From the moment Wen Feichen's palm struck Yang Kai, his defeat had already been sealed.
Yang Kai knew full well that to kill such a powerful expert, he would need to restrict the man's freedom. Otherwise, with only his own and Xia Ningshang's current strength, there was virtually no chance of success.
Even Long Hui had such exquisite footwork — how could Wen Feichen, a Zhenyuan Realm expert, not have something similar? If he sensed danger and fled, then come dawn, Yang Kai and Xia Ningshang would be done for.
But restricting such an expert was no easy task. Even with most of his power sealed, it wasn't something Yang Kai could accomplish without putting everything on the line.
So Yang Kai had to stake his own body — take a direct hit from the man and seize that fleeting instant to bind him!
This was an enormous gambit, and Yang Kai had factored himself into the equation. How could Wen Feichen not fall for it?
With both his hands destroyed, Wen Feichen was like a hedgehog stripped of its quills — brimming with power but unable to use a shred of it.
Amid a steady rhythm of screams and the sharp crack of breaking bones, Wen Feichen endured what felt like the cruelest torture under heaven at Yang Kai's hands.
In mere dozens of breaths, his screams faded to almost nothing. His breathing grew shallow — air going in but never coming out — until his entire body collapsed into a lifeless heap on the ground.
Xia Ningshang watched from the side, her heart in her throat, as if she were seeing her junior brother for the first time.
In over two years of watching him, when had Xia Ningshang ever seen him this frenzied, this bloodthirsty and savage?
Three dark chains of Yin energy suddenly shot out from Wen Feichen's body. At the same moment, five other chains scattered throughout the valley flew outward as well, vanishing into the void.
"Junior brother, he's dead!" Xia Ningshang tugged gently at Yang Kai.
The escape of the Yin energy chains meant that Wen Feichen's life force had been utterly extinguished.
"Dead?" Yang Kai gasped for breath, then slowly straightened up.
"Junior brother, are you all right?" Xia Ningshang's voice trembled on the verge of tears. She realized something was off about his current state — his entire body radiated an evil aura, showing signs of approaching Qi Deviation.
Yang Kai knew what she was worried about and gave a grim smile. "Don't worry. It's just one of my martial techniques — it looks frightening, that's all."
Xia Ningshang looked at him with reddened eyes. Though his gaze was terrifying, she could sense a thread of clear-headed calm running through it, and she couldn't help but relax slightly.
"Now that they're all dead, let's go find that Nine Yin Essence Condensation Dew!" Yang Kai hadn't forgotten the main objective.
"Can you still hold on? You're badly hurt!"
"For now. Another stretch and I might really not be able to." Yang Kai grabbed Xia Ningshang's hand and rushed toward the source of the gathered Yin energy.
The night was fading, and the Yin energy throughout the valley had nearly vanished — presumably absorbed by the Nine Yin Essence Condensation Dew.
When they arrived, the treasure was still there, apparently undisturbed by the two battles raging several hundred zhang away.
At that moment, the flower bud was on the verge of fully blooming. Inside it, a single drop of luminous liquid glimmered with a faint, ethereal light.
"How do we collect it?" Yang Kai asked.
Xia Ningshang said softly, "Use your Yang-attributed Yuan Qi to bind it, then… hold it in your mouth. I'll handle the rest. Remember — you absolutely cannot let it touch any other part of your body."
Hold it in his mouth? Yang Kai was dazed. Just as he was about to ask for clarification, Xia Ningshang's face lit up with excitement. "It's coming out!"