“You really don’t want to go with me? I can be with you forever. We will be inseparable.” Li Shi Qing sincerely looked at him.
Yang Kai impatient stated, “I hate people playing dumb with me. First tell me who you are, where you want to take me, and what you want to do when we get there?”
Li Shi Qing pondered for a moment before replying, “It’s not convenient to answer all your questions for the time being. I can only tell you that something big will happen in the near future, and you, being proficient in the Dao of Space, will play a huge role in it; otherwise, do you think I would come here in person? As for who I am… you will know in the future. My identity will definitely not bring shame to you.”
Yang Kai rebuffed, “Saying this is equivalent to saying nothing.” He rolled his eyes at her and continued, “Let’s take a rest. We will return to the others in a bit.”
Saying so, he sat down on the spot and ignored her.
With the damned Heart Seal Secret Technique planted on him, Yang Kai didn’t need to be on guard against Li Shi Qing doing something to him. He had seen and touched her entire body already, so if she was really scheming against him, it would have been revealed long ago. As such, Yang Kai didn’t need to worry about anything before her.
Seeing him sit down, Li Shi Qing suddenly came over and asked, “What’s wrong? Do you want to probe my identity through my Secret Technique?”
[She’s too sharp!] Yang Kai’s brow twitched. [Whoever said that those who have big breasts aren’t smart couldn’t be more mistaken…]
He was really attempting what she had said. He couldn’t get anything directly from Li Shi Qing, but everything that had happened today must have left some clues, and the best place to start was the so-called Heart Seal Secret Technique.
Yang Kai had clearly felt that something was imprinted into his Knowledge Sea before, but he couldn’t find it now.
By the looks of it, this extra thing should be the Heart Seal. As long as he could find the source of this Secret Technique and carefully study it, he might be able to uncover some clues.
Opening his eyes, he turned and asked flatly, “Are you going to stop me?”
Li Shi Qing covered her mouth and giggled, “Why would I try to stop you? If you want to check it, go right ahead, but I should remind you that this technique is indiscernible. Even if you spend your entire life on it, you won’t be able to resolve it. Not to mention you, a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master, even if a Great Emperor tried, he won’t be able to do anything.”
Yang Kai rebuffed, pursing his lips, “Braggart!”
Regardless of who Li Shi Qing was or where she came from, her cultivation was the same as his; both of them were Second-Order Emperors, but she actually dared to boast so shamelessly. Yang Kai really wanted to make her eat her own words.
Li Shi Qing continued, smiling, “Best of luck then. Big Sister will wait for you.”
Yang Kai snorted, “Thanks.”
Li Shi Qing didn’t say another word and Yang Kai too closed his eyes and focused. The next moment, his Soul Avatar appeared in his Knowledge Sea, carefully looking around.
After the time it took for an incense to burn, Yang Kai gloomily opened his eyes.
Li Shi Qing immediately asked, “Well?”
Yang Kai glared at her, “Enjoy yourself for now. I’m currently pressed for time, so I can’t take a more careful look. I will definitely succeed in the end.”
“Then I’ll be waiting for the good news,” Li Shi Qing smiled before continuing, “Where are we going now?”
Yang Kai really wanted to say ‘you go your way while I go mine’, but he wasn’t able to do so. Just as these words reached the tip of his tongue, he couldn’t bear to speak them. All he could do was unhappily speak the truth, “We’re returning to the others.”
He then suddenly warned her, “If you dare to attack them, I will never forgive you.”
Li Shi Qing tittered, “Rest assured, I’ve already achieved the purpose of my trip. I just need to stay by your side from now on.”
Yang Kai asked, frowning, “You aren’t returning to Myriad Flower Valley?”
Li Shi Qing stated, smiling, “I’m not Li Shi Qing, why would I return to Myriad Flower Valley?”
“Then how are you going to explain yourself to Flower Shadow Great Emperor? If she pursues this matter, your identity will definitely be exposed.”
Li Shi Qing looked at him, blinking her eyes, “Are you worried about me?”
“Stop flattering yourself, I’m worried that I will be implicated by you. In any case, even if Flower Shadow Great Emperor doesn’t ask after we leave this place, I will tell her myself.”
Li Shi Qing neither said no, nor did she say yes, “If that makes you happy, you can do it.” Her tone and postures said that she was sure Yang Kai would definitely not expose her. This made Yang Kai grind his teeth in anger as he gloomily asked, “Fine, you have to at least tell me what your real name is!”
Li Shi Qing was silent for a while before a brilliant smile appeared on her lips, “Ru Meng, Yu Ru Meng!”
Yang Kai lightly nodded in acknowledgement before going silent, taking the lead on the way back.
Naturally, Yu Ru Meng kept up with him, but after flying just a few kilometres, they suddenly heard a deafening explosion echo across the sky like thunder, shaking the entire world.
The next moment, an overbearing pressure descended from above. Yang Kai’s expression momentarily changed as he immediately stopped and looked up at the grey sky with a look of uncertainty looming over his face.
The thunderous explosion wasn’t real thunder of course, but the sound of someone fighting. What left Yang Kai terrified was that the cultivation of whoever was fighting had reached the Great Emperor level. Just the fallout from this clash had sent his blood and Qi into turmoil, forcing him to circulate his Emperor Qi to stabilize his body and mind.
[Great Emperors are actually fighting here!? A fight isn’t a solo event; in other words, there are two Great Emperors fighting in this strange Sealed World. Which two? Is the one who broke into this world when I opened the entrance also involved?]
“It’s started!” Yang Kai suddenly heard Yu Ru Meng’s soft whisper beside him.
Yang Kai turned to look at her, but all he saw was her solemnly looking up at the sky. A faint excitement and anticipation could also be found in her beautiful eyes.
Yang Kai was slightly startled at the sight of her because he found that Yu Ru Meng hadn’t used her Emperor Qi to defend herself at all. This caused Yang Kai to suspect his own eyes a little. Both of them were Second-Order Emperors, so why could Yu Ru Meng remain safe and sound, not deterred by the resulting shockwaves of the battle?
Yang Kai didn’t believe there was anyone in this world superior to him in the Second-Order Emperor Realm. If he went all out, using all his strength and means, he could even fight against a Pseudo-Great Emperor; however, Yu Ru Meng’s performance was actually better than his at this moment, so he was surprised.
Hesitating for a moment, Yang Kai asked, “What has started?”
Yu Ru Meng shook her head and didn’t give an answer.
Another deafening clap rang out as a dark crack suddenly appeared in the sky. It was like the gaping maw of an invisible beast that was about to swallow the world whole.
Space had started to become more turbulent as minute cracks splintered here and there, momentarily appearing and then disappearing.
The Sealed World couldn’t withstand the battle between the two Great Emperors! Such phenomena had appeared in such a short time, and if it continued, this Sealed World would undoubtedly shatter.
At this point, Yang Kai shouted in a low voice, “Hurry!”
While shouting, he shot off with great speed. Yu Ru Meng took another glance at the sky before following Yang Kai.
After a while, several figures appeared before them. When they met each other, Yang Kai discovered that they were none other than Lan Xun, Lin Yun’er, and the others; all four, no more, no less.
“Senior Sister, nothing happened to her, right?” Lan Xun, looking at Yu Ru Meng, who was following Yang Kai, asked.
“She’s fine,” Yang Kai shook his head. He didn’t explain what Yu Ru Meng did or why she disappeared under everyone’s nose. In a manner of speaking, he too was a little confused about this but still, there were other priorities right now. “It’s not suitable to stay here for too long. Please, closely follow me, we will leave here the moment I find an exit.”
Lan Xun and the others solemnly nodded. At this moment, no one was blind to the dangers of their current situation. When gods and immortals fought, it was mortals that suffered. If they didn’t want to be dragged into this calamity, they had to quickly leave this place.
But where the exit was, or whether this Sealed World even had an exit, no one knew. All Yang Kai could do was lead everyone to speed forward, searching and secretly praying.
“Eh…” While flying, Lin Yun’er suddenly cried in surprise, “It’s Master’s aura.”
Yang Kai looked along with her gaze and asked, pointing at the sky, “Senior Iron Blood is over there?”
Lin Yun’er affirmed with a nod, “En, that’s Master’s aura, no doubt.”
She was the only Disciple of Iron Blood Great Emperor, and after having spent so many years with him, Lin Yun’er wouldn’t mistake her own Master’s aura.
“So Senior Iron Blood is here.” Gao Zhan suddenly stated, “No wonder the battle is so fierce.”
Lan Xun asked, “But who is fighting Senior Iron Blood?”
Everyone shook their heads upon hearing this. Although they could tell that it must be another Great Emperor, no one knew who it was.
At this moment, the grey world suddenly became dark, as if all light had been snuffed out, making the entire world as black as the moonless and starless night. Even if everyone was an Emperor Realm Master, no one could see anything. Not only were their lines of sight blocked, but even when they spread their Divine Senses, it was as if they had entered a dark space where they could no longer perceive anything.
“Night Shadow Great Emperor!” Lan Xun cried out in shock.
Such an obvious sign made her immediately conclude the identity of the other Great Emperor locked in battle with Iron Blood Great Emperor. Only one Great Emperor had such a mystical technique, and that was the master of darkness, Night Shadow Great Emperor. Such a phenomenon couldn’t be any more obvious.
“Is it really him?” Yang Kai furrowed his brow. On the way here, Xiao Yu Yang said that they suspected that Night Shadow Great Emperor might have something to do with Lan Xun’s disappearance, but that was just a speculation; nothing more, nothing less. By the looks of it now though, this speculation might just be true.
Gao Zhang was puzzled, “How very strange… Why is Senior Iron Blood fighting with Senior Night Shadow?”
With their sight gone blind and Divine Sense’s perception gone hazy, everyone could only halt their steps and stand on the spot.
Yang Kai solemnly explained, “Star Soul Palace suspected that Shadow Killer Palace had something to do with your kidnappings. If that’s true, the two Seniors fighting isn’t strange either.”
[But it’s tough for a winner to emerge in a fight between two Great Emperors, not that we can really tell what is going on right now.] Yang Kai was secretly growing anxious. [In our current situation, we can neither advance, nor retreat, we can only hold our ground. However, if the battle between Great Emperors causes this world to shatter, I’m afraid things will not end well for anyone. Everyone will be swallowed into the Void Crack, no exception.]
While he was thinking, a bright light suddenly flashed across the sky, dispelling the darkness obscuring the light.
Everyone looked up and suddenly saw a full moon hanging in the sky, emitting a brilliant yet soft light.
“Father!?” Lan Xun tenderly cried in surprise.
As soon as Lan Xun cried out, everyone realized that Bright Moon Great Emperor was also here.
This was consistent with the information that Yang Kai had previously received. It was Bright Moon Great Emperor’s message that led Star Soul Palace all the way here. They were also guessing whether the Great Emperor had entered this world or not, and by the looks of it, he had indeed.
The full moon phenomenon in the sky was the best proof in itself.
In other words, there were three Great Emperors in this strange world; furthermore, they were locked in a heated battle.
But one thing that was certain was that Bright Moon Great Emperor and Night Shadow Great Emperor were on opposite sides. As for whose side Iron Blood Great Emperor stood remained unclear, but chances were that he had teamed up with Bright Moon Great Emperor.
In the sky, the darkness swept back and forth, fighting against the brilliance of the full moon. The clashes between the light and darkness were the clashes between the Principles of the two Great Emperors.
If they were fighting alone, it would be hard to tell the strong and weak from the two Great Emperors as they were like water and fire, but at this moment, there was Iron Blood Great Emperor, Zhan Wu Hen, here as well, and with a two vs one, Night Shadow Great Emperor was surely at a disadvantage.
Judging by the phenomena in the sky, it was evident that although the darkness was mighty, it was obviously not stronger than brightness and was being suppressed little by little. Occasionally, a long cry would resound, shaking the world.
Yang Kai and the others quietly watched. Except for Yu Ru Meng, everyone had a solemn look hanging on their faces.
Because they knew the reason why the three Great Emperors were fighting.
If their Disciples and descendants were kidnapped, something happening like this is a matter of course; after all, a battle between Great Emperors wasn’t a trivial matter. It was very likely that the entire Star Boundary would be shaken by such a conflict. Lan Xun, Lin Yun’er, and the others hadn’t even suffered any injuries, they were just trapped in this world, that’s all, but that did little to alleviate the grievances that had been forged by their abduction in the first place.
The shockwaves spread far and wide, sending ripples through space, destabilizing the foundation of this world more and more.
Yang Kai drew a deep breath and proposed in a solemn voice, “We should leave, now.”
Lan Xun came back to her senses and withdrew her gaze, turning to look at Yang Kai, “But which direction should we go?”
Yang Kai also had no idea, so he could only turn to Gao Zhan, “Brother Gao, shouldn’t it be time for you to make some predictions?”
Yang Kai had experienced Gao Zhan’s ability first-hand. [Since he could even figure out Yu Ru Meng’s location, it shouldn’t be that hard to find the location of the exit, right?]
But contrary to his expectation, Gao Zhan just slowly shook his head, “I can do nothing!”
Yang Kai turned his gaze then to Yu Ru Meng. If Gao Zhan couldn’t be counted on, he could only turn to her as she seemed to know more about their situation than anyone, but no matter how much Yang Kai asked, she did not give him any substantive answer.
When their eyes met, Yu Ru Meng indifferently asked, “Why is Brother Yang looking at me? Shi Qing has no idea either.”
[Cheap Slut!] Yang Kai was sure that she definitely knew something, but since she was pretending to be Li Shi Qing, she put on a perfectly innocent and righteous act. Annoyed, Yang Kai really wanted to tear off her disguise, but instead, he immediately stated in a heavy voice, “We might very well die here. If you know something, please tell me.”
Yu Ru Meng slowly shook her head, “Brother Yang, why are you asking me? Shi Qing had been in deep sleep before and just woke up now, how would she know anything about this place?”
Lan Xun intervened, “Senior Brother Yang, please don’t embarrass Senior Sister Li. She really doesn’t know anything.”
[You’re the ones who don’t know anything! You’re all being deceived by her!] Yang Kai roared in his heart.
But at this point, Yang Kai was also helpless. All he could do was resign himself, “Then it will depend on our luck. If we are lucky, we might be able to leave this place alive, but if not…” He paused and continued, “Everyone might die here.”
After having said this, he viciously glared at Yu Ru Meng, who just stared back at him innocently, though with a flash of mischievousness in the depths of her eyes.
The battle in the sky grew fiercer and fiercer as the three Great Emperors seemed to be exerting their full power without any reservation. This only increased the signs of this world collapsing though.
Everyone dared not stay in such a place for a long time, so all they could do was move on.
Not long after, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly changed as he raised his head, looking ahead.
“What’s wrong?” Lan Xun asked as she noticed the slight change in Yang Kai’s expression.
“Someone’s here!” Yang Kai replied as he promptly scanned with his Divine Sense and reported, “It’s the members of Star Soul Palace.”
“Elder Xue and the others?” Lan Xun’s spirits immediately lifted.
Yang Kai nodded before speeding up.
Obviously, the other side had noticed the situation here and were rushing over to Yang Kai and the others. After a while, the two groups met.
“Princess!” Xue Zhang Mao looked happy after meeting Lan Xun. He hurriedly stepped forward and inquired about her well-being, carefully checking for any signs of injuries. After making sure that she was safe and sound, he finally put his heart to rest.
Xiao Yu Yang walked to Yang Kai and asked, “How did you find them?”
Yang Kai replied, frowning, “I don’t know who, but someone led me to them. When I found them, they were all in a deep sleep, probably a result of something using some kind of Soul Secret Technique on them.”
“Someone lured you over?” Xiao Yu Yang was stunned.
Yang Kai affirmed with a nod, “Now it’s apparent that the person who led me to them was either Senior Bright Moon or Senior Iron Blood! Otherwise, I wouldn’t have found them so easily.”
Xiao Yu Yang pondered for a while before nodding and agreeing, “That makes sense.”
[Bright Moon Great Emperor or Iron Blood Great Emperor should have discovered Lan Xun and the others, but had other concerns to attend to, so it wasn’t convenient for them to bring these Juniors with them; as such, they had led Yang Kai over and left the rest to him.]
“Elder Xiao, there is one more thing I need to tell you.” Yang Kai suddenly turned serious.
“What is it?” Xiao Yu Yang and the other members of Star Soul Palace turned to look at him.
Yang Kai’s lips moved up and down a few times before he finally stated, “We have to find a way out of here as soon as possible. If I’m right, if the Seniors continue to fight like this, it will soon cause this Sealed World to collapse.”
[So it’s about this.] Xiao Yu Yang failed to stifle his laughter. Even if Yang Kai hadn’t warned them, they had also noticed.
Xue Zhang Mao added, “We have been looking for an exit, but unfortunately, we have found nothing so far. Have you found any clues here?”
Yang Kai slowly shook his head.
Everyone’s face turned gloomy. They too hadn’t found anything, and if Yang Kai hadn’t noticed anything either, how would they get out of here?
Xiao Yu Yang asked, “Since you are proficient in the Dao of Space, can’t you simply tear the space of this world and open an exit?”
Yang Kai replied, shaking his head, “That’s not possible; after all, this is an independent Sealed World with its own Principles and World Barrier. With my current comprehension of the Dao of Space, I can’t tear the barrier of this world. Even if I tried to tear space here, the rift would only lead to some other place in this world. We wouldn’t return to the Star Boundary.”
Xue Zheng Mao resigned, “In that case, we can only slowly search. Since we were able to come in, we must naturally be able to go out.” His voice suddenly turned solemn, looking at the sky, “I just hope we can find the exit in time.”
He then waved his arm, “Let’s go.”
The combined team of people hurriedly chased after him.
Who knows whether it was intentional or unintentional, but Yu Ru Meng fell behind and flew shoulder to shoulder with Yang Kai.
The next moment, her voice rang out from the side, “You just tried to expose me, right?”
Yang Kai glanced sidelong at her, “En, so?”
The corners of Yu Ru Meng’s eyes rose as a smile started to bloom on her face, “Then why didn’t you do it?”
“None of your damn business!” Yang Kai bitterly replied.
“I know, it’s because you couldn’t bear to do it!” Yu Ru Meng smiled even more happily.
Yang Kai coldly snorted, “We don’t know whether we will live or die, it doesn’t make sense to expose you now. If we can find a way out of here, I will definitely expose you in public and watch you die.”
Yu Ru Meng rebuffed, “Just don’t be sad at that time.”
“In your dreams,” Yang Kai snorted angrily and immediately picked up his pace, widening the distance between them at once.
Happiness flashed across Yu Ru Meng’s eyes as she stared at his back and leisurely followed after him.
Time ticked by, bit by bit, and after a full day and night, everyone had become a little restless, because they had not been able to find the exit even after searching for so long.
As for the battle between the three Great Emperors, it had not once ceased during this time, cracking more and more fissures in the world around them to the point that Void Cracks were now present just about everywhere.
Yang Kai was leading the way, only because no one could fly in this environment without his guidance. One might accidentally rush into a Void Crack, or have their bodies cut by the small invisible tears in space and end up dying.
At a certain moment, a dazzling light suddenly illuminated the world.
The team involuntarily halted their steps and looked up.
The next moment, they saw an enormous dark screen clashing with the brilliance of the full moon in the sky, eliminating each other invisibly. At the same time, ear-splitting rumbles also started reverberating throughout the world.
The earth began to crack, opening up massive canyons across the world, ones that seemed bottomless. Space shattered like a mirror and the sky literally began to break apart.
“Not good!” Xiao Yu Yang couldn’t help but cry out in alarm.
Their previous fears had come true, this world couldn’t bear the fierce confrontation of three Great Emperors and was on the brink of collapsing. All of these phenomena were nothing but the precursors of its destruction.
“Come here!” Xue Zheng Mao shouted. At this time, he didn’t have the luxury to keep searching for an exit. All they could do was huddle together and gather everyone’s strength to resist the coming calamity. Maybe, and just maybe, they could still survive the destruction of the world.
Everyone understood their situation and as such, gathered around Elder Xue. Emperor Qi surged as nearly twenty people acted together, trying to maintain the stability of the place where they stood, preventing an area of a few hundred meters from being affected by the collapse of the world.
Yang Kai looked over at Yu Ru Meng and asked via voice transmission, angrily glaring at her, “Are you only going to be happy after we all die?”
Yu Ru Meng indifferently replied, “Whether others die or not, what does that have to do with me? As for you, will someone like you, who is proficient in the Dao of Space, really die here?”
“Slut!” Yang Kai cursed out of anger.
Yu Ru Meng was dumbstruck for a moment before she asked through gritted teeth, “What did you just call me?”
“S… L… U… T… SLUT!” Yang Kai spelt it out for her.
He had even cursed the Second Elder of the Dragon Clan, so what did Yu Ru Meng matter?
Yu Ru Meng was obviously infuriated. She had never heard anyone swear at her so viciously. Not to mention the fact that it was Yang Kai who swore at her. She stated, grinding her white teeth, “I’ll fight you!”
Yang Kai kept sneering, “Bring it on.”
He didn’t believe that Yu Ru Meng would really dare to attack him in front of everyone. If she did it, her identity would definitely be exposed right away. As long as she was still harbouring some schemes, she would definitely not waste her hard work.
He really believed that…
But contrary to his expectation, as soon as he spoke, Yu Ru Meng looked at him with a mocking gaze and the next moment, Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea fell into a turmoil as a head-splitting headache shook his mind and Soul, one that caused him to involuntarily groan as his figure stumbled.
Not only Yang Kai, but the same was also true for Yu Ru Meng as well. It was obvious that when Yang Kai suffered these pains, she too suffered. Her jade-like skin turned a little white as fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Had they been in any other situation, this kind of sudden change in their condition would not have gone unnoticed by everyone, but right now, everyone was going all out to stabilize the space around them and prevent this small section of the world from being affected by the shockwaves of the Great Emperors’ battle, so who had any time to care about the mood of others?
As such, the sudden change in both of their conditions remained unknown and invisible to everyone.
“What did you do?” Yang Kai was greatly shocked. He didn’t even notice Yu Ru Meng attacking him, but he felt as if his head was about to explode.
“We’ll both perish together!” Yu Ru Meng replied, gritting her teeth, her voice cracking here and there; obviously, she was enduring great pains.
“Are you crazy!?” Yang Kai’s face changed. [Can’t she see that it’s not the time to play such a joke. She really is crazy!]
“Who asked to curse me!?” Yu Ru Meng stubbornly glared at Yang Kai as her forehead dripped with perspiration.
“Since I swore at you, you can just curse back at me!” Yang Kai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “Why go so far as to wound each other?”
“I want an apology!”
“Fuck your apology!”
“You’re still swearing at me?!” Who knows if Yu Ru Meng was hurt or angry, but her entire body shook violently. Finally, Lan Xun seemed to have noticed the strangeness here and asked with concern, “Senior Sister Li, are you okay?”
Yu Ru Meng shook her head, speaking not another word.
Yang Kai timely sent a voice transmission, “If you have anything to say, we can deal with it later. Don’t make trouble now!”
Yu Ru Meng coldly stated, “No one has ever sworn at me like that, no one can swear at me like that! Unless you apologize, we’ll both die right here and now!”
Yang Kai was speechless as his facial muscles twitched for a while, but in this situation he had no choice but to comfort her, “Alright, alright, it was my mistake. I will never swear at you.” [A great man knows when to yield and when to not. What does an apology count for?]
“You said so.”
“Right, I said it, you heard it right.”
Yu Ru Meng finally stopped whatever it was she was doing, falling silent for a moment before asking with concern, “Are you hurt?”
“You don’t say!” Yang Kai wasn’t angry per se, but felt that this woman changed her mind as quickly as flipping a page.
“I’m just a bit short-tempered…. Don’t irritate me like this next time.” Perhaps because of the change in her mood, Yu Ru Meng felt a little guilty about what she had just done so her tone became extremely soft, enough to melt even the coldest of hearts.
Yang Kai rolled his eyes at her and asked, “That was also the power of the Heart Seal, right?”
Yu Ru Meng didn’t answer.
Yang Kai still wanted to ask a few more questions, but it was already too late now. While the two were bickering with each other, the world around them had finally collapsed. The earth and space had fragmented into pieces, and then gradually drifted away and disappeared into the depths of the Void under the influence of some unknown force.
It was the first time everyone had seen such a peculiar scene and it gave them all goosebumps.
“It’s over!” Xue Zheng Mao heaved a long sigh. As an Elder of Star Soul Palace and a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master, he wasn’t afraid of dying, but Lan Xun was still here. He was okay if he died, but Lan Xun perishing here as well was unacceptable to him.
Apart from Lan Xun, there were other descendants and Disciples of four Great Emperors present.
Everyone’s face was covered in gloom.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, was quite safe and sound. Despite saying that the situation was very dangerous before, if things really reached a critical point, he could just take everyone into the Sealed World Bead and then try to find a way to escape from the Void by himself. As long as he remained safe, everyone else would be safe too.
Under normal circumstances, Yang Kai was completely confident that he could safely escape from the Void Crack, but there were currently three Great Emperors fighting here, plus an entire Sealed World had just collapsed, so this was an unfamiliar situation even for him and he didn’t dare to give out careless guarantees. He was only going to make a move when the situation reached the point where there was no other choice.
Endless shattering sounds rang out as the speed of the world’s collapse increased. Pieces of land drifted away, slowly disappearing into the Void.
In just an hour, everyone was completely surrounded by chaotic nothingness. Where they stood seemed to be the only safe place, and it was only barely maintained with the combined support of everyone present; however, this piece of land was only a hundred meters or so in diameter, giving everyone the feeling of being stranded on an island drifting through the Void Crack. There was no light and they couldn’t see or control where they were going, like they were lost and helpless, abandoned by the world itself.
“Hm?” Yang Kai suddenly furrowed his brow, focusing his gaze in a certain direction.
“What’s wrong?” Xiao Yu Yang, who was standing next to him, immediately asked.
Yang Kai didn’t answer as he quietly scanned that region. After a while though, his spirits lifted and he declared, “There is an exit over there.”
Everyone was overjoyed after hearing this while Lei Hong asked in a cracking voice, “Is it the same entrance that we entered in the Star Boundary?”
Yang Kai replied, nodding, “It’s quite possible!”
“Then what are we waiting for, let’s go take a look,” Lie Hong impatiently shouted.
Yang Kai slightly nodded in affirmation. Just as he was about to fly out though, his figure froze again before he carefully scanned the surroundings. In the next instant, his expression changed drastically as he shouted, “Damn it, run!”
Saying so, he pushed his Space Principles without reserve or explanation, wrapped everyone in them, and led them away as fast as he could.
Everyone was confused; but seeing Yang Kai’s solemn expression, they knew that something had gone wrong. Only Yang Kai, who was proficient in the Dao of Space, had any authority to speak in this damned place. He must have noticed something for him to make this kind of sudden decision.
Travelling in the Void was extremely dangerous, and without Yang Kai’s support, it would be impossible for these twenty or so to stick together. As soon as they tried to move about on their own, they would be scattered and lost.
Everyone also wanted to know what Yang Kai had noticed for him to look so panicked, but obviously now wasn’t the right time to ask.
However, their confusion didn’t last for long as an unusual commotion suddenly came from behind.
Deafening rumbles rang out through the Void, as if a stampede of something was tumbling over.
In the midst of their escape, Xue Zheng Mao and the other top Masters glanced back, but they couldn’t see anything at all. They also spread their Divine Senses but they couldn’t extend them too far as the Void suppressed their perception and senses greatly.
After about an incense stick worth of time, a bright light suddenly appeared before everyone. All of them couldn’t help but feel like a window had opened in a dark room after seeing this light.
Even if Yang Kai didn’t give an explanation, all of them knew that the source of the light was the exit. Everyone was elated. As the popular adage goes, one who survives a great disaster is destined for good fortune after. In this case, everyone had gained a precious experience after escaping from the clutches of death.
The team swiftly sped along with Yang Kai at the lead, reaching the source of the light a moment later and charging straight into it.
Everything went white before their eyes, but in the next moment, they regained their vision and found themselves standing in a world of blowing yellow sand.
“We’re back!” Xue Zheng Mao was elated.
Furthermore, they were back to the place where they had first entered. Obviously, this was the very same desert as there was still an enormous funnel below their feet. Much to everyone’s surprise, they actually found their way out after the world had collapsed.
“We need to leave here, quickly!” Yang Kai, however, didn’t stop for even a moment and quickly shouted.
Seeing him acting as if he was avoiding some great disaster, everyone didn’t have time to appreciate surviving their recent ordeal. Suppressing whatever doubt in their hearts they had, they all followed after him quickly.
After flying for a hundred kilometres, Yang Kai finally stopped and looked back with an incomparably dignified look on his face.
“Yang Kai, what did you notice?” Xiao Yu Yang walked up to him and asked, looking along his gaze.
Yang Kai shook head, replying, “I hope I’m wrong, but if I’m not…”
“A catastrophe is about to begin!” Gao Zhan flatly said. At this moment, his eyes were open and his white pupils were glimmering with a strange light as he stared towards the funnel in the distance.
Yang Kai looked over at him and felt the impulse to rip out his tongue.
[He is completely useless when we need him, and opens his crow’s mouth when we don’t want him to. Furthermore, the ill omens he spouts all come true. Before he told me to be careful, I really fell for Yu Ru Meng’s plot.]
[Now he is talking about the start of a catastrophe…]
[He definitely doesn’t have any friends!] Yang Kai concluded in his heart.
Suddenly, a deafening explosion sounded as dust flew up into the air. The next moment, a pitch-black aura gushed out of the funnel, rushing straight to the sky before rapidly spreading into the surroundings. Everywhere that pitch-black aura passed, the world began to change, as if all light and colour had been drained from it.
“That’s…” Xue Zheng Mao and everyone’s eyes bulged out, staring at the scene in a daze, a chill rushing up their spine.
“Ha…” Yang Kai heaved a sigh. He had been praying that his guess was wrong, but contrary to his wishes, it turned out to be true. The question now though was, what exactly was going on?
“Demon Qi!” Xiao Yu Yang cried out in alarm. Even from a distance of a hundred kilometres, he could detect the malevolent will contained in the erupting black Qi. He was also there during the outbreak of the demon tribulation in the Southern Territory’s Orthodoxy Temple a few years back, so he was naturally no stranger to Demon Qi.
It was just that the Demon Qi back in Orthodoxy Temple was nothing compared to the Demon Qi they were seeing now. Whether it was quantity or quality, the two were on completely different levels.
[How could Demon Qi erupt from the sand funnel? Furthermore, it continues as if the funnel is connected to an infinite reservoir of Demon Qi.]
The boundless Demon Qi gushed out from the sand funnel and madly spread into the surroundings. In the blink of an eye, Demon Qi had flooded a radius of a dozen kilometres. Moreover, it was still spreading in every direction at a rapid pace.
A few years back, a Demon Catastrophe had struck the Southern Territory, and now, after a few years, Demon Qi had emerged in the Western Territory. This caused those present to begin to wonder about a great many things.
Yang Kai even suspected that a new Demon Realm invasion was about to begin.
In the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld, he had personally fought against a Demon Realm invasion, and although what he experienced was just a dream, according to Xiao Tiea, everything in the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld was based on real history. In other words, a great battle between Humans and Demons had really occurred in ancient times.
Of course, Yang Kai didn’t exist in those ancient times, he was just participating in an elaborate simulation of that great battle as a man from the future.
In that war, the Demon Race was defeated, but they weren’t eradicated. After recuperating for tens or thousands of years, was the Demon Race planning to make a comeback? Would the Demon Race launch a new invasion from the Western Territory?
If that was really the case, then the last Demon Catastrophe in the Southern Territory suddenly made much more sense. The Demon Catastrophe was just the preliminary preparations made by the Demon Race to invade this world. If their plan had succeeded, then an untold number of Demons and Demonified Humans would have been lurking in every corner of the major Sects of the entire Southern Territory. With the Western Territory’s invasion, and the countless Demons in the Southern Territory, attacks from inside and outside could be launched to swiftly conquer the two territories. With such a firm foothold, launching a crusade against the rest of the Star Boundary would be a far simpler task.
Yang Kai shuddered at the thought of it.
At that moment, Yang Kai turned and looked at Yu Ru Meng, his gaze as sharp as a falcon’s, trying to see into the depths of her heart.
[Obviously, Yu Ru Meng had anticipated all of this; otherwise, she would have at least shown some surprise.]
[So who is she? What role does she play in this drama?]
[She also said that I, who is proficient in the Dao of Space, will play a huge role in the future…]
Suddenly, Yang Kai seemed to understand something.
“Why is there so much Demon Qi gushing out?” Xue Zheng Mao had a look of incredulity, gazing at the scene a hundred or so kilometres away as he pulled nervously at his beard, “It’s a great disaster, it’s a great disaster!”
The Southern Territory had suffered heavy losses in the last Demon Catastrophe. Even a top Sect like Orthodoxy Temple was completely destroyed. Now, the situation in the Western Territory was much more severe than even that. How could the situation be any worse?
Gao Zhan’s crow mouth had unfortunately spoken the truth again. Furthermore, the speed with which calamity came had caught everyone off guard.
“Where are the Seniors?” Someone asked.
No one could give an answer. The three Great Emperors had fought inside the Sealed World, shattering it before disappearing. Who knows if they fell into the endless Void Crack or some other far flung place.
Lan Xun and Lin Yun’er looked worried. Although Bright Moon Great Emperor and Iron Blood Great Emperor’s cultivation had reached the highest realms possible, if they really fell into the Void Crack, becoming lost forever was not impossible.
“What are the top Sects of the Western Territory?” Yang Kai turned his head and asked.
Xue Zheng Mao pondered for a moment before replying, “There are three, Pointed Star Sect, Hundred Barbarian Mountain, and the Wind and Cloud Pavilion.”
Of course, Wind and Cloud Pavilion couldn’t be relied upon as last time he was in the Western Territory, Yang Kai and Lin Yun’er had paid them a visit and initiated a great fight, killing almost all of their top Masters. Presumably, they still hadn’t recovered from their losses.
“Why do you ask?” Xue Zheng Mao looked at him curiously.
Yang Kai replied, “We need to notify the major Sects of the Western Territory about this matter as soon as possible, so that they could send their respective Masters over and work with us to contain the current situation. Otherwise, if the Demon Qi is allowed to spread, perhaps the entire Western Territory would plunge into misery and suffering.” He paused for a moment and then continued, “This might not just be related to the Western Territory. If the Western Territory is corrupted by Demon Qi, then the entire Star Boundary will suffer. We need to mobilize the Masters from the other three territories too. I can arrange a large-scale Space Array to bring in reinforcements from the other three territories, but we should rally the local forces as well.”
Xue Zheng Mao’s eyes lit up after hearing this and agreed, “You’re quite right.”
He had been a bit dazed after seeing such a large eruption of Demon Qi, but now, he regained clarity after hearing Yang Kai’s suggestion. He immediately arranged several Emperor Realm Masters of Star Soul Palace to set out for the top Sects of the Western Territory to notify them of this situation.
Moments later, several silhouettes immediately left as swiftly as the wind.
While they were talking, the endless Demon Qi had already spread another dozen kilometres outwards; furthermore, its pace of expansion hadn’t slowed down at all.
Yang Kai’s face had an extremely solemn look as pondered for a long time before saying, “I’ll go over and see if it’s possible to destroy the channel. If I’m right, a giant Void Corridor has been opened and might be connected to… the Demon Realm!”
“Demon Realm!” Xue Zheng Mao and the others’ faces immediately turned pale. Obviously, they knew what kind of place the Demon Realm was. Although they hadn’t experienced the ancient war between Humans and Demons, Star Soul Palace was also a hegemon Sect with an extremely long history, so it had a wide collection of ancient records in its archives.
The others only thought that the situation here was somewhat similar to the Southern Territory’s Demon Catastrophe, an eruption of sealed Ancient Demon Qi, but after hearing Yang Kai’s speculation, they realized the problem here may be far graver.
If a Void Corridor at the base of the funnel was really connected to the Demon Realm, then the situation had far exceeded their worst imagination.
“Demon Qi is insidious and corrosive. How will you maintain your sanity after rushing into it?” Xiao Yu Yang looked worried. Yang Kai’s proposal was indeed the best course of action. If the funnel was really connected to the Demon Realm, the quickest solution would be to collapse the channel.
But the channel itself was located at the epicenter of the Demon Qi eruption. If Yang Kai really entered such a place, becoming corrupted and losing his sanity would be almost instantaneous.
But before anyone could react, Yang Kai’s figure had already moved as he disappeared from the spot.
Moments later, Yang Kai charged into the area covered in Demon Qi, but of course, it had no effect on him at all.
After all, he currently had a 300-metre-tall half-Dragon body which possessed strong resistance to almost all negative effects and energies, not to mention the mass of pure Ancient Demon Qi sealed in his own dantian. Although Yang Kai did not enjoy traversing such an environment, he wasn’t affected by it either.
Yang Kai checked his bearing before flying towards the funnel.
But just as he flew a short distance, he suddenly looked back and shouted, “Who’s there?”
Sounds of clothes flapping were coming from behind, so obviously someone was rushing over.
A fragrant breeze blew across his face the next instant as a slim and slender figure appeared in Yang Kai’s sight. It was none other than Yu Ru Meng, who was smilingly looking at him. She stopped just a forearm’s length away from him, nearly pushing her towering peaks up against his chest.
“Why are you here?” Yang Kai frowned, “Leave, quickly.”
Yu Ru Meng sweetly smiled, “Didn’t I say that from now on, I would always be with you?”
Yang Kai angrily rebuked, “There is a huge difference between then and now. Can’t you see where we are? Can you really remain safe… eh? How are you still safe here?” Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly bulged in disbelief.
[The reason why I’m not affected by the Demon Qi is naturally because of my strong physique and the Demon Qi sealed in my dantian, but why isn’t Yu Ru Meng affected at all?] Yang Kai didn’t notice her using any sort of technique to resist the Demon Qi corrosion, but she could still walk around in the boundless Demon Qi like she was taking a stroll around her backyard with just her Second-Order Emperor Realm cultivation.
Yu Ru Meng’s brows curved as a smile bloomed on her face, “How can a trivial little bit of Demon Qi do anything to me? I have my own cards up my sleeve. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“Only ghosts would worry about you!” Yang Kai half-shouted, half-spat out those words in her face. He then pondered for a moment before continuing, “You can follow me, just don’t disturb me.”
It wasn’t the right time to fight with her. Yang Kai just wanted to check whether he could destroy the Void Corridor at the funnel or not.
Yu Ru Meng kept nodding, “I won’t disturb you.”
Yang Kai suspiciously stared at her for a moment before continuing on.
A short time later, the duo arrived at the funnel, but when he looked down at it, Yang Kai realized it had really become a Void Corridor, and Demon Qi was continuously gushing out of it.
Yang Kai suddenly felt confused.
Originally, the funnel was the entrance to a Sealed World, but he hadn’t noticed the existence of any Demon Qi in that Sealed World. Not to mention, that world had already collapsed, so where was the Demon Qi coming from?
[Could it be that that Sealed World was located between the Demon Realm and the Star Boundary? And after that world collapsed, the Demon Realm and the Star Boundary were connected!?]
Thinking of this, Yang Kai’s countenance changed. [If that’s the case, then Iron Blood Great Emperor and Bright Moon Great Emperor have committed a grave mistake!]
Yang Kai stretched out his hand towards the Void Corridor and began mobilizing his Divine Sense and Space Principles madly, a solemn look hanging on his face.
Suddenly, a piercing pain originated from his Knowledge Sea, making him feel like his head was about to explode, preventing him from continuing.
Yang Kai immediately turned his head and shouted, “What are you doing?”
Yu Ru Meng, who was standing next to him, trembling all over, apparently enduring great pain, stuttered a reply, “N-N-Nothing!”
“Do you really think that I won’t kill you!?” Yang Kai ferociously glared at her like a crazed beast.
Yu Ru Meng didn’t speak as she looked at him with a smile.
“I give you three breaths to stop, otherwise you will be responsible for what happens next!” Yang Kai stared straight at her, his gaze as cold as ice, like he was really prepared to kill her.
Yu Ru Meng, however, just slowly shook her head with a mournful look on her face.
After the three breaths had passed, a look of determination flashed across Yang Kai’s eyes as he shouted, “You court death!”
Saying so, he raised his arm and pushed out a palm at her.
A majestic Dragon Pressure spread into the surroundings as his hand seemed to transform into a Dragon Clan as it ruthlessly struck Yu Ru Meng’s chest.
The sounds of bone-cracking rang loud and clear. Yu Ru Meng’s face turned pale as she spurted a mouthful of blood, dying the veil on her face red. At the same time, her figure flew out like a paper kite with a broken string.
The pain in Yang Kai’s mind disappeared right away, but in its place his heart felt like it had been fiercely gripped by an invisible hand. It was so painful that he could barely breathe…
Yu Ru Meng’s Heart Seal Secret Technique was undoubtedly very powerful. People who weren’t subjected to this Secret Technique, could never know the helplessness of being swayed by the emotions it induced.
At that moment, the person Yang Kai felt he had struck wasn’t the stranger Yu Ru Meng, but Su Yan or Xia Ning Chang!
Barely holding himself back from checking on her, Yang Kai turned around and continued. His Divine Sense surged and Space Principles fluctuated as he probed the situation inside the funnel.
Right then, rustling sounds came from behind. Yang Kai didn’t need to look to know that Yu Ru Meng had stood back up. Although his attack was fierce, it wasn’t really meant to kill her, just injure her enough so that she couldn’t interfere with him.
“I just… don’t want to see you hurt!” Yu Ru Meng’s weak voice rang in his ears.
Before Yang Kai could realize what she meant, his expression suddenly changed. His eyes widened as he stared at the funnel while hurriedly withdrawing his Divine Sense.
But he was still a little bit late. The Divine Sense he had spread was severed at that moment and a painful grunt escaped his lips as his face suddenly turned pale.
Damage to the Divine Sense could be considered an extremely serious injury as it was a direct wound to one’s Soul. Without peerless elixirs, it would take an incredibly long time to recover naturally from such an injury, if it ever recovered at all.
However, Yang Kai had the Soul Warming Lotus; as such, he didn’t need to worry about this. Under the nourishment of the Soul Warming Lotus, this kind of injury would soon be healed.
What horrified him was that someone was guarding the funnel, and it was an existence vastly superior to him. It was that person who noticed Yang Kai’s Divine Sense and cut it off.
Not only that, a wisp of murderous intent even followed back along his retreating Divine Sense.
How could Yang Kai still dare to stay there? His figure promptly retreated, grabbing the nearby Yu Ru Meng by her waist. The next moment, Space Principles surged around the duo before they disappeared into thin air.
Only now did he finally understand what Yu Ru Meng meant.
Obviously, she had known that things would turn out like this beforehand.
Yang Kai retreated all the way out of the Demon Qi field and to the place where everyone from Star Soul Palace was waiting.
He looked down and saw that Yu Ru Meng’s face was completely pale and her veil was dyed red. Although her life wasn’t in danger, she looked quite dispirited. Who knows whether it was due to her injuries from Yang Kai’s palm, or the heartbreak she was feeling from being attacked by him in the first place, but the chances of it being the latter were higher. At this moment, her head happened to be lifelessly tilted to one side like a wooden puppet.
Yang Kai’s lips moved up and down a little, trying to say something; however, he couldn’t say anything in the end. Helpless, he took out a few pills and handed it to her, “Take them.”
Yu Ru Meng remained indifferent as if she hadn’t heard him.
Yang Kai could only tear off her veil, squeeze her cheeks, and stuffed the pills into her mouth.
“Pei!” Yu Ru Meng turned her head and spat out the pills.
Yang Kai’s brow twitched before he bitterly stated, “If you don’t want to eat them, then forget it!”
“Heh!” Yu Ru Meng took a sidelong glance at him before a strange smile appeared on her lips. Then, she glanced to the other side.
As the duo hurriedly arrived before Xue Zheng Mao and the others, everyone went to greet them and asked about the situation.
Yang Kai handed Yu Ru Meng to Lan Xun to take care of her before he replied, shaking his head, “Someone is guarding the channel. Furthermore… it seems to be Night Shadow Great Emperor!”
He had noticed Night Shadow Great Emperor’s aura just now.
“What!?” Xue Zheng Mao and the others’ eyes widened in shock.
After a moment of silence, Xiao Yu Yang wondered aloud, “Is Night Shadow Great Emperor colluding with the Demon Realm?”
“I don’t know about that,” Yang Kai spread his hands.
“It’s possible,” A pondering look appeared on Xue Zheng Mao’s face.
“Why do you say so?” Yang Kai curiously looked at him.
Xue Zheng Mao hesitated for a moment before voicing out his speculations, “Yang Kai, do you remember that entire series of events that took place in Orthodoxy Temple a few years back?”
“Naturally.” This matter was related to the current situation as both of them were related to the Demon Race. Only, what did it have to do with Night Shadow Great Emperor?
“At that time, when the Demon Catastrophe struck, someone led you out of Orthodoxy Temple and then waited for an opportunity to assassinate you, yes? At that time, that attacker didn’t leave any signs when he attacked and you almost lost your life, correct?”
“That’s right,” Yang Kai nodded. He had told many people about this afterwards, trying to determine just who had attacked him, but no one could give him a definite answer. Yang Kai would shudder whenever he recalled that incident. The attacker had silently attacked him from the cover of darkness, and if it weren’t for his intrepid physique, he might have really died. But the attacker immediately fled after he failed to take Yang Kai’s life with his first strike, making it impossible for Yang Kai to identify his assailant.
Yang Kai’s hair stood on end as he asked, “He was from Shadow Killer Palace?”
Xue Zheng Mao stated with a nod, “If that person really attacked like you said, then only Shadow Killer Palace could have trained them. Only, it was just speculation on our side; after all, it was related to a Great Emperor so we couldn’t rashly jump to conclusions. But now, by the looks of it, Night Shadow Great Emperor and Shadow Killer Palace have really colluded with the Demon Realm.”
The Demon Catastrophe of the Southern Territory had the shadow of Shadow Killer Palace shrouding it, and in the Western Territory, Night Shadow Great Emperor had personally taken action to support the Demon Realm. These two points were enough to conclude many things.
“But… why me?” Yang Kai was puzzled about why he was especially lured out to be assassinated.
Xue Zheng Mao speculated, “If the Demon Realm really wants to invade the Star Boundary, then there will be a huge war in the near future. At that time, you, who are proficient in the Dao of Space and can arrange Cross-Territory Space Arrays, will have a huge role to play. Eliminating you makes strategic sense.”
[Great role…]
[That sounds familiar!]
Yang Kai thoughtfully looked at Yu Ru Meng, who was sitting cross-legged not too far away.
“For example, right now, you can arrange a Space Array to bring Masters from the other three territories here rapidly.”
Yang Kai nodded as all his doubts were suddenly cleared.
Xue Zheng Mao heaved a sigh before continuing, “Of course, these are just speculations. None of us knows the truth of this matter.”
Yang Kai nodded and put these concerns aside before stating, “We can’t delay things. We will talk after I have passed the news and gathered everyone here.”
Since the Void Corridor was guarded by Night Shadow Great Emperor, it was no longer a problem that Yang Kai could solve alone. Bright Moon Great Emperor and Iron Blood Great Emperor were also missing at this moment, so if he wanted to suppress Night Shadow Great Emperor, then he would have to ask another Great Emperor to take action.
Fortunately, Yang Kai had exchanged Space Beacons with Li Wu Yi, so he could immediately seek reinforcements from Spirit Beast Island; otherwise, he would really be unable to do anything in short order.
Yang Kai didn’t need to arrange a Space Array as there was already one in the deserted oasis just three days away from here; what’s more, he personally had other methods of cross-territory movements.
After spending a little time, he crafted a Space Beacon to look like a bracelet before calling Lin Yun’er over. He then handed the beacon to her and exhorted her in a heavy voice, “Wear this thing on your wrist and never put it into your Space Ring.”
“En,” Lin Yun’er nodded before putting on the bracelet.
Yang Kai then shot a quick glance at the nearby recuperating Yu Ru Meng before pushing his Space Principles and triggering Li Wu Yi’s Space Beacon.
When the ripples disappeared, Yang Kai also vanished from everyone’s sight.
After a cup of tea worth of time, Yang Kai met Martial Beast Great Emperor, Mo Huang, under the guidance of Li Wu Yi on Spirit Beast Island.
Mo Huang asked with a weird look hanging on his face, “Kid, why are you here again?”
[It has only been a few years yet this smelly brat is back on Spirit Beast Island!] Mo Huang was really worried now, wondering how long he could keep his darling daughter from falling into this vile beast’s wicked claws?
“Sir, there is bad news,” Li Wu Yi reported with a serious look on his face.
“What’s the matter?” Mo Huang furrowed his brow. The last time Li Wu Yi spoke such words to him was when Yao Lin was kidnapped, and by the looks of it, this time something far more serious had happened.
Li Wu Yi looked at Yang Kai, motioning him to answer.
Yang Kai didn’t waste any time and briefly summarized what happened.
Mo Huang was shocked and asked in a heavy voice, “Night Shadow Great Emperor has colluded with the Demon Realm?”
Yang Kai explained, “It’s just a guess at this moment, and I can’t prove it, but this Junior is certain that a Great Emperor is guarding that Void Corridor, and their aura resembles that of Night Shadow Great Emperor. Senior Bright Moon and Senior Iron Blood are missing at this point and Demon Qi continues to pour into the Western Territory. After much deliberation, this Junior could only think of coming here and asking Senior to step forward. The situation is urgent and any delay could lead to disaster. I ask Senior to quickly set out as soon as possible. If we are too slow, I’m afraid the Western Territory’s situation will deteriorate beyond control.”
Mo Huang stood up and stated, “If things are as you say they are, it really isn’t just a matter for the Western Territory. Naturally, this King can’t stand idly by.” After pondering for a moment, he turned to Li Wu Yi and ordered, “Go to Serene Soul Palace and bring Serene Soul over. His daughter is over there, so he can’t stay out of this matter. He will definitely come.”
“Yes!” Li Wu Yi immediately left after receiving the order.
Serene Soul Palace naturally had a Space Beacon refined by Li Wu Yi, so using it, he could travel to and from Spirit Beast Island and Serene Soul Palace in an instant. Presumably, it would not take Li Wu Yi long to return with Serene Soul Great Emperor.
This was a pleasant surprise for Yang Kai as he had come to Spirit Beast Island only to invite Mo Huang to take action, never having expected Serene Soul Great Emperor would also be joining them.
The urgency to mobilize others had decreased greatly now, as two Great Emperors would be taking action, and if they couldn’t solve this problem, bringing in others would be useless anyway.
While waiting, Mo Huang asked about the Western Territory’s situation in detail. Yang Kai naturally answered whatever he could without concealing the slightest detail.
After their conversation finished, a solemn look appeared on Mo Huang’s face as he pondered, “It seems that the Demon Realm really intends to invade the Star Boundary, but why did Night Shadow collude with them? What benefits can the Demon Realm give him?”
Yang Kai asked, looking at him, “Senior has no guess either?”
Mo Huang shook his head, “Among us ten, Night Shadow is the most mysterious, never contacting the others much. I have only met him a handful of times and exchanged no more than ten words with him. As for his temperament, this King has no idea either, so this King can’t speculate.”
Yang Kai asked with a weird look on his face, “Rumour has it that even the Seniors don’t even know whether Night Shadow Great Emperor is male or female. I wonder if that is true or false?”
Mo Huang broke out into laughter as he waved his hand, “Of course Night Shadow is a man. How can there be such a ridiculous rumour in this world?”
Saying so, he kept laughing, but suddenly, a frown appeared on his face, “Damn, you might actually be right. This King has never seen his true face after all…”
Yang Kai was dumbfounded after hearing this. [The rumours are really true!]
[Mo Huang and the others really don’t know if Night Shadow Great Emperor is a man or a woman! But no matter what his… her… their gender is, Night Shadow is still a Great Emperor who stands at the pinnacle of this world. Just as Mo Huang said, what could Demon Realm possibly offer him to actually get him to collude with them?]
After a cup of tea worth of time, Li Wu Yi returned.
Naturally, Serene Soul Great Emperor returned with him.
This was the first time Yang Kai had seen Serene Soul Great Emperor in person. At first glance, one might think of him as an ordinary old man, but when one tried to observe him with their Divine Sense, they would not be able to sense the slightest aura or presence, as if he didn’t even exist.
Each of the ten Great Emperors had their own unique abilities and specialities. For example, Mo Huang was proficient in Beast Taming, while Serene Soul Great Emperor was the most proficient person regarding the Soul in the Star Boundary.
Of course, Tian Yan also existed in this world, but after he had moulded his physical body, while he retained his Soul foundation, his physique was that of a mere mortal that had never cultivated before. As such, Tian Yan had to re-cultivate from the beginning, a process that would take who knows how long.
It was precisely because Serene Soul Great Emperor was proficient in Soul cultivation that Bustling World Great Emperor came to him the very moment he came out of the Shattered Star Sea. He wanted Serene Soul Great Emperor to help him solve the problem of Wu Kuang Soul sharing his body. Unfortunately, Serene Soul Great Emperor was unable to do anything about their odd condition.
Yang Kai remembered Mo Huang mentioning that Serene Soul Great Emperor’s real name was Yao Jun, though he of course didn’t dare address him by name.
As soon as the two met, Yao Jun asked Yang Kai, “Little brat, is everything you said really true?” Apparently, he had heard about the Western Territory’s situation from Li Wu Yi before coming here, so he too understood the gravity of the situation and had a serious look hanging on his face.
“Senior, this Junior investigated the situation personally and can attest that every word he has spoken is true,” Yang Kai replied in a deep voice.
Yao Jun lightly nodded before raising his eyes and looking up at Mo Huang.
Mo Huang added, “We can’t delay. Let’s set off right away. This King wants to see what the hell Night Shadow is up to.”
Yang Kai immediately pushed his Space Principles, warping space around them before connecting with the Space Beacon he had handed to Lin Yun’er before. Ripples spread and the group of four disappeared from the spot.
“Greetings, Seniors!” The Star Soul Palace members were overjoyed after seeing Yang Kai bring two Great Emperors back so quickly and hurriedly bowed and greeted in unison. Their taught nerves finally relaxed somewhat.
Before, they were simply at their wits ends, but now that two Great Emperors had arrived to support them, their backs straightened all of a sudden.
Mo Huang and Yao Jun gently nodded before turning their gazes and frowning slightly. They realized that the things were far worse than what Yang Kai had described; the area shrouded in the Demon Qi had doubled in size compared to what he told them already.
It was precisely because the Demon Qi was spreading so fast that everyone had continued to back away, failing to remain close to observe the changing situation.
When Yao Lin saw her father show up, she broke into a rain of tears as she threw herself into his arms, complaining as if she wanted to vent all the fright and grievances she had suffered.
Yao Jun repeatedly comforted her, making it quite apparent that he also spoiled his daughter greatly.
“Seniors, the centre of the Demon Qi is where the sand funnel that this Junior mentioned previously is located. There is a Void Corridor there and the Demon Qi is erupting out from it. If the corridor is destroyed, I believe we will be able to contain the immediate crisis,” Yang Kai reported, pointing ahead.
“That funnel was connected to an independent Small World before, yet you managed to escape from it?” Mo Huang asked.
“Yes,” Yang Kai replied with a nod.
Mo Huang, after getting a clear picture of everything, sunk into silence for a while before proposing, looking at Yao Jun, “Shall we go investigate?”
Yao Jun nodded before speaking to Yao Lin, “Obediently wait here, Uncle Mo and your Father have some business to attend to.”
“I don’t want that.” Yao Lin objected, “Father, I want to go back to the Eastern Territory. I want to return to Serene Soul Palace. Quickly take me back. I will never run away alone again, I promise!” In the past, she ran off quite frequently, and every time, Yao Jun would lecture her when she returned, but she never changed. She would always run off again whenever she found an opportunity, but after suffering so much this time, all she finally wanted was to return to the family as she decided that she would never leave Serene Soul Palace ever again. The outside world was simply too dangerous!
“Don’t make trouble. Father has business to attend to now.” Yao Jun adopted a stern face.
Yao Lin persisted, however, raising quite the fuss, that is until Yao Jun suddenly pointed at Yang Kai and stated, “If you don’t obey, I will leave you in his care!”
Yang Kai couldn’t help but roll his eyes internally. Why did he have to get involved in this father-daughter spat? Nonetheless, he cooperatively grinned at Yao Lin.
Yao Lin immediately turned pale and she hurriedly waved her hands and stated, “Don’t, Lin’er will obediently listen to you! Father, swiftly go and quickly return!”
Yao Jun nodded before exchanging a glance with Mo Huang. The next moment, the two shot into the air and charged straight towards the boundless Demon Qi, disappearing shortly after.
Although the Demon Qi was corrosive and virulent, it could still be blocked for a time if a cultivator used their Qi to defend themselves, and for Great Emperors, they could outright ignore the effects of the Demon Qi.
With the two making a move, the others didn’t need to do anything more. They just needed to calmly wait.
Yang Kai looked left and right before slowly making his way to Yu Ru Meng. She had been healing all the while with Lan Xun taking care of her; however, Yang Kai’s palm had left her with no small injury and even now, her face was still pale and the red stain on her veil was extremely blaring.
“Is she alright?” Yang Kai asked.
Lan Xun slowly shook her head, “It’s not too serious. She will recover in a few days. Was Senior Sister Li injured by Night Shadow Great Emperor?”
Yu Ru Meng left with Yang Kai, and when they returned, she was like this. Furthermore, when Yang Kai returned, he brought news that Night Shadow Great Emperor was guarding the Void Corridor, so it was only natural for Lan Xun to make such a guess.
Yang Kai was embarrassed after hearing this and didn’t know how to explain himself, so he could only give a vague answer. He couldn’t say that he was the one who injured Yu Ru Meng as it would be impossible for him to justify himself here.
Fortunately, Lan Xun didn’t ask much.
“Junior Sister must also be tired. Take a break and leave her to me.” Yang Kai looked at Lan Xun with concern. Perhaps because of Bright Moon Great Emperor’s unknown status, Lan Xun was a little spaced out at the moment. Coupled with the whole ordeal she had been through recently, she indeed looked somewhat exhausted.
Lan Xun agreed after hearing this, nodding, “Then I shall trouble you Senior Brother Yang.” After speaking, she walked to one side and sat down cross-legged to meditate.
Yang Kai looked around and found that everyone was either adjusting their breathing, or paying attention to the spreading Demon Qi, so he stealthily sent a Divine Sense transmission to Yu Ru Meng, asking, “How are you feeling?”
Yu Ru Meng opened her eyes, looked at him briefly, before closing them back again, saying nothing.
“Ahem…” Yang Kai looked embarrassed, his tone becoming incomparably gentle, “Are you angry?”
It was an obvious thing. Yu Ru Meng must be angry. If Yang Kai was in her place, he would be angry as well. Only, he had no choice at that time. His priority was to destroy the Void Corridor as soon as possible, and at the critical moment, Yu Ru Meng had used her Heart Seal Secret Technique to interfere with him. In a moment of anger, he had no choice but to resort to forceful means.
“You should have made yourself clear to me.” Yang Kai scratched his cheeks, “If you had just explained in advance, I wouldn’t have done that.”
“If you are angry, you can hit me back once, no, you can smack me ten times. Don’t be angry, it would be bad if others notice something.”
“By the way, how are you going to explain yourself to Flower Shadow Great Emperor? Li Shi Qing is Flower Shadow Great Emperor’s Disciple. It’s impossible for her to not ask about her Disciple. She is a Great Emperor, and Li Shi Qing’s Master. You may be able to deceive others, but how will you fool her? What will you do when your identity is revealed?”
Yang Kai kept talking on and on for a while, but Yu Ru Meng didn’t have any intention of paying attention to him, remaining completely silent.
Yang Kai also became a little angry as he had been talking to himself like a crazy person for some time now, but at the end of the day, he was in the wrong here, so he had no choice but to gnash his teeth and choke down his anger before unhappily speaking, “Then take care of your injuries. Call me if you need something.”
After saying so, he started walking away.
“Come back here!” Yu Ru Meng’s voice suddenly rang in his ear.
Yang Kai stopped and asked, “Weren’t you ignoring me? What do you want me to do by calling me back?”
“I called you so you should just come!” Yu Ru Meng ground her teeth.
Yang Kai sternly stated, “What do you want me to do, tell me first.”
“Are you coming back or not?”
Yang Kai was now quite incensed. [It was you who ignored me, and now you are telling me to come back, what do you want, you crazy woman? Why is this girl acting like a child throwing a tantrum?] He really hadn’t met a woman with this kind of personality before. It was a bit new to him and he found it a little hard to bear.
“Whether you love me, are angry with me, or ignore me, it’s your business. After this is over, you and I will go our separate ways. We will have nothing to do with each other and will never meet again for the rest of our lives,” Yang Kai steeled his heart and said what he had wanted to say. He immediately felt good, as if he had expelled some foul air from his chest.
Yu Ru Meng immediately blew her top as she trembled all over in anger, “You actually said that to me, you smelly heartless man!”
Yang Kai sneered and stated, “You’re right, I’m just a smelly man. You and I met by chance, but it’s you who forced us to be together using some strange Secret Technique, but no matter what method you use, you can’t force others to like one another! You don’t understand me at all, this is my true character, if you can’t stand it, remove your Secret Technique and be done with it!”
“In your dreams,” Yu Ru Meng sneered.
“Do as you wish. After this is over, we will go our separate ways anyway!”
“Good. I will tell them all that I am a fake Li Shi Qing and the real Li Shi Qing was killed by me long ago! Let’s see what happens then!”
The corner of Yang Kai’s eyes twitched as he stiffly replied, “That’s your business, what does that have to do with me?”
The moment he said this, Yu Ru Meng didn’t say anything anymore.
Yang Kai furtively looked back and saw her quietly staring at him with a mournful and heartbroken look on her face.
Seeing this, he sneered in his head. [Do you think I would turn soft-hearted after seeing such an expression? Taking advantage of this opportunity, I will make a clean break with you…]
Though he was thinking such things, his body involuntarily retreated a few steps and stood beside Yu Ru Meng as he looked up at the sky, rubbing his chin.
Yu Ru Meng smiled, “Sit by my side.”
“Enough! Don’t reach out for a yard after taking an inch!” Yang Kai rolled his eyes at her.
“Sit down.”
Yang Kai signalled her towards the front with his eyes, “It wouldn’t be good for others to see such a scene.”
Yu Ru Meng snorted disdainfully but didn’t insist.
After having conversed with her a few times, Yang Kai realized that Yu Ru Meng was very difficult to get along with. Her mood flipped faster than the pages of a book, and if he didn’t agree with her, she would immediately turn into a different person. But she was also very easy to coax. Just a few sweet words were enough to melt her.
Having nothing to do at the moment, Yang Kai asked, “Did you really kill Li Shi Qing?”
Yu Ru Meng replied, “I just said that on a whim, I didn’t kill her.”
Yang Kai nodded as he put his heart to rest. If Li Shi Qing was really killed by her, it would be very hard to explain it to Flower Shadow Great Emperor. Although it wasn’t easy to deal with the current situation, since Li Shi Qing was still alive, even if Flower Shadow Great Emperor really saw through Yu Ru Meng’s disguise, she wouldn’t harm her immediately. At most, she would use some means to force her to give up Li Shi Qing’s location.
Suddenly, Yu Ru Meng asked again, “Do you want to see what I really look like?”
Since she pretended to be Li Shi Qing, naturally, she had used Li Shi Qing’s face, disguising her original appearance.
Yang Kai replied, smiling, “Whether you are beautiful or ugly, it makes no difference to me.”
This wasn’t just him paying lip service as, with the Heart Seal Secret Technique, no matter what Yu Ru Meng looked like, Yang Kai wouldn’t be affected by it unless the Secret Technique was lifted.
Yu Ru Meng sweetly smiled, “Don’t worry, my real appearance is no worse than how I look now.”
“Don’t distract your attention, focus on healing your injuries first. We can talk later,” Yang Kai, throwing out another sentence, fell into silence.
Yang Kai was thinking of asking Serene Soul Great Emperor to check his own condition while he was here to see if there was a chance to remove the Heart Seal; otherwise, with it cast on him, he would always be restrained by Yu Ru Meng! He had no feelings of rejection towards her at the moment, but that was precisely the function of her Secret Technique.
But just as this thought crossed his mind, Yang Kai quashed it.
It wasn’t because Yu Ru Meng said that even a Great Emperor would not be able to remove her Secret Technique as Yang Kai felt that she was just shamelessly boasting. The Heart Seal Secret Technique was indeed strange, but at the end of the day, it was still in the domain of Soul Secret Techniques, Serene Soul Great Emperor’s speciality. If Serene Soul took action, it might not be impossible to solve this problem.
The reason Yang Kai rejected this idea was that the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus rested inside his Knowledge Sea. If he really asked Serene Soul Great Emperor for his help, he would be unable to hide the existence of this Supreme Treasure, and Yang Kai couldn’t be sure that Serene Soul Great Emperor wouldn’t be tempted by it.
If he really let a wolf into his house, it wouldn’t end well.
Perhaps he could go to Senior Tian Yan for help…
Unfortunately, he had no idea where Tian Yan was now.
Everyone waited quietly as time slowly passed. The Demon Qi continued to spread around, and its speed didn’t decrease at all. Over the next few days, their group was forced to retreat several times, and if one could look down from high above, they would now see that where a boundless desert used to be, a region several thousand kilometres in diameter was now completely covered in Demon Qi, like a black island in a sea of golden brown.
However, there still hadn’t been any news from Mo Huang and Yao Jun, who had left a few days ago, causing those from Star Soul Palace and the others, who had extreme confidence in the Great Emperors, to become somewhat worried.
[If we lose connection with these two Great Emperors as well, then the Star Boundary is as good as finished.]
[But what the hell is there that can cause the Great Emperor-level figures to fall into the enemy’s hands one after another!?]
In the blink of an eye, another ten days passed. Over these days, the Demon Qi had expanded to almost a hundred thousand kilometres and everyone now looked visibly worried. If this situation wasn’t contained soon, perhaps the entire Western Territory, or even the Star Boundary would eventually be engulfed in Demon Qi. When that happened, trillions of people would degenerate into mindless Demons.
At this moment, the people, who had previously gone to inform the top Sects of the Western Territory finally returned.
Quite a few people had left, but only one had returned. Furthermore, he was wounded and hanging on to life by a breath.
Everyone was shocked and quickly moved to help him recover. Yang Kai even took out an Emperor Grade healing pill he had personally refined and gave it to the injured man.
This man was a Protector of Star Soul Palace surnamed Chu. Yang Kai had no idea what his given name was as everyone just called him Protector Chu.
After finally stabilizing his injuries somehow, Protector Chu opened his eyes and the first thing he said caused everyone’s countenance to change, “Every last member of Pointed Star Sect, from the Sect Master to the lowest janitor, has been Demonized!”
“What!?” Xue Zheng Mao turned pale in shock and fright.
Everyone found it strange that Protector Chu, a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master who could be considered among the top Masters in the entire Star Boundary, was beaten to within an inch of death after simply going out to relay a message. How could anyone in the Western Territory easily make a move on him when he was wearing Star Soul Palace’s uniform?
But after hearing this, realization finally dawned upon everyone.
The thousands of members of Pointed Star Sect had completely transformed into Demons!
Xiao Yu Yang asked with a solemn expression, “Protector Chu, did you clearly see it? You can’t make indiscreet remarks about this kind of thing.”
Protector Chu bitterly smiled, “I was reduced to this state by Pointed Star Sect’s Sect Master, Lian Zheng, and its Elders. How could I be mistaken about this?”
Pointed Star Sect was one of the top Sects of the Western Territory so naturally, its Sect Master, Lian Zheng, was a Third-Order Emperor. The Sect had a dozen or so Emperor Realm Masters too. If any other Second-Order Emperor had fallen into such a dangerous position, he or she would have definitely died. It was only because Protector Chu came from Star Soul Palace, a hegemon Sect with a deep heritage, that he somehow made it out alive from a situation where he could have died nine times out of ten.
Everyone’s face turned incomparably ugly after hearing this.
Thousands of members of Pointed Star Sect had become Demons!
This scenario… actually sounded a little familiar. Everyone couldn’t help but recall the Orthodoxy Temple incident from a few years back. Thousands of members of Orthodoxy Temple had transformed into Demons, and even the Temple Master, Lei Gu, wasn’t an exception.
By the looks of it, those Demon Souls had not only laid out a scheme in the Southern Territory, but in the Western Territory as well. Only no one had any idea about this until Protector Chu returned with this report.
Yang Kai’s expression changed as he stated, “Everyone, I suddenly remembered something.”
“What is it?” Xiao Yu Yang looked at him.
“When I was chasing Lei Gu, he seemed to be heading towards the Southern Swamp, but further in that direction is actually the Western Territory. I can’t be certain as he was killed before he could escape, but the Western Territory seemed to have been his ultimate destination.”
Xue Zheng Mao furrowed his brow, “You mean to say, Lie Gu was trying to rendezvous with the other Demon Spirits?”
Yang Kai replied, “It seems that might have been his plan.”
“Damn it.” Suddenly, Xiao Yu Yang’s face paled as he turned to the other Star Soul Palace Elder and shouted, “Quickly contact the others and see if there is any reply!”
Xue Zheng Mao and the others’ faces sank as they quietly waited after hearing this; obviously, they had all thought of the same possibility.
After a while, a few Emperor Realm Masters of Star Soul Palace shook their heads, expressing that they had been unable to get in contact with the Protectors who had been sent out to rally the Western Territory’s top Sects.
“The Western Territory is finished, and our Protectors… I’m afraid their fate is more unfortunate than fortunate,” Xiao Yu Yang stated with an ugly look on his face. Protector Chu had somehow made it back with this life, but the others clearly weren’t as lucky. If they couldn’t get in touch with them, their demise was almost certain.
Yang Kai’s eyes flickered with a strange gleam as he asked in shock, “Elder Xiao, do you mean to say that the Western Territory is already ruled by the Demons?”
Xiao Yu Yang wryly smiled as he explained, “Carefully think about the Orthodoxy Temple’s arrangement back then. Had you not been there to turn the tides back then, what would the Southern Territory look like today?”
Yang Kai felt a chill run down his spine as he bitterly replied, “Demons would have been running amok everywhere. The people would have been plunged into misery and suffering!”
Xiao Yu Yang continued, “The Orthodoxy Temple’s conspiracy was destroyed because of you, but how many of you are there in this world? Even our Star Soul Palace, which can be considered the pillar of the Southern Territory, might not have had the power to fight back if the Orthodoxy Temple scheme had succeeded. But in the Western Territory… when even Shadow Killer Palace seems to have colluded with the Demon Race, how could other Sects remain unscathed?”
Since even Night Shadow Great Emperor was protecting the Void Corridor, and thousands of members of a top Sect like Pointed Star Sect had completely Demonified, what other fate could the other Sects of the Western Territory possibly have?
It was quite likely that all the great forces had already fallen into the hands of the Demons in the Western Territory. The Southern Territory would have had a similar fate to the Western Territory’s if Yang Kai hadn’t intervened and ultimately resolved the Orthodoxy Temple crisis.
But the Western Territory wasn’t so fortunate.
At this moment, Yang Kai and Li Wu Yi’s expressions suddenly changed as they looked at each other.
The next moment, their figures flickered before they disappeared from where they stood.
About a dozen or so kilometres away, a figure was hiding under a sand dune, secretly gazing towards the place where the cultivators from the Southern Territory had gathered.
After seeing Yang Kai and Li Wu Yi’s sudden disappearance though, he knew that things weren’t looking good for him and he immediately shot into the air and tried to escape.
But he suddenly stopped after just a breath because a man was indifferently gazing at him.
“Li Wu Yi!” The man’s face suddenly changed as he shouted because he clearly recognized his opponent’s identity.
As the man known as the strongest Master below the Great Emperors, Li Wu Yi’s name obviously gave a strong deterrence. This man didn’t dare to fight against Li Wu Yi and immediately turned around to flee in another direction.
“Where do you think you are going?” Yang Kai, on the other hand, was blocking his retreat with a seer on his face, not waiting for the other party to act as he sent out a palm.
“Move!” The man shouted as billowing Demon Qi suddenly erupted from his extremely normal-looking figure. The next moment, the man’s aura immediately soared as he punched at Yang Kai, trying to kill him in a single blow.
The man’s cultivation wasn’t weak at the Second-Order Emperor Realm, and supplemented by the Demon Qi boost, even a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master would have to be wary of taking a punch from him directly.
But Yang Kai remained completely still as his palm collided with the man’s fist.
A deafening explosion rang out before the Demon Qi was scattered. The man’s jaw dropped in shock as he never expected to be unable to take on the opposite party’s palm who had the same cultivation as his.
With his eyes filled with disbelief, the man used the rebound force of the confrontation to fall back to the ground where he did his best to restrain his rioting blood and energy and sneak into the sand. Apparently, he had cultivated some Earth Escaping Secret Technique and was able to dive more than a thousand meters straight into the sand like a fish in water, quickly fleeing towards the distance.
Seeing this, Li Wu Yi just stood completely still as Space Principles fluctuated around him before he stretched out his hand in the direction the man ran and clenched his fist.
The next moment, a muffled groan came from deep below the sand, thousands of meters away.
“Get out!” Li Wu Yi shouted as he raised his hand.
Sand exploded into the air and immediately a sorry figure flew out.
Before this man could mount any kind of resistance, Yang Kai had already arrived before him, pointing his finger at his chest like a sword. The next moment, Space Principles fluctuated around the man, blocking his attempts to resist.
Finally, Yang Kai could clearly see the man’s face. His face was yellowish and emaciated, as if he was diseased, but it was indeed true that he was in the Second-Order Emperor Realm; however, that billowing Demon Qi surging from him was a proof in itself of his alien identity.
Demon Spirit!
After being locked by Yang Kai’s Space Principles, the man actually didn’t panic at all, he just coldly glared at Yang Kai before a look of determination flashed across his eyes as he shouted in a grim voice, “The Demon Race shall never die!”
As soon as he said this, Yang Kai knew what was about to happen and promptly raised his hand to grab at the man, trying to completely seal his strength, but he was still a step too late. Sounds of something shattering resonated from the man and the next moment, his vitality quickly started dissipating.
Yang Kai stood rooted on the spot as the corner of his eyes twitched a little.
Li Wu Yi walked over and asked, looking at Yang Kai and then at the man, “Did he kill himself?”
Yang Kai replied in a heavy voice, “He severed his heart vein!”
Li Wu Yi was shocked, “So decisive!”
As the popular adage goes, it’s better to live than to die, so neither Yang Kai nor Li Wu Yi had expected the man to commit suicide right after he was captured. Obviously, he didn’t want to fall into the enemy’s hands to avoid giving up any information. Nevertheless, this man was a Second-Order Emperor, not just some cat or dog off the street.
It was the first time Li Wu Yi had faced something like this, but it wasn’t the first time for Yang Kai.
When he had chased Lei Gu all the way to the Southern Swamp, then led him back to the encirclement of Fan Wu and the other Divine Venerables, Lei Gu had also spoken similar words before he self-destructed.
The Demon Race shall never die!
[What a familiar scene!] Yang Kai finally saw the ferocity of the Demon Race in person. Each and every one of them didn’t care for their own life and was willing to sacrifice themselves as if they weren’t about to die but were instead performing some glorious deed.
Since the man was dead, they couldn’t ask anything for obvious reasons, so the two returned with the corpse and threw it to the ground. Protector Chu looked at this man and muttered, “I remember this man. He is an Elder of Pointed Star Sect. He was part of the group that attacked me, who would have thought that he would have chased me all the way here.”
Xiao Yu Yang looked into the distance and stated with a profound meaning, “I’m afraid he isn’t the only one who has chased after you.”
Although they couldn’t sense anyone’s aura, since a Pointed Star Sect Elder was here, other members of Pointed Star Sect may be hiding nearby. Even the Demons of other Sects of the Western Territory would soon come due after being alerted to the situation here.
Although the Western Territory was desolate, their Martial Dao was in no way weak. The Emperor Realm Masters were roughly of the same quantity and quality as the other three territories, so if the entire Western Territory had already silently fallen to the enemy, the situation would truly be dire.
This was tantamount to being an enemy of all the Masters of the Western Territory! Even if someone like Li Wu Yi was here overseeing things, he didn’t add much sense of security; after all, since they had a Pseudo-Great Emperor, Li Wu Yi, on their side, who could guarantee that the other side didn’t have one either? Not to mention, the ones who had kidnapped Yao Lin, Lin Yun’er, and the others before were all Pseudo-Great Emperors as well, and they hadn’t made an appearance till now.
All everyone could do at the moment was pray that the Great Emperors could return from the Void Corridor as soon as possible, so that everyone could have someone to rely upon.
While everyone was on alert, Yang Kai suddenly gasped in surprise as he focused his gaze on a location shrouded in Demon Qi.
“Did you sense it too?” Li Wu Yi asked as he stared in the same direction.
Yang Kai replied, furrowing his brow, “Since Senior has also sensed it, I am confident I am not mistaken.”
Li Wu Yi confirmed it with a nod, “The rate of Demon Qi dissemination is slowing down.”
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up, “In that case, the Demon Qi emerging from the tunnel isn’t endless.” If that was the case, the situation wasn’t as critical as they originally believed. Yang Kai had been worried sick about whether the entire Western Territory would be completely covered in the Demon Qi; after all, if that happened, then the Western Territory was as good as finished, but judging by the current situation, it would be difficult for the Demon Qi to cover the entire Western Territory. Although a hundred thousand kilometre circle was already blanketed in Demon Qi, compared to the entire Western Territory, it was a drop in the ocean.
Xiao Yu Yang, Xue Zhang Mao, and the others had discovered this development as well and had looks of joy on their faces. After waiting for many days, a piece of good news that couldn’t be counted as good news had finally appeared.
The situation really was just as everyone had observed, the rate of Demon Qi propagation had indeed slowed down, and this was getting more and more obvious with time. After three more days, the Demon Qi finally stopped expanding at the two-hundred-thousand-kilometre mark.
At that moment though, some unusual movements could be faintly heard coming from the Demon land.
Everyone suddenly turned serious as they listened closely.
After a while, Xue Zheng Mao frowned and voiced his thought, “Why does it feel that someone is approaching from that side?”
Li Wu Yi added with a solemn expression, “It’s not a feeling, but someone is really approaching, and a lot of them at that!”
Hearing this, everyone turned vigilant. At that same time, they were a little curious. They didn’t know what it was that could freely roam in this kind of horrendous environment.
Rumbling sounds rang out, like billowing claps of thunder or the sound of countless beasts stampeding.
After waiting for some time, everyone saw short figures suddenly emerge from the Demon Qi one after another. Each creature was about a meter tall at most and their entire figure was round, like big watermelons rolling on the ground.
These strange creatures were obviously a kind of species, but each of them was ugly to a fault. The reason their bodies were round was because each of them had a fat belly and their bare skin was pitch black, like a rolling mass of evil flesh and blood.
“What are those?” Lan Xun’s pretty eyes widened as she stared at this strange group of creatures in amazement. It was the first time she had seen such a scene. She found these creatures very ugly but also somewhat fascinating, especially when their comical figures had reached such a massive number.
“Demon Race!” Yang Kai’s pupils shrank.
The sight of round and short figures desperately charging forward awakened some unpleasant memories in Yang Kai.
However, the Demons that appeared in his memories were either red or green, not black like the ones before him.
But whether they were green or red, all Demons with such figures belonged to a subsect of Demons known as Burst Demons in the Demon Realm, because their mode of attack was the self-destruction of their bodies. These Demons had weak cultivations, but when they exploded, they could produce unimaginable destruction. The Red Demon exploded with fiery might, while Green Demons exploded to release highly toxic poison. Even the other members of the Demon Race were unwilling to be affected by Green Demon Poison.
The Red Demons and Green Demons could all explode, so what about the Black Demons who appeared similar to them?
There was no reason to think about it though as Yang Kai could easily guess how they attacked.
“Are these creatures part of the Demon Race too?” Xiao Yu Yang had a weird look on his face. If the Demon Race was full of such strange but awkward creatures, he believed that he alone could wipe out the entire Demon Realm.
Yang Kai explained in a heavy voice, “The Demon Realm has a hundred clans, each one with their own Innate Divine Ability. These should be a kind of Burst Demons, and their natural talent is… exploding!”
“You mean they self-destruct?” Xue Zheng Mao furrowed his brow.
No one else noticed, but Yu Ru Meng glanced at Yang Kai in amazement the moment he spoke, but she quickly withdrew her gaze and sat down quietly on her spot, focusing on healing her injuries.
Yang Kai slowly shook his head, “Elder Xue, don’t underestimate these Burst Demons. Since they could appear here, it means that the Demon Realm is really connected with the Star Boundary now. The sand funnel was just an entrance that now serves as the opening of a channel between the two worlds. These Demons are just a vanguard. If the channel isn’t destroyed, more Demons will invade the Star Boundary in the future.”
Xue Zheng Mao turned serious, “In that case, we can only pray that the Seniors can succeed and safely withdraw.”
While he was speaking, rumbling sounds suddenly rang out from up ahead. The rumbles were deafening and seemed to be without end.
As everyone looked upon it, they found that it was just as Yang Kai had said.
These round Black Demons really started exploding one after another, but the might of their explosions weren’t that great. Rather, a large amount of Demon Qi spread out whenever one of them blew up, their dying bodies painting the earth around them pitch-black, deteriorating the already recently stabilized situation.
Li Wu Yi’s face turned solemn as he voiced his thoughts, “Is the Demon Realm really trying to use this method to swallow the entire Star Boundary?” The place where the Black Demons had exploded had become part of the Demon Land. If the Demon Realm had enough Black Demons, then they wouldn’t even need to send any Masters, all they needed to do was keep sending Black Demons.
In any case, this kind of clan in the Demon Race had an extremely low status in the Demon Realm. No one cared about their life or death and they themselves existed only for their one final explosion.
But this was obviously impossible. No matter how many Black Demons there were, their explosion couldn’t cover the entire Star Boundary. Yang Kai secretly guessed that the Demon Realm was simply trying to expand their foothold in the Star Boundary from which they would slowly swallow the rest up using other means.
The explosions rang out to no end, making it impossible to count just how many Black Demons had sacrificed themselves. When everyone looked around, all they saw was endless Black Demons continuing to pour over one after another, constantly using their self-destruction to expand the scope of the Demon land to the surroundings.
Yang Kai took a deep breath and slowly stated, “Everyone, although it should not have much effect, I believe we should eliminate those we can. We might not be able to stop them, but we can slow them down.”
Everyone nodded their agreement.
Yang Kai added, “Everyone, guard yourselves carefully. Don’t get contaminated by the Demon Qi. If you feel that something isn’t right, retreat as soon as possible.”
Having said this, Yang Kai charged out first.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai was already standing at the border of the Demon land, whereupon he grasped in the air and summoned his Myriads Sword. The next moment, his Emperor Qi surged as he slashed out.
An enormous sword wave cut into the herd of Black Demons, silently felling hundreds of them. However, these Black Demons simply exploded with a deafening bang even after their death, releasing more and more Demon Qi. It was just as Yang Kai had said, even if they culled these Black Demons, it wouldn’t have much effect, because killing them would not prevent the spreading of Demon Qi. At most, it would slow down the expansion of the Demon land.
But at this moment, Yang Kai had no choice but to do this.
The Demon Realm had a hundred clans, and these clans were also divided into many levels.
The Burst Demons were undoubtedly the lowest of the low. Even their intelligence was low. As such, they were often vassals of the other Demon Clans; however, it was precisely because of their low intelligence that they could be so fearless and unafraid of death as they regarded their self-destruction as their mission.
Even though Yang Kai was swinging the Myriads Sword, cutting countless Burst Demons down like he was cutting vegetables, he still couldn’t make them hesitate or falter even a little bit. They continued to emerge from the center of the Demon Land, charging forward and exploding as they reached the edge, without so much as taking a glance at Yang Kai.
This situation was similarly faced by everyone else.
All those present were Emperor Realm Masters, except for Yao Lin, so dealing with these Burst Demons was literally as easy as waving their hands. Just a random move could reap lives like wheat.
1,000, 10,000, 20,000, 30,000…
Yang Kai had no idea how many Burst Demons he had killed as he had already rushed deep into the Demon Land, making a beeline towards the centre. Everywhere he passed by, the ground was littered with the bits and pieces of the Black Burst Demons, but what flowed out from their corpses wasn’t fresh blood, but pitch-black dirty water which seeped into the ground and corrupted it further.
The gap between cultivation quickly manifested. Although the First-Order Emperor Realm Masters could kill these Black Demons as swiftly as the Second-Order Emperor Realm Masters, it was more taxing for them to move about in the Demon Land for an extended period of time as they had to always guard themselves against invasion by Demon Qi.
Two hours after the battle began, the First-Order Emperors all basically withdrew.
After half a day passed, the Second-Order Emperors also retreated.
Another half a day later, the Third-Order Emperors were forced to draw back.
At this point, only Yang Kai and Li Wu Yi were left wreaking havoc in the Demon Land. It wasn’t surprising for Li Wu Yi to persist for so long as he was a Pseudo-Great Emperor; someone just below the Great Emperors, but the fact that Yang Kai persisted as well amazed everyone.
They didn’t know that Yang Kai was basically unafraid of being contaminated by Demon Qi so he didn’t even bother mounting a defence against it, greatly conserving his energy.
Yu Ru Meng closely followed Yang Kai the whole time, sticking so close she was all but holding onto him; however, the entire time she followed him, she took no action and didn’t kill a single Black Demon. On the other hand, Yang Kai said a few words to her that clearly incensed her and nearly caused her to attack him with her sword.
The Black Demons seemed to be inexhaustible, but after a full day and night, Yang Kai suddenly stopped swinging his sword.
He looked around as his vicinity was filled with nothing but mutilated corpses. The air was filled with a horrible smell and aura as the entire world seemed to have gone completely quiet at this moment.
Without the continuous explosions and the rumbles of the stampede, the quietness left everyone a little uncomfortable.
After the self-destruction of the Black Demons finally stopped, it could also be said that there were no Black Demons anymore.
But Yang Kai’s expression only turned more solemn as he tightly gripped the Myriads Sword and stared towards the centre of the Demon Land.
*Ta ta ta…*
Strange sounds echoed from ahead, like the sound of horseshoes. This sound wasn’t hurried, rather slow actually, but there were also the grating sounds of something sharp rubbing across the sand accompanying it.
“Be careful,” Yu Ru Meng suddenly warned.
Yang Kai didn’t speak a word as he prepared himself; he could feel a powerful aura slowly approaching him.
A short time later, two points of red light appeared in his sight. The next moment, a humongous figure came into his view. The figure was blurry still, but clearly at least ten meters tall, and the red glare from its eyes gave off a cruel aura.
Only when the opposite figure got close enough did Yang Kai get a clear picture of the approaching enemy. It was a tall, muscular man with a naked upper body that seemed bronze in colour. This man was riding a fearsome-looking Monster Beast that was exuding a thick Demon Qi. Its entire body was covered in sharp spines and at first glance, looked similar to a horse, but whether it was its appearance or aura, it was clearly a fearsome Demon Beast.
And the tall and stalwart figure riding the Demon Beast was emanating a fearsome pressure that belonged to a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master.
“Demon King!” Yang Kai furrowed his brow.
Since countless Burst Demons had appeared before, it meant that the channel between the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm had been fully opened, and now, a Demon King had appeared, one on par with a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master. The situation was deteriorating quickly.
The presence of a Demon King meant that more Demon Kings would soon appear. Even Demon Saint Masters may appear soon! Those were existences on par with the Great Emperors.
The Demon King held a demon artifact halberd and was dragging it diagonally on the ground, which was the source of the harsh grating noise.
The Demon King continued to approach slowly before suddenly stopping just ten metres away from Yang Kai. The Demon Beast under it let out a snort as the light in its eyes became crueller and crueller.
As their gazes met, Yang Kai’s face turned serious. The Demon King, on the other hand, pursed his lips into a smile and raised his weapon as he broke into laughter, pointing at Yang Kai and shouting, “Haha, a Human!” It appeared as if he had discovered something new and strange. The Demon King seized up Yang Kai with interest.
Yang Kai, coldly glaring at him, asked, “What’s your name?”
“This King is Meng Si. Trivial ant, why are you still not kneeling after seeing this King!?”
Just as he said this, Yu Ru Meng, who had been standing by Yang Kai’s side, suddenly had a cold gleam flash across her eyes as she glared at Meng Si.
Meng Si frowned as he thoughtfully gauged Yu Ru Meng. A doubtful look flashed across his face as he pondered for a while before shrugging, “Forget it, this King was just kidding.”
Yang Kai indifferently retorted, “Your joke isn’t funny.”
Meng Si pursed his lips into a smile as he continued, “Little brat, judging by the look of you, your strength should be pretty good and you shouldn’t have a low status in the Human Race. This King is in a good mood today, so he will let you go for the time being. Go back and inform those in charge of your Human Race that they should quickly come to me and bow their heads, otherwise, my Demon Realm’s army will surely trample this world flat. By then, it would be too late to regret!”
“I can do as you ask,” Yang Kai nodded, “But you’ll have to defeat me first!”
Meng Si slightly leaned forward, giving a feeling of oppression, before asking with a strange look on his face, “Are you challenging this King?”
“You’re just overestimating yourself!” Yang Kai grinned before suddenly swinging his sword.
Meng Si was a little startled as he hadn’t expected for Yang Kai to actually have the guts to make a move on him; after all, according to his perception, Yang Kai’s cultivation was weaker than his. Was the Human Race really so fearless?
Before he could have another thought though, he suddenly felt the space around him tighten as an invisible force locked him in place. A pitch-black crescent-shaped attack was already shooting towards him by the time he came to his senses.
Meng Si’s face immediately changed. He thought that Yang Kai was being stubborn and unyielding, but the moment Yang Kai made his move, he realized that this Human was quite strong. The crescent-shaped attack was literally tearing Space, and if he was caught off guard and allowed that attack to land, he wouldn’t be able to withstand it.
With no time to break the strange imprisonment he felt, Meng Si let out a furious cry as he thrust his halberd ahead.
The next moment, a pitch-black ball of light suddenly appeared on the tip of the halberd, welcoming the Moon Blade.
With a deafening bang, the Moon Blade dispersed while Meng Si was also shaken and the Demon Beast underneath him groaned as it retreated a few steps back.
Taking advantage of his enemy’s momentary lapse in concentration, Yang Kai raised the sword to attack again, his Emperor Qi surging as he swung for the neck.
Meng Si’s pupils shrank as a look of amazement appeared on his face. He felt that Yang Kai was being overconfident when he attacked first, but now he realized he had simply been underestimating his foe.
The strange space imprisonment hindered Meng Si from making an effective dodge, so all he could do was let out a wild cry as his bronze-coloured skin glowed with a metallic hue.
*Dang…*
Sparks flew everywhere as Yang Kai’s sword struck Meng Si’s neck, but the result wasn’t what he had hoped for. Meng Si’s neck was comparable to the hardest artifact at the moment, so his sword only left a palm length scar.
“Stone Demon!” Yang Kai raised his brow as he finally recognized which clan Meng Si belonged to.
[No wonder his defence is so strong, he’s from the Stone Demon Clan.]
After this attack, Meng Si obviously wouldn’t sit still and swept out his halberd.
But Yang Kai suddenly disappeared from where he was.
Meng Si’s attack might have failed to meet its target, but taking advantage of this opportunity, he broke free from the space imprisonment and opened some distance. Shaking his head, he declared, “You’re pretty good!”
“You aren’t bad yourself!” Yang Kai maintained a cold look on his face, his murderous intent rising by the moment. A Demon King was comparable to a Third-Order Emperor Realm, so Meng Si was surely a rare existence in the Demon Realm. If Yang Kai could kill him here, it would be a little helpful to the future situation.
If he hadn’t encountered such an enemy, Yang Kai wouldn’t have cared, but since they had met, how could he retreat so easily?
While speaking, Yang Kai was already secretly communicating with the Sealed World Bead and preparing to bring out his Embodiment at the critical moment. Fighting Meng Si in a two vs one, giving him a pleasant surprise, and beheading him at the fastest speed, was the best plan for now.
Meng Si just chuckled as he replied, “Little brat, quickly go back and inform your leaders. You can’t kill me!”
“We’ll see about that,” Yang Kai deviously smiled before he suddenly put away the Myriads Sword and quickly formed a set of seals with his hands.
Meng Si frowned deeply as he instinctively felt that Yang Kai’s next move would be extraordinary. He naturally didn’t want to entangle with this strange Human anymore as he just came here to pass on a message, nothing more. He had no need to fight a Human Master to death so he simply snorted and declared, “This King will remember you. I hope we meet again.”
Just as he was finished, a whirlpool suddenly appeared under Meng Si and in the blink of an eye, he vanished into the ground, Demon Beast and all, and Yang Kai could perceive that he was fleeing at an incredible speed.
“Sand Demon!” Yang Kai frowned.
Obviously, only Sand Demons could achieve such an effect. The Sand Demon must have been secretly lurking nearby the whole time. Since he couldn’t keep Meng Si here, all Yang Kai could do was bitterly dispel the energy he had gathered as he stared into the depths of the Demon Land with a worried look on his face.
“Do you know the Demon Race well?” Yu Ru Meng suddenly asked.
When Yang Kai talked about the Burst Demons before, Yu Ru Meng found it a little strange, but now, after seeing Yang Kai recognize Stone Demons and Sand Demons with just one glance, Yu Ru Meng found it even stranger.
If he wasn’t extremely familiar with the Demon Race, it should have been impossible for him to do this.
How could Yang Kai not understand the Demon Race? In the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld, he had personally participated in the Great War of Two Races, experiencing years of brutal combat. It could be said that in the entire Star Boundary, no one knew more about the disposition and the characteristics of the Demon Race than him.
The Sects such as Star Soul Palace may have some records about the Demon Race, but how could records compare to personal experience?
“I know a thing or two,” Yang Kai indifferently responded.
Yu Ru Meng’s eyes flickered with a strange look, but she didn’t ask any more questions.
“Let’s go back!” Since a Demon King had appeared, the Demon Race army would not be far behind, so he had to inform Li Wu Yi about this news as quickly as possible. This matter was related to the survival of the entire Star Boundary and now far beyond the scope a single person could handle.
Yang Kai and Yu Ru Meng soon returned to everyone’s side. Li Wu Yi was already there as well and lightly nodded to Yang Kai after seeing him.
Yang Kai immediately reported, “I ran into a Demon King!”
“A Demon King?” Li Wu Yi was greatly shocked after hearing this while Xue Zheng Mao and the others suddenly turned pale as well.
Lan Xun furrowed her brow as she commented, “I have read some ancient records about the Demon Race in the palace’s archives. A Demon King from the Demon Realm is said to be comparable to an Emperor on our side.”
Yang Kai confirmed it with a nod, “Good, the Demon King I encountered had strength equivalent to a Third-Order Emperor, and he belonged to the Stone Demon Clan so his defence was extremely strong. Although I wanted to kill him, I didn’t succeed and he managed to escape.”
Li Wu Yi solemnly wondered aloud, “First, countless Black Demons poured out, and now, even a Demon King has appeared. Is it possible that the passage between the Demon Realm and the Star Boundary had really been opened?”
Yang Kai replied, “There is no doubt about this anymore. The Demon King himself said that the Demon Race army will soon march on the Star Boundary. If the passage wasn’t opened, he wouldn’t have spoken with such strong confidence. In any case, it’s just as Brother Gao had foretold before…” He turned to look at Gao Zhang, “A catastrophe is about to begin.”
Li Wu Yi stated in a serious tone, “If that’s the case, then the situation has evolved beyond our ability to control. We need to quickly notify the entire Star Boundary, mobilize cultivators from the other three territories, and prepare to face off against the Demon Race.”
“I agree. A war between two races is no small matter and concerns the entire Star Boundary. No one can avoid responsibility here.”
Xue Zheng Mao added, “But the Great Emperors have yet to return, and we also have no idea what’s going on in the depths of the passage. What if they manage to destroy the corridor between the two worlds…”
Yang Kai replied, “Of course that would be the best possible outcome, but we haven’t heard anything from them after so many days, so we can only begin planning for the worst.”
Xue Zheng Mao gently nodded. He too felt that what he said was unreasonable.
“It shouldn’t be too late…” Before Li Wu Yi could finish speaking, he suddenly felt something as he focused his attention on the centre of the Demon Land.
The next moment, a few extremely terrifying auras suddenly appeared in the boundless darkness, shooting straight toward everyone.
In the blink of an eye, three auras had already arrived before everyone. Everyone only saw a blinding flash of light before they saw three figures hovering before them.
Li Wu Yi and the others’ faces lit up with joy as they all cupped their fists and saluted, “Seniors.”
The three, who had appeared, were none other than three Great Emperors, Serene Soul, Iron Blood, and Martial Beast! Everyone was pleasantly surprised as just now, they felt as if they were facing a storm without anyone to support them. Now, however, three Great Emperors had appeared before them.
But Bright Moon Great Emperor was nowhere to be seen. Lan Xun swept a glance at the three before she immediately turned pale.
Yang Kai also had a sombre expression on his face because the state of the three Great Emperors wasn’t that great. Demon Qi was lingering all around them and had obviously invaded their bodies. Furthermore, by the looks of it, the three seemed to have already experienced a great battle as their auras were a little unstable.
But for Masters like them, a bit of Demon Qi was nothing to worry about. They only needed to meditate for a while to expel it.
What shocked Yang Kai was that he found traces of dried blood around the corner of Martial Beast Great Emperor’s mouth; obviously, he had been injured.
Yang Kai was greatly shaken up by this. Mo Huang was a Great Emperor, so who could possibly injure him? The only ones who could wound a Great Emperor were other Great Emperors, or those on par with Great Emperors. Could it be the work of Night Shadow Great Emperor? But that didn’t make sense. Night Shadow Great Emperor was just one person while counting Bright Moon Great Emperor, there were a total of four on their side. In a four vs one, how would it be possible for these three to end up like this?
After the three showed up, they didn’t say much. Iron Blood just glanced at Lin Yun’er and stated in a heavy voice, gently nodding at her, “Let’s leave this place first.”
Having said so, his Emperor Qi surged as he wrapped everyone in it before flying towards the distance.
After a cup of tea worth of time, their team landed ten thousand kilometres away on a tall slope filled with broken rocks. This place provided a wide field of vision and an unobstructed view of the surroundings.
Everyone was eagerly looking at the three, wondering what happened to them, but none dared to ask.
As if he had noticed Lan Xun’s inquiring gaze though, Iron Blood turned to her before a look of guilt flashed across his face. He pondered for a long time before finally speaking, “You father remained behind in order to cover our retreat from the Demon Realm.”
Lan Xun’s tender figure shook and she nearly collapsed. Fortunately, Lin Yun’er was standing beside her and managed to catch her before she fell.
A look of disbelief immediately appeared on Yang Kai’s face. Although Iron Blood spoke briefly, it revealed two important pieces of news.
The passage between the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm had really been opened!
And the four Great Emperors had actually gone to the Demon Realm. Perhaps, the four had a great fight with the Masters of the Demon Realm on the other side of the passage which had delayed them for so many days. Moreover, Mo Huang had also suffered some injuries. No wonder the three were showing signs of being invaded by the Demon Qi. Naturally, the Demon Qi couldn’t break through their defences, but if a Demon Saint had attacked them, even a Great Emperor couldn’t simply brush them off.
Serene Soul assured, “Don’t worry, your father is also a Great Emperor. He might have remained there, but there is no need to worry about his life. However, it will be difficult for him to return. We will also think of a way to rescue him. For now, stay calm and focus on the task at hand.”
Lan Xun tightly bit her lip and she didn’t utter a single word. She just gently nodded. Bright Moon Great Emperor had chosen to remain in the Demon Realm to cover their retreat, so naturally, she was worried and anxious about his life. Even though she knew that Serene Soul was trying to comfort and encourage her, it was difficult for her to adjust so quickly.
Li Wu Yi then asked, looking at Mo Huang, “Sir, has the passage between the two worlds really been opened?”
Mo Huang heavily nodded his confirmation, “We misjudged everything. The Demon Realm has been preparing for this for ages while we were completely oblivious. I’m afraid that things aren’t looking good for the Star Boundary this time.”
“What about Night Shadow Great Emperor?” Li Wu Yi asked again.
Mo Huang slowly shook his head. Obviously, he didn’t want to talk about this; after all, as a Great Emperor, Night Shadow’s deeds had made it difficult for him to lift his head. Li Wu Yi couldn’t ask any more questions after seeing him like this, but it was now an undeniable truth that Night Shadow Great Emperor was in collusion with the Demon Realm. If this was not the case, this series of events would not have happened in the Western Territory.
At this moment, the Star Boundary could be said to be plagued by internal troubles and external aggression.
Iron Blood quickly declared, “The Demon Realm army is prepared for battle and sharpening their blades as we speak. The Star Boundary needs to organize its forces as soon as possible if we want to have some chance to stop them; otherwise, the Western Territory will soon fall.”
Yang Kai’s expression turned solemn as he reported, “Senior, you are probably unaware, but the Western Territory might have already fallen.”
Iron Blood looked at him, furrowing his brow, “What did you say?”
Yang Kai heaved a sigh before he briefly recounted everything that had happened before and then finally concluded, “Every member of Pointed Star Sect had been demonized, and the Emperor Realm Masters Star Soul Palace sent out to contact the other great forces in the Western Territory have all stopped responding. All signs point to the fact that the entire Western Territory has already become the Demons’ backyard. Only, we have been in the dark all the while.”
Iron Blood’s expression turned a shade gloomier as he muttered “The situation is already so bad.”
Mo Huang commented, “Since Night Shadow is colluding with the Demons, it’s not surprising for the entire Western Territory to be like this. But it’s impossible for everyone in the Western Territory to have become a Demon, and if the Demon Race wants to swallow our Star Boundary, their priority should be to expand this Demon Land behind us. We need to focus our attention here for now and do our best to constrain their movements.”
Iron Blood and Serene Soul lightly nodded their agreement.
Mo Huang continued, “It’s not too late, we need to start moving too. I will stay here and watch over the situation for the time being to prevent it from deteriorating further.”
Serene Soul nodded, “Then I will return to the Eastern Territory and gather the Eastern Territory’s Masters.” He looked at Xue Zheng Mao and suggested, “Bright Moon might not be here, but the Southern Territory still reveres Star Soul Palace as its leader. You all should also return to the Southern Territory and begin making preparations.”
“Yes!” Xue Zheng Mao solemnly nodded.
Iron Blood stated, “Then I will go and meet the other old fogies, none of them will be able to stay out of this matter.”
The old fogies he mentioned were naturally the other Great Emperors.
Mo Huang then turned to look at Yang Kai before he looked at Li Wu Yi and said, “We will be relying on you two this time. I’m afraid you will be quite busy over the next few days. If you have private affairs to deal with, settle them now so they don’t interfere in what you need to do.”
Yang Kai and Li Wu Yi glanced at each other before cupping their fists and nodded, “Yes!”
Naturally, mastery of the Dao of Space would be indispensable in rapidly gathering the Masters of the three territories, especially the Space Arrays arranged by Yang Kai which were tantamount to strategic weapons of war.
After the discussion was over, Yang Kai and Li Wu Yi immediately got to work. The two teamed up to arrange an enormous Space Array nearby before each of them refined several Space Spirit Beads and distributed them to everyone to wear so that it would be convenient for them to move around.
After half a day, the Space Array had taken shape and everyone began moving separately as they had discussed. Li Wu Yi took Serene Soul Great Emperor back to the Easter Territory, the members of Star Soul Palace returned to the Southern Territory, and Yang Kai planned to return to the Northern Territory. This way, the three territories could quickly start mobilizing.
To Yang Kai’s surprise, Iron Blood Great Emperor, Zhan Wu Hen and Lin Yun’er actually joined him.
It wasn’t unreasonable for Lin Yun’er to follow Yang Kai as she wanted to meet her old friends of the Star Field from the start, but she couldn’t get her wish last time. This time, since the opportunity had presented itself before her, she naturally didn’t want to miss it.
But the fact that Iron Blood Great Emperor wanted to follow him left Yang Kai in confusion.
[Weren’t you going to look for the other Great Emperors? Why come to the Northern Territory? Is it possible that he is worried about Lin Yun’er? But this is really not the time to be doting on your Disciple.]
Naturally, Yu Ru Meng insisted on following him as well, so Yang Kai could only give in to her. She was obviously impersonating someone, yet she was being so reckless, not even blinking when she stood before three Great Emperors. But what Yang Kai found strange was that Mo Huang and the others didn’t notice anything wrong with Yu Ru Meng either and acted as if she was really Li Shi Qing!
Yang Kai felt that he had really underestimated the tricks Yu Ru Meng had up her sleeve.
Yang Kai led the three onto the Space Array, and with a flash of blinding light, all of them vanished. By the time they regained their vision, they had appeared in the Northern Territory’s High Heaven Palace.
When the disciples guarding the Space Array saw this, they immediately stepped forward and respectfully bowed. Yang Kai waved his hand to stop them though before he turned to Zhan Wu Hen and introduced, “Senior, this is my High Heaven Palace. I wonder what Senior’s next plan is?”
Zhan Wu Hen replied, “I’ll be taking a trip to Medicine Pill Valley and Heavens’ Borderline.”
Medicine Pill Valley was the place where Wondrous Pill Great Emperor cultivated, so naturally Zhan Wu Hen had to go there to inform Wondrous Pill about the Western Territory’s catastrophe. As for Heavens’ Borderline, Yang Kai was a little confused after hearing this name and asked, “What is Heavens’ Borderline?”
Zhen Wu Hen glanced at him and lightly replied, “The place where Ice Feather cultivates.”
Ice Feather Great Emperor!
Yang Kai immediately understood. Now, he knew all ten Great Emperors of the Star Boundary: Serene Soul, Bright Moon, Heavens Revelation, Wondrous Pill, Iron Blood, Bustling World, Martial Beast, Flower Shadow, Ice Feather, Night Shadow. These ten represented the most powerful figures of the entire Star Boundary. But only some of them founded a traditional Sect while the others mainly secluded themselves from the world. Ordinary people didn’t even know where these reclusive Great Emperors lived.
Yang Kai was also learning for the first time that Ice Feather Great Emperor was actually in the Northern Territory, but if one gave it a second thought, it wasn’t that surprising either. Since his honourable title as Ice Feather, one would assume he cultivated Ice Principles, and in the entire Star Boundary, the coldest place was undoubtedly the Northern Territory.
After thinking for a moment, Yang Kai continued, “Senior, you might not know, but the Fifth Disciple of Wondrous Pill is the Chief Alchemist of my High Heaven Palace, so I can ask him to inform Senior Wondrous Pill to save time.”
Zhan Wu Hen slightly furrowed his brow as he looked at Yang Kai in surprise, “Wondrous Pill’s Fifth Disciple actually works for you?” He was a little taken aback. Wondrous Pill didn’t have many Disciples, but each one of them was an Emperor Alchemist. How could someone like that work under Yang Kai?
However, this did make things a lot more convenient for him. At least, he didn’t need to go to Medicine Pill Valley. Now, he just needed to visit Heavens’ Borderline and meet Ice Feather.
Zhan Wu Hen gently nodded, “In that case, you will be responsible for notifying Medicine Pill Valley. You must also rally the cultivators of the Northern Territory and deploy them to the Western Territory as soon as possible.”
“Yes!” Yang Kai nodded.
Zhan Wu Heng glanced at Lin Yun’er before lightly patting her head and smiling, “Yun’er, wait here for a few days, Master will be back soon.”
Lin Yun’er obediently nodded, “I understand. Master, swiftly go and quickly return.”
Zhan Wu Hen slightly smiled and started walking forward, but after taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped and abruptly stated, “Kid, this King once had a good friend, his honourable name was Cyan Lotus. Do you know of him?”
Yang Kai had naturally heard of Cyan Lotus Great Emperor, but the latter had died at the hands of Wu Kuang in the Great Emperor War tens of thousands of years ago. His Natal Emperor Artifact, the Indestructible Cyan Lotus, had been lost in the Shattered Star Sea and was later acquired by an inheritor.
Today, the Eastern Territory had a Cyan Lotus Palace, which seemed to be founded by the one who had obtained the Indestructible Cyan Lotus; however, Cyan Lotus Palace wasn’t able to carry the mantle of the Cyan Lotus Great Emperor as the Strength of Cyan Lotus Palace in the Eastern Territory was only about on par with that of Heavenly Wolf Valley’s.
Zhan Wu Hen had suddenly said this without any prior prompting, so Yang Kai had no idea what he was trying to convey either. As such, all he could do was nod and reply, “Junior has heard about him.”
Zhan Wu Hen added, “Cyan Lotus was killed by Wu Kuang when they fought in what is now the Shattered Stat Sea. This King thought he had taken revenge, but unfortunately, I only learned in recent years that Wu Kuang somehow came back to life.” He suddenly turned his head and continued, emphasizing each and every word, staring at Yang Kai, “Wu Kuang is the eternal enemy of this King. One day, either he will die or I will perish.”
Yang Kai was now utterly confused, so all he could do was state, cupping his fists, “Then I wish Senior great success in this endeavour!”
Zhan Wu Hen lightly nodded before his figure rose into the air and shot off towards the horizon.
After he left, Yang Kai frowned, looking in the direction he left.
[What was that all about?] Zhan Wu Hen’s confusing words before he left had left Yang Kai perplexed, but after giving it some thought, his heart suddenly clenched. Zhan Wu Hen’s words seemed to carry a strong sense of warning, as if he was confident that Yang Kai had something to do with Wu Kuang.
Yang Kai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. [What connection do I have with Wu Kuang? Although we have indeed met a few times and I have asked him some questions in the Ancestral Domain, if there was any connection, it was only that I can’t wait to kill him as he has occupied Duan Hong Chen’s body.]
[Wait…]
Suddenly, Yang Kai seemed to think of something and his expression turned serious, [I’m afraid that I do have a connection with Wu Kuang. At the very least, my Embodiment cultivates the Heaven Devouring Battle Law! This is an evil technique that the entire Star Boundary cannot tolerate.]
Yang Kai also reminded himself in the past that he should never allow this secret to be revealed; otherwise, Iron Blood Great Emperor would not spare him.
Since he regards Wu Kuang as his mortal enemy, how could he tolerate the existence of the Heaven Devouring Battle Law?
Could it be that Zhan Wu Hen knew about his Embodiment? And also that he cultivated the Heaven Devouring Battle Law? But how?
At this thought, a figure suddenly flashed across Yang Kai’s mind.
Cang Mo!
When he was in the lower Star Field, Cang Mo had seen Yang Kai’s Embodiment, and in the Eastern Territory, the two had fought again. At that time, the Embodiment had indeed used the Heaven Devouring Domain.
Cang Mo was a Pseudo-Great Emperor, at any rate, so even if he had never seen the Heaven Devouring Battle Law before, he might have been able to infer something about it after some contemplation and reflection. What’s more, Cang Mo belonged to the Star Court and was a subordinate of Iron Blood Great Emperor, so if he informed Iron Blood Great Emperor about this…
[That bastard!] Yang Kai cursed in his heart. No wonder Zhan Wu Hen had said those confusing words, it turned out to be because of this. He must have known that the Embodiment cultivated the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, which was why he especially warned Yang Kai.
[Had I known this would happen, I would have finished off Cang Mo back then.] But after giving it another thought, Yang Kai realized that he was completely powerless to do anything even if he wanted to. How could it be that easy to kill a Pseudo-Great Emperor?
But since Zhan Wu Hen had revealed this to him, it was obvious that he wouldn’t act further, especially at this critical moment; otherwise, Iron Blood would have attacked right away and demanded Yang Kai hand over his Embodiment.
“What are you thinking about?” Yu Ru Meng, seeing his expression change again and again, curiously asked him.
Yang Kai glanced at her before replying, disinterested, “Nothing.” He then looked at Lin Yun’er and stated, “I will send you to meet Sister Huang and the others first.”
“En!” Lin Yun’er hurriedly nodded, “How is Aunty Huang doing?”
Yang Kai replied, smiling “She is doing well, but misses you very much.” Back then, when Lin Yun’er’s parents died, Huang Juan had taken care of her, all but adopting her. They were like a real mother and daughter. Later, Lin Yun’er was taken to the Star Boundary by Yang Yan, so they hadn’t seen each other for many years.
“I miss her too, and Aunty Ye and the others too.”
Most of the people, who were from the Star Field’s High Heaven Sect, lived together on one Spirit Peak, so Yang Kai sent Lin Yun’er there. When the reunion happened, everyone was naturally quite excited, especially Huang Juan who started crying for joy, constantly sizing Lin Yun’er up, almost unable to recognize her anymore.
Lin Yun’er was barely a teenager when she left, but now she had become a young woman so she looked completely different. However, after learning that Lin Yun’er was an Emperor and had taken a Great Emperor as her Master, Huang Juan and the others were nothing but happy for her.
Yang Kai didn’t dare to linger for too long, so after he brought Lin Yun’er over, he immediately left for Medicine Pill Peak.
The matter of the Western Territory warranted urgent action, so he had to spread the news as soon as possible in order to gather the cultivators of the Northern Territory. This time, not only the cultivators of the Northern Territory though, but even the members of the High Heaven Palace needed to be mobilized.
When he arrived on Medicine Pill Peak, he rushed straight into the Pill Room, not caring whether Ji Ying would be angry or not.
Ji Ying was a little dumbfounded by this rude intrusion, but after listening to Yang Kai for a moment, he also realized the seriousness of the situation and immediately set off to return to the Medicine Pill Valley to report to Wondrous Pill Great Emperor.
After sending Ji Ying off, Yang Kai took out a communication artifact and sent a message to Hua Qing Si, ordering her to report to him on High Heaven Peak.
On another note, Little Senior Sister Xia Ning Chang and Yu Ru Meng were looking at each other in confusion, both of them were absolute beauties who wore veils to cover their faces.
Xia Ning Chang had obviously sensed something as she gently nodded to Yu Ru Meng.
Yu Ru Meng, on the other hand, scoffed; obviously holding the other party in extreme disdain.
“What are you doing?” Yang Kai glared at her.
“Nothing,” Yu Ru Meng pretended to be ignorant like she always did.
Yang Kai didn’t have the time to get bogged down in such trivial matters so he just pulled Xia Ning Chang’s slender hand and lightly patted, “I have something to do, you can carry on with your work, I will accompany you next time.”
Xia Ning Chang gently stated, “Go, be careful.”
Yang Kai nodded, patted her head, then turned around and flew away.
Yu Ru Meng followed closely behind him before she caught up to him and flew alongside him, she even pulled his arm brazenly into her plump peaks.
“What are you doing?” Yang Kai gave her a side-long glance.
“Was she your woman?” Yu Ru Meng unhappily asked.
“Yes!” Yang Kai readily admitted.
Immediately after, he could hear Yu Ru Meng grinding her teeth.
Yang Kai rolled his eyes at her and added, gazing at her with a grin, “Does it make you uncomfortable?”
Yu Ru Meng’s teeth grinding became louder.
Yang Kai broke into laughter at this display and stated, “I’m not afraid to tell you, I don’t have just one woman.”
“How many?” Yu Ru Meng’s pretty eyes turned colder.
Yang Kai rubbed his chin as he replied, “I have about seventy or so.”
“Are you trying to anger me?” Yu Ru Meng coldly glared at him.
“I am speaking the truth, that’s all; furthermore, you were the one who asked me.” Yang Kai meaningfully grinned, “If you feel uncomfortable, just free me from your Secret Technique. Why put yourself through so much grief?”
“Dream on,” Yu Ru Meng sneered. “You should take good care of your women in the future.”
Yang Kai furrowed his brow, “What do you mean?”
“Nothing…” Yu Ru Meng replied in neither a cold nor gentle manner, “I just want to tell you that maybe I will kill them all if someday I am upset.”
As soon as she stated this, Yang Kai suddenly stopped and turned an icy glare at her.
Yu Ru Meng stared back at him without showing any weakness. Rather, her gaze seemed to carry a faint sense of provocation.
After a long time, Yang Kai indifferently declared, “I will pretend you said nothing this time, but there will not be a next time!” Freeing his arm from her hold, he flew off, leaving Yu Ru Meng behind, stomping in anger.
In the hall of High Heaven Peak, Hua Qing Si, who came to know that the two worlds were connected, heralding the coming of the Demon Race, was shocked and turned a bit pale. After composing herself, she immediately took out her communication artifact and started informing various Sects and families. The gears of the entire High Heaven Palace and Orthodoxy Temple Branch quickly began turning.
Among the hundred thousand members who were from the lower Star Field, many had advanced to the Dao Source Realm in the past few years; at least a few hundred of them. Although almost all were still just First-Order Dao Source Realms, this was only because of a shortage of time. If they were given enough time and space to grow, the number of Dao Source Realm Masters would definitely increase.
As for Origin Kings, there was a truly enormous number of them.
By rough estimation, High Heaven Palace alone could dispatch ten thousand people to the battle, all of whom were at or above the Origin King Realm.
It needed to be said that even a top Sect like Azure Sun Temple could only send out a few thousand people in total. Except for a behemoth like High Heaven Palace, perhaps no other Sect could deploy so many cultivators at once since most Sects did not even have ten thousand members.
This force would surely become a sharp knife in the war between the two worlds.
While Hua Qing Si was busy, Yang Kai didn’t rest. He summoned Ying Fei and ordered him to take a trip to the Ancient Wild Lands to give a message to the Three Divine Venerables. Although Yang Kai had repeatedly gone to the Ancient Lands and troubled Luan Feng and the others, even drawing them into the matter of Orthodoxy Temple last time, the incident this time was in no way trivial and Yang Kai was confident that Luan Feng and the others would not stand by once they learned about the situation.
Even the Great Emperors had gotten involved, so how could they avoid responsibility? They might remain safe for a while, hiding in the Ancient Wild Lands, but if the Star Boundary was really conquered by the Demon Race, would the Demon Race spare them?
Yang Kai believed that Luan Feng and the others would see the reality of the situation and would definitely make the right choice, so he didn’t bother to personally make the trip.
The Monster Race of the Ancient Wild Lands would be of great help. Whether it was the three Divine Spirits or the Monster Kings, all of them were the top Masters in this world. Furthermore, they lived in the Ancient Lands all year round the year, so their natural resistance towards Demon Qi was extraordinary. Yang Kai even doubted whether Demon Qi would have any effect on them.
With their help, things would be much easier.
As for the Dragon Clan…
Yang Kai thought for quite a while before he decided not to disturb them for the time being. If the Great Emperors felt that it was necessary to invite the Dragon Clan, they would definitely have a way to send a message to them, he didn’t need to take up this task himself. Since the Great Emperors hadn’t mentioned it, then he didn’t need to unnecessarily intervene.
Perhaps the Dragon Clan could act as a trump card.
After busying himself for some time, Yang Kai suddenly felt a sense of incongruity. After thinking about it, he seemed to have been struck with realization, turned to Hua Qing Si, and asked, “Where is Liu Yan?”
It wasn’t until now that he finally realized that something was off. He didn’t see Liu Yan when he came back this time, and every time he returned, Liu Yan would definitely rush over right away, but even after more than an hour, Liu Yan was nowhere in sight.
After hearing this, Hua Qing Si looked up and replied, “I forgot to tell the Palace Master that Liu Yan is gone.”
“What do you mean by gone?” Yang Kai looked confused.
Hua Qing Si’s face turned unsightly. “Not just Liu Yan, but even Qiong Qi, who had returned last time with Palace Master, and…” After a pause, Hua Qing Si continued with much difficulty, “Yang Xiao and Yang Xue have also disappeared.”
“What!?” Yang Kai was thoroughly shocked this time. He wouldn’t be too worried if just Liu Yan and Qiong Qi couldn’t be found as both of them were Divine Spirits. In this world, there were few who could pose a threat to those two, but now even Yang Xiao and Yang Xue had gone missing.
He immediately linked it with the kidnapping of Lan Xun and the others, but just as quickly dismissed the notion as unreasonable.
Huan Qing Si hurriedly reported, “Sister Liu Yan left you a message before leaving, perhaps there are some clues in it.” While speaking, she took out a jade slip from her Space Ring and handed it to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai took it and scanned it with his Divine Sense with a solemn look on his face. The next moment, he saw three words engraved on the jade slip.
Four Seasons Realm!
Yang Kai raised his brow as the tense look on his face slowly eased. The Four Seasons Realm was the supposed resting place of Flowing Time Great Emperor. It was precisely because of the opening of the Four Seasons Realm that Yang Kai obtained the Time Flies Secret Technique, allowing him to comprehend the Dao of Time. Qiong Qi also emerged from the Four Seasons Realm at that time.
However, there were still many years left before the next opening of the Four Seasons Realm, so why would they go there? Is it possible that Qiong Qi could freely open the entrance of the Four Seasons Realm? If not, why would they all make such a trip?
Thinking about it though, this was quite possible; after all, Old Qiong could also be considered a master of the Four Seasons Realm.
[This is probably related to that brat Yang Xiao, that source of trouble and worry.] Yang Kai didn’t have a clear idea about Old Qiong’s way of doing things, but since Liu Yan had gone too, he was able to relax slightly. He could trust Liu Yan to look after things.
[As for Yang Xue…]
[That little girl should have been taken along by that smelly brat. Father and mother must be beside themselves in worry…] Thinking of this, Yang Kai started to have a headache.
Hoping for a stroke of good luck, Yang Kai triggered the Space Beacon on his wrist, but he didn’t get a response, causing him to sigh.
After coming back last time, he left Yang Xiao and Liu Yan each with a Space Beacon, so as long as they were in the Star Boundary, he would have been able to locate and instantly move to them. But since there wasn’t any resonation, it meant that they weren’t in the Star Boundary anymore.
And if they weren’t in the Star Boundary, it meant that they had already entered the Four Seasons Realm!
“Palace Master, where did Sister Liu Yan and the others go? I asked the disciples guarding the Spirit Array and they informed me that the four of them teleported to the Southern Territory’s Orthodoxy Temple Branch, but after that, no one knew where they went.” Hua Qing Si asked with a worried look. She hadn’t read what was written in the jade slip left by Liu Yan, and Dong Su Zhu had been pestering her about it these days, asking about a dozen times a day if she had found the whereabouts of Yang Xue.
Yang Kai quickly replied, “They went to the Four Seasons Realm.”
“Four Seasons Realm?” Hua Qing Si was stunned, “Why would they go there when it’s still closed?”
“Old Qiong can open it. If my guess is right, there is a great opportunity waiting for them there.”
An opportunity that was the true inheritance of Flowing Time Great Emperor.
Back then, Old Qiong had also used this condition in exchange for his asylum, convincing Yang Kai to let Old Qiong stay with him and escape the fate of being captured by Li Wu Yi and Ju Feng and taken back to Spirit Beast Island.
If not for such a great temptation, why would Yang Kai care about Qiong Qi’s affairs? As far as he was concerned, Qiong Qi would not have suffered a loss being taken to Spirit Beast Island, and it wouldn’t even be shameful as Spirit Beast Island was no stranger to Divine Spirits.
Originally, Yang Kai had planned to wait for things to settle down a bit before asking Old Qiong to take him to the Four Seasons Realm.
But now it seems… Yang Xiao, that smelly brat, had taken that opportunity for himself. Of course, that wasn’t really an appropriate way to think about such things as opportunities cannot be snatched, only accepted or rejected. Perhaps Old Qiong felt that Yang Xiao was more suitable for this opportunity; after all, Yang Kai and Qiong Qi had seen Yang Xiao use the Dao of Time to escape from the former’s grasp when Yang Kai was about to spank him for lying.
[There isn’t much difference between whether it belongs to the father or to the son.] Yang Kai slightly smiled, now looking forward to how much Yang Xiao would have changed when he saw him again.
Hua Qing Si suddenly raised her head and reported, looking at Yang Kai with a pitiful look on her face, “Palace Master, your mother just summoned me.”
“Why?” Yang Kai casually asked before he quickly understood, rubbing his forehead as he commented, “Don’t worry about her, I will explain to her myself later.”
After discussing a few more things with Hua Qing Si, Yang Kai ordered her to gather the Northern Territory’s forces in High Heaven Palace as soon as possible before he flew off to the Spirit Peak where his parents lived.
After a cup of tea worth of time, Yang Kai saw his father standing on the balcony of their house.
There was a miserable aura lingering around Yang Ying Feng, and when the father and son met, Yang Kai respectfully cupped his fists and greeted him, “Father!”
Yang Ying Feng powerlessly responded before he waved at Yang Kai like he was catching flies. Presumably, things hadn’t been good for him over these days. He just wanted peace and quiet now, not even having the energy to speak an extra word.
Yang Kai took a long, deep breath, adjusted his clothes, and then bravely walked towards the house.
After a short while, Dong Su Zhu’s crying and cursing sounds came from inside the building, whereupon Yang Ying Feng’s facial muscles all started twitching.
Inside the house, Yang Kai’s face was quite awkward as he stood on the spot, looking at Dong Su Zhu, who was sitting miserably on the ground, feeling that the situation was a bit trickier than he had imagined.
“I don’t care, I don’t care, bring me my Xue’er back! She has never left me over all these years, how can she survive outside alone? You have to quickly find her, send your palace’s disciples to look for her! If she encounters some unexpected misfortune, your mother will not be able to survive!”
Yang Kai tried persuading her, “Mother, Liu Yan and Old Qiong are with her. No one in this world can do anything untoward to her. You don’t have to worry about her safety and they will return in a few days. Also, Xue’er is slowly growing up, so it’s impossible for her to stay by your side forever. It would be better for her to go out and see the world a little earlier.”
Dong Su Zhu fiercely stared up at him before she suddenly jumped to her feet and began poking his chest fiercely, “You have been travelling outside every day and have long forgotten your parents! We barely see you for a few days a year, but now, after your mother finally had Xue’er, you want her to be just like you and never come home too!?”
As she poked Yang Kai’s chest with each word, he was forced back towards the entrance by her momentum and nearly stumbled and fell.
Yang Kai apologetically smiled as he replied, “No, I absolutely don’t want this.”
Dong Su Zhu ground her teeth before stating, “Find Xue’er and bring her back, or you can take me to her.”
Yang Kai bitterly smiled as he explained, “They have entered a Sealed World now, one we can’t enter, only Old Qiong can open it. Mother will just have to wait for a few days for them to return on their own.”
Dong Su Zhu fell into despair after hearing this, slumped back down the ground and started making a scene, “It’s all because you brought that little brat Yang Xiao back with you! Xue’er is learning all kinds of bad things from him! It’s all your fault!”
Yang Kai repeatedly nodded, “Yes, yes, I will spank that brat’s butt red when I see him next!”
Dong Su Zhu stated, blinking at him, before lowering her head and muttering, “Don’t hit him too hard, just teach him a lesson…”
Yang Kai assumed a cruel and determined look on his face. “Mother, you don’t need to worry. That smelly brat’s physique is abnormal, it doesn’t matter how hard I spank his ass, he’ll recover quickly enough.”
After finally managing to comfort his mother, Yang Kai flew off, looking quite tired. Afterwards, he started searching High Heaven Palace.
After a while, a figure flashed over, curiously looking at him, “What are you searching for? Why are you acting all sneaky like that?”
Yang Kai’s face blackened as he said in his heart, [I’m the Palace Master here. This is my turf, why would I act sneaky?] He then turned his head and looked towards the source of the voice and saw an angry yet smiling face looking at him. Yang Kai couldn’t stop himself from laughing as he stated, “Young Lady Qiu, long time no see.”
Qiu Yi Meng humbly said with a smile, “Palace Master, please don’t call me Young Lady, I dare not accept such a title. I am but a humble disciple of High Heaven Palace now.”
Yang Kai smiled, “It’s just a name, that’s all. I’m accustomed to it.” Then he suddenly spoke in surprise, “You broke through to the Dao Source Realm, congratulations.”
Qiu Yi Meng responded, smiling, “It’s all thanks to you. If you hadn’t brought us here and provided us with ample resources, how could I have made such rapid progress? But in front of you, a Dao Source Realm is really nothing.”
Yang Kai shook his head, “It’s different. I came to the Star Boundary earlier than all of you so it’s only normal for me to be in a higher realm.”
Qiu Yu Meng replied, pursing her lips, “No need to comfort us. I have already learned to accept the fact that there is always someone stronger no matter how strong you are. But you, what are you looking for? Maybe I can help you.”
“Did you see my dog?” Yang Kai asked.
“Dog?” Qiu Yi Meng was stunned, but suddenly, she seemed to have recalled something and asked, “A little black puppy?”
“Yes, yes, that’s the one.”
“En, I saw it yesterday.” Qiu Yi Meng nodded.
“Where?” Yang Kai asked.
“Come with me.” Qiu Yi Meng smiled before leading the way.
The two flew out side by side and soon arrived at a place where Qiu Yi Meng saw the Abyssal Returner yesterday, but a day later, the Abyssal Returner was naturally long gone, so Yang Kai had no choice but to continue to search with Qiu Yi Meng.
After half a day, they finally found the Abyssal Returner basking in the sun in a certain mountain valley.
After seeing Yang Kai, the Abyssal Returner rushed over with great enthusiasm, circled around him, and wagged its tail as it panted.
Yang Kai reached out and grabbed it by the neck before stuffing it into the Sealed World Bead. Since the Demon Race had appeared, how could Yang Kai forget about the Abyssal Returner? It could be considered the nemesis of the Demon Race, so he wanted to keep Ah Wang by his side. Maybe she would play a miraculous role at some point.
Qiu Yi Meng quietly watched, just when she wanted to ask about this black puppy she spent half a day searching for, she furrowed her curvy, black brow before shuddering and a look of vigilance appeared on her face as she looked left and right, “Yang Kai, did it just get a bit colder?”
Yang Kai’s brow twitched as he slowly shook his head.
Qiu Yi Meng’s face was a little pale, “Strange, why do I suddenly feel a chill then?”
Yang Kai asked, contrary to his will, “Did some problem arise with your cultivation?”
“Of course…” Qiu Yi Meng frowned as a thoughtful look appeared on her face, “There shouldn’t be any problems.”
“It’s better to be careful about this kind of thing, you can’t be neglectful.”
Qiu Yi Meng nodded, “En, you’re right. Then I will go back and adjust my breathing.”
After sending her off with his gaze, Yang Kai finally looked in the direction of High Heaven Peak before snorting and flying over.
After a moment, he returned to the main hall of High Heaven Peak.
At the entrance of the main hall, a smiling Yu Ru Meng was leaning against the door with her arms crossed, staring at Yang Kai. Her arms were propping up her bountiful peaks, making them appear towering like mountains, and after seeing him approach, she asked, “Was that woman one among the seventy?”
Yang Kai asked back, glaring at her, “Why did you scare her?”
Yu Ru Meng assumed an innocent look, “What do you mean by scaring her?”
Yang Kai harrumphed as he replied, “You clearly know what I’m talking about.”
Yu Ru Meng tilted her head slightly and smilingly asked, “Are you angry?”
“Go away!” Yang Kai pushed her aside and walked into the palace.
Yu Ru Meng quickly followed after him, carrying her hands behind her back. She quickly circled around to Yang Kai’s front and asked, walking backwards, “About that black dog…”
Yang Kai responded, maintaining a straight face, “What black dog? Which black dog? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Yu Ru Meng disdainfully snorted, feeling a little puzzled. Although she didn’t see it clearly, she felt that the black puppy was a little unusual. Unfortunately, it disappeared in the blink of an eye and she didn’t have a clue where Yang Kai had put it.
She wanted to ask a few more questions, but Yang Kai didn’t give her the chance and directly headed into a cultivation room and activated the barrier, shutting her out.
His conduct made Yu Ru Meng angry to the point that she ground her teeth audibly.
Inside the cultivation room, Yang Kai sat down cross-legged.
It would take time to gather the Northern Territory’s cultivators, as well as the disciples of High Heaven Palace and its Orthodoxy Temple Branch. Yang Kai figured he had at least five days to himself. Naturally, it was impossible to cultivate a technique or art during these five days, but he could spend time searching for the Heart Seal in his Knowledge Sea.
Somehow, Yu Ru Meng had planted this strange Secret Technique on him, bringing two strangers so close that Yang Kai couldn’t even think of harming her. No matter what Yu Ru Meng’s identity was or what she was plotting, this Heart Seal Secret Technique surely played a crucial role.
So long as Yang Kai could dispel this Secret Technique, he could get rid of Yu Ru Meng’s hold on him, and perhaps, he could turn it around on her and make use of it.
But this Secret Technique was quite illusory. He had probed his Knowledge Sea a few days ago, but he didn’t notice anything at all. Now, whether he could dispel it or not, he had no confidence.
But no matter what, he had to give it a try.
Taking a deep breath, Yang Kai focused his attention. The next moment, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense surged as his Soul Avatar took form in his Knowledge Sea and began meticulously searching it, not letting off a single corner.
But Yang Kai’s face turned more and more solemn over time, because even after sweeping his entire Knowledge Sea from top to bottom, he didn’t find a single abnormality.
It was as if the Heart Seal Secret Technique didn’t even exist.
But that was impossible! The Heart Seal Secret Technique undoubtedly existed. His current feelings for Yu Ru Meng were the best evidence; otherwise, how could he have such deep affection for a stranger he had just met a couple days ago, like she was a partner he had endured life and death with for decades?
Yang Kai refused to give up and continued to probe diligently. This time, he even used the power of the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, but he was still disappointed in the end.
A day later, Yang Kai finally opened his eyes, an unsightly look on his face.
[Is it really as Yu Ru Meng said, that the Heart Seal can’t be dispelled? Since it’s a Secret Technique, how can it be impossible to crack? Perhaps it’s just that no way has been found yet.]
Yang Kai remained in deep thought for a long time, sitting still on the spot. Suddenly, his eyeballs moved as a flash of brilliance bloomed in their depths.
Raising his hand, he lifted all the barriers on the room and shouted, “Ru Meng, Ru Meng!”
Apparently, Yu Ru Meng hadn’t gone too far as she appeared outside the door soon after hearing this, staring at him angrily, “What?”
“Come in,” Yang Kai beckoned at her.
Yu Ru Meng hesitated for a moment before walking inside.
Yang Kai pointed before him and stated, “Sit!”
It immediately made her roll her eyes at him, quite the coquettish act when seen from the outside. Nonetheless, Yu Ru Meng sat down, quickly filling the cultivation room with a faint delicious fragrance.
Yang Kai waved his hand again, closing the door of the room and activating the barriers again. After doing all this, he finally looked at her with a smile on his face.
Yu Ru Meng suddenly became a little nervous as she asked with an expectant look on her face, “What… what do you want to do?”
A lone man and woman in a closed room, and intimate lovers at that; it wasn’t difficult for her imagination to run wild so she nervously stated right away, “I… I’m not ready yet… I have to warn you to not try anything funny, otherwise, I won’t be polite.”
Yang Kai was greatly surprised, “When you asked me to dress you, didn’t you expect this to happen?”
“How can you confuse that with this?” Yu Ru Meng gripped her robes tightly.
“Interesting, interesting!” Yang Kai touched his chin, sizing her up with great relish. Originally, he believed her to be a loose woman as it didn’t take long for her to seduce him just after meeting him, but he hadn’t expected her to have such a modest side.
His intense gaze immediately made Yu Ru Meng fidgety and she promptly got up and stated, “If there’s nothing, I will take my leave first.”
“You want to leave just like that?” Yang Kai coldly snorted as he reached out and grabbed her, pulling her back with force. Yu Ru Meng immediately let out a tender cry as she fell into his arms.
Their eyes met, as a playful light filled Yang Kai’s gaze. On the other hand, Yu Ru Meng’s eyes were hazy and dodgy.
As Yang Kai’s masculine scent and hot breath blew across her face, causing Yu Ru Meng’s breathing to become a little rapid.
Yang Kai stretched his fingers out and gently stroked her slender white neck, causing her to shiver. Everywhere he touched, she started to have goosebumps.
Stroking across her neck, her earlobes, her cheek…
Yu Ru Meng’s eyes became misty as a blush spread across her cheeks.
The corner of Yang Kai’s lips rose up as a wicked smile appeared on his face as he then lowered his head and kissed her.
Yu Ru Meng immediately went stiff as if someone had cast a petrification technique on her before she softened so much it was as if all the bones in her body melted. Her eyes went wide before she slowly closed them, enjoying the warmth and tenderness she felt. Unconsciously, she wrapped her arms around Yang Kai’s waist as her fingers tightly clutched his clothes, as if she would powerlessly slump down without such support.
After a very long time, their lips finally parted.
Yu Ru Meng was panting for breath and there was a greedy look on her face.
Her well-rounded chest was heaving up and down as her heart pounded like a drum.
Yang Kai lowered his head again, staring into her eyes. Yu Ru Meng also looked up at him. As their eyes met, a shy look flashed across her pretty face, but there was a sweet smile hanging on her lips.
Yang Kai sighed in his heart as he struggled internally, but finally, he bent over and put his mouth next to her ear before speaking in an extremely gentle voice, “Slut…”
The charming atmosphere suddenly froze.
Yu Ru Meng’s figure also became extremely stiff as the sweet smile on her face slowly faded away. Her pretty eyes became as cold as ice as she indifferently asked, gazing at Yang Kai with a sharp glare, “What did you just say? I didn’t hear it clearly.”
Yang Kai put his arms around her and spelled it out, just as he had before, “S… l… u… t… slut!”
“Yang Kai!!” Yu Ru Meng erupted as she broke free from his embrace and menacingly glared down at him from above, appearing as if she was about to explode from rage…
Originally, Yu Ru Meng was a woman whose expression changed faster than flipping the page of a book and she couldn’t bear the slightest grievance. Now, her psychological line of defence was broken through by Yang Kai’s sweet and tender musings, only for him to viciously insult her in the next moment. She simply couldn’t bear the complete and utter contrast as she felt like she had been stabbed in the back by her most trusted person.
This kind of injury was far more serious than the one she suffered when Yang Kai’s palm struck her last time. At least, there was a reason back then, and physical trauma was not difficult to recover from, but this time, she felt as if her heart had been toyed with and shredded, it was no wonder she was so angry.
Yang Kai just looked at her with a smile, as if he hadn’t said anything wrong just now.
Seeing his unrepentant appearance, Yu Ru Meng only became angrier. A cold smile bloomed on her lips as she ordered, “If you apologize, I will forgive you.”
Yang Kai, still maintaining that smile on his face as he slowly shook his head.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Yu Ru Meng’s beautiful eyes turned colder.
Yang Kai sonorously declared, “Words are like arrows, once you let them loose, they do not return. It’s impossible for me to apologize even in death.”
“So be it!” Yu Ru Meng suddenly sat cross-legged in front of him, her eyes flashing a cold gleam as she glared at him. The next moment, her face turned pale as a muffled groan escaped from her lips.
At the same time, Yang Kai felt as if his head was about to explode.
[I knew you would do this!] Yang Kai was under unbearable pain, but he was simultaneously celebrating. If Yu Ru Meng didn’t do this, all his previous efforts would have gone to waste.
There seemed to be thousands of swords stabbing into his mind at the moment, granting him unimaginable pain that was beyond the limit of a human’s endurance. After a while, Yang Kai’s figure wobbled as his face turned pale as paper and large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, splashing onto the ground.
Yu Ru Meng didn’t fare any better. Her Heart Seal Secret Technique was profound and mysterious, but its drawbacks were similarly powerful. She belonged to the category of people who were willing to sacrifice themselves just to make the opposite party suffer. She wanted to use this method to torment Yang Kai to vent her anger so there was no doubt she was suffering equally unbearable pain.
After a short while, Yu Ru Meng was drenched in sweat, as if she was fished out of a lake, but she grit her teeth and didn’t even let out so much as a grunt. She just kept staring at Yang Kai as if to declare she wouldn’t stop until he apologized.
The forced smile on Yang Kai’s face had become extremely twisted, but Yu Ru Meng’s face only grew colder and colder.
In the sealed cultivation room, man and woman constantly shuddered, their faces pale and sweaty. Obviously, they were in great pain, but no one wanted to show weakness, making for an extremely odd scene.
Under such painful torture, every moment seemed to be infinitely stretched.
Yang Kai really experienced what it meant to live a day like a year, but when he checked, he still couldn’t find any abnormality in his Knowledge Sea.
[It’s not enough! It’s far from enough!]
Yu Ru Meng suddenly proposed, “If you can’t stand it, just tell me, perhaps I will let you go if my heart softens!”
Yang Kai just kept grinning though as he stared back at her and shouted, “So good!”
Yu Ru Meng also broke into laughter, trembling all the while, “Want to feel better?”
Yang Kai fiercely nodded.
Yu Ru Meng hysterically screeched, “Smelly man, I’ll make you feel better than you ever have in your entire life!”
Just as she said this, the already excruciating pain in Yang Kai’s head intensified many times. His Knowledge Sea seemed to be on the verge of tearing apart and the flaming water in it was now violently churning.
Everything went dark before Yang Kai as his consciousness blurred. He stared over at Yu Ru Meng, whose tender figure wobbled and almost fell to the ground; however, neither of them was ordinary. Their Souls were incomparably powerful, so even if they were in so much pain, they could still hold on. Both of them had a look on their face that said that they wouldn’t concede. It would all depend on who fell first.
As far as Yu Ru Meng was concerned, if she didn’t set Yang Kai straight this time, then she would never be able to stand proud before him again.
As for Yang Kai, if he couldn’t persist this time, he might never be able to dispel the Heart Seal.
Each had their own plans and goals they couldn’t back down from, so naturally, they were determined to fight it out till the end.
After what seemed like an eternity, but might have only been a moment, Yu Ru Meng’s aura grew weaker. Although her Soul was extraordinary and her Spiritual Energy rich, under this kind of consumption, she was struggling to persist.
Yang Kai was certainly not her equal when it came to Soul cultivation, otherwise, he would have been able to find her Heart Seal without going to such lengths, so logically speaking, in this conflict, Yang Kai should be worse off than her; but Yang Kai had the Soul Warming Lotus.
The Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus in his Knowledge Sea was constantly radiating a seven coloured light, making up for the consumption of Yang Kai’s Spiritual Energy and nourishing his tormented Soul. With such strong support, how could Yu Ru Meng outlast him?
So, although Yu Ru Meng’s Soul was stronger, Yang Kai’s condition was actually better at the moment.
Obviously, Yu Ru Meng had noticed this strange phenomenon as well and her eyes flickered with scepticism. She knew that if this went on, she might be the first one to fall.
Her eyes flickered with a sliver of determination as she proposed in a heavy voice, “Yang Kai, this is your last chance. I don’t want your apology either, just promise me you’ll never curse me ever again. Swear it, and I will put this matter to rest.” She was really making great concessions; otherwise, with how angry she was just now, unless Yang Kai sincerely prostrated himself before her and begged for forgiveness, how could she let things go so lightly?
Yang Kai was hanging by a thread as well, but still slowly shook his head.
“Do you really want to perish together with me?” A look of confusion flashed in Yu Ru Meng’s eyes.
“Are you willing?” Yang Kai asked.
Yu Ru Meng was taken aback when he asked her the same question she first asked him, but she slowly closed her eyes before indifferently stating, “I’m not, but no one, not even you, may curse me!”
Her beautiful eyes suddenly opened wide and the bleak look in them suddenly became incomparably bright as she pushed her Heart Seal Secret Technique to the extreme.
Yu Ru Meng let out a miserable cry as blood flowed out of her seven orifices. Her aura gradually grew extremely weak as she limply fell to the ground, looking at Yang Kai with a sorrowful laugh.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, remained completely still like a mountain. He happened to have his eyes tightly shut at this moment as this was what he was waiting for. When Yu Ru Meng pushed her Heart Seal Secret Technique to the extreme, he had already sent his Soul Avart into the Knowledge Sea.
His Knowledge Sea was in turmoil and appeared ready to explode at any moment.
Suddenly, a woman’s illusory phantom appeared. The illusory phantom was hazy and indistinct, as if it was there but couldn’t be seen if one looked straight at it. It only slightly manifested itself at this moment.
[Found it!]
Yang Kai’s heart shook as his Soul Avatar fluctuated, almost on the brink of collapse under the influence of the Heart Seal Secret Technique. Fortunately, at the critical moment, the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus shrouded his avatar with its glow and managed to stabilize it.
Without hesitating, Yang Kai drove the Seven Colored Soul Warming Lotus towards the illusory phantom and a seven coloured brilliance immediately filled his Knowledge Sea, enveloping the ghostly female figure all of a sudden and drawing it into the lotus.
The next moment, the female illusory phantom disappeared and Yang Kai’s boiling Knowledge Sea slowly calmed down. At the same time, the unbearable pain had completely disappeared.
Yang Kai mysteriously felt as if he had just been reborn.
He flew above the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus and carefully inspected it, but he found no clues, nor did he see the illusory phantom of the woman from earlier.
Although it was just a glimpse, Yang Kai could tell that the illusory phantom was of Yu Ru Meng’s real appearance, because while the figure was almost the same, the features were different.
At present, Yu Ru Meng was currently assuming Li Shi Qing’s identity while concealing her own.
She had also proclaimed that her real appearance was no worse than Li Shi Qing’s and, by the looks of it, she was speaking the truth.
Her beauty had left Yang Kai in amazement.
[But…]
[What’s the situation right now?]
He had viciously insulted Yu Ru Meng earlier to provoke her to trigger the Heart Seal, hoping it would expose a flaw in the technique and allow him to free himself from its restraints. And judging by the situation just now, he had succeeded because he had really grasped a trace of the Heart Seal Secret Technique at the last moment and used the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus to take it.
But it was only taken away, that’s all. It wasn’t dispelled!
[Did I succeed or fail?] What Yang Kai couldn’t understand was why the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus hadn’t responded to the anomaly that had invaded his Knowledge Sea before now.
Logically speaking, if anything detrimental to him attempted to invade his Knowledge Sea, the Soul Warming Lotus should have immediately acted to protect him, but that didn’t happen in the case of the Heart Seal.
[Could it be that the Heart Seal Secret Technique isn’t harmful? Based on this assumption, everything fits. Yu Ru Meng used this Secret Technique to forcefully bring the two of us together, so it’s hard to call it an offensive technique.]
Yang Kai pondered for a moment before he flew to the top of the Soul Warming Lotus and scanned it again, only to find nothing once more.
He slightly urged the power of the Soul Warming Lotus next, and under the seven coloured radiance, a woman’s illusory phantom finally appeared atop the lotus.
Yang Kai could feel that if he was determined, he should be able to destroy this illusory phantom, fundamentally breaking this Heart Seal Secret Technique and severing the connection between Yu Ru Meng and him, but after thinking about it for a while, he decided against doing so right away. Instead, his Soul Avatar dissipated as he opened his eyes again.
Yu Ru Meng was lying on the ground not too far away, her entire body drenched in sweat and her clothes sticking to her body, revealing the outline of her exquisite figure. Her face was pale as paper and her breathing was weak and ragged.
That last attack had also caused huge damage to herself.
Yang Kai looked at her with a complex look on his face before suddenly realizing that he didn’t feel all that distressed.
He might have insulted her and acted ruthlessly against Yu Ru Meng before, but the whole time he was forcing himself hard to do so. If it was before, he would have definitely felt extremely distressed after seeing Yu Ru Meng in this kind of state.
However, now he just felt it was a little difficult to bear.
The effect of the Heart Seal Secret Technique had been greatly reduced.
Yang Kai was ecstatic. All his efforts weren’t in vain!
After moving a little, he arrived by Yu Ru Meng’s side, picked her up and laid her down on his lap as he gazed down at her.
He wanted to investigate her background and learn what her goal was for approaching him.
Yang Kai had some conjectures in his mind, but whether what he thought was true or not, he still had to verify.
Yu Ru Meng happened to be unconscious right now, so this might be his best chance to explore the secrets in her Knowledge Sea.
As soon as he thought about it, Yang Kai lowered his head, touched their foreheads together, and sent his Divine Sense into her Knowledge Sea
After a while, Yang Kai helplessly looked up.
The defences of Yu Ru Meng’s Knowledge Sea were incredibly strong. Even when she was in a coma, Yang Kai couldn’t break through them. If he tried forcefully breaking them, she would most likely be awakened, so after trying for some time, he had no choice but to give up.
Yang Kai was at a loss. Yu Ru Meng was only a Second-Order Emperor, so how come her Spiritual Energy was so strong? Judging by the defences of her Knowledge Sea, the cultivation of her Soul was far stronger than an average Third-Order Emperor.
Since he couldn’t even break through her defences, naturally, he couldn’t pry into her secrets.
Yang Kai had no choice but to set this matter aside for now. He took out some pills, opened Yu Ru Meng’s mouth, and stuffed them inside. Next, he took out a few more pills and took them himself before calmly meditating.
Time slowly went by.
After an entire day and night, Yu Ru Meng finally let out a groan. She tightly furrowed her brow before her long eyelashes fluttered a few times as she slowly opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a smiling Yang Kai gazing at her. Yu Ru Meng blinked her eyes in a daze. Obviously, she still hadn’t returned to her senses as she smiled back at Yang Kai out of habit.
But very soon, she remembered everything that had happened before she fell unconscious and her pretty face couldn’t help but change, turning extremely cold. She immediately pushed Yang Kai away and tried to prop herself up from his lap.
Yang Kai’s previous arrogance and unprovoked insults had really hurt her.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, pursed his lips into a smile and pulled her back down again.
Yu Ru Meng struggled a few times but how could she compete with Yang Kai when it came to brute force. Eventually, all she could do was angrily shout, “Let me go!”
“It’s alright,” Yang Kai gently comforted her. “Don’t move about too much, you haven’t recovered yet.”
“I’m telling you to let me go!” Yu Ru Meng coldly glared at him.
Yang Kai scratched his nose before an earnest look appeared on his face as he apologized, “Ru Meng, I’m sorry, I was wrong before, so don’t be angry.”
Yu Ru Meng was caught off guard by his sincere apology and her anger completely dissipated right away, though she did become a little bewildered. Her brow furrowed and unfurrowed a few times before she asked with confusion, “What do you mean?”
[He was clearly acting stubborn before, like he would rather die than apologize. I even took a step back, but he didn’t compromise at all, and now suddenly, there is such a big change?] Yu Ru Meng couldn’t figure out what Yang Kai was thinking.
In fact, Yu Ru Meng was beginning to think that Yang Kai had something wrong with his head.
Yang Kai tenderly looked at her before he leaned down and kissed her without a word.
This was undoubtedly the most impactful gesture he could make.
Yu Ru Meng’s figure immediately went limp as she showed no resistance at all.
After a long time, Yang Kai finally let her go, a mischievous smile hanging on his lips.
Yu Ru Meng touched her lips and angrily pouted, “You bully!”
Yang Kai found her spoiled, innocent attitude quite interesting and he couldn’t help but break into laughter, “You can only blame yourself for all this. Who told you to plant that nonsense Heart Seal on me. If you had just bided your time, how would I have ever known that you are Yu Ru Meng.”
Yu Ru Meng rebuked with a snort, “You got me at a bargain and without any hassle. You will definitely laugh at the Heavens for your good fortune in the future.”
“Why do you say that?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
Yu Ru Meng pursed her lips into a grin as she triumphantly replied, “You will know when the time comes, but for now… don’t ask too much.” After a while, she added in a serious voice, “Don’t curse me like that in the future. I can’t accept it.”
Yang Kai repeatedly nodded, “I won’t, I absolutely won’t curse you in the future.”
Since he had already succeeded, naturally there was no need to cause trouble for himself.
After receiving his response, Yu Ru Meng finally relaxed into his arms with a contented expression. She was silent for a while before she suddenly looked up at Yang Kai’s side face in confusion. The next moment, the happiness and the smile on her face slowly faded away.
“What’s wrong?” Yang Kai asked, lowering his head.
Yu Ru Meng reached out and gently stroked his cheek, muttering, “I don’t know why, but I suddenly feel that you are very far away from me.”
Yang Kai tilted his head slightly and stated with a light smile, “I’m right here.”
Yu Ru Meng slowly shook her head. This feeling was unclear. Although Yang Kai was literally within arm’s reach, she still felt that he was extremely far away for some reason.
…
As night fell, the three Divine Spirits, over two dozen Monster Kings, as well as the nine members of the Stone Puppet Clan from the Ancient Wild Lands arrived. The cultivators of the various Sects of the Northern Territory were also slowly gathering at High Heaven Palace.
In the great hall of High Heavens Palace, hundreds of Emperor Realm Masters were gathered together once again in a noisy and chaotic scene. They had already learned about the appearance of Demon Qi in the Western Territory and the opening of the passage between the two worlds from Hua Qing Si. They knew that this time, even the Great Emperors had come forward, so although the Northern Territory was far away, they were unable to detach themselves from this situation. Not to mention, under High Heaven Palace’s call, they didn’t dare to feign ignorance. Everyone gathered the greatest amount of combat power they could at the fastest speed before hurrying over to High Heaven Palace.
But for most cultivators in this world, the existence of the Demon Race was too vague a concept. They were so far removed from this reality that many people had never even heard of the Demon Race before. The Masters of the Northern Territory were still a bit better off; after all, many of them had participated in the Southern Territory’s Orthodoxy Temple catastrophe with Yang Kai and had seen and experienced what those Demons could do first-hand. But they still didn’t know anything about the real Demon Race.
Finally, when Luan Feng, Fan Wu, and Cang Guo, leading the thirty-two Monster Kings of the Ancient Wild Lands into the main hall, the chattering subsided.
This was an extremely terrifying force. There were three Divine Spirits and thirty-two Monster Kings, each one comparable to a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master. Such a force couldn’t be ignored, no matter where they went. Most of the Emperor Realm Masters in the Northern Territory were either in the First or Second-Order while Third-Order Emperors were a rarity. As such, everyone couldn’t help but fall silent under the pressure from the monstrous Monster Qi.
Although the main hall was large enough to accommodate hundreds of people, there naturally weren’t many seats. When Luan Feng and the others arrived, they just kept walking straight and the crowd immediately separated to the left and right, giving way to them. As for those people who had already taken a seat, they quickly stood up one after another and moved away.
The Ancient Wild Lands’ Monster Race team respectively found where to sit and sat down.
Luan Feng glanced around before focusing her gaze at Hua Qing Si and asking, “Where is Yang Kai?”
Hua Qing Si bitterly smiled, “Palace Master said that he will be arriving soon.”
Luan Feng nodded and didn’t utter another word.
After a while, a figure appeared at the entrance to the hall, and by the time everyone regained their wits, that person was already standing before them. When they looked up, they found that it was none other than Yang Kai.
Yang Kai swept his glance over everything and saw Li Jiao, Mi Qi, Bing Yun, Ji Yao, and many other familiar faces, including Su Yan, Shan Qing Luo, Chi Yue, Ai Ou, and Gui Zu.
Familiar and unfamiliar faces entered his eyes as Yang Kai slightly nodded and declared in a heavy voice, “I assume everyone knows why I have gathered all of you here today. If you have any questions, you can ask them now. This Palace Master will do his best to answer whatever doubts you may have without reserve. When we reach the Western Territory, I’m afraid you will not have the opportunity to ask anything, so ask now.”
Luan Feng was the first to ask, “Has the passage to the Demon Realm really opened in the Western Territory?”
This should be the issue that everyone was most concerned about, and even though Hua Qing Si had notified everyone about this already, it was still difficult to believe her. Was it really that easy to open the passage between two worlds? If it were, why hadn’t the Demon Realm already invaded? Why would they wait until today?
Yang Kai sternly nodded in affirmation, “It’s true.” He pointed at his own eyes and added, “I saw the passageway with my own eyes. Not only me, but Iron Blood, Serene Soul, and Martial Beast Great Emperor were also all present at the time. Even now, Martial Beast Great Emperor is still there watching over things to prevent any accidents from occurring.”
As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the hall grew solemn.
When they came here, everyone was still hoping this was all just some kind of misunderstanding or mistake, but now, since three Great Emperors were also present at that time, all such faint hopes were dashed.
Even if Yang Kai could be mistaken, could three Great Emperors also have been wrong?
“How is the… strength of the Demon Race?” Fan Wu asked in a heavy voice.
Yang Kai pondered for a moment before replying, “Unfortunately, I do not have a clear idea either. I only know that there are existences on the Demon Race’s side who aren’t inferior to the Great Emperors. These Masters are called Demon Saints, but I have no idea how many of them are there. Under Demon Saints are the Demon Kings, which are comparable to our Emperor Realm Masters. And under Demon Kings are Demon Great Generals, below which are Demon Generals, and so on and so forth. These rankings correspond to our Dao Source and Origin King Realm respectively. As for the Demon Artifacts and methods… I cannot give you a proper estimate.”
Li Jiao then asked, “Palace Master Yang, Demon Qi is extremely virulent and corrosive. Even Emperor Realm Masters wouldn’t dare to get contaminated by it. If we are really going to go to war with the Demon Race, how are we going to protect ourselves?”
When he asked this question, it immediately received everyone’s attention. The last time they had gone to the Southern Territory Orthodoxy Temple, they saw many cultivators who were contaminated by Demon Qi turn into Demon cultivators. Many still shuddered when they thought back on that experience.
Yang Kai replied with confidence though, “Although Demon Qi is extremely fearsome, it is not almighty. In fact, it is very easy to resist as long as you have sufficient vitality. The stronger a cultivator’s vitality is, the stronger their innate resistance to Demon Qi will be. When we confront the Demon Race in the future, all of you should keep this fact in mind.”
Soon after, he added, “In addition, the Demon Realm is said to have a hundred clans, each one with its own unique Innate Divine Abilities. For example, the Sand Demon Clan are all masters of the Earth Escape Technique. Taking advantage of this Innate Ability, one of their favourite tactics is to conceal themselves and move to below your feet before launching a fatal sneak attack when you are unprepared. Then there is the Shadow Demon Clan, who are masters of stealth and assassination. When they show their weapons, it means that your life is already hanging by a thread…”
Yang Kai continued to speak, explaining the traits and characteristics of the various Demon Races he knew. Everyone in the hall attentively listened to him, not daring to miss anything; after all, perhaps something Yang Kai said today would become their life-saving straw tomorrow.
Luan Feng and the other Divine Venerables were amazed as they listened to Yang Kai’s lecture. She, Fan Wu, and Cang Guo had inherited some of the memories of their ancestors from their Sources, so compared to ordinary people, they knew more about the Demon Race, but their knowledge wasn’t nearly as extensive or comprehensive as Yang Kai’s.
Yang Kai’s knowledge of the Demon Race was as if he had been to the Demon Realm before and fought with them for many years. This puzzled Luan Feng and the others as they wondered how Yang Kai came to know so much.
Time passed by as Yang Kai kept speaking alone at the front of the hall. The hundreds of Emperor Realm Masters below the stage kept listening to him as if he was preaching the profound secrets of the Dao. Everyone looked extremely serious and focused.
After two full hours, Yang Kai finally stopped and said with a solemn expression, “There is one more thing I should forewarn you all about. Not only has the passage between two worlds been opened, but the Demon Race has also already invaded and gained a foothold. I am afraid that the Western Territory’s situation is quite precarious right now.”
“What did you say?” Luan Feng looked at Yang Kai with a frown.
Yang Kai explained, “When we noticed the emergence of the Demon Qi, Star Soul Palace sent several of its Emperor Realm Masters to warn the top Sects of the Western Territory and to seek reinforcements, but out of those who left, only one came back alive, and the news that man brought back was that all of Pointed Star Sect had been Demonized!”
Loud gasps rang out in the main hall as everyone looked at Yang Kai with a look of incredulity hanging on their faces.
Out of all the people present here, only a few might have been to the Western Territory personally, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t heard of Pointed Star Sect; after all, it was one of the top Sects of the Western Territory. But now, every member of that Sect had been corrupted by Demon Qi!
Combined with what Yang Kai had just said, everyone immediately understood what he was implying.
Fan Wu asked with an ugly look on his face, “Could it be that all those Sects of the Western Territory have all fallen to the Demon Race’s vicious plans?”
Yang Kai replied, “Although this information has not been confirmed, based on what little we do know, there is an eighty to ninety percent chance that is the case. Most of you participated in the matter of the Southern Territory’s Orthodoxy Temple and should be able to understand what would have happened if we hadn’t acted back then. By now, the entire Southern Territory might have followed in the Western Territory’s footsteps, with all the great forces long becoming Demon nests. The Western Territory… wasn’t blessed with such luck.”
“Then we are plagued by internal troubles and foreign aggression!” Fan Wu bitterly smiled.
Yang Kai loudly proclaimed, “That is the general situation. I am telling you this to let you have an understanding of everything, not to make you fear the Demon Race or their schemes. Although the Demon Race is aggressively invading, our Star Boundary is guarded by the Great Emperors, and even as we speak, cultivators from the other three territories are rallying. As long as everyone works together, what can the trivial Demon Race do? Today is the day for you to make a name for yourselves and go down in history as heroes. You must not miss this rare opportunity.” He then fiercely swept a glance over everyone before asking aloud, “Are there any more questions?”
The hall remained completely quiet.
Yang Kai nodded before waving his hand, “Fellow Brothers and Sisters, please orderly marshal your respective disciples at the main Space Array. This King will send you to the Western Territory shortly!”
The crowd dispersed to convene with their respective Sects’ disciples.
The Space Array was located just off the main square and was soon surrounded by a dense crowd. At least 100,000 cultivators at the Origin King Realm or above had been gathered and were standing with their respective Sects and families’ in groups of varying strength and size. The number of people in each group might be lacking, but all together they formed an impressive army, just like how many grains of sand would eventually pile up to form a mountain.
Of course, this didn’t mean that there were only 100,000 cultivators at or above the Origin King Realm in the Northern Territory, far from it in fact, but naturally, it was impossible for the various Sects and families to send out all of their members. All of them had left a large part of their manpower to guard the foundation of their forces.
These 100,000 cultivators were nothing more than a vanguard that could be rapidly assembled, that’s all; after all, no one knew the exact extent of the Demon Realm’s invasion. If the situation was worse than expected, they could always send more manpower over. In any case, there was a network of Space Arrays across much of the Northern Territory thanks to Yang Kai now, so it was quite convenient to travel vast distances in short order, meaning more forces could be marshalled in short order should they be necessary.
High Heaven Palace itself had over 10,000 disciples qualified to participate in this excursion, but for now, they were only committing about half that number. Of course, this was the single largest contribution of manpower from any Sect or force present.
Before the Space Array, Yang Kai kept urging his Space Principles to send batches of cultivators to the Western Territory. Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion, with no one complaining or making trouble. Fortunately, Yang Kai had the foresight when he had arranged this Array to make it extra large, so it could teleport about a hundred people at once.
Even so, he had to activate the Array a thousand times before all 100,000 people could be teleported.
Two days and two nights later, when Yang Kai finished sending the last batch to the Western Territory, he was thoroughly exhausted. Finally, he had some time to recover. Taking some pills, he sat down cross-legged and began adjusting his breathing.
Yu Ru Meng was naturally standing by his side.
After a while, Yang Kai opened his eyes, and turned to Hua Qing Si, “Sister Hua, I will be leaving the Sect to you.”
Hua Qing Si earnestly nodded, “En, leave it to me!”
Finally, Yang Kai, together with Yu Ru Meng, stepped onto the Space Array.
After a bright flash of light, the duo reappeared in the Western Territory.
The place they appeared was jam-packed with the 100,000 Northern Territory cultivators who were sent over before, all of them having remained in the vicinity. Many of them were currently standing high up in the sky, staring into the distance, solemn looks on their faces.
As Yang Kai swept the surroundings with his Divine Sense, he actually found that only the cultivators of the Northern Territory and Ancient Wild Lands were gathered here while he couldn’t find any cultivators from the Southern and the Eastern Territory.
This wasn’t surprising though as although the Southern Territory and Eastern Territories had Star Soul Palace and Serene Soul Palace respectively managing them, the number of Space Arrays arranged by Yang Kai in the two territories were far fewer, so the speed of gathering cultivators was naturally much slower.
However, it shouldn’t be long before the cultivators of the other two territories arrived.
Yang Kai looked around, and after finding Mo Huang standing at the front of the crowd, he immediately flew forward and greeted, cupping his fists, “Senior.”
“You’re back,” Mo Huang lightly nodded to him.
Yang Kai glanced into the distance as he inquired, furrowing his brow, “What’s the situation now?”
Mo Huang answered in a heavy voice, “The Demon Qi isn’t spreading anymore, but the Demon Race is assembling over there. I went to check things out, and the Demon Race’s army is constantly pouring out of that Void Corridor. A million have already gathered.”
“A million!” Yang Kai was shocked.
Originally, he believed that he might be able to solve the Western Territory’s crisis after the Northern Territory had gathered 100,000 people in such a short time, but how could he have anticipated that such terrible news would be waiting for him the moment he arrived?
A hundred thousand vs a million, that was a ten-fold difference.
Mo Huang glanced at him before explaining, “The size of the Demon Race army might be bigger, but most of them are just paper soldiers, not worth fearing. Although only 100,000 have come from your Northern Territory, all of their cultivations have at least reached the Origin King Realm. If the two sides really fought, the Demon Race might not be their opponents.”
Yang Kai felt relieved after hearing this.
In other words, the million figure might be terrifying, but judging by the fact that they had gathered so many in such a short time, most of them were from the weaker subordinate clans among the Demon Races while the real main force was probably still lying in wait.
Mo Huang then added, “But we can’t take them lightly either. We don’t know the exact situation of the Demon Race, and since their side was able to gather so many people in such a short time, I’m afraid that there will be more arriving soon.”
Yang Kai nodded his agreement.
After pondering for a while, Yang Kai asked, “Then what are our plans? Do we wait and see or take the initiative to attack?”
Mo Huang thought for a moment before replying, “We are adopting a defensive stance and observing for now. Right now, delaying is to our advantage as the cultivators from the Southern and Eastern Territory still need to arrive. For now, our priority is to protect the Space Array. When reinforcements from the other two territories gather, it won’t be too late to take action.”
Yang Kai thought about it and soon agreed, so he didn’t raise any objections.
Mo Huang remained silent for a while before continuing, “Night Shadow is a descendant of the Demon Race!”
“What!?” Yang Kai was shocked by this revelation. He had been wondering all this while why Night Shadow Great Emperor, who literally stood at the apex of the Star Boundary, would collude with the Demon Realm. What could the Demon Realm possibly give him that made him not hesitate to betray the Star Boundary and seek refuge with the enemy?
After Mo Huang revealed this piece of information though, realization finally dawned upon Yang Kai.
It wasn’t what the Demon Realm could give him, but rather that Night Shadow himself was related to the Demon Race!
He was actually a descendant of the Demon Race!
“A Shadow Demon?” Yang Kai’s expression changed.
Mo Huang looked at him in surprise this time as he asked, “You actually know about the Shadow Demon Clan?”
Yang Kai explained with a nod, “Reporting to Senior, I once fought with the Demon Race inside a certain Sealed World.”
Mo Huang was even more shocked when he heard this. With his experience and insight, he still couldn’t figure out which Sealed World in this world actually sheltered members of the Demon Race; however, he didn’t ask any questions and simply suggested in a deep voice, “It’s fine if you know this, but don’t publicize it.”
Yang Kai earnestly replied, “Junior will keep that in mind.”
[No wonder when the three Great Emperors returned from the Demon Realm that day, they kept silent about Night Shadow Great Emperor. It turns out it was because of such a reason. If the cultivators of the Star Boundary came to know that one of the ten Great Emperors actually had the blood of the Demon Race flowing through his veins, it would shake their confidence and faith greatly.]
The Great Emperors had always been the totems of the Star Boundary’s Martial Dao, object of worship of hundreds of billions of cultivators across the world. How could such a revered figure be related to the Demon Race?
If any other Emperor Realm Master had asked about this, Mo Huang certainly wouldn’t have explained it, but how could Yang Kai’s heritage be compared to an ordinary Emperor Realm Master? Mo Huang probably believed that Yang Kai was qualified to know such secrets.
Mo Huang heaved a sigh and added, “The reason why Night Shadow has always acted so mysterious and never interacted with we Great Emperors is probably because of his origins.”
Since he was a descendant of the Demon Race, if he really had frequent contact with the other Great Emperors, they might have noticed something off about him. As such, it was only natural that Night Shadow isolated himself from them.
“We also have no idea when he got in touch with the Demon Realm or plotted the Western Territory and Southern Territory incidents, drawing Iron Blood and Bright Moon out and then relying on their strength to shatter that Sealed World, weakening the barriers between the two Great Worlds so that a corridor could be established between them.” Mo Huang bitterly smiled, “That world happened to be located right between the Demon Realm and the Star Boundary. It would have been fine if it was intact, but now that it has been shattered, an extremely stable passage has been formed.”
Yang Kai stated with a weird look on his face, “So to say, Iron Blood and Bright Moon were used by Night Shadow?”
Mo Huang immediately warned, lowering his voice, “Don’t mention this before them, or your end won’t be pretty.”
Yang Kai involuntarily nodded, “Then take it as if I never asked.”
Mo Huang added, “After that, Serene Soul and I entered the Demon Realm through the rift between the two worlds. There, we saw Iron Blood and Bright Moon fighting and immediately stepped in to help them. However, in the end… as you know, Bright Moon fell into the Demon Realm, while we three fled back in embarrassment.”
Yang Kai asked with some trepidation, “Four Great Emperors were actually not their opponents?”
Mo Huang explained, “The other side was well prepared. They gathered six Demon Saints! En, Demon Saints are the Demon Realm’s equivalent of our Great Emperors.” He thought that Yang Kai knew nothing about the division of realms of the Demon Race so he especially explained to him.
“Six!” Yang Kai gasped in shock.
But having said that, the fact that three of them safely returned when they were at such a disadvantage and fighting on someone else’s turf was proof in itself of the strength of the Great Emperors. Of course, their successful escape was also largely thanks to the sacrifice of Bright Moon Great Emperor.
Considering all this, Yang Kai couldn’t help but feel a profound sense of awe and respect as he anxiously asked, “Senior Bright Moon stayed behind in the Demon Realm. He wouldn’t… have any accidents, right?”
“Not for the time being, he should have escaped.”
Yang Kai curiously asked, “Why can Senior say so with such certainty?” After Bright Moon Great Emperor offered to stay behind, allowing Mo Huang and the others to escape, he would have been in a six vs one situation. How could Bright Moon possibly have escaped? Death was by far the most likely outcome.
Mo Huang, however, just smiled and replied, “In any case, Bright Moon is also a Great Emperor, so it’s no easy feat to capture him. Furthermore… if he really died, I would be able to sense it.”
He didn’t explain how he would sense it, but Yang Kai presumed that it might be related to the Star Boundary itself. The ten Great Emperors were all recognized by this world, so if one of them fell, it would definitely trigger a Heavenly Manifestation.
While the two were talking, Mo Huang suddenly raised his brow and stared into the distance before stating with a grim voice, “There are some movements on the Demon’s side.”
Yang Kai’s face turned serious as he too raised his head to peer forward. A moment later, as expected, he saw countless Demons slowly advancing towards the outer ring of the Demon Land. By the looks of their stances, it seemed that they were preparing to attack.
Mo Huang’s face sank, “I’m afraid that they’ve discovered the Space Array and want to destroy it to delay us from gathering our forces here.”
After all, a few days ago, there were only a few Masters on the Star Boundary’s side, but now, 100,000 powerful cultivators had suddenly appeared. The Demon Race wasn’t blind, so there was no way they hadn’t noticed this sudden surge in enemy forces. Anyone with the slightest intelligence would not let this go on and would definitely think of some way to destroy the Space Array.
Almost the entire Demon Race army of a million soldiers moved out, and that too in a neat and orderly manner. The sound of their synchronized footsteps even caused the ground to quake.
How could the Northern Territory cultivators fail to notice this development? All of them hurriedly started running around like they were about to face a fearsome enemy.
The entire scene looked a little chaotic, forming a diametrically opposite contrast to the Demon Race.
Mo Huang glanced back before ordering, “It’s your Northern Territory’s cultivators, go and control them. Don’t let them fall into confusion.”
Yang Kai solemnly nodded before flying back and shouting as he hovered high up in the air, “Prepare for war!”
Someone immediately came over and greeted him, cupping his fists, “Palace Master Yang, the Demon Race is approaching.”
This man was a First-Order Emperor Realm Master and appeared to be in his fifties. Yang Kai found him a little familiar, but he couldn’t remember which Sect he belonged to. All he could recall was that this man was a Sect Master who had brought some three hundred or so disciples with him.
At this moment, this person had a fearful look on his face and was obviously a little panicked.
For the cultivators of the Star Boundary, it was common to battle enemies one on one or in small groups, and no one who reached the Emperor Realm had not been baptized by blood.
However, even for most of the Emperor Realm Masters present, this was the first time they would be fighting as part of an army. There were 100,000 people present on their side with no clear chain of command, so it was only natural that the situation soon became a bit disorderly.
The moment everyone saw the Demon Race army marching toward them, their first reaction was to retreat. Everyone knew that two fists were no match for four palms. The number of people on their side was obviously lacking compared to the enemy who had ten times as many soldiers. How were they going to even fight such a lopsided battle?
If even the Emperor Realm Masters were thinking like this, there was no need to mention the Dao Source Realm and Origin King Realm cultivators. If it weren’t for Mo Huang overseeing the situation, perhaps everyone would have scattered like birds and animals.
Yang Kai coldly swept his glare over everyone present before he fixed his gaze on the Emperor Realm Master who had come up to warn him and indifferently spoke, “This King isn’t blind! This King can see that the Demon Race’s army is on the march, that is why I asked you to prepare for battle!”
Immediately, someone asked, “Palace Master Yang, can you see how many there are on the Demon Race side?”
Yang Kai indifferently replied, “Senior Martial Beast says that there are a million of them!”
“A million!” Everyone present on the scene was stunned. Although they knew that there were a lot of soldiers on the Demon Race’s side, they weren’t clear about the specifics, but now, they immediately shuddered when they heard the true figure.
“Are you afraid?” Yang Kai swept a glance across the crowd.
No one answered but the panic on their faces was clear enough.
“So what if there are a million of them!?” Yang Kai shouted, “Most of them are nothing but paper soldiers. Although they have numbers, they will still fall in one blow. All 100,000 of you are at least Origin Kings, why should you fear them? Senior Martial Beast has surmised that the enemy has discovered our Space Array and intends to destroy it, but this Space Array is critical for bringing in reinforcements from the Southern and Eastern Territory. We can’t lose it! We have one goal and one goal only today, we must repel the Demon Race and safeguard this Array no matter what!”
Everyone remained completely silent. All of them were from the Northern Territory, where High Heaven Palace held the position of leader, and with Yang Kai raising the banner of Martial Beast Great Emperor, no one would dare to sing a different tune even if they were afraid, but that didn’t stop them from worrying, wondering whether this day next year would be their death anniversary.
[Morale is too low!] Yang Kai furrowed his brow as he observed the situation. Thankfully, the Eastern and Southern Territory cultivators hadn’t arrived yet, otherwise, he would have lost all face with this kind of cowardly display.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai continued, “This is the first battle between our Star Boundary and the Demon Realm, thus it is of far-reaching and wide-ranging significance. If we lose this battle, how will we face the Demon Race in the future again? The Demon Race is vicious and cruel; if we allow them to conquer the Star Boundary, they will burn your homes, seize your wives and daughters, and kill all your descendants! How will you show your face to your ancestors in Heaven if you allow such a tragedy to occur!?”
Yang Kai’s shout reverberated like the clap of thunder, rumbling in the ears of the hundred thousand cultivators below. Although these words sounded unpleasant, it had the desired effect of turning many men’s eyes red with fury. The scene described by Yang Kai was indeed unacceptable to all of them, even if they knew that he was blowing things out of proportion just to scare them, but if the Demon Race really took over the Star Boundary, such scenes would definitely happen.
“We need to win this battle!” Yang Kai shouted, “And it must be a complete and thorough victory. The billions of cultivators and trillions of mortals of the Star Boundary will all remember today’s battle, they will remember your contributions and efforts! This glory belongs to us, the Northern Territory’s cultivators!”
“In addition…” Yang Kai glanced in the direction of Mo Huang, “With Senior Martial Beast with us, what do we need to fear?”
Seeing that the time was right, Li Jiao immediately stepped out from the crowd and cupped his fists as he shouted, “This Li and Fire Dragon Palace wish to join Palace Master Yang in battle, slaughter the million-strong Demon Race Army, and show the might of our Northern Territory to the world!”
Mi Qi was taken aback before he hurriedly cupped his fists and echoed, “This Mi and Full Sky Sect are willing to fight with the Palace Master Yang to destroy the Demon Race!”
Bing Yun slightly smiled as she called out, “Although Ice Heart Valley’s disciples are women, we can’t fall behind you men…”
The Sect Masters of the Northern Territory’s top Sects had spoken, and even Ice Heart Valley had expressed their intent to fight, so how could other Sects be willing to fall behind. Whether they were really willing or not, they all raised their voices one after another to rally their spirits.
“For victory!” Li Jiao raised his arms and shouted before the disciples of Fire Dragon Palace immediately joined after.
After a few breaths, the voices of 100,000 cultivators reverberated like a wave!
“Prepare for battle!” Yang Kai roared once more.
This time, the Sect Masters of the major Sects and families began to convene their respective disciples and descendants, finally organizing themselves into a somewhat orderly formation.
Yang Kai also put his hanging heart to rest a little. Despite his best efforts, this was the best he could do for now to raise morale and control everyone’s fears. Now, the rest would be up to the result of the battle. If they managed to crush the enemy underfoot without suffering significant losses, morale would soar and remain high, but if the Northern Territory’s forces collapsed at the first blow, no amount of inspiring words would be enough to salvage the situation.
However, Yang Kai believed that the Northern Territory’s side had a greater chance of winning this first battle. Without even mentioning the huge difference in the quality of soldiers, the Ancient Wild Lands’ Masters were also here, so it would be really unreasonable if they lost against the vanguard of the Demon Race.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
The sound of thousands upon thousands of horses and soldiers marching forward began to echo as, while Yang Kai had been organizing the 100,000 cultivators of the Northern Territory, the Demon Race Army was madly charging towards them, accelerating as they got closer.
Everyone could clearly see the ugly faces of the Demon Race at the forefront. There was a group of deformed Red Demons and Green Demons that were only half as tall as an average human. If it was someone who wasn’t aware of these clans’ inside information, he or she might have directed his own army to charge forward to meet the enemy.
At that time, even a moron could easily tell what the result would be.
But Yang Kai just sneered in his heart. He had participated in the Two Races’ Great War in the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld and witnessed Red Demons and Green Demons acting as suicide soldiers innumerable times, so how could he easily fall for such an obvious trap?
The Northern Territory cultivators had also learned from Yang Kai about the characteristics and the Innate Divine Abilities of the major clans of the Demon Race, so at this moment, when they saw a group of round red and green Demons charging over, they immediately realized that they were the so-called Burst Demons.
The Red Demons’ self-destruction would cause deadly explosions while the Green Demons’ would release highly-toxic poison when they blew up. As such, the most effective method to deal with them was to not let them approach.
There were many Red Demons and Green Demons, about 100,000 in total, all of them charging straight ahead and in a disorderly manner.
Yang Kai, leading the 100,000 Northern Territory cultivators, advanced ten kilometres before forming a line and waiting for the enemy’s arrival.
In the sky, amid the howling winds, Yang Kai was hovering with a solemn look on his face while behind him the 100,000 army of the Northern Territory also wore serious expressions.
*Hong long long…*
The Red Demons and Green Demons quickly closed the distance, but nonetheless, Yang Kai didn’t make a move, despite hearing the nervous gulps constantly coming from behind him.
[Closer, just a little closer…]
Suddenly, after determining that the enemy had reached the optimal distance, Yang Kai’s eyes flashed a fearsome light as he shouted, “Attack!”
All together, the cultivators of the Northern Territory sent out long-ranged attacks using their various artifacts and Divine Abilities. The sudden eruption of force caused the local World Energy to churn and space to warp.
Of course, Yang Kai did not remain idle either as he released a horizontal slash from his Myriads Sword.
Channelling his Emperor Qi into the sword, Yang Kai unleashed a massive sword wave that shot off into the middle and Demon Race’s vanguard.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
One after another, Red Demons and Green Demons began to explode. When the Red Demons blew up, small mushroom clouds would appear where they fell, shaking the earth around them. As for the Green Demons, green clouds of smoke would burst forth, covering dozens of meters in a thick fog that could not be blown away even by the strong whipping winds.
Immediately after, beams of all kinds of shapes and colours poured down on the Demon Race army.
There were hundreds of Emperor Realm Masters on the Northern Territory side while the rest were either Origin Kings or Dao Source cultivators, so their initial barrage was nothing less than spectacular.
Looking from a distance, it was as if the Northern Territory’s camp had rained down a curtain of light towards the Demon Race’s army.
The next moment, deafening explosions continuously rang out without end.
When all the dazzling flashes disappeared, the front row of the Demon Race army was nowhere to be found. All that was left was ditches of varying shapes and sizes and green clouds of poisonous mist!
Of the 100,000 Red and Green Demons, at least 30,000 had lost their lives in this salvo.
“Weak!” Yang Kai let out a cold snort. Although he wasn’t loud, owing to his Emperor Qi, it was sufficient for the 100,000 Northern Territory cultivators below to hear it loud and clear.
The Northern Territory Army’s spirit was immediately lifted. What you hear may be false, but what you see must be true. Before, Yang Kai had said that they didn’t need to worry about the fact that there were a million soldiers on the Demon Race’s side, but most still didn’t believe him. Now though, when they personally saw the Demons collapsing at the first blow, the timidity and fear in their hearts dissipated greatly.
If this remained true for the entire Demon Race, then there would be no difficulty in winning this battle.
Having gained much confidence, everyone’s attacks became more brutal. After the reverberating battlefield went calm for a short three breaths, a second salvo of beams was fired, hitting the Red and Green Demons again, blowing them up non-stop.
After three or four barrages, the Red and Green Demons that were charging at the forefront had been completely wiped out.
The frontline of the Demon Race army was completely shrouded in clouds of green mist, making it practically impossible to see what was behind it. All everyone could do was listen to the rumbles advance closer and closer. Obviously, the main force of the Demon Race was pressing forward. 100,000 pairs of eyes stared at the green fog bank, tightly clenching the artifacts in their hands.
Yang Kai raised the Myriads Sword and ordered in a loud and reverberating voice, “Protect the flanks!”
Having been warned by him, everyone finally turned their attention away from what was directly in front of them and focused on their left and right sides.
Right at that moment, two groups of Demon Race cavalry charged out from behind the smokescreen like an unstoppable flood.
Yang Kai’s knowledge of the enemy’s tactics played a huge role at this moment.
The Northern Territory cultivators, who were already prepared, also didn’t need any orders at this moment. Qi surged as they fired their long-range attacks at the Demon cavalry.
In a flash, the advancing troops were thrown off their mounts as Demons and Demon Beasts painfully cried out. Black and red blood dyed the ground in many places, but it was apparent that this group of Demon cavalry was not mere cannon fodder. Although there were a lot of casualties, others soon filled the gaps and continued pressing the attack, a far different sight compared to the quick disruption and destruction of the Red and Green Demons.
While they were charging forward, the Demon Race finally began to counterattack. The Masters of the Demon Race launched fearsome strikes, shooting pitch-black balls of energy in rapid succession, each of which carried great lethality.
At that moment, Yang Kai turned his head to Luan Feng and the others. Luan Feng immediately understood his intent and let out a resounding phoenix cry as the Ancient Lands’ three Divine Venerables and thirty-two Monster Kings advanced forward together, using their respective techniques to block the Demon Race’s incoming attacks.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
One after another, the pitch-black balls blew up midway, not one of them managing to even touch the Northern Territory Army.
With the Ancient Lands’ Masters in charge of the defence, the Northern Territory’s position was absolutely impregnable. Even if some attacks slipped through the net, the Northern Territory cultivators weren’t vegetarians, so the Masters naturally stepped up to defend, leaving the rest to only focus on attacking.
For the 100,000-strong army of the Northern Territory, this was undoubtedly something to rejoice about.
The Demon Race continued to push ahead, treading upon the corpses of their fallen clansmen, appearing unafraid of death. With every passing moment, hundreds of Demons died in this barren wilderness, but even as the corpses piled up, the Demons did not slow their charge. On the contrary, the deaths of their comrades only stirred up their aggression and hostility, making their auras even more brutal.
After the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the two armies finally entered close-combat range.
The Northern Territory Army, however, was still in peak condition and ready to face the battered enemy. They had already killed over 200,000 Demons without taking a single loss on their side, and although at least half of those kills were of mere fodder, such a performance was still extremely astonishing.
This kind of result also boosted the morale of the Northern Territory cultivators to a peak.
All of their timidity and fear were gone as the shouts and explosions on the battlefield now caused everyone’s blood to boil instead. Anyone with even the slightest heat in their heart wanted to rush out and fight the Demon Race to the death, as if dying here on this battlefield would leave them with no regrets.
Yang Kai’s aura suddenly changed at that moment, becoming ancient and desolate, like he had strolled out from primordial times.
Yu Ru Meng stared at him in amazement when he underwent this transformation, but before she could figure out what was happening, an abstruse chant began to echo throughout the sky.
Yu Ru Meng’s expression changed ever so slightly as her beautiful eyes deeply stared at Yang Kai, seemingly trying to peer into the depths of his heart so she could dig up all the secrets he was hiding from her still.
Suddenly, a halo of light bloomed from Yang Kai’s hands and spread towards the Northern Territory Army, shrouding all 100,000 of them at once.
In the next moment, apart from the ones with higher cultivation than Yang Kai, everyone else felt their blood suddenly start boiling as a red glow began to shine from their bodies. At that point, everyone couldn’t help but feel that their fighting spirit had been set ablaze. Even their breathing became rapid and heavy.
Many people spread their palms and checked them repeatedly, experiencing the changes in their bodies in shock. There was nothing wrong with them though; in fact, they seemed to have grown stronger all of a sudden.
“Bloodlust Spell!” Yu Ru Meng’s pupils shrank as she stared at Yang Kai in a daze.
Yang Kai profoundly glanced at her as a smile bloomed on his face. Then, his chants changed as he raised his hand again, whereupon another ray of light bloomed, enveloping thousands of people in his camp. He kept raising his hands, shooting rays of light in succession, enveloping thousands at a time.
At this moment, everyone, who had been enveloped in this light, had an extremely strange feeling. They felt as if they were closely connected with the others around them, almost as if their lives had been tied together in some way, making it difficult to distinguish where they ended and their neighbours began.
“Life Chains!?” Yu Ru Meng’s beautiful eyes widened as she simply couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
She might have misunderstood the Bloodlust Spell just now, but she could definitely not be wrong about the Life Chains.
[The Bloodlust and Life Chains are both Ancient Shamanic Spells, Secret Techniques that only the ancient Shamans should be able to display. How can anyone still cultivate them and even cast them in this era where the World Principles have dramatically changed?]
[Furthermore, judging by how easily Yang Kai just cast them, it’s quite apparent that he is extremely proficient in the use of Shamanic Strength.]
[He must be a Shaman King at least!]
Yu Ru Meng thought she knew enough about Yang Kai, but only now did she realize that she had barely scratched the surface. There were far more secrets he was still hiding from her.
Today’s battle was a clash between the armies of the two worlds, and as Yang Kai had said before, it had far-reaching and wide-ranging significance. This battle could not be lost. Although their lineup was strong and there were countless Masters overseeing things, Yang Kai still went all out to bless the army of 100,000 men with two Shamanic Spells to make sure that nothing went wrong.
Originally, these two Shamanic Spells were weapons of war that the Ancient Barbarian Race relied on most against the Demon Race.
The Barbarian Race focused on cultivating their bodies. They had ample vitality, and coupled with the Bloodlust Spell, they could freely move about inside clouds of Demon Qi for a short period of time without worrying about being corroded by it. Today, although rarely anyone in the Star Boundary focused on Body Tempering due to the shift in World Principles, everyone present from the Northern Territory was at least an Origin King. Even if they didn’t focus on cultivating their physiques, their vitality was extremely exuberant at this level, so it wasn’t any worse than average Barbarians.
As such, what the Barbarian Race could do, the Star Boundary’s cultivators could also do.
The army of 100,000 cultivators had been blessed with two Shamanic Spells within a short period of a dozen breaths.
The Bloodlust Spell stimulated one’s Blood Qi and made people brave and fearless while Life Chains allowed hundreds or even thousands of people to link their vitalities together. As long as someone wasn’t fatally injured, such as having their head chopped off, any damage one suffered would be borne equally by the group they were linked to, dramatically improving survivability on the battlefield.
As the Demon Race cavalry closed in, Yang Kai swung his sword and shouted, “Charge!”
All by himself, he shot straight into the Demon Race army, shooting sword wave after sword wave from the Myriads Sword at the enemy before him. Wherever he went by, no one could block him as severed bodies of the Demons flew out in all directions.
Right behind him were the 100,000 Northern Territory cultivators. Each and every one seemed to have been injected with boiling chicken blood. They let out fierce roars as they used all the strongest techniques and skills they had cultivated over their lives. In a flash, dazzling artifact attacks and Secret Techniques flew everywhere, injuring if not killing the Demon Race members wherever they passed.
If one looked down from a high altitude, the 100,000 Northern Territory cultivators appeared like a sharp knife, piercing through the Demon Race army with Yang Kai at its tip. Mowing down Demons like they were cutting wheat in a field.
Although the Demon Race army was many times bigger, how could it be compared with the Northern Territory’s elites who were blessed with two Shamanic Spells. The Northern Territory army grew braver and braver as the battle progressed. Even though the Demon Race had them surrounded from all sides, the Northern Territory Army showed no fear or slowing of momentum.
The scale of victory had been tilted towards the Northern Territory from the beginning.
Even so, the Demon Race had no intention of retreating. Each of the Demon Race’s members didn’t seem to fear death in the slightest.
The enormous battlefield had been instantly transformed into a huge meat grinder, one that tramped Demons to paste one after another.
Mo Huang was hovering mid-air, indifferently watching the entire scene. Even if some Northern Territory cultivators lost their lives, he had no plan of taking action as his focus remained on the centre of the Demon Land up ahead.
He could sense someone in that Demon Land that was in no way inferior to him, glaring at him like a ravenous tiger.
If he made a move, the opponent would definitely make a move as well, and when that happened, no matter whether it was the Demon army or the Northern Territory army, neither side would be spared. If not for this, why would he still stand idly by? With his ability, it would have been simple to crush the entire Demon Race army.
Although there was no communication between the two sides, it was as if they had reached an agreement. The two top Masters would only act as deterrents; they would never easily take action until the last moment.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Yang Kai’s murderous intent was soaring straight to the Heavens. He had already lost track of how many Demons he had killed, but the enemies around him never seemed to decrease despite his efforts. The enemy was still densely packed and their huge advantage in numbers began to vividly manifest at this moment.
“Be careful!” At that moment, Yu Ru Meng’s warning rang in his ear.
Yang Kai didn’t even lift his head to look though as he stretched out his hand and grabbed the air behind him.
*Xiu…*
Yang Kai’s hand reached out and caught a trembling arrow that had been soaring through the air just moments ago. The sharp arrow was made of an unknown material but was incomparably tough, so much so that Yang Kai couldn’t immediately shatter it even with his strength.
He coldly swept a glance behind himself and noticed a woman in revealing clothes standing a thousand metres away, a large pair of black wings flapping on her back. She happened to be coldly staring at him as well.
Feather Demon! And it was a Demon King-level Feather Demon at that!
The Feather Demons were quite rare in the Demon Realm, so a Feather Demon who could become a Demon King, was naturally rarer. Of course, this information was something Yang Kai had obtained in the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld so he couldn’t say for sure whether it was also true for the current Demon Realm.
But among the Demon Realm’s hundred clans, the Feather Demons were unparalleled when it came to archery, and the arrow shot by a Demon King Feather Demon was powerful enough to destroy even the hardest of defences.
Obviously, Yang Kai’s wanton havoc had drawn the attention of the Demon Race, so it wasn’t surprising a Demon King Feather Demon was finally dispatched to deal with him.
Four eyes suddenly met as Yang Kai grinned at the Feather Demon, his smile causing the other party’s heart to clench tightly, as if she was no longer the one in control of her life.
She was also extremely decisive, so the moment she noticed that something was wrong, she promptly decided to retreat.
But how could Yang Kai simply let her go? The moment she moved, he grasped towards her.
“Heh heh heh!” Right at that moment, a peal of cold, heartless laughter suddenly rang in his ear and at the same time, a cold metallic gleam of light flashed at the corner of Yang Kai’s eyes as a pitch-black dagger stabbed at his neck.
No one had noticed when a blackened blur appeared behind Yang Kai.
Shadow Demon!
The Shadow Demons had always been famous for assassination. They rarely took action, but when they did, they struck like a bolt of silent thunder. If their target was someone of the same level as them, few could escape with their lives.
Yang Kai simply turned a deaf ear to the movements of the Shadow Demon behind him, though, as Space Principles fluctuated around him and he grasped towards the Feather Demon, clenching the air as he shouted, “Get back here!”
Just as his voice fell, the beautiful face of the retreating Feather Demon turned pale, because at that instant, she felt the space around her turn solid, like an enormous invisible hand had gripped her. The next moment, she flew back towards Yang Kai, completely out of her control, arriving before him in the blink of an eye.
A Feather Demon’s strength lay in their archery skills, so even though this Feather Demon was a Demon King, her strength in close-quarters was extremely limited; therefore, as soon as she was caught and pulled back in front of Yang Kai, the blood all drained from her face. She was in panic and was struggling very hard to free herself, but she was unable to get rid of the strange confinement.
Immediately after, Yang Kai punched straight toward her.
With a gruesome sound, as if a watermelon had been smashed, the head of the beautiful Feather Demon King exploded into a blood mist, leaving behind a headless corpse that crashed towards the ground. But Yang Kai didn’t stop there as he stamped his foot down, completely smashing her corpse into paste before finally stopping.
Demons had extremely tenacious vitality, and as long as their Demon Heart remained, they would never die. What’s more, it was all but impossible to tell where a Demon King was hiding his or her Demon Heart, or how many Demon Hearts he or she had cultivated. Only by completely destroying the corpse till nothing was left could one be certain they had killed them.
At that moment, the Shadow Demon’s dagger struck Yang Kai’s neck, the sharp energy around the blade sending chills down Yang Kai’s back.
But the moment the blade touched his skin, a slender hand reached out and gently pinched the tip of the dagger with incomparable accuracy. The jade white hand didn’t seem to have pinched that dagger that hard, but it rendered the dagger completely immobile.
The Shadow Demon’s face drastically changed as he turned his head to look towards the side and saw the owner of that hand.
Yu Ru Meng, on the other hand, was staring at the Shadow Demon with an indifferent look on her face, her gaze aloof and arrogant, like a deity looking down at a mortal.
The moment their eyes met, the Shadow Demon suddenly shuddered, but before he could react, Yang Kai had already swung his sword back, silently splitting the Shadow Demon in two.
Yang Kai’s sword then flickered and chopped up the Shadow Demon into countless fragments. Finally, he turned his head, glancing at Yu Ru Meng with a cold and imposing gaze. At the same time, he reached out and touched his neck where only a faint scratch was felt.
Even if Yu Ru Meng hadn’t intervened, he would have been fine as the defensive strength of a 300-metre Half-Dragon wasn’t so easy to pierce. If not for this, Yang Kai wouldn’t have outright ignored the Shadow Demon King’s sneak attack.
However, Yu Ru Meng’s attitude was a bit strange. After Yang Kai had charged into the Demon Race army, she hadn’t moved a half step away from him. However, she had only been closely following Yang Kai, never intervening in the fight at all. She only acted when Yang Kai was in danger.
“Is there a flower on my face?” Yu Ru Meng asked with a slight smile, seemingly a little uncomfortable being stared at so aggressively by him.
Yang Kai suddenly burst into laughter and said, “You are the most beautiful flower in the world!”
The next moment, he turned around, flicked his sword, and charged back into the Demon Race army. Yu Ru Meng behind him, on the other hand, furrowed her brow before following after him as before.
…
At the Space Array, a team of people suddenly appeared like ghosts. There weren’t many in this team, just a hundred or so, but all of them were Emperor Realm Masters, a few of them even having reached the Third Order.
It was just that all of them had Demon Qi lingering around their figures. Obviously, they had already been demonified.
After they showed up, they respectively launched attacks toward the Space Array without speaking a word, their intentions incredibly obvious.
“Yang Kai is really farsighted. He knew you would come!” A cold snort suddenly came as seven beautiful figures rushed out from the sides. These seven women appeared and dressed exactly the same, wearing white robes and exuding a frigid cold aura. Obviously, they were cultivating Ice Attribute Secret Arts; furthermore, they were all Emperor Realm Masters as well.
In the Northern Territory, only Ice Heart Valley could deploy such a lineup.
Impressively, the speaker was none other than the Ancestral Founder of Ice Heart Valley, Bing Yun, who was here together with her Disciples, An Ruo Yun, Sun Yun Xiu, Ji Yao, Chang Sun Yun and several others.
Since Martial Beast Great Emperor had warned Yang Kai that the Demon Race was coming to destroy the Space Array, how could Yang Kai not take precautions at all? Now that the army of 100,000 Northern Territory cultivators had all moved out to meet the enemy, someone would naturally need to remain behind to guard the Array.
Yang Kai hadn’t forgotten the fact that the Western Territory had already fallen to the enemy and that the Masters from the top Sects had already been demonified. Now that the war has started, those demonified cultivators would certainly not sit idly by.
This team of Ice Heart Valley’s Emperors was the contingency Yang Kai had quietly prepared.
Obviously, with seven vs a hundred, Ice Heart Valley was severely outnumbered. Even if Bing Yun was a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master, she too was powerless to overturn such a difference in strength, but with a certain Formation backing them up, things were completely different.
As soon as Bing Yun’s team appeared, they promptly arranged themselves and tied together their formation. Their auras resonated with each other as an enormous Black Tortoise phantom appeared around them and covered the Space Array.
Black Tortoise Seven Points Formation!
This formation was the core inheritance from the Eastern Territory’s Black Tortoise Sect and was quite renowned throughout the world. When Ice Heart Valley was attacked by Seeking Passion Sect, it had been severely outnumbered and outmatched. At that time, Yang Kai had passed the Black Tortoise Seven Points Formation to Ice Heart Valley, allowing them to significantly boost their strength even without increasing their numbers. As such, almost all of Ice Heart Valley’s disciples were well versed in this formation. Now, this formation was being used by Bing Yun in combination with her six Emperor Realm Disciples, enhancing their might by a dramatic amount.
Even if a Pseudo-Great Emperor came, they could still fight on par with them!
Not to mention, although over a hundred Emperor Realm Masters had turned into Demons, only a few among them had their bodies truly seized by Demon Spirits, the others were simply corrupted by Demon Qi and were currently akin to mindless puppets. The latter Demons only knew how to follow orders, so the strength they could display was greatly reduced.
After a round of deafening rumbles, the Black Tortoise illusory phantom stood tall, only rippling slightly on its surface. Although Bing Yun and the others all let out a grunt, the formation wasn’t destroyed and none of them had suffered any serious harm.
“Ice Heart Valley’s Bing Yun?” A white-haired elderly man among the Western Territory Demon camp slowly spoke as he coldly stared at Bing Yun, “I have heard so much about you.”
Bing Yun indifferently responded, “Should this Queen address you as Lian Zheng, or do you go by another name now?”
This old man was none other than Pointed Star Sect’s Sect Master, but he had clearly been taken over by a Demon Spirit, so the real Lian Zheng had already ceased to exist. Now, he was just a Demon occupying this body.
Lian Zheng smiled, “It’s just a name, that’s all, you may call this King whatever you want. In any case, your Ice Heart Valley is in the far Northern Territory, why are you intervening in things here? It would be better for all of you to leave here as soon as possible, so as not to have a tragic end.”
Bing Yun snorted, “The only one meeting a tragic end here today will be you.”
Lian Zheng stated with a sneer, “There are only seven of you, and even if this formation of yours is impressive, is it enough to allow you to face over a hundred of us all on your own? This King has always been compassionate towards women, so he would prefer not to have to get rough.”
Bing Yun just stared back at him with an indifferent look on her face as she spoke, “Since Yang Kai was sure that you would come, how can you say for sure that there are only seven of us here?”
Just as she said this, Lian Zheng’s face immediately changed, but before he could determine the truth of the matter, gigantic palms suddenly protruded out from the ground and grabbed towards them with earth-shattering might.
The size of each and every palm was a little outrageous, and they clearly did not belong to Humans. Not only were the palms enormous, but they were also made from stone!
The Western Territory’s demonified cultivators were caught off guard and hurriedly tried to retreat. Unfortunately for them, many did not move fast enough and were caught by these palms. All those who were were swiftly pulverized into clouds of blood mist, not leaving behind even a single bit of bone.
*Hualala…*
The ground quaked as enormous figures suddenly emerged from the sand one after another, each and every one of them exuding an ancient and fearsome aura.
Lian Zheng and the rest of his companions were dumbfounded, their eyes filled with disbelief.
Only because the ones that had suddenly emerged from the ground were actually a group of Stone Men. With their tall, robust figures literally made from angular stones, it was clear that these stone men all had extremely powerful bodies. One of them looked extremely old, but he also gave off the strongest sense of oppression. One other among this group was covered in sharp spines and had his entire body surrounded by sinister flames.
“Shi Huo!” Lian Zheng’s pupils shrank as he stared at the big guy covered in barbs, immediately realizing that things were going to be a little troublesome.
If it was just the seven members of Ice Heart Valley guarding this place, even if they had the Black Tortoise Seven Points Formation supporting them, Lian Zheng was still confident he could behead all of them and destroy the Space Array.
But the opponent suddenly had so many reinforcements, and even a Divine Spirit joining the fray. The situation had instantly been reversed.
“Retreat!” Lian Zheng took decisive action. After realizing that the situation wasn’t favourable, he immediately decided to withdraw.
It was easy to come here, but retreating from this place was going to be far more difficult.
The nine Stone Spirit Clansmen, along with the Embodiment, and the seven Emperor Realm Masters of Ice Heart Valley were the force that Yang Kai had mobilized to set up this ambush, hoping to lure the enemy into a trap and destroy them all at once. Now that the trap had been sprung, how could they let the enemy leave so easily?
The Embodiment immediately reached out, its enormous hand seemingly leaping across space and grabbing towards Lian Zheng.
In a flash, Lian Zheng felt as if the sky was shrouded. Before even exchanging any moves, he knew that he definitely wasn’t Shi Huo’s opponent; after all, Shi Huo was a Divine Spirit while he was only a Third-Order Emperor. The difference in strength was too great.
Lian Zheng promptly raised his hand and summoned out a shield artifact to protect himself.
As the Embodiment grabbed it though, the shield shattered into pieces, causing Lian Zheng to break into cold sweat in shock. But thanks to this short delay, he managed to find a chance to escape. His body moved rapidly as he burned his Blood Essence without hesitation, fleeing into the distance as fast as he could.
Seeing their leader fleeing like this, the other Demons naturally wouldn’t remain either and immediately fled in all directions.
The Stone Spirit Clan immediately gave chase…
But they didn’t dare to chase too far, lest they fell in the trap of luring the tiger away from the mountain. Their and the Ice Heart Valley team’s main responsibility was to guard the Space Array. Even so, more than thirty of the hundred or so attacking demonized cultivators had fallen before the rest could safely escape.
On the frontal battlefield, Demons and Humans continued to fall on both sides. In such a large-scale battle, even though the Northern Territory cultivators had a strong lineup and were blessed with two Shamanic Spells by Yang Kai, it was still impossible for them to not have any casualties. Only, compared to the casualties of the Demon Race, their side’s losses were inconsequential.
Rivers of blood flowed everywhere and corpses had piled up into mountains here and there. So many of the two races had died that the sky and earth had lost their colour and the sun and moon had dimmed.
Yang Kai kept charging ahead, losing track of how many Demons he had killed. Even seven or eight Demon Kings had lost their lives at his hands, and that was only his record. Obviously, Luan Feng and the other top Masters had scores not inferior to his.
Finally, at some point, a war bugle loudly sounded from the Demon Land.
The Demon Race members promptly started retreating after hearing the bugle, but even when they were in retreat, they did so in a neat and orderly manner. They didn’t blindly run for their lives, rather they covered each other as they alternately withdrew, appearing well-trained and disciplined.
The Northern Territory cultivators naturally pursued.
After the time it took to brew a cup of tea, the entirety of the Demon Race army had retreated back into Demon land and Yang Kai promptly halted his footsteps, raised his sword, and shouted, “Do not push a cornered rat!”
The blood-thirsty Northern Territory cultivators finally stopped after hearing this shout, staring straight in the direction of the Demon Land. Only after a brief silence did everyone let out a loud cry of joy.
Before this, they had never thought that they would be able to defeat the million-strong Demon Race army with merely 100,000 on their side, and so easily at that. After the facts were laid in front of them though, they finally realized that the Demon Race… was just so-so.
They too were living beings, and they could be killed. They didn’t have three heads and six arms, their bodies weren’t indestructible. The Demon Race was just like them, made of flesh and blood.
This was the first battle between the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm, and the Star Boundary had achieved a dominating victory, one that would surely affect the trend of future battles.
The cheers resounded like waves, one after another, but there was only dead silence on the Demon Land side. There was no response at all, not even a bit.
Many Emperor Realm Masters flew to Yang Kai’s side, requesting to continue pursuing the Demon Race army. They wanted to completely annihilate the remaining soldiers of a defeated army.
Of course, Yang Kai refused.
Not to mention that they had no idea about anything inside the Demon Land, but the Bloodlust Spell and Life Chains weren’t omnipotent either. The Northern Territory cultivators were indeed brave and fearless when the Bloodlust Spell was in effect, but once it wore off, they would suffer a period of weakness from overtaxing their Blood Qi. Even if the aftereffects of the Bloodlust Spell of a Shaman King like Yang Kai weren’t too severe, it would still drop the combat effectiveness of the Northern Territory cultivators by a large margin.
For now, the best choice was to return and recuperate, adjust their states, and wait for the arrival of the Southern and Eastern Territory’s cultivators.
The Northern Territory’s army celebrated for a while before triumphantly following Yang Kai back. On their way back, many people were whispering to each other, excitedly talking about how brave and fearless they were, or how many Demons they had killed. It appeared as if they could not wait to announce the result of this battle to the entire world, and let all know of the magnificent feats they had achieved.
Finally, Yang Kai had the time to check on Su Yan and the others.
Among his four wives, except for Xia Ning Chang, who hadn’t come here as she wasn’t good at fighting, Su Yan, Shan Qing Luo, and even Xue Yue had all come; after all, each of them was a Dao Source Realm cultivator, with Su Yan even reaching the peak of the Third-Order, a step away from advancing to the Emperor Realm. They could all participate in the battlefield where even Origin Kings were fighting.
It was just that Yang Kai didn’t have time and energy to spare to keep track of them during the battle.
All three of them turned out to be fine though as the Monster Kings of the Ancient Lands were all aware of their identities and had naturally spared some attention to safeguard them. With the Monster Kings protecting them, how could the Demon Race hurt them?
In a newly erected tent, Yang Kai cleaned himself with the help of his three wives before changing his clothes and walking out.
Mo Huang, who still stood high up above, gazed down and lightly nodded at him, his gaze filled with approval.
He had been paying attention to the entire battle from beginning to end, and in his opinion, Yang Kai’s performance was quite remarkable. This young man wasn’t blinded by a momentary victory at the critical moment, especially during the Demon Race’s retreat, which was quite a rare talent. He felt that rather than an inexperienced lone wolf, Yang Kai was a veteran commander who had years of experience leading an army, knowing how to maintain morale, what tactics to use, and when to advance and retreat to maximize damage to the enemy while minimizing it to his own troops. Naturally, aside from impressive, Mo Huang also found this a bit strange and couldn’t help but wonder what kind of experiences this boy had to obtain such a temperament.
Yang Kai nodded back at him but didn’t mean to go up and talk to him. Meanwhile, Li Jiao had already rushed over to him with a happy look on his face.
Yang Kai asked, looking at him, “What are our casualties?”
Li Jiao’s entire body was covered in blood as he obviously hadn’t had time to clean himself up yet, but he still excitedly replied, “Less than 5,000 are dead while about 20,000 have suffered injuries, but most only have minor cuts and bruises. The others are all fine.”
5,000 killed and 20,000 injured in a single battle sounded extremely horrifying, but considering the enemy side had a million combatants, it was actually an incredible achievement.
In this battle, the Demon Race had suffered as many as 300,000 casualties, and that didn’t include the Red and Green Demons that were used as fodder in the opening battle. The corpses lying everywhere was the best proof of this. Whereas the Northern Territory cultivators had only paid the price of 5,000 deaths and 20,000 injured. It was almost a miracle.
Yang Kai lightly nodded his acknowledgement. This casualty count was within his acceptable range.
Li Jiao added, “It’s just that everyone feels a little weak right now. I’m afraid that it will take them a few days to recover completely.”
This was the drawback of using the Bloodlust Spell, and it was only so mild because a Shaman King like Yang Kai was the one who cast it. If it was performed by a Shaman of lower realm, it would have been pretty normal for them to need half a month or an entire month to return to full strength.
Li Jiao couldn’t help but voice out his worries, “If the Demon Race takes advantage of this and attacks…”
Yang Kai patted his shoulder and suggested, “Why don’t you stay here and enjoy watching Senior Martial Beast take care of things?”
Just as he didn’t dare to take people into the Demon Land at will, the Demon Race definitely didn’t dare to attack at will. If the Northern Territory Army couldn’t hold on, Mo Huang would definitely take action.
Li Jiao’s spirits were immediately lifted as he finally put down the worries in his heart.
Over the next few days, there really weren’t any movements on the Demon Race side. Who knows whether they were gathering their forces or something else, but be that as it may, the Eastern Territory cultivators and Southern Territory cultivators continued to arrive during this time, one after another.
Both the Eastern Territory and the Southern Territory had Space Arrays arranged by Yang Kai, while Li Wu Yi could also arrange them now, so although they arrived a few days after the Northern Territory, they still came to provide assistance at the fastest speed.
Both the territories had recruited about 100,000 cultivators each with their strength distribution about on par with that of the Northern Territory. One after another, familiar and unfamiliar faces appeared before Yang Kai.
The newly arrived reinforcements were naturally afraid of the Demon Race, but when they heard that the Northern Territory army had fought a battle just a few days ago and defeated the million-men-strong Demon Race army, they were all shocked with no exception. All of them sought the Northern Territory cultivators out to clearly inquire about the battle.
Naturally, the Northern Territory cultivators spiced up the details as many couldn’t wait to brag about themselves as conquering heroes, unparalleled under the Heavens.
It is easier to believe what you see than what you hear though, so even though the recently arrived cultivators naturally didn’t trust all the boasting of the Northern Territory cultivators, the hundreds of thousands of corpses of the Demon Race lying in the wilderness not far away could not be faked.
Before they arrived, the Northern Territory army had really fought with the Demon Race army and had really killed a few hundred thousand Demons!
At this moment, their fear of the Demon Race diminished greatly and many people were even secretly looking forward to the next battle. Heroes will appear in troubled times, and this kind of battle between the two worlds was a rarity only seen once in a hundred thousand years, or perhaps even longer. Who knows who might be the one to go down in history? This was a great opportunity for everyone.
The Great Emperors also arrived one after another.
Yang Kai didn’t have any idea about how many Great Emperors had arrived either, but by a rough estimate, there were at least six or seven of them. One of them was a woman wearing a flower dress and had a calm look on her face that gave off a sense of holiness and purity.
Yang Kai reckoned that she was the only female among the ten Great Emperors, Flower Shadow Great Emperor, Hua Ling Long.
And his guess was completely correct. Flower Shadow Great Emperor summoned Yu Ru Meng the moment she arrived; after all, Yu Ru Meng was impersonating Li Shi Qing, her Legacy Disciple.
[Yu Ru Meng is going to meet a tragic end!] Yang Kai thought in his heart. No matter what Yu Ru Meng’s origins were or how skilful her illusion techniques were, even if she could fool others, she definitely couldn’t fool Flower Shadow Great Emperor; after all, they were Master and Disciple. How could Hua Ling Long not see through her disguise?
Outside a certain tent, a group of Emperor Realm Masters were gathered around Yang Kai, all of them either in the Second or Third Order.
Some of these Emperor Realm Masters were Yang Kai’s acquaintances, while others he was meeting for the first time. They were all Masters from the Southern and Eastern Territory.
All of these Emperors had heard about Yang Kai having great knowledge about the Demon Race, so they came to ask him for advice lest they remain ignorant when they fought in the near future.
Yang Kai didn’t hide anything and repeated everything he had told to the Northern Territory cultivators before setting off, explaining the characteristics and Divine Abilities of each clan of the Demon Realm in detail to everyone.
The crowd of Emperor Realm Masters very attentively listened to him, silently jotting down this precious information while once in a while someone would ask a question. Yang Kai patiently answered all the doubts he could, which everyone found quite admirable. No one had any idea how Yang Kai came to know so much about the Demon Race, but this was undoubtedly extremely valuable information. Without Yang Kai, they might have to pay with the lives of a hundred thousand or even a few hundred thousand men to finally obtain this information.
After half a day, the crowd of Emperor Realm Masters finally bid farewell. Having obtained such precious information, they naturally couldn’t wait to share it with the disciples of their respective Sects and families.
“Brother Yang, this is what we agreed upon before. My Temple Master has asked me to hand it over to you.” Chi Gui of Ahan Temple came up to Yang Kai after everyone had left and handed him a Space Ring.
Yang Kai suspiciously took it and swept it with his Divine Sense before raising his brow and lightly nodding his acknowledgement, “How thoughtful of Temple Master Chen.”
The things in the Space Rings were nothing special, just a huge amount of resources, that’s all. Source Crystals, pills, Secret Books, and even artifacts. Almost everything was there, like the complete treasury of a top Sect.
In fact, this was indeed a treasury, but not from one Sect, but two!
Included were half of all the wealth of the Eastern Territory’s Netherworld Sect and Brahma Holy Land.
In the past, when Yang Kai wiped out the high-level figures of Netherworld Sect and Brahma Holy Land outside Heavenly Wolf Valley, he once told Chi Gui that he wanted half of everything these two Sects owned. He also knew that with the high-level figures of Netherworld Sect and Brahma Holy Land killed, the Sects’ headquarters were destined to remain unprotected, and Ahan Temple would definitely make a move on them.
At that time, only Ahan Temple of the three top Sects of the Eastern Territory remained, so it wasn’t too much for him to ask for his half.
But later he went to Dragon Island, and then to Spirit Beast Island, and from there, he directly returned to the Northern Territory. He simply didn’t have the time to go to Ahan Temple.
Now, Chi Gui had delivered the spoils in person.
In fact, among the crowd of Emperor Realm Masters who were asking Yang Kai for the information on the Demon Race, the Temple Master of Ahan Temple was also there. Yang Kai didn’t know about his exact name, but he heard people call him Temple Master Chen.
Temple Master Chen didn’t make this delivery, probably feeling embarrassed to hand over such wealth; after all, those were Ahan Temple’s war spoils, and Yang Kai had demanded half. If Temple Master Chen had personally handed over these resources, it would be as if he was afraid of Yang Kai.
But now, the two worlds were at war, and he would need Yang Kai’s assistance many times in the days to come, so he couldn’t easily offend him either. As such, Temple Master Chen could only send Chi Gui, who had dealt with Yang Kai in the past, to offer this Space Ring up as a show of good faith.
Chi Gui pursed his lips into a smile as he looked around before lowering his voice, “Sir Temple Master said that if there is another battle in the future, he hopes Brother Yang can look after Ahan Temple a little.”
Yang Kai squinted his eyes at him as he replied, “Ahan Temple has deployed its finest Masters for this matter; in addition, Temple Master Chen is personally overseeing things. On top of that, Ahan Temple is under Serene Soul Palace’s command. How exactly should I take care of it?”
Chi Gui sheepishly laughed as he added, “I heard people say that during the battle a few days ago, Brother Yang cast some special Secret Techniques that stimulated everyone’s Blood Qi, allowing them to resist the erosion of Demon Qi, and also bound their lifeforce together, allowing them to withstand far more punishment than would normally have been possible…”
[So he was talking about this.]
Yang Kai remained noncommittal, “I will try my best.” He didn’t promise anything, not because he only wanted to take care of the cultivators of his territory, but rather… he was constrained by the limits of his energy.
He was truly a Shaman King, but blessing 100,000 men with the Bloodlust Spell and Life Chains was his limit. No matter how much anyone pleaded, he was powerless to do anything more. At present, the coalition army of three territories had reached 300,000 in size. If all of them were truly deployed, Yang Kai alone would be unable to aid them all.
“Then I will offer our thanks in advance.” Chi Gui cupped his fists and left.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, stood on his spot, pondering for a time before an idea came to mind. The more he thought about it, the more he found it promising. He hadn’t thought about it before because the Demon Race hadn’t invaded, but now that the circumstances had changed, it was necessary to use any available resource on hand.
Just when he was thinking about this, a fragrant breeze blew over as a stunning figure with a veil on its face and a smiling look in its beautiful eyes appeared before Yang Kai, “What are you thinking?”
Yang Kai was taken aback, [She’s still fine!?]
[How could she be fine? She was summoned by Hua Ling Long earlier!] Yang Kai thought that Yu Ru Meng’s disguise would be seen through in an instant and was just waiting for the good show to start, but contrary to his expectation, she appeared in front of him, completely intact.
“Are you okay?” Yang Kai quickly composed himself and promptly showed a worried look as he asked via Divine Sense transmission.
The corner of Yu Ru Meng’s eyes rose as she asked back, “Were you worried about me?”
Yang Kai rolled his eyes at her as he went all baloney, adopting a dead-serious look, “What nonsense, of course I’m worried about you. She…didn’t do anything to you, right?”
Yu Ru Meng smiled, “If something did happen to me, could I still be standing before you?”
“Good, good!” Yang Kai put on an expression as if a weight on his heart was lifted. In truth though, he was quite puzzled. [What the hell happened? Could it be that Hua Ling Long didn’t see through her disguise? Or was it that she did see through it but has other plans in mind?]
“I’ll be fine, you don’t need to worry,” Yu Ru Meng’s face turned serious.
[Who would worry about you!?] Yang Kai rebuked in his heart. Since the Heart Seal had been passed by him to the Soul Warming Lotus, he was no longer affected much by this Secret Technique, but Yu Ru Meng didn’t seem to have gotten rid of the restraints of the Heart Seal. Her attitude towards him was still the same as before, but if one gave it another thought, that wasn’t surprising either. Although the Heart Seal was isolated by the Soul Warming Lotus, it was still within Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, so as long as it wasn’t broken, it would always have an impact on Yu Ru Meng.
“Go inside, the Great Emperors have something to ask you,” Yu Ru Meng suddenly told him.
Yang Kai replied with a nod, “Then I’ll be right back. Don’t run too far.”
Yu Ru Meng sweetly responded, “En.”
Yang Kai turned around and walked into the main tent.
Seven figures were gathered inside the tent, their auras completely converged, making them appear just like ordinary people, but these seven were no doubt the top figures standing at the peak of the Star Boundary.
Among the seven, Yang Kai only knew three, Serene Soul, Martial Beast, and Iron Blood, while he had never met the other four. One of them was a beautiful woman and was easily identifiable as Flower Shadow Great Emperor, Hua Ling Long. Another one didn’t appear that old, only in his thirties; he had silvery snow-white hair and was wearing robes that looked as if they were woven from the finest ice. Yang Kai reckoned that he should be the Ice Feather Great Emperor!
There was also a kind-looking old man with a smile on his face, giving everyone a sense of mystery.
Heaven Revelations Great Emperor!
The last one was an old man with a long beard that hung down to his chest and a ruddy complexion. There was a strong pill fragrance lingering on his robes and his figure, one so ingrained that it couldn’t be gotten rid of.
Wondrous Pill Great Emperor!
From the ten Great Emperors, apart from Bustling World Great Emperor, who was currently in the Ancestral Realm, Night Shadow Great Emperor, who had colluded with the Demon Race, and Bright Moon Great Emperor, who was trapped in the Demon Realm, the remaining seven were all gathered here.
Such a majestic lineup could be considered a once in a lifetime event.
The Great Emperors lived all over the world and were normally hidden dragons who showed their tails but never their faces. If it weren’t for the invasion of the Demon Realm, why would they ever need to gather in one place?
Yang Kai cupped his fists and bowed, looking serious and earnest, “Greetings, Seniors.”
These seven were idols of worship in the hearts of the billions of cultivators of the Star Boundary so Yang Kai didn’t dare to be neglectful. Even if these seven weren’t releasing their auras, Yang Kai still felt pressured just by standing in their presence.
Wondrous Pill Great Emperor nodded lightly. As he was related to Xia Ning Chang, he would naturally look at Yang Kai in a different light.
Flower Shadow Great Emperor, on the other hand, had an intrigued look on her face as she swept a glance over Yang Kai before asking in an enchanting voice, “Are you Yang Kai?”
Her voice was very gentle and all-embracing like water, making all who listened to it feel very comfortable and relaxed.
Yang Kai earnestly replied, “Yes!”
A smile appeared on Hua Ling Long’s face as she asked, “What kind of love potion did you give to Qing’er that makes her insist on following you around everywhere these days?” She wasn’t blind or deaf, so obviously she knew about such things. But judging by her tone of questioning, she didn’t appear to be even a bit angry. Had it been another Great Emperor, perhaps he would have put Yang Kai in his place first and shouted, “How dare you seduce my Disciple! Boy, are you courting death!?”
It was quite apparent that Hua Ling Long herself was a very gentle and mild-tempered person.
Yang Kai couldn’t understand what Li Wu Yi had done to be hunted down by her back then.
Yang Kai immediately straightened his back, however, and sonorously replied, “Qing’er and I are in love with each other. We fell in love at first sight!”
Mo Huang’s face darkened right away. He was well aware that his precious daughter, Mo Xiao Qi, also had some feelings for Yang Kai, but Yang Kai had several wives already, and now, he even had Hua Ling Long’s Disciple completely enchanted. If Xiao Qi came to know about this, what would her reaction be? Sometimes, Mo Huang felt like killing Yang Kai with a slap to the face.
Hua Ling Long giggled and commented, “You’re quite courageous.”
Yang Kai added in a dead-serious tone, “When a man and woman are in love, everything is right and proper. Senior, did you ask this because you intend to stop us?”
Hua Ling Long answered, shaking her head, “That’s not what I mean. Don’t misunderstand. Qing’er is not a child, so she can do as she pleases. However, as her Master, it is only right that I ask about it, isn’t it?”
[She’s not Li Shi Qing, she’s Yu Ru Meng!] Yang Kai really wanted to pluck out Hua Ling Long’s eyeballs to see if she was blind.
Hua Ling Long, however, just sternly declared, “Since she chose you, make sure not to disappoint her!”
Yang Kai repeatedly nodded, “Junior will keep that in mind.”
“Alright, the chit chat ends here,” Mo Huang intervened as he focused his gaze on Yang Kai and asked, “Boy, we called you this time to ask you about the Secret Techniques you used the other day.”
Yang Kai replied, “I was actually hoping to discuss this matter with Seniors.”
“Oh?” Mo Huang raised his brow, “What do you want to say?”
Yang Kai earnestly replied, “Senior Martial Beast witnessed the battle with your own eyes so you should be able to tell that the two techniques I used have great utility, so it is only natural you wished to ask me about them.”
Mo Huang lightly nodded as he replied, “Indeed! The Secret Technique that can inspire Blood Qi isn’t of too much concern as many Sects have similar methods to achieve such a result, but the one which connects the lives of over a thousand cultivators is truly unbelievable. This King has been mulling over it these days but still couldn’t think of what Secret Technique that might have been. After discussing with the others though, we finally determined that your Secret Technique is somehow similar to a certain legendary Ancient Shamanic Spell.”
Yang Kai nodded his agreement, “Senior’s knowledge is indeed profound. That was indeed the Ancient Shamanic Spell, Life Chains!”
Everyone present here was a Great Emperor, yet they couldn’t help but show some surprise.
Iron Blood, furrowing his brow, asked, “You can cast Ancient Shamanic Spells?”
Yang Kai smiled lightly as the aura around him suddenly changed, becoming ancient and desolate. He then looked at the Great Emperors and stated, “In this state, I can be considered a Shaman King.”
Heaven Revelations Great Emperor asked, stroking his beard, “Shaman Kings were high-level existences in the ancient times, roughly equivalent to our Emperor Realm cultivators; however, the current World Principles are different from that period, so how were you able to cultivate Shamanic Spells?”
Yang Kai explained, “Senior’s question is reasonable. The reason this Junior was able to cultivate Shamanic Spells was because of a certain opportunity. I once entered a Sealed World, one that had the incredible effect of stretching time. In that Sealed World, I experienced several years worth of events, but in reality, only a few days had passed. It was in that Sealed World that I learned the secret of the Shamanic Spells.”
Heavens Revelations Great Emperor was shocked and moved, “So to say, that Sealed World has preserved the ancient environment!?”
“Correct!”
The Great Emperors immediately brightened as Iron Blood anxiously asked, “Where is that Sealed World? Can it be opened again?”
Yang Kai smiled after hearing this as it seemed that his thoughts coincided with those of the Great Emperors, so he immediately replied, nodding, “That Sealed World is currently in my High Heaven Palace and can be opened at any moment!”
“Good!” Iron Blood broke into laughter and suggested, rubbing his hands, looking at Yang Kai with scorching eyes, “If that’s the case, we need you to take a group of people into that Sealed World to cultivate those Shamanic Spells. Is that possible?”
“I was just about to suggest doing so as well!” Yang Kai nodded.
The war between the two worlds was undoubtedly the most pressing issue at hand, and Shamanic Spells would play a huge role in it. In any case, just Life Chains alone would be enough to reduce the casualties on the Star Boundary’s side by a large degree.
Yang Kai naturally couldn’t manage everything by himself. Before, he could barely take care of 100,000 with his Shaman King cultivation, but as the number of combatants increased and the number of battlefields grew, he would be powerless to help everyone.
As such, he could only pin his hopes on the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld. If he could really let others cultivate Shaman Strength, it would definitely be beneficial to the war effort. So, Yang Kai didn’t even consider hiding his advantages. The Thousand Illusions Dreamworld could be considered part of the foundation of High Heaven Palace, so if it weren’t for the upcoming war, why would he be so generous?
After pondering for a while, Yang Kai added, “But it would be best to do this in secret; furthermore, only reliable people should be chosen.”
Iron Blood affirmed with a nod, “But of course. Don’t worry about the candidates, we will give you a list within ten days. At that point, you can bring them to High Heaven Palace and send them into that Thousands Illusions Dreamworld. Are there any special requirements in terms of cultivation or otherwise?”
Yang Kai answered, “The higher the better, but even in ancient times, not everyone could master Shamanic Spells, so I can’t guarantee that everyone who enters can successfully cultivate them. Maybe only one in ten, or one in a hundred, or even just one in thousand will be successful. And even if they can succeed, we can’t say for sure as to what extent they could cultivate Shaman Strength to.”
“Where there is a will, there is a way. Since there is an opportunity like this, how can we simply abandon it?”
Yang Kai nodded before adding, “Nevertheless, we can’t pin all our homes on the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld.”
He knew better than anyone about the difficulty of cultivating Shaman Strength. The reason why the Shamans were few in number in ancient times was because of the extreme difficulty in cultivating Shaman Strength. The prevalence rate was far lower than that of today’s cultivators. If a thousand cultivators went in, only a few Shamans would appear, or even Shamans of very low-level, such as Shaman Warriors and Shaman Masters. And in that case, it would all be meaningless.
“What are you thinking?” Mo Huang looked at him.
Yang Kai replied, “In the Northern Territory’s Frozen Earth, there is a Sealed World called the Revolving World. It used to be a battlefield of the Barbarian Race and Demon Race in ancient times. Inside, there are many already trained Shamans, including a number of Shaman Kings!”
“Shaman Kings? Just like you?” Everyone’s eyes lit up.
“In terms of the Shamanic Spells’ mastery, they are indeed on par with me. If they can help us, then things would be much better for the Star Boundary this time.”
Hua Ling Long asked, looking at him, “Can you invite them?”
“This Junior can try,” Since Yang Kai suggested this, he naturally had a plan in his mind. There were indeed many Shamans in the Revolving World. Last time, when Yang Kai went to the Frozen Earth in search of Zhu Qing, he accidentally entered the Revolving World, and getting out of there wasn’t easy either.
He thought that he would never enter that damned place in his life ever again, but who knew that he would be returning so soon.
“Good!” Mo Huang’s spirit was lifted, “If you can, you will be the biggest hero of the Star Boundary.”
Yang Kai humbly responded, “Junior is simply doing what little he can.”
Iron Blood added in a heavy voice, “This matter is very important. I will accompany you.”
Yang Kai failed to hold his laughter, shaking his head, “That’s unnecessary. I’ve been to the Revolving World once, and no one or no thing there can pose any threat to me. Junior can go there by himself. Senior Iron Blood, it’s better for you to stay here and oversee the war situation.”
Hearing this, Zhan Wu Heng gave his agreement with a nod after pondering for a while, “Take care then.”
After the discussion, Yang Kai left the tent and returned to his place of residence to wait.
In accordance with his discussion with the Great Emperors, the Star Boundary would transfer 3,000 men from the 300,000 army to High Heaven Palace with Yang Kai, where he would arrange for them to enter the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld to cultivate Shaman Strength. These 3,000 men would be the first batch to test things out. If it was effective, it wouldn’t be too late to send more people to cultivate Shamanic Spells. After that, Yang Kai would set off for the Frozen Earth where he would enter the Revolving World.
Just three days later, 3,000 men had been arranged, and among them, over a hundred were Emperors while the rest were Dao Source Realm and Origin King Realm Masters who were also proportionally distributed.
Obviously, the Great Emperors also knew that it would be impossible for everyone to cultivate to the level of Shaman King like Yang Kai, but even if they could only cultivate to the level of Shaman Warriors, it would still be helpful for the future battles.
As long as 300 of these 3,000 could become Shamans, they would meet the expectations of the Great Emperors.
Yang Kai had nothing to do on the Western Territory battlefront. Since the seven Great Emperors were overseeing things, the Demon Race would obviously not take any rash actions.
For now, the plan was to wait for the 3,000 men to return, and for Yang Kai to invite the Shamans from the Revolving World, after which, they would have a decisive battle with the Demon Race.
These 3,000 naturally came from all three territories of the Star Boundary, each territory contributing 1,000 men. For the time being, they had no idea what they were doing; all they knew was that they were returning to the Northern Territory with Yang Kai.
The order was given by the Great Emperors themselves, so no one dared to disobey or even question.
Naturally, Yu Ru Meng was not going to let Yang Kai out of her sight, and Yang Kai didn’t have any intention of stopping her.
At the Space Array, Yang Kai arranged for everyone to return to High Heaven Palace before finally stepping onto the Array himself.
After an hour, before the entrance of the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld, Yang Kai stood silently with 3,000 cultivators silently standing behind him.
The Thousand Illusions Dreamworld wasn’t so much a Sealed World as it was an artifact. It was an artifact that had given birth to an Artifact Spirit which assumed the form of the Thousand Illusions Butterfly. It actually contained records of all kinds of worlds, none of which were static either. Anyone who entered it would receive their own opportunity.
Yang Kai spent a long time trying to persuade the Thousand Illusion Butterfly before she finally agreed to open the specific ancient world for everyone, at which point Yang Kai tossed all 3,000 people inside.
Whether these three thousand could become Shamans, and what level they could cultivate to, it would only be known after about a month.
After dealing with this, Yang Kai finally took a deep breath and said to Yu Ru Meng, “Let’s go.”
Yu Ru Meng obediently followed after him after a nod.
After returning to the Space Array, Yang Kai stood on it with Yu Ru Meng. Space Principles started to fluctuate, and after a blinding flash of light, Yu Ru Meng disappeared while Yang Kai’s figure distorted a bit before stabilizing again, a grin appearing on his lips.
The disciples, who were guarding the Array, stood dumbfounded. They couldn’t understand what joke their Palace Master was playing, but before they could ask any questions, Yang Kai rushed out of the hall and rose into the sky.
In the Western Territory, the Space Array surrounded by an army glowed brightly before Yu Ru Meng suddenly appeared.
She blankly looked around, and when the familiar scenery entered her eyes, her pretty face immediately twisted.
With her intelligence, how could she not tell that she had been dumped by Yang Kai.
[Damn it!] Yu Ru Meng’s pretty face suddenly turned gloomy as she ground her teeth in anger, secretly vowing that she would take ‘good care’ of Yang Kai when she met him again.
It was just that she couldn’t understand why Yang Kai had dumped her here, was it because he was worried about her safety, or was it…?
…..
Where the bitter cold wind blew and the ground was perennially covered in snow…
The Frozen Earth of the Northern Territory was famous throughout the world. It was an extremely dangerous place where even Great Emperors wouldn’t rashly trespass its depths. In the past, even a Dragon Clan member had fallen here, which showed how harsh the environment was.
Last time, when Yang Kai, Zhu Lie, and Li Jiao came here in search of Zhu Qing, they had faced a lot of hardships.
This time, Yang Kai was tracing his old footsteps, which made things a lot easier. What’s more, the entrance to the Revolving World wasn’t in the deepest region, so there wasn’t any real danger.
But last time, he had accidentally entered the Revolving World, not through a fixed entrance but rather by being swallowed by the Frozen Tide which sucked him straight into the Revolving World.
The Frozen Tide was a natural phenomenon unique to the Frozen Earth, and even an Eighth-Order Fire Dragon like Zhu Lie was unable to resist its biting cold chill for long.
This time, he might not be lucky enough to encounter the Frozen Tide, but since all three of them were sucked into that world from here, it meant that there must be an entrance to the Revolving World in the Frozen Earth somewhere. As long as he could find the entrance, Yang Kai could easily open it with his mastery of the Dao of Space.
This search took another month, and Yang Kai almost gave up numerous times because blindly looking for an entrance that may not even exist in this frigid cold, bleak white world, was mentally and physically exhausting.
In this cold, lifeless place, which was covered in a deathly silence, Yang Kai was all alone. Apart from the rustling of his own footsteps, there was no other sound around. He kept using his Emperor Qi to resist the severe cold at every moment, even losing track of the passage of time as he just kept mechanically repeating his actions.
After who knows how long, Yang Kai abruptly halted his footsteps and closed his eyes, silently sensing his surroundings.
He felt that something was off here.
After a long time, he suddenly opened his eyes and ran in a certain direction.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he stopped before a vast and empty snowfield. Large snowflakes were falling everywhere, but about ten meters away from him, there was a place that was not disturbed by the falling snow as all of it seemed to simply vanish without a trace.
Void Crack!
Yang Kai could also feel the obvious Space Principle fluctuations in front of him.
His face immediately lit up as he slightly urged his Space Principles.
Whether this was the entrance to the Revolving World or not, he wasn’t sure, but since a clue had finally appeared before him, he had to take a chance.
After a short while, a gap slightly opened as a dark and bottomless hole appeared, one which Yang Kai jumped into boldly and without hesitation, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
As soon as he regained his senses, he found himself mid-air, falling straight down. Yang Kai quickly pushed his Emperor Qi to stabilize himself before finally taking a good look at the surrounding environment.
The entire world was dim and surging with Demon Qi, while he could hear faint cries and howls ringing in his ears, ones that seemed to claw at his soul.
In such a gloomy environment though, Yang Kai happily smiled, for this was definitely the Revolving World. This was the strangest Sealed World that Yang Kai had ever seen as it was constantly switching back and forth between two completely different sets of World Principles.
One set of World Principles belonged to that of the Star Boundary, and the other belonged to the Demon Realm.
Back when he first entered this place, Yang Kai guessed that this Small World was sandwiched between the Demon Realm and the Star Boundary, which was the cause of this strange phenomenon.
The Sealed World where he went to find Lan Xun, Yu Ru Meng, and the others was also in a similar situation, allowing the two worlds to be connected after it was shattered. It was just that the latter Small World didn’t have the strange characteristics of the Revolving World.
In any case, Yang Kai couldn’t let the Demon Realm residents know about this place; otherwise, the Star Boundary would have to deal with a second invasion route!
The Revolving World wasn’t that big, but it wasn’t small either. Last time, Yang Kai, the Zhu brother and sister duo, and Li Jiao stayed in this world for several months, but even if they weren’t familiar with this place, they wouldn’t be too unfamiliar with it either.
Hovering in the sky, Yang Kai calmly found his bearings before he made a beeline toward the location of the Human Imperial City.
After half a day, an inverted bowl-like green curtain of light appeared in his sight as he sensed a familiar aura from it.
That was the Human Imperial City’s protective shield.
Yang Kai also knew that it was the power of the Sacred Tree.
Since the Demon Realm Principles were currently dominant in the Revolving World, it was the time the Demon Race could run rampant. On the other hand, the residents of Human Imperial City were unable to leave the protection of the Sacred Tree, otherwise, their minds would be corrupted by the Demon Qi and they would degenerate into Demons.
Every time this happened, the Humans, who had ventured out of Human Imperial City, would return to avoid the Demon Qi.
Yang Kai recalled all the information about Human Imperial City and the Sacred Tree in his mind, and after a short while, he arrived outside its gates.
However, the next moment, the warning bell on the tower on the city wall suddenly started ringing as someone shouted in a loud voice, “The Demon Race is attacking, the Demon Race is attacking!” Although the cultivation of the person shouting wasn’t that high, he was still a Dao Source Realm so his cultivation was sufficient to make his voice resound throughout Human Imperial City.
The endless streams of people suddenly fell into a strange state of stillness in an instant, and after three breaths, everyone started running around, shouting in a panic.
Yang Kai was momentarily stunned. [The Demon Race is attacking? Where is the Demon Race?]
He turned his head left and right, looking around, but suddenly, realization dawned upon him, […He’s not referring to me, is he?]
Yang Kai lowered his head, gazing down at the tower that rang the warning bell, and discovered that the Dao Source Realm cultivator, who was shouting, was looking at him with deep hatred and pain on his face.
Yang Kai’s facial muscles momentarily twitched. He really wanted to pluck this fool’s eyeballs out and let him have a closer look at himself. [How do I look like a Demon Race member?]
But after giving it another thought, Yang Kai couldn’t blame this man for this misunderstanding; after all, the Demon Realm Principles were flowing outside, so only the Demon Race could move about freely.
Him showing up now would inevitably cause others to have a misunderstanding.
Having thought this through, Yang Kai shouted aloud, “This King is not a member of the Demon Race, everyone does not need to panic!”
The Dao Source Realm cultivator completely ignored him and kept ringing the bell, warning everyone.
People kept flying towards the city wall close to Yang Kai, all of them on edge, as if they were about to face a difficult enemy. There were even several Emperor Realm cultivators among this crowd.
This caused Yang Kai’s eyes to immediately light up as although the population of Human Imperial City wasn’t that big, due to its special environment, the number of Emperors here was actually quite high. When Yang Kai came here last time, he had met several Third-Order Emperors, and if he could bring such a force out of this place, it would provide a big help to the Star Boundary in its current predicament.
While he was thinking this, he heard someone suddenly shout in anger, “Who goes there!?”
Yang Kai focused his gaze towards the source of the voice and saw a Second-Order Emperor Realm elderly man, so he lightly nodded to him and replied, “This King is Yang Kai, not a member of the Demon Race. I ask the Old Sir to lower the barrier. This King is here to discuss some business with the Human Sovereign.”
That elderly man immediately shouted in anger, “How dare a Demon like you speak of honourable Human Sovereign through your dirty mouth! If you have any sense of propriety, you will quickly retreat, or you will definitely lose your dog life here!”
Yang Kai’s brow twitched involuntarily as he tried to explain himself again, “Old Sir, take a close look at this King! Does this King look like a member of Demon Race to you?”
The elderly man harrumphed before shouting back, “You can’t fool me with your lies! I will give you three breaths, and if you don’t retreat by then, the consequences will be yours to bear!”
Yang Kai heaved a long sigh before asking with a helpless look on his face, “Are you really not going to remove the barrier?”
“Scram!” The elderly man lashed out.
A smile emerged on Yang Kai’s lips as he slowly stretched his hand towards the green light screen, speaking, “In that case, I will come in by myself.”
The elderly man kept sneering, showing no intention of stopping him; after all, the blessing of the Sacred Tree suppressed the Demon Race to a great degree. Once a Demon was exposed to this aura, they would be heavily injured if not dead; otherwise, Human Imperial City would not have remained safe and sound even after so many millennia; it would have long been trampled flat by the Demon Race.
In his opinion, this ignorant Demon was plain dumb by trying to intrude on the Sacred Tree’s protected area, an act akin to courting death.
But the next moment, the sneer on the old man’s face suddenly stiffened as his eyes bulged in disbelief.
Because when Yang Kai’s hand pressed on the green light screen, he didn’t suffer any damage at all. And not only that, a series of ripples appeared, giving the impression that the shield was about to be torn open.
[How is this possible!?]
The shield was formed from the Sacred Tree’s blessing and had been sheltering Human Imperial City for over a hundred thousand years, but now it had actually accepted a member of the Demon Race!?
The defensive power of the Sacred Tree was incredibly strong, so even if the Demon Race really attacked the city, it was absolutely impossible for them to break in. Fortunately, Yang Kai never intended to break this barrier, he only wanted to cross it; after all, the resources here were of great value to him.
He was a Shaman King, so from the start, he was like kin to the Sacred Tree. As such, when he tried to enter the city, why would the Sacred Tree stop him?
Before, he just didn’t want to make the residents of Human Imperial City too nervous, but now, he was left with no choice but to make a move himself.
The ripples continued to spread and soon Yang Kai’s arm slipped through the barrier, followed by half of his body, then his entire self.
In just ten breaths of time, Yang Kai was already inside Human Imperial City.
On the ground below, the countless residents of Human Imperial City were aghast at the sight of this and felt that the sky was about to fall.
Since this Demon Race member could easily pass through the protection of the Sacred Tree and enter Human Imperial City, it meant that other Demons could do so as well. In other words, Human Imperial City was no longer safe! But in this world, where could they go except for Human Imperial City? If they left the shelter of Human Imperial City and the Sacred Tree, they would really be standing at the end of their road.
The crowd of people, who had arrived at the tower, finally came to their senses as the elderly man furiously shouted, “The Demon Race has invaded, attack!”
Just as his voice fell, he was the first one to charge at Yang Kai. Even now, he still believed that Yang Kai was a member of the Demon Race.
Halfway up, the elderly man blasted a punch straight at Yang Kai. A faint tiger roar suddenly rang out as an almost tangible White Tiger illusory phantom rushed at Yang Kai with extraordinary momentum.
Others also hurriedly flew up, casting their respective techniques one after another.
Bulging blue veins appeared on Yang Kai’s forehead as he promptly raised his hand and palmed downward.
A deafening dragon roar reverberated throughout the sky, shaking the entire Human Imperial City. The next moment, an enormous Dragon’s illusory phantom manifested, biting down on the White Tiger in one go. The White Tiger illusion let out a miserable howl before it collapsed while the enormous Dragon still had plenty of energy left. It rushed straight into the crowd, swimming left and right, knocking away the cultivators who dared to challenge it.
The elderly man was shocked. As soon as Yang Kai made a move, he noticed Yang Kai’s cultivation was that same as his own, Second-Order Emperor Realm!
[But his Second-Order Emperor Realm seems… a little unusual, I’m not his opponent.]
In his momentary lapse, a figure suddenly appeared right before his face. When the elderly man regained his focus, he realized that the one standing before him was none other than the Demon who had just invaded the city.
The old man was struck with panic and hurriedly tried to retreat.
But could he leave so easily? By the time the old man realized, Yang Kai had already grabbed him by his collar, pulled him in front of him, and viciously glared at him.
[My end has come!] The elderly man sorrowfully cried in his heart, but the next thing he heard was Yang Kai’s furious shout, “Tell me, do I look like a Demon to you? Open your dog eyes and take a good look at this King!”
The elderly man had lost his wits, feeling like he had just escaped from the clutches of death, so where would he have the composure to observe Yang Kai?
“Stop right there!” Right then, a furious shout rang over as several figures flew over from the centre of Human Imperial City. The person leading the team had a fair complexion and was extremely handsome. There were several Emperor Realm Masters beside him, one of which was a Third-Order Emperor. Presumably, they had noticed the commotion here and had hurriedly come over to investigate.
After hearing this voice, Yang Kai turned his head and smiled at the young man leading the team as he shouted, “Third Imperial Prince, long time no see.”
The young man was none other than the third son of the Human Sovereign. Yang Kai had seen him the last time he came here, but hadn’t had any real dealings with him. Still, it wasn’t hard to recognize such a memorable figure.
The Third Imperial Prince glanced at Yang Kai in amazement, then cried out with a look of incredulity hanging on his face, “I was wondering why this voice sounded so familiar, it turns out that Senior Yang has returned.”
“It is this Yang!” Yang Kai nodded to him before he let go of the elderly man’s collar. He even smoothed out the old man’s wrinkled robes before he asked in a still unhappy tone, “Old Sir, didn’t I say that I am not a member of Demon Race? Do you believe me now?”
The elderly man subconsciously nodded before faintly recalling the name ‘Yang Kai’ from over a decade ago.
[Yes, there was indeed an outsider, who came to Human Imperial City, and had some kind of conflict with the Imperial Family, but what actually happened, the Imperial Family remained tight-lipped about. Then, the outsider had suddenly disappeared without a trace and the turmoil slowly subsided.]
[So it turns out that he is that guy.]
[But… why did Third Imperial Prince address him as Senior? What’s going on? Is it possible that this man is on equal footing with the Human Sovereign?]
“Since it’s Senior Yang, everything is a misunderstanding. Everyone, please disperse.” The Third Imperial Prince waved his hand and the people who were completely hostile a moment ago, put down their worries and left.
“I haven’t seen you for so many years, yet Third Imperial Prince’s noble bearing still remains the same,” Yang Kai smiled at him and commented casually.
The Third Imperial Prince, on the other hand, had his nerves stretched taut. Although he was the Third Imperial Prince of Human Imperial City, the most outstanding heir of the Human Sovereign and the most qualified to inherit the position of Human Sovereign in the future, he dared not put on any airs before Yang Kai. After all, the Sacred Tree gave special treatment to Yang Kai. Even the Human Sovereign didn’t dare to show any arrogance before Yang Kai back then, not to mention a mere prince like him.
Forcing a smile out somehow, the Third Imperial Prince replied, “Senior Yang, welcome back. How long are you planning to stay in Human Imperial City this time?”
He still believed that Yang Kai had been in the Revolving World all these years, and had never left; after all, Yang Kai and Zhu Qing had gone directly to Demon Fury City after they departed to look for the exit. He had no idea of what had transpired after that, so it was pretty normal for him to act like this.
Yang Kai stated, looking at him, “It seems that Third Imperial Prince doesn’t welcome me.”
The Third Imperial Prince hurriedly denied, “How could that be possible? Senior Yang is Imperial Father’s most honoured guest. If Senior Yang were to remain in Human Imperial City, it would be extremely good news for our Human Race. Why would this Prince not welcome Senior?”
Yang Kai didn’t bother to haggle with him and indifferently commented, “Then I’m afraid I will have to disappoint Third Imperial Prince. This Yang came in from outside just today and doesn’t plan to remain in Human Imperial City for long. I’m afraid I will be leaving in just a few days.”
Hearing this, the Third Imperial Prince heaved a long sigh of relief, but very soon, he asked, looking at him in shock, “Senior Yang, you mean to say you can freely enter and leave this world?”
Not only him, but the other Emperor Realm Masters, who were following him, looked stunned.
The Revolving World had a unique environment, one that had persisted for over a hundred thousand years. Many outsiders had inadvertently entered this world over this time, but they had never heard of anyone leaving it. There were rumours that there was an exit near Demon Fury City’s side, but it was basically impossible for the Humans to pass through there.
So now, how could the Third Imperial Prince and the others not be shocked after hearing Yang Kai’s words.
Yang Kai replied, “This King indeed has such a method.”
It was tantamount to admitting that he could freely leave and enter this world. The Third Imperial Prince’s face suddenly turned gloomy and uncertain as who knows what was going through his mind. Suddenly, he asked, smiling, “I wonder what business Senior Yang has come to Human Sovereign City for then?”
A confounding smile appeared on Yang Kai’s lips as he declared, “This King is here to offer you a great opportunity.”
The Third Imperial Prince’s brow twitched as obviously he didn’t believe Yang Kai, but he still patiently asked, “Would Senior be willing to explain?”
Yang Kai stated, “I will explain everything to the Human Sovereign, I only ask Third Imperial Prince to lead the way.”
The Third Imperial Prince couldn’t help but feel a little depressed. He knew that Yang Kai was indirectly saying that he wasn’t qualified to discuss such matters and was unhappy, but without letting his displeasure show on his face, he opened the way and beckoned, “In that case, please follow me, Senior Yang!”
With the Third Imperial Prince leading the way, the subsequent journey was extremely smooth; no one mistakenly took him for someone else a second time.
Along the way, the Third Imperial Prince subtly inquired about whether Yang Kai could really enter and leave this world freely. At first, Yang Kai didn’t want to say too much, but suddenly, a thought came to mind and he began freely speaking about the beauty of the outside world, his speech full of colourful descriptions and praise. The Third Imperial Prince just smiled, responding somewhat absent-mindedly.
Not long after, everyone arrived at the Imperial Palace and entered the main hall where they finally met the Human Sovereign.
The Human Sovereign hadn’t changed much since the last time Yang Kai saw him, he was still a fat elderly man at the Second-Order Emperor Realm, that’s all. His Blood Qi was already showing signs of decay, but the old man was still enjoying his life to its full extent; he had beautiful women standing on either side of him, serving him, each of whom was extremely stunning and charming in their own manner. Chances were that the old man would end up dying under the skirt of one of these women someday.
There wasn’t just Human Sovereign in the main hall though; most of the Imperial Family was present. Obviously, they had received the message from the Third Imperial Prince and each and every one of them had arrived and was now looking at Yang Kai with a complicated gaze.
Yang Kai even caught sight of hatred in the depth of the muddy eyes of the Human Sovereign.
Yang Kai certainly knew that this old guy didn’t welcome his arrival, but he didn’t care either way.
Taking a few steps forward, Yang Kai cupped his fists, “Greetings, Human Sovereign.”
He didn’t do this because he was afraid of this old man, but rather because he was here to ask him for something, and if his request was really granted, he would still need to rely on the opposite party many times in the upcoming war between the two worlds. Naturally, Yang Kai couldn’t act rashly.
And apparently, such a gesture from him caught the Human Sovereign and the Imperial Princes and Princesses by surprise; after all, the last time Yang Kai was here, he was extremely arrogant and disdainful of their Imperial Family. The First Imperial Prince, Fu Shu, was even beaten by him, while the Second Princess, Fu Yu was taught a harsh lesson.
But it was precisely because of this that the Human Sovereign’s expression eased up a little. He then raised his hand and invited him to sit down, “Senior Yang, there’s no need to be so polite, please have a seat.”
Immediately, a beautiful maidservant took out a chair and set it down behind Yang Kai.
While Yang Kai generously took his seat, the Third Imperial Prince stepped up, leaned forward, and whispered something in the Sovereign’s ears. The Human Sovereign’s expression flickered ever so slightly before recovering the next moment. After the Third Imperial Prince had retreated, the Human Sovereign finally looked at Yang Kai and spoke, “Senior Yang, I have heard from my Third Son that you just came in from the outside world, is that true?”
“Indeed!” Yang Kai nodded his agreement.
The Human Sovereign asked, “So to say, Senior Yang really left this world over a decade ago?”
Yang Kai replied, “Thanks to your guidance, this King went to Demon Fury City and was able to locate the exit of this Revolving World.”
“Senior Yang’s methods and ability are truly remarkable!” The Human Sovereign praised liberally, “There have only ever been rumours about an exit, and no one knew whether they were true or false. Senior Yang being able to actually find an exit and leave is surely the first in these hundred thousand years.”
Yang Kai smiled lightly, “The last time this King left, he faced many twists and turns, but as the saying goes, the first time is always the hardest, but it becomes easier after. If this King gives it another try, this King will definitely not face any problems and everything will definitely go smoothly.” After having finished speaking, he quietly observed everyone’s expression and body language. Seeing no unusual reaction in the Imperial Princes and Princesses, Yang Kai immediately grew disappointed.
The Human Sovereign didn’t continue with this topic either. He just smiled and asked, “My Third Son also said that Senior Yang is here to offer us a great opportunity. I wonder what that is?”
Yang Kai gazed at him with a scorching gaze and answered in a meaningful tone, “Why, to take all of you out of here to see the wider world outside!”
The Human Sovereign slightly smiled but didn’t make any comment. All the Imperial Princes and Princesses remained indifferent as well, as if they didn’t understand what Yang Kai just said; on the contrary, the Third Imperial Prince furrowed his brow as a sliver of worry flashed across his eyes.
Yang Kai acted as if he hadn’t noticed their reaction and loudly continued, “All of you were born and raised in this world, subjected to its ever-changing Principles and constantly living under the threat of the Demon Race of Demon Fury City. You have never known the vastness and beauty of the outside world. Now, this King presents a rare opportunity to you. Do you not want to go out and enjoy a whole new world outside?”
Fu Yu pursed her lips into a sneer and asked, “What’s so good out about the world outside?”
Yang Kai turned his gaze at her and smiled, “Second Princess is asking this because you have not yet seen the wonders of the wider world. If you had, such a question wouldn’t have come to your mind.”
Fu Yu didn’t dare to quibble with him; after all, she had suffered at his hands last time, so at this moment, even if she didn’t agree, she still remained silent.
The Human Sovereign then asked with a chuckle, “Then may I ask what price we need to pay? Senior Yang has come back after going out, which must have been a lot of trouble. You must have something else in your mind to suddenly come here with such a… generous offer.”
Yang Kai’s smile immediately vanished as he stood up and proclaimed with a pained look on his face, “This King simply cannot stand by and continue watching as hundreds of thousands of fellow Humans suffer in this environment at the hands of the Demon Race. This King harbours nothing but the best of intentions.”
The Human Sovereign praised in astonishment, “Senior Yang has a strong sense of integrity and righteousness. This Sovereign admires you.”
Yang Kai raised his hand and proposed, “If Human Sovereign is really interested, then we should not delay things any longer, please order the residents of the city to prepare and we will set off immediately.”
As soon as these words came out of Yang Kai’s mouth, the Human Sovereign almost coughed up blood, [I have not promised you anything, what do you mean by setting off!?]
At the same time, he was a little curious and asked, “Senior Yang, you mean to say, you can take everyone in Human Imperial City out with you?”
Yang Kai faintly smiled, “Such trivial matters are really not worth mentioning.”
Regardless of whether it was true or not, the Human Sovereign couldn’t help but be shocked as he muttered, “Senior Yang’s methods are truly profound.”
After pondering for a while, he added, “Senior Yang, you must be fatigued by the long journey, you should take a few days rest first. As for your proposal, this Sovereign will give it serious consideration.”
Yang Kai asked, staring at him, “What else is there to consider? A lost chance will never return.”
The Human Sovereign, controlling his temper, explained himself, “This is related to the future of the entire population of Human Imperial City. This Sovereign cannot make a rash decision by himself. I have to ask the opinions of the residents of the city, don’t I? If someone doesn’t want to leave, this Sovereign cannot simply force them.”
It was a valid reason, one Yang Kai couldn’t come up with a better reason to refute, so all he could do was agree, “As expected, the Human Sovereign understands the principles of right and wrong. In that case, this King will be waiting for the good news.”
“Good.” The Human Sovereign lightly nodded, and then gave an eye signal to the Third Imperial Prince, “Take Senior Yang down to rest, show him the utmost hospitality.”
“Yes, Imperial Father!” The Third Imperial Prince agreed and then made an inviting gesture to Yang Kai, “Senior Yang, please.”
Yang Kai slightly smiled, “En, sorry to trouble you.”
After bidding goodbye to the Human Sovereign, Yang Kai walked to the depths of the Imperial Palace under the guidance of the Third Imperial Prince.
After Yang Kai left, the Human Sovereign’s face turned gloomy all of a sudden. All the Imperial Princes and Princesses together looked at him with the First Imperial Prince cupping his fist and stating, “Imperial Father, we can never agree to what that Yang Kai proposes.”
Fu Yu also added, “Yes, Imperial Father. Human Imperial City is the foundation of our Imperial Family, how can we just abandon it and leave with him? If we really went to the outside world, how would our Imperial Family have any advantage at all?”
“We have to be as cruel as the wolf. We should kill him!”
“Imperial Father, give us the order!”
The Imperial Princes and Princesses started clamouring one after another. They couldn’t wait to cut Yang Kai into a thousand pieces as if they had an irreconcilable enmity with him.
“Shut up!” The Human Sovereign was irritated after hearing his children’s babbling. At this moment, his muddy eyes gleamed with a terrifying light as he swept his gaze over his sons and daughters before asking in a cold voice, “Do you really think that this Sovereign is senile?”
The Prince and Princess replied, trembling, “Your child would never dare.”
The Human Sovereign lightly snorted, “Do you think that this Sovereign doesn’t know that my Imperial Family’s foundation is here? Our Imperial Family will gain no benefit from leaving this place. It’s not that this Sovereign doesn’t want to take his life and avoid future troubles, but rather that there is no way to do so! With the Sacred Tree’s favour, no one can kill him in Human Imperial City.”
If not for this fact, how could he have allowed Yang Kai to act so arrogantly last time? It wasn’t that there wasn’t anyone in Human Sovereign City with cultivation higher than Yang Kai as there were several Third-Order Emperors in the city. If they all attacked him together, how could Yang Kai survive? But under the blessing of the Sacred Tree, no matter how many Third-Order Emperors attacked him, they wouldn’t be able to take his life.
Fu Shu’s eyes rolled as he proposed, “We don’t have to do it in Human Imperial City. It would be better to lead him outside the city where he won’t be protected by the Sacred Tree.”
The Human Sovereign agreed, nodding, “It is indeed an option, but how do we lead him out of the city?”
Fu Shu had just made a random proposition, but when the Human Sovereign asked him how to implement it, he could not provide a clear answer, simply standing there and scratching his head in embarrassment.
The Fourth Imperial Prince proposed, “Why don’t we demonize him?”
Fu Yu’s eyes immediately nodded as she repeatedly nodded, “Good! If he is transformed into a Demon, then the Sacred Tree won’t shelter him anymore and we won’t have to let him order us around.”
Apparently, others also felt that this was a pretty good idea and they all eagerly looked at the Human Sovereign.
The Human Sovereign pondered for a long time before he finally looked up and gave his order, “Fourth Son, I will leave this matter to you, there cannot be the slightest mistake.”
The Fourth Imperial Prince excitedly cupped his fists, “Imperial Father, rest assured, you won’t see your son’s face again until he has successfully completed this task.”
The Human Sovereign gently nodded before closing his eyes and slightly waving his hands; whereupon, the Imperial Princes and Princesses respectfully retreated.
Yang Kai stayed in the Imperial Palace for three days. During these three days, he had been completely safe and sound, staying in the guest room and showing no intention of going out, let alone having any intention to persuade the Human Sovereign, making the Human Sovereign, who had been paying attention to his movements, a little perplexed.
If Yang Kai had behaved impatiently, he would have still understood, but Yang Kai’s calm and serious act made him suspicious.
He had no idea what in the hell Yang Kai was planning, but no matter what scheme this boy was up to, he would never leave Human Imperial City with him and go to the outside world.
In Human Imperial City, the Imperial Family was blessed by the Sacred Tree and could stand above all others. Just the fact that he was the Human Sovereign with only a Second-Order Emperor Realm cultivation while there were a number of Third-Order Emperors at his beck and call was enough to illustrate the point.
The Human Sovereign had no idea what the outside world was like, but he still knew that no matter the place, strength was respected above all else.
The Imperial Family had smoothly prospered here for over a hundred thousand years, so how could they easily leave for some world he had no knowledge of.
…..
Late one night, everything was completely quiet.
In the guest room, Yang Kai suddenly opened his eyes and waved his hand to the side.
The two beautiful maids, who had been in the room, serving him, bowed and retired. Yang Kai had to admit that although Human Imperial City wasn’t that big and its population was just in the tens of millions, it had many beautiful women. Presumably, these two maids were carefully selected by the Third Imperial Prince, and whether it was their face or figure, it was top notch. What was rarer was that they still retained their youthful, innocent aura, indicating they had not yet been tainted.
Presumably, they were ordered to serve Yang Kai and make him lower his guard. Unfortunately, even though Yang Kai had been talking and laughing with them over these three days, he had no intention of making a move on them.
After the two beautiful maids had stepped back, Yang Kai flicked his wrist, opening the window as he casually invited, “Since you’re here, why don’t you show yourself?”
Just as he said this, an elderly man wrapped in black robes flew in through the window after ten breaths. The old man looked about fifty years old and had a ruddy complexion. He was hale and hearty, and stood completely straight, his aura converged, but Yang Kai could still tell that this man was a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master.
As soon as the man appeared, he cupped his fists and greeted, “Greetings, Senior Yang.”
Yang Kai smiled and waved him over in an inviting manner. At the same time, he picked up the teapot and filled the two cups before him.
The visitor glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, then sat down opposite to Yang Kai and took a sip from the teacup. After relishing the taste of the tea, he finally asked, “Is this tea brought by Senior Yang from the outside world?”
Yang Kai replied, nodding, “En, it seems that this friend is an appreciator of good tea.”
The visitor proudly smiled, “A person who has lived a long life will always have one or two hobbies. Some people like having power and influence, some prefer beauties; as for this Old Master, he likes tea. Unfortunately, there aren’t many good teas in this world and certainly none that can compare to what Senior Yang has served here today.”
Yang Kai responded with a sneer, “There is nothing superb about this tea; in fact, in the world outside, there are far better teas.”
The visitor’s eyes lit up after hearing this; a look of fascination appeared on his face.
Yang Kai, holding the teacup, calmly asked, “If my memory serves me right, you are the one who was following the Third Imperial Prince that day, yes?”
When Yang Kai arrived at Human Imperial City three days ago, the Third Imperial Prince rushed over with several Emperor Realm Masters. One of them was an elderly man, and the only Third-Order Emperor Realm Master of the group. How could Yang Kai not remember him?
The elderly man cupped his fists and replied, “This Old Master is Zhou Yu Chuan, a highly regarded subordinate of the Imperial Family. This Old Master currently serves as head of the Imperial Guard.”
“So, it is Old Zhou, I apologize for my disrespect!” Yang Kai placed the teacup down before slightly cupping his fists and continuing with a smile, “I wonder why Old Zhou has come to secretly meet me in the middle of the night?”
Zhou Yu Chuan remained silent for a while before suddenly raising his eyes, staring at Yang Kai with a scorching gaze, “As the popular adage goes, it’s foolish to have an intimate talk with a mere acquaintance, but this Old Master will still ask Senior Yang a question, and Senior Yang, I hope you will answer it honestly.”
Yang Kai took a sip of tea and stated, “I really did come from the outside, and I can take you out of here.”
Zhou Yu Chuan’s eyes lit up as he added, “So Senior knows why this Old Master is here.”
Yang Kai smiled slightly, “When I arrived here a few days ago, I said as much to Third Imperial Prince, and Old Zhou was standing next to him. So, naturally, I would pay attention. The Imperial Family may not be interested in this matter because they are the Imperial Family. They are blessed by the Sacred Tree here and possess a unique advantage. They stand tall above everyone in this place, but it might be different outside. However, those who are not from the Imperial Family, such as Old Zhou… are different. Your standing is different, and as such, your consideration will be different as well.”
Zhou Yu Chuan nodded after hearing this, “Senior Yang is correct. The Imperial family is really not interested in this matter. Not only are they not interested in it, I’m afraid Senior’s words have made them extremely uncomfortable.”
Yang Kai stated, “Since I’m here, and since I have said something like that, I naturally know how they will react. But… is that important?”
Zhou Yu Chuan furrowed his brow as he asked, “Sir, are you planning to settle things the hard way?”
“If they make a wise choice, that would be for the best, but if they disappoint me, why should I care about their feelings?”
Immediately, Zhou Yu Chuan frowned so tightly that three vertical lines appeared between his brow as he added in a heavy voice, “Forgive this Old Master for being blunt, but although Sir is blessed by the Sacred Tree, if the Imperial Family is unwilling to cooperate, Sir might not be able to do anything about it.”
“Where there is a will, there is a way,” Yang Kai lightly chuckled. He then quickly changed the subject, “Actually, I want to know how many people are thinking like you?”
Zhou Yu Chuan replied, “Several of my fellow brothers also have the same intention, and I believe that most of the other Emperor Realm Masters would be very happy to see this matter come to fruition. Not only the Emperor Realm Masters, but about eighty to ninety percent of the population of Human Imperial City would more than welcome the opportunity to leave this world with Sir. Sir hasn’t lived in this world for long, so Sir doesn’t know about how sinister it is.”
Yang Kai’s lips rose into a smile, “Would the Imperial Family go against the will of all the people? If they follow popular opinion, all will be well, but if they try to oppose it, this King doesn’t mind standing up for the common folk.”
Zhou Yu Chuan immediately declared with a serious look on his face, “If Sir attacks the Imperial Family, this Old Master cannot stand idly by. Although this Old Master wants to leave this world, this Old Master owes the Imperial Family a great deal. Not only I, but my fellow brothers feel the same.”
Yang Kai stated, “I’ll go easy on you when the time comes then.”
Zhou Yu Chuan still had something to say, but suddenly, Yang Kai turned his gaze out of the window before suggesting with a slight smile, “I have guests, Old Zhou, perhaps you would like to leave for the time being?”
Zhou Yu Chuan was taken aback after hearing this, because he hadn’t noticed anything at all, but seeing Yang Kai’s firm and confident tone gave him no room for doubt. He didn’t dare to linger any longer, so he immediately cupped his fists and bid his farewell, “Then this Old Master will take his leave first.”
Having said this, he flew out of the window, soon disappearing from sight.
Yang Kai put the teacup down and calmly waited.
After a short while, the surrounding door and windows suddenly opened wide as seven or eight figures flew in, smashing the doors and windows all at once. Violent gusts of wind promptly swept through the room, causing the candles to flicker and dimming the room.
When the candlelight finally stabilized, he found eight figures emanating fearsome Demon Qi in the room, looking quite fierce and malevolent.
“Demon Race!” As Yang Kai swept a glance over the figures, his brow slightly rose and he couldn’t help but laugh inwardly.
[So they want to infect me with Demon Qi so that I turn into a Demon! I don’t know who in the Imperial Family came up with this, but this is indeed a good way to deal with me. As long as I am demonized, I would lose the blessing of the Sacred Tree and the Imperial Family won’t need to fear me anymore.]
He knew that his speech a few days ago would have made the Imperial Family uncomfortable, and they would secretly use some means to deal with him, but he still found the situation in front of him a little unexpected.
Obviously, these Demon Race members had been thrown in here by someone. Presumably, their cultivation had been sealed before. One of them was a Demon King, comparable to a First-Order Emperor, while the rest were all Demon Great Generals. Judging by this lineup, it was quite apparent that the Imperial Family had put in a lot of effort for this plot.
Demons being prisoners in Human Imperial City wasn’t anything to be surprised about; after all, the two races had fought in this world for over a hundred thousand years. It was normal for each side to have some captives from the other side; otherwise, where would the Imperial Family have caught so many Demons to deal with him in such haste?
In the room, the evil aura emanating from the Demon Race members suddenly soared. After they crawled back up, they immediately focused their gaze on Yang Kai, a fierce gleam flashing through their eyes. Although they had no idea why they were released, since there was a Human before them, their first choice was naturally to kill him and think about what to do next after.
Their Demon Qi promptly surged as the Demon King and the Demon Great Generals together pounced at Yang Kai. In an instant, billowing Demon Qi flooded the room, making the entire scene quite frightening.
Nonetheless, Yang Kai continued sitting, not even raising his eyes to look at them as he waved his hand and summoned out a certain black puppy.
When he returned to High Heaven Place previously, Yang Kai had brought the Abyssal Returner with him, and now was the perfect moment for it to show its strength.
Clearly, Ah Wang still had no idea what was going on, but under the stimulation of such rich Demon Qi, she instinctively opened her mouth wide and swallowed almost half of the room in a single bite.
With just one bite, the room was completely cleared. Whether it was the Demon King or the Demon Great Generals, all of them disappeared.
The next moment, Ah Wang’s enormous mouth returned to its original size, whereupon she stretched out her tongue and licked the corner of her mouth. She then turned to Yang Kai and let out a bark, looking at him with puppy eyes as if saying ‘I did a good job, didn’t I’?
Yang Kai just drank the rest of his cup of tea in one go before placing it back down and patting Ah Wang’s head. He then stood up and coldly smirked, sharply staring in a certain direction and muttered, “Idiots.”
As soon as this word left his mouth, his figure flickered and disappeared from sight.
Outside the room, the Fourth Imperial Prince was paying close attention to the movement in Yang Kai’s room with a few Emperor Realm Masters, but rather than the sound of battle, the only thing he heard after the initial clatter was a dog’s bark.
Everyone couldn’t help but look at each other and wonder what was going on?
And… where did a bark come from? Since when was there a dog in the Imperial Palace?
Just as they were racking their brains, a gust of wind brushed past their faces as a figure suddenly appeared before them.
Everyone’s face turned pale in shock as they focused their gaze on this figure, but after they clearly saw who was standing before them, they couldn’t help gasping in horror. The Fourth Imperial Prince even backed away a few steps in fright, almost falling back onto his butt.
Yang Kai proclaimed as he indifferently stared down at him, “Since the Human Sovereign is finding it hard to make up his mind, this King will make the decision for him.”
The Fourth Imperial Prince stuttered in shock, “W-What are you going to do?”
“This King is going to take you all out of this world, you don’t need to thank me for this. It has always been my mission in life to help others!” After having said so, Yang Kai walked in a certain direction in large strides.
The Fourth Imperial Prince was stunned and confused, but soon after, he slowly regained his wits and turned in the direction Yang Kai was walking. The next moment, his expression changed as he shouted, “Damn it! Hurry and inform Imperial Father that Yang Kai is heading towards the Sacred Tree.”