The Sacred Tree was the foundation of Human Imperial City, and it was the blessing of the Sacred Tree that allowed Human Imperial City to stand tall in this realm for a hundred thousand years. It could be said that for the Imperial Family, nothing was more important than the Sacred Tree.
So when the Fourth Imperial Prince realized that Yang Kai was heading towards the Sacred Tree, how could he not panic? Even though he might not have any idea about what Yang Kai was going to do, it would obviously not be good for the Imperial Family.
The news was immediately passed on to the Human Sovereign, who had been paying attention to the things here from the start. The Human Sovereign’s face turned pale in panic when he heard this and hurried towards the Sacred Tree as well. Naturally, many members of the Imperial Family and Masters from the Imperial Palace accompanied him.
Huffing and puffing, over a hundred figures arrived at the location of the Sacred Tree a moment later.
But they all stopped about three hundred metres away from the Sacred Tree.
Because a stone giant covered in sharp barbs and surrounded by evil fire was blocking the road ahead. The stone giant had sharp spikes and was over a dozen metres tall, making it look extremely ferocious. An overwhelmingly sinister aura was radiating from it, making the crowd of Emperor Realm Masters and the Imperial Family members tremble in fright at the mere sight of it.
Naturally, the Human Sovereign had realized that the stone giant was not to be provoked lightly, but what he couldn’t figure out was where this giant had popped out from? He hadn’t even seen a sign of it before now.
But at this moment, this giant was blocking the road ahead, so obviously it was Yang Kai’s helper, and judging by its expression, it was apparent that it had its own sentience.
The Human Sovereign pondered for a moment, but he didn’t immediately attack the Embodiment. Instead, he raised his head and shouted at the nearby Yang Kai, “Senior Yang, it’s quite late, why have you come to this Restricted Area instead of resting?”
Yang Kai, standing under the Sacred Tree, had his hand on its somewhat feeble-looking trunk and remained completely still, as if he hadn’t heard the Human Sovereign’s shout. Before everyone’s eyes, he seemed to be having some kind of resonance with the Sacred Tree as the Sacred Tree was flickering with a green glow. Even Yang Kai’s halo was brightening and dimming with the flickers.
A mysterious aura was spreading into the surroundings at that moment.
The Human Sovereign’s face sank seeing this and slightly raised his hand before swinging it forward.
Zhou Yu Chuan immediately rushed out of the crowd, his Emperor Qi surging as he sent out a flurry of punches at the Embodiment, blotting out the entire sky, causing the space to quiver and shake.
Deafening rumbles immediately followed, but when Zhou Yu Chuan stopped punching, his pupils shrank as he saw the stone giant before him remain completely unharmed. Rather, it smiled at him as a man-sized palm came swinging at him, smacking at him like it was swatting a fly.
Zhou Yu Chuan’s face turned pale as he crossed his arms in order to defend himself from the oncoming palm.
*Hong…*
A deafening explosion rang out as the sound of bones breaking immediately followed. Zhou Yu Chuan’s figure was sent flying as he spurted blood through his nose and mouth, his aura plummeting from the single terrifying blow.
Everyone immediately turned pale.
In terms of cultivation alone, Zhou Yu Chuan was definitely ranked among the top three in the entire Human Imperial City, with the other two top Masters only being his equal. In essence, Zhou Yu Chuan could be regarded as the top Master of Human Imperial City.
But such a Master couldn’t even take a single palm from this stone giant? How strong was this monstrosity? In fact, what was it?
The Human Sovereign’s countenance changed again as he waved his hand, ordering a dozen or so Emperor Realm Masters to go up at once this time. Apparently, he wanted them to deal with the Embodiment as a group; after all, if even Zhou Yu Chuan wasn’t an opponent of this stone giant, then no one in the entire Human Imperial City would be able to defeat it one on one. If they wanted to take it down, they could only rely on the superior numbers.
But before they could act, Yang Kai, who had been standing with his hand on the Sacred Tree’s trunk, suddenly moved. He heaved a soft sigh before he withdrew his hand and indifferently asserted, “Human Sovereign, I have no intention of going to war with this city, I only want to take you out of this world, that’s all.”
Human Sovereign answered in a heavy voice, “This Sovereign appreciates Senior Yang’s kind intentions, but this Sovereign has no intention of leaving this world. I am afraid I’m unworthy of Senior Yang’s benevolence.”
Yang Kai turned around and declared, looking at him with a smile on his face, “If you didn’t want to leave this world before, this King would not have cared; after all, forcefully picked melons aren’t sweet. It’s your business if you wish to remain here, and it has nothing to do with me, but now… if you want to leave, you may leave, and if you do not want to leave, you still must leave, you have no choice in this matter!”
The Human Sovereign immediately turned angry, “Senior Yang just said that forcefully picked melons aren’t sweet; in that case, why insist!?”
Yang Kai smiled, “Forcefully picked melons may not be sweet, but they can still quench one’s thirst!”
[What nonsense is he spouting?] The Imperial Family members were flabbergasted.
“Senior Yang, what exactly do you mean?” The Human Sovereign furrowed his brow. Yang Kai’s strength was extraordinary, as was the strength of the stone giant, but since these two were so powerful, why did he need the people of Human Imperial City? What was his goal in all this? If it was about Saint Techniques, Yang Kai possessed them already and was in no way inferior to the Imperial Family with them. So, the Human Sovereign couldn’t understand why Yang Kai was doing this.
“You will naturally come to understand when we arrive in the outside world.” Yang Kai indifferently declared.
The Human Sovereign shook his head, “It seems Senior Yang insists on forcing us to leave this world without even telling us the reason. Please forgive this Sovereign for declining your offer. If Senior Yang wants to twist our arms, my Imperial Family isn’t afraid to resist. At worst, both of us will suffer mutual destruction.”
Yang Kai smiled disdainfully, “Mutual destruction? You don’t have the ability. If this King wishes for you to do something, you cannot resist.”
Human Sovereign snapped, “Ants may spend their lives eking out their meagre existence, but that does not mean they will just sit back and wait for death when it comes for them.”
Yang Kai agreed, nodding, “Quite so, which is why this King is willing to give you a chance.”
The Human Sovereign frowned and asked, “I would like to hear the details.”
“This King will make a bet with you. If this King can convince the Sacred Tree to leave with me, then I ask Human Sovereign to order the residents of the city to evacuate from this world.”
As soon as he stated this, the crowd of a hundred or so people gawked.
The Human Sovereign, on the other hand, had a drastic change in his expression, “So your goal is the Sacred Tree!”
He had been thinking about what Yang Kai had been plotting this whole time, and now it became apparent that he was aiming for the Sacred Tree! [Yes, if there is anything in Human Imperial City that can make someone like Yang Kai interested, it would only be the Sacred Tree.]
However, if they allowed him to take away the Sacred Tree, Human Imperial City would completely lose its blessing, at which point would there even be a choice to remain in this world? Anyone who stayed, would soon be corrupted by Demon Qi and degenerate into a Demon!
As these thoughts crossed his mind, the Human Sovereign instantly exploded in rage, “In your dreams! Today, we will fight you to the death! You can forget about taking the Sacred Tree with you!”
Yang Kai indifferently looked at him, “Human Sovereign, I’m afraid you misunderstand me. When I said make the Sacred Tree leave with me, I didn’t mean using force, but to let it make a choice itself. If it refuses, I will never force it.”
“Let it make its own choice!?” The Human Sovereign was stunned. [How can the Sacred Tree make a choice? Although the Sacred Tree’s blessing has allowed Human Imperial City to stand tall all this time and has protected the Imperial Family from harm, it has never communicated with anyone. Although it’s certainly alive, it doesn’t have any sentience, so how is it going to make a choice for itself?]
Yang Kai’s words confounded him.
Whereas Yang Kai turned to look at the Sacred Tree, ignoring him, and solemnly stated, “Senior Qing, the Star Boundary is in danger. The Demon Race is invading once more. Senior, please lend us your assistance once again!”
Just as these words left his mouth, rumblings suddenly came from underground like a grand earthquake.
Sensing this, everyone started to look doubtful and uncertain. They looked around, trying to see where the source of these abnormal movements was.
*Hong long long…*
The ground split apart as roots suddenly shot out from the ground, one after another, quickly gathering toward the location of the Sacred Tree.
“Ah, the Sacred Tree…” Fu Yu let out a frightened cry, covering her red lips with her hand, her pretty eyes filled with shock.
The others were equally dumbfounded.
Much to their surprise, the Sacred Tree was moving! The Sacred Tree, which had stood at the centre of Human Imperial City for over a hundred thousand years, had moved because of the words of an outsider!
One by one, the roots converged towards the Sacred Tree as a green halo shone brilliantly. At that moment, the entire Human Imperial City basked in a rich green glow. The crown of the giant tree swayed left and right for a time, causing its leaves to rustle, and in just half the time it would take to boil a cup of tea, the Sacred Tree actually stood uprooted. Its roots had converged under its trunk, forming something akin to legs. It then walked forward, step by step, quickly arriving before where Yang Kai stood.
“Many thanks for your help, Senior!” Yang Kai bowed.
In this world, he was probably the only one who knew the origin of the Sacred Tree in Human Imperial City. Even the Imperial Family of Human Imperial City were probably not clear about it.
The last time Yang Kai came here, he suspected that the Sacred Tree of Human Imperial City might be related to the Evergreen Divine Tree of the ancient era. Senior Qing was the patron saint of that era, and in the final battle, he sacrificed his own life in order to block the passage between the two worlds. It was a tragic scene that Yang Kai witnessed with his own eyes. The sight of Senior Qing’s righteousness was inspiring and worthy of respect.
Today’s Frozen Earth was very likely the battlefield where the Barbarian Race and Demon Race fought their final battle, but more than a hundred thousand years had passed since then, so Yang Kai couldn’t be certain if it was really the same place.
Perhaps Senior Qing didn’t perish back then, but instead left behind a trace of his existence, that grew up again in the Revolving World, sheltering the residents of Human Imperial City for a hundred thousand years!
The current Sacred Tree was like the continuation of Senior Qing’s will and life.
Senior Qing had been willing to sacrifice himself to seal the passage between the two worlds, so how could the Sacred Tree, who had inherited his will, allow the Demon Race to wreak havoc on the Star Boundary without intervening? Yang Kai had already informed this matter to the Sacred Tree first.
Facts proved that he was right. The Sacred Tree indeed made the choice he had expected.
“The Sacred Tree is sentient!” The Human Sovereign murmured in a daze.
The Imperial Family members and the Emperor Realm Masters were tongue-tied and dumbfounded.
“What do you say now?” Yang Kai looked at the Human Sovereign.
The Human Sovereign seemed to have grown over a hundred years older in a flash. Deep resentment and helplessness could be found in between his eyebrows; he resented Yang Kai for actually trying to take them out of this world. The Imperial Family didn’t want to leave. As Yang Kai had said before, they were the lords and masters here. Even if their cultivations weren’t the best, since they were the Imperial Family, they were the noblest existences in Human Imperial City, but what would the Imperial Family amount to after leaving this world?
What he was helpless about was the fact that the Sacred Tree had made its choice, and with that any choice they might have had, disappeared. Without the shelter of the Sacred Tree, the Imperial Family would no longer be the Imperial Family.
“You will destroy Human Imperial City!” The Human Sovereign glared at Yang Kai, grinding his teeth.
Yang Kai indifferently countered, “Human Sovereign, you’re wrong. I am not destroying Human Imperial City. There is no construction without destruction. This King is simply giving you a chance to be reborn.”
“Does Senior Yang insist on doing this?” The Human Sovereign sadly looked at him.
Yang Kai solemnly stated, “The arrow is already drawn, I have no choice but to fire!” After a pause, he continued, “But Human Sovereign need not be worried, even in the outside world, your Imperial Family will still be treated differently, you don’t need to worry about being pushed aside.” He came to the Revolving World this time mainly for the Imperial Family as all of them were already qualified Shamans, especially the Second Princess and Third Prince who were Shaman Kings. The Human Sovereign naturally was a Shaman King too, and a High-Rank Shaman King at that. With their help, the Star Boundary would have fewer casualties in the upcoming wars against the Demon Race.
So Yang Kai was determined to take the Imperial Family away from here from the start.
The Human Sovereign took a deep breath before sighing and asking, “This Sovereign knows that Senior Yang has the means to freely come and go from this world, but do you know how many people there are in my Human Imperial City?”
Yang Kai replied, “If the Human Sovereign is worried that I can’t take everyone away, then there is no need for concern. Let alone a single Human Imperial City, even if there were ten or a hundred of them, I could bring them all away.”
The Small Sealed World had swallowed several Cultivation Stars from Grand Desolation Star Field, so its territory expanded millions of times over and there were currently tens of billions of Humans living inside it. In comparison, the population of Human Imperial City was trifling.
The Human Sovereign, on the other hand, was greatly taken aback, “Does Senior Yang really have such a profound method?”
There were millions of people residing in Human Imperial City, so he really couldn’t think of what method Yang Kai would use to take so many away all at once and even felt that Yang Kai was simply talking nonsense.
Yang Kai earnestly stated, “Then, I request Human Sovereign to wait and see. Let’s say, if I miss a single person in Human Imperial City when we leave, Human Sovereign can fight it out with me and let the stone and jade burn together.”
(TL note: Stone and jade burn together = mutual destruction.)
After Yang Kai had said this, what could the Human Sovereign even say? He was hesitating only because of his unwillingness to leave this world, that’s all, but now that even the Sacred Tree had made a choice to leave, he had no room left to retreat. Without the Sacred Tree, there would be no Human Imperial City.
As such, he powerlessly asked, “When does Senior Yang plan to depart?”
Seeing him finally compromising, Yang Kai also heaved a sigh of relief. If it wasn’t necessary, he didn’t want to openly offend the Imperial Family; after all, he would have to rely on them outside, so it would be bad if their relationship was too hostile. However, he also knew that if this were the case, the Imperial Family wouldn’t have a good impression of him regardless.
But Yang Kai didn’t need to care too much about this as once they reached the outside world, the Great Emperors could be there to deter them. How would they be disobedient then?
“Naturally, the sooner the better. It would be best if Human Sovereign ordered the residents of the city to begin packing now.”
The Human Sovereign agreed, nodding, “Good, this Sovereign will pass on the order. After three days… we will leave this world with Senior Yang.”
“Many thanks, Human Sovereign!” Yang Kai cupped his fists.
The Human Sovereign then left with the members of the Imperial Family and the Imperial Guards, whereas Yang Kai stayed and communicated with the Sacred Tree for a while before leaving.
He didn’t take the Sacred Tree right away; after all, the residents of Human Imperial City had still not evacuated and required its shelter until they had departed.
Since the previous guest room had been destroyed, Zhou Yu Chuan personally arranged another room for Yang Kai and then left. Although he was injured by the Embodiment before, it wasn’t a big problem and he only needed to recuperate for a few days before he would be completely healed. Furthermore, because the Human Sovereign had agreed to Yang Kai’s proposal, Zhou Yu Chuan was feeling more energetic than before as he looked forward to seeing the outside world.
There were millions of people living in Human Imperial City, so it was impossible for them to immediately pack up and leave. The Human Sovereign needed to coordinate things, and the residents also needed time to gather their belongings. Three days was the bare minimum required.
Free and at leisure, Yang Kai entered the Small Sealed World first and set up a site to accommodate the new guests he would be hosting. After these people had entered the Small Sealed World, Yang Kai didn’t plan on letting them out for the time being; after all, it wasn’t a simple matter to help millions of people find new homes and settle, but the Small Sealed World was different. Yang Kai was in complete control of it and could do as he wished inside. It would be very easy to help them settle down in such a world.
With a flash of Yang Kai’s thoughts, the ground trembled and rose as a city suddenly appeared in the empty wilderness. At first glance, it resembled Human Imperial City greatly, but it also had some of Yang Kai’s own designs.
From time to time, Yang Kai would retreat out of the Small Sealed World and scan Human Imperial City with his Divine Sense, observing the structure and layout of Human Imperial City. Then, he would enter the Small Sealed World again to modify the new city.
In just two days, the new Human Imperial City was basically complete. The city was located on fertile ground and there were other cities nearby as well, which would ensure that the residents of Human Imperial City would not feel lonely after settling here.
One night, while he was constructing the new Human Imperial City, Yang Kai heard a knock at his door.
After checking things with his Divine Sense, a weird look appeared on Yang Kai’s face as he stopped doing what he was doing and called out, “Enter.”
The door was pushed open and a beautiful figure walked in, carrying a tray in her hand with some fragrant delicacies on it. The visitor turned around and closed the door before bowing to Yang Kai and greeting in a gentle voice, “Senior Yang.”
“Princess Yu!” Yang Kai looked at her with a profound gaze, “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company in the middle of night?”
The visitor was none other than the second daughter of the Human Sovereign. In the Imperial Family, her aptitude was outstanding. She was a Shaman King too, albeit a Low-Rank one, as well as a Second-Order Emperor, making her even stronger than the Third Imperial Prince.
Fu Yu seemed to be especially dressed up today. She looked brighter and more appealing than usual. Her light green one-piece completely highlighted her graceful figure, giving her an elegant charm. Her snow-white bosom was also peeking out of her dress a little, and her arms were completely exposed. From the scent wafting from her body, it was apparent she had just taken a shower, her hair still slightly damp, tantalizing the imagination.
Hearing his question, Fu Yu smiled as she approached, carrying the tray, squatted down, and placed it on the table before Yang Kai. While she uncovered the dishes on the tray and served them out one by one, she stated, “Senior, Yu’er noticed that you have not left your room for the past few days and decided to personally cook a meal and deliver it to you. I hope it suits Senior’s taste.”
When she was placing the dishes on the table, her body leaned forward slightly, allowing Yang Kai a peak into the depths of a great mountain valley.
Yang Kai suddenly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry…
[Are you planning to use soft tactics after the hard ones failed?]
He also knew that the Human Sovereign could no longer haggle with him on the matter of leaving this world, but perhaps, the Human Sovereign was still worried about whether he would be harshly treated outside, so he planned on using this method to win Yang Kai over. Otherwise, how could Princess Fu Yu do such a thing, especially considering the relationship between her and Yang Kai prior to this was akin to mortal enemies.
Thinking of this, Yang Kai praised with a smile, “Princess Yu is truly thoughtful, but it is a surprise to learn Princess Yu has such skills.”
Fu Yu looked at him and added as a smile bloomed on her lips, “I’m afraid it won’t suit Senior’s appetite.” While speaking, she raised a jug and filled Yang Kai’s glass before using an inviting gesture as she suggested, “Senior, please have a taste.”
Yang Kai picked up the chopsticks and took a bite of the food before he had a sip of the wine. Naturally, he wasn’t parsimonious in his praises, causing a big smile to appear on Fu Yu’s lips after hearing them. After the initial round, she continued pouring wine and serving the dishes diligently.
After three rounds of wine and five rounds of tasting, the atmosphere in the room became more relaxed and harmonious. When Fu Yu noticed that Yang Kai wasn’t putting on any airs and was actually quite easy to get along with, she boldly asked, “Senior, what is the outside world like? Yu’er has never been outside, so she is a little anxious.”
Yang Kai put down the chopsticks and replied, smiling, “What are you afraid of?”
Fu Yu pursed her lips as an innocent and naïve expression filled her face, “Everyone says that there are many fearsome people outside who will immediately resort to force if one does not agree with them. Yu’er’s cultivation is low and she does not know if she will be able to protect herself after going outside.”
Yang Kai broke into laughter as he explained, “There are indeed many fearsome people outside, and many times, people really do attack if someone doesn’t agree with them.”
Fu Yu’s beautiful face immediately turned pale, “The rumours are true!?”
Yang Kai continued, “But Princess Yu does not need to worry about such things. Your cultivation can still be considered among the upper-middle-class, so you will have enough strength to protect yourself.”
“Upper-middle-class… that’s not very high.” Fu Yu looked worried.
Yang Kai, glancing over and assured her, “Don’t worry, when your Imperial Family reaches the outside world, powerful Masters will accompany you and deal with any kind of threat; they won’t let anything happen to you.”
Fu Yu blinked her big and bright eyes as she asked, “Why?”
Yang Kai slowly shook his head, putting on an air of mystery. Fu Yu felt quite annoyed in her heart seeing this, but she couldn’t force him either, so she resorted to pouring more wine, as if she was just waiting for Yang Kai to get drunk so she could pry some useful information out of him.
But how could it be that easy to get Yang Kai drunk? In the end, he ate up all the side dishes and drank several jugs of potent wine without even a change in expression.
In desperation, Fu Yu could only propose, “It’s getting late, doesn’t Senior Yang want to take a… rest?” When she said this, she lowered her head as if she didn’t dare to directly look into Yang Kai’s eyes.
Yang Kai deeply gazed at her and seeing her becoming fidgety and ill at ease, he finally opened his mouth, “En, it is getting late, Princess Yu should return to her own room and have a rest.”
Fu Yu immediately got up, packed up the dishes, bowed and bid her farewell as if she had received a pardon, “Then Yu’er will take her leave.” She turned around and bolted out of the door.
“Princess Yu!” Yang Kai suddenly called her out.
Fu Yu’s tender figure trembled before she looked back, forcing a shadow of a smile onto her face, “What else can I do for, Senior?”
Yang Kai looked at her with a smile, “I dare not guarantee anything else, but there are countless young geniuses in the outside world. I believe Princess Yu can find one who will treat her well.”
Fu Yu was momentarily taken aback, but Yang Kai’s words had truly kindled her expectations. She responded back with a smile, “Many thanks for your kind words, Senior.” She then exited the room, closed the door, and left right away.
Not long after, outside the bedroom of the Human Sovereign, Fu Yu went to report the development of this trip. Hearing that Yang Kai had no intention of letting Fu Yu sleep with him, the Human Sovereign couldn’t help but sigh.
Naturally, he had asked Fu Yu to go over so late at night with such intentions. He knew nothing about the outside world, so now he could only rely on Yang Kai and naturally thought to tie him to their Imperial Family in some way.
If Fu Yu and Yang Kai had done the deed tonight, then he wouldn’t have to worry about Yang Kai not taking care of his Imperial Family later. Unfortunately, Yang Kai wasn’t tempted, making the Human Sovereign feel rather helpless.
“Imperial Father, I don’t think that Senior Yang is actually such a bad man. He might not have ill intentions for taking us outside.”
The Human Sovereign stated, “He did everything possible to take our Imperial Family out of this world, so he must need something from us, but this Sovereign currently can’t guess his thoughts. I expected you to inquire about one or two things from him, but in the end, we learned nothing.”
“Daughter is incompetent…” Fu Yu bit her cherry red lips.
“Forget it. If it is a blessing, it is not a curse, and if it is a curse, it can’t be avoided. When we have reached the outside, we will know exactly what he wants.” The Human Sovereign heaved a long sigh before he sent her away, waving his hand, “You can leave.”
Three days went by in a flash. In the main square of Human Imperial City, hundreds of thousands of people were gathering from every direction, bringing their families together with them.
At the head of the square, a pitch-black corridor was quietly hovering mid-air, like an invisible beast with its jaws wide open. No matter how many people walked in, it could devour them clean.
The entrance was naturally the entrance to the Sealed World Bead. It was simpler and more convenient for Yang Kai to make a visible entrance for others to walk into rather than him trying to move millions of people by himself into the Small Sealed World.
The Imperial Family members’ scrutinizing gazes kept lingering at the entrance. Obviously, they were trying to know what the Hell it was that could swallow so many people, but Yang Kai hadn’t given them an explanation, and they couldn’t ask him for one either.
Time ticked by, bit by bit.
It took an entire day and night for Yang Kai to move all the residents of Human Imperial City, sending them directly to the new Human Imperial City he had crafted inside the Sealed World Bead.
These few million people would thrive in the Small Sealed World and no longer have to be affected by the strange Principles of the Revolving World.
The Imperial Family and Emperor Realm Masters were also taken in, but Yang Kai had placed them in a separate place as they would still be needed in the Two Worlds Great War. The end of their journey was naturally not limited to the Small Sealed World.
In addition, Yang Kai had transplanted the Sacred Tree to the medicine garden, forming a triangle with the Immortal and Firmament Tree.
Everything was now set and the former city was devoid of a single figure. The Revolving World, which had remained unchanged for over a hundred thousand years, had now completely transformed because of the arrival of Yang Kai.
Yang Kai then rose into the air before flying towards the horizon. Naturally, he was heading towards Demon Fury City and the exit of this world.
After another day, Yang Kai arrived above Demon Fury City and looking down, he summoned the Abyssal Returner with the wave of his hand and let her loose.
Ah Wang’s eyes suddenly lit up as her little figure shot towards the city, leaving a long black streak of light behind her.
After a moment, Demon Fury City fell into chaos. Countless Demon Race members fled in all directions as they screamed in panic. On the other hand, the Abyssal Returner’s mouth opened wide and wherever she went, Demons disappeared; all of them were sucked into her stomach.
Worthy of being the nemesis of the Demon Race, even the strongest Demon Kings were no match for Ah Wang.
When Yang Kai came here last time, he was eager to find an exit and leave this world, so he didn’t bother to pay attention to the Demon Race in Demon Fury City, but this time, he wouldn’t show any mercy. The Demon Race had already invaded the Star Boundary, and if the Demons in this place somehow managed to escape from here and reach the Star Boundary, it was clear who would suffer.
The Abyssal Returner wreaked havoc in the city for a day, reducing the Demon population by a staggering eighty percent. Some fishes had slipped through the net, but Yang Kai couldn’t be bothered to hunt them all down, so he simply grabbed Ah Wang and flew towards the exit.
Just like last time, biting-cold winds that could freeze even the Soul flew from the entrance. Even Yang Kai couldn’t last long in this environment.
However, Ah Wang easily opened the way for Yang Kai, so he did not suffer even slightly.
The oncoming cold wind was completely swallowed up by Ah Wang and disappeared into her belly. Last time, Yang Kai, Zhu Qing, and the others were only able to leave this world with the help of Ah Wang.
After travelling upwind for some unknown period of time, Yang Kai felt Space Principles fluctuations coming from ahead.
After knowing that he had arrived at the exit, he picked up Ah Wang and leapt into the Void Crack without wasting another moment.
Swimming through the Void, Yang Kai retraced his old steps and once again felt the aura of the two Great Worlds, the Star Boundary and the Demon Realm. In other words, the Revolving World was connected to both Great Worlds.
It was just like the Small World where he found Lan Xun and the others.
Suddenly, he remembered that the last time he left the Revolving World, he travelled directly to the Western Territory, and the now-shattered Small World was also located in the Western Territory. Could there be some mysterious relationship between the two?
If that was the case, perhaps the Star Boundary would have to keep watch on the Frozen Earth too; lest the Demon Race invade the Northern Territory though there.
Following the Star Boundary’s aura all the way, Yang Kai tore open the weakened World Barrier and saw a familiar light ahead.
But what he saw next made Yang Kai tightly furrow his brow.
The surroundings were completely bleak and desolate. If it was just that, it would have been all fine and good. The Western Territory was a bit more barren and desolate than the other territories, but what Yang Kai found odd was the fact that the surroundings were actually filled with Demon Qi. This place had already been reduced to a Demon land.
Not far away, there was a team of Demons patrolling the region, the leader of which was a Demon Great General.
The sudden appearance of Yang Kai had undoubtedly alarmed this group and the Demons immediately turned their attention to Yang Kai’s location. The Demon Great General, the team leader, grinned at Yang Kai as his figure surged with a bloody glow as he flew over in a flash.
A nauseating blood aura blew against Yang Kai’s face, one that seemed to be able to affect one’s mental state.
Blood Demon Clan!
This was a common method used by the Blood Demons against their enemies and was usually quite effective. Even if the two sides had equal strength, a Blood Demon’s opponent who was contaminated by this aura would have their vitality disturbed, making it hard for them to exert their full power in combat.
Yang Kai, however, just raised his brow and slowly stretched his hand forward before clasping the air.
The Blood Demon’s fleeting figure suddenly appeared right before Yang Kai, his eyes bulging wide as horror filled his face. The Blood Demon struggled hard, but having been pinched by Yang Kai by his neck, he naturally couldn’t free himself.
A team of Demon soldiers following the Blood Demon Great General abruptly halted their footsteps. Since even the Demon Great General who led them was easily captured by this Human, how could these common soldiers be his opponent? Demons may be brutal and fearless, but they weren’t fools. Every living being instinctively sought fortune and avoided misfortune, so this team of Demons naturally made the wisest choice they could in this situation.
Yang Kai didn’t make any small talk either as he simply exerted a bit of strength, causing the captured Blood Demon to explode into a blood mist. Yang Kai had his entire body protected by Emperor Qi, so not a drop of blood touched him.
When the team of Demons saw this and immediately turned around and fled, not hesitating for even a moment.
Yang Kai coldly snorted as he smacked down a palm, causing a giant palm print to descend from the sky and flatten the fleeing Demons into paste.
Such a group was really nothing in the eyes of the current Yang Kai and he was capable of destroying them at his leisure, but Yang Kai found the current situation a little off.
Instead of using a Space Beacon to immediately rendezvous with his allies, Yang Kai rose into the air and began flying east. He wanted to see what changes had taken place in the Western Territory with his own eyes.
It had only been a short while since he left, a month or two at most, with the majority of his time spent searching for the entrance to the Revolving World, otherwise, he would have returned sooner.
A month or two should have been a very short period of time, but the Star Boundary’s situation had changed far too much. After all, the seven Great Emperors had already stepped in, which should have been enough to stabilize the situation.
The farther he flew, though, the uglier Yang Kai’s expression became. Everywhere he passed by, it was nothing but Demon land, making him feel like he hadn’t returned home to the Star Boundary but had instead dived into the Demon Realm.
How big was the Demon land now? Although the Demon land had covered a vast area before, spanning a couple hundred thousand kilometres, that was all. But now, it seemed far greater in scope.
[Could it be that the Great Emperors weren’t able to prevent the situation from worsening?]
The more he investigated, the more frightened Yang Kai became. The Demon land now spanned over a vast territory, with all the cities and villages he came across having become a paradise for the Demon Race. In some places, the Demon Qi was soaring straight to the sky, making it visible to the naked eye, indicating the presence of many powerful Demons.
After half a day, another city appeared before Yang Kai, but after taking a closer look at it, he finally heaved a sigh of relief. The city wasn’t corrupted by the Demon Qi at all and remained safe and sound. If not for this, Yang Kai would have really thought that he had entered the Demon Realm.
But soon, Yang Kai noticed something else.
Demon Qi was concentrated about a hundred kilometres away from the city. An army of the Demons had clearly set up camp there, one that was densely packed with more Demons than could be quickly counted. With a sweep of his Divine Sense, Yang Kai estimated that there were a few hundred thousand enemy troops now laying siege to the city.
Even if he hadn’t entered the city yet, Yang Kai could feel the panic of the residents already.
Slightly furrowing his brow, he flew straight towards the city.
After a while, Yang Kai arrived at the border of this unfamiliar city and swept a glance across its main gate where he saw two words carved in large characters, ‘Tiger Roar’.
This may be the name of the city. But at this moment, Tiger Roar City was in a state of full alert.
The city walls were patrolled by numerous cultivators and its City Defending Barrier was activated.
Seeing Yang Kai’s figure, the patrollers took a defensive stance, as if they were about to face a terrible foe, but after noticing no trace of Demon Qi radiating from Yang Kai, they couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief and shout, “Who goes there, identify yourself!”
“Yang Kai of the Northern Territory’s High Heaven Palace!” Yang Kai answered back aloud.
Yang Kai was somewhat famous in the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Territories, especially in the South and North as it was almost to the point where everyone had heard of him, but in the Western Territory, not many people knew his name. The cultivator who was shouting was obviously from the Western Territory, so he had no idea who the hell Yang Kai was. However, these days, many cultivators from other Territories had come to the Western Territory to fight the invading Demon Race alongside the natives, and High Heaven Palace had also made great contributions and earned a little fame for itself, to the extent that the shouting cultivator had heard of it as well.
So when Yang Kai reported himself like this, the man didn’t dare to take him lightly. He replied, cupping his hands, “Sir, please give me a moment, we need to confirm your identity.”
Yang Kai nodded in acknowledgement, quietly waiting as he began investigating the Demon Race army a hundred kilometres away.
Within thirty breaths, the man who had previously shouted returned to the city wall and exclaimed, “Open the Array!”
Immediately, a streak of light shot out from an Array Jade held by someone as a gap in the defensive Array of the city appeared, through which Yang Kai promptly entered.
Someone then approached Yang Kai and greeted him, cupped his fists, and bowed, “Greetings, Senior Yang.”
Yang Kai nodded in return.
The man continued, “I request Senior Yang quickly visit the City Lord’s Mansion. The other Seniors are respectfully awaiting your presence to discuss some important affairs.”
Yang Kai asked, furrowing his brow, “Who?”
The man slightly smiled, “This lowly one dares not utter the Seniors’ names, lest I somehow offend them. Senior Yang will know when he arrives.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai didn’t press the issue. In any case, he would understand soon enough, and under the lead of another person, he made his way to the City Lord’s Mansion.
The City Lord’s Mansion was located at the very centre of Tiger Roar City. This city was smaller than Human Imperial City with a permanent population of roughly 200,000 to 300,000.
Yang Kai flew along with the cultivator leading the way, but even before he could reach the City Lord’s Mansion, he felt a few familiar auras there and suddenly understood as a smile appeared on his face.
After entering the City Lord’s Mansion, he unsurprisingly saw several familiar faces standing there.
Li Jiao was the first to welcome him, cupping his fists and greeting, “Brother Yang!”
Gao Xue Ting also lightly nodded to him while Chi Gui pursed his lips into a grin, “Since Brother Yang is here, we can then sit back and relax. We will finally get a good night’s sleep tonight.”
Surprisingly, Emperor Realm Masters from each of the three other territories of the Star Boundary were gathered in this small Tiger Roar City. Apart from these three though, there were another three Emperors present, one in the Second Order while the other two were First Order, but Yang Kai didn’t recognize any of them. Judging by their clothes though, these three should be cultivators of the Western Territory, perhaps the original Masters from Tiger Roar City.
Yang Kai nodded with a smile, greeting his three friends one by one before he turned his attention to the three unfamiliar Emperors, asking, “These are…”
Li Jiao hurriedly pointed to the Second-Order Emperor Realm Master and introduced him, “This is the City Lord of Tiger Roar City, Lin Tong.” Then he pointed to the other two and introduced them, “These are the Vice City Lords of Tiger Roar City, Wu Zi Jin and Ma Yin.”
Then he introduced him to the other three, “This is High Heaven Palace’s Palace Master, Yang Kai, the one this Li has mentioned from time to time.”
The trio’s faces immediately turned respectful as they cupped their fists, “Greetings, Palace Master Yang.”
In the world of the Martial Dao, strength mattered more than anything else. Among everyone present in Tiger Roar City, these three weren’t even the strongest, as that title belonged to Li Jiao, a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master, yet Li Jiao was actually acting extremely polite and respectful towards Yang Kai, so how could they dare be neglectful? Not to mention, they had heard Li Jiao praising Yang Kai not just once over the past month. What’s more, it was a fact that the Demon Race Army was besieging Tiger Roar City, so another Emperor Realm Master increased their chances of protecting themselves.
Of these three, City Lord Lin Tong and Vice City Lord Wu Zi Jin were male, while the other Vice City Lord, Ma Yin was female. She had all the characteristic features of a Western Territory cultivator; a tall nose, big eyes, a tall stature, and long hair tied in a ponytail, which coupled with her martial attire, emphasized her waist and hips. Along with her exotic fashion and the Emperor Realm cultivation, she easily evoked a man’s desire to conquer her.
Yang Kai cupped his fists and greeted the trio before turning to Li Jiao and asking, “Why are you here?”
Li Jiao heaved a sigh after hearing this and muttered, “It’s a long story.”
“What happened?” Yang Kai furrowed his brow, “As I was making my way here, I saw that the Demon land had expanded greatly. Could it be that the Great Emperors failed to contain the situation? What’s the state of the Western Territory now?”
Gao Xue Ting replied, “About half of the Western Territory has been occupied while the Demon Race continued to encroach the remaining half.”
Yang Kai was greatly taken aback and asked in shock, “How is that possible?”
Li Jiao explained, “The Great Emperors have withdrawn, and the Demon Race has been aggressively attacking. The enemy had planned everything out long in advance and made ample preparations, so we weren’t their opponent. We could only put up a resistance as we withdrew our forces.”
Yang Kai was shocked, “Why did the Great Emperors remove themselves?”
Li Jiao replied, shaking his head, “I have no idea either, but I heard that the Great Emperors came to some kind of agreement with the Demon Saints of the Demon Realm that neither side would take any action. Only the Masters below the Great Emperors and Demon Saints would fight, so in this war of two worlds, I’m afraid the Great Emperors will not be able to help us anymore.”
Yang Kai tightly furrowed his brow.
Gao Xue Ting added, “The Great Emperors were forced to do so. If they were to really fight the Demon Saints, the situation would have only gotten worse. Now that the strongest forces of both sides are in check, it is the best possible situation.” Although her cultivation wasn’t as high as Li Jiao’s, she seemed to know more about the situation than he did.
The Great Emperors and the Demon Saints were Masters on the same level, and if they really fought, the fallout alone would immensely damage the Star Boundary. Perhaps the aftermath of their battle would cause countless casualties on both sides.
Besides, if the Demon Saints really decided to run to the depths of the Star Boundary and commit all kinds of outrage, the Great Emperors might not be able to easily stop them.
Now that both sides had come to an agreement that they wouldn’t make a move, it was indeed the best possible scenario, because this was beneficial to the Star Boundary.
After thinking about this, Yang Kai’s expression eased a little and he voiced his thoughts in a grim voice, “It’s not difficult to understand that the Great Emperors made such an agreement, but why would the Demon Saints agree?”
Gao Xue Ting explained, “The Demon Saints aren’t sure that they will be able to defeat the Great Emperors. What’s more, they have already regarded the Star Boundary as their own territory, so they don’t want to wreck it.”
“Greedy bastards!” Yang Kai coldly snorted, pausing for a moment before asking, “So to say, we can only rely on ourselves now?”
“That’s right.” Gao Xue Ting nodded, “Furthermore, because a large part of the Western Territory has already been occupied, the front line has been infinitely stretched, scattering the reinforcements from the three territories far and wide. We were dispatched here to oversee things.”
Yang Kai slowly understood. Previously, he was still wondering why the three of them were here, but now it became apparent that they were assigned to this position. Since the front line was stretched, reinforcements from the three territories naturally had to be split to deal with them. Although gathering everyone at one place would boost their strength, they would be unable to contain the movements of the Demon Race.
After thinking for a while, Yang Kai asked, “When I arrived here, I saw a Demon Race Army stationed a hundred kilometres away. There were at least 300,000 to 400,000 of them. Can Tiger Roar City defend itself?”
Li Jiao replied with a bitter smile, “Relying on the might of the Defense Array, and if we gather the strength of the entire city and the reinforcements brought by the three of us, we have a fifty-fifty chance.”
It wasn’t that Li Jiao was trying to reduce morale and lower his own prestige, rather it was the size of the Demon Race Army was just too big. Tiger Roar City had a population of a few hundred thousand men and women, that’s all, and not everyone could fight against the Demon Race Army. A large part of the populace had no combat power at all so they weren’t even qualified to be fodder.
“How many people can fight here?” Yang Kai asked.
“At the very most, 50,000 can fight.”
50,000 vs 300,000-400,000, it was indeed a massive gap. Although Yang Kai could set up a Space Array, he might be unable to mobilize reinforcements from other places in this situation. If Tiger Roar City was facing this kind of predicament, other places would surely be facing similar crises.
“How many Emperor Realm Masters do we have?” Yang Kai asked again.
Li Jiao replied, “Apart from us, there are four others in the city.”
Yang Kai nodded in acknowledgement. In other words, there were a total of eleven Emperors in the city, so there shouldn’t be that much difference in terms of Masters between the two sides. It might look that the Demon Race had 300,000-400,000 men on their side, but the number of Demon Kings should not be that many. It might not be impossible to hold the line.
In addition, although Yang Kai seemed alone, he in fact had the Masters of Human Imperial City in the Small Sealed World with him.
Right then, Vice City Lord Wu Zi Jin suddenly suggested, “Everyone, Tiger Roar City might not be able to hold on, should we not make other plans in advance?”
Everyone focused their gazes on him, while Yang Kai asked, “Brother Wu, what wonderful plan do you have in mind?”
Wu Zi Jin calmly smiled and explained, “I’m not worthy of such honour. It’s just that there are many on the Demon Race side, while Tiger Roar has fewer on its side. If the city is really breached, this Wu fears that all its citizens will be left with no way to survive. This Wu suggests we find a way for them to leave before the fight, lest they be slaughtered by the Demon Race.”
Li Jiao rebuked, frowning, “Brother Wu, we haven’t even fought yet, and the Demon Race Army is still a hundred kilometres away, how can you assume that we will certainly lose? Previously, our odds were just 50-50, but now that Brother Yang has arrived, our odds of winning are as high as 80-20. Not to mention a few hundred thousand, even if there were a million on the Demon Race side, it would not change anything.”
Li Jiao was angered slightly now. He and the others had come all the way from the other three territories to support the Western Territory, to ease the situation here and halt the Demon Race’s advance. The reinforcements side still hadn’t said anything, but Wu Zi Jin, the Vice City Lord of Tiger Roar City was acting timid before the battle, which naturally annoyed Li Jiao.
If they really followed Wu Zi Yin’s plans, then their defence would definitely be thrown into turmoil. At that time, it would be really troublesome to decide who would remain and who would evacuate. Before the Demon Race even attacked, their side would be bogged down with infighting.
Wu Zi Jin hurriedly corrected, “Senior Li, please calm your anger. This Wu was just speaking thoughtlessly. If Senior Li believes it is inappropriate, please treat this Wu’s words as a joke.”
Li Jiao stated with a cold snort, “It’s better to avoid making this kind of joke.”
Wu Zi Jin looked embarrassed but didn’t say anything anymore.
On the other hand, Ma Yin glanced at Yang Kai with her beautiful sparkling eyes a few times, not having expected Li Jiao to hold Yang Kai in such high esteem! The odds that were 50-50 at best in the beginning had turned into 80-20, and just because of the arrival of a single man. Was that really possible?
Seeing that the atmosphere wasn’t right, City Lord Lin Tong hurriedly stood up and intervened, “While the Demon Race has still not attacked, this Old Master thinks that it’s better to monitor their movements for the time being. If they really move, the sooner we know the more time we will have to mobilize our forces.”
Li Jiao agreed, nodding, “City Lord Lin is right.”
Gao Xue Ting proposed, looking at Yang Kai, “It would be even better if we could bring in some reinforcements. With our current strength, it will still be a little difficult to fight off the Demon Race.”
Yang Kai nodded, “Leave that to me.”
Even if Gao Xue Ting hadn’t proposed this, Yang Kai had also intended to give it a try. It would be best if they could get some reinforcements, but if that wasn’t possible, there was nothing he could do. Furthermore, the Shamans he had brought back had to be assigned as well. Since he had brought them back after so much effort, it was only natural to put them to use right away. There were twenty to thirty members of the Imperial Family, and five of them were Shaman Kings. There was no need to assign all of them in Tiger Roar City as just Yang Kai alone would be enough for now.
After forging another Space Beacon and handing it to Gao Xue Ting, Yang Kai exhorted, “If there is any movement on the Demon Race’s side, let me know as soon as possible.”
“Good.” Gao Xue Ting earnestly nodded as she tied the Space Beacon to her wrist.
The next moment, Yang Kai’s figure flickered and disappeared out of everyone’s sight.
Lin Tong and the others were flabbergasted at the sight of his astonishing methods…
About over a hundred thousand kilometres away, Yang Kai suddenly appeared outside another city, but before he could regain his senses, a wave of fearsome power was already sweeping towards him, immediately causing him to have the feeling of being a duckweed caught in a storm, like he had lost control over his own body.
Yang Kai was stunned. Although this blast of energy wasn’t as strong as a Great Emperor’s blow, it was on par with a Pseudo-Great Emperor’s attack.
Yang Kai hurriedly pushed his Emperor Qi as he thrust his palm backwards.
A deafening bang immediately followed as a fearsome shockwave spread in every direction. Meanwhile, Yang Kai was sent flying a thousand metres before he finally stabilized himself with great difficulty, his palm aching.
As he looked up, he saw a burly figure already swooping down at him, and as expected, it was a tower-like member of the Demon Race. The aura emanating from him was several times stronger than that of a Demon King and he was furiously glaring at Yang Kai with a menacing look on his face.
[A Pseudo-Great Emperor level Demon!?] Yang Kai was left dumbfounded.
Space Principle fluctuations suddenly rose as a figure appeared before Yang Kai, protecting him. The figure punched forward forcing the Pseudo-Great Emperor level Demon back before he turned around and looked at Yang Kai asking, “Are you alright?”
Li Wu Yi!
Yang Kai wasn’t surprised by this man’s presence; after all, he had used the Space Beacon to teleport to Li Wu Yi’s side, but how could he have known that Li Wu Yi would be locked in a heated battle with a Demon Race Master at that exact moment.
“No harm!” Yang Kai slowly shook his head.
Li Wu Yi suggested, “Step aside first, we can talk in a bit.”
After saying that, Li Wu Yi charged at the Demon Race Master again and, in a flash, the two were locked in a raging battle. Li Wu Yi was known as the strongest Master beneath the Great Emperor in the Star Boundary. He was a Master of the Dao of Space and had a Pseudo-Great Emperor Realm cultivation, making his position dignified and aloof. The Demon Race Master was also pretty good, but clearly, he wasn’t Li Wu Yi’s opponent.
However, this Demon should be part of the Strength Demon Clan, so his tall and stalwart body with a thick skin and robust muscles provided him an outstanding defence. Although Li Wu Yi occupied an advantage in the fight, he didn’t have any method to end it in short order.
Not only were these two Masters fighting each other to the death, but nearly a million Star Boundary cultivators and Demon Race members were also locked in battle across a huge battlefield. Someone was losing his or her life every moment while some thirty kilometres away stood a city with a glittering Array shielding it.
Yang Kai knew in his heart that the situation here was almost the same as Tiger Roar City, with a contingent of Star Boundary cultivators facing off against a Demon Race Army, but the war here had already broken out whereas the Demon Race was still just eyeing and waiting for an opportunity on Tiger Roar City’s side.
Understanding the situation, Yang Kai naturally couldn’t stand still. He hurriedly summoned the Myriads Sword and rushed into the enemy lines, cleaving through multiple enemies wherever he passed.
The Demon Race Army here was much bigger than the one outside Tiger Roar City, and it possessed far more Masters as well. There was even a Pseudo-Great Emperor-level existence leading the charge; fortunately, there was only one such Master while the rest were just Demon Kings.
With his current strength, Yang Kai was naturally not afraid of any Demon in the Demon King Realm, so he charged headlong into the enemy lines and went on a killing spree, like an unstoppable rampaging bull no one could block.
After half a day, both sides finally signalled for a withdrawal, leaving countless dead bodies littering the ground. Although the Star Boundary had suffered a huge amount of casualties, the Demon Race’s side didn’t fare any better. Li Wu Yi had no intention of pursuing the enemy; after all, he didn’t have an absolute advantage here, so he simply ordered his forces to return to the city and recuperate.
In the City Lord’s Mansion, Li Wu Yi cleaned himself and wore a new set of clothes before he spoke with Yang Kai.
“Senior Li, what’s the situation with the Great Emperors?” Yang Kai eagerly wanted to know what agreement the Great Emperors and the Demon Saints had come to that removed both sides from the war.
Li Wu Yu replied, “Have you heard about it?”
Yang Kai explained with a nod, “I just came from Tiger Roar City, where I met Li Jiao, Senior Sister Gao, and a few others.”
Li Wu Yi nodded, “Then they must have explained the reason to you. En, it’s probably similar to what they said.”
“Is there another reason?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
Li Wu Yi nodded, “The other reason is Senior Bright Moon.”
“I hope Senior Li can dispel my doubts,” Yang Kai earnestly requested.
Li Wu Yi heaved a sigh, “Senior Bright Moon seems to be trapped somewhere in the Demon Realm, and those Demon Saints said that if the Great Emperors dared to take action, they would turn back to the Demon Realm and eliminate Senior Bright Moon first. Conversely, if the Great Emperors stood back and watched, they too wouldn’t make any rash moves.”
Yang Kai furrowed his brow after hearing this, “So to say, this proposal was made by the Demon Realm first?”
Li Wu Yi replied, “Exactly. The Great Emperors had no choice either. The only reason Senior Bright Moon remained in the Demon Realm was to let the other three Seniors escape. His sense of duty and willingness to sacrifice himself is to be admired and respected. Now that Senior Bright Moon is in a precarious situation, the other Seniors naturally couldn’t just ignore his plight. If they really compelled those Demon Saints to deal with Senior Bright Moon, it would definitely end in tragedy no matter how strong he is; after all, he is trapped in the Demon Realm.”
Yang Kai looked puzzled and asked, “But what would the Demon Saints gain by proposing this? They came here to conquer the Star Boundary, so why would they tie their own hands and feet?” They could gather their entire strength and easily deal with or capture Bright Moon Great Emperor, so what was the advantage of them stalling for time?
Li Wu Yi slowly shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know the entire story either. Although he could get more information than most, his knowledge was still limited.
Yang Kai pondered for a while before asking, “What are the Great Emperors thinking? Did they agree willingly or begrudgingly?”
“They have decided to see how the situation develops for now,” Li Wu Yi replied.
“What if Senior Bright Moon could escape?”
Li Wu Yi slowly shook his head, “It’s far too difficult!”
“What if…” Yang Kai looked at him with a scorching gaze.
Li Wu Yi added, “There is no smoke without fire. Although the proposal made by the Demon Saints seems beneficial to the Star Boundary, it is definitely more beneficial to the Demon Realm somehow. If Senior Bright Moon could really escape, I believe that the Great Emperors would take action again. But now, no one knows just what is going on in the Demon Realm, not even the Great Emperors.”
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed as he fell into contemplation.
Li Wu Yi then suggested, “Let’s stop talking about this. We can let the Great Emperors worry about Senior Bright Moon. They should have their own plans on how to deal with it. Let’s talk about you. Didn’t you say that you were going to the Frozen Earth? Why did you come back so soon? How did it go?”
Yang Kai pursed his lips into a smile, “Fortunately I didn’t fail in my mission!”
Li Wu Yi’s eyes lit up after hearing this, “Where are they?”
Yang Kai waved his hand as figures appeared in the hall, one after another. In the blink of an eye, more than a hundred more people were standing there.
After the Human Sovereign and others appeared, they looked completely confused. They were at a loss and had no idea what their situation was. On the other hand, Li Wu Yi’s eyes brightened as he swept them over this crowd. He then excitedly asked, “Are all of them…?”
He knew why Yang Kai was going to the Frozen Earth, so when he saw over a hundred men and women standing before him, he thought that they were all Shamans.
Yang Kai failed to stifle his laughter though as he corrected him, “Only the Imperial Family is. There are probably only about twenty of them. The others aren’t.”
The Human Sovereign and the others appeared confused and all turned their heads after hearing the conversation between Yang Kai and Li Wu Yi.
Yang Kai introduced things to them, gazing at them, “Everyone, this is the outside world, but the situation is a little different from what you may have expected. This world is now being invaded by the Demon Race, so we need your strength to repel them, especially those of you from the Imperial Family.”
The corners of the Human Sovereign’s lips twitched after hearing this. He had already known that Yang Kai didn’t have any good intentions for coming to Human Imperial City, but he had never been able to guess what Yang Kai’s intentions were. Now though, realization had dawned upon him.
[So it turns out that the outside world is no different than the Revolving World, being corrupted by the Demon Race! That damned Yang Kai came to Human Imperial City and forcibly took away my Imperial Family for our Sacred Techniques!]
But since his fists were smaller, even if the Human Sovereign was dissatisfied, he didn’t dare to voice his anger; after all, this was no longer Human Imperial City. He thus affirmed with a sullen expression on his face, “Senior Yang, please don’t worry, my Imperial Family will definitely dedicate ourselves to the mission.”
A satisfied smile immediately appeared on Yang Kai’s face. If the Human Sovereign was disobedient, Yang Kai had planned to make him see reason and threaten him a little, but much to his surprise, this old man was quite flexible in his thinking, which saved him a lot of trouble.
“Senior Li, I’ll leave these people to you. You can dispatch them as you wish. I want to check on my High Heaven Palace’s disciples,” Yang Kai spoke and left right away.
In any case, Li Wu Yi was a Pseudo-Great Emperor so he would have a way to subdue the people of Human Imperial City. Yang Kai didn’t worry about this, his only responsibility was to bring them out.
After explaining things, Yang Kai immediately activated the Space Beacon on his wrist and disappeared in a flash.
The Western Territory’s frontline was quite long, and he had no idea about the situation High Heaven Palace’s reinforcements were in, so naturally, he wanted to check on them.
After a while, Yang Kai appeared in another city next to Xue Yue. Xue Yue was pleasantly surprised by the sudden appearance of Yang Kai and immediately summoned Shan Qing Luo and Su Yan.
After inquiring a little, Yang Kai finally understood what was going on here.
As he had expected, the reinforcements sent by High Heaven Palace were dispatched to another city in the Western Territory, joining hands with the local cultivators to fight against the Demon Race Army besieging the city.
However, the situation here was much better than Tiger Roar City or Li Wu Yi’s side, because not only were there six Monster Kings here, but there were also the Masters from Ice Heart Valley.
The six Monster Kings were none other than the six serving at High Heaven Palace. Three were men and three were women, but each of them was a Twelfth-Order High-Rank Monster Race, so with the addition of the Emperor Realm Masters of Ice Heart Valley, the entire lineup here could be described as luxurious.
Moreover, the number of cultivators in the city was quite large, with as many as 100,000 men and women joining the defence force.
The two sides had just fought a battle about half a day ago, and the Star Boundary side had scored a crushing victory, killing hundreds of thousands of Demons while forcing the rest to flee back a few hundred kilometres. However, the Demon Race didn’t fully withdraw, presumably waiting for more reinforcements to make a comeback.
But in this situation, if the Demon Race didn’t send a Pseudo-Great Emperor-level Master, it would definitely be impossible for them to take this city. Six Monster Kings alone were more than enough to deal with a 100,000 man army.
Yang Kai’s heart was finally set at ease after asking about the situation. The High Heaven Palace reinforcements didn’t have to worry about anything for the time being; however, Tiger Roar City’s situation was not so lax. Perhaps there were many other cities like Tiger Roar City, but Yang Kai couldn’t manage so much.
Tiger Roar City was important to him because Li Jiao and Gao Xue Ting were there; otherwise, he would not bother to pay attention to it. The Great Emperors would definitely be managing the deployment of the Star Boundary’s forces as although they couldn’t participate directly in the war effort because of their agreement with the Demon Saints, they could still oversee the general situation and issue commands while devising strategies.
Su Yan and the others seemed to have grown a lot after fighting on the battlefield, their auras much calmer and stabler than before.
While Yang Kai was talking to his three women though, the door of the room was suddenly kicked open as a beautiful figure emanating a chilling aura barged in and coldly glared at Yang Kai with her pretty eyes.
Su Yan and the others looked at her before looking at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai lightly coughed in embarrassment.
Yu Ru Meng suddenly retracted the coldness from her face as she asked with a gentle smile, “Sisters, can you please go out first, Elder Sister wants to talk to him alone.”
Shan Qing Luo took a sidelong glance at her as she indifferently declared, “If you have anything to say, just say it right here, why do you need to speak in private?”
Xue Yue nodded in agreement, “That’s right. We are all one family. Husband won’t hide anything from us, “
The two had a deep hostility towards Yu Ru Meng as they had no idea how or when she had hooked up with Yang Kai. What’s more, she never left Yang Kai’s side, and now that he returned, she actually showed up right away!
If they could, Xue Yue and Shan Qing Luo would definitely have taught her a good lesson, but Yu Ru Meng was in the Emperor Realm, so the two of them were not her opponents. Not to mention, she was the Disciple of Flower Shadow Great Emperor…
[But so what if she is a Great Emperor’s Disciple? It’s not that easy to enter the Yang Family!]
However, Su Yang just calmly stated, “Since Elder Sister Li has something to discuss with Husband, let’s give them a little room.”
Shan Qing Luo and Xue Yue both looked at her in amazement after hearing this, as if they hadn’t expected Su Yan to compromise so easily, but since Su Yan had already spoken, they had no choice but to withdraw along with her, even if they were unwilling.
Of course, Shan Qing Luo glared at Yang Kai with an aggrieved look on her face when she was leaving.
Yang Kai turned his gaze to the ceiling, acting as if he didn’t see anything.
After the three women withdrew, Yu Ru Meng closed the door with a wave of her hand and let out a hollow laugh as he stared at Yang Kai and snapped, “You abandoned me!”
Obviously, she was talking about the fact that Yang Kai had left her behind when he went to the Frozen Earth. At that time, she almost exploded with rage after being thrown aside by Yang Kai, but she was smart enough to know that her best option was to follow Su Yan and the others around, as the moment Yang Kai returned, he might not look for other people, but he would definitely come looking for Su Yan and the others.
As soon as Yu Ru Meng noticed Yang Kai’s aura, she immediately rushed over.
At this moment, although there was a smile on her face, she was burning with fury.
Yang Kai didn’t even try to explain himself; rather, he reached out and poured himself a cup of tea.
Yu Ru Meng took a few steps forward, snatched the teacup, splashed out the tea, then slammed the cup back on the table with a thud.
Yang Kai raised his eyes and stared at her, “What are you doing? Have you gone mad?”
Yu Ru Meng stated, grounding her teeth, “You actually left me!”
Yang Kai rebuffed, “So what? I didn’t agree to take you out with me, you were following me around of your own accord. So I left you, what do you want to do now?”
Yu Ru Meng stated, furrowing her brow, “Do you insist on being cruel to me?”
Yang Kai whiningly stated, “What’s so strange about that, it’s not the first time I was cruel to you.” While speaking, he poured himself another cup of tea.
Yu Ru Meng snatched the teacup again and threw it on the ground.
Yang Kai was completely furious this time as he loudly cursed, “Bitch, would you calm down! I’m warning you, I won’t be so polite if you keep this up!”
Yu Ru Meng sneered, “Then I want to see how you are going to not be polite to me! Are you going to hit me? Come, hit me then!”
She pressed toward him with her arms akimbo, head high, and chest jutted out, even moving her cheek closer to Yang Kai, like she was just tempting him to slap her.
Driven mad, Yang Kai grabbed her arm, turned her over and threw her directly onto his knee with her back towards him. Then, he raised his hand and smacked her perfectly round bottom hard.
*Pa…*
Yu Ru Meng suddenly stiffened. Her slender neck went completely straight and stiff, sending her hair flying. She didn’t come to her senses for a good long while as her mind seemed to be all jumbled up. When she finally regained her senses, she creakily turned her head to stare at Yang Kai with widened eyes, a look of utter disbelief on her face as she muttered, “You dare spank me…”
*Pa…*
Yang Kai slapped down again with a savage look on his face.
Both times, he had spanked her quite hard. Only, the first time Yu Ru Meng was spanked, she was completely caught by surprise; she had never even dreamed that she would get spanked by someone, and by a man too. This time, she finally felt the pain and her eyes became a little watery as she opened her mouth and a painful groan escaped from her lips.
Outside the house, Su Yan raised her head, looking at the bright moon. Shan Qing Luo and Xue Yue, on the other hand, were attentively listening, and after the two smacking sounds rang out, Shan Qing Luo immediately sneered, “Beat her to death, beat this vixen to death!”
Xue Yue also looked excited, “That shameless bitch, she deserves to be beaten to death!”
“Are you still going to make a scene?” Yang Kai, raising his hand and waving it around, asked Yu Ru Meng, staring down at her.
Yu Ru Meng bit her ruby red lips as she struggled hard, but Yang Kai was using both his great physical strength and his comprehension of the Dao of Space to lock her in place, so how could she break free? She was completely tied to Yang Kai’s thigh in an extremely shameful posture.
Suddenly, she fiercely shrieked, “You’d best beat me to death today, or this isn’t over!”
“How dare you talk back!” Yang Kai spanked her again. Yu Ru Meng, who was taking the beating, had her face turned red, then white. It was evident that he was using a great deal of force as he spanked and scolded her, “You Bitch, you made a scene, broke my cup…”
He spoke a word and spanked her, spoke a word, and spanked her…
At first, Yu Ru Meng was clamouring back, wanting to fight with Yang Kai to death, but after being hit again and again, she eventually stopped moving. She lowered her raised head, lying completely still on Yang Kai’s thigh.
*Dida dida …*
The sound of some kind of drops falling on the ground suddenly could be heard.
Yang Kai finally stopped smacking and looked down at her, the next moment not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
He had actually beat Yu Ru Meng to the point of tears…
Suddenly feeling like he had gone too far, his raised hand slumped down again. If she had kept fighting back, he wouldn’t have stopped, but when she started crying, it started to give him a headache.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but scratch his head as all his anger completely vanished. He then lightly poked Yu Ru Meng’s cheek and said, “If you have something to say, just say it, why cry?”
Yu Ru Meng turned her head to the other side, ignoring him, simply sobbing like a child as tears kept dripping on the ground to no end.
“Don’t cry,” Yang Kai comforted her. “I had a good reason for leaving you behind. The place I went to was too dangerous. What if you had an accident if I brought you with me?”
While speaking, he gently caressed her round buttocks with his big hands, using his Emperor Qi to alleviate the pain.
He had just spanked her ass a dozen times or so, and he didn’t hold back either. Perhaps her butt was swollen, so he was now healing her wounds. Yang Kai continued, “And you too, you keep talking back to me at every turn, you keep saying that you want to fight and perish together. How can there be a woman like you in this world? If everyone was like you, how would any man survive?”
“If you have something to say to me, use your words. I’ll go first. I was impulsive and in the wrong about what just happened. I apologize, so don’t take it to heart.”
“If you can talk, just nod. If you are angry, how about I let you hit me all you want in return. I’ll let you do anything you want.”
He kept comforting her, but Yu Ru Meng just kept crying and didn’t respond at all.
Yang Kai eventually lost patience and stopped rubbing her buttocks as he calmly stated, “If you have something to say, speak up. Don’t stay silent.”
Yu Ru Meng remained silent for a while before she suddenly muttered something.
“What?” Yang Kai turned his ear to her side as she really had whispered too quietly.
“Don’t stop!” This time, he heard her loud and clear.
Yang Kai was stunned for a moment, then he finally realized what she meant. At the same time, he really failed to stifle his laughter, so he once again put his hand on her round bottom and started gently caressing it; after all, this request wasn’t that hard to meet either.
[Damn, this vixen’s personality might be terrible, but her body is really first-class. It’s like rubbing a soft, silky pillow.]
As her sobbing slowly stopped, Yu Ru Meng’s body twitched a little, who knows whether because of pain or pleasure. Her breathing also grew short and rapid as her previous pale face slowly turned red.
Suddenly, she asked, “You just said that you left me behind because you were afraid of something happening to me, is that the truth or a lie?”
Yang Kai solemnly replied, “What would I gain by lying to you? The place I went to was one of the Forbidden Zones of the Star Boundary, one that even the Great Emperors are unable to freely traverse. Even a Dragon Clan member perished in that place, proving just how dangerous it is.”
Yu Ru Meng softly asked, “Then why didn’t you just say so instead of just leaving me behind without saying anything?”
Yang Kai sighed, “Would it have been useful if I had told you? You would have definitely ignored my entreaty and insisted on going. So, instead of arguing with you, I thought it would be better to act first, then tell you afterwards.”
Yu Ru Meng remained silent; apparently, accepting his explanation.
Yang Kai’s hand, however, started to become more and more dishonest. While rubbing her lower cheeks with one hand, his other unscrupulously began sneaking into Yu Ru Meng’s collar. Of course, he encountered some symbolic resistance, but it was hardly a forceful defence.
“Does it still hurt?” Yang Kai asked, kneading with his hand as a satisfied look filled his face.
Yu Ru Meng slowly shook his head.
“Is anything else in pain?” Yang Kai asked again.
“No, nowhere else.”
“I can give you a check…” Yang Kai chuckled.
“No need…” Yu Ru Meng moaned as her breathing became extremely heavy.
Outside the house, Shan Qing Luo’s face turned ashen and Xue Yue’s expression wasn’t good either. The good show they were looking forward to didn’t appear; the vixen wasn’t beaten to death. On the contrary, their Husband and the hussy started acting all lovey-dovey, making the two women go a little crazy.
Shan Qing Luo turned to Su Yan and entreated, “Elder Sister, our husband is being seduced by that vixen, don’t you care?”
Su Yan just smiled before suggesting, “We should go.”
Shan Qing Luo and Xue Yue were dumbfounded, but before the duo could react, Su Yan had already walked away. Shan Qing Luo and Xue Yue looked at each other and gnashed their teeth before they raised their arms together and palmed forward hard.
Although the two women hadn’t reached the Emperor Realm yet, they were still in the Dao Source Realm, so their attacks made a big hole in the house’s walls, causing dust to fly everywhere.
Accompanied by Shan Qing Luo’s giggles, the two fled away and disappeared in a flash.
Inside the room, Yang Kai, holding Yu Ru Meng, was jumping around, avoiding the falling wooden boards, his face twitching visibly.
At this moment, a wave of spatial fluctuations suddenly spread as a jade slip suddenly appeared before him. Yang Kai reached out, grabbing it. He then read it with his Divine Sense and a frown started to appear on his face before he stated aloud, “I’m going to Tiger Roar City. Something has happened there and they requested my presence.”
“Safe journey!” Su Yan responded back.
Yang Kai nodded before turning to Yu Ru Meng in his arms and asking, “Are you coming with me?”
Yu Ru Meng meekly nodded.
Yang Kai smiled lightly before pushing his Space Principles. The next moment, the pair disappeared from where they stood.
Tiger Roar City was now in complete turmoil as everyone was feeling extremely restless and anxious.
Yang Kai and Yu Ru Meng appeared beside Gao Xue Ting, but at this moment, Gao Xue Ting was no longer inside the City Lord’s Mansion, but beside a city gate. It was quite noisy here and Gao Xue Ting had a very serious look on her face, one that was quite unsightly.
Sensing Yang Kai’s arrival, Gao Xue Ting glanced at him before looking at Yu Ru Meng in his arms and lightly nodding.
“What’s the situation?” Yang Kai glanced around as he asked, somewhat confused. Much to his surprise, he was greeted by two large crowds confronting each other at the city gate. One group was luxuriously dressed, indicating they had some kind of significant status or background, while the other group was comprised of disciples of Azure Sun Temple.
“The Demon Race is on the march,” Gao Xue Ting replied.
Yang Kai frowned and asked, “If the Demon Race is about to attack, prepare for battle. What are you doing here?”
Gao Xue Ting pointed ahead, “They are trying to escape from the city!”
Yang Kai furrowed his brow, “At this time?”
Yang Kai knew a little about the situation of Tiger Roar City. Although there were quite a few Emperor Realm Masters present, the number of cultivators who could fight was definitely not large. Furthermore, there was only one Third-Order Emperor present, Li Jiao, and barely 50,000 men and women in the city who could be mobilized for its defence. On the other hand, as many as 400,000 Demon Race soldiers were besieging them.
With the odds against them, Tiger Roar City would have to depend on its protective Array to have any hope of victory.
In other words, they couldn’t afford to lose or compromise the City Defending Array.
Yet at this critical juncture, when the Demon Race was about to attack, there were still people who wanted to flee the city! Wasn’t that tantamount to tearing a giant hole in the most important part of Tiger Roar City’s defence? Although the Array could be partially opened and then closed again, in the middle of a fight, who knows what could happen in the brief time the array was lowered?
More importantly, this was the time when the cultivators of Tiger Roar City needed to stand united to defend against the enemy. If a large group of people fled the city now, wouldn’t it throw the entire defence into chaos?
[No wonder Gao Xue Ting mobilized a team of Azure Sun Temple disciples to block these people’s way. Gao Xue Ting clearly knows that the defensive Array cannot be opened at this critical moment.]
“Who the hell are they?” Yang Kai swept over a glance at the group of people with a look of disgust on his face. The number of people wasn’t too large, just a few hundred, but many of them were Dao Source Realm cultivators. Fortunately, there were Emperors among them.
“The Five Great Families of Tiger Roar City. All of them are the members of the Five Great Families!”
“Five Great Families?” Yang Kai coldly snorted. Families like these were innumerable throughout the Star Boundary and generally speaking, they occupied good positions in their respective cities. They were used to doing whatever they wanted and probably had the intention of fleeing the city from the start, it was just that they didn’t make up their mind until the Demon Race started moving aggressively. Obviously, these cowards felt that Tiger Roar City was doomed, so they wanted to escape and save themselves before the battle even began.
“Open the Array!”
“Quickly open the Array and let us leave, otherwise don’t blame us for being impolite!”
“Why are you still trying to reason with them, if they don’t open the Array, just snatch the Array Jade from them!”
The group of people standing under the city wall kept shouting at a Dao Source Realm cultivator atop the city wall. That Dao Source Realm cultivator should be one of the people presiding over the City Defending Array as he was holding an Array Jade which acted as a controller. At this moment, he was looking down from the city wall with a confused look on his face. He kept bowing with his fists cupped in front, “Patriarchs, please don’t make things difficult for this Old Master. If you wish to leave the city, I ask you to go see Sir City Lord. As long as you bring this Old Master Sir City Lord’s decree, this Old Master will immediately open the Array; otherwise, this Old Master’s hands are tied.”
“The Demon Race is attacking, so Sir City Lord is busy dealing with other matters, how would he have the time to take care of us? Stop talking nonsense. This King will give you ten breaths of time to open the Array, otherwise don’t blame us for forgetting our old friendship!”
Just as this man stated this, the hundreds of people showed a covetous gaze, giving the impression that if the old man didn’t open the Array, they would really attack.
The face of the old man presiding over the Array defending the city greatly changed. Although he too was a Dao Source Realm cultivator, how could he fight against so many members of the Five Great Families? If they really attacked, he would perhaps be reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye.
A hint of hesitation flashed on his face, though he had already made up his mind. [If I open the Spirit Array and let them leave, although Sir City Lord will punish me after knowing about it, it’s still better than being killed by them.]
He thus clenched the Array Jade and began to push his Divine Sense, but just as he was about to open the Array, a figure suddenly appeared beside him like a ghost, raising his hand, and patting his shoulder.
The old man was shocked and turned his head to look at this newcomer, seeing a brave and heroic young man standing by his side. Before he could react though, the Array Jade was already in the young man’s hand.
The old man was terrified when he saw this as he realized this young man’s cultivation was vastly superior to his own; otherwise, he would have at least noticed when the Array Jade was snatched by the other party. Nervous now, the old man hurriedly asked, “You are…”
“High Heaven Palace’s Palace Master, Yang Kai.” Yang Kai glanced at him and calmly stated, “Old Sir, you may step back now and allow this King to handle this matter.”
The old man’s eyes lit up after hearing this, feeling like a stone had just been lifted from his heart, allowing him to finally relax.
Yang Kai’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was loud enough for the hundreds of people below the city wall to hear clearly. Seeing the Array Jade fall into Yang Kai’s hands, the hundreds of people down below furrowed their brows. The few leading the group glanced at each other before a middle-aged man with a sallow complexion stepped forward and greeted with cupped fists, “Greetings, Senior Yang.”
Yang Kai lightly nodded but didn’t reply, figuring that this man was one of the Patriarchs of the so-called Five Great Families.
Yang Kai’s unceremonious stance made the hundreds of people down below unhappy, but they all knew he was qualified to act dismissive of them; after all, he was a Palace Master and an Emperor Realm cultivator. As such, they didn’t dare to show the slightest dissatisfaction. Instead, the sallow looking man advocated in an extremely polite manner, “Senior, we, the members of the Five Great Families, wish to leave Tiger Roar City to seek a chance of survival in this chaotic world. I ask Senior Yang to open the way for us.”
Yang Kai, playing with the Array Jade in his hand, indifferently asked back, “You want to leave Tiger Roar City to seek a chance for survival? Do you even know the current situation outside?”
The middle-aged man shook his head and replied, “I don’t know, but I know that Tiger Roar City is in danger. If we don’t leave now, I’m afraid we won’t be able to leave later.”
Yang Kai added, “Since you don’t know, let me tell you. The Demon Race Army has invaded the Star Boundary, occupying more than half of the Western Territory. The frontline now stretches for tens, if not hundreds of millions of kilometres. Countless cities are surrounded by the Demons, and even in the short while we have been talking, fierce battles have been raging in many places. Even if you all leave Tiger Roar City, you might not be able to get very far before falling into the hands of the Demons. At that time, your life will be worse than death. It would be better to stay here and fight against the Demon Race than venture out into the wilderness.”
Everyone’s expression changed after hearing this as they really were ignorant of what was going on outside. The Demon Race had started their invasion less than two months ago, and news travelled even slower than usual in such chaotic times. On the other hand, Yang Kai could freely traverse the world and had visited the cities where Li Wu Yi and the High Heaven Palace’s disciples were stationed, so he was far more knowledgeable about the current state of affairs than the others.
Naturally, everyone would be shocked after hearing that more than half of the Western Territory had been occupied from Yang Kai.
After momentarily losing his wits for a while, the sallow-faced middle-aged man forced a smile and stated, “Senior Yang, there is no need to exaggerate things just to scare others.”
Yang Kai scoffed, “You think this King is speaking nonsense just to scare you? Is that necessary? Every word this Palace Master has spoken is true. Believe it or don’t, it is your choice.”
The middle-aged man remained silent for a while before he stated, “Even so, we still wish to leave Tiger Roar City.”
“Do you still insist on leaving?” Yang Kai grimly gazed at him.
Seeing this look, the middle-aged man’s palms became sweaty but he summoned up his courage and nodded.
“I’m afraid things won’t go according to your wishes,” Yang Kai coldly snorted. “The Demon Race is attacking, and the City Defending Array is of vital importance to the upcoming battle. Before the battle has ended, no one may leave the city. If you want to leave, we can discuss it after the fighting has stopped!”
As soon as he said this, a furious shout immediately came from the group below, “When the battle is over, Tiger Roar City would have already fallen! We won’t even be alive to discuss anything!”
Yang Kai immediately looked up and found that the person shouting was a luxuriously dressed young man sitting on a tall mount that resembled a horse. Who knows which family’s Young Master he was, and Yang Kai didn’t really care, only responding in an icy tone, “The Demon Race is invading the Western Territory, plunging the common people into an abyss of chaos and suffering. We, the cultivators of the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Territory all gathered under the summons of the Great Emperors to aid you in holding back the Demon Race Army. We do not request anything in return, nor do we expect you to repay us, but we are still putting our lives on the line today, yet you, the native cultivators of the Western Territory, don’t even want to make an effort to protect your homes? Good, if that is the extent of your courage and honour, so be it; however, you are now actually trying to flee when the enemy is already upon us? If it was just that, this Palace Master may still have tolerated your actions; after all, everyone is free to choose their own course in life, and it is human nature to cherish life and fear death, but if your cowardice affects the morale of the army and lowers our chances of successfully defending the city, that is truly intolerable! If you dare spout nonsense again, this King will take your dog life!”
The young man shrank his neck but still stubbornly rebuked in the next moment, “When did this Young Master seek to disrupt the morale of the army. And even if he has, do you really believe Tiger Roar City can resist the Demon Race’s army either way?”
“How dare you run your mouth! Do you really think this King won’t kill you?” Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed as he raised his hand and grabbed the young man.
“You dare!” The middle-aged man, who had spoken earlier, immediately flew out, trying to stop Yang Kai. By the looks of it, he and the young man might be related by blood; perhaps they were even father and son.
But the middle-aged man was just a Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator, no different from an ant before Yang Kai. An inexplicable force immediately sent him flying, throwing him to ground as loud panicked shouts rang out.
As the middle-aged man turned to look, his eyes immediately turned red in grief and anger. The young man riding on the tall horse had been reduced to a headless corpse with blood gushing out of his severed neck like a fountain, reaching as high as ten meters into the air. The young man’s headless corpse then swayed left and right before falling from the horse’s back.
A group of pampered Young Masters and Ladies screamed in horror, plunging the area into further chaos.
“How dare you kill my child!” The middle-aged man looked at Yang Kai with a hideous look on his face.
In Yang Kai’s hand was a severed head with bulging eyes. No one knew how this head appeared in his hand when he had clearly not moved an inch from where he stood.
Yang Kai rebuffed in a cold and grim voice after hearing this, “So what?”
The middle-aged man’s expression kept shifting like clouds before he suddenly shouted, “Kill him, attack!”
After having said this, he was the first one to charge at Yang Kai, his anger and hatred seemingly making him lose his sense temporarily. At that moment, he failed to realize just how great the gap between him and Yang Kai was while his impassioned shout and Yang Kai’s tyrannical display inspired the rest of the Five Great Families to action, their eyes turning red as they attacked in a fit of madness.
“Ants courting death,” Yang Kai, standing on the city wall, snorted with a grim expression. When hundreds of people had charged sufficiently close, he simply waved his hand.
One by one, heads flew into the air as headless corpses twitched and fell to the ground, dying the area around the city’s main gate red and filling the air with a nauseating bloody smell.
The onlooking crowd immediately sunk into silence, like cicadas in the middle of winter. They had never seen hundreds of people dying all at once. This hellish scene was enough to make them have nightmares for many days to come.
In the blink of an eye, over a hundred people had lost their lives, with the middle-aged man, who had charged first, being the first to die.
It was only at this moment that the remaining members of the Five Great Families realized the gap in strength between the two sides. The Young Masters and Young Ladies started screaming and shouting in panic while the remaining Dao Source Realm cultivators started begging for mercy.
Yang Kai’s face remained as cold as ice, though, as he turned a deaf ear to everything. He was radiating an intense murderous intent now as he made up his mind to establish his prestige here before the battle truly began.
A bloody aura filled the air as the ground around the city gates became like Hell on earth. Hundreds of corpses were lying everywhere, with their heads all stacked into a hill. The sight of this terrifying scene made the onlookers’ blood run cold as they went completely silent, like the cicadas in winter.
Among them, some may have had the same thoughts as the Five Great Families; they wanted to escape from Tiger Roar City. Otherwise, they would not have gathered here, but the example made of the members of the Five Great Families was enough to make them understand and none dared to have any other ideas now.
[This Palace Master, who hails from the Northern Territory, kills people without even batting an eye! He has no humanity at all!] Everyone looked at Yang Kai with a fearful gaze.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, was completely at ease, still playing with the Array Jade in his hand. Suddenly, he looked up at Gao Xue Ting and stated, “Senior Sister Gao, ask the Temple disciples to remove everyone who is presiding over the Defensive Array and take their place.” While speaking, he threw the Array Jade in his hand to her.
Gao Xue Ting nodded her agreement after hearing this and immediately started arranging things.
With the city being this big, it was natural that the defensive Array wasn’t managed by just a single individual. There were at least several dozen people managing the array, and each of them had a Sub-Array Jade while the City Lord, Lin Tong, should have the Main Jade which controlled the overall Array.
Since even the Five Great Families members were acting like this, precautions had to be taken. If the Temple disciples were managing the Array, this kind of situation could be prevented. For Yang Kai, the cultivators of Tiger Roar City were still outsiders, so he would not feel secure if the supervisors of the defensive Array were not his own people.
The Demon Race Army was at the gates, and to resist the foreign invasion, order must be kept at home first.
Yang Kai took out a communication artifact and contacted Li Jiao, asking about the Demon Race Army’s situation.
Right at this moment, a ripple suddenly spread through the defensive Array of the city as strange fluctuations undulated.
Yang Kai turned his head and asked, frowning, “What happened?”
Gao Xue Ting shook her head, indicating that she had no idea either.
Rather the Dao Source Realm old man, who was managing the Array before, replied, “Someone opened the Array somewhere.”
Yang Kai’s face turned colder when he heard this, “Courting death!”
The reason why he asked Gao Xue Ting to replace Tiger Roar City residents was to prevent a similar situation to the Five Great Families from happening again, but he didn’t expect such a situation to happen even before that plan could be implemented. Someone fleeing just as the battle was about to begin would negatively affect morale, especially when the enemy already seriously outnumbered them. This battle was not going to be easy no matter what, and if morale was low, Tiger Roar City definitely would not be able to hold on. At that time, whether it was the Azure Sun Temple, Fire Dragon Palace disciples, or Ahan Temple disciples, all would suffer.
“Where?” Yang Kai turned his head and asked the old man.
The old man immediately pointed in one direction, “If this Old Master sensed it correctly, it should have been over there.”
The moment the old man pointed, Yang Kai’s figure disappeared from his spot.
At a certain section of the city wall on the east side of Tiger Roar City, Yang Kai suddenly appeared, and as expected, he saw a gap in the defensive Array here; a wide gap through which he could see a figure was swiftly escaping over a dozen kilometres away.
Yang Kai found the figure a little familiar, thinking he had seen it somewhere before.
Meanwhile, on the city wall, Tiger Roar City’s City Lord, Lin Tong’s face was livid, staring in the direction where the figure was fleeing. Sitting next to him in a cross-legged position was Vice City Lord, Ma Yin, who was bleeding from the corner of her mouth. She appeared to be injured, though not too seriously.
“Who was it?” Yang Kai coldly asked.
Lin Tong’s facial muscles twitched as he replied in a heavy voice, “Wu Zi Jin!”
Yang Kai suddenly came to a realization. No wonder the escaping figure looked familiar, it turned out it was one of the Vice City Lords, Wu Zi Jin.
Even a Vice City Lord had fled from the battle! If word got out, how would the native cultivators of Tiger Roar City find any courage to resist the Demon Race?
As a Vice City Lord, Wu Zi Jin should be leading by example, but now he was openly displaying cowardice. If Yang Kai’s guess was right, Wu Zi Jin even attacked Ma Yin in order to facilitate his own escape. Although Yang Kai didn’t ask, he guessed that Ma Yin was taken by surprise.
Yang Kai looked around and found that the cultivators of Tiger Roar City were really flustered. Wu Zi Jin’s escape had obviously left a huge negative impact on them.
Suddenly he recalled that Wu Zi Jin had proposed that everyone make plans to leave Tiger Roar City as quickly as possible. Now, it became apparent that he had been planning this for quite some time.
Yang Kai suddenly felt a little disheartened. Among the native cultivators of Tiger Roar City, the Five Great Families and a Vice City Lord didn’t even have the courage to stay and fight the Demon Race, so what was the point of the reinforcements from the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Territories even coming here?
He turned his head and asked Lin Tong, “What is Sir City Lord’s plan? If you want to leave, it’s not too late to escape now.”
Lin Tong glanced at him before calmly replying, “So long as a single person remains alive here, the city will survive, only when all have fallen will the city truly be destroyed!”
Ma Yin also opened her eyes and looked up at Yang Kai, “This Ma entreats Palace Master Yang to lend his assistance to my Tiger Roar City!”
Yang Kai finally smiled after hearing this, “It seems that not all the people of Tiger Roar City covet life and fear death!”
Ma Yin angrily proclaimed, “We are ashamed of that old dog surnamed Wu. If he doesn’t die today, I swear to take his dog life the next time I see him!”
Yang Kai nodded, “You won’t need to wait for the next time.”
Before Ma Yin could even understand what Yang Kai meant, she heard him speak again, “I’ll be right back. While I am gone, I ask Sir City Lord to repair the breach as quickly as possible.”
Yang Kai’s figure flickered before disappearing from everyone’s sight.
A stunned Ma Yin turned her head and saw a blur rapidly shooting off into the distance before completely disappearing from her sight in the blink of an eye. Only when Yang Kai’s figure had vanished over the horizon did she come to her senses and muttered, “He went after Old Dog Wu?”
[Can he even catch up? Old Dog Wu has quite a head start. Although Palace Master Yang’s cultivation is one Minor Realm higher, Old Dog Wu is fleeing for his life so catching him shouldn’t be easy. Wouldn’t it be a waste of energy to chase after him at this moment? In any case the city is surrounded by the Demon Race, wouldn’t Tiger Roar City lose another high-level combatant this way?]
Lin Tong, however, replied with sparkling eyes, “I heard that Palace Master Yang is proficient in the Dao of Space. After seeing it today, he really lives up to his reputation!”
“A Master of the Dao of Space!” Ma Yin’s slender brow momentarily rose. Finally, she understood why Yang Kai’s speed was so astonishing and why his figure seemed to flicker in and out of existence as it moved, making it difficult for her to even track his position.
It was due to his use of Space Principles!
“Someone’s approaching!” Ma Yin suddenly turned pale as she pointed towards the front. When she had started speaking, there was just a small black dot on the horizon, but by the time she finished, that small black dot had grown to the size of a fist.
In the blink of an eye, a figure was already standing before her.
It was none other than Yang Kai, who had just left!
Ma Yin mouth was agape as she dumbfoundedly stared at Yang Kai.
He said he would be right back, and he really came right back. He couldn’t have been gone for more than ten breaths, yet when Yang Kai returned, he did so with a person in his grasp. When she recovered from her initial shock, Ma Yin immediately became filled with rage as the man Yang Kai was carrying was none other than Old Dog Wu!
In just ten breaths, not only had Yang Kai gone and returned, he even caught Wu Zi Jin, who was going all out to escape, and brought him back. If Ma Yin hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed such a feat was even possible.
Lin Tong also looked absent-minded, as if he was lost in a dream.
At this moment, Wu Zi Jin, who was being held by Yang Kai, was continuously coughing up blood, his aura weak and unstable, a clear indication he had been seriously injured.
Yang Kai threw the battered man in front of Ma Yin.
Wu Zi Jin crawled back up with great difficulty as he held his chest, glancing at Lin Tong and then at Ma Yin, his expression turning pale.
He definitely didn’t expect that after trying so hard to escape from the city, he would be caught in the blink of an eye and brought back before Ma Yin, whom he had injured with a sneak attack just moments ago. This was a serious embarrassment.
Forcing a smile, Wu Zi Jin asked, “Vice City Lord Ma, how are your injuries?”
Ma Yin slowly stood up and coldly gazed at him, “That’s none of your concern.” While speaking, she summoned a soft whip with the flick of her wrist. The soft whip was forged from some unidentifiable material and was ten meters long, exuding a cold, dark aura.
Wu Zi Jin’s blood ran cold as he stumbled back and said, “Let’s talk this out, this Wu may have acted a little rashly, but he never intended to hurt you.”
Ma Yin turned a deaf ear as her Emperor Qi surged and her soft whip flashed.
Wu Zi Jin turned his head to look at Lin Tong, “Sir City Lord, spare me! If you spare this Wu, this Wu will give his all to fight alongside you! The Demon Race is attacking, this Wu will do his best, he promises!”
Lin Tong looked at him with disgust and spat, “This City Lord wouldn’t dare to fight alongside you!” [Even Ma Yin suffered a sneak attack at this bastard’s hands, who would feel safe trusting their back to him?]
Wu Zi Jin knew that things weren’t going to end well for him today, so a cruel look flashed across his face as he raised his hand, summoning a giant axe and slashing at Ma Yin with all his strength. He didn’t dare to attack Lin Tong as the latter’s cultivation was higher than his, whereas Ma Yin had been injured by his sneak attack, and both of them were in the same realm. Ma Yin was his only chance to make an escape.
But in the next moment, Space Principles fluctuated and an invisible force bound Wu Zi Jin tightly, freezing him in a position where his axe was raised.
The soft whip in Ma Yin’s hand shook before accurately wrapping around Wu Zi Jin’s neck. Then with a slight tug, Wu Zi Jin’s head flew into the air as a fountain of blood erupted.
Ma Yin was a little absent-minded, as if she didn’t expect to kill Wu Zi Jin so easily, but she quickly understood that it was because Yang Kai had silently assisted her, so she turned her head and nodded at him, expressing her gratitude.
Yang Kai then reported, “Just so you know, the members of the Five Great Families of your Tiger Roar City also wanted to flee not too long ago, but I have already killed them all.”
Lin Tong snorted after hearing this, “Good. The Demon Race is attacking, but instead of resisting the enemy, they actually try to escape. Their deaths aren’t worth pitying. Even if Palace Master Yang didn’t do so, this Lin would have acted personally to clean up his house.”
The Five Great Families were his Tiger Roar City residents, and Wu Zi Jin was even a Vice City Lord; this series of events had really made Lin Tong lose face.
Yang Kai proclaimed with brightened eyes, “Since City Lord Lin intends to defend Tiger Roar City and fight the Demon Race to the last, the reinforcements from the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Territories will do everything in their power to assist.”
Lin Tong bowed, cupping his fists, “Many thanks, Palace Master Yang. If it wasn’t for your aid, my Tiger Roar City would be in danger today.”
Yang Kai stated, shaking his head, “Without the lips, the teeth will go cold. The Demon Race is aggressively attacking now and obviously won’t be satisfied with just the Western Territory. After they are done consuming this land, their next target will be the Southern Territory, Northern Territory, and Eastern Territory. We have come here not only to save you, but to protect ourselves as well.”
Lin Tong earnestly praised, “Palace Master Yang is a righteous and far-sighted leader. This Lin has nothing but admiration for Palace Master Yang.”
Ma Yin stated with a sigh, “Unfortunately, our Tiger Roar City’s morale is now at an all-time low.” She looked around, and the cultivators around her all evaded her gaze. It was indeed as she had said, morale had hit rock bottom. Just the fact that the Demon Race Army was attacking had already frightened everyone; and now, after Wu Zi Jin’s act of cowardice, the already low morale had dropped even further.
Yang Kai naturally understood the situation and proposed, “City Lord Lin, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. I suggest forming a team of Military Enforcers.”
Lin Tong raised his brow and asked with some confusion, “Military Enforcers?”
Yang Kai’s face turned serious as he explained in a serious voice, “The Two Races’ Great War is different from ordinary individual battles between cultivators and requires a clear-cut Martial Law. Anyone who disobeys the law or disrupts order will be subject to severe punishment. Those who flee from the battle are subject to death, anyone who disturbs the army morale may be killed, anyone who does not fight with all their strength dies!” He stared at Lin Tong as his voice turned ice-cold, “Carrying out these punishments is the duty and mission of the Military Enforcers!”
Lin Tong and Ma Yin felt chills run down their backs when they heard this. If they really followed Yang Kai’s suggestion, they would probably have to kill a lot of people even before confronting the Demon Race.
But after giving it a second thought, this was indeed a good way to resolve their current crisis. They were seriously outnumbered, and morale was pitifully low. Tiger Roar City was in imminent danger. If they wanted to defend the city, they had to present a united front. If there was a team of Military Enforcers, it might not improve morale, but it would at least unify the cultivators to defend the city.
Having understood this, Lin Tong stated, “Palace Master Yang is right, but my Tiger Roar City’s cultivators can’t undertake this role.”
Yang Kai proposed, smiling, “City Lord Lin, if you can trust this Palace Master, please leave this to me.”
“I will have to trouble Palace Master Yang then!” Lin Tong nodded in agreement.
Outside the city, the Demon Race was invading in large numbers, and inside the city, people were panicking. A large crowd of cultivators was gathered on the city wall even now, gazing into the distance, many trying to figure out what to do or where to turn to, an air of gloom hovering over all of them.
At that moment, a person flew around the city, announcing in an ice-cold voice with a solemn expression on his face, “The Demon Race is invading, a great battle is imminent! This war is related to the survival of Tiger Roar City, to the life or death of hundreds of thousands of residents of the city. Sir City Lord has thus given the order to implement Martial Law. Defeat is not allowed in this fight. Anyone who violates the Martial Law will be judged guilty and executed for disobedience! Anyone who flees from the battle will be killed, anyone who disturbs the army morale will be killed, anyone who does not fight will be killed!”
The voice was loud enough for everyone below to hear it loud and clear, and as soon as these words were announced, all the listeners turned to look at each other in shock. Many of them were thinking of running away if the situation turned bad, but after they heard this announcement, they couldn’t help furrowing their brows. However, they didn’t take this announcement too seriously either; after all, everyone could clearly see the current situation. Tiger Roar City’s demise was all but certain. At that time, the people who wanted to escape wouldn’t be limited to just one or two, rather there would be many. At that time, laws couldn’t be enforced as there would be many people to punish. How would Sir City Lord have the time to care about such things? Perhaps he would be too busy saving himself!
Most people thought that this was just arbitrary propaganda, a declaration before mobilizing everyone in order to stabilize morale.
But before they could finish such thoughts, they saw a large group of cultivators flying out. This group had about a thousand people in it, and by the looks of their robes, they weren’t locals of Tiger Roar City, but rather the reinforcements from the other territories who had come to provide support. The person leading the group was an extremely conspicuous young man with fiery red hair.
Chi Gui of the Eastern Territory’s Ahan Temple!
Many people recognized him at once. It wasn’t that Chi Gui was that famous, rather his image was just too unique, so it was easy for the people to recognize him even if they had only heard rumours about him. Only Chi Gui had fiery red hair in Tiger Roar City, no one else. Understanding this, it was reasonable to assume that the group of people behind Chi Gui were cultivators of Ahan Temple.
If it was just this though, it wouldn’t have been enough to attract everyone’s attention. What really caught everyone’s attention was that as Chi Gui lead this thousand man force, each of them was emanating a fearsome murderous intent and had fierce looks on their faces. Chi Gui especially was gazing at everyone as if all of them were targets. There was also a group of cultivators following behind him that was holding up a bunch of severed human heads.
There were at least a few hundred of these heads, most of which had died with their eyes wide open. Blood was still dripping from their necks, making for quite the creepy scene.
Many people suddenly found some of these heads a little familiar.
Just as they were about to take a closer look to check whose heads they were though, the previous cultivator who was shouting continued, “The Five Great Families disturbed the morale of the army and have been beheaded. Wu Zi Jin fled from the battle and was executed!”
Such shouts echoed throughout the entire city, leaving everyone rooted to the spot, dumbstruck by what they were hearing.
[No wonder their heads looked familiar, it turns out they’re from the Five Great Families! And the head held in the forefront belongs to none other than Vice City Lord Wu Zi Jin!?]
[Vice City Lord was beheaded, and so were the Five Great Families! The fight hasn’t even begun but so many people on our side had already been killed! Furthermore, all these people are important figures in Tiger Roar City!]
Finally, everyone came to realize that the so-called Martial Law wasn’t there just for appearances, it would really be enforced. Since even the Five Great Families and Vice City Lord were beheaded because of breaking the law, who could possibly escape punishment?
In other words, though Tiger Roar City was in imminent danger, there was now also a group with butcher knives standing behind them all! If they accidentally violate the Martial Law, the butcher’s knife might swing for their necks! Everyone was shocked, but none dared harbour any traitorous thoughts now. They all asked themselves how their lives fared in contrast to the Five Great Families, let alone the Vice City Lord, Wu Zi Jin. Compared to these people, their lives naturally weren’t worth any more.
Above the city wall, Lin Tong was busy with his communication artifact, a nervous look hanging on his face, apparently gathering reports from various parts of the city.
After a while, the nervous look on his face gradually relaxed as he looked up at Yang Kai and praised, “Palace Master Yang’s is a born leader!”
Ma Yin looked at him with gleaming eyes and asked, “How is the situation in the city now?”
Lin Tong replied, smiling, “Although many are still worried, at least morale has stabilized.”
Ma Yin let out a sigh of relief upon hearing this and nodded, “Very good.”
She then turned her head, gratefully looking at Yang Kai and declared, “If Tiger Roar City can hold today, Palace Master Yang will be the biggest contributor.”
Yang Kai denied, shaking his head, “You flatter me. But don’t lower your guard yet. The cultivators in the city are only intimidated by those heads now. If you really want to defend the city, it will all depend on how we fare in the next battle. If we collapse at the first blow, no amount of threats will be able to save the situation.”
Lin Tong laughed and proclaimed, “Although my Tiger Roar City does not have many cultivators, if all of us can work with united spirits, it won’t be so easy to defeat us. We will let those Demon bastards know the might of Tiger Roar City today!”
Yang Kai nodded in appreciation, “It’s good to hear that Sir City Lord has this much confidence.”
While he was speaking, Ma Yin suddenly took out her communication artifact and checked it out before reporting with a solemn look on her face, “The Demon Race seems to be underestimating us a little. They have gathered all of their strength to make a breakthrough from the east!”
“Then we must go greet them!” Lin Tong coldly snorted.
The group then hurried to the east, and soon after, they arrived at the gates. The city wall was already jam-packed, mostly with local cultivators of Tiger Roar City. When Lin Tong and Ma Yin arrived, these people immediately cupped their fists and greeted them, making way for them to come over.
Yang Kai stood on the city wall beside these two, and as he looked up, he saw a black army about ten kilometres away, rushing towards this side in neither a hurried nor slow manner. The Demon Race members leading the army were riding humongous, hideous-looking Demon Beasts, each of them wearing a calm look on their faces, as if they were out for a stroll in their courtyard. It didn’t seem that they were here to invade the city but to play a game. The large army behind them was marching without any specific formation, scattered here and there, but they remained silent and solemn. The sky over the Demon Race Army was shrouded in dark clouds, making it seem like a fearsome storm was rolling towards Tiger Roar City.
The black clouds were bearing down on the city as they wanted to blow it away!
*Gudong…*
Nervous gulps sounded one after another before gazes turned towards Lin Dong one by one, as if they could only find a sense of security from him.
Lin Tong stood at the edge of the city wall, wearing a stoic look on his face. His grey hair was blowing in the wind as a gleam in his eyes flashed sharply like a falcon’s. At this moment, his old figure seemed somewhat taller than normal.
Ten kilometres, eight kilometres, five kilometres…
A tense atmosphere began to spread among the residents of Tiger Roar City. Some people had already summoned their artifacts, clenching them tightly before relaxing their grips, their palms all sweaty. Some people even started saying their final goodbyes to each other, fearing that there was no hope of surviving this battle.
The appearance of the Demon Race had been clearly imprinted in everyone’s eyes. Those fearsome Demon Beasts were also giving people a huge psychological pressure.
About three kilometres away, the leading Demon Race Master suddenly grinned at the crowd standing on the city wall, revealing his white fangs before raising his arm high and then slowly swinging it down.
The next moment, the disorganized army suddenly charged out like they were injected with hot chicken blood. War cries filled with murderous intent resounded throughout the sky as hundreds of thousands of Demons released their Demon Qi and slammed it towards Tiger Roar City as they ran forward.
Many people’s faces turned pale. Some people even involuntarily retreated, shoving others left and right. Before the battle even started, the city wall was already in chaos.
The leading Demon Race members broke into laughter at the sight of this, their laughter loud and resounding like claps of thunder.
*Shua shua shua…*
Cold gleams flickered one after another as several heads flew into the air along with splashes of blood. The next moment, several dozen twitching headless corpses fell to the ground among the bustling crowd. Bright red blood-drenched the faces and heads of the nearby cultivators, the warm and moist sensation causing shudders to run down their spines.
Chi Gui’s cold and cruel voice sounded the next moment, “Anyone who shows cowardice before the enemy will be beheaded!”
He coldly retracted his blade and swept his gaze around. All the cultivators around him evade his eyes. There were several dozen people who had acted just like him, killing the retreating cultivators, each and every one of them radiating a ghastly aura.
In an instant, no one stood within ten metres of these people, avoiding them like they were vipers.
If the announcement of the Martial Law and the display of hundreds of heads seemed distant before, what happened just now had hit far closer to home.
There were really people holding butchers’ knives behind them, ready to cut off their heads at a moment’s notice!
Yang Kai then shouted in a deep voice, “There are 5,000 Military Enforcers in the city supervising the battle, if anyone dares to violate the Martial Law, they will show no mercy. Everyone must fight!”
[5,000 Military Enforcers!] This number shocked everyone…
Although the population of Tiger Roar City was close to 300,000, the number of men and women who could actually fight was closer to 50,000, that’s all. And this was still counting the reinforcements from the three territories. Originally, 50,000 against the Demon Race left Tiger Roar City’s defenders severely outnumbered, but now, 5,000 have been deployed as Military Enforcers.
[Whoever came up with this idea is a madman!]
It must be brought to notice that the duty of a Military Enforcer entailed only internal matters, not external. Furthermore, since they had to monitor and supervise the war, they couldn’t be too weak. Whether it was a Military Enforcer or a scout, they had to be the best among the best. In other words, the 5,000 men deployed as Military Enforcers were all elites.
In other words, Tiger Roar City’s strength against the Demon Race hadn’t just decreased by 10%, but maybe 20% or 30%…
Not to mention, there was also Chi Gui leading them, who was an Emperor!
Everyone who thought about this cursed in their hearts!
But at this moment, there was no time to give it that much thought because the Demon Race Army was already upon them.
Sounds of something whistling through the air rang out as dark beams of light shot out from the Demons, one after another, bombarding the light curtain of the defensive Array of the city, causing ripples to spread in a flash, giving the impression that the shield could collapse at any moment.
The Dao Source Realm cultivators, who were managing the Spirit Array, had already taken out their respective Array Jades and were frantically mobilizing their strength to stabilize its operation.
The battle of Tiger Roar City had begun at that moment.
Lin Tong raised his arm and shouted, “Attack!”
On the city wall, many cultivators activated their artifacts or used their Secret Techniques one after another, shooting long-range attacks off the city wall. The next moment, multi-coloured beams of light shot through the light screen of the Array, bombarding the Demon Race Army. There was no need to aim either, because the Demons had gathered all in one group, so any random attack would hit as long as it was fired in their general direction.
Demons fell one by one, but more stepped forward to fill the gap, the deaths of their clansmen not making them timid and instead arousing their bloodthirsty nature. Every Demon Race member seemed to be unafraid of death.
The corpses below the city wall continued to pile up, gradually forming a hill.
Both sides kept attacking each other, but Tiger Roar City was protected by an Array, so as long as it stood firm, there would be no casualties on the defender’s side. On the contrary, the Demon Race side was suffering heavy casualties.
It was a good start!
The morale of Tiger Roar City’s cultivators was lifted at this sight and they were no longer stingy with their energy, unleashing all their best moves to the fullest of their ability. Owing to this, more and more Demon Race members fell to the ground, dead.
Not even thirty breaths had passed since the battle began, but thousands of Demons had already died.
The countless attacks on the Array, however, made its light dimmer and dimmer and it was now showing signs of cracking in places. Although the Defensive Array of Tiger Roar City wasn’t bad, the Demon Race Army’s strength was simply too great. When this Defensive Array was arranged, no one had expected a Demon Race Army to attack the city someday, so it couldn’t last for too long.
Once the Array was broken, Tiger Roar City’s greatest support would be gone, at which point, the cultivators in the city would not be the opponents of these ravenous Demons in close combat.
Obviously, Lin Tong knew this but he had no choice but to use whatever means he had on hand to quickly reduce the number of enemies as much as possible before the Array was broken.
Right then, a tall figure jumped up high, holding an enormous pitch-black hammer. The hammer was of the size of a door and had Demon Qi lingering about it as it slammed hard onto the Array. At the point where it struck, the light screen of the Array immediately creaked as thin and long cracks spread in all directions.
That Demon was blown away by the rebounding force, but he quickly returned and let out a war cry as he raised his hammer up high and slammed it down again.
Everyone’s eyes widened as they could tell that if the hammer struck again, a gap might really be smashed open in the Array. Although a single gap would not be a big deal in normal times and could be repaired in short order, in the current situation it may be the difference between victory or defeat.
No one needed any orders as everyone nearby fired their attacks on that Demon, one after another, trying to kill him first.
The Demon Race Master, however, just sneered, surprisingly not even trying to dodge, allowing all the attacks to land on his body. A stony glimmer suddenly appeared on the Demon’s body, and he remained safe and sound. He was a Demon King, and a Stone Demon at that, so his innate defence was outstanding.
Lin Tong’s heart sank at the sight of this.
As the hammer came down, countless people immediately wailed in their hearts as if the hammer’s target was not the Defensive Array but their own body.
Right then, a figure suddenly appeared in front of the Demon King, stretching its hand out toward the sky and grabbing the hammer.
Ma Yin’s eyes bulged in shock as she finally realized that the person blocking the Demon King was none other than High Heaven Palace’s Palace Master, Yang Kai, and she instinctually let out a tender cry, “Careful!”
The Demon King’s attack was both powerful and heavy, not to mention that Yang Kai was just a Second-Order Emperor. Even a Third-Order Emperor might be flattened into nothing by this move.
Lin Tong’s heart jumped into his throat as well. In this situation, every Emperor Realm Master added an extra level of security to Tiger Roar City, not to mention the fact that Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space. If Yang Kai died here, it would not be as simple as Tiger Roar City losing an Emperor Realm protector, the army’s morale and spirit which had just stabilized would probably collapse again.
*Hong…*
But before everyone’s shocked gazes, Yang Kai actually remained completely still. Suddenly, a visible shock wave burst out from his back, sending his clothes flapping. The hammer that should have slammed onto the Defensive Array was now firmly gripped in his hand.
[Blocked!? He actually blocked it!?]
Lin Tong simply couldn’t believe his eyes. Was this a feat one could accomplish with physical strength alone? But very soon, he hurriedly ordered, “Quickly repair the Array!”
He didn’t know how long Yang Kai could last, but since he had charged out of the Array despite the danger and blocked the critical attack with his own strength, it had given Tiger Roar City a chance to breathe and restore the damaged Array.
The nearby cultivators, who were managing the Array, finally reacted and hurriedly got to work after hearing Lin Tong’s shout.
“Huh?” The Stone Demon opposite Yang Kai raised his brow, staring blankly at Yang Kai. He looked completely stunned, as if he hadn’t expected this little bug-like man to actually block his hammer.
Another nearby Demon King broke into laughter and taunted, “Zha Sa, you waste, were you sucked so dry by those Charm Demons last night that you were actually stopped by this puny Human?”
The Demon King Zha Sa grew angry out of shame and lashed back, “What nonsense!? This King almost fucked those trivial sluts to death, how could they dream of sucking me dry?”
That previous Demon King asked, “Then what’s this situation?”
Zha Sa gazed at Yang Kai with a solemn look as he replied in a heavy voice, “This little brat is not simple! He’s quite strong.”
The other Demon King coldly snorted, “Hurry up and kill him, they are repairing the Spirit Array already. Don’t slip up at the last step.”
Zha Sa snapped, “You don’t need to tell me!”
Yang Kai just grimed as he joined in the conversation, “Do you guys really have the time to chit-chat? Should I let you continue your conversation a little longer? Speaking of which, I’m also quite interested in those Charm Demons you mentioned! Perhaps we can all sit down and discuss them with each other when we have the opportunity?”
Zha Sa broke into laughter, “You want to play with those Charm Demons with your scrawny body? You’d best not, otherwise, there’ll be nothing left of you in the morning!”
Yang Kai retorted, shrugging his shoulders, “Many thanks for your concern, but I think I’ll be just fine.”
Zha Sa sneered, “It’s a pity that you won’t have that chance.” After saying so, he tried to pull his hammer back, but in the next moment, his face greatly changed, because his hammer was firmly held by the Human before him and he was completely unable to move it.
Zha Sa immediately looked as if he had seen a ghost.
He was a Stone Demon, and although he might be a little weaker than those innately gifted Strength Demons when it came to raw physical power, the difference wasn’t that great.
[My Demon Artifact is being held tight by this freak and I can’t even get it back, what the hell is going on here!? Is this Human actually that strong?]
“This hammer is pretty good,” Yang Kai grinned at him, inexplicably causing a cold chill to shoot up Zha Sa’s spine, but before he could react, his arms suddenly felt lighter and he noticed that his Demon Artifact had actually been snatched by this Human.
Yang Kai weighed the hammer in his hand a little before nodding in appreciation, “Not bad, not bad at all!”
A whistling sound suddenly rang out as the hammer was sent slamming back at the Demon King.
Zha Sa’s face drastically changed as he hurriedly tried to retreat, but just as he was about to move, the surrounding space suddenly became extremely viscous, as if he had fallen into a swamp. The next moment, he felt his head sink in before everything went black.
The riotous battlefield filled with the sounds of explosions and shouting suddenly went silent for a moment, like the entire world had instantly come to a halt.
One after another, gazes focused on Yang Kai as everyone had an extreme sense of incredulity, especially the members of the Demon Race. Almost all of them were dumbfounded while the Demon King who had been mocking Zha Sa before had his eyes bulge so wide they nearly popped out of their sockets.
At that moment, small pieces of flesh rained down from the sky around Yang Kai as the Stone Demon Zha Sa was blown into a mist of blood by his very own hammer. Nothing of him remained. Although the Demon Race had a very tenacious vitality, after suffering this kind of blow, Zha Sa could not be more dead.
“Next!” Yang Kai, wielding Zha Sa’s hammer, stood calmly in the air, coldly glancing over the surroundings. There was a wide gap in the Defensive Array behind him, but at this moment Yang Kai gave off the aura of a giant who could alone hold back the entire enemy army, one man as a mountain.
Cheers immediately broke out on the city wall as Lin Tong was finally able to put down the worry in his heart. Ma Yin’s beautiful eyes flickered with a strange gleam whereas Yu Ru Meng disdainfully spat at the sight of this and moved to block this woman’s line of sight.
“Kill him!” A furious roar resounded as all the Demon Race members in the vicinity charged at Yang Kai without a care for their lives. Although the death of Zha Sa came as a great shock, this did not cause them to cower, and under the Demon King’s orders, no one dared not charge.
In an instant, Yang Kai was completely surrounded.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
Muffled explosions rang one after another as Demons were blown apart into blood mists. In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai’s figure stood tall while all the Demons who had charged at him before were wiped out. Right now, there were no Demons within a dozen metre radius of where he stood.
Yang Kai’s entire figure was dyed in the Demon Race blood and the remnant Demon Qi swirled around his body, making him look more like a Demon than the Demons themselves!
The Demon Race continued charging at Yang Kai though, filling the ranks of the fallen ones without showing even the slightest hesitation, but Yang Kai’s location seemed to have turned into a meat grinder that ground up all Demons who approached, leaving not one alive.
At that moment, Yang Kai was truly the incarnation of a mountain, holding back the tide all on his own.
So long as there were sacrifices, the massacre kept going.
Yang Kai stood alone outside the Defensive Array, but he kept the storming Demon Race Army back like a God of Slaughter. Even though he was only one person, the power he displayed was comparable to an army.
On the city wall, the cultivators of Tiger Roar City were busy repairing the crack in the Array, and soon, they completed their task.
Seeing this, Lin Tong shouted, “Palace Master Yang, you can withdraw now.”
Yang Kai slowly shook his head, “I’m afraid I won’t be able to return.”
Just as he said these words, his figure flickered as he appeared at another location. The Array at that spot had also been cracked by the Demon Race. Thanks to Yang Kai’s quick thinking though, he moved over to cover this opening, otherwise, the swarming Demon Race Army would have really broken into the city.
The same situation repeated as before. The Demon Race Army madly charged at the crack but was stopped by Yang Kai’s hammer alone. Unable to advance, the Demons only left countless corpses behind, ending up with heavy casualties.
And right behind Yang Kai, the few cultivators responsible for patching the Spirit Array rushed over and began working frantically.
Cries and shouts filled the battlefield as the Demon Race’s ferocity was on full display. Since the beginning of the war, it had barely been a quarter of an hour, yet Tiger Roar City’s Defensive Array had been breached twice.
But how many Yang Kai’s were there in this world? Even though there were over ten Emperor Realm Masters in the city, none of them dared to rush out of the city like Yang Kai and take on the Demon Race Army alone. Lin Tong observed the situation of the entire battlefield, sending attacks when he could towards the invading enemies as deep worry could be clearly seen on his face. As the City Lord of Tiger Roar City, he could already see the greatest weakness on his side. If the Demon Race Army changed their strategy, it would be questionable whether Tiger Roar City could hold on today or not.
And his fears soon came true. After their initial attempts, seeing that it was impossible to break through Yang Kai’s location and that the recently opened breach was repaired again, the Demon Race Army suddenly split up and began attacking from several directions.
Lin Ting’s heart pounded at the sight of this. If the Demon Race Army concentrated their offensive at one location, Tiger Roar City still had hopes of defending as Yang Kai’s performance was simply astonishing. With him taking charge of the front lines, it became impossible to breach the Array.
But with the Demon Race Army splitting up, once the Array was breached at multiple locations, it would be impossible to defend all the gaps.
Facts proved that the Demons weren’t fools. They could see what Lin Tong could see and swiftly implemented a plan to maximise their advantage.
After a while, the Demon Race had breached the Array at another location and Yang Kai promptly swooped in to block the invading Demons, but the next moment, he heard a cry of despair not too far away. As he looked over, Yang Kai saw another crack appearing on that side and a swarm of elated Demons who were rushing towards it.
Yang Kai heaved a sigh before raising his hand and summoning the Embodiment out, making him defend the place he was originally guarding while he himself rushed in that direction.
As soon as the Embodiment appeared, he started a massacre. With his several-dozen-metre tall body, he gave everyone a very strong visual impact, especially with the numerous spikes and wicked flames covering his figure. Wielding the Demonic War Hammer, the region around the Embodiment became a zone of death, with every swing of its hammer creating a rain of blood. On top of that, after activating the Heaven Devouring Domain, the Demon Qi of the swarming Demon Race members was soon sucked out and devoured clean.
The Demon Race was stupefied as this newcomer was even more terrifying than the Human man who was blocking their way before! No one knew how this stone giant appeared, or where it came from, but with it guarding the Defensive Array, the recently breached opening was simply impregnable.
With these two guarding the two gaps, the Demon Race Army suffered thousands of casualties, but they were still unable to move forward an inch.
But a third breach very soon appeared, becoming the breakthrough point the Demon Race Army needed.
Lin Tong promptly rushed over without a moment of hesitation. He didn’t dare to rush out of the gap like Yang Kai as he was well aware of his own capabilities. Although he was similarly an Emperor Realm Master, he was only an ordinary Second-Order. If he really rushed out of the breach, he would immediately be overwhelmed by the enemy.
Very wisely, he stayed inside the Array while boldly blocking the third gap with his body. He let out a furious war cry as his thin body swelled up like a balloon, his muscles bulging as he even grew a little taller, ripping apart his upper robes. An intense aura overflowed from his body at that moment as he raised his hand, summoning a broadsword that was taller than the average man that shone with an impressive radiance.
The halo around the broadsword rippled again and again, leaving countless after images and in the next moment, all the swarming Demon Race members were chopped to pieces.
A serious look appeared on the faces of Ma Yin and the other Emperor Realm Masters of Tiger Roar City, who were guarding their respective areas. Their Emperor Qi soared as those closest cooperated with Lin Tong to block the Demon Race Army’s advance, sparing no strength.
Fortunately, the Array wasn’t completely destroyed and the breaches weren’t that big either, so not many Demons could charge in through the gaps. Coupled with the Emperor Realm Masters of Tiger Roar City providing support, they barely held on.
The morale of many cultivators rose when they saw this and fired off their respective Secret Technique more and more fiercely, reducing the strength of the Demon Race as much as possible.
But a fourth gap was soon cracked open.
Li Jiao and Gao Xue Ting, following suit, immediately jumped in to block the Demon Race Army’s advance. Although there were only two of them, they actually had an easier time defending than Lin Tong’s side.
After all, Li Jiao was a Third-Order Emperor and possessed a half-dragon bloodline, so while he wasn’t as strong as a Pseudo-Great Emperor, he was still a little stronger than an ordinary Third-Order Emperor Realm Master.
With him holding the front and Gao Xue Ting supporting and coordinating from behind, no matter how many Demons reached the breach, all of them were killed.
On the city wall, the cultivators responsible for repairing the Spirit Array were run ragged, their feet never stopping. They were running around here and there like a team of firefighters. Wherever the Array was breached, they would rush over to repair the gap, but just as they repaired one gap, another would appear.
Fortunately, the Demon Race Army’s strength had also reached a limit; otherwise, if another or two gaps were opened, Tiger Roar City would really not be able to hold on. Yang Kai and the Embodiment kept switching locations, rushing to new gaps and guarding them one after another.
At every moment, the Array appeared to be on the verge of collapsing but it always somehow held on.
After about an hour, the Demon Race Army had suffered casualties in the tens of thousands, while Tiger Roar City had still not lost a single person. This was simply unimaginable, but everyone knew it was all thanks to the Spirit Array behind which Tiger Roar City’s forces were hiding. As long as the Array wasn’t broken, they would not be in any danger; however, constantly expending their energy for an hour straight had left many people somewhat exhausted. Many people in the city now had to use pills to supplement their energy while some who had reached their limits were forced to withdraw and adjust their breathing.
If the current status quo was maintained and nothing eventful happened, Tiger Roar City might just make it through.
But disaster always strikes unannounced.
Outside the city wall, Yang Kai was radiating a dense and awe-inspiring murderous intent as Space Principles flared around him, slicing apart every enemy that got within ten metres of him. Countless Demons had been ground into blood mists, leaving not even a single piece of bone behind. All that was left was a pile of ground-up flesh near his feet.
Suddenly, Ma Yin’s cry rang in his ear, “City Lord, be careful!” Her voice was mixed with panic and fear.
As Yang Kai turned to take a look, his pupils immediately and involuntarily shrank. He noticed Lin Tong’s pupils widened in surprise as his feet sank into the ground for some reason, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t free himself. Obviously, he had fallen to some plot, and right then, a Blood Demon Demon King surrounded by a bloody halo rushed over from the nearby breach with a ferocious smile on his face.
Lin Tong wasn’t panicked though and displayed the composure of a veteran Second-Order Emperor, fiercely chopping down his broadsword.
The Blood Demon, however, didn’t dodge and simply let the broadsword slash him. In the next moment though, the Blood Demon’s figure transformed into a cloud of blood mist without suffering any damage whatsoever. Right afterwards, the mist of blood completely enveloped Lin Tong and drilled its way into his body through his pores and seven orifices.
Lin Tong’s face changed as a painful groan inevitably escaped from his mouth and his figure faltered.
Ma Yin and the others were all rooted to the spot, stunned and confused, having no idea what to do.
They were fighting against the Demon Race for the first time, so they were naturally unfamiliar with all the various characteristics of the hundred clans. They might have heard some information before, but things completely changed when it came to firsthand experience.
If the Blood Demon had engaged in a fight with Lin Tong, they might be able to provide support, but they had no idea how to deal with this strange situation. While the nearby cultivators were reeling from the shock, a large part of the Demon Race Army charged in through the gap, Demon Qi billowing from their faces as they menacingly pounced.
Lin Tong suddenly turned his head to stare in Yang Kai’s direction. A hint of determination flashed in his eyes, he shouted in a heavy voice, “Palace Master Yang, I leave Tiger Roar City to you!”
Just as he said this, he swung his broadsword down at himself.
Right then, blood splashed everywhere as his legs were severed from below Lin Tong’s knees before he shot off into the sky, his mutilated body enveloped in a bloody halo as he rushed out of the city with a furious roar, plunging straight into the heart of the Demon Race Army.
Fearsome energy fluctuations started undulating right after, causing the Demons in the surroundings to turn pale in shock.
The Blood Demon who had invaded Lin Tong’s body hurriedly tried to withdraw, reforming his physical body as he cursed Lin Tong, “Crazy bastard!”
But how could Lin Tong let him escape? Pushing his Emperor Qi madly, he grabbed hold of the Blood Demon and refused to let go. The Blood Demon wore a look of shock and was struck with panic, struggling hard as he transformed his arms into sharp claws that ripped into Lin Tong’s chest and arms again and again.
But his efforts proved futile as Lin Tong’s body only glowed more and more dazzlingly.
The next moment, a deafening explosion reverberated throughout the sky as everything within 500 meters of Lin Tong completely vanished. Not even the bones of the Blood Demon remained while over ten thousand Demons simply vaporized.
“City Lord!” Ma Yin cried out in grief as the eyes of other Emperor Realm Masters of Tiger Roar City turned red from sorrow and anger. Their blood began to boil as they released bestial war cries, vowing to avenge Lin Tong!
Tiger Roar City had suffered its first casualty of today’s battle, but no one had ever imagined that the first to be martyred would be the City Lord himself.
While everyone was lost in the heat of the moment, a pair of hands silently creeped out from underneath Ma Yin, grabbing towards her.
Earlier, these very hands had caught Lin Tong, rendering him rooted to the spot.
Grief-stricken, Ma Yin failed to notice the approaching danger.
But suddenly, Yang Kai’s figure flickered over and while he pushed Ma Yin away, he stomped towards the ground as Space Principles undulated.
The ground quaked as a muffled sound came below ground, as if something was crushed to pieces.
Ma Yin finally came to her senses and turned a dazed look to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai glanced at her as he stated in a grim voice, “Sand Demons are experts at Earth Escape Techniques. All of you must be careful of them.”
After listening to Yang Kai’s warning, Ma Yin and the others finally understood what happened to Lin Tong just now.
The Sand Demon, who was strong enough to trap the Second-Order Emperor Realm Lin Tong, was surely a Demon King Realm Master, but such a Master was still killed by Yang Kai’s stomp, so just how strong was Yang Kai really?
But there was no time to remain shocked as a large number of Demons were now pouring through the unguarded breach in the Defensive Array.
And in the absence of Yang Kai, Demon Race members were also swarming through the breach he had previously been defending.
More and more Demons poured into the city, engaging the cultivators of Tiger Roar City in close quarters, starting a fight to the death on the city wall! People on both sides continued to fall as, for the first time, the cultivators on the city walls were fighting the Demon Race hand to hand, but how could these exhausted and demoralized cultivators stand against the fearless Demon Race. Many collapsed at the first encounter and were completely routed.
The role of the Military Enforcers finally came into play. Yang Kai was not bluffing when he said that 5,000 enforcers had been deployed. They really existed.
Anyone who took a step back was beheaded by the Military Enforcers the next moment.
With the Demons before them and the Military Enforcers behind, many defenders quickly understood their situation. If they took a step back, they would die without a doubt, but if they stepped forward to fight, they might have a chance to live. At this moment, there was only one choice for them, and coupled with the shocking sight of Lin Tong’s heroic sacrifice, many cultivators’ felt a rush of hot blood as they let out war cries and charged straight at the Demons. Even if they died, they wanted to bite off a chunk of Demon flesh before they fell.
Yang Kai timely raised his sword and shouted, “So long as a single person lives, the city remains standing, the moment everyone dies will be the moment the city is destroyed, attack!”
After a short moment of panic and disorder, Tiger Roar City’s morale finally started rising as they counterattacked the Demon Race in teams. Ma Yin even set an example and charged to the forefront, acting no weaker than any man.
Right then, mysterious and obscure incantations started ringing as a halo enveloped the cultivators of Tiger Roar City. With a wave of Yang Kai’s hand, two Shamanic Spells, the Bloodlust Spell and Life Chains, were activated.
Under the Bloodlust Spell, the timidity of Tiger Roar City cultivators was swept away and replaced with a desire for battle. As for the Life Chains, they connected the vitality of thousands of cultivators, allowing them to withstand more damage without dying.
The line must hold!
Everyone was amazed to find that even after the Defensive Array had been breached by the enemy at multiple locations, Tiger Roar City was actually able to compete with the Demon Race Army despite being outnumbered, preventing the enemy from completely breaching their defences. Only a small part of the enemy army was able to reach the actual city, which boosted the defenders’ confidence. It let them know that the Demon Race was not immortal or invincible, they could be killed just like anyone else.
The locations of the ten or so Emperor Realm Masters turned into forbidden zones. The Demon Race Army was unable to break through their line of defence at all as, no matter how many charged, all of them fell. Obviously, the enemy Demon Kings took notice of this situation and acted accordingly, attacking the Emperor Realm Masters of Tiger Roar City.
This was exactly what Yang Kai wanted though.
If the Demon Kings remained hidden amidst the enemy army, he might not be able to find them in all the chaos; after all, there were just too many people fighting now. But now that the Demon Kings had revealed themselves, it gave Yang Kai a chance to kill them all.
Yang Kai’s figure wandered back and forth across the battlefield, and wherever he passed by, Demons fell in droves. One by one, the Demon Kings were killed by Yang Kai, and without their commands, the Demon Race Army, which had been moving and attacking in an orderly manner, slowly started to become disorganized. However, being brave and fearless of death, the Demons continued charging straight into the Tiger Roar City’s defence line, giving the defending side an opportunity to encircle and eliminate them.
After half a day, the Demon Race Army was still attacking, but the situation had taken a sharp turn. The city walls of Tiger Roar City were completely blanketed by a floor of severed heads, all of them belonging to the cultivators of Tiger Roar City. There was not a single Demon Race member in sight though as all of the Demons who had charged in through breaches in the Defensive Array had been eliminated without any exception.
The Demon Race Army’s size had dropped by more than half.
Finally, some among the Demons realized that something was wrong because there weren’t any signs of Demon Kings on the battlefield, not even a single one. Even the Demon King, who had been giving orders from the rear, had been drawn out and killed by Yang Kai.
The enemy was now a heap of loose sand!
Although the Demon Race wasn’t afraid of death, they would not make meaningless sacrifices. When they saw no hope of victory, they naturally chose to retreat.
And so a slow withdrawal began as the Demon Race Army entered a strategic retreat.
Right at this moment, the creaky Defensive Array was suddenly withdrawn as Yang Kai, leading over 10,000 cultivators, charged out, chasing the retreating Demons, hunting down and killing the enemy for a thousand kilometres, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake.
Only after a thousand-kilometres pursuit did they finally beat the gong and withdrew their troops.
Every Human cultivator was panting for breath, looking in the direction of the Demon Race’s escape. Everyone was dyed red, as if they had just walked out of a sea of blood, but no matter who it was, every one of them was excited.
[We won!]
To everyone’s surprise, Tiger Roar City won the battle even when they were so heavily outnumbered. More importantly, they only paid a small price to achieve this victory, which no one had even imagined before the war started.
All of them thought that they would definitely die today and Tiger Roar City would be added to the Demon land, but reality gave everyone a big pleasant surprise.
And the one who made this reality a possibility was one man!
Everyone’s gaze turned towards the bloodied Yang Kai, one after another. Each and every one of them had a look of reverence on their faces. Had Yang Kai not been acting as a mountain, blocking the breaches in the Defensive Array, Tiger Roar City would not have had the chance to reduce the numbers of the Demon Race Army to the point where they could repel them. Had Yang Kai not dived into the enemy lines and taken out all the Demon Kings alone, the Demon Race Army would not have been reduced to a heap of loose sand that could easily be scattered. Had Yang Kai not used those marvellous Secret Techniques, the cultivators of Tiger Roar City would definitely not have been able to compete with the Demon Race.
At the very end, had Yang Kai not brought the cultivators to rush out and hunt down the fleeing Demon Race, they would not have achieved such a significant victory.
At this moment, whether it was the cultivators of Tiger Roar City or the reinforcements of the three Territories, all had a strong sense of respect and awe towards this young man.
Everyone had the highest praise for him in their heart!
Ma Yin stepped forward and asked, cupping her fists, “City Lord, please give your orders.”
Before sacrificing himself, Lin Tong had entrusted Tiger Roar City to Yang Kai, and coupled with Yang Kai’s astonishing performance in this battle, no one else could be the City Lord of Tiger Roar City; only Yang Kai was eligible for this.
As the Palace Master of the High Heaven Palace, Yang Kai naturally didn’t care about being the City Lord of Tiger Roar City, but at this moment, he didn’t decline it either. He just nodded and gave his order, “We return. The Demon Race will make a comeback, we need to rest and recuperate as well as repair the defences.”
“Yes!” Everyone responded.
After half a day, the army finally returned to the city. Some counted the casualties, while the injured went to be treated. Tiger Roar City’s walls and Defensive Array were also under repair.
It was just that the momentum of the entire Tiger Roar City was completely different. Compared to before, it was like clouds and mud. With the cheers and celebration of victory still ringing in their hearts, many cultivators in Tiger Roar City were full of energy. Even when they were still suffering from the after-effects of the Bloodlust Spell, their zeal hadn’t reduced at all.
Inside the City Lord’s Mansion, Yang Kai was sitting in an open pool with a contemplative look on his face. Yu Ru Meng was sitting by the water, dangling her bare feet as she glanced over at him from time to time.
She was really thick-skinned, seemingly not knowing the meaning of the word ‘shame’. Yang Kai was taking a bath right in front of her, but she didn’t have any intention of removing herself from his company.
“Do you want to stay here and defend this city?” Yu Ru Meng asked, suddenly splashing water at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai indifferently replied, “One has to try his best to do what is entrusted to him by others.”
Yu Ru Meng asked, smiling at him, “The old man was just spouting some wishfully thinking before his death. Did you really take him seriously?”
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes at her, “Without even taking into consideration City Lord Lin’s last request, Tiger Roar City has to be defended!” Just as he had told Lin Tong before, the three territories had come to support the Western Territory not just to rescue them, but to rescue themselves; they couldn’t retreat.
Yu Ru Meng stated, pouting, “The Demon Race won’t give up. They will return stronger the next time. How long can you hold out?”
Yang Kai calmly replied, “You seem to understand the Demon Race very well.”
Yu Ru Meng responded, “It’s obvious, isn’t it? You know it too. You can rout them once, but what about the second time, or the third time? The Demon Race will keep coming in greater numbers and with more powerful Masters each time!”
Yang Kai grinned, “Then I will beat them till they dare not return!”
Yu Ru Meng couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him, “Your boasting has really reached unprecedented levels!”
Yang Kai looked at her with great interest before ordering, hooking his fingers, “Little temptress, come here!”
Yu Ru Meng furrowed her brow, “What did you call me? Why did you call me little temptress?”
“So what if I called you little temptress, do you have a problem with that?” Yang Kai looked at her in amazement.
Yu Ru Meng shook her head, “I don’t have any problem. It just feels novel to me.”
“Really?” Yang Kai broke out into laughter and the next moment, he reached out and grabbed her. Yu Ru Meng immediately let out a tender cry as she fell into the pool, her hands resting on his chest. Staring at him, she asked with a vigilant look on her face, “What are you doing?”
Yang Kai didn’t speak, he just brought her in close and pressed his lips onto her own.
Immediately after, a sharp cry sounded and at the same time, Yang Kai threw her into the middle of the pool.
Yu Ru Meng stood up with an exasperated look on her face, glaring at Yang Kai’s back, grinding her teeth, her clothes wet and translucent, a drop of blood dying her cherry lips crimson, “You bit me!”
Yang Kai got up and got dressed, pushing his Emperor Qi slightly to dry himself before he walked right out without looking back.
“Why did you bite me!?” Yu Ru Meng yelled from behind, but she didn’t get any response as Yang Kai had already disappeared from her sight.
“Smelly man, I will pay you back sooner or later!” Yu Ru Meng vented her anger for a while before she finally left the pool. She then took off her wet clothes and put on a new dry set.
The city was currently in a flurry of activity. As the new City Lord of Tiger Roar City, Yang Kai was walking around with Ma Yin, checking the current situation. The number of casualties was also presented to him. Although Tiger Roar City had won the previous battle, the losses they had suffered weren’t small. More than 10,000 had fallen, but compared to the results of the battle, such a loss was within the acceptable range.
Many more were injured or invaded by Demon Qi, putting them in danger of losing their sentience and turning into Demons themselves.
Ma Yin ordered all those invaded by Demon Qi to be gathered in one place, placing them under strict supervision. If anyone showed any signs of succumbing, he or she would be immediately killed.
Yang Kai asked her to take him to the place where these people were imprisoned immediately upon learning about the situation and cast the Demon Exorcism Spell to expel the Demon Qi from their bodies. This miraculous technique left Ma Yin in complete amazement once more.
After a busy half a day, Yang Kai finally returned to the City Lord’s Mansion. Everything in the city was taken care of by the other Emperors.
After arranging a Space Array at a suitable location inside the City Lord’s Mansion, Yang Kai directly activated it and returned to High Heaven Palace. He then took out the communication artifact and sent a message before waiting. Nanmen Da Jun hurriedly rushed over a moment later and asked, “Palace Master, what’s the matter?”
“Follow me,” Yang Kai beckoned.
Nanmen Da Jun asked, “Do you need me to arrange a Spirit Array?”
He was an Emperor Array Master and Yang Kai generally didn’t come to him for anything apart from something related to Spirit Arrays, so it wasn’t difficult to guess what the latter wanted now.
And seeing Yang Kai nod, Nanmen Da Jun stated, “Then I must ask Palace Master to wait a moment while I call over some of my little brats to help.”
The so-called little brats were naturally the few new Disciples he had recruited. High Heaven Palace was a massive Sect with over 100,000 disciples, so it was natural for some to have talent in the Dao of Spirit Arrays. Nanmen Da Jun had no intention of leaving High Heaven Palace anymore, so he naturally began to consider the issue of his inheritance.
Not only him, but even Hou Yu had similarly accepted a few talented Disciples to join her in Artifact Refining.
After a short while, five young disciples hurried over, each of them bowing respectfully when they saw their Honoured Master, Nanmen Da Jun.
Yang Kai was delighted after seeing this. Although he didn’t know the names of these young disciples, they were obviously brought over from Heng Luo Star Field by him as all of them looked at him with kind-hearted expressions. Afterwards, the group of six immediately returned to Tiger Roar City using the Space Array.
The last battle made Yang Kai realize that Tiger Roar City’s original Defensive Array couldn’t be used again; it needed to be repaired and reinforced, and Nanmen Da Jun, an Emperor Array Master, was the perfect choice for this job.
As he was shown around the city, Nanmen Da Jun didn’t hesitate to criticize Tiger Roar City Defensive Array as useless, feeling ashamed to even call the others who arranged it fellow Array Masters. He couldn’t wait to dismantle and rearrange the entire Spirit Array.
Yang Kai, however, patted him on the shoulder and shook his head, “There’s not much time. Just augment it as best you can.”
Nanmen Da Jun patted his chest and guaranteed, “Rest assured, Palace Master, I will personally see to it that the Defensive Array here will be ten times stronger than before by the time I am finished.”
Naturally, Yang Kai had complete confidence in him. Among the Array Masters he had come in contact with, only Yang Yan was superior to this old man in the Dao of Spirit Arrays while others were not on par.
Yang Kai didn’t remain in Tiger Roar City after he finished explaining things to Nanmen Da Jun and instead used a Space Beacon to teleport to Li Wu Yi’s side.
As soon as the two met, Yang Kai went straight to the point, without any pleasantries, “Senior, I need more manpower.”
Li Wu Yi looked at him with widened eyes, “And so you came to me?”
Yang Kai replied, blinking at him, “Who else would I go to?”
Li Wu Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “I’m also lacking troops here. If you ask me for more men, who else should I ask?”
Yang Kai was extremely shocked, “Really?”
Li Wu Yi explained with a headache, “You saw it too when you came last time. The Demon Race Army on my side numbers more than a million and is filled with powerful Masters. I have just enough troops to protect this city, so where would I find extra manpower to give you?”
Yang Kai gave it a second thought and reluctantly had to agree. Although Li Wu Yi had more troops compared to Tiger Roar City, they were up against a greater proportion of enemies. Yang Kai had also witnessed the last battle with his own eyes where the Demon Race sent a Pseudo-Great Emperor Realm Master to contend with Li Wu Yi. Yang Kai might really not be able to find anyone free here.
Li Wu Yi asked, “Where are you stationed now? What’s the situation over here?”
Yang Kai heaved a sigh as he replied, “Tiger Roar City, we just finished an initial battle but suffered a lot of casualties and urgently need to replenish our forces.”
“Tiger Roar City…” Li Wu Yi raised his brow and walked over to a Mountains and River Projection to take a look. This Mountains and Rivers Projection should have been refined not long ago and covered the entire Western Territory. However, this projection was clearly refined in a hurry, so it wasn’t all that precise. After searching for a while, Li Wu Yi found the location of Tiger Roar City and lightly nodded, “This is also an important location. If Tiger Roar City falls, the Demon Race Army will be able to breach through our defence line and attack our rear.”
“Senior is absolutely correct, so I must ask Senior to provide me with some support.” Yang Kai immediately struck while the iron was hot.
Li Wu Yi pointed at him in exasperation, wanting to curse, but eventually he just sighed and said, “It’s useless to talk to me. I really can’t send out anyone from my side. What about the members of your High Heaven Palace?”
Yang Kai took a deep breath as he searched on the Mountains and Rivers Projection before pressing a spot and replying, “They are all stationed here.”
“Can’t they provide help?”
Yang Kai shook his head, “I’m afraid it’s not possible either. They too have their own enemies.”
Li Wu Yi sighed, “The Demon Race is too strong and too well prepared. Currently, all the cities of the Western Territories we are defending are outnumbered and fighting against unfavourable odds.”
Yang Kai proposed, furrowing his brow, “If that’s the case, why not pull back and consolidate our forces?”
Li Wu Yi shook his head, “If we do that, it would mean abandoning a swath of territory, and the Demon Race will also be able to gather its forces. The gains outweigh the losses. Although things aren’t looking good right now, as long as we persevere, there is still some hope.” He paused for a moment before adding, “Go to Yang Yan. Currently, she is in charge of the Star Boundary’s logistics and troop deployment. She knows the situation of the major cities in the Western Territory so perhaps she can requisition some people for you from somewhere less burdened. I also sent the Emperor Realm Masters and Shamans you brought last time to her to assign.”
“Yang Yan?” Yang Kai was shocked, “Where do I find her?”
“I’ll send you there,” As he spoke, Li Wu Yi put his hand on Yang Kai’s shoulder and in the next moment, Space Principles fluctuated and, in a flash of blinding light, Yang Kai disappeared.
Before he could even compose himself, Yang Kai heard a loud clamouring of voices.
As Yang Kai focused his gaze to look, he couldn’t help but be stunned.
There were more than a dozen people standing in the hall where he had arrived, and all of them were Third-Order Emperors or Masters of great forces. Each person here was a famous figure that was looked up to and worshipped by the billions of cultivators across the Star Boundary. However, at this moment, all of them were red in the face, shooting steam from their ears and spitting out in rage at each other, as if they all had absolutely irreconcilable grudges between them.
Yang Kai even saw a lot of familiar faces among these people!
Wen Zi Shan and Ma Qing had actually grabbed each other by their collars and looked like they were about to come to blows.
Yang Kai silently and quietly stepped aside, lest he get caught in the scuffle.
The sudden appearance of another person naturally drew everyone’s attention, and when they turned to look, many acquaintances lightly nodded to Yang Kai while Mi Qi came up to him and greeted with cupped fists, “Palace Master Yang!”
Yang Kai responded in kind as he curiously looked around.
“Hey you, boy, why are you also here?” A distressed voice came from the head of the hall. Yang Kai found this voice familiar and when he looked up, he saw that the speaker was none other than Yang Yan.
It was just that there was no joy of reuniting with an acquaintance after a long separation on Yang Yan’s face. Rather it looked like she had a severe headache. She glared at Yang Kai and asked, “Did that bastard Li Wu Yi also send you here?”
The only way Yang Kai could have shown up next to her all of a sudden was through Li Wu Yi’s Space Beacon.
Yang Kai nodded. Then he looked at Wen Zi Shan and Ma Qing in amazement and asked, “What’s going on?”
Why did these two look like they are about to fight…?
Mi Qi came over and whispered, “Palace Master Yang is also here for the reinforcements, right?”
Yang Kai nodded his agreement before asking, looking at him, “You too?”
Mi Qi bitterly smiled, “That’s right.” Then he continued as he motioned toward Wen Zi Shan and Ma Qing subtly, “All of them are as well, but Senior Yang Yan can’t mobilize many people while all of them want as many as possible, so it’s become difficult to allocate the limited resources. Temple Master Wen and Holy Master Ma are both arguing that their side’s situation is more precarious, and they should be given priority in the allocation. One thing led to another and well….”
Yang Kai almost broke out into laughter after hearing this, but soon he became saddened and stated, grimacing, “So we can only go back empty-handed?”
Mi Qi agreed with a sad face, “That seems likely.”
While the two were speaking, Wen Zi Shan and Ma Qing had already started fighting, but it could only be counted as a small scuffle as neither of them dared to use their Emperor Qi here. Instead, they just kicked and punched each other like they were street hoodlums engaging in a back-alley brawl.
It was a rare sight to see Third-Order Emperor Realm Masters fight like local ruffians, so the onlookers couldn’t help but find it novel and entertaining.
Yang Yan soon lost patience, however, and angrily shouted, “Enough!”
A scorching hot aura enveloped the entire hall, causing Wen Zi Shan and Ma Qing to finally back away from each other, but not before they shot the opposite party a ruthless glare. Obviously, they were still deeply dissatisfied.
Yang Yan’s Pseudo-Great Emperor pressure descended from the front of the hall, suppressing everyone as her pretty eyes swept over the crowd before she stated, “Everyone has their own difficulties, but this Queen does not have any additional manpower to allocate to you for the time being. All of you go back.”
Ma Qing immediately shouted, “Madam, didn’t you just say that you can only redeploy 30,000 soldiers. How come there are none now?”
Wen Zi Shan also nodded his agreement, “Yes, why are there none now? I don’t want a lot either, just 10,000 will do.”
Ma Qing cried out, without showing any weakness, “I also want 10,000.”
Ahan Temple’s Temple Master lightly coughed as he joined in, “This King also wants 10,000!”
Others hurriedly shouted, one after another, lest nothing would be left if they were too slow.
Yang Yan responded with a snort, “Each one of you wants 10,000, but where do you want this Queen to find that many men for you? Currently, the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Territories are recruiting people to send here to help. More manpower will only be available a month from now.”
Ma Qing stated, “Madam, let’s leave that matter till after a month has passed. Let’s talk about those 30,000 men…”
Yang Yan coldly looked at him before indifferently stating, “Utter one more word of nonsense and next month there won’t be anyone for you either!”
Ma Qing immediately choked down the words he was about to speak.
At this point, everyone knew that they couldn’t get anything from Yang Yan, so they could only leave in frustration. But fortunately, Yang Yan had informed them that the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Territories were still recruiting reinforcements and there would be more manpower coming after next month. At that time, there would naturally be troops available to assign.
Yang Yan was now in charge of logistics for the Star Boundary’s war efforts, meaning she had the right to allocate troops. Also, she was a Pseudo-Great Emperor Realm Master so naturally, no one dared to offend her. After lingering for a short time, everyone bid their goodbyes and left one after another.
Of course, Yang Kai didn’t leave, and after everyone had left, he looked at Yang Yan smiling.
“I said there were no more troops to allocate, did you understand me or not?” Yang Yan glanced sidelong at Yang Kai and declared.
“I understand, I understand,” Yang Kai kept nodding.
Yang Yan suspiciously looked at him, “Do you really understand?”
Yang Kai assured with a smile, “Don’t worry, I won’t make things difficult for you.”
Everyone who was in charge of the major cities had their own difficulties, and all of their troubles were naturally Yang Yan’s troubles as well. Yang Yan had already stated the situation clearly, so how could Yang Kai insist?
“It’s good that you understand,” Yang Yan heaved a sigh of relief. She was really afraid that Yang Kai would also ask her for more manpower. It would have been fine if it was someone else as she could just directly refuse them, but she would find it difficult to refuse if it was Yang Kai. If he really asked, Yang Yan would really have to think of some way to find manpower.
Yang Yan, after hesitating for a while, asked, “Is the situation critical on your side?”
“It’s not good but it’s not terrible either.” Yang Kai didn’t elaborate so as not to worry her, instead just smiling as he continued, “I will figure out a way to find the necessary manpower. You don’t have to worry about it.”
Yang Yan asked, “Where will you find more manpower now?” Although the Northern, Southern, and Western Territories were being mobilized, this was a matter related to the entire Star Boundary, so even if reinforcements were found, they first had to come to her before being distributed to the front.
Yang Kai replied, smiling, “I can still send out another 5,000 people from my High Heaven Palace. Also… there is another place where I can find another batch of reinforcements.”
“Where?” Yang Yan looked at him in surprise.
Yang Kai put on an inscrutable smile and replied, “I can’t tell you, I can’t tell you. You will know when the time is right. But let me tell you this first, these people won’t fall under your control, so don’t make any decisions on their behalf at the time.”
Yang Yan rolled her eyes at him as she ground her teeth in anger, but there was nothing she could do about him.
After chatting for a while, Yang Kai had some basic understanding of the situation of the major cities in the Western Territory. Every city was being protected by a number of Masters, but none of them could move around freely as there was a Demon Race Army outside each city, eyeing it covetously.
After half a day, Yang Kai bid his goodbyes and left. He activated the Space Spirit Bead and returned to the High Heaven Palace right away. He asked Hua Qing Si to send the remaining 5,000 disciples in High Heaven Palace to Tiger Roar City, then afterward, he stepped on the Space Array alone.
Since he couldn’t rely on Yang Yan, he naturally had to figure out a way to gather manpower himself.
Yang Kai didn’t want to resort to his last trump card, but in the end, if he didn’t use it now, the next time the Demon Race Army returned, Tiger Roar City might not be able to resist with its remaining forces.
All he could do was prepare in advance.
Dragon Island!
The world only knew that the Dragon Clan lived on Dragon Island, but very few people knew that there were also many other Masters who lived there, including numerous Emperors with Half-Dragon bloodlines. The forces inside Half-Dragon City absolutely could not be taken lightly.
If it were others, they wouldn’t even be able to find Dragon Island, let alone bring out the Masters inside Half-Dragon City, but Yang Kai now had a pretty good relationship with Dragon Island so obviously they wouldn’t make things difficult for him.
The only thing that gave him some headache was how he would face Fu Zhun on Dragon Island.
That smelly brat Yang Xiao had entered the Four Seasons Realm with Old Qiong and Yang Kai had yet to receive any news of him even now. If Fu Zhun learned about this, she might blame him for his poor supervision, and if this mother Dragon got angry, things would really turn perilous for him.
But by going to Dragon Island, Yang Kai knew he would have to eventually face her. Yang Kai could only take one step at a time.
In the blink of an eye, a figure appeared on a small island in the East Sea.
Yang Kai walked out of a cave and found his bearings before flying into the air. Soon after, he plunged into the sea.
Being familiar with the road, Yang Kai entered the Sealed World of Dragon Island with ease, and just as he entered, he saw a pleasantly surprised Fu Ling rushing over, “Brother-in-law, I knew it was you, haha, my guess was right.”
Yang Kai raised his hand, maintaining a ten-metre distance from this precious Dragon girl and asked, “You knew it was me?”
Fu Ling replied with a complacent look on her face, carrying her hands behind her back, “Of course. No one besides Brother-In-Law ever comes to Dragon Island. Or rather, no one can come in besides you.” She looked at Yang Kai, blinking strangely and naughtily, “En, did you miss Bis Sister Qing?”
“En, I missed her very much.” Yang Kai casually responded.
“Did you miss me then?” Fu Ling assumed a shy look.
“Miss you my ass!” Yang Kai rolled his eyes at her. He didn’t bother to talk any nonsense with her and ordered, “Stay honest, I’ll take my leave first.”
“Wait, I still have something to tell you.” Fu Ling shouted from behind, but getting no response from him, she angrily glared at his back as she stomped her foot.
Half Moon Island, Yang Kai landed from the sky. Zhu Qing, hearing the movements, came out to check and was pleasantly surprised at his appearance, “You’re here.”
Yang Kai didn’t say a word as he just stepped forward, put his arms around her waist, and kissed her hard. Zhu Qing’s body immediately went limp as her pretty eyes lost focus.
After a long time, Yang Kai finally let go of her and stated, stroking the hair gently, “I’m here on some business, so I’m afraid I won’t be accompanying you for long.”
Zhu Qing asked, “What is it?”
“Follow me to meet the Great Elder, I will tell you along the way.” Yang Kai grabbed her hand and flew towards Azure Tree Island.
Along the way, Yang Kai briefly explained the current situation of the Star Boundary to Zhu Qing, who was dumbfounded after hearing it. Although Dragon Island was a peak level force, it was basically isolated from the outside world. So, although there were a lot of rumours about the Demon Realm invasion outside and almost everyone in the Star Boundary had heard about it by now, Dragon Island remained completely oblivious.
Obviously, Zhu Qing realized the seriousness of the problem and understood that Yang Kai really didn’t have the time to stay here for long.
Not long after, the two landed on Azure Tree Island and met Zhu Yan.
After Yang Kai reiterated everything again, a solemn look appeared on Zhu Yan’s face. Although the Dragon Clan didn’t care about worldly affairs, the Demon Realm invasion was too important for them to ignore. This was a matter related to the survival of the entire Star Boundary. The Dragon Clan couldn’t shrink from their responsibility in this war and would eventually have to send forces out as well.
After pondering for a long time, Zhu Yan asked, “Did you come here to ask my Dragon Clan to come forward?”
Yang Kai shook his head and replied, “It would be best if the Dragon Clan could come forward, but things haven’t reached such a stage yet. The Dragon Clan can remain hidden as one of our biggest trump cards for now. Since the Great Emperors haven’t informed Dragon Island about this matter, my guess is that they are also thinking the same.”
Zhu Yang nodded his agreement after hearing this, “You’re right. If that’s the case, why have you come to Dragon Island?”
“For the residents of Half-Dragon City!” Yang Kai’s eyes brightly lit up, “I’m currently stationed at a city named Tiger Roar City where we just fought the Demon Race a few days ago. We suffered many casualties in that battle so I need to replenish our ranks. But the Star Boundary doesn’t have a lot of manpower to spare at the moment. If Great Elder could let me take those people from Half-Dragon City, it would ease the situation on my side greatly.”
Zhu Yan replied, “You can discuss this matter with Second Elder, that decision is up to her.”
Yang Kai’s brow twitched slightly as he asked, “The residents of Half-Dragon City can’t be considered members of the Dragon Clan. Do I still need to speak with Second Elder about them?”
Zhu Yan replied, smiling, “Even though they can’t be considered members of the Dragon Clan, many of them are the descendants of my Dragon Clan. How can I just let you take them away?”
Yang Kai helplessly sighed, “Alright, then please ask Second Elder to come over.”
Originally, he wanted to quickly take away the people of Half-Dragon City without meeting Fu Zhun, but now it seemed that it wouldn’t be possible.
Zhu Yan immediately summoned Fu Zhun, but while they were waiting, Zhu Yan inevitably asked about Yang Xiao.
Yang Kai found himself in a sticky situation hearing this question, but after hesitating for a long time, he finally decided to tell the truth.
Zhu Yan angrily glared at him after hearing this, “Xiao’er has gone to the Four Seasons Realm with Qiong Qi!?”
Yang Kai summoned up the courage and added, “And with Liu Yan… en, you’ve met her. She is the little girl with the Phoenix Clan bloodline who came with Senior Martial Beast over a decade ago.”
Zhu Yan angrily reprimanded, “What have you been doing!? Can’t you look after one child!? You actually let him run off with that old evil bastard Qiong Qi!? Do you even know what kind of existence Qiong Qi was in ancient times? He was a walking calamity that swallowed men and beasts alive, never spitting out a single bone! You, you, you… you really frustrate this Old Master!”
Yang Kai’s face was covered in saliva spewed by him, but he still had to wear a smile as he tried to calm the situation, “Great Elder, please don’t be angry, calm down. Let’s sit down and talk, no need to be excited.”
“Calm down? How can I calm down!? Xiao’er isn’t your son, so you aren’t worried about him, is that it!?”
Yang Kai immediately became unhappy as he rebuffed, “Why is Xiao’er not my son? Since he calls me father, he is naturally my son, who I care deeply about, but that little brat ran off all on his own, and by the time I learned about it, they were already inside the Four Seasons Realm.”
“If you really cared for him, why couldn’t you look after him properly!?” Zhu Yan was bristling with anger, wishing he could vent his anger by beating Yang Kai black and blue before continuing this talk.
Yang Kai’s face turned earnest as he continued, “Great Elder, Xiao’er might still be a child, but don’t underestimate him. This might not be a bad thing for Xiao’er in fact; rather, this is perhaps a great opportunity.”
Zhu Yan sneered, “I’m listening. Go on, tell me, why is it a great opportunity?”
Yang Kai replied, “Xiao’er may have comprehended the Dao of Time.”
Zhu Yan was instantly taken aback and squinted his eyes at him, “Does this Old Master look like a fool to you?”
Yang Kai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “Great Elder, don’t think that I’m just trying to placate you. I’m telling the truth.”
Zhu Yan coldly snorted, “The Dao of Time is extremely profound and mysterious, how could Xiao’er have suddenly comprehended it? Second Elder and I have never…” While speaking, he suddenly furrowed his brow, thoughtfully looking at Yang Kai, “If this Old Master’s memory serves him right, you seem to have a little understanding of the Dao of Time…”
Yang Kai solemnly nodded, “I once entered the Four Seasons Realm in my early years and obtained some opportunities there which allowed me to eventually comprehended the Time Flies Seal of Flowing Time Great Emperor. I suspect that when Xiao’er hatched, he inherited that comprehension from me.”
Zhu Yan’s worries were immediately lifted after hearing this as he asked, “Are you sure Xiao’er has comprehended the Dao of Time?”
Yang Kai replied, smiling, “When I… grabbed Xiao’er’s hand once, I was momentarily dazed and in the next moment, he had actually flown a thousand metres away from me. At that moment, I had a feeling that time had stagnated around me. Furthermore, it wasn’t just me who sensed this disturbance, even Qiong Qi felt it at that time.”
Zhu Yan grew even more excited after hearing this, “Qiong Qi followed the Time Great Emperor for tens of thousands of years and is extremely sensitive to the Time Principles. If he also felt the same, then it must be true.” He clapped his hands and continued, “So to say, Xiao’er has really comprehended the Dao of Time!?”
All his displeasure and anger completely vanished and was instead replaced by joy and excitement. He and Fu Zhun felt guilty because Yang Xiao was born with a congenital defect, but if he really inherited comprehension of the Dao of Time from Yang Kai, then his future achievements would not be low even with an impure bloodline.
Of course, Zhu Yan still didn’t know that Yang Xiao’s bloodline wasn’t impure at all and that the smelly brat had lied about not being able to transform into a True Dragon.
The Dragon Clan was already innately strong, so how strong would a Dragon proficient in the Dao of Time be? It was scary to even think about it.
Yang Kai continued, “A few years ago, I ran into Qiong Qi outside Heavenly Wolf Valley in the Eastern Territory. He was being chased by Senior Li Wu Yi and Jiu Feng. They wanted to take him back to Spirit Beast Island for supervision, but he decided to accept me as his Young Master, and with my identity and status, I was able to get him out of that predicament. I too have heard of the notoriety of Qiong Qi, but Great Elder, do you know why I took him in at that time?”
Zhu Yan replied, “Isn’t it because you cultivate the Time Flies Seal?”
Yang Kai elaborated, smiling, “That’s just one of the reasons. The most important thing was that Qiong Qi claimed that the true inheritance of the Flowing Time Great Emperor is still hidden in the Four Seasons Realm. He promised that if I helped him, he would take me to the Four Seasons Realm to test my luck and see whether I could inherit the mantle of Flowing Time Great Emperor. The achievements of the Flowing Time Great Emperor are unprecedented, surpassing the ancients and amazing the contemporaries. The Dao of Time is also extremely profound, so I had no reason not to be tempted. Naturally, I agreed and asked Spirit Beast Island for a favour to keep him by my side.”
Zhu Yan was shocked, “Flowing Time Great Emperor’s inheritance is still inside the Four Seasons Realm?”
Yang Kai solemnly nodded, “That’s why I said Xiao’er going with Old Qiong to the Four Seasons Realm this time may not be a bad thing, but rather a great opportunity. Although Old Qiong has not cultivated the Dao of Time, he followed the Flowing Time Great Emperor for so many years, and even after the death of the Great Emperor, Old Qiong continued to guard the Flowing Time Temple. It could be said that he has been extremely loyal to the Flowing Time Great Emperor and no one knows better than him about what kind of person is most suited to inheriting the mantle of Flowing Time Great Emperor. Perhaps… in his opinion, Xiao’er is more suited for the opportunity in the Four Seasons Realm than I. Xiao’er has a better chance of obtaining Flowing Time Great Emperor’s inheritance, which is why he took him there.”
Zhu Yan finally showed a smile as he paced back and forth a few steps, muttering, “If what you say is true, then this Old Master and Second Elder will owe Qiong Qi a big favour.”
Yang Kai continued, smilingly looking at him, “As for safety, Great Elder need not worry too much. I don’t dare to vouch for Old Qiong’s character, after all, I have not been in contact with him for too long, but Liu Yan is also with them and she will absolutely protect Xiao’er.”
“Good, good, good!” Zhu Yan rubbed his palms and continued after pondering for a while, “We’ll know when Xiao’er comes out of the Four Seasons Realm.”
Hearing what he said, Yang Kai couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that he had finally crossed this hurdle, [But who knows how Second Elder will react. Great Elder is relatively easy to talk to, but Second Elder has always been more difficult to deal with.]
Just as he was thinking about this, a whistling sound rang out as a pretty figure landed next to Yang Kai. It was none other than Fu Zhun, her pair of beautiful eyes looking left and right before showing a disappointed look. She quickly asked, looking at Yang Kai, “Xiao’er didn’t come with you?”
Yang Kai stiffly shook his head.
Fu Zhun continued, sighing, “Ai, why didn’t you bring him here?”
Yang Xiao left Dragon Island with Yang Kai not long after he was born, and in the blink of an eye, almost three years had passed. Fu Zhun was naturally worried. If her appearance would not bring shock and chaos to the world, she would have long run to the Northern Territory’s High Heaven Palace to see him. Why would she restrain herself on Dragon Island? However, she was a Tenth-Order Great Dragon, and the Second Elder of Dragon Island, so it really wasn’t suitable for her to appear in public.
Yang Kai hurriedly turned his gaze to Zhu Yan, begging for help with his eyes.
Zhu Yan immediately understood and hurriedly changed the subject, “It’s like this, Yang Kai came here to take away the Origin King Realm Masters and above from Half-Dragon City as something has happened to the Star Boundary.”
“Then take them,” Fu Zhun casually replied, a little absent-minded.
Stunned, Zhu Yan asked, “You are not going to ask what the matter is?”
Yang Kai was also very surprised as he didn’t expect Fu Zhun to be actually so accommodating. Was she really Fu Zhun, the Dragon Clan’s Second Elder, who was known to have a heart of ice? Could it be that someone was pretending to be her?
Fu Zhun completely ignored Zhu Yan, however, and just turned her attention to Yang Kai, asking, “How has Xiao’er been these past few years? Has he grown taller? Did he miss me?”
Yang Kai broke out into a cold sweat as he really didn’t know how to answer.
Zhu Yan felt that things were quickly going in the wrong direction, so he hurriedly intervened, “I was talking to Yang Kai about Xiao’er just now. Yang Kai said that Xiao’er is doing fine in High Heaven Palace and not to worry, he misses us very much too.”
“Really…” A smile bloomed on Fu Zhun’s face, but the next moment, she grit her teeth and stated, “I don’t know when you will return next and I will get to see him. In any case, there is a Space Array and it’s not too far away…”
Zhu Yan wiped the sweat from his forehead as he stated, “Xiao’er has recently entered a retreat!”
Fu Zhun furrowed her brow, “Xiao’er is so young, why is he entering seclusion?”
Yang Kai immediately justified, “Second Elder, Xiao’er might be young, but he is extremely talented. You will surely be surprised the next time you see him.”
Fu Zhun wasn’t really angry, she just felt sorry for her son, but after hearing what Yang Kai said, a look of anticipation immediately appeared on her face.
Yang Kai added, “To tell you the truth, I have a younger sister, and although she is a few years older than Xiao’er, the two little ones appear to be almost the same age so they often play together, to the point where they’re practically inseparable in High Heaven Palace.”
Fu Zhun pursed her lips into a smile, “It’s good to hear that he has a playmate. It seems it was a stroke of good fortune that you took Xiao’er with you, if he had stayed on Dragon Island, he might have been lonely.”
Zhu Qing asked in a low voice, looking at Yang Kai in shock, “You have a younger sister?” She sounded a little nervous. [He has a younger sister! Wouldn’t that make her my sister-in-law and make me her sister-in-law?] This sudden relationship made her very uneasy.
Yang Kai replied, smiling, “She is only a few years old. She is still young.”
Zhu Qing just stared at her own toes, pondering.
Afterwards, Fu Zhun asked a lot about Yang Xiao while Yang Kai answered with the help of the Great Elder. He hadn’t revealed any flaws, but he was still worried that Fu Zhun might insist on following him back to High Heaven Palace to check up on her son.
Fortunately, Fu Zhun had no intention of doing this and with the Great Elder at the fore, even if Fu Zhun came to know the truth in the future, Yang Kai had a scapegoat so he could just wash his hands clean of this matter.
After chatting for more than an hour, Fu Zhun was still in high spirits and eager to continue, but Zhu Yan interrupted her and advised, “Alright, alright, Yang Kai came here on some important business and can’t spare a lot of time. Let’s let him go.”
Fu Zhun glared at Zhu Yan before exhorting Yang Kai, “The next time you come to Dragon Island, be sure to bring Xiao’er with you, note it down in your mind!”
“I will keep that in mind.” Yang Kai earnestly nodded, deciding in his heart that he would never come to Dragon Island before that smelly brat, Yang Xiao, had come out of the Four Seasons Realm.
Zhu Yan then stated, looking at him, “There is no time to lose. You can go to Half-Dragon City now. Fu Ling will be waiting for you there and will help you handle the rest.”
“Many thanks, Great Elder!” Yang Kai cupped his fists before saluting the Second Elder and bidding goodbye, “This Junior will take his leave first.”
He then turned around, hugged Zhu Qing, and flew off.
After some time, Yang Kai descended from the sky outside Half-Dragon City to where Fu Ling had been waiting for him for a long time. Apparently, she had received the Great Elder’s message and had immediately rushed over. When she saw Yang Kai appear, she happily rushed over and eagerly greeted, “Brother-in-law, Great Elder said that you were taking the people of Half-Dragon City out of Dragon Island, is that true?”
Yang Kai glanced at her before focusing his gaze on her chest, “Go get dressed first and then talk to me.”
Fu Ling pouted before she tightened her shirt, covering her exposed chest. She then asked with a smile, “I heard from the Great Elder that the Demon Race has invaded, is that also true?”
Yang Kai replied, solemnly nodding, “It’s true. The Western Territory’s situation is pretty bad and we are short on manpower, so I came here to find reinforcements.” He suddenly frowned and asked, “Why are you asking so many questions? Hurry up and get to work.”
“En,” Fu Ling responded, sighing a bit before rushing into the air above the city. A moment later, a high-pitched dragon reverberated across the sky. Fu Ling had revealed her true body and allowed her Dragon Pressure to cover the entire city, causing all the Half-Dragons to tremble in fear. Fu Ling’s voice then resounded, “All cultivators at or above the Origin King Realm must gather outside the city immediately.”
The entire city was suddenly thrown into chaos, but very soon, figures flew out of the city, one after another.
The residents of Half-Dragon City were basically all descendants of the Dragon Clan, but some had not inherited the Dragon Clan bloodline or had extremely impure bloodlines. However, no matter what their situation was, they would never dare to offend the majesty of the Dragon Clan.
Because the Dragon Clan was the only Master on Dragon Island, and they were all used to obeying the Dragon Clan.
As such, who would dare to disobey Fu Ling’s order?
Shua shua shua…
Swishing sounds echoed as figures rushed out of the city and soon, a dense crowd had gathered outside its gates.
Yang Kai stood mid-air, gazing down, looking excited after seeing this scene.
He had long known that the strength of Half-Dragon City was immense, but when the entire force was really gathered, he realized that the actual situation was better than his initial estimation. Just the Emperor Realm Masters alone exceeded one hundred, and not all had gathered yet. It was really hard to imagine if all the Emperor Realm Masters were gathered together what their total number would be.
The residents of Half-Dragon City gathered very quickly, only taking an incense stick worth of time since Fu Ling’s announcement to fully assemble.
The crowd below was divided into three distinct groups.
The group to Yang Kai’s left was the smallest, not even reaching two hundred in total, but it was composed entirely of Emperor Realm Masters, many of whom possessed Half-Dragon bloodlines and could thus display better strength compared to their peers in the same realm.
The middle group were naturally made up of Dao Source Realm cultivators and numbered almost 20,000!
This was an extremely terrifying number. In Tiger Roar City, the combined forces of the three territories and Tiger Roar City’s local cultivators only reached 50,000, of which 98% were Origin Kings. Only 2,000 had been in the Dao Source Realm.
By contrast, there were almost 20,000 Dao Source Realm Masters in Half-Dragon City alone, clearly showing just how deep and rich the heritage of Half-Dragon City was.
However, this wasn’t too surprising as the cultivation environment on Dragon Island was superior to most places in the Star Boundary. It was rich in World Energy and there were many natural precious treasures. More importantly, no killing was allowed on Dragon Island, so Half-Dragon City’s cultivators grew rapidly in both strength and number, allowing it to reach such a scale over the years.
The size of the last group was even more terrifying, with as many as 100,000 Origin King Realm cultivators.
[What exactly is the total population of Half-Dragon City?] Although Yang Kai had no idea, it was definitely not in the tens of millions. Presumably, it was a million or two at most, but among this number, 100,000 were Origin Kings. In other words, one in ten, or at most one in twenty were Origin Kings in Half-Dragon City.
Such a terrifying proportion was impossible to find in any city in the Star Boundary. This abnormal phenomenon could only appear on Dragon Island which had been enjoying a long period of peace and stability.
About ten percent of the entire population of Half-Dragon City had come out with just one sentence from Fu Ling, making the city feel noticeably emptier.
Such a scale naturally left Yang Kai extremely satisfied; the only point of complaint he had was the number of Third-Order Emperors. There were roughly two hundred Emperor Realm Masters, but just a handful of them were Third-Order while the rest were First and Second-Order.
Naturally, this was because of the Dragon Blood Flowers. Dragon Island used to cultivate Dragon Blood Flowers by relying on the fresh blood of Half Dragons who lived in Half-Dragon City, especially the more powerful Half-Dragons. If too much Blood Essence was drained from a person though, their strength would naturally be affected. If not, there would definitely be more Third-Order Emperor Realm Masters present.
Even so, Yang Kai wasn’t fussed about it. Pulling out such a huge force was enough to change the direction of the war on a small scale.
Fu Ling reverted back to her human figure and stated, standing beside Yang Kai, “Brother-in-law, everyone is here.”
Yang Kai nodded, “Tell them about their new mission.”
“En,” Fu Ling responded before her pretty eyes swept over the crowd and she shouted, “Hear me now, the one standing beside me is Palace Master Yang Kai of High Heaven Palace of the Star Boundary’s Northern Territory, and also my brother-in-law. The Demon Race has invaded the Star Boundary and is in need of your help. This time, my brother-in-law and I will be taking you all out of Dragon Island to provide support to the Star Boundary and fight against the Demon Race. Once we leave Dragon Island, you will follow my orders. This Queen needs one thing only from you, and that is obedience. If I find anyone disobeying my commands, don’t blame me for being ruthless! Did you hear me?”
She looked very out of place in Yang Kai’s eyes, but she was an awe-inspiring and majestic figure before these Masters of Half-Dragon City. After she was finished speaking, a thunderous response came from below, “We hear and understand!”
Fu Ling nodded in satisfaction before turning to Yang Kai and asking, “Brother-in-law, do you have anything to say?”
Yang Kai squinted his eyes at her, “I only have one problem.”
“Hm?” Fu Ling tilted her head.
“You’re also leaving Dragon Island? Are you coming with me?”
“Yes!” Fu Ling nodded as if it was a matter of course, her eyes flickering with a hint of slyness, like a fox that had stolen a chicken.
Yang Kai chuckled, “Have you asked Great Elder?” She was sentenced to guard the entrance to Dragon Island for a hundred years because of her past crimes, but only about a decade had passed since then, far from the hundredth year. Yang Kai didn’t believe that Great Elder Zhu Yan would let her leave Dragon Island so easily.
“Of course I asked,” Fu Ling, however, didn’t panic at all, winking at Yang Kai as she challenged, “If you don’t believe me, you can just send a message and ask.”
Yang Kai harrumphed and stated, “Of course I will confirm this.”
While speaking, he took out the communication artifact and sent a message to Zhu Qing. After a while, he furrowed his brow and put away the communication artifact, looking at Fu Ling with an incredible look.
“Well?” Fu Ling looked all smug and confident, appearing reassured and emboldened.
Yang Kai nodded and didn’t say anything anymore. Zhu Qing told her that Fu Ling will be leaving Dragon Island with him, and it was indeed Great Elder’s idea; of course, it was also the result of Fu Ling’s petitioning, saying that she wanted to atone for her crimes through good work. But she also had a legitimate reason, and that was the Masters of Half-Dragon City. They had always lived on Dragon Island and had never gone to the outside world. If so many Masters were handed over to Yang Kai all of a sudden, he might not be able to smoothly command them, but if there was a member of the Dragon Clan accompanying him, these people would definitely not dare to make trouble.
Fu Ling’s primary mission was to keep the 100,000 or so Masters of Half-Dragon City in line.
Since she had obtained Great Elder’s approval, Yang Kai couldn’t say anything and simply exhorted Fu Ling, “Don’t make trouble when we are outside, or I’ll send you back right away.”
Fu Ling kept nodding like a chicken pecking rice, “Brother-in-law may rest assured, I will absolutely not cause any trouble. I will do everything you ask me to do, I will show no resistance at all!” The last sentence had other deep implications, causing Yang Kai’s brow to twitch visibly.
Putting the annoyance out of his mind for now, Yang Kai turned around to the 100,000 Masters and shouted, “Fellow cultivators, you might find me a little familiar, and some of you might have even recognized me. That’s right, I came to Dragon Island over a decade ago and visited Half-Dragon City. And now, the Dragon Clan’s Fifth Elder and I are deeply in love and married to one another!”
Everyone was extremely shocked after hearing this, but it was also true that many of them recognized Yang Kai; after all, there were several hundred of them who had been tasked with building the palace for Fu Chi’s wedding where they had met Yang Kai.
Yang Kai had kidnapped the bride before everyone’s eyes on the day of the wedding, but as for what happened later, these people had no idea. Now, when they heard Yang Kai say that the Fifth Elder and he were deeply in love and actually married, everyone was extremely shocked.
“The Star Boundary is currently in a precarious situation. After leaving Dragon Island, you might find yourself in many discomforting situations and have to deal with all kinds of danger, so this King only has one request from you,” He swept his gaze over everyone before emphasizing, “Survive!”
Everyone looked shocked.
“If anyone has any questions, you may ask now, if not, we will depart!”
“May Senior Yang’s order be honoured!” A voice suddenly came from the crowd.
Over 100,000 people shouted in unison, “May Senior Yang’s order be honoured!”
They had been living on Dragon Island and while there might be no fighting or killing here, they were all subordinate to the Dragon Clan while the stronger Half-Dragons were always on edge, wondering whether they would be brought to Dragon Palace to cultivate the Dragon Blood Flowers. Now suddenly, a man had appeared before them and actually subdued a Dragon Girl, furthermore, she was the Fifth Elder of the Dragon Clan. Naturally, these people regarded Yang Kai as their idol, thoroughly admiring him.
With such a mindset, no one had any objections even if they were meeting Yang Kai for the first time, there was only a sense of worship in their hearts.
Yang Kai nodded in satisfaction before shouting aloud, “Since no one has any questions, let’s set off.”
Saying so, Yang Kai raised his hand and pointed ahead, opening an entrance to the Sealed World Bead. The next moment, an oval-shaped Void Crack appeared.
It was quite inconvenient to move more than 100,000 people together, so Yang Kai had no choice but to use the Sealed World Bead.
The Emperor Realm Masters looked at each other with some shock, but soon stepped forward without much hesitation, disappearing into the Void Crack.
With the Emperor Realm Masters taking the lead, the Dao Source Realm and Origin King Realm cultivators naturally followed suit, stepping into the Sealed World Bead one after another.
After half a day, Yang Kai had finally received the 100,000 or so into the Sealed World. He then beckoned to Fu Ling before they flew towards the exit together.
After leaving Dragon Island, they returned to Tiger Roar City through the Space Array on the island.
The city was still buzzing with activity. Since Yang Kai had left Tiger Roar City, it had only been three days, that’s all. The 5,000 reinforcements from High Heavens Palace had already arrived and Nanmen Da Jun, who had brought along his group of Disciples, was now instructing the Array Masters in the city on how to rearrange and repair the Defensive Array. On the city walls and towers, cultivators were also constantly patrolling.
The entire city was shrouded in a tense atmosphere.
Fu Ling had left Dragon Island and come to the outside world for the first time, so she was looking around everywhere. Everything was novel to her and she almost wandered off quite a few times. Yang Kai literally had to grab her by her collar and drag her along at times, constantly needing to pay close attention to her.
Upon arriving, Yang Kai went looking for Gao Xue Ting, Li Jiao, Ma Yin, and the other Emperors. And after asking about the situation, he came to learn that the Demon Race was indeed rallying its forces for a new offensive.
In the main hall, all the Emperor Realm Masters’ faces were dark and gloomy. Although Tiger Roar City had won a great victory a few days ago, killing countless enemies, the Demon Race had already raised a new army in this short time, and this army was even bigger than the last one. Even if they hadn’t reached the million-man mark, it was not far off. And in the case of Tiger Roar City, although 5,000 High Heaven Palace disciples had joined them, only 40,000 others could still fight, and most of them were still recovering from the after-effects of the Bloodlust Spell, making it impossible for them to exert their full strength.
The Defensive Array of Tiger Roar City played a huge role in the victory last time, but after Nanmen Da Jun had arrived, he had basically dismantled the array as he was trying to rearrange it. However, it was simply an impossible task to complete in less than a month.
It could even be said that the current Tiger Roar City was completely defenceless with no Defensive Array to rely on.
And since the Demon Race Army was eyeing it covetously, it made the residents of Tiger Roar City panic. Fortunately, the Military Enforcers led by Chi Gui were still supervising the situation, otherwise, deserters would have already appeared.
However, the situation was so precarious that no one could see any chance of winning. Not to mention winning, they weren’t sure that they could survive the Demon Race’s next attack.
Before Yang Kai returned, Gao Xue Ting and the others were already discussing whether to evacuate Tiger Roar City and converge at another city.
Li Jiao stated, sighing, “Brother Yang, it’s not like we want to bring morale down, but there is just too wide a gap in the sizes of our forces. I’m afraid that Tiger Roar City won’t be able to hold on this time. If we want to withdraw, we have to do so as soon as possible. The Demon Race is just a thousand kilometres away, so it will only take them a few hours to reach the city gates. At that time, it would be too late to retreat.”
Gao Xue Ting agreed, “That’s right, now that you have arranged a Space Array, it’s actually quite easy to evacuate.”
Yang Kai, however, rejected, shaking his head, “There’s no need to withdraw. Last time, we indeed gave the enemy a bloody nose, but this time, we will break their backs.”
Everyone stared at him with widened eyes, wondering where he was getting so much confidence.
Gao Xue Ting’s eyes brightened up as she asked, “Have you found reinforcements?” Only this would make sense. Only then could Yang Kai say something like this; otherwise, where would he be getting his confidence from?
Yang Kai affirmed, smiling, “Senior Sister Gao is both beautiful and intelligent.”
“Have you really found reinforcements?” Li Jiao looked at him, pleasantly surprised, “Where? When are they coming? How many people did you find?”
Yang Kai replied, “Brother Li, don’t be impatient, you will know when the time comes. In any case, I guarantee that the Demon Race will be in for a big surprise this time.”
Wind howled and sand blew, creating a bleak atmosphere.
The Demon Race Army was back again, bigger and stronger than before. The pitch-black army seemed like an indestructible flood of iron and steel that would reduce Tiger Roar City into dust.
All the cultivators in the city were mobilized, but the huge disparity in numbers and the non-functional Defensive Array made everyone restless, panic-stricken, and timid before the battle.
Everyone’s gaze gathered on a single person.
That person was standing at the highest point of the city, facing the Demon Race Army, his clothes flapping in the wind.
He was none other than the very man who turned the tide in the first battle a few days ago, stopping the tide from destroying everything in its wake. At the time, he was the one who took the lead, setting an example by killing countless enemies.
Without this figure, the tens of thousands of cultivators of Tiger Roar City would definitely be devoid of any fighting spirit at the moment; however, even if this figure was standing at the highest point in the city, where everyone could see him clearly, he was still unable to give anyone much sense of security.
All the Emperor Realm Masters were running around and arousing the crowd, trying to maintain the morale that may collapse at any moment.
Rumblings as loud as deafening claps of thunder came from below, shaking everyone’s heart, giving everyone a huge mental pressure. Clearly, the Demon Race Army was approaching Tiger Roar City, their march making the ground tremble.
The cultivators of Tiger Roar City grew more nervous with each passing moment.
The Demon Race Army was just fifty kilometres away. At such a short distance, they could attack the city in just one charge.
Right at that moment, Yang Kai let out a long and deafening roar as his figure soared into the sky before shooting straight toward the Demon Race Army.
Everyone gasped in shock and horror, one after another. All the cultivators of Tiger Roar City stared at his charging figure, dumbstruck, wondering just what he was planning on doing. A war couldn’t be fought alone as no matter how strong an individual was, how could he face about a million enemies? Once he was besieged, getting completely exhausted would be just a matter of time. Only a Pseudo-Great Emperor would be capable of freely coming and going under such circumstances.
And obviously, Yang Kai wasn’t a Pseudo-Great Emperor, he was but a Second-Order Emperor.
Not only were Tiger Roar City’s cultivators sweating, even Li Jiao, Gao Xue Ting, and the others couldn’t help but clench their fists as they secretly worried. Yang Kai had only told them that he had found reinforcements, but they had no idea where these reinforcements were or how many of them there were. Now that Yang Kai had actually charged ahead on his own initiative, they were naturally concerned for his safety.
Yang Kai was akin to the flag for Tiger Roar City. If he fell, Tiger Roar City would immediately collapse. At that time, let alone a million Demons, even if there were only 100,000 Demons, Tiger Roar City would still be completely overrun.
But at this moment, they had no choice but to wait and watch while praying in their hearts.
Yang Kai had flagrantly rushed over, so it was impossible for the Demon Race Army to not have seen him. The next moment, a team of over a thousand flew out of the dense army to attack Yang Kai, the leader being a Demon King.
The Demon King was wearing very revealing clothes, like a tiny corset that barely covered her chest. Although she was wearing a long skirt below, the hem of the skirt was split up to her thigh, causing the scenery beneath to show every now and then. With her exquisite collar bone, flat belly, and slender legs completely exposed, she was nothing less than seductive. Her towering peaks which bounced slightly and the complex black patterns on her snow-white skin gave her a sense of wildness.
At one glance, Yang Kai knew that this Demon King was a Charm Demon!
When the enemy team was just a few kilometres away, the Charm Demon smiled at Yang Kai as she pointed her slender, jade white finger toward him. The next moment, over a thousand Demon Race members swarmed at him.
Space Principle fluctuations rose and fell as Yang Kai’s face turned serious and he fiercely punched forward.
There was no fearsome explosion, nor was there any kind of shockwave, but the moment he punched, a small black spot suddenly appeared in the centre of the thousand Demons.
When the black spot first appeared, it was the size of a sesame seed, but in the blink of an eye, it suddenly grew into a giant black hole a hundred metres across. A terrifying suction force came from the black hole the next moment, catching the Demons off-guard and pulling all in the vicinity straight inside where they disappeared from the face of this world. The remaining Demons were also similarly pulled by a terrifying suction and struggled hard to resist.
It looked as if the whole world was collapsing towards that black hole, giving rise to terror in every onlooker’s heart.
In the blink of an eye, over a thousand Demons had completely disappeared; all of them were swallowed by the black hole. The black hole then disappeared as quickly as it appeared. After all the Demon Race members were exiled, the black hole disappeared in a flash.
Before the Charm Demon could even realize what just happened, all the troops she had brought with her had been completely wiped out.
After a blinding flash, Yang Kai, who was a few kilometres away, suddenly appeared before the Charm Demon, almost standing nose to nose with her. As an aggressive aura blew on her face, the Charm Demon’s pretty face turned pale as she let out a sharp scream.
Her scream was ear-piercing and accompanying it was an invisible Spiritual Energy that transformed into a sharp arrow and shot straight towards Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea.
Charm Demons were a peculiar clan among the hundred clans. The direct combat power of this clan wasn’t that strong, but their Spiritual Energy always far exceeded those of the same realm from other clans, so they were not to be underestimated just because of their physical strength. A seemingly powerless Charm Demon could deliver the fatal blow if one lowered their guard around them.
The arrow of Spiritual Energy created ripples in the air as it flew straight into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea.
The Charm Demon pursed her lips into a sweet smile as she reached out her slender jade wide hand to Yang Kai’s chest. Her sharp fingers were pointed toward him, as if she wanted to dig Yang Kai’s heart out.
Just as she tried to stab her fingers forward though, a frown appeared on the Charm Demon’s face, because she found that this Human’s physique was extremely tough. Unexpectedly, she was unable to even break through his skin!
“How does it feel?” A voice suddenly rang in her ears, causing the Charm Demon’s expression to freeze. When she looked up, she saw Yang Kai playfully looking at her, with no signs of him having taken any damage to his Soul whatsoever.
The Charm Demon immediately gasped in shock, her first reaction being one of disbelief!
[This guy’s cultivation is on par with mine, so how come my attack didn’t affect him at all? It’s impossible for his Soul to not have been affected! But judging by his expression and the look in his eyes, his Soul has really not suffered any damage!]
Her figure jolted as she immediately tried to retreat. Charm Demons weren’t good at close combat, so staying put would only be exposing her biggest weakness. Charm Demons preferred keeping their distance and toying around with their enemies using their greater Soul cultivation.
But the surrounding space seemed to have frozen at that moment, and no matter how hard the Charm Demon tried, she was unable to move even the slightest bit, her ruddy complexion turning pale all of a sudden.
“It’s impolite to not return what one receives,” Yang Kai grinned meaningfully. The next moment, his big hand obscenely grabbed her well-rounded chest and squeezed it hard.
The Charm Demon furrowed her brow, revealing a pitiful look. A strange light flashed in her eyes as she let out a moan before shouting, angrily glaring at Yang Kai, “You are hurting me.”
Her slightest expression, her every move carried its own charm, enough to make any man go crazy over her.
But Yang Kai remained unmoved. On the contrary, he just squeezed harder and harder.
“It hurts!” The Charm Demon looked a little flustered as she tried kicking and punching Yang Kai, but how could she free herself from Yang Kai’s spatial confinement.
From a distance, they looked like two lovers flirting with each other, nothing like mortal enemies from two different races trying to kill one another.
“What is Brother Yang doing?” On the city wall of Tiger Roar City, the corner of Li Jiao’s mouth momentarily twitched, finding the entire situation a bit ridiculous but also felt a little envious at the same time.
“Rogue, pervert!” Gao Xue Ting ground her teeth as her face flushed red.
As for the cultivators on the city wall, most watched on with great interest as the originally tense atmosphere was swept away by this strange scene.
Hearing a different grinding sound, Gao Xue Tinge promptly turned to look and surprisingly found Yu Ru Meng and Fu Ling both clenching their teeth.
“Crisp!” Yang Kai looked at the Charm Demon with an evil smile on his lips, tilting his head, he then suddenly wore a serious look as he coldly declared, “It’s just that your appearance is a little worse than hers.”
A bursting sound echoed in the next moment, as if something had been crushed.
The Charm Demon screamed again and again as she looked below and saw blood crazily gushing out her right chest. Her towering peak was nowhere to be found as blood kept flowing down her abdomen.
She kept screaming as if she had gone mad, a huge question floating in her mind, [Who the Hell is he talking about?]
The next moment, her screams came to an abrupt end as Yang Kai punched out, sending blood raining down from the sky. To everyone’s surprise, Yang Kai had blown apart a Mid-Rank Demon King with a punch, just like that. Even if it was a Charm Demon, who were not known for their physical strength, all those from the Demon Race found it inconceivable.
Yang Kai’s figure emerged from the blood rain and continued approaching the Demon Race Army. Swinging his arms, an immensely large Moon Blade shot out towards the dumbfounded Demons.
The Moon Blade split everyone asunder wherever it passed through, causing all the nearby Demons to retreat.
The Moon Blade flew for over a thousand metres before it gradually lost its power and dissipated into nothing, but before it disappeared, it left a wide path of chopped-up corpses in its wake.
The Demon Race Army was completely enraged as multiple groups pressed toward Yang Kai under the command of a few Demon Kings, completely encircling him.
Yang Kai broke into a riotous laughter as he raised his hand, grasping in the air. By the time his hand clenched, the Myriads Sword was already in his grip. At the same time, the Embodiment also made an appearance on the stage with the wave of his other hand, and the next moment, the pair, one big and one small, charged straight into the Demon Race Army without any prior communication with each other, covering each other’s weaknesses as they reaped the lives before them.
The pair was unstoppable; no one could bar their path! Although there were a million Demons in this army, no one could match Yang Kai and the Embodiment’s combination, nor could they stop their wanton slaughter.
Everyone in Tiger Roar City was quietly watching and couldn’t help but notice that the mighty Demon Race Army of a million men had already stopped advancing. Not too far away from the frontline, the enemy army was in chaos as Yang Kai and the Embodiment rampaged, leaving behind pools of blood and mutilated corpses wherever they went. One after another, the Demons were ground up into paste, this land forever becoming their burial ground. Slowly but surely, the rivers of blood began to flow.
There were far too many Demons swarming everywhere. The cultivators of Tiger Roar City were basically unable to catch sight of Yang Kai and the Embodiment and could only infer their location from the reactions of the Demon Race Army.
However, these two kept charging in and out, slaughtering left and right. Just the two of them had stopped a million Demons from advancing.
Yang Kai had created another miracle, just like a few days ago. When no one could see any hope, when all the light in front of their eyes was completely covered, it was Yang Kai who had torn apart the darkness in a corner of the sky, letting the sunshine in and bringing everyone and everything back to life.
Immediately, cheers rose from Tiger Roar City one after another in great waves.
Ma Yin’s blood boiled as she turned to Li Jiao and proposed, “Senior Li, this Mistress is willing to help the City Lord.”
Li Jiao, who was staring ahead, however, ordered in a heavy voice without even looking back, “Wait!”
Just because Yang Kai and the Embodiment could move through the Demon Race Army like fish in water didn’t mean others could. These two were far from ordinary. Needless to say, the Embodiment was able to fight on par with a Pseudo-Great Emperor and was far stronger than a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master while Yang Kai was even more extraordinary. He was proficient in the Dao of Space and could withdraw at any time he felt that things weren’t looking good for him.
If other people attacked haphazardly though, they would just be seeking their own deaths. Even Li Jiao didn’t have the confidence to charge in and come back alive under such circumstances.
Ma Yin wanting to help was only because of a moment of excitement; how could Li Jiao allow such reckless behaviour?
Yang Kai had already asked them to make a move when they saw an opportunity, but now clearly wasn’t the time.
Several dozen kilometres away, the disturbance in the Demon Race Army continued. Wherever Yang Kai and the Embodiment went, the Demon Race Army fell into chaos. The pair left death and destruction in their wake. Li Jiao and the others could clearly see Yang Kai and the Embodiment moving back and forth through the Demon Race Army a few times before suddenly turning around and making a beeline towards the enemy’s centre.
The army’s chaotic movements suddenly calmed down as the million or so Demons formed a huge encirclement around Yang Kai and the Embodiment with not a single one approaching within a thousand metres of the two.
Every Demon present was staring at them in horror while the Demon Kings were grinding their teeth in hatred, hiding themselves in the army and not daring to easily make a move.
Yang Kai, hefted the Myriads Sword onto his shoulder, standing back to back with the Embodiment as he coldly looked out, a smile appearing on his face as he softly whispered, “It’s time!”
Just as these words escaped his lips, he suddenly raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
*Weng…*
Strange buzzing sound suddenly came from all around the Demon Race Army; like the beating of insect wings, millions of them.
The Demon Race looked around in confusion, but very soon, they realized where this strange sound was coming from.
Swarms of insects suddenly floated up from the ground, forming a dense, pitch-black cloud. The moment these insects appeared, they flew straight toward the Demons around them. The Demon Race was shocked and confused, but many of them hurriedly composed themselves and attacked, trying to stop these unknown insects from approaching. However, much to their shock and dismay, they quickly discovered that these insects were extremely tenacious and even if their attacks could send these insects flying, they didn’t kill them. Many insects fell to the ground for a while, but they would always start flapping their wings and fly up a moment later.
And when these insects came in contact with them, the Demons would miserably scream, falling to the ground in incomparable pain. Very soon, those who fell ceased moving, dying on the spot. What was strange was that there were no scars on the dead Demons, only their Souls had completely vanished.
Soul Devouring Insects!
Yang Kai hadn’t used the Soul Devouring Insects in a long time, but this situation was undoubtedly the best moment for them to showcase their power. They had always been a sharp weapon for such situations.
Previously, when Yang Kai moved through the Demon Race Army with the Embodiment, he had two objectives, one was to stop the enemy from advancing, while the other was to secretly release his Soul Devouring Insects. And now, when the Soul Devouring Insects emerged, the effect was better than even Yang Kai expected. The Demon Race Army was thrown into utter chaos as the weaker Demon Soldiers, Demon Generals, and Great Generals were basically unable to protect themselves from the Soul Devouring Insects. One by one, their Souls were devoured by the Soul Devouring Insects as they lay on the ground, dead. Only Demon Kings did not need to fear these evil insects.
It was a completely chaotic sight as the once well-organized Demon Race Army was no longer coherent. At least one-fifth of the Demon Race Army had been thrown into confusion by this move alone.
Seeing this, Yang Kai took a deep breath and raised his hand. The next moment, figure after figure suddenly appeared around him.
The cultivators of Half-Dragon City made their entrance.
The Emperor Realm Masters were the first ones to appear, then the Dao Source Realm cultivators, and finally the Origin Kings.
It took a lot of time to get them inside the Sealed World Bead, but it only took a few breaths of time to send them all out; after all, Yang Kai controlled everything inside the Sealed World Bead.
At the centre of the Demon Race Army, more than 100,000 people had appeared out of thin air. The Demon Kings, who were paying close attention to Yang Kai’s movements, were completely dumbfounded as an uneasy feeling gripped their hearts.
The next moment, a profound and complex language reverberated through the sky as a halo of light covered these 100,000 or so men and women.
Bloodlust Spell, Life Chains…
Then, a bright red glow emanated from these people, turning their breathing ragged and causing the blood in their bodies to boil.
Finished with the preparations, Yang Kai raised the Myriads Sword high and shouted in a heavy voice, “Kill!”
100,000 Masters immediately scattered in all directions, charging into the Demon Race Army like a flood bursting from a dam with the Emperor Realm Masters taking the lead.
How could the Demon Race Army, which already had its hands full fighting off the Soul Devouring Insects, stop such a vigorous charge? When the two sides clashed, the Demons were utterly routed. Each thousand-man team headed by the Emperor Realm Masters wantonly wreaked havoc on the Demon Race Army, slaughtering to their heart’s content as if they wanted to vent all the grievances they had suffered on Dragon Island over the years.
Both Yang Kai and the Embodiment were followed by a team of thousands of people, completely routing the Demon Race Army which could not even muster up a decent resistance.
In terms of numbers alone, the Demon Race had an absolute advantage, but the direction of the war was never determined by numbers alone. Half-Dragon City’s Emperor Realm Masters far outnumbered the Demon Kings in the Demon Race Army. This gap alone was enough to make up for hundreds of thousands of soldiers, not to mention that the Soul Devouring Insects were still wreaking havoc.
On the walls of Tiger Roar City, everyone looked at this change in amazement and excitement.
Li Jiao saw that the time had come and shouted, “If not now then when!”
Led by Li Jiao, Gao Xue Ting, and the other Emperors, tens of thousands swarmed out of Tiger Roar City, charging at the Demon Race Army.
Just an hour before, they were still worried about whether they would be able to see the sunrise tomorrow. Even in their dreams, they had never expected that they would be taking the initiative to attack; it was simply unimaginable.
Above the wilderness, the two races chaotically fought as figures fell one after another. In the blink of an eye, mountains of corpses and rivers of blood had appeared in the wilderness.
The gap between the numbers of both sides was still huge, but the outcome of the battle was without any suspense.
Fu Ling let out a roar as she charged ahead. She didn’t transform into her True Dragon Form, but her Dragon Roar Secret Technique reverberated across the sky, turning numerous Demons into crystal statues without vitality.
In less than the time it takes to boil a cup of tea, hundreds of thousands of Demons were either dead or dying while most of the Tiger Roar City cultivators were still alive and kicking, pressing the attack step by step.
The Demon Race Army’s formation had already been broken and their morale was at an all-time low, so when the horn for retreat was finally sounded, they all fled in a disorderly fashion.
Naturally, the cultivators of Tiger Roar City and Half-Dragon City gave chase, relentlessly hunting down the retreating Demons, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake.
After leaving only the necessary cultivators to guard the city in case of some kind of surprise, Yang Kai led the others to pursue the Demon Race Army.
They only returned to the city the next day.
It was always busy after a battle, but Tiger Roar City suddenly had more than 100,000 more Masters, of which nearly 200 were Emperors. This made everyone in Tiger Roar City extremely excited. Today, in the entire Western Territory, such a powerful fighting force could only be found in the great cities that were watched over by Pseudo-Great Emperors.
At noon, the statistics of the battle came out.
The enemy had lost more than 300,000 soldiers, while they had only lost less than 10,000. Compared to the casualties in the last battle, the death count was a little unbelievable this time, but the facts were right in front of everyone so they had no choice but to believe it.
The corpses outside the city also needed to be dealt with. If so many dead bodies were left out in the wilderness, they would definitely rot and stink. But Yang Kai didn’t need to worry about these things as Li Jiao organized a team of men to deal with such things.
In just a few days, Tiger Roar City had dealt with two waves of Demon attacks; furthermore, they had gained a complete victory each time. Yang Kai believed that the Demon Race should not have any plans for Tiger Roar City for a short while. After two consecutive defeats, the Demon Race would need time to recuperate and reorganize. However, when the Demon Race struck next time, perhaps things would not be so easy.
Although Tiger Roar City had won overwhelmingly this time, it also exposed its trump cards. When the Demon Race came again, they would definitely come with corresponding means to deal with them and perhaps there would be a real Master leading the next attack.
Inside the City Lord’s Mansion, Yang Kai was reclining on a couch with his head resting on Yu Ru Meng’s slender and shapely thighs, his eyes squinted as a thoughtful look filled his face.
Yu Ru Meng was gently caressing his head like a good wife and mother. It was very hard to believe that someone like her, who was ready to perish together with Yang Kai at every turn, would suddenly act so warm and gentle. The room was completely quiet. Apart from their breathing, nothing could be heard.
Yang Kai suddenly opened his eyes and called out, “Ru Meng.”
“Hm?” Yu Ru Meng responded.
“I remember that you told me before that you were going to take me to a place. Can you tell me exactly where that was?”
“Why did you ask this all of a sudden?” Yu Ru Meng smiled, curiously looking at him.
Yang Kai replied, “Since you even used your Heart Seal Secret Technique to bind me, obviously you have some kind of plan, but I have always wondered what you and the force behind you are plotting. Why have you not made a move yet? Ru Meng, now that the war between the two worlds has started, and I have been entrusted by Lin Tong to protect Tiger Roar City, I don’t want to be distracted by other things; therefore, I think that we should be honest with each other. You should tell me where you want to take me to and what you want me to do. If possible, I will cooperate with everything you ask.”
Yu Ru Meng, however, shook her head, smiling, “Now is not the right time. When it is, I will naturally tell you.”
Yang Kai looked up as an indifferent look flashed across his eyes.
Yu Ru Meng lightly furrowed her brow, feeling like Yang Kai was somehow far, far away from her at that moment.
As expected, the Demon Race remained quiet for a time. One month passed by without anything happening after Tiger Roar City had repelled the million-strong Demon Race Army.
After one month, the Defensive Array of the city was up and running once again, and when the light curtain finally covered the entire city, the cultivators inside felt safe. This Spirit Array was arranged by Nanmen Da Jun personally, so its performance was far better than the original Array of Tiger Roar City. Even if another million Demons came to attack, Tiger Roar City would be able to deal with them with this Spirit Array.
Not only that, but a good piece of news had also come from High Heaven Palace, and that was that the first batch of cultivators who had entered the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld had emerged. Although only one-tenth of them had cultivated Shaman Strength, it was proof in itself that this method was feasible. All they needed to do was continue to feed cultivators into the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld, and sooner or later, the Star Boundary would have enough Shamans to deal with the war between the two worlds.
Anyone who could cultivate Shaman Strength fell directly under Yang Yan’s jurisdiction, but perhaps because she felt guilty because she couldn’t provide Yang Kai with any help last time, she directly assigned two Shaman Grandmasters to Tiger Roar City.
In the current situation, two Shaman Grandmasters could only be regarded as adding flowers to a bouquet. Nonetheless, it was better than nothing. At least they could provide some practical Shamanic Spells to Tiger Roar City’s cultivators, helping Yang Kai save some energy.
Tiger Roar City had maintained contact with other cities of the Western Territory all this time so they knew that the overall situation was far from hopeful. Many small and medium-sized cities had already been occupied and the Star Boundary had suffered many casualties. The surviving cultivators were forced to flee to other cities and converge with their defence forces. Some people had also come to Tiger Roar City; not too many, but not too few either. Tiger Roar City had accepted a few tens of thousands of refugees, bolstering their defences further.
Since the beginning of the war between the two worlds, the Star Boundary’s casualties had already exceeded a few million, but the Demon Race had taken far more losses than that. Nonetheless, the Demon Race continued to pour more soldiers into the fight, as if they would never run out of fresh bodies and such losses meant nothing to them. Everyone was now struggling to deal with the situation.
A few days later, Yang Kai, who was in retreat inside the City Lord’s Mansion, suddenly opened his eyes and took out his communication artifact. After checking it, a frown appeared on his brow as stood up before his figure flickered.
The next moment, Yang Kai appeared on the city wall as a team of Emperor Realm Masters saluted him, one after another.
“What’s going on?” Yang Kai asked, looking into the distance.
Li Jiao replied, “The Demon Race is back.”
“How many?”
“Not too many, only a few hundred thousand.”
Chi Gui sneered, “When we have already repulsed an army of a million soldiers, what could a few hundred thousand achieve?” Last time, when the Defensive Array wasn’t even functional, Tiger Roar City had achieved a stunning victory, so now that they had the support of the Array and Tiger Roar City had gained tens of thousands more Masters, Chi Gui was naturally filled with confidence.
“Don’t be careless!” Yang Kai warned in a grim voice, “Since the Demon Race dared to return, they must be counting on something.”
Suddenly, something clicked as Gao Xue Ting voiced her concern, a little startled, “Do you mean to say…”
Yang Kai replied, “I hope I’m wrong, otherwise it won’t be an easy fight.” He turned to Ma Yin and ordered, “Send some people out to scout if there are other Demon Race Armies in the vicinity.”
Ma Yin responded before quickly descending the city wall and making arrangements.
Not long after, a dozen or so figures rushed out of Tiger Roar City, heading in various directions.
Half an hour later, Ma Yin came to report back, “City Lord, there is no trace of any Demons within a thousand kilometres of Tiger Roar City other than the army before us.”
Yang Kai nodded before shouting aloud, “Relay my order, prepare for battle!”
The war horn was blown as Tiger Roar City started mobilizing at full speed. Nearly 200,000 cultivators performed their respective duties and under the command of the Emperor Realm Masters, everyone stood in square formations, guarding all directions of the city wall, waiting for the Demon Race to approach.
Reports kept coming from the scouts stationed outside that the Demon Race Army was steadily approaching Tiger Roar City, apparently heading straight for them.
The atmosphere on the city wall was solemn as many Emperors were gazing into the distance.
Slowly, the Demon Race Army appeared in everyone’s field of vision. The intelligence was indeed correct as there were less than a million of them, and because it was much less than last time, presumably it was mainly composed of the same army which was routed last time.
But that very army that had suffered such huge casualties against Tiger Roar City was actually advancing with vigour and arrogance, carrying an unprecedented momentum with them, which was quite puzzling to most.
Time slowly trickled by until the Demon Race Army came to a halt fifty kilometres away from Tiger Roar City, whereupon it parted right down the middle and a figure riding a Demon Flame Horse rode out in neither a hurried nor slow manner.
The Demon Flame Horse had wicked flames rising from its hooves, making it look exceptionally fierce. At first glance, it looked a few heads taller than an ordinary horse, giving it a majestic and imposing air.
Riding the horse was a single Demon who swayed left and right slightly, like he was drunk. His eyes were closed as he slowly approached Tiger Roar City along with his mount.
Everyone’s gaze was focused on this Demon Race Master and many people started to furrow their brows as no one was able to gauge the depth of this individual’s strength. At first glance, this Demon Race Master seemed no different than an ordinary man, but why would an ordinary man come here to seek his death at this point?
The only reason that made sense was because the cultivation of this Demon was exceptionally high.
Da da da…
The sound of hooves kicking the ground in a relaxed manner rang out until finally that Demon Race Master, riding his Demon Flame Horse, arrived not too far away from the city walls and stopped.
Finally, the Demon Race Master yawned before he slowly opened his eyes.
Immediately, light flashed across the depths of this man’s eyes, seemingly causing the surrounding world to tremble as a heavy pressure descended from above like an invisible mountain pressing on the chests of the Emperor Realm Masters, making it difficult for them to breathe.
“Pseudo-Great Emperor!” Li Jiao cried in shock.
Gao Xue Ting and the others’ expressions also drastically changed.
Yang Kai became equally gloomy. Although he had expected that the Demon Race would definitely be prepared this time, and might even dispatch a Pseudo-Great Emperor level Master, when one such Master really appeared before his eyes, Yang Kai felt his head ache a little.
Tiger Roar City wasn’t a big city, nor was it located in a strategically important position, so the Demon Race shouldn’t be too concerned about it. However, after suffering such a big loss not once, but twice against Tiger Roar City, losing countless soldiers, perhaps the higher-ups were attracted and they deployed a Pseudo-Great Emperor level Master to deal with it.
As expected, taller trees attract more wind!
“Pseudo-Great Emperor?” Obviously, that Demon Race Master had heard Li Jiao and focused his gaze on him and chuckled. His smile was bright and hearty, and coupled with the air of vicissitudes of life on his face, it carried a charm of its own. He slowly raised his finger and shook it left and right, refuting, “Wrong, wrong, wrong, completely wrong. Pseudo-Great Emperor is what you call us on your side, on our side, Masters like me are called Half-Saints!”
No matter whether it was a Pseudo-Great Emperor or Half-Saint though, it was just a difference in name. In either case, both were just a step away from becoming a Great Emperor or Demon Saint, incomparable to ordinary Emperor Realm Masters.
Yang Kai grit his teeth, cursing Qiong Qi a hundred times in his heart. Had he not taken Yang Xiao and Yang Xue to the Four Seasons Realm on his own initiative, he wouldn’t be lacking high-end Masters right now. By relying on Qiong Qi and Liu Yan, it might not have been that hard to deal with the Half-Saint before him.
[Alright, now that they have dispatched a Half-Saint, my Embodiment and I will have to go all out to deal with him. Even so, the rest of Tiger Roar City will probably suffer heavy casualties to defeat the rest of the Demon Race Army.]
Not to mention it was still difficult to say whether they could win or not. The last two battles were won with such ease mainly because of Yang Kai’s presence on the battlefield. Without him, Tiger Roar City’s combat power would definitely take a dive.
Suddenly, the Half-Saint pointed at Li Jiao and stated, arrogantly laughing, “Old dog, since you talk a lot, you will die first. This Old Master will give you a quick and peaceful death!”
Li Jiao’s face turned ashen after hearing this. [I should die first just because I spoke first!? What kind of reasoning is that?]
Yang Kai calmly stated, “Your Excellency is quite arrogant. Whether it’s a Pseudo-Great Emperor or Half-Saint, if you want us to die, you’ll need to prove you’re capable of killing us first!”
The Half-Saint immediately focused his gaze on Yang Kai after hearing this, his sharp eyes even giving off a piercing light as he gently nodded and proclaimed, “You will be the second one to die…” Then he pointed at the others one by one, “You will be third, you fourth…”
He continued on in such a manner for quite a while, angering many in the process. From the way he spoke, he really sounded like everyone who was pointed at by him should just step out and offer their necks to him.
While he was pointing at the cultivators of Tiger Roar City one by one though, the Demon Race Half-Saint suddenly froze with his hand pointed in a certain direction. A moment later, he nervously gulped as he squinted in the direction of a certain part of the city wall, remaining silent for a long time after.
Everyone on the city wall was confused as they looked in the direction this man was gazing, wondering what he was staring at.
A moment later, the Half-Saint retracted his hand and stated, embarrassingly smiling, “This King suddenly remembered he has something urgent to attend to. En, I will take my leave first!”
Saying so, he really turned his horse around and galloped back the very same way he came, rapidly at that.
[What the Hell?]
Li Jiao and the others were completely dumbfounded, feeling as if this Half-Saint of the Demon Race had some problems with his head! He came so aggressively and arrogantly, listing off the people he would kill right before their eyes, but in the end, it was like a thunderclap with no rain!
Was this idiot really a Half-Saint? Was it just some fool pretending to be one? However, his aura was not inferior to a Pseudo-Great Emperor, and that couldn’t be faked.
The situation was so strange that everyone didn’t know how they should deal with it and all slowly turned to Yang Kai, waiting for his orders.
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed for a moment before a light flickered across his eyes and he made up his mind, “Open the Array! Attack!”
Gao Xue Ting hurriedly exhorted, “Yang Kai, be careful of a trap!”
The Half-Saint’s behaviour just now was too strange, making it difficult to not think he had some plot in mind, like trying to draw everyone out of the city where they would be easier to deal with. It was already extremely difficult to confront a Half-Saint, but if they also lost the protection of the Defensive Array, all the Emperor Realm Masters present still might not be enough to kill him.
It wasn’t only Gao Xue Ting who had such concerns, most others were also worried about this.
Yang Kai, however, turned to Gao Xue Ting and said in a sombre voice, “Trust me!”
Gao Xue Ting hesitated for a moment before nodding and shouting, “Open the Array!”
The Defensive Array around the city then came down with a low rumbling noise.
The next moment, profound and abstruse verses rang out as the Bloodlust Spell and Life Chains bloomed, covering the army in the city.
Although he had to spend some time blessing Tiger Roar City’s cultivators with the Bloodlust Spell and Life Chains, Yang Kai still caught up with that Demon Race Half-Saint in no time. The next moment, much to the horror of Li Jiao and the others, he raised the Myriads Sword and swung it down.
The Demon Race Half-Saint flicked his wrist without even lifting his head, as if he had eyes on the top of his head, knocking back the Myriads Sword with absolute precision.
With a clang, a powerful force struck the Myriads Sword and it almost flew out of Yang Kai’s hand. Yang Kai was secretly shocked by the Demon Race Half-Saint’s strength, but in the next moment, Space Principles burst forth, turning the space around the Half-Saint into an invisible cage.
The Demon Flame Horse abruptly came to a halt, its entire body bursting into flames as it struggled hard, but it still moved as slow as a turtle. Under the space solidification, even a powerful Demon Beast would find it difficult to move about.
A pitch-black Moon Blade flew towards the Demon Race Half-Saint the next moment, who responded by grabbing at it with his hand. Surprisingly, the Moon Blade actually got caught and with a slight exertion of strength, shattered into pieces. The Half-Saint’s figure then rose into the air and soared off, completely free from the constraints of space.
Yang Kai swiftly formed a set of hand seals as he murmured, “Time Flows on Infinitely, Like a Mighty Stream, Like an Unending Dream!”
Time seemed to have come to a stop at that moment as the Time Flies Seal slammed towards the Half-Saint.
A rare look of surprise appeared on the Demon Race Half-Saint’s face. Suddenly, his figure burst into flames as the surrounding temperature shot up, reaching such an intensity that space started to distort from the heat. With a wave of his hand, a ball of flame flew towards the Time Flies Seal and clashed with it mid-air. With a deafening explosion, the two attacks negated each other and disappeared from sight.
A painful wail suddenly sounded as the Demon Flame Horse fell dead from the fallout of the attack.
The Demon Race Half-Saint grit his teeth as he glanced down at his mount; a saddened and pained look had appeared on his face.
Ding…
A clear and distinct chime of a bell suddenly sounded as the small Mountains and Rivers Bells flew out, rotating rapidly as it expanded and slammed down at the Demon-Race Half-Saint with the power to suppress the Heavens and Earth.
“Good artifact!” The Demon Race Half-Saint shouted aloud, his eyes sharpening significantly. He immediately noticed how extraordinary the Mountains and Rivers Bell was, and in the next moment, his figure turned into a huge ball of fire as he flew left and right through the air, dodging the suppressive force coming from it.
Yang Kai’s body flickered as he arrived atop the Half-Saint and stretched his hand down towards him. His hand transformed into a Dragon Claw as he slashed out, but in the end, he caught nothing but air. A Half-Saint was comparable to a Pseudo-Great Emperor, so how could this man be so easy to deal with?
On the other hand, the Demon Race Half-Saint was growing annoyed with Yang Kai’s repeated attacks. In a flash, he arrived on top of the Mountains and Rivers Bell and kicked it with overwhelming force. The Mountains and Rivers Bell flew straight towards the ground and crashed into it, creating a large series of cracks where it landed.
The Demon Race Half-Saint declared, standing proudly in the air and looking at Yang Kai, “Boy, enough is enough. If you attack me again, this King will no longer be polite with you!”
Yang Kai just grinned though as he summoned his Embodiment with a wave of his hand, staring deeply at him, “What are you so worried about?”
Half-Saint broke into laughter, “Why would this King be worried? It’s just that this King has something important to do right now and cannot be bothered to pay attention to you at the moment, that’s all.”
“Since you aren’t worried about anything, let’s fight!” Yang Kai furiously roared, “Dragon Transformation!”
A high-pitched Dragon Roar reverberated through the sky and in the next instant, Yang Kai’s figure swelled up. Short horns grew on his head as dragon scales emerged on his bare skin. His hands completely transformed into Dragon Claws and a long Dragon Tail appeared behind him.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai’s body had drastically transformed, turning into a 300-metre-tall colossus with his head high up in the sky while his feet remained on the ground. Hot air blew from his nostrils as Dragon Aura swept out, causing the wind and clouds to blow about randomly.
The Demon Race Half-Saint looked up, putting his hand over his head and creating a shade over his eyes. The next moment, his facial muscles momentarily twitched.
Obscure Dragon Language sounded as Yang Kai opened his mouth and roared. The next moment, a golden ball of light shot straight at the Demon Race Half-Saint.
The golden ball of light was extremely dazzling and almost blotted out the light of the sun in the sky. And when it fell to the ground, it spread out rapidly, blinding all those within its area of influence.
A deafening explosion sounded as the ground quaked non-stop.
After the golden light disappeared, a large pit one thousand metres across had appeared while the Demon Race Half-Saint was nowhere to be found.
However, at that moment, a voice came from the distance, “Remember, this King is Bai Zhuo, and he will return another day to teach you a good lesson!”
Yang Kai looked in the direction of the sound as his face turned gloomier.
[Escaped!]
[That Half-Saint actually escaped!] Immediately, Yang Kai had a sense of powerlessness as if he had just punched a ball of cotton. He really wanted to fight and had even transformed into his 300-metre-tall Half-Dragon Form. Together with his Embodiment, there was a chance they could defeat their opponent.
At the end of the day, he was up against a Half-Saint, so Yang Kai didn’t dare to hide his cards, but what was completely out of his expectation was that the enemy simply retreated without a moment of hesitation, even ignoring the few hundred thousand strong Demon Race Army.
What did this mean?
But this had somewhat confirmed a conjecture in Yang Kai’s heart.
If a Half-Saint wanted to escape, Yang Kai couldn’t do anything even if he had Space Divine Abilities. Having lost the target to vent all his fighting spirit, all Yang Kai could do was turn towards the several-hundred-thousand-strong Demon Race Army.
This Demon Race Army was indeed the very same army that had been beaten black and blue last time. Having been led here by a Demon Race Half-Saint, they came aggressively, wanting to take revenge for their previous defeat, but none of them had expected for that Half-Saint to withdraw first, paying no heed to their life or death.
200,000 cultivators of Tiger Roar City had already rushed over at that moment and the two armies were instantly locked in a heated battle.
History repeated itself. This Demon Race had originally lost at the hands of Tiger Roar City and the only reason they dared to come today was because they had the backing of a Half-Saint, but now that their support had left in such a decisive manner, it was as if the army had lost its backbone. Where would they find the will to fight? The moment the two armies came into contact, they fell like paper cards and were utterly routed.
On the other hand, Tiger Roar City’s imposing manner soared as they pounced like wolves and tigers onto sheep. Under the command of the two hundred Emperor Realm Masters, they ripped into the enemy lines, killing wantonly.
When Yang Kai and Embodiment joined the battlefield, the result was even less suspenseful.
Yang Kai’s 300-metre body was extremely eye-catching even if it was in a battlefield filled with a million people. The Demon Race Army kept retreating, but Yang Kai constantly charged right into the densest crowds, swinging his claws and tail randomly, killing hundreds of Demons with each blow.
After who knows how long, the screams of the tumultuous battlefield finally calmed. The cultivators who were still alive looked around and found no Demons nearby, just themselves covered in blood.
The next moment, deafening cheers resounded throughout the sky.
Yang Kai had already cancelled his Dragon Transformation and returned to his original appearance, standing in the void as he looked around.
From all directions, wisps of inexplicable energy were gathering towards him. A single wisp was insignificant, but when 100,000 to 200,000 wisps gathered, the energy it produced created an extremely terrifying pressure.
A tiger roar resounded as an enormous tiger phantom suddenly appeared behind Yang Kai. It was vivid and lifelike, and had a dark and cold aura.
Yang Kai turned his head as a strange look appeared on his face.
Whether this enormous tiger was tangible or intangible, he couldn’t clearly tell, but he felt as if he could mobilize the giant tiger’s energy for his own use. If he absorbed this enormous tiger at the critical moment, he would definitely make his own strength increase to an astounding height.
Hundreds of thousands of gazes focused on that enormous tiger while many people couldn’t understand how or why this illusory phantom had suddenly appeared; however, all felt that the illusory phantom of the giant tiger was closely connected to themselves.
“War Force!” Li Jiao raised his brow, looking pleasantly surprised.
Yang Kai turned to him and asked, “What is War Force?”
Li Jiao excitedly replied, “The collective force of an army that has united as one. When the hearts of tens of thousands of men come together, only then can such momentum be gathered. I have only seen records of this in ancient books and never expected to see it with my own eyes. Brother Yang, since War Force has appeared, it means that our Tiger Roar City’s army has become one unified whole, a rarer feat than gathering an army of millions under one banner!”
Gao Xue Ting nodded her agreement, “It’s very rare for War Force to appear, only when everyone has absolute confidence in their commander would there be a chance for it to manifest.”
A thoughtful look appeared on Yang Kai’s face as he asked, “I feel like I can use this giant tiger to enhance my strength.”
Li Jiao agreed with a nod, “That’s right. War Force is rare but it is also infinitely useful. Such a large-scale battle hasn’t been fought in the Star Boundary for a very long time, so naturally, War Force has not made an appearance either. Tiger Roar City is very likely to be the first place where War Force has manifested.”
Yang Kai rejoiced, “This is a good thing.”
Li Jiao burst into laughter and stated, “With Brother Yang’s ability and this War Force supporting us, the next time that Half-Saint arrives, our Tiger Roar City will have nothing to fear!”
Yang Kai and the Embodiment’s team was already exceptionally strong, perhaps not as strong as that Half-Saint Bai Zhuo, but they wouldn’t be that far behind, but if the boost from this War Force was added to the mix, they might be slightly superior.
Tiger Roar City had won three battles out of three battles, all of which were overwhelming victories. This made everyone in Tiger Roar City have absolute confidence in Yang Kai, so the appearance of War Force was simply a matter of course. This was tantamount to gaining recognition from hundreds of thousands of people and gathering their collective momentum onto himself, a boost that should not be underestimated.
As Li Jiao stated, for hundreds of thousands of men and women to have this War Force was rarer than gathering a million-strong army. Facts also proved this as the Demon Race had no lack of armies over a million strong, but what happened when they fought? Weren’t they forced to flee when they faced Tiger Roar City?
Last time, Tiger Roar City had killed 300,000 Demons but this time the number was far higher because less than 200,000 Demons had been able to flee with their lives.
After leaving some men to clean the battlefield and count the casualties, Yang Kai headed straight back to the City Lord’s Mansion.
Yu Ru Meng came to greet him, staring at him with her pretty eyes as she asked, “You have a Dragon Clan bloodline?”
Had Yang Kai not transformed into a 300-metre-tall Half-Dragon, she really would have never known this, but with his giant figure sweeping across the battlefield, as long as one wasn’t blind, they would surely notice him, and Yu Ru Meng’s vision was just fine.
Yang Kai pursed his lips into a smile as he reached out, grabbed her sleek chin and lifted it up, asking, “What’s wrong? Are you aroused?”
Yu Ru Meng slapped his hand away and angrily rebuked, “In your dreams!”
Yang Kai swooped in, however, and picked her up before striding inside.
“What do you want to do?” Yu Ru Meng struggled left and right.
“Your Husband has just returned from the battle, naturally, he needs you to clean him and change his clothes.”
Yu Ru Meng couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him, “Who is my Husband, you?”
Yang Kai looked at her, “You don’t want to?”
Yu Ru Meng disdainfully spat.
Yang Kai thus let her down and shouted, “Fu Ling!”
Fu Ling rushed over like a storm, her pretty eyes flickering with a strange glow, “Brother-in-law, what can I do for you?”
Yu Ru Meng hurriedly interjected, “Nothing, he just wants to ask if you were injured.”
Fu Ling smiled, “Many thanks for your concern, brother-in-law. Fu Ling is fine though.”
Yu Ru Meng nodded, “It’s good that you are alright.” After that, she grabbed Yang Kai’s hand and led him to the inner room.
Tiger Roar City’s situation had become a bit strange after this battle, and over the span of the next six months, no Demon Race Army appeared to attack it.
Who knows if it was because of the fear of Tiger Roar City’s strength or for other reasons, but the Demon Race seemed to have forgotten Tiger Roar City. However, the cities in the vicinity of Tiger Roar City were still being attacked frequently.
In the first two months, Yang Kai didn’t dare to act rashly, lest he give the Demon Race a chance to strike.
But as time passed, after confirming that the Demon Race wouldn’t be attacking Tiger Roar City, Yang Kai began leading the army out to launch offensives. Since the Demon Race refused to come to him, he would go to them instead!
Thanks to Tiger Roar City’s 200,000-man army marching back and forth, the nearby cities that were in danger several times survived and even killed countless enemies when timely support arrived. Since Tiger Roar City’s Army had gained War Force, and there were nearly two hundred Emperor Realm Masters in the army, wherever they went, they were simply unstoppable and invincible, causing their fame to spread extensively.
Currently, there were many big cities in the Western Territory that were struggling hard, but if any city was in a spot and unable to defend itself, they would immediately send a request to Tiger Roar City for help. Owing to the Space Array and Sealed World Bead, Yang Kai’s support always came extremely fast and was able to turn the tide of many battles.
Although the Tiger Roar City Army performed quite well under Yang Kai’s leadership, the overall situation for the Star Boundary was far from optimistic.
In just six months, the Western Territory had lost a lot of ground; hundreds of cities had fallen and countless people had been killed in battle. The encroachment of the Demon Race was simply unstoppable. At this rate, the entire Western Territory might fall within five years. By then, the Demon Race would use the Western Territory as the springboard to attack the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Territories, shattering any semblance of peace they now held.
The Great Emperors were nowhere to be found now and no one knew what they were doing, or whether they even knew the situation the Star Boundary was currently in.
A gap slowly opened in the Defensive Array of the Tiger Roar City as the army of 200,000 men triumphantly returned. Although the Tiger Roar City Army had suffered a lot of casualties in the battles over these six months, cultivators from other cities that had fallen had come to join it every day, so its size actually remained the same if not slightly increased.
The residents of the city broke into cheers and jubilation as they heartily and happily welcomed the army’s return.
Yang Kai had led the army to provide support to a nearby city, and this trip could be considered a successful one. They had not only defended the city they went to support, but they had also repelled the attack of a million-strong Demon Race Army.
Ma Yin, who stayed behind to guard Tiger Roar City, came to Yang Kai and whispered something in his ears the moment he returned, causing his eyes to flicker with a little surprise as he gestured to the army behind him to go and rest. Yang Kai then strode into the City Lord’s Mansion.
In the main hall, someone was sitting to the side and only turned his head to look up upon sensing the movements.
As their gazes met, Yang Kai noticed that the opposite party’s eyes were completely white.
“Brother Gao!” Yang Kai smiled as he walked to the main seat in the hall and sat down, whereupon a maid served him tea before respectfully withdrawing.
It was none other than Gao Zhan, who could be considered an acquaintance, if not a close one. Yang Kai found this a little strange though, wondering what he was doing here. Gao Zhan was the Legacy Disciple of Heavens Revelations Great Emperor, so why was he here in Tiger Roar City instead of staying beside the Great Emperor?
“I really don’t deserve such status!” Gao Zhan slightly bowed, “Senior Brother Yang has had so many military achievements. Whenever the Tiger Roar Army moves out, the Demon Race trembles in fear. You have created a grand name for yourself these days.”
Yang Kai responded with a casual wave, “Brother Gao flatters me, but I wonder why Brother Gao is here. Did something happen?”
Gao Zhan replied, “I’m here on Master’s order to ask Senior Brother Yang to come over at once.”
Yang Kai asked, raising his brow, “Senior Heavens Revelations wants to see me?”
“That’s right!”
Yang Kai agreed with a nod, “Alright, give me a moment to prepare.”
Gao Zhan gestured to him to go ahead.
Yang Kai didn’t need to prepare anything much, he simply needed to inform Li Jiao and Gao Xue Ting that he was going out for a bit, and tell them to remain on high alert. The Demon Race Army had not approached Tiger Roar City since the Demon Race Half-Saint had run away after making a scene last time, but being careful never hurt. What if the Demon Race really attacked while he wasn’t here?
After having dealt with everything, Yang Kai left with Gao Zhan, travelling directly to their destination using the Space Array in the city.
After a blinding flash of light, the two had appeared in a mountain valley. The valley was quite rich in World Energy and was extremely beautiful and refreshing, adorned with many pavilions and buildings. Its scenery was quite unique and after having been fighting and killing on the battlefield for so long, Yang Kai felt a little out of sorts after suddenly coming to such a place.
Yang Kai asked, raising his brow, “Is this Heavens Spying Valley?”
He had long heard that Heavens Revelations Great Emperor lived in a place called Heavens Spying Valley, but only a few people knew where exactly Heavens Spying Valley was. Yang Kai didn’t have any idea either and never expected to one day come here.
Gao Zhan confirmed, nodding, “Senior Brother Yang is correct, this is indeed Heavens Spying Valley. Master likes peace and quiet, so it is just Master and I here. I ask Brother Yang to forgive any negligence.”
“Brother Gao is too polite.” Yang Kai stated before he started checking left and right, looking rather curious.
Gao Zhan led the way, crossing the small bridges and creaks, walking straight ahead. Heavens Spring valley was filled with winding paths, and its scenery was continuously changing at every turn. At one place, it might be a spring scenery with blooming flowers everywhere, and at the next step, one might find themselves in a snowfield.
An extremely brilliant Spirit Array was arranged here, which seemed to be able to mimic the atmosphere of the four seasons.
After arriving before a certain pavilion, Gao Zhan finally stopped and stretched his hand out, making an inviting gesture.
Yang Kai looked up and much to his shock found two people sitting inside the pavilion who happened to be looking at him smiling. He might have been checking out the surrounding scenery, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t keeping track of his surroundings. However, he had not sensed the two sitting inside the pavilion until he had looked up and seen them, which was really strange.
But if these two were Great Emperors, everything would make sense.
One of them was naturally the owner of this place, Heaven’s Revelations Great Emperor, and the other wasn’t a stranger to Yang Kai. He was none other than Martial Beast Great Emperor, Mo Huang.
At this moment, the two were sitting face to face with each other, a stone table between them with a pot of tea boiling on it, filling the air with a unique fragrance.
Yang Kai strode forward and bowed with cupped fists, “Greetings, Seniors!”
Mo Huang stated, smiling, “Forget all the ceremonies and take a seat.”
Yang Kai thanked him before sitting down.
After this, the pavilion returned to silence. Heavens Revelations Great Emperor and Martial Beast Great Emperor remained completely silent, as if they were waiting for the tea before them to boil. Yang Kai didn’t want to disturb the peaceful atmosphere either, but at the end of the day, he was sitting in between two Great Emperors, which left him quite uncomfortable; as such, he kept fidgeting and moving about.
Mo Huang glanced at him and snorted, “Are you a monkey?”
Yang Kai embarrassingly smiled as his head immediately sunk in embarrassment, not daring to move about thereafter.
Chu Tian Ji, however, just chuckled, “It’s quite common for the youngsters to be lively and active. Why is Brother Mo being so harsh on him?”
Mo Huang justified, “Brother Chu, don’t be deceived by this little brat’s appearance, he’s far from a good and honest man.” Because of Mo Xiao Qi’s matter, Mo Huang had a lot of complaints about Yang Kai and didn’t hesitate to take him down a notch whenever he got the chance.
Yang Kai protested, feeling wronged, “Senior Martial Beast, this Junior has never offended you, has he? Back then, when I visited Dragon Island, I even helped you slightly. Last time, I even took Xiao Qi to visit her mother. Why do you say that about me?”
Mo Huang snorted even louder as he picked up the teapot on the table, filled a cup for himself, and drank it in one go.
Chu Tian Ji chuckled as he picked up the teapot and poured a cup for Yang Kai.
Yang Kai was greatly shocked and hurriedly stood up, “How can I allow Senior to do this. Please allow this Junior to serve you.” It was none other than Heaven’s Revelations Great Emperor, who was pouring him tea. Yang Kai couldn’t bear it no matter how arrogant he was.
Chu Tian Ji, on the other hand, ignored him. He only poured himself a cup after he had filled Yang Kai’s before slowly saying, “I have heard a great deal about you from Brother Mo. As expected, talented people are born in every generation, and each new generation surpasses the previous.”
Yang Kai blushed after hearing this and sat back down awkwardly, “Senior Heaven’s Revelations is too polite.”
Yang Kai knew that Mo Huang had some complaints about him so no good words must have come out of his mouth. Who knows what Heaven’s Revelations Great Emperor had really heard about him!
Chu Tian Ji continued, “Extraordinary people must do extraordinary things. At least this Old Master didn’t have as colourful a life when he was your age. Far from it in fact.”
Yang Kai fiercely rebuffed, “I’m not someone extraordinary, I am just young and impulsive. Seniors are the role models of the Star Boundary’s billions of cultivators.”
Chu Tian Ji slowly shook his head, “This Old Master could be considered to have lived for many years and seen all kinds of so-called young geniuses and rising stars, but none have ever been as eye-catching and dazzling as you. The entire world says that this Old Master can peer into the past, see the future, understand the present, and discern the secrets of the Heavens, but this Old Master can’t see through your future.”
Yang Kai asked in shock, “Does Senior mean to say that this Junior’s future is clouded?”
Chu Tian Ji shook his head, but he didn’t explain much, causing Yang Kai to grow a bit anxious; however, what could he do? His fist was smaller than the opposite party so he couldn’t exactly force Chu Tian Ji to explain. In the end, all Yang Kai could do was grab the cup of tea before him and drink it in one gulp.
Mo Huang couldn’t bear it any longer and interjected, “Stop flattering him, just get down to business. Old Chu, you are someone who just likes to be roundabout and drag things out unnecessarily.”
Yang Kai too asked with a solemn look, “Indeed, I wonder why the two Seniors have summoned this Junior. Is something the matter?”
Obviously, a trivial matter would not make the two Great Emperors ask for him to appear before them. Suddenly, Yang Kai realized the meaning of Heaven’s Revelations Great Emperor’s words, ‘Extraordinary people do extraordinary things.’ [It’s because he has a mission for me, and it should be a very dangerous mission at that!]
[Damn, a Great Emperor’s tea isn’t that easy to drink!]
Before Chu Tian Ji could explain, Mo Huang directly got to the point, “Yang Kai, we hope that you can take a trip to the Demon Realm.”
“Enter the Demon Realm!?” Yang Kai was greatly shocked after hearing this, “Why do you want me to enter the Demon Realm?”
Mo Huang replied with a grim look on his face, “Bright Moon is in a little danger. We need you to rescue him.”
Yang Kai was now thoroughly dumbstruck after hearing this. Naturally, he knew about the fall of Bright Moon Great Emperor in the Demon Realm. When the passage between the two worlds had opened, the Great Emperors had entered it to investigate, but they were ambushed by several Demon Saints in the Demon Realm and in the end, Bright Moon Great Emperor had stayed behind to hold off those Demon Saints alone, giving Mo Huang and the others a chance to escape.
Later, Yang Kai had also heard that Bright Moon Great Emperor seemed to be trapped somewhere, but no one knew where he was exactly. That was all Yang Kai had heard until this day.
Now, Mo Huang suddenly asked him to go to the Demon Realm to rescue Bright Moon Great Emperor, confusing Yang Kai greatly.
After hesitating for a while, Yang Kai asked as the corners of his mouth twitched, “Seniors, are you playing a joke on me?”
“Aha… ha…” Yang Kai forced a laugh, “This Junior is not that capable or noble…”
Before he could finish, Mo Huang added, “I also think that it would be a little reckless to ask you to do this, but Old Chu said that you must do this.”
“Why?” Yang Kai furrowed his brow, curiously looking at Chu Tian Ji.
Chu Tian Ji unhurriedly replied, “A few days ago, this Old Master suddenly felt restless and ill at ease. I vaguely felt that something momentous was about to occur and immediately started divining and received a premonition. Little Friend Yang, do you know what the prophecy was?”
Yang Kai thought to himself, [How would I know? If I knew it, then I would be Heaven’s Revelations Great Emperor. What is wrong with you?] He immediately shook his head, revealing a curious look.
Chu Tian Ji turned his head, looking to one side as he replied in neither a hurried nor slow manner, “The Moon is slowly setting, but there is still a glimmer of light left.”
Yang Kai pondered hard but he couldn’t figure out what this prophecy had to do with him and humbly asked, “I understand the part about the moon setting, obviously it is an omen indicating that Senior Bright Moon is in danger, but what does this glimmer of light have to do with me?”
Chu Tian Ji raised his head, pointing, “Look there, what do you see?”
Yang Kai followed along his gaze and immediately saw a thick poplar tree that a human could completely embrace that had dense foliage.
Chu Tian Ji continued, “That day, this Old Master was divining there, and that tree is what resonated with the hexagrams. Look again, in which direction is that poplar tree?”
Yang Kai checked the directions before hesitantly replying, “North…?”
Chu Tian Ji agreed, nodding, “The Moon is slowly setting, but there is still a glimmer of light in the north poplar! So, can my little friend understand?”
Realization immediately dawned upon Yang Kai. [North’s poplar, north’s poplar, north direction, surnamed Yang. Who else could it be pointing to beside me? But is this really reliable?] It wasn’t that he was doubting Heaven’s Revelations Great Emperor’s ability. Since the world gave him the moniker Heaven’s Revelations, and he could peer into the past and see the future, so he had the necessary skills, but what kind of place was the Demon Realm? A team of Great Emperors was forced to leave one of their own behind just to escape from the entrance to that place. What could an insignificant Second-Order Emperor like Yang Kai achieve in such a land? Forget about rescuing Bright Moon Great Emperor, just getting there alive would be a miracle.
(TL note: Poplar in Chinese is Yang(杨), Yang Kai’s surname.)
Yang Kai immediately fell into contemplation. To be honest, although he was a little curious about what the Demon Realm was like, he had never considered going there. It wasn’t that easy to directly refuse two Great Emperors right to their faces though, so all he could say was, “Seniors, even if this Junior wishes to help, I’m afraid he is powerless to do so. This Junior is completely unaware of the Demon Realm’s situation, or where exactly Senior Bright Moon may be, but more importantly, how to safely enter the Demon Realm is already an almost insurmountable obstacle. Although the passage between the two worlds is open, it is impossible for this Junior to openly or covertly make his way through it. If this Junior really tried, the Demon Race would surely tear him to pieces before he even got to the entrance. But apart from the passage, how else can this Junior enter the Demon Realm?”
“You have your own way!” Chu Tian Ji looked at Yang Kai with a smile.
Yang Kai’s brow twitched as he asked, “And what way would that be?”
Chu Tian Ji slowly shook his head, “Although this Old Master is unaware of the details, he knows you have a way to enter the Demon Realm. Furthermore, you will surely meet a tribulation in the Demon Realm, but after you have overcome it, you will soar into the sky in a single leap.”
Yang Kai asked, staring at him, “What tribulation?”
Chu Tian Ji just smiled and didn’t explain.
Mo Huang, on the other hand, was a little shocked as he asked, “Brat, do you really have a way to enter the Demon Realm?”
Yang Kai rebuked, bitterly smiling, “What nonsense!? Unless all the Great Emperors escort me in, there is no way, but if we do that, the Demon Realm would surely know all about it. At that time, even if this Junior somehow safely made it to the Demon Realm, he would not have a moment’s peace. This Junior would more than likely die a brutal death.” His face turned serious as he stated, cupping his fists, “This Junior is really powerless. Seniors, please do not make things difficult.”
Yang Kai really didn’t want to go to the Demon Realm. Even if Heavens Revelations Great Emperor said that the slim chance of Bright Moon Great Emperor making it through if he went, that was just a vague prophecy, that’s all. Even if it was really accurate, what could he do when even Bright Moon Great Emperor was unable to do anything?
Just as he said this though, Yang Kai suddenly noticed a figure walking into the pavilion through the corner of his eyes.
Upon checking who it was, Yang Kai cried out in surprise, “Junior Sister Lan?”
It was none other than Lan Xun. Who knows when she came to Heavens Spying Valley, but during these days Yang Kai hadn’t seen her, Lan Xun had become very haggard and it was clear from her red, puffy eyes that she had been crying frequently.
This wasn’t surprising though as Bright Moon Great Emperor had been trapped in the Demon Realm for so long, and she had not heard any news from him. As a daughter, she must have been extremely worried about her father.
Lan Xun walked up to Yang Kai without speaking a word, and under his dumbstruck gaze, knelt down with a thud and pleaded in a trembling voice while kowtowing, “Please, Senior Brother Yang, I beg you to save my father!”
Yang Kai was shocked and hurriedly jumped up from his chair, trying to pull Lan Xun up by her arm, “Junior Sister Lan, what are you doing? Quickly get up.”
Lan Xun, however, remained in her position, repeating, “I beg Senior Brother Yang to save my father!”
“Get up first. We can talk afterwards.” Yang Kai was truly anxious. Ever since he first met Lan Xun in the Four Seasons Realm, they had been good friends who despite only meeting a few times, had helped one another greatly. When he was weak and unknown, Lan Xun had taken care of him many times. As the daughter of a Great Emperor and the Princess of Star Soul Palace, Lan Xun had never abused her status. Rather, she had always been gentle and courteous when dealing with others.
Yang Kai had a very good impression of Lan Xun. She was so many times better than Yao Lin.
Now though, this friend was actually kneeling in front of him, putting Yang Kai in a serious predicament. A friend should never kneel before his or her friend like this.
He tried pulling her up a few times, but Lan Xun refused to budge. Yang Kai finally lost patience and forcefully yanked her to her feet, but just as he was about to speak a few words to her, he saw her break into tears before him, her pretty eyes full of helplessness and pleading, forcing him to choke down the words that were on the tip of his tongue. Bitterly smiling, he sighed, “Junior Sister, why?”
Lan Xun stated, painfully shaking her head, “I have no other choice.” She immediately added, “I know that I am forcing you to do something you don’t want to, and that the Demon Realm is extremely dangerous. But Uncle Chu said only Senior Brother Yang can save Father. So, Junior Sister has no choice but to brazenly beg you. If Senior Brother agrees, Junior Sister is willing to do anything to repay you, whether it be a maid or a slave. Junior Sister is willing to serve you as you like to repay Senior Brother’s kindness.”
Yang Kai felt a deep, throbbing headache as he sighed, “Junior Sister Lan, please don’t make such a tasteless remark.”
She had gone as far as to declare that she would be his slave, serving him for a lifetime as he liked, so it was clear to Yang Kai that Lan Xun really saw him as her only life-saving straw.
And since she had said as much, it would obviously be reprehensible if Yang Kai still refused. It would have been fine if it was a stranger, or even a casual acquaintance, but Lan Xun had done him many favours and helped him immensely over the years. Yang Kai wasn’t an ungrateful person.
After hesitating and struggling for a long time, Yang Kai finally let out the longest sigh of the day and said, “Junior Sister, don’t worry. As this matter is very important, how about allowing me to think about it for a moment?”
Lan Xun nodded, “Yes! Senior Brother, if you want to refuse, please tell me straight. Junior Sister knows she has been ungraciously rude here.” When she said this, a troubled look appeared on her face. Obviously, she didn’t want Yang Kai to take the risk, but since it was related to her father and since Chu Tian Ji had said that Yang Kai was the only hope, she had no choice but to make a last attempt.
The pavilion sunk into silence for a while as Yang Kai appeared to be contemplating, facing the poplar tree in silence.
After a long while, a long sigh finally escaped his mouth as he turned around.
The three in the pavilion looked at him. Lan Xun looked even more restless; she wanted Yang Kai to agree, but at the same time, didn’t.
Yang Kai smiled, “Junior Sister, I promise. I’ll go to… the Demon Realm!”
Chu Tian Ji and Mo Huang looked at each other plainly, as if everything happened just like they had planned. They knew he would not agree happily, but fortunately, they had the forethought to bring Lan Xun here.
“Thank you, Senior Brother,” Lan Xun lowered her head and added in a low voice. “This trip to the Demon Realm will surely be fraught with peril, so whether or not you can save my father, Junior Sister hopes that Senior Brother can safely return.”
Yang Kai assured her, nodding, “Don’t worry, I will definitely bring Senior Bright Moon back safe and sound.”
Lan Xun stated, “I’ll be waiting for you!” Having said this, she turned around and left.
Yang Kai scratched his head, [It sounded… a little unusual.]
After a while, Yang Kai glanced left and right before sullenly asking, “Are you two satisfied now?”
Mo Huang raised his brow in surprise as he asked, “Kid, you noticed?”
Yang Kai stated, snorting, “How could Junior Sister Lan just happen to be here for no reason? Obviously, this was part of your arrangements. You knew that Junior Sister Lan has shown me great kindness in the past, so I would definitely not be able to refuse her.”
Chu Tian Ji chuckled, “This Old Master had no choice but to resort to such means. Little Friend, please forgive me.”
Yang Kai stated, shaking his head, “Senior Heaven’s Revelations, there is no need to be so serious. This Junior knows that Senior Bright Moon’s safety is very important. If he can be rescued from the Demon Realm, it will certainly help the Star Boundary’s situation. It is just that this is very important and this Junior is a little afraid of failing to live up to your expectations, so I would have preferred to refuse.”
Mo Huang nodded his appreciation, “How very thoughtful of you, but then again, how will you enter the Demon Realm? And how can you ensure that you won’t be corrupted by the Demon Qi and transform into a Demon after?”
Although Yang Kai had been fighting with the Demon Race these days, the Demon Realm was the Demon Race’s backyard. Demon Qi was everywhere there and Yang Kai wasn’t a Great Emperor, so who could guarantee that he would not be demonified?
Yang Kai lightly replied, “Senior doesn’t need to bother about these things, this Junior naturally has his own way.”
Everyone has their own secrets, so after hearing what he said, Mo Huang naturally didn’t ask any more questions, he simply nodded and said, “Is there anything we can do to assist you? If you need something, feel free to ask.”
Yang Kai replied, “After I go, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to return for quite some time. I just hope that Senior can take good care of the people of High Heaven Palace and Tiger Roar City.”
Mo Huang promised, “You can rest assured about this. Although this King cannot guarantee that they won’t be injured, this King can guarantee that they will not die.”
“That’s good then.”
Chu Tian Ji asked, “Do you have any other requests? We will fulfil whatever conditions you may have.”
Yang Kai thought for a while before asking, “I would like to ask you to help me pass a message to Senior Iron Blood.”
Mo Huang raised his brow, wondering what Yang Kai was planning on asking Zhan Wu Hen.
While he was being suspicious, he saw Yang Kai take out a jade slip and fed a message into the Divine Sense.
After a while, he handed the jade slip to Mo Huang.
“That’s it?” Mo Huang looked confused.
“That’s it.” Yang Kai nodded, “For this Junior to safely enter the Demon Realm, I will need Senior Iron Blood’s help.”
Mo Huang became curious, “How can he help?”
Yang Kai grinned at him but didn’t answer.
Mo Huang angrily stated, “Boy, acting all mysterious, what exactly are you planning?”
Yang Kai simply picked up the teacup in front of him and drank it in one gulp before he stood up and said goodbye, “This Junior will take his leave first. The next time we meet, I hope that we will be fighting side by side!”
After returning to Tiger Roar City from Heavens Spying Valley, Yang Kai called Li Jiao over and suddenly declared, “Brother Li, I may have to go into a retreat for a while. You will be in charge of Tiger Roar City’s affairs until I exit.”
Li Jiao confirmed in amazement, “Retreat? At this moment?”
The war between the two worlds was flaring up like wildfire. Although Tiger Roar City had been peaceful for the past six months, no one could guarantee that the Demon Race Army would not attack again. Obviously, it wasn’t a good time to enter the retreat. If by some fluke of bad luck, the Demon Race really attacked, Tiger Roar City’s combat strength would be greatly reduced without Yang Kai leading the army.
Yang Kai quickly justified, “I have recently obtained some inspiration, I have no other choice.”
Li Jiao nodded his understanding after hearing this. He knew that cultivating the Martial Dao wasn’t easy and that sudden enlightenment was a rare opportunity, one that needed to be grasped by entering retreat as soon as possible. Once he lost this opportunity, even a decade or a century of hard work might not be enough to make up for it; as such, he had no choice but to relent, “Good! This Li will do his best to take care of Tiger Roar City. But Brother Yang, what about those members of Half-Dragon City, and Senior Fu Ling…”
“Don’t worry, I will exhort them to listen to your arrangements.”
With Li Jiao’s cultivation and identity, there was basically no problem in commanding Tiger Roar City, but Fu Ling was a problem. She was a Sixth-Order pure-blooded Dragon so Li Jiao may not be able to subdue her. Not to mention that Fu Ling was too unreliable in the first place. When Yang Kai was there, she was honest and obedient, but when he wasn’t, her arrogance knew no bounds. She might not give Li Jiao any face, but since Yang Kai wanted to entrust Tiger Roar City to Li Jiao, he would naturally arrange everything in advance.
After a while, Fu Ling was summoned and Yang Kai told her to obey Li Jiao’s orders in the future or he would send her back to Dragon Island immediately.
Fu Ling didn’t dare disagree and immediately started nodding like a chicken pecking rice. It was extremely difficult for her to leave Dragon Island so naturally she was extremely reluctant to be sent back so soon.
Afterwards, Yang Kai met with the Emperor Realm Masters in the city, notifying them that he was entering a retreat to cultivate and shouldn’t be disturbed unless necessary. Then, he finally entered a secluded room in the City Lord’s Mansion in front of everyone’s eyes and closed the door shut.
Naturally, this retreat was just a pretence. Since he promised Heaven’s Revelations Great Emperor and Martial Beast Great Emperor that he would go to the Demon Realm, he had to make arrangements for Tiger Roar City in advance; otherwise, if that day really came, things would not end well for a leaderless Tiger Roar City. He would be letting Li Jiao become familiar with things so that even after he left, Tiger Roar City would not necessarily be affected greatly.
Inside the secret room, Yang Kai triggered a Space Beacon on his wrist and in the next moment, disappeared from his spot.
When he appeared again, he was already inside a female boudoir.
“Who!?” A tender shout rang out and a cold gleam flickered as a sharp sword was stabbed towards his face.
Yang Kai, however, just flicked his finger and knocked the tip of the sword away. Immediately after, he reached out and grabbed hold of a tender white wrist before pulling it a little as a soft tender body fell into his arms. He then leaned over and stated, smilingly looking at the figure, “Yao’er, what a unique way to welcome someone.”
Ji Yao was stunned, “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you,” Yang Kai stroked her hair, calmly staring at her.
Being stared at like this, Ji Yao felt a little embarrassed, but she found that Yang Kai’s eyes were very gentle and filled with reluctance to part with her, so she comfortably reclined in his wide arms and averted her gaze.
Yang Kai reached out and grabbed her chin, however, lifting her head.
And before she could react, a masculine aura blew on her face. Before she knew it, their lips were pressed against each other. Slowly, Ji Yao closed her eyes as the longsword in her hand fell to the ground. She then wrapped her arms around Yang Kai’s neck, tightly hugging him.
After kissing fiercely for a while, Yang Kai gently picked her up by her waist and gently placed her on the bed. He then leaned over her and wantonly started savouring her again.
The relationship between the two had progressed a lot since the walls had cracked in Ice Heart Valley’s Cultivation Technique Pavilion, but those walls had yet to completely fall. Ji Yao even seemed to enjoy these occasional thrills and never asked Yang Kai for anything more, let alone reveal their relationship to the world.
Naturally, Yang Kai wouldn’t force her either.
Like raging fire and dry wood, a blend of honey and milk, two fiery bodies tangled and rolled on the big bed, turning the air in the boudoir romantic. Only after a long time did Yang Kai finally let her go. Ji Yao lay powerless on Yang Kai’s body, violently panting.
Suddenly, Yang Kai started speaking, “Yao’er, no matter what you hear in the coming days, don’t believe it or hold grudges against anyone.”
These words were rather baffling. Ji Yao immediately raised her head and asked as if she had a premonition, looking at Yang Kai with her big bright eyes, “What will happen?”
Yang Kai pinched her nose, “Don’t ask too much. You will know when the time comes. Just remember my words.”
Ji Yao didn’t speak; she just looked at him.
Yang Kai confirmed again, “Okay?”
Ji Yao nodded her agreement, “Okay.”
Yang Kai looked at her with relief before rolling over and ravaging her again.
He stayed with Ji Yao for a night before exhorted her about a few things and quietly left.
On Spirit Pill Peak of High Heaven Palace, Yang Kai casually strolled in with a jar of wine.
When the few Alchemy apprentices at the door saw him approaching, they respectfully greeted him right away, but the most Senior among them bravely stepped forward to block the way. Speaking with a troubled look on his face, he said, “Palace Master, Grandmaster Ji and Madam Xiao are currently performing Alchemy. They have ordered that no one is to disturb them.”
“Make way, make way!” Yang Kai pushed that apprentice aside and then barged straight in, shouting as he kept heading deeper, “Little Senior Sister, Little Senior Sister!”
He walked all the way to the underground Pill Room, where he saw the doors suddenly slam open as he saw a dishevelled and dirty Ji Ying charge out. His face was completely black, covered in soot. He grabbed Yang Kai by his collar and fiercely stated, “How many times have I said don’t disturb me when I am performing Alchemy! Don’t think that I won’t dare to beat you just because you’re the Palace Master here!”
Yang Kai grinned as he gently freed his collar from Ji Ying’s hold, “Brother Ji, calm down. It’s just a furnace of pills, right? Just refine it again.”
Judging by his appearance, Yang Kai knew that the pills in the furnace must have exploded; otherwise, Ji Ying’s face would not be covered in soot. He must have been disturbed at a critical moment and be truly angered right now, otherwise, how could an Emperor Alchemist have his furnace explode so easily?
Ji Ying angrily shouted, “Refine it again!? Would I not need to spend more time and energy!? Not to mention, this will put a stain on this Ji’s Alchemy career! Damn it! Why did I ever agree to come and serve as an Alchemist in this place?”
At this moment, Xia Ning Chang walked out from behind the door, clearly trying to hold back her laughter. Although her face was hidden behind the veil, from her crescent-like eyes, it was clear what she was thinking.
“Okay, okay, I brought you a jar of good wine as compensation, look!” Yang Kai moved the wine bottle in his hand into view.
“Trash! I don’t want to drink it. Pay me for my pills!” Ji Ying pushed away the wine bottle.
Yang Kai stated, “This is a bottle of the Western Territory’s Sword Wine, the Highest Rank Sword Wine at that! Brother Ji doesn’t want to try it? It’s very rare nowadays.”
Western Territory’s Sword Wine was very renowned. When Yang Kai and Zhu Qing first met in the past, he said that he would only be her friend if she gave him a bottle of this wine to make things difficult for her. Who knew that Zhu Qing would really fetch him a bottle of Sword Wine.
Now that the Western Territory was under attack by the Demon Race, the villa where the wine was made had also been destroyed, making this bottle even rarer than before.
Ji Ying was stunned after hearing this and hurriedly snatched the wine bottle, muttering as he opened it, “This Ji has also seen and experienced all kinds of things. If you dare to lie to me, you and I will have words!”
Yang Kai earnestly stated, “How dare I lie to Brother Ji? Right, I want Brother Ji’s permission to take Little Senior Sister out. When we will return isn’t guaranteed. I will have to trouble Brother Ji for the matters related to Alchemy.”
“Where are you going?” Ji Ying raised his head and asked, but Yang Kai and Xia Ning Chang were nowhere to be found. To his surprise, Yang Kai had taken Xia Ning Chang away before he could finish speaking. Ji Ying couldn’t help but be stunned, grinding his teeth as he began cursing aloud.
At the Space Array, Yang Kai and Xia Ning Chang appeared, carefree and at leisure.
Little Senior Sister asked, curiously looking at Yang Kai, “How’s the situation in the Western Territory? Why are you back?”
Yang Kai replied, smiling, “Let the people over there be worried about it. As for me, I am back to see you.”
“Have you gone to Elder Sisters?”
“Not yet.” Yang Kai shook his head.
Xia Ning Chang reached out and straightened his clothes. Suddenly, her gaze momentarily paused as she pulled a few strands of longer hair from Yang Kai’s neck and threw them away before warmly speaking, “Go and see Elder Sisters first. I will be waiting for you here. They are fighting the Demon Race so they are definitely not as comfortable as me.”
Yang Kai’s facial muscles twitched as he withdrew his gaze from the strands of long hair dancing in the air and pulled Xia Ning Chang into his arms, kissing her on the forehead, “Little Senior Sister is the most caring of all.”
Xia Ning Chang shyly stated, “I’m not…” She then lightly pounded her fist on his chest, “People are looking.”
Disciples were guarding the Space Array year-round, so everyone could clearly see this scene. However, the Palace Master and his wife were being intimate, so who among them dared to watch? At this moment, each of them was either looking up at the sky or down at the ground, as if they were wondering if it would rain or were admiring the flowers blooming.
At this moment, Space Principles flared and three figures suddenly appeared on the Array.
After glancing at them, a jealous voice rang out, “Well, well, well, did you call us to quickly return to show us such a scene?”
Xia Ning Chang’s face turned redder as she quickly escaped from Yang Kai’s arms, moving over to the three who just appeared and greeting them.
Yang Kai looked back and smilingly stated, “Luo’er, are you even jealous of your Sister?”
Shan Qing Luo disdainfully spat and stated, “Of course, I’m fine if it’s one of my Sisters, but who knows if you had an affair with some foxes outside.”
“There is no such thing,” Yang Kai hurriedly denied.
Shan Qing Luo snorted, “Is that right? Then please explain what’s going on with that Li Shi Qing!”
Yang Kai broke into a cold sweat and turned to Su Yan, a begging look on his face.
As the Eldest Sister, Su Yan was naturally more understanding and promptly changed the topic, “Why did you call us back?”
The three of them had been staying in the same city as the original batch of High Heaven Palace and Ice Heart Valley disciples when they suddenly received a message from Ji Yao. Afterwards, they had promptly returned to High Heaven Palace.
Yang Kai replied, smiling, “It’s nothing, I was just seized by a whim and wanted you to accompany me to enjoy the beauties of nature.”
The four women believed that Yang Kai was just speaking nonsense; after all, the Demon Race hadn’t been eliminated and the Western Territory was in a state of unrest. Who would be in the mood to go sightseeing at this moment? But who knew that he would really do so?
Starting from High Heaven Palace, they directly teleported to the former site of the Southern Territory’s Thousand Leaves Sect. After confirming the directions, Yang Kai led the four around to play.
Although the Demon Race invasion was of much discussion in the Star Boundary and the flames of war had raged across the Western Territory, with the Southern, Northern, and Eastern Territories also mobilizing reinforcements constantly, the war itself was still too far from the Southern Territory so the daily lives of common people weren’t much affected.
Travelling with the four beauties, Yang Kai was living a life of ease and leisure. They crossed countless mountains and rivers, entering every city they chanced upon, which allowed Su Yan and the others to truly appreciate all the wonderful sights of the Star Boundary.
Although Su Yan and the others had been in the Star Boundary for a couple of years, they had constantly been cultivating in retreat at High Heaven Palace. When the war between the two worlds erupted, they finally followed the army to the Western Territory, so strictly speaking, this was the first time they had gone out to travel. Furthermore, they were with Yang Kai so they were all in high spirits. Everything they saw was novel to them. The man was brave and heroic, and the females were beautiful and graceful, each having their own unique charm, so wherever they went, they became the focus of attention.
Every night, Yang Kai would lead the four girls to the Sealed World Bead and sleep together with them.
Little Senior Sister had the thinnest skin, so how could she bear such a shameful thing? Su Yan, taking on the Elder Sister stance, reprimanded Yang Kai several times, but he naturally refused to mend his ways even after repeated warnings. The more strictly Su Yan reprimanded him, the more he desired to do it, and with Shan Qing Luo assisting the tyrant to perform evil, Su Yan didn’t dare to casually speak in the end and had no choice but to let it go.
Going around here and there for half a month, they finally arrived at a certain empty plain.
Seeing Yang Kai carefully exploring this place, as if he was looking for something, Shan Qing Luo curiously asked, “What are you searching for?”
Yang Kai replied, “Back then, the Four Seasons Realm’s entrance appeared here, I am trying to look for a trace of it.”
Su Yan knowingly asked, “Are you worried about Xiao’er and Xue’er?”
Yang Kai replied, sighing, “Although Liu Yan is with them, both of them are still just children. If I could at least have a look at them, I would feel more at ease.”
Among the four girls, apart from Shan Qing Luo, who had never seen Yang Xiao because she had been cultivating in the Ancient Wild Lands, Su Yan, Xue Yue, and Xia Ning Chang had met little fatty and adored him very much. And since he was Yang Kai’s adopted son, they naturally felt quite close to him.
Now that Yang Kai was looking for the two kids, they were more than willing to help him.
The five immediately spread around, meticulously searching the plain.
But in the end, they found nothing.
The Four Seasons Realm could be considered as an independent Small World, and although the entrance had appeared on this plain last time, no one could say for sure that the entrance would definitely appear here the next time too. Not to mention, Qiong Qi was the one who led them in. Perhaps Qiong Qi had some other means to enter the Four Seasons Realm they were unaware of.
Having no result, they had no choice but to leave.
Afterwards, Yang Kai took the four to Azure Sun Temple, where they stayed on his Spirit Sword Peak for a few days before setting off to Maplewood City.
This was the first city Yang Kai entered after he came to the Star Boundary so it had some special meaning to him. It was here he met Mo Xiao Qi and Lan Xun for the first time. The Myriads Sword he used was obtained here as well, and it was also here he met his first Great Emperor, though the latter was playing around among the mortals at the time.
Outside Maplewood City stood Spirit Lake Palace, where countless cultivators were still coming in and out of every day. But since Xia Sheng was no longer here, Yang Kai had no intention to visit it.
However, his old friend Kang Si Ran had been promoted to the Branch President of Maplewood City by his chamber of commerce because of the long-term trade he had established with High Heaven Palace.
When Yang Kai arrived, Kang Si Ran naturally entertained him warmly, treating him to the finest restaurants in Maplewood City where they merrily drank and chatted.
The next day, Yang Kai bid goodbye and led the four women to the old site of the Blue Feather Sect. Today, Blue Feather Sect was completely deserted. The old site of the Sect was completely in ruins. Thinking of the time when he was imprisoned in Blue Feather Sect with Liu Xiao Yun back when he had entered the Star Boundary, Yang Kai felt as if ages had gone by.
At that time, Dao Source Realm Masters were like invincible existences to him, but now he could even fight Pseudo-Great Emperors. Several dozen years had passed, giving him a deep sense of reverie.
Retracing the old road like it was another life made Yang Kai have mixed feelings.
After the Southern Territory was the Eastern Territory, and then the Northern Territory…
After three months, Yang Kai finally began leading Su Yan and the others back home. He was still travelling in neither a hurried nor slow manner, without even using the Space Array network he had arranged.
After these three months of sightseeing, caring nothing about worldly affairs, Su Yan and the others were naturally reluctant to part with Yang Kai. They felt that it would be the best thing if this could go on for the rest of their lives.
At night, after a particularly intense intimate session, slender and graceful limbs were horizontally lying on a giant bed when suddenly, energy fluctuations started rising.
Yang Kai turned his head and cried out in pleasant surprise as he looked at Su Yan, “Senior Sister, you…”
Su Yan promptly sat down cross-legged and stated, taking a deep breath, “I am about to break through.”
Shan Qing Luo also sat up in shock, “So fast?”
Su Yan was now a Third-Order Dao Source Realm, so another breakthrough would make her enter the Emperor Realm. It had only been a few years since Yang Kai brought her to the Star Boundary, and although they were receiving endless resources from High Heaven Palace, Su Yan’s rate of progress was still quite astonishing. It must be brought to notice that when Su Yan first entered the Star Boundary, she was just a Second-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator. In just a few years, she was crossing a chasm that most cultivators couldn’t cross in their entire lives.
The remaining three were still just First-Order Dao Source Realms now while Xia Ning Chang, because of her Special Constitution and constant refinement of pills, had touched the threshold of the Second-Order.
Xue Yue pursed her lips into a sweet smile as she stated, “Don’t you know that Elder Sister uses her dual cultivation Secret Art constantly? Every night, Elder Sister has been ‘fed’ by husband.”
This was indeed true. Whenever they cultivated using the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art, the dragon and phoenix would sing together. Dual cultivation had indeed provided great benefits to Su Yan. Even without Yang Kai, her cultivation progress wasn’t slow, and for the last three months, she and Yang Kai had been dual cultivating every night. This slow accumulation over time would work magic, so breaking through now was just a matter of course.
The bottleneck had already been touched, and the World Baptism was about to descend, so there was no time to delay.
Su Yan glanced at Yang Kai before she immediately got dressed and the others hurriedly tidied things up.
After a short while, Yang Kai and Su Yan appeared outside the Small Sealed World, whereupon Yang Kai promptly used Space Principles to lead Su Yan to a sparsely populated location and set her down before quickly urging her, “Be careful!”
Su Yan nodded before sitting down cross-legged and closing her eyes.
Yang Kai’s figure flickered next and appeared several dozen kilometres away. Next, he let Xue Yue, Shan Qing Luo, and Xia Ning Chang out with a wave of his hand as the four stared ahead together.
Observing and emulating the process of Su Yan breaking through to the Emperor Realm would definitely benefit Shan Qing Luo and the others. When they broke through to Emperor Realm one day, they would have more experience in dealing with it instead of approaching it blindly.
Under their nervous gazes, wind and clouds gathered in the sky as faint claps of thunder boomed.
A soft jade white hand grabbed Yang Kai’s big hand as Xue Yue comforted in a gentle voice, “Husband, don’t worry, Elder Sister is so strong. There won’t be any problem at all.”
Yang Kai also felt that with Su Yan’s ability, there would not be any major problems, but that didn’t stop him from feeling nervous. This might be the so-called the more one cares about someone, the more worried he or she would be for him or her.
Shan Qing Luo added, “Husband, although we don’t know why you have brought us out to sightsee, since this little tryst lasted for so long, we know that you must have to do something important soon. Go ahead and do it. We have each other to rely on, and today, Big Sister is also advancing to the Emperor Realm. You don’t have to worry about anything when you are outside.”
Yang Kai looked at her, and then looked at Xue Yue and Xia Ning Chang, who lightly nodded at him.
Obviously, they had noticed something these days; after all, they shared every moment together, even in bed. Although Yang Kai hadn’t told them outright, how could he hide it from their eyes?
Yang Kai nodded and told them everything, “I won’t hide it from you then. I will be going to the Demon Realm soon.”
Xue Yue’s slender white hand momentarily clenched while Shan Qing Luo and Xia Ning Chang also looked shocked and worried. Although they knew Yang Kai had something to do, they had never expected that he would be going to the Demon Realm.
“And I will be going to the Demon Realm through a rather unorthodox method. All I can say is, whatever you hear at that time, don’t believe it or worry about it.” Yang Kai took a long deep breath, “I don’t know when I will be back, but I can assure you, I will definitely return safe and sound!”
Shan Qing Luo leaned over and gently stated, putting her head on his shoulder, “You are the world for our Sisters, you better come back safe and sound!”
Xia Ning Chang exhorted as her eyes turned red, “Be careful when you get there.”
Yang Kai opened his arms and hugged the three girls together, laughing and assuring them, “Don’t worry, I might not be good at other things, but I’m the best at running away.”
Shan Qing Luo suddenly pinched his waist and gave it a twist as she warned, grinding her teeth, “I hear there are Charm Demons in the Demon Realm, don’t get captivated by them!”
Yang Kai replied, smiling, “It’s not certain who will captivate who.”
Right then, a deafening clap of thunder reverberated along with a bright flash as a bolt of lightning descended from the sky, striking the top of Su Yan’s head.
Everyone couldn’t help but sink into silence as their eyes immediately focused on that side.
Amid the blinding flashes, World Energy gathered around, flooding Su Yan’s location all of a sudden.
After a while, Su Yan’s figure reappeared while all the World Energy had been completely absorbed by her.
*Hong long long…”
Bolts of lightning fell one after another, forming an inescapable net that blotted out the sky in a continuous rain. Shan Qing Luo and the others turned pale at the sight of this and secretly wondered if they could deal with this when their time came.
However, they were only in the First-Order Dao Source Realm now so it was inevitable for them to find this sight extremely terrifying. When they had reached the same cultivation as Su Yan, their mentality might be different.
Heaven and Earth shook. The World Baptism whenever someone broke through a Great Realm would always be shocking. Not to mention, Su Yan was breaking through to the Emperor Realm, so the disturbance naturally spread over a great distance.
There seemed to be a city nearby and the commotion had attracted many people. In the beginning, these people were still observing courtesy, watching from a distance and not trying to get too close.
But as time passed, someone finally flew over, as if they wanted to see things from up close, but how could Yang Kai allow that to happen? He opened his mouth and shouted, “Scram!”
His voice resounded throughout the sky louder than even the World Baptism, causing everyone to flee back in a flurry.
Every Great Realm was a giant chasm for a cultivator; across it was a brand new world, and this was especially true for the Emperor Realm.
One after another, the fearsome bolts of World Energy descended from the sky. Dark clouds swirled as flashes of lightning and reverberating claps of thunder echoed.
It was an extremely terrifying sight.
A clear and melodious phoenix cry rang suddenly, resonating through the highest Heavens. A vague ice-blue phoenix illusory phantom manifested at Su Yan’s location. The Ice Phoenix was incomparably large and had its neck craned, crying aloud towards the sky. The unique aura of a Divine Spirit suddenly spread out, freezing everything within a thousand kilometres of it, shocking all who were watching the show.
Meanwhile, inside Yang Kai’s body, the Golden Divine Dragon Source began making trouble, showing signs of resonating with Su Yan’s Ice Phoenix Source. If he hadn’t suppressed it firmly, he might have transformed into a dragon in an instant.
Yang Kai was a little surprised by this as he hadn’t expected that when Su Yan broke through to the Emperor Realm, he would also have some peculiar resonations. He had no idea if it was because he cultivated the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art or some other reason.
As time slowly passed by, the might of Heaven and Earth grew stronger and stronger, but the illusory Ice Phoenix remained strong, its aura only increasing to rival the surrounding power of Heaven and Earth.
Finally, a shockwave visible to the naked eye spread out, sweeping away everything in all directions.
The enormous Ice Phoenix phantom disappeared and the dark clouds in the sky began to dissipate, revealing the light of day once more.
The world returned to peace.
After a long time, the onlooking cultivators finally summoned the courage to come forward and investigate, but there were no traces of the one who had just broken through.
But this entire phenomenon had exceeded the one shown by an ordinary Emperor Realm breakthrough and quickly became the talk of the town among the cultivators in the nearby cities.
As Su Yan had already broken through to the Emperor Realm, and had gained more strength for self-protection, Yang Kai felt a little more at ease.
After another five days, the group of five returned to High Heaven Palace and bid each other goodbye at the Space Array, whereupon the women shed a lot of tears. Yang Kai had a heartache at the sight of their plight.
After sending off Su Yan and the others, he helped Little Senior Sister settle in before returning to the Space Array. However, Yang Kai didn’t teleport to Tiger Roar City but instead went to Orthodoxy Temple in the Southern Territory. After he had crushed the Orthodoxy Temple conspiracy, this land had become a branch of High Heaven Palace in the Southern Territory where 50,000 disciples lived.
Although a group of people were recruited to go to the Western Territory battlefield, only a few of them were sent after all. 95% of the disciples remained here to cultivate and grow stronger.
Yang Kai didn’t disturb anyone with his arrival and instead went straight to the restricted area of Orthodoxy Temple, where the Outer Astral Wind blew.
The last time he came here, he found that the might of the Outer Astral Wind increased the deeper one ventured into the canyon it occupied and there seemed to be some kind of treasure hidden at its source. It was that unknown treasure that was generating the Outer Astral Wind, allowing others to temper their bodies in the canyon.
Since he was going to the Demon Realm, Yang Kai decided to prepare everything he could to improve his strength. Since there was a treasure in his own Branch Sect, Yang Kai would naturally try to collect it. Perhaps it could be of some help in the Demon Realm, and even if he failed to gather it, it wouldn’t be a loss.
Walking into the canyon, Yang Kai found many disciples at the mouth of the canyon, welcoming the Outer Astral Wind’s baptism, tempering their bodies with its assistance, but the cultivation of these disciples wasn’t high, so they naturally stayed in the outermost periphery.
Yang Kai teleported by them, without anyone’s notice.
He then proceeded straight to the depths where a series of caves gradually appeared on the surrounding cliffs, granting places of shelter for those tempering their bodies to recuperate. The might of the Outer Astral Wind grew stronger and stronger, but Yang Kai didn’t fear it. He had a Half-Dragon Body which made his physique quite tyrannical, so this level of Astral Wind couldn’t do anything to him.
After travelling for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the oncoming astral wind finally began pricking his skin. The invisible wind cut against his flesh like a sharp blade. Owing to this, Yang Kai finally used his Emperor Qi to protect himself, but his footsteps didn’t slow even one bit.
After a while, even his Emperor Qi defence was cut to pieces, failing to provide any protection. The omnipresent Astral Wind cut into his body now, drawing blood that dyed his body and robes golden.
But Yang Kai had no intention of stopping here and continued to move forward in neither a fast nor hurried manner.
Sharp whistles could be heard to no end as the depths of the canyon was like a forbidden area for all life. In the middle regions, those who were strong like Xi Lie could cultivate, but not many dared to venture deeper. Yang Kai’s physique was stronger than Xi Lei’s, but whether he could survive in the deepest depths, he wasn’t confident about.
He decided to do his best and leave the rest to the Heavens!
The deeper Yang Kai went in, the more terrifying the might of the Astral Wind became.
Gradually, countless deep cuts appeared on Yang Kai’s skin, and even with his outstanding restorative abilities, he couldn’t recover from these wounds so quickly. He was bleeding golden blood from his wounds, leaving a set of golden footprints in his wake.
The Astral Wind here was very strange as not only did it cut into his body, it seemed to be affecting his five viscera, six organs, his bones, and even his meridians. In the end, every time Yang Kai took a step forward, his entire body, inside and out, ached.
Left with no choice, all he could do was assume his Half-Dragon Form which made it slightly easier to continue advancing.
The 300-metre-tall Half-Dragon Form had grown slightly, reaching a height of 320 metres now. Presumably, this was due to the dual cultivation with Su Yan over these past few months, helping his Golden Divine Dragon Source further integrate with him.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
Every step Yang Kai took caused the canyon to quake.
Who knows how long he walked for, but when Yang Kai felt that he couldn’t continue any further, he suddenly saw a familiar Void Crack ahead.
He had noticed this Void Crack the last time he came to investigate this place, and knew that it was from this crack that the endless Outer Astral Wind was blowing from. At that time, Yang Kai reckoned that if there was any treasure in this canyon, it would be hidden inside this Void Crack. It was because of the fearsome might of the treasure in the canyon that this Void Crack failed to seal and forever emitted the Outer Astral Wind.
Yang Kai’s eyes momentarily lit up now that this Void Crack was in sight.
Yang Kai, disregarding his own damaged body, strode forward against the Astral Wind, arriving before the Void Crack in a few steps.
*Xiu…*
A gust of wind slashed out from the crack like a sword wave, directly cutting across Yang Kai’s Half-Dragon Body. Yang Kai immediately lowered his head to look and saw a huge gaping wound on his waist which nearly cut through him. It was a disturbing sight to so clearly see his five viscera and six organs, but soon his golden blood began pouring out, covering the wound.
Yang Kai grimaced at the extremely sharp and piercing pain, but also grinned in anticipation towards the treasure hidden in the Void.
[It almost cut my Half-Dragon Body in two, so its power must be beyond my imagination. If I can really obtain such a treasure, it would definitely help me on my trip to the Demon Realm.]
After canceling his Half-Dragon Form, Yang Kai shot straight into the Void Crack as Space Principles flared.
The next moment, Yang Kai found himself inside a chaotic nothingness. The Astral Winds that had been harassing him had also disappeared at this moment, which made Yang Kai feel a little out of sorts.
Covering his wound with his hand, Yang Kai looked around before his eyes were quickly drawn to something floating in the Void.
It was a long vine, a very long vine rooted in the chaos!
Yang Kai was taken aback by this sight as he had gone in and out of the Void countless times where only endless void turbulence and nothingness existed. He had never expected to find a vine in such a place!
But at this moment, the long vine seemed to have withered as its entire body had turned grey and it was lacking in any vitality.
Only a bottle gourd about the size of a palm was growing at the topmost position of the long vine. The small bottle gourd was cyan in colour and there were complex patterns on its surface, which seemed to contain some kind of mystery of the Grand Dao.
Small streaks of Astral Wind flew out of the bottle gourd, blowing into the crack beside it.
The source of the Outer Astral Winds was actually this Cyan Bottle Gourd.
Yang Kai was amazed by this, but very soon he realized that this Cyan Bottle Gourd must be some kind of Supreme Treasure, perhaps not inferior to his Soul Warming Lotus.
[I found a real prize!]
Yang Kai was overjoyed and pushed his Emperor Qi as he gingerly reached out towards the Cyan Bottle Gourd and grabbed it.
Contrary to his expectations though, he wasn’t injured at all. The Astral Winds that were sharp enough to cut right through him didn’t seem to be any threat in this place and he was able to grab the Cyan Bottle Guard as easily as lifting his hand.
Then, with just a simple pull, he plucked the Cyan Bottle Gourd from the long vine.
Before Yang Kai could take a closer look at the gourd though, the long vine that appeared to have been withered for tens of thousands of years, actually shrank back and plunged into the endless chaos, disappearing without a trace.
Yang Kai was momentarily dumbstruck before he angrily patted his thigh.
Had he known that this long vine was so strange, he would have tried to collect it first. If it could bear a treasure such as the Cyan Bottle Gourd, it must be quite extraordinary. If he could have transplanted it into his Small Sealed World, there was a chance it could bear another bottle gourd at some point!
But just as this thought flashed in his mind, Yang Kai quickly denied it, because this was a treasure born from the World itself, a unique type of existence of which there could only be one. After understanding this, Yang Kai’s heart finally settled down.
Wealth lies in contentment. The fact that he could obtain the Cyan Bottle Gourd was already a big opportunity, coveting more would be insatiable.
After clearing up his mood, Yang Kai carefully played with the Cyan Bottle Gourd in his hand.
After being plucked from the long vine, the patterns on the Cyan Bottle Gourd’s surface had disappeared and it wasn’t exuding that profound and mysterious aura either, as if it had become a very ordinary bottle gourd.
But when Yang Kai scanned it with his Divine Sense, he was unable to probe the inside of the bottle gourd and immediately understood that it was ordinary only in appearance. If he wanted to release this Cyan Bottle Gourd’s might though, he would probably need to carefully refine it first.
After putting away the Cyan Bottle Gourd, Yang Kai jumped out of the Void Crack.
Since the source of the Outer Astral Winds had been taken away by him, Orthodoxy Temple Branch’s canyon had lost its Body Tempering facility. Even the Void Crack had closed under the restorative effect of the Star Boundary’s World Principles, disappearing into thin air.
It might be a bit of a loss for High Heaven Palace’s disciples, but Yang Kai could care less about that at the moment. If need be, he could simply put the Cyan Bottle Gourd back when he got back from the Demon Realm. At that time, the canyon would be restored.