It had to be said that the charm technique Yin Sudie had cultivated was genuinely ingenious — its power was nothing to scoff at. With this bizarre art, she could effortlessly defeat martial artists of the same level without ever engaging them in direct combat.
Unfortunately, using it against Yang Kai left something to be desired.
For one thing, Yang Kai's Divine Sense far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators at his level, making him virtually immune to her bewitchment. For another, he had personally cultivated the Yin-Yang Harmony Art, which gave him a natural resistance to charm techniques.
Amid waves of piteous screams, the maidens within the pink mist were being torn apart by Yang Kai in utter disarray.
Yang Kai didn't bother targeting them directly. After all, these phantom figures were all conjured by Yin Sudie — they couldn't truly be killed, and there was no end to them. Instead, Yang Kai focused his attacks on the Artifacts they wielded or wore.
These Artifacts were uniformly of the Saint King High-Grade tier — over twenty of them in total. It was impressive that Yin Sudie had managed to collect so many, and even more so that she could activate their power. Even though she channeled these Artifacts through the phantom maidens, she still had to personally refine each one before she could use them.
Refining over twenty Artifacts must have taken a considerable amount of time. If they were destroyed, she would surely be devastated.
Sure enough, as Yin Sudie watched the Saint King Artifacts she had painstakingly refined melt into pools of liquid metal under Yang Kai's demonic flames — five or six of them already gone in the blink of an eye — she was shaken to her core. Her delicate frame trembled with fury, silver teeth clenched, and she shouted, "Destroy one more of my Artifacts and I'll make you pay!"
Hearing her shrill, panicked cry, Yang Kai felt a surge of satisfaction. He spun around and locked his gaze on a maiden standing beside the pool of wine. In her hand she held a long whip that crackled with arcs of lightning, each lash producing a sharp, snapping boom. The lightning power it channeled was formidable — among the twenty-something Artifacts, it ranked in the top three for both power and rarity.
An Artifact of this caliber certainly wouldn't be cheap. If he destroyed it, Yin Sudie's mood would only worsen.
Yang Kai immediately charged toward the maiden, his figure flickering several times before materializing right in front of her. The maiden was mentally linked to Yin Sudie and instantly sensed Yang Kai's sudden assault. Her delicate face shifted, and she flicked the whip, sending countless shadow-lashes enveloping Yang Kai while bolts of emerald lightning shot from the weapon.
Yang Kai snorted coldly. He swept both hands outward, and pitch-black demonic flames spread before him like a canopy. Every bolt of lightning that touched the flames vanished without a trace.
Then Yang Kai reached out with one hand and clenched it fiercely in the empty air.
The sky full of whip-shadows froze in place, and the long whip was seized firmly in his palm. The demonic flames surged once more, and whatever material the whip had been forged from began to flicker, its luster fading rapidly as its spiritual essence drained away. A few moments more and it would share the fate of the other destroyed Artifacts.
Just then, a dreamy murmur drifted into Yang Kai's ear — a whisper loaded with boundless seductive power, slipping formless and unseen directly into his sea of consciousness.
The Saint Yuan in Yang Kai's body faltered for an instant, and the demonic flames churning in his hand weakened dramatically with a soft hiss.
At the very instant the whisper sounded, a hulking figure burst from the pool of wine. The man was enormous, every inch of muscle packed tight as iron plates, his eyes wild and beast-like. He glared at Yang Kai with murderous intensity, clutching a jagged blade that resembled a broken knife edge. The blade hadn't wounded any enemy yet, but it had already sliced open the hand gripping it. Strangely, not a single drop of blood leaked from the wound — instead, the blood seeped into the blade itself, staining the three-foot weapon a deep, vivid crimson.
An overwhelming stench of blood filled the air, thick enough to make anyone gag.
The brawny man was none other than the Hou-surnamed warrior Yang Kai had wounded earlier.
No one knew when he had infiltrated the pink mist. Concealed within the wine pool, with Yin Sudie masking his presence, even Yang Kai hadn't detected the slightest trace.
Seizing the moment when Yang Kai's attention was fixed on the whip Artifact, the Hou warrior pounced.
The broken blade in his hand trembled once, and with a sharp metallic ring, a ribbon-like streak of blood-red light shot out, cleaving toward Yang Kai's waist. The Hou warrior's face was twisted with savage brutality, killing intent surging like a tide, a frigid smile curling at the corner of his lips.
He had suffered a humiliating defeat at Yang Kai's hands before and knew how formidable the young man was. But now that he had chosen to strike, he was brimming with absolute confidence. The broken blade was a Void Tier High-Grade Artifact he had obtained during a previous expedition — and a sinisterly wicked one at that, twenty to thirty percent more powerful than ordinary artifacts of the same tier.
With his level of cultivation, he normally wouldn't dare recklessly wield such an Artifact, since excessive use risked letting its sinister energy corrupt his mind.
But after being humiliated time and again today, consumed by the desire to reclaim his dignity in front of Yin Sudie, he no longer cared about the consequences. He had drawn this Artifact and was prepared to deliver a killing blow.
His timing was impeccable — right at the moment Yang Kai's mind was destabilized by Yin Sudie's whispered enchantment while simultaneously struggling to destroy the lightning whip. Even if Yang Kai was incredibly powerful, the Hou warrior was certain that this strike would connect.
One hit from that blade-light, and Yang Kai would be dead!
Yang Kai naturally sensed the bizarre nature of the blade-light as well. For the first time, a grave expression crossed his face. He was about to dodge when the maiden standing by the pool suddenly flicked the long whip, sending it coiling toward him.