When the Void Return Realm expert unleashed his full power, Yang Kai was naturally affected as well. In the instant his figure stalled, an overwhelming barrage of attacks surged toward him from the front — it was Wang Yuhan and the others seizing the opportunity to strike. These attacks comprised martial skills and the might of Artifacts, each one unleashed with fury, carrying every intention of killing Yang Kai on the spot.
As long as Yang Kai fell, the two women would pose no threat to them whatsoever.
Facing such an assault, Yang Kai merely flipped his hand, and a shield pulsing with purple luminescence appeared in his grasp. Immediately, rich wind and earth attribute energy erupted from the shield, and a sudden gale of sand and fierce wind swept up from the flat ground. In the blink of an eye, a small sandstorm had formed around Yang Kai and his two companions, completely obscuring their figures.
Thunderous booms rang out as the successive attacks and Artifact energies struck the sandstorm, unable to penetrate it in the slightest — all of them were swallowed up entirely.
At this sight, Wang Yuhan's expression turned ice-cold. Back in Heroes' Burial Valley, he had already seen Yang Kai deploy this Void-grade superior Artifact shield, and he naturally knew its extraordinary nature. Now, having personally launched an attack against it, he understood even more clearly just how formidable its defense was.
Such a defensive Artifact — as long as the wielder's Saint Yuan didn't run dry — was simply beyond the power of a few Saint King Realm experts to break. One could say that with the sandstorm sheltering them, Yang Kai and his companions were already in an unassailable position.
"Excellent!" But the elder surnamed Wang's eyes lit up with a hunter's glee, and he exclaimed with excitement: "I want this Artifact!"
As he spoke, he spread his great palm wide, and a colossal hand manifested from Saint Yuan lunged directly toward the spot where Yang Kai and the others stood. Its five fingers descended like five mountain peaks, and before it even made contact with the sandstorm, it generated a feeling that heaven and earth themselves had been seized.
At the same time, an almost imperceptible flash of golden light suddenly shot out from within the sandstorm. In an instant it transformed into a sky full of golden threads that danced and slashed through the air.
The colossal Saint Yuan hand of the elder surnamed Wang lasted less than a single breath before it was sliced to ribbons by those golden threads, collapsing with a thunderous crash. With that threat eliminated, the sky full of golden threads also vanished abruptly.
Before Wang Yuhan and the others could even react, the golden threads had already flickered to hover before them, once again blotting out the sky and earth. They converged into a great net, enveloping every one of the Saint King Realm warriors.
"Watch out for the golden threads!" the elder surnamed Wang warned urgently, pressing the force of his Might down upon the threads.
But what filled him with horror was that the golden threads not only met no resistance whatsoever — they actually sliced his Might to ribbons as well. It couldn't even take shape.
"Impossible!" The elder surnamed Wang's face changed drastically. Suddenly, as though remembering something, he cried out in alarm: "Demonic Blood Thread secret technique! This is the Demonic Blood Sect's Demonic Blood Thread technique — you're one of them!"
Through certain things he had heard and seen, he had finally recalled the origin of those golden threads. But what baffled him was why the Demonic Blood Threads would be golden in color, when he had heard that the Demonic Blood Sect's threads were red.
And the Demonic Blood Thread secret technique was one of the very few arts on the entire Dark Star that could sever Might.
"Whether or not I belong to the Demonic Blood Sect is none of your concern!" Yang Kai's figure lurked within the sandstorm, his expression indifferent. The golden threads responded to his will as naturally as his own limbs, and in a sudden, decisive move, they had already enshrouded Wang Yuhan and several other Saint King Realm warriors.
Simultaneously, he sent out a thought through his Divine Sense, issuing a vague command.
Wang Yuhan and the others were all warriors of the second or third level of the Saint King Realm — their own strength was by no means weak. Seeing the elder surnamed Wang treat the situation with such gravity, they understood well enough to deploy their strongest defensive measures against the golden threads. One or two of them had even begun to channel secret arts, preparing to dodge.
But what shocked them to the core was that before they could make a single move, a violent burst of pain suddenly tore through their Sea of Consciousness, leaving their minds unsteady in an instant. The Saint Yuan they had gathered and the Artifacts they had prepared couldn't be activated, and they could only watch helplessly as the golden threads descended upon them.
Hissing filled the air as the golden threads flashed and vanished, once again recalled by Yang Kai.
Wang Yuhan and several other Saint King Realm warriors stood frozen in place, their eyes filled with abject terror, as though they had witnessed something utterly inconceivable.
"Yuhan!" the elder surnamed Wang called out, his voice trembling.
"Seventh Master..." Wang Yuhan opened his mouth to respond, his face a mask of desperate pleading. Before he could finish even that one sentence, his body suddenly split apart in every direction, collapsing into a heap of minced flesh.
Crash...
The other Saint King Realm warriors followed the same fate as Wang Yuhan. All at once, they shattered like mirrors falling apart, the wounds along their bodies clean and smooth, as though some impossibly sharp blade had cut straight through them.
In a single strike, every one of those Saint King Realm warriors had perished on the spot.
The scene was unspeakably ghastly. The stench of blood surged skyward.