who spoke was no stranger to him. It was somebody who once had a disagreement with him. It could even be said that this person held a grudge against him. Cang Mo!
Seeing as Cang Mo was standing here, that would mean that he had obtained the qualifications to participate in the Grand Dao battle. His luck was rather good. It was just that he kept glancing at Yang Kai while speaking.
Yang Kai immediately understood. This person was about to cause trouble for him. He sighed. The bad blood between them occurred many years ago when he condoned Wu Heng invading and devour Heng Luo Star Field.
Later, Cang Mo coveted Yang Kai’s Sealed World Bead and was badly beaten up by Qiong Qi outside Heavenly Wolf Valley in the Eastern Territory as a result. However, he then took up the position as the Eighteenth Army’s Army Commander when the Two Worlds Great War broke out since his cultivation was quite high. During that time, Cang Mo slaughtered many of the Demons and made a lot of contributions.
Under normal circumstances, Yang Kai would not have been willing to take matters with Cang Mo lying down. Although he rarely came into contact with Cang Mo, their grudge could not be wiped away. Unfortunately, this was a time of war and Yang Kai was not willing to allow his personal feelings to disrupt the peace of the Star Boundary. For that reason, nothing had happened between them over the years even though neither could stand the other. They had each led their respective army into battle against the Demon Race and barely interacted with each other. It was a pity that even if Yang Kai was unwilling to start trouble, the other party didn’t seem to think the same way.
“What is it?” Zhu Yan turned to look at Cang Mo.
“Sir, my companions and I were selected to enter the Profound Heavens Temple by drawing lots. As far as I know, the Sixty-First Army’s Army Commander, Sir Yang, did not participate at that time. So, why is he here?”
Yang Kai grinned at Cang Mo, “I’m here for the same reason as you.”
“Based on what qualifications?” Cang Mo’s expression was chilly, “Sir Yang, you are only a High-Rank Demon King, right? I’m afraid you will need to go back and undergo intensive cultivation for several hundred more years to participate in the Grand Dao battle.”
“It’s not your place to say whether or not I have the qualifications.” Yang Kai gave a small laugh and pointed at the Heavens, “You’d have to ask Them to know.”
Cang Mo ignored Yang Kai, only looking at Zhu Yan as he quickly said, “Sir, this solution was carried out under your fair judgement and we have no complaints about that. However, the people who stand here are blessed by the Heavens. How can Sir Yang enter with us when he did not participate in drawing lots? If you really allow him to enter, then it will cause the hearts of my companions watching below to grow cold. Sir, please order him to leave, lest he causes more trouble.”
As soon as those words rang out, many people looked pensive and troubled. Although nobody wished to create trouble at a time like this, Cang Mo’s speech was not without reason. If Yang Kai really were to enter the Profound Heavens Temple, then what would those Pseudo-Great Emperors, who failed to obtain the qualification and willingly stayed behind to protect the Star Boundary, think? Leaving aside whether or not a High-Rank Demon King like Yang Kai could enter the Profound Heavens Temple, even if he could enter, he had not received the qualifications to do so.
“Yang Kai’s qualification comes from me. I am not going to enter the Profound Heavens Temple.” Li Wu Yi spoke up suddenly.
Everybody was shocked by those words and they all turned to look at him. Somebody even called out in alarm, “What do you mean, Supreme Commander!?”
Li Wu Yi smiled slightly, “It’s exactly as you heard. The qualification to enter the Profound Heavens Temple that belongs to me will be transferred to Yang Kai. In that way, he will have the qualifications to enter.”
Although it was based on drawing lots, it was very easy for the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan to manipulate the results. Those who were required to enter the Profound Heavens Temple would naturally receive the qualification. And, Li Wu Yi was naturally one of them. The rest was really up to luck.
“Sir, you can’t!”
“Supreme Commander, please rethink your decision!”
“T-T-This…”
Many among the crowd exclaimed and tried to persuade Li Wu Yi otherwise. It was not that they had anything against Yang Kai and refused to allow him entry into the Profound Heavens Temple, it was just that Li Wu Yi was the strongest beneath the Great Emperors. The Star Boundary would have a greater chance of success if he entered the Profound Heavens Temple. When it came down to it, Yang Kai was only a rising star and would not be as helpful as Li Wu Yi if he took up one of the spots. It was based on this consideration that they tried to persuade Li Wu Yi otherwise. If not, how could they be so uncaring towards Yang Kai’s situation?
“There is no need to say anything more. This is the result of my discussion with the two Elders,” Li Wu Yi waved his hand dismissively, ending the discussion with a single sentence.
They immediately understood that persuasion was useless upon learning that it was also the intention of the two Dragon Clan Elders. Nevertheless, this result also left some of them feeling rather relieved.
After all, Li Wu Yi’s reputation was too great and his strength was too overwhelming. If he entered the Profound Heavens Temple, the rest would not have much of a chance to reach the Grand Dao. Now that he voluntarily gave up on this opportunity and was replaced by Yang Kai, would that not mean that their greatest opponent was gone? Although this would cause the Star Boundary to lack some power, it would also give everybody else a greater chance of success. It was both advantageous and disadvantageous to all of the Pseudo-Great Emperors.
At that moment, an elderly man stepped forward and cupped his fists, “Elders, Supreme Commander, this old man has something that I am not sure if I should say.”
Li Wu Yi smiled, “Please speak freely, Sir Lin.”
Similarly, Yang Kai turned to look in that direction. He recognised the old man as the Forty-Ninth Army’s Army Commander, Lin Ru Song. The old man became a Pseudo-Great Emperor 3,000 years ago and had a warm temperament. He had been living in seclusion deep within the mountains for all these years and only due to the outbreak of the war between the Two Worlds had he come out to serve as an Army Commander.
It could be said that he was the friendliest Army Commander in the entire Star Boundary. Every time he fought against the Demon Race, he would lead the way and rush to the forefront of the battle. Therefore, all the soldiers under him greatly respected him. Among the entire army of several hundreds of thousands of people, there was not a single person who did not respect him. He was famous for being good-natured and had never got into a dispute with anyone. More importantly, he was on good terms with every other Army Commander.
Lin Ru Song said, “Supreme Commander, this Old Master has gotten on in age and all those years living in seclusion have stripped me of my spirit to strive further. Although I was lucky enough to receive the qualification to enter the Profound Heavens Temple, I’m afraid I don’t stand much chance of success. Why don’t I give my qualification to Sir Yang instead? Sir Yang is a rising star, young and strong. Not to mention, he inherited Senior Bright Moon’s legacy. This Old Master is sure he will achieve great things if he enters the Profound Heavens Temple. Supreme Commander, please also enter the Profound Heavens Temple and preside over the overall situation there.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, all the Masters turned their eyes to him in astonishment, but soon their astonishment transformed into profound respect.
It was true that he was no longer young; but even so, he was far from approaching the end of his life, he simply looked elderly on the outside. As a Pseudo-Great Emperor, he still had a long life ahead of him; therefore, his willingness to give up his spot at this time was undoubtedly his way of trying to bring a peaceful resolution to this situation. It was just that the cost was far too great.
Everyone else knew that they did not have the courage to do what he did, so how could they not respect him for it? Even Cang Mo, who was trying to cause trouble for Yang Kai, frowned with a troubled expression. He had targeted Yang Kai for personal grievances, while on the other hand, Lin Ru Song had sacrificed his own interests for the sake of the greater good. Comparing the two made Cang Mo seem as though he was a petty and small-minded man.
Even Fu Zhun’s generally cold gaze became considerably warmer and gentler when she looked at Lin Ru Song. Generally, most Pseudo-Great Emperors would rack their brains to obtain a spot among the quota. It was rare to see a person taking the initiative to give up the qualification they previously obtained. Such a mindset was difficult for an ordinary person to achieve.
Li Wu Yi smiled, “I have received your kind intentions, Sir Lin. It is just that the two Elders and I have discussed this matter in advance. There are many things that the two Elders cannot directly interfere with in the Star Boundary, so I need to stay behind and take charge of matters here. That is why I won’t be able to step away no matter what.” He paused for a moment before cupping his fists, “Regardless, many thanks, Sir Lin!”
Lin Ru Song sighed upon hearing those words, “Sir Li’s righteousness is an example to us all. This Old Master respects you!”
Li Wu Yi said, “I also admire your noble spirit, Sir Lin.”
What originally started as an attack targeting Yang Kai was peacefully diffused with Lin Ru Song’s appearance. The old man would rather give up his qualification to settle matters peacefully, so if Cang Mo still refused to back down now, he would be too unappreciative of the old man’s kindness.
“Does anybody else have any objections?” Zhu Yan swept his gaze over the crowd, and no one made a sound.
“In that case, be sure to support each other when you enter the Profound Heavens Temple. Avoid internal conflict. This Old Master will be waiting for your good news upon your return.” He gently nodded. He knew that once they entered the Profound Heavens Temple, it was impossible to completely avoid any internal strife. Even if this group of people from the Star Boundary ruthlessly killed all the Demon Saints from the Demon Realm, it would still end in a fierce struggle between evenly matched opponents.
There was only one vacant spot to become a Great Emperor when the Profound Heavens Temple opened this time and the only way to compete for that spot was through bloody slaughter; therefore, the Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary had to maintain a relationship between allies and comrades-in-arms until all the Demon Race Half-Saints were eliminated.
While the discussion between the participants from the Star Boundary was happening, the Demon Race’s side was gradually gathering as well. Numerous figures brimming with Demon Qi appeared behind the three Demon Saints.
Yang Kai lifted his gaze and looked over in their direction with a frown. It was obvious that the number of Half-Saints dispatched by the Demon Realm was greater than the Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Star Boundary. That was within his expectations, however, as the Demon Race had always held an absolute advantage when it came to their number of Masters. That was the case for the Great Emperors and Demon Saints, as well as the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints. The reason was that the Demon Realm was much larger than the Star Boundary, so the capacity of its World’s bottle was also greater. In addition, the Demon Race had the Myriad Demon Pills which allowed their high-level Masters to cultivate faster and more efficiently.
Fortunately, the Demon Race seemed to have the same concerns as the Star Boundary and did not dare to dispatch all of their Half-Saints. Hence, although their numbers were slightly greater than the Star Boundary, it was not an outrageous difference. The Demon Realm had roughly 40 participants, which was still within an acceptable range. It was most likely an arrangement specially set up to deal with the line-up of the Star Boundary.
“Be careful of that Corpse Demon,” Li Wu Yi suddenly sent a secret Divine Sense transmission to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai followed Li Wu Yi’s gaze and saw a Corpse Demon standing in front of the Demon Race Half-Saint camp. The Corpse Demon was looking in this direction with a grim smile. His skin appeared to be dark blue in colour and his fangs were exposed at the edge of his mouth. Moreover, palm-length spikes were sticking out of his exposed skin like steel needles all over his body. He had a terrifying and menacing air about him.
“Jia Long?” Yang Kai raised his brow slightly. Having lived in the Demon Realm for many years, he had a better grasp on the Demon Race’s information than anyone else in the Star Boundary. Even if he had not met all the Half-Saints in the Demon Realm, he had heard all of their names at least. Thus, he could immediately guess the identity of the Corpse Demon after hearing what Li Wu Yi said.
“En,” Li Wu Yi gently nodded. “He ranks first among the Demon Race Half-Saints in terms of strength. I’ve fought him twice. He is a very difficult opponent. Be careful if you run into him.”
Yang Kai gently nodded in response.
There was not much time left, so Li Wu Yi quickly pointed out the Half-Saints of the Demon Race that required special attention to Yang Kai. Those Half-Saints were those that Li Wu Yi thought might pose a threat to Yang Kai’s life; hence, Yang Kai carefully committed them all to memory.
On the other hand, Jia Long seemed to hold great prejudice against Li Wu Yi. He had been staring at Li Wu Yi since he appeared and it wasn’t until he noticed that Li Wu Yi was communicating with Yang Kai via Divine Sense that he turned his attention to Yang Kai. Then, he grinned and swiped his finger across his neck.
Yang Kai sneered and turned a deaf ear. All of a sudden, he frowned and stared at a figure among the Demon Race camp, “Who is that? Why is there a Human there?”
There was indeed a Human standing among the many Half-Saints. Although this person was also overflowing with Demon Qi, there were some subtle differences between him and the other Demons. It might have been missed if one was not paying attention, so Yang Kai had failed to notice it at first.
Li Wu Yi replied lightly, “One of the Four Great Lords of Demon Heavenly Dao, Fire Lord!”
“So that’s him!” Yang Kai realised.
Demon Heavenly Dao was a group of traitors from the Star Boundary who took refuge with the Demon Race. Whether they did so willingly or were forced to, they had since become Demons. The Master of Demon Heavenly Dao was none other than Night Shadow Great Emperor, Can Ye. Even before the Demon Race invaded, Demon Heavenly Dao’s existence had caused a lot of trouble for the Star Boundary. Below the Master of Demon Heavenly Dao were Four Great Lords named Wind, Lightning, Fire, and Mountain. Each one of them had the strength of a Pseudo-Great Emperor.
Wind Lord had basically ‘died’ in the Flowing Time Temple. The reason Yang Kai now had some grey mixed in with his black hair was all thanks to Wind Lord, in fact. Afterwards, Thunder Lord seemed to have died at the hands of a Star Boundary Master while Fire Lord and Mountain Lord were missing.
The Demon Race had invaded at the start of the second war between the two worlds and the Master of the Demon Heavenly Dao, Can Ye, went missing after becoming severely injured; thus, Demon Heavenly Dao gradually disappeared.
Demon Heavenly Dao was originally an organization Can Ye established in order to create chaos in the Star Boundary before the invasion of the Demon Realm. Therefore, Demon Heavenly Dao naturally lost its primary purpose once the Demon Race army came. Since Can Ye was treating his wounds in secret, even he could only leave Demon Heavenly Dao to fend for itself.
Nevertheless, Yang Kai never expected Fire Lord to actually receive the qualification to enter the Profound Heavens Temple when it opened. Although he did not know what the situation was like among the Demon Race, it was clear that they were no better off than the Star Boundary. There must have been disputes as they scrambled to compete for the qualifications to enter; hence, it was somewhat unexpected for a Human like Fire Lord to stand out among a bunch of Demon Race Half-Saints. Yang Kai also vaguely had the feeling that Fire Lord gave off a familiar air, like he had met this person somewhere before.
As if feeling Yang Kai’s gaze, Fire Lord turned to look at Yang Kai and grinned slightly when their eyes met.
“You need to be careful of this person too.” Li Wu Yi’s voice sounded in Yang Kai’s ear, “Among the Four Great Lords of Demon Heavenly Dao, the other three have clear origins and traceable backgrounds. Only Fire Lord’s origins are a mystery. It’s almost as if he never existed before the rise of Demon Heavenly Dao. He appeared out of nowhere alongside Demon Heavenly Dao. I have no idea where Can Ye recruited him from.”
“I’ll remember,” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
By this time, the doors of the Profound Heavens Temple had long been opened. It looked like an invisible beast was opening its mouth wide to choose a person to devour. Just the aura that came out of the doors alone gave people a slight insight into the Grand Dao. Be they the Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Human Race or the Half-Saints of the Demon Realm, all of them were eager to move after they gathered in this place; after all, they had a chance at becoming a Great Emperor as long as they rushed through the doors and entered the Profound Heavens Temple. Who could resist such a temptation?
It was just that the two Dragon Clan Elders and the three Demon Saints had not said anything, so nobody dared to act rashly. It was not easy to be the first to speak out in this situation after all.
The auras from both sides collided with each other, causing the space between them to become distorted.
All of a sudden, Xue Li lifted a hand and pointed at Yang Kai and declared out loud, “Once you’re inside, find a chance and kill him for me!”
While speaking, a bright red light shot out from the tip of his finger and flew towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s expression froze, but before he could do anything, Zhu Yan was already standing in front of him. The blood-coloured light scattered with a wave of Zhu Yan’s hand.
That action seemed to be a signal as, after Xue Li pointed with his finger, the tens of Half-Saints behind him rushed towards the opened doors of the Profound Heavens Temple. They instantly arrived in front of the doors and were about to rush into the Profound Heavens Temple.
Just then, Space Principles fluctuated and the figures of Li Wu Yi and Yang Kai disappeared at the same time. By the time they reappeared again, they had already passed the Half-Saints and arrived in front of the doors of the Profound Heavens Temple.
Li Wu Yi’s black hair fluttered even though there was no wind. His clothes flapped audibly as the space around him became distorted and Space Principles flared. He did not flinch even when facing dozens of Half-Saints coming straight at him and simply clapped his hand, pressed his palms tightly together, and shouted, “Solidify!”
Space froze, causing the Half-Saints who rushed forward to freeze in their tracks. Unfortunately, no matter how powerful Li Wu Yi was, he was only a Pseudo-Great Emperor, so how could he stop the charge of so many Half-Saints by himself? Just being able to stop them for a moment was already an astonishing feat. Thus, the Half-Saints were all furious. They all urged their own Secret Techniques to break free from the constraints of space, causing their Demon Qi to surge violently.
*Hou…*
A high-pitched Dragon Roar rang out, followed by a crackling sound. Then, a more than 1,000-metre-long behemoth appeared out of thin air and stood in front of Li Wu Yi.
Taking advantage of the momentary gap created by Li Wu Yi, Yang Kai transformed into his Half-Dragon Form. Light flickered at the tip of his Azure Dragon Spear. Gripping the tail of the spear tightly, he swept the spear in a horizontal arc in front of him. The flash of power shrouded a large area and a terrifying murderous intent mixed with a mysterious aura enveloped the Demon Race Half-Saints.
All of the Half-Saints turned pale and couldn’t be bothered to attack Li Wu Yi as they hurriedly retreated instead. From their past experience, they knew that Yang Kai had realised a power called Martial Truth. It was a strange and unpredictable power, but it was also incomparably difficult to handle. Once injured by that power, the injury was like maggots on rotting bones. Even the Demon Saints had to spend a lot of effort to neutralise the power. If it really came down to a fight, there was no way they would fear Yang Kai with so many of them on their side. Even if they had to pay a price, they could still manage to kill him here.
However, this was the critical moment when they were about to enter the Profound Heavens Temple to compete for the Star Boundary’s opportunity. Which Half-Saint would be willing to be injured here, especially by Yang Kai? They would immediately be disqualified if they were so much as scratched by Yang Kai’s spear; therefore, they backed away despite their unwillingness and did not dare to confront the latter directly.
The moment both sides clashed, the two Dragon Clan Elders and the three Demon Saints of the Demon Realm also collided with each other. The world instantly fell into a state of chaos from the impact of their battle.
Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun were not willing to fight the Demon Saints in this place since they were too close to the Profound Heavens Temple and it would be disastrous if their battle affected it in some way. What’s more, the fallout of their battle was too devastating. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if they accidentally hurt one of the Pseudo-Great Emperors on their own side?
Unfortunately, the Demon Saints didn’t seem worried about that. They seemed to be trying to break through the defensive line of the two Dragon Clan Elders to attack the Pseudo-Great Emperors in order to reduce some of the competitors in the Grand Dao battle in advance. If they wanted a fight, then the two Dragon Clan Elders would take up the challenge. It was an inevitable battle.
Terrifying shockwaves of the battle spread out and both Half-Saints and Pseudo-Great Emperors paled at the sight. There had never been a time when they were so close to a battle of this scale. Feeling the power of the top Masters from their respective sides left them feeling a sense of yearning on top of their horror.
“What are you all waiting for!?” Yang Kai held the 1,000-metre-long giant spear in his hand and his voice boomed out like a Dragon Roar. Both he and Li Wu Yi were blocking the doors to the Profound Heavens Temple, preventing several dozens of Half-Saints from advancing. Their majesty was so brilliant that nobody could look at them directly.
In the wake of his roar, many Pseudo-Great Emperors came back to their senses and quickly rushed towards the Profound Heavens Temple.
*Xiu xiu xiu…* Numerous figures brushed past Yang Kai and Li Wu Yi. The first to rush over was Cang Mo. He was quick to notice the opportunity and also the fastest to react among all the others. Nobody knew if it was because he had already planned for this a long time ago. The rest of the crowd gently nodded, plunged through the doors, and disappeared.
Watching the group of Pseudo-Great Emperors entering the Profound Heavens Temple, the Half-Saints headed by Jia Long of the Demon Race camp all had deeply unhappy expressions. Nobody knew what the situation was like inside the Profound Heavens Temple, but those who entered first might enjoy some extra advantages. Who could say whether the Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Star Boundary would set up various traps in advance by the time the rest of them entered? They might suffer some casualties as a result. Even so, they were worried about Yang Kai’s Martial Truth, so none of them was willing to step forward at this time.
In the blink of an eye, all the Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Star Boundary entered the Profound Heavens Temple.
“Go!” Li Wu Yi shouted in a low voice.
The two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan were being held up by the three Demon Saints and could not get away, so it was impossible to block the attacks of so many Half-Saints with just Li Wu Yi and Yang Kai’s power alone. The best outcome they could hope for was to let all the people from the Star Boundary enter first.
Yang Kai also understood this fact and with a nod of his head, his enormous body twisted and transformed back to his Human form. He stared at Li Wu Yi deeply for a moment before turning and rushing into the palace.
Once Yang Kai had entered the Profound Heavens Temple, Li Wu Yi smiled at Jia Long, stretched out his hand in a welcoming gesture, and stepped aside.
Jia Long was livid as he snorted coldly and ignored Li Wu Yi. Leading the group of Half-Saints behind him, he rushed forward quickly and the figures vanished out of sight, one after another.
A short while later, only Li Wu Yi was left in front of the Profound Heavens Temple. Looking at the opened doors and feeling the deep aura coming from within, he gave a small sigh. Giving up on this opportunity was equivalent to narrowly missing the chance of reaching the peak of the Martial Dao. Unfortunately, with the current situation, he would still make the same choice even if he was given the chance to redo everything again.
“Hmm?” At this moment, he suddenly frowned and turned to look to the side. A stream of light was rushing in this direction at a high speed, arriving in close proximity in the blink of an eye to reveal a slim figure.
“Sheng Yu Zhu?” He glanced at the person who just came and smiled. Although he had never met Sheng Yu Zhu before, he had heard Yang Kai mention her before; thus, he immediately recognised her at a glance.
“Supreme Commander Li? This Sheng has long admired you.” Sheng Yu Zhu’s beautiful eyes glanced upward and she smiled sweetly, “Are you going to stop me, Supreme Commander?”
He slowly shook his head, “You don’t belong to the Star Boundary army, so I have no control over you. You may enter if you wish, but, if you meet Yang Kai inside, please help him out as much as possible.”
She nodded, “I will. Before the final moment comes, I will not make things difficult for him, but you should also understand that everybody is an enemy in the battle over the Grand Dao, Supreme Commander.”
“Naturally!” Li Wu Yi agreed.
“If I come out alive, I will definitely contribute to the stability of the Star Boundary,” While speaking, her tender body shifted and she threw herself into the doors of the Profound Heavens Temple and disappeared.
Li Wu Yi smiled lightly. Having learned about Sheng Yu Zhu’s situation from Yang Kai, he knew that she had been trapped in the Void Crack for many years. After so many years of suffering, it was only natural for her to want to recover her strength as fast as possible; therefore, she had not answered the call to join the Star Boundary army back then. Now that her strength had been fully restored, it made sense that she could not remain on the sidelines any longer.
According to the information she provided previously, the Profound Heavens Temple would remain for three days once it completely solidified. It would slip back into the Void three days later and disappear without a trace. When it reappeared once more, it would be the day the Grand Dao battle ended.
Therefore, Li Wu Yi’s current duty was to guard this place for the next three days. It was both to prevent the Demon Race from allowing more Half-Saints to enter and the Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary from making a move.
Meanwhile, the battle between the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan and the Demon Saints was slowly coming to an end. In the past, it had always been Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun being suppressed by the three Demon Saints; however, the couple had gotten much stronger ever since they entered the Dragon Rebirth Pond and now held the upper hand in battle.
Even so, it was still rather unrealistic for them to kill off any of the Demon Saints with just their strength alone, just as how the Demon Saints had not been able to kill them before either.
Continuing in this meaningless battle would only lead to losses on both sides. Hence, they gradually stopped fighting once all the people who were to enter the Profound Heavens Temple had entered. They each took up guard on one side of the Profound Heavens Temple and quietly confronted each other.
…..
The world spun in a dizzying manner. During that moment when Yang Kai stepped through the doors of the Profound Heavens Temple, he felt as though his head was about to explode. These were obviously signs of Space Transference. If a person who was proficient in Space Principles like him was suffering such symptoms, then it must be much worse for the others. He secretly estimated that it would take the others who entered the Profound Heavens Temple at least several dozen breaths before they could gather their wits.
The scenery in his field of vision was twisted and distorted, as though he were travelling through a tunnel of time and space. In addition, his figure was free-falling endlessly. It was extremely disconcerting.
Yang Kai did not know how long it was before he suddenly noticed the space around him relaxing and the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet. A cold wind blew past him, and his entire body felt a chill. Only then did he notice that his clothes were soaked with sweat and he was half kneeling on the ground while gasping for breath.
Before he even had the time to study his surroundings, he quickly released his Divine Sense to check for danger. Nobody knew what the situation was like inside the Profound Heavens Temple, not even Sheng Yu Zhu. Even though she had experienced a Grand Dao battle in the past, she had never entered the Profound Heavens Temple after all, so who could guarantee that there were no threats here?
Fortunately, there seemed to be no danger in the vicinity of where he had landed. He noticed some life auras around him through his perception, but they posed no threat to his life even though they were fairly powerful. There were no familiar energy fluctuations in the range covered by his Divine Sense, so he couldn’t help frowning and murmuring to himself, “Were we randomly teleported to different places?”
It was not his first time entering Sealed Worlds similar to this one. Many Sealed Worlds had these kinds of restrictions placed at their entrances, so each person would land at a completely different place even though they all entered together.
It was reasonable. This was the Profound Heavens Temple where the Grand Dao battle took place after all. All the people who entered this place were enemies, so if all of them landed in the same spot, it would surely turn into an instant blood bath.
As the feeling of dizziness gradually faded, Yang Kai finally had the time to look around, and what he saw made him raise a brow. He seemed to have landed in a jungle with incomparably huge and towering ancient trees all around him. Each of these large trees would need at least several people to wrap their arms around. The largest one of them was bigger than an ordinary tree by more than ten times. The dense canopy was like a gigantic umbrella that covered the sky above his head; moreover, every single giant tree was exuding an extremely ancient aura.
In addition, the World Energy in the jungle was so dense that it had condensed into a fog, causing the entire jungle to be shrouded in a mist thick enough that he could not see his fingers if he stretched his hand out in front of him.
Yang Kai took a deep breath, only to feel all the blood in his body boiling in excitement. Millions of pores opened on his skin and the ubiquitous and pure World Energy poured directly into his body in a mad rush.
It made him feel speechless. This place consumed a hundred years’ worth of World Energy from the Star Boundary when it opened, but the interior was an even greater scene of flourishing prosperity. It was worthy of being called a Source Sealed World…
Just the density of the World Energy alone was not something anywhere in the Star Boundary could compare with. Even the Heaven Grade cultivation rooms at Spirit Lake Palace were nothing compared to this place. If a person were to cultivate in such an environment, their cultivation speed would increase by more than ten times.
It was a pity that the Profound Heavens Temple could only be opened at a certain time. Besides, who could occupy a Source Sealed World like this forever? While it was not a bad idea to hide inside this place without leaving, that person would not be able to survive the erosion of time either and would eventually turn into a pile of dead bones.
A strange fragrance lingered at the tip of Yang Kai’s nose, so he sniffed lightly and his line of sight quickly moved in the direction of the smell. He saw a short vine not far from where he had first landed. The vine was covered in pale gold, longan-sized fruits. These fruits were peculiar in shape and at first glance, it seemed like there were countless cicadas perched on top of the vine. They were so lifelike that they looked like they were about to come to life. That strange fragrance was emanating from those fruits.
Yang Kai stepped forward, reached out to pick a fruit, and studied it carefully.
“Golden Cicada Fruit?” His eyes lit up. This was an amazing item. Even though it had been a while since the last time he personally refined anything through Alchemy, his heritage as an Emperor Grade Alchemist was still there. His outlook was naturally unmatched by ordinary people. The Golden Cicada Fruit itself was an Emperor Grade Spirit Fruit that could be used to refine the Golden Cicada Pill. Consuming this Spirit Pill could greatly improve the cultivation speed of a cultivator. Even without further refining, the Golden Cicada Fruit itself carried some of these special effects.
All this information was something he learned from various ancient books and records. The Golden Cicada Fruit had long since gone extinct in the Star Boundary, so he had never seen the real thing for himself. Nevertheless, the Golden Cicada Fruit had such obvious features, so how could he mistake it?
[The Source Sealed World known as the Profound Heavens Temple… is amazing…] Yang Kai had been teleported to this place at random and immediately came across the Golden Cicada Fruit. That went to show just how rich the materials in the entire Sealed World were. No wonder Sheng Yu Zhu claimed that all the Masters who participated in the Grand Dao battle throughout the ages would undergo earth-shaking changes in terms of strength as long as they could come out alive. It would now seem that there were opportunities to be found everywhere in the Profound Heavens Temple.
“Where the Golden Cicada Fruit exists, there must be a Golden Striped Wind Snake guarding it…” The information he read back then flashed across his mind. Then, a lurking shadow shot out from the vines at the speed of lightning.
“As I thought!” Yang Kai grinned and reached out a hand to grab that black shadow. It felt very smooth to the touch and turned out to be a strange 3-metre-long Spirit Snake with two fleshy wings on its sides. There was a straight golden line running down its back. Its tongue flicked listlessly, making soft hissing sounds, a stench overflowing with poison emanating from its mouth.
The Golden Cicada Fruit had long since gone extinct in the Star Boundary, and the accompanying Golden Striped Wind Snake naturally disappeared along with it. Although it was only a 3-metre-long snake, the aura radiating from its body was comparable to a Monster King. In other words, the strength of this Spirit Snake was equivalent to a Human in the Emperor Realm. Also, the Golden Striped Wind Snake was highly poisonous and moved as swiftly as the wind. If an ordinary Emperor Realm Master were to encounter this Spirit Snake, they would have no choice but to admit that they were very unlucky indeed.
The Spirit Snake in Yang Kai’s hand struggled and its Monster Qi surged violently. The long body curled up, coiling around his arm and constricting tightly as if trying to break it.
Yang Kai, however, just smiled lightly and slightly pushed his Dragon Pressure. The Golden Striped Wind Snake, which was struggling desperately, immediately stopped moving. At the same time, the body wrapped around his arm went limp and a sliver of fear appeared in those vertically slitted pupils.
All snakes in the world carried the bloodline of the Dragon Clan. It was just that the bloodline in them was extremely thin. How could a trivial Golden Striped Wind Snake carry on under Yang Kai’s Pureblood Dragon power?
“Don’t panic. I won’t take your life,” Yang Kai said to the snake. He did not know if it could understand him, but he had the feeling it could not. Although this Golden Striped Wind Snake was rather powerful, it had yet to gain sentience and was only acting based on instinct. While speaking, Yang Kai placed it into the medicine garden of the Small Sealed World.
Afterwards, he picked the Golden Cicada Fruit in front of him before also transferring the whole vine into the medicine garden. The Golden Cicada Fruit Vine and the Golden Striped Wind Snake had a symbiotic relationship. The growth of the Golden Striped Wind Snake was inseparable from the sap of the Golden Cicada Fruit Vine. In turn, the aura released by the Golden Striped Wind Snake had the effect of promoting the growth of the Golden Cicada Fruit.
Therefore, both of them had to be moved into the medicine garden together if Yang Kai wanted to transplant the plant. The plant would not survive if he only took one of them. That was probably the biggest reason why the Golden Cicada Fruit and the Golden Striped Wind Snake went extinct in the Star Boundary.
Even though the main purpose of entering the Profound Heavens Temple was to participate in the Grand Dao battle, Yang Kai did not mind enriching the number of Spirit Herbs in his medicine garden as long as it didn’t cost him much time or effort. Everything in the Source Sealed World was extraordinary after all, not something he could come across under normal circumstances, so it would be a pity to miss out on them. Besides, these items could quickly help to improve the strength and abilities of himself and his companions once he left the Profound Heavens Temple.
Yang Kai quickly finished his task; then, after considering something for a moment, he stretched out his hand and gave a small wave. A figure wrapped in Demon Qi suddenly appeared in front of him. It was a Demon; furthermore, the aura emanating from this person’s body indicated that he was only a Mid-Rank Demon King.
This member of the Demon Race was one of Yang Kai’s prisoners. When Yang Kai had caused a ruckus at the Demon Stronghold outside Blue Wave City with Jiu Feng and Yang Yan previously, he had slaughtered many of the Demons but also captured some alive. At the time, Jiu Feng and Yang Yan did not know why he took the trouble to capture some Demon Kings and he did not explain anything either. Be that as it may, now was the time to use these captives.
This Demon King had been trapped in the Small Sealed World for many days and had yet to figure out the situation after being released from his restraints all of a sudden. Even so, his expression changed the moment he saw Yang Kai standing in front of him and threw a punch while simultaneously retreating quickly.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai easily blocked the opponent’s attack. After that, he simply stared at the other party without any intention of giving chase.
The Demon King who was fleeing swiftly could not help feeling his heart clench in fear at the sight, but before he could understand what Yang Kai was trying to do, his eyes widened abruptly. The aura in his body fluctuated violently and became extremely unstable before a roar rang out. The Demon King could not even hold out for more than three breaths before exploding into pieces and leaving no corpse behind.
Yang Kai frowned, waved his hand again, and released a second Demon King. Like the first Demon King, the second Demon King exploded into a cloud of blood mist several breaths later. The same went for the third…
Yang Kai finally stopped after the third Demon King died in front of him. It would now seem that the Source Sealed World known as the Profound Heavens Temple really had a special restriction. Anybody who had yet to reach the level of a Pseudo-Great Emperor or Half-Saint in terms of strength would die miserably the moment they stepped into this place. It was completely without mercy.
The only reason why Yang Kai was safe and sound was likely because he received the legacy of Bright Moon Great Emperor and had the recognition of the World’s Will as a result. In addition, this mechanism was most likely only aimed at outsiders. All three Demon Kings he released had died cleanly, but the Golden Striped Wind Snake whose strength was only on par with a Monster King was alive and well. Part of the reason was that one was an intruder while the other was a native resident. Upon reaching a conclusion, Yang Kai could not be bothered to experiment any further.
[Still… it’s been so long. Why haven’t they arrived yet?] Yang Kai frowned slightly, an uneasy feeling growing in his heart.
Li Wu Yi had made prior arrangements on his side for when Yang Kai entered the Profound Heavens Temple. That was because Yang Kai was very likely to become the main focus of the Demon Race’s attacks since he carried the World’s Will in his body. Even if his strength was now comparable to a Half-Saint, there was no way he could defend against the joint attack of many Demon Race Masters.
He had no choice but to join forces with others to turn the situation around. Unfortunately, there were very few candidates he could choose from to join forces with him as he could not trust most people.
Li Wu Yi had initially arranged for Yang Yan and Yang Kai to work together; however, Bing Yun approached Li Wu Yi after the candidates to enter the Profound Heavens Temple were confirmed and eventually became one of Yang Kai’s allies after some discussion. In other words, the only ones Yang Kai could truly trust in the Profound Heavens Temple were Yang Yan and Bing Yun.
According to the previous agreement, they would use their Space Beacons to teleport to Yang Kai’s side as soon as possible after entering this place. They would then hide in his Small Sealed World and act according to the situation. Unfortunately, the reality was that Yang Yan or Bing Yun were nowhere to be seen.
Deciding to test things out, Yang Kai pushed his Space Principles as he connected with the Space Beacons on his belt. After a moment, he sighed lightly, “As expected…”
The worst-case scenario had occurred. The Space Beacons could not function within the Profound Heavens Temple. He could clearly sense that there was a force suppressing the Space Beacon teleportation and preventing him from going to either Yang Yan or Bing Yun’s side.
The current situation was not looking good! Even so, it was not as if he had not considered the possibility of this situation before. There would surely be all sorts of incredible restraints in a Source Sealed Word like the Profound Heavens Temple. Besides, the existence of Space Beacons would be too unfair for the Grand Dao battle. It could even be that the World itself had vaguely sensed something and rendered the Space Beacons useless within the Source Sealed World as a result.
[If the Space Beacons cannot be used, then what about Instantaneous Movement?] With a flash of his thoughts, Yang Kai stepped forward. His figure blurred swiftly and he vanished from the spot by the time his foot landed on the ground. Then, his figure reappeared out of nowhere in another part of the jungle. Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Yang Kai looked rather pensive.
His Instantaneous Movement had not been restricted, which was good news for him. It meant that he could still escape even if he encountered multiple Demon Half-Saints joining forces against him. Nevertheless, it would be best if he could reunite with Bing Yun and Yang Yan in addition to finding the Illusionary Heavens Furnace as quickly as possible.
He originally thought that he would definitely take the lead in the Grand Dao battle due to the World’s Will that he carried in his body, but now who could say? He might have been able to sense something when he entered the Profound Heavens Temple, but contrary to his expectations, the intangible World’s Will had not given him any substantial help whatsoever. He could not sense anything out of the ordinary either.
Yang Kai did not know how large the Profound Heavens Temple was nor where the Illusionary Heavens Furnace was located; thus, he could only adapt to the circumstances and bear with them for the time being. Concealing his aura as best as possible, he began making his way through the jungle. The harvest he made along the way was astronomical! This jungle was extremely rich in materials, filled with many precious treasures that had long since gone extinct in the Star Boundary, many of which he couldn’t even identify, let alone know their specific function. Most likely, the only one who could recognise those herbs was Wondrous Pill Great Emperor.
However, Yang Kai had his Sealed World Bead and medicine garden, so whatever he came across, he would place it directly inside and leave the two little Wood Spirits to slowly figure things out.
After travelling hastily for an hour, Yang Kai had crossed thousands of kilometres through the jungle when, all of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks abruptly and turned his head to look in a certain direction with a smile creeping onto his face, “I finally met somebody.”
There were faint sounds of fighting coming from that direction. He had no idea what the specific situation was; nevertheless, having encountered others by accident, he had to go and check it out in case it happened to be Yang Yan or Bing Yun.
Yang Kai silently crept over. By the time he arrived at the place, he found that there was nobody around. The towering ancient trees in the surroundings were leaning precariously to the sides and the ground was a mess. There were also more than a dozen Monster Beast corpses that looked similar to wild wolves scattered across the ground. These Monster Beasts no longer contained any aura and their blood stained the ground.
Although these Monster Beasts were dead, Yang Kai could tell at a glance that each of the dozen or so wolves was equivalent to a Monster King. Moreover, the leader of the pack that was covered in silver fur was much larger than its companions. It was most likely a peak Monster King. A group of Monster Beasts like this was not weak in terms of power.
It had taken Yang Kai no more than ten breaths to rush to this place after hearing the commotion. For a person to kill so many powerful Monster Beasts in such a short period of time indicated just how powerful they were. Furthermore, the aftermath of the battle lingered in the air along with a faint trace of Demon Qi…
Yang Kai smiled slightly and looked in a certain direction, “Are you going to come out by yourself? Or, do I have to invite you first?”
The surroundings remained silent; there was no answer. Yang Kai did not ask a second time and instead reached out, clenched his fist, and summoned the Azure Dragon Spear out. Without missing a beat, the spear pierced the ground in an electrifying thrust.
There was a loud explosion. A huge hole was blasted into the ground by a great force. Amidst the flying dust, a figure sprang from the ground and quickly escaped into the distance. It was just that, no matter how fast that person was, how could he be faster than Yang Kai? The Azure Dragon Spear turned into a spread of spear shadows that covered the skies, sending a series of clanging sounds ringing out as shockwaves ran rampant.
Afterwards, two whooshing sounds echoed as two figures clashed and separated. Yang Kai stood in the void, holding the spear in one hand and a smile on his face, a gentle breeze blowing causing his hair to dance in the wind.
Not far away stood a Half-Saint whose Demon Qi was surging violently. He looked livid as he glared and ground his teeth, “Yang Kai!”
“It is this King!” Yang Kai snorted, fresh blood leaking from the corner of his mouth while he spoke. Although it was brief, he had suffered some minor losses in the exchange just now. The opponent was a Half-Saint, not some weak pushover. The other party’s all-out retaliation had caused Yang Kai to suffer a shock that made his internal organs churn unsteadily. He consequently sustained light injuries. While his combat power might be comparable to a Half-Saint’s, Yang Kai’s true cultivation was not there yet. Fighting a Half-Saint without falling into a disadvantageous position was already a huge achievement in and of itself.
One of the reasons he managed to kill the Stone Demon Half-Saint previously was that he had taken his enemy completely by surprise. Yang Kai had relied on the sharpness of the Azure Dragon Spear and the peculiarity of his Martial Truth to win that battle. In addition, he also had Lin Yun’er, Lan Xun, and Mo Xiao Qi helping him from the side. These three young women might only be Emperor Realm Masters, but they were personally taught by Great Emperors and had powerful artifacts in their possession. It was only natural that they could not be taken lightly.
While speaking, Yang Kai glanced at the waist area of the Half-Saint opposite him. There was a forearm-length gash at that spot and fresh blood was gushing out of the wound. Even though there was Demon Qi surrounding the wound, it made no difference. No matter how small the injury, being wounded by Martial Truth would cause the injury to worsen until it became fatal.
This Half-Saint had clearly realised that the moment he recognised Yang Kai and his already livid expression became uglier than ever. He reached out a hand to cover his wound but could not stop the blood from flowing no matter what he did.
“If I remember correctly, you’re called Luo Ya, right?” Yang Kai tilted his head to the side and stared at Luo Ya. During his time in the Demon Realm, he had travelled across many continents to repair and maintain the Territory Gates. Most of those continents were governed by Half-Saints, so he had actually met a fair number of them. For that reason, he knew most of the Half-Saints in the Demon Realm. The person in front of him was one of those Half-Saints he once met.
Luo Ya was a Sand Demon! He had been hiding underground just now, so it would seem that he knew the noise of the battle might alert others and draw them to this place to investigate. Hence, he immediately concealed himself after killing those Monster Beasts, just in case. It was just that he never expected Yang Kai to arrive so quickly, much less pinpoint his location with such ease.
“If I knew this was going to happen, I would have killed you back then!” Luo Ya snapped bitterly. The first time he met Yang Kai on his continent, Yang Kai had not held such terrifying combat power yet. If he had made a move at the time, he could have succeeded in taking Yang Kai’s life. Moreover, that chance of success was extremely high. Unfortunately, Yang Kai had now grown to an extraordinary extent. It would take a Demon Saint taking action personally to kill him now. Any Half-Saint trying to kill him on their own would only find the attempt to be as difficult as ascending to the Heavens.
“Who can say for sure what will happen in the future?” Yang Kai reached out to wipe the blood at the corners of his mouth and used the spear to point at Luo Ya, “You have two choices, surrender or die!”
Luo Ya seemed even more furious upon hearing those words and a dangerous look flashed across his pale-yellow eyes, “Do you really think I’m afraid of you?”
“Sorry! Wrong answer!” Yang Kai grinned. As soon as the smile spread across his face, he had already arrived in front of Luo Ya.
The Azure Dragon Spear quickly enlarged in front of Luo Ya’s eyes. The weapon rushing at him didn’t seem like some spear, it was more like a Dragon lunging at him with fangs and claws bared. The petrifying Dragon Pressure actually made a Half-Saint like him a little breathless. Forcefully suppressing the anxiety in his heart, Luo Ya gave a furious roar and his Demon Qi surged.
When the Azure Dragon Spear landed in the middle of Luo Ya’s chest, Yang Kai frowned. It did not feel as though his attack had landed on a solid entity. Following that attack, Luo Ya exploded violently and transformed into a huge sandstorm that encased Yang Kai inside.
The wind howled while sand and gravel danced in the air. The tiny grains of gravel seemed to have turned into countless indestructible blades. In just a moment, Yang Kai was covered in wounds. Fresh blood dripped from all over his body, and the surrounding trees collapsed around them.
“How dare you offend the majesty of a Half-Saint!? This King will kill you here today!” Luo Ya’s voice came in all directions, making it difficult to figure out where he was hiding.
Next, a high-pitched Dragon Roar rang out. The Dragon Head of a Golden Dragon appeared and disappeared in a flash. With the activation of the Dragon Transformation Secret Art, Yang Kai transformed into his more than 1,000-metre-long Half-Dragon Form. The gravel swirling around him pounded against his Dragon Scales, causing sharp rattling sounds to ring out incessantly. Those sounds were accompanied by a shower of sparks that flashed continuously. Meanwhile, the 1,000-metre-long giant spear swept out horizontally. The sandstorm that covered a large area was cut in half; however, it instantly returned to its original condition a moment later.
“I am invincible within this sandstorm! What can you do to me!?” Luo Ya’s voice echoed again. It was erratic and hard to pinpoint. While speaking, a trickle of sand separated from the sandstorm and formed a vigorous Sand Dragon that came lunging at Yang Kai with its fangs.
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed slightly as his spear thrust out, a huge black ball leisurely appearing at its tip. The black ball was filled with nothingness and chaos.
Rupture!
The combined power displayed by using the Azure Dragon Spear to activate Rupture was not as simple as one plus one equals two. The entire world seemed to collapse towards the black ball before disappearing in a flash. The Sand Dragon lunging at Yang Kai was completely swallowed up in the process and the blast even hollowed out a huge hole in the middle of the sandstorm.
At the same time, a giant sand figure with Luo Ya’s appearance suddenly emerged behind Yang Kai. The figure opened its two big hands and violently smashed them towards Yang Kai’s head in a clapping motion.
Yang Kai could sense the attack, but it was too late to dodge. There was a loud explosive noise. Then, he was struck so hard that his body staggered unsteadily and he became dizzy. Before Yang Kai could regain his footing, Luo Ya, who was composed of sand and gravel, threw another punch. This time around, the punch landed squarely in the middle of Yang Kai’s back. There was another loud explosive noise and Yang Kai’s staggering figure plunged forward as though he was struck by lightning. At the same time, a spray of blood mist spurted out of his mouth. Despite his rather severe injuries, however, the corners of Yang Kai’s mouth curled up into a smile. His Golden Dragon Eyes stared at a certain part of the sandstorm and he grinned madly, “Found you!”
If Luo Ya had not made a move, it would have been extremely difficult to pinpoint his exact location. However, the vague fluctuations he made the moment he attacked were enough for Yang Kai to lock onto his whereabouts. Therefore, Yang Kai ignored the huge Sand Demon behind him and thrust his spear to the side with both his Demon Qi and Dragon Strength.
A cry of shock rang out as Luo Ya’s figure was revealed in the endless swirl of gravel and sand. His expression was horrified as he desperately moved about within the sandstorm, trying to avoid this terrifying blow. Unfortunately, the spear followed him closely like maggots on rotting bones.
With a deafening explosion, the huge Sand Demon fell apart. All the sand and gravel from the sandstorm gathered behind Luo Ya to form a thick and solid sand shield in the blink of an eye.
In the meantime, the spear had already arrived. Its ferocious force rampaged, causing the sand shield to explode into pieces. Luo Ya screamed in pain and borrowed the power of the thrust to quickly escape into the distance.
Retracting his arm, Yang Kai stared at the smear of fresh blood on the tip of the spear and smiled coldly. Afterwards, he strode forward and chased after Luo Ya.
Both of them were in the same league in terms of strength. While Luo Ya should be stronger than Yang Kai, the Martial Truth attached to Azure Dragon Spear made him cautious about acting lest he be wounded in the process. He had already been slashed by Yang Kai’s spear at the outset and suffered a small injury as a result.
What’s more, Yang Kai had used a method that left both parties sustaining great losses during their subsequent exchange of blows to ensure that Luo Ya would suffer greatly regardless of the injury he himself received. How could Luo Ya dare to continue fighting after that?
Yang Kai might be rather injured, but he could recover completely with some recuperation. On the other hand, Luo Ya’s injuries were not as easy to deal with and there was no Demon Saint around to help him neutralise the Martial Truth eating away at him here. It would be difficult even to suppress the wound just by relying on his strength alone.
Just within these few breaths, Luo Ya could already feel the strange energy in his initial wound causing trouble within his body. Moreover, the force seemed to penetrate even deeper into his bones and meridians with the use of his Demon Qi. If he continued in this battle, he would ultimately face a tragic ending even if Yang Kai would not get away unscathed either.
“Damn this power!” Luo Ya’s face was ashen. There was no way he would have been so afraid of Yang Kai if not for this Martial Truth. Furthermore, trying to escape from a person who was proficient in the Dao of Space was nothing but a fool’s dream. All he could hope for right now was to encounter other Demon Half-Saints, join forces with them, and repel Yang Kai together. As for trying to kill Yang Kai… the chances were too slim, it was better to not even consider the possibility.
Be that as it may, what made Luo Ya despair was that he did not know how vast the Profound Heavens Temple was. The commotion caused during his fight with Yang Kai could not have been small, but even so, the noise had not attracted another Half-Saint towards them. Not even a Pseudo-Great Emperor from the Star Boundary had appeared.
While fighting and retreating at the same time, Luo Ya felt his heart sinking. The longer he dragged things out in his current condition, the worse it would be for him. Thus, the struggle between fear and desperation couldn’t help flashing before his eyes. All of a sudden, that struggle vanished and was replaced by a resolute look. His escaping figure stopped abruptly, turned around, and stared at Yang Kai coldly.
“Go on, run! Why aren’t you running?” Yang Kai turned his head and spat out a mouthful of blood. Lifting his head slightly, he looked down at Luo Ya condescendingly.
Luo Ya quickly said, “The Grand Dao battle has only just begun, must you insist on being so aggressive? Why don’t we just stop here? We can continue later. There will always be a time for a battle in the future.”
“Are you begging for mercy?” Yang Kai tapped his spear on his shoulders with a contemptuous look in his eyes.
“Yang Kai, hear this well. It’s not that this King doesn’t have the power to fight you, it’s just that I am not willing to fight with you when it will only end in a lose-lose situation,” Luo Ya replied in annoyance.
“That would depend on whether you have the qualification!” Yang Kai slammed the Azure Dragon Spear to the ground, his expression suddenly becoming serious. While forming hand seals rapidly, an ethereal Principle Strength began swirling around his body. The whole world seemed to stagnate, as if the flow of time had stopped at this moment.
“Time Flies Seal!” Luo Ya frowned deeply. The information the Demon Race had collected on Yang Kai was extremely detailed, so it was only natural for him to know what kind of Divine Abilities Yang Kai was capable of using. Therefore, he instantly knew what kind of attack was coming as soon as he saw the motions Yang Kai was making.
Among the information collected on Yang Kai, there were many things that could make a Half-Saint apprehensive; however, there were three in particular that stood out the most. The first was the strange Martial Truth he wielded. It was something that even gave the Demon Saints great headache, what more a Half-Saint? The second was his Space Principles. He had been able to repair and maintain the Territory Gates when he first entered the Demon Realm, and in comparison, his strength had grown immeasurably since then. Accordingly, his accomplishments in the Dao of Space had become increasingly powerful. The third was the Time Flies Seal. Since it involved Time Principles, it was even more bizarre and difficult to predict than Space Principles.
Up until now, the people from the Demon Realm remained a little puzzled. How could a single person cultivate two different Principle Strengths to such an extent? Moreover, be it the Dao of Space or the Dao of Time, both were extremely profound and esoteric. It was simply incredible for both of these powers to appear together in one person.
Hence, the thought of escaping instantly bloomed in Luo Ya’s mind the moment he noticed the aura of the Time Principles. The resolve to stand and fight just a moment ago shattered completely. Unfortunately, Yang Kai had already struck a palm in his direction before he could do anything. Time Principles spread out, causing Luo Ya’s thoughts to stagnate for a moment. It only lasted for a moment and he hurriedly snapped back to his senses, but even so, what entered his vision at that moment was an unstoppable spear crashing down on him.
At the juncture of life or death, Luo Ya desperately lifted a hand to summon a bunch of Demon Artifacts. Each Demon Artifact blazed with various colours in front of him, forming a solid layer of protection.
A series of cracking sounds rang out as the Demon Artifacts that were powerful enough to make any Demon King break their head open in order to obtain instantly exploded into dust. Luo Ya’s complexion swiftly turned pale as a huge force came rushing at him from the front. A feeling of pain spread out from his chest as though he had been hit head-on by an enormous mountain. His entire being was sent flying backwards into the air and his Demon Blood scattered across the sky.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai returned to his Human form and quickly pursued.
The battle resumed within the jungle. Despite being severely injured, Luo Ya still had the strength to fight back. Besides, it was only natural that he would not sit still and wait for death to come to him when Yang Kai was being so aggressive.
A quarter-hour later, Luo Ya lay on the ground somewhere in the jungle like a pile of hashed meat. The Azure Dragon Spear had pierced through his body and pinned him to the ground. On the other hand, Yang Kai was breathing heavily. Walking over from a distance, he came to stand in front of Luo Ya and looked down on the latter condescendingly with a look of indifference in his eyes.
That icy cold expression made Luo Ya panic. It had been many years since he last felt this helpless. In fact, such despair had not visited him ever since he became a Half-Saint. His heart was filled with grief, anger, and unwillingness. Unfortunately, things had already come to this point, so what was the point of feeling resentment? The only thing that made him furious was that he had not tried his best to fight Yang Kai from the beginning. If he had not been so timid at the outset, he might not have lost so badly in this battle.
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk…” Yang Kai stared at Luo Ya as though looking at a dying dog. He thought back to the past when the pressure of a Half-Saint or Pseudo-Great Emperor had weighed down on him like a mountain. It had been so heavy that he couldn’t even breathe. Back then, he had wished that he had such powerful strength himself, and now, more than one Half-Saint had died at his hands, “The vitality of the Demon Race is really enviable.”
Following their big battle, Luo Ya’s body had been smashed in half. If any Pseudo-Great Emperor of the Human Race had been as severely injured as Luo Ya, they would definitely be powerless to survive and struggling would only serve to delay their death. However, it was different for the Demon Race. Even if Luo Ya’s body had been reduced to a pile of meat, he would not die as long as his Demon Heart survived. Naturally, his strength would be greatly reduced even if he managed to revive with his Demon Heart. In addition, the erosion of the Martial Truth was like maggots on rotting bones, so there was no way to get rid of it.
Fortunately, Yang Kai had similar resiliency. Since the power of his Dragon Source had been greatly awakened and even his Half-Dragon Form had grown immensely, the Dragon Clan’s originally powerful healing abilities had also gotten stronger.
“Mercy!” Luo Ya moaned. While speaking, a lot of fresh blood spurted out of his mouth.
“I gave you a chance previously. It’s too bad that you didn’t cherish it!” Yang Kai stretched out his hand, grabbed hold of the Azure Dragon Spear, and twisted it lightly. A look of pain appeared on Luo Ya’s face, but he was extremely stubborn and refused to let out a scream.
“Let me go and I will tell you everything you want to know.”
“What do you think I want to know?” Yang Kai looked at Luo Ya coldly.
“Everything about this Source Sealed World! Didn’t you ask me to surrender so that you can ask about this!?” Luo Ya gasped, blood dripping from his mouth, making him look extremely miserable, “I’m sure you know less about the Profound Heavens Temple than we do.”
Yang Kai snorted, “That’s only thanks to the traitor on your side!”
If the Great Emperors had still been here, the people from the Star Boundary who entered the Profound Heavens Temple would not have been this bewildered by the Source Sealed World. On the other hand, the Demon Race had Can Ye on their side. Although Can Ye was currently healing from his previous injuries, it was still possible for him to pass some information to the others. Therefore, it was safe to presume that the Half-Saints had more information on the Source Sealed World that belonged to the Star Boundary than the people of the Star Boundary themselves.
“As long as you swear on your Dao Heart and let me go, I will tell you everything I know.” The desire to survive flashed in Luo Ya’s eyes. Even if he was a Half-Saint, it was only natural to struggle to survive in the face of death.
Yang Kai said coldly, “Why should I swear an oath? Can’t I just take what I want to know directly?”
As soon as those words left his mouth, his left eye suddenly turned golden and a majestic slip appeared in it. An endless majesty filled the air, captivating people’s Souls.
Then, a terrifying wave of Divine Sense pressed down on Luo Ya like a tsunami. It was only for a moment before that Divine Sense came into contact with a layer of protection which was obviously his Soul defence.
“No!” Luo Ya screamed in shock. In that brief instant, he had felt an intense pain running through his mind as though his head was being pierced by thousands of needles. His expression became horrified after sensing Yang Kai’s Soul cultivation. Although Yang Kai was no more than a High-Rank Demon King, the Divine Sense that Yang Kai unleashed was much stronger than his own. It was simply abnormal.
Even so, this was not the time to consider this. Upon realising that Yang Kai wanted to break through his Knowledge Sea’s Defences to directly search his Soul for his secrets, Luo Ya quickly bolstered his resistance. It was just that he was already an arrow at the end of its flight. It was only thanks to Yang Kai not giving him the final blow that he could still struggle with his dying breath. What’s more, his Soul cultivation was not as strong as Yang Kai’s to begin with, so how could he do anything to stop Yang Kai? He barely held on for ten breaths before a cracking sound rang out in his head. His Soul Defence had been penetrated.
The pain was so intense that he became unable to even think for himself. All he could feel was the wave of Divine Sense that was rampaging about his Knowledge Sea without any scruples, tearing it apart. Nothing could be hidden from this intruder in his mind. All the secrets hidden in his Knowledge Sea were revealed at this moment. However, Luo Ya suddenly showed a strange and relieved smile at that time and muttered, “You’re dead.”
At the same time, Yang Kai, who was focused on investigating the many secrets in Luo Ya’s Knowledge Sea, let out an exclamation and his expression changed drastically, “A Soul Wisp!?”
He could clearly sense an aura that did not belong to Luo Ya hiding within the latter’s Knowledge Sea. Although that aura was very weak, it was also extremely pure. More importantly, it gave off an exceedingly ominous feeling.
It all happened in an instant. Luo Ya’s Spiritual Energy poured into that wisp, causing it to surge violently and transform into an illusory figure. That figure was slender and tall with fiery-red hair and scarlet eyes. He stood within Luo Ya’s Knowledge Sea, looking at Yang Kai’s outpouring Divine Sense with a smile that simply radiated with pure hostility.
“Xue Li!” Yang Kai’s expression changed drastically. He instantly understood what was going on, but he never expected that Xue Li and the other Demon Saints would go to such lengths just to protect the secrets of the Profound Heavens Temple that were hidden within the minds of the Half-Saints. [I can’t believe he planted a Soul Wisp into Luo Ya’s Knowledge Sea! If Luo Ya has this, then all the other Half-Saints probably do too…]
Luo Ya’s pleading previously might have been sincere. Nobody was willing to die if they had a chance at survival after all. On the flip side, it could also have been deliberate just to make Yang Kai relax his vigilance.
Whatever the case, he would have survived this ordeal if Yang Kai had agreed to the oath. Even though he had been injured by the Martial Truth, they were standing in the Profound Heavens Temple that contained countless precious treasures. Who could say whether Luo Ya would come across some method to neutralise the Martial Truth? If Yang Kai refused to comply with his request, then this was the inevitable outcome. In this case, Yang Kai, who had tried to harm him, would certainly suffer as a result.
As of this moment, Yang Kai was out of luck. There was no time to think as he swiftly withdrew his Divine Sense. By then, Luo Ya’s Spiritual Energy had merged with Xue Li’s Soul Wisp completely. All the secrets in Luo Ya’s mind had vanished out of sight, so it was impossible to investigate any further. Furthermore, the rapid growth of Xue Li’s Soul Wisp was making Yang Kai feel very threatened.
The Divine Senses of two illusory phantoms, one chasing and the other running, were silently clashing with each other inside Luo Ya’s Knowledge Sea. It didn’t take long for Yang Kai’s Divine Sense to escape out of Luo Ya’s Knowledge Sea, but unfortunately for him, Xue Li’s Soul Wisp pursued, following him back in the direction Yang Kai had fled, all the way to the latter’s Knowledge Sea.
The sky was full of stars inside the pitch-black Knowledge Sea. There was the Star Field Source of Heng Luo Star Field, as well as a seven-colour brilliance shining in the middle of the black flames of Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea.
Xue Li turned his head and looked around, staring at the seven-coloured treasure island. His scarlet eyes seemed to be able to break through the illusion and observe its essence, causing him to murmur with a greedy expression, “Soul Warming Lotus?”
“Do you want it?” Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar stood to the side, squinting at Xue Li.
“It’s one of the world’s Supreme Treasures. Who wouldn’t want it?” Xue Li licked his lips, his gaze full of envy and desire, “It will become mine once I kill you.”
“Really… I’m not as easy to kill as you seem to think. Besides, this is my territory.” Yang Kai grinned at Xue Li, raising both hands into the air, causing the pitch-black Knowledge Sea to churn…
A quarter-hour later, Yang Kai, who had been standing frozen in the middle of the jungle, gave a shudder all of a sudden. His complexion was as pale as a sheet and two streams of blood flowed out of his nostrils. His eyes that had been closed opened abruptly and a flash of fear flitted across them for a moment. The Soul battle just now had seemed silent to the outside world, but it had been far more dangerous than the fight between Yang Kai and Luo Ya. It had been a Soul Wisp of a Demon Saint after all. Moreover, the battlefield had been within Yang Kai’s own Knowledge Sea. The slightest carelessness would have led to his death.
Even so, it was fortunate that the battle had occurred within his Knowledge Sea, giving him a decisive advantage. Combined with Xue Li’s underestimation of his Soul cultivation and the Soul Warming Lotus’ assistance on his side, Yang Kai finally managed to kill that Soul Wisp after paying a heavy price.
His physical body and his Soul had been severely damaged, yet the Grand Dao battle had only just begun, frustrating Yang Kai greatly. The injuries to his body were sustained during his fight with Luo Ya as he had used a method of fighting where both sides suffered losses to end things quickly. It would not have been difficult for him to win even without the Martial Truth constantly eroding away at Luo Ya’s strength, but killing Luo Ya would have been a fool’s dream.
That was something that could not be helped. A Half-Saint was not easy to kill after all. The Half-Saints who died at Yang Kai’s hands so far started with Yin Si, who was already badly wounded in the first place. She had been in the process of healing at the time when he snuck into her territory and took the initiative to create havoc for her. Even so, it had taken him more than a month to recover from that incident.
Strictly speaking, the second had not died at Yang Kai’s hands directly. It was truer to say that the Wind Lord had been killed by Yang Xiao and Yang Xue.
The third was the Stone Demon Half-Saint whom Yang Kai killed in Star Soul Palace previously. That was only possible thanks to the power of the Azure Dragon Spear and help from Lan Xun and the others.
Therefore, Luo Ya could be considered Yang Kai’s first time killing a Half-Saint at the peak of their power on his own. Moreover, this Sand Demon Half-Saint was slightly stronger than Wind Lord. Seeing as he was only a High-Rank Demon King, how could Yang Kai not pay a price for this victory?
As for the injuries to his Soul; that was not something that could be helped either. Even though Xue Li’s Soul Wisp had underestimated his Soul cultivation and he held the geographical advantage, a Demon Saint’s Soul Wisp completely inherited the main body’s experience and knowledge. It was difficult to say who would have won this battle in the end if not for the Soul Warming Lotus nourishing Yang Kai’s damaged Soul at all times.
Considering that Luo Ya, whom Yang Kai had encountered at random, had a seal placed in his Knowledge Sea by a Demon Saint, it was conceivable that the other Half-Saints chosen to enter this place were under similar conditions.
[I have to get this information as soon as possible.]
Although everybody would become enemies to one another at the end of the Grand Dao battle, it would be best if the Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Star Boundary could work together until they managed to get rid of the forces of the Demon Race. It would be detrimental to the overall situation of the Star Boundary if they fell for the Demon Race’s trickery. Moreover, if Yang Kai could think of retrieving information from Luo Ya’s Soul, then the other Pseudo-Great Emperors might get the same idea too. This method was the fastest way to obtain information on the Profound Heavens Temple after all.
After a brief consideration, Yang Kai took a deep breath and murmured to himself, “There is a Demon Saint’s Soul Wisp in their Knowledge Seas. How devious!”
A breeze blew past, causing the leaves to rustle in the wind. The air was filled with the stench of blood. Yang Kai held the Azure Dragon Spear and stood in place with his eyes lowered. He did not know how long passed before he suddenly lifted his gaze and stared in a certain direction, frowning slightly, “As expected, it’s one of us…”
While fighting Luo Ya previously, he had noticed an aura hidden in the shadows. It was just that he had been at a critical point of the battle, so he could not afford the distraction to investigate the issue at the time. He didn’t even know whether the hidden person had been a Human or Demon.
Be that as it may, the hidden person had remained motionless even when he nailed Luo Ya firmly to the ground; hence, the possibility of that individual being a Demon Race Half-Saint became minuscule. If it truly had been a Demon Race Half-Saint hiding nearby, they would not have watched the fight from the sidelines. They would have jumped out to join forces with Luo Ya instead.
Yang Kai had suffered injuries from killing Luo Ya and battling Xue Li’s Soul Wisp in his Knowledge Sea; thus, he no longer had the strength to distinguish who it was hiding nearby. He couldn’t even be sure whether that person who had been secretly following him in the shadows was still there. It wasn’t until this moment when the feeling of being watched from the shadows vanished abruptly that he could confirm the actual situation. That person had always been there and only just left moments ago.
It was obvious that the words he deliberately uttered under his breath had been heard by the other party. Regardless of whether that person would pass the information on to other Pseudo-Great Emperors nearby, at the very least, that person now knew. That was also part of his intention.
But… It truly was the Grand Dao battle. There were enemies everywhere and nobody could be trusted. The situation was not looking too optimistic for the Human Race. There were already ten fewer Masters from the Star Boundary compared to the number of Half-Saints from the Demon Realm. Even so, this person simply watched passively from the sidelines as Yang Kai fought a desperate battle against a Half-Saint, which clearly indicated that he had the mindset of taking advantage of the situation.
Yang Kai laughed bitterly to himself. It was most likely related to the World’s Will that he possessed. It might be that everybody firmly believed that the World’s Will he possessed was highly beneficial for the final part of the Grand Dao battle. If Luo Ya had managed to kill Yang Kai just now, the person hiding in the shadows would definitely have taken action to kill Luo Ya and snatch the World’s Will for themselves.
Seeing as how the World’s Will had been transferred from Bright Moon Great Emperor to Yang Kai, it made sense that if Yang Kai died, then the World’s Will would be transferred to the person who took his life.
But, when it came down to it, only Yang Kai himself knew that the invisible and intangible World’s Will had not played any role whatsoever so far.
Regardless of the circumstances, the injuries he received during this battle were rather severe even though the benefits he reaped were great. As long as he could digest the various gains and losses from this battle, it would serve as a great boon for him.
[I need to hurry up and find a place to treat my wounds!]
After considering all this, Yang Kai hurriedly turned to look in the direction of Luo Ya’s corpse. A Half-Saint’s assets accumulated over the course of their life were a huge fortune. There was no reason to abandon the loot after paying such a high price to kill the other party, but contrary to his expectations, what Yang Kai found gave him a start.
Luo Ya, who had once been a burly man, had turned into a mummified corpse at some point; moreover, he shrivelled up and withered as though he had been exposed to the elements for thousands of years. In addition, all the essence in his body had vanished without a trace.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling disturbed by the sight! Having noticed somebody spying on him from the shadows, he had deliberately set aside a part of his mind to remain vigilant of his surroundings even while fighting Xue Li’s Soul Wisp in his Knowledge Sea. He did not want to give that person the opportunity to attack him. However, he completely failed to notice when Luo Ya’s corpse ended up in this condition. This situation was somewhat similar to how it would look if the Embodiment had used the Heaven Devouring Battle Law to devour a person’s essence.
What happened? Yang Kai simply could not make sense of the situation. The person watching from the shadows just now might have seen everything from the beginning to the end, but he didn’t even know who it was, so how could he ask them about this incident?
There was still a Space Ring on Luo Ya’s corpse, however, so Yang Kai used his spear to pick it up and put it away. Afterwards, his figure flickered and he headed in another direction.
Half a day later, Yang Kai sat down cross-legged in the medicine garden inside the Small Sealed World. Dense World Energy gathered around his body, causing his form to throb in response. His hideous wounds were squirming endlessly, growing new flesh continuously so that scabs and dried skin moulted and fell off in layers.
Two small Wood Spirits floated around him with solemn expressions, one in front and one behind him. They were forming seals with both hands in a serious manner, their two small pairs of hands glowing with an emerald light that enveloped Yang Kai. That emerald light was brimming with energy and vitality, accelerating the healing speed of his wounds.
Although his injuries from this battle were fairly severe, his foundation had not been damaged, so he could simply rely on his own powerful regenerative abilities combined with the Wood Spirit’s healing to treat his wounds. It would not take long for him to recover. On the other hand, there was no need to bother about the injuries to his Soul as the Soul Warming Lotus would deal with that on its own.
It was just that the Grand Dao battle in the Profound Heavens Temple could not be delayed. For every day that he spent in the Small Sealed World, the Pseudo-Great Emperors on the outside would lose a bit of combat power.
…..
A piece of chaos existed somewhere in the depths of the Profound Heavens Temple. It was shrouded in endless darkness as if the world itself had yet to open. Inside that chaos, a square and boxy Giant Furnace spun slowly. The surface of the Giant Furnace was engraved with countless complicated patterns. At first glance, the patterns seemed incomprehensible. Even the Great Emperors and the Demon Saints would not be able to distinguish the specific lines of these patterns if they were here. Be that as it may, one would be able to make out the scenery of everything in the world from these patterns if they were to stare at them continuously for a while. The crisscrossed patterns seemed to depict the origins and essence of everything in the world, which was very profound and mysterious indeed. In addition, the Giant Furnace was emitting a kind of mysterious aura that could drive anybody insane from within its depths.
When the Demon Realm Half-Saint, Luo Ya, was killed by Yang Kai, his body had shrivelled at a speed visible to the naked eye. The Spiritual and Vital Essence in his body also disappeared without a trace, causing him to become a dry corpse in a blink of an eye.
At the same time, a hazy aura suddenly appeared in the Giant Furnace. That aura was so pure and clean that any living creature could absorb it into their bodies to enhance their strength. The moment this mass of pure aura appeared, the darkness that enveloped the deepest part of the Profound Heavens Temple seemed to become slightly thinner.
Meanwhile, the Giant Furnace continued spinning, as it had been since time immemorial and would continue to until the end of the world…
The Profound Heavens Temple was the Source Sealed World of the Star Boundary, a wondrous space that had existed since the beginning of the world. It was where the fate of trillions of creatures born into this world converged.
The world seemed to have accumulated everything that was good and pure in this place. Every part of the Sealed World contained beautiful and unforgettable scenery, as well as World Energy which was so dense it could be felt and touched. Even the World Principles were clear and distinguishable here, making it easier for a person to perceive the Dao.
It was just that every time this Source Sealed World was opened, it was accompanied by endless battle and slaughter. Hence, none of the participating Masters had the heart to enjoy this rare beautiful scenery that could not be found in the outside world.
…..
Somewhere in the dense forest, Sheng Yu Zhu’s body moved agilely as she jumped about above the tree canopy like a fluttering butterfly. All of a sudden, her beautiful figure paused in her tracks and her clear voice sounded in the air, “Come out. What’s the point of hiding? Is it fun?”
A layer of ripples spread out in the air and a figure wrapped in darkness suddenly appeared not far in front of her. Another skeleton-like figure followed closely with two orbs of Ghost Fire dancing about his eye sockets. One stood in front of her and the other stood behind her, blocking her path and preventing her from proceeding forward or retreating backwards.
“A Shadow Demon and a Bone Demon…” Sheng Yu Zhu glanced at the two Demons with her beautiful eyes and immediately recognized their identities. Although she had constantly been in retreat to recover the strength she lost and did not participate in the Two Worlds Great War, it did not prevent her from sending the Luo Sha Sect disciples out to gather information on the Demon Race. The Demon Race proclaimed to have a hundred different Clans, but only a few of those really stood out among them. Moreover, each Clan had their own distinct characteristics, making them extremely recognizable.
“This is going to be a little troublesome…” She frowned slightly. Despite being caught in a pincer by two Demon Race Half-Saints, Sheng Yu Zhu unexpectedly did not show signs of panic.
A strange cackling laugh rang out at that moment as the Bone Demon’s teeth chattered open and close, making a sound similar to metal striking metal, “You sure have terrible luck. I can’t believe you bumped into us here. Can you please die for us?”
Although his tone was polite, his voice was as cold as ice.
She smiled in response, “Are you that confident?”
The Bone Demon snorted, “It’s two against one. How can I not be confident?”
“Stop wasting your breath on nonsense and just get on with it!” The Shadow Demon Clan had always been one of few words, just as they were stingy about revealing their figures to others. After the Shadow Demon finished speaking, he turned into a stream of black light and lunged toward Sheng Yu Zhu.
Likewise, Sheng Yu Zhu moved at the very same moment the Shadow Demon made his move, her delicate body showing unimaginable swiftness as she rushed at the Shadow Demon coming at her and simultaneously reached out to grab at something in the void with both hands. Twin sabre-like artifacts were summoned into her grip, an ancient aura fluctuating around the curved blades that gleamed with a cold light.
“Hm?” The Shadow Demon exclaimed in surprise. It would seem that he did not expect a Human woman to be so daring. Not only did she not try to escape despite facing a two-on-one battle, she even took the initiative to attack. Nevertheless, this was exactly what he desired. The other party was all alone, so this woman would undoubtedly be at a disadvantage in this battle.
A dagger appeared silently as the Shadow Demon’s figure flashed several times, a cold light gleaming from his blade as he slashed at Sheng Yu Zhu’s waist and abdomen. There was no feeling of his attacks landing, however, and contrary to his expectations, her figure dissipated immediately after being hit. His expression froze in surprise for a moment before he quickly looked toward the Bone Demon and shouted, “Watch out!”
As soon as those words rang out, Sheng Yu Zhu suddenly appeared behind the Bone Demon. The twin sabres in her hands drew a beautiful arc as her cold voice sounded, “You should treat your Seniors with more respect.”
Although the Demon Race Half-Saints had lived many years, Sheng Yu Zhu had undoubtedly lived much longer than them; thus, she had the right to call herself ‘Senior Sheng’.
“Kacha…*
A crisp sound rang out from the Bone Demon’s neck as his head fell. The two orbs of Ghost Fire danced violently in his eye sockets as he muttered, “What…”
He didn’t even manage to see how she had attacked him before his head was chopped off cleanly. Fortunately, he was a Bone Demon. If it had been a Demon from any other Clan, they would most likely have suffered a heavy blow from that attack.
Roaring loudly, the Bone Demon’s skull-less body lifted a hand to catch his fallen head while the other hand slammed upward abruptly. Five bony fingers shot out, expanding in the wind to transform into five armoured Bone Demons wielding Demon Artifacts of different shapes and sizes. The Demon Qi coming from each Bone Demon was astounding and far beyond the level of a High-Rank Demon King. Although it was not on the level of a Half-Saint, the combined force of these five Demons was not to be underestimated either.
“Hard to kill indeed.” Sheng Yu Zhu swept her gaze around, allowing the five Bone Demons to surround her as she locked her beautiful eyes onto the Bone Demon Half-Saint again.
The Bone Demon Half-Saint placed his head back on his neck and turned it with a slight crack. Once he confirmed that there were no hidden problems with his head, he shouted angrily, “You’ll pay for that!”
Her attack had not caused him any damage, but it had frightened him quite a bit. He had been sure that it was going to be easy to take down the other party in a two-on-one battle, but who could have expected that this woman would be so difficult to deal with? Hence, he suddenly became furious out of shame.
The five Bone Demons gathered around Sheng Yu Zhu immediately took action. Five powerful Demon Artifacts flashed with light and came down on Sheng Yu Zhu all at once, resulting in a loud explosion as her figure was smashed apart.
At the same time, a chill shrouded the Bone Demon Half-Saint’s body. A sword light slashed straight across his eyes seemingly from nowhere. Even though he had long since lost his physical body, he could still feel a chill run up his spine at that moment. Even his hands and feet felt cold. The biggest weakness of Bone Demons was the Soul Fire in their eye sockets. While this Race did not have a Demon Heart, their Soul Fire was their root. If their Soul Fire was extinguished, they would immediately turn into a pile of broken bones. On the flip side, they were practically immortal so long as their Soul Fire remained safe.
*Dang…* A crisp sound rang out as a black shadow appeared out of nowhere. Sparks erupted in all directions as the Shadow Demon stopped Sheng Yu Zhu’s attack and snarled coldly, “Concentrate!”
“I know!” The Bone Demon gritted his teeth, hatred overflowing from the Soul Fire in his eye sockets, “I’m going to skin her alive!”
“Only if you have the ability,” Sheng Yu Zhu’s voice remained calm as the twin sabres in her hands turned into a storm of slashes that enveloped both the Shadow Demon and the Bone Demon.
…..
Somewhere in a swamp, three figures were locked in pursuit. The one fleeing at the forefront was a Demon Race Half-Saint that was emitting a stench of decay similar to a corpse that was resurrected after being buried in the ground for countless years. It was a Half-Saint from the Corpse Demon Clan.
He was being chased by two Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Human Race. One of them was somebody Yang Kai had some friendly relations with, Army Commander of the Fifty-Third Army, Fu Ren Jie.
Fu Ren Jie was pretty lucky. Not long after entering the Source Sealed World, he managed to meet up with a companion. Both of them were Army Commanders from the Star Boundary, so they were quite friendly with each other. After some deliberation, they decided to cooperate on their journey to find the legendary Illusionary Heavens Furnace.
Yang Kai had not concealed the information he received from Sheng Yu Zhu; therefore, all the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary knew to search for the Illusionary Heavens Furnace that would act as the key for them to become a Great Emperor when they entered the Profound Heavens Temple. It was just that even Yang Kai and Sheng Yu Zhu were clueless about the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, so how could the others know any more?
Nevertheless, their harvest has been great so far. There were many precious treasures to be found in this swamp that had long medicinal ages. The two of them had made quite a fortune, but everything would be in vain if they entered the Profound Heavens Temple only to fail to become a Great Emperor.
When the pair suddenly came across a Demon Race aura during their search, they immediately gave chase, which then resulted in the current situation. On the other hand, the Corpse Demon didn’t even stop to consider anything when faced with the prospect of confronting two Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary alone. He instantly turned around to escape; hence, this cat-and-mouse chase had gone on for an entire day. Although the pair tried to attack the Corpse Demon on several occasions during that period, the latter had dexterously dodged and avoided all of those attacks.
“It will be bad if we drag this out any longer! Don’t hold back!” Fu Ren Jie suddenly shouted. He was extremely annoyed that they had failed to tie down the other party after chasing him for so long.
Unfortunately, this was something that could not be helped. If the other party was determined to escape, it would not be easy for them to stop him. Seeing as it wouldn’t do anybody good to continue with this pursuit any longer, Fu Ren Jie was preparing to use some sort of powerful Divine Ability.
The middle-aged man beside Fu Ren Jie nodded and said, “I’ll stop him!”
Along with a series of crackling sounds, a smattering of lightning suddenly appeared around the man’s body. It immediately turned his entire figure into a bolt of lightning as he dashed forward in the direction of the fleeing Demon.
The Corpse Demon seemed to sense the danger coming from behind him and turned around to spew out a dense mass of Corpse Qi. The lightning bolt penetrated the Corpse Qi, however, causing a muffled groan to escape from both sides.
The figure of the middle-aged man appeared a couple thousand metres behind the Corpse Demon with an abnormal flush on his face. It was obvious that the move he used just now put a heavy burden on him; otherwise, he would have intercepted the enemy earlier and not have waited until this moment. Nevertheless, his effort paid off as there was a scorched burn mark on the shoulder of the Corpse Demon, as though he had been struck by lightning.
The World Energy in the world seethed violently and gathered around Fu Ren Jie’s body at that moment. His expression was solemn as she swiftly formed a set of hand seals and pushed his Principle Strength madly.
Thanks to the Profound Heavens Temple being a Source Sealed World, the World Energy was very rich in this place. As a result, both the Humans and the Demons experienced a great increase in the power of their Divine Abilities upon entering.
Following Fu Ren Jie’s actions, a fireball appeared in front of him. The fireball was only the size of a fist, but it was as dazzling as the sun itself. Not to mention, it was exuding a horrifyingly searing heat that made all the muddy water in the swamp evaporate rapidly.
It was conceivable that even the Corpse Demon Half-Saint would be in deep trouble if he was hit by this fireball; however, despite being in an obviously terrible situation with one enemy in front of him and the other behind him, he simply laughed evilly to himself.
The middle-aged man standing behind the Corpse Demon Half-Saint frowned and instinctively felt that something was wrong, “What are you laughing at?”
The Corpse Demon’s laughter gradually grew wilder, causing their eardrums to hurt, “Foolish Humans! Did you think I was trying to escape!? You’re wrong! I was simply buying time to refine them!”
“Refine them?” The middle-aged man frowned, wondering what the Corpse Demon meant.
On the other hand, the Corpse Demon took a deep breath with a look of joy on his face, “The Source Sealed World of the Star Boundary, the Profound Heavens Temple, really is a good place! You only see the various precious treasures lying around you. But, for this King, there are other treasures buried here…”
“Not good! Hurry up and attack!” When the middle-aged man saw the Corpse Demon’s deranged expression, he knew that they could not delay things any further even though he did not know what the other party was about to do. While urging Fu Ren Jie to speed up his preparations, his figure transformed into a flash of lightning again that struck the Corpse Demon like a punishment from the Heavens.
“Come out, my servants!” Intricate patterns flashed across the Corpse Demon’s palms, illuminating dazzling patterns. Then, he pushed his palms downwards sharply.
There was a deafening rush of noises and from the depths of the swamp emerged numerous silhouettes. Hundreds of figures appeared in the blink of an eye. Among those many figures, some headed towards the incoming lightning strike while others headed towards Fu Ren Jie who was in the process of channelling some powerful Secret Technique.
*Hong hong hong…*
A series of explosions rang out and amidst the thunder and lightning, the figure of the middle-aged Pseudo-Great Emperor was revealed again, his complexion ashen. Meanwhile, Fu Ren Jie released his ultimate move. It was just that his attack was blocked by the incoming figures before it could approach the Corpse Demon. The flames erupted in all directions, causing more than half of those figures to be blasted into pieces. The power of the Divine Ability that took Fu Ren Jie so much time and energy to prepare was truly extraordinary. Unfortunately, all his efforts were in vain since the attack missed the Corpse Demon.
On the contrary, it was Fu Ren Jie, who performed this Secret Technique, whose breathing became a little uneven instead.
“Corpse Refinement!” The middle-aged man gritted his teeth and shouted, his expression turning slightly grim.
Leaving aside the Corpse Demon Clan’s individual strength, their Innate Divine Ability allowed them to refine corpses for their own use; therefore, the silhouettes that suddenly emerged from the swamp were clearly the Corpse Demon’s Corpse Puppet Army.
However, what made Fu Ren Jie and the middle-aged Pseudo-Great Emperor fearful was that there were an abundance of Half-Saints and Pseudo-Great Emperors among these Corpse Puppets! There were not many Half-Saints of course, just two who were obviously corpses that the Corpse Demon had collected back in the Demon Realm.
On the other hand, there were as many as four Pseudo-Great Emperors among the Corpse Puppets! Moreover, the clothes of the four Corpse Puppets clearly indicated a very ancient style of dressing. These four did not seem to belong to the same era as themselves.
Recalling what the Corpse Demon said just now, Fu Ren Jie’s expression changed, “Damn! These must be the corpses of our Seniors who were buried in this place!”
The middle-aged man also came back to his senses, his expression instantly turning solemn. Nobody could have expected that the Corpse Demon would be able to locate so many Pseudo-Great Emperor corpses and refine them in such a short period of time after entering the Profound Heavens Temple.
Be that as it may, it was not surprising either. The Profound Heavens Temple had existed since the beginning of the world and the Grand Dao battle took place many times over that period. There were countless Pseudo-Great Emperors who died here. Not to mention that Corpse Demons were especially sensitive to powerful corpses. It was only natural that he would have a way of locating these remains.
Besides, the physical body of a Pseudo-Great Emperor was inherently powerful and would remain intact under the right circumstances even if they died countless years ago.
Even if a corpse was refined into a Corpse Puppet, it was impossible to draw out the full strength they used to wield before they died. It would be miraculous if they could even draw out 80% of their original strength. However, the number of the Corpse Demon’s Corpse Puppet Army was daunting. Just the Corpse Puppets of the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints alone numbered six. The others were High-Rank Demon Kings. Furthermore, there was also a Corpse Demon Half-Saint watching the situation from the side.
The situation had taken a turn for the worse. It was originally a two-against-one battle, and even if the Corpse Demon had a Corpse Puppet Army under him before, the two of them still stood a fighting chance to win. However, the balance of power had been overturned now that the Corpse Demon had refined four Pseudo-Great Emperor Corpse Puppets.
“You’ve had a lot of fun chasing this King all day long.” After the Corpse Demon called out his Corpse Puppet Army, he calmly gazed at Fu Ren Jie and the middle-aged Pseudo-Great Emperor, his expression overflowing with the sadistic pleasure of getting his revenge, his tone especially harsh, “Did you ever think you would end up in this state when you were chasing this King!?”
While speaking, he thrust out his hands in the direction of Fu Ren Jie and the middle-aged Pseudo-Great Emperor. As if receiving some sort of signal, the surrounding Corpse Puppet Army tightened the circle around those two, forcing them into the middle of a siege.
Fu Ren Jie and the middle-aged Pseudo-Great Emperor exchanged a glance with each other and their Divine Senses flickered for a moment. Then, they both turned and rushed towards one of the Pseudo-Great Emperor Corpse Puppets. At this point, they could only hope to break out of this encirclement before making further plans.
The reason they chose one of the Pseudo-Great Emperor Corpse Puppets was mainly because of how long they had been refined. The Corpse Demon had discovered the corpses of the Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Profound Heavens Temple, so he only had a day to refine their corpses. Even if the Corpse Demon could forcefully control these corpses, he should not be able to bring out much of their strength.
In that tense moment, the two figures broke through the barrier of more than ten High-Rank Demon King Corpse Puppets and arrived in front of one of the Pseudo-Great Emperor Corpse Puppets in an instant.
Under the control of the Corpse Demon, the Pseudo-Great Emperor Corpse Puppet threw a punch at Fu Ren Jie, but all three of them, Fu Ren Jie, the middle-aged Pseudo-Great Emperor, and the Corpse Demon Half-Saint, couldn’t help frowning when that punch was thrown as the power of that punch seemed to be…
In the next instant, the two figures flashed past and the body of the Pseudo-Great Emperor Corpse Puppet exploded into dust.
The Corpse Demon Half-Saint’s eyes widened with an incredulous look, unable to believe what he was seeing, “Wha…”
That was a Pseudo-Great Emperor Corpse Puppet after all. Even if the refining process had been rushed, it should not have been this vulnerable. He felt as though he had found a great treasure when he discovered these corpses. Unfortunately, he had been discovered by Fu Ren Jie and the middle-aged Pseudo-Great Emperor before he could study them carefully. Afterwards, he had refined these corpses while on the run from his pursuers; thus, even he was unaware of the state these Pseudo-Great Emperor corpses were in. It wasn’t until this moment that he realised that what he regarded as treasures were actually just paper tigers.
Similarly, Fu Ren Jie and the middle-aged Pseudo-Great Emperor seemed to catch on to this point and did not leave after breaking through the siege. Instead, they glanced at each other and turned back. Spreading out, they each headed towards a Pseudo-Great Emperor Corpse Puppet.
Two explosions rang out and the two Pseudo-Great Emperor Corpse Puppets targeted by Fu Ren Jie and the middle-aged Pseudo-Great Emperor exploded into dust.
These corpses were completely vulnerable.
Although their bodies emitted the aura of a Pseudo-Great Emperor during the refining process, it was only true for their outer appearance. They looked strong on the outside but were empty on the inside, like hollow shells. The amusing thing was that the Corpse Demon Half-Saint had used these four Pseudo-Great Emperor Corpse Puppets as his trump card.
Looking at the face of the Corpse Demon Half-Saint, the two of them knew that he was just as surprised as they were. Fu Ren Jie grinned lightly and looked at the Corpse Demon, “You’re dead now!”
They originally thought that the opponent had managed to turn the situation around on them, so they had no choice but to flee for their lives. Who could have known that such an unexpected accident would occur? Without those four Pseudo-Great Emperor Corpse Puppets, how could Fu Ren Jie and the middle-aged Pseudo-Great Emperor fear this Corpse Demon?
[Perhaps it has been too long and the bodies of these four Pseudo-Great Emperors have long since decayed…] Fu Ren Jie thought to himself.
Likewise, the Corpse Demon had noticed that something was wrong. His thoughts flashed for a moment and the remaining Corpse Puppet Army rushed towards Fu Ren Jie and the middle-aged Pseudo-Great Emperor. Meanwhile, he turned and fled instead.
He could hear various noises coming from behind him while at the same time, his heart bled as he felt his Soul Imprints disappearing one after another! That Corpse Puppet Army was something he had accumulated over the course of his entire life after all. It would seem that all of them would be buried here today. What’s more, losing his Corpse Puppet Army would mean that his strength would be greatly reduced as a result.
There was only one question circling deep in his heart. [What is wrong with those four Pseudo-Great Emperor corpses that I found!? Even with the erosion of countless years, there is no reason for them to be so fragile!]
When he urgently investigated the last of the Pseudo-Great Emperor Corpse Puppet, he found that the corpse itself was completely rotten. He had made a huge mistake. At this point, he could no longer worry about the fate of his Corpse Puppet Army, all he could do right now was find one of his companions as soon as possible and join forces with them in order to stand a fighting chance against those two.
…..
An agonised scream rang out across the rolling grasslands. A Stone Demon Half-Saint half-knelt on the ground as his powerful lifeforce slowly bled out of him. He was covered in countless wounds and fresh blood was flowing freely from those injuries. The surrounding area around him was a mess, evidently caused by the fallout of a great battle.
Although the Stone Demon Half-Saint was severely injured, he would not die so quickly. He would even recover completely given the chance to treat his wounds. It was a pity that this was the Profound Heavens Temple where the Grand Dao battle took place. There were enemies and dangers on all sides, so who would give him the time to recuperate?
Beside him stood three figures in a triangle formation. Their Divine Senses were firmly locked on him so that a barrage of attacks would immediately rain down on him if he so much as moved a finger. Naturally, those three were Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary. If they had not joined forces together, they would not have been able to back a Half-Saint into a corner so quickly.
“Tell us the secrets of the Profound Heavens Temple and we’ll give you a swift death,” one of the Pseudo-Great Emperors said coldly. Just like how Yang Kai had tried to inquire about the Profound Heavens Temple from the Sand Demon Half-Saint, many other Pseudo-Great Emperors had the same idea.
Everybody knew that the Demon Realm had Can Ye on their side. As a former Star Boundary Great Emperor who had once entered the Profound Heavens Temple and participated in the Grand Dao battle, Can Ye was sure to know exactly what secrets there were in the Profound Heavens Temple. Furthermore, what he knew would surely be passed on to the Half-Saints that entered this place.
“Heh heh…” The Stone Demon Half-Saint looked miserable, but even so, he laughed when he heard those words and a rebellious look appeared on his face. Sweeping his gaze over the three people surrounding him, he spoke in a hoarse voice, “I will only tell one person. Who should it be?”
The first Pseudo-Great Emperor coldly snorted at those words, “Don’t try to sow discord among us. Answer us truthfully and quickly! Otherwise, I’ll make you wish you were dead!”
The Stone Demon looked at him frostily, “What if I refuse to tell you? What can you do to me?”
“Stubborn bastard!” The first Pseudo-Great Emperor coldly snorted before turning to look at an elderly man next to her, she continued, “Old Chen, your Soul cultivation is the strongest among the three of us. We will have to count on you for this.”
The elderly man called Old Chen nodded in response, “Of course. Please rest assured, this Old Master swears on his Martial Heart that he will share whatever he learns with the two of you, if I learn anything at all. There will be no hidden secrets.”
“Many thanks, Old Chen.” The first Pseudo-Great Emperor and another man thanked him in unison.
“Please stand guard for me. While this fellow is an arrow at the end of its flight, he is still a Half-Saint. We must not underestimate him,” Old Chen stepped forward and walked towards the Stone Demon.
“Of course,” The other two responded and stepped forward together.
The Stone Demon panicked slightly, gritting gritted his teeth as he roared, “You want to search my Soul!? In your dreams!”
While saying that, a dangerous aura began to fluctuate all over his body.
“You wish!” The first Pseudo-Great Emperor shouted tenderly and with a shift of her body, she arrived at the Stone Demon’s side and placed a slender jade finger to the Stone Demon’s forehead. At the same time, the other man gave a soft whistle, one that sounded like some kind of bird song, but it was extremely pervasive and hypnotic.
The jade finger tapped against the Stone Demon’s forehead and his aura suddenly reduced considerably. In addition, the struggling look on his face weakened significantly after listening to that soft whistling sound. His dangerous aura calmed down a lot as a result.
Old Chen nodded lightly and walked over to the Stone Demon Half-Saint before whispering, “Look into my eyes…”
That voice seemed to contain some sort of peculiar power and the Stone Demon was already being suppressed by the two Pseudo-Great Emperors; thus, he involuntarily looked into Old Chen’s eyes upon hearing those words. Looking into that gaze gave him the feeling that the elderly man’s eyes were spinning and rotating in a strange manner that engulfed his entire mind. His expression instantly went blank.
If the Stone Demon had been at the peak of his power, Old Chen would not have been able to do anything to the other party even with his Soul Secret Technique. It was just that the other party had been beaten half to death by their combined power; moreover, his Spiritual Energy was being suppressed at the moment. How could he resist Old Chen’s technique?
The two Pseudo-Great Emperors standing next to them couldn’t help breathing quickly in excitement at the sight. What secrets were hidden in the Profound Heavens Temple? Where exactly was the Illusionary Heavens Furnace located? How exactly do they become a Great Emperor? These were all the things that they were eager to know. It was a pity that nobody in the Star Boundary could give them the answers, but the Stone Demon in front of them was the best person to obtain this information from.
It had only been a few days since the Profound Heavens Temple opened; therefore, the three of them would be ahead of many other people if they could get first-hand information from this Stone Demon. Whether or not they shared this information with other Pseudo-Great Emperors later would depend on the situation at hand.
As for whether or not Old Chen would hide any secrets from them, there was no need to worry. Seeing as he had sworn an oath on his Martial Heart, he would have to pay a steep price in order to deceive them. If he caused a crack to appear in his Martial Heart, there was a high possibility that he would lose his chance to become a Great Emperor in this lifetime.
It could be said that if the three of them could obtain this first-hand information, then they would surely be able to take the lead in the upcoming Grand Dao battle. They would also have a better chance of becoming the Great Emperor.
The moment that thought crossed their minds, both the middle-aged woman and the other man couldn’t help but stare at the Stone Demon with fiery eyes. It was as though the person in front of them was not part of the hated Demon Race but a plate of mouth-watering delicacies.
At that moment, Old Chen was investigating the secrets within the Stone Demon’s Knowledge Sea when his expression suddenly changed drastically. His aura burst out violently without any warning, catching the middle-aged woman and other man off guard, sending them flying from the impact as a result.
“What happened!?” That man was furious, thinking that Old Chen had found some incredible information and attacked them because he was unwilling to share it with them. If that was really the case, then it only went to show that Old Chen was very short-sighted indeed. However, he realised at a glance that the situation was not what he had initially thought.
[Old Chen’s condition…]
“Something… seems to be wrong with Old Chen.” The middle-aged woman had also noticed the abnormality of the situation and stared straight ahead while speaking.
At this moment, two streams of blood were flowing out from Old Chen’s eyes. Not only that, but his face was also flushed red. A turbulent wave of Spiritual Essence erupted like a tide from his head, as though he was suffering from a dissonance in his cultivation.
“Xue… Xue Li!” Old Chen gritted his teeth and roared, staggering backwards. He was unable to control himself and fell to the ground, blood spurting from his mouth and his aura quickly weakened.
“What!?” The middle-aged woman’s beautiful face turned pale and instinctively checked her surroundings. The meaning behind the name ‘Xue Li’ was something all the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary knew. It was referring to one of the Demon Saints, an existence that was equivalent to a Great Emperor. It was just… could a Demon Saint enter the Profound Heavens Temple?
“A Soul Seal!” The other man was quick-thinking and immediately caught on to what was going on, calling out in alarm, “There was a Soul Seal in the Stone Demon’s Knowledge Sea! We were tricked!”
Realisation dawned on the middle-aged woman at those words. Only then did she realise that Xue Li had not entered the Profound Heavens Temple. Rather, he had left a seal in the Stone Demon’s Knowledge Sea that caused Old Chen to suffer.
“Save… Save me!” Blood was flowing out of Old Chen’s seven orifices as he cried out for help. Even the two Pseudo-Great Emperors next to him could clearly perceive that he was fighting against some sort of power inside his own body, and that power undoubtedly originated from the Demon Saint, Xue Li!
The middle-aged woman and the man looked at each other and saw the conflicting emotions in each other’s eyes. The reputation of the Demon Saints was too intimidating; thus, they did not have the courage nor the confidence to fight one. It would not be worthwhile if they not only failed to save Old Chen but also fell into trouble themselves. Even so, it was unbearable to just watch Old Chen suffering without doing anything. What’s more… Xue Li only planted a Soul Seal in the Knowledge Sea of the Stone Demon, so the power he could exert should be limited.
There was only a brief hesitation before the two of them moved in unison and came to Old Chen’s side. They each pressed a finger on Old Chen’s forehead, one on the left and one on the right. Their Divine Senses surged as they couldn’t afford to care about anything else at the moment. When their Soul Avatars rushed into Old Chen’s Knowledge Sea, their expressions changed drastically.
About half an hour later, both the middle-aged woman and man suddenly opened their eyes and gasped for breath. Their complexions were pale and looking at each other, they saw the horror in each other’s eyes.
“We were careless!” The middle-aged woman gritted her teeth. Who could have known that Xue Li would leave a Soul Wisp in a Half-Saint’s Knowledge Sea? Even if the other party was a Demon Saint, doing something like this would still be a huge burden for him.
Just a mere Soul Wisp had given the three Pseudo-Great Emperors such a difficult time. The strength that the other party could exert might not be stronger than any one of them individually, but Xue Li’s mastery of his strength was far above anything those three could even hope to compete with. Not to mention, the battlefield was located within Old Chen’s Knowledge Sea, so the movements of both the middle-aged woman and the man were somewhat restricted. On the other hand, Xue Li’s Soul Wisp had no such scruples.
While they eventually managed to destroy Xue Li’s Soul Wisp in this difficult battle, the price they had to pay was not small. The man glanced at Old Chen with a sad look on his face, “Old Chen, he…”
Likewise, the middle-aged woman had a gloomy look on her face as she sighed heavily, “His life is in no danger, but…”
“Let’s find a place to hide for now,” the man suggested.
“En. That’s our best option right now.”
A short while later, the middle-aged woman stuck her head into a cave, and once she confirmed that there was nothing dangerous inside, she drew upon her Divine Sense and sent a message. The man soon entered this place with an unconscious Old Chen on his back, placed Old Chen down in a clean place, and went back outside the cave to make preparations.
Old Chen was in a coma for three whole days and when he finally did awaken, as a Pseudo-Great Emperor, he knew exactly what kind of situation he was in even though he had been unconscious the entire time. The gazes of his two companions immediately turned to look at him the moment he opened his eyes and the middle-aged woman asked with concern, “How are you feeling, Old Chen?”
Old Chen coughed slightly, forced himself to sit up, and laughed bitterly, “We tried to steal a chicken but ended up losing the rice instead.”
The other man said, “Who could have imagined that Xue Li would set up something like that… Old Chen, you…”
Old Chen raised his hand to stop the other man, “I know my own situation best. I’m afraid I won’t be able to participate in this Grand Dao battle anymore.”
His demeanour might seem rather light and carefree, but both the middle-aged woman and the other man could see the deep despair and unwillingness in his eyes. Who would be willing to accept something like this? The Grand Dao battle was a monumental event that only occurred once every few tens of thousands of years. It was an opportunity many Pseudo-Great Emperors never experienced even after waiting for their whole lives. It was not easy for the opportunity to reach the peak of the Martial Dao to come by, but Old Chen ended up in this state so quickly after the Grand Dao battle began.
He might have received help from his two companions and retained his life as a result, but his Soul had been gravely injured in the process. This kind of wound was something that completely cut off his future path toward the Martial Dao. Moreover, he would never recover from the trauma to his Soul for the rest of his life. Falling from the Pseudo-Great Emperor Realm was only a matter of time.
It could even be said that the Grand Dao battle no longer had anything to do with him. It was only thanks to many millennia of mental tempering and cultivation that he did not go insane. If anybody else went through something like that, there was a good chance they would have immediately gone crazy and committed suicide.
“This is simply my fate. However, I did find a piece of information, so my sacrifice was not in vain,” He gave a self-deprecating laugh, then he looked at his two companions with a solemn expression, “This information must be passed on no matter what. Inform our other companions and let them be vigilant. Don’t let them follow in my footsteps.”
“Don’t worry. We will definitely let the others know if we meet them.” The middle-aged woman nodded solemnly.
The other man sighed, “It’s such a pity. If only the Space Beacons could be used…”
They immediately discovered the drawbacks of being unable to use the Space Beacons when they arrived in this place, which ultimately resulted in the inability to transmit vital information to one another.
“The two of you have accompanied this old man for so many days. Don’t delay here any longer. Please go quickly. My sacrifice will be in vain if you miss this opportunity. I can only trouble the two of you to bring me along with you.”
The middle-aged woman replied, “Old Chen, if you can trust me, I will do everything possible to ensure your safety.”
Old Chen smiled, “How can I not believe you?”
The middle-aged woman nodded, took out a World Bead, and stretched out a hand towards him, “Please.”
Old Chen relaxed his mind and was instantly transported into the World Bead.
Inside the cave, the middle-aged woman and her only remaining companion exchanged a glance with each other before she spoke, “Let’s go. We need to meet up with the others as soon as possible.”
The man had no objection.
Inside the World Bead, Old Chen’s expression was gloomy as two tracks of tears made their way down his cheeks…
It had only been less than ten days since the Profound Heavens Temple opened, but great battles had already broken out everywhere. A fight would basically occur whenever the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints encountered each other.
The Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Star Boundary were more restrained in their movements as there were more Half-Saints after all. Furthermore, they were completely clueless about the situation in the Profound Heavens Temple. They were disadvantaged due to the lack of information, so they did not want to cause too much trouble before they figured out what was going on. However, if they had an absolute advantage in numbers, such as in the case of Old Chen’s group, they didn’t mind killing off a few Half-Saints.
Compared to the Pseudo-Great Emperors, the Half-Saints were much more radical and acted ruthlessly as long as they had the slightest advantage.
In just a short span of ten days, as many as six Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints died in the Profound Heavens Temple, an extremely terrifying number. The war between the two worlds had gone on for so many years and involved hundreds of millions of cultivators, but even so, less than 20 Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints combined had died. The brutality and bloodshed of the Grand Dao battle were evident.
With the passage of time, the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints continued to encounter companions from their respective camps and joined forces. No matter how big the Profound Heavens Temple was, there were limits to its size, so it was inevitable for them to occasionally run into each other when they were all in the same Sealed World.
Nevertheless, whether they were a Pseudo-Great Emperor or a Half-Saint, they would instantly be turned into mummified corpses if they died in the Profound Heavens Temple, as though they were being sucked dry by some kind of invisible force.
With the deaths of those Masters, the chaotic aura around the Giant Furnace located in the deepest part of the Profound Heavens Temple became more and more apparent. Accordingly, the darkness surrounding it also became much lighter.
*Hu…*
Inside the Small Sealed World, Yang Kai gently exhaled and the emerald light surrounding his body gradually disappeared. All the injuries he sustained during his battle with the Sand Demon Half-Saint were finally healed. That was not all; he had learned a great deal about his own shortcomings after digesting his experiences from his last battle.
After all, that was the first Half-Saint in peak condition whom he fought and killed all on his own. All sorts of details from the battle had been constantly replaying in Yang Kai’s mind over the past few days and he was confident that if he was given another chance now, he would be able to win against that Half-Saint with far less effort, though it would likely need to sustain quite severe injuries again. Unfortunately, there would always be a price to pay if he wanted to kill his opponent.
[Strength! I need greater strength! I am only a High-Rank Demon King right now. If I can become a Half-Saint…] Yang Kai clenched his fists tightly. There were countless opportunities in the Profound Heavens Temple, so who could say whether he might be able to become a Half-Saint in this place?
Inside the jungle, an approximately 10-metre-tall giant wolf darted from tree to tree. That giant wolf was covered in silver fur that was spotless, soft, and smooth. Moreover, it had a strong and noble figure. The aura it exuded was impressive, equivalent to a peak Monster King. Its pale blue eyes flickered with a cold light and it would look around its surroundings from time to time with an almost humanised expression.
At a certain moment, the silver giant wolf abruptly stopped in its tracks, cocked its ears, and listened to something carefully. Then, it turned around and ran off in another direction.
Over a thousand kilometres away from where the giant silver wolf was located, a violent energy was running rampant inside a deep mountain valley. There were several figures colliding and clashing with each other in a great battle. The impact of these powerful forces stirred up everything in the mountain valley, causing a hazy and dusty atmosphere to fill the air. It should have been a place with extremely beautiful scenery, but it was now a completely dilapidated mess.
Sword Qi flashed, followed by an icy burst of Sword Intent. The entire mountain valley was shrouded in ice and the ground was covered with frost. Amidst the clashing sounds, a slender figure was pushed back several dozen metres.
Bing Yun immediately stabilised her stance, her fair face flushing with a faint tinge of red. Suppressing the churning vitality in her body, she furrowed her brow together deeply as she stared hard at the two enemies overflowing with Demon Qi in front of her. One was tall and the other was short.
Understanding her situation, she sighed softly, [This is going to be very troublesome.]
She had encountered these two Half-Saints by chance in the Profound Heavens Temple. Unfortunately, she was alone while there were two enemies. Hence, there was nothing much to say about her situation. A battle immediately broke out between them and although Bing Yun was determined to escape, the opposing two Half-Saints naturally would never give her the chance to flee. They chased her all this way into this mountain valley and eventually blocked off all her escape routes. Forced into a corner, Bing Yun turned to confront them instead.
While she was also a Pseudo-Great Emperor, she only became one some ten years ago. How could she compare to the two veteran Half-Saints who had centuries of accumulation behind them, much less when the two of them were working together?
The way forward was rather rocky seeing as she could neither escape nor win against them. Even so, Bing Yun’s expression remained cold and indifferent. She had been cultivating for so many years now that she had long since become indifferent to the prospect of death. Along the way, she enjoyed all the beautiful sceneries of life and was also more than fortunate to participate in this event that only occurred once in tens of thousands of years. Even if she lost her life in the Profound Heavens Temple, she would not have any regrets.
The only thing she could not forget was Yang Kai. She had already made plans to protect him before she entered the Profound Heavens Temple. She was supposed to support him together with Yang Yan so that he could seize that one and only opportunity to become a Great Emperor and rescue the Star Boundary from its current crisis. Unfortunately, more than ten days had passed since she entered this place and while she came across many good things during this time, she could not find any trace of Yang Kai.
[But… Forget it. I can’t even take care of myself right now. There’s no time to worry about others.] Bing Yun took a small breath and raised her longsword as Ice Principles churned around her.
On the opposite side, the two Demon Race Half-Saints stared at Bing Yun coldly. The taller one had scarlet eyes and even his hair seemed to be dyed with fresh blood. It was obvious that he belonged to the Blood Demon Clan. Meanwhile, the shorter one was full of muscles and explosive power. He was clearly from the Strength Demon Clan.
The two Demons had joined forces to suppress Bing Yun which made this quite a simple matter. As long as nothing unexpected occurred, this battle was destined to end with her death. What the two of them had to do was finish this battle at the smallest price possible.
The Blood Demon stared at the flawless woman dressed in white in front of him, stuck out his tongue, and licked his lips, “There is a smell of ice. Her blood will definitely be delicious. Don’t kill her later. I want to drink every single drop of her blood.”
The Strength Demon coldly snorted, “Kill first, talk later.”
The woman in front of him was certainly a stunning beauty, it was just that… Having reached this level of cultivation and strength, what kind of woman had he not seen before? Needless to say, he was not going to let his guard down just because of a beautiful woman. No matter how beautiful the woman opposite him was, she was still a Pseudo-Great Emperor. She might be able to drag one of them down with her in a desperate counterattack.
“Fine, fine, how boring!” The Blood Demon did not dig his heels in on this matter. While speaking, he inadvertently glanced at a rocky outcropping not far away and smiled contemptuously.
Likewise, the Strength Demon also glanced in that direction, snorted coldly, and stopped paying attention to whatever was in that direction.
In the next moment, the Blood Demon transformed into a streak of bloody light and rushed towards Bing Yun, followed closely by the Strength Demon. Although the Strength Demon’s speed was slower, the ground shattered under his feet as he moved and his punch blasted out before he even arrived. Moreover, his fist was shrouded in an aura that seemed capable of shattering worlds.
Bing Yun’s expression remained unchanged as she drew a large circle in front of her with her long sword. Ice Principles filled the air along with a chill cold enough to penetrate the heart. The large circle was followed by a smaller circle, and then another even smaller circle. Circle after circle, the concentric rings intertwined, seemingly derived from each other with a sense of infinity.
The Blood Demon plunged straight into the endless Sword Circles and his bare figure was revealed in an instant. When the Sword Intent swept across him, his clothes were cut to pieces and countless small wounds appeared on his skin. However, the fresh blood that flowed from the wound seemed almost like a sentient creature, transforming into numerous Blood Snakes that penetrated the barrier formed by the Sword Circles and attacked Bing Yun directly.
Bing Yun frowned in response and while continuing to draw circles with her sword, she fluttered backwards in retreat.
Meanwhile, the Strength Demon emerged out of nowhere, falling from the sky and smashing his fists downward. There was a loud explosion and the interlocking Sword Circles lost their shape, opening a flaw in Bing Yun’s defences.
At that moment, the Blood Demon took the opportunity to slip through and let out a maniacal laugh, “Surrender without a fight if you know what’s good for you! You’ll suffer less that way!”
He was still fervently hoping to capture her alive in order to refine her blood little by little at a later date, but in the next moment, he frowned. A hostile look appeared on his face and he looked to the side and snapped, “An ant that doesn’t know its place!”
Just as he was about to make his move, a ten-metre-tall and unbelievably robust silver giant wolf suddenly leapt out of the rocky outcropping with its fangs bared. Its huge figure moved about with unimaginable agility as it opened its mouth wide to bite off the Blood Demon’s head.
The Blood Demon was so furious that he laughed instead. This silver giant wolf might look quite extraordinary, but it was still just a Monster Beast comparable to a Monster King in strength. He did not know if it had lost its mind or something for it to gain the courage to attack him.
In any case, he had already noticed the wolf when it first appeared in this place. The gap in their strength was massive after all. Besides, he was certain that he was not the only one who noticed it. His companion and the Human woman had most certainly noticed this wolf too. It was just that a Monster King had no right to intervene in a battle between a Pseudo-Great Emperor and Half-Saints, so the three of them had ignored it completely. At least… until this moment when the silver giant wolf suddenly attacked.
This situation was no different from a child rushing into an adult’s battle; thus, the Blood Demon was amazed by how ignorant and fearless this wolf was. He raised his hand and pointed, and while no force seemed to appear from his finger, the silver giant wolf lunging at him suddenly whimpered. All the blood in its body began to boil and its originally robust body began to swell up in a very short time. It didn’t take long before it exploded into a blood mist with a loud bang.
Blood Demons were masters when it came to blood manipulation. As long as blood existed, it would serve as the foundation for them to perform their Secret Techniques. Although the giant silver wolf was equivalent to a Monster King and was quite powerful, how could it withstand the force behind a Blood Demon Half-Saint’s attack?
Seeming to have expected this result, the Blood Demon ignored the giant silver wolf after pointing his finger at it and turned his attention back to Bing Yun. Contrary to his expectations, however, he suddenly saw a new figure out of the corner of his eyes. The figure appeared out of nowhere from the middle of the blood mist that used to be the silver wolf just now.
The Blood Demon turned pale in shock, but before he could even see what was going on, he turned into a bloody light and quickly retreated.
At that moment, a cold light was released and a spear shadow thrust out. The whole world seemed to become frozen for a moment.
Bing Yun’s Sword Intent had been disrupted, so her aura was slightly disordered as a result. Glancing at the figure who popped up in front of her without any warning, surprise flashed across her eyes; then, she immediately broke into a smile.
[So, that’s how it is! No wonder the Monster Beast on the level of a Monster King acted so foolishly and even dared to intervene in a battle that was beyond its level.] She originally thought that the reason behind the silver giant wolf’s behaviour was that it had yet to gain sentience. Now it would seem that it had nothing to do with its intelligence at all. It was obvious that it was being controlled by somebody else; after all, a Monster Beast would act according to instinct even before it gained sentience and no Monster Beast would be so stupid as to throw itself to its death.
When Bing Yun broke out into a smile, the Blood Demon who retreated previously widened his eyes abruptly instead, his scarlet pupils trembling violently as he gritted his teeth and shouted, “Yang Kai!”
The figure that had appeared without any warning from the middle of the blood mist was none other than the target that the Demon Saints had specifically ordered to kill!
At this moment, the person who was regarded as a thorn in the side by all the Demon Race Half-Saints was standing with his back to the Blood Demon. Yang Kai was holding a spear with both hands. In addition, there was a short and sturdy figure pierced through on the tip of his spear. That figure was the Strength Demon from before.
The Azure Dragon Spear and been thrust through the Strength Demon’s chest and out through his back, piercing a hole right through him. An injury of this level was not something that could be taken lightly even for a Half-Saint.
Hanging from the tip of the Azure Dragon Spear, the Strength Demon stared at Yang Kai who was standing less than a metre away from him, his eyes widened with a look of disbelief mixed with a trace of bloodthirsty hatred.
This had started off as a two-on-one battle where the Demons held the upper hand. Who could have expected Yang Kai to pop up out of nowhere? The perfect situation turned around in an instant because of his appearance.
Yang Kai tilted his head and glanced at the Strength Demon with a sinister smile curling the corners of his mouth, “Surprised? Happy to see me?”
The Strength Demon grunted, gripping the Azure Dragon Spear with both hands as he squirmed and exerted force into his hands, as if trying to pull it out.
“Well? Say something!” Yang Kai flicked his wrist and a Dragon Roar immediately sounded from the Azure Dragon Spear. A wave of Supreme Dragon Pressure, along with Yang Kai’s Martial Truth flooded into the Strength Demon’s body through his open wound like a raging tide.
The Strength Demon opened his mouth and spat out a large amount of blood, his expression suddenly becoming livid.
Fresh blood sprayed down and drenched Yang Kai’s face, but he did not flinch. The crimson liquid only made his smile seem even more wicked than before, as if a malevolent Devil Lord was standing here.
The aura coming from Yang Kai made Bing Yun, who was standing behind him, frown slightly and she couldn’t help feeling a bit uncomfortable.
“Die!” The Strength Demon suddenly opened his mouth and roared. He stopped trying to pull himself from the spear and instead used it to propel himself closer and smashed his fist down on Yang Kai. His desperate blow was fuelled by all the strength he could muster and space shattered in response.
Unperturbed, Yang Kai held the spear in one hand, clenched his other hand into a fist, and punched. When the two fists clashed against each other, a huge shockwave spread out into the surroundings from where they stood.
There was a series of cracking noises which sounded like bones breaking as the Strength Demon was thrown backwards into the sky. Likewise, Yang Kai couldn’t help being pushed back several dozen metres, his feet carving deep pits into the ground. Furthermore, the earth split apart in a spiderweb of crevices centred around where he once stood.
“Senior, I’ll leave the rest to you! Keep him alive!” After Yang Kai stabilised his stance, he did not attack again immediately and instead, he hurriedly left those words behind before curling his body up slightly and launching himself in the direction of the Blood Demon like a meteor.
Starting from the time when the silver wolf appeared and launched an attack to the time the Blood Demon caused the silver wolf to explode with a single finger, to the time Yang Kai showed up out of nowhere and skewered the Strength Demon Half-Saint with his spear; everything had happened in less than a couple of breaths. The changes had occurred so quickly that the Blood Demon had no time to rescue his companion, and by now, the Strength Demon was already badly wounded.
It wasn’t that the Strength Demon was lacking in any way. It was just that he had been focusing solely on Bing Yun. How could he have expected Yang Kai to attack out of the blue? Furthermore, the sharpness of the Azure Dragon Spear had already been verified by the life of the Stone Demon Half-Saint who died at Yang Kai’s hands in Star Soul Palace. How could the body of a Strength Demon defend against that?
A moment of carelessness had caused the Strength Demon to lose most of his combat effectiveness; therefore, Bing Yun was fully capable of handling the rest. She was a Pseudo-Great Emperor after all, so there was no reason why she could not win against a seriously injured Strength Demon Half-Saint.
During that moment when the Blood Demon froze in surprise, Yang Kai had already arrived in front of him and the sound of a Dragon Roar came from the Azure Dragon Spear. With a solemn expression, Yang Kai thrust out his spear at his enemy.
Struck by the spear, the Blood Demon reacted as though he had been struck by lightning. His entire body stiffened in place and a big hole where the Azure Dragon Spear had pierced through his chest appeared, the expression on his face was filled with shock.
“Trying to escape!? In your dreams!” Yang Kai took no joy in his successful attack as he withdrew his spear, ignored the Blood Demon before him, and rushed towards another direction with a flash of his body.
Following Yang Kai’s departure, the ‘Blood Demon’, whose body had been pierced cleanly, suddenly melted into a puddle of blood water and vanished out of sight. This was clearly not the Blood Demon’s true body. It was simply a Secret Technique he cast to create a distraction.
There was no saving the Strength Demon, and with Yang Kai and Bing Yun working together, the Blood Demon did not dare to confront them. It was better to escape as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Yang Kai immediately saw through his plans.
A streak of blood light sped through the sky at a high speed, emitting the aura of a Half-Saint. Moreover, that aura was fluctuating erratically as though it had suffered a great fright and was desperately fleeing like a stray dog. The blood light suddenly stopped moving, revealing the figure of the Blood Demon Half-Saint, his scarlet eyes glaring fearfully ahead of himself.
Space rippled and Yang Kai slowly walked out of the Void with a cold glare on his face, “Are you trying to escape from me? Is your head alright?”
The Blood Escape Technique was an unrivalled Secret Technique when it came to fleeing whether it be in the Demon Realm or the Star Boundary. Few escape methods could compare to it and it could definitely rank among the top three techniques in terms of speed alone. Blood Demons relied on the Blood Escape Technique to get away from strong enemies and survive dangerous situations on multiple occasions. It was a pity the opponent this time was Yang Kai! In front of Instantaneous Movement, all other escape methods were completely useless.
The Blood Demon’s path forward was blocked, and he could also vaguely sense a freezing aura approaching from behind. That Human woman had probably finished dealing with his companion and was rushing over to provide support. A hideous expression flashed across the Blood Demon’s face as he snarled, “Yang Kai, let me go if you know what’s good for you. You won’t get out of this unscathed either if I fight to the death!”
Yang Kai grinned at the Blood Demon, “The barking of a beat dog is truly grating on the ears!”
By the time the last word left his mouth, all that was left where he stood was an afterimage. His true body rushed towards the Blood Demon with the Azure Dragon Spear in hand and thrust out.
The Blood Demon let out a furious howl, after which he exploded and transformed into a Blood Sea that enveloped Yang Kai.
“Hmm?” Yang Kai frowned and said through gritted teeth, “A man unafraid to sacrifice his arm is truly difficult to deal with!”
The spear began to dance, filling the Blood Sea with endless spear shadows. Numerous black balls appeared at the tip of the spear. Following that, large patches of the blood vanished without a trace…
By the time Bing Yun rushed over, she saw Yang Kai getting rid of the last of the blood and a look of astonishment swept across her eyes, “Did you… kill him?”
The Blood Sea was a Blood Demon’s foundation, so how could the Blood Demon survive if Yang Kai got rid of the Blood Sea? He would die without a doubt. Nevertheless, that was simply unbelievable. When Yang Kai had severely injured the Strength Demon previously, he had relied on the element of surprise and his enemy’s negligence to pull that off. However, it was shocking that he could kill a Blood Demon Half-Saint in such a short time. Even Li Wu Yi would not be capable of doing that if he came here himself.
For a moment, Bing Yun felt as though she was dreaming.
Knowing what she was thinking, Yang Kai slowly shook his head, “We were tricked. It wasn’t his true body. I think it was something similar to an Avatar.”
As a Half-Saint, how could the Blood Demon not have a few life-saving techniques? His Avatar was something even Yang Kai had failed to see through, and for that reason, Yang Kai had chased the Blood Demon all this way, thinking that he had managed to intercept the enemy. He had no plans of fighting the Blood Demon alone as what happened a few days ago was still fresh in his memory. Besides, he had no wish to enter retreat again in order to treat his wounds.
Fortunately, it would not take Bing Yun much effort to finish off that injured Strength Demon, so as long as Yang Kai could delay things until she came to provide support, he was confident they could defeat the Blood Demon in a two-against-one battle. If that were the case, the price they would have to pay would be negligible. However, Yang Kai immediately noticed something was off the moment he attacked. The Blood Demon’s power was considerably weaker than what was displayed earlier. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do at this point even if he noticed that something was wrong.
He sighed softly, “What a pity.”
Bing Yun said, “There’s nothing worth regretting. That Blood Demon was forced to pay a heavy price to escape and probably won’t be able to participate in the Grand Dao battle anymore. All he can do now is find a hiding place to lick his wounds.”
“Senior is right,” Yang Kai nodded at those words, the depressed feeling in his heart dissipating instantly. Turning to look at what she was holding in her hand, he smiled, “Senior, you work fast.”
What she was holding in her hand was none other than the Strength Demon he had severely injured with his spear earlier. It was just that the Half-Saint was completely wrapped in ice now. Despite looking like he had been frozen alive, his vitality was still present, so it was obvious he wasn’t dead yet.
It was not an easy feat to capture a Half-Saint alive even if the other party was severely injured. Even so, Bing Yun managed to achieve that within such a short time. It was clear that her foundation was not as weak as it seemed on the surface.
“How could I have captured him if you had not injured him first?” A complicated look flashed across her eyes. She thought back to the first time she met Yang Kai. He had only been in the Third-Order Dao Source Realm Junior back then. On the other hand, she was already a Third-Order Emperor. Although her cultivation remained one Realm higher than his after all these years, there was no way her real combat power could compare with his. The growth rate of this young boy who came from the same homeland as her was simply astounding. Such a chaotic time in the world was precisely when the extraordinary would grow and flourish. Be that as it may, the person in front of her was clearly the best of all those existences.
[My two Disciples sure have a good eye for people.] Bing Yun mused to herself.
“Are you planning to search his Knowledge Sea?” She asked. Seeing as Yang Kai had specifically asked to keep the opponent alive, that could only mean that he planned to interrogate the opponent for information. However, Half-Saints were stubborn, so how could they possibly give up the information so easily? The only way to gain information was to search their Soul, “If so, I advise you to give up on that idea. I’ve received information that the Demon Saints have done something to these Half-Saints’ Knowledge Seas. There is a seal placed on their Soul so you will immediately suffer from the backlash if you try to search their Knowledge Seas.”
“Oh? Does everybody already know about it?” Yang Kai was surprised. He had planned to tell the others about this information when he learned about it. Unfortunately, he could not contact anybody and he also urgently needed to treat his wounds, so he had given up on the notion. [I wonder how this information got out. Is it related to that person who was spying on me from the shadows?]
“You know about it too?” Bing Yun was stunned.
A frightened look filled Yang Kai’s face as he replied honestly, “I nearly died finding out.”
If not for the fact that his Soul cultivation was more powerful than any Pseudo-Great Emperor or Half-Saint, and if not for the fact that he had the Soul Warming Lotus, he would not be standing here right now.
“But, I was not planning to search his Soul. There’s another way to learn what we need.” Yang Kai smiled and reached out to take the Strength Demon who was frozen in ice. He then turned to her and added, “Senior, please help me stand guard.”
She nodded in response, “En.”
With a shift of his body, Yang Kai instantly vanished along with the Strength Demon. All that was left behind was a longan-sized bead in his place.
Bing Yun reached out and caught the bead. After studying it carefully, she murmured pensively, “Is this the original Sealed World Bead?”
The Sealed World Bead in Yang Kai’s possession was no longer a secret. She had also seen it before from afar. Nevertheless, it was her first time holding it in her hand like this.
It was said that the World Beads that each army held were modelled after this Sealed World Bead. She herself had one of the World Beads in her possession, so she was no stranger to this feeling. However, the World Beads could not compare to the Sealed World Bead at all. Be it in terms of the interior area or World Principles, they were as different as clouds and mud.
It was hard to imagine that there was a Great World contained inside this tiny bead. Furthermore, Yang Kai controlled everything in that world as the Master of the Sealed World Bead!
[Perhaps… He might actually get some information.] At that thought, Bing Yun couldn’t help feeling a little expectant of the results; after all, the greatest shortcoming of the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary was their lack of information regarding the Profound Heavens Temple.
She didn’t need to wait for long as only an hour had passed before Yang Kai reappeared. Handing the Sealed World Bead over to him, Bing Yun asked, “Were you hiding in this bead when you attacked earlier?”
Yang Kai laughed, “En.”
While recuperating from his wounds previously, he had hidden the Sealed World Bead inside the stomach of the giant silver wolf; after all, the Sealed World Bead would be completely exposed if he entered it. Without a person standing guard, nowhere was safe enough regardless of where he placed the Sealed World Bead. He happened across the silver wolf just as he was agonising over this issue.
Thus, he decided to make the silver giant wolf swallow the Sealed World Bead. With his current Soul cultivation, it was a simple matter for him to control a Monster King. Yang Kai had been in no hurry to exit the Sealed World Bead upon recovering from his injuries; hence, he borrowed the giant wolf to investigate his surroundings and coincidentally discovered Bing Yun’s whereabouts.
“Did you learn anything?”
“A little, but things are very different from what we thought,” He scowled.
How could the Strength Demon resist him inside the Small Sealed World? By using his privileges as Master of the world, Yang Kai had indeed managed to force some information out of the Strength Demon.
“How is it different?” Bing Yun asked.
“They don’t know anything about the Illusionary Heavens Furnace. Senior, don’t you think that’s strange?” Yang Kai scowled fiercely.
“Could it be that the information we received is wrong? Or, is somebody deliberately trying to obscure our sight?”
“I don’t think so,” Yang Kai slowly shook his head. How could he not understand the meaning behind her words? It was just that the information on the Illusionary Heavens Furnace was something Sheng Yu Zhu had specially given to him. He had no bad blood with Sheng Yu Zhu; rather, she owed him a life debt. There was no reason for her to deceive him on this point. What’s more, what was her purpose if she had truly fabricated the information about the Illusionary Heavens Furnace? How would that benefit her?
“Then, what do the Half-Saints from the Demon Realm know?”
His expression became strange, “That’s the part that puzzles me the most. They don’t know anything.”
“They don’t know anything? Could it be that Can Ye never told them anything?” Bing Yun was taken aback by the news. Can Ye had participated in the previous Grand Dao battle, gained great benefits from that experience, and became a Great Emperor as a result. Nobody else in the Star Boundary had more knowledge about the situation inside the Profound Heavens Temple than him. The people from the Star Boundary had assumed that Can Ye would surely reveal a lot of information to the enemy, but it would seem that they were overthinking this matter.
“None of them have even seen Can Ye recently, but that’s understandable considering that he has been in the process of recuperation. On the contrary, Xue Li issued a command to all the Half-Saints.”
“What command?”
Yang Kai glanced at Bing Yun and spoke in a cold and quiet voice, “Kill!”
She laughed, “What kind of command is that?”
Even without that command, the Half-Saints from the Demon Realm and the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary would surely engage in a fierce struggle between two evenly matched opponents the moment they encountered each other. There was no need to specifically issue an order like that.
“To be precise, Xue Li said ‘you will naturally know what to do once you’ve killed enough’,” Yang Kai followed up.
“The Demon Saints said that?” She frowned.
He gently nodded.
Bing Yun was silent for a moment before she hazarded a guess, “Could it be that the Heavenly Manifestation will only be revealed if enough blood and life are sacrificed to it?”
Yang Kai lightly exhaled, “That’s what I think too; otherwise, the Demon Saints would not have specifically issued a command like that. There’s also another thing that bothers me greatly, however…”
While saying that, he suddenly gave a wave of his hand and a mummified corpse appeared in front of him. That mummified corpse was completely devoid of moisture, as though all the essence within had dissipated over countless years.
Although it was a corpse, it retained some of the traces from when that person had still been alive and Bing Yun immediately recognised at a glance that the mummified corpse belonged to the Strength Demon from before.
“How did he become like this?” She frowned deeply. A moment later, her expression changed greatly and she looked at him and exclaimed, “Yang Kai, you couldn’t have…”
Yang Kai laughed, “Don’t worry, Senior. I might know the essence of the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, but I did not cultivate that evil Secret Technique.”
This mummified corpse looked like somebody had used a Secret Art to suck out all the essence from it, similar to the effects of the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, so he knew what she was worried about.
“To be honest, I didn’t kill him either.”
Although Yang Kai had the ability to do so in the Small Sealed World, the reason for the Strength Demon’s death was the activation of the Soul Seal. Not only could the Soul Seal in his mind cause a backlash to those who tried to search his Soul, but it also activated without warning when he so much as gave up the slightest bit of information regarding the Profound Heavens Temple. That was what caused him to die on the spot. That was also related to why Yang Kai had only managed to retrieve so little information.
“However, at that moment after his death, I clearly felt an invisible force passing through the boundary of the Small Sealed World, enveloping him, and draining him of all his vitality.”
Yang Kai was the Master of the Small Sealed World, so his perception was incredibly sharp inside of it. Therefore, the subtle force had not escaped his notice despite how hidden it had been. Thinking back to what happened previously, Yang Kai felt as though the veil over his eyes had been lifted…
“How could this be?” Bing Yun seemed extremely puzzled. What kind of power could penetrate the boundary of the Small Sealed World? It was a Sealed World after all.
“Actually… I also killed a Half-Saint soon after we entered this place. This situation is similar to what happened after he died. I didn’t notice anything at the time, but… the situation in the Profound Heavens Temple might not be as simple as we believed.”
“Are you saying that…”
“All those who participated in the Grand Dao battle will end up in this state if they lose their lives in the Profound Heavens Temple.” Yang Kai pointed at the mummified corpse on the ground, a light flashing brightly in his eyes, “Combining that with the command that Xue Li issued to the Half-Saints, I think what you said before makes a lot of sense.”
“If that’s the case, then we will have to take the initiative to be ruthless. The people from the Demon Realm came prepared. We will suffer a huge loss if we don’t take precautions.” Bing Yun’s expression turned solemn while she was secretly surprised by Yang Kai’s strength. He was strong enough to kill a Half-Saint before this incident! As a Pseudo-Great Emperor herself, she knew just how difficult it was to kill an opponent on the same level in a one-on-one battle.
Yang Kai nodded in agreement, “At the very least, we need to let everybody know what kind of situation they are in.”
If the final secret of the Profound Heavens Temple and the key to becoming a Great Emperor was the blood sacrifice of many people, then the Demon Race’s information already put them ahead of the rest. They had orders from the Demon Saints after all. Combined with the advantage of numbers on their side, they would not be holding back at all.
On the contrary, the Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Star Boundary were probably thinking of avoiding any battles they could under the premise that they had yet to figure out the situation for the time being. If they took on the Demon Race Half-Saints with that kind of attitude, they were bound to suffer a great loss.
After saying that, Yang Kai smiled wryly, “Nevertheless, let’s decide once we meet somebody else. You’re the first ally I’ve met since entering this place, Senior.”
The person watching him from the shadows before did not count.
Bing Yun smiled in response, “It seems my luck is better than yours. You’re the second I’ve met so far.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai was surprised, “Who else did you meet, Senior?”
“Yang Yan.”
He was overjoyed at the news, “Where is she!?”
As per the original plan, Yang Yan and Bing Yun were supposed to accompany him as his companions. It was just that they had been separated when they entered the Profound Heavens Temple. Yang Kai had no way to track their whereabouts and even meeting Bing Yun here had been a lucky coincidence. He even had the faint suspicion that the World’s Will in his possession was acting in secret. Why else would he encounter Bing Yun being besieged as soon as he came out of retreat?
In any case, it was only natural for him to proceed according to plan since they had already met up with each other. He had planned to look for Yang Yan after this, but who could have expected that Bing Yun had already met her?
Bing Yun pointed a finger in a certain direction, “It’s a day’s journey in that direction. We found something interesting there, so Yang Yan stayed behind to examine it while I came out to track your whereabouts.”
If it was something even a Pseudo-Great Emperor would find interesting, then it must surely be something very precious. That was not surprising, however, as the Profound Heavens Temple was the creation of the world itself. Yang Kai also encountered many good things along the way.
“Let’s go and meet up with her. It’s always more convenient to take action with more people.”
“I was thinking so too.” Bing Yun smiled.
The two of them set off immediately, heading in the direction Bing Yun originally came from. Along the way, Yang Kai inquired about their destination. He was curious to know just what it was that had attracted Yang Yan so much that she would stay behind.
Bing Yun did not hide anything from him and answered honestly.
According to her, she began to track his whereabouts after she met Yang Yan in the Profound Heavens Temple. In the end, they failed to locate him but accidentally discovered a strange pool instead. This pool was filled with milky white liquid that was almost a metre deep. Moreover, it exuded an intoxicating aroma that was very refreshing to the senses.
According to Yang Yan’s observation, that pool of water was most likely the legendary World Source Liquid.
It would have been nothing if it were just an ordinary treasure. The Grand Dao battle was such a rare opportunity that nobody would waste their precious time to harvest an ordinary treasure unless it was very easy to obtain; however, that was World Source Liquid! It was a precious treasure that was formed only during the birth of a world. Not to mention, it had great and mysterious effects on both the Pseudo-Great Emperors and the Great Emperors. If a person were to consume even a drop of it, they would definitely gain insight into the Heavenly Way and their strength would be greatly increased.
Unfortunately, a Natural Grand Array had formed around the pool. The Grand Array was profound and mysterious, so nobody could approach the pool, much less obtain the World Source Liquid, unless they passed through it.
Yang Yan was the best Artifact Array Grandmaster in the Star Boundary. There was nobody better than her whether it was in Artifact Refining or Spirit Arrays, so if there was anybody in the world who could crack this Natural Spirit Array, she would be the only one.
Therefore, Yang Yan stayed behind to crack the Spirit Array. Since there was nothing Bing Yun could help with, she decided to come out to continue searching for Yang Kai’s whereabouts instead.
“World Source Liquid…” Even Yang Kai’s eyes flashed with greed at those words. It was something he had heard of before but never imagined he would ever find; after all, it was a precious treasure that would only form at the birth of the world. Great changes happened over time and nothing ever remained the same. Even if it was formed during the birth of the world, it would have been used up or destroyed a long time ago. On the contrary, the Source Sealed World known as the Profound Heavens Temple was born alongside the world, so it was not impossible for it to preserve some of the things from ancient times.
It was no wonder that Sheng Yu Zhu mentioned that as long as the Pseudo-Great Emperors who participated in the Grand Dao battle survived the experience, they would receive a huge boost in strength even if they failed to become a Great Emperor.
The World Source Liquid was undoubtedly a good thing that could make a person’s strength soar without any side effects. It was just that Yang Yan alone might not be able to monopolize a treasure like that. If it were discovered by the Half-Saints, a fierce struggle was inevitable. Even if the other Pseudo-Great Emperors found out about it, there would still be some internal conflict arising from this.
Hence, Yang Kai immediately picked up the pace upon learning that it could be the World Source Liquid and rushed over with Bing Yun.
The place where Yang Yan and Bing Yun had found the pool of World Source Liquid was located in a thick jungle. There were huge towering trees everywhere in the surroundings, but there was only one empty space in its centre. Right in the middle of the jungle was a wooden stump with a diameter of approximately ten metres wide. The wooden stump was hollow in the middle, which formed a pool. That pool was filled with a milky white liquid that was suspected to be World Source Liquid.
Naturally, that was just Yang Yan’s guess. She could not be certain what was inside the pool until she passed through the Grand Array after all. Nevertheless, it would surely be useful for a Pseudo-Great Emperor even if it was not World Source Liquid.
Just a moment ago, the surrounding scenery had been pleasant. However, in the next moment, Yang Kai plunged into a fog so thick he could not see his hand in front of him. The change was so sudden that he was caught completely by surprise. Shocked, he abruptly stopped in his tracks and turned to look in the direction of Bing Yun, “Senior?”
Although he could not see anybody there, Bing Yun’s voice rang out clearly, “I’m here!”
He secretly let out a breath of relief in response. By inferring from the direction of her voice, she seemed to be standing no more than two steps away from him. It was just that he couldn’t even see her outline through this dense fog. Moreover, the dense fog had the effect of preventing anybody from probing their surroundings with Divine Sense.
Even his Divine Sense, which was stronger than that of any Half-Saint or Pseudo-Great Emperor, was suppressed by the dense fog and could not advance forward whatsoever when he released it into his surroundings. If that was the case for him, what more need be said about Bing Yun? Their sight was obscured and their Divine Sense was useless in this strange place, so they were essentially blind.
“Was this place like this before?” Yang Kai asked in a quiet voice.
Bing Yun replied, “No. There was nothing unusual here before. Maybe Yang Yan triggered something when she was trying to crack the Spirit Array.”
Yang Kai nodded when he heard those words. That explanation was reasonable. They originally came to meet up with Yang Yan and check on her progress in cracking the Natural Spirit Array while they were at it. Unfortunately, it would seem that the situation here was not too optimistic. They did not see Yang Yan anywhere upon their arrival, nor did they see that wooden stump pool either. There was only this strange fog in all directions.
In this environment, Yang Kai couldn’t help being extremely alert and warned, “Be careful, Senior. Call me immediately if you find anything.”
“I know! You do the same!” Bing Yun’s voice rang out.
They continued walking deeper inward while conversing with each other. Although they could not see anything and their Divine Senses were useless at the moment, they could use their voices to estimate each other’s positions so that they did not need to worry about getting separated.
It was just that the deeper they went, the bigger the frown on Yang Kai’s face became.
According to what Bing Yun told him earlier, the wooden stump pool that contained what was suspected to be World Source Liquid was located in an empty clearing that was about a thousand metres from the edge of the jungle. They had been walking straight ahead for the past quarter hour, but had yet to come across anything. Furthermore, forget a thousand metres, they might even have travelled tens of thousands of metres by now.
“Listen…” Bing Yun suddenly spoke.
“What is it?” Yang Kai turned to look at her, but all that he could see in front of him was a layer of fog.
“Didn’t you hear anything?”
“What did you hear, Senior?” Her unexpected discovery in this strange place not only surprised him but also raised his wariness somewhat. He couldn’t help getting goosebumps all over his body, but to his horror, Bing Yun stopped responding. He suddenly had a bad feeling and called out once more, “Senior?”
Despite shouting several times, he received no response at all. Yang Kai then reached out to grab at the spot where Bing Yun had been standing just now, but there was nothing there. He could not find any traces of her anywhere when he rushed forward a little either. By this point, Yang Kai’s expression couldn’t help turning a little ashen.
Bing Yun had been by his side a moment ago only to disappear without a trace a moment later. Was this the secret work of somebody at play? Or, was this the power of the Natural Spirit Array?
The possibility of the latter was much more likely of course. Bing Yun had mentioned there was a Natural Spirit Array nearby that guarded this place after all. It was the one Yang Yan had stayed behind to crack. Besides, there was nobody with the ability to take Bing Yun away without Yang Kai noticing among the many Half-Saints from the Demon Realm.
In that case, was this a Bewildering Array? Natural Spirit Arrays were generally very extraordinary of course, so it might not only have the effect of a Bewildering Array. What concerned Yang Kai even more were Bing Yun’s words before she disappeared. She had obviously heard something; however, he had not noticed anything. Even when he listened attentively at this moment, Yang Kai still couldn’t hear any sounds at all.
It was said that all Spirit Arrays in the world could be broken by brute force; unfortunately, Bing Yun had fallen prey to the Spirit Array. Yang Yan’s situation was probably not much better given the current circumstances; therefore, Yang Kai did not dare to act rashly. It would not be worthwhile if he accidentally harmed them by lashing out now.
Standing motionlessly in place, Yang Kai took a deep breath and closed his eyes. A few moments later, he jerked his eyes open again and his left eye seemed to flicker with a golden light.
The Demon Eye of Annihilation he obtained from the Great Demon God had the ability to see through all illusions, so it was extremely effective against something like Bewildering and Illusion Arrays. Under the effect of the Demon Eye of Annihilation, the fog shrouding his surroundings seemed to fade away considerably in an instant.
Yang Kai calmed down slightly upon seeing this. It would seem that the Great Demon God was indeed extraordinary. All this time, Yang Kai seemed to have underestimated the power of the Demon Eye of Annihilation. He had also been unable to fully bring out its potential. Even though the Natural Spirit Array in the Source Sealed World was so mysterious, he instantly got a glimpse of its mysteries with the help of the Demon Eye of Annihilation.
“Hm?” Yang Kai’s expression changed as he looked around at his surroundings. He had not been able to see anything just now, but he discovered that he was actually surrounded by numerous tiny silk threads under the influence of the Demon Eye of Annihilation. The silk threads were densely packed, but invisible to the naked eye, fluttering in the air like tentacles. Occasionally, these silk threads would approach him as if to touch him; however, they would quickly shrink away from him as though scared of something.
He frowned and reached out to grab at the silk thread in front of him, but to his surprise, it avoided his hand as if it were a living creature.
“Where are you trying to run!?” Yang Kai coldly snorted. He instinctively felt that Bing Yun’s disappearance was related to these silk threads; thus, he violently reached out and caught a handful of silk threads in his grip.
In the next moment, a strange voice suddenly sounded in his head. That voice sounded like a soft murmuring that seemed to be calling out to him, giving rise to an impulse that urged him to head in a certain direction. The light in his eyes vanished and was replaced by a dull look. At the same time, his mind instantly sank into an abyss!
Numerous silk threads appeared inside his Knowledge Sea, travelling through the pitch-black flames. A layer of ripples formed everywhere they passed, spreading out into the surroundings. Meanwhile, the Soul Warming Lotus in the middle of his Knowledge Sea burst out with a seven-coloured radiance. That gentle force filled every corner of his Knowledge Sea, smoothing out the ripples that formed. In response, the countless silk threads that barged into his Knowledge Sea dissipated instantly like snowflakes under the scorching sun.
Yang Kai’s body jerked abruptly and his dazed eyes regained their lustre. An expression of lingering fear crept across his face when he finally realised what happened to him. He looked back again and saw that the countless silk threads surrounding him were still there. As before, these silk threads constantly wandered around him but did not dare to approach. If he had not taken the initiative to reach out just now, they would not have come into contact with him at all.
[What in the world are these things!?] He was completely bewildered by the tiny silk threads. The only thing he could be sure of was that these strange things definitely had something to do with Bing Yun’s disappearance.
Bing Yun had clearly heard something just now; likewise, a soft murmuring had sounded in his head when he touched those silk threads and he immediately lost consciousness after that. It was obvious that the same thing had happened to her. It was just that she did not have one of the world’s Supreme Treasures like the Soul Warming Lotus protecting her Knowledge Sea.
[But, why don’t these silk threads dare to touch me? Do I have something that Bing Yun does not have?] Yang Kai had some vague guesses but could not be certain. In any case, the most important thing right now was to locate Bing Yun and Yang Yan as soon as possible. Thinking back to the strange voice in his head just now, he lifted his eyes to look in a certain direction and strode forward.
Following his advance, the silk threads in front of him involuntarily shrank back from him. The direction he was heading was none other than the source of those silk threads. The further he went, the clearer his sight became as the dense fog enveloping his surroundings became thinner and thinner.
All of a sudden, there was a loud cracking sound. He seemed to have stepped on something. When Yang Kai lowered his head to look, his pupils involuntarily contracted. There was a skeleton beneath his feet. He did not know how long ago this person had died, but their bones were scattered across the ground quite messily. From the shape of the bones, it was clear that it had been a Human, and since the only ones that could die in this place were the Pseudo-Great Emperors that participated in the Grand Dao battle, it had to have been one of those ancient Masters.
This place was extremely dangerous after all. Other people had discovered this place that Yang Yan and Bing Yun had found, but these people had been ambushed and died in this place as a result. Moreover, it was evident that more than one person had experienced such a fate.
Yang Kai lifted his gaze and looked ahead. Countless skeletons were piled high across the ground in the open space around him. Some of those skeletons were completely weathered away while others still retained their original shape. The clothes on their bodies had long since rotted away into dust; however, from the degree of decay, it was clear that these people were from many different eras.
Aside from these skeletons, there was also a round-shaped wooden stump about ten metres in diameter and hollow in the centre like a wooden pool, filled with a milky white liquid.
A strange fragrance tickled Yang Kai’s nose and when he breathed it in, his entire body throbbed with excitement. Even his mood brightened and he became elated.
World Source Liquid!
Even though he had never seen it before, one glance at this liquid was enough for Yang Kai to instantly confirm that this was the legendary World Source Liquid. Yang Yan and Bing Yun were not mistaken.
Nevertheless, his attention was quickly drawn to something else instead. There were five cocoon-like things around the wooden pool. The cocoons were as tall as a person and in addition, numerous strange silk threads were endlessly wrapping around the cocoons, thickening and strengthening them with time.
One of the cocoons had yet to form completely. More importantly, the thing that was being wrapped by the silk threads inside that particular cocoon was none other than Bing Yun, who had just gone missing not too long ago. Yang Kai did not know when she had arrived here, but at this moment, her eyes were tightly closed as she stood there quietly, allowing the pure and clean silk threads to wrap around her. She seemed oblivious to the danger that she was in and there was even a slight smile adorning her lips.
Yang Kai’s scalp tingled at the sight and he couldn’t help gulping nervously. Judging from Bing Yun’s condition, there were bound to be other people inside the other four cocoons. They were either Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary or Half-Saints from the Demon Realm. Yang Yan was probably among them too.
These Masters had fallen into this trap unsuspectingly and without their knowledge, and looking at the countless skeletons surrounding him, Bing Yun and the others would eventually suffer the same fate if nobody rescued them.
Yang Kai took a deep breath and silently pushed his Demon Qi. Then, he stimulated the Demon Eye of Annihilation to its maximum and prepared to make a move at any time. After a careful investigation of the strange silk threads, Yang Kai was frustrated to learn that there was no way to trace them back to their source. These silk threads seemed to appear out of thin air to wrap around the living creatures that entered this place, which would eventually cause generations of Pseudo-Great Emperors who came here to lose their lives without even realising it.
[What a terrifying natural death trap!] Yang Kai was drenched in cold sweat.
Lured by World Source Liquid, the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints were tempted into investigating this place. Then, they would unknowingly lose consciousness by being drawn into illusions that even they could not wake up from and eventually die in this place.
The Source Sealed World known as the Profound Heavens Temple was not just filled with endless opportunities, it was clearly also brimming with unpredictable dangers. Over the generations, no more than one-third of the Pseudo-Great Emperors who participated in the Grand Dao battle would survive. Those who died in this place not only included those who fought against others and were killed due to their own lack of strength, but also the many who died due to various traps similar to this one.
There were five cocoon-like things in this place, and aside from Bing Yun, whom he could see at the moment, the other four cocoons were wrapped up tightly. Yang Yan should also be inside one of them.
The peculiarity in this place was something even a veteran Pseudo-Great Emperor like Yang Yan could not resist; hence, it was easy to imagine what would happen to the others who arrived in this place.
On the other hand, Yang Kai had the feeling that the reason he was safe and sound was most likely related to the fact that he had part of the Star Boundary’s Will in his body.
The Profound Heavens Temple was a Source Sealed World that was born along with the Star Boundary itself, as well as the place where the Grand Dao battle took place. Thus, the world itself was probably watching the current progress at all times.
It was only recently that Yang Kai had complained about how useless the invisible and intangible World’s Will in his body was. He never imagined that it would begin showing its effects so quickly.
This Natural Spirit Array was not entirely ineffective against him. It had been proven that he would also be affected by this death trap from what happened when he took the initiative to touch those silk threads before. It was just that he received protection from the Soul Warming Lotus and did not lose himself as a result.
As for the reason why those silk threads did not actively touch him; it was most likely that they could sense the aura of the World’s Will in his body. It was only natural that the World’s Will in his body allowed him to escape the hostility in this place, which in turn caused the silk threads to avoid touching him.
From this, it could be seen that the World’s Will in his possession was not completely useless in the Profound Heavens Temple, it was just that he had not discovered its uses. After understanding this point, Yang Kai became a little expectant. [I wonder what other kind of support I will receive from the World’s Will in the upcoming battle.]
However, his top priority now was to rescue Yang Yan and Bing Yun. Yang Kai quickly strode forward and came to Bing Yun, his hands transforming into Dragon Claws. Tearing apart the silk threads wrapping around her body, Yang Kai quickly pulled her out from inside the cocoon. Even so, Bing Yun did not wake up immediately. Her eyes remained tightly closed with a smile on her lips, as though she was having a beautiful dream. With no other choice, he placed her inside the Small Sealed World and decided to wait until she woke up before planning his next move.
Yang Kai quickly tore apart the second cocoon. Glancing at the contents, he immediately became happy. A Demon Race Half-Saint was wrapped up inside this cocoon. Judging by the rotten stench that burst out the moment the cocoon was opened, it was a Corpse Demon.
His previous guess was correct. There really were Demon Race Half-Saints among these five cocoons. Yang Yan had been the only person here when Bing Yun left this place. In that case, the other three had appeared later but fell prey to the same trap as Yang Yan.
The opportunity to kick his enemy when they were down was very rare. Seeing as they were mortal enemies, how could Yang Kai afford to be benevolent and soft-hearted? He looted the Space Ring from the other party, and then threw a punch in the direction of the Corpse Demon while using Rupture. A black ball appeared and disappeared in a flash, and the Corpse Demon vanished without a trace along with the cocoon wrapped around him.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling jubilant that he had managed to kill a Half-Saint so easily.
The third cocoon contained a Pseudo-Great Emperor of the Human Race. It was one of the Star Boundary’s fifty-five Army Commanders, Gan Li. Although Yang Kai was acquainted with this person, he did not have much interaction with him. They probably did not exchange more than three sentences between them in total. Given their fateful meeting, however, Yang Kai casually rescued and transferred the other party into the Small Sealed World while he was at it.
The fourth cocoon contained another Demon Race Half-Saint, who followed in the footsteps of his companion a moment later.
It wasn’t until he tore open the fifth cocoon that Yang Yan’s figure was revealed. Yang Kai couldn’t help heaving a sigh of relief at the sight. He had been worrying about what to do if the fifth cocoon did not contain Yang Yan. Fortunately, such a situation did not come to pass.
Yang Kai had managed to eliminate two Demon Race Half-Saints and rescue three Pseudo-Great Emperors without much effort; therefore, he was in a great mood. According to his calculations, as many as four Half-Saints had died at his hands alone since the start of the Grand Dao battle. A war record like this was probably something even Li Wu Yi could not pull off if he had been here in person.
Although a large part of his success had been due to luck, was luck not sometimes considered to be one of the strengths of a cultivator when climbing towards the peak of the Martial Dao?
Next, Yang Kai turned to stare at the milky white liquid inside the wooden pool and couldn’t help becoming a little breathless. He had obtained countless precious and rare treasures ever since he began his journey in the Martial Dao, but even so, there were very few things that could compare with that pool of liquid in front of him.
Both the Soul Warming Lotus and the Immortal Tree were regarded as unique Supreme Treasures, but World Source Liquid had its own profound uses. It was the essence that was formed during the birth of the world; hence, every drop of World Source Liquid contained the chaotic primordial aura from when the world was first created. It would surely help a person gain insight into the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao after they consumed even just a drop of it.
Even a Great Emperor would become greedy in front of such a precious treasure, what more a High-Rank Demon King like Yang Kai?
Gulping hard, Yang Kai reached out a finger, dipped it into the wooden pool, and placed a bit of World Source Liquid into his mouth. Something so precious counted for nothing until he had it firmly in his possession.
Before he could carefully enjoy the taste, Yang Kai heard a bang in his mind. Immediately after that, his entire body shuddered as his Knowledge Sea became turbulent. His vision went black, and at the same time, he was deprived of all his other senses. He could neither see, hear, nor feel anything. It was as though he had fallen into a place of chaotic nothingness.
A ray of light suddenly bloomed and chaos split apart for the first time. Pure Qi rose to become the sky while Turbid Qi sank to become the ground. The world was born and millions of living creatures were created…
Yang Kai did not know how long went by before he abruptly came back to his senses, a light shining brightly in his eyes. Meanwhile, his expression was exhilarated but thoughtful at the same time. In that brief moment, he felt as though he had turned into the world itself and experienced the birth of the universe from chaos until it became what it was today…
Furthermore, he vaguely felt an insight blooming in his heart. Perhaps, this was the peak that all the cultivators pursued… Unfortunately, all of this was too far away for him right now. He was just a High-Rank Demon King and still had to become a Half-Saint and then a Demon Saint in the future…
The insights gained this time far exceeded his own cultivation Realm, so there were many things that remained obscure to him. Even so, Yang Kai was not annoyed. The cultivation Realm was something that would eventually be achieved through a gradual accumulation. On the other hand, obtaining an insight like this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He had to memorise this feeling for now and wait for the right time to revive this memory. It would definitely help him in the future.
At this point, Yang Kai was certain that the milky white liquid in this pool was World Source Liquid. Nothing else but World Source Liquid could give him such a mysterious yet enjoyable epiphany.
Without any hesitation, Yang Kai immediately began collecting the World Source Liquid. Pushing his Divine Sense, he wrapped the wooden pond with it and exerted a slight force. However, there was no movement.
Yang Kai’s expression twitched slightly. He originally wanted to place the wooden pond directly into the Small Sealed World, but who could have known that it would not budge in the slightest? When he pushed his Divine Sense just now, Yang Kai clearly perceived that the small wooden pond and the entire Profound Heavens Temple were closely connected to one another. If he wanted to collect the wooden pool, then he first had to collect the Profound Heavens Temple, which was naturally completely impossible.
Therefore, he had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and began to collect the World Source Liquid in the wooden pool. This was not a difficult task. Following his actions, World Source Liquid in the wooden pond began to drain at a constant rate and be deposited into the Small Sealed World. For this reason, he also specially made a pond in the medicine garden of the Small Sealed World.
The wooden pool was not big, only ten or so metres in diameter. In addition, the liquid in the pool was only about one metre deep.
When the World Source Liquid in the wooden pool had decreased by half, however, Yang Kai’s movements suddenly froze. He looked around his surroundings with a solemn expression. For a moment just now, he had a feeling as though he was being spied on, like a pair of eyes watching him.
A sweep of his Divine Sense found nothing, however, which puzzled him. With his current Divine Sense and Soul cultivation, there was nobody in the Profound Heavens Temple who could spy on him in secret. Hence, it was impossible for him to fail to notice if a person was really watching him from the shadows.
He frowned pensively for a bit before smiling coldly. It didn’t matter whether the person spying on him was a Human or Demon. It didn’t even matter what that person’s intentions were. He would think about it once he collected every drop of World Source Liquid here. Once he had everything in hand, the decision to fight or to flee would take but a brief consideration.
Even though he consciously made such a decision, his instincts were screaming at him that it was a bad idea. It felt as though something terrible would definitely happen if he continued down this path.
A layer of cold sweat slowly oozed out of his forehead as Yang Kai made repeated attempts to continue with his plans, but something inside him was screaming to leave while he was still ahead. After hesitating and struggling for a while, Yang Kai grit his teeth and gave up on collecting the rest of the World Source Liquid. Miraculously, the sense of crisis that he was feeling, as well as the sensation of being spied on vanished the moment he gave up and everything returned to normal.
“The World’s Will!” Yang Kai’s expression froze. At this point, how could he fail to realise that the situation just now was not someone else watching him from the shadows? Rather, it was the World’s Will in his body that was acting up!
The invisible and intangible World’s Will bestowed upon him was a blessing from the world itself. It had the slight ability to attract luck and guide him to avoid misfortune. Although he did not know what consequences would have befallen him just now had his greed won out, he was certain that it would not have ended well.
Now that he had given up on the idea, he felt a lot more relaxed.
Even so, who would willingly give up on taking everything when there was such a precious treasure right in front of him? Thus, Yang Kai struggled, hesitated, and tried several more times, but whenever the idea to continue collecting the World Source Liquid came into his mind, that inexplicable feeling of doom would appear again. On the other hand, everything would return to normal whenever he gave up on that idea.
After numerous attempts, Yang Kai no longer dared to entertain any more thoughts about the World Source Liquid. He hardened his head and turned around to leave without looking back.
A short while later, he walked out of the place where the wooden pool had been located. Looking back, he saw the scenery in that area become twisted and distorted before it vanished out of sight, replaced by a dense forest that looked no different from the rest of the areas.
Yang Kai immediately understood. The natural death trap that had existed since ancient times was probably damaged after what he did just now, so how could the remaining World Source Liquid be preserved without its protection? Removing itself from this place was probably a form of self-protection. Who knows how many years it would take before it reappeared once more?
Yang Kai searched for a hiding place and hid inside. Thinking back to the remaining half of the World Source Liquid that he failed to obtain, he couldn’t help feeling greatly distressed. He had collected quite a lot, but how could anybody believe that there could be too much of a good thing?
The World Source Liquid contained the chaotic aura from when the world was created. That aura was enough to allow a Third-Order Emperor, who had been troubled by a bottleneck for many years, to break through their shackles and be promoted to become a Pseudo-Great Emperor. If only he could have collected a little more of the World Source Liquid, he could have created many more Pseudo-Great Emperors for the Star Boundary in the future.
He could only say that what belonged to him would belong to him no matter what. On the contrary, it was useless to dream too much about something that was not destined to be his.
Yang Kai sighed and wallowed for a bit before he finally let go of the regret in his heart. Shifting his thoughts, he checked the Small Sealed World and discovered that Bing Yun, Yang Yan, and Gan Li had woken up. The three of them had gathered together and seemed to be discussing something. It was obvious that they had realised they were currently inside Yang Kai’s Small Sealed World, so they did not look panicked. Nevertheless, they couldn’t help feeling some lingering fears whenever they recalled what they went through previously.
Yang Kai’s Soul Projection manifested in front of them, and once everybody greeted him, Gan Li spoke, “Many thanks for your help this time, Brother Yang. This Gan would have been in great trouble if not for you.”
Yang Kai responded with a smile, “You’re too kind, Brother Gan. You and I have both fought under the command of Supreme Commander Li and equally contributed to the peace of the Star Boundary. During a period where the outsiders are coveting all we have, I’m certain you would not stand by idly either if this Yang encountered trouble and you had the ability to help.”
“Of course.” Gan Li nodded sternly, “In any case, I will forever remember this second chance at life that you’ve given me, Brother Yang. Feel free to let me know if you need any assistance inside this Profound Heavens Temple.”
The two exchanged a few more words of courtesy, but neither of them mentioned the World Source Liquid. Yang Kai did not know if Gan Li had seen the World Source Liquid or if the latter deliberately refused to broach the subject.
Thinking about it again, since Yang Yan had seen it, there was no reason for Gan Li to have missed it. Gan Li must have been attracted by the World Source Liquid and fell prey to the Natural Spirit Array as a result. As for whether he recognized exactly what the World Source Liquid was or not was another matter altogether.
“What do you plan to do next, Brother Gan?” After the pleasantries were dealt with, Yang Kai went straight to the point.
“Naturally, I will try my best to seize the opportunity to reach the peak of the Grand Dao and locate the Illusionary Heavens Furnace.” Gan Li frowned and smiled bitterly, “But, then again, this Gan has been searching for the Illusionary Heavens Furnace since entering the Profound Heavens Temple. It’s a pity that I have found nothing so far. Did you find anything on your end?”
Yang Yan replied flatly, “No.”
She then turned to look at Yang Kai and continued, “Little brat, are you sure that Sheng Yu Zhu was not lying to you? Did she deliberately throw out bait to lure others away while she goes off doing something on her own in secret?”
Yang Kai pondered in silence for a moment, “It’s not impossible, but this is the only clue we have.”
He had not gotten any useful information from the Demon Race Half-Saints either. All he learned was that the Demon Saints had ordered the Half-Saints to kill the Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Star Boundary. But, why did something like that need to be specifically worded into a command? The struggle between the two worlds had never ceased. Was there any possibility of peace between the Masters from both the Human Race and the Demon Race if they encountered each other inside this place?
“In any case, our top priority is to find the Illusionary Heavens Furnace. We can search for more information along the way.” Yang Kai then turned to look at Gan Li, “If you don’t mind, would you like to travel with us, Brother Gan?”
Bing Yun and Yang Yan were definitely going to accompany him as this was something they had decided on beforehand. Since Yang Kai had the World’s Will, the Demon Race was sure to target him. Even with his mastery of the Dao of Space, it would be bad if he were to face this situation all on his own. Besides, it wasn’t just the Demon Race. Even the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary might try to kill him at the final stage of this battle.
It was obvious that Gan Li also knew about this situation. Yang Kai was currently in possession of something that would incite the greed of others, so he did not dare to take the initiative to mention this subject. He was afraid that Yang Kai and the others might misunderstand him even though he genuinely wanted to join forces with them. He never imagined that Yang Kai would be so carefree to broach the subject himself. It made him feel a little ashamed.
Without giving Gan Li a chance to speak, Yang Kai continued, “There are only 30 Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary who entered the Profound Heavens Temple. On the other hand, there are 40 Half-Saints from the Demon Realm. Just from our numbers alone, the Demon Race holds an absolute advantage over us. If we don’t unite, it will only give the Demon Race a chance to destroy us. That is why I implore you to come with us, if possible, Brother Gan. We can discuss our plans again at the final stage of the Grand Dao battle.”
Having said so much, it would be ill-mannered for Gan Li to refuse. Besides, Yang Kai had just saved his life, so how could he dare to refuse this proposal? Not to mention, that was also his intention in the first place, so he immediately cupped his fists, “That was my wish. It was just that I did not dare ask it of you.”
Yang Kai smiled, “Good! In that case, I’m going to go fishing.”
“Fishing?” Gan Li looked at Yang Kai suspiciously.
Yang Yan understood instantly and smiled in response, “Just don’t catch any sharks.”
“What’s wrong with sharks?” Yang Kai chuckled and his figure faded away. Just before he left, he saw Yang Yan wink at him.
At this moment, Gan Li seemed to catch on to what Yang Kai previously meant by ‘fishing’ and exclaimed in realisation, “Interesting. How interesting.” While speaking, he revealed a look of great anticipation.
Yang Kai was moving around outside; however, he left a thread of consciousness inside the Small Sealed World. The look that Yang Yan secretly gave him just now clearly meant that she wanted a private conversation with him, so he quietly contacted her.
“Little brat, what about the World Source Liquid? Did you get it?”
As expected, she immediately asked that question of him the moment he got in touch with her. Nevertheless, she remained engaged in conversation with Gan Li about something else on the surface.
Yang Kai grinned and replied, “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you I didn’t manage to get any.”
“Very good! Give me half!” She said decisively.
Yang Kai tripped over his own feet and nearly faceplanted on the ground at those words, “Big Sister, why not declare you’re robbing me!” [How can she ask for half right at the start!? It’s inhuman!]
Yang Yan simple giggled and declared, “If not for me, you wouldn’t even have found that in the first place. So, it’s perfectly acceptable for me to demand half.”
“Fine, fine, half it is.” He couldn’t be bothered to argue with her. Besides, he had taken so much of the World Source Liquid that he could not possibly finish it all on his own anyway, “But, I only managed to collect half of the World Source Liquid there. I couldn’t collect the remaining half.”
“Why?” She was puzzled.
“I can’t give you an exact explanation. I just had the feeling that something terrible would happen if I had forcefully taken the remaining half.”
“Something that ominous happened?” Yang Yan was shocked, but after mulling over it for a bit, she added, “En, that makes sense. That is a treasure formed during the creation of the world after all. Alchemists always emphasise leaving behind roots when harvesting treasures, lest they cause the herbs to go extinct. If a treasure like the World Source Liquid was completely taken away, it would surely be self-defeating. Still, half isn’t a bad haul either.”
“Seeing how enthusiastic you are about the World Source Liquid, do you know what kind of mysterious properties it has?”
She laughed softly, “Do you want to know?”
“Tell me about it.” Although he had tried some and deeply experienced the effects brought about by that small drop of World Source Liquid, Yang Kai was unable to fully grasp its effects even now.
Yang Yan didn’t try to keep him guessing and immediately asked, “Do you know why Senior Iron Blood is more powerful than the other Great Emperors?”
“Isn’t it due to the Secret Art he cultivated?” Yang Kai was puzzled. Nobody ranked the Ten Great Emperors of the Star Boundary, but Iron Blood Great Emperor, Zhan Wu Hen, was publicly recognized as the strongest among them. This point was something none of the other Great Emperors denied either.
“Of course not. How could the Secret Art cultivated by one Great Emperor be any worse than another’s?” Yang Yan sneered, “Besides, the only thing that could be compared at their cultivation is their own understanding and insights. It has little to do with their Secret Arts. Well… Wu Kuang is a special case. All his success came from the Heaven Devouring Battle Law and I have to admit that that guy is truly a genius.”
“Are you saying that Senior Iron Blood once consumed World Source Liquid?” Yang Kai asked.
“En! He once casually brought up the subject of the world’s treasures with me and among them was World Source Liquid. He claimed that he had the opportunity to consume a cup of the World Source Liquid in the Profound Heavens Temple; moreover, he was still benefiting from that cup to this day!”
“Sii…” Yang Kai inhaled sharply. At the same time, his figure that was rushing forward paused for a moment. He had tried to overestimate the effects of the World Source Liquid as much as possible, but it turned out he was still greatly undervaluing it.
Iron Blood Great Emperor had participated in the Grand Dao battle that took place when the Profound Heavens Temple opened two cycles ago, which meant between 20,000 and 30,000 years had passed since then. Be that as it may, a single cup of World Source Liquid he consumed at the time had given him so much insight that he was still benefiting from it today. It was conceivable just how precious the World Source Liquid was.
In addition, Zhan Wu Hen had gotten a cup of World Source Liquid in the Profound Heavens Temple. Did he have the ability to escape from that natural death trap at the time? This was somebody else’s affair, moreover, so many years had passed, so Yang Kai did not know the details, but he was becoming increasingly aware of the terrifying effects of the World Source Liquid.
“Don’t feel bad, boy. Besides, I wasn’t planning on using my half of the World Source Liquid all for myself. With the World Source Liquid in hand, we might be able to considerably improve the strength of many Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Star Boundary. What’s more, if the Great Emperors were to escape their current predicament, they might also be able to use some of the World Source Liquid to enhance their strength. When the time comes, I will inform them that I brought this precious treasure out.”
Yang Kai replied, “For the Star Boundary’s sake, that’s how it should be.”
In that way, the remaining half of the World Source Liquid in his possession would belong solely to him. More importantly, as far as the public was aware, Yang Yan would be the only one in possession of this item. Even if somebody were to covet it, they would not make the connection back to him. Unfortunately, this would most likely cause some trouble for her. Then again, considering that she was Zhan Wu Hen’s direct subordinate, nobody would have the courage to provoke her.
“By the way, what happened to the two Demons? Did you see them?”
Yang Yan had been in the middle of cracking the Natural Spirit Array when two Demon Race Half-Saints happened to pass by. She had no choice but to take some risks with what she was attempting and as a result, seemed to have triggered some sort of restriction and fallen unconscious. She didn’t even know when Gan Li got trapped in that place.
“Those two are already dead,” Yang Kai chuckled. That was probably the easiest two Half-Saints he had ever killed in his life as there had been no resistance whatsoever.
“Good,” Yang Yan coldly snorted.
Immediately afterwards, Yang Kai relayed to her the information he had obtained from the Strength Demon Half-Saint before. He also added the speculations he and Bing Yun came up with, as well as the abnormality that occurred to the corpses of the Demon Race Half-Saints who died in this place.
After listening to this, Yang Yan fell silent for a long while before saying, “Your guess is not unreasonable. Slaughter and blood… That might just be the truth. Perhaps, the final opportunity might only be revealed once enough blood has been spilt.”
Pausing, she then laughed lightly, “Little brat, do a good job fishing. The more Demons die, the better. Our advantage will also get greater and greater with time. It doesn’t matter who gets the opportunity in the end, as long as it doesn’t fall into the hands of the Demon Race.”
Yang Kai flew forward at great speed, the surrounding scenery flashing past him in a blur, looking back from time to time, as if something dangerous was approaching from behind.
And indeed there was danger behind him. A ray of blood light was chasing closely behind him. There were two hidden figures within that blood ray, and no matter how he bobbed and weaved, the blood ray hung on his tail like maggots on rotting bones. He could not get away from them.
A distance of several hundreds of metres might seem quite far, but a Half-Saint or Pseudo-Great Emperor could cross such a gap in a breath. With the passage of time, the distance between them got closer and closer.
Space Principles flared and Yang Kai’s figure flickered before he vanished from the spot in an instant. By the time he reappeared, he had put some distance between them again; even so, he did not manage to exit the range of the blood ray’s pursuit.
A furious cry came out from the blood ray at that moment, “Yang Kai, accept your death! Even the Heavens won’t be able to save you today! This King will definitely catch you, drink your blood, and slice off your flesh piece by piece!”
Only the Half-Saints of the Blood Demon Clan could perform the incredibly fast Blood Escape Technique. Most people would not be able to escape a Blood Demon’s pursuit.
In truth, Yang Kai’s speed was inferior to the Blood Escape Technique of a Blood Demon, but with his mastery over the Dao of Space, whenever the distance between them became dangerously close, he would use Instantaneous Movement to put some distance between them. This situation had occurred many times already, so much so that the Blood Demon chasing him was about to cough up blood in annoyance.
Under normal circumstances, the Blood Demon would not have chased Yang Kai so stubbornly; after all, who did not know that Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space and was capable of coming and going like the wind? Who did not know that he had comprehended some kind of Martial Truth, which was mysterious and difficult to defend against? It would take at least three or four Half-Saints working together to deal with Yang Kai and they would still have to kill him in one decisive blow, lest he finds a chance to escape.
However, this was the Profound Heavens Temple and there were all kinds of restrictions in place. The Blood Demon had seen with his own eyes that Yang Kai could not cross great distances at once even though the latter’s Instantaneous Movement still functioned. That would give him an opportunity to catch up to Yang Kai.
What’s more, Yang Kai was clearly heavily injured. There were countless wounds all over his body and even his aura seemed a little unstable.
The Blood Demon had no idea what had happened to Yang Kai previously, but the latter clearly had not had a peaceful time over the past few days. How could he let such a good opportunity pass him by? If he could kill Yang Kai, he would be able to snatch the World’s Will from Yang Kai’s possession. That would definitely be of great help to him in the upcoming Grand Dao battle.
Since ancient times, men would die for wealth just as birds would die for food. How could the Blood Demon not be tempted with such a huge piece of fat in front of him? Furthermore, he was not alone. He had a companion. There were two figures wrapped inside the blood ray after all.
“Things will be bad if we continue like this. We can’t afford to delay any longer.” The voice of the other Demon Race Half-Saint rang out from within the blood ray.
The Blood Demon next to this person looked gloomy after hearing those words. He knew that his ally was not wrong. Their pursuit had already gone on for half a day; moreover, they had made a huge commotion during that time. It would be bad if a third party swooped in to take advantage of the situation; thus, he said quietly, “The price I have to pay to perform that Secret Technique is not small.”
The second Half-Saint replied, “You can kill him, but I’ll take the credit.”
The Blood Demon’s eyes brightened at those words, “Really!?”
“I swear in the name of Great Demon God!”
The Blood Demon heard this and cackled, “Good, good, good. I feel at ease with your words.”
The person who killed Yang Kai would be able to snatch and obtain the World’s Will. On the other hand, the person who took credit for the deed would be highly valued by the Demon Saints and receive personal guidance from them. This way, both parties would not lose out on anything.
After a brief negotiation, the Blood Demon’s expression turned solemn. He formed a set of hand seals before his scarlet eyes staring fixedly at the fleeing figure ahead. A cold light flashed across his gaze as he bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of Blood Essence. Accordingly, the blood ray that was not slow in the first place suddenly flared with a crimson light that covered the entire sky. The Blood Demon’s speed immediately accelerated and he shot forward like a bolt of lightning to quickly shorten the distance between them.
[It’s probably about time.] Yang Kai, who was fleeing in front, quietly thought to himself. Half a day’s pursuit had shaved off quite a lot of the other party’s energy; moreover, the opponent seemed to be using some sort of sacrificial Secret Technique, so now was the time to end this farce.
The figure rushing forward suddenly stopped in mid-air, the change from extreme movement to complete stop both abrupt yet natural.
“Huh? He stopped!” The second Half-Saint inside the blood ray was shocked to the core. He never imagined that Yang Kai would turn around so suddenly. Did he realise that he won’t be able to escape so he decided to make a last stand instead?
“You court death!” The Blood Demon’s eyes lit up and amidst his maniacal laughter, he opened his arms wide. The blood ray exploded and transformed into a boundless Blood Sea that headed straight for Yang Kai.
A Dragon Roar sounded and the Azure Dragon Spear appeared. The spear slashed out, splitting the Blood Sea in two while Yang Kai lifted the corners of his mouth slightly in a sly smile.
“Not good! It’s a trap!” The Blood Demon turned pale in shock. He instinctively felt that something was wrong and quickly retreated. On the other hand, the companion next to him had already fled to the side when Yang Kai attacked.
All of a sudden, three figures appeared beside Yang Kai, and as if they had discussed it beforehand, one of the figures gave a flick of her wrist. Three bursts of light flew out from her fair wrist, aiming straight for the Blood Demon. Meanwhile, Yang Kai and the other two figures rushed towards the other Half-Saint.
“Despicable!” At that moment, a look of grief and indignation appeared on Blood Demon’s face, as well as a deep sense of humiliation.
It was no secret that Yang Kai was in possession of the Sealed World Bead that could contain living creatures inside. Not to mention, the Blood Demon’s other companion had warned him to be wary of this point while they were pursuing Yang Kai. It was just that Yang Kai had been running away for so long already. Seeing as Yang Kai had not called out any helpers, the two Demon Race Half-Saints naturally assumed that he was all alone. Who could have known that Yang Kai would actually call out helpers at this moment? Moreover, three at once!
Yang Kai had acted weak by fleeing for half a day, which just went to show how vicious he was. He clearly intended to kill the two Half-Saints in this place which was why he had been holding back until the time was right to strike.
In a two against four, there was no way the Half-Saints could defeat their opponents even if they were in peak condition. What’s more, the Blood Demon had just used a Secret Technique that damaged his own Blood Essence.
Regret washed over the Blood Demon’s heart. All he wanted to do right now was run as far as possible. As for his companion, he had no time to care so much about him. A woman had shot out three bursts of fire light that transformed into three large rings of flame that wrapped around him tightly, however. These rings of flame sealed off the world around him and cut off all his hopes of fleeing.
“Yang Yan!” The Blood Demon growled. After so many battles over so many years, both sides basically knew who the Masters on the other side were. In particular, Yang Yan was one of the most powerful among the Pseudo-Great Emperors in the Star Boundary. The Three Blazing Flame Rings were extremely powerful in addition to having a potent restraining effect. There was even a precedent where she killed a Demon Race Half-Saint with them.
Yang Yan smiled like a fox that had stolen a chicken. There was no describing how happy she was, “We’ve really caught quite a lot of fish these days.”
The Blood Demon’s expression turned even uglier at those words. Taking a deep breath, his Demon Qi churned violently. In this situation, he would be in great trouble if he failed to escape before his companion died; therefore, his only option right now was to put up a desperate struggle. Roaring at the top of his lungs, he transformed into a blood ray and rushed towards the flaming barrier.
Yang Yan put away her smile and faced her opponent seriously. According to the plan, she only needed to tie down the Blood Demon and prevent him from fleeing for a while. Even so, the power a Demon Race Half-Saint could bring out in a life-or-death moment was not something she could afford to take lightly. If she wanted to delay her opponent here, she would need to give her all.
On the other side, Yang Kai had teamed up with Bing Yun and Gan Li to confront the second Demon Race Half-Saint. This Half-Saint was a Feather Demon. Regardless of their gender, those from the Feather Demon Clan were born with beautiful looks, and this one was no exception. He was so handsome that it was a little outrageous.
Unfortunately, that handsome face was now filled with savagery under the siege of Yang Kai and his two allies. The Feather Demon Clan was most proficient in archery, so at a distance, they had an incredible advantage. Take Bo Ya, for example, she was a Mid-Rank Demon King but had managed to kill a High-Rank Demon King simply by relying on her inherent talent in archery. Needless to say, a Half-Saint Feather Demon would surely be even more incredible.
During their chase, Yang Kai had been wounded several times by this Feather Demon. It could even be said that most of the injuries he sustained were caused by the latter. He had been acting weak just now, so he could only bear with it despite getting injured. Now, it was finally time for him to get his revenge.
No Demon Race Half-Saint would be able to endure a three-on-one battle, much less a Feather Demon who was not proficient in close combat. After a series of attacks, the Feather Demon was chilled by Bing Yun’s ice, which dulled his movements. Then, he took a blow from Gan Li, which caused him to incessantly cough up blood. During this time, Yang Kai took the opportunity to stab out with his spear. Unable to avoid the attack, the Feather Demon was pierced through the chest. He only just managed to prevent his vital points from being damaged, but the Martial Truth had already entered his body.
With all options sealed, the Feather Demon was both livid and indignant. It was a pity there was nowhere to vent the flames of fury in his heart.
Time passed and his injuries deteriorated as the Martial Truth eroded away at his body. The power he could wield was also becoming weaker and weaker as a result.
A quarter-hour later, the Feather Demon could no longer defend against Bing Yun’s attack. Her sword slashed him clean in half, but there was no blood whatsoever. The cold that penetrated his heart had completely frozen his body in an instant.
“Die!” Yang Kai followed up with his Azure Dragon Spear. His ferocious sweep caused the two halves of the body to shatter into dust. Even so, he did not stop moving. Becoming one with his spear, he rushed towards the other side of the battlefield without pause, his movements smooth, fluid, and dazzling to watch.
Bing Yun and Gan Li hurriedly followed.
Another quarter hour later, Yang Yan reached out her hand in a beckoning motion. The three large rings of fire transformed into three fiery bracelets that returned to her wrist. She looked down at the mummified corpse and exhaled softly, “That was difficult.”
Bing Yun and Gan Li had expressions of agreement on their faces.
Even with their absolute advantage in numbers, killing a Demon Race Half-Saint was still no easy task. The death struggles of the two Half-Saints had left them hesitant to act, lest they sustained injuries.
There was no need to mention the injuries Yang Kai sustained during battle. He had been the lure and stood at the forefront during both fights. Regardless of whether it was the Blood Demon or the Feather Demon, most of their attacks had been aimed at him. If not for the Dragon Clan’s tough physique, he would be in great trouble right now.
Bing Yun, Yang Yan, Gan Li were all injured as well, but even so, their situation was nothing compared to Yang Kai’s. Their injuries were minor and would heal after a short period of recuperation. After checking their bodies to make sure that there was nothing serious, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Yang Kai searched the battlefield below them for a bit, then he flew back with a gloomy expression.
“What’s wrong?” Yang Yan frowned.
He tossed a Space Ring to her and replied, “Another one has fallen.”
She took the Space Ring and scanned it with her Divine Sense and a trace of sadness crept across her face. This Space Ring was not an item refined in the Demon Realm. It had come from the Star Boundary. Moreover, all the items within it originated from the Star Boundary. It was obviously not something that used to belong to a Demon Race Half-Saint.
If Yang Kai discovered this object on a Half-Saint, that could only mean that the owner of this item was gone. The culprits were undoubtedly the two Demon Race Half-Saints whom the four of them had just killed in a joint effort.
The truth was that this was neither the first Half-Saint they killed nor the first Space Ring they found that belonged to a Pseudo-Great Emperor from the Star Boundary. Since the day Yang Kai had hidden Yang Yan, Bing Yun, and Gan Li in the Small Sealed World, he had been constantly out fishing in the Profound Heavens Temple. They had engaged in a total of three battles over the past ten or so days, and counting the two Demon Race Half-Saints just now, they had managed to kill a total of four Half-Saints. Unfortunately, they had also found the Space Rings of three Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary on the corpses of those four Demon Race Half-Saints.
How could the Pseudo-Great Emperors and the Half-Saints die so easily under normal circumstances? They were invincible existences whenever the Demon Saints and the Great Emperors were not present in the world. They were the tyrants who dominated the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm respectively. It was just that the opening of the Profound Heavens Temple had brought all the tyrants together in one place, so it was inevitable for casualties to occur.
“This aura…” Yang Yan looked pensive as she carefully studied the remaining aura in the Space Ring. A long while later, she slowly let out a sigh, “If I’m not mistaken, this aura probably belongs to Wei Wu Fa of the Fourteenth Army.”
Gan Li’s expression changed upon hearing those words, “He died too?”
She nodded grimly and put away the Space Ring with a sombre air, “Wei Wu Fa still has surviving Disciples. I will return the Space Ring to them when we get back. I hope they will rise again one day.”
“Brother Wei, he… He had an Army Commander Token in his possession. How could he die so easily?” Gan Li looked horrified.
Every Army Commander had an Army Commander Token with a Great Emperor’s attack sealed inside. Yang Kai also had one in his possession, it was just that he had used it up during his battle with the Wind Lord in the Flowing Time Temple. Afterwards, the Great Emperors had gone missing so nobody could refine a new one for him.
Among the many tokens belonging to the Army Commanders, some had been used while others remained unused. Wei Wu Fa’s Army Commander Token was the latter case.
Logically speaking, Wei Wu Fa only needed to activate his Army Commander Token to turn the situation around in the event that he encountered any kind of danger; however, the fact that his Space Ring was in the hands of a Half-Saint said everything that needed to be said.
Upon hearing those words, Yang Kai said, “There are various invisible restrictions within the Profound Heavens Temple. The power of a Great Emperor probably does not work here.”
That was the only reasonable explanation.
Gan Li’s expression couldn’t help turning pale. He himself had an Army Commander Token in his possession. He originally thought that he had a trump card in his possession, so he could rest easy; however, Wei Wu Fa’s death had evidently given him a stark wake-up call. If he were really to rely on the Great Emperor’s Divine Ability sealed inside the Army Commander Token, he would have ended up dying without even knowing the reason why.
Moreover, Wei Wu Fa was an old acquaintance of his who was not weak. Gan Li was not confident that he could beat Wei Wu Fa if it came down to a one-on-one fight. Naturally, it was different in a life-or-death situation. Everybody had one or two hidden trump cards after all. There was no telling who would win or who would lose until the battle was over.
Nevertheless, Wei Wu Fa’s death had evidently been a huge shock to Gan Li. He had not run into anybody else since entering the Profound Heavens Temple, much less engaged in battle. That was the case until he accidentally fell prey to the Natural Spirit Array. He was rescued by Yang Kai and later stayed inside the Small Sealed World. Working together with Yang Kai, Bing Yun, and Yang Yan to kill their enemies, he participated in three battles and obtained victory in all three. Furthermore, he only paid a negligible price to kill four Half-Saints. It could be said that his journey had been very smooth so far.
Therefore, he never imagined that Wei Wu Fa would die in such an inexplicable manner. He had even sat down with Wei Wu Fa for a drink and a chat on the night before they entered the Profound Heavens Temple, dreaming about the various opportunities that could be found inside. Gan Li suddenly couldn’t help feeling a slight chill. If he had not been travelling with Yang Kai and the others, he might have been the next Wei Wu Fa.
Now that he knew his friend was gone, the elation Gan Li felt from killing the two Half-Saints previously faded considerably and he couldn’t help feeling sorrowful. The Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints in the Grand Dao battle were no more than the rungs of a ladder, meant for the others to climb to the peak. [Will I be the one climbing those steps? Or, will I be the stepping stone for others?]
“Not many people can withstand the joint attack of a Blood Demon and a Feather Demon alone.” Yang Kai took out something to clean the blood off his body but did not change. The tattered clothes he was wearing made him look extremely terrible.
“Aren’t you going to treat your wounds?” Yang Yan asked.
“I’m afraid there’s no time.” Yang Kai shook his head slowly, “I have a feeling that the mysteries of the Profound Heavens Temple will reveal themselves soon. The key to becoming a Great Emperor will gradually become clearer and clearer. At that time, it will surely be a fight to the death. It’s more important to get rid of as many Demon Race Half-Saints as possible before that happens.”
Almost a month had passed since the Profound Heavens Temple opened. Although this short period was nothing to all the Half-Saints and Pseudo-Great Emperors, it was agonizingly long for the Star Boundary as a whole. The Profound Heavens Temple was opened because the World’s Will of the Star Boundary had sensed an imminent crisis. It was an instinctual self-defence mechanism. The world was counting on the Profound Heavens Temple to produce a Great Emperor that could save the situation.
Even now, the Demon Essence was constantly devouring the lands of the Star Boundary. If the battle within the Profound Heavens Temple continued for too long, the situation would become irreversible even if a Great Emperor were to be born. For that reason, the Grand Dao battle had to be settled within as short a time as possible, no matter what. As for whether the one having the last laugh would be the Demon Race or the Human Race, it was entirely dependent on their individual abilities.
Yang Yan might have dismissed those words if they came from anybody else; however, Yang Kai had the World’s Will, so it might be possible for him to actually sense something, “Let’s continue then. Hopefully, more fish will take the bait.”
Despite their efforts for the past ten or so days, they only managed to meet three batches of Demon Race Half-Saints. On the other hand, they had not met even a single one of the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary. The Profound Heavens Temple was simply far too vast.
Yang Kai did not know how many Half-Saints they could kill before the key to becoming a Great Emperor revealed itself. Be that as it may, he could only continue with their current efforts. The death of even one Half-Saint was enough to tip the power balance between the Humans and Demons. It might be the deciding factor during a critical moment.
Placing Yang Yan and the others back inside the Small Sealed World again, he continued on his journey all alone. Although his efforts in the subsequent days were in vain, his injuries from the previous battle gradually improved. Nevertheless, he secretly became anxious. His Divine Sense swept across his surroundings at all times, hoping for a pleasant surprise to appear.
Another five days passed just like that when, all of a sudden, Yang Kai abruptly stopped in the middle of his rush and perceived his surroundings with a frown. He felt as though he could faintly sense something, but he found nothing upon careful observation. It wasn’t his Divine Sense that was picking up on something. It was another kind of perception.
Therefore, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, got rid of all the distracting thoughts in his head, and followed his instincts.
An hour went by just like that.
Inside the Small Sealed World, Yang Yan watched the projection in the sky with a frown on her face. Similarly, Bing Yun and Gan Li, who were standing next to her, looked puzzled. The three of them had been staying inside the Small Sealed World as shock troops. However, they were not completely unaware of what was going on in the outside world. Yang Kai kept up a constant projection of his surroundings in the Small Sealed World so that they could monitor the situation. That was why they were aware of what was going on in the outside world.
“What is he doing?” Bing Yun was confused.
“Maybe he sensed something,” Yang Yan recalled what Yang Kai mentioned a few days ago.
“Is the key of the Grand Dao battle about to reveal itself?” Gan Li’s expression froze. If that truly was the case, then he would have to consider parting ways with Yang Kai and the others. Although it was much safer to work together, it was a risk he had to take for the sake of becoming a Great Emperor.
All of a sudden, Yang Kai abruptly opened his eyes and the corners of his mouth lifted into a smile as he looked in a certain direction, “This way!”
While speaking, he shifted his body and rushed in that direction.
Inside the Small Sealed World, the expressions of three people turned solemn as they paid full attention to the movements of the outside world.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai charged forward. The further he went, the clearer that vague feeling became; thus, he immediately understood that the feeling he got just now was correct. The key to becoming a Great Emperor was in this direction. It was just that it had yet to fully reveal itself. He was relying on the World’s Will within him to perceive that vague feeling in the shadows.
Just from this point alone, he already held an advantage. If he could locate that key before anybody else reacted to it, he might just be able to end this Grand Dao battle in advance.
After rushing forward for half a day, however, Yang Kai frowned and turned his head to look in a certain direction. He had not encountered a single Half-Saint or Pseudo-Great Emperor over the past few days, but now two powerful auras barged into his range of perception. Judging by the unique characteristics of their auras, they were two Pseudo-Great Emperors.
Upon a closer inspection, Yang Kai raised his brow and muttered, “It’s that guy!”
The aura he recognised belonged to none other than Cang Mo. He did not know who Cang Mo was with at the moment, but the fluctuations of their auras indicated that they were in a dire situation.
A short while later, it became clear that Cang Mo had also noticed Yang Kai’s aura as he had turned around and led his companion straight towards him.
At the same time, several hostile auras followed closely behind.
Yang Kai’s expression turned grim as he gritted his teeth, “Is he trying to pass the burden to me? Shameless!”
If Yang Kai could recognise Cang Mo’s aura, then Cang Mo was definitely no stranger to Yang Kai’s aura. Despite knowing that Yang Kai was only a High-Rank Demon King, Cang Mo chose to flee in Yang Kai’s direction while being chased by several Demon Race Half-Saints. It was clear that his intentions were malicious.
Yang Kai was bound to be the focus of all the Demon Race Half-Saints due to the World’s Will in his possession. Seeing as Cang Mo was leading the enemy this way, there was no doubt that he was hoping to use Yang Kai to get rid of his enemy.
If those Demon Race Half-Saints saw Yang Kai, they would surely lose all interest in Cang Mo. They would definitely swarm over all at once to eliminate Yang Kai before all else, making it easy for Cang Mo to calmly escape during this time.
The moment the realisation struck Yang Kai, his expression turned cold. Various issues had occurred between him and Cang Mo. Just before they entered the Profound Heavens Temple, Cang Mo even tried to pick a fight over his cultivation in order to prevent him from joining the Grand Dao battle. In the end, Li Wu Yi even had to step in to overcome all the objections and settle the matter.
The grievances between Yang Kai and Cang Mo were neither large nor small. It was just that they could not stand each other. If they met each other alone in the Profound Heavens Temple, Yang Kai was certain that he could never coexist peacefully with Cang Mo. They were bound to fight each other.
When he sensed that Cang Mo was leading the enemy toward him, he even considered taking the opportunity to feed the other party to the wolves. He might as well use this chance to get rid of Cang Mo once and for all. However, he decided against it when he considered that the number of Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary was inferior to the number of Demon Race Half-Saints in the first place. The bigger picture was more important right now.
The two figures coming this way quickly entered Yang Kai’s field of vision and the distance between them shrank rapidly. Cang Mo seemed rather pale and he looked like he had been injured. On the other hand, the other Pseudo-Great Emperor accompanying Cang Mo was a middle-aged man that Yang Kai recalled was the Second Army’s Army Commander with the surname Feng.
This man surnamed Feng was in worse condition compared to Cang Mo. One of his arms was hanging limply by the side of his body, swinging back and forth as he flew. There was also a huge bloodstain across his chest.
It was obvious that Cang Mo and this man surnamed Feng had fought the Demon Race Half-Saints only to lose badly against their enemies.
Chasing behind these two were four Demon Race Half-Saints with the one in the lead radiating an extremely fierce and imposing aura. His Demon Qi surged violently and everywhere he passed, the vegetation withered away rapidly. That Corpse Demon was none other than the one whom Li Wu Yi had told Yang Kai to be wary of, Jia Long!
During the previous Two Worlds Great War, Li Wu Yi had fought Jia Long thrice but failed to do anything to the other party. It could be seen that Jia Long was very strong. According to Li Wu Yi, Jia Long was most probably the strongest out of all the Half-Saints. He was also the greatest enemy of the Star Boundary in the Grand Dao battle.
Other than Jia Long, the remaining three Demon Race Half-Saints each came from different Races. There was a Bone Demon, a Charm Demon, and a Feather Demon. Each one of them was extraordinarily powerful. Their Demon Qi churned vigorously as they followed Jia Long in pursuit of Cang Mo and this man surnamed Feng.
A few moments later, the man surnamed Feng, who was fleeing desperately together with Cang Mo, suddenly raised his head and a look of shock involuntarily appeared on his face when he saw somebody flying towards them at a high speed. After seeing who it was, he hurriedly shouted, “Brother Yang, hurry up and run!”
Unlike Cang Mo, whose intention was to deliberately push his disaster onto Yang Kai, this man surnamed Feng’s first reaction when he saw Yang Kai was to urge him to escape. He and Cang Mo were already injured, not to mention that there were as many as four pursuers behind them. Even if Yang Kai’s strength was comparable to that of a Half-Saint, there was no hope of turning the situation around. If Yang Kai rashly rushed over to provide support at this time, he would not only fail to rescue them but also end up getting dragged into this mess together.
Upon hearing what the man surnamed Feng shouted, Yang Kai’s originally frosty expression softened considerably and he smiled back at him.
It was hard to say whether Yang Kai would offer to provide support if Cang Mo was the only one being chased. The overall situation might be important in the Profound Heavens Temple, but he couldn’t care less about whether a person who constantly bore malice towards him was to survive or not.
It would be Cang Mo’s good fortune if he survived, but it would also serve him right if he died.
Sadly, Cang Mo was accompanied by another Army Commander and Yang Kai could not ignore the other person, regardless of his reasons.
Honestly, Yang Kai was reluctant to confront Jia Long head-on before the final stage of the Grand Dao battle. He had three helpers hidden inside his Small Sealed World which would instantly give him the advantage in numbers if Cang Mo and the man surnamed Feng were added to the mix; unfortunately, it would not benefit anybody if it really came down to a fight. Therefore, his plan was to meet up with these two, place them in the Small Sealed World, and then escape via Instantaneous Movement.
There were many restrictions within the Profound Heavens Temple. The Great Emperor’s Divine Ability Sealed inside the Army Commander Token could not be activated, Space Beacons could not be used, and even his Instantaneous Movement had been suppressed greatly. Be that as it may, even Jia Long would be helpless against him if he was determined to escape, regardless of how strong Jia Long was.
Under the astonished and confused gaze of the man surnamed Feng, Yang Kai continued to rush forward at a high speed.
“As you Humans say, ‘wear out iron shoes in a fruitless search, only to find something by pure chance’!” A thunderous voice rang out. Jia Long, who was chasing after Cang Mo and the man surnamed Feng, suddenly caught sight of Yang Kai and his eyes sparkled brightly with a pleasant surprise. The corners of his mouth split into a sinister smile as he shouted, “Little bastard, this King spent much effort to find you!”
Jia Long was not the only person searching for Yang Kai; in fact, all the Demon Race Half-Saints were desperately trying to locate his whereabouts. It was just that the Profound Heavens Temple was too vast and there was little chance to meet others. Besides, Yang Kai had been going around ‘fishing’ with his three hidden helpers, so even if a Half-Saint encountered him, it could not be considered good luck. Rather, it could only be said that their luck was terrible.
Nevertheless, it truly was a pleasant surprise for Jia Long to encounter Yang Kai in this place. Leaving aside the fact that his own strength was quite tyrannical, he also had three other Demon Race Half-Saints accompanying him. As long as he could hinder Yang Kai’s movements slightly, they would have a high chance of keeping Yang Kai here.
While speaking, Jia Long’s body shuddered all of a sudden. A monstrous wave of Corpse Qi overflowed from his burly body, rising into the sky like dark clouds. His speed increased greatly to the point he actually managed to catch up to the two fleeing Pseudo-Great Emperors in the blink of an eye.
The expressions of both Cang Mo and the man surnamed Feng changed in unison. Only now did they realise that they had underestimated Jia Long’s strength. Throughout their pursuit, it was not that the other party was unable to catch up to them, it was simply that they were unwilling to put in too much effort into the chase. Now that Jia Long had caught sight of Yang Kai, however, it was clear that he decided to end things as soon as possible without regard for consumption.
The Corpse Qi that flowed out had the effect of suppressing the entire world, and when Cang Mo and the man surnamed Feng were hit by it, they involuntarily swayed slightly and lost their balance. Thus, their expressions changed drastically and they both desperately urged their Emperor Qi to resist the invasion of the Corpse Qi.
Without warning, a trace of murderous intent emerged and locked onto the fleeing Cang Mo. There was a whooshing sound as a feather arrow shot through the sky towards him.
Cang Mo’s expression changed greatly! Even though he was running with all his might and did not turn around to look, he knew what was happening. It was obvious that the Feather Demon was attacking him.
This arrow was too rushed and would not kill him, but there was a high chance he would not walk out of this place alive if he was hit by that arrow. At the critical moment when his life was at stake, Cang Mo gritted his teeth and grabbed at something next to him, his hand gripping the shoulder of the man surnamed Feng.
Startled, the man surnamed Feng widened his eyes and exclaimed, “Brother Cang?”
Cang Mo expressionlessly shouted, “I’m sorry!”
Exerting strength in his arm, Cang Mo tossed the man surnamed Feng behind him. Then, he hurriedly continued pushing forward under the stunned gaze of his former companion.
There was a soft swoosh and the man surnamed Feng’s body jerked slightly as he felt all the strength in his body speedily flowing out of him. Lowering his head to look, he saw a feathered arrow sticking out of his chest. The arrow was wrapped in Demon Qi, which was corroding his body and causing the wound to expand rapidly. When he looked up again, he saw that Cang Mo was already several hundreds of metres away.
It would seem that he had failed to realise what was happening until this moment. The expression on his face instantly became extremely colourful. Various expressions flashed across his face until eventually settling on infinite grief and rage. He roared furiously, “Cang Mo, you old dog! I hope you die a terrible death!”
He never imagined that he would be harmed by his own companion in the Grand Dao battle. Moreover, the person who plotted against him was only doing it for the sake of a slim chance at survival.
Even in his weakened state, he could have avoided that arrow if he had attempted.
The Feather Demon’s archery skills might be terrifying, but that arrow had been far too rushed after all. It was not meant to kill, only to hinder the enemy’s movements. Who could have known there would be such an unexpected yet unpleasant surprise?
For a moment, the expressions of the Demon Race members became a little strange.
*Xiu…* Jia Long led the other three Demon Race Half-Saint past the man surnamed Feng. Along the way, he stretched out his hand and twisted. The head of the man surnamed Feng was gone by the time they flew by. The headless body swayed unsteadily, fresh blood spurting high into the sky from his neck.
“Cang Mo!” Yang Kai gnashed his teeth and howled in rage. He had seen everything that happened in that instant, and while he was extremely shocked, a murderous intent also gushed out of him like the tide.
He was already on his way to provide support. In just three more breaths, he would have arrived at that spot and placed both Cang Mo and the man surnamed Feng into the Small Sealed World. After that, it would have been simple for him to escape. No matter how strong Jia Long was, there was nothing Jia Long could do to him as long as the space around him was not sealed.
Three breaths. It was only three breaths, but it was enough for Yang Kai to witness the ugliness of Human nature.
Cang Mo had completely disregarded the life of his companion just to slightly improve his chance at survival. It could even be said that the man surnamed Feng had died at Cang Mo’s hands. After all, the Feather Demon Half-Saint’s arrow did not have the power to take any one of their lives. It was unfortunate that Cang Mo had been so frightened of his pursuers that he used his companion as a shield instead.
“Die!” Yang Kai’s eyes were bloodshot with rage and while shouting, he summoned the Azure Dragon Spear and viciously thrust it at Cang Mo.
Cang Mo knew what was supposed to happen next the moment he grabbed and threw his companion behind him; hence, he did not escape in Yang Kai’s direction and instead turned to flee in another direction.
In any case, the Demon Race Half-Saints had already discovered Yang Kai and comparatively speaking, he was certain that the Demon Race would be more interested in Yang Kai. They would not chase after him so he would be able to rest easy as long as Yang Kai could distract those Demon Race Half-Saints. But, he never expected Yang Kai to react in this manner.
Yang Kai was several hundreds of metres away when he made that thrust. The spear ignored the barriers of space to appear in front of Cang Mo in an instant.
A Dragon Roar rang out and Cang Mo’s expression changed drastically. A huge Azure Dragon appeared in his field of vision, rushing towards him with its mouth wide open as though to swallow him whole. The Dragon Fangs gleamed with a cold light as though they could crush him to bits at will.
It was rumoured that Yang Kai had come across great opportunities during the years he spent in the Demon Realm. It was also said that he was strong enough to rival a Half-Saint even though he was only a High-Rank Demon King after his return. Cang Mo had long since heard those rumours but never truly believed them. In his opinion, it was true that Yang Kai had great talent; however, there was a huge difference in cultivation Realms. How could a person possibly cross that yawning gap between the Emperor and Pseudo-Great Emperor Realms? Therefore, even if Yang Kai had a record of killing Half-Saints, Cang Mo assumed it was all the result of receiving help from others.
It wasn’t until this moment when they exchanged blows that Cang Mo realised that the rumours were true.
[This little bastard really does have strength comparable to a Half-Saint!] When the spear came stabbing at him, Cang Mo felt a mountain-like pressure bearing down on him that made it difficult for him to breathe. In his desperation to respond, he raised a palm and struck out with all the force he could muster.
There was a loud bang and Cang Mo grunted from the impact as his body was violently thrown backwards. On the other hand, Yang Kai merely swayed slightly before he regained his balance. The reason for this disparity was not that he was much stronger than Cang Mo. Rather, it was because the Azure Dragon Spear had given him an advantage. The other reason was that he had acted out of rage while Cang Mo had reacted hastily to parry the attack.
*Shua shua shua…* Following the sounds of something slicing through the air, the four Demon Race Half-Saints arrived in the vicinity under Jia Long’s leadership. Then, they split up as though it had been discussed beforehand to block off the escape routes on all four sides. Enclosing Yang Kai and Cang Mo in the middle, they stared at the centre of the field with a contemptuous look in their eyes. The situation today was not something that could be witnessed casually. Compared with the laborious effort of killing the Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Star Boundary, the Half-Saints undoubtedly preferred watching Humans killing each other.
“Damn you!” Cang Mo roared through gritted teeth, his gaze sweeping left and right. His shock and horror were dyed with a heavy dose of fear. When he looked back at Yang Kai again, his eyes were filled with rage, “What is the meaning of this, Yang Kai!?”
Yang Kai lowered his gaze, allowing his long hair to fall across his forehead, casting a deep shadow across his face as he quietly snarled, “The one who should die today is you! Old dog Cang Mo!”
Cang Mo gnashed his teeth, “This just harms both you and me! What good does this do you!?”
“This Yang cannot stand injustice!” Yang Kai slowly lifted the Azure Dragon Spear, pointed it at Cang Mo, and spoke in a dangerous voice, “This place will become your grave today!”
“Big words! Let’s see if you can back them up!” Cang Mo’s facial muscles twitched as his heart was filled with resentment. It had been an instinctive reaction in order to gain a chance at survival when he abandoned and used his companion as a shield, but given the choice, he would do the same if he had to go through it all over again. It was just that he never imagined Yang Kai’s temperament to be so righteous and unyielding. Despite knowing that there were four Demon Race Half-Saints chasing them, Yang Kai not only did not think of escaping but even went so far as to hinder Cang Mo’s escape as well. [His actions are harming both of us! There are no benefits whatsoever! Doesn’t he know what’s going to happen after being besieged by those Half-Saints!?]
“Rest assured. I will definitely live much longer than you.” Yang Kai’s expression was cold and stern. Without moving his spear, he turned his head to the side and said, “Jia Long, let’s make a deal.”
Jia Long’s eyes were brimming with contempt and amusement as he calmly replied, “Do you think… you have the right to negotiate with this King under the current circumstances?” Pausing for a moment, he threw his head back in laughter, “But fine. As thanks for giving me such a good show, you may spit out your last words quickly. I might just fulfill them if they amuse me.”
His posture seemed to indicate that he had already won the fight against Yang Kai. Nevertheless, he was not being arrogant as he truly had an overwhelmingly obvious advantage right now.
All four Half-Saints had their senses firmly locked onto Yang Kai. If Yang Kai so much as made a strange movement, he would instantly be met with a storm of attacks. It would be hard to say whether he could even manage to perform those strange Space Secret Techniques of his in time.
Yang Kai’s expression did not change, remaining as serene as a long dormant volcano as he declared, “I’m going to kill this piece of trash, so wait until I finish him. You can use whatever means you like against me after I’m done with this bastard. I will face all of you together.”
As soon as that statement came out, Cang Mo’s expression became ashen. On the other hand, the expressions of the four Demon Half-Saints were scornful. Jia Long even rubbed his lower jaw and looked pensive, “Why should we?”
Yang Kai coldly snorted, “I will be fighting him to the death. No matter who wins or who loses in the end, the remaining person will be an arrow at the end of its flight. Who can stop you if all four of you attack together? There is no harm to you, only benefits. Isn’t that right?”
Cang Mo’s heart sank at those words and he cried out, “Yang Kai, you’re insane!”
Things would bode ill for him today if Jia Long and the others acted according to Yang Kai’s wishes. Regardless of whether he killed Yang Kai or Yang Kai killed him, there was no way for him to leave this place alive. His original plan was now completely useless. For a moment, his mind sank into chaos and his entire body went cold as he secretly scolded Yang Kai for being so vicious. [How can he make such a suggestion just to get rid of me? Jia Long and the others couldn’t refuse even if they wanted to!]
Sure enough, Jia Long pondered for a while and nodded in agreement, “There is some truth in what you said.” Then, he revealed a hideous smile, his expression filled with pure savagery, “But, this King takes whatever he wants with his own hands!”
The instant the words left his mouth, a dense wave of Corpse Qi rolled out. Numerous figures emerged from within the Corpse Qi. It was clearly the Corpse Puppets that he had refined. Most of these Corpse Puppets were High-Rank Demon Kings, but there were also three Demon Race Half-Saints among the ranks. It was clear to see that this was his entire life’s collection.
The moment Jia Long made his move, the Bone Demon Half-Saint also opened his jaw and a mass of emerald-green Ghost Fire spewed out of his mouth, transformed into an emerald-green cloud, and loomed above Yang Kai. Meanwhile, the Feather Demon nocked an arrow and pulled back the bowstring. On the other hand, the Charm Demon smiled seductively, her Spiritual Energy condensing into an invisible and intangible spear.
The battle began without warning. The four Demon Race Half-Saints, each with their respective Divine Abilities, attacked both Yang Kai and Cang Mo. At that moment, the world paled while the World Energy in the Profound Heavens Temple became tempestuous.
A Dragon Roar sounded, accompanied by a Golden Dragon Head that flashed and disappeared in an instant. Yang Kai’s body swelled rapidly and turned into a more than 1,000-metre-long Half-Dragon. In the meantime, he swept out with the Azure Dragon Spear and caused the flood of Corpse Puppets rushing at him to explode into pieces. Even the boundless Corpse Qi was swept away. Nevertheless, his spear did not stop moving. He spun it around to cut down the Feather Demon’s arrow. After that, his large hand reached out to unleash his Rupture Secret Technique, causing the world to collapse and swallow up the emerald-green Ghost Fire whole.
Yang Kai had dealt with the combined attacks of three Half-Saints with his strength alone, but although he managed to parry the first wave of strikes, the vitality in his body churned violently and a sweet taste of blood filled his throat. Even so, he did not hesitate in the slightest. Kicking out lightly, he lunged toward Cang Mo with a roar, “Die!”
The three Demon Race Half-Saints were focused on taking care of Yang Kai. Comparatively speaking, the situation on Cang Mo’s side was much better. Four Half-Saints had attacked, but only the Charm Demon’s Soul attack was aimed at him.
Cang Mo’s eyes went blank for a moment; however, that one brief moment was enough for Yang Kai to arrive in front of him, spear in hand. A sharp murderous intent sent a tingle down his back as Cang Mo angrily yelled, “If you’re going to make things difficult for this King, then don’t even dream that you’ll be any better off than me!”
With a loud bang, a violent wave of Emperor Qi swept out as Cang Mo’s body seemed to swell slightly and strange patterns appeared on his exposed skin. He reached out to grab at something in the void and a longsword appeared in the grip of his hand. Following the downward slash, a powerful sword wave rushed forward.
There was a loud explosion and a burst of energy rampaged through the air, turning the entire world upside down as everything collapsed in all four directions.
Yang Kai’s huge body was pushed backwards by several dozen steps. Similarly, Cang Mo’s entire body was sent flying and tumbling through the air.
In the next moment, Jia Long and the other two Half-Saints attacked again without giving Yang Kai any respite.
It was at that moment that three figures appeared beside Yang Kai.
A wave of Ice Principles spread out and collided with the boundless Corpse Qi. Bing Yun was rapidly forming hand seals while wearing an extremely solemn expression. At the same time, the Three Blazing Flame Rings flew out from Yang Yan’s wrist and turned into three huge fire rings that enveloped the Bone Demon. On the other hand, Gan Li charged towards the Feather Demon and instantly became entangled in a close-quarter melee.
“You…” Cang Mo, who had been sent flying, widened his eyes at the sight of the three figures who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The expression on his face was extremely ugly. He instantly understood how Yang Yan and the two others had appeared. They had clearly been hiding inside Yang Kai’s Small Sealed World.
“With these people…” Cang Mo nearly gnashed his teeth to bits.
He would not have used the man surnamed Feng as a shield earlier if he had known earlier that Yang Kai was secretly hiding three helpers. As long as they could meet up with Yang Kai, they would instantly have the strength of six Pseudo-Great Emperors on their side. No matter how strong Jia Long was, the disadvantage in numbers would have been enough for their enemies to pull back.
It was just that he had only seen Yang Kai alone before. Besides, he was in the midst of fleeing for his life. How could he spare the thought to consider so many things when his life was at stake? He only wanted to use Yang Kai to attract the attention of the Demon Race Half-Saints while he took the opportunity to escape.
He did not know if Yang Yan and the others had seen what he did before, but if they did, he would never have a place in the Star Boundary again in the future. On the contrary, there was nothing to fear if Yang Kai was the only one to have witnessed his actions. In the absence of evidence, he would never admit that he had ever done anything of that sort. Even if the Demons themselves were to reveal anything, their words would only be taken as sowing dissent. Nobody would believe them.
“Deceitful little bastard!” Cang Mo was extremely aggrieved and enraged. He secretly blamed Yang Kai for not revealing everything from the beginning and causing him to make that choice when he couldn’t see any other hope left for himself.
At the moment, Yang Yan and the others were holding the three Demon Race Half-Saints back while the Charm Demon was still busy dealing with Cang Mo. Therefore, Yang Kai was no longer restrained by anybody.
A huge sense of crisis fell over Cang Mo at that moment. The only other time in his life that he had ever felt this feeling was when he was being oppressed by Qiong Qi. It seemed as though it was really going to end badly for him this time…
At that moment, an anomaly suddenly occurred. There was a loud ringing sound and the entire Profound Heavens Temple trembled violently. Everybody who was present in this place, be they Half-Saint or Pseudo-Great Emperor, abruptly lost their balance and staggered unsteadily. At the same time, the rich and dense World Energy in the world quickly converged in a certain direction. A powerful and tempestuous vortex formed in a very short time, causing all the trees on the ground to bend and sway.
Everybody’s expressions changed drastically and they all stopped what they were doing and looked around vigilantly. It was obvious that something major had happened.
The ringing sound continued for a very long time.
“That is…” Cang Mo’s eyes widened so much that his eyeballs were practically popping out of their sockets. Staring up in a certain direction, his expression suddenly became ecstatic as he shouted, “The Illusionary Heavens Furnace!”
A boxy Giant Furnace had appeared out of nowhere in the direction he was staring. The Giant Furnace was engraved with countless mysterious runes and patterns that were flickering with flowing light non-stop. All the patterns seemed to coincide with the Grand Dao, causing everybody who was looking at it to become entranced for a moment.
The Giant Furnace was not tangible. Rather, it was an illusory phantom. Even so, it looked so real and solid. As the World Energy in the Profound Heavens Temple furiously poured into the Giant Furnace, it became bigger and bigger until it seemed as though it was going to fit the entire Profound Heavens Temple inside of it.
The world rumbled, World Energy rioted, the Giant Furnace revealed itself, and the Grand Dao’s aura flowed throughout every corner of the Profound Heavens Temple.
At this moment, every Pseudo-Great Emperor and Half-Saint in the Profound Heavens Temple couldn’t help feeling as though a set of large doors was about to open in front of them. Moreover, the pinnacle of the Martial Dao that they had been pursuing for their entire lives was right behind those doors. That was something worth paying any price for, including their own lives!
Inside the Profound Heavens Temple, silhouette after silhouette emerged. These silhouettes turned into streams of lights in various colours and rushed towards the direction of the Giant Furnace.
“The Illusionary Heavens Furnace!” Gan Li couldn’t help gulping hard. It wasn’t until this moment that he finally confirmed the information that the Star Boundary had to be true. The Profound Heavens Temple really did contain the Illusionary Heavens Furnace. More importantly, the key to becoming a Great Emperor was in the Illusionary Heavens Furnace.
He was very eager and excited. There was a rash impulse in him that urged him to disregard everything else and rush over to investigate the Giant Furnace. However, the Demon Race Half-Saints around him were watching him hungrily and he did not dare to act rashly.
On the other side, Jia Long stared at the Giant Furnace for a moment before looking back at a certain spot not far away. A headless corpse stood there. It belonged to the man surnamed Feng who was betrayed by Cang Mo previously. Although he had only been dead for a few moments, both the severed head and the headless corpse had shrivelled and become mummified.
A hint of contemplation flashed in Jia Long’s dirty-yellow eyes. [Was that the last piece?]
He knew more about the situation in the Profound Heavens Temple compared to all the other Demon Race Half-Saints. The day before the Profound Heavens Temple opened, Xue Li had summoned him to a secret meeting at Star Soul Palace. Nobody knew what Xue Li had told him that night; only the two of them knew the contents of their conversation.
All the other Demon Race Half-Saints knew was that they had to kill as many Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary as possible after entering the Profound Heavens Temple. Nevertheless, there was no need for something like this to be specifically said out loud. Neither the Human Race nor the Demon Race would have turned a blind eye to each other if they had encountered each other outside, much less within the Profound Heavens Temple where the Grand Dao battle took place.
Only Jia Long had been aware that the key to becoming a Great Emperor inside this Source Sealed World was inseparable from death and slaughter. The key would only be revealed when enough blood had been spilled. The death of the man surnamed Feng was undoubtedly the last one necessary.
Now that the Giant Furnace had been revealed, it was time for the final stage of the Grand Dao battle. All forms of forbearance and trickery would become useless from this moment on. The only way to obtain that one and only opportunity was by relying on one’s own ability.
All of a sudden, there was a loud noise. Energy burst out violently and everybody jumped in shock. Turning to look at the source of the commotion, they were greeted by the sight of Yang Kai’s huge body bearing down on Cang Mo. He had a grim expression on his face as he slashed out with the Azure Dragon Spear.
That attack sent Cang Mo flying and a spray of blood spurted out of his mouth in mid-air.
When the Giant Furnace revealed itself just now, everybody became distracted by the sight. Both Cang Mo and Yang Kai were no exception, but Yang Kai returned to his senses a little faster. The attack came so suddenly that Cang Mo failed to defend against it completely. All his internal organs churned violently when that oppressive force slammed into him and he cursed in his heart. [This little bastard sure has a lot of brute strength!]
It was no wonder. With a more than 1,000-metre-long Half-Dragon Body, how weak could Yang Kai be?
What made Cang Mo despair even more was that the impact from Yang Kai’s attack had sent him flying directly in Jia Long’s direction. He desperately pushed his Emperor Qi to stabilize his body as best as he could, but it was a difficult task to achieve.
Sorrow washed over him at that moment. He knew that he was doomed. Yang Kai wanted him dead and Jia Long had no reason to allow him to live either. Cang Mo was currently surrounded by enemies on all sides, so there was little to no chance of him walking out of this place alive.
At this very moment, Yang Kai was stabbing the spear at him. The attack flooded Cang Mo’s entire field of vision with the figure of an enormous Azure Dragon. In response, his eyes filled with despair.
However, a figure suddenly swept past him at that very moment and it was immediately followed by the appearance of a behemoth that suddenly stood in front of him.
The enormous body that appeared in front of him was exuding an extremely offensive Corpse Qi. Moreover, large chunks of rotten flesh were falling from the body to the ground and creating numerous craters below. Who else could this behemoth be but Jia Long?
Jia Long had used some sort of unknown Secret Technique to make his body expand by several tens of metres in an instant. Although he could not compare to Yang Kai’s Half-Dragon Form, it was still an extremely extraordinary sight to behold.
A monstrous aura emanated from Jia Long’s body as he rushed forward to meet Yang Kai’s attack and the situation instantly became a fierce struggle between two evenly matched opponents.
Cang Mo couldn’t help feeling both surprised and delighted to see this situation. He was surprised that Jia Long had not taken the opportunity to get rid of him and instead bypassed him to confront Yang Kai head-on. On the other hand, he was delighted by the fact that nobody had the time to pay attention to him at this moment.
Without stopping, Cang Mo borrowed the momentum of Yang Kai’s earlier attack to quickly make his escape, flying far away into the distance. He could still hear the rumbling sounds coming from behind, as well as Yang Kai’s furious and unwilling roar.
After surviving that calamity, Cang Mo realised that his clothes were soaked in sweat. He really thought that he was going to die just now, but who could have known that a light would shine for him during his darkest hour? Upon further consideration, he realised that Jia Long had let him go too easily. The other party probably did not have any good intentions in doing so; thus, the joy on his face faded and was replaced by a gloomy look.
Nevertheless, it was pointless to worry about something like that right now. His top priority was to go to the place where the Giant Furnace had appeared. A Heavenly Manifestation like that was undoubtedly a kind of guide. Not to mention, all the surviving Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints inside the Profound Heavens Temple were currently gathering in that direction. If he were late to the party, somebody else might beat him to the prize instead. The moment that thought crossed his mind, Cang Mo brushed aside all the distracting thoughts in his head, stuffed a few Spirit Pills into his mouth, and recovered his energy whilst he flew off.
He had not been that badly injured in the fight just now. While Yang Kai’s attack was terrifying, he himself was no easy target either. He might have vomited a few mouthfuls of blood, but it was nothing serious. Those injuries would not affect him in the coming Grand Dao battle.
…..
Both Yang Kai and Jia Long currently had three helpers each, so everyone was currently locked in one-on-one battles.
Yang Kai had been unable to do anything but watch Cang Mo escape just now; hence, the rage in his heart was surging ferociously like an erupting volcano that threatened to burn the entire world down with it. There was no mercy in the attacks that he dished out. Space Techniques, Soul Attacks, Dragon Clan Secret Techniques… He brought out an endless variety of methods to overwhelm Jia Long.
Jia Long was a foe Li Wu Yi had warned Yang Kai to be wary of. He was certainly more powerful than the other Demon Race Half-Saints and had extraordinary defensive abilities.
It didn’t matter what means Yang Kai used, he couldn’t even leave a single injury on the other party.
It was obvious that Jia Long knew just how treacherous and troublesome the Martial Truth was, so there was no way he was going to let Yang Kai land a hit on him. As a result, the fight between the two seemed a bit awkward.
Jia Long’s cultivation was obviously higher than that of Yang Kai’s, but strangely enough, Yang Kai seemed to be dominating the battle. On the other hand, Jia Long was like a sturdy wooden boat that was riding through the choppy waves of a stormy sea. He looked like he was in danger of losing at any moment, but the fact was that everything was under control.
After fighting for a while, Jia Long suddenly burst out laughing, “Let’s stop here. There’s nothing you can do to me, no matter what you do.”
While speaking, he made a feint and left the range of battle.
Yang Kai held his spear in one hand with a cold gaze. Although he wanted to kill this enemy, he knew that the other party’s words were the truth. His cultivation was currently his biggest shortcoming. It was difficult for him to do anything with his current abilities when facing a Demon Race Half-Saint like Jia Long. Continuing this fight was just a waste of time.
However, Jia Long’s attitude seemed to be indicating that he had deliberately rescued Cang Mo just now. Jia Long could have taken the opportunity to seriously injure or even kill Cang Mo, but he chose to let the latter go just like that. He even confronted Yang Kai head-on instead so that Yang Kai could not get away from the battle. Jia Long’s intentions were so obvious that anybody could tell as long as they were not blind.
Cang Mo had probably escaped somewhere far away by now, so there was no need to continue this battle. What’s more, the Illusionary Heavens Furnace had been revealed. Who would have the heart to continue fighting in this place with the rarest of opportunities lying before them? Those were the reasons why Yang Kai did not stop Jia Long from retreating.
The other three battles slowly died down the moment Yang Kai and Jia Long stopped fighting. Thus, the storm subsided in the blink of an eye.
Eight pairs of eyes collided, causing a faint shower of sparks to appear.
Jia Long grinned and spoke in a rumbling voice, “The key to the Grand Dao battle has been revealed, but… this is just the beginning. Yang Kai, this King hopes you have the ability to live to the end. I want to kill you with my own hands.”
“Rest assured, you will only die by my hands,” Yang Kai coldly snorted.
Jia Long said, “Then, we’ll be taking our leave. Let us meet again soon!”
The Corpse Qi swirled and wrapped around the other three Half-Saints before it transformed into a yellow-brown streak that rushed in the direction of the Giant Furnace.
“Let’s go too!” Yang Kai’s huge figure quickly became smaller, gradually returning to his original form. Space Principles fluctuated, wrapping around Yang Yan and the others. One Instantaneous Movement later, they all vanished out of sight.
Gan Li was secretly relieved at the sight. At the same time, he laughed at himself self-deprecatingly for being a little overly suspicious and pessimistic.
He had been wondering what he would do if Yang Kai asked them to enter the Small Sealed World again. The reason he had willingly stayed inside the Small Sealed World before was out of consideration for their plans. It was safer to work together after all.
However, it would be equivalent to handing all control over to Yang Kai if he willingly entered the Small Sealed World again now that Illusionary Heavens Furnace has been revealed; after all, he would miss out on the Grand Dao battle if Yang Kai refused to let him out of the Small Sealed World. That was something he was not willing to do, no matter what.
Judging by the current situation, Yang Kai was somebody who conducted himself honourably. It was clear that he had also taken the other’s opinions into consideration, so he did not ask them to enter the Small Sealed World again. Rather, he did not hesitate to consume more energy to bring them along with him.
Looking up, Gan Li felt his chest burning with anticipation. The key to the Grand Dao battle had finally been revealed, but nobody knew what they were supposed to do next. They were even less clear as to what was inside that Giant Furnace.
The Giant Furnace had been madly absorbing the World Energy in the Source Sealed World ever since it first appeared, causing the energy to swirl about in a frenzy that never stopped even for a moment. The furnace itself was also getting bigger and bigger as it absorbed more and more of the World Energy. At this moment, it was already covering the entire sky.
All of a sudden, the Giant Furnace settled down. The complex patterns carved around it shone with a dazzling light, making the Grand Dao aura in the entire Source Sealed World become more and more intense. Both the Demon Race Half-Saints and the Human Race Pseudo-Great Emperors looked pensive at this moment as they unknowingly gained a deeper understanding of the Grand Dao.
With a loud bang, the Giant Furnace burst and shattered into pieces before vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Yang Kai felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar at the sight. He froze in his tracks and stared ahead blankly, “What’s going on!?”
The Illusionary Heavens Furnace was the key item in the Grand Dao battle that finally appeared after so many days of waiting! Why did it shatter so abruptly? Did that mean that everybody had to return home empty-handed!?
However, he soon calmed down. The reason was that although the Giant Furnace had shattered, the Grand Dao aura in the world had not vanished. Rather, it was becoming more intense. Besides, the Giant Furnace had been nothing more than an illusory phantom, a mere projection of the actual Illusionary Heavens Furnace. Therefore, the shattering of the illusory phantom did not mean that something had happened to the Illusionary Heavens Furnace itself.
For those reasons, Yang Kai only paused in his tracks for a moment before continuing onward.
As time passed, his expression gradually became rather strange. The Grand Dao aura that currently flooded the world was too rich, which gave him the urge to stop and try to perceive it; however, doing that would be sacrificing the future for today. So, he suppressed the impulse despite the desires in his heart.
Be that as it may, the Grand Dao aura running wild could indeed bring great benefits to all the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints. The limitations of the world prevented them from becoming a Great Emperor or a Demon Saint, but as long as they could leave the Profound Heavens Temple alive, they would definitely be able to make great progress after being nourished by the Grand Dao aura in this place.
[What a pity…] Yang Kai suddenly thought of Li Wu Yi. With Li Wu Yi’s ability, the benefits he could obtain here would be unimaginable. He also had a great chance of winning that one and only opportunity to become a Great Emperor. Unfortunately, he voluntarily gave up this opportunity for the sake of the Star Boundary and the livelihood of the common people. His decision in making such a sacrifice could be said to be cutting off his own future. It was both admirable and sad.
[Luckily, I collected a lot of the World Source Liquid. I’ll give him some when I return. It should be able to make up for some of his losses. The astounding aura contained within the World Source Liquid is no worse than the Grand Dao aura in the Profound Heavens Temple after all.]
“Do you smell anything?” Bing Yun asked suddenly, her nose twitching lightly as she spoke.
“I do. There’s a fragrance in the air,” Yang Yan replied immediately. It was obvious that she was aware of it too.
Following their conversation, Gan Li realised that there was indeed a faint aroma wafting about. It was not something that he had ever smelled before. It was vague and hard to describe, but it made him feel warm and refreshed. Even the exhaustion from the previous battles vanished, leaving him feeling energetic again.
Although Yang Kai was in a hurry to arrive at his destination, he could smell the aroma too. It was not very obvious at first, but it became stronger and stronger as he moved forward. It smelled like fruit but also of flowers…
Based on the perception of his Divine Sense, many powerful auras had intruded into his surveillance range. These auras included both the Pseudo-Great Emperors of the Star Boundary and the Demon Race Half-Saints. It was just that everyone was attracted by the Illusionary Heavens Furnace and were rushing over to where it had appeared, so nobody was in the mood to pick a fight.
At this moment, everybody in the entire Profound Heavens Temple was only doing one thing, heading to where the Illusionary Heavens Furnace was!
The Illusionary Heavens Furnace was located inside a Bronze Grand Hall. The Bronze Grand Hall was simple but majestic. Nobody knew when it first appeared, but just by looking at it, they could sense an ancient and desolate aura that seemed to pull them into that extremely far-off era.
Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space; therefore, he arrived relatively early even though he had started quite far away. At a glance, he could see that the Bronze Grand Hall stood on the ground and the surface of the building was mottled with time. Most of all, it was exuding an aura that people couldn’t help but want to bow down to and worship. That aura felt similar to the World’s Will.
For a moment, Yang Kai felt something rising in his body and resonating with the entire Bronze Grand Hall. He understood clearly in his heart that it was the World’s Will in his possession. Before the Illusionary Heavens Furnace was revealed, he had relied on the World’s Will’s guidance to faintly perceive where the key to becoming a Great Emperor was located. It was just that he had encountered Cang Mo, Jia Long, and the others before he had a chance to investigate carefully. The Illusionary Heavens Furnace had revealed itself during their battle, so the slight advantage that he just received became useless as a result.
This was probably the real Profound Heavens Temple! Throughout the ages, everybody had called this Source Sealed World by the name ‘Profound Heavens Temple’. However, the Profound Heavens Temple probably referred to this Bronze Grand Hall.
The Profound Heavens Temple contained the Illusionary Heavens Furnace and the Illusionary Heavens Furnace contained the secret to becoming a Great Emperor!
Step by step, Yang Kai had steadily progressed in his journey along the Martial Dao until today, where the biggest mystery was currently right in front of his eyes. It was just waiting for him to remove that mysterious veil and uncover its secrets. It would be a lie to say that he was not excited. Nevertheless, he was not so hot-blooded that he lost his reasoning. Just as Jia Long had mentioned earlier, the appearance of the Illusionary Heavens Furnace was just the beginning. The final result at the end would depend on each person’s abilities.
Taking a deep breath, Yang Kai quickly said, “Brother Gan, you are free to go or stay as you wish once we enter the Profound Heavens Temple, but please help me until then.”
Gan Li nodded when he heard those words, “Brother Yang, please rest assured, until the very last moment, this Old Master’s only enemy will be the Demon Race.”
At the same time, the last trace of worry in his heart disappeared. He was considering parting ways with Yang Kai and the others when they entered the Profound Heavens Temple. His lifelong pursuit was right in front of him after all. Even if he had to put his life on the line, he had to try. At that time, he would not be on the same side as Yang Kai and the others anymore.
“Good!” Yang Kai laughed loud as Space Principles surged and enveloped the other three, then he rushed forward again.
There was a gate at the front of the hall. It was huge and imposing, nearly 1,000 metres tall, overflowing with an oppressive air. Moreover, it was now open, as if to welcome its guests that came from afar. Who could predict what kind of opportunities and dangers were hidden inside the pitch-black hall?
Yang Kai slipped inside.
In that instant, a violent barrage of attacks came from all directions. There was a short fight before somebody yelled, “Stop! Stop! They are allies!”
When the figures separated from each other, they spread out on both sides.
Bing Yun, Yang Yan, and Gan Li were gathered around Yang Kai closely, watching their surroundings vigilantly. It wasn’t until Yang Kai saw who was attacking him that he burst out laughing.
He had a hunch that somebody had already entered the Profound Heavens Temple before him when he saw that the two bronze doors were already open. If he were in their shoes and had the advantage of being in the lead, he would most likely lay an ambush near the entrance to kill the enemies that came inside. Therefore, he had already prepared himself for an ambush before entering the palace. If it weren’t for that, he would definitely have been disgraced by that round of attacks just now.
“So it is Brother Yang and his companions.” The elderly man leading the group gave an embarrassed smile and bowed to all parties with an apologetic expression, “It happened too quickly and I couldn’t see clearly. Please forgive me.”
Yang Kai raised his hand to stop the other party, “Please don’t mind it, Brother Luo. We did not sustain much damage.”
While speaking, he studied the line-up opposite him. There were not many of them, only three in total. However, none of them were seriously injured and they seemed to be in a good state of mind. The elderly man in the lead was a Pseudo-Great Emperor from the Western Territory and currently served as one of the Army Commanders, Luo Meng.
This was good news for Yang Kai. The more Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary that survived, the more advantages they would have in the upcoming Grand Dao battle.
“When did you arrive, Brother Luo?” he asked.
Luo Meng observed the situation and was secretly surprised. Yang Kai had the lowest cultivation out of the four in his group, but he clearly seemed to be the one leading them; thus, Luo Meng couldn’t help wondering about it. Not to mention, he had sensed an oppressive strength coming from Yang Kai during their brief exchange just now.
It was hard to understand how a High-Rank Demon King could be so powerful without actually fighting against Yang Kai. All everybody knew was that he had a record of killing a Demon Race Half-Saint together with Lan Xun and her companions. Even so, that was only something they heard. There had been no sense of reality to those words until this moment.
[Extraordinary!] Luo Meng secretly gave Yang Kai an evaluation. A High-Rank Demon King was only equivalent to a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master. [I’m afraid I wouldn’t even be qualified to hold this boy Yang Kai’s shoes when I was back in the Third-Order Emperor Realm…]
Feeling slightly ashamed in his heart, Luo Meng replied, “I only just arrived. I was hoping to get rid of a few of those bastards here, but I never expected to accidentally hurt all of you instead.”
Yang Kai said, “It was a good idea, Brother Luo. But, are you sure that the Profound Heavens Temple only has one entrance?”
Luo Meng was stunned, “There are other entrances?”
Yang Kai shook his head in response, “I don’t know. I just flew over to the nearest entrance I could see, so there might be other entrances in other directions.”
Luo Meng’s face twitched at those words. [If that’s the case, then why are we still laying an ambush here? Forget about the fact that we are wasting our time in vain, we might not even get anything out of this! After all, it is hard to say which side will be left behind and killed even if a Demon Race Half-Saint does enter through this entrance.]
“Jia Long and the others should be coming here too,” Yang Kai and Jia Long’s group had come from the same direction. He only arrived ahead of them by relying on his Space Secret Techniques. It would not take long for Jia Long to lead his group of four here.
Based on the strength of Luo Meng and his companions, they would have lost their advantage and ended up losing the battle too if they had ambushed Jia Long here.
Sure enough, the expressions of Luo Meng and others couldn’t help changing at the mention of Jia Long’s name, “Brother Yang, did you meet Jia Long just now?”
“We fought them not long ago.” Yang Kai nodded. Thinking about the person that had died because of Cang Mo, his eyes darkened considerably. [Cang Mo must not be allowed to leave the Profound Heavens Temple alive!]
“How many of them are there?”
“Four!”
Lup Meng instantly felt a chill running up his spine and secretly rejoiced at his luck. It was fortunate that Yang Kai and the others were the ones to enter just now. If they had encountered Jia Long and his group instead, the consequences would have been dire for them. Jia Long was somebody that even Li Wu Yi was helpless against after all. But to escape unscathed from a four-on-four battle against Jia Long… It seemed that he was still underestimating Yang Kai’s strength.
“In your opinion, Brother Yang, what should we do?” Luo Meng asked.
Yang Kai looked at him and said, “Now that the Illusionary Heavens Furnace has appeared, I’m sure it is somewhere inside the Profound Heavens Temple. It is more important to locate the Illusionary Heavens Furnace first. In any case, we will eventually meet each other again. It will not be too late to fight them when we are competing for the opportunity.”
Luo Meng pondered for a while before nodding in agreement, “Brother Yang, your words hold truth in them. In that case, let’s go forward together so that we can take care of each other.”
“Good!” Yang Kai nodded and turned his head to look into the depths of the hall. He had been ambushed by Luo Meng the moment he entered, so he had not had the time to look around yet. Scanning his surroundings now, he saw that the area ahead was so dark that he could not see anything. Even when he tried to use his Divine Sense to penetrate the darkness, it felt like a rock sinking to the bottom of the sea. There was no feedback whatsoever.
The inside of the entire hall felt like it was shrouded in a thick layer of fog. In addition, the source of that peculiar fragrance was very close at hand and a rich Grand Dao aura flowed around them.
“Brother Luo, have you checked out the situation ahead?” Yang Kai asked while turning to look back.
Luo Meng shook his head, “We have only just arrived. There was no time to investigate anything yet. But, the inside of the Profound Heavens Temple feels very strange. I’m afraid the journey ahead is going to get a little bumpy.”
Yang Kai smiled, “When have we ever had a smooth road to walk on throughout our cultivation journey? Despite encountering many difficulties and adversities, the only way forward is to forge ahead bravely and cut through the thorns that bar our path.”
Luo Meng nodded, “You’re right, Brother Yang.”
“Let’s do it this way.” Yang Kai turned his head and looked around at the crowd, “I will lead the way. Yang Yan and Brother Luo will bring up the rear. The rest will remain in the middle to support us. Please take action if any unusual changes occur.”
Yang Yan frowned and objected, “I should lead the way.”
When it came down to it, the one walking at the forefront was also the one in the most danger. Nobody knew what kind of restrictions were arranged inside the Profound Heavens Temple. Although Yang Kai’s cultivation was a little lower than the others, he had part of the World’s Will in him, which made him one of the strongest contenders in the Grand Dao battle. How could she allow any accidents to befall him? The reason she and Bing Yun participated in this struggle was to ensure his safety. This was something they had discussed with Li Wu Yi in advance and received his approval.
Yang Kai raised his hand to stop her, “There’s not much time, so let’s not argue over this. I am capable of keeping myself alive.”
Seeing his insistence in this matter, there was not much else that Yang Yan could say so she simply nodded, “Fine. Be careful.”
While speaking, she shot a look at Bing Yun. Bing Yun immediately understood the meaning of the look and nodded gently in response.
Following a simple negotiation, the two groups gathered together and moved forward. Yang Kai led the way, followed closely by Bing Yun. Both of them silently circulated their Demon and Emperor Qi, prepared to attack at any time. Meanwhile, the others spread out behind them with Luo Meng and Yang Yan brought up the rear. Everyone maintained a tight formation, only a few steps apart from each other.
They stepped into the pitch-blackness that was so dark they couldn’t see their hands in front of them. Even their Divine Sense had been suppressed to the limit. Fortunately, sounds were not cut off from their senses so they could hear each other’s breathing and light footsteps. At the very least, they did not feel so alone.
Their speed of progress was not fast but not slow either. Their journey through the hall was smooth and unobstructed. They did not encounter the dangers and restrictions that they had imagined. Even so, nobody relaxed their guard, no matter who they were.
Yang Kai was observing the situation around him at all times while also keeping an eye on the movements of the people behind him.
All of a sudden, his expression changed when he checked on the situation of the group. That was because there was nobody behind him at all! Just a moment ago, he could still hear their faint heartbeat and footsteps, but in the next moment, the people who had been following him had disappeared without a trace!
Yang Kai turned around abruptly to look behind him, but there was nobody there. Even Bing Yun, who had been following no more than three steps behind him, was nowhere to be seen!
Cold sweat oozed from his forehead as he hurriedly released his Divine Sense so that he was alert to all the movements in his surroundings. Yang Kai had completely failed to notice when or how the people behind him had disappeared, but with his current Soul cultivation, even a Demon Saint or a Great Emperor could not achieve this level of secrecy around him. The only explanation was that he had activated some sort of restriction in the Profound Heavens Temple, which separated him from the others.
[If that’s what happened to me, then how are the others doing? Also, what kind of dangers will this restriction bring?] Yang Kai had no idea. All he could do now was to remain vigilant and continue moving forward…
At the same time, Bing Yun, who had been walking in the hall, suddenly let out a low cry.
“What happened!?” Yang Yan immediately asked.
“Yang Kai is gone!” Bing Yun exclaimed in shock.
Upon hearing those words, everybody was so horrified that all the hairs on their body stood upright. They were all Pseudo-Great Emperors; moreover, they were all basically within arm’s reach of one another. Even if the situation in this place was strange and their Divine Sense was greatly suppressed, they should still be able to monitor the movements of any one of the people around them if they put their minds to it. However, the reality was that none of them had noticed Yang Kai’s disappearance until Bing Yun made a sound. Not even Yang Yan, who had been paying close attention to Yang Kai.
With a whoosh, Yang Yan rushed over from behind and stared forward intently, but there was nobody in front. She asked grimly, “When did he disappear?”
She had clearly heard Yang Kai’s heartbeat and breathing just a moment ago.
“Just now!”
“How did he disappear?”
“I don’t know,” Bing Yun frowned deeply. She had not been distracted by anything else and as she was the closest to Yang Kai, she had been paying close attention to him at all times. Even so, she had not noticed how he had disappeared. It wasn’t until he was gone that she reacted. It was simply unbelievable.
The entire purpose of her and Yang Yan’s presence here was to protect Yang Kai and participate in the final stage of the Grand Dao battle, but they had lost sight of him completely. No matter how strong her heart was, Bing Yun couldn’t help feeling a little emotional at this moment. [If that was the case, then what was the point of Li Wu Yi’s sacrifice!?]
“Watch out, everyone. Brother Yang must have activated some sort of restriction,” Luo Meng shouted.
Yang Yan frowned at those words, “If it were some sort of restriction, then why was he the only one to go missing? Wouldn’t we have been dragged into it as well?”
Although she could not rule out the fact that the restriction might have affected only one person, it was still a little too strange to be true.
At that moment, a small light suddenly bloomed in the dark hall. The light seemed to come from very far away. It was a little hazy, but when it appeared, the darkness that enveloped the entire hall receded considerably. A faintly glowing path about ten metres wide appeared beneath their feet, leading them straight towards the source of the light.
Yang Kai’s sudden disappearance was followed by the appearance of this faintly glowing path. This series of events left everybody extremely bewildered, but they did not sense any danger when standing on this path. On the contrary, they could vaguely sense something calling out to them from the front. It would seem that the goal everybody had been chasing was just right ahead.
After pondering for a moment, Luo Meng said, “Sister Yang Yan, Brother Yang might be missing, but nothing bad will happen to him easily with his abilities. Besides, he will surely head to that final place once he gets himself out of trouble. Why don’t we proceed ahead for now and wait for him to arrive? What do you think?”
Yang Yan fell silent for a while after listening to his suggestion. Then, she nodded gently. She knew that what Luo Meng said was right. She was completely clueless as to how Yang Kai went missing and where he was currently, so even if she tried to search for him, she had no clues to work with. In that case, she might as well head for the final area to wait for him as there was a higher possibility of meeting him there.
Having made their decision, everybody delayed no longer and immediately continued on their way. Nevertheless, they acted more cautiously after learning from their previous experience. To their surprise though, nothing else unexpected happened until they reached the end of the faintly glowing path.
At the end of the path was an empty hall. The ceiling was more than a thousand metres high and it was very spacious inside. More importantly, a quaint-looking Giant Furnace was slowly spinning in the centre of the hall. The patterns around the Giant Furnace were flickering with a faint light and a dense Grand Dao aura radiated from within.
“The Illusionary Heavens Furnace!” Luo Meng exclaimed softly, staring intently at the Giant Furnace that was carved with countless complicated and intricate patterns with a scorching gaze. This Giant Furnace was identical to the Giant Furnace that was projected into the world before. Although it had shrunk in size countless times, it was still several tens of metres tall.
It wasn’t just Luo Meng who had a scorching look in his eyes. The eyes of all six Pseudo-Great Emperors present here were burning brightly at this moment.
Before entering the Profound Heavens Temple, everybody was told that they had to find the Illusionary Heavens Furnace upon entering the Source Sealed World. It was just that nobody knew where the Illusionary Heavens Furnace was located. At this very moment, the key item to becoming a Great Emperor had finally revealed itself before their very eyes. As long as they could figure out the secret behind the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, they could become a Great Emperor!
There was a whooshing sound as a figure passed by Luo Meng’s side to head straight at the Illusionary Heavens Furnace. However, he was ruthlessly cut down by his companion beside him.
The Demon Race Half-Saints were the eternal enemies of the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary, but even their original companions became their rivals now that the final moment was here.
Luo Meng was startled, but even so, he quickly came back to his senses and rushed forward with a shift of his body.
*Shua shua shua…* Gan Li and another Pseudo-Great Emperor were not far behind. Only Yang Yan and Bing Yun were left standing in their original positions.
The two women looked at each other in surprise. They never expected to arrive at the deepest part of the Profound Heavens Temple so easily, let alone find the Illusionary Heavens Furnace just waiting for them. In this way, the Grand Dao battle had reached the most critical moment. Even if they were unwilling, they were already stuck in this whirlpool. Who would not selfishly think only of themselves in this situation?
They both understood the meaning in each other’s eyes. Yang Yan shouted, “Let’s go!”
Pushing her Emperor Qi, she flew forward together with Bing Yun. Their previous task had been rendered meaningless now that Yang Kai was missing. Regardless of whether he was dead or alive, who could turn a blind eye to the Grand Dao opportunity in front of them?
At that moment, an anomaly occurred.
The energy in the hall suddenly went wild as numerous figures emerged from all directions. Waves of Divine Abilities shot out from everywhere, targeting the person closest to Illusionary Heavens Furnace. That person was a Pseudo-Great Emperor who came here with Yang Yan and the others but was the first to rush forward just now.
Luo Meng’s expression changed greatly at the sight and he shouted, “Watch out, Brother Zhou!”
Similarly, the man surnamed Zhou was shocked. He had thought that he and the others were the first to arrive at this place, so he believed that he could take advantage of their lead to obtain the prize first. Who could have known that that was not the case?
Turning to look around him, he saw that there were passages leading into the hall from every direction. Moreover, numerous figures came flying out of those passages. Both the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary and the Demon Race Half-Saints were included among these people. It was obvious that they had all just arrived in this place. Furthermore, the time of their arrival was all roughly the same. It was just that they had not come via the same shimmering path.
Those who attacked him were the Demon Race Half-Saints. Although the Pseudo-Great Emperors were vying to get the lead on the others, they had not reached the point where they would kill each other yet.
Even so, the man surnamed Zhou felt his scalp go numb with fear. There were at least a dozen Divine Abilities raining down on him. Even though these attacks were rushed, how could he defend against these many attacks all at once? His complexion turned pale as he hurriedly raised his hand, summoning many artifacts at the same time to form a layer of protection around his body.
There was a loud rumbling and energy ran wild, causing the layers upon layers of protection that seemed fairly sturdy to shatter apart like paper in a single blow. It was followed by a muffled groan as a figure was sent flying backwards. That person was completely covered in blood and his aura was weak.
Luo Meng reached out to catch that person, and when he looked down at the person in his arms, his heart sank.
At this moment, the man surnamed Zhou’s Emperor Qi was fluctuating erratically. His complexion was as pale as a sheet and his body was covered in injuries. It was obvious that he was severely injured. That did not come as a surprise, however, as so many Half-Saints had attacked him all at once. Even Li Wu Yi could not have defended against that barrage of attacks, much less this man surnamed Zhou who had been completely focused on the Illusionary Heavens Furnace. In his haste, the ability to deploy those layers of protection had been his limit. Luckily, the layers of protection had not been useless and had ultimately saved his life. Nevertheless, suffering such severe injuries at this stage was equivalent to losing his qualification to compete in the Grand Dao battle.
“Brother Luo…” The man surnamed Zhou opened his mouth and spat out another mouthful of fresh blood, his expression became more worn out than ever. His eyes were filled with remorse and regret. After a lifetime of cultivation, he finally reached this step only to fall short at the last moment. How could he willingly accept something like that? He deeply regretted putting his neck on the line to be first, but who could have imagined that so many people had arrived in this place?
“Brother Luo, please go on ahead. This Zhou will need to treat his injuries first,” He managed to speak with some difficulty and turned his head to look at Illusionary Heavens Furnace.
From the looks of it, another Pseudo-Great Emperor from the Star Boundary was already rushing towards the Illusionary Heavens Furnace with a fired-up expression on his face. He lunged forward at the Illusionary Heavens Furnace with a slight body shift.
However, he was blocked by an invisible force before he could even get close. It was as though there was an invisible barrier around the Illusionary Heavens Furnace. As long as the barrier was not broken, nobody could even think about approaching the furnace.
There was a slight moment of delay, and then a storm of attacks rained down again. That person’s expression changed drastically and he hurriedly dodged out of the way, but was still struck by some of the attacks. Blood immediately stained the sky.
More people rushed at the Illusionary Heavens Furnace only to be blocked by that invisible barrier. There were no exceptions. Meanwhile, the Demon Race Half-Saints attacked fiercely. They were ignoring the huge opportunity contained in the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, choosing to go on the offensive against the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary instead.
One side was scattered and chaotic while the other side had come prepared; therefore, the result was easy to imagine.
It only took an instant for the Star Boundary to suffer a devastating loss. In just 10 breaths, one of the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary had already died tragically on the spot.
After several more defeats, the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary stopped approaching the Illusionary Heavens Furnace so rashly. Everybody could understand the situation by now. Although the Illusionary Heavens Furnace had revealed itself, it would seem that it was not time for the final moment yet. Trying to snatch the opportunity at this moment was meaningless, so they might as well take this opportunity to get rid of their competitors instead.
A chaotic melee then broke out. Lights flickered throughout the huge hall as the powers of both Emperor Artifacts and Demon Artifacts were unleashed. The explosions that rang out were deafening and endless.
Screams would ring out from time to time. On this battlefield where only Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints stood, any trace of negligence would become a fatal flaw. Both sides suffered casualties as the battle continued to rage. Body after body fell out of the sky and their vital essence would vanish without a trace before they could even touch the ground, essentially turning them into mummified corpses.
On the other hand, the rotation speed of the Illusionary Heavens Furnace standing in the centre of the hall seemed to have increased slightly. The pure World Energy that filled the inside of the Giant Furnace was also gradually strengthening. It was expanding and contracting rhythmically, as if something was about to break out of the cauldron.
While the Pseudo-Great Emperors and the Half-Saints were engaged in battle inside the hall, Yang Kai was standing in a seemingly infinite void. He had gotten separated from Yang Yan and the others without him noticing only to appear directly in this strange space.
Even so, he did not panic as he did not sense any danger in this place. Rather, he felt a sense of security and tranquillity that was reminiscent of returning home after a long journey. This feeling was rather fascinating and it tempted him to stay forever, just sinking into this comfortable silence.
The moment that thought formed in his head though, he felt a cool sensation washing over his mind that woke him up instantly. That was naturally the work of the Soul Warming Lotus. It was important to note that the Soul Warming Lotus, which was a Supreme Treasure, would only react in that way when his Soul was being influenced by an outside force.
Yang Kai was stunned as he had thought he was already being vigilant enough, so he was shocked to learn that he still nearly became bewitched by something. Not to mention, there was nothing in this strange space whatsoever. Just being in this place gave him such dangerous thoughts.
[What the Hell is this damned place!”]
In his confusion, a loud bell-like voice suddenly sounded in his mind, “What is the World?”
“Who are you?” Yang Kai shouted loudly. Turning to look around him, he found nothing in his vicinity. There was nothing in this place except for him, so how could anybody else be here? He couldn’t help frowning in response, but upon further consideration, he realised that the sound did not seem to have come from the outside, but rather from within his body.
“What is the World?” The voice sounded again.
Wary, Yang Kai quickly asked, “Who is sneaking around!?”
There was no reply. After waiting for a while, the voice came again. It was still the same question as before, “What is the World?”
This attitude that indicated the other party would not give up until they obtained the answers they wanted gave Yang Kai a headache. If it were a tangible enemy, he could have created a huge commotion to see if he could escape his current predicament; however, there was nothing he could do when even the source of that voice was unclear.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai answered loudly, “The World gives birth to everything and nourishes all life. Everything in the World exists in accordance with the World. The World attains spirituality from everything, and everything, in turn, constitutes the World.”
After saying that, Yang Kai looked around attentively. He waited for a long time, but the voice did not sound again so he raised his brow slightly and thought to himself, [Is that a pass?]
That thought had only just flashed through his mind when the voice sounded again. It was still as sonorous as ever and so loud that it shook the eardrums and the mind, “What is the Dao?”
With the experience from before, Yang Kai did not try to engage with that voice and simply answered, “The Dao is the law, the way of things, eternity itself, the source of everything in the World.”
“What is the Dao?” This time around, the voice sounded again without pause.
Yang Kai frowned. [Was that the wrong answer?]
“The Dao is grief, sorrow, and joy. The Dao is birth, old age, sickness, and death. The Dao is fate. The Dao is returning after achieving success. One follows the Earth, Earth follows the Heavens, the Heavens follow the Dao, and the Dao follows nature!”
“What is the Dao?”
“The heart is the Dao!”
“What is the Dao?”
“The Dao is the road under our feet. The beginning and end. Everything from the trees to the grains of sand have their own Dao. This Dao is their destiny, existence, their way!”
“What is the Dao?”
…..
In the beginning, Yang Kai needed to ponder for a while before coming up with an answer; however, his answers flowed out with increasing speed as the voice continued to question him non-stop. It was as though it was not somebody else who was asking him the question but his own heart!
With every sentence that Yang Kai uttered, the feeling that he could finally see the bright moon through a layer of fog began to sprout in his heart. All the thoughts in his heart seemed to become clear all of a sudden and he felt extremely refreshed.
“What is the Dao?”
Yang Kai lowered his heart and grinned to himself, “What is the Dao?”
Pausing for a moment, his relaxed gaze slowly became firm and determined, “Stop asking! If you keep on nagging like this, then I say I am the Dao!”
*Hong…*
It felt as though something inside his body had exploded. The surrounding space shattered like a mirror, peeling off piece by piece. The fog in front of him vanished in an instant, and he suddenly appeared inside a hall. Before he could check out his surroundings, however, he felt numerous gazes locking onto him from all directions.
Turning around to look, Yang Kai broke out into a grin and whistled, “Heh! There’s a lot of people here!”
There were clearly two groups of people in the hall. One side was composed of the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary while the other was composed of the Half-Saints from the Demon Realm. There were about ten or so people from each camp, but there were a few more Half-Saints compared to the people from the Star Boundary.
It was just that most of these Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints were injured to some extent at this moment. Yang Kai also saw Jia Long among the Demon Race Half-Saints. Jia Long had a huge and hideous wound on his chest, which illustrated how brutal the struggle he went through just now was.
In addition to these two groups of people, there were also many mummified corpses scattered across the hall. Judging from the clothes of the mummified corpses, both the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary and Half-Saints from the Demon Realm were among the dead. There were as many as 20 or 30 corpses in total.
When the Profound Heavens Temple opened, a total of 70 entered this place. Among those 70, 30 were Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary while the remaining 40 were the Demon Race Half-Saints! Including the Masters who died outside the Profound Heavens Temple, then all those who were still alive and had the power to fight at this moment were gathered in this place.
The Grand Dao battle was finally showing its fangs. It had only been a little more than a month since the Profound Heavens Temple opened, but in this short time, the number of Masters from the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm who died numbered as many as 40 or 50. Something like this would have been unimaginable in the past, but death had become commonplace in the Profound Heavens Temple.
“Yang Kai, are you alright!?” Yang Yan called out. She had felt both surprised and delighted when she first saw Yang Kai. Although she could tell that he was in good shape, she couldn’t help worrying about whether he had encountered any accidents.
Yang Kai shook his head, “I’m fine.”
In fact, he wasn’t just fine, he felt surprisingly refreshed after going through that strange experience just now. It felt as though something had relaxed inside his body.
Turning his gaze to the side, he met the concerned gazes of both Yang Yan and Bing Yun. That wasn’t all, he also saw Sheng Yu Zhu among the crowd. When their eyes met, Sheng Yu Zhu gave him a small smile to which he nodded back in return.
His gaze continued to sweep across the crowd, and when he saw a certain person, his expression immediately turned cold and his murderous intent surged, “Old dog Cang Mo! How dare you show yourself here!”
Similarly, Cang Mo’s expression was filled with hatred when he looked at Yang Kai; even so, he remained silent in the face of Yang Kai’s cursing. That was because he knew exactly what he had done. Arguing with Yang Kai at this time would only expose that fact. If that happened, there would be no place left for him in the Star Boundary.
Many Pseudo-Great Emperors frowned upon hearing Yang Kai’s shout. They all knew that Yang Kai had a grudge against Cang Mo, but that was nothing more than a personal grudge. Nobody knew why Yang Kai was suddenly causing a commotion at this time.
Yang Yan sent a Divine Sense transmission to Yang Kai at that moment, “We can discuss the matter regarding Cang Mo when we get back. Our priority is to deal with the immediate situation.”
Yang Kai gently nodded at those words. With a flicker of his body, he headed towards the people of the Star Boundary. He really wanted to take this opportunity to kill Cang Mo, but he would only embarrass the entire Star Boundary in front of the Demon Race if he made a move. It might even break this eerie calm that had settled over the hall.
For that reason, Yang Kai could only endure silently even if his mind was flooded with the thoughts of killing Cang Mo. He walked over to Yang Yan and asked in a whisper, “What happened here?”
The tragic situation in front of him undoubtedly indicated that both the Humans and Demons had gone through an unprecedented battle before his arrival. Unfortunately, the root cause of this battle was definitely related to the Grand Dao opportunity.
“The Illusionary Heavens Furnace is here!” Yang Yan gestured at something behind him.
Yang Kai turned around to look, his eyes narrowing at the sight. Behind him stood a quaint-looking Giant Furnace in the very centre of the hall. It was emanating an ancient and desolate aura as though it had just stepped out of the past to emerge from the river of history. There were countless peculiar patterns engraved around the Giant Furnace. At first glance, those patterns did not seem to mean anything; however, one would find that these patterns coincided with the Principles of the Grand Dao upon closer inspection…
Even though Yang Kai had seen the gigantic projection of the Illusionary Heavens Furnace from afar before, he couldn’t help being stunned when he saw the real Illusionary Heavens Furnace for the first time. His mind seemed drawn towards the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, giving him a desperate impulse to delve into the mysteries contained in it.
At this moment, the Illusionary Heavens Furnace was not empty; there was actually a tree inside of it. It was small and not very tall, only about 10 metres or so. It had lush green leaves and a single fruit hanging from one of its branches. The fruit was about the size of a fist and crystal-clear with inexplicably colourful lights that kept changing inside.
A peculiar fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose, penetrating directly into his mind. This fragrance was rather familiar. It was the same smell that he had noticed while on his way here. The realisation struck Yang Kai suddenly, this was the source of that fragrance.
“What is that?” Yang Kai furrowed his brow tightly. The information he received from Sheng Yu Zhu was only regarding the existence of the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, and yet, at this moment, there was a small tree inside the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, not to mention a fruit hanging on the tree…
He turned to glance at Sheng Yu Zhu, but the latter just shook her head slowly to indicate that she did not know either. Yang Kai did not know if she truly was clueless or if she was only pretending to be. In any case, he had the vague feeling that the key to becoming a Great Emperor was not the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, but this fruit from the small tree inside the Illusionary Heavens Furnace!
Yang Yan stood next to him and explained the situation. It turned out that after they parted with Yang Kai, they came directly to this place. Not long after their arrival, they discovered that everyone had been gathered in this place. There was nothing more to say when everybody encountered each other. A huge battle immediately broke out.
People dropped like flies in that battle. With the increasing number of deaths, the small tree gradually grew inside the Illusionary Heavens Furnace and a fruit gradually grew on the tree. That was what led to the scene they were currently looking at. Too many people had died on both sides, not to mention the rest were gravely injured. Death and pain finally made both sides calm down, leading to a stalemate between both the Humans and the Demons before Yang Kai’s arrival.
“That’s the Heavenly Source Fruit!” Jia Long’s voice came from the opposite side. Yang Kai looked up to see Jia Long obsessively staring at the only fruit on the small tree. While speaking, Jia Long even licked his lips in temptation, “Whoever snatches that Heavenly Source Fruit and successfully refines it will obtain the opportunity for the Grand Dao.” Narrowing his eyes, he glanced sideways at Yang Kai and provocatively asked, “Do you want it?”
“Heavenly Source Fruit?” Yang Kai raised his brow at those words, “Did Can Ye tell you about it?”
It had to be said that the Star Boundary was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of information in this Grand Dao battle. Many Great Emperors were currently trapped inside an inexplicable space that they could not escape, while on the other hand, the Demon Race had Can Ye on their side, who could give the Half-Saints some pointers in advance so that they knew what their goal was from the start during this expedition.
“Over the generations, those who entered this Source Sealed World were all Pseudo-Great Emperors. Which of these people was not a person blessed with luck and good fortune by the Heavens?” Jia Long did not answer Yang Kai’s question and instead began monologuing, “It’s not just the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary. The same goes for the Half-Saints from the Demon Realm. Who among us is any different?”
Even though they were enemies, Yang Kai could not refute Jia Long’s words. Those who could cultivate until they became Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints were those born with great destinies. Each one of them had lived a wondrous and adventure-filled life. Just take him for example. His cultivation journey had been blessed with countless opportunities. Which among those opportunities would not make ordinary people burn with jealousy? If not for those opportunities, how could he have reached this point in his life?
In this world, there would always be some who were born with great luck. These people would survive after falling off a cliff. Moreover, they would stumble upon a cave mansion only to inherit both the wealth and the Divine Secret Techniques left behind by an ancient Senior, which would allow them to escape their predicament and propel them to greater heights.
Who among all the Pseudo-Great Emperors and the Half-Saints standing here had not experienced such opportunities and good fortune?
“The Heavenly Source Fruit that can be found in the Source Sealed World grows by absorbing the luck and fated fortune we carry as nutrients. Without that luck and fortune, this fruit would not have appeared.” Jia Long looked at Yang Kai calmly, a contemptuous smirk appearing at the corner of his lips.
Yang Kai frowned thoughtfully and said, “So, you are saying that the Source Sealed World took away the luck of those who died to produce this Heavenly Source Fruit.”
“More or less!” Jia Long’s expression became serious, “That is why most of the participants will die in each Grand Dao battle. There is no helping it. It won’t work if there are no deaths. How would this fruit form if no deaths occurred? The Heavenly Source Fruit will only be born when enough people are dead and their luck and good fortune have returned to the world. After all, the total amount of luck and good fortune in the world is limited!”
The reason why only one Heavenly Source Fruit was produced this time was that only one Great Emperor was allowed to be born in this world today. If the World’s Bottle still had more capacity to spare, then the tree would have borne more than one Heavenly Source Fruit by now.
“Putting it that way, it would mean that I am taking away all the luck and good fortune of those who died if I consume this Heavenly Source Fruit.”
Yang Kai was secretly surprised. [It’s no wonder the Heavenly Source Fruit has such a mysterious effect if all the luck and good fortune of so many Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints have been combined into one.]
“Of course,” Jia Long said quickly. “Besides, the Grand Dao battle this time is unlike any other Grand Dao battles in the past. This time, my Demon Race is participating in it!”
Yang Kai looked solemn, “That truly is a lot of luck and good fortune from two Universe Worlds.”
Jia Long spread his arms to the side with a look of madness on his face, “This Heavenly Source Fruit is stronger than all the other Heavenly Source Fruits across history! Whoever can get their hands on it will be able to stand above all the other Great Emperors and Demon Saints in the future!”
Yang Kai took a deep breath, “So, that’s how it is.” Then, he grinned, “It looks like not enough people have died yet.”
Likewise, Jia Long smiled, “En, the fruit has not ripened.”
At this moment, the Heavenly Source Fruit on the small tree was already exuding a tempting fragrance and the lights flowing inside of it looked extremely extraordinary. However, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Heavenly Source Fruit was not fully ripe yet. In addition, the invisible barrier around the Illusionary Heavens Furnace was still in place. Nobody could get close enough to snatch the fruit. Still, the fruit had already grown so much that although it had yet to fully ripen, it was clearly going to happen soon.
Jia Long suddenly raised three fingers and quickly declared, “Three. It will only take three more deaths at most for the Heavenly Source Fruit to ripen!”
Yang Kai rubbed his chin and nodded, “That is to say, our work is done as long as we kill another three of you.”
Jia Long grinned, “Where do you get that much confidence? We have the advantage in numbers.”
Yang Kai lifted his chin and looked down at Jia Long, “If you really have such a huge advantage, then why are you still wasting your time talking to me? You are all injured, but I am in peak condition. If it comes down to a fight, it’s hard to say who will win and who will lose.”
Jia Long said, “And, that’s why I have a suggestion.”
“Speak!”
“Three duels. The outcome will be decided by death. Nobody is allowed to intervene in those battles, so the survivor of those battles will lie in the hands of fate. The Heavenly Source Fruit will ripen after three battles, everybody will have to rely on their own abilities after that.”
Yang Kai frowned when he heard those words as his gaze swept over the Demon Race Half-Saints standing behind Jia Long. He had the faint feeling that these Half-Saints’ injuries were more serious than he originally thought. Otherwise, Jia Long would not have come up with that suggestion with such an advantage in numbers.
[But…] Yang Kai then turned his head to look at the people of the Star Boundary. [The situation on our side is no better.]
Jia Long added, “If this chaotic battle continues, nobody can guarantee that it will end. Regardless of which side, the losses for both the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm are already too high. That is why this King wishes to use the smallest price in exchange for the greatest prize. What do you think?”
The people from the Demon Realm were led by Jia Long; therefore, no other Half-Saint would object to his decision.
On the contrary, there was no leader on the Star Boundary’s side. It was only natural that Yang Kai could not rashly make a decision on behalf of the others. Thus, he fell silent for a moment before he said, “We will need to discuss this among ourselves.”
Jia Long gestured for Yang Kai to proceed. Then, he turned to stare hungrily at the Heavenly Source Fruit. There was a look of greed in his eyes that could not be concealed.
It was impossible not to feel covetous. As long as he could get his hands on the Heavenly Source Fruit, he would instantly rise above all the other Demon Saints. It was a supreme glory! As Jia Long mentioned before, this Heavenly Source Fruit was different from all the other Heavenly Source Fruits throughout history. The formation of this fruit brought together the luck and good fortune from two Universe Worlds. Nobody knew what kind of mysterious effects it would have when consumed.
Yang Kai turned around and looked at the many Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary. At this point, only 12 survivors remained among the people from the Star Boundary, including himself. It had to be said that there were a total of 30 people when they first entered the Source Sealed World known as the Profound Heavens Temple.
In the short span of one month, 18 Pseudo-Great Emperors had died in this place to become the nutrients for the birth and ripening of the Heavenly Source Fruit. Even Gan Li, who had been travelling with Yang Kai before, was nowhere to be seen. It was most likely that he was already dead.
A touch of sorrow appeared in the depths of Yang Kai’s eyes as he took a deep breath and said, “You must have heard what that guy said just now. What do you think?”
Yang Yan frowned, “Do you believe him?”
Yang Kai considered the question in silence for a bit, “I believe the part about the Heavenly Source Fruit. At this point in time, there is no reason for him to lie. Even if he did, it doesn’t change anything. Besides, I can feel that the fruit is indeed the key to becoming a Great Emperor. As for the rest…” He slowly shook his head.
Bing Yun piped up, “The information about the Heavenly Source Fruit does not seem to be false. There was no fruit tree in the Illusionary Heavens Furnace when we first arrived here, but as more people died, the fruit tree and subsequently the fruit itself gradually appeared.”
Another person said, “If that’s the case, then it’s okay to go along with his suggestion. In any case, it isn’t disadvantageous to us in any way. Rather, they lose more than we do if we agree to this.”
“There are only three battles. We need to carefully consider who will be sent to fight.”
Three matches needed to be fought, so those who didn’t fight would be able to recover their energy during this time. Although they did not know how long they would have to rest, they would at least be exempted from the risk of dying in this place. On the other hand, nothing good would come to the representatives of these battles. Regardless of whether they won or lost their fight, they would most likely miss out on the Grand Dao battle in the end.
This matter was related to their life-long pursuit, so nobody would willingly take the initiative to accept this task at this time. This fight was not just a fight to determine a winner, it was a life or death battle. For the Heavenly Source Fruit to fully ripen, somebody had to die in this place.
Yang Kai swept his gaze over the crowd and opened his mouth, but before he could say a single word, Yang Yan interrupted him, “In that case, let’s agree to their proposal for now. As for who will be chosen for battle… Let’s see how they choose first.”
Everybody nodded in agreement.
Yang Yan gave Yang Kai a fierce look as if warning him not to talk nonsense. Feeling helpless, Yang Kai sniffed slightly in response. Then, he turned around and looked at Jia Long, “We finished our discussion.”
“Well?” Jia Long put his hands behind his back and looked at Yang Kai with a smile. His expression was calm as though he had already known that the Star Boundary would not reject him.
“We will accept your proposal!”
He chuckled, “Good.”
“But, these three battles…” Just as Yang Kai was about to discuss the candidates of the battle, a change suddenly occurred.
A loud rumbling sound suddenly came from beneath the ground, causing Yang Kai’s sentence to trail off abruptly. He warily looked forward only to see that Jia Long was also watching him intently with a grim expression. When their gazes met, they both saw the confusion in each other’s eyes; thus, they realised that it wasn’t the doing of the other party.
In the next moment, the ground shook turbulently and a huge platform suddenly sprung up in the originally empty hall. The platform rose by more than three hundred metres in an instant before it stopped moving. Immediately afterwards, two translucent light barriers descended from the sky to cover both the camps of the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm respectively.
Everything happened so quickly that nobody could react in time. By the time they saw the light barrier coming down over them, it was too late to think about escaping. Countless shouts of anger rang out. Emperor Qi and Demon Qi surged in the hall as both sides tried to use their own means to break free; however, their efforts were unsuccessful with no exceptions. The two hemispherical light barriers separated the Human Race Pseudo-Great Emperors and Demon Race Half-Saints into two opposing sides.
Yang Kai frowned deeply as his body flickered slightly. It felt like he faded for a moment, but he quickly solidified again in the next moment. This sign undoubtedly meant that his Instantaneous Movement could not be used to escape. The light barriers that appeared out of nowhere had the effect of sealing space.
At the moment, both factions were in chaos. Divine Abilities blasted out constantly, slamming into the light barriers, but to their surprise, the toughness of the light barriers was far beyond what anybody could have imagined. The attacks had been launched by Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints, and yet, they were completely ineffective against the light barriers that sealed them inside.
Another rumbling sound came out and the ground covered by the two light barriers rose upwards, only stopping when the ground was higher than the platform in the middle by several dozen metres.
At this moment, the two parties were each standing on elevated platforms covered by light barriers. In the middle of these two elevated platforms was a similar elevated platform. It was just that this central elevated platform was much larger than the other two.
When all the changes finally stopped, all 20 or so Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints present in this place looked at each other in confusion, none of them knowing what was going on.
Yang Kai scowled and glanced at the elevated platform in the centre, but before he could study it thoroughly, he heard a soft swooshing sound coming from beside him. Immediately after that, a figure appeared on the central elevated platform near the edge that was closest to him.
He widened his eyes and called out in surprise, “Brother Lin!”
The figure that suddenly appeared on the central elevated platform was none other than the Forty-Ninth Army’s Army Commander, Lin Ru Song, the noble man who, when Cang Mo had challenged Yang Kai’s right to enter the Profound Heavens Temple, offered to give up his spot in order to quell the turmoil between them. His broad-mindedness was truly admirable.
Yang Kai’s astonishment could not get any greater. Similarly, the other Pseudo-Great Emperors around him cried out in shock. That was because Lin Ru Song had been standing beside them just now. Nobody had seen just how he managed to get to the central elevated platform.
Meanwhile, Lin Ru Song himself seemed extremely shocked too. He suddenly appeared on the elevated platform with a blank expression on his face.
At that moment, a Half-Saint suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the elevated platform. Just like Lin Ru Song, the Half-Saint looked like he had no idea what was going on when he appeared, glancing around in confusion.
A Pseudo-Great Emperor and a Half-Saint had appeared on that lonely elevated platform in a strange manner, standing less than a thousand metres apart. At the same time, the others were trapped inside the light barriers surrounding the elevated platforms on both sides with no way of escape. This situation was truly the best representation of fighting alone.
“The World is alive!” Yang Kai gritted his teeth and shouted. Despite looking up at the sky, all he could see inside the hall was darkness. He had only just agreed to Jia Long’s proposal when these changes occurred. It was almost as though there was a Great Will watching them from the shadows. A battlefield for a one-on-one battle was created immediately the moment both sides had agreed to the proposal; in this way, there was no need to worry about the other party secretly meddling in the battles.
Jia Long obviously figured out what was going on too and couldn’t help grinning, “It looks like the World is getting impatient too. Interesting, interesting indeed!”
The Heavenly Source Fruit was on the verge of ripening when both the Humans and the Demons fell into a stalemate earlier. With this opportunity, the World’s Will immediately accelerated the process of the entire Grand Dao battle! It didn’t even give both sides the chance to decide on their representatives and directly selected one representative each from the respective camps.
“Brother Lin, fight!” Yang Kai shouted.
Lin Ru Song was shocked, but he reacted quickly. It didn’t matter why he had appeared on this elevated platform. Seeing as there was a Demon Race Half-Saint standing opposite him, he had to kill his opponent first if he wanted to survive.
The moment Yang Kai’s words rang out, Lin Ru Song was already lifting a hand to summon a sword. The sword was quite short, barely longer than a dagger, but when he poured his Emperor Qi into it, it began releasing a barrage of Sword Shadows towards the opposite side.
A burst of strange cackling laughter sounded at that moment as the Demon Race Half-Saint on the opposite side turned into a blood light and rushed over. He passed through the boundless Sword Shadows unscathed, handling the attack with ease.
Lin Ru Song did not panic. Although he was getting on with age and had lived in seclusion in the mountains and forests before the Demon Race invaded the Star Boundary, his foundation as a Pseudo-Great Emperor was still there. Not to mention, he trained with this short sword artifact for countless years. He had long since become one with this artifact. Seeing his opponent rushing towards him, Lin Ru Song immediately clenched his fist and the short sword transformed into a giant sword that swept out horizontally.
Even though the rest of the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints watching the battle were not facing the attack directly, they could feel the power behind it. Even if a mountain was in front of that sword, it would be cut in two in the next moment. Sure enough, the Blood Demon Half-Saint was a little overwhelmed by the attack and was sent flying by the impact.
A burst of cheers rang out on the Star Boundary’s end.
However, a loud explosion sounded out without warning at that moment. The Blood Demon that had been cut down immediately burst apart and turned into a Blood Sea. Bypassing the giant sword on both sides, he rapidly engulfed Lin Ru Song.
Lin Ru Song’s expression changed as he hurriedly formed a set of hand seals, drawing his sword back to defend himself. A barrage of Sword Shadows appeared once more and slammed into the Blood Sea. Large portions of blood were swept away with his efforts, but the Blood Sea seemed to be endless and he could not reduce the blood in the slightest.
Lin Ru Song retreated again and again, but there was nowhere to escape. There was an invisible barrier around the elevated platform, so he could not leave its range.
In his desperation, he bit the tip of his tongue and spewed out a mouthful of Blood Essence. The short sword shone brightly in response and instantly penetrated the obstruction of the Blood Sea and returned to his side. The sword immediately wound itself around him and began spinning to form a solid layer of protection. This artifact was clearly top-notch in terms of both offence and defence.
The strange cackling continued to ring out incessantly as the Blood Sea crashed down on Lin Ru Song with the force of a tsunami, wrapping him up within it so that he vanished out of sight.
The battle between these two had lasted for only a few breaths, and it was unclear whether the outcome was for the better or worse. Nevertheless, many Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary looked concerned when Lin Ru Song disappeared from their field of vision.
Explosions rang out from the middle of the elevated platform, but unfortunately, nobody could see what was going on inside due to the obstruction of the Blood Sea. Judging by the commotion, it would seem that Lin Ru Song and the Blood Demon were holding nothing back in their fight to the death.
“How were Brother Lin’s injuries?” Yang Kai asked grimly as he watched the situation over there with a solemn expression.
Bing Yun shook her head sadly, “He was quite badly wounded. He sustained internal injuries in the melee before so he can at most exert about 70% of his peak strength.”
Yang Kai’s expression darkened when he heard the words.
Lin Ru Song was in an extremely dangerous situation as although his opponent was also injured, the exchange of blows just now indicated that the Blood Demon’s injuries were not as severe as the former’s. In addition, a large part of Lin Ru Song’s strength came from his short sword artifact. Unfortunately, a Blood Demon’s Blood Sea had a strong corrosive effect, so if Lin Ru Song could not finish the battle in a short time, he would lose his biggest support once his artifact was damaged by Blood Sea. If that were to happen, the situation would only worsen further.
The feeling of knowing that a companion’s life was in great danger yet being powerless to do anything was horrible. Yang Kai repeatedly tried to use Instantaneous Movement to teleport himself to the elevated platform, but all his efforts proved to be fruitless. The light barrier surrounding the elevated platform he was on had completely sealed off this space. Gloomily looking in the direction of the central elevated platform, Yang Kai could only clench his fists in frustration.
Although Yang Kai barely interacted with Lin Ru Song in the past, the latter’s willingness to give up his place to enter the Profound Heavens Temple was still fresh in Yang Kai’s memory. Such selfless and righteous people did not deserve to die in a place like this.
On the contrary, somebody like Cang Mo, who betrayed his own companion, was still standing safe and sound on this elevated platform. Yang Kai turned around to look at Cang Mo coldly, vaguely realising the cruelty of the Heavenly Way.
“I hope the Heavens show favour to a good man like Brother Lin.” Yang Yan sighed. Even so, she knew that it was just a form of self-consolation. The only thing Lin Ru Song could rely on while fighting a one-on-one battle in that kind of isolated environment was his own strength.
On the opposite side, Jia Long looked over with a smile on his face. When he met Yang Kai’s gaze, he slid his hand across the front of his neck in a slitting gesture.
The fierce battle continued, but due to the Blood Sea, nobody could tell what was going on inside. Only a constant sound of explosions could be heard coming from inside the Blood Sea while at the same time, Demon Qi and Emperor Qi fiercely collided against each other.
Yang Kai’s heart soon sank to the bottom of the abyss as he realized that the fight had dragged on for too long…
Half an hour passed by before the commotion on the elevated platform gradually subsided. Everybody watched as the Blood Sea retreated with a crashing sound and the scene that appeared from the inside was imprinted upon their eyes.
Despite being mentally prepared, the expressions of many Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary could not help but darken at the sight of the scene laid out on the elevated platform at that moment.
At this moment, Lin Ru Song was lying at a corner of the elevated platform. His originally old body had already been reduced to nothing but skin and bones. Moreover, his shrivelled body was covered in countless wounds and fresh blood. It was a terrible sight to behold. His short sword artifact had also fallen to the ground beside him. The sword that used to be full of brilliance was now dim and dull, just like his turbid eyes. In addition, the blade of the sword was scarred by various traces of corrosion.
His shrivelled body and his artifact that had lost a great deal of spirituality all served to show just how fierce the battle had been.
On the other hand, Lin Ru Song’s opponent, the Blood Demon Half-Saint, was half-kneeling not far away and breathing heavily. His eyes were filled with murderous intent as he glared coldly at Lin Ru Song who was lying less than three hundred metres away from him. Judging by the state he was in, the battle had not been easy even though he won.
Under normal circumstances, the result of a Pseudo-Great Emperor and a Half-Saint fighting in a one-on-one battle would be a lose-lose situation unless one side had an obvious advantage in strength.
Staggering slightly, the Blood Demon stood up with a smirk and strange laughter came out of his mouth as he slowly walked towards Lin Ru Song.
“Old Lin!” Somebody shouted.
Lin Ru Song was currently in a wretched state, but his chest was still moving up and down slightly. It was clear that he was still alive. Both parties were arrows at the end of their flight. Even though the Blood Demon seemed to be in better condition, he might still be able to turn the situation around if he could launch a powerful final attack. Unfortunately, Lin Ru Song showed no response even when the Blood Demon stopped right in front of him.
The Blood Demon raised his hand and a crimson red blood mist appeared on the surface of his body. Pointing his hand at Lin Ru Song, the thick blood mist turned into countless Blood Snakes that entered Lin Ru Song through all seven orifices. Lin Ru Song suddenly opened his eyes wide with an expression of extreme pain. He looked towards the many Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary and reached out his hand towards them as though trying to grab at his last chance of life.
Looking into those turbid yet hopeful eyes, the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary all felt a deep sense of powerlessness. It felt as though a volcano that might erupt at any time was brewing in their chests. No matter who it was, they couldn’t help feeling a sense of sorrow as they watched a veteran Pseudo-Great Emperor creep closer and closer to his demise with their own eyes. In addition to their grief, they were secretly worried that the next person to participate in a life-or-death battle on the elevated platform would be themselves. They also wondered if they would be the next person to follow in the footsteps of Lin Ru Song.
What infuriated the Pseudo-Great Emperors even more was when the Blood Demon Half-Saint turned his head at this moment to grin at them with savage triumphant as if to demonstrate his might.
Yang Kai glared back at the Blood Demon, the coldness in his eyes like eternal ice that would never melt.
Meeting Yang Kai’s eyes directly, the Blood Demon grinned and his mouth moved silently. Judging by the shape of his mouth, he seemed to be mouthing, “Kill me if you can!”
Lin Ru Song failed to turn his defeat around in the end. The injuries he suffered before were fairly severe. Combined with the Blood Demon’s Secret Technique, he became incapable of resisting whatsoever.
10 breaths later, what little vitality remained in him disappeared. His already shrivelled body instantly turned into a mummified corpse at a speed that was visible to the naked eye. On the other hand, the Heavenly Source Fruit inside the Illusionary Heavens Furnace became more complete and the tantalising fragrance it exuded also became more intense.
Upon seeing that scene, everybody understood that what Jia Long said before was the truth. It was true that three more people needed to die in this place for the Heavenly Source Fruit to ripen completely. When that happened, the final stage of the Grand Dao battle would kick off.
*Shua…*
The figure of the Blood Demon who obtained victory vanished from the elevated platform and returned to the Demon Race camp in an instant. It was not that he had returned voluntarily but instead similar to how he had appeared on that platform before, completely ignoring his own will.
Jia Long turned to look at the Blood Demon and nodded slightly in acknowledgement, “Good job.”
The Blood Demon smiled to himself. Then, he sat down cross-legged to meditate. He closed his eyes and focused on recovering from his injuries. He had been severely wounded from his fight with Lin Ru Song and if he did not recover quickly, he would be unable to participate in the upcoming final battle.
At this moment, an uneasy thought popped up in the minds of both the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary and the Half-Saints of the Demon Realm. [Who will be the next person to step onto that elevated platform? If I get chosen, then who will my opponent be?]
Before they could even finish the thought though, there was a slight movement beside them. Nobody panicked this time since they had already experienced this once. Instead, they immediately glanced towards the platform. Everybody in the Star Boundary exclaimed in surprise at the sight. Meanwhile, Yang Yan and Bing Yun’s pretty faces darkened instantly. The candidate from the Star Boundary for the second life-or-death battle was none other than Yang Kai!
Looking around, they confirmed that Yang Kai, who had been standing right next to them just now, was gone.
Yang Yan suddenly looked anxious and she simply could not understand the current situation. [Why did the World’s Will choose Yang Kai to participate in this battle!? Doesn’t he hold part of the World’s Will in him!? Logically speaking, the world should be partial to him!]
At this time, he should not be allowed to participate in the battle regardless of the reason. Whether he won or lost, it would not benefit him in any way. Even if he won, he would have consumed a lot of his energy. If he lost, then it would only lead to a tragic ending.
At this moment, Yang Yan even had the urge to start cursing out loud, [Damn Heavens! Are you blind!?]
On the other side, Jia Long’s eyes suddenly gleamed brightly. He stared at Yang Kai intently with an eager and impatient look on his face. He was the strongest Master below the Demon Saints from the Demon Realm, as well as the strongest Half-Saint in existence. If not for Yang Kai’s Space Secret Techniques, he had full confidence that he could kill the latter.
It was just that, be it in the outside world or the Source Sealed World, Jia Long knew he could not kill Yang Kai even if he could win against the latter. That was because Yang Kai would immediately escape as soon as he noticed that the situation was not in his favour. Instantaneous Movement was something nobody other than the Demon Saints could handle.
However, that platform where the life-or-death battles took place was different. It was only a thousand metres in diameter. More importantly, there was an invisible barrier that sealed off space. Yang Kai would not be able to escape!
[As long as the world chooses me as the next participant in battle, I am confident I can end his life here!] Unfortunately, the look of anticipation in Jia Long’s eyes quickly turned into disappointment. There was a whooshing sound next to him and the figure of a Demon Race Half-Saint appeared on the platform closer to their side.
When Jia Long glanced over, his expression instantly became as black as the bottom of a pot. On the other hand, the worried and anxious expressions on Yang Yan and Bing Yun’s faces became a little strange.
Bing Yun soon laughingly said, “He certainly is favoured by the World. Even at a time like this, he can still obtain such a great bargain.”
Similarly, Yang Yan also breathed a sigh of relief, “En, there’s no need to worry anymore.”
For a moment, Yang Kai simply stood on the elevated platform in a daze; however, he quickly realised that he was standing on the life-or-death stage. Like Yang Yan, he was slightly surprised and wondered why the World’s Will chose him to participate in the battle.
Even so, there was no time for him to ponder that question. Seeing as he had been chosen, then all he could do was finish off his enemy at the lowest cost possible. As for whether or not he had the ability to do so… He was extremely confident in himself.
The rest of the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints in this place had already gone through a huge battle by the time he arrived at this place, so all of them had been injured in one way or another and none could exert their full strength.
On the contrary, he had entered a strange space where he was asked about what the Dao meant to him. Not only was he completely unscathed, but he also attained a deeper understanding of the Heavenly Way, enhancing his cultivation. There was no reason for him to lose against a wounded enemy when he was at full strength.
[The Star Boundary lost the first match and Lin Ru Song lost his life in the process. I need to win this second match no matter what!] Before Yang Kai could finish his thought though, a figure appeared opposite him. He immediately looked over, and after seeing who his opponent was, Yang Kai couldn’t help grinning in response.
A few hundred metres away stood a pale-faced Blood Demon covered in blood. He looked around in a panic, unable to understand why he was standing on this platform again when he had just stepped off of it a moment ago. [There are 14 other Half-Saints on our side, so why did I get chosen twice!? What are the odds of this!?]
Meanwhile, Jia Long looked gloomy and muttered, “Favoured by the World, was it…”
If the opponent was anybody else but Yang Kai, he would have believed that it was simply a matter of bad luck; however, things were not as simple as that since Yang Kai was the one chosen as a representative from the Star Boundary.
In the past, everybody had been wondering what kind of help Yang Kai would receive from the World’s Will in his body during the Grand Dao battle, it was just that nobody could give a clear answer. There was no such precedent throughout history after all. It had always been that a person would only receive the World’s Will after obtaining the Grand Dao opportunity and becoming a Great Emperor, but the entire process was reversed when it came to Yang Kai. Since this situation was unprecedented, there were no examples to draw reference from.
It wasn’t until this moment that both the people from the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm came to deeply realise the benefits brought by the invisible and intangible World’s Will.
This Blood Demon was the one who fought Lin Ru Song for half an hour earlier. Although he won the battle, he was an arrow at the end of its flight. At this moment, even an ordinary High-Rank Demon King could have killed him, so what more need be said about Yang Kai whose strength was comparable to that of a Half-Saint?
This match was decided in the Star Boundary’s favour before it even began, there was no doubt about it. It was also precisely because of this reason that Yang Yan and Bing Yun relaxed completely even though Yang Kai was standing on the life-or-death stage.
Standing among the crowd, Cang Mo’s expression became gloomy. Likewise, his eyes that were full of anticipation filled with disappointment instead…
Meanwhile, Yang Kai stood on the platform and looked at the Blood Demon standing about a thousand metres away from him with an indifferent expression. He did not choose to make the first move.
Unexpectedly, this silent oppression made the Blood Demon panic instead and he turned to look at Jia Long for help. That was just like what Lin Ru Song had done before his death… At this moment, the Blood Demon experienced the same despair his opponent had felt during the last battle. The light of hope in front of him was now completely shrouded in darkness.
*Ta ta ta…*
Yang Kai strode forward calmly.
On the other hand, the Blood Demon couldn’t help but retreat, but where could he run? He was already standing at the edge of the field. Besides, the invisible barrier surrounding the platform sealed off space and did not allow him to withdraw any further than that.
The Blood Demon glanced over in horror. Yang Kai’s head was lowered and his hair fell over his forehead to cover half of his face. Be that as it may, the Blood Demon could vaguely catch a glimpse of the murderous light coming from his opponent’s eyes…
There was a mummified corpse lying on the platform still. It was Lin Ru Song. Yang Kai walked over to the mummified corpse, crouched down, stretched out a hand, and placed the mummified corpse into the Small Sealed World. When he stood back up, he lifted his gaze to look at the Blood Demon who was cowering at the very edge of the platform and watching him warily. He slowly raised a hand and spat out a single word, “Die!”
A strong wind blew and Yang Kai’s figure seemed to remain in place, but another him appeared at the edge of the stage at the same time, gripping his spear in one hand as a figure dangled from its tip.
The Azure Dragon Spear penetrated the chest of the Blood Demon Half-Saint and fresh blood slid down the shaft of the spear.
The Blood Demon widened his eyes in surprise, clutching at the spear with a death grip. His expression was filled with utter shock. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but only a mouthful of blood spurted out instead.
The crowd was in an uproar… After seeing who the two opponents that would be facing each other were, they knew that this battle would surely end in Yang Kai’s victory; even so, it was still a shockingly powerful visual impact to see him impaling the Blood Demon Half-Saint so easily and effortlessly.
The heavily injured Blood Demon was completely powerless to resist the enraged Yang Kai. Squirming and struggling, he made a gurgling sound in his throat. The Blood Qi in his body churned violently and he held it in for a long time before he shouted furiously, “I refuse to accept this!”
If he were given the chance to have a fair one-on-one battle with Yang Kai, he was certain that he would not have ended up in such a miserable state. Unfortunately, he had already fought Lin Ru Song to the death previously and could barely use 20% of his full strength at the moment. Hence, he didn’t even stand a chance to evade Yang Kai’s lightning-fast attack.
He was well aware of the horror of the Martial Truth and there was already a strange force destroying both his body and mind after he took this spear; thus, his grief and rage finally turned into a fearsome roar.
Meanwhile, the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary were watching this scene in delight. They were thinking about how this Blood Demon had silently provoked Yang Kai while torturing Lin Ru Song to death earlier. They did not expect to see him suffer the consequence of his actions so quickly.
“Even if this King dies, he won’t let you feel any better!” The Blood Demon Half-Saint let out another furious roar as the vitality in his body suddenly began to give off a dangerous aura. His hands swiftly formed a seal and his body rapidly began to swell.
“Yang Kai, watch out!” Bing Yun screamed in horror. Looking at that posture, the Blood Demon seemed to be planning to self-destruct. Even if he was an arrow at the end of its flight, the power of a Half-Saint’s self-destruction would not be insignificant. The slightest carelessness could lead to horrible consequences.
“The final struggles of a dead man!” Yang Kai coldly snorted as the Azure Dragon Spear trembled slightly and a violent force spread out from it. There was a loud blast and the body of the Blood Demon who was impaled on the tip of the spear exploded from the impact and pieces of his corpse scattered all over the place. Before the pieces of the corpse could touch the ground, they had already lost all essence in them and turned into pieces of dried flesh.
No more than 10 breaths had passed since Yang Kai stepped onto the platform. The Blood Demon Half-Saint didn’t even manage to launch a single attack. Even if he was to face a real Demon Saint, he might not have been as powerless as this. He was definitely the fastest Half-Saint to die throughout history.
Yang Kai retrieved his spear and stood straight, he then glanced at the Demon Race Camp coldly and pointed his spear at them, “Who wants to die next!?”
As soon as those words rang out, Yang Yan frowned deeply. She worriedly asked, “He can’t be thinking of using the World’s Will in him to influence the candidate for the next match, right?”
Bing Yun’s expression changed slightly as she nodded, “It’s possible!”
There were no specific rules as to how the two candidates were chosen; therefore, the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints in this place could only accept the outcome passively. However, if it was Yang Kai, then what Yang Yan mentioned was plausible. He might actually be able to influence the battle with the World’s Will in his body.
In the second match, the World’s blessing had given him a huge advantage after all. It had practically dropped pie into his lap. If any other Half-Saint had appeared on the battlefield, he would not have had such an effortless victory.
However, Yang Kai’s figure vanished from the life-or-death platform in the next moment and by the time the crowd came back to their senses, he was already standing on the elevated platform of the Star Boundary camp once more.
Yang Kai frowned and let out a sigh. It was just as Yang Yan had guessed. He wanted to use the World’s Will in his body to exert some influence to see if he could remain on the life-or-death platform for the third death match. It was a pity that the results left him feeling disappointed…
His gaze swept across the crowd as he wondered, [Since I’m back, who will be the one to participate in the final battle?]
Everywhere he looked, he saw the Pseudo-Great Emperors wearing solemn expressions.
Out of the corner of his eye, Yang Kai saw a figure disappearing out of sight. He was startled and immediately turned to glance at the life-or-death platform before his pupils instantly shrank.
Next to him, Yang Yan also reached up to cover her red lips in surprise, her beautiful eyes filled with worry.
A pure white figure stood alone at the edge of the life-or-death platform that was closer to the Star Boundary. The only trace of colour on this figure was the blood staining her clothes.
Bing Yun turned her head to look around and smiled softly, “Is it me this time?”
She looked up and glanced forward at the side opposite her. Similarly, a burly figure had appeared there, and when she recognised who it was, a trace of bitterness appeared in her eyes.
“Jia Long!” Yang Kai shouted through gritted teeth, suddenly feeling the impulsive rage to curse out loud.
It was bad enough that Bing Yun was the Star Boundary’s candidate for the third match, but the Demon Race’s candidate just had to be Jia Long! Bing Yun was in great danger!
Jia Long was the strongest among the Demon Race Half-Saints and even Yang Kai had to admit that he would have a hard time if he encountered the former in a fight. The practically infinite Corpse Puppet Army Jia Long commanded was simply beyond annoying, while Jia Long himself was also extremely powerful.
It would not have been so bad if it was just a match to determine a winner as there was always a chance of survival even if there was no way to win. Unfortunately, this was a life-or-death battle that would only end when one party died. According to Yang Kai’s estimation, Bing Yun had less than a 30% chance of winning this fight. There was a high possibility that she was going to die on the life-or-death platform today.
The two of them both came from Heng Luo Star Field, and ever since Yang Kai met Bing Yun in the Solitary Void Sealed World, she had taken very good care of him. Later, she even took Su Yan in as her final Disciple and taught the latter diligently.
[If something happens to Bing Yun in this place… How am I going to explain it to Su Yan and Ji Yao when I return? Am I supposed to tell them that I watched as Jia Long killed her, powerless to interfere!?] Thinking about what might happen to Bing Yun, Yang Kai felt his scalp tingling in fear.
“What do we do!?” Similarly, Yang Yan was panicking. This was a situation she had never foreseen.
Yang Kai gritted his teeth and clenched his fists before suddenly, he ferociously lashed out with his spear. A violent burst of energy swirled, but the barrier of the elevated platform was completely unharmed. His actions only served to startle the others.
At this moment, a battle was taking place on the life-or-death platform, and just as Yang Kai had not given the Blood Demon Half-Saint any chance of reprieve, Jia Long clearly had no intention of giving Bing Yun time to breathe. He immediately unleashed his boundless Corpse Qi the moment he appeared on the platform and flooded the entire life-or-death platform with it.
Bing Yun’s long sword slashed out as Sword Light after Sword Light swept out across her surroundings. An icy aura permeated the air, blocking the spread of the Corpse Qi.
Jia Long grinned and lifted his hand, after which numerous figures emerged from within the Corpse Qi, each one of them emitting a powerful aura.
Bing Yun’s expression turned grim at the sight. Reaching out, she slid her hand down the length of her longsword. Fresh blood flowed and her sword hummed. Then, a whip-like sword wave slashed out. Many Corpse Puppets were cut into two, but they quickly healed under the nourishment of the Corpse Qi, stood back up, and rushed at her without pausing whatsoever.
Meanwhile, Jia Long concealed himself within the Corpse Qi cloud. His figure drifted about erratically as powerful Secret Techniques would fly out at Bing Yun from time to time.
Ice Principles permeated the air and snowflakes fell from the sky. When the snowflakes landed in the Corpse Puppets, they immediately transformed into ice crystals that swiftly spread out to freeze their targets into ice sculptures.
However, there were two Corpse Puppets that were not affected by her attack. These two Corpse Puppets were refined from the corpses of Half-Saints and they were the strongest Corpse Puppets under Jia Long’s control. Each of them seemed to have retained a good deal of their power from when they were still alive and they flanked her from both left and right, providing support for Jia Long and overwhelming her as a result.
Comparatively speaking, Bing Yun had only been a Pseudo-Great Emperor for several years while Jia Long was a veteran Half-Saint from the Demon Realm. He was also the strongest after the Demon Saints, so there was a big gap in their strength from the outset. With the support from his Corpse Puppets, it became a three-against-one battle. How could Bing Yun be a match for him?
No more than a dozen breaths had passed since their battle began and Bing Yun was already panting heavily. In a moment of carelessness, she was struck by Jia Long’s attack and her shoulder immediately rang out with a cracking sound as she was thrown backwards.
Bing Yun and Jia Long were currently stuck in a deathmatch on the life-or-death platform; meanwhile, on the Star Boundary’s viewing platform, Yang Kai was bringing out everything in his arsenal to bombard the barrier. In the beginning, he was the only one, but Yang Yan soon joined him. A short while later, Sheng Yu Zhu stepped in to assist as well. Unfortunately, even the combined strength of these three could do nothing to shake the barrier in any way.
A person standing nearby gave a sigh, “Please stop, you three. This barrier is not something we can destroy. We already tried doing that just now. I’m afraid we won’t be able to leave until somebody dies in this battle.”
Yang Kai ignored those words as his rage was blazing inside his chest and his attacks became increasingly fierce. The rampaging power made many of the Pseudo-Great Emperors involuntarily turn pale.
Bing Yun’s scream rang out again on the life-or-death platform. She had been hit by Jia Long’s Divine Ability again and a hint of green light appeared on her originally pale face. It was obvious that the Corpse Qi had invaded her body.
Yang Kai turned to look only to see Bing Yun fleeing desperately and struggling to persevere. He immediately felt as if his eyes were going to pop. Judging from the situation, Bing Yun would be in mortal danger in less than half a cup of tea’s time. When that time came, all he would be able to do was to collect her corpse.
In his desperation, the wheels in Yang Kai’s head spun swiftly as his thoughts raced. What could he do to save Bing Yun from this crisis?
Leaving aside the fact that the barrier around the viewing platform was so strong that none of them could break it, what could they do even if they did manage to break it? There was another barrier surrounding the life-or-death platform. He could not help Bing Yun turn the situation around unless he could resolve this issue within half a cup of tea’s time.
All of a sudden, Yang Kai seemed to remember something and turned to look at the Illusionary Heavens Furnace.
The Heavenly Source Fruit hanging from the small tree in the Illusionary Heavens Furnace was beating gently like the heart of a living creature. A dazzling brilliance was flowing within, as if it was going to ripen soon.
Back then, the Heavenly Source Fruit experienced a small change when Lin Ru Song died. Further changes occurred to the Heavenly Source Fruit when the Blood Demon Half-Saint died, and at this rate, the Heavenly Source Fruit would ripen as long as one more person died in this place!
[As long as one more person dies… But, that person… does not necessarily have to be Bing Yun!] The moment that thought occurred to Yang Kai, his spirits suddenly lifted. He secretly sent a Divine Sense transmission to Yang Yan and the Demon Qi in his body simultaneously surged fiercely.
Yang Yan, who was casting Secret Techniques to attack the barrier, froze for a brief moment when she heard his transmission and her beautiful eyes immediately lit up as she nodded almost imperceptibly. In the next instant, she spun around abruptly and the three bracelets around her wrist turned into three flaming rings that enveloped a certain person in an instant as she shouted, “Cang Mo sacrificed Feng Wu Liang in order to flee from battle! His actions are beyond despicable and shameless and prove he lacks righteousness! The Heavenly Way will not tolerate it!”
Likewise, Yang Kai turned around sharply as soon as Yang Yan made her move. His Spiritual Energy rolled out like a tsunami as a golden slit of light appeared in his left eye when he met Cang Mo’s gaze. Then, he fiercely thrust out with the Azure Dragon Spear. A small black spot the size of a fist appeared at the tip of the spear, emitting an aura that threatened to devour everything in the world.
The changes happened so quickly that nobody could react in time. Even Cang Mo himself was still coldly watching Yang Kai and Yang Yan attacking the light barrier with the mentality of watching a good show. Who could have thought that those two would point their weapons at him in the next moment?
Caught unprepared, he was affected by Yang Kai’s Soul attack and his mind went blank for a moment. Nevertheless, he had an impressive heritage and soon recovered his senses. Roaring furiously, he punched out, his fists forming a barrage of shadows that covered the sky in front of him.
Loud explosions rang out as Yang Yan’s Three Blazing Flame Rings were sent flying, their light flashing wildly as a result. Similarly, Yang Kai’s figure was also pushed backwards and he staggered several steps. The black spot on the Azure Dragon Spear flashed and disappeared, causing a huge piece of space to collapse.
Meanwhile, Cang Mo took advantage of the explosions to fly backwards, his complexion as pale as a sheet.
Yang Kai was surprised and secretly thought to himself. [This old dog’s strength is pretty impressive, but he hastily took on two powerful Divine Abilities that Yang Yan and I shot out. I don’t think he got out unscathed either.]
Before Yang Kai could make another move, however, he heard a low voice entering his ears, “Ephemeral Allure!”
A viridescent figure flashed by at that moment, and by the time Sheng Yu Zhu appeared again, she was standing behind Cang Mo, blood dripping from the twin sabres in her hands.
Cang Mo felt as if he was struck by lightning and looking down at himself, he saw two huge wounds on his chest and waist respectively. He abruptly turned his head around and cursed angrily, “Bitch!”
He had no grudges or bad blood with Sheng Yu Zhu; in fact, he had never even met her before, hence, he could not understand why this woman was attacking him. Not to mention, she had chosen such a critical moment to make her move that he didn’t even have the chance to avoid or defend himself.
“Many thanks!” Yang Kai shouted. During his exhale, he suddenly retracted his spear and stabbed out once more like a Flood Dragon going out to sea.
*Shua shua shua…* The sounds of three objects speeding through the air rang out as Yang Yan also cast a Secret Technique with a solemn expression. The Three Blazing Flame Rings flew out and transformed into three shackles that closed in on Cang Mo.
Unable to dodge, Cang Mo was bound tightly by those shackles and his expression changed drastically. Scorching heat was coming from the Three Blazing Flame Rings, restricting his freedom and disrupting the flow of the Emperor Qi in his body. He watched helplessly as Yang Kai stabbed him mercilessly and he roared furiously, “How dare you, Yang Kai! I am part of the Star Boundary! How dare you kill me when the enemy is right before us!? You will be condemned for this!”
Yang Kai was unmoved and declared in a cold tone, “Why didn’t you think about how you are part of the Star Boundary when you betrayed Brother Feng? Don’t you think it’s ridiculous to bring up such excuses now?”
The moment his words sounded, the Azure Dragon Spear penetrated Cang Mo’s chest and caused a large amount of fresh blood to gush out.
Cang Mo’s body stiffened and he glared at Yang Kai furiously, his eyes feeling like they were about to explode from rage.
Mere metres away, Yang Kai unflinchingly returned Cang Mo’s glare, his eyes cold and ruthless.
Silence filled the viewing platform as all the other Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary were staring at this scene in shock and horror. They were having trouble comprehending what just happened in front of them.
Less than 3 breaths had passed since the start of Yang Kai’s outburst until now. It simply happened too quickly for anybody to react. They had been watching the battle on the life-or-death platform with complete focus, secretly worrying for Bing Yun’s safety, so who could have imagined that Cang Mo, who was standing beside them, would be brutally murdered before Bing Yun died?
It was not that Cang Mo was weak. For him to become a Pseudo-Great Emperor meant that he had his own series of opportunities and attainments. It was just that three people had attacked him on the viewing platform in quick succession. Furthermore, those attacks had caught him completely off guard. He was blindsided by the attacks, so how could he defend himself in time? Not to mention, his freedom had been restrained by Yang Yan’s Three Blazing Flame Rings.
Not only was the viewing platform on the Star Boundary’s side quiet, but even the viewing platform on the Demon Realm’s side was quiet. Many Demon Race Half-Saints were staring at them wide-eyed with confused expressions.
*Dida dida…*
Fresh blood dripped onto the ground and splashed in all directions. Blood trickled out of the corners of Cang Mo’s mouth. Reaching out, he grabbed at the Azure Dragon Spear as if he was holding on to the last bit of his vitality. His eyes were full of hatred and regret as he muttered, “If I had known earlier… If I had only known… this King would have killed you in that Lower Star Field!”
Yang Kai tilted his head and looked at Cang Mo, “This King can refine a pill for regret, do you want to buy some?”
*Pu…* Cang Mo spewed blood.
Yang Kai coldly snorted, “I don’t have much time left. For the sake of the Star Boundary; for the sake of the common people, please… die!”
His hand trembled and his Demon Qi flared wildly, rampaging through Cang Mo’s meridians and obliterating his vitality.
There was a look of unwillingness in Cang Mo’s eyes, but the light behind them quickly dissipated. Only then did Yang Kai pull out his spear and sweep a glance around.
Ten or so Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary were frowning and watching him warily. Even though they had gotten some clues from what Yang Kai and Yang Yan said just now, nobody could say whether they were speaking the truth. In any case, Cang Mo was dead and nobody wanted to stand up against Yang Kai and Yang Yan for a dead man. Be that as it may, they remained a little vigilant towards those two!
Yang Kai knew that his actions would most likely make the surviving Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary alienate him; even so, he couldn’t care less. Bing Yun’s survival was on the line. In the worst case, he could just explain himself to these people once he returned to the Star Boundary. He believed that the truth would be revealed quickly with Yang Yan’s testimony.
He then glanced at Sheng Yu Zhu again and nodded slightly at her. Sheng Yu Zhu had not said anything nor asked any questions, she simply extended a helping hand when she saw Yang Kai making a move. It was most likely because she had been rescued by him and owed him a life debt from that incident. He and Yang Yan would not have been able to resolve the battle so quickly if not for her. Under those circumstances, the longer things dragged out, the more detrimental the situation would become for both him, Yang Yan, and Bing Yun.
Noticing his gaze, Sheng Yu Zhu smiled slightly and pointed a finger to the side, silently sending a Divine Sense transmission to him, “Get ready.”
His expression turned solemn and the Demon Qi in his body secretly began to surge again.
On the viewing platform, Cang Mo collapsed to the ground and his corpse quickly turned into a mummified corpse.
Following that, the patterns on the surface of the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, which had been rotating slowly all this time, suddenly burst forth with a dazzlingly brilliant light. Grand Dao aura flowed freely while at the same time, the Heavenly Source Fruit hanging from the small tree inside the furnace lit up with an assortment of colours. It was flashing through an infinite cycle of seven-coloured light that illuminated the whole hall.
*Kacha…*
With the sound of something breaking, the light barriers that had been shrouding the viewing platforms on both sides suddenly shattered and disappeared.
At this moment, the eyes of the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary and the Demon Race Half-Saints blazed with extreme heat.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
Numerous figures sped through the air and rushed towards the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, their target the ripe Heavenly Source Fruit.
When the light barrier was broken, Yang Kai felt a sense of relief washing over him. He could finally confirm that what Jia Long said before was right. Only three more lives were needed for the Heavenly Source Fruit to ripen completely; therefore, his plan to rescue Bing Yun was successful.
He was just about to join the competition for the Heavenly Source Fruit when his gaze involuntarily shifted towards the life-or-death platform, and what he saw at that moment made him scowl deeply.
Bing Yun was never Jia Long’s opponent so she had been deflecting or dodging his attacks the entire time they were on the life-or-death platform. However, she actually took the initiative to attack when all the barriers fell apart and the Heavenly Source Fruit ripened. A dazzling brilliance shot out from her longsword, turning into a Sword Circle that surrounded Jia Long. Judging from her actions, she seemed to be trying to tie him down.
Jia Long was furious. The greatest opportunity in the world was right in front of him, so how could he be in the mood to fight with Bing Yun? It was only natural that his priority was to join the competition as soon as possible. Nevertheless, she was still a Pseudo-Great Emperor so it was not easy to break free from her harassment if she really wanted to stop him.
In a fit of rage, Jia Long opened his mouth to inhale sharply. His chest and abdomen bulged from the air he was inhaling, then he exhaled sharply in her direction. A turbid Corpse Qi rushed at her like a Flood Dragon going out to sea. At the same time, he roared, “Get lost!”
The Ice Principles surged around Bing Yun’s body, but even that could not stop the intrusion of the Corpse Qi. She was thrown backwards by the blast and spat out blood mid.
On the other hand, Jia Long ignored her and rushed towards the Heavenly Source Fruit at lightning speed.
Seeing that Bing Yun was about to fall to the ground, a figure suddenly appeared behind her and supported her with one hand, a worried voice calling out, “Senior, are you okay?”
Bing Yun looked up and met Yang Kai’s eyes and she couldn’t help getting impatient with him, “Don’t mind me! Go!”
She had desperately attacked Jia Long in hopes of slowing him down for a moment. It was all just to give the Star Boundary a little bit more of an advantage. Who could have known that Yang Kai would come to her instead? What was the point of her previous efforts then?
After saying that, her face paled even more than before and her complexion became almost bloodless.
Yang Kai was also aware that time was running out. Seeing that Bing Yun’s life was in no danger, he immediately drew upon his Divine Sense to place her in the Small Sealed World, leaving her in the care of the two Wood Spirits. He did not dare to delay for another moment then and his body flickered, immediately vanishing from the spot.
“Get out here!” Jia Long’s roar came out and Yang Kai, who was travelling through the Void, suddenly felt a huge force slamming into him in mid-air. His figure was revealed involuntarily, still some distance away from the Illusionary Heavens Furnace.
The Illusionary Heavens Furnace was currently surrounded by numerous silhouettes scrambling to rush forward like cats chasing after a single fish. Everyone was going all out to compete for the biggest opportunity in the world.
At this point, both the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints were mostly fighting for themselves, even though they might still have the intention of siding with their factions. Everybody around them was a competitor.
A chaotic melee broke out again next to the Illusionary Heavens Furnace as countless Divine Abilities and various artifact attacks blasted out in an extremely intense battle.
Now that the Grand Dao battle had reached the final climax, everybody was being extremely careful. Nobody wanted to be injured at a time like this, so nobody was attacking with their full power, focusing on protecting themselves while advancing forward.
The entire scene might seem extremely explosive, but the brutality of the fight was far less than the initial battle. Everybody was holding back to a certain extent in preparation to snatch the Heavenly Source Fruit. Unfortunately, nobody could approach within a hundred metres of the Illusionary Heavens Furnace since everyone was obstructing each other. Anybody with the opportunity to get any closer would instantly be blocked by an enemy.
The Demon Realm held an absolute advantage in terms of numbers among the people who entered the Profound Heavens Temple. Although the advantage was not as big as it was before, there were still four more Half-Saints from the Demon Realm than Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary. Even so, these four were enough to become the key to determining the outcome of this battle.
As time passed, the Demon Race Half-Saints gradually gained the upper hand. Working with each other, they formed a defensive line to approach the Illusionary Heavens Furnace little by little while preventing the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary from moving forward.
For a time, everybody was in a panic.
Every time Yang Kai tried to use Instantaneous Movement to approach the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, Jia Long would use a Secret Technique to interfere with him; therefore, his expression was as ugly as could be.
Jia Long might not be proficient in the Dao of Space, but the Illusionary Heavens Furnace was right there. If Yang Kai wanted to snatch the Heavenly Source Fruit, he would need to approach the Illusionary Heavens Furnace. Hence, Jia Long only needed to disrupt the space surrounding it through brute force.
The Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary were unable to break through the defensive circle of the Half-Saints and could not get close to the Heavenly Source Fruit as a result. At the final moment, the extra few on the Demon Race’s side turned out to be the key to success.
The battle continued without pause with the Pseudo-Great Emperors burning with anxiety as they watched the Half-Saints getting closer and closer to the Illusionary Heavens Furnace while being unable to do anything about it.
When the Illusionary Heavens Furnace was within arm’s reach, Jia Long shouted, “Stop them!”
After saying that, he turned and reached towards the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, opening his large hand and grabbing at the Heavenly Source Fruit. His eyes were blazing with a fiery light. As long as he could get his hands on the Heavenly Source Fruit, he would obtain the final victory. Not only would the Star Boundary lose everything, but the Demon Race would also gain an additional Demon Saint. At that time, the Star Boundary would be powerless to resist.
At that moment, somebody’s low voice suddenly rang out slowly, “Heaven Severing… Slash!”
A fearsome Spiritual Energy wave suddenly burst out. That invisible and intangible Soul attack transformed into a sword that was visible to the naked eye, which then shot straight at Jia Long’s head.
Yang Kai widened his eyes abruptly and turned to look in the direction of the person who spoke just now. What he saw was a middle-aged man smiling at him with cunning eyes. He recognised the middle-aged man; however, they were not on familiar terms. It was Fire Lord, one of the Four Great Lords of Demon Heavenly Dao.
Yang Kai had paid special attention to this man when he first entered the Profound Heavens Temple. This man was the only Human in the Demon Race camp after all. That fact alone made him stand out like a crane amongst chickens. It was harder not to notice him.
It was just that Yang Kai had neither met with nor dealt with this person in the Source Sealed World known as the Profound Heavens Temple. Although he had exchanged several blows with the other party during the chaotic battle just now, he could not determine the other party’s true strength since everybody was holding back at the time. Who could have expected that Fire Lord would suddenly unleash such an attack at this time? Moreover, the target of his attack was none other than Jia Long!
His actions were too shocking. It was almost similar to that time when Yang Kai attacked Cang Mo without warning. The Demon Race had not expected Fire Lord of Demon Heavenly Dao to have the courage to betray the strongest Demon Race Half-Saint.
Only Yang Kai’s eyes brightened in pleasant surprise. If Fire Lord had remained silent, he might not have understood the situation and would simply have assumed that Fire Lord had nefarious intentions from the start and wanted to snatch the Heavenly Source Fruit for himself. However, the moment the words ‘Heaven Severing Slash’ rang out, Yang Kai immediately thought of something.
This Soul Secret Technique was something he could also use, and the one who taught him this Secret Technique was a man he once met in the Azure Sun Temple’s Divine Ascension Mirror, Tian Yan.
Tian Yan was born and raised in the Divine Ascension Mirror, and because of that, he did not have a physical body. As a result, his attainments in Soul cultivation were extremely terrifying. The Divine Ascension Mirror was an independent world that had its own World Principles, which allowed Tian Yan to rise to the level of a Great Emperor when it came to attainments in Soul cultivation.
Yang Kai later obtained the Flesh Incarnation Fruit by chance and refined the Flesh Incarnation Pill to help Tian Yan obtain a physical body and break free of the shackles of the Divine Ascension Mirror and venture into a wider world.
It was just that Tian Yan had been very weak when he first obtained a physical body; therefore, he later stayed at the Azure Sun Temple for some time to cultivate before leaving to wander the world after he became a little stronger.
There had been no news from Tian Yan after that. Yang Kai had tried to inquire news about Tian Yan’s current whereabouts, but the invasion of the Demon Race and the great mayhem in the Star Boundary left him with no energy for anything else. He could never have imagined that the Senior who had been missing for so many years had been right in front of him all this time. Not only did Tian Yan become one of the Four Great Lords of Demon Heavenly Dao, but he also infiltrated the Profound Heavens Temple only to switch sides at the last moment.
Yang Kai did not know what Tian Yan had gone through all these years that could allow the latter to cultivate until he became a Pseudo-Great Emperor after starting over from scratch. Be that as it may, it was not that surprising either. Tian Yan originally had the heritage of a Great Emperor, it was just that he did not have a physical body. Despite receiving Yang Kai’s help in creating a physical body and needing to start all over from the beginning, all the insights regarding the Martial Dao and Heavenly Way remained with Tian Yan. He only needed to cultivate steadily for his strength to improve rapidly. In addition, he would not be limited by various bottlenecks like other cultivators.
As for why his appearance had changed, it was probably due to some sort of Secret Technique.
In the first place, Tian Yan’s Soul cultivation was on par with a Great Emperor’s, so even if he was bound by all kinds of restrictions and could not exert his full strength, his attack just now was still not to be underestimated.
Jia Long was completely unprepared when the Soul Sword pierced into his head from behind. His burly body stiffened and for a moment, he was completely frozen in place, unable to move. His large hand that was stretching out towards the Heavenly Source Fruit was less than a forearm’s length away from the seven-coloured Divine Fruit.
The situation was not over yet, however. After Tian Yan finished launching his first attack, he didn’t even bother to look at Jia Long and instead clapped his palms together before immediately pushing them out to the sides with great force. A large ring of fire that was centred around him spread out all of a sudden. The ring of fire contained a scorching heat that caught many Demon Race Half-Saints off guard, causing their stances to falter as a result, opening a hole in their defensive formation.
“What are you still standing there for!?” Tian Yan chuckled as he stared at Yang Kai, who had a confused and astonished expression on his face.
“Many thanks, Senior!” Yang Kai hurriedly said before he rushed through the gap that Tian Yan had forcefully created and arrived in front of the Illusionary Heavens Furnace in the blink of an eye.
“Bastard!” It wasn’t until that moment that Jia Long returned to his senses. Suppressing the pain that was drilling into his head, he formed a fist with the hand he had stretched out earlier and struck at Yang Kai’s waist.
Yang Kai ignored the attack, his eyes completely fixed on the Heavenly Source Fruit. The moment Jia Long’s fist came into contact with his body, he used Nihility to exile himself into the Void. The punch that contained a highly destructive force passed right through Yang Kai’s body. Although he was not hit by the full power of the blow, the force that reverberated through the Void was enough to make him grunt in pain.
Jia Long’s expression changed drastically as he realized it was already too late to stop Yang Kai. By the time he turned around, Yang Kai had already appeared beside the small tree.
Grabbing the Heavenly Source Fruit with one hand, Yang Kai gently plucked it from the branch and placed it into his pocket.
Jia Long fell into complete madness and charged at Yang Kai with a furious roar.
On the other hand, Yang Kai faced Jia Long calmly. He knew that it was time for them to fight to the death. Everybody had held back previously in order to compete for the Heavenly Source Fruit; however, he was in possession of the Heavenly Source Fruit right now, so how could the Half-Saints of the Demon Realm accept such an outcome? Even if they had to fight with their lives on the line, they refused to let Yang Kai bring this fruit out with him; therefore, a storm of attacks rained down on him from all directions. The cooperation of more than 10 Half-Saints made even Yang Kai’s expression extremely grim.
At that moment, a transparent light barrier appeared around the periphery of the Illusionary Heavens Furnace. With a loud rumble, all the attacks were blocked by the light barrier before they could land on Yang Kai.
Yang Kai was stunned, as was Jia Long. Even the rest of the Half-Saints and the Pseudo-Great Emperors were frozen in shock. Silence filled the entire hall as countless eyes were fixed on Yang Kai, who was still standing next to the small tree in the Illusionary Heavens Furnace. The emotions behind those looks varied greatly.
“Hahahahahaha!” Yang Kai couldn’t stop the laughter from bubbling out of him. His tense nerves relaxed completely at this moment. He never imagined that the Profound Heavens Temple would protect him with a barrier after he obtained the Heavenly Source Fruit. His elation was also mixed with a tinge of lingering fear. [Thank goodness Senior Tian Yan took action in time. If Jia Long had gotten his hands on the Heavenly Source Fruit, the one anxiously standing outside would be me instead!]
His laughter continued to echo inside the hall. The Half-Saints from the Demon Realm had extremely ugly expressions on their faces. On the other hand, the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary looked a little disgruntled. Nevertheless, this result was still within the acceptable range. In the end, the greatest reason they entered this place was to prevent the Demon Race from obtaining this opportunity. Although they were not the ones having the last laugh, at least Yang Kai was still part of the Star Boundary.
Yang Yan breathed a long sigh of relief. Recalling what Li Wu Yi had asked of her before her departure, she felt as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Li Wu Yi’s sacrifice and the deaths of nearly 20 Pseudo-Great Emperors had not been in vain. In the end, it was Yang Kai, a High-Rank Demon King, who ultimately achieved the lifelong dream of the people in this generation.
Feeling relieved, she turned to look at Sheng Yu Zhu. She noticed that Sheng Yu Zhu seemed to hesitate for a moment before seemingly letting go of something and revealing a hint of a smile.
A short while later, the laughter died down. Yang Kai coldly glared at Jia Long who was standing only metres away from him, then playing with the Heavenly Source Fruit, he gave a warning in a dangerous voice, “This King will kill every single one of you the moment he finishes refining this fruit!”
Jia Long glared so fiercely that his eyes felt like they were going to explode. The veins in his temples twitched in anger. Looking at Yang Kai who looked to be within arm’s reach, he suddenly understood what the saying ‘So close yet so far’ meant. As long as the barrier existed, there was nothing he could do to Yang Kai no matter how hard he tried. Furthermore, he couldn’t help feeling a sense of danger when he heard Yang Kai’s threat.
[The strength of this little bastard was not to be underestimated in the first place. How much stronger will he grow once he completely refines the Heavenly Source Fruit? Will the Half-Saints be able to match him in terms of power when that happens?]
After Yang Kai made his declaration, he opened his mouth, stuffed the Heavenly Source Fruit into it, and chewed aggressively. His gaze was fixed on Jia Long the entire time, looking as though he was immediately going to leap out and fight him to the death.
Jia Long’s expression fluctuated. At this moment, it didn’t matter how unwilling he was anymore, it would not change a thing. Yang Kai had already eaten the Heavenly Source Fruit, so was he supposed to make Yang Kai spit it out? Besides, Yang Kai might finish refining the Heavenly Source Fruit if he procrastinated in this place for too long. At that time, it would be difficult for him to escape even if he wanted to. The moment that thought flashed through his mind, he decided to withdraw and shouted, “Let’s go!”
After saying that, he led the 10 or so remaining Half-Saints and retreated slowly.
There was a hint of hesitation on the faces of the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary, but they did not stop the enemy from retreating in the end. Now that the dust had settled and their numbers were more or less even, it would not benefit anybody to continue fighting. They might as well wait until Yang Kai finished refining the Heavenly Source Fruit and received a huge boost in strength. It would not be too late to get rid of the enemy at that time.
On the other hand, the Heavenly Source Fruit transformed into a sweet nectar the moment it entered Yang Kai’s mouth. The nectar immediately flowed down his throat and into his abdomen where a feeling of warmth spread out in an instant. It made his tense nerves relax immediately, so much so that he even felt drowsy as a result. At the same time, all sorts of insights flashed through his Knowledge Sea, allowing him to comprehend many mysteries that had once eluded him.
“The Profound Heavens Temple is going to close soon.” Forcing himself to endure and stay awake, Yang Kai turned to the people in front of him. He did not know how he knew that fact, he just did somehow. The entire situation within the Profound Heavens Temple now seemed to be at his fingertips.
Everybody was shocked by the news, but they quickly calmed down. The Heavenly Source Fruit had been consumed by Yang Kai, so the Profound Heavens Temple no longer had a reason to remain open. It stood to reason that it would close soon.
“There is no need to panic. When the Source Sealed World closes, you will all be transported back safely. As for me, I might need to stay here for a while. I will be leaving everything in the outside world to you,” Yang Kai cupped his fists.
Everybody else returned the gesture and Yang Yan said, “Just focus on refining the Heavenly Source Fruit. Don’t worry about what’s going on outside.”
Yang Kai nodded. There was no point in him worrying about what was happening outside. The World had given them a chance of survival, and now that he had gotten hold of it, what he needed to do was to refine the Heavenly Source Fruit with all his strength so as not to let the entire World down.
“This person is Senior Tian Yan. He is one of us. Temple Master Wen of Azure Sun Temple knows his origins.” He then pointed at Tian Yan.
Yang Yan turned and smiled at Tian Yan.
Although Tian Yan previously played the role of Demon Heavenly Dao’s Fire Lord, his actions at the last moment had proven his stance. Under those circumstances, he could have rushed into the Illusionary Heavens Furnace himself to grab the Heavenly Source Fruit; however, he did not do that and instead launched a sneak attack on Jia Long and the rest of the Demon Race Half-Saints to open a path for Yang Kai, giving the Star Boundary a final shot at victory.
That was why the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary were not being hostile to him. In fact, they were not even very vigilant towards him.
“Senior, I will not forget what you have done for me here today. Please allow me to thank you properly once I come out of retreat,” Yang Kai faced Tian Yan and cupped his fists once more as a sign of respect.
Tian Yan simply smiled, “There’s no need for that. The Divine Fruit might be amazing, but it is of very little use to me. Being able to give you this opportunity is proof that it was not a waste of time for this Old Master to live incognito for so many years.”
Yang Kai was taken aback for a moment, but he quickly realised that Tian Yan had a Great Emperor’s heritage in the first place. Other people might covet the Heavenly Source Fruit, but it might truly be of little use to Tian Yan.
He was about to say something when he suddenly furrowed his brow together, “It’s time. Goodbye and stay safe. I hope we can share a drink together in the future!”
When the words left his lips, a rumbling noise filled the entire hall. Following that, everybody felt a force of rejection pressing in from all directions. That repulsive force was something none of them could resist and they all vanished at the same time within a short three-breath span.
Afterwards, Yang Kai looked at the empty hall and felt his drowsiness growing stronger. Thus, he dropped into a cross-legged sitting position, closed his eyes, and completely immersed himself in his mind.
…..
High above the skies of the Star Boundary was a simple yet majestic palace. Regardless of who it was, all the living creatures in the Star Boundary only needed to raise their heads and look at the sky to see the distinct outline of that palace.
A month had gone by since the start of the Grand Dao battle. During this month, the situation in the Star Boundary had become more and more precarious.
The Demon Race had activated a Heaven Shaking Grand Array, which caused the Demon Lands to expand and spread out into the surroundings with the 108 Demon Strongholds acting as nodes. A large part of the Star Boundary’s land was lost as a consequence, devoured by the Demon Essence with every passing moment. Worse yet, this speed only became faster and faster with the passing of time.
The space in which the Human Race could move about freely within the Star Boundary was continuously being reduced. The armies had retreated over and over again until there was no place left for them to retreat. There was no pure land left in the entire Western Territory; it had completely been devoured. Likewise, the situations in the Eastern, Southern, and Northern Territories were not much better. At this moment, there was less than one-tenth of the original land that could be used by the Human Race. The Star Boundary would collapse completely in another 10 days to half a month. At that time, the Star Boundary would no longer exist. There would be nothing else they could do to turn the situation around and the entire Human Race would eventually be reduced to becoming Demons.
The two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan had attempted to counterattack on numerous occasions, but the effects were negligible. Even if Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun had become much stronger and could now suppress the three Demon Saints if they joined hands, they were unable to stop the expansion of the Demon Lands.
The grey hairs on Li Wu Yi’s head had increased significantly. As the Supreme Commander of the Star Boundary army, he was under more pressure than anybody else in the world. Before the Grand Dao battle, he had asked the Pseudo-Great Emperors who were participating in the Grand Dao battle to leave their respective Life Lamps with him. The Life Lamps would remain lit as long as they were alive. On the other hand, if any of them lost their lives, then their respective Life Lamps would be extinguished.
Over the past couple of days, he watched helplessly as, one by one, the 30 Life Lamps in his possession gradually went out and fell silent. It was difficult to imagine how heartbroken, worried, and anxious he felt. At the moment, only 11 Life Lamps in his possession remained lit. In order words, out of all the people who entered the Profound Heavens Temple, only 11 remained alive! He had heard that the Grand Dao battle was extremely cruel and that, over the generations, only one-third of the people who entered the Profound Heavens Temple would return alive. It would seem now that that statement was true.
The only thing that he rejoiced over was that Yang Kai’s Life Lamp remained lit, as did the Life Lamps of Yang Yan and Bing Yun… As long as the three of them were still alive, a small ray of hope would remain.
Spirit Beast Island in the Eastern Territory used to be the home of Martial Beast Great Emperor, but at this moment, it was occupied by numerous Star Boundary armies and the entire island was crowded with Human soldiers.
All the Army Commanders were gathered together in the main hall. Li Wu Yi sat at the head, sweeping his gaze over the people before him and saw that everybody looked extremely solemn. The atmosphere around them was incredibly gloomy.
They were gathered here today to discuss matters regarding their evacuation. The Western Territory had completely fallen. The Eastern Territory, the Southern Territory, and the Northern Territory would soon suffer the same fate. It was only a matter of time. Even so, the Star Boundary had to make a final effort to survive.
Li Wu Yi was silent for some time before finally speaking up, “We won’t be able to remain in the Eastern Territory for long. According to the reports from various areas, it won’t take more than 10 days before the Eastern Territory follows in the footsteps of the Western Territory. Even Spirit Beast Island will not be spared from that fate. How is the situation in the Southern Territory?”
While speaking, he turned to look at Wen Zi Shan.
Wen Zi Shan stood up, cupped his fists, and responded solemnly, “The situation there is worse than in the Eastern Territory. The time remaining is even shorter. It can only last for another 5 days, at most.”
Upon hearing this, Li Wu Yi frowned and glanced at another person, “What about the Northern Territory?”
Pan Geng Nian, the Army Commander of the Nineteenth Army, stood up, “The Northern Territory is in slightly better condition, but it won’t last very long either. However…”
“But what?” Li Wu Yi raised an eyebrow.
“Most parts of the Northern Territory are essentially lost, only the area around High Heaven Palace is still in fairly good condition. The expansion of the Demon Land dropped sharply and became very slow when it came within a thousand kilometres of High Heaven Palace. Based on this Old Master’s estimation, High Heaven Palace can hold out for at least a month or so!”
“High Heaven Palace!” Li Wu Yi seemed pensive, “The World’s last sanctuary…”
There was no reason why High Heaven Palace would be any different from other places, so the only reasonable explanation was that it had something to do with Yang Kai. High Heaven Palace was established by Yang Kai himself and the large Sect was the result of his painstaking efforts. More importantly, Yang Kai retained part of the World’s Will in him; hence, it made sense to say that High Heaven Palace was where the World was concentrating the last of its strength.
“In that case, is our only option to evacuate to High Heaven Palace?” Ma Qing stroked his goatee.
“That’s just drinking poison to quench one’s thirst. What can we do in a month’s time? Are we supposed to wait in High Heaven Palace until our deaths come!?” The person who spoke lifted his head to look at Li Wu Yi and asked, “Supreme Commander, how is the situation at Dragon Island? If we evacuate to Dragon Island…”
Dragon Island was a Sealed World; moreover, its lands were vast enough to accommodate a lot of people. Based on the current situation of the Star Boundary army, there was more than enough space even if all of them evacuated to Dragon Island. As for all the other Humans in the world that were not part of the Star Boundary army… They would have to fend for themselves.
Li Wu Yi shook his head slowly, “The expansion of the Demon Lands is caused by the erosion of the Demon Realm’s Demon Essence. Dragon Island might be a Sealed World, but it is still attached to the Star Boundary. If the Great World succumbs to the corrosion, the Sealed World will not escape unscathed either. Hiding in Dragon Island is not a wise decision, it will only make things easier for the Demon Race to catch us all in one place. We will only be stuck in an even more passive situation than before.”
Li Wu Yi pondered for a moment before steeling his resolve and shouted, “Inform the entire army. In three days, we will evacuate to High Heaven Palace in the Northern Territory. I command…”
All of a sudden, the entire world rumbled and shook, cutting off his speech mid-sentence as a result.
Immediately afterwards, a mysterious aura surged and swept across every corner of the Star Boundary. All the Masters who could sense this aura looked pensive for a moment, almost as if they gained something from the aura.
Li Wu Yi was stunned as well before soon realising something. His figure flashed as he hurriedly rushed out of the hall. The others hastily followed after him. When they arrived outside the hall, they saw that Li Wu Yi was looking up into the sky. They followed his gaze and their eyes immediately widened in astonishment.
In the sky, the Profound Heavens Temple that had been silent all this while was becoming distorted and seemed to be changing to something else. It soon transformed into the appearance of an ancient Giant Furnace. The Giant Furnace was shining brightly; moreover, there were many strange and peculiar patterns carved into its surroundings. The patterns seemed to bob up and down on the surface, forming name after name that flashed and disappeared one after another.
From among those names, they saw some familiar and some unfamiliar names. Those names included Yellow Sovereign, Black Sovereign, Golden Cicada, Devouring Ghost, Flowing Time, Heaven Devourer, Soaring Sky, Iron Blood, Bustling World, Azure Sea, Cyan Lotus, Ice Feather, Wondrous Pill, Heavens Revelations, Martial Beast…
“The Grand Dao Record!” Li Wu Yi shouted with a burning gaze.
The titles of the Great Emperors were neither chosen by themselves nor spread by the world, they were given directly by the Heavenly Way. Every Great Emperor would receive a title that coincided with their Grand Dao. Naturally, it was a Grand Dao recognised by the world. Only those who could inscribe their names in the Grand Dao of the world could become Great Emperors admired and respected by all.
Those familiar and unfamiliar names were undoubtedly the titles that belonged to the countless Great Emperors throughout history. The titles of the 10 Great Emperors in the current generation were among those names. There were no omissions; even Can Ye’s ‘Night Shadow’ was clearly indicated.
The font colours of the characters that flashed across the Giant Furnace seemed to vary slightly. They were all written in a golden-yellow shade; however, the further back in the past they existed, the darker the shade of golden-yellow they became. In comparison, the titles of the 10 Great Emperors in the current generation shone the brightest.
“Huh? Is it… over?” Li Wu Yi’s lips suddenly felt dry. He stared unblinking at the Giant Furnace, trying to find a new title from amongst the names.
The Profound Heavens Temple had remained unchanged ever since it appeared. Now that it suddenly transformed into a Giant Furnace and even kept displaying the titles of all the past Great Emperors, it could only mean that new progress had been made in the Grand Dao battle. It was also highly likely that it was over.
What was the situation on the Star Boundary’s side? Whose hands did the Grand Dao opportunity fall into in the end? These were the questions that concerned Li Wu Yi the most. If the Star Boundary managed to obtain the opportunity, then the current critical situation in the Star Boundary might change for the better. But, if the Demon Race had succeeded instead, then the Star Boundary was truly in great danger.
轩辕 – Yellow Sovereign (Xuan Yuan)
真武 – Black Sovereign (Zhen Wu)
罗刹 – Devouring Ghost (Raksasa)
These are actual figures in mythology.
Xuan Yuan is known as the Yellow Emperor
Zhen Wu is known as the Black Emperor. (He wears all black.)
Raksasa is a demon that likes to eat.
Li Wu Yi’s gaze hovered across the Giant Furnace, but to his disappointment, he could not find a new title amongst the names.
[Did we… fail?] Even though he generally had a calm nature and could stare a Demon Saint in the face without the slightest change in his expression, he couldn’t help staggering slightly at this moment as his complexion went pale.
Many of the Army Commanders were also whispering around him. Worry for their gains and losses flowed through the crowd…
*Weng…*
A soft sound suddenly rang out and a jade slip appeared out of thin air in front of Li Wu Yi. His expression froze for a moment, then he grabbed the jade slip and immersed his mind into it. The message left him feeling dazed for a moment, but immediately after that, a smile appeared on the corners of his mouth. The smile was not very obvious at first, but it soon spread across his face and the sound of his laughter reverberated across the entire sky.
Countless pairs of eyes turned to stare at Li Wu Yi and the jade slip in his hand which they could feel Yang Yan’s aura coming from. In other words, the jade slip was sent by Yang Yan. Yang Yan was one of the candidates who participated in the Grand Dao battle, so for a message to be sent at this time undoubtedly meant that the Grand Dao battle was over. Judging from the cheerful look on Li Wu Yi’s face and that joyful laughter…
Everybody felt their mood lifting and the anxiety in their hearts was replaced by a sense of pleasant surprise. Although they had some speculations in their hearts, they did not dare to be too sure until Li Yu Yi gave them some form of confirmation, just in case the truth was not what they were hoping for. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment after all.
“Supreme Commander, did the Star Boundary obtain the opportunity for the Grand Dao?” An old man with a beard trembled uncontrollably, unable to restrain his excitement. His weathered face which looked like tree bark was flushed with an unnatural shade of red.
“Supreme Commander, just what is the situation right now? It’s not too late to laugh after you’ve told us.”
However, Li Wu Yi simply could not stop laughing. He was laughing so hard that tears were flowing out of his eyes. It left the people watching him feel quite speechless. In all the time that they had known him, nobody had ever seen him lose his composure so badly before.
It couldn’t be helped though as he was just under too much pressure recently. Li Wu Yi did not dare to say that he was responsible for the survival of the Star Boundary, but as the Supreme Commander of the Star Boundary, every decision he made affected the future of billions of people, as well as the continuation of an entire race. All that he could do was buy as much time as possible while preserving as much of the Star Boundary’s power as he could for the slight chance that might appear in the future.
To this end, Li Wu Yi had not hesitated to give up on the opportunity to enter the Profound Heavens Temple and participate in the Grand Dao battle, the goal he had been pursuing his entire life.
Now that a ray of hope had finally appeared, his tensed nerves suddenly relaxed considerably as a result.
It took quite a long while before Li Wu Yi managed to regain his composure. His gaze swept over the faces of the Pseudo-Great Emperors in front of him and he quickly said, “The Grand Dao opportunity belongs to the Star Boundary!”
As soon as those words rang out, everybody felt their breath quickening. Although they had their guesses, nobody dared to believe that it was true until Li Wu Yi confirmed the truth.
“Who!?” The old man asked in a trembling voice; this was related to the birth of a Great Emperor after all. The person who obtained the Grand Dao opportunity would become one of the Star Boundary’s Great Emperors in the future. How could they not wish to find out more about it?
“Yang Kai!” Li Wu Yi replied with a smile.
There was a burst of exclamations as those present couldn’t help exchanging glances with each other. Although Yang Kai’s performance had been amazing since his return from the Demon Realm, nobody expected the candidate would turn out to be him. His cultivation was an indisputable fact after all.
When Li Wu Yi first announced that he was going to give his spot in the Grand Dao battle to Yang Kai, many people were extremely uncomfortable with the idea. How far one had travelled on the Martial Dao might not be based on seniority, but there were two reasons for their discomfort. For one, Yang Kai’s cultivation had been too low. As for the other, his foundation and experience were lacking. Even if Li Wu Yi wanted to give up his spot in the Grand Dao battle, Yang Kai should have been the last person to receive the qualifications to enter the Profound Heavens Temple.
Before this incident, everybody believed that it was a complete waste of resources for Yang Kai to enter the Profound Heavens Temple. He was not even a Pseudo-Great Emperor, so what could he do even if he did enter the Profound Heavens Temple? Was he just supposed to make up the numbers?
That was why everybody was surprised to hear the name ‘Yang Kai’ coming from Li Wu Yi’s lips. Nobody could have imagined that the final result of the Grand Dao battle would be a situation where the person who came out on top was somebody who was not even a Pseudo-Great Emperor! For a moment, they couldn’t help feeling slightly dazed. Thinking back to Li Wu Yi’s decision at the time, they felt as though the Supreme Commander really could see further as he stood higher than them.
On the other hand, Li Wu Yi’s expression was filled with pride and glory. He had gone against everybody’s opinions and allowed Yang Kai to occupy a precious spot to enter the Profound Heavens Temple. As such, he had endured a lot of pressure due to his decision. If he were not the Supreme Commander who had proven himself in war for the past two decades and whose orders were carried out without fail, he would have long since been questioned for his decision. Fortunately, Yang Kai had lived up to his expectations.
“Is it really Yang Kai?” Somebody asked in disbelief.
“What are the specific circumstances?”
“What about the number of casualties for the Star Boundary?”
Numerous questions were asked, one after another. Everybody looked at Li Wu Yi eagerly.
Before Li Wu Yi could answer, he heard several swishing sounds and figure after figure began to appear beside him all of a sudden. When everybody looked at those figures, their pupils contracted at the sight. These figures that appeared out of nowhere were the candidates who entered the Profound Heavens Temple previously; however, all of them were injured. None of them came out of the Profound Heavens Temple unscathed. The auras of the heavily injured were extremely weak and their bodies were covered in blood. More importantly, only around 10 people appeared in this place!
Yang Yan stood in the lead, and when she appeared, she felt many pairs of eyes staring at her with burning gazes. Thus, she immediately understood the situation and smiled. She turned to Li Wu Yi and smiled, “Fortunately I have not disappointed your trust!”
The moment she came out of the Profound Heavens Temple, she immediately reported the results of the Grand Dao battle to Li Wu Yi. Only then did she activate her Space Beacon to come here. That was the entire flow of events up until now.
Li Wu Yi nodded, “You’ve worked hard!”
Then, he turned to look at the people standing behind her and a look of sorrow flashed across his face. He cupped his fists and said, “You’ve all worked hard!”
Everybody returned the gesture.
Li Wu Yi then turned back to Yang Yan to ask, “Are you all that’s left?”
He was in possession of everybody’s Life Lamps, so he could tell how many people had lost their lives in the Profound Heavens Temple just from the number that had gone out; even so, he had to ask. How else was he supposed to accept this harsh reality?
Yang Yan nodded sadly, “There’s also Bing Yun. She is currently inside Yang Kai’s Small Sealed World, so she will come out with him.”
Li Wu Yi sighed melancholically, “Only 3 out of 10 survived the Grand Dao battle. Haha… The Heavenly Way truly is ruthless!”
Similarly, the Pseudo-Great Emperors who stayed behind in the Star Boundary went pale. Only 10 of their compatriots had returned after the Grand Dao battle ended. Even if they included Yang Kai and Bing Yun in the numbers, only slightly more than 10 were still alive. It had to be said that as many as 30 people from their side had entered the Profound Heavens Temple at the beginning.
The Star Boundary suffered such heavy casualties in the short span of one month. Even the battle between the two worlds that had gone on for so many years had not caused such heavy losses among the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary. Moreover, there was one person who was extremely concerned among these 10 people who returned.
Li Wu Yi stared at Tian Yan for a while, seeming slightly surprised, “Fire Lord?”
Looking at the situation, Fire Lord of Demon Heavenly Dao did not seem to have been brought here as a captive. For some reason, he had appeared together with the rest of the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary. They also seemed to be coexisting peacefully with each other. It would seem that something astonishing had happened inside the Profound Heavens Temple.
Yang Yan explained, “This is Sir Tian Yan. It was all thanks to his great efforts that the Demon Race was defeated at the final stage of the Grand Dao battle and Yang Kai was given the chance to snatch the opportunity. He is one of our own.”
Li Wu Yi’s expression changed slightly, but he did not inquire about the details; instead, he asked, “What about the casualties on the Demon Race’s side?”
Yang Yan smiled bitterly, “They lost as many as we did. Less than 15 of them survived.”
There was the sound of cold air being inhaled sharply. The Demon Race Half-Saints had started off with 40 people at the beginning, but only about 15 survivors remained at the end. The casualty rate was not that different from the Star Boundary’s. Looking at the situation in that way, the losses the Star Boundary suffered were not unacceptable.
Everybody then began talking all at once to ask various questions; therefore, Yang Yan and the others briefly recounted their experiences in the Profound Heavens Temple. The mysteries within the Source Sealed World made everybody yearn for the opportunity to experience it. Be that as it may, there were dangers brewing everywhere inside and the deathmatch that took place at the end was also extremely terrifying.
Many couldn’t help wondering whether they would be amongst those who survived if they had entered the Profound Heavens Temple.
When they learned that Tian Yan had betrayed Jia Long at the last moment and caused the latter to fall short of victory, everyone looked at him with a much gentler expression than before. Wen Zi Shan also stepped forward to verify Tian Yan’s origins at this point, drawing much admiration for the latter.
It had to be said that Demon Heavenly Dao was a powerful force that Can Ye had personally created back then. Not only did Tian Yan successfully infiltrate the enemy camp, but he also became one of the Four Great Lords without ever being discovered. He even managed to endure until the Grand Dao battle before landing a fatal blow on the Demon Race. He had truly made a monumental contribution after years of strenuous effort.
Even if Li Wu Yi had been in that position, he had to admit that he could not have succeeded to this extent.
“Yang Kai swallowed the Heavenly Source Fruit and said he might have to remain in Profound Heavens Temple for a while,” Yang Yan added.
Li Wu Yi nodded in response, “A Divine Fruit that was formed from the condensation of all the luck and fortune belonging to dozens of Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints… It will not be an easy task to refine.”
He pondered quietly for a moment and said, “All of you should get some rest. There might be another tough battle waiting for us if a fight breaks out before Yang Kai comes out of retreat.”
Yang Yan and the others nodded and soon left. After participating in the Grand Dao battle, they had gained a lot of benefits. Nevertheless, they really needed a good rest now.
Li Wu Yi’s voice sounded magnificently, “Send out the order; all armies will prepare to march while bringing their supplies with them. We will evacuate Spirit Beast Island and head towards High Heaven Palace in the Northern Territory!
That was the last piece of pure land left in the Star Boundary! If High Heaven Palace fell, then the Star Boundary’s death would not be that far off either.
The Army Commanders left with their orders. Once the command was conveyed, the soldiers gathered on Spirit Beast Island quickly got ready to leave. The Space Array was in constant operation and flashes of light flickered erratically.
After three days of hard work, only two people remained on the island. Mo Xiao Qi’s eyes were red and swollen as she reluctantly stared at the home where she had lived since she was a child and choked out a few words, “Uncle Li, will we come back here again?”
He patted her head, “We will definitely return here one day!”
A flash of light appeared and disappeared before the figures of Li Wu Yi and Mo Xiao Qi vanished from atop the Space Array. A short while later, the Space Array cracked and turned into a pile of dust.
Two days later, the Southern Territory fell. The entire Southern Territory was eroded by the Demon Land. The flowers and trees withered in the places covered by the Demon Land and a dead silence fell across the land, as if even the vitality of this world had been taken away.
Another four days later, the Eastern Territory fell.
The day the Eastern Territory fell, Yang Xiao was ordered to quietly return to Dragon Island to observe the changes in the Sealed World where Dragon Island was located. He soon reported that the Sealed World where Dragon Island was located was not spared. The Demon Essence had invaded Dragon Island through the Void Corridor and the originally beautiful scenery instantly fell into dead silence as a result.
At the moment, the only place left in the vast Star Boundary that was not eroded by the Demon Lands was the area stretching out a thousand kilometres around High Heaven Palace in the Northern Territory. The entire Star Boundary army was gathered in this place. In addition, the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan were personally standing guard. This place would be the final battlefield in the war between the Demon Race and the Human Race.
Victory would mean a slim chance of reprieve. On the other hand, defeat would mean eternal doom!
Since the beginning of the Two Worlds’ Great War, billions of living creatures in the Star Boundary had lost both their lives and homes. Nine houses out of ten were deserted. It was a scene of desolation across the entire land. Humans who had been reduced to become Demons could be seen wandering all over the Western Territory. Having been devoured by the Demon Essence, they lost their consciousness and were driven only by their instinct to kill.
High Heaven Palace might be big, but it could not accommodate so many. Now that the entire Star Boundary army had gathered in this place, it was practically bursting at the seams. For that reason, many soldiers had no choice but to remain inside the World Beads all the time. Many of the World Beads that Yang Kai had refined were stuffed to the brim as a result.
It might be that High Heaven Palace was the last sanctuary of the Star Boundary. The invincible Demon Essence had eroded all of the Eastern Territory, the Southern Territory, the Western Territory, as well as most of the land in the Northern Territory. However, its progress was finally obstructed along the periphery of a 1,000-kilometre radius around High Heaven Palace. The speed of the erosion became extremely slow until it finally stopped completely, unable to advance any further. There was some kind of force around High Heaven Palace that seemed to block the erosion of the Demon Essence, protecting the last bit of pure land for the Star Boundary’s Human Race to inhabit.
Now that the entire Star Boundary had more or less fallen into the hands of the Demon Race, neither the Demon Saints nor the Half-Saints below them could stand to tolerate the special existence that was High Heaven Palace; after all, the Demon Race’s plan could only come to completion when High Heaven Palace was fully eroded.
Perhaps, they could feel a sense of crisis looming over them after losing the Grand Dao battle, so the Demon Race army attacked ten days after it ended, three days after the fall of the Eastern Territory.
The Demon Race army that came out in full force formed a large uncountable mass of darkness due to their overwhelming numbers. Pouring out from all the Primary Demon Strongholds, they rushed over to surround High Heaven Palace and launched a full offensive without any warning whatsoever.
The first to attack High Heaven Palace was not the Demon Race army, however, but rather the Humans who were corrupted by Demon Essence and became Demons as a result. The number of these Demons was 10 times or 100 times larger than the entire Demon Race population in the Primary Demon Strongholds. They could be found almost everywhere across the lands of the Four Territories in the Star Boundary. The Demon Race army only needed to gather and herd them around to form an enormous force.
These Demons lacked a clear consciousness and were consumed by their instinct to kill. Driven by the Demon Race army, they rushed towards High Heaven Palace without fear of death. These Demons were generally not very strong and any random soldier from the Star Boundary army could kill a large number of them at once. Nevertheless, there were simply too many of them.
A tragic and fierce battle commenced outside High Heaven Palace.
Despite facing former fellow countrymen, Li Wu Yi had no choice but to harden his heart and issue the order to annihilate the enemy. In just three days, the number of Demons who died outside High Heaven Palace exceeded tens of millions. Rivers of blood flowed and corpses piled high across the land that stretched on for thousands of kilometres. With the death of those Demons, the Demon Qi that leaked out of their body finally infected the land that was originally being protected by the World, allowing the Demon Land around the periphery of High Heaven Palace to begin creeping forward again. The speed of advancement might be slow, but at this rate, there would come a day when even High Heaven Palace could no longer persist.
Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun were furious and rushed out of High Heaven Palace in a rage, heading straight toward the Demon Race army. Although they gave an overwhelming display of power, they were immediately blocked by Xue Li, Fu Yu, and Huo Bo. There was a huge battle and many in the Demon race army lost their lives simply from the fallout, but unfortunately, it changed nothing in the overall situation.
The greying hairs on Li Yu Yi’s head increased by the day. He would look up at the Illusionary Heavens Furnace in the sky countless times a day, watching the names flashing across the Giant Furnace and secretly praying that Yang Kai could return as soon as possible.
Ten days after the final battle started, the Demon Land had advanced as far as 500 kilometres into the land surrounding High Heaven Palace. Another five days later, the Demon Land progressed another 300… Now only 200 kilometres of land remained untouched by the Demon Land outside of High Heaven Palace.
As time went on, the Demon Race’s offensive became more and more violent. In contrast, the Star Boundary seemed exhausted from resisting. Despair spread out among the armies and the wills of many were on the verge of collapsing under the heavy pressure and all sorts of troubles unfolded within High Heaven Palace. Racked by both external and internal troubles, many Masters were completely overwhelmed by the situation.
…..
At the height of the battle, Yang Kai seemed to be slumbering under the Divine Tree inside the Illusionary Heavens Furnace that was inside the Profound Heavens Temple. After swallowing the Heavenly Source Fruit, he began feeling drowsy and eventually succumbed to it. He only managed to say a few sentences to Yang Yan and the others before he immersed himself in his mind completely.
His mind was in an ethereal state and he could not sense anything in his surroundings. It felt as though he had returned to his mother’s womb. He was enveloped by the sense of security and tranquillity of a new life being born.
All of a sudden, he jerked awake for a short moment. He couldn’t help wondering about his own Grand Dao. If he had not gone through the previous experience where he was asked about his True Dao, he might not have known what he wanted. But, after that peculiar experience, he knew exactly what he should do at this moment. He had to find his own Dao that would be recognised by the world! And, his Dao was… the Dao of Space!
Bits and pieces of the past lingered in his mind. Some of his insights into the Dao of Space emerged in his mind and he recalled the time when he first caught a glimpse of the door to the Dao of Space. After advancing to the minor accomplishment stage, he properly stepped onto the Dao of Space. Afterward, he became increasingly familiar with Space Principles and suddenly penetrated the depths of this Great Dao…
After taking the first step, he was becoming clearer about his own Dao. The surrounding space shuddered and small cracks appeared on it, like Spirit Snakes that wandered around aimlessly. All his power, including the Demon Qi in his body and his Spiritual Energy, was rapidly shrinking towards a certain spot in his body. There were faint signs that they were forming into a mysterious mark.
A Dao Seal!
Although nobody had ever told him about this, Yang Kai quickly understood what was going on in his body as he experienced the entire process first-hand. Gathering all the Essence in his body and the lifelong insights he had obtained, he condensed them into his very own Dao Seal! This was the only way he could walk his own Dao and create his own Dao.
This was both an extremely dangerous process and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; therefore, Yang Kai did not dare to be careless. He poured his experiences and insights into the embryonic Dao Seal, little by little, gradually tempering and perfecting it.
He did not know how much time had passed or what the situation was like in the world outside. All of his attention was focused on the Dao Seal. A concrete outline slowly began to form around that vague Dao Seal. Following his efforts, the outline became increasingly distinct and clear.
Even so, he was not satisfied. The speed of his progress was far too slow. Although he had forgotten about the crisis that the Star Boundary was currently facing, his subconscious mind was telling him that he had to form his Dao Seal as quickly as possible; otherwise, something that he would regret for the rest of his life was going to happen.
Almost instinctively, Yang Kai took out the World Source Liquid from the Small Sealed World and took a gulp. The feeling of the World when it was first created burst out in him, causing him to shudder involuntarily. Chaos flourished and Principle Strength emerged extremely strong. Therefore, one mouthful of World Source Liquid seemed to pull him back to the ancient era when the World first formed. He stood in the middle of all the chaos as the various invisible forces swirling around him in all directions transformed into the capital and strength that formed his Dao Seal.
Yang Kai devoured this power greedily and the speed at which the Dao Seal in his body condensed suddenly accelerated. The brightly shining Dao Seal erupted with dazzling brilliance, and upon integrating the essence contained within his Dragon Bloodline, the Dao Seal caused his entire body to emit a faint golden light.
…..
Outside High Heaven Palace, the Sect Defending Array flashed wildly. Countless Demons threw themselves forward while at the same time, numerous attacks blasted out from within High Heaven Palace to reap the lives of these Demons as though harvesting straw.
Mountains of corpses and rivers of blood painted the scenery. It was a time of turmoil, it was a time of slaughter, and it was a baptism of fresh blood. The lives of the weak were in the hands of fate, and even the Masters were in danger of losing their lives at any moment. The Heavenly Way was cruel and it was impossible to predict the future of the World!
Li Wu Yi’s once black hair turned completely silver in a span of ten short days. Standing at the top of High Heaven Peak, he looked out at the situation beyond the Grand Array with a solemn expression.
Similarly, the expressions of the people behind him were also extremely gloomy. They had been on edge all this while. Their only fear was losing High Heaven Palace, the last barrier and fortress that stood strong in the Star Boundary; however, when it really came down to this moment, a powerful wave of fighting spirit surged up in all of them, regardless of who they were. If they could perish along with their World, fighting for the home where they were born and raised… Their life would not have been lived in vain.
A figure rushed forward suddenly. Ying Fei appeared, wiping the blood from his face, “Reporting! The Grand Array in the northwest is in critical danger. It can only last for another quarter to half hour at most. Sir Fu Ren Jie requests for reinforcements!”
Li Wu Yi looked back at Ying Fei. [What reinforcements? There are no reinforcements…]
In the face of the various emergency situations that arose, all of the armies had already been deployed. At the moment, High Heaven Palace was being attacked from all directions. All the people behind Li Wu Yi were his personal guards and they were only in charge of sending out commands to the soldiers in the field. There were no other soldiers under his command that he could send.
Turning back once more, he coldly said, “Relay my order. If the Grand Array in the northwest cannot be protected, then Fu Ren Jie is to bring as many Demon Race Half-Saints down with him as he can!”
Ying Fei’s lips moved and he cupped his fists, “Yes!”
After that, he turned and flew back out.
Li Wu Yi narrowed his eyes slightly and looked up at the Illusionary Heavens Furnace before letting out a long sigh, [In the end, are we still powerless to escape this fate?]
Nevertheless, he soon withdrew his gaze and Space Principles fluctuated around him. With a chilling expression on his face, he asked calmly, “Are you afraid?”
The soldiers following behind him loudly replied to his question, “No!”
Li Wu Yi grinned, “It is terrifying to stand before the gates of death. Even I am scared. Are you really not afraid?”
Several of his personal guards looked apologetic and one of them said, “We have no regrets as long as we can follow you, Sir, not even if we die in battle as a result!”
The rest of them also cupped their fists and shouted in unison, “May we live and die with you, Sir!”
Li Wu Yi burst into laughter as his spirits soared, “Good! That is the right mindset to have!” With a wave of his arm, he continued, “You will follow me into battle! Let us slaughter our enemies!”
An overwhelming murderous intent violently poured out of him.
“S-Sir!” One of the personal guards suddenly shouted in a trembling voice.
Li Wu Yi chuckled, “What is it? Have you gotten cold feet? It’s normal to be scared.”
“It’s not that, Sir! Look, up there!” The soldier raised his finger to point at the sky.
Li Wu Yi looked in that direction and the pupils of his eyes involuntarily contracted at the sight. He was looking at the Illusionary Heavens Furnace that had been floating in the sky all this while. The patterns on the surface of the Illusionary Heavens Furnace were flickering even more than before and the clear and distinct titles that flashed across its surface were changing at a dazzling speed. Soon, a new set of characters began to take shape.
The Illusionary Heavens Furnace had remained in the same state for so many days, never experiencing any changes before; thus, nobody could have expected it to change at this time.
“This is…” Li Wu Yi suddenly widened his eyes and stared at Illusionary Heavens Furnace without blinking. That was because the flickering lines had a tendency to form certain characters. It was just that the lights were flashing too quickly, so it was very hard to get a clear glimpse.
After waiting for a while though, the vague characters finally became clear. The characters suddenly froze in place with a loud bang. At that moment, a dazzling light filled the entire Star Boundary. At that moment, it seemed as though the Demon Qi covering the Star Boundary had been torn apart and at long-last light had returned once more.
Li Wu Yi’s eyes narrowed as he stared blankly at the golden characters illuminating the entire world, feeling both extremely shocked and pleased as he muttered under his breath, “Void!”
“Void!”
It was only one word, but that word attracted the attention of all the sentient creatures in the Star Boundary. At this moment, countless gazes were involuntarily being drawn upward into the sky. Whether they were Human or Demon, a strange and inexplicable light was reflected in their eyes.
It was especially so for the natives of the Star Boundary. When that word appeared on the Illusionary Heavens Furnace, a sudden thought came to mind almost instinctively, a new Great Emperor was about to rise! This idea came out of nowhere. Nobody knew why they suddenly had such a thought, but everybody was convinced that it was the truth; after all, it was the will of the Heavenly Way…
It was an honour and a joyful occasion to witness the birth of a Great Emperor in one’s life. As such, the morale of the soldiers that had been lagging suddenly soared at this moment!
Xue Li, who had been hiding among the Demon Race army, felt his brow twitching at the sight as he gritted his teeth, “He actually… succeeded…”
He had learned from Jia Long that the Heavenly Source Fruit had fallen into Yang Kai’s hands. Even so, Xue Li had held on to the slight delusional hope that Yang Kai would not succeed. Yang Kai’s cultivation was not high enough, so it might take some time for him to become a Great Emperor even though he was the one who obtained the Heavenly Source Fruit. Or perhaps it might improve his strength tremendously, but he would still be no match for the Demon Saints.
Judging from the current situation, however, the benefits of the Heavenly Source Fruit were limitless indeed. It actually managed to make a High-Rank Demon King advance directly to become a Great Emperor!
The thought only flashed through Xue Li’s mind for a breath before he quickly shouted through gritted teeth, “Relay the order! Take down High Heaven Palace in the shortest possible time at all costs!”
Not only did Yang Kai become a Great Emperor, but he also received the title ‘Void’. Therefore, nobody knew what kind of strength he would have upon his reappearance, let alone when he would show up. What the Demon Race needed to do at this moment was to capture High Heaven Palace as soon as possible and contaminate the last pure land in the Star Boundary. That was the only way for all their plans to come to fruition. At that time, it would be useless even if Yang Kai returned with the strength of a Great Emperor.
After that order was issued, the fierce offensive became even more reckless. High Heaven Palace’s Sect Defending Array flashed wildly as a result. The Grand Array looked as though it was going to collapse at any time. Seeming to be aware of this point, Li Wu Yi quickly issued a command to all the surviving soldiers of the Star Boundary army to hold the line no matter the cost.
From a bird’s eye point of view, the boundless Demon Race army looked like a black tidal wave that crashed against High Heaven Palace over and over again from all directions. Meanwhile, the Star Boundary army stood firm within High Heaven Palace. Countless Secret Techniques and artifacts flashed with brilliant light as they repelled the black tide again and again.
Both sides were so busy fighting to the death that nobody noticed the Illusionary Heavens Furnace in the sky shattering and quickly disappearing into nothing after the ‘Void’ character appeared.
In the southeast corner of High Heaven Palace, the Sixty-First Army worked with five other armies to maintain a defensive perimeter. Yao Si was in charge of the army, commanding and dispatching the troops with a dignified expression. Command after command came out of his mouth and those commands were relayed to the soldiers by his personal guards. He had been fighting for so many consecutive days without any chance to rest at all. His mind was spinning at an extremely fast speed, trying to come up with a plan to defeat their enemies. Unfortunately, all he could do in the face of the Demon Race army’s onslaught was maintain a passive defence with the troops under his command.
“Sir Adjutant, the Grand Array won’t be able to last any longer.” A Monster General from the Flying Hawk Division flew over and informed Yao Si. Excessive exhaustion left him unable to even stand up straight. He was so tired that he nearly collapsed head first to the ground while talking to Yao Si.
The moment those words left his mouth, an ominous creaking sound came from the Grand Array. It was instantly followed by an endless series of cracking sounds.
Yao Si looked up and his expression changed drastically. Cracks were appearing, one after another, rapidly spreading across the barrier in the southeast corner of High Heaven Palace.
He turned his head and looked around, only to see Hua Qing Si hovering in mid-air. She was holding the Sect Master’s Command Token to control the power of the Earth Veins below High Heaven Palace to replenish and stabilise the Grand Array. However, her complexion was as pale as a sheet and she was clearly on the verge of collapse.
High Heaven Palace’s Sect Defending Array was powerful, but even such an impressive Grand Array could not withstand the continuous assault of the Demon Race army for such a long time. The only reason it had lasted for so long was thanks to the desperate support of the Star Boundary army. Be that as it may, the Grand Array finally gave in.
*Kacha…*
There was a crashing sound and the Grand Array in the southeast corner shattered. The Demon Race army poured in through that gap like a flood with a resounding roar that shook the Heavens and caused the world to go pale.
Yao Si surged his Emperor Qi and roared in response, “All who defile the Star Boundary will be killed without mercy!!
“Kill!” A roar reverberated through the sky in response. Despite facing the massive Demon Race army surging towards them, none of the soldiers from the Star Boundary backed down. That was because they knew that High Heaven Palace was the last remaining sanctuary for the Human Race. Losing High Heaven Palace was equivalent to losing the entire Star Boundary. There was no place left for them to retreat anymore.
Instead of being corrupted by the Demon Qi and becoming mindless Demons, it was better to die in battle while taking as many enemies with them as possible.
A solemn and stirring Shamanic Chants rang out throughout the Star Boundary army. Following that, numerous Shamanic Spells shone brightly to cover a large swath of the army. It was as if two torrents of steel were rushing at each other and they soon collided.
Blood splattered and severed limbs flew all over the place. During that moment of confrontation, thousands died. The vast battlefield in the southeast corner was like a huge meat grinder that turned both Humans and Demons into nothing but ground flesh and blood.
Nevertheless, that was only just the beginning. Less than 10 breaths after the Grand Array in the southeast corner collapsed, the Grand Array surrounding the entire High Heaven Palace let out a loud and painful cry accompanied by cracking noises. Immediately after that, the Grand Array began to shatter bit by bit.
An all-out war broke out. The Demon Race army flooded into High Heaven Palace from all directions, stepping onto the Human Race’s last remaining pure land, bringing Demon Qi and Demon Essence with them.
The battles were fought at close quarters and the scene was immensely bloody and cruel. Accordingly, the headquarters of High Heaven Palace, which used to be extremely beautiful in the past, was blackened and defiled.
Many Pseudo-Great Emperors quickly took action to engage the Demon Race Half-Saints in battle, fighting a fierce battle in the sky. Even the two Dragon Clan Elders could not remain silent any longer. They transformed into two 1,000-metre-long Dragons and charged out of High Heaven Peak. Xue Li, Fu Yu, and Huo Bo hastily went forward to meet their charge. They fought a difficult battle against each other even higher up in the sky. The loud rumbling noises of their battle spread far across the Star Boundary.
The ground was the battlefield of those below the Pseudo-Great Emperors and Half-Saints. The High-Rank Demon Kings and Third-Order Emperors were either fighting in groups of three to five or one-on-one. No matter the case, it was a battle where one side was bound to die.
A huge palace was rampaging somewhere on the battlefield. Yang Xiao and Yang Xue, the two Masters of the Flowing Time Temple, stood on the steps of the palace as they joined forces to activate the power of the Infinite Hourglass. The ten-thousand and eight grains of Flowing Time Divine Sand turned into dust that scattered across the sky. Everywhere they went, Time Principles would cover the area and deprive the Demon Race of their perception and vitality.
Elsewhere, Lan Xun held the World Pagoda in her hands as her Emperor Qi surged violently. Every time the World Pagoda flew out, it would capture and trap a large number of the Demons inside of itself. That was not all, however, as a huge prison composed of vines was formed with her as the centre. It enveloped all the Demons that stood within a thousand metres around her. The vines danced agilely inside the cage, transforming into sharp blades that plunged deep into the bodies of the Demons. The vines devoured their Spiritual Essence, which swiftly turned them into mummified skeletons.
Inside the forests, nine Stone Spirits rampaged under the leadership of the Elder. They relied on their intrepid physiques to slam their bodies around, smashing countless Demons to pieces. The Wood Spirit Clan followed beside the Stone Spirits, sticking closely to them with solemn expressions on their small faces.
Among the mountain peaks, four women, Su Yan, Xia Ning Chang, Xue Yue, and Shan Qing Luo, formed a profound Formation that was similar to a sharp blade. They were travelling across the bloody and corpse-filled battlefield, leaving behind a trail of Demon corpses in their wake. The four women were all in the Emperor Realm, and nobody below the Half-Saint Realm could stop their charge when they joined hands. Even a High-Rank Demon King could not last for more than 10 breaths against them. Their performance quickly attracted attention and an ethereal figure made his way across the battlefield, staring at the four of them with ruthless eyes. The corners of his mouth curled into a cruel smile as he approached them silently.
All the Human Race cultivators within 30 metres of him collapsed dead to the ground before they even understood what was going on. It didn’t take long before this figure arrived not far away from the four women and without losing his momentum, he aimed a sneak attack directly at Xia Ning Chang’s neck.
“Hm?” Su Yan frowned, instinctively feeling that something was wrong. She was the strongest among the four women, so her perception was also the most sensitive. The moment she sensed that something was wrong, she lifted the longsword in her hand and turned to face Xia Ning Chang, pointing her sword at her and shouting, “Ning Chang, watch out!”
The Formation of these four women was under Su Yan’s control; thus, Xue Yue and the others couldn’t help but follow suit when she suddenly made a move. There was a sound of metal clashing against metal and a figure seemed to flash and disappear into thin air. Then, several pained cries rang out amidst the rain of sparks. The Formation was broken in an instant and the four women were thrown back into the surrounding area.
They couldn’t even parry one attack from their opponent despite combining their strength through a Formation. Su Yan was suspended in mid-air at the moment, her beautiful eyes looking solemnly in Xia Ning Chang’s direction. Her heart sank when she finally caught sight of the blurred figure behind the sneak attack.
“A Shadow Demon Half-Saint!” Shocked, she urgently yelled, “Ning Chang, dodge!”
Similarly, Xia Ning Chang finally saw what her attacker looked like at this moment. He was a middle-aged man with a sullen face and a hooked nose. His Demon Qi was wrapped all over his body. She had been completely unaware of his presence until he appeared in front of her.
How could she not understand what kind of situation she was in at the moment after hearing Su Yan’s shout? It was just that fighting was not her forte. She had spent most of her time performing Alchemy inside Pill Rooms from the day she started cultivating. Since she had the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body, she practised Alchemy as her cultivation. That was why she had little real combat experience even though her Emperor Qi was extremely pure.
It was the first time in her life that she encountered such danger, but she found that her mind was surprisingly calm. The Shadow Demon Half-Saint standing opposite her was giving her a cruel grin. On the other hand, she raised her hand and flicked out a World Bead.
This was one of the World Beads that Yang Kai initially refined in the Lower Star Field during his experimental phase. It did not have the function of carrying people, but nevertheless, it was something he refined with a lot of hard work. There was no need for her to activate her Emperor Qi, she only needed to throw it out for it to exert an extremely powerful force.
The Shadow Demon Half-Saint facing her coldly snorted and lightly used the dagger in his hand to block the attack. Contrary to his expectations, however, a huge force that almost sent him flying backwards slammed into him from the front.
This wasn’t strange though. Yang Kai had produced the World Beads by refining large asteroids or even Dead Stars after all. Xia Ning Chang and the others might be able to control these beads without any problems, but the weight of these beads could not be ignored.
It was only natural that the Shadow Demon Half-Saint would suffer slightly because he underestimated this bead. Nevertheless, that was all the effect that it had on him. His figure paused slightly for a moment, and then the dagger in his hand came slashing down at Xia Ning Chang’s head as he let out a cruel laugh, “Die!”
“No!” Su Yan shouted at the top of her lungs
Xia Ning Chang’s vision seemed to freeze at that moment, everything in her surroundings suddenly seemed to be moving at an incredibly slow speed. She could clearly see Su Yan struggling to rush over in time, as well as the Ancestral Ice Phoenix phantom which manifested behind her back, craning its neck upwards as it let out a piercing cry. She saw the horrified and helpless looks on the faces of Xue Yue and Shan Qing Luo, who were knocked to the ground just now. She also saw the cold glint on the blade of the dagger…
An aura of death washed over her and a sharp Qi pierced her neck, causing a sting of pain. In her mind, her entire life seemed to flash before her eyes at a very high speed. Then…
She suddenly saw a stalwart figure appearing in front of her. It was just like what happened in the Great Han Dynasty back then when she went to the unnamed mountain valley with him to collect the Nine Yin Yuan Condensing Dew. That night, that kiss, their chaotic emotions, all of these soon formed into a lifetime of inseparability.
That stalwart figure was like a huge mountain that stood in front of her to protect her from the wind and rain. In that moment, Xia Ning Chang smiled. Despite being surrounded by thousands of enemies, standing in a sea of blood and amidst a mountain of corpses, she couldn’t help feeling a sense of security and warmth when she saw that broad back.
*Dang…*
The sound of metal clashing rang out and sparks flew everywhere. The expression on the Shadow Demon Half-Saint’s face changed slightly and he hurriedly retreated.
Yang Kai held the Azure Dragon Spear in his hand, showing no intention of chasing down the enemy. Instead, he simply watched the other party coldly, the chill in his eyes making the other party go cold with fear.
When their eyes met, the Shadow Demon Half-Saint frowned. He could not gauge how great Yang Kai’s strength was as there was absolutely no aura fluctuation coming from the man standing in front of him right now. It was almost as if he was an ordinary mortal who had never cultivated before. This scene greatly confused him; after all, this person could not possibly be an ordinary man. Just moments ago, the Giant Furnace in the sky had flashed with the character ‘Void’. Therefore, this person was most likely an existence on the level of a Great Emperor.
“Little Senior Sister, are you hurt?” Yang Kai turned back to look at Xia Ning Chang only to see a huge smile blooming on her face. She slowly shook her head with a gentle look in her eyes; however, crimson blood flowed out of a bloody cut on her fair and slender neck.
Yang Kai stared at that wound, feeling a trace of lingering fear that made his blood run cold. He had immediately rushed over without any delay the moment he came out of the Profound Heavens Temple and, luckily, he arrived just in time. If he had been a moment later, he would not have been able to see his Little Senior Sister’s sweet smile ever again.
More than fear though, what Yang Kai felt at this moment was anger. He turned back once more to glare at the Shadow Demon Half-Saint with a terribly cold look in his eyes, his murderous intent surging wildly.
The Shadow Demon Half-Saint coldly snorted and did not try to fight Yang Kai. Instead, his figure faded away swiftly, vanishing out of sight as though he had not been there in the first place.
“Naive!” Yang Kai snarled coldly. He didn’t make any movements, but his figure suddenly appeared in front of Xue Yue as he stabbed forward with his spear.
There was a splatting sound, like something being pierced, and immediately after that, a spurt of blood shot out of nowhere before a vague figure quickly became solid. It was the Shadow Demon Half-Saint that vanished out of sight just now. At this moment, he was staring at Yang Kai in shock. Grabbing at the Azure Dragon Spear that was sticking out of his chest, he muttered incredulously, “You…”
He could not believe what was happening. As a Shadow Demon Half-Saint, he was born with the inherent gift for stealth and assassination; therefore, he never imagined that he would be found by the other party so easily, much less receive such a severe injury.
It was precisely because he could not gauge Yang Kai’s strength that he dared to try and attack Xue Yue. He would have a bargaining chip to threaten Yang Kai as long as he succeeded, whether by killing her or capturing her. Unfortunately, that simple spear thrust had shattered all his delusional hopes. He couldn’t even see how the spear came at him before he was impaled by it.
A mysterious force flowed into his body, wreaking havoc and destroying his meridians and causing his heart to sink. How could he not know that it was the effects of that peculiar Martial Truth? Gritting his teeth, the Shadow Demon exerted great strength into his arm while pushing his body backwards at the same time. He forcefully pulled himself off of the Azure Dragon Spear, causing a large amount of blood to gush out in the process.
Not daring to remain in this place for even a moment longer, his figure flashed to escape into the distance. That attack that came out of nowhere had completely broken his fighting spirit; however, before he could do anything, he saw the enormous spear shadow looming over him from above. He paled in shock and hastily used the daggers in his hands to parry the attack.
There was a series of clanging sounds and two figures flitted back and forth within a radius of 100 metres, exchanging blows with each other.
Three breaths later, the fierce battle came to an end.
Su Yan and the others watched the battle with a strange light in their eyes, one that conveyed a mixture of joy and astonishment.
In the meantime, the Azure Dragon Spear pierced through the Shadow Demon’s head. It went in through his forehead and out the back of his skull. His eyes widened in surprise as shock and horror filled his face.
On the other hand, Yang Kai’s expression was calm and indifferent. There was neither joy nor sorrow on his face. With a flick of his spear, the Shadow Demon exploded into a cloud of blood mist.
“Protect yourselves well!” Yang Kai hurriedly shouted to his four wives before his figure flew straight up into the sky. It wasn’t until he was several thousand metres in the air that he stopped abruptly. Placing the Azure Dragon Spear beside him, he swept his gaze over the battlefield below. Sweeping out one hand, he spoke in a soft voice, “I am Void…”
His voice was not loud, but it reverberated across the entire world, his solemn and dignified incantation filling every corner of the Star Boundary. The hand that he held out slowly pressed down as his voice rang out once more, the sound penetrating straight into the hearts of all, “My Dao is the Dao of Space…”
His hand pressed down firmly all of a sudden, “Annihilation!”
Space shuddered and the world rumbled. Countless tiny Void Cracks appeared out of thin air, covering a massive area. The Void Cracks moved about like Spirit Snakes, slithering across the bodies of innumerable Demon Race members.
In the next moment, the Humans who were fighting the Demon Race in a battle to the death were astonished to see their opponents showing looks of extreme shock. Then, the bodies of these Demons exploded with a bang. Pieces of meat and blood splattered everywhere, showering countless people with a rain of blood.
With that one strike, Yang Kai had wiped out millions of soldiers in the Demon Race army, clearing a large swath of the battlefield in an instant. The most shocking thing, however, was that all the Humans standing on that same battlefield were completely unscathed.
The war was far from over, but nevertheless, the never-ending commotion on the battlefield fell into a strange silence at that moment. Everybody was staring at the rain of blood and flesh in front of them, feeling as though they were caught in a dream. They were still desperately fighting their enemies just a moment ago, but that enemy was suddenly destroyed in the blink of an eye…
Standing in the sky, Yang Kai did not stop after the first palm strike. He aimed at another spot and struck again… Millions of Demons died with every palm he released.
For the first time since the beginning of the war between the two worlds until now, both the Human Race and the Demon Race were finally seeing what kind of devastating destruction a Great Emperor could bring to the battlefield.
No Great Emperor or Demon Saint had ever done something like this due to various restraints and unavoidable reasons. Hence, the army’s opponent had always been another army. Even if the war had grown incredibly intense, the top Masters did not allow their battles to affect their respective armies. For that reason, be it the Human Race or the Demon Race, it wasn’t until today that they witnessed the horrifying power of a Great Emperor recognised by the Heavenly Way with their own eyes.
Xue Li stood in the sky, glaring so hard that his eyes felt like they were going to burst. Even though he was engaged in battle with the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan, he could still perceive the movements of the battlefield below him clearly. Thus, he noticed Yang Kai’s presence the moment the latter appeared. The last bit of hope in his heart disappeared without a trace when Yang Kai killed a Shadow Demon Half-Saint within three breaths.
The little brat that he used to scorn, the one who could only cower or flee before him in the past… At this moment, that little brat had obtained the strength of a Great Emperor and now stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him! After all, only a Great Emperor could kill a Shadow Demon Half-Saint so quickly and effortlessly!
The next action Yang Kai took left Xue Li fuming in even greater rage. In just ten breaths, tens of millions of the Demon Race army had been obliterated! Such a huge loss was not something he could accept. The plan that was only one step away from completion ended up being derailed due to the appearance of this bastard boy. An immense rage lingered in Xue Li’s head, making him go berserk.
“You want to go save those Demons of yours? You’ll have to ask this Old Master’s permission first!” Zhu Yan gave a furious roar as a massive Dragon Tail came sweeping over. Even Xue Li did not dare to take such an attack head-on, so he had no choice but to dodge aside.
Zhu Yan, who had been despairing previously, suddenly had the urge to throw back his head and laugh out loud; after all, anybody who finally found a glimmer of hope in a desperate situation would not be able to suppress the relief in their hearts.
The three Demon Saints were being tied down by Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun, and judging by Yang Kai’s performance just now, he was an invincible existence as long as these three did not make a move. It would take no more than an hour before he wiped out all the entire Demon Race army below. At that time, who would be the one to cry and who would be the one to laugh?
Xue Li gnashed his teeth, “Did you think that he can do whatever he wants just because he became a Great Emperor!? Old dog, have you gone senile!?”
There was a hidden truth behind those words and Zhu Yan was temporarily stunned when he heard them. However, he abruptly sensed the presence of another Great Emperor’s aura appearing out of thin air before he could figure out the meaning behind those words. Turning pale from shock, he hurriedly turned towards Yang Kai’s direction and shouted, “Watch out!”
“I’ve been waiting for you!” On the contrary, Yang Kai was not surprised; rather, it would seem that he had already anticipated this turn of events. Lifting the Azure Dragon Spear, he swept it out horizontally.
A violent force swept through the air as it felt like this attack was powered by the World’s Will itself. A figure was forcibly revealed as a result, one that glared at Yang Kai with a solemn expression.
Yang Kai held his spear in one hand, using it to point in a certain direction. He was staring deeply at the person who just arrived, his eyes flashing with indescribable hatred and disgust as he roared dangerously, “Can Ye!”
The figure standing in front of him was wrapped in black Qi and even with Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, he could not make out the other party’s true appearance. Nevertheless, that figure was exuding the unique aura of a Great Emperor, so who else could it be but Night Shadow Great Emperor, Can Ye?
When the Profound Heavens Temple opened back then, many of the Demon Race Half-Saints had gotten a lot of information about the Grand Dao battle from Can Ye. That undoubtedly meant that Can Ye was somewhere in Star Boundary. It was just that nobody knew where he was hiding to treat his wounds.
How could Yang Kai not take precautions against Can Ye when he was aware of this?
Can Ye had used himself as a bridge to connect the two worlds and forcibly open the two worlds’ passage. During that incident, Can Ye was badly injured by the Iron Blood Great Emperor, Zhan Wu Hen. He disappeared off the grid afterward, seeming to have gone into retreat to recuperate from his injuries.
Now that the war between the two worlds had reached the most critical moment, it was impossible for him to remain by the sidelines, regardless of his intentions. Sure enough; the Night Shadow Great Emperor, who had been hiding in the shadows all this while, finally showed himself once Yang Kai returned from the Profound Heavens Temple with the might of a Great Emperor.
The black fog covered Can Ye’s face so his true appearance could not be seen. Even so, Yang Kai could clearly perceive a pair of eyes examining him intently from within the black fog.
“Hmm? You are not a Great Emperor yet,” A sonorous voice came from the opposite side. It sounded like gold and iron rubbing against each other, causing extreme discomfort to the people listening to that voice.
“The Heavenly Way recognised me. That makes me a Great Emperor!” Yang Kai replied calmly.
Can Ye shook his head slowly, “This world is on its dying breath; don’t rely on it too much. You are not yet a Great Emperor.”
Yang Kai grinned. “So what? I’ve always liked the challenge of fighting with people stronger than me. Most of the time, things end badly for my enemies. Besides… how much strength can you bring out?”
Although their confrontation had only lasted a moment, he managed to get a keen grasp on Can Ye’s current condition. Can Ye had yet to recover from his injuries! His injuries were caused by Zhan Wu Hen after all. At their level of strength, it would take them more than three or five years to completely heal from any injury that they received. Although he had been in retreat for the past few years to concentrate on healing, the time was still too short for him to completely recover from his injuries. If Yang Kai had not shown up, he would most likely not have rushed out either. It was only because of Yang Kai’s appearance that he was forced to step forward to stop Yang Kai.
“Useless dying struggles!” Can Ye looked down at the battlefield below. “The two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan won’t be able to extricate themselves from their battles. Even if you received the recognition of the Heavenly Way, you will inevitably be too busy and distracted to do anything if I were to get in your way. Without your help, High Heaven Palace will surely fall within an hour. There will be no place left for you in this vast world once that happens!”
Yang Kai lowered his head slightly. “It looks like I have to kill you within an hour!”
“You can try!” The moment the last word rang out, Can Ye suddenly lifted his hand. A 3-metre-long curved sword appeared in his hand and slashed forward.
On the other hand, Yang Kai moved in a bizarre manner. The Azure Dragon Spear came stabbing straight at Can Ye. There was a large black ball on the tip on the spear, which exuded an aura that could destroy the world.
The curved sword slashed down on the black ball, causing the black ball to collapse in on itself and vanish without a trace. However, Can Ye felt a shock going through his body and was involuntarily sent flying backwards as a result. This blow even caused the black fog that had been covering his face to scatter, revealing a pair of extremely surprised eyes.
In their second confrontation, he actually turned out to be slightly disadvantaged!
Even though he was severely wounded and unable to use his full strength at the moment, Yang Kai’s strength still shocked him. His perception indicated that Yang Kai was nowhere near the Realm of a Great Emperor. It was only because this world was on its last legs that Yang Kai was awarded the title of a Great Emperor and given some of the abilities of a Great Emperor. Who could have known that he could actually bring out the power that a Great Emperor should have?
The scattered black fog immediately condensed back together again to cover Can Ye’s strange expression. At the same time, his figure quickly faded from sight.
Yang Kai reached out and swept a hand at Can Ye. He shouted, “In the name of Void, I command you to seal the world! Seal!”
*Clang. Clang. Clang…* A series of peculiar noises rang out from within the Void. At this moment, the invisible and intangible power of the Void could be seen with the naked eye. It was as though transparent chains were spreading around the surroundings with Yang Kai as the centre.
In the blink of an eye, those transparent chains completely sealed off the world within a ten-thousand-kilometre radius and transformed the area into an enormous cage.
Can Ye’s figure slowly emerged from a corner of the cage. Like a Ghost, he hovered quietly in mid-air without saying a word.
Yang Kai pointed his spear forward and shouted, “Can Ye! Today, only one person will be left standing!”
When those words left his mouth, numerous Void Cracks appeared inside this enormous cage. The entire space inside the cage collapsed, leaving only the space surrounding Can Ye untouched.
Can Ye became furious and roared, “Are you crazy!?”
He could sense determination coming from Yang Kai’s tone. In other words, Yang Kai was not trying to scare him. The latter really intended to fight him to the death, here and now!
That was simply unreasonable. At their level of strength, trying to decide on a winner in a one-on-one death match was extremely difficult. More so since Can Ye himself was also one of the Great Emperors who had received the world’s recognition. In any case, even if this world was completely eroded by the Demon Qi, Yang Kai would most likely be safe with his current strength. Therefore, Can Ye could not understand why Yang Kai was doing this.
“I won’t survive if I’m not a little reckless!” Yang Kai looked at Can Ye coldly. “Enough nonsense. Just die.”
Stretching his hand toward Can Ye, he tightened his fist fiercely. The countless Void Cracks in the cage suddenly shot toward Can Ye like a bunch of snakes darting out of their hiding holes.
Can Ye slashed down with his curved sword. The attack brimming with the world’s might seemed ordinary, but it worked in extremely mysterious ways. His body seemed to become motionless, like one of the reefs in the sea. Then, the Void Cracks just slid past him and left him completely unscathed.
Simultaneously, Yang Kai gripped his spear and charged forward. He sprayed the Azure Dragon Spear with a mouthful of his Blood Essence before he arrived in front of Can Ye. Following that, two high-pitched dragon roars sounded at almost the same time. A brilliantly dazzling Golden Divine Dragon Source flashed and disappeared. The Azure Dragon Spear also turned into a huge Azure Dragon, which swung its claws and bared its fangs at Can Ye.
The ancient aura seemed to pull Can Ye into a very distant era, causing a shock to his mind. His expression changed slightly. Then, he split into countless figures with a gentle sway of his body. Each figure was identical to himself. Even the aura emitting from them was flawless. Following that, an uncountable number of Can Ye replicas swung the curved swords in their hands, shouting, “Shadow Flash Strike!”
Countless Blade Lights flashed through the air. A Big Dragon roared; the Azure Dragon illusory phantom shattered and reformed into the Azure Dragon Spear to cut down Blade Light after Blade Light.
An incessant noise of metal against metal rang out. The Void collapsed and the world turned upside-down. If not for the cage laid out by Yang Kai in the beginning, the confrontation between the two Great Emperors would have caused great destruction to the world for hundreds of thousands of kilometres.
Yang Kai was also the only person who could set up a sealed cage like this. His Dao was the Dao of Space, so he had a unique advantage in this area. It was impossible for any other Great Emperor to pull off something of this scale.
The aftermath of their confrontation went unchecked inside the sealed cage. Thus, the world inside the cage was completely broken and filled with chaos.
Meanwhile, the two opposing armies below had stopped fighting and looked up to watch this battle instead. Similarly, many Half-Saints and Pseudo-Great Emperors distanced themselves from each other to observe quietly. Everybody knew that the battle between Yang Kai and Can Ye would affect the survival of Star Boundary.
Although the battle between the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan, Xue Li, and the others was also of great importance, those five had clashed against each other on many occasions. More importantly, they were always evenly matched. Neither side could do anything to the other; it was probably the same case this time as well.
Therefore, only Yang Kai’s battle could give them a ray of hope.
Be that as it may, nobody could figure out the situation on the battlefield despite paying close attention to the battle. All they could see inside the World Cage were violent bursts of power raging across the battlefield, chaotic aura permeating the entire space, and occasionally, two figures appearing and disappearing in a flash. They couldn’t even get a clear glimpse of the figures; how could they tell who was winning and who was losing?
“Supreme Commander, how is the situation?” One of the Army Commanders quietly sneaked over to Li Wu Yi’s side and asked in a quiet voice.
If there was anybody among the Pseudo-Great Emperors in Star Boundary who could get a clear handle on the situation of the battle, then it could only be Li Wu Yi. Nobody else had the qualifications.
Unexpectedly, Li Wu Yi smiled wryly and shook his head. “I can’t tell…”
The Army Commander was dumbfounded. [If even Li Wu Yi can’t tell, then doesn’t that mean that Yang Kai has really reached the Realm of a Great Emperor? It is impossible for a Pseudo-Great Emperor to speculate on a battle between Great Emperors after all.]
The moment that thought crossed his mind, he felt refreshed all of a sudden.
*Boom.* An explosion rang out from within the enormous cage. The two figures that had been fiercely entangled in battle all this time finally separated within the chaotic world.
A burst of exclamations came from all over the world. Many Pseudo-Great Emperors could see that Yang Kai’s complexion was pale and a trace of blood was trickling from the corners of his mouth. It would seem that he had been injured.
Even so, Yang Kai was laughing. His calm voice rang out across the world. “The Night Shadow Great Emperor is nothing special after all!”
Everybody in Star Boundary was shocked by those words. They turned to look at Can Ye and couldn’t help gaping in surprise. That was because the black fog that had been covering Can Ye’s face had disappeared to reveal an extremely ordinary face. It was a face with no unusual features or characteristics. If he was thrown into the middle of a crowd, nobody would even look twice at him. It was the face of a man in his forties.
[Is that the true appearance of the Night Shadow Great Emperor?] Nobody had ever seen what the Night Shadow Great Emperor looked like. Even the other Great Emperors had never seen his face before. They didn’t even know whether he was a man or a woman. It wasn’t until this moment, under the gazes of the entire Star Boundary army, that his appearance became known to the world.
*Chi…* A sound rang out, making Can Ye look down. His eyes narrowed slightly at the sight. There was a 30-centimetre-long wound stretching across his waist and abdomen. A peculiar force was flourishing in the wound, like maggots on rotting bones. It made him feel very uneasy.
The result of the brief and desperate confrontation between them was a lose-lose situation for both parties.
Can Ye coldly snorted. Mobilising the power in his body, he suppressed and sealed the Martial Truth that was eroding away at his body. The Martial Truth was extremely troublesome. Moreover, it was difficult to remove even for a Great Emperor like him. How could he have the time to resolve this issue calmly when Yang Kai was breathing down his neck? All he could do at the moment was suppress the wound to prevent it from worsening.
After Can Ye finished doing that, Yang Kai solemnly said, “This is the end of my warm-up session. Can Ye, this day next year will be the anniversary of your death!”
“What a crazy Junior!” A hint of rage appeared on Can Ye’s face. He was obviously annoyed by Yang Kai’s shameless boasting.
“You’ll know whether I’m crazy or not after you take a hit from my spear!” Yang Kai shouted. He moved forward and his spear shot out like a Dragon, ignoring the barriers of space.
Seeing that Yang Kai was injured, many Masters from the Star Boundary and even the countless soldiers below couldn’t help feeling as though their hearts were caught in their throats. Nevertheless, what happened next made their eyes shine with a strange light!
When Yang Kai’s spear blasted forward, Can Ye’s expression changed again. He instinctively felt the World’s Will pressing down on him. Even with the power of a Great Emperor, it made him feel a little breathless. He hastily parried the attack. Even so, the overwhelming force that came from the front sent his body flying backwards involuntarily.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai followed closely like a shadow, attacking again and again without stopping. His expression was as tranquil as an ancient well, but his actions were merciless and ruthless.
*Boom. Boom. Boom…* The fierce and unending onslaught made Can Ye a little tired of parrying. His figure was constantly fleeing around in the enormous cage, but he was unable to get away from Yang Kai.
In front of everybody’s eyes, the Night Shadow Great Emperor was being suppressed and forced into a completely disadvantageous position in the battle. Everybody was in an uproar… This scenario was something that nobody could have imagined even though they knew that Yang Kai had the power of a Great Emperor. It was just that Can Ye had made a name for himself for such a long time now. Even if Yang Kai had gained the power to fight, it was hard to say who would end up winning and who would end up losing the battle. However, the current situation seemed to indicate that Yang Kai was holding the upper hand.
“Can Ye must be heavily injured…” A pensive look flashed through Li Wu Yi’s eyes.
The Army Commander who had snuck over to Li Wu Yi previously spoke upon hearing those words, “Is that to say… it’s not that Can Ye is weaker than Yang… Senior Void, but because his injuries have yet to heal?”
Li Wu Yi nodded, “That’s probably the case. It might also be a matter of their motivation…”
Yang Kai wanted to rescue the Star Boundary. For that, he had to finish the battle within an hour. It was a given that he was not holding back at all. On the other hand, Can Ye was different. All he needed to do was drag things out. There was no need for him to fight a deathmatch against Yang Kai. After all, Yang Kai would be powerless to do anything once High Heaven Palace was completely eroded by the Demon Qi, regardless of how strong he was.
One side was giving their all while the other side was holding back. Combined with Can Ye’s previous injuries, it was not surprising for this situation to occur.
“Crazy Junior!” Can Ye’s suppressed roar came from within the cage. He seemed furious, “Don’t go overboard with your antics!”
Yang Kai did not answer. However, his boundless fighting spirit continued to burn strongly and his intense murderous intent was firmly locked on Can Ye.
“Fine! If that’s the case, have it your way!” Can Ye yelled furiously. At the same time, his empty hand reached out to grab at something in the Void. Another curved sword appeared in his hand without warning. With a sword in each hand, the aura around his body changed abruptly. The World’s Will gathered around his body without anybody noticing. Then, he crossed his swords in front of him.
*Boom…* A loud explosion sounded. Can Ye had been forced backwards and seemed to be at a disadvantage all this time, but he stood firmly in place at this moment. Yang Kai gripped his spear and pushed down. The Azure Dragon Spear and the twin swords clashed against each other with an ear-splitting screech and a dazzling shower of sparks.
They stood no more than ten metres away from each other and glared at each other. One was ballistic with rage while the other was as calm as an abyss. The world around them shattered and fell apart.
“I am also one of the Great Emperors recognised by the Star Boundary! You are not the only one who can control World Force!” Can Ye roared.
The reason Great Emperors were known as Great Emperors was that they were recognised by the world. They contained a part of the World’s Will in their bodies, which allowed them to draw upon the World Force. That was the biggest difference between a Great Emperor and an ordinary Emperor Realm Master.
Yang Kai grinned, “So what?”
While speaking, he exerted great strength in his hand. The newly condensed Dao Seal above the spine of the dragon bone shone brightly and a boundless mighty force gathered around his body.
The stalemate was instantly broken and Can Ye staggered backwards by several steps. His expression changed drastically at the sudden turn of events. He yelled, “How can this be!?”
In that moment, he felt his connection with the world weakened slightly. On the other hand, Yang Kai’s World Force increased sharply in contrast. If not for that, the balance would not have been broken so easily.
Yang Kai looked at Can Ye pityingly, “What’s so impossible about that? You abandoned this world. Did you think the world would just let you do whatever you want?”
The force in Yang Kai’s hand increased further and a circle of vibration spread out all of a sudden. Can Ye was blown away like a shooting star, spitting out a mouthful of blood while in mid-air.
Standing in the sky, Yang Kai spoke in a cool tone, “The World is alive, Can Ye. Don’t you understand that?”
If the World were not alive, it would not have opened the Profound Heavens Temple at the last moment of the Star Boundary’s survival. If the World were not alive, the Source Sealed World would not have protected Yang Kai after the competition for the Heavenly Source Fruit ended. The World was always watching over the millions of living creatures at all times; the invisible and intangible Heavenly Way would always guide a person to the clearest path at critical moments.
Can Ye stabilised his body, wiped away the blood at the corners of his mouth, and coldly responded, “If the World is sentient, then why did it allow me to become a Great Emperor? Stop speaking nonsense.”
Yang Kai threw his head back and laughed, “Whether or not my words are nonsense, don’t you know best? Since you decided to abandon and betray the Grand Dao of this world, then please return everything you received from this world.”
While he was speaking, a huge gap suddenly opened in the Void behind him. The shape of the gap was very peculiar. It almost looked like an eye that was staring at Can Ye indifferently.
Can Ye widened his eyes in astonishment, staring at the huge eye in the sky in horror. Under that gaze, he felt his connection with the world fading away rapidly.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai spread open his arms. An odd look appeared on his face. The invisible and intangible World Force gathered around his body and the Azure Dragon Spear in his hand roared several times.
“Can Ye!” All of a sudden, he let out a roar. His expression was hideous, “The blood of the Demon Race might flow through your veins, but you were born and raised in the Star Boundary! This world gave you the glory you have right now; this world gave you the status and respect you have right now! It’s bad enough that you don’t appreciate it, but you went so far as to betray the world, abandon the people, and allow foreign enemies to invade us! Your death is one not worth pitying! Today, I will deliver justice on behalf of the Heavens!”
He stuck the Azure Dragon Spear into the void and cast a Secret Technique with one hand. A mysterious and peerless mark suddenly appeared behind him.
“Dao Seal!?” Can Ye’s eyes widened further. He stared at Yang Kai in horror, “What are you doing!?”
As a Great Emperor himself, it was a given that he understood what a Dao Seal was. It was the crystallisation of a Great Emperor’s strength accumulated over a lifetime. It was equivalent to the Monster Core of a Monster Beast.
Monster Beasts would spit out their Monster Cores in desperate situations to attack powerful enemies. It was something only a cornered beast would do. If their luck was good enough, they would be able to turn the situation around and survive. If their luck was poor, their very soul would be destroyed. It could be said that this approach taken by the Monster Beasts was a double-edged sword. It would backfire on them with the slightest mistake.
In all the years since Can Ye became a Great Emperor, he had never seen anybody bring out their Dao Seal. Then again, there had never been a battle between the Great Emperors in the Star Boundary for all these years. They would occasionally exchange a few blows in private at most, but nobody would bring out their Dao Seal so easily during a sparring match. That was why it was also his first time seeing somebody performing an attack like this.
A halo of light flowed through the Dao Seal, flashing and flickering erratically. Just like the Space Principles that Yang Kai had mastered, that light was unpredictable, strange, and inexplicable. Moreover, an extremely horrifying aura was fluctuating from the Dao Seal.
Every single person who saw the Dao Seal couldn’t help feeling a chill running down their spine. There was no doubt that if something like that were to crash into the Star Boundary, it would most likely wipe out an entire territory.
The World Force poured madly into the Dao Seal, making the Void around the Dao Seal shine brighter and brighter. In the blink of an eye, it was as though there was a small sun in the sky. Everybody could not help but close their eyes.
“There’s not much time, so this attack will determine everything!” Yang Kai’s expression was calm. It was almost as though the Dao Seal in front of him was not the most important thing to him, but an artifact that he could just casually toss out.
If possible, Yang Kai would not have wanted to take this risk. He had only just received this opportunity and glimpsed into the secrets of the Martial Dao peak. It was only natural that he wanted to cherish his own wings.
Unfortunately, time waited for no one. He had the confidence to win against Can Ye if he continued his fight against Can Ye, but it was not something that could be resolved within a short time.
[This is the only way! Only by taking this risk can I end this as soon as possible!] Once he made his decision, he stopped hesitating. Even if doing this would damage his Grand Dao foundation, he had to press forward at all costs.
“Go!” While shouting, Yang Kai pointed forward. The Dao Seal that was radiating with a dazzling light leisurely floated towards Can Ye. The speed was fairly slow. It looked like any ordinary person could dodge the attack.
However, in Can Ye’s eyes, it felt like the entire Star Boundary was pressing down on him. [I can’t escape!]
That was an attack fuelled by the power of the vast Great World. Moreover, it was unleashed by the Dao Seal. There was nobody in this world who could avoid that attack.
[I can only defend like my life depends on it!] A loud roar rang out. Can Ye gritted his teeth and reached out his hand to point forward. A mark also appeared at the tip of his finger. That mark was quite similar to Yang Kai’s Dao Seal. It was mysterious and unique, but it was black in colour. Not to mention, the entire Dao Seal gave off a vibe that was both sharp and hidden… That was Can Ye’s Dao. It was a Dao of assassination and concealment.
Under the watch of countless eyes, these two Dao Seals gradually approached each other. They collided with each other silently. At that moment, black and white light illuminated the entire sky to form two huge semi-circles of different colours that rivalled each other. Both Yang Kai and Can Ye coughed up blood at the same time. Their hearts and bodies were shocked by the impact.
Under everybody’s nervous gaze, the white Domain expanded abruptly to engulf the black Domain. It only took a blink of an eye. The black was rapidly melted and filled entirely with white. Like how the victory was determined between the two opposing armies, the black army collapsed and fell apart.
Can Ye’s reluctant and furious roar rang out across the world.
When the incandescent white light that filled the world slowly faded, everybody felt their vision returning to normal. Then, they anxiously looked up.
Two figures stood apart in the sky. The cage that Yang Kai set up earlier was nowhere to be seen. Even though he formed that cage by borrowing the world’s might, it was still not enough to withstand the impact of two Great Emperors’ Dao Seals clashing against each other. It had long since dissipated into nothing. A huge black hole had appeared in the Void, as though the world was missing a chunk. It was all thanks to the protection of the cage. Otherwise, the missing piece in the world would not have been that small.
At this moment, both figures in the sky were in a miserable state. Yang Kai was pale and bleeding from his seven orifices. On the other hand, Can Ye’s hair was completely dishevelled and he looked like he was going to collapse at any moment.
Everybody was shocked. They thought that it would be the greatest battle in the world. They thought that it would be a fierce struggle between two evenly matched opponents. Who could have expected that the winner would be decided in less than ten seconds after Yang Kai’s Dao Seal was unleashed? This kind of speed was simply appalling. This was a battle between Great Emperors. How could it end in such a short period of time!?
There was no way of knowing who held the upper hand in the battle at first glance.
A gasping sound rang out as Yang Kai’s chest heaved violently. He reached out to grab the Azure Dragon Spear next to him with a look of reminiscence and nostalgia on his face, his voice echoing solemnly as he shouted, “This spear is for the World that birthed and raised us!”
While speaking, his body flickered slightly and instantly appeared in front of Can Ye, his spear thrusting out.
Can Ye raised his weapon to parry; however, he seemed to have lost all strength and before he could even lift his twin swords completely, he felt his body stiffen. The Azure Dragon Spear had pierced into his lower abdomen and came out through the back of his body. A violent force exploded from behind, ripping his clothes to pieces and causing a large bloody hole to appear in his back.
He widened his eyes in surprise and stared hard at Yang Kai, who was standing in front of him, his teeth rattling audibly as he muttered, “This King is Night Shadow Great Emperor…”
Yang Kai turned a deaf ear to those words as he pulled out his spear, causing a large amount of blood to spill out. Then, he thrust his spear out again, his voice cold as ice, “This spear is for all the trillions of lives who died in the Star Boundary!”
With a loud splatter, the Azure Dragon Spear pierced into Can Ye’s heart.
Can Ye’s body jerked once more. Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth and a gurgling sound came from his throat, “This King has stood in the Star Boundary for tens of thousands of years…”
The spear was pulled out again, but this time around, Yang Kai’s indifferent voice became slightly more high-pitched, mixed with a combination of blood and tears he roared, “This spear is for Senior Bright Moon!”
His grief-filled voice resonated throughout the entire Star Boundary. There was a crack of thunder and lightning flashed, followed by torrential rain that fell from the sky without warning.
Accompanied by the sound of lightning and thunder, the spear struck Can Ye’s head, exploding it the moment the attack landed. At the same time, something both white and red splattered in all directions
*Kacha…*
The thunder and lightning flashed even more fiercely and rain came pouring down more and more torrentially, washing away the filth in the world. There seemed to be a faint sigh coming from the world and the huge crack in the sky behind Yang Kai that looked like an eye slowly closed at this moment.
There was no announcement or communication in any way, but even so, every single living creature in the Star Boundary had a moment of enlightenment in their hearts: A Great Emperor had fallen!
Yang Kai retrieved his spear, stood tall and took a deep breath. An unprecedented joy in his heart made him unable to resist throwing his head back and roaring into the sky. His roars were thunderous, matching the sound of thunder and lightning in a deafening cacophony.
He was not elated by the death of a Great Emperor at his hands; rather, it was because he had finally collected the blood debt of Bright Moon!
Bright Moon had died on Eternal Sky Continent, and although many Demon Saints had worked together to besiege him, the real fatal blow was actually delivered by Can Ye.
Yang Kai had watched the battle from afar, so he distinctly saw what happened at the time. If not for Can Ye who appeared out of nowhere at the last moment and ambushed Bright Moon Great Emperor, the latter might still have had a chance at survival. Bright Moon had been wary of all the Demon Saints, but it was a pity that the only thing he had not guarded against was Can Ye appearing on Eternal Sky Continent.
It was also in that battle that Yang Kai received Bright Moon’s legacy and the blessing of the world. In the end, that was what allowed him to reach the end of the Grand Dao battle and obtain the Heavenly Source Fruit. It could be said that everything he achieved today was all thanks to Bright Moon Great Emperor’s sacrifice.
Since Yang Kai received such favour from Bright Moon Great Emperor, it was only natural that he should take revenge for his benefactor! It was a pity that he was too weak before and even if he wanted to, he did not have the strength to do so. Thus, how could he possibly pass up such a good opportunity today?
It wasn’t until this moment that Yang Kai felt the burden that had been pressing down on his heart all this time finally ease up.
Amidst Yang Kai’s roars, the Demon Race army trembled like quails without a nest in the cold winter. Likewise, the expressions of the Half-Saints watching this battle changed greatly. The fear on their faces was beyond description.
Inside High Heaven Palace, Lan Xun stood among a mountain full of dead bodies and stared at the headless corpse in the sky with tears streaming down her cheeks. She fell to her knees with a thud, crying loudly, “Father, Can Ye is dead. Please rest in peace now.”
Not far behind her, Xiao Chen stood covered in blood with his longsword gripped tightly in his hand. He was staring forward blankly, his heart full of bitterness as he mused, [The gap between us has grown so large… At this rate, I will never catch up to him for the rest of my life.]
Furious roars came from the clouds above, occasionally mixed with a high-pitched Dragon Roar. Five figures were entangled with each other somewhere high up in the sky. Moreover, the sounds of battle were gradually getting farther and farther away.
Can Ye’s death had struck a chord of fear in Xue Li and the others. How could they dare to remain in this place after what they just witnessed? Needless to say, they immediately wanted to flee; otherwise, they would not be able to leave even if they wanted to once Yang Kai composed himself.
They were evenly matched with the two Elders of the Dragon Clan, so they would definitely be at a disadvantage if Yang Kai was added to the mix. Besides, they had been frightened by Yang Kai’s near suicidal tactics just now. Although the three of them fought against the two Elders of the Dragon Clan, they had never dared to release their Dao Seals for the sake of killing the enemy.
On the contrary, Yang Kai dared to make such bold moves despite having only just been promoted to become a Great Emperor. His actions were completely unpredictable using common sense!
As soon as the three Demon Saints retreated from this place, the Demon Race army scattered across the entire battlefield immediately lost all morale. The Half-Saints quickly followed after the Demon Saints and the Demon Race army on the ground was obliterated as a result.
After being oppressed by the Demon Race for so many years and forced to evacuate countless times, the Star Boundary army had long since built up a great well of resentment and anger. Not to mention, the last pure land remaining in the Star Boundary had nearly been invaded mere moments ago. How could they let the Demon Race off so easily at this time? The surviving Star Boundary armies immediately swarmed out of High Heaven Palace. They chased down their enemies in all directions, leaving millions of corpses in their wake.
The only thing that made the Demon Race feel a little relieved was that Yang Kai simply stood there motionlessly after killing Can Ye. Not only did he not extend a helping hand to the two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan, but he also ignored the retreating Demon Race army.
It wasn’t his intention to ignore everything around him of course. If possible, he wanted to bury the entire Demon Race army in this place and was perfectly capable of doing that with his current strength. Although Can Ye was there to stop him before, Can Ye was dead now. Who else was there in this world that could stop him now?
It was just that… he might have killed a strong enemy in his battle against Can Ye, but the price he had to pay was not small. The hidden dangers caused by the clash of Dao Seals were extremely severe. Right now, Yang Kai’s Dao Seal had gone dim and dull, even though it used to emit a dazzlingly bright light.
Can Ye was a Great Emperor after all. Although he was abandoned by the World at the last moment and could longer mobilise its World Force to assist him, his strength was still a fact. In his last desperate struggle, Can Ye caused great harm to Yang Kai.
Immediately after that, Yang Kai had also unleashed three consecutive attacks. Those three attacks might have seemed bland and ordinary, but how could three attacks that could kill a Great Emperor be so simple? A large portion of his strength had been infused into every single thrust.
That was why he was currently unable to move a single muscle. If Xue Li and the others had been a little more courageous; if they had broken free from Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun to target him, he would not have had any strength to fight back at all.
Yang Kai observed his internal condition only to discover that his Dao Seal had not only gone dim but was also showing signs of collapsing. He was so frightened by this that his Soul nearly left his body.
[If my Dao Seal collapses just like that, then I will be the shortest-lived Great Emperor in all of history! I’ve only just taken my first step out of the Profound Heavens Temple and my Dao Seal is about to fall apart in less than half a day…]
How could he dare to hesitate? Yang Kai immediately began trying his best to stabilise his Dao Seal.
In front of Yang Kai stood Can Ye’s headless corpse which for some eerie reason did not fall to the ground but instead slowly melted away like snowflakes under the sun. It didn’t take long for the entire corpse to dissipate into nothingness. The luck and good fortune that he once captured from the Profound Heavens Temple was returned to the Star Boundary at this moment.
Those with low strength did not notice anything; however, the Pseudo-Great Emperors and those above their level could feel that something invisible had been added to the world. It was extremely mysterious and if they had the chance to study the phenomenon, they were certain they would receive a lot of benefits.
By the time Yang Kai opened his eyes again, it was already half a day later. Night had fallen and the world was covered in darkness. Demon Essence was still raging across the World and even the scenery was hazy as a result. Neither the sun, moon, nor stars could be seen.
Yang Kai immediately noticed a large group of people standing in front of him, led by Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun.
“How is it?” Fu Zhun asked nervously. Although both she and Zhu Yan had been engaged in battle with the three Demon Saints at the time, they remained keenly aware of Yang Kai’s movements. It was obvious that they knew how Yang Kai had eventually killed Can Ye; therefore, they were both extremely worried that something might have gone wrong with Yang Kai’s Dao Seal.
Yang Kai shook his head slowly and smiled, “I’m fine. I’m sorry for worrying you, Second Elder.”
His Dao Seal was still a little dim at the moment, but at least there was no risk of collapse anymore. As long as he slowly recuperated in the future, he would be able to recover completely. Be that as it may… he did not dare to use a similar fighting style again. He had been forced by the circumstances at the time and there was also a bit of fearlessness that came from ignorance. Now that Yang Kai had learned about the dangers that came with his actions, he could not help shivering slightly thinking back on them.
“Good!” Zhu Yan let out a long sigh of relief, feeling his anxiety easing. This young man was not just a Great Emperor of the Star Boundary, he was also the Dragon God of the Dragon Clan. This matter was related to the survival of the Dragon Clan and Star Boundary, so how could Zhu Yan not be nervous?
“Li Wu Yi and fellow companions greet Senior Void!” Li Wu Yi, dressed in white clothes that were stained with blood, stepped forward from behind Zhu Yan and saluted.
Behind him, a group of the Star Boundary Pseudo-Great Emperors and Demon Race Half-Saints, who had defected to the Star Boundary, echoed in unison, “Greetings, Senior Void!”
“Senior, you…” Caught off guard, Yang Kai quickly helped Li Wu Yi up. For him to become a Great Emperor, half of the credit went to Bright Moon Great Emperor while the other half went to Li Wu Yi.
If Li Wu Yi had also participated in the Grand Dao battle, Yang Kai was certain that he would most likely have seized the position of Great Emperor instead. In that case, the title ‘Void’ would not be his right now. How could he receive such respect from Li Wu Yi when he was so greatly indebted to the latter?
Li Wu Yi smiled, “In the Martial Dao, strength speaks the loudest. You are now a respected Great Emperor, please do not mention the word ‘Senior’ again. This Li cannot bear it.”
Yang Kai smiled bitterly as his eyes swept across the people behind Li Wu Yi. All he saw were many scorching gazes staring back at him. It did not matter how old he was or whether he was formerly their Junior. Now that he was a Great Emperor recognised by the World, the entire Star Boundary stood behind him. His very existence gave the people the confidence and hope to walk out of the darkness.
As such, all he could do is cup his fists with a solemn expression and declare, “Everyone, you have worked hard!”
All those present responded humbly.
Taking a deep breath, Yang Kai turned his gaze to the people standing further behind him. Many familiar faces stood among the crowd and they were all looking at him with respect. Among those faces, the expressions of Zhu Qing, Su Yan, Xue Yue, Shan Qing Luo, Xia Ning Chang, and Ji Yao were glowing with pride. This man was their husband, the future hope of the Star Boundary!
From the back of the crowd, a red-eyed Lan Xun walked over and gave an elegant bow, “Many thanks, Senior Void, for avenging my Father. Star Soul Palace is extremely grateful for your deeds.”
Yang Kai smiled bitterly again, “You give me too much credit, Junior Sister Lan. My achievements today are thanks to the grace I received from Senior Bright Moon. How could I dare to not do my best?”
Lan Xun nearly burst into tears once more when she heard him calling her ‘Junior Sister Lan’ as before, “Senior Brother, if you ever need help in the future, Star Soul Palace will never refuse your requests.”
A trace of sorrow and helplessness flashed through the eyes of Xiao Chen, who was following closely behind her.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai took a deep breath, “We can talk about the future when the future comes. For now, we need to survive the crisis before us.”
While he was speaking, his thoughts flashed. All who were present in this place felt their vision blurring for a moment but before they could figure out what was going on, they found themselves on a mountain peak all of a sudden. Looking around, they realised that this was High Heaven Peak.
They couldn’t help feeling stunned. Just moments ago, they had been standing on the battlefield several hundred kilometres away from High Heaven Palace. For them to turn up in this place without warning was undoubtedly Yang Kai’s doing; however, when they thought back to the fact that he was now a Great Emperor, they felt a sense of relief. Only a Great Emperor could have pulled off a feat like this.
As far as the eye could see, the entire High Heaven Palace was in a state of dilapidation and disarray. The Sect Defending Array of High Heaven Palace had been broken under the fierce attack of the Demon Race. As a result, the Demon Race army had poured in from all directions. The soldiers of the Star Boundary had fought to the death on this last remaining piece of pure land; thus, both sides had suffered heavy casualties.
At this moment, there were countless corpses belonging to both the Demon Race and Human Race piling up high all over High Heaven Palace. What used to be a beautiful place with magnificent scenery was now a scene from Hell instead.
The Demon Land had already expanded to just beyond the borders of High Heaven Palace. In addition, High Heaven Palace was also filled with Demon Qi at the moment. If it was just left alone like that, then it would not take long before the last remaining piece of pure land disappeared from the face of the world. If that happened, there would be no place left for the Human Race in the Star Boundary.
Under everybody’s gaze, Yang Kai slowly floated into the air with a solemn expression. An invisible Dao aura flowed out, causing many people to experience the sudden urge to worship him. Countless people couldn’t help losing focus for a moment.
*Hong…*
A silent shock rang out from deep within Yang Kai’s heart. His hands seemed to dance in a flurry of movements as he formed seal after seal. The seals were so peculiar that nobody could understand what they were for, but with the changing of the seals, Qi waves that were visible to the naked eye began to spread outward like ripples centred around Yang Kai.
Everybody else couldn’t help widening their eyes and glancing around their surroundings in astonishment. Wherever those ripples passed, the Demon Qi scattered within High Heaven Palace was repelled and pushed out.
In the beginning, the frequency and speed of the ripples were not high; however, as time went by, the ripples continued to expand. They soon spread out to the entire High Heaven Palace before continuing to expand outwards.
A low and solemn voice resounded throughout the world, “In the name of Void, let the world be bright and peaceful again! Retreat!”
*Hong…*
The Qi waves exploded and a circle of incomparably condensed light surged from under Yang Kai’s feet, expanding in all directions. Everywhere the light covered, the Demon Essence disappeared and the Demon Land vanished to reveal the original appearance of the world. Even the haze that shrouded High Heaven Palace all this while was unable to withstand the baptism of this World Strength.
Following that, a huge hole appeared in the sky and dazzling sunlight that shone in through the gap gave off the illusion of arriving in another world altogether. As the hole in the sky rapidly expanded outward, the Demon Land on the ground continuously shrank backwards…
*Hong hong hong…* Wave after wave of the light constantly burst forth with a unique frequency.
Li Wu Yi’s expression froze for a moment, seemingly as though an idea had struck him. With a flash of his figure, he vanished from the spot in an instant, returning only a short while later with a look of excitement on his face.
“Supreme Commander, what did you find?” Bing Yun asked quietly.
He responded excitedly, “The area of the pure land is expanding!”
“Really!?” Zhu Yan asked in surprise.
“I saw it with my own eyes!”
As soon as those words rang out, the crowd became excited. They had guessed as much after watching Yang Kai’s actions in addition to the changes that were taking place in High Heaven Palace. Even so, it wasn’t until Li Wu Yi personally verified the truth that they became certain.
The range of the pure land was expanding, which meant that the range of motion of the Star Boundary army would increase. In the future, there was no need to remain stuck inside High Heaven Palace anymore. They would no longer be in such a passive situation! After years of oppression, was it finally time for them to start counterattacking!?
The Demon Race had set up a Grand Array to erode the Star Boundary with boundless Demon Essence. They also trapped many Great Emperors of the Star Boundary so that nobody could contend against them. While the two Elders of the Dragon Clan had power that could rival the Great Emperors, they were not true Great Emperors. The husband and wife might be able to fend off the three Demon Saints by working together, but there was nothing they could do against the Demon Essence eroding away at the World.
On the contrary, Yang Kai was different. Not only did he have the World’s Will, but he was also recognized by the world. He was currently the only Great Emperor in the entire Star Boundary. In other words, he was the only representative of the World present at this moment. It was only natural that he could borrow the World Strength to safeguard the interests of this World. That was something only a Great Emperor could do. It did not matter how strong the Dragon Clan Elders were as even the cleverest woman could not cook a meal without rice.
The waves of light continued to spread outward, and everywhere the light passed, the Demon Essence disappeared to become pure land again!
Li Wu Yi frowned slightly though and continued, “But… after being eroded, the world seems a little different from before.”
Although Yang Kai was currently using World Strength to force the Demon Essence back and expand the pure land, Li Wu Yi keenly discovered that something was different about the places that were once corrupted by Demon Land.
“What kind of difference?” Everybody asked.
Li Wu Yi shook his head, “I can’t put my finger on it.”
It wasn’t as simple as a loss of vitality. It seemed to be more serious than that.
“The Auspicious Spirit Essence has been lost. It’s only natural that there will be differences.” Yang Kai kept his hands moving, but he sighed softly and explained. When Mo Sheng told him about the Auspicious Spirit Essence, he had not quite understood what it was. But, at this moment, how could he not understand?
If the World was alive, then its Auspicious Spirit Essence was the Spiritual Essence of the World! The expansion of the Demon Essence was not just about turning the lands of the Star Boundary into a Demon Land, it was also to devour the Auspicious Spirit Essence of this world.
Although he could now use World Strength to expel the Demon Essence and reduce the range of Demon land, Yang Kai could not bring back what was already lost.
The range of the pure land expanded to a thousand kilometres, ten thousand kilometres, a hundred thousand kilometres, a million kilometres… It did not take more than a quarter hour for the Demon Essence in a radius of over a million kilometres from High Heaven Palace to be cleared away!
A sudden rumbling sound rang out across the world at that moment. Immediately after that, an ethereal aura suddenly rose from the east. The aura was not particularly strong, but it made everybody’s heart skip a beat with an overwhelming sense of unease.
“It’s about time…” Yang Kai took a deep breath, looked east, and suddenly burst into a shout, “Mo Sheng, scram out of the Star Boundary! Otherwise, this King will bury you in this place forever!”
As soon as the name ‘Mo Sheng’ came out, the expressions of Li Wu Yi and the two Dragon Clan Elders changed greatly. They hurriedly followed Yang Kai’s gaze and looked in that direction. Having heard the name from Yang Kai before, they were aware of what it meant.
It was the Great Demon God of the Demon Realm. The reason why the Demon Realm became the Demon Realm was also related to this person. When Yang Kai returned from the Demon Realm previously, he told them about his encounter with Mo Sheng’s Soul Clone so that they could take precautions against him.
It was just that the war between the two worlds had gone on for so long, but they had seen neither hide nor hair of the so-called Great Demon God. Only the disappearance of the Great Emperors seemed related to this matter; therefore, nobody could have imagined that this person would reveal himself at the most critical moment when the Star Boundary was finally about to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
On second thought, however, it was not that strange either. According to the information Yang Kai brought back last time, Mo Sheng had been trying to devour the Star Boundary’s Auspicious Spirit Essence in order to recover from his wounds; however, things had fallen short right at the very last moment. Even the Demon Essence and the Demon Land that had been eroding away at the Star Boundary were about to be purged by Yang Kai, so how could Mo Sheng bear to hold himself back at this moment? Whether he was willing to or not, he had no choice but to reveal himself now.
Be that as it may… That person was a terrifying existence that once killed Flowing Time Great Emperor. He was also a mysterious Master who came from the Outer Universe. Even if he had yet to recover from his injuries, he was not somebody they dared to underestimate.
Aside from Li Wu Yi and the two Elders of the Dragon Clan, the others did not know the connotation behind the name ‘Mo Sheng’ that came out of Yang Kai’s mouth, but they soon came to understand…
All the Demon Qi in the Star Boundary were converging towards the east. Then, a gigantic figure slowly emerged from that land at a rate that was visible to the naked eye. That figure towered up into the sky, even though his feet were on the ground. Demon Qi around his body churned and rolled. Furthermore, the strange aura from before was clearly coming from this figure. It was unlike the weak aura at the beginning. The aura was quickly becoming extremely terrifying. As the Demon Qi from the whole of the Star Boundary poured into him, an overwhelming power seemed to descend from the sky.
Even though the huge figure was still very far away, he gave off a sense that his strength was absolutely unparalleled. It could even be said that it was impossible to even think about being hostile towards him.
Everybody turned pale in horror. The two Great Elders of the Dragon Clan also had extremely solemn expressions on their faces. They were horrified to discover that just from aura alone, the huge black figure was stronger and more terrifying than any Great Emperor in existence.
The huge figure let out a loud roar and thunder boomed in response. Afterwards, a huge face emerged from where the head of the figure should be. Other people might not be able to recognise this face, but how could Yang Kai not recognise it? It was the same appearance as the Mo Sheng that he had met previously. It was just that this figure before him was the true body of Great Demon God. The one he killed on the ancient battlefield in the Small Sealed World back then had been nothing but a Soul Clone.
“We meet again,” The mouth on that huge face wriggled with movement. It was followed by a deafening voice. While speaking, the expression on that face even formed into a sort of half-smile.
“Get out of the Star Boundary!” Yang Kai glared at the huge pair of pupils coldly, a burning sensation in his eyes. There was no denying that the Demon Eye of Annihilation and the Purgatory Black Eye he obtained from Great Demon God were being affected due to the appearance of Great Demon God’s true body.
“You are powerful indeed. I can’t believe you reached such heights in such a short time. Even this King has not seen many people with your level of aptitude. How is it? Isn’t the scenery here wonderful?” Mo Sheng responded as if talking to himself, seeming to take no notice of Yang Kai’s hostility towards him.
“It doesn’t matter what the scenery is like in this place. It has nothing to do with you. If you leave the Star Boundary quietly, this King will not blame you for what happened in the past, but, if you continue being unrepentant, then don’t blame me for being ruthless!”
“Hahahaha…” Mo Sheng laughed, his giant face full of joy, as though he had just heard an extremely pleasant joke. At the same time, the sound of his laughter brought about changes within the Star Boundary.
When Mo Sheng’s laughter stopped, the Demon Qi that filled the sky condensed abruptly in response. It made the huge figure seem considerably more solid than before, “This King has truly never met anyone who dared to speak such arrogant words in front of me before.”
Yang Kai coldly replied, “It’s not too late for you to meet one now.”
Mo Sheng chuckled softly. His huge eyes looked Yang Kai up and down from thousands of kilometres away. Then, he gently nodded, “Not bad. Yang Kai, I advise you to stop opposing this King if you want to live; otherwise, you will regret it for the rest of your life.”
“Shameless boasting!” Yang Kai coldly snorted, “I would be no match for you if you were at your peak, but… How much power can you even bring out right now?”
Mo Sheng seemed a little exasperated as he earnestly said, “Do not be so stubborn!”
“Enough nonsense! If you refuse to leave, then you can stay here forever!” When Yang Kai let out a furious roar, he shoved his hands out in front of him as if he was pushing an invisible door open.
Following his actions, the pure land that had already expanded across several million kilometres suddenly expanded outward with a burst of speed. The pure land more than doubled in an instant. Moreover, it happened so quickly that the entire Star Boundary seemed like it would be restored to normal in one go.
“Foolishness!” Mo Sheng shook his head slowly, a hint of anger appearing on his huge face. He simultaneously lost interest in communicating with Yang Kai. Raising his two enormous palms, he gently pressed them together.
The expansion of the pure land came to an abrupt halt and even Yang Kai couldn’t help groaning. He gritted his teeth and desperately urged the World Strength to advance. As the one and only Great Emperor present in this world, he could clearly sense that his actions were being suppressed instantly by Mo Sheng’s casual move. The newly expanded pure land was even showing signs of being pushed back again.
Yang Kai was horrified, [Is this the power of the Great Demon God!?]
The huge figure in front of him was nothing more than the agglomeration of Demon Qi, not the true body of the Great Demon God at all. In other words, it was unable to exert the full strength of the Great Demon God.
[If a transient figure formed from a mass of Demon Qi is already capable of so much, then how overwhelming was Great Demon God at his peak!? What about Flowing Time Great Emperor who managed to destroy Great Demon God’s physical body!? How unfathomable was he!? Not to mention, there was also the person who injured Great Demon God in the first place…]
All kinds of thoughts flashed through Yang Kai’s mind as he grit his teeth and shouted, “Open!”
A current gushed out, formed from Yang Kai’s own Dao, supported by the World’s Will. The only remaining Great Emperor in the Star Boundary and Great Demon God clashed against each other with the world as their battlefield.
Nobody could make out the details of this battle; however, as time passed, numerous large Void Cracks began to appear in the sky. The whole world seemed to be overwhelmed by the battle and was teetering on the brink of collapse.
Everyone turned pale at the sight… A battle on this level had already surpassed the desperate struggle between Yang Kai and Can Ye previously. It had reached a level that the others simply could not comprehend what was happening. Although the fight between Yang Kai and Can Ye earlier had been very fierce, they at least could tell what was going on and understand the overall situation.
On the other hand, this battle was a fierce struggle between two evenly matched opponents on a level beyond their ability to comprehend. Nobody knew what was going on, so it was only natural that nobody could tell who was the stronger of the two. Nevertheless, they could tell from the expression on Yang Kai’s face that he was definitely under unimaginable pressure.
With the passage of time, more and more cracks appeared in the Void like strips of pitch-black giant pythons that roamed the world. It was a sight that caused great fear and unease among the people.
The Demon Land began to make a comeback, causing all of Yang Kai’s previous efforts to come to nothing.
An hour later, everybody watched as the Demon Qi that had dissipated earlier gathered together again and pressed towards High Heaven Palace little by little.
Yang Kai’s body trembled violently. From time to time, an explosion could be heard from his body and a cloud of blood mist would erupt at the same time. His complexion was also as pale as a sheet.
Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun glanced at each and saw the intent in the other’s eyes. The husband and wife did not have to speak to understand one another as their hearts were connected together; thus, they soared into the sky, turned into two giant Dragons, and rushed towards the east.
They did not know if they would return from this battle, but there was no time for them to worry about such things. Yang Kai might have the power of a Great Emperor, but he had only just become one. In addition, his battle against Can Ye earlier had used up a lot of his strength. Fighting the Great Demon God on his own now would surely put him at a disadvantage. Unfortunately, his strength was lacking, and the only people who could help him at this time were Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun. Even though it was against all common sense in the world, the two Elders took the initiative to attack with the resolve that they might not return alive!
Two Dragons roared and an Azure and White Dragon wrapped around each other, their spirits in perfect harmony with each other. A huge force rushed out as their strength was mutually enhanced. However, three figures came up to them before they could approach the Great Demon God’s body of Demon Qi. It was Xue Li and the other Demon Saints who had retreated earlier.
Both sides had been rivals for so long, so there was no exchange of words when they met, they simply immediately broke out in violence. This battle was different from all their battles in the past, however. Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun knew that they were in an extremely time-critical situation so they had no time to be held up by Xue Li and the others, that was why they immediately fought as if their lives depended on it.
Shocked by their aggression, Xue Li and the others instantly fell into a disadvantageous position. Even so, the efforts of the husband and wife were in vain; they were unable to get past the blockade formed by Xue Li and the others.
“The Star Boundary’s fate will be decided today! Brothers, Sisters, we must fight! With me!” Li Wu Yi shouted and rushed into the distance.
The two Elders of the Dragon Clan were being restrained, so the only ones who could lend a hand in battle were the Pseudo-Great Emperors. Even if they were nothing more than ants trying to shake a tree, they were determined to rip off a piece of their enemy’s flesh before they died. The tragic atmosphere was filled with a sense of unity and solidarity. At this moment, all the powerhouses in the Star Boundary were tied together by a single purpose in the face of this crisis.
Following closely behind Li Wu Yi, all the Pseudo-Great Emperors who still had the power to fight set off together. None of them stayed behind. Even Yang Xiao and Yang Xue followed at their heels with the Flowing Time Temple.
Naturally, what greeted them was the many Demon Race Half-Saints!
Thus, the war resumed. Less than half a day had passed since their last desperate battle and now small groups confronted each other fiercely above the sky as everyone was occupied by their respective battles.
“It seems you’re not so great after all!” Yang Kai stared at Mo Sheng deeply, the corners of his mouth raising slightly into a grin.
If Mo Sheng had strength to spare, he would not have commanded the Demon Race Masters to take part in the battle. He was perfectly capable of killing the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary on the spot with his strength. Nevertheless, the reality was that the Half-Saints were the ones to face the Pseudo-Great Emperors from the Star Boundary who were rushing in this direction. That undoubtedly indicated that Mo Sheng did not have any spare capacity to take care of them himself.
Naturally, that could also be related to his injuries. The reason the Demon Race invaded the Star Boundary was so that Mo Sheng could devour the Star Boundary’s Auspicious Spirit Essence and heal himself after all. On that note, his injuries were most likely not healed yet since the Star Boundary was still safe. What’s more, the current him only had a body that was formed from the agglomeration of Demon Qi. It was not a true flesh and blood body at all!
“It’s more than enough to deal with you…” Mo Sheng smiled indifferently, unmoved by Yang Kai’s taunt.
*Kacha…*
The world continued to hum and shudder endlessly. Every corner of the Star Boundary felt like it was going to shatter and the boundaries of the pure land were constantly being suppressed while the Demon Land steadily advanced.
Yang Kai grit his teeth as blood leaked out from the corners of his lips. Although he was forcing himself to remain standing in the sky, he was actually on the verge of collapse.
[I’m no match for him!] Yang Kai alone was unable to match Mo Sheng’s power. If this situation were to continue, he would be defeated in less than an hour. The Star Boundary would cease to exist if that were to happen. Despite becoming a Great Emperor, Yang Kai couldn’t help drowning in a sense of helplessness.
At that moment, a change occurred. An unfamiliar consciousness suddenly awakened, and with the awakening of this consciousness, an indifferent voice came from somewhere in the east, “Who dares disturb this Queen’s slumber!?”
The voice was not loud, but it echoed clearly in everyone’s ears. All those who were fighting immediately looked eastward in surprise, the expressions on their faces changing in response.
Yang Kai also glanced over in that direction, feeling extremely shocked. It might only have been one sentence that barely displayed any flow of power, but he could feel a great and majestic force coming from the voice. It felt like a pair of eyes beyond the horizon had opened and was looking down at all the living creatures in the world from above with cold indifference. It was impossible to guess just how powerful the owner of these eyes was.
[But, how can that be? Apart from me, there should only be the two Elders with the power to rival a Great Emperor! When did such a terrifying existence appear in the Star Boundary!? How is it that even I failed to notice it up until now!]
It had to be noted that Yang Kai was now a Great Emperor with the World’s Will in his body. It only took a single thought and nothing in this world could be hidden from his perception. Be that as it may, he had been completely oblivious to this existence until the voice sounded. Even if he had wholeheartedly been focused on his battle with Great Demon God, it was still difficult to believe. What shocked Yang Kai even more was that the voice belonged to a woman. It was indifferent, ethereal, but at the same time a little familiar… He vaguely felt as though he had heard this voice before, but he could not recall anything about it.
At the same time, the huge body of Great Demon God suddenly began to tremble and a hint of rage was revealed in his expression that had always been smiling up until now. He roared, “This aura… It’s you!”
His deafening roar resounded throughout the entire world. A wave of boundless fury swept out from the huge body, making all the living creatures in the world feel as if they were standing at the mouth of a volcano. Moreover, the volcano was about to erupt into hot flames at any time.
“Why are you here!?” Mo Sheng questioned. However, he soon frowned, “No. It’s not you. You are…”
A pensive look appeared on his face, and then he immediately understood the situation, “So that’s how it is! Hahahaha! It turns out that you fared no better than this King! Good, good! Very good!”
Following his hearty laughter, a pair of giant eyes suddenly opened in the eastern sky. The owner of those giant eyes glanced at Great Demon God indifferently across a distance of millions of kilometres. In the next instant, that ethereal voice sounded again, “Mo Sheng!”
Those eyes were enormous, but their pupils were crystal clear. It could be seen at a glance that these eyes belonged to a woman. A woman with such beautiful eyes was bound to be a great and astounding beauty. More importantly, this woman recognised Mo Sheng. Judging from what Mo Sheng said before, he was obviously no stranger to this woman either.
Great Demon God roared, “This King’s name is not for the likes of you to call! Only your ancestor is worthy to speak this King’s name!”
“How are you still alive!?”
“Show yourself!” Mo Sheng shouted angrily as he raised his hand and punched at the pair of giant eyes in the sky. Those giant eyes instantly shattered under the violent force of the Demon Qi.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai simply stood there blankly, his face full of shock and disbelief.
When Yang Kai first heard that voice, he couldn’t help thinking that it was rather familiar; however, he simply could not remember where he had heard it before. It wasn’t until that pair of eyes appeared in the sky that he immediately recalled the memory. He had seen that pair of eyes countless times before. It was just that those eyes had been bashful and timid at the time. After so many years though, these beautiful eyes were now full of confidence and strength.
“Ruo Xi!” He murmured.
[That’s right! I can’t be mistaken. That voice, those eyes… They are all so familiar. Who else could it be but Zhang Ruo Xi? Isn’t she currently inside the Blood Gate in the Eastern Territory though? Is she finally coming out of retreat?]
He glanced towards the east with a scorching gaze.
Several dozen years had passed since Zhang Ruo Xi first entered the Blood Gate, which had remained silent for that entire time. It wasn’t until several years ago, right before he last departed for the Demon Realm, that the Blood Gate finally showed some slight changes. Yang Kai originally wanted to stay there until the Blood Gate opened once more, but who could have known that his plans would change at the last moment, forcing him to set off for the Demon Realm?
Once Yang Kai returned from the Demon Realm, he had been involved in several consecutive wars. After that, he participated in the Grand Dao battle. He was so busy that he had no time for anything else. There was no chance for him to investigate the situation at the Blood Gate.
Before he left for the Demon Realm, Yang Kai had told Li Wu Yi that the Blood Gate might open again soon and asked him to keep an eye on the situation there.
It wasn’t until today that Zhang Ruo Xi’s voice was transmitted across the world!
Yang Kai did not know the exact details of Zhang Ruo Xi’s current situation. He also did not know whether the Blood Gate had been reopened. Judging from what she had mentioned previously, however, it would seem that she had been awakened by the fight between him and Mo Sheng.
It was no wonder. The Star Boundary’s survival was hanging on the outcome of this battle; therefore, it had shaken the very foundation of this world. Although the Blood Gate was Heavens Order’s palace, a Sealed World of its own, it was no different from all the other Sealed Worlds, still dependent on the Great World, the Star Boundary. Hence, the Blood Gate would surely be affected now that the whole of the Star Boundary was in turmoil. Zhang Ruo Xi had been inside the Blood Gate all this time, so she was also bound to experience some disturbances. It was not surprising that she woke up due to the commotion.
What surprised Yang Kai was that Zhang Ruo Xi had recognised Mo Sheng, even calling out his name just now. In addition, Mo Sheng’s words had been very concerning too. He seemed to know her ancestor, who was the Master known as Heavens Order.
The reason Zhang Ruo Xi could recognise Mo Sheng was most likely related to the Heaven’s Order inheritance that she received. She had acquired the bloodline inheritances and memories of her ancestors. On the contrary, how did Mo Sheng and Heavens Order meet? Could it be that these two Masters were from the same era? Or, were they both from the Outer Universe?
All of a sudden, Yang Kai recalled the story that Mo Sheng’s Soul Clone had told him on the ancient battlefield. According to the story, Mo Sheng had been severely injured on two occasions. The second time was related to Flowing Time Great Emperor. In that battle, Flowing Time Great Emperor had lost his life. It was a tragic ending.
On the other hand, Mo Sheng’s physical body had been destroyed, so he had no choice but to enter hibernation for recuperation. It was because of the second injury he received that he started to hatch a plot to obtain the Star Boundary’s Auspicious Spirit Essence.
Mo Sheng had not said much about the person who originally wounded him, only mentioning that it was a woman. Now, it would seem that the woman might have been Heaven’s Order.
Yang Kai shuddered at the thought. If that was truly the case, then he had greatly underestimated the strength of Heaven’s Order. She turned out to be a peerless Master who managed to severely injure the Great Demon God at his peak. Although she was also severely injured as a result, she was somebody who stood in the same realm as Mo Sheng.
If things really happened the way Yang Kai suspected, then… Mo Sheng went to the Peerless World to heal after his battle with Heaven’s Order. Meanwhile, Heaven’s Order came to the Star Boundary. She left behind a great prestige and her Bloodline Power that had been passed down for hundreds of thousands of years.
The more Yang Kai considered it, the more plausible it seemed. Among the memories contained in the Sources of many Divine Spirits, Heaven’s Order had appeared out of nowhere. There were no records of this Master’s growth. It was just that she suddenly appeared one day, intimidated the entire World in that extremely distant era, and became eternally famous. It would all make sense if it turned out that she actually came from the Outer Universe.
“Hahaha!” Mo Sheng laughed. His laughter was thunderous, “Good. Very good. This King can’t believe he got to meet the descendent of an old friend here! What luck! Little girl, just wait right there! Once this King finishes cleaning up here, he will go over and see if you are anything like your ancestor!”
While speaking, his huge body shook violently and Yang Kai felt an overwhelming pressure pressing down on him from all directions, leaving him powerless to fight back.
Letting out a grunt, Yang Kai suddenly heard a voice in his ear, “Sir, can you hold on for a while longer?”
“Ruo Xi?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.
“En, if Sir can hold on for another half an hour, Ruo Xi will immediately come to help you.”
“Take your time. It’s never too late to dress up beautifully!” Yang Kai laughed out loud, feeling extremely relieved.
It was not only because he finally got to hear Zhang Ruo Xi’s voice again after so many years, but it was also that his previous worries did not come true. Zhang Ruo Xi did not seem to have changed much even after receiving Heavens Order’s inheritance. The familiar way she addressed him as ‘Sir’ reminded him of the timid little girl who used to follow him around all the time.
While he was speaking, he simultaneously mobilised the World’s might again to fight against the boundless Demon Qi.
Zhang Ruo Xi giggled, “Ruo Xi feels at ease to see how energetic you are, Sir.”
After that, there was no further communication from her. She seemed to be busy with something and could not afford to be distracted.
“Half an hour…” Yang Kai let out a long sigh. Although he was assisted by the two Elders from the Dragon Clan and many Pseudo-Great Emperors, he felt as though he was fighting alone. It felt very lonely to stand on this battlefield of the World. But now, he had Zhang Ruo Xi on his side! He did not know how much power she could exert once she came out of retreat, but judging from that pair of beautiful eyes that appeared in the sky just now, her strength should not be inferior to his in any way.
[As expected of the bloodline inheritance of a Master that could severely injure the Great Demon God at his peak! In such a short period of time, the little girl who used to be so ignorant of the world back then has undergone such a huge change… It’s only half an hour. I have to persevere even if I have to put my life on the line!]
Yang Kai felt a sudden increase in the pressure around him the moment that thought flashed through his head. While resisting desperately, he couldn’t help sneering, “Mo Sheng, why are you in such a hurry…”
From the pressure coming from all directions, Yang Kai could feel Mo Sheng’s urgency. Mo Sheng seemed to be impatient to devour the last remaining pure land of the Star Boundary and swallow up the last bit of its Auspicious Spirit Essence. This unexpected discovery delighted Yang Kai instead as it undoubtedly indicated that Mo Sheng was quite fearful of Zhang Ruo Xi. Mo Sheng would not have behaved in this manner otherwise.
Mo Sheng coldly snorted and did not answer, but he was clearly no longer as calm as he was before. It only served to confirm the conjecture in Yang Kai’s heart, Zhang Ruo Xi was powerful enough to threaten Mo Sheng! At the very least, her power was comparable to Yang Kai’s current self!
Unfortunately, there was nothing Yang Kai could do with this piece of knowledge. All he could do right now was persevere. He had to hold out until Zhang Ruo Xi came out of retreat. If the two of them worked together, they might be able to defeat Mo Sheng!
At this moment, Yang Kai’s expression changed drastically. The defence he worked so hard to maintain was showing signs of collapse, which shocked him greatly. After a slight perception of its condition, his expression immediately became grave.
He was the only Great Emperor in the Star Boundary at the moment who could mobilise the world’s might; however, in that short moment just now, he noticed that his control over the World had become much weaker. It was almost as if there was another force sharing the control over the World with him. It was also at that moment that he faintly sensed the auras of the other seven missing Great Emperors…
Yang Kai had once sensed the auras of these seven Great Emperors, so he knew that they were trapped in an inexplicable space and could not escape. It was just that he had not sensed them again after that incident, much less figured out where they were being held. However, that feeling became incredibly clear for a moment just now, so much so that he even obtained some clues as to where they were.
Under normal circumstances, Yang Kai might have been able to locate the Great Emperors with a bit of time, but in the current situation, where would he find the time to investigate their whereabouts? The consequence of his weakening control over the World was that his resistance against the Great Demon God was also getting weaker and weaker.
On the other hand, Mo Sheng seemed to have somehow borrowed the power of the world to suppress him enormously.
“What did you do!?” Yang Kai shouted through gritted teeth.
Mo Sheng grinned, “Why don’t you take a guess?”
“Bastard!” Yang Kai cursed. Although he did not know what means Mo Sheng had used, he was certain that this change in the world’s might was related to the other seven Great Emperors. Mo Sheng seemed to have the ability to take over their control of the World and use it against him instead.
…..
While those two were talking to each other, Zhan Wu Hen sat cross-legged inside an inexplicable space and glared at Huang Wu Ji furiously.
Huang Wu Ji was sitting opposite him with less than a metre between them, a mummified palm sticking out of his chest. That mummified palm was emitting an extremely terrifying aura and although it was a dead object, Zhan Wu Hen couldn’t help feeling a sense of fear from it. It was very difficult to imagine just how powerful the owner of this hand had been when he was still alive.
It wasn’t Zhan Wu Hen who stabbed the hand into Huang Wu Ji’s chest, however, but Huang Wu Ji himself. The fresh blood that flowed out was absorbed by the hand and at the same time, Huang Wu Ji’s aura climbed steadily until it reached a level that made even Zhan Wu Hen feel humbled.
Then, the First Demon Saint of the Demon Realm formed a seal with his hand and pointed a finger at Zhan Wu Hen. Zhan Wu Hen did not know what kind of strange Secret Technique Huang Wu Ji was using, but he could clearly feel a mysterious power in his body being siphoned away. That power was the World’s Will that he received from the Star Boundary. Using this World’s Will, he was blessed with luck and good fortune. More importantly, he could mobilise the Star Boundary’s World Force for his own use.
At this moment, he asked the same question as Yang Kai, “What did you do!?”
Huang Wu Ji’s expression twisted and his body trembled violently as though he was in great pain, “Don’t worry. Lord Demon God will end this soon.”
“The Great Demon God!?” Zhan Wu Hen asked through gritted teeth.
The two of them had been trapped in this space together for several years now, so it was only natural for them to converse during that time. It was also from Huang Wu Ji’s mouth that Zhan Wu Hen learned about the existence of the Great Demon God and some of the Demon Realm’s plans.
“That’s right! Lord Demon God will be resurrected soon! And, all of you will become Lord Demon God’s sacrifices!” A morbid and frenzied expression appeared on Huang Wu Ji’s face. It was as though he was willing to devote everything he had to this so-called Great Demon God.