Yang Kai understood better than anyone the importance of cutting weeds and digging out the roots. If it were possible, he would have wanted to eliminate Deng Ning as well. But Deng Ning's earlier declaration — that even if he died, he would drag Ye Yangrong down with him — had stirred something in Yang Kai.
A man who didn't care even about his own life and death was someone you could trust, at least a little.
Asking Deng Ning for compensation had been nothing more than an excuse. After all, Yang Kai hadn't wanted to intervene without reason. He'd killed An Zhiyong only because the other party had attacked first.
As for what Deng Ning's reward would be — whether it was valuable or worthless — he couldn't have cared less.
But when he heard Yang Kai say that, Deng Ning's face lit up with delight. He pondered carefully for a moment, then said in a low voice, "The Demonic Blood Thread Secret Art — I wonder if you'd be interested, friend?"
"Deng Ning!" Before Yang Kai could answer, Ye Yangrong screamed as though he'd lost his mind, his face full of disbelief. "You dare leak our sect's secret techniques?! Do you have any idea what will happen if the elders find out what you've done?!"
Deng Ning turned his head and gave him a cold, sinister smile. "They'd just extract my soul and refine my spirit — what's there to make a fuss about?"
His completely nonchalant expression left Ye Yangrong momentarily speechless.
Deng Ning shook his head again and sneered, "Besides, as long as you die here, Senior Brother Ye, who would ever know that I leaked our sect's secret techniques?"
Ye Yangrong's face turned deathly pale as he finally realized just how deeply Deng Ning hated him — so much that he was willing to violate the Demonic Blood Sect's prohibition and use the Demonic Blood Thread Secret Art to lure this stranger into helping. If the other party actually agreed, he'd have absolutely no way out. His thoughts racing, he quickly called out to Yang Kai, "My friend, don't be quick to trust Deng Ning's words! Our sect's Demonic Blood Thread Secret Art is indeed immensely powerful — only Core Disciples are permitted to cultivate it. But you've never cultivated our Demonic Blood Sect's techniques, so the secret art would be completely useless to you! Besides, if you obtained a technique like this, our sect's higher-ups would never let it go. Once word gets out, you'll have nowhere to flee — no road to the heavens, no door into the earth. You'll be dead for certain!"
As he spoke, a flash of insight struck Ye Yangrong. Suddenly remembering something, his face turned even paler. He stared at Deng Ning and said with a trembling voice, "So that's your little scheme!"
Deng Ning chuckled darkly. Seeing that Ye Yangrong had finally figured it out, he dropped all pretense and turned to Yang Kai. "Friend, I don't know your name or where you come from. All I ask is that this man dies. Yes, revealing the Demonic Blood Thread Secret Art carries some risk for you, but it's the same for me — if this gets exposed, I'd suffer torment a million times worse than you. So I'd never sell you out. You can rest assured and make your move now, friend!"
Deng Ning was incredibly shrewd. It seemed he had long seen through Yang Kai's intention to wipe them all out, and that was why he'd used the Demonic Blood Thread Secret Art to tie himself to Yang Kai.
Once Yang Kai agreed, he'd never be able to betray him — because betraying Yang Kai would be tantamount to suicide. It was, in a way, an indirect gesture of goodwill. And as for the fact that the Demonic Blood Thread Secret Art would be useless to Yang Kai — how could he not have considered that?
Seeing Yang Kai still hesitating, Deng Ning gritted his teeth and raised his offer. "If you're still not satisfied, friend, I can—"
"That won't be necessary. The Demonic Blood Thread Secret Art will do." Yang Kai cut him off. He'd seen through Deng Ning's intentions, but these little games didn't bother him. As for Deng Ning's desperate gamble, he neither approved nor disapproved.
When Yang Kai nodded in agreement, Ye Yangrong's face turned ashen in an instant. But Deng Ning was overjoyed.
"Go ahead," Yang Kai said to Deng Ning in an indifferent tone.
Deng Ning was momentarily startled, thinking Yang Kai would assist from the sidelines. He didn't bother asking. His body twisted as the blood qi within him surged violently, blood light blazing outward. He bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mist of blood. The blood mist writhed and shifted like a living thing, quickly condensing into a short spear. Gripping the spear in one hand, Deng Ning blurred forward and appeared before Ye Yangrong, his expression savage as he thrust the weapon forward.
Then something utterly shocking happened. He clearly saw Ye Yangrong try to dodge, but for reasons he couldn't understand, an expression of extreme agony flashed across his senior brother's face. The Sacred Yuan in his body stalled for a single instant, and his figure froze in place, unable to move.
His short spear pierced straight through the other's heart and out the other side, as though it were nothing.
Blood sprayed everywhere. Ye Yangrong's face twisted with sheer terror. He gripped the blood-red spear, trying to pull it from his body, but his strength drained away in an instant. In the blink of an eye, all life left him.
Deng Ning stood frozen in place once again. It wasn't until Ye Yangrong's body plummeted from the sky and hit the ground with a heavy thud that he was snapped out of his daze.
He was certain that his senior brother's inability to fight back against his strike had been because that young man at the Second Stage of the Saint King Realm had done something.
The other party actually had such ability?
Deng Ning considered himself no weakling, yet he hadn't even noticed when the other party had made his move or what he'd done. He'd won this fight without understanding a thing. Didn't that mean if the other party wanted to kill him, he could do it with so much as a blink?
At the thought of this, cold sweat drenched Deng Ning's entire body, and an inexplicable unease settled in his heart.
When he'd seen Yang Kai kill An Zhiyong, he'd understood that the other party might be an elite from some powerful faction. But only now did he realize that this person was simply a monster.
Various thoughts flashed through his mind. After a moment, Deng Ning turned around with his expression calm as ever — only his eyes betraying a deep wariness. Laughing heartily, he descended from the sky and flew over to Yang Kai of his own accord, cupping his fists in salute. "My friend, many thanks! The first time I saw you in the Flowing Flame Sand, I knew you were no ordinary person — and now I can see that's truly the case!"