Now that Yang Kai had figured out exactly what method the three had been using to keep chasing him relentlessly, his mind settled completely.
Once you knew the method, finding a way to counter it was no challenge at all.
Yang Kai casually stowed the colorful ribbon into his space ring and regarded the three with an indifferent look.
Since Xue Yue had already made her stance and position clear, it was time he gave her a proper response and settled things with her once and for all.
A sharp cry rang out as the big man on the left suddenly erupted with power, apparently sensing the killing intent in Yang Kai's eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he struck first.
The other two didn't bother making a move. They simply stood there with arms crossed, smiling as they watched from the sidelines, ready to enjoy the sight of Yang Kai being brutally crushed.
In their view, Yang Kai was nothing more than an Entering Saint Realm Stage Three martial artist. Any one of the three of them could take him down with ease — failure was simply unthinkable.
A massive, mountain-like aura erupted from within the big man's body, warping the vast stretch of starry sky around them. Pressure surged from every direction, crashing down on Yang Kai — each wave as terrifying as a landslide or a tsunami. Yang Kai's bones crackled and snapped, as though his very skeleton was being crushed to splinters.
The big man let out a savage grin as a phantom projection materialized behind him — a mirror image of himself. The phantom rapidly swelled, and in the blink of an eye, it became a colossal giant standing thirty zhang tall. The giant raised one massive foot cloaked in earthen-yellow energy and stamped it straight down toward Yang Kai.
Soul-crushing pressure shot from the giant's twin pupils, targeting Yang Kai's spiritual sea directly.
When Yang Kai saw that his opponent was actually using a soul technique, a wide grin spread across his face. He stood calmly in place, making no effort to dodge, simply waiting for the soul attack to reach him.
If the opponent had used physical force, there might have been something to spar over. But deploying a soul technique without any clue what he was dealing with — that was truly the pinnacle of stupidity.
Yang Kai's Divine Sense far surpassed his physical strength, reaching at least the level of an Entering Saint Realm Stage Two cultivator. Combined with his bizarre soul fire, he wouldn't necessarily come out on the losing end even in a soul-technique clash against a Stage Three opponent.
The big man was only at Saint King Realm Stage One. He had been counting on brute superiority to end the fight in a single blow. How could he have known what Yang Kai truly was?
Layer upon layer of soul fluctuations, laced with the big man's own comprehended intent, poured into Yang Kai's spiritual sea all at once. But before that spiritual power could do a thing, it was swallowed by a searing heat. In an instant, it was burned to ash.
The big man's calm composure changed in a heartbeat. His body trembled violently, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints, his face draining to a deathly pallor.
The bizarre soul fire and Yang Kai's overwhelming Divine Sense had dealt him a devastating blow in a single instant. The spiritual power that had invaded Yang Kai's sea was immediately crippled, and a mind-splitting agony ripped through his skull. Stars exploded before his eyes; he could barely think.
A scream ripped from his throat at the same moment a spear wreathed in black demonic flames took shape in Yang Kai's hand. Before the big man could react, Yang Kai hurled it at him.
Whoosh...
The sound of tearing air.
Sensing approaching death, the big man instinctively mobilized his power to shield himself. A mid-tier Saint King grade defensive artifact manifested in front of him, blocking his body.
The artifact took the form of an umbrella, spinning rapidly, capable of deflecting numerous attacks. The big man had relied on this umbrella artifact to survive many a fatal blow before.
He believed this time would be no different. As long as it held, he would live — and his two companions still hadn't lifted a finger!
The umbrella-shaped artifact failed to do its job. The spear wreathed in demonic flames had vanished the instant it left Yang Kai's hand, only to reappear three inches from the big man's body in the next moment.
The spear pierced through the barrier of space, materializing from the void with eerie speed. Even as the big man screamed in horror, the spear drove through his body — which was supposed to be as tough as gold and stone.
Alternating waves of cold and heat radiated from the spear. Black demonic flames engulfed his entire body, and the jarring contradiction of bone-freezing cold and searing heat left the big man with no idea how to defend himself. No matter how he channeled his power, he could not extinguish the flames. Instead, they only raged hotter. The demonic fire seemed capable of burning all things — his clothes, his flesh, even his Saint Yuan became fuel, feeding the inferno into a roaring blaze.
The burly big man was transformed into a blazing black fireball. He shrieked and wailed, thrashing blindly like a headless fly, crashing through the starry sky in random directions, getting farther and farther away until he vanished entirely.
The other two, who had been standing by with arms folded watching the spectacle, had lost every trace of their earlier ease. Their expressions had turned stone-cold serious, and deep in their eyes swirled a potent mixture of dread and disbelief.
They weren't ignorant of the concept of fighting above one's level. As warriors of the Hengluo Trading Company's branch, virtually every one of them had their own trump card and could fight across realms — but even then, it was always a pyrrhic victory.
To wipe out a higher-realm opponent in the blink of an eye while being an entire realm below — that was something they wouldn't even dare to dream of. And yet, it had just happened right before their very eyes.
They immediately grasped the terrifying depth of Yang Kai's strength, and realized that this assignment might be far more than they had bargained for.
Without a word exchanged, without even a glance between them, both men lunged at Yang Kai simultaneously, holding absolutely nothing back, desperate to end him as fast as possible.
One of them produced a large drum-shaped artifact. As he charged toward Yang Kai at breakneck speed, he brought his drumsticks crashing down on the drum's surface.
Booom...