The spinning force of the spear whipped up the air, and a horizontal tornado suddenly materialized behind Yang Kai, stretching across with awe-inspiring momentum.
The sharp spear, woven from Shadow Soul Threads, hurtled toward Yang Kai at terrifying speed. In the span of a blink it was upon him. To everyone's astonishment, facing such a devastating strike, Yang Kai showed no intention of dodging. Instead, he reached out a hand and grabbed for the spear.
Demonic flames roiled across his palm. Yang Kai's expression was grave — he was clearly going all out.
Screech—
An ear-splitting, nauseating sound rang out. The instant Yang Kai gripped the spear, the tremendous rotational force sent him spinning at absurd speed, as though someone were flinging him around. His figure kept retreating backward even as he spun.
Golden blood sprayed from his body.
But soon his backward momentum slowed. His whirling form gradually stabilized until he finally came to a stop.
On his palm, amid the rolling demonic flames, the smell of scorched flesh rose into the air — he had clearly sustained minor injuries.
But he paid them no mind. Xu Zhishen's black thread was genuinely impossible to guard against, and bizarre beyond measure — even demonic flames couldn't burn it. Whatever it was, Yang Kai would cripple it or seize it first. Otherwise, if Xu Zhishen kept attacking with it, he'd have no answer at all.
The moment Yang Kai steadied himself, Xu Zhishen swooped upon him from above like a great roc spreading its wings. Amid Yang Yan's and Wu Yi's cries of alarm, savage power erupted from Xu Zhishen's palms, forming all manner of eerie attacks that hammered down upon Yang Kai.
With one hand still gripping the black spear, Yang Kai unleashed his divine soul power, flooding it into the threads to incinerate the divine sense imprint Xu Zhishen had left, stripping him of control over the artifact. Simultaneously, he met the incoming assault with a Heaven-Shrouding Palm.
Boom, boom, boom—
An earth-shattering din erupted. Xu Zhishen flew backward like a kite with its string cut, vomiting blood in midair, his face turning deathly pale once more.
Yang Kai also stumbled back over a dozen steps. His blocking arm went momentarily numb. Blood and qi churned in his chest, and a mouthful of golden blood sprayed from his lips.
But his condition was clearly far superior to Xu Zhishen's. An excited grin spread across his face as he glanced at the countless thread fragments scattered across his palm, then casually tossed them into his spatial ring.
"You — you erased my divine sense imprint in an instant?!" Xu Zhishen's face contorted. Whether from fury or disbelief, his entire body began to tremble. He pointed a shaking finger at Yang Kai, then spat out another mouthful of blood.
"Hahaha!" Yang Kai laughed heartily, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Old dog, I said I wanted that thing — and I got it!"
Arrogant! Domineering! Overbearing!
The crowd erupted in uproar.
Only then did the onlookers recall that Yang Kai had indeed made such a declaration. Who would have thought that in barely ten breaths, he had actually done it?
A Half-Saint Realm cultivator had snatched an artifact from a Holy King Realm expert — and had erased the Holy King's divine sense imprint in the blink of an eye. How powerful must his divine soul be? How could he possibly possess such ability?!
"Damn it!" Yu Feng couldn't help but curse, both his eyes trembling violently.
Not only were Yang Yan and Wu Yi dazzled and deeply satisfied — even those young women from the Haike family, peers of Wu Yi who were not much older, cast admiring glances at Yang Kai, their gazes hungry enough to devour him.
They suddenly realized that all the so-called young geniuses they had ever seen were utterly incomparable to this mysterious man. Those others were nothing but trash.
Even Ba Qingyan's pupils contracted sharply, a look of deep shock welling up in their depths.
He knew better than anyone what Xu Zhishen was capable of. In a one-on-one fight, he wouldn't necessarily have been outmatched. Yet this man had taken only two strikes before the youth snatched his artifact — and looked none the worse for it. If he himself faced that young man... what would the outcome be?
Ba Qingyan suddenly felt his head throbbing and a heaviness pressing on his chest.
Yang Kai was grinning with genuine delight — not because he had snatched Xu Zhishen's artifact, but because he had confirmed that his current combat strength could indeed rival a Third-Order Holy King Realm expert. It had to be admitted that Xu Zhishen was probably not among the strongest at that level, but the realm gap was undeniably there.
Moreover, Yang Kai hadn't even used his full strength.
The mysteries of spatial power, the might of his golden blood, the World-Destroying Demon Eye — none of these trump cards had been brought to bear. He had relied solely on the power stored within his own body.
"Elder!" Several of the Holy King Realm cultivators from the Xu family saw that Xu Zhishen had suffered a loss. Their faces changed and they cried out in alarm.
Xu Zhishen waved a hand to stop them from stepping forward. His face was twisted in savage frenzy as he screamed in a hysterical rage: "Good! Good! Good! Youth is fearsome indeed! I never expected someone like you to exist! If I don't kill you today, I swear I'm no man!"
With that, he suddenly produced an ancient painting. A heavy, dense aura radiated from its surface. The moment the painting appeared, everyone felt their breathing grow labored, as though something immense was pressing down upon their heads.