As Yang Kai's thoughts raced, he saw that Lian Guang had already driven his puppets to meet one of the eighth-rank Cloud Beasts that Fei Zhitu and the others had deliberately left behind. The Cloud Beast's body hovered between ethereal and solid, completely refined from clouds and shifting unpredictably. As soon as it charged forward, it locked in a fierce battle with Lian Guang's puppets.
Yang Kai didn't hesitate either. His figure flickered, and he positioned himself to block another eighth-rank Cloud Beast that had moved to assist.
Fei Zhitu and the others had intentionally left these two eighth-rank Cloud Beasts. First, they were already stretched thin dealing with too many Cloud Beasts and couldn't afford to take on more. Second, they wanted to test Yang Kai and Lian Guang's combat prowess, to make sure the two weren't all show and would hold their own on the road ahead.
The eighth-rank beast Yang Kai had intercepted resembled a mighty tiger, with the character "king" clearly marked on its forehead. A long tail gleamed like fine steel, its surface glinting with cold light. Its body stood three zhang tall, but it was emerald green in color, looking utterly eerie.
As it moved, a foul wind hit Yang Kai in the face, making him want to retch. He immediately understood that this Cloud Beast had likely been fused with some potent poison.
Before the beast could react, Yang Kai unfurled the gold thread, transforming it into a sky full of golden light that ceaselessly sliced at the beast's body. Roars erupted as the great tiger's form was instantly scattered to pieces, cut into countless fragments as though it couldn't withstand even a single blow.
But rather than rejoicing, Yang Kai was alarmed—the aura emanating from the beast hadn't weakened in the slightest after his assault. If anything, it had grown even more savage.
After the gold thread withdrew, the scattered pieces of the great tiger's body writhed, merged, and restored themselves completely. Not a single mark was visible—not even a trace of weakened aura.
This Cloud Beast truly was difficult to kill. If it had been an ordinary eighth-rank demon beast, Yang Kai's attack would have left nothing behind. But this creature had no flesh and blood. Even when its body was torn apart, it could reassemble itself. It seemed Du Sisi hadn't been exaggerating.
Understanding this, Yang Kai retracted the gold thread. With a thought, a crisp bird call rang out, and the next moment, the crimson Fire Bird Artifact Spirit appeared leisurely. It spread its wings and expanded into a giant bird over a dozen zhang long, then, following Yang Kai's command, dove straight at the great tiger.
A flash of fear seemed to cross the tiger's eyes—it instinctively sensed that the Artifact Spirit was not to be trifled with. Gone was the arrogance and disdain it had shown toward Yang Kai earlier. It opened its jaws and spat out a massive cloud of emerald-green toxic mist, enveloping itself and concealing its form within.
The Fire Bird Artifact Spirit regarded it with utter contempt. A soaring cry rang out as it charged headlong into the toxic mist without a moment's hesitation.
For a time, emerald-green and crimson lights tangled together, tiger roars and bird cries echoing in succession. Yang Kai stood to the side with his hands in his sleeves, watching coldly.
Wisps of emerald color evaporated under the searing heat. In mere moments, the toxic mist wrapping around the great tiger had thinned and faded, and the tiger's form was once again revealed.
At this point, the Fire Bird Artifact Spirit had completely seized the upper hand. Scorching flames poured from its beak, continuously burning away and evaporating the tiger's poisonous mist, pinning it down with no room to fight back. The tiger's roars of fury turned into pitiful wails, and with every lick of flame, its expression grew more terrified and wary.
The Fire Bird Artifact Spirit, however, showed no mercy. The flames from its beak grew ever more ferocious and powerful, as though determined to annihilate the great tiger completely.
This scene left the martial artist surnamed Wen—who was guarding Cai He and Du Sisi nearby—watching with gleaming eyes. Staring at the Artifact Spirit's overwhelming display of power, an unconcealed look of envy crossed his face.
Yang Kai had once caused a massive uproar in Tianyun City and slain a Void Return Stage powerhouse from the Xie Family. When that news spread, many people learned that he possessed an extraordinary Artifact Spirit—and one of the fire element, no less.
This was precisely why the old man Ning Xiangchen and the other two had been so eager to curry favor with Yang Kai throughout their journey.
There was no mystery to it. Having reached the Void Return Stage, each of them possessed several Void Grade Artifacts—but ones that had been damaged in battle and lost much of their spiritual resonance. To restore such artifacts required the intervention of a Void Grade Artifact Refiner.
On the Dark Star, how rare were Void Grade Artifact Refiners? The Shadow Moon Hall's only one, Master Green, had passed away half a year ago. For these Void Return Stage experts to restore their own artifacts, they truly had no recourse.
The moment they learned that Yang Kai possessed a Fire Bird Artifact Spirit, their interest was piqued at once.
If they could borrow Yang Kai's Fire Bird Artifact Spirit for a while, with their own strength they might well be able to repair those damaged artifacts. Even if they couldn't be restored to perfect condition, the improvement would certainly be significant.
If not for this, why would three Void Return Stage cultivators have lowered themselves to befriend Yang Kai on this journey? They had better things to do.
Now, seeing the Fire Bird Artifact Spirit's fearsome power firsthand, the martial artist surnamed Wen was overjoyed. An Artifact Spirit like this had surely been born from a furnace of considerable grade. And when word of the Tianyun City incident had spread, it was indeed said that Yang Kai had produced a furnace-type artifact.
If his guess was correct, that must have been the artifact housing the Artifact Spirit.
With an Artifact Spirit and a refining furnace, one didn't even need to be skilled in artifact refining. But borrowing such a treasure from someone else was certainly no easy task—one first had to earn the other's trust, and the two needed to share a bond forged through life and death.
While the martial artist surnamed Wen was watching over Cai He and Du Sisi, he had actually been looking for an opportunity to assist Yang Kai, hoping to do him a personal favor. Who would have thought that Yang Kai's battle against the Cloud Beast required no help from him at all? He was delighted by the Artifact Spirit's might, yet also somewhat disappointed.